Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga)

by Platt, S. P.

  ‘I can feel the magic around here coming from all those who use magic at this school, for that's the only thing it could be. I think that by me clearing the paths deeper than any have before it has made me sensitive to the magic and what it feels like. Try it and then I will know it is right to clear that deep.’ Speaking with a strong feeling of being right.

  They looked at him nodded their heads and set about looking deeper at the paths as they get smaller. Angel still thought he had to go even deeper as his magic still did not feel complete. So sitting there the whole afternoon not moving just sitting there following the paths in their bodies the magic takes.

  Angel was the first to come back to the surface for he now felt complete and the tingling of all the magic wasn’t as course for that’s what he now felt it was. The tingling is smoother than before and not as loud, but now feels really good.

  I can almost feel as if I could draw on the magic that surrounds me. I will see if I can separate the magic in the air into which magic belongs to whom. Let’s see what the strongest magic around here is.

  Angel turned his head around back and forth till he stopped and looked at the face of the mountain the Wizard School and Nirvana was stuck to. Getting up he walked over to the rock face and placed his hand up against it.

  I can feel magic it’s so strong like a dragon compared to a small bug. There is something else the magic has age to it. The magic is ancient; it is so old I don’t think there is anything or one alive that could remember it.

  Just then the others were coming back up and he turned to them to see if there was any change in them. ‘How do you feel, tell me?’

  They looked at him and then they looked around before they spoke. ‘I feel tingly all over like when you ware a prickly coat.’ Maive said as she rubbed herself to try and stop that feeling.

  ‘I’m the same.’ Come Shylyns voice as she did the same thing.

  Medwin was not rubbing himself but was looking around in amazement at the feelings he was having.

  ‘That is how I felt when I came close to the Wizard School yesterday, all prickly and maybe that is what the dragons are picking up on and don’t like. It might rub them up the wrong way and so it makes them hate the wizards. That course feeling you have will get better when you have gone as far as you can.’ Looking at them trying to calm them down for he could see the prickly feeling was starting to annoy them. ‘I now feel really good as I feel I have cleared right down to as far as the magic paths go, and they go deep.’

  Angel took them to the rock face and got them to put there hands on it. ‘Now tell me what you feel, is there something about the rock wall at all.’

  They all nodded. ‘There is a magic, here strong magic, it feels different.’ Medwin turned to Angel with a funny look to his face.

  ‘The magic is very old and so must be the spell holding the School to the rock face. I can feel the pattern in it. If I hold my hands on it long enough I think I could work out the pattern of the spell and how it is made up.’ Angel going over to the rock face and is about to place his hands there once more when the Headmaster calls to them.

  ‘Come on you four the evening meal bells have rung along time ago and you will miss the meal, so get a move on quickly now.’ Gavrie looked at them in a strange way as they went past.

  I will have to keep an eye on them; if they’re getting to the point of not hearing the meal bells then they are getting too involved and will need to take breaks. This is going to be a strange year having some so young. We have never before had this so will have to watch them very closely.

  Angel and his friends entered and found the hall near empty so they have almost missed the meal. Angel feels he will have to be careful when getting into the magic for if it does this to them they might starve before they realize just what is happening to them.

  Going and getting their food they find they are really hungry and have not felt like this before. So they end up going for seconds before going up to bed as all the working with the magic has made them tired.

  Contents

  A Gift For His Friends

  The following morning they headed down to breakfast and find they are still hungry. Sitting at the table eating, Angel tells them his fears. ‘We will have to be careful as we got so absorbed in following the magic we lost track of time and found ourselves so hungry. Much longer and we could have starved our selves to death. It looks like the magic will take a lot out of us if we’re not careful.'

  Just as he finished Gavrie come into the hall looked around and came over to them. ‘Good morning and how are you all today, judging by the amount of food you four are eating, last night and this morning you really practiced the exercise I gave you. You will still need to keep it up but at all times have one of you keep track of the time. When first getting into magic it can consume you so just be aware of that.’

  Sitting down at the table with them he explains. ‘Your day is going to be broken into just the two parts, so it will be morning with me teaching you to understand spells and what is involved in creating spells. This is mostly how you make up the spell in your mind.

  He looks at each one as he speaks. ‘This is a very important part of being a wizard, for without this knowledge you would be unable to create a spell. Now as to the second part of the day you will set aside to keep clearing the magic paths within yourselves. This is also very important for the same reason, if they are not clear and you go to cast a spell, the magic could backfire and work against you. All wizards regularly make sure their paths are clear.

  Getting up out of the chair he tells them where they are to go. ‘Now your lessons will be held in the Crystal chamber at the very top level of the central tower. This will start as soon as you have finished your breakfast. As to the practice of clearing your pathways you are permitted to choose your own spot to do this.’

  Walking out of the hall they quickly finish there meal and follow to the Crystal chamber. Arriving not long after the Headmaster and as they enter the hall they just stop and look. The Crystal chamber is just what it’s named after. The chamber eight sided with four walls being crystal and in the centre suspended in the air is a large crystal.

