Chapter 4
The Evil King Gustav sat at the oak table in his courtroom having sentenced another beggar to ten years in the castle cells for daring to walk in front of his guard.
He picked up his goblet of wine “where is that wizard that wanted to see me” the sorcerer standing beside him beckoned to a small man in the doorway, the man in a dark robe ran forward and bowed to his King,
“Sire, I come from the West Province, yesterday there was a ripple across the land that stretched to the eastern Province, I have never felt anything like it before”, the king looked at his sorcerer, “Is this something that concerns us Daaro”, “No your majesty, I have sent two patrols out to both provinces each one accompanied by a wizard to check for anomalies but I have felt no danger”.
“Return to your home and keep alert” said the king, the small man backed out of the room still bowing and left.
King Gustav snapped “Assemble the court of wizards now, bring them to the sanctum” Daaro rushed out of the building to find all of the wizard court.
Two hours later King Gustav paced round the sanctum as the last wizard shuffled through the door, the old wizard closed and sealed the door with a wave of his hand, “would you sit Gustav the court is in session” growled the wizened old man as he lowered himself into a large padded chair and waved his staff over the black onyx table, an image of the whole kingdom appeared.
Daaro pointed to the west district “it started outside the west of the kingdom and left by the eastern border” his finger traced a line through the centre of the kingdom, “but what was it” said King Gustav, the old wizard took a long while to stand up, muttering about his knees, “ it can’t be magic, we would know, possibly the alignment of the stars”, a young wizard cleared his throat “could it be dragon magic” the other wizards round the table laughed, “ they died over a thousand years ago, impossible” said one, King Gustav pondered a moment then stood up “nothing is impossible, set up a watch for any unusual events, I want to know if anything else happens, now get the door open I am hungry”.
The court of wizards followed the king out and went their separate ways; the king had roast pig for dinner.
The watch tower was a cold place to be, this is where Daaro found himself at midnight, his turn to watch for the next eight hours, a small fire burnt brightly in the fireplace but any heat was taken by the icy wind, but the highest point in the castle gave him a full view of the kingdom, he linked his mind to the dark magic and watched with his eyes closed, he found nothing all night, nor did any of the others, After two months the watch was called off.
Aria, Golden Dragon Queen Page 3
