Drakonika (Book 1)

by Andrea Závodská

  Fjalldís felt dazed. “My picture? My picture with Magnus? I was looking everywhere for it!” She beamed, but then she realized that she was still in the same bad company as she was seconds ago.

  “Yeah I thought you'd want it, so now you have it back...” Darius said, then leaned to her so close she had to tilt her head away. Fjalldís could feel his calm breath in her hair. “Well... at least what's left of it.” He whispered and straightened his back again.

  Fjalldís looked frozen, but her chest rose and fell rapidly as she gazed back into Darius' eyes which appeared utterly cold now, as though he felt highly affronted by something that she had done. Seeing her terrified face, Darius turned away and strode back to his friends in the front of the room. Before they could even leave, Fjalldís set off to the staircase and paused for a moment. She felt as though all her piece and happiness was taken away the very moment when Darius came into their house.

  “I hate you!” Fjalldís cried and with tears filling her eyes she rushed into the bedroom upstairs.

  “Ouch,” Darius said airily and along with his friends, he burst in malicious laughter as they headed out.

  Belinda bolted forward and flung herself on the door as she slammed them closed behind those hooligans. She remained silent for a while, her heart was still drumming wildly, and it took a moment for them to even believe what had just happened.

  Aurora recovered first. “What did he whisper to her?” She said curiously, but her voice was still shaking. As Belinda shrugged, the wooden lid of the cupboard opened, letting a colourful lizard head peek out.

  “He said...: at least what's left of it.” The dragon repeated Darius' last words in a steely voice. Belinda and Aurora exchanged stunned looks.

  Darius had torn the picture to pieces.

  The black squad was on their way to their house, when Viktor stopped suddenly. “That was great... I just... I just feel great.” He said in a highly contented voice, as he fixed the top of his black shirt. “I think we should visit Serena's house now. There are three little goblins who'd need somebody to teach 'em a good lesson as to who rules these streets!” He shot Rodrick an imperative glance. “Two of them, particularly, ought to know something that we don't... and we're going to find out shortly. Rodrick...” Viktor said in a superior voice, making a slight move with his head in order to send Rodrick forward. If there was anyone capable of fooling those naive girls, it was his red haired comrade; but to his astonishment, Rodrick did not move. “What's wrong with you man? Didn't I just give you an order to go get some information from them? We might need it!” He said fiercely.

  Rodrick looked slightly puzzled. “Well yeah... but I don't take orders from you... you're not our leader.” He said flatly. “You're just the same rank in our gang as I am.”

  “What?!” Viktor snarled, clenching his fists in anger. “You want to say that I'm just a prank buffoon like you?”

  The temper was rising and Darius could feel it was the right time to step between them. “Hey, nobody's a... a prank buffoon or anything,” he said in unbelieving tone. “You guys just calm down... we're a unit, and we're always work like a unit, all right?” He turned his head on Rodrick, then on Viktor. But the one of them who was being angry did not calm down.

  “A unit...” Viktor said in a disgusted tone. “Are you kidding? We haven't been doing any of our usual stuff lately, and it's all because of you, cause you've become too softy.” He snarled with undisguised ferocity, pointing his finger right at Darius' chest.

  “What are you talking about?” Henry said, casting Viktor a piercing look with his dark eyes. “Didn't you see what he just did back there?” He swung his arm lazily in the direction of Fjalldís' house.

  While his friends were trying to defend him, Darius did not say a word. Suddenly, he felt a strong squirm of discomfort, which did not let him to speak. Viktor had the most tempestuous personality of all of them, but this time he had definitely overreacted.

  “Back there?” Victor scoffed. “That was just an act of destructive jealousy when he had found a picture of Fjalldís and Magnus in that book of hers. Nothing truly malevolent, nothing sinister, not even a little devilish... he'll probably want to apologize to her later. He's not worth being our leader, I tell you!”

  Giselbert and Serena exchanged puzzled looks, while the others continued their quarrel.

