“That's crazy... what if he talks? Somebody could hear him... Especially when he cries like a baby,” Fjalldís said, looking at Magnus and totally ignoring the dragon's affronted stare.
Magnus seemed to have decided. “I have an idea.” He said and gazed at the squirming lizard in his hands.
“What... what are you going to do with me?” Said the dragon with such fear in his eyes as though he had seen death coming for him.
“Well, you're not going to like it, little fella...” Magnus said and right after that, he muttered something so silently that nobody could had heard it. There was an explosion of sparkling golden dust and when it faded, all that he held was a small sized pebble in his right hand. “That's something I've learned from Aedan.” Magnus said, a faint smile on his face.
Maren and Fjalldís gasped. “That was brilliant!” Maren said, speaking her thought out loud in her astonishment. But after the tournament, they could not had expected anything else from him.
“Yes... I know.” Magnus said, broadening his smile and slipping the pebble into a pocket under his robe. “Well girls, shall we go?” He gave them a significant look.
“But, what about the police-” Fjalldís started, but Magnus cut her off.
“I'll deal with them later, but now, first things first.” Magnus said, patting his pocket gently. “We need to find out something more about the dragon haunting, and about myself, too. I am sure he knows something about me. He slipped twice when he was talking...”
“Y-you mean...the part when he implied to you not to eat him?” Maren stammered, as they stepped forward to return to the underground trap door.
“And... when he called you Your Cruelty?” Fjalldís said in a slightly terrified tone.
“Well, yes... but don't worry, I'm all right now, really-” Magnus said, but when he reached his arms out to give a friendly embrace to both of them, Maren and Fjalldís flinched away from him. “Hey, what's wrong?” He asked in a shocked tone, but then he realized what was going on. They were afraid of him.
Magnus had suddenly stopped. He looked desperate and sad.
Seeing his face, Maren could not stay away from him any more. “Magnus... I'm sorry... I don't know why I did that,” she said in a guilty tone. But Magnus only shook his head in disagreement.
“No... we all know why you did that. And you had a perfectly good reason to do that...” Magnus said, sounding rather downcast, and gave a slow, long sigh.
“Okay, we'll talk about that back in the underground...” Said Fjalldís , trying to set Magnus in motion. “If we stay here, the big dragons will come for us and roast us for dinner.”
“I'm not afraid of them,” Magnus mumbled. “I'm one of them. I will protect you, fire can't kill me.”
“But the big sharp fangs can, though.” Fjalldís said impatiently.
“Wait a minute...” Maren said in a distant voice, gazing into nowhere. “If fire can't kill you, then... then it means that I did not save you from the dragon from the night when we had met! It was your own ability, and my spell failed... because nobody had come to arrest me anyway,” she said, lowering her voice as she was fighting the tears coming to her eyes. It almost sounded as though she was sad that there was no attempt to arrest her for casting the spell, because it meant that the spell was actually not cast at all. If it was, the police would had surely come to get her; they had detectors for magickal energy and spells. “I didn't help you one bit!” She cried.
The situation had turned around; this time it was Magnus, who tried to comfort Maren. “You helped me countless times,” he said, taking her around her shoulders.
Maren gave a heavy sob.
“You guys? I think you're forgetting one thing,” Fjalldís said, embracing the both of them. “We've made a promise. As long as we live, we'll support each other and fight with all we have so that we stay together. No matter what happens and how hard it gets, we'll never give up. Together, we can do anything.” Fjalldís said devotedly.
Magnus gently wiped Maren's eyes with the back of his sleeve. “You're right... We have to stick together. No more tears...” He said quietly. He felt that it was a crying night; first the five-year-old mage, then Lars, then Magnus, then Maren... It was like a flu.
“Let's go,” Magnus decided and all three of them stepped forward, calming down a little as they made their way through the dark lanes of Ragna back to the trap door that led to the underground. They slammed on the door a few times, then heard Jackal's suspicious voice and had to answer several questions and guess several passwords that Magnus had read from his mind, before Jackal opened the locks and bars and finally let them back in. They strolled past Eagle, who was sitting on the floor and nodding over the cards again and dashed to the party room, where they found Elmar and Lars, impatiently waiting for them.
