Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga)

by Platt, S. P.

Angel suddenly put his finger in to help her and soon they were moving the lines of the pattern and slowly they filled the rough area. The pattern was slowly starting to look whole, blending in with the rest of the pattern.

  ‘You have it Shylyn the key, we have to complete the spell so that when it is whole it will open the door. Almost there so be ready as we don’t know what has been kept behind there all these centuries.’ Angel got up as Shylyn put the final touches to that area.

  She finished and stood up waiting to see what was going to happen. Slowly the pattern glowed a bright red and then faded to nothing, just leaving a door in its place. They just stood there and looked at it before Angel walked up to it and pushed it open.

  They all looked into the dark trying to see what was in there. Medwin moved his finger in a little pattern and suddenly there was a little ball of light flouting in the air just in front of them. Peering into the room they find that it is in fact a hall and they could see that in went straight. They started to walk through the door and down the hall looking to see if there were any rooms coming off it.

  They had walked a little way down the hall when they stopped and Angel spoke. ‘I think we are now under the next deck or just coming to the tower. There just might be a way back up in which case that will let us get to our dragons unseen. Let’s keep going and see if there is one?’

  They proceeded along the hall till they came to the end where there was a door. This door however never had a spell hiding it but just an ordinary lock which just happened to be locked. They looked around to see if there was a key lying around but had no luck.

  They knew they needed to get through the door and see if what they thought was right. Deciding to go back to the room and have a look and see if there was a key hidden there.

  Medwin called them all to stop and think. ‘Ok somebody a long time ago went to a lot of trouble trying to hide this passage way so they would of left the key to that other door in here somewhere rather than take it with them. Now it must be close to the hidden door and hidden itself so lets concentrate on that area then.

  They looked at the area around the door touching the blocks to see if any of them moved but still found nothing. They knew it must be in this room for the person who hid the door would not carry a key that size around with them all the time.

  Over by the wall with the door there was a work desk with writing parchment as there was an old peace lying on the table. On the table also was an old ink bottle and candle holder, an old rusty knife. Angel looked at the knife and quickly grabbed it and ran down the hall yelling. ‘I’ve got it come on.’

  The others ran after him catching him at the door where they watched him proceed to stick the hilt end of the knife into the key hole, where he proceeded to turn and unlock the door.

  Turning and showing them the hilt of the knife they could see it looked like a kind of key. ‘It was staring us in the face all the time so shell we see where this takes us?’ Angel opened the door as he spoke.

  They went through the door to find them selves in a little cupboard in a large room. There where some old broken chairs and tables laying around the room. They turned to look at the door they had just come through and could not tell there was one.

  The door had gone so they quickly went back into the room and looked for the door handle to let them back trough. They could just see where you can pull at the edge of the wall a little grove that someone’s fingers could fit into. Angel did this and pulled and the door opened.

  They had a close look and found a little hole where the key could fit to lock it again. They left the large room to find out where exactly they where. They found themselves in a smaller room which led them on to stairs going up. They followed them up until they come out in the area where one could go up the tower or through the door into the next deck.

  This was what they wanted so went back down and back to their room where they reset the spell hiding the door. They now had their secret place and a way of getting to the next deck so now all they had to do was wait for the Renegade to come

  They were not able to get to their dragons, as it was getting very late and the storm was still raging. They left locking their room and heading back to their common room to wait for the evening meal. They decide after they had eaten to go to the library and see if they couldn’t find more on the Renegades.

  They had another look around the library to see if there were any other areas that might have something on the Renegades. There must be more on them as they are such a dangerous force.

  Going down an isle that leads to the back, they find an area where students are not really allowed to be but find there is no one around and quickly proceed. Walking down the isles they can see these books have not been looked at in a very long time.

  They spread out to see what books they could get. They need to read as much as they could and then back to their room and talk over what they have come up with.

  They spent as long as possible getting what they could; look in one book then moving along to the next. If they found something of interest they would stop and read the whole lot so they need not come back again.

  Finely they decide it is getting late and did not want to be found in this area of the library. They finished off and headed back to their rooms where they could talk over what they have found.

  ‘There are hints on the Renegades but not a lot about them or who they are. All I found was a line saying they have been around since the book had been written, that was all’ Medwin looked at them with a disgusted look on his face, as finding nothing after they had come across that old section.

  Shylyn spoke and she had that same look. ‘Same here nothing, not a mention in the area I had. If we found one section of old books then there must be more old sections. There should be older ones as the school has been here centuries so the library would have very old areas, it’s just finding them.’

  ‘Sorry Angel I’m the same as the others there was nothing in that section that can help us at all, what about you, anything?’ Maive looking just like the others as she pulled her legs up and cradled them.

