All were more excited about the next spell on the list, however. It was the Teleport spell, one which would elevate them all to Mage status, as well as giving them the freedom to travel anywhere on Adapazan in an instant. Everyone hoped and prayed that they would be able to learn that spell — that key spell of all other spells — all except Zoran, who really did not need it. He could Shadow Walk anywhere on the planet as well as to all of the other planets in the Federation of Planets.
Much of the early weeks of July were spent working on this single spell. Archmage Nadia insisted that every member of the team learn to Teleport. While Zoran picked it up first with great ease, some of the others had a more difficult time with the spell, particularly Bernard, Karel, and Jarka. Interestingly enough, both Emil and Renata picked it up almost as rapidly as did Zoran.
The last Saturday in July was success day. Bernard finally mastered the spell. All seven were now awarded their Mage status, a high honor indeed. Since Sunday was their day off, Zoran exclaimed, “All right, Mages, one and all! Tomorrow, I want to throw you all a really big celebration party at the Stodgy Inn. I’ve reserved the inn for our use from ten to one. All you can eat and drink is on me! I’ve hired some musicians to play for us as well. Congratulations to us all! My fellow Mages! This is a once in a lifetime celebration, for Mages are we! Emil, Renata, maybe you can delay whatever it is that you have to do on Sunday for a while and join us. After all, you are part of the celebration too, you Mages.” Zoran felt alive, happy, and even a touch elated that every member of his team had made it. The twins looked at each other and then at their five friends.
“Sure we can delay it for a while,” Emil grinned. “All we can eat? Are you sure you can afford our tab?” Everyone roared with laughter. They had seen that these two could put away enormous meals without batting an eye.
“Great Emil, Renata. Yes, all you can eat and drink. Time for a real celebration. You are the greatest bunch of friends that I’ve ever had.”
On Sunday, they all headed to the inn — that is, they all Teleported there at the stroke of ten. The musicians were already on hand and played a triumphant march as the seven arrived. Drinks and food flowed from the barkeeper, who was making a very tidy profit this day indeed. Zoran moved tables out of the way making a dancing area. He took Zdenka onto his new dance floor, and they began to dance to the tunes. Not to be outdone, Bernard swept Jarka, protesting all the way, onto the dance floor as well. But her protests were all show; she began to enjoy herself as well.
Karel asked if Renata wanted to dance. “But I don’t know how to dance,” she replied.
“Darn if I know either, but let’s just follow them. At least you can twirl around some,” he confided in her. She let go of her hesitation and they joined in, leaving Emil standing and watching. Shortly, one of the barmaids, who was serving the drinks, took Emil by the hand and pulled him onto the dance floor as well. She got caught up in their frolicking fun as well.
A while later, Emil and Renata stopped to eat. Only after letting out a tremendous burp after his seventh serving did Emil finally push his plate away. “Guess that will hold me a while.” Everyone roared and handed him another ale. Renata had six servings, Zoran noted. How they could put away all that food was beyond him, but just now, he cared not at all. He was happy, having fun, and was with his friends. The world was beautiful and cheerful. He had no idea this would be so short lived.
The next morning, everyone was nursing a slight hangover, excepting Emil and Renata, of course. After breakfast, all felt somewhat better and were about to resume their studies, when they received a Message from the Archmage. “Meet me in the first floor study immediately.” The tone of her voice sounded serious; they looked at each other hoping that one of them had some clue about what was happening. None did. They rushed down to their old study room. All of the many books and scrolls were neatly in their proper places. Archmage Nadia looked very serious and very old this morning. Something was very wrong. Zoran didn’t need his special sense to know that something was happening.
“Have a seat, please. I have some really bad news to share with you, and I am afraid that I will have to beg you to undertake a vitally critical mission fraught with danger, especially to Zoran. As everyone now knows, Baron Kazimir,” Zoran noted that she purposely did not use his last name, probably for his sake, “has invaded the Sholov Province. Warlord Mikolas has put up a valiant defense, costing the Baron dearly for every mile that he has conquered. However, that is not why I have called you here. No, it is far, far, far more important than the fall of yet another warlord of the Wild Lands.”
