by Rain Oxford
“Is it the same as…” Kalyn’s words trailed off meekly as she looked down.
“The same as how you can’t disobey Sven? No, Ilvera doesn’t have a love curse on me; I just need to sacrifice her life in the future.”
“Sacrifice her---” Mason started.
“Love curse?!” Kalyn shrieked.
“She’s under a love curse?” I asked.
Merlin frowned at me disapprovingly. “You did not know that? Even I knew that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you knew. You should be an expert in curses by now.”
“I didn’t bother to check her for a curse. I just thought she was making bad choices. If I had known, I would have broken the curse for her.”
He sighed. “I thought you were breaking the curse. She has been resisting Sven more and more since arriving here.”
“Did you know about this?” Kalyn asked Sven.
The sorcerer shrugged. “Ilvera told me she was putting an obedience curse on you because you were going to leave. I didn’t know it was what made you so annoyingly clingy.”
“That’s not important right now,” Mason said. “We can use the magic mirror to talk to everyone on Caldaca. That is, if Kille will help. I don’t think even Thaddeus has enough power to do it.” He then blushed. “Sorry.”
Thaddeus shrugged, not offended. “That would warn my mother of our plan, though.”
“Unless we could send out a silent call for help,” Merlin suggested.
I knew where he was going with that. “Do you think the mirror could amplify my galaxy stone’s call for help from dragons?”
“Yes,” my father said easily. Although he didn’t show it on his face, I felt like he was at least a little proud. Then again, it could have been my imagination.
“We need to get Ilvera here, where she isn’t used to fighting, but we also don’t want her to know exactly what she’s going to face.”
“We can use the mirror to---” Merlin started.
“Oh, I have an idea!” Blue said excitedly, having not heard Merlin. “We can use the mirror to ask everyone on Caldaca for help, except that only she’ll hear the message. We’ll make it sound like everyone else is hearing it. That way, she’ll show up thinking she’s supposed to fight people, and instead there’s an army of dragons.”
“What she said,” Merlin agreed.
“That’s perfect. Will it work?” We all looked at my father, waiting for an answer.
“It is possible. Not everything will turn out the way you plan, but if you adapt faster than she does, you can win.”
* * *
A little while later, we were all in the field. My father retrieved the small magic mirror from Sven’s house, so we were using that instead of trying to drag the large one outside. My father held the mirror and the surface turned black. “It is ready when you are.”
I pressed the crystal of my staff to the mirror. “Dragons, help me.” Blue magic glowed so brightly that everyone had to shield their eyes. I felt magic fill the air like a cold breeze. After a moment, it was gone…
And then a dragon appeared.
Dragon after dragon appeared out of thin air or landed from out of the sky. We all bowed. I had thought dragons were nearly extinct, but by the time they finally stopped coming, there were hundreds of them of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. One of them actually landed on the other side of the castle and watched us over the roof. Others landed on the roof, while some landed on trees. In fact, some of the smaller dragons landed on larger dragons!
“I think we are in over our heads,” Merlin said.
“Address them, Ayden,” my father said. “You called for help, now explain why they should help you.”
I sat up, but kept my eyes lowered. “Hello, dragons. My name is Ayden Rynorm… formerly Ayden Dracre. I am one of the fourteen Sjau, a sorcerer, a wizard, and bonded to a galaxy stone… as you know. I need your help to defeat Ilvera Dracre. In an attempt to defeat Baltezore and save the dragon egg of Vokirex, the other Sjau and I let Ilvera take our magic. She defeated Baltezore, as we had hoped, but we didn’t know how to take our magic back and she was able to escape. We cannot defeat her alone.”
“What do you want us to do?” a familiar voice asked. Although I hadn’t seen the stone-gray dragon in person, I recognized Nasku’s voice.
I stood, and everyone else followed.
“First, we need to know how to get our magic back from Ilvera. Second, we need you to control her long enough for us to do it. I didn’t mean to call so many of you. I didn’t know your numbers were so great.”
