Marcus turned and departed the Great Hall with Raina and Brother and Kayden following close behind. He took his book of spells out into the courtyard to sit by the pond with Raina to see if he couldn’t come up with a spell to allow them to get down into those tunnels.
“Marcus your dragon’s here!” said one of the knight’s from high up on the castle wall.
The wizard heard Ryxa’s wings before she flew down and landed beside him near the pond. “Marcus I need your help. My eggs have collapsed; they were all empty except for those but the shells are brittle and they won’t survive if they come out now.”
“Oh that’s terrible,” said Raina. “I am so sorry.”
Marcus didn’t know how he could refuse Ryxa, what a quandary to be in. No wonder some sorcerer’s endured solitary lives. “Our kingdom is under attack and should I leave the consequences could be dreadful.”
“Oh dear,” said Ryxa. “My poor babies.” A single tear hit the ground as large as a bucket of water.
Marcus rubbed his forehead from the stress of it all. “I have a spell that will strengthen anything but would the dragons be able to get out? How long before they hatch?”
Ryxa had a feeling that Marcus was going to try and help her. “About two weeks I think, maybe a little longer.”
“How fast can you fly me there and back?”
“I’ll fly my fastest!”
Marcus and Raina climbed up on the dragon’s back and flew off.
CHAPTER TWENTY
FIVE OF LEEANDER’S KNIGHTS were replaced by five of Marcus’s golden knights, relieving them as they guarded the door in the ground that led down to the tunnels where the three wizards resided. They exchanged pleasantries and then one group headed back toward Leeander as the others settled in to guard the exit.
Underground and inside their dwelling all three of the wizards were searching through spell books that they had stolen over the years, looking for a spell that would break a fiery sphere into hundreds of pieces before it hit the ground, making it impossible for Marcus to destroy them all before it hit. So far there was no luck which irritated all of them, but with so many spells it could take some time to search it out, if such an enchantment existed.
“I supposed that one of us could get close enough to the kingdom and blow it to pieces just before it hits.” Kapano envisioned it but there would be much danger in such an endeavour.
Asher thought it was a terrible idea. “Sure if you want to die or be transformed into a goat or some other creature. I encourage you to do it.”
Aewyn was so short that his legs were dangling off the chair. “I say we continue to launch and eventually he’ll show up. We need to get him down here by himself.”
Asher knew that it was best to be patient but they all wanted to get their hands on that wand and the energy that resided within the boy. “We’re running out of ingredients and it could take some time to replenish our stock; being rare and not easily acquired, downright dangerous to get a niiwu heart. We lucked out last time finding a dead one.”
Kapano suddenly stood. “I have an idea. I’ll bet that boy has a kind heart, life has not yet got its claws into him. If we destroy his knights he will not be happy.” He commenced to nod as he thought, grabbing a small tan book and quickly going through its pages. “Ah here it is. Magical arrows to destroy magical creatures. I’ll destroy the guards up there.”
“Perhaps we need to rethink. No wizard in his right mind would dare enter these tunnels,” said Asher. “He may be young but do you think he is so foolishly inclined?”
Kapano grunted. “His lack of experience will draw him down here.”
Above ground the knight’s heard something as sand was displaced and the door in the ground flung open, sending dust and pebbles flying. The five golden knights readied themselves for battle.
They had the opening surrounded as Kapano suddenly flew launching arrows, but they simply deflected off the magical knights. “Oh no!” He barely escaped back down into the tunnels with their lives, a thrown sword cutting the tip of his left ear off.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE NOON SUN WAS HOT and the air was dry, the atmosphere distorted from the heat. Two red dragons appeared to be having a serious battle overhead, viciously running into one another, the impact was heard from the ground. One slashed a red scale off the other and Stone watched as it tumbled awkwardly toward the ground, falling and dispersing dust as it hit to their left. Stone sent Merl to retrieve it as they were quite valuable, certainly worth a pouch full of gold coins; he would fashion it into a shield when they got back, if they got back.
Stone and a battalion of knights, including a dozen of Marcus’s golden knights halted and they could see the niiwu village in the distance; their beehive-shaped huts didn’t look like much but so many of them this close to Leeander was a danger. The three hundred knights certainly looked impressive; the ground shook as they moved forward with the impact of so many hooves hitting the ground. Talmai pointed out a group of the two-headed niiwu emerging from the forest and heading toward the huts, mere specks on the horizon. There were numerous encounters with the niiwu over the last decade, obviously their numbers were increasing.
Stone was impressed. “Talmai you have eyes like a hawk.”
“We all have different talents my friend.” Talmai spoke with an accent but they were used to it now, but at first they found it quite peculiar, but over time his accent had commenced to ease.
Stone commanded them to halt and stared at a nearby bush; its purple blossoms were being moved by the wind. “We’ll wait awhile as our stench is being blown toward them. I prefer the element of surprise if at all possible.”
