by Rain Oxford
I found my wand and bag. “Kalyn, Merlin says there may be aftershocks, which are smaller quakes that follow the one we just had. If we don’t save magic, we might have a lot more quakes, as well as mountains that explode and spew…”
“Molten rock.”
“…melted rock everywhere.”
Kalyn was white as a ghost. “Sven can stop it. It had to have been another sorcerer who caused it. When they lose magic, they’ll---”
“It wasn’t sorcery,” I interrupted. “It’s part of nature and it’ll happen again if we don’t save magic.”
“I am afraid if we do not save the egg quickly, worse natural disasters will occur. A quake like the one we just had could destroy entire cities in seconds. I have seen it happen, and your people have nothing in place to lessen the damage. Furthermore, cities on the shore must worry about tsunamis.”
I didn’t want to know what that was. “Maybe if we let the black star take away magic, the dragons will go back to protecting us.”
“I do not share your undying faith in dragons.”
“What do we do?” Kalyn asked.
“We? We aren’t doing anything. Merlin and I are on a quest. You can go home. But stay away from the shore, because Merlin said tsunamis might attack. I don’t know what they are, but they sound venomous.”
She didn’t say anything, still in shock, so Merlin and I continued on the path towards the castle. “You could have transported her somewhere,” Merlin said when she was out of sight.
“I’m not looking to do her any favors. She is our enemy… but not necessarily bad enough to warrant killing her.”
“I did not yell at you because you stopped me from killing her. I… lost control. For a moment, I was nothing but a wolf, and I almost snapped at you. I could have killed you in a second. You cannot imagine how much that frightens me.”
“You’d never hurt me.”
“When I was first cursed, I had to fight to gain reason. I would have killed Nimue if you hadn’t pulled her out of the way. I am constantly aware that I could lose control again.”
“You’d never hurt me,” I repeated.
He sighed. “You are so stubborn sometimes.”
“Do you think Sven is spying on us right now?”
“It is impossible to say.”
* * *
We reached the castle shortly after nightfall. The main castle was separated from the rest of the kingdom by a tall stone wall. Surrounding the stone wall was a village. As we ventured into the village, I noticed that none of the civilians looked happy. In fact, children sat on the side of the road, begging for food. We didn’t have any, but I couldn’t stand to see their lethargic attempts to plead for help, so I stopped at a shop selling fruit, vegetables, and bread. I discreetly reached into my bag and the purse inside it, making sure no one could see how much I had, and retrieved some gold coins.
“I need as much as I can get for this,” I said. The shopkeeper’s eyes bugged out at the sight of so much gold. Although the Dracre family was wealthy, no sorcerer worth his robe would pass up a chance to haggle or outright steal. Since I never liked either option, my mother hadn’t trusted me with gold. The old woman didn’t try to cheat me, though. If anything, I thought she was rather generous.
Everyone stared when I left the shop with four sacks full of food, and then they crowded around me when I started handing it out. “Children and elderly first!” I said, pulling one of the bags out of the reach of a man who was clearly well off.
“Aren’t you the curse breaker?” someone asked as I was passing out the last of the food.
“What do I say?”
“Whatever you want to say. He might need help or he might want to capture you.”
“Yes, I’m the curse breaker. Do you need help?”
“We all need your help. People are losing magic.”
“I’m already working on that.”
“In that case, thank you, and good luck.”
“Maybe you can help, though. Do you know where I can find Desandra Lenore, the seer?”
“She’s in the castle, but no one is allowed to go there.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t need help finding the castle.
I soon realized how he recognized me; there were flyers of me and Merlin all over town, so I put my hood up. I wanted to know what people thought about the crisis without anyone recognizing me.
On the way, we saw a table set up with three men sitting behind it. On the other side of the table was a young man, and a crowd of people stood back. Several people were whispering to each other. “What’s going on?” I asked Merlin quietly.
“A trial,” Merlin answered. “This looks very progressive so far.”
The middle man behind the table was very old and thin, yet he was the one who stood to address the younger man across from him. “You are accused of seducing the king’s daughter. How do you plead?” he croaked.
“Not guilty,” the young man said.
“What? I’m sorry, I’m a bit hard of hearing.”
“I said I’m not guilty.”
“What?”
“Not guilty!”
“You’re not what?”
“Guilty!”
“He confessed!” the old man shouted. People in the crowd shouted with joy.
“No, I’m not guilty!”
“You already said you were guilty! I heard you.”
“Wow. He tricked that man into confessing,” I said.
Merlin groaned. “Caldaca has a long way to go.”
Surrounding the stone wall was a moat. Between the village, wall, and moat, The castle was pretty well protected. The drawbridge was up, so I studied the two lookout towers flanking it. “How do I get their attention?” I asked Merlin quietly.
“You need not do anything. They are aware of our presence. In a loud, confident voice, tell them you are here to see Dessa.”
“I am here to see Desandra Lenore.”
A man leaned out to get a look at me and yelled, “Go away.”
