The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (13 page)

Delsani went and stood with Prince Bacnil,
Avelan, and Eiaten again.

“
What’s going
on?” asked Bacnil loudly.

“
I may
be an old
Wizard, Bacnil, but I am not
deaf,” said Delsani.

“
You said
that there is a child, and that Ulicoth knows about it,” said
Avelan. “My question is why then, did he not attack the mother and
child? And why all of this?”

“
First, he
did attack Helen Stark and her unborn child. The attempt failed,
and both mother and child are fine. That was what the letter was
about,” said Delsani in a low voice.

“
And second,
the reason for all of this is simple. He needed to steal the power
of a Wizard-Elf to make himself strong again. And as the person in
question would most likely never fully recover, he could not use
Kilamen. So when his spy had told him of John, Ulicoth saw his
chance and took it.

“
The
third reason is also simple.
Ulicoth wanted us to leave Helen and her unborn child almost
defenseless by luring most of the Wizards and Witches that work in
the towers here. Thus he could order his spy to kill the real
target and threat. And then there is the fact that Ulicoth is so
vain that he wanted us to see this great knew force that he alone
commands. But his vanity shall spell the beginning of the end for
him.

“
For as they
say, New Life, New Hope”

“
What do you
mean? How can we possibly defeat such an enemy even if he were to
let us go? We still would not be able to raise a force to even half
of his,” said Eiaten grimly, “or have you forgotten that the other
cities of men didn’t want to join us in this?”

“
No, I’ve not
forgotten, and if you had let me finish, I would have told you that
there is a way to stop Ulicoth’s army before he can release them
upon our world,” said Delsani. “Remember the letter that turned
into a plant?”

“
Yes, it
looked like Huerpul,” said Avelan.

“
Huerpul,”
repeated Eiaten fearfully; “is forbidden for Wizards or Witches to
even possess, by the treaty that my father and the leaders of the
other races signed in the towers of Telian,” stated the Dwarf
angrily.

“
I know. You
sound frightened and a little angry, but you must understand that
if there were any other options, I would gladly hear them. However,
there is not, and we do not have the time to think of one, for
Ulicoth will grow weary of us and will most certainly destroy us,
and then all of our worlds, one after the other. This will be our
only opportunity to hold Ulicoth back, to give the child of John
and Helen Stark time to grow and fulfill the Second Prophecy,” said
Delsani.

“
If you are
proposing that we make death mist. Then I’m with Eiaten. I do not
want to be partly responsible for introducing that horror back into
our world,” said Bacnil.

“
This version
of the death mist that we are creating will be temporary. We
couldn’t produce the real thing even if we wanted to. For we do
not, nor would we want to know too much about the dark arts of
Salith,” said Delsani. “But we do know how to defend against the
dark arts.”

“
But are you
sure that you can defend against the death mist?” asked Avelan.
“Although I agree with the other two, I see that there is no other
option. Not that I’m questioning your abilities or the abilities of
the others.”

“
As I said,
it will not be the real thing. Therefore it will easily be
dispersed,” said Delsani slowly, as though it might help them
understand.

“
Will Ulicoth
not be able to disperse it as easily?” asked Bacnil.

“
No. Before
we release it, each Witch and Wizard will put protection spells on
the potion, which will mean that only we can defend against it. And
without knowing what spells were used, it would take days, perhaps
even weeks to break through them all, and by then we’ll be long
gone,” said Delsani.

Before any of
them could say anything else
, Henkot
shouted, “IT IS ALMOST READY. ALL WE NEED IS YOUR PROTECTION
SPELL.”

Delsani
turned and waved
. Then he looked back to
the other leaders. “I will not do this without your approval. It’s
now or never.”

Chapter Six

The
re plan
had worked. The green temporary mist that they created had
destroyed most of Ulicoth’s massive army. But it failed to reach
inside the mountains and fortress of Ulicoth, for he sealed them
off. The Dark Lord had other troops inside the mountains, and
fortress and in other lands, but the alliance could match their
numbers, which meant that they were left in stalemate.

The alliance
members were now making their way back to the Magical World, as the
Wizards and Witches like to call their land.

Delsani and
Prince Bacnil, however, were not with them, for Bacnil had been
wounded in the battle and kept it hidden from the others. He did
not want to miss out on anything and held until the mist had killed
most of Ulicoth’s creatures, but then collapsed. He needed to be
tended at the Towers of Telian, as Delsani wished to get back as
soon as possible, and as Bacnil had not given permission that he
could be Phazed back. Delsani took the young Prince on Avelan’s
horse, as she was the swiftest and most steadfast.

The Wolf
Demala went with them and kept up to the horse’s speed with ease.
Delsani knew that Demala could out run the horse easily but he was
holding back to stay with them.

With the
speed of Edel, it only took them hours and not days to reach the
Magical World. And then they were at the towers in a matter of
minutes. There were Ves-guards there to meet them as they rode up
the path, and they carefully took Prince Bacnil, with Demala
following the young Prince.

Delsani ran
as fast as he could to see how Helen was. He did not know what he
was going to say to her. That thought hadn’t even crossed his mind
until that moment.

However, as
he was about to stretch out his hand to open the vault room door
that he, John and Helen had taken before, it opened, and the Grand
Wizard, Jaucal, came through.

“
I see you’ve
returned,” said Jaucal.

“
I’m sorry I
took so long, but Prince Bacnil was wounded, and as I had
commandeered the fastest horse, I had to bring him with me.
Besides, I thought it best not to Phaze. I thought it would be
better to let Ulicoth think that his plan had
succeeded.”

“
Yes, that
would be for the best for sure, though unfortunately I can say that
Ulicoth now knows all, but it was good of you to play it
safe.”