After waiting for several hours Stone decided to head west and attack them from a different direction, where the wind would not give them away as quickly. One thing about the niiwu was that everyone was a warrior, even the females and the children past the age of ten. They weren’t the most intelligent creatures but their disposition was like that of a honey badger; though some did appear to be more intelligent than others. It was thought that all their weapons were taken from humans that they had slain but a lot of information about them remained speculative in nature.
Stone looked into the faces of some of his men, knowing that they would not all make it back but such was the burden of a knight, giving their lives when necessary to defend their kingdom and their families. Stone gave the archers a final reminder of the poison arrows, not to come into contact with to toxic arrowheads, and then off they rode towards the huts.
A niiwu that was eating the remains of a buck in between two huts was the first to notice the battalion charging toward their village; he screamed the alarm with such ferocity that spittle and froth and pieces of meat were ejected from his mouth, the sound of it more alarming than the knights would like to admit, bone chilling. The niiwu grabbed his sword and ran toward the knights as quick as the fastest stallion, at times bounding twenty feet, landing and continuing to run. An archer caught him in his left bicep and the poison killed him almost instantly, his momentum letting him slide quite a ways through the rocks and dust, the body being trampled by one of the knight’s horses as they continued to move.
Stone was glad to have the golden knight with him; they were as strong and as fast as those damn niiwu. Some were exchanging blow for blow until the niiwu sustained mortal wounds and fell.
More than a dozen of the niiwu burst out of their huts like hornets out of nests, bows, axes and swords their weapons of choice. A knight fell with an arrow in his throat; another was killed by an axe thrown with such viciousness that it drove him off his steed, knocking down another knight as well. Stone barely managed to duck out of the way of a sword, subsequently a niiwu launched himself at the knight but ended up being run through by his sword. One of Marcus’s knights split one in two with his sword.
The battle was explosive, with almost as many knights falling as niiwu. One knight had his head knocked off with a punch, and yet another
had his head ripped off. Talmai was a superior fighter, dodged both axes and swords and ran them through. Dozens of poison arrows were launched, killing many beasts but more continued to emerge from the huts. Talmai’s fighting was so fluid that it was artistic and Stone would have loved to have a battalion of knights with his extraordinary skill. Stone’s horse back-kicked one of the niiwu and sent him flying, horses could be skittish around them like deer amongst wolves, but these battle tested steeds had been familiarized with the scent of dead niiwu, a necessary part of their training.
A niiwu was on top of Talmai ready to plunge his axe in him when he was felled by a poison arrow and just in time. An axe was caught by a golden knight just before it struck Stone in the face, but another’s axe cut through his armour and into his leg; he fell as the battle raged on. “Kill every damn one of them. Pursue them into the forest! Kill them all!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE SOUND OF THE FOREST-GREEN FLAME crackling in front of them was peculiar and now they were unable to move back; a huge stone wall had dropped trapping Alexa, Obed and Merrill inside the cave and unless they could figure how to get through the door they were stuck. Obed envisioned that years from now someone would find their bones prone on the floor. They had taken turns pushing against the stone wall but it was futile, Merrill had his horse kick it but to no avail. And for some odd reason the burning door was putting the scent of pine in the air.
“Now what?” said the princess. She thought about the white dragon. Perhaps he could get them out of there or at least tell them how to get through the burning door; it was certainly worth a try. “Dexter! Dragon we need your help! Get us out of here!” she screamed. Her voice echoed loudly in the confined space but there was no way of knowing if her shouts escaped beyond the stone wall.
They waited and listened for movement, for any sign that she had been heard but there was only the sound of the burning door and Merrill’s grumbling. Obed approached the flames and wondered if the door would open if he touched it, but there was no telling what the flame would do to him. It might be instant death or even a slow painful one as his skin burned off his body. He didn’t think it was a good idea to stick his hand into any color flame but it might come to that. Obed felt along both sides of the door to see if there wasn’t perhaps some way to open it but after a time gave up.
Merrill’s horse whinnied, telling them that he was not comfortable in such a confined space. The animal tried to shy away but nudged the burning door and suddenly the horse was alight with the green flame, but surprisingly the flame didn’t appear to be doing any damage. Merrill touching his horse was now also burning with the green fire; he stared at the flames dancing on his hands.
“You don’t feel any pain?” asked Obed.
Merrill shook his head. “No nothing. It’s a peculiar enchantment if it doesn’t do anything. Perhaps its power has faded over time.”
Alexa knew that magic wasn’t always straight forward. “I’m sure it does something.” The horse bumped into her and she was now also consumed by the fire. “How utterly strange.”
As soon as they were all ablaze the door opened, sliding noisily inside the granite wall, stone against stone, as if it had been part of the enchantment. They went through and on the other side of the door all of their flames slowly extinguished.
Alexa looked at Merrill. “This is not the same as the last time I was here. It’s as if we’re now going through challenges, which I hope means a magical reward at the end of the quest.”
“More like certain death,” Obed thought aloud.
“I always thought I’d die in battle,” said Merrill. “I hate to think that some magical enchantment will do me in.”