  They could see on Angels face that same look but Angel was not about to give up. ‘Ok we found nothing there but as Shylyn said we found one area, there must be another or lots of those pockets of old books. Maybe someone has hidden the books singly around the library or just in little pockets. We just keep trying till the day we find them, so come on lets get to bed and see what the morning brings.’

  They found class not as much fun as yesterday with learning about shielding from spells and the magic flowing out and around the body. This morning was more on the creatures and what spells will kill them when in close combat if you don’t have a lance.

  The spells they learnt today would have no affect against the Renegade so they went through the process of learning them anyway. They would have the afternoon to themselves and they would go and see their dragons. It was not Gavrie who was taking them for this class today but one of the other wizards.

  They finely got away from that class and went to get some food and drink to take with them to their dragons. Heading down to their secret room they bump into Gavrie and Angel put their plan into action.

  ‘Headmaster we were just going to study in our secret room for the afternoon and will be back out for our meal.’ Angel looked him in the face and had a straight face as he spoke.

  ‘That’s fine as a lot of the other first year students have all ready done that and you lot are almost the last. Just remember the spell sealing your room from others will only be able to have one of you open it. That means that person will always have to be there to open the room. Just remember to watch the amount of time when using your magic, that’s very important?’ Gavrie turned and headed off leaving them to go on there way. As they turned and left he stopped and turns to look at them.

  *

  They are very different from all the others here; to have a room for all four of them is unheard of. I have a feeling that they a
re going to do powerful things. They will be a new breed of wizard one who will share their magic. Two wizards shearing magic will make them a lot more powerful than any other wizard here or ever. I will watch their progress with a careful eye. Turning he headed off.

  *

  They kept walking not daring to look back at Gavrie for if they did they just don’t know what they would do if he called them back. It’s the look he’s giving them lately they are not sure of. They know they will have to be very careful around him.

  Getting down to their hidden room and finding they had not put a spell lock on the door. Remembering what Gavrie told them they just ignored him and they all placed the spell on the door to hide it. Any one of them could open it at anytime for as each one put the spell on the door they each blended it in with the other spells there.

  They entered the room and placed their lock on the door and then proceeded to open the other door to the hall leading off to the other deck. They put one of their spells on this door and not the old one that someone long dead put there.

  Contents

  A Lesson Learned

  Angel and the others knew that to reveal, being able to look and see other wizards spells and even open them would not go down well at all. They climbed the stairs to the tower door and slowly looked to make sure no one was there. Finding no one they went quickly into the cave of the next Dragon Deck so they could not be seen.

  Reaching the next deck they find their dragons waiting there for them. Climbing on their backs they got themselves in a good position and the dragons lifted into the air with a graceful flap of their wings. They proceeded to fly under the Dragon Decks and along to their deck at the end.

  Now they could really greet their dragons and spent a good hour just playing with them, this doing a world of good for them all. Eventually they spent the afternoon just playing and flying close to the castle at this end. Angel knew they were not getting much done in regards the Renegade but seeing the joy on the faces of his friends and himself, he found that more beneficial.

  They found there was no time to play with their magic and so headed back to the deck close to the school. Arriving not long before the evening meal they quickly gave their dragons a hug and quickly ran to the next deck making sure they were not seen by the wizard patrolling the tower.

  After the meal they headed back up to the library and carried on looking for all they could on the Renegades. Angel was walking down one of the isles when he stopped at a book that caught his eye. He called the others over as he realized it might be important.

  They all came running up to him and were a bit winded as his yell sounded urgent. ‘This book here has just reminded me we needed to find out about Portals. The Renegades must be opening one to bring the creatures through so we need to find out about them just as much as the Renegades.’

  Shylyn went over to the shelf where Angel got his book and started to look. It was not long before she had one as well. ‘Come on there are others here as well so we might as well all look and see what there is about the portals?’

  They soon had a dozen books sitting on the floor at their feet. ‘Come on let’s get these over to a table and start looking? There must be something in these and as we’re not having much luck finding anything on the Renegades.’ Angel had four books in his arms and was heading off to one off the tables at the end of the isle.

  They all sat there and just read till it got late. ‘I think we had better get these books back to the shelf’s and we better get back to our rooms as it is getting very late?’ Medwin had got up as he spoke stretching his arms high into the air.

  Students still had to be in bed at reasonable hours as they are still very young and if Gavrie had come in and caught them he would not have been very happy. With them being younger than the other first year students he would expect them to be in bed earlier. They got back to their common room without any wizard seeing them. Going straight to bed as they had found they were very tired.

  They were up late the next morning as they had slept in and they had to run. Deciding they had better miss breakfast and get to class, not wanting to be missed at class. They would just have a bigger lunch instead, and take some food with them for latter.