  “Oh really?” Henry growled. “And who else would be a better leader for us? Let me guess... you?” He breathed fiercely and let out a taunting snigger.

  “Do you have a better suggestion?” Viktor shot back, as he made a step forward to look Henry directly in the eyes. Danger could be sensed in the air; the two of them did not seem to feel any fear. They could start fighting any minute. And the more when the rest of the black squad recalled what animal shapes they took at one of Aedan's lessons.

  Rodrick, although not feeling so brave, took all his courage to defend his friend and jumped in front of Darius, right next to Henry. “Yeah, I do,” he said flatly and gave Viktor a venomous gaze. “Why don't we just keep following Darius? 'Cause he's our true leader, not you.”

  Viktor gazed back, as he gave a scornful sneer. “I see...” He said, then rounded on Serena and Giselbert. “What's your opinion? Darius or me?” He said in a take it or leave it attitude, but those two did not seem to want to anger any of their friends; they wanted things to be as they always were. Serena's eyes darted downwards and Giselbert mouthed but there was no sound coming out.

  “Nothing? I am disappointed...” Viktor said grimly. “Well then, I guess this is where we part. You're just a bunch of losers anyway,” he said shortly, then turned their back on them and as he strode away, he took the first turn in the forbidden streets.

  There was a long silence. When Viktor vanished from their sight, Darius clapped his hand on his face and gave a mournful sigh. His fault or not, the times of joy were over and nothing would ever be the same again; their party was broken.

  “He'll be back...” Serena said in order to cheer him up, although she knew it was not true. Viktor would never take his decisions back.

  “Well, we've lost Viktor... but there's still five of us... we can't let this bring us to our knees,” Henry said, taking Darius around his shoulders and rounding him in the opposite direction.

  “That's right, we have to stick together now,” Giselbert decided and clenched his fist to stress the seriousness of his words, but Henry gave him a confused look. Why did he not say this in front of Viktor?

  Rodrick had an idea. A truly, truly marvellous and astonishing idea. “Would you like to play a few games with the cards?” He said brightly, as he tuned on Darius, but the answer was negative.

  “How could I play cards with you? We've lost a member and a dear friend because of me, I don't even deserve your company...” Darius groaned sadly. He looked to be on the verge of tears, so Rodrick he decided to gather all his acting abilities and play a merry chap to cheer him up.

  “Come on, it's not that bad... You are our leader and we don't want anyone else to be our leader, even if you should be all softy and not do too many riots any more. I guess Viktor was on a higher level of malice. But you're doing great too so don't worry about it...” Rodrick said calmly.

  “Yeah, you're doing fine,” Serena agreed and gave him an encouraging smile.

  Giselbert brushed a strand of hair off his face. “Well... is it true you did that thing with the picture out of jealousy?” He whispered curiously.

  Rodrick knew that was not the best question for this occasion; one reason was that Darius did not feel like answering it right now, another reason was that Darius had ever only consulted these things with Rodrick and nobody else, and the third reason was that he could already see his friend's face turning red.

  “Ehh... why don't we just go play cards?” Darius said in the tone of fake airiness, as though he was hiding something, but he certainly hoped that nobody would ask about it any more. His friends agreed merrily and they disappeared all toget
her behind the door of their house at the street's end.

  The lights-out had just fallen along with the dark sky over the town and the door of Magnus' room creaked slightly as Lars with Elmar peeked in. “Magnus? Can we come in? We've brought you some food-” Elmar said carefully, but before they could receive an answer, Lars had bounded in.

  “And to join you in your study,” he said merrily, when he noticed the books thrown in the farthest corner of the room. “Oh...!”

  Magnus was sitting on his bed with his back turned to them, his legs hanging from the edge helplessly, his long black tail hanging from the opposite side of the bed and his arms supporting his weary head. Apparently, he was not in the mood for studying.

  Elmar followed straight after, and to Magnus' astonishment, he was ignoring Lars' babbling about studying. “Hey, are you all right?” Elmar said, placing a plate of druid wheat cookies and a water cup on Magnus' lap as he took a seat on the bed right next to him.

