by Rain Oxford
“I guess we tell the Rynorm family we failed.”
He looked miserable. “Will they break the curse on my family?”
“I doubt it. The curse should have been broken when Magnus died.”
“I know we had to stop the black star, but I can’t help regretting coming here.” He wiped his wet cheeks with his sleeve. “Let’s go tell everyone we give up.”
“Wait,” I said.
“I don’t want to drag this out any longer than it has to be. Ilvera has already taken everything from me; she needs to be stopped.”
“But maybe we haven’t failed yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“Merlin said you only fail when you give up. I don’t know that I’m ready to give up.”
“How can we possibly fight her without magic?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe we can use my father against her.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like a sorcerer,” my father said loudly from behind us, making all of us jump. Mason sat Thaddeus against the wall of the castle and Thaddeus instantly fell back to sleep.
“I’m not a sorcerer anymore; Ilvera took my magic.”
“I told you before; magic isn’t what makes you a sorcerer. I don’t care how many times you get knocked down, as long as you get back up every time. Are you willing to fight Ilvera knowing you could die on the slim chance you might win?”
Mason wouldn’t meet my eyes, as his were full of tears again. He wasn’t like me; he needed his family. Houda needed her son and Mist needed her parents. Sven had just gotten his wife back and put his heart aside to help me.
“Yes.”
“Then you are a sorcerer worthy of the Rynorm name, not to mention the only son of mine who I can be proud of.” His wand appeared in his hand and he tapped it on my chest. Red magic sparked from it and grew to engulf my entire body until I was wearing the red Rynorm robe.
“That was… really neat.” The lining of the robe was gold, like the emblem and threading.
“The Rynorm robe is a little more adaptive than the Dracre one. It is resistant to water, fire, magic, and tearing. Also, it’s completely reversible. Take it off and I will show you what it can do.”
I took it off, reversed it, and put it back on. He touched his wand to it and it turned green. It wasn’t just green; the emblem changed to the Dracre one.
“It can mimic any family robe.”
“Wow.”
“If you want to change it back, simply reverse it.”
I took it off and put it back on the right way, and it instantly changed back to the Rynorm red. “This is amazing. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. When you wear this robe, you carry the Rynorm name and that means you must not bring any shame to the family. In return, you will have the respect and allegiance of sorcerers and dragon trainers all over the world.”
“I still don’t know how to defeat Ilvera, though.”
“For one thing, you will need magic.”
“But I don’t---”
“Do not interrupt me.”
“Sorry.”
“You learned what the galaxy stones are, right?”
“They’re the hearts of dragons.”
“That’s right. When your dragon’s eye first started to bond to you, do you remember what you did?”
“I conjured a dragon. I’ve done it several times since.”
“You weren’t simply conjuring a dragon. You summoned the spirit of your dragon. Your stone belonged to that dragon you saw. You also used dragon magic when you faced Ilvera outside her cabin.”
“That was magic from the same dragon?”
“Yes. Like with living dragons, you can control it using your stone, but you have the added benefit of summoning his magic directly into you for you to use it as you see fit.”
“What’s his name?”
“You will have to ask him yourself.”
He raised his hand towards the empty field, where black smoke converged. A moment later, the smoke dispersed, leaving behind a completely silver dragon. Sunlight bounced off it, nearly blinding me. Then the shine started to soften and I realized his scales were changing color and texture to blend into its surroundings.
“This is Grímahilmir.”
“I’ve never seen you with a dragon’s eye,” I said.
“Of course not. Ilvera would have tried to steal it. When it first started to bond with me, my mother broke one of my ribs and fused the stone into it, just as she did for my brothers. The magic is now in every bone in our bodies.”
“That’s… nice? What can your stone do?”
“Like you, I can call a dragon to help me, but unlike you, I cannot make him fight. Also, I can temporarily revoke a dragon’s power. Now, summon your dragon.”
“I don’t have any---”
“You have all the magic you need in the heart of that dragon.”
“I tried in the cave.”
“You didn’t believe in it. Why would a dragon come to you if you don’t even believe in him?”
I nodded and pointed my staff to the spot next to his dragon. “What if my staff gets broken?”
“Focus.”
“Sorry.” I visualized my dragon.
“Keep your mind at peace or he will manifest ready to fight.”
“Why did you call another dragon if you had this one?”
“I did that for two reasons. The first is that if your dragon’s spirit is destroyed, your dragon’s eye is destroyed. The second reason is that using your galaxy stone drains your energy. Now, focus and call him.”
I focused, visualizing the dragon’s appearance and recalling the sensation of my magic when I had first summoned the dragon. Suddenly, I felt the power of the crystal surge through me. It was my magic in the sense that it was what I had been using every time I wielded my staff. However, it was also different, because the staff had always had a mind of its own.
After flowing through me, the magic rushed back out and into the field before me. Faster than ever before, the dragon formed. His body was stone-gray, matching the underside of his wings, while the outward side of his wings was blood-red. His head was narrow and angular with two backward-curved horns and reddish-orange, glowing eyes.