“There is a side effect, one of immense magnitude, but one which only Zoran here can fully appreciate. Because of the nature of this situation, Zoran, I ask your permission to tell the others your identity and secret, if I may. I swear to you that I am not taking this lightly and that it is vital to everyone’s understanding of the situation we are facing at this very moment that they know your story. Will you free me from my pledge to you, Zoran?”
“But that will expose them to — well, you know what I mean,” Zoran cringed. More than anything, he did not want to burden his friends with his own troubles or open them wide to assassinations as well.
“I am well aware of that aspect, Zoran, but the sheer magnitude of what is happening and what will happen if we do not intervene within hours far outweigh the danger to your team members.”
“I trust your judgment, Archmage Oldrich. I so release you from your word,” Zoran spoke clearly and decisively. He rather wished that she had taken him aside and told him what was going on and allowed him to reach the same conclusion as she. However, she hadn’t and now he began to wonder why.
“Would you or would you prefer me to tell them, Zoran?” she asked in her soft, calm voice.
“I ought to since they are my friends.” He sighed; in a minute they would become part of his secret life, fraught with all of the dangers and even assassination attempts as well.
“I have never told you my sir name. I had my reasons which I will tell you about now. I am really Duke Zoran Vladislov, son of Baron Kazimir Vladislov. Here is my ring to prove it.” He pulled his duke ring from its thong around his neck and showed it to the others. Many gasped.
Zdenka exclaimed, “I knew it! I knew you were a nobleman!” She flushed and was silent.
“More than a nobleman, I’m afraid. I am a Duska and fourth heir to the throne of Adapazan. I am sorry for having withheld this from you, but I had no choice. You see, I hate my father and older brother. I am nothing like them; neither are my twin sisters, Rayna and Lida. I was being trained by Archmage Milos, but he is an idiot and despot compared to Archmage Oldrich here. Before I came here in secret, an assassin tried to kill me three times. Obviously, he failed on each attempt, but the attempts on my life were increasing in frequency. I had no choice but to run away. I took great, great pains to hide my tracks so that no one could ever follow me here. Indeed, I didn’t even tell my sisters, who I dearly love, where I went. They still do not know where I am. I know that Baron Kazimir has got many spies fanned out throughout the entire Federation of Planets searching for me. If and when they find me, there will be hell to pay, that I know. Just by my having revealed this to you has now placed all of your lives at risk. You too may well be targets of assassins, if the Baron or whoever is behind these assassinations ever finds out that I am here and that you are my friends. I never, ever wanted to place you in this kind of danger. I am Duska. I have an inner sense when danger is at hand and have lightning fast reactions, which has saved my life three times now. I am truly sorry that I have now placed all of you in such danger. You do not deserve it.”
“Who is trying to kill you? Tell us about the assassination attempts,” Zdenka urged him on. She was staggered by the magnitude of just who he was! A Duska, that explained so much about him — why Archmage Nadia chose him to be their leader and why he could sense when danger was near. Yet he was nothing like his father, the Bar
ron. Zoran was the kindest, most gentle man that she had ever met.
“I have no idea at all who the assassin might be or who has hired him to kill me or even why someone wants me dead. The Baron,” he could still not think of him as his father any longer, “could care less about me. He just ignores me like some fly buzzing around the dinner table. Rayna, my sister, thinks our older brother, Radek, might be behind it, but I can’t see why he would want me dead. I pose him no threat. He is the heir to the throne of Adapazan, not me. Heck, my two sisters are in line for the throne before I am.”
“The first attempt was poisoned bread at our dinner table. I accidently dropped it on the floor, and my old dog ate it and died within minutes. Then, the assassin tried to shoot me with a poisoned arrow while I was in the middle of an intense fighter training round with real swords fighting against our sword master. I barely avoided that one. The last time, he tried to drop a three foot stone parapet block on my head while I was walking down the street going to an inn. I dove out of the way and it missed my leg by mere inches. That’s when I decided that I had had enough and ran away.”