“Thanks goodness you're here, Lars was going to eat his fifteenth cake! And he said he would make it twenty...” Elmar said, sounding rather relieved.
Magnus gave Maren and Fjalldís a shocked look, then turned back to Elmar. “Well, we have some interesting news for you. But we'll tell you when we return to Sinei, it's not safe to talk about it here.” He whispered swiftly.
“Lars, stop eating, you're going to be sick,” Maren said in a worried tone and dragged Lars farther from the tables as he was reaching to grab another cake. When they were leaving, the tables were full; now there was less than a half of the food they had seen before. All of the guests seemed to have a good appetite.
The party had continued to the late night's hours. It was a great opportunity for Fjalldís to get another drawing with her and Magnus, this time the artists had painted and drew also Maren, Elmar and Lars. Aedan and others were proudly clapping their hands into an audible applause, smiling warmly, and he could not stop himself from saying another few comments about the glorious victory of druids. Later, when the artists finished their works, a few excited fans of Magiker had persuaded Magnus to play a few games with them, which he won all, since he was reading their thoughts and knew precisely what cards they had and what they were going to do. Finally he could let go of his troubles and worries... at least for a while.
While they did have a good time in Ragna, it ended when they had returned to Sinei. Magnus was just about to turn the pebble stone back into its dragon form, which all his friends were very excited about, when Maren's other two house mates stopped by and said that he had been called to Aedan's house. As he was passing the street, he saw the black squad standing nearby, their voices full of malicious laughter, throwing seemingly furtive glances at Magnus. He quickly dived into their minds and immediately understood that they knew what all this was about. Darius and Rodrick
When he was nearing the door of Aedan's house, he fixed his hood to make sure that his ears were hidden well and knocked on the door with a feeling of great trepidation. Seconds later, Aedan had opened and let him go inside, without saying a word.
“Sit down,” Aedan said finally, watching Magnus with his usual grim gaze again. It was not hard to guess that his sympathies towards Magnus had all faded. “I am... very disappointed with you,” he continued in a strict voice, as Magnus swooped down into the chair. “You lied to me, you pretended to be who you were not and you dragged others into this game of yours as well. You should know that I had high hopes for you, you've been a talent from the very beginning. But I never thought you would do something that irresponsible, I am just shocked...” Aedan said in a strict tone, yet there was something in his voice that was still making him doubt what he said, as though he did not even want to believe it.
Magnus' eyes darted downwards. He felt his heart torn to pieces from all the guilt that had suddenly fallen on him. For quite a while, Aedan kept talking but Magnus was unable to listen to what he was saying. He felt like running away, but how he could run away from himself? Besides, he did not had the slightest idea about which self of those that he had experienced was his true self. After some time of hearing Aedan's indignant voice, he was fina
lly brought back from his thoughts.
“Two months of detention.” Aedan said with finality in his voice. “No visitors, no games, no experiments, no nothing... You will study, study, study and one more time, study. Elmar and Lars will bring you food, if not, you will be hungry. And if I find you outside for one minute, you will be expelled from the guild. I have nothing more to say... Now, get out.” He said gravely, before Magnus could even say a word in his defence.
Magnus slowly stood up and limped to the door. As he was opening them, he cast one last defeated look at Aedan, who had already turned his back to him and slumped into the chair behind his desk covered with herbs, scrolls and books.
“Hopefully this will teach you some good manners,” Aedan muttered in a highly disappointed voice. It seemed they both felt defeated.
