Knight of the Sword (of Knights and Wizards Book 3)

by A. J. Gallant

  Obed was snoring loudly when something hit him in the head and he opened his eyes; the key had struck him in the forehead and fell to the floor. He quickly sat up and shouted. “I have the key!”

  They all sat up and heard the ochoid scurrying back up the wall and into the hole; it had kept its part of the bargain after all. The larger ochoid had wanted to keep the key but the little one had taken it surreptitiously and tossed it through the bars.

  Obed went over and inserted the key. “Wouldn’t it be something if it wasn’t the proper key?”

  Alexa felt like giving Obed a good swift kick; she hadn’t considered it but did realize that it could be true. “Open that damn door already.”

  Obed turned the key and heard a metallic click and then pushed the door open, a little like seeing the gates of heaven open, he dropped the key now having no use for it and it was picked up by the little ochoid when they were a safe distance from it so that the other one would never know that he had taken it. The three continued on down the tunnel, unable to move back it was necessary to move forward.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  RYXA WAS MORE FRANTIC THAN EVER as she repeatedly burned off the fog with her fiery breath but still no sign of her precious egg. She was sick to her stomach as she vomited up bits of bones from a pterocrit that she had eaten and several large embers that were bigger than any human. She knew she had to calm herself but it was easier said than accomplished; she knew her baby might already be dead but it served no useful purpose to think such things, no matter what she had to find him. She had to try and think positive that he had survived the fall.

  She flew back into her den to find that her brother Tyriith looking puzzled. “Have all your eggs hatched?”

  “Brother thank goodness you are here. A pterocrit flew off with my egg and I need others to help me search. All the other eggs were empty. There’s only my little girl inside that one and the other one that has fallen.” She explained how Marcus had solidified her eggs and that Daganth might have actually survived the fall.

  Tyriith nodded knowingly. “Unfortunately that runs in our family, usually half of our eggs end up empty. You stay here and I’ll get help to search the area.”

  “Why was I never told of this?” As a female Ryxa thought she should have been told such a thing as a child.

  “Not something that is discussed. Some dragons decide not to mate because of it. It has been known for every single egg to be empty. I’ll get help, you stay here and sit on that one. Don’t you worry we’ll find him.”

  Ryxa watched as he flew away and was happy to see that at least the fog was starting to lift. She peeked inside her remaining egg where her baby girl waved at her. “How are you doing in there?”

  “Can I come out now mother?”

  “Not yet dear you still need to grow a little more.” She shook her head as she remembered that Marcus would need to break her out but what if he couldn’t? She hung her head and started to cry, large steamy tears falling onto the cave floor. It was all just too much.

  “Don’t cry Mama,” said the little one. And the baby also commenced to sob.

  Daganth was at the bottom of the brook trapped inside his egg drowning as he swallowed water; he had his nostrils pressed up against the very top of the egg in an attempt to get at the small pocket of air that remained but unfortunately it was now completely filled with water. As he lungs began to fill he coughed and the pressure cracked the egg in three pieces and opened, he struggled to get to the surface, once there choked and coughed until finally out came a fireball, making him feel immensely better. He then purposely launched another plume of fire and that made him smile, now feeling all warm inside.

  Daganth climbed up the bank then stretched his beautiful wings; he tried to fly but couldn’t. He realized that one of his wings was broken and quite painful, nevertheless he tried again to take flight but he couldn’t do it, and could only launch himself about as well as a chicken. The pain of the attempt made him lose consciousness and hit the ground hard; luckily he hadn’t further damaged his injured wing. He slowly opened his green eyes wondering what had just happened. “Mother where are you?”

  It had been a harsh way to enter the world. He wasn’t sure if his wing would heal or if he would be forever grounded and even now he had a yearning to fly. He didn’t know what he would do if he ended up a flightless dragon. He took stock of his situation as best he could; the reality that he couldn’t fly back up to his mother was awful. Daganth threw his head in the air and sniffed, wasn’t able to smell his mother at all but he did pick up his father’s scent and with no other options he started to follow it as best he could.

  It was certainly big out here and he appreciated that as it had been so cramped inside his egg. Lots of new smells too, much better than the stale air inside that egg.

  Ten dragons now searched for Ryxa’s egg, seeking all day and all night but weren’t able to find any trace of him. Ryxa flew throughout the night, casting her fire down in huge plumes as she searched, her hot tears being vaporized by her own flames. Her hearts were broken and they might never heal but she refused to give up hope.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CYRUS TURNED TO FACE THE ATTACKING SKELETONS coming up the stairs after him but the trunk was locked making it impossible for him to get out. One skeleton had a human bone that he was going to use as a club, a Humerus, the rest were unarmed but they were furious at the loss of the necklace. He kicked the one in front and in doing so they were all knocked down the steps, one’s head fell to the floor making a hollow sound but the creature quickly picked it up. Part of the curse was that they remained weak, with no muscles or tendons and their anger unfortunately for them didn’t help much. When Cyrus realized how feeble they were he cut into them, taking off limbs and heads, and although they magically reattached the parts they realized they were no match for him and so they backed up against the wall and let him continue on his way.

