The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies)

by R. Alan Ferguson

  “Nor shall it, or are you forgetting that the one that you said would be the one to fulfill the Prophecy is dead?” said Eiaten anxiously.

  “No,” said Delsani, staring down at the Dwarf, “I haven’t, nor will I ever forget the Wizard-Elf Jastark, for he was like a second son to me. Nor will I forget that it was I who persuaded him that he was the one in the Second Prophecy or that he alone faced the evil Ulicoth and Kilamen combined and paid with his life.”

  Eiaten now felt sorry for the Wizard and said no more of it.

  “I would like to remind all of you that there are two Prophecies, and we tried to bring around the second because we didn’t want to sit and wait to be attacked,” said Delsani loudly so all could hear. “And may I also remind you that in the first Prophecy it states, and I quote, ‘the dark shadow of Salith would return by the fault of another evil, and this evil would assemble an enormous and destructive force. And the races of Dorminya would suffer terrible losses of life, and this would plunge our world into darkness.’ And if I do say so myself, it doesn’t get any darker than this.”

  “So what you’re saying is that we by coming here have brought around the First Prophecy instead of the second?” said Avelan.

  “Exactly,” said Delsani.

  “There is still the matter of the death of John Stark, and you said that he was the last in the line of Thoucil and Dragdani. If that is true then, who is left to fulfill the Second Prophecy?” asked Bacnil curiously.

  “Think,” whispered Delsani, so that only Avelan, Bacnil, and Eiaten could hear him. “John is dead. Therefore he obviously cannot be the one. But he was married. And only someone with his blood could be the one.”

  “A child,” whispered Avelan, looking as though he had just won first place in a quiz.

  “I hope so,” said the old Wizard. “I think that Ulicoth somehow knows, and if so. Then Helen and the child could be great in danger. I will need to leave you all,” said Delsani just as a letter landed beside him and was now running on its bottom corners as if they were feet. It was jumping up near Delsani when the Wizard grabbed it and ripped it open.

  Delsani I regret to inform you that Helen Stark wife of the late John Stark has been attacked by one of our people who had been somehow controlled by Ulicoth.

  However, she has been treated for the wounds she sustained and is responding well to her treatment. She and her unborn child should fully recover without any further trouble.

  Your friend,

  The Grand Wizard,

  Jaucal

  P. S.

  I have enclosed something you may find useful.

  Good luck, old friend.

  As soon as Delsani had read the letter, it turned into a small plant.

  “There is a child,” said Delsani brightly. “And Ulicoth knows it.” And before anyone could say anything, the Wizard ran to the Witches who were gathered around a small dented old copper cauldron.

  “Quickly, tell me, have you added the substitute ingredient yet?” said Delsani hastily.

  “No, not yet,” said Henkot. “Why? Is there something wrong?”

  “No, on the contrary, everything’s right, for now anyway. We no longer need it; we have the real thing,” said Delsani as he handed the plant to the Warlock. “How long until it’s ready?”

  “That depends on whether we put the right amount in the potion,” said Saren.

  Delsani pulled Henkot to one side. “Are you sure that Saren is all right to make the potion?”

  “I’m not sure, but I do know that Saren is the best potion maker I’ve ever known. Besides I think she needs to do this.”

  Delsani nodded. “Fine.” He walked back to the other Ves-guard generals, and again it looked as though he was trying to convince them of something that seemed to upset them. Nevertheless, they all walked over to the Witches.

  Delsani went and stood with Prince Bacnil, Avelan, and Eiaten again.

  “What’s going on?” asked Bacnil loudly.

  “I may be an old Wizard, Bacnil, but I am not deaf,” said Delsani.

  “You said that there is a child, and that Ulicoth knows about it,” said Avelan. “My question is why then, did he not attack the mother and child? And why all of this?”

  “First, he did attack Helen Stark and her unborn child. The attempt failed, and both mother and child are fine. That was what the letter was about,” said Delsani in a low voice.