He stretched his wings with irritation. Grímahilmir snorted a puff of smoke into the air and my dragon grumbled in response. “I don’t have to bow, do I?” I asked Merlin.
“Only if your father does.”
“Introduce yourself,” my father said.
“Oh… hello, dragon. I’m Ayden… Rynorm?” I asked. My father nodded with the hint of a smirk on his face. “Yes, I’m Ayden Rynorm.” That sounded strange, but not bad. “Son of Kille Rynorm and nobody else. I’m also one of the Sjau, but a powerful sorceress took my magic, along with the magic of the other Sjau.”
The dragon exhaled smoke that quickly reached across the space and wrapped around me delicately.
“Are you doing what Merlin taught me to sense magic?”
“Yes, Ayden,” the dragon said as his smoke dispersed. He didn’t sound any older than Harðtǫnn had. “I know you have questions, so ask them.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Veðrgramr.”
“Other than making a dragon peaceful, what can my galaxy stone do?”
“It can also call to nearby dragons for help and it can heal them.”
“Ayden, you need to let him go,” Merlin said.
“Why?”
“Because you are about to pass out from exhaustion.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m…”
Chapter 21
I woke sometime in the night and found Merlin curled up at the foot of my bed. “Merlin,” I said quietly. He jerked his head up and blinked sleepily. “What happened?”
“You overextended yourself by calling your dragon when you were already in poor condition. Once we got you into bed, everyone ate to replenish their energy and then went to sleep.”
“Speaking
of which, I’m starving.”
“I figured you would be.” He pointed with his paw at my nightstand, where a plate of fruit, bread, cheese, potatoes, fish, and roasted bird had been set out for me. It was a massive portion, yet I ate it all without slowing down.
When I was done, we headed downstairs. Everyone was asleep and I didn’t want to see the poor cursed people in the dining room knowing I couldn’t help them, so we went outside, where I wasn’t surprised to see Kalyn practicing her swordsmanship again.
“Don’t you need sleep?” I asked.
“I don’t sleep much,” she said, not stopping.
“Where did you learn to fight?”
“I had a mother and six sisters without a man in the house. It was up to me to protect them. There was a warrior’s guild right outside our village, so from the time I was very young, I would tie up my hair, dress as a boy, and sneak into their camp to learn to fight with the other children.”
“Do you mind if I practice with you?”
“Can you keep up?”
“Gideon has been training me.”
“Do you have a sword?”
“Yes, I can transform my staff into… oh, wait, that takes regular magic, not dragon magic.”
“I have no idea what you mean by that,” she said. I explained the situation to her. By the time I was done, her sword was dangling at her side. “Did you know you would still have magic before we faced your mother?”
“First, no, I didn’t. Second, she’s not my mother anymore. We have to figure out how to defeat her with dragon powers when she was able to defeat the most powerful dragon we’ve ever met.”
“What is stronger than a dragon?”
“I don’t know. There are some creatures that can defend themselves from dragons, but none that hunt dragons… well, except for people.”
“I’ve heard that the greatest threat to a sorceress is another sorceress.”
“Not when she has the power of fourteen Sjau.”
“With that much power, I doubt even your father can defeat her alone,” Merlin said.
Mason joined us with a plate of fruit and bread. “We need to get more help.”
“Like who?”
“Well, we saved magic, so I think we should call on everyone and hope at least a few hundred people will help.”
“If they know about her, some people might join her because she’s so powerful,” Kalyn said.
“You have a lot of friends who would be willing to help,” Merlin said.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt. We need someone who is strong enough to face her but who also can’t be swayed by dark magic.”
“Like a strong wizard?”
“Sorcerers aren’t afraid of wizards.” We thought about it for a while.
“There is one creature you seem pretty terrified of,” Merlin suggested.
“I hope you’re not talking about rabbits.”
“I am referring to fairies.”
“Well, of course I’m terrified of fairies. They’re enemies of all sorcerers. But we can’t use them; almost half of us has… or had… sorcery.”
“We should at least talk to them. Send Mason in to talk to them and---”
“Mason!” I interrupted, startling Mason.
“What?”
“Merlin suggested we get fairies to help. When I first went to your house, there was a fairy circle.”
“Yes, fairies have protected my mother since she can remember.”
“Why didn’t they protect her when she was turned to stone?”
“While we were all getting ready to come here for the first time, my mother contacted the fairies and told them not to follow us. She knew if she came in contact with a bunch of sorcerers, even if they were allies of hers, the fairies would attack them.”
“Like Jeb. That makes sense.”
“Have Mason explain the situation to them.”
I relayed Merlin’s message. “Do you think they would agree to help?”
“Maybe, since none of you have sorcery right now. They might do something to Sven, though.”
“I can live with that. Merlin?” Merlin nodded. “What about you, Kalyn?”
“I’m fine with it… right now at least.”
“Take a vote,” Merlin suggested.