  Cyrus looked back as he entered the passageway, seeing two of the skeletons watch as he departed but they made no attempt to follow him; perhaps they were unable to leave the chamber. He placed his sword back in its sheath and examined the blue sapphire; it was mesmerizingly beautiful and should fetch several bags of gold. He was certain that some king would desire to purchase it, perhaps for a daughter or the queen. He again wondered if it contained sorcery, but it didn’t glow or do anything to indicate that it did; it was heavy and the chain definitely looked like gold.

  Cyrus decided that it was time to move, the necklace would be useless if he couldn’t find a way out. Maybe if he got killed with it around his neck he would end up like those skeletons, an unpleasant thought if there ever was one; he definitely would not be a well-liked skeleton in that group. Down the passageway and to the right he discovered a dead end, worse still there was no other way to go. At the very top of the dead end wall there was an opening of sorts, might just be large enough for him to slide through but was it even possible to get up there? There was a dim flicker of light beyond the wall. Might not be safe to drop into that next chamber but what choice did he have?

  “Hello! Anyone in there, in there, in there.” His voice echoed but there was no response to his enquiry and of course he knew that didn’t necessarily mean there was no one in there. “If I can get out of here I’ll be rich. Maybe I could buy my own knights to do my bidding.”

  It seemed to Cyrus that the opening was about the width from the tip of his fingers to his elbow but higher up than he was tall. He jumped up and grabbed the edge, tried to pull himself up but his fingers slid in the dust that had accumulated over the years and wasn’t able to hold on. It took him three more attempts but he finally managed to get both his feet and hands up on the wall’s ledge, but with his sword he was too big to get through, falling back down to the floor hard. He would need to rest before he tried again. Might need to push his sword through first but that was of course risky, if there was some sort of beast in there he would be giving him his weapon.r />
  After sufficient rest he tossed his dagger into the opening and listened to it fall on the other side, no sign of movement which was good, guessing that the chamber was empty. He threw up his sword but missed; it fell and forced him to jump out of its way. The second attempt was successful, hearing the resonance of its steel hitting the floor on the other side. He was committed now as he was unarmed. Again he jumped and grabbed the ledge, after a difficult struggle he managed to pull himself into the opening, using up most of his energy to do so. He rested and then turned his head and looked into the chamber, a single sconce on the wall lit up the room, but from what he could see it appeared as if there was no way out of the chamber. Cyrus was beginning to think that he would never find his way back outside where his horse waited.

  He let himself fall having no other course of action available, hit the floor hard as he landed on his dagger. He got up lamenting and looked around, there was a small barrel, and the six hoops that held it together appeared like they might be silver. The corner was dark and there was something lying in it, something big and black and as he sheathed his sword he realized to his dismay that it was a black bear that was now stirring.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Marcus panicked as the explosion awakened him from sleepwalking, the green flame continued to engulf him but he soon discovered that it didn’t hurt and was actually having no effect whatsoever. His blood flowed with magical elements, many unknown. It was good to be a sorcerer. The flame that surrounded him slowly extinguished itself. He was beyond angry that those damn wizards continued to launch their attacks on Leeander.

  King Darius ran out with knights and guards following; they all looked skyward as Marcus levitated observing another ball of fire on the way toward the kingdom; he launched a lightning bolt and blew it out of the sky long before it could do any damage. Marcus launched a huge ball of red fire of his own, sending in to the source of the attacks, where Asher, Aewyn and Kapano quickly took cover back inside their tunnels as they saw and heard it approaching, the loud crackling of the flames burned through the darkness. They felt the ball of fire shake the ground as it hit, knocking Aewyn off his feet.

  “That was close,” said Kapano.

  Asher nodded. “Yes too close.”

  Marcus’s wand vibrated. That ball of flame would have killed anyone but you. You are very fortunate to be a TarCranian wizard.

  “I don’t feel fortunate,” said the sorcerer. “I’m going to gather a few things and destroy those nasty wizards and their stupid staff otherwise I’ll never get any rest. What I really want to do is build my own castle but no, I have to take care of this, that and the other thing.”

  The king was worried because his son was so young and he lacked experience; he knew that he might not be coming back. Leeander would not be able to defeat a wizard never mind three. Darius knew that only time and knowledge would increase his prowess, but would he live that long? There were sorcerer’s out there that had been transformed into boulders and other such things, one existed only a few leagues from the kingdom that had been there for almost twenty years now. Wielding a sword was straight forward but wielding magic would never be and yet the world often depended on it.

  Marcus decided not to wake Raina even though it was sad to see her sleeping, especially knowing that he might never see her again. He wanted to taste her once more before leaving but didn’t want to wake her and so he wrote her a simple note to tell her that he loved her.

  My dearest Raina. I have to stop those wizards and hopefully I can and will come back to you. But if not you should know that I love you. Marcus.

