The Sorceress of Aspenwood Trilogy Pack

by Sam Ferguson

  “It’s done,” Lepkin said.

  Kyra nodded, staring into the green flames as the shade continued to burn away into nothingness. “My mother is avenged,” she said, hardly daring to believe the words. In an instant she replayed the last year in her mind: the first of the strange attacks at Caspen Manor, her arrival at school, the day she had first seen Lepkin, the day Leatherback had hatched, her first battle with the shade, and now this moment, knowing that this creature which had sent the demons to hunt her had now been silenced forever. Then, her smile slowly faded away as she recalled that even this creature had been sent by another.

  Kyra walked over to where Lepkin was lying on the ground and knelt down next to him. “We killed a shade. A shade! And you were amazing, but it is not done yet.”

  Lepkin sat up a little and leaned on his elbow. He looked to her with a questioning stare, and then his impish grin returned and his blue eyes sparkled once more. “Time to hunt the vampire?”

  Kyra nodded. “It’s time to cut the head off the snake, and it seems I have a dagger to find.”

  Dimwater’s Dagger

  By

  Sam Ferguson

  Chapter 1

  Kyra stepped through her portal into the aspen grove, but sighed when she saw Leatherback was not there. It had been several days since she last saw him. The breaks she had between lessons with Cyrus never seemed to coincide with Leatherback actually being where he was supposed to be.

  She assumed he was out hunting. He had told her that his appetite had been growing much larger since the fight with the shade. Not that he had needed to tell her. She could plainly see the pile of bones heaped up in the far corner of the grove.

  “Leatherback,” she huffed. “You have to get rid of these piles,” she chastised. If the dragon slayers ever came through this area, one look at the pile of bones would have them setting up an ambush, for only a dragon could eat so much.

  Kyra moved to the large pile, holding her nose against the foul odor. She looked down and noticed one particular skull that looked unfamiliar. Most of the bones belonged to moose or elk, but there was one that looked to be a long-horned cow. She would have to ask him about that the next time she saw him. No matter how large his appetite became, he had to stay away from cattle and other domesticated animals.

  She summoned a large fire and let the magical flames consume the bones, all the while controlling the smoke with her magic. When the pile was gone, she tried to make new grass sprout over the scorched earth.

  Unfortunately, despite her many talents, she never seemed able to get the grass to grow over the burned spots. She made a note to learn a more efficient spell to rid the area of bones without leaving any trace.

  She then and sat upon the rock in the middle of the clearing and pulled out a book that she had intended to read to Leatherback. Instead, she sat by herself and read the book alone until it was time for her to return to the academy. Kyra sighed disappointedly, but there wasn’t much she could do.

  “At least he is taking the staff,” she noted as she pulled at a pile of branches and debris to look around next to the saddle she used to ride him. The saddle was undisturbed, but the staff was not in its place.

  She wondered what the dragon might be up to, but decided she would figure it out another time. She wasn’t overly worried about him, for he had never shown any sign of being tainted by the blight before. She decided to check the pond they made the next time she came to call upon him. Maybe he was swimming more. He was awfully fond of that.

  Kyra bent down and picked a small daisy and then set it upon the stone, and then she went back to the academy.

  She went to her classroom where Cyrus was waiting for her.

  “Did you find him yet?” Cyrus asked.

  “Nope,” Kyra huffed.

  Cyrus nodded. “Headmaster Herion is returning tomorrow,” he said.

  A wave of dread rolled over her and Kyra suddenly found her throat dry and her face warm and flush. “He’s done?” she asked.

  “Master Fenn said he would come to your room tomorrow morning. Herion wants to speak with you.”

  Kyra groaned.

  She had not been looking forward to this. It had been two weeks since she had slain the shade. There had been a flurry of commotion the day after, and Headmaster Herion had rushed out of the academy on foot, without a driver or any sort of escort. Cyrus had informed her afterward that Feberik Orres had already been sent to the battle site to secure it. Herion was determined to get rid of any evidence of the recent battles and then go through the nearby countryside looking for any possible witnesses.

  Kyra hadn’t understood the reason for all the upheaval, but she had taken comfort in knowing that her punishment would be delayed until Herion’s return. Now that he was done and on his way back, she wished she could find a very large rock to crawl under.

  Cyrus must have sensed her trepidation. He approached her and offered a reassuring smile. “How about we skip the rest of the lessons for today and you can go and relax, or maybe go out and get into more trouble with Linny. Just don’t get caught stealing more biscuits from the kitchen, all right?”

  Kyra laughed, but her uneasiness didn’t diminish. She shook her head. At this point, the only thing that might help to clear her head was focusing on her lessons. “Actually, let’s practice,” she said in a mousy tone.

  Cyrus shrugged. “Very well. Let’s go through some warm up fights first.” He turned around and walked toward the front of the room as he pushed the desks and chairs up to the side walls with his magic. “Shall we start with imps?”

  Kyra groaned. She hated imps.