Two months of detention; Magnus would had surely turned into a dragon by then. There was only one thing he could do. He had to give the dragon either to Maren or Fjalldís, who could, possibly, get some information from him and act on Magnus' behalf. There was no time to waste. Since Maren lived in one room with Serena, which was absolutely unbelievable how she could had endured it until then, he decided to entrust the dragon into Fjalldís' hands. Her house mates, Belinda and Aurora, seemed to be quite trustworthy and understanding. He called Maren, Elmar and Lars to Fjalldís' house, with Belinda and Aurora present as well, and they well all waiting for his stunning spell that should had turned a pebble into a dragon. Fjalldís and Maren knew he could do it, but were worried of the troubles that keeping a dragon there might had caused. Belinda and Aurora seemed to be a little sceptical, Elmar had his eyes bulged and fixed upon the stone, while Lars was a bit scared and, being the youngest of them all, he grabbed Maren's hand to calm himself down.
“Remember, nobody else must know,” Magnus repeated for the third time, just to make sure that everyone had heard him all right. He pulled the small pebble out from his pocket and stretched his arm in the midst of the little circle they were standing in. He muttered something silently, then there was a small explosion of golden glittery dust, and as it was fading, the Belinda, Aurora, Elmar and Lars had seen a real dragon being for the first time in their life.
Lars flinched back. “Is that really a... dragon?” He asked in a frightened tone.
“Well, it's not a pigeon, that's for sure.” Magnus said, clutching the dragon firmly.
“Watch those wings, watch those wings!” The little dragon implied frantically. “They are very tender...” And indeed they were; his wings were nothing like the hard scales and the strong membranes on Magnus' ears. They looked more like a butterfly wings, or fairy wings, if you will; their beautiful colours of rainbow were glittering in every refraction of light, slightly covered with soft fur near the place where they were attached to his back. He had no hard horns, no thick scales, nor huge sharp fangs; only a smooth, long body of green colour that was changing from light to dark, strewn with glittering dots that looked like golden dust, those wonderful soft rainbow wings, four elegant legs with five fingers on each, a pair of gleaming golden eyes on his head, and a long, flexible tail that was now swirling around Magnus' arm. Suddenly, everyone wanted to touch him.
“Dear Mother Nature... It talks!” Said Belinda in awe. “So, Aedan was right! Dragons do exist!” She shrieked out, carefully patting the dragon on its head.
“D-does it bite?” Lars said, peeking from behind Maren and watching the little dragon in terror.
“No, it doesn't. You can pet him if you want.” Magnus said, sounding a little brighter. Somehow, teasing this little lizard brought a smile back to his sad face. Seconds later, Lars joined Belinda and they were both touching the dragon as though he was an animal in a petting zoo.
“All right... but does it fly?” Elmar asked curiously.
“Well, I haven't seen him flying but... I believe so.” Magnus said.
Aurora hopped to Magnus and joined the petting zoo. “He's so cute!” She said in a sweet voice, but none of the petting and compliments did not seem to please the dragon at the moment; all he wanted was to get away.
Magnus turned in the direction where Maren and Fjalldís stood silently, remaining deep in their thoughts. “Can you keep him here, Fjalldís?” He said in a concerned tone.
Fjalldís gave him a faint smile and nodded. “Don't worry, we will do everything to get your amulet back.” She said, gazing at him sympathetically.
The dragon slightly tilted his head, as though he wanted to get his ears closer to hear them better.
Maren gave a heavy sigh.
“Don't be sad, Maren... we will talk over the Thought Booster from Valezar. I know it's a bit twitchy, but we know how it works... and it's the only thing that can help us communicate right now.” Magnus said, trying to cheer Maren up, then he looked at Fjalldís again. “Watch him close... He mustn't get out of the house, or he'll fly away. And there would go my only chance to...” He said, but when he realized that Belinda and Aurora did not have the slightest idea about his dragon origin, he changed the end of the sentence. “...to get my magickal amulet back.”
Shortly after that, Magnus gave the dragon to Fjalldís and departed to his home-prison.
Magnus was nowhere to be seen for days. Fjalldís and Maren were trying every day to learn some useful information from the little dragon, but unsuccessfully. Nothing could make him talk. Maren was talking to Magnus over the Thought Booster whenever she got a chance, knowing that the real meaning of his thoughts were always the opposite from what she had heard. Finally, a day had come, when Magnus felt utterly uneasy. He sensed something big was about to happen; and it was something that did not feel right.