  Sunrise was still more than three hours away as Marcus departed on his horse with his golden knights. Brother and Kayden were on his right and left on their own horses but most of the other knights walked. The sorcerer took his time, in no hurry to kill or be killed, or to be transformed into a cow patty for that matter. He stared up at the stars as he rode; the sky was full of them, a beautiful sight, looked magical. A falling star streaked across the sky, making him wonder what could dislodge a star from the heavens; hopefully it wasn’t a sign of his impending doom. He guessed that those miscreant wizards would know he was coming, perhaps he was what they wanted, and maybe they were after his wand? The night air was perfection, neither cool nor warm; a slight breeze blowing in the direction of Leeander, at least his scent wouldn’t arrive before he did.

  As he rode he thought about the shield that they used to have but the stone that powered it was now depleted and his attempt to force more energy into it had failed. It might be smart to conjure some powerful weapon so that they could defend themselves and then he could be on his way, of course he would return for a visit now and then.

  Kapano looked at the great grey owl that was on its perch and he had to admit that it appeared wise with its large eyes and distinctive face. He fed the bird a magical concoction from a sleeping plant that was now infused into its grey feathers, it was immune to the concoction but all it would need to do was to touch Marcus to render him unconscious for several days, during which time they could secure him properly so that he would never escape and then see if they could acquire some of his magical energy.

  The owl stretched his wings and Kapano quickly moved back, not wanted to be rendered unconscious. “Where’s the seeing rock?”

  Asher took a white polished rock from the bag on his shoulder, it was oval shaped and a little bigger than his open hand; he gave it to Kapano who then took a cloth that was covered in bear fat and polished it. The bear had been spelled and then killed for its fat which due to the enchantment had properties of seeing. Kapano touched the rock to the owl’s chest, making sure not to come into contact with the bird before staring at it, and then showed the image to Asher, which was himself seen through the owls eyes.

  The three sorcerers made their way to the exit and released the bird, hoping that when it put the boy to sleep they could bring him back and be able to power the Staff of Herding. They stared at the rock as the great owl flew, and they could see remarkable well through the owl’s eyes even though the sun was well over an hour away from rising. Suddenly they could see Marcus in the distance surrounded by his golden knights, an impressive sight; they all hoped they weren’t biting off more than they could swallow.

  Marcus’s wand vibrated and as soon as he pulled it from his belt the wand aimed itself and launched a lightning bolt, blowing the owl out of the sky, surprising the wizard. It was the first time his wand had launched an attack by itself, not sure if he liked the idea; he would be responsible for whatever came out of that magical stick. “What did you hit?”

  You were about to be attacked by that owl I had destroy it.

  “Owls don’t attack humans.” A single feather floated down beside him.

  This one was enchanted by the wizards and a single touch from that owl would have put you to sleep.

  “Oh.” Marcus was still preoccupied by the fact that his wand could launch an attack without his permission. If it killed someone Marcus would be held responsible. A single feather floated down touching Marcus’s left forearm and he fell off his horse unconscious, caught by one of his golden knights.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  PRINCESS ALEXA AND THE OTHER KNIGHTS moved forward through the forest, and after trotting for several leagues they came upon an area of trees where three massive knights were talking, so tall that they must have been taller than two horses standing one upon the other. Should they refuse to let them pass there would be no easy solution. Might take a dozen or more arrow just to take one down, and the other two wouldn’t just be standing there awaiting their turn. One knight was holding a burning candle that gave off a dim light.

  “Look at the size of these guys,” said Merrill. Alexa shook her head at Merrill. “Quiet they’ll hear you.”

  Merrill scrunched his eyebrows. “It’s not as if they don’t know they’re giants.”

  They blocked the path forward, probably wanting gold or some other valuabl
e item to let them pass. Obed was sure it would be best not to start a fight if at all possible. Compliance was sometimes the best course of action.

  “Approach,” said the knight with the spikes on his left shoulder. He pulled a dagger that was the size of a sword and handed it to the princess.

  Alexa took the dagger and watched as the blade transformed into a beautiful green emerald which then light up the dark forest.

  “Give it back,” said the knight. “You may pass.” The dagger’s blade returned to its steel form as soon as Alexa removed her hand from it. He gave the blade to Obed and when he took it the dagger turned to a sky blue topaz which caught the knight’s attention. He examined the blade closely, as if by doing so he could see Obed’s faults, perhaps even his hopes and desires. The time that the knight was spending inspecting the magical item was worrying to the princess. Was he seeing something he didn’t like? But finally he said, “You may pass.”

  Merrill moved forward and was worried. What would happen if he didn’t pass whatever test this was? Would they simply halt his progression or would he be killed? All three horses whinnied as if they were also getting nervous. Brave was a word to be used after the battle, during it was simply survival or so Merrill thought.

  The huge knight bent over and brought his face up to Merrill’s, staring directly into his eyes for a time and it took a lot not to look away, nose to nose they were. “I’ll bet you it’s this one,” said the knight. None of them had ever heard a voice so deep. “Take the dagger.”

  Merrill considered refusing to hold the dagger but what would be the point; he had to move forward with the others. He noticed that the other two monster knights slowly put their large hands on their swords. Hopefully they were looking for someone in particular that perhaps was in a magical disguise. “Just give me that damn thing.” When he grabbed the handle of the dagger the blade morphed into bluish-green turquoise with black highlights.