At long last, and not too soon for Zdenka and Jarka, the dance ended. Once in their rooms, Zoran and Bernard were needed to help the two women undress and change into more comfortable attire. Without her asking, Zoran began giving her feet a good massage. Bernard, seeing what Zoran did, followed suit.
A bit later, the twins returned from their shopping trip. Both were extremely happy and had to show everyone their new mammoth sized gems. Zdenka’s comment hit home to both. “Those are of such high quality that you could enchant them with all manner of magical properties.” This had not occurred to either, and they both set off to work up what spells they could infuse the gems with and how. “Dragons sure love gems,” she said as the two turned in for the night.
Zoran had just gotten to sleep, when his Circle and inner senses forced him wide awake. Someone was attempting once again to Shadow Walk to the area of his Circle. No, it was Kazimir, he detected. As before, he found himself partially in the Shadows observing, picking up on the man’s intention: to arrive on the street before his tower. Just as Kazimir was about to arrive, Zoran moved towards him to drive him off. Again, the Duska inner sense warned the Baron, who instantly fled for his life! Zoran’s eyes closed and he again fell into a deep sleep.
Zoran noted Kazimir looked incredibly haggard and run down, when he arrived for the morning council session. Try as he might, he could not figure out what the Baron was attempting to do by coming to his tower so late at night. He brought no attacking army or assassins with him. It made no sense to him, as did the day’s meeting. The rest of the week was spent on mundane things, hardly worth having them all together, Zoran thought. Like Zdenka, he began to long for the evening’s entertainments, carefully arranged by Abigail.
That evening, Zoran escorted Zdenka to the fancy carriage, designed especially for women wearing such wide dresses. Dozens of such carriages were in a line, waiting for the guests. Tom and Abigail took many other couples with them to see the latest stage play in the largest theater in Heddingham.
Zoran simply lifted Zdenka in and out of the carriage, for which she was grateful. The play about farmers and their lives was interesting because both knew next to nothing about the agrarians and their world.
This was repeated the next night, as the carriages took them all to the same theater. This evening a forty member music group performed dozens of pieces for nearly two hours. “Somehow, we just have to get musicians in our castle,” Zdenka insisted. Zoran heartily agreed, though he knew not just how this could be done as yet.
Both Zdenka and Zoran looked forward to the next night’s affair, the ballet. For ninety minutes, they watched enthralled as the dancers, men and women, walking, prancing, and dancing on their toes told the story of a traveling musician and his trials and tribulations. Knowing just how much these two loved the ballet, Abigail arranged for the two of them to meet the main two dancers back stage after the performance. It is hard to say who was more impressed, the young dancing couple or Zoran and Zdenka. They chatted for nearly an hour, inquiring how they learned to dance on their toes.
Years and years of practice was the routine answer. However, Gail added, “For novices who yet do not have the feet and ankles strengthened and who want to experience ballet dancing, we know of a shoemaker who makes special boots. If you like, I can send him to you.” Thus, the two returned home with a pair of these special boots to try out in their bedroom later on.
The next evening, they were treated to a choral concert. The evening was divided into three sections. First, an all-women’s choir sung for thirty minutes. Next, an all-boy’s choir sang in their unusually high voices — nearly angelic was the common description. Finally, a large mixed choir of some one hundred men and women sang four and eight part songs. Leaving the theater Zdenka commented, “Wow! Wow! Wow!” Abigail was quite pleased.
Back at their room after the concert, Zoran and Baron Leo finally had time for a private conversation. After casting preventative spells, Zoran asked, “Observed any special connections that you have with your Circle, Leo?”
“Other than my eyes changing? Sure glad that you alerted me to that one. Well, it seems like I can sense things with it.” Zoran smiled, good lad. He spent an hour outlining all of the “special connections” that he had so far discovered with his own Circle.
For this information, Leo was exceedingly grateful, thanking him profusely. “I owe you a big one, Zoran. Thanks! I’ll let you know if I discover anything else going on with me and my new Circle.”
