The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies)

by R. Alan Ferguson

  During his free time, the Wizard-Elf had talked to most of his old friends, but only most, because not all of the old gang survived the fourteen years of waiting. Two had lived their dreams of being Ves-guards and had great adventures, which they loved to tell all who would be willing to hear. Unfortunately, in the end they paid a heavy price for those dreams and adventures, as they died within just two days of each other.

  The first was Veris, the very talented Wicca. She was killed while trying to hold the bridge of the fifth waters, which is on the very boarders of their own country Opredanas. The second, Jebut, died only a day before John and Helen arrived in Dorminya. He was killed from behind while trying to defend one of the many colonies close to the boarders.

  John was devastated to hear the terrible news, and although he hadn’t seen them in seven years, he mourned for them greatly, his old dear friends.

  When he wasn’t reminiscing with old friends, he was showing Helen the Wizard and Witch World. He had taken her to Cayer-Huld, their largest City where most of the Wizards, Wiccas, and Warlocks live and work. He also took her to Rengeral Training College for Apprentice Wizards, and even to Hadfold’s School of Witchcraft, where the young Wiccas and Warlocks go to hone their powers. Helen was not surprised to see that there wasn’t much of a difference between the two.

  She loved living there and had no problem expressing it. She told everyone, and she certainly had no intentions in ever leaving again. Though she liked being Queen, she knew that one-day the true reason why they left their Normal lives behind would catch them up. It worried her beyond all reason day and night, even after all of the reassurances from their friends old and new. She still couldn’t forget all she had been told. She remembered John’s words to her after she saw there were only four representatives of the six main races of Dorminya at the council meeting the first day they arrived. She had wandered why. When asked by his wife, John simply said, “It’ll only worry you as it does me.”

  Not satisfied with his reply, she pressed and pressed at him until he finally gave in and told all.

  “The reason there were only representatives from four of the main kingdoms of Dorminya (which were Dwarves, Elves, Wizards and Witches, and the Men of the Morden) was because the Eagle-Men of Kealhal were secretly attacked, overthrown and wiped out by Ulicoth’s army and by Kilamen,” he told her.

  It was John that had found out what had happened, for he had befriended the immortal Wolf Demala, although he did not fully trust the talking Wolf, as he had heard of the terrible crimes he had committed while in his human form. Although mistrustful, the King could not very well ignore this terrible information. So he had the claims of his new friend investigated and had found the terrible tragedy to be true.

  The mistrust John had felt toward the once-dark Wolf lifted a little, though he still knew to be wary of him, for it was well known that the Wolf had once worked under Salith himself for the promise of release from the curse that bound him to that eternal body. The truth of the matter is that Demala had not always been a Wolf. He was once a man and nephew to the King of the once-powerful land of Phadkew.

  By the time the Wolf had told John the news of the Eagle-Men, it was too late. Only a handful of the giant eagles survived, but unfortunately they moved to the unmapped lands and have not been seen since.

  When all was finally realized, letters were sent to those the Wizards and Witches considered potential allies, and all agreed to meet. All, of course, but the Men of the Tarlonal in the land of Frepwen, who had all vowed to never be involved in anything that the Morden were involved in. For they have been mortal enemies for many a year and would kill their cousins before lifting a single finger to help them?

  At the Towers of Telian, the council of the four races held yet another meeting, and this time Helen was invited. She had taken an active role in all council meetings and enjoyed doing so. At the end of this meeting the council had decided that the time had come to bring their forces together.

  “Finally, we will attack the fortress of Wulfed and rid the world of the evil of Ulicoth and Kilamen,” said the Dwarf lord, Eiaten.

  It took only sixteen days for everyone to arrive. For the armies of the four races had been on standby for two whole years.

  The Elves were the first to arrive, closely followed by the Dwarves, and together they waited with the Wizards and Witches for the men to arrive. They did not have to wait very long, as the men were not far behind the Dwarves, who themselves had run all the way from the great city of Eiaten, which is located under the Twin Mountains of Duilsan. The Dwarf city was named after the Lord of those mountains and was the largest of their empire.

  Taden, Eiaten’s cousin, was stationed on the second balcony of the right tower. He was not the only one there, as there were two Wizards and an Elf as well.

  One could be forgiven for thinking that all were there purely out of friendship, but as always. There was an alternative reason. The Wizards came simply because the building belonged to them. The Elf was there out of helpfulness. As his sight was better than the others, it seemed right for him to be there. And last of all. The Dwarf was there, funnily enough, simply because the others were there.

  Eiaten, seeing that the Elf was allowed to stand and look, thought that it was only fair and that one of his own be allowed there too. Everyone wondered why Taden was there, for all knew that a Dwarf’s sight is very limited, and he couldn’t possibly see what he needed to, but John saw no harm in Eiaten’s little game and let the Dwarf stay where he was, simply because he knew that Eiaten would love to have an excuse to start something on that day in particular. So there the four stood looking for any sign of the men.

  There was moistness in the air that day, and a light fog rolled along sluggishly. The grassy land was saturated after the downpour the night before, though the sky was clear, apart from little puffs of white cloud gently floating past. And although the sun was high in the sky, the trees of the forest behind the Towers made it impossible to see if there was anyone moving their way until they would clear the tree line.

