Drakonika (Book 1) (50 page)

The dragon flinched away from Magnus.

Valezar's eyes bulged strictly, then suddenly he clapped his hands and they found themselves in total darkness. All candles had been extinguished.

Lars and Elmar gave a terrified yelp.

“All right, all right! We get it!” Magnus said swiftly; he hated being in Valezar's home in darkness. “Now could you please put the lights back on?”

“
But of course...” said Valezar, and by a snap of his fingers, all candles in the room were lit again. He was smiling.

Maren was swinging her legs so wildly she kicked Magnus under the table.

“Ouch!” He moaned.

It appeared Maren did not even notice what happened, or she had done it deliberately and merely pretended her ignorance. “Do you think Victor is a dragon as well?” She said curiously, and their little dragon acquaintance on the table shuddered as he heard the name.

“Well...” Magnus started, then paused when he saw everyone looking at him. “Well I... I'm not sure. But I don't think so. I don't think he was as strong and powerful as he pretended to be... Moreover, I think his powers, or at least some of them, flew from a ring he wore on one of his fingers.” He said, then turned on Valezar. “What do you think, Valezar?”

“
I am happy you consider my word important. His mind was protected from reading, but his power did stem from that ring on his hand. Good observation, Magnus.” Valezar said, then gave him a wordless look which suggested he knew that Magnus was keeping something from them. And he knew exactly what...

Magnus was acting happy and light-hearted, but his mind was buzzing. The words that Victor uttered before he vanished from sight kept lying in his heart like a heavy boulder. He was only hoping that one day he would forget them just as he had forgotten everything from his past.

“But then, you obviously can't be brothers,” Maren said doubtfully. “I mean, you're a dragon, he's not... it's logical you can't have one father.”

Valezar smiled. “You have a very smart girlfriend, Magnus.”

Everyone in the room could understand that Magnus' blood pressure was rising rapidly. “I've told you already, she's not my girlfriend!” He barked angrily. But that only made Valezar laugh more. And Maren's smile vanished instantly.

“
So, it seems like this so-called father of yours used dopplegangers to make dragons look like bloodthirsty monsters in the eyes of humans.” Zimbadur interjected. “There must be a big plot behind all this. Something that we haven't seen yet... and we hope to never see, of course.”

Save the last Victor's words that Magnus didn't want to bring up now, Valezar knew there was another important thing he hadn't mentioned.

“Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that, Zimbadur. He can operate in this world through an artefact, a crystal ball. And now it's in the keeping of the police.”

That made everyone in the room fall silent. “Could it be that the warlock is still able to bring more evil into this world?” Maren asked through trembling lips.

“I never meant to scare you, dear Maren... but the answer is yes. As long as the globe is whole, there is a possibility something bad might happen in the future. Let's just hope it won't.”

Magnus heard Elmar and Lars gulp.

“Valezar, did you really play with those things? I mean the gates... did you try to open them?” Magnus asked, now sounding a bit concerned.

“
If anything, I tried to find out what they were and if there was any possible threat coming from there. But, Solas used it against me, because he wanted me sacked from the Mages Guild. So he came up with a little good-night story for the king.” Valezar said, and to Magnus' astonishment, he was smiling again.

But he felt sorry there was no evidence that could allow Valezar to re-join the Mages Guild. That was so unjust!

The talk about Viktor, dopplegangers, the evil warlock and Magnus himself took another hour, until finally somebody had changed the subject.

“
And what will you do now?” Fjalldís asked abruptly, stroking the dragon's snout gently.

“
I... I don't know.” Magnus said and gave a small sigh. “I mean... what can I do? I still look like a... a... a mutant,” he said finally, when he heard his tail slithering on the floor. He couldn't stop moving it. This was one of the few occasions when he didn't have to hold it under the cloak, which was art itself, given how difficult and straining it was.

“
Why don't you just stay in the guild with us?” Elmar said, another gingerbread crunching under his teeth.

“
Are you kidding?? Aedan will kill me when he sees me!” Magnus breathed indignantly.

As an answer to that, a stocky, tall druid entered the room from the side-doors. His great mane and long wooden staff in his hand were unmistakable. “I don't think so,” Aedan said, and to Magnus' astonishment, he was smiling. “As long as you don't earn a third black point from Xanthar, which would sack you out of my guild, I'll be honoured to have you among us.”

Maren looked as dazed as Magnus.

“
How... how did you know I was here?” Said Magnus in a startled tone, gazing up at his teacher in awe.

“
Zimbadur had sent a pigeon to me...”

Zim had to smile at Aedan's words. But the children did not pay attention to them much longer; all faces turned to Magnus.

“So, you're staying!” Elmar said excitedly. “I can't believe it! We'll have so much fun together!”

“
Yes! Yes!” Lars squealed, his agitated expression scaring Magnus to the grave. “That will be at least another three hundred and sixty five nights of studying together! Can you imagine how many great things we'll discover?” He breathed. For a moment, there was no answer to that, except for several cheerful nods from Elmar.

Aedan could not help letting out a silent snigger.

There was an abrupt ripple of victorious shrieks; it was decided before Magnus could even say anything.

“
So... got that amulet back?” Maren said defiantly, looking boldly at Magnus.

Magnus eyes darted to the left, then to the right; and then back on Maren. “Well... yeah?” He said in a confused tone.

“What colour am I thinking of?” Maren asked, a big grin on her face.

“
Well, um...” Magnus face was flushed red in seconds. “Oh, man...!” He groaned under his breath, dropping his head into the hands as he heard an outbreak of mirth and giggles around him.

As the peace in Ragna was restored, there were no more hauntings at night and Magnus was declared a hero, the novices returned back to their training and study in Sinei along with their teacher Aedan. They all came to the conclusion it would be best if Xanthar kept his disbelief in dragons, so they decided to keep the dragon with them and he seemed to be quite happy about that in the end. But for some reason, he preferred to stay with the girls than with Magnus, although he did appear to observe him from distance. Lars and Elmar were overjoyed that Aedan had allowed them to keep such a cool pet; they had always wondered if they could buy a dinosaur, although they would probably run for their lives if they really saw one.

As for Darius, they had never heard of him again. Some thought he did not avoid the punishment for stealing the globe, though he claimed he did not do it. The black squad, now consisted of only four members looked downcast at all times and there were no more riots that would interrupt the course of Aedan's peaceful teaching, which was actually a good thing.

Magnus was surprised how well did Aedan take the fact he was a dragon; well, a dragon half-way transformed to his original form, but he did not want the other novices to know. Although he had to keep his cloak on at all times, it did not stop him from enjoying his time in Sinei and the friendship with Maren, Fjalldís, Elmar, Lars and the little dragon, whom he still had lots to learn about. However ordinary he tried to look, people considered him special for what he had done. Anyone who found himself in Magnus' presence felt safe and sound, as there was nothing to worry about with such a strong and promising young hero around them.

Whether he knew everything about the plot that he was supposed to be a part of or not; Magnus had realized one important thing. He would have found the book either way. But he felt as if something, or perhaps the gods themselves, had led him all the way to the crystal globe underground, so that he would find the book by himself. Without it, he would have never received the warnings from Valezar and Fjalldís, he would have never experienced its terrifying power, he wouldn't have learned he was the Black Prince before Viktor told him, he wouldn't have been scared and he would have turned into a malicious beast. It must have been the fear of himself that kept his mind blank. He didn't want to remember.

Two ways may lead to one destination, but it's the path itself that shapes the very fortune of all things. And the journey had only begun.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR HEROES!

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