Late afternoon of the last day, once the meeting adjourned until the spring session, Milan cautioned Zoran once again. “Look, now that Baron Eckhard has a vested interest in Dorumova, you had best be on a sharp lookout for all manner of plots, especially assassinations. I’m sure that Eckhard will want to somehow shore up his hold over Adapazan. I think he believes that he is about to conquer your planet.” This Zoran didn’t need to hear.
What he found interesting was discovering that Gladno, Valtr, Cosma, Terra, and Gonda now had between twenty and thirty golden dragons living there. Each Baron had signed a defense pact with them and was paying the dragons in large gemstones for their services.
That night, Zoran related this to Zdenka. “You know, I sometimes wonder if I did the right thing, bringing the dragons to Adapazan. It has hardly been a year and now they are on five other worlds.”
“Yes, you had no choice, Zoran. Besides, these five are our allies, but that’s not what is troubling you, is it?” she astutely asked.
“No. What if the other worlds somehow get other dragons, different species, such as the red dragons, to come to their worlds? I may have opened the flood gates to the ruin of the whole Federation.”
“Oh don’t be so hard on yourself. You did what you had to do. Come to bed.”
Chapter 27 Winter’s Treason
The October’s early snow fell on Brn, as it did various places around Adapazan. The warlords had their grain for the winter. The two large pockets of Yellers were now gone, leaving only isolated groups in the other provinces. These he would handle somehow in the spring.
Twice more, Zoran detected Kazimir attempting to Shadow Walk to his Tower. Twice more, as he moved towards him to intercept him, Kazimir fled in a panic. Still Zoran had no clue of the Baron’s intentions. Was he somehow testing him and his defenses? He had no answer.
A thousand miles away in the comforts of Castle Dorumova, Damek was finding life a bit annoying. First, his father was growing increasingly strange. His obsession with a hidden Shadow Assassin was discussed nearly every day. Of course, no one had ever heard of such a thing, which greatly annoyed Brunhilda, who reported the Baron’s growing madness to her father back on Dietmar. Damek found the best way to deal with Kazimir’s outbursts was to offer him a strong drink. It shut him up, anyway.
Beginning in October, Baron Kazimir began to make plans for an all-out assault on Brn. “Son, there is one thing that I must do for you before I die and that is to eliminate Zoran, my ill-gotten excuse for a son! Now, I have a pact with Baron Eckhard. Come spring, he will be sending along a huge army. Together, we will take Brn away from them! We must make our plans, son.”
Bit by bit, the Baron created his three dimensional model of Brn Province. Kindly, Eckhard had lent him a Mage, who went Invisible, Teleported to the province, and cast Fly on himself. Slowly, he began to obtain the data needed for the model that the Baron was constructing. “Find their weakest point, son. That’s where we shall strike.”
During the winter, Kazimir worked his remaining soldiers, getting them as prepared for a great battle as he could. No one dared mention the dragons to the Baron. At the beginning of the training, one soldier did. It was the last thing he ever said; the Baron killed him instantly. “You fill fight and die for me or I will kill you right now!” the Baron swore at his commanders and soldiers. Damek attempted to become as invisible as possible at these times. He had spent nine years as a soldier of the Baron’s, working his way up from a buck private to se
rgeant. He knew well what fear was going through the minds of the soldiers. They had seen thousands slain at Sholov and knew that nearly three hundred of the very best of them perished as they attempted to storm this very same tower last year. None wanted anything to do with the dragons, yet to say anything meant instant death by the Baron.
Hence, unknown to the Baron, many soldiers began slinking off in the middle of the night, heading for the Wild Lands beyond the reach of Kazimir. Of course, his commanders also knew of the desertions, but none dared even mention this to the Baron. He would take his wrath out on them! Worse, they had no Mages anymore. They would be facing numerous Archmages as well as Mages and dragons. The assault was pure folly, but they continued to drill their men in spite of this.
Married life with Brunhilda was not going well for Damek either. She was bossy and condescending to him. Over and over, she barked, “Look, you are not Duska. I am. You do what I say or else!” Now at night, he preferred to stay up and drink far into the night with Kazimir. At least once the old man started drinking, he didn’t speak. Damek became more and more unhappy with the turn that his life was taking.