  *****

  Leatherback soared high in the air, circling in and out of the clouds and scanning the seas below. His sharp eyes ensured there were no ships or boats anywhere around what he had claimed as his island.

  It wasn’t large by dragon standards, but it was large enough. There were two smaller foothills budding from a larger mountain that rose high enough into the sky that it still had snow upon the peak. The lush forest was like a verdant carpet stretching out to each sandy beach surrounding the entire island. The ample vegetation was perfect, for it helped several herds of wild pigs and miniature deer thrive upon the island. There were even two herds of wild cows that roamed the southern portion of the island.

  More than that though, there was the song.

  A melody called out to him from under the mountain, stronger than anything he had ever experienced anywhere else. Even as he flew high above the island, the music filled his mind and invigorated his heart.

  Now that he knew the area was clear, he dropped down through the warm, moist air and set upon the western side of the mountain. He had formed a kind of landing pad there, having cleared out the trees over the last several days. He folded his wings and forced his way through the forest as he followed the music to its source.

  As the melody grew loud and vibrations coursed through his bones he stopped and looked down at the ground. He had come here several times, hunting and resting in his makeshift clearing while he listened to the music coming from the ground, but he had never felt the call as intensely as he did today.

  He reached out with his right foreleg and stabbed his talons deep into the dirt. He raked a gash in the ground, tearing loose plants, dirt, and rocks. The music increased, as if shouting out for him to uncover the source.

  Leatherback set himself to work, tearing and ripping at the ground. Soon he had a large pit nearly as deep as he was tall. He heaped up the mounds of fresh dirt behind him and kept working and digging earnestly until the day was nearly spent.

  Then, as the sun began to hang low in the horizon, Leatherback smiled. The music was so loud that it was almost all he could hear. He looked down and saw dirt caked onto a nugget of yellow.

  “Hello there,” Leatherback said with a grin.

  He continued to widen and deepen his mine until the moon was nearly up in the middle of the sky, and then he begrudgingly peeled him
self away to return to the grove.

  Chapter 2

  Kyra stood in a strange room. People were gathered all around her. Some she knew, like Feberik and Janik Orres, and others she didn’t. They all watched her with wide smiles painted across their faces. She smiled back, and only then realized that she was in the north parlor of her home.

  No, that couldn’t be right. Her father had disowned her. She lived at Kuldiga Academy now.

  Yet, here she was.

  Kyra spun around and saw that she was indeed in her home. In the center of the north parlor stood a round table, the wood concealed beneath a cloth of white. Atop the cloth were platters of breads, fruits, and cakes of all kinds.

  “Happy birthday, Kyra,” one of the unfamiliar nobles called out as she raised a glass of wine into the air.

  “Happy birthday,” echoed a chorus of people that Kyra swore she had never met in her life.

  Feberik Orres bent low in a kind bow, while Janik only tilted his head downward, though that was to be expected since his left leg was crippled and hardly capable of allowing the man to bow properly.

  Kyra absently nodded to both of them and found herself walking through the room toward the table. As she did so, music began playing from some unseen band of strings and the nobles began to dance around her. They twirled in their fine dresses and suits, but none of them seemed to pay her any mind now.

  Where am I? Kyra wondered.

  “Here, my darling, have a bit of cake, it is most delicious,” a voice called out.

  Kyra looked up and saw her father, or at least she saw the man that she knew as her father, standing before her and smiling as he held out a piece of white cake for her.

  “But you disowned me,” Kyra whispered.

  Her father pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side. “A new arrangement has been made,” he said.

  Kyra shook her head and gently pushed the offered cake away. Her father’s eyes turned sad, and then he disappeared back into the twirling and dancing crowd.

  “You really should have some of the cake. Aren’t you hungry?” another voice called out. This one was very low, and seemed somewhat familiar. “It will sate your hunger.”

  Kyra looked to her right and saw a man standing with his back to her, facing the table and fiddling with a pair of wine glasses. He had silver hair that hung down to the middle of his back. He wore a leather jerkin over a green silk shirt tucked into black wool trousers that were in turn tucked into mid-length leather boots that had been polished to a high sheen.

  Kyra’s heart skipped in her chest. She had seen this man before.

  He turned slowly, a glass of wine in each hand and a wicked, slick smile stretching his thin, gray lips over his pale face. He winked at her with dark eyes and then held out his left hand toward her.

  “You!” Kyra exclaimed.

  “Me,” the vampire said as he nodded and his smile grew wider to reveal the pointed teeth.

  Kyra wheeled around. “Feberik, this man is a vampire, he killed Master Baird and Lady Stirling!”

  The crowd of twirling nobles danced around her in such a thick throng that Kyra could not find the large man, even when she hopped up to look over the crowd.

  “FEBERIK!” Kyra screamed.

  At the sound of her scream, the music stopped and all of the nobles seemed to freeze in place, as if they were nothing more than painted statues.

  “He can’t help you now,” the vampire said softly. “He is dead.”

  Kyra spun back around to look at the vampire, and then gasped when she saw Feberik’s body lying on the floor at the vampire’s feet.