  ‘It’s incredible.’ Angel blurts out with his eyes sparkling with the share joy of seeing something so fantastic.

  The others had been stopped in there tracks as well as they entered the room. The Headmaster let them look before pulling there attention back to him. ‘Right come on over to the centre and sit on the floor, making yourself comfortable. Now you stay sitting there looking at the share beauty of the room, you wander how you will ever learn anything in here. Well you will the room will help show you how a spell is created.’

  Coming and standing in the middle of them he creates a small spell to show them. ‘Ok here is a simple spell for creating a flower. Now look at the flower and tell me what you see?’

  Medwin looks at it and is first up with his hand, and Gavrie nods to him. ‘I can see not a flower but a pattern of a flower which the magic is creating.’

  ‘Very good, now if you all look at this bird, that I have conjured up and now tell me what you see.’

  Shylyn was first this time. ‘This time I see the spell has a lot more detail in it. It creates all the parts, the living parts, bringing it to life. This spell looks harder than the other.’

  ‘Very good and you are right the spell is harder to do but once you have created the spell then the next time it becomes easier. This means any spell once you have created it will be there in your mind ready.’

  Angel starts to look hard at Gavrie and a smile appears on his face. Gavrie sees this and asks? ‘What are you smiling about, come on tell us all?’

  Angel stands up and walks over to him, just standing within arms reach he swings his arm at Gavrie and his arm goes right through him. ‘You have made a very good copy of yourself. You almost had me but something about this room showed me little things that told me it was not you. It would be better if you could make yourself firm
er so that if anyone bumped you it would appear more real.’

  ‘Very good and to reply to what you just said, it is almost impossible to do because the spell is so complex that you would be working on it for your entire life. To create a living thing the size of a person let along anything bigger, it’s just so complex.

  He now brought out an apple and sat it on the floor. ‘Now I would like you to try and make me an apple the same as and I want to be able to eat it. Now to create the spell you need to feel your magic, once you can feel the flow of magic you need to shape it into the apple.’

  Angel was the first to have an apple sitting in front of him, then not long after the others had an apple in front as well. ‘Very good, now I want you to eat your apples because you must be hungry after that bit of magic. Away you go now.’

  Angel took a big bite into his apple and then spat it out. Then the others the same, they all had a sour look on their faces not understanding. ‘Good now you see there is more to creating a spell. Anyone can create something to look like an item but to create all the parts inside it that make up that item is an entirely different thing. That will come latter, so I think we will leave the rest as you will find it is now lunch time and you should be hungry. So off you go.’

  All getting up, they left the room talking amongst themselves. ‘How did you know Gavrie was an illusion as he looked so real?’ Medwin asked as they walked down the stairs.

  ‘After clearing the magic channels down deep it has given me a deeper understanding of the finer parts of magic. Looking at Gavrie, he looked course so I decided to test it; also the crystal in this room helped me see it.’

  Shylyn looked at them speaking as they found themselves at the Meal Hall. ‘Now we should look at the spell that holds the school to the rock face and see what that one now looks like. Now we know what to look for we might be able to see it.’

  They all thought that a good idea and got some food and were about to sit down when Maive suggested they take there meal with them and see. There were hardly any other wizards or students there so Angel was going to have a look at the door to the other deck and see if it was unlocked.

  They got to the wall and stood in front of the rock face and looked at the spell holding Nirvana against the cliff face. They knew it was there, for they can feel it. It’s was a very strong tingling in there body. At first they could not see anything, and then Angel had an idea. ‘I think we need to relax as I’m all tense with wanting to see it. Lets quickly do the clearing exercise and then try again.’

  They sat down and got comfortable and then proceeded to go thru the clearing exercise. This took them a lot less time as they were getting so good at it. Because they have cleared right down to the core of the magic path, the path stays clear. Coming out of it they find they are relaxed now.

  They again went up to the rock face and then relaxed there bodies looking again. There in front of them appeared a pattern so weird that they couldn’t work out what it meant or made up.

  The pattern was so complex they couldn’t even try to understand it. ‘I can’t see the pattern, all I see is what looks like a lot of spider webs stuck to each other, it’s just so weird.’ Medwin turning away as he spoke just couldn’t look at it anymore.

  They were going to have to work on their magic path and then have another look. Angel was still looking and thinking on it when the others dragged him away and told him to eat.

  ‘I think Medwin you just might be right it does look like a lot of webs stacked up on each other. I’m going to have to think on it, come on lets eat.’ Sitting down he then looks at the gate to the other Dragon Decks, and turns looking at his friends.

  ‘I wander what the other decks and towers look like, and I wander if the door is unlocked or not. I think I’ll have a look.’ Getting up as he spoke to the others.

  The others looked shocked as he started over to the door. ‘Angel don’t you know what we were told it’s too dangerous to go into the other decks. Now come back here before someone sees you. We don’t want to get in trouble when we’ve only been here a couple of days.’ The shock in Medwin’s voice as he spoke was very clear.