Often during the battle planning sessions, Kazimir and Brunhilda left him totally out of their conversations! Once he attempted to point out a small flaw in their planning. Both told him to mind his own business and go for a walk. Useless, that’s how Damek began feeling. He was adrift in a tempest and knew not what to do. Was there anything even that he could do? Daily, he grew more and more convinced that he was nothing but a mere pawn, of little or no value whatsoever. He took to brooding even more.
As Yuletide approached, Damek made a last ditch attempt to melt his relationship with his wife. On his own, he searched the shops of Dorum and bought her what he thought was a very fine diamond necklace. In his own defense, it was the finest diamond that he had ever seen.
At dinner, he decided to give it to her. “My love, I got you a Yuletide present. I hope that you will like it.” He handed her the nicely wrapped box, and for an instant he thought that he had done it. She looked like an eager child opening a present.
As she opened the box and saw the diamond, her face fell. He felt crushed even before she spoke. “Ah, tiny diamond. Not worth a whole lot. I have far better ones in my jewelry box. Thanks anyway, Damek. The thought was nice at least.” He stared at his plate until the other two left the dining room to return to their three dimensional battlefield of Brn.
Midnight of the first night of Yuletide, Baron Kazimir decided to make one more attempt at Shadow Walking. As he began to arrive at his usual location outside the Archmage Tower in Brn, once more he saw his nemesis, the Shadow Assassin coming towards him! Once more he fled into his own Castle, badly shaken up once again.
When he arrived, both Damek and Brunhilda were waiting for him. “I saw the Shadow Assassin again! Damn him to the Eternal Fires!” He did not notice that Damek had his broadsword out and pointed at the Baron. Behind him Brunhilda kept making faces and motions towards Damek.
Her body language kept saying, “Go on! Do it! Stab him and let’s get this over with!” The night before, she had finally taken Damek to bed with her and shown him a wonderful time. Once finished with pleasure, she told him, “The next time that Kazimir attempts to Shadow Walk and play around with this insane madness of his and this non-existent Shadow Assassin, it is time to strike. Have your sword out and when he returns, stab him through his heart. He is a Duska, but now he is an insane, mad Duska. When he comes back, he will be totally confused and quite mad, oblivious of what is going on around him. That is the time for us to strike and get rid of this incompetent, insane, old man. Be ready, Damek. For once in your life, do what is right. We cannot continue with this madman around. Do you understand, my dearest love? With him gone, it will be just you and I. Things will be much better. You enjoyed it tonight, didn’t you?”
Oh, she played him well. He did enjoy her pleasure, and he did see the need to get rid of Kazimir. The man was quite mad, quite insane, he had to go. But he was a Duska. He knew well that he stood no chance at all of even scratching the Baron, not with his inner sense of emanate danger. The Baron would know instantly that he was about to stab him and would launch his own brutal counterstrike. Damek would be killed at once, just as he had seen so many soldiers slain in the last couple of months.
Ah, but now, now it would be different. His Duska, his wife, would be there to back him up. Her plan made sense. He’d seen the Baron return from these Shadow Walks, seen the condition the man was in, but normally just gave him a bottle to drink and shut up about it. Now, he could take an action, one that would eliminate this mess, this continual invalidation of him. Thus, he agreed to do it. Brunhilda gave him a warm hug and passionate kiss, further solidifying his resolve.
Now that the time came to actually thrust his sword through this pitiful man’s chest, he was frozen to the spot. Not because he was terrified of going into battle. No, he was a trained soldier. Kazimir looked and was pitiful, a madman. Yet, he was his very own father, who had sought him out and gave him the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to become a baron! He could not thrust his blade, no matter the ever-growing wild gestures of Brunhilda, still standing behind Kazimir. He just could not slay him, not like this, not in this way.
Absolutely furious with Damek, Brunhilda took action of her own accord. All along, she had suspected that her husband would not be able to perform even this simple a task! He was an idiot and a fool, a mere foot soldier promoted to a baron. Already, she had formulated a variation on her original plan to kill Kazimir. Seeing the frozen Damek standing there looking like an idiot, Plan B kicked in. She would deal with Kazimir and then kill Damek. Both would be eliminated. She would then tell her father and everyone else that the two men turned on each other and killed each other. She would then be in total control of Castle Dorumova and its Circle. She could then choose her own man to be the baron and she would choose wisely!
