I sped from my position, my daggers out to my side, and I spun while still moving forwards. My daggers sliced into each of the wizards over and over and as I passed them, they doubled over and groaned in pain. I sent another set of air slicers towards them, knocking them to the floor. When I knew that they wouldn’t get back up, I turned back towards Aowyn and Joren who were in a full fight with Arman. Wanting to help them, I rushed forwards and stopped in the centre of the room. Arman was standing before me with a large blackish magic circle with hints of red aimed at me.
“You ruined the Dragon Song. You will pay for that, you bitch!”
He released his magic towards me and a shadow of the same colour came rushing at me. The shadows entangled my body and sucked my magic energy from me. My body felt ablaze as tiny sparks zapped my energy. My screams were desperate and filled with fear. My vision blurred again and my head felt light. Every inch of my body numbed and fell limb within the grasp of the shadow. My voice staggered as my screams pierced through the air.
I could feel something was wrong, a gurgling noise rushed through my ears and I couldn’t feel my body anymore. The shadow finally released its horrible grip on me and my body slinked to the ground. Patches of darkness engulfed my vision as I descended into nothingness.
I felt like I crashed to the ground. My entire body felt heavy and my limbs were numbed to the ground beneath them. Sounds finally came back to me, though they sounded like they were far away, grunting, crashing, and the roar of dragons through what sounded like layers and layers of walls within my ears. As my vision slowly returned, the only things I could see were blurred colours flashing around the room, dancing to the faded noises.
I tried to move. The numbness was wearing off and the pain within my body was returning. When I tried to access my magic, I hit a blank. Blinking my eyes to try and gain my vision back, I felt a rush of air above me. Something had been thrown over me and it wasn’t something small. The crash behind me alerted me that it was one of the dragons. I regained control of my body and crawled towards the place where I felt the crash. My hands hit the familiar feeling of a talon along the ground. As I got closer to their head my vision was coming clear again.
The scales of the dragon were the smoky grey of Joren’s. When I reached his head, his eyes looked at me with sadness.
“What happened? You can’t be losing the fight. You need to keep going!”
I turned and looked at Aowyn still fighting against Arman, her dragon form was gone and she was back in her petite wizard body. Her white hair was drenched in sweat and her movements were sluggish. When Joren finally moved from his position, I could tell his power was low as well. A bright light immerged from his dragon body and when it dimmed, the wizard Joren stood in its place.
“Arman is too strong, even our heightened dragon magic can’t win.”
I shook my head. “We can’t give up. Look at Aowyn, she is still going even though she looks like she is about to collapse.”
“I know but I don’t have much power left, neither does Aowyn, and you’ve been completely drained, too.”
“Where is the fighting spirit from the Games? What happened to him?”
“You’re right.”
He took a deep breath and charged back into the fight. Although I had no energy left, I followed along behind him. I could tell by the way he held himself that Joren’s fighting rage was back. He stepped beside Aowyn and stopped her in her tracks. Their eyes locked for a second before she nodded. The three of us grabbed hands and we were instantly bathed in Aowyn’s warm golden glow. I could feel a tiny bit of my magic returning. We held ourselves still, standing strong against attack after attack from Arman. Joren nodded to the both of us and at the same time he did, we pushed all our power in front of us. A tri-coloured magic circle appeared before us like before. With every second it was there, its glow grew brighter. When we released our magic into the air, it swirled around in front of us before shooting off towards Arman. His eyes went wide and his face paled at the sight of our attack. Magic convergence was rare with just two wizards, having it happen with three was thought to be impossible.
My legs threatened to buckle under the pressure, but I held on, sending all my magic straight towards Arman. Arman did everything he could to defend against the strong attack, but nothing he threw at it did anything to stop it in its path. The swirling vortex of smoke, fire, and light engulfed him, knocking him off-balance and sending him flying across the room. The strength behind the attack and force of Arman hitting the wall caused it to crumble. His screams bellowed out in a panic of fear and pain. Once the attack was over, my legs gave way beneath me and I fell to my knees. Joren and Aowyn stood strong, waiting to see if they needed to attack once more. Arman’s groans stopped as he was knocked out by the final attack.
I sighed in relief that it was over. My eyes flicked towards Aowyn and Joren who were smiling at each other before Aowyn dropped to her knees from exhaustion. She stared into my eyes and that was when I noticed her. Her big eyes were a very light brown with flecks of gold that almost swirled around. She had high cheekbones that were now covered in dirt and blood from small cuts. She was a short, petite girl who looked skinnier than she would normally be. I wondered how long they had her locked up.
The sound of footsteps coming from outside the room alerted us that more were coming. Joren stood ready to fight again, but when the shadows appeared in the rubble of the wall, he stood down. A small army of men marched in through the hole in the wall; there were about twenty of them and they were all wearing light blue robes. They were led by a man wearing the same robes, but he also had a tall hat with a strange yet familiar symbol on it. They all held a staff in their right hands and kept their left hands free. I had run into this army previously in my life and I knew exactly who they were.