“That sounds fair.”
* * *
Everyone was called together in the throne room to discuss our options. “Before we start the arguing,” Jeb began, pulling a coin pouch out of his pocket. “I wanted to disclose that we are not powerless.” Everyone was confused.
“Did she not take your magic?” Sotis asked.
“She got every drop that was in my body. However, since I first learned to do magic, I have been fusing it into jewelry.” He spilled dozens of rings, necklaces, and dress clasps onto the small table next to the throne chair. “These are all functional.”
“What do they do?” Blue asked, reaching for one.
Jeb smacked her hand. “They do sorcery, so don’t touch. I’ll share them, but some of them are hard to control and they’re all dangerous.”
“Wow. This is wonderful news,” Zelli said.
“It’s not enough to beat Ilvera, though,” Jeb said.
“We need to recruit fairies,” Evelyn suggested before I could even mention them.
Sven had something very rude to say about that.
“Mason’s mother is one of their chosen witches,” I said. Every sorcerer in the room, including my father, took a step away from Mason.
“Then why are we still alive?” Jeb asked.
“Why is Ilvera still alive?”
“Because my mother knew she would be staying with some sorcerers and sent them away,” Mason said. “Besides, they would have killed Magnus, not Ilvera, even though she was controlling him.”
“Not necessarily,” my father argued. “He was using Ilvera’s magic and they would be able to detect that. Convincing fairies to work with sorcerers will not be easy. You would have better luck with dragons, which are impartial.”
“But can dragons defeat my mother?”
“Not as easily as fairies.”
“That does us no good if fairies refuse to help us,” Merlin said.
* * *
After a lot of discussion, we came to the conclusion that we had to try to get the fairies on our side. If that failed, we would go to the dragons. If that failed, we would call on friends to help us.
Only Rita could call the fairies to her, so we had to return to Mason’s home to find them. While the others practiced with Jeb’s rings, Thaddeus transported Mason, Merlin, me, and himself to Mason’s home.
The ring of rainbow flowers around the cabin was just as I remembered it.
“Oh, I can get clothes while I’m here,” Mason said.
“Now isn’t the time for that,” I argued. “How do we contact them?”
“Well… a sorcerer has to cross the line.”
“I’ve already crossed it and they didn’t come.”
“That’s probably because you have mostly light magic. We need a… darker sorcerer to cross the line.”
We all looked at Thaddeus, who turned pale as a ghost. “There is no way I’m crossing the fairies.”
“We’ll be right here to protect you.”
“No. I won’t do it. I would face my mother alone before I---”
Merlin didn’t let him finish; he rammed into Thaddeus like Goat would have done and pushed Thad over the line. Thad dropped to the ground and covered his head just as three fairies appeared. They looked like small women with wings, except they were all glowing light blue. “You dare intrude on a home of light magic, sorcerer?” one of them snarled.
“We made him do it,” Mason said quickly.
I was too busy trying not to hide behind Merlin to defend my brother. No matter how much light magic I might have had, I was still an enemy of fairies. To my surprise, however, none of the fairies even glanced at me.
“Please forgive him. He is not
an enemy.”
“He is a sorcerer.”
“He can’t help it; he was born that way. We need your help to defeat Ilvera Dracre.”
“We will not interfere.”
“My mother was cursed by Ilvera Dracre.”
“Rita Mason chose to live among sorcerers; this is the consequence.”
“Ilvera has the magic of fourteen Sjau. If she wanted to, she could kill every wizard on Caldaca,” I said.
“If she harms one of our chosen, then we will deal with her. Until then, it is not our problem,” the fairy on the far left said before vanishing.
“Please reconsider. You’re the only ones who can defeat her for sure.”
“We never reconsider,” the fairy on the right said before vanishing.
The remaining fairy sneered at Thaddeus. “We will forgive your trespasses this time, sorcerer, but not again.” She vanished.
Mason muttered angrily before smashing the flowers under his boot. He helped Thaddeus up. “I’m sorry we made you do that. I didn’t know they would be so unreasonable.”
Thaddeus was shaking.
“Now what?” Mason asked.
“Now we go round up some dragons.”
“Will that be enough?”
“It will have to be.”
* * *
Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. We didn’t have time to search for dragons, because it wouldn’t take Ilvera long to realize we were alive. Furthermore, we had many friends, but we couldn’t be transported to them even with Thaddeus’s magic because Ilvera would detect me.
“You need to set a trap and get Ilvera to come to you,” my father suggested. “No matter how large or strong an army you assemble, you cannot beat her on her home field. You need her out of her home and out of her element if you can pull that off.”
“What do you mean?” Mason asked before I could.
“Try to confuse her, either with the terrain or your strategy.”
“Will you help us?”
“No, but I will stay out of your way, as long as you don’t kill her.”
“Don’t kill her?” Sven shouted. “We have to kill her!”
“You will not. You can take back your magic, wound her, cripple her, or torture her as much as you want, but she will remain breathing or I will have to stop you.”