Several dragons, including the smallest and largest dragons, flew away.
“Many of us are too powerful to meddle with mortals, while others are too young to risk their lives,” Nasku explained.
“Then, please, if you are unwilling, leave. I don’t want anyone risking themselves because of my galaxy stone.”
More dragons left, including some who looked pregnant, and a few who were flocked by hatchlings. I was glad to see them go. I didn’t want to force any dragon to fight. Ilvera was able to defeat one dragon who was weakened by the punishment of mortality; that didn’t mean she could defeat a dozen dragons. To my surprise, almost a hundred stayed. Surely she couldn’t fight that many.
“The plan isn’t complicated; hold her here and keep her from killing anyone until me and the Sjau can get our magic back. The hard part is that you can’t kill her or my father will get mad.” There was some outrage from a number of dragons and another two dozen flew away. I wasn’t sure if they were upset they couldn’t kill Ilvera or worried that my father would retaliate.
Nasku was one of those who stayed.
“She’s going to think there’s an army of people here to fight her,” Mason said. “That’s the best way we can get her here since she already got what she wanted from us.”
“Can you tell us how to get our magic back?” I asked.
“You have what you need.”
“Dragon magic?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, can you tell us how to do it?”
“Stab her in the heart with a blade that is burning with dragon’s fire.”
“Well, there’s the whole killing her part again.”
My father laughed. “If that was all it took to kill Ilvera, I would have done it already.”
“Kalyn, can I borrow your sword?”
“No way. I want to do it.”
“No mortal blade can withstand dragon fire,” Nasku warned. “You need a blade made of magic, and you need dragon magic to wield it.”
“Turn your staff into a sword by summoning Veðrgramr’s power into you,” Merlin said, as if I should have figured that out already.
I didn’t know dragon magic as well as him. “Oh. If everyone is ready, we’ll get started on the second part of the plan.”
“Proceed,” Nasku said. I realized at that moment that there was a hierarchy of dragons, which was why it was only him who spoke for the others.
Once again, my father held out the mirror. “Ilvera is going to think it is being heard by everyone on Caldaca, but it will only be heard by her, so make it convincing. Be yourself.”
“It’s not in my nature to do this.”
The surface turned black and my father nodded.
“Hello, everyone. Most of you don’t know me, but my name is Ayden. I am the curse breaker of Mokora.” I hesitated, not sure what else to say.
Mason rolled his eyes. “And if you don’t know what that big hole in the sky was, it was the end of the world, which Ayden saved everyone from. And now that he saved your lives, he needs your help defeating a really evil, really cruel, really ugly sorceress.”
“She’s not ugly,” I whispered.
Thaddeus pinched me in warning.
“So if you’re brave enough, meet him at Magnus’s castle on Mokora, where we’ll defeat Ilvera Dracre once and for all.”
I pushed him away. “He do
esn’t mean it like that. I don’t want anyone getting hurt, so don’t come unless you’re a master of magic and have experience fighting powerful sorceresses. It is going to be extremely dangerous.”
“We’re going to train here today and ambush Ilvera at her home on Akadema tomorrow morning at dawn,” Mason added.
The surface returned to its normal reflective state. “That should do it,” my father said.
“Why did you say it like that?”
“I had to make her angry so she wouldn’t be thinking rationally.”
“And why did you tell her it would be at dawn?”
“Because she would want to come here as soon as possible before we were prepared, and if I said it was any earlier, it wouldn’t be believable.”
“It is barely believable how politely you ask for help,” my father said. “On the other hand, that was so much like you that she wouldn’t doubt it for an instant. I will be leaving now. Try not to---”
And he was gone.
An instant later, Ilvera appeared.
“That was a little too quick,” I said.
Thaddeus blanched.
“What in the world?” Ilvera asked, right before a green ring of fire formed around her. She glared at one of the dragons. “Do you think this can stop me?” She stepped right through the fire.