The Arcane Guard, the magic army of the king and the Royal Magic Council.
The Guard surrounded us with their staffs aimed and ready. Their captain approached us, holding out his hands, and helped both Aowyn and I off the ground before signalling to his men to step in closer. My face must have changed to fear because he smiled.
“You have no need to fear us. We are here to bring you back to Tolia. I am their captain, Fallon,” he looked around and noticed the damage caused to the room and when he saw Arman, his eyes instantly flicked back to us. “You are going to need to tell us what happened here as we take you back. Men, round up all of the members of The Order of the Awakened Sun and take them back to the council chambers. You three, follow me.”
Fallon turned away from us and walked outside. The three of us looked at each other before following him. We walked past Arman who was still unconscious in the rubble. Joren almost stopped by his body but when Aowyn placed a hand on his shoulder, he nodded and walked away.
The journey back to Tolia wasn’t a long one but it felt like it with all the questions that Fallon was asking us. Each of us gave him a recount of what happened but when it was my turn, I had to embellish some of the facts.
“Where did the Dragon Lore book go? We will need to take that in to the council, so they can put it in a place where The Order won’t get to it again.”
I took a deep breath. “After I found the Dragon Song spell, it was still in the room they kept me in, but when I returned, it was gone. I had to use my notes to decipher how to stop the spell.”
When we got to the facts about the fights, Fallon didn’t care about some of the details but at soon as he heard about Aowyn and Joren turning into dragons, he didn’t want to stop listening. I knew dragons were rare to be seen, but with how wide his eyes went and how many details he wrote down, I had a feeling that Fallon had other intentions for knowing the details. By the time we reached Tolia, Fallon had filled his paper with notes about the dragons.
When Fallon finally stopped listening, Aowyn leaned over to me and placed her head on my shoulder. I flinched at her sudden movement but when she whispered to me, I knew what she wanted.
�
��You mentioned Dragon Lore. So, it was you. You were the one calling out to the dragons.”
“Calling out? I don’t know what you mean.”
“I heard a voice. Someone was calling out to learn more about the dragons. When I heard it, I knew that person needed the book. I used the last of my energy when I was imprisoned to send Dragon Lore to the voice. That voice must have been you.”
“But how did you find it?”
Before she could answer, we made it to our destination. They took us straight to the arena as it was the middle of the day. The closer we got, the more I could hear the cheers of the crowd. They had continued with the Games without us. I wondered if we would still be allowed to compete, or even if we could, assuming our magic energy would return by then. As our cart entered the arena, they rushed us to the infirmary to make sure we were alright. However, Fallon left some of his guards there to watch over us, although I wasn’t quite sure who they were watching.
The second my head hit the pillow of the infirmary bed, I knew I was safe again.
13
Return
I woke screaming. The nightmares that tormented my sleep felt so real, they felt as though they were still happening. Outside the window next to my bed, the sky was a deep orange and I knew it was almost sunset. I looked around the room and noticed that Aowyn was gone. My fears instantly returned. I called out for a healer or someone to tell me where she had gone and one of the Arcane Guard entered the room and approached me.
“Your friend is safe. Fallon wanted to talk to her, but he returned to the council, so she is being accompanied to the council chambers to speak with him.”
“Why didn’t she say goodbye?”
He shrugged his shoulders before turning away from me and returning to his post.
The room returned to its quiet state, Joren stirred in his bed but didn’t wake. Through the silence, I could still hear the noisy cheers of the crowd and I could also hear Elijah’s voice booming through the stadium. The day’s event was done and soon the battles would be, too.
I tried to sit up in bed, but my body protested. Pain erupted throughout my limbs and a stabbing pain spiked in my head. I had no idea why I felt so horrible now when I was fine on the trip back to Tolia. I pulled my blankets off my body and assessed the damage. My left arm was bandaged as well as small bandages over the cuts on the rest of my body. Any skin I could see was red or bruised. The dirt was gone and as I reached up to check my hair, I felt that had also been cleaned and tidied.
The healer came rushing into the room and fussed over me for a little while. She changed my bandages and made sure I was comfortable before handing me a small glass of water and a small amount of green powder in another cup. She explained to me that it would help me gain my magic energy back quickly and it would help heal me faster, too. After fussing over me, she moved to Joren’s bed and did the same to him. Although he was still fast asleep, she was still able to give him the same powder she gave me. He coughed down the powder and the water before returning to his light snoring. The healer left as quickly as she came, ducking into a small room off to the side of the infirmary.
I let my mind wander and my nightmares instantly popped back into my mind, the memories about what happened with The Order of the Awakened Sun would haunt me forever. My eyes flicked to the window that lead to outside the stadium. The sun had almost set, and I could see some stars beginning to shine in the sky. A light pink mist rolled in around me and blocked my view of the window. I flicked my head towards the door and saw Lilica floating in with a huge smile on her face. The instant we locked eyes, she stopped floating and came running to my side. She pulled me into an embrace and when I noticed her face, tears began to pool in her eyes.
“You’re safe!” she blubbered.