  “You should let me starve to death,” Magnus said in a cadaverous tone. His face was grimmer than ever before, his room colder than usually, there was not even fire in the hearth downstairs, which would not be strange if Magnus were not in the house. But he was.

  “What are you talking about? We're friends, how could we let you starve to death?” Elmar breathed, sounding rather shocked, while Lars was doing his best to resist the temptation of browsing Magnus' books that looked so lonely and neglected in that derelict corner.

  Magnus lowered his hands and turned on him fiercely. “Because if you don't, I'll turn into a real dragon shortly and probably eat you for dinner, don't you understand? Take a look,” he put the food plate aside on a small table by his bed, turned his back to Lars and Elmar and pulled his tunic up.

  His friends gasped. There was a line of huge, thick scales on Magnus' spine, but what was even worse; two dark bumps on either side of the upper part of his back. “Dear Holy Moly, you're going to have wings!” Elmar said in ecstatic voice. “Will you give me a lift once you have them?” He demanded.

  Magnus seemed to be pretty unimpressed and downcast. “Yeah... what? No!” He said indignantly, when he realized what Elmar had requested from him. He pulled his white tunic back on and rounded on his friends. “Are you crazy? We must not let that happen! You have to hide, or run away, or...” He paused for a moment, and it appeared he had just got an idea to solve this perilous situation. He leaped to his feet and grabbed the Thought Booster from his table drawer.

  “What are you going to do?” Lars asked carefully, looking scared.

  Magnus gave them a quick look. “I'm going to say say my farewell to Maren,” he said swiftly.

  “What? You're leaving?” Elmar said, gaping at Magnus along with Lars helplessly.

  “Yes. I am going to surrender to the Ragnan Magi Police so that they will take me away and you're be all safe,” Magnus said desperately. He shuddered when he thought of his evil nature making him hurt or even kill his best friends. There was no other way; he had to leave.

  As soon as Maren heard the sound of gentle chimes in her head, she stopped reading her book and slapped her left hand on the Thought Booster lying on the desk before her. “Magnus?” She said swiftly, sounding very concerned. It seemed she had been waiting for him to call her for the whole day.

  “Yes... it's me... listen,” Magnus said and took a deep breath before he told Maren about his sudden decision. “I have to leave... I'm going to surrender to the police and tell them everything I know about me...”

  Maren was listening to the voice in her mind, her expression more and more frightened with each second. “No... it's not me... don't listen to me. I so don't have to leave. I'm not going to surrender to the police and definitely not tell them anything about myself!” There was a moment of silence, in which Maren was trying her best to translate the words twisted by the Thought Booster. As soon as she got the meaning, she sent a reply back to Magnus. “No! You can't do that!! We don't want to lose you... besides, the police won't believe a word from what you tell them! It's madness! Don't do it!” She said breathlessly, looking rather scared.

  “Yes! You have to do that!! We want to get rid of you... besides, the police will surely believe all that stuff you're about to tell them! It's a great choice! So do it!” Magnus knew the Thought Booster was twisting the positive words to negative, but he always seemed to be stunned by hearing the outcome. Before he could even think of an answer, he heard a loud knocking on the door. And it was a muffled sound, as if somebody was bashing a staff against the door. Perhaps Aedan? But what could he want from them so late after the lights-out? There was only one way to find out. “Hold on, somebody's at the door,” Magnus said to Maren, then cast the Thought Booster aside on the table desk, and as he quickly wrapped himself into his druid cloak, he rushed out of his room and descended the stairs, leaving puzzled Elmar and Lars alone. But that did not mean they would not follow him downstairs.

  Magnus reached his arm towards the door handle, but he hesitated. He could not deny that he was afraid. Aedan would certainly come to give him some more punishments or scolding, but when he finally opened the door, he gaped in great surprise. It was Zimbadur and Valezar.

  “We are sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but it is utterly important that you come with us now,” Zimbadur said in a very serious tone.