  “What do you see cousin?” shouted Eiaten.

  “Nothing yet,” replied Taden.

  The Elf, Avelan, who was the brother of Feudel, the master of the great Elven City of Haludon, had caught sight of something with his keen eyes. There were five figures moving closer to their position.

  “THERE ARE FIVE OBJECTS COMING OUR WAY!” he shouted to those below.

  “Where are they? I don’t see anything,” said Taden as he looked to the edge of the forest.

  “Not there, Taden. There,” said Avelan. He pointed to five dots in the sky moving ever closer to them.

  “Yes,” said Taden, “now I see them.” But to him they were faint fuzzy blurs.

  John rushed to the balcony he jumped straight on to it from the ground. “Where are they, Avelan?” he asked.

  “There,” said the Elf as he pointed to them again.

  “It’s all right,” said Delsani, who was standing below them. “They’re Wiccas and Warlocks whom the Council of Witchcraft sent to us. They decided they don’t want to be left in the dark, so they’re sending some of their most talented people to join us.”

  Helen wanted to see what everyone up there found so fascinating. “What’s going on?” she asked as she came up behind the old Wizard.

  “They can see the Witches who were sent by the Council of Witchcraft, that’s all.”

  John was looking straight ahead. He saw something reflecting sunlight in the distance. He realized it was the Morden just about to enter the opposite end of the forest. His eyes seemed to be as keen as Avelan’s, as the edge of the forest was two miles away. “The men are coming,” he shouted. “I can see them.”

  Avelan looked, and he too could see them.

  By this time, everyone could see the Witches as they came closer. They could also see that they were riding broomsticks. This offended some of the older members of the Wizard’s Council, for they had banned Wizards from usi
ng broomsticks, which they deemed too dangerous. But the younger Wizards found it fascinating, for the law was passed just before their time, so it was to them a rare treat.

  As the Witches came into plain view, they sped up and now were coming in to land. When they had landed, the Council of the Four Races greeted them. There were two Wiccas and three Warlocks.

  The Warlock ambassador, Lenwer, then spoke to the Witches in their own language, which greatly pleased them.

  “Thank you for that greeting” said one of the Wiccas, who seemed to be the leader of the five. But she spoke in the common tongue for all to hear.

  John (who had climbed down from the balcony) and Helen recognized the Wicca and the Warlock standing next to her as their friends Joan and Harry. “I am Saren,” said the Wicca. “And this is my husband, Henkot. Our other companions are Kerfuz, Senom, and my niece, Molnet,” she said as she pointed them out. They all nodded at each other one after the other.

  “Don’t you think your niece a little young to go?” said Lenwer looking to the girl before him.

  “Trust me when I say that she’s one of the most talented Wiccas I have ever known,” said Saren, who then saw Helen and John staring blankly at both her and her husband. “Hello,” she said to them.

  “All this time you pretended to be our friends, and what you were really doing was spying on us,” said John taking a guess. He shot a stern look at one and then the other in turn.

  “We sent them with no intention of spying, John,” said the Grand Wizard. “Delsani and I did, however, ask the Council of Witchcraft to lend us two of their people stationed in the Normal World to befriend you and help you. We knew that you would be alone. We only wanted you to have friends to turn to, in case you fell on hard times, that’s all. We had no intentions to spy.”

  “We didn’t want to lie to you,” said Henkot. “We had no choice. We couldn’t disobey the Council of Witchcraft out of fear that they might have taken our licenses, which would mean that we could not go back to the Normal World.

  “We didn’t know you back then. To us you were just a mission, but through the years that changed, and now the both of you are our closest and most trusted friends.”

  We hope that you’ll forgive us,” said Saren. “We never spied on either of you. The only time we told them anything about you was when Delsani told us who you really were.”

  John was calmer now, but still angry. He glanced at Helen as if to look for support, but she just stood there silent. The truth was she didn’t care that they had lied; she was just happy that they were there.

  “We should have been informed of this,” said Galfad angrily. Galfad was the Council member who persuaded the other members to sign a petition to expel John from the order, to feed the personal hatred that he felt toward him.

  “But we didn’t want you to know,” said Delsani with a certain amount of satisfaction in his voice. “That was why we asked for two Witches rather than two Wizards.”

  Galfad looked furiously at Delsani, but said nothing.

  For things had changed in the Wizard world. The power that the Council once held had been handed back to the Grand Wizard, which was as it used to be in the old days. The reason for the change was because the Wizards lost confidence in the Council after a few bad decisions, the worst, of course, being that they all signed the petition that got rid of their future King, though they didn’t know that at that time.

  Numerous complaints from members of the Wizards Council still loyal to deputy Grand Wizard, Galfad (to give him his full title) followed, but were soon shot down by Jaucal and his own loyalists. After the short debate, the Witches were asked to trade in their broomsticks for horses, and they were more than pleased to do so.