  Kyra lifted her hand, ready to call a spell, but then stopped short as the light was sucked from the room. A cold air rushed around her.

  Laughing voices taunted her as she flung fireballs in every direction.

  Then, a great, blue flame shot up in a ring around her. She was now standing upon unpolished stone. Great walls arced above her, and a large hole in the rock ceiling let in the silvery light of the moon.

  “You are one of us now, Kyra,” the vampire said as he appeared beyond the ring of blue fire. “You are the daughter of a vampire, and destined to live among us.”

  The table from her home was still there, but now there was only a bubbling fountain of wine in the center of the table. It was overflowing, staining the white table cloth and running out onto the floor.

  A great puddle stretched out toward her, and then she realized that the liquid was not wine. It was blood.

  “No, I am nothing like you!” Kyra shouted. She hurled a bolt of lightning out at the vampire, but it was blocked by the ever growing ring of blue fire.

  “Drink from the fountain, and take your place as my queen,” the voice commanded.

  Kyra snarled and shook her head. She could never join with such a monster. She gathered her courage and sent her magic at the table in the center of the ring of fire. It took the hit, trembling under the tremendous energy, but it remained intact.

  The vampire laughed at her.

  “You cannot fight it forever,” the vampire said. “The darkness is inside of you. It lurks just beneath the surface, waiting for you to loosen your grip and let it run free.”

  “No!” Kyra shouted.

  The blue flames rose high around her as the vampire laughed. Then, the flames lurched inward and she found herself bathed in azure flames.

  Kyra opened her eyes, sucking in a terrified breath and glancing around the room. Now she knew where she was. She was in the same small room she had been brought to by Master Fenn about an hour ago. She must have dozed off for a few moments. She breathed a sigh of relief. Just a nightmare, she thought. Just a nightmare, that’s all.

  Kyra rubbed her right arm, working furiously at the goosebumps prickling up her skin in response to the deathly cold room. Headmaster Herion had not yet arrived, so she waited in the wooden chair and stared across the small, wooden table at the door.

  There was nothing else to look at anyway, for the walls were bare, dreary stone, and there were no windows. She had never been in the basement of Kuldiga Academy before, but she found this room more like a cell in a dungeon than any chamber she would have expected to meet with Herion in.

  Her stomach writhed and twisted in knots, partly from nerves and partly because she had missed breakfast and lunch today. When she had been brought down here to meet with Herion, the sun was already dropping low into the sky.

  It was never pleasant to be as nervous as she was now, but it was even worse with a grumbling stomach that did nothing but churn acid inside of her. Adding to that the nightmare she had just woken from made for a miserable mix.

  The door opened, stealing any opportunity she might have otherwise had to process the meaning of her terrible dream.

  Headmaster Herion walked in. From behind his gold-rimmed glasses he peered at her with mean, blue eyes. A flick of his wrist and the door closed behind him. Then the metal bolt scraped into place.

  “We can dispense with the pleasantries,” Herion announced in his gravelly voice as he pulled his spectacles down to clean the lenses on his brown shirt. “You know why you are here.”

  Kyra nodded. News of her dealings with the shade had not taken long to ripple through the hierarchy of the school. From what Cyrus had told her, it had taken great effort for the higher ranking masters to keep the news from spreading beyond the academy.

  “Fortunately, most of the students have not returned yet, as it is still the summer holiday, so it has been somewhat of a manageable task to keep your activities quiet, but that does not excuse what you have done,” Herion said.

  Kyra shook her head. The snakes squirming in her stomach faded, and she found courage she had not previously expected. She stood up, placed her hands on the table, and looked Herion dead in his icy blue eyes.

  “What I did, was avenge my mother’s murder. When was the last time you have slain a garunda beast? When was the last time you stepped out from the protection of these wall
s and fought the darkness that encircles this realm?”

  “SILENCE!” Herion boomed with surprising force.

  Kyra backed away from the table, but she did not sit back down. She folded her arms and glared at the wizard.

  “I have not come to be chastised by a youngling who has no comprehension of the ramifications of her actions.” Herion huffed and shook his head as he cleared his throat and pointed to the chair. “Sit.”

  Kyra shook her head. “No.”

  Herion raised a snowy eyebrow over his right eye and then he snapped his fingers. Some unseen force pushed Kyra into the chair and then held her there. Kyra fought against it at first, but only when she gave in did the force pull back from her.

  “You are a talented apprentice, maybe the best we have ever had, but that does not mean that I have no tricks left to teach you. Nor does it mean that I am not worthy of your respect.” Herion snapped his fingers once more and a chair appeared across the table from Kyra. The old wizard sat down and then sighed as he stroked his right hand through his white hair.

  Kyra’s anger left her then, for now it was Herion who was acting strangely. If she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn that he was sad when he looked up at her next. There were slight tears in the bottom of his eyes, though they did not fully form. The man’s chin quivered ever so slightly, and his voice cracked when he opened his mouth next.