  “Leave all that you have been doing, we need to leave at once,” Valezar added swiftly.

  Magnus looked bewildered. He did not have a clue why they had come to take him away after the lights-out, nor what they were thinking; he came to the conclusion that all mages were able to protect their minds from reading somehow. If he only knew, how!

  “But-” Magnus stuttered. However, seeing Valezar and Zimbadur who used to be all cheerful and smiling, now grim and serious, he decided to do as he was told to do. After all, he was certain they had a very good reason to come.

  Magnus rounded on Elmar and Lars, who were peeking into the corridor from the stairs. “I have to go... I'll come back later,” he said, although he had no idea if it was true. Maybe he would not return ever again. There was a very strange feeling about this whole thing.

  “But what about the cookies?” Elmar said in a concerned tone.

  “Eat them,” Magnus said over his shoulder, as he was crossing the threshold of their house.

  “And what about the books? You're not going to study tonight? I heard them crying,” Lars breathed quickly, but it appeared that hearing these words, Magnus simply left and closed the door behind him.

  Maren was watching the three of them walking down the lane from her window. She felt her heart clench, as though it was the last time she would ever see him.

  “What's happening?” Magnus said, as they quickly strode through the moonlit street. “Could you at least tell me where we're going?” He demanded. His senses were growing more anxious with each passing minute.

  “There's no time for explanations, my lad...” Valezar panted, as his old legs carried him briskly. Magnus had no idea he could walk like that! Or should we rather say; run like that?

  Zimbadur turned to Valezar and covertly leaned closer to him. “Do you think he is all right?” He whispered. “I am not sure if he is ready...”

  “He'll be just fine,” Valezar said calmly.

  Magnus frowned. Although they tried to be as silent as possible, he could still hear them well. What could they possibly hide from him? Was there something they had known about his dragon origin? Well if it was that, it did not seem like they would have any problems about it.

  “We'll turn here,” Zimbadur said stoutly, when they came to an aisle well known to Magnus; the same forbidden aisle that had led him to the crystal ball twice before.

  Magnus felt very strange about all this. He was told that Zimbadur had not been in Sinei since his childhood. “I thought you did not know this town so well, Zim.” He said in a slightly suspicious tone.

  “Oh trust me, I have been here a couple more times,” Zim s
aid and repaid Magnus' question with a wide smile. “But you know these lanes better than anyone else, right? Lead us to the crystal ball, Magnus.” He said, this time sounding a little more stern.

  Magnus was totally confused, but despite his strange feelings and anxiety, he decided to trust his two friends; after all, they had helped him a big time before. He strolled past Zim and Valezar and stepped forward into the dark narrow aisle, when suddenly there was more light than the moon itself could have provided them with.

  “Want some light?” Valezar said lightly, a roguish smile on his face. There was a bright white ball floating above his right palm, lighting each block of the house walls and each stone on the pavement.

  “Thanks,” Magnus muttered without much effort. For some reason, he was more comfortable with the darkness; but his two friends probably preferred light. He set off and led the way to the ancient well, Zimbadur and Valezar following straight after.

  “Yes, this is the well...” Zimbadur mumbled. His eyes slid the way to one of the old houses on the left; and saw the broken door.

  “See? This is the sign... He is ready, I am telling you...” Valezar breathed and along with Zimbadur they sped off to the opened house. Apparently, they knew what was hidden inside.

  Magnus rushed after them.

  All three of them, they carefully descended the slippery stairs that steeply led the way through a narrow corridor into the dark cave.

  “You are right...” Zimbadur said, sounding rather dazed, when he spotted the burned remains of something that once was a door. He dashed to the middle of the cave along with Valezar, but Magnus remained standing at the end of the stairs, peeking into the room carefully. He did not have the slightest intention on getting wet. But although he did not step into the cold water, his eyes popped in shock. The ball was gone.

  Valezar and Zimbadur took one swift look at the empty pedestal. “Perfect, this should make the police busy... let's go!” Valezar said, as they tore away in the opposite direction.