  Shylyn got up and went over to Angel grabbing his arm. ‘Angel don’t be silly someone will see us and then we’ll all get in trouble.’

  Angel turned to them speaking as he still walked to the door dragging Shylyn with him. ‘It’s ok I’m not going through just going to have a look and see if it’s unlocked. Now you would think that if it was dangerous it would be locked. So the only way to find out is to try and see.’

  Reaching the door Angel puts his hand on the handle and tries it. ‘Here we go and it’s locked so there we don’t have to worry about getting in trouble. I would still love to see what the other decks look like, maybe one day.’

  They spent the rest of the afternoon there by the gate, before having one more look at the pattern of the old spell holding the school. The spell intrigued them and so on the way back to there evening meal they were trying to work the pattern out. Suggesting what it could be.

  After the meal they headed off up to bed as they find clearing the pathways is very tiring. On the way out of the meal hall they run into Gavrie just coming in. ‘Now how are you four going, did you practice your clearing exercise?’

  Angel looked at Gavrie and told him how they felt. ‘We are doing the clearing exercise and at the end, find we are very tired after we have eaten. Is that normal?’

  He looked at all of them one at a time and could see the tiredness in their eyes. ‘Yes it is normal until the magic pathways are clear. You must remember you are young and it will take a lot out of you, so you are going to be tired. Normally when young wizards come here at the age of 14 or 15 they get to practice this nearly all day for the first week. You four are different because you’re so young and you will tire easily you only get half a day.’

  Angel and the others were about to go up to their room, when Angel suddenly turned to Gavrie. ‘Headmaster do all spells have the same patterns and are then altered or are they all completely different from the start. Do spells have something in common with each other or are they all completely different?’

  Gavrie stopped as Angel asked and looked at each of them before answering. ‘No each spell is different in every way, but you can have several versions of a spell for the same thing. It would be like making a small fire, but to make a bigger fire you would have to alter the small fire to make it into the bigger one. So you do have differing spells creating different versions of the same item. Well, does that answer your question?’

  ‘Thank you that helps a lot.’ As Gavrie turned leaving them they head to their room. Getting to there common room they find a nice fire going so decide to sit around it for a while and talk over the old spell. ‘Medwin I think you have got the right idea with the spiders’ web. I am beginning to think the spell is in layers and woven together so that would make the pattern very hard to read.’ Angel looking into the fire, as he told them his thoughts.

  Maive sat up quick and spoke. ‘Like weaving patterns as you build the picture you add the coloured wools to create the pattern so must the spell be that holds the school to the cliff. Someone wove that spell and made a very good job of it.’

  Medwin yawning, before getting up and heading to his room. ‘Well I’m tired and I am going to bed I bid you goodnight.’

  The others all decided to do the same so off they went to their rooms all thinking on the day's experiences. Angel got himself ready and jumped into bed and as soon as his head touched the pillow he was a sleep. The following morning they found themselves in the Crystal Chamber again.

  Gavrie was not there yet, and they were wandering what happened to him. They had been told at breakfast where they were to meet the head this morning.

  Sitting around in a circle waiting for Gavrie they practiced their clearing exercise. But this morning Angel was thinking about Aura for he has not heard from her and he is worried. He decides to call her and see if she is c
lose or not.

  ‘Aura can you hear me Aura?’ He found calling to her in the Crystal Chamber made him feel as if he could call her along way off.

  ‘Angel is that you calling?’ He could feel the worry in her voice.

  ‘I was starting to worry about you, are you all right I hope your grandfather is not giving you any problems.’ Angel could feel she was a little upset and he felt it was for him she was worrying about him.

  ‘I will be coming back soon so don’t worry. Grandfather is ok he’s not angry at me but is a bit reserved. He is with me now. We are talking about something very important and that is why I’m a bit distracted. I will tell you about it when I get back soon.’ She seamed to float away as she left his mind.

  All of a sudden Gavrie was shaking him. ‘Angel are you alright, Angel speak to me now?’

  ‘I’m ok just concentrating on the clearing exercise and got carried away, I will be back soon.’ Looking Gavrie in the eye he could see the concern on his face.

  ‘Ok but you must be careful when doing it you must come back quick, now come on lets do some spells just little ones. I will show you one that I told you about last night. There is your little fire and next to it is your big fire. Now look closely at the pattern and tell me what you see?’ Walking back over to the fires in the middle of the room.

  Angel looks at the pattern in the big one and then looks at the pattern of the small one. He finds there is a slight difference in the fire patterns. ‘I can see the pattern now it is the same in both but the big one has three slight differences from the small one. The pattern looks like it has been stretched which makes it bigger but there are more strands in the pattern.’

  ‘Yes by making it bigger you must add more strands to the pattern so that it is still a true fire. Now I would like you to focus your magic into the pattern of the little fire. Now just think with your magic, see the pattern now copy it and lets see a little fire besides the other.’ Gavrie looked at the little fires that started to appear; yes they are starting to get it rather well.’