Brunhilda drew her dagger and made a lightning thrust, aiming to place her blade between his shoulder blades, severing his heart. She wanted a quick kill. As her body began its lightning move, Kazimir’s inner sense of eminent danger kicked in. However, as distracted as he was, and the fact that his body was now old and out of shape, he was not fast enough. His hand drew his own blade, but he felt her dagger diving deep into his back. Kazimir performed his last lightning fast move. He whirled and brought his broadsword up in one last desperate thrust, slicing open her gut from her navel to her heart.
Brunhilda gasped and her hands frantically attempted to hold her insides in, to keep them from pouring out onto the floor. The Baron’s blade dropped, clanking solidly on the stone floor, his eyes closed, and he slumped to the floor. He was dead when his body met the cold, hard stone. Brunhilda screamed and screamed, but her hands were unable to keep her guts inside the huge cut. Now her arms felt cold, oh so cold. They no longer seemed to move properly. Useless, she thought. She looked at last up at Damek with a shocked and terror-filled face. Her eyes saw a man staring back at her, equally shocked. Now her legs felt cold, numb. She felt her body falling to the floor. She tried in vain to resist, but the floor offered her relief. Standing was so difficult. Perhaps if she lay down, she could stop the bleeding. When her body met the unforgiving stone floor, she was dead.
Damek continued to stare in a complete and utter shock. True, he’s seen men die, many men. It was not the death of the man and woman that paralyzed him. Rather it was the magnitude of who they were and what unexpected actions had occurred. He continued to stare, unable to move a muscle. Yet, he now sensed that something else had stayed his sword arm. Something warm, friendly. Kindness, but he knew not what this was.
It was ten o’clock when Kazimir attempted his last Shadow Walk to Brn. Zoran lay in bed with Zdenka, not yet asleep. As his Circle warned him of the approach of Kazimir, Zoran found himself once more half in the Shadow World, on an intercept course to prevent the Baron from arriving outside his Tower. He saw the Baron perc
eiving himself and watched as the madman fled in terror. He was still half in the Shadow World as the Baron arrived, standing before Damek, whose sword was drawn. Zoran, still partially connected with the withdrawing madman saw Damek and Brunhilda. Curiosity got the better of him or perhaps it was yet another instinct or property of his unique connection to his Circle. No matter, he remained partially in the Shadows watching what happened.
He saw her urging Damek to strike, saw him refusing to do so. Damek was his brother. Zoran could not let his own brother slay their father. He entered his brother’s mind and re-enforced his brother’s resolve to take no action. Then, he saw Brunhilda make her Duska, lightning fast move, saw the Baron react too slowly. Again, he stepped in and as the Baron was about to fail in his last sword move, Zoran gave his father’s muscles a little extra push from the Shadow Land. Kazimir’s sword struck true. Without Zoran’s intervention, it would not have cut Brunhilda.
When both bodies finally collapsed onto the floor mere seconds later, Zoran Messaged his friends. Teleport to Castle Dorumova immediately! The Baron’s been assassinated! Meet me in the main dining room there! Message sent, he stepped out of the Shadows and into the room. Using his most powerful spell, he lowered the Baron’s protections against others directly teleporting here. He took hold of his brother’s arm and helped his body sheath the sword. Then, he moved him over to a chair and had him sit down.
At last he spoke, “Well done, brother. You have maintained your own integrity and honesty. I am proud that you did not do what Brunhilda asked.”
“Zoran? You? Here? How? She — she killed dad! Dad killed her!” Damek finally found his voice.
“I know. I saw it all from the Shadows. My friends will be here momentarily. We will keep you safe from harm and retribution.” Thirty seconds after Zoran appeared in the dining room, Zdenka appeared, still in her nightgown, spells at the ready. Seconds later, Karel, Bernard, Jarka, Emil, and Renata also appeared.
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 40