Dragons flung more spells at her, but none of them seemed to stick. However, they did momentarily distract her, so I focused my mind on the crystal. Veðrgramr, I need your help.
Like when I was summoning him, I felt warm magic flow into me, but this time, it made me feel confident and serene. Power prickled beneath my skin, ready to be wielded like a sword. I visualized turning my staff into a sword, but nothing happened.
“Dragon magic requires incantations,” Merlin reminded me. “The word you need is---”
“Mækir,” I said, the word invading my mind. It was an idea, not a word. It was magic manifested into a language I couldn’t learn. I had to feel it. And at that moment, I felt that I needed a sword. As I commanded, my staff changed into a sword.
“Very good, Ayden.”
Only when a ward broke over me did I realize there was a fight going on. Thaddeus had been trying to protect all of us with wards, but they were easily broken by the wild magic. I hadn’t even known he could create wards. Meanwhile, Jeb, Blue, Zelli, Houda, Gideon, Sven, Sotis, and Kalyn were using Jeb’s jewelry to help the dragons. Ilvera was casting curses left and right, easily holding her own against the onslaught.
The previous battle proved that even with our combined magic, she still needed a wand. As I watched her this time, I realized something even more monumental; she could still only do sorcery, which meant she had very weak defenses in comparison. Whether it was because her soul was too dark for anything else or because she had never learned anything but the darkest magic, it was a disadvantage for her.
Two fiery red cuffs formed around her wrists, locking them in place. She shrieked with outrage. I rushed forth with my sword aimed. An instant before I reached her, the red bands vanished and lightning crackled around her, throwing me, Sven, and Jeb back.
My body was burned and I couldn’t feel anything but pain. However, almost as quickly as the pain struck, it faded. The dragon magic inside me was strong.
“Is this any way to treat your mother?” Ilvera asked.
“He told you already; you’re not his mother anymore,” Mason said. When I stood, he gawked at me like I was a zombie. “How are you not hurt?”
“I’ll be hurt later. We have a war to win.”
Ilvera pointed her wand at me, but when a dragon flung a curse at her, she focused on him and cast her curse just as quickly. She was hit and thrown back with a cry of pain, but the dragon roared in agony and collapsed to the ground.
I didn’t even second-guess myself; I aimed my staff at the dragon. “Heal.” Bright blue magic struck the dragon and covered him in a cool blue glow. I could feel his pain, but not as if it was mine. Knowing he would be healed and on his feet in a moment, I turned back to Ilvera.
She was back on her feet and gawking at me. “How did you do that?”
“You wouldn’t understand. You are the cruelest woman I know,” I said.
She grinned. “Flattery will get you nowhere with me.”
“You can’t understand what power the heart holds because you have no heart.”
Mason laughed. “I see what you did there.”
Ilvera glared. “What did he do? Tell me.” She never understood inside jokes. She had to know everything always.
Three of the dragons used her distraction to their advantage, combined their powers, and attacked. Once again, red bands formed around her wrists, but this time, they glowed bright enough they were painful to look at. I aimed my sword at her throat. The dragons magically raised their cuffs so that Ilvera’s arms were over her head, but her wand was still in her grasp. At the same time, another dragon put a ward around me. It was the best shot I was going to get.
I advanced on her until I saw a subtle change in her eyes. Instinctively, I stopped as quickly as I could, sliding and tearing up the grass. Right in front of me, right where my blade would have been had I not stopped… was Nimue.
“That is impossible!” Merlin said before howling. “It is a trick!”
“Sorceresses can’t create illusions,” I reminded him.
Nimue was the love of Merlin’s life, who he had had to leave on another world when he was turned into a wolf. The last I had seen of her, she was protecting and guarding another wizard who had been turned into a wolf.
She was a pretty woman with deep blue eyes and golden blond hair, but she was currently covered in dirt. A cloth was tied over her mouth. She barely glanced at the dragons before her eyes locked on Merlin and she stopped shaking. The look in her eyes was stunning; she loved him. I could see it in her heart, as if I had a mental bond with her like I did Merlin. She was okay with dying because she got to see him again. It didn’t matter to her that he was still a wolf or that she had no idea who Ilvera was. She had wanted nothing more than to be reunited with Merlin.