  “And second, the reason for all of this is simple. He needed to steal the power of a Wizard-Elf to make himself strong again. And as the person in question would most likely never fully recover, he could not use Kilamen. So when his spy had told him of John, Ulicoth saw his chance and took it.

  “The third reason is also simple. Ulicoth wanted us to leave Helen and her unborn child almost defenseless by luring most of the Wizards and Witches that work in the towers here. Thus he could order his spy to kill the real target and threat. And then there is the fact that Ulicoth is so vain that he wanted us to see this great knew force that he alone commands. But his vanity shall spell the beginning of the end for him.

  “For as they say, New Life, New Hope”

  “What do you mean? How can we possibly defeat such an enemy even if he were to let us go? We still would not be able to raise a force to even half of his,” said Eiaten grimly, “or have you forgotten that the other cities of men didn’t want to join us in this?”

  “No, I’ve not forgotten, and if you had let me finish, I would have told you that there is a way to stop Ulicoth’s army before he can release them upon our world,” said Delsani. “Remember the letter that turned into a plant?”

  “Yes, it looked like Huerpul,” said Avelan.

  “Huerpul,” repeated Eiaten fearfully; “is forbidden for Wizards or Witches to even possess, by the treaty that my father and the leaders of the other races signed in the towers of Telian,” stated the Dwarf angrily.

  “I know. You sound frightened and a little angry, but you must understand that if there were any other options, I would gladly hear them. However, there is not, and we do not have the time to think of one, for Ulicoth will grow weary of us and will most certainly destroy us, and then all of our worlds, one after the other. This will be our only opportunity to hold Ulicoth back, to give the child of John and Helen Stark time to grow and fulfill the Second Prophecy,” said Delsani.

  “If you are proposing that we make death mist. Then I’m with Eiaten. I do not want to be partly responsible for introducing that horror back into our world,” said Bacnil.

  “This version of the death mist that we are creating will be temporary. We couldn’t produce the real thing even if we wanted to. For we do not, nor would we want to know too much about the dark arts of Salith,” said Delsani. “But we do know how to defend against the dark arts.”

  “But are you sure that you can defend against the death mist?” asked Avelan. “Although I agree with the other two, I see that there is no other option. Not that I’m questioning your abilities or the abilities of the others.”

  “As I said, it will not be the real thing. Therefore it will easily be dispersed,” said Delsani slowly, as though it might help them understand.

  “Will Ulicoth not be able to disperse it as easily?” asked Bacnil.

  “No. Before we release it, each Witch and Wizard will put protection spells on the potion, which will mean that only we can defend against it. And without knowing what spells were used, it would take days, perhaps even weeks to break through them all, and by then we’ll be long gone,” said Delsani.

  Before any of them could say anything else, Henkot shouted, “IT IS ALMOST READY. ALL WE NEED IS YOUR PROTECTION SPELL.”

  Delsani turned and waved. Then he looked back to the other leaders. “I will not do this without your approval. It’s now or never.”

  Chapter Six

  The Wife and the Son

  There plan had worked. The green temporary mist that they created had destroyed most of Ulicoth’s massive army. But it
failed to reach inside the mountains and fortress of Ulicoth, for he sealed them off. The Dark Lord had other troops inside the mountains, and fortress and in other lands, but the alliance could match their numbers, which meant that they were left in stalemate.

  The alliance members were now making their way back to the Magical World, as the Wizards and Witches like to call their land.

  Delsani and Prince Bacnil, however, were not with them, for Bacnil had been wounded in the battle and kept it hidden from the others. He did not want to miss out on anything and held until the mist had killed most of Ulicoth’s creatures, but then collapsed. He needed to be tended at the Towers of Telian, as Delsani wished to get back as soon as possible, and as Bacnil had not given permission that he could be Phazed back. Delsani took the young Prince on Avelan’s horse, as she was the swiftest and most steadfast.