The clip-clop of the horses being led echoed off the walls, the tunnel expanding to at least four times its size and in the far distance they could see the light of day, which would bring them out of the dark forest or at least partially, further in there were sections of dark interspersed with the light, hard on the eyes is what it was. Places always dark and others always light.
Down on the right someone stuck their head out of a side cave so rapidly that they were unable to tell who or what it was, making them all stop. Alexa looked to her left at Merrill and to her right at Obed, who pushed his sword back into its scabbard and placed an arrow into his bow. A young girl jumped out wearing a pouch over her shoulder, couldn’t be more than twelve or thirteen years of age and Obed almost loosed his arrow at her, hadn’t been the smartest move he thought. She was wearing a black dress with a small gecko crawling around on her shoulder practically invisible when it closed its rust-colored red eyes.
“I’m Shana,” said the girl. She had long blond hair down past her shoulders. “I’ll sell you an answer for a single gold coin I will.”
Merrill thought that something was up, as cute as she was he was wary of her. Her smile seemed more devious than welcoming. “An answer to what?”
“I can’t say until one of you gives me a gold coin.” Shana raised her eyebrows and nodded. “I promise it’ll be worth it.” She had such a sweet melodic voice.
Alexa wondered if it might not be an answer to a problem that they had not yet encountered but would soon enough. She took a gold coin with her father’s face on it and flicked it and watched as the girl caught it. Now her smile looked genuinely evil.
Shana sniffed the coin several times. “So you sons of bitches do have gold!” And she transformed into a hideous beast, now seven feet tall with razor sharp claws, resembling a bear with the face of a wolf. If the creature had a name they had no idea what it was. It roared like a bear as spittle was ejected past its ugly teeth.
Alexa jumped back but it caught her armour slicing it open, luckily it just scratched her skin. She cut its hand off and it screamed, black blood squirting on Merrill. Obed caught it in the throat with an arrow and Merrill ran it through with his sword. It said something in a language that none of them recognized before falling over dead. Its bones collapsed and the only thing that was left was its fur, like a bear rug on the stone floor.
Obed shook his head. “What the hell was that?”
Alexa shrugged. “I’ve never seen anything like it, obviously after gold.” She picked her coin up off the ground.
“I don’t want to ever see another one.” Merrill hoped that they would get to that sword soon before they ran out of luck. He wiped the blood off his feet on the rug as he walked past.
They walked out into the light of the forest and mounted their horses. They could see another section of darkness in the distance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
RYXA FLEW INTO HER DEN AT THE TOP OF THE CLIFF with Marcus on her back, landing near her nest that was made from straw, old human clothes, branches and mud. It was huge compared to the wizard and so were her two remaining eggs. He slid off of Ryxa’s back and examined them.
His wand was going through a lot of information, seeking an enchantment that would reinforce the eggs.
“Can you strengthen my eggs Marcus? Can you save my babies? Ash said something about upside down roses.”
Marcus put his ear directly to the egg and listened. “Upside down roses? This one’s still alive I can hear him moving around in there.” And then he moved to the second egg. “And this one too. What happens if they hatch now?”
Ryxa shook her head. “They most likely wouldn’t survive and if they did they would have big problems, might not even be able to fly or might not be as intelligent as they should be.”
Marcus shook his head as he envisioned it. “I can’t imagine a dragon that couldn’t fly.” His wand vibrated telling him that he could strengthen the eggs but they might end up being too strong for the baby dragons to extract themselves. “My wand says that I can make them a lot stronger but then they might not be able to break out. It has to be your decision.”
It was a conundrum but it was probably the best chance for the little ones to survive. “Okay Marcus I give you permission do it. When the time comes I’ll
break them out myself if I have to.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
Tap me three times on each one said the wand.
The sorcerer did so and at first nothing happened and then the eggs slowly turned to stone, growing even larger in the process, giving them more space. “There now they have room to grow until it’s time for them to hatch.”
“How are they going to breathe if you’ve turned their shells to rock?”
Marcus looked like he was going to pass out from the fright. Had he doomed both of them? “Look there’s holes so they can breathe.” He peeked inside and saw the little dragon shift around and cock his head at him, seeming happy to see the human.
“Are you my father?” said the baby.
“What? No! I’m not your father I’m a human,” said Marcus.
“No you’re my father.”
“I am not you silly dragon.”
“Yes you are.”
Ryxa giggled as Marcus moved away from the egg and Ryxa peeked inside. “His language is already developed. How wonderful! Hello in there. I’m your mother.”
“Hello mother. Make father come back so I can show him something.”
Ryxa didn’t think it was all that funny anymore. “He’s not your father dear he’s a human. Your father is a dragon.”
“No he’s my father.”
Marcus scratched his head. “I’m not peeking in the other one that’s for sure. Maybe he just thinks he’s being funny.”
Ryxa peeked inside the other egg but the dragon was enjoying a deep sleep, lightly snoring. “Don’t worry Marcus I’ll set him straight when he hatches.”
“No you won’t,” said the baby dragon. “I know my father when I see him.”
Knight of the Sword (of Knights and Wizards Book 3) Page 8