  An hour after the Dwarves had marched, in the Men made their extraordinary appearance in the thousands. First came the drummers, then the flag bearers, the archers, the foot soldiers, and lastly the cavalry, all wearing neatly polished suits of armor. There armor was silver, as were their helmets, and was like that of the knights of the old stories. At the top of their helms were short, red-feathered blooms that curved a little near the tip. And just above the slits for their eyes was the emblem of yellow flames surrounding a green sun, which was also on their breastplates, only larger. On their gauntlets were spikes at the knuckles. Their elbows also had one large spike each. Their shoulders each had a plate with a red line running along their edge, and sitting on top were three small spikes. Their knees held one spike each, as did the tips of their shoes. They were truly a magnificent sight to be seen, even without their King, for he had sent his youngest son to lead his troops. The youngster, to be truthful, had only ever fought small skirmishes rather than any large battles, though to be fair he had won every one he had ever taken part in.

  One might wonder why the Wizards and Witches didn’t just Phaze them all to their destination. The main reason was that Phazes can be detected, and although there is a fair chance that they would be successful. The Grand Wizard deemed it too risky. Not mention the Men and Dwarves, who were none too pleased with that idea and were not afraid to voice their opinions. So for secrecy and to keep the peace, they were going the old-fashioned way.

  Before John got on to his horse he gave Helen a letter.

  “Hold on to this,” he said. “Only read it if I don’t make it back.”

  Helen could not believe what her ears were hearing. Never before had she heard him speak of his possible death.

  “I don’t need it,” she said, “because you’re coming back.”

  John threw his arms around her, and she embraced him in return with a peck on the lips and then the cheek.

  “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” said John.

  Helen nodded but said nothing. John’s words had unnerved her wholly.

  They set off as soon as all were ready. Those on horses walked them, to keep in line with the infantry and all of the Dwarves on foot. They went on for the remaining hours of the day, which were long and sometimes seemed never-ending. They only stopped a few times here and there too let their foot soldiers and horses rest for very brief periods of time.

  They went on into the early hours of the following day and had reached the Broader of the lands of Opredanas. They would soon be entering the land of Humrock, were the old tunes can be heard far and wide within the borders of that land, hummed by those chosen humming rocks of century’s past.

  “Can’t we go around Humrock, Delsani?” asked Eiaten hastily.

  “No,” replied Delsani flatly. “To do so would double the time of our journey, and time is something that we cannot afford to waste.”

  “Don’t worry, Eiaten,” said one of the Elves. “If you like we shall sing you a song.”

  “That is something that I for one could do without,” Eiaten grumbled.

  John and most of the Elves laughed, for their keen hearing had heard his words.

  They had just past the thin boarder between the two lands and they could already hear the rocks humming ahead. They were at least halfway through and set up a small temporary camp to rest for what was left of the twilight hours.

  The Elves, Wizards, Witches, Men, and even Dwarves were all enjoying the tunes. The Elves were singing as the Elf, Tuberel, said they would. Some of the Wizards were singing lightly, so they could not be heard over the Elves, for the Elf voices were loud and fair, especially compared to the voices of most of their companions.

  “What’s the matter, Eiaten?” shouted Tuberel. “Can you not sing and be merry?”

  “I can indeed,” replied the Dwarf lord. “However, I have put my mind to other more important things. Besides, if we put down our guard, you could put a spell on us and we would not even know it.”

  Suddenly the singing stopped, for word of the insult spread like wildfire.

  “I see,” said the Elf, “We’re not good enough to sing with but good enough to fight and perhaps even die with.” Tuberel said this without the look or sound of offence in anyway. In fact, he was
still laughing. “If I were you, my dear Dwarf, I would sleep with one eye open. For I am sure you have offended at least a few of these good people, and they may decide to bewitch you to share your voice with the rest of us. So for all our sakes, please be careful.”

  Suddenly all of the Elves, Wizards, and Witches, and Men burst into fits of pure laughter when Tuberel had finished.

  Eiaten, on the other hand, was furious with the Elf. The rest of the Dwarves looked worried, as they thought that the Elf spoke true. And the last thing that they wanted was for Eiaten to be under any sort of wicked spell.

  They retired to their tents for some rest. All accept some of the Elves that had stayed up for most of the night.

  They did not get to the land of Kealhal until the fourth day. The sky was clear but the land was shady. They all knew that it was the shadow of Salith, for only it was strong enough to dull the beautiful rays of the sun itself, which had just begun to set in front of them. What little light had broken through was fading fast. It was then that they had got their first view of the Macshelc Mountains, but because of the sun, it looked more like a shadow itself.

  Delsani took a long look at the land before them and remembered the last time he was there. There were fond memories of that once beautiful land, which then was rich with all sorts of life. The grass and wild trees and rare plants were the finest and brightest of any land that he had ever seen, but no more, for now there was nothing but darkness. And all of the things that Delsani had seen were now dry, shriveled, and dead. He could swear that the stench of death was all around them in that dead place. They rode on for a little longer and then set up camp behind Veuguil forest at least two miles away from any enemy patrol.

  “We should get whatever we need for the assault on the fortress ready.” said John.

  “We’ll have to make our plan of attack,” said Delsani.

  He turned to the young Wizard that was standing next to John.