  The Wolf Demala went with them and kept up to the horse’s speed with ease. Delsani knew that Demala could out run the horse easily but he was holding back to stay with them.

  With the speed of Edel, it only took them hours and not days to reach the Magical World. And then they were at the towers in a matter of minutes. There were Ves-guards there to meet them as they rode up the path, and they carefully took Prince Bacnil, with Demala following the young Prince.

  Delsani ran as fast as he could to see how Helen was. He did not know what he was going to say to her. That thought hadn’t even crossed his mind until that moment.

  However, as he was about to stretch out his hand to open the vault room door that he, John and Helen had taken before, it opened, and the Grand Wizard, Jaucal, came through.

  “I see you’ve returned,” said Jaucal.

  “I’m sorry I took so long, but Prince Bacnil was wounded, and as I had commandeered the fastest horse, I had to bring him with me. Besides, I thought it best not to Phaze. I thought it would be better to let Ulicoth think that his plan had succeeded.”

  “Yes, that would be for the best for sure, though unfortunately I can say that Ulicoth now knows all, but it was good of you to play it safe.”

  “Have you told Helen? Have you told her of John’s death?” said Delsani slowly.

  “No, she hasn’t been informed. I wanted to leave it as long as possible. For at that time I thought the poor woman had been through enough.”

  “We can only keep it from her as long as it takes the others to return,” said Delsani. “And keeping it from her may make matters far worse than they already are. I think the time has come to tell all.”

  Jaucal nodded slightly. “You are right, my friend. The time has come to tell all.”

  Delsani looked at him with wonder. “Did you know John would die?” he asked doubtfully. In truth he was not sure whether he wanted the answer to his question.

  “No,” replied Jaucal truthfully. “If I knew then what I know now. The battle of Kealhal wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Then how did you know, and what do you know?” asked Delsani curiously.

  “I knew that John had died, because when it happened, I felt it,” said Jaucal.

  And with that reply, Delsani had noticed that Jaucal now looked worn and older than he remembered. “His pain was so strong. And when I felt it drift away, I knew. I knew that he was lost to us,” said Jaucal grievously. “And as for what I know now, well when I first sensed John’s pain, I accidentally dropped one of the books that I was setting back onto the bookcase in my office. Some pieces of parchment fell out of it, and when I bent down to pick them up, I saw that the two sheets of the parchment were the measurements of the parchment of the Prophecies and the piece of parchment that had John’s name on it. One sheet had been written by Dragdani shortly after writing the prophecies purely for reference; the other was written shortly after John’s name was found for the same reason. And when I put the two sheets together, I saw that the two measurements taken for the parchment that had John’s name were different. So I went down to the vault and checked the parchment. I used the Histatia spell to see if it had been tampered with. It took a great deal of tampering, but I found that it had been. Someone had taken away one of the simple protection spells and hadn’t stopped there, for there I also saw that the culprit had tried to take away the other protection spells as well. However, he was unsuccessful, for only the spell concealing the name had been lifted.

  “I then used the same spell on the vault itself, which was not easy, as you can imagine. I was lucky for the culprit had covered their tracks sloppily. Delsani, it was Noesod.” Delsani was shocked to hear this name. For Noesod was the last person that he thought would have betrayed them, and especially the last person who would betray John or try to hurt Helen. “I know how you must feel, for I was as stunned at what I saw. And as you know those spells do not lie,” said Jaucal.

  “What else did you see?” asked Delsani hastily.

  “I saw that the he tore off part of the parchment and put it in his pocket. Then I knew John was dead, for I could no longer sense his pain, and it was then that I realized that John was not the one. There had to be another heir to Dragdani, and then I knew that Helen was with child, and if Noesod saw the name, she and the unborn child were in danger. I sent for the guards and sent some to find Noesod. The other guards I took to John and Helen’s room, and there to my dismay we found Noesod standing over Helen, who was lying unconscious on the floor. Noesod just stood there with his wand pointing down at her. His hands were shaking wildly. Then he turned his head and begged me to stop him.