  They found Gavrie was taking them this morning and he was going to go over the shielding magic again to see if they had been practicing it. ‘Ok looking at you lot, I can see you are all bursting with energy so lets get in and show what you’ve learnt with your shielding magic?’

  He got them to stand and put their shields up and he will throw a few balls of fire at them and see how their shields hold. Gavrie looked at them and he could see they were tired. Having been in the meal hall early he noticed they hadn’t come in for their breakfast. So thinking they had a late night and so slept in, he was going to wake them up very quickly.

  He was going to have them learn the hard way, that at their age they must get their sleep which in turn means they have to go to bed at the right time. It would not do them any good to be tired at the wrong time.

  From now on he was going to make sure they went to bed at the correct time but he also must get them to realize they needed to have sleep. So he was going to wake them up with some hard hitting fire balls. It would be the best way for them to learn.

  Now let’s see what happens when I send in a volley of fire balls. ‘Ok let’s see how your shields hold up to this.’ He fires five quick balls of fire at them sending the extra one at Angel so he got two quick hits on his shield.

  He found their shields held fine so he up the tempo and sent three at each of them to see how their shields hold. He could still see they were quick but they did struggle with three hits. ‘Ok let’s see you with four hits.’ And he fired them before they had time to realize just what he said.

  The balls of fire hit one after the other knocking them backwards and almost having them on the floor. Now he could see they were sweating and that any more would go through their shields. They looked at him and he could see in their faces they knew they couldn’t take another hit.

  ‘Ok that will be enough if I fired one more it would go through your shields. Now they were small fire balls which I should have been able to fire at you for a long time and your shields would stop them, but you all know if I send one more it will go through your shield.’ Looking at them one at a time and his expression was not one of happiness as he spoke.

  They could see the anger in his face as he spoke to them.

  Angel spoke. ‘We were in the library and got so engrossed in the spell books; we lost all track of time. We won’t do it again.’

  ‘I know you won’t do it again as you are now on a curfew, you will be in bed at dusk for the next four weeks. You must learn that at your age you have to have sleep for if you don’t it affects your magic and in affecting your magic your body can’t shield itself very well. Till you are older and your body learns to do with less sleep you have got to have it.’ He stood there for a time looking at them after he had spoken, they could see he was very serous about the curfew.

  They did not know were to look for Gavrie just stared them down. They couldn’t look at him and they had never seen him this angry before. Angel decided he would have to say something. ‘We are really sorry but we never knew it could affect our magic like it did. It was getting really hard to stop the fire balls; it was as if our magic had shrunk back in to our centre. I could barely push it out to keep the shield up and I could tell one more hit and it would have gone. We just never thought anything like that could happen.’

  Gavrie took pity on them and relaxed his face coming back to a caring smile. ‘Ok it is very important for at an early age your magic is still learning about your body and you are just learning about your magic. The other first year students who are older than you it’s the same but they at lest have age on their side but you lot don’t. Your bodies are still too young for magic but there is nothing I or anyone else can do about it. All we can do is try and tell you and let you find out what you c
an and cannot do.’ Looking at them, he felt fear for them. They were so young he just has to keep a closer eye on them.

  His pity for them at the shock they must have got just then got the better of him. ‘Go and get something to eat. You also stay in your room for the rest of the day and get some more sleep and let your bodies catch up.’

  They headed down and grabbed a large meal and headed off to their room. They could feel their bodies did need the sleep and the food. They got back to their room, ate their meal and found they were very tired and went to bed.

  The following morning they headed down for breakfast and in the hall found Gavrie sitting there looking at them as they came. They tried not to look at him but found it very hard not to. They were feeling guilty about yesterday and not wanting him to say anything more they tried not to get his attention.

  They ate and headed off to class which today was on little spells, ones that you would take for granted. These were spells like creating balls of light and setting a fire in the fire place. Moving items around the place, placing writing on paper without pencils and all those little things that one takes for granted.

  In the afternoon Gavrie called them to his room and they all went there knowing they were going to lose the library for a while. They knocked and Gavrie bid them enter, his voice not sounding to stern. They approached the desk where Gavrie was seated writing in a large book.

  ‘Now lets see what we are going to do with you in the afternoons as I do not want you in the library for at lest the rest of the week. You need to learn the hard way that it’s important for you at this age to get your rest. That means if you go back to the library again it is likely to happen again. So a week without it should help you remember you must stop when you need to.’ He spoke softly not wanting to sound to stern, as he wanted them to still keep their curiosity.

  They had a crestfallen look on their faces but he kept to what he had decided. ‘Now as to what you can do in place of that. I think you can spend the afternoons in your room or your secret room and let your magic flow in and out of your bodies. Also you can do your magic channels and make shore they are clear. A week of that should make it clear to yourselves its very important for your magic to get the rest it needs that your body needs.’