“I Shadow Walked to get here. In the basement of Castle Dorumova and in the most secure location in the entire castle, lies the Circle of Ascension, which is the key to our ability to Shadow Walk. I purposely retraced my initiation steps, passing through all of the intertwined lines that connect the many planets of the Federation, before I stepped out and here to Brn. That way, not even a priest can determine just where I went. Ordinarily, if one Shadow Walks, a priest can see the energy lines and ascertain the destination. Honestly, there is no way anyone can trace me here directly. I think we are still safe for a time.” He wanted to alleviate their fears of imminent assassinations.
“Holy crap! We’ve had a real Duska with us all this time!” Karel finally burst out his surprise and awe. He had been in complete shock until now.
“Wow! Incredible!” added Jarka. “Say, does that now mean that we have to call you Duke Zoran and treat you as a super-nobleman?” she couldn’t resist a stab; after all he had been hiding this from her all this time.
Zoran grinned, “Jarka, if you call me duke, I will have to cut out your tongue.” She flushed and then giggled, getting his joke. “Honestly, that would give everything away. The assassins would be here in no time, and you’d probably find your throats cut, once he forced my whereabouts out of you. Never call me duke or Duska, please. I’m just plain old Zoran.”
“Hardly plain,” Bernard teased him, with a big grin on his face.
“So you can walk between planets?” Emil asked curiously.
“Yes, just as easily as you all can now Teleport anywhere on Adapazan, Emil. We are born with a special gland at the base of our brains. When we reach puberty, the Ceremony of Ascension is conducted by our priests. Essentially, they lead us around the Circle of Ascension, which activates our glands. I was awfully sick at first, but it soon passed. Without the guidance of the priest, I would never have been able to master it by myself.”
Emil reached a decision. His father could do this thing too, this Shadow Walk or at least something similar. Emil knew that, while his father would teach him this, there would be limitations. Aldrick told him that he could only travel to planets that he knew about, and here was a man who could move between at least sixteen of them, far more than his dad ever mentioned. Emil wanted to be able to go to all sixteen and thus he reached his decision. “Archmage Oldrich, perhaps this is a time for additional revelations.”
She smiled, “Perhaps, Emil, it is so. Would you like to share with your team?”
“Yes. Gang, Renata and I are not what we seem to be, humans. Actually, well, ah, we are really gold dragons, young ones, in our teens, just like some of you. We are here to learn magic spells, as did our dad many years ago. He brought us here to learn from his old teacher, Archmage Oldrich.”
“What? Dragons?” exclaimed Karel.
“Well, that explains a whole lot!” blurted out Bernard. “No wonder the horses were so skiddy around you two!”
“Ah ha!” Jarka whispered rather loudly.
Zdenka merely said, “Oh my!” She was genuinely surprised.
“No wonder you had such hard times with all our customs and actions,” Zoran replied. “Your secret is safe with me, you two. Thank you for telling us. So that’s why you two were not injured by the arrows and swords. No wonder you could lift that tree. Incredible. You two must be very strong indeed.”
“Say, can we see what you really look like sometime?” Jarka asked, dying to know just what they did look like. “And what’s with all this sneaking around on Sundays? Where have you two been going? I’ve looked around town, but I have never seen you here in Brn.”
“Er, feeding,” Renata answered, slightly embarrassed.
“We get really hungry by then. Normally, we need to eat once a week. I’m afraid that we would have to eat all of your food if we didn’t take off on Sundays to hunt and feast,” Emil explained.
“What do you eat?” Jarka inquired, curious. She hoped it was not on people that they dined.
“Hoofers,” Renata replied, “antelope.”
“Okay, we got lots of them around here, just glad you didn’t say people,” Jarka teased them, but with a serious overtone. “So it was one of you that the hunter saw flying in the mountains a while back?”
“Er, no, not us. We have been very careful. No one has seen us. It was dad; he slipped up and allowed the hunter man to see him flying back with an antelope for mom,” Emil explained, and then realized that he had said a bit too much. Oh well, they might as well know the rest. He went on, “Mom and dad are here too, living in the cavern where dad often stayed when he was here years ago studying magic.”