  I acted immediately, sending him across the room into the wall. I ordered the guards to take Helen to the infirmary and not to leave her unguarded. And then I went over to Neusod who was lying on the ground. His eyes were wide open, and a smile had come across his face, one that I’ll never forget. Then he laughed and said, “Soon. I’ll find him soon.’ the voice was not Noesod’s; it was dark and foul. Then a purple vapor began to drift from his mouth and his breathing stopped. I tried to revive him but it was no use. I found the missing piece of parchment. And I joined it back on to the page,” said Jaucal. He took the page out of his pocket and handed it to Delsani.

  When Delsani opened it, it read:

  Peter John Stark

  “Now if you‘re satisfied with my answers, we should really go and tell Helen what his happened and all that we know,” said Jaucal.

  “Yes,” said Delsani anxiously, dreading the thought of having to remember and tell everything that had happened. But he knew that she had to be told, and there was no one else who could explain it all. He took a step forward, but was stopped by Jaucal who said, “Why go the long way?” He put out his right hand and a long scepter appeared. The scepter was auburn except for the very bottom tip, which was silver. The top was also silver and it was in the form of the design on Dragdani’s belt buckle, a Dragons claw holding a colored orb. It began to glow with a blue light, and the tighter he held, it the brighter it became. Delsani took hold of Jaucal’s, arm and they both appeared at the foot of Helen’s bed in the infirmary.

  A week had past in Dorminya since Helen had been told of John’s fate, and in all that time she refused to receive any visitors or even interact with anyone at all. She stayed in her room in the tower lying on the bed sobbing into her pillows. However, today she knew that she would have to go and say her final goodbyes to John, for today they were holding a service for the Wizards and Witches who died at the battle of Kealhal. The service was also being held for most of the royal family of Rulouvge, meaning that one survived the massacre. Bacnil’s ten-year-old cousin, Hadnim, was now his only living relative. The service was also for the Dwarves of the Werferd Mountain’s who were also killed be Kilamen as pay back for what happened at Kealhal.

  The Dwarf Lord Eiaten broke off all contact and communication with the other races after that. He had lost half of his family in the destruction of his father’s mines and was trying to prepare himself for an attack.

  The Wizards and Witches were also making ready, for they also feared retaliat
ion. But Ulicoth had no intention of attacking them, for he had made his point. Those that were closest to them would suffer for any further defiance. And he had the bonus that the Wizards would be blamed for all of the deaths and the mistrust of the Men and Dwarves. And he was right, for the Men, like the Dwarves, did not want anything more to do with the Wizards or Witches. However Bacnil trusted them, and kept the alliance with the Wizards, Witches, and Elves, for like his new friends, he knew that at that moment Ulicoth was starting to rebuild everything that he had lost. And Bacnil believed that when he was ready. The unborn child of John and Helen Stark would one day lead them to destroy Ulicoth, and most importantly to him, Kilamen. For the thought of avenging his family was the only thing that was keeping him going, but it would not consume him, for he would be patient and wait for his day to come. But for now, like others, he was getting ready for the service.

  Helen was also getting ready with the help of Saren, who was the only person Helen would see, only because she had lost her niece and they could comfort each other. When she was ready, they went down to the main hall to wait for Henkot and Delsani.

  It was not long before they came, and they all walked to the front doors together. When they stepped outside there were what looked like giant teardrops with wings. The teardrops were on solid, stubby legs that looked as though they were made of glass. The wings were like wings of an insect and were folded back.

  Helen had seen these things in Cayer-Huld the Wizard City. They were transport for people going long distances. She was trying to remember what John said they were.

  “Are you okay, Helen?” asked Saren.

  “I was trying to think of what John called those things,” said Helen pointing to the tears.