I glanced at Merlin and he sat. “I’m not going away until I talk to the seer,” I told the guard.
“No one is getting into the castle until further notice!”
“Now bring out that sorcerer everyone wants to see.”
I focused magic through my staff and the crystal glowed blue. “Do you think the king will approve of you denying entrance to the curse breaker of Mokora?” I asked, speaking directly at the crystal. My magic enhanced the volume of my words so that I didn’t have to yell to make an impact.
I did not receive the reaction I was expecting.
“Curse breaker of Mokora? What do you do?”
“Are you serious? I break curses.”
“Are you a wizard?”
“No, I’m a curse breaker.”
“I’ve never heard of you, so you must not be very good.”
“I’ve never heard of you, either.”
“You don’t know who I am!”
“Yet you know who I am. Furthermore, there are signs all over town about me. Can’t you read?”
“No, I can’t, and thank you very much for reminding me of that!”
“Well, I’m sorry, now let me in.”
“No! You’ve upset me now, so I don’t think I will!”
“I think you will.”
“And why is that?”
“Because the king sent for me. He’ll be furious with you if you don’t let me in.”
“He didn’t tell me that.”
“He must have written it down.”
The man hesitated. “Well, I did receive a letter.”
“That must be it then.”
“But I can’t read it to know for sure.”
“Then pass it down here and I will read it to you.”
“Oh, would you? I’d be very grateful if you would.”
A moment later, an arrow struck the ground beside me with a note tied to it. I freed the letter, knelt beside Merlin so that he could see it, and re
ad it to myself.
Kamerin,
Until the disappearance of magic is explained, the castle is closed to all magic users except the seer Desandra, who will assist me and my advisers. There will be a meeting in my private study for the entire evening until the seer has an explanation. We have decreased the number of guards to include only those without magic in order to stop the spread of this strange illness. You must not let anyone with magic through the gate, especially not a sorcerer.
Your king,
Flourisho
“What does it say?”
“Exactly as I thought. It says, Kamerin---”
“That’s me!”
“Right. It says you are to let only the great curse breaker and his wolf companion in.”
“Does it say why the other guards are gone?”
“It says they made him angry by not letting someone in that he sent for. That sounds pretty serious, and it’s signed by King Flourisho, so you should definitely listen.”
“I guess I have no choice. Stand back and I will lower the bridge.”
We did and he lowered the bridge exactly as promised. A moment later, the wooden doors opened. Merlin muttered something I chose to ignore as we entered the courtyard. It was a decent castle, but it needed some maintenance, as some bricks had fallen and several doors were leaning against walls. There was hardly anyone around, and those who were there wore the same green uniform as the man who had tried to stop us at the docks.
“I am impressed,” Merlin praised. “Your quick thinking was only surpassed by his dimwittedness.”
“Let’s hope we don’t run into a smarter guard.”
“If we do, I will eat him. Dessa is this way.” He was able to follow her scent straight to a door. I pressed my ear to the door to listen. “Use magic, young sorcerer,” Merlin advised.
I pointed my wand at the door and whispered, “Let me hear what they’re saying.” Magic flowed out of me, through the wand, and into the door… which disappeared. “That’s not what I meant,” I scolded. It was too late, though; the king, his advisers, and Dessa could all see me and Merlin.
The king and his advisers were sitting at a huge wooden table in the middle of the room. The south wall was lined with windows, which were closed. Between the windows were lit torches. A large fireplace on the west wall crackled with fire, but it wasn’t regular fire. Dessa stood in front of it, waving her arms dramatically. The fire was bright red with a dark spot in the middle.
The king was a middle-aged, heavyset man with fancy green clothes. His long, brown and gray hair was loose and unruly, as was his unkempt beard. In fact, the golden crown on his head was almost lost in it. The other men all wore identical green uniforms and all of them were older than the king.
The king stood in outrage at being interrupted, but before he could speak, the fire changed to yellow and Dessa turned to us. “What took you so long, Ayden?” she asked.
Chapter 11
“We were ambushed.”
“You know him?” King Flourisho asked.
“Of course,” Dessa said. “We couldn’t have this meeting without the curse breaker.”
“Curse breaker? I’ve heard of you.”
“I’m Ayden Dracre, and this is Merlin.”
“Do you know what is causing people to lose magic?”
“Not entirely, but I know how to stop it. Dessa, you know why we’ve come?”
“You’re looking for the egg.”
“What egg?” the king asked.
“Does he need to be here?” I asked.
Flourisho gaped. “I’m the king!”
“You’re a king, you’re not my king. You can’t order me around just because you wear a metal hat. Dessa, can we go somewhere private to speak?”
“King Flourisho has many citizens who trust him and depend on him to keep them safe. He needs to know we can stop this so that his citizens will stay calm.”
“People are starting to fight for food and magic,” one of the advisers added.
“Rejecting everyone who has magic isn’t going to reassure anyone,” I told the king. “You’re abandoning people when they need you the most because they might be affected.”