I had never seen love like that before.
Ilvera got the cuffs off again, pulled Nimue closer, and pressed her wand against Nimue’s throat. “Don’t move or the wolf’s girl dies.”
Merlin snapped his jaw, growling and foaming at the mouth, but he didn’t take a step closer. His body was trembling with barely contained fury.
“How did you get her?”
“I knew I had to destroy Merlin to really break you, so I asked Baltezore what Merlin’s weakness was. He even brought her to me wrapped up like a little gift before I killed him.” With her free hand, she yanked the cloth out of Nimue’s mouth. “Tell my disobedient son to drop his sword.”
Nimue didn’t speak Ilvera’s language, however, and her last words weren’t for me. “Ek ann þér.”
Merlin answered with “Þess sver ek við guðin, at ek skal þik eiga eða enga konu ella.” His posture relaxed a little as it sunk into his mind that he hadn’t lost her yet.
“Drop your sword,” Ilvera warned. I did. “Back away.” I took five steps away and stopped. “Now call off your dragons.”
“Dragons, thank you for helping us, now please save yourselves.” Because Merlin is about to release some terror that none of us will survive. I could hear the dragons behind me as they took flight. How could we lose again? How could I fail everyone this badly? “You win. I failed and I give up, so let Nimue go. You can kill me, but let him have---”
That was as far as I got. I expected an attack from Merlin. None of us expected what actually happened. In the same instant, Sven on her right and Kalyn on her left each used one of Jeb’s rings. Sven struck Ilvera’s wand, flinging it out of her hand, while Kalyn released a powerful blast of energy that tossed Nimue in the opposite direction.
Merlin ran to Nimue. I reached out and summoned my staff to me. It flew to my hand without hesitation. Before I could do anything, Nasku
appeared behind me and roared… and the blade of my sword lit up with flames. I threw the sword, unleashing my dragon magic as I did, not to attack her, but to take back what she stole. “Ǫfugr!”
The blade stabbed her through the heart, but instead of blood gushing from the wound, magic exploded from her. It struck me, and formed a line of power to Livia. Ilvera screamed. Just like before, we were soon connected, except this time, we were gaining our magic back. I felt the individual strengths of the others as it passed through me.
Like we had theorized, none of us could learn all types of magic, because our personalities were too specific. Although magic was neutral, it was changed into wizardry, sorcery, illusionary magic, healing magic, and so on, based on who we were. Everyone else on Caldaca had personalities that matched their magic, whereas we had magic to match our personalities. And every single one of us had light and dark magic.
However, the connection wasn’t cut when we all had our magic back; extremely sinister magic started flowing through me. It was Ilvera’s magic. Several of the Sjau groaned with discomfort as the foreign magic was divided among us. Through the connection, I could feel it changing in all of us. For example, in Sven, it remained sorcery, but it wasn’t as dark, whereas it transformed into wizardry in Livia.
In myself… it did both. Some of it changed to wizardry, while some of it just lost a little of its malevolence. Unlike the raven’s curse, it couldn’t change us. That was a good thing; no one needed to be more like Ilvera.
By the time the connection broke, I felt fantastic. I felt like I had enough energy to take on any opponent. My dragon magic retreated back into my stone. My mother was passed out on the ground, weakened like I had never seen her before. She looked frail.
And then my father appeared. “Not bad. You managed to keep everyone alive.”
“Does this mean she’s powerless?”
“Unfortunately, no. You only got a portion of her magic, meaning she can steal more from other sorcerers. However, she will not be bothering you again for a long time, if ever.”
“Is Nimue okay?” I asked Merlin. The witch was sitting with her hands wrapped around him in a hug. I didn’t know enough of her language to address her directly, despite Merlin’s lessons.