“You see, our planet Voss is, as dad puts it, over-populated by we dragons. We’ve eaten all of the hoofers of any kind there. Before we came here this spring, we were starving to death, really we were. The Council wouldn’t listen to dad who tried to warn them about our over-population problem years ago. Now all dragons on Voss are slowly starving to death. That’s why dad brought us all here. He can travel kind of like your Shadow Walking, I think. Zoran, one day, I would give anything if you would help me develop that skill. Dad is going to teach me what he knows about it, but you know far, far more than dad does. Please, help me when the time is right, please.”
“Me too,” Renata added.
“I’ll see what I can do, when the time is right,” Zoran promised, though he did not know whether this was a good call or not. Certainly the time would not be right in the foreseeable future. “Anyway, team, let’s all swear to keep their secret safe with us. After all, think of the problems that would arise if the whole town knew that we have four dragons living among us.”
Jarka nodded, that was an understatement if she’d ever heard one. The five all agreed. Renata then suggested, “Next Sunday if you want, you can come with us and meet our parents, that is, if you don’t mind watching us eat. We do have to eat, you know.” Everyone was only too pleased to be asked.
The Archmage allowed them to chat about these amazing revelations for a brief time. Then, she resumed control of her meeting. “Okay. Now why have I decided all this must become known just now? The answer lies in the Circle of Ascension that all of the Ruling Houses of the Federation have. Without these Circles of Ascension, it is doubtful if any of their special glands could be activated. They are the root of a baron’s powers. Without a Circle of Ascension, a baron’s line would end, as none of his children could have their special gland activated. There would be no more Duska children, no more heirs, no more powerful leaders, no more Shadow Walking between planets. This is why the barons so heavily guard and protect their Circles of Ascension, they are extremely vital.”
“With this in mind, I now have someone from the Sholov Province that I want you to meet.” She cast a brief spell and Marek opened the door, showing the guest into the room. Dressed in brown monk’s robes, the hooded man entered and bowed
to Archmage Nadia Oldrich.
“Mages, I would like you to meet Brother Jiri Zar of Sholov Fortress.” He removed his hood and bowed to the assembled Mages. His hair was cut very short, his eyes, brown, probably in his mid-twenties, Zoran guessed. His robes hid his physique, which was that of a fighting monk. His last name, Zar — it was familiar somehow — something to do with history, as he tried to recalled.
The monk’s eyes met each of the Mages in turn as he bowed to them. When his eyes reached Zoran’s, he reacted with surprise. “Zoran? Duke Zoran?”
“Yes, but I am keeping my identity around here a secret, known only to those here in this room, please say nothing of this to others,” Zoran quickly replied.
“My lips are sealed. Archmage Oldrich, this is even better that I had expected, a duke is with us; perhaps there is yet hope.” She smiled and bade him continue his tale for the Mages.
He stood tall and began his well-rehearsed speech. “My name is indeed Brother Jiri Zar, a holy monk of the Ascension. I am the great-great-great-grandson of Bandar Zar, who built the very first Circle of Ascension on the forest planet of Gladno so long ago. Unfortunately, the knowledge of how to build these Circles of Ascension was lost when he died, though he built sixteen of them, one on each of the sixteen planets of the Federation. Since that time, no more have ever been built; the knowledge was lost.”
“My wife, Priestess Anezka, has already performed one Ceremony of Ascension and is skilled in their use to mature the young Duska. Three years ago, Priestess Anezka and I were called in secret to this planet and to Warlord Mikolas at his mountain fortress. His fortress is an ancient one, dating back to the founding of the barons and the Circles of Ascension. While renovating the old fortress, buttressing it against this day which has now come — that is, an all-out assault by the Baron’s army — Mikolas uncovered a secret chamber beneath the fortress. There he found numerous ancient scrolls and books covered in dust. The author of several of these was Bandar Zar.”
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 10