“You can’t talk to our king like that!” one of the advisers said.
“What do you know about running a kingdom?” Flourisho asked.
“I have watched my mother ruin a number of kingdoms. She loves making people doubt their leaders.” Except when it came to her sons’ loyalty. I still didn’t understand why Dessa wanted the king present, but it wasn’t worth arguing about. “Now, Dessa, where can I find the egg?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know where it is.”
“Then we came here for nothing?” My wand crackled and I pulled it out of my pocket before it caught fire.
“You didn’t come here for nothing. Looking for the egg is not the answer.”
“The dragon said---”
“You have to save the egg,” she interrupted. “If you look for it, you will lead your enemy right to it. I have seen this. You must defeat your enemy first.”
“How can we defeat him? He’s too powerful.”
“You are correct. You don’t have the power to defeat him. Instead, you have to use your enemy’s power against him.”
“How?”
“You two have to figure that out on your own, but I have full confidence in you.”
“Okay. How do we find Baltezore?”
“I can’t answer that for you, either.”
My wand sparked as my frustration grew. I didn’t like getting the runaround, especially from people I was trying to help— people who were supposed to be my friends.
“Remember, young sorcerer, that divination is extremely dangerous magic. Anything she tells us could make the situation insurmountably worse. You must trust that she understands her magic better than you. She is trying to help.”
His words went a long way towards calming me down. “Fine. We’ll figure out where Baltezore is ourselves. Do you have a magic mirror?”
“No, of course not. That is a sorcerer’s tool.”
“Without something that belongs to him or a magic mirror, I don’t know how to find him, and our mirror was just taken by Sven.” I turned to the king. “Do you have a sorcerer?”
“I did, but I sent him away when people started losing magic. He took everything of his with him.”
“Do you know if there’s a sorcerer anywhere in your kingdom.”
“No, Cazma drove other sorcerers away.”
“Sorcerers often hide tools and ingredients in places they reside in case they ever need to return suddenly. Can Merlin and I search his room?”
“If it will help save magic, then yes.”
Dessa, Merlin, and I followed the king to a room on the third floor. When he opened the door, I wasn’t surprised to see that it was cleaned out. The only things remaining were the bed, wardrobe, nightstand, and table.
As Merlin taught me, I searched my surroundings for magic. When I pulled my magic back inside, I got a mental image of a glowing spot under the bed. “There’s something here.” I pointed my wand at the bed. Move. The bed slid across the floor to the far wall. I wasn’t fooled by the apparently normal floor; I went to the spot and felt for a loose floorboard.
“What are you looking for?” King Flourisho asked.
“I don’t know yet.” When a board creaked, I found the end of it and pulled it up. Boots? There was only a pair of sparkly red boots. “Why would a sorcerer hide these?”
“If they are the only things that stood out when you did your search, they must be magic boots. Either way, Mason would love those. However, I am not sure how they can help us.”
I put them in my bag, hoping Magnus could figure out what they were.
“What did---” the king started, only to be interrupted by a terrible rumbling.
“Get under the table!” Merlin shouted in my head.
I relayed the order to the king and Dessa without a thought. Dessa, Merlin, and I got under the table, but the king wanted to argue instead. A moment later, the castle started shaking. It was another quake.
As part of the ceiling crumbled and blocked the window, we were bathed in darkness. The only light was the momentary flashes of sunlight streaming through the new holes in the ceiling before they, too, were covered by more tumbling stones. The king shouted and got under the table, but when I grabbed his arm to help pull him in, I felt blood.
It felt like a day went by before the shaking stopped, and when it finally did, there was a ringing sound in my ear. Light streamed in through parts of the ceiling, illuminating a thick cloud of dust in the air. I saw Dessa coughing, but I couldn’t hear it.
Merlin brushed against me, trying to push me out from under the table. “We need to get outside. Now.”
“Outside now!” I shouted. It surprised me when Dessa jumped, hitting her head on the table. Obviously, she wasn’t deafened like I was. I climbed out from under the table and helped the others out. Although one of the legs had been snapped by a large brick, the table had held.
We got out of the room, but instead of heading outside, the king insisted on going to his council room first to check on his advisers. My hearing had returned by then. Unfortunately, we discovered the floors below hadn’t fared as well as the third floor. The staircase itself was completely destroyed.
“Why are staircases always damaged?” I asked.
We had to get out of the castle by climbing through a hole in the wall and climbing down the rubble. Merlin had the most trouble, even though Flourisho was the only one bleeding. The king was ecstatic to be greeted by all of his advisers once we were on the ground. “We were outside, speaking to the guards when the shaking started,” one of them explained.
Dessa gasped an instant before another quake started. None of us could stay on our feet. People all over the kingdom screamed and shouted, yet that was nowhere near as loud as the massive sound of the rest of the castle collapsing in on itself. By the time the shaking stopped, there was nothing left but destruction and scared people.
Merlin found his footing the easiest.