XIX. The Unexpected Visitors
It was late afternoon. There was no lecture at that time, so Fjalldís was spending her free time by trying to make the dragon speak. Belinda and Aurora were keeping her company, but they were studying. All three of them were having a comfortable sitting with warm tea by the table, when they heard someone impatiently knocking on the door. Well, at least impatient enough for Belinda and Aurora to look up from their reading.
“Somebody's knocking on the door,” Belinda said in a uninterested tone, sliding the books contents again. But none of them felt like getting up to answer the visitors.
“If you know something, you must tell us! Please! It's very important!” Fjalldís demanded, watching the winged lizard changing colours as he walked around the table.
“I know nothing!” The dragon claimed in a similarly desperate tone. “Now, give me some fruits and vegetables, lots and lots of it...” He said, now sounding a little calmer, as he entangled his long elegant tail around the tea cup, tilted it closer and dipped his thin pink tongue into the tea with almost indecent enthusiasm. “Mmmm... yummy... fruit tea, I see... very good.” He said in a muffled tone, as he closed his eyes delightfully.
“Hey! That was my tea!” Fjalldís squealed, giving the dragon a rather confused look which was reflecting something like anger mingled with disappointment. The little dragon bulged his golden eyes and flinched back.
“Oh, oh... was it? Well, it still is, you can't catch any disease from me, I swear!” The dragon stuttered, bobbing on the spot in fear.
Knock, knock, knock!
Belinda slammed her book on the table. “The door!” She said one more time, since the visitors appeared to be growing impatient and she could not leave the table herself because she was sitting in the corner, enclosed with her two friends from both sides.
“I'll get it,” Aurora said airily, when Fjalldís suddenly understood it would be the best time to hide their little friend, for it was certain that whoever it was knocking on the door, he probably did not see dragons hopping on study tables every day. Despite the dragon's protesting, Fjalldís quickly seized him, stuffed him unceremoniously into a cupboard next to the window and shut the lid. And it was right in time, because Aurora had just opened the door and frankly, she was not pleased by what she saw.
Aurora f
rowned, but she felt her knees trembling. She thought it was night already, but then she realized it was the black clothes of the six black squad members. Before she could send them away, Darius boldly pulled her to the side and bounded in with all his comrades and Serena.
Belinda leaped to her feet immediately and Fjalldís gaped at them in shock, still leaning to the cupboard.
“Hey! Get out of here! Nobody invited you...” Belinda cried bravely, but nobody was listening to her. Darius was totally ignoring Aurora and Belinda, as though there were not even there. He slowly came to Fjalldís with a sinister sneer on his face.
“Darius, what the heck are you doing?” Fjalldís said in a slightly suspicious tone. This was not exactly the way of entering a house that did not belong to them.
“Nothin'... I just came to see you, do you have a... problem with that?” Darius said in a malicious tone, surveying her with the highest confidence.
Fjalldís felt herself pierced by his sinister glance. “You can't just break into our house!” She scolded him furiously. Somewhere from the front of the room she could hear a malevolent snigger. Aurora flinched back to Belinda in fear.
Darius leaned to Fjalldís even closer. “I don't need your invitation.” He said, insolently gazing into her eyes.
“Why do you always have to be such a jerk when your comrades are around? What's this all about?” Fjalldís chided again, gathering all her courage to not show any fear.
“Chill, Fjalldís.” Darius said, this time in a little more serious tone. I just came to return your book.” He raised his hand and handed the book about cats over to Fjalldís, then looked back directly in her eyes.
“Well... thanks...” Fjalldís stuttered. She felt quite confused, but in that moment she did not realize it was all too good to be over. She seized the book and held it on her chest.
“There was also some drawing inside, must have been from a day of great victory, I guess... so I decided to return that as well, you surely wouldn't like to be without it.” Darius said, his lips curling into a malicious smile again.
Drakonika (Book 1) Page 38