I waited until she pulled back before giving her a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, Lilica. What’s wrong?”
“I thought something horrible had happened. You and Joren didn’t show up for a few days. They weren’t telling us anything,” she said, still crying.
“What do you mean they weren’t telling you anything?”
She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “You both went missing without a trace. While your names were still in the games, they weren’t saying anything about where you both went. I asked over and over, but they said you just weren’t here. When I heard they brought you back and you were here, I raced through the event today just so I could see if it was real or not.”
“I wonder why they said nothing.”
Lilica shook her head. “I have no idea, but I am so glad you are back!”
She hugged me again and my mind wandered. Why hadn’t they said anything about what happened to us? Lilica’s words replayed in my mind as she cried against my shoulder, and one thing she said struck me as strange. I pushed her back softly and looked into her eyes.
“Did you say they kept us in the games? We weren’t eliminated?”
Lilica sniffed and wiped her eyes again. “Of course not. Your points were high enough that only a few of us passed you. There are still some wizards under you in the points, so they kept you in the games. Joren is currently fourth and you are fifth. The past few days, it’s been the same three of us winning each event.”
Before I could respond, Joren stirred in his bed. He groaned as he sat up and stared at the both of us. His eyes were wide and the top of his head was covered in bandages. He looked directly at Lilica, almost begging to hear more just with his eyes. As he went to speak, he took a deep breath and I saw in his face that he was trying to push away his pain.
“We can still compete?” he asked.
Lilica nodded as she shuffled her chair back closer to me. Fear had taken over her face and she became paler than usual. Her eyes were wide and she almost looked starstruck.
“Joren, how can you even think about competing in your condition? You can barely move! Arman did more damage than you realise,” I said.
His grey eyes flicked to me and his fierceness was pushing through the pain. “I thank you for helping me back there, Melanie, but this is a competition and I need to win it! Lilica said I was fourth and I need to get back to first place again. I need to win.”
His harsh words alerted me that he was back to his normal self, his competitive, stubborn self. He pulled himself out of his bed and fought against his pain so he could see the healer. The moment he left the room, Lilica turned back to me.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
As I recounted the events, her reactions kept changing. Replaying the events in my mind, I wondered how I was able to make it through the whole thing. My energy was gone for almost the entire time and I still managed to use my magic when I truly needed it. I wondered how any of us were able to last that long with the constant attacks on us. Joren and Aowyn’s magic was incredible when I thought about it. As I explained it all to Lilica, I could hear the cheering of the crowd above us, the fights were beginning so I knew Lilica would have to leave soon.
I fought against the pain and got out of the bed. I didn’t want to be stuck there anymore. Channelling Joren’s need to be included in the games, I wanted to get back and watch the battle rounds. I wanted to get away from what happened the past few days. Just as I was above to leave, Joren and the healer returned. The look on her face was one of frustration.
“I see you want to leave as well?”
I nodded. “Yes, please. I want to watch my friend in the battle round.”
The healer looked me up and down before looking at Joren again. “You both are in no condition to be up there, let alone be fighting again. I was instructed to keep you here so you can get well enough to continue with the games tomorrow. Your injuries would have normally killed someone and somehow, you both managed to survive. If you both promise to return after the final battle so you can heal up overnight, you may go and watch.”
Just as she finished talking, Lilica was transported out of the room. Joren and I looked at each other and instantly made
our way up to the viewing area. The walk was painful but as soon as we entered the competitors’ area, we were swarmed with questions from the others. We told them as much as we were able before the familiar voice of Elijah boomed over the entire arena. He introduced this fight as the final one for the night and became excited as he announced the two who were about to battle it out.
“Tonight, we have a grand battle on our hands. The top two in points fight it out to gain or defend the top spot. First, we have the wonderful and elegant Lilica the fairy and she will be fighting against the Ice Queen, Neva.”
When Elijah’s voice stopped, I stepped forward to the barrier and saw both Lilica and Neva in the arena. The crowd cheered loudly as the starting words appeared in the sky.
Lilica’s light pink mist covered the battleground and surrounded Neva, solidifying around her feet. Neva struggled against the restraint, but it was no use. I had no idea Lilica had that much control over her fairy powers. Lilica giggled at her attempts before stepping back in shock when Neva found her way out. She froze the fairy dust and shattered it under the icy pressure. The fight was only just beginning and the two of them were already kicking it into high gear. Neva rushed towards Lilica; as she ran, a large, icy sword appeared in her hand. Her ice was beautiful and sparkled under the moonlight. Neva’s sword collided in mid-air with something that appeared out of nowhere. Lilica formed her own sword with her fairy dust, which was shimmering in the air.
It became an all-out sword fight and with every clash of their blades, chunks of ice flew around the battlefield. After one more collision with Neva’s ice sword, Lilica split her sword in two and held them ready in both hands. She sprang forward, floating slightly off the ground. She twirled in the air, creating a fairy mist tornado with her dagger spikes cutting through.
The Elite Wizard Games (Elite Wizards Chronicles Book 1) Page 9