“
Have you
told Helen? Have you told her of John’s death?” said Delsani
slowly.

“
No, she
hasn’t been informed. I wanted to leave it as long as possible. For
at that time I thought the poor woman had been through
enough.”

“
We can only
keep it from her as long as it takes the others to return,” said
Delsani. “And keeping it from her may make matters far worse than
they already are. I think the time has come to tell
all.”

Jaucal nodded
slightly. “You are right, my friend. The time has come to tell
all.”

Delsani
looked at him with wonder. “Did you know John would die?” he asked
doubtfully. In truth he was not sure whether he wanted the answer
to his question.

“
No,”
replied Jaucal truthfully.
“If I knew then what I know now. The battle of Kealhal wouldn’t
have happened.”

“
The
n how did you know, and what
do you know?” asked Delsani curiously.

“
I knew that
John had died, because when it happened, I felt it,” said
Jaucal.

And with that
reply, Delsani had noticed that Jaucal now looked worn and older
than he remembered. “His pain was so strong. And when I felt it
drift away, I knew. I knew that he was lost to us,” said Jaucal
grievously. “And as for what I know now, well when I first sensed
John’s pain, I accidentally dropped one of the books that I was
setting back onto the bookcase in my office. Some pieces of
parchment fell out of it, and when I bent down to pick them up, I
saw that the two sheets of the parchment were the measurements of
the parchment of the Prophecies and the piece of parchment that had
John’s name on it. One sheet had been written by Dragdani shortly
after writing the prophecies purely for reference; the other was
written shortly after John’s name was found for the same reason.
And when I put the two sheets together, I saw that the two
measurements taken for the parchment that had John’s name were
different. So I went down to the vault and checked the parchment. I
used the Histatia spell to see if it had been tampered with. It
took a great deal of tampering, but I found that it had been.
Someone had taken away one of the simple protection spells and
hadn’t stopped there, for there I also saw that the culprit had
tried to take away the other protection spells as well. However, he
was unsuccessful, for only the spell concealing the name had been
lifted.

“
I then used
the same spell on the vault itself, which was not easy, as you can
imagine. I was lucky for the culprit had covered their tracks
sloppily. Delsani, it was Noesod.” Delsani was shocked to hear this
name. For Noesod was the last person that he thought would have
betrayed them, and especially the last person who would betray John
or try to hurt Helen. “I know how you must feel, for I was as
stunned at what I saw. And as you know those spells do not lie,”
said Jaucal.

“
What else
did you see?” asked Delsani hastily.

“
I saw that
the he tore off part of the parchment and put it in his pocket.
Then I knew John was dead, for I could no longer sense his pain,
and it was then that I realized that John was not the one. There
had to be another heir to Dragdani, and then I knew that Helen was
with child, and if Noesod saw the name, she and the unborn child
were in danger. I sent for the guards and sent some to find Noesod.
The other guards I took to John and Helen’s room, and there to my
dismay we found Noesod standing over Helen, who was lying
unconscious on the floor. Noesod just stood there with his wand
pointing down at her. His hands were shaking wildly. Then he turned
his head and begged me to stop him.

I acted
immediately
, sending him across the room
into the wall. I ordered the guards to take Helen to the infirmary
and not to leave her unguarded. And then I went over to Neusod who
was lying on the ground. His eyes were wide open, and a smile had
come across his face, one that I’ll never forget. Then he laughed
and said, “Soon. I’ll find him soon.’ the voice was not Noesod’s;
it was dark and foul. Then a purple vapor began to drift from his
mouth and his breathing stopped. I tried to revive him but it was
no use. I found the missing piece of parchment. And I joined it
back on to the page,” said Jaucal. He took the page out of his
pocket and handed it to Delsani.

When
Delsani opened it, it read:

Peter John Stark

“
Now if
you‘re satisfied with my answers, we should really go and tell
Helen what his happened and all that we know,” said
Jaucal.

“
Yes,” said
Delsani anxiously, dreading the thought of having to remember and
tell everything that had happened. But he knew that she had to be
told, and there was no one else who could explain it all. He took a
step forward, but was stopped by Jaucal who said, “Why go the long
way?” He put out his right hand and a long scepter appeared. The
scepter was auburn except for the very bottom tip, which was
silver. The top was also silver and it was in the form of the
design on Dragdani’s belt buckle, a Dragons claw holding a colored
orb. It began to glow with a blue light, and the tighter he held,
it the brighter it became. Delsani took hold of Jaucal’s, arm and
they both appeared at the foot of Helen’s bed in the
infirmary.

A week had
past in Dorminya since Helen had been told of John’s
fate
, and in all that time she refused to
receive any visitors or even interact with anyone at all. She
stayed in her room in the tower lying on the bed sobbing into her
pillows. However, today she knew that she would have to go and say
her final goodbyes to John, for today they were holding a service
for the Wizards and Witches who died at the battle of Kealhal. The
service was also being held for most of the royal family of
Rulouvge, meaning that one survived the massacre. Bacnil’s
ten-year-old cousin, Hadnim, was now his only living relative. The
service was also for the Dwarves of the Werferd Mountain’s who were
also killed be Kilamen as pay back for what happened at
Kealhal.

The Dwarf
Lord Eiaten broke off all contact and communication with the other
races after that. He had lost half of his family in the destruction
of his father’s mines and was trying to prepare himself for an
attack.

The Wizards
and Witches were also making ready, for they also feared
retaliation. But Ulicoth had no intention of attacking them, for he
had made his point. Those that were closest to them would suffer
for any further defiance. And he had the bonus that the Wizards
would be blamed for all of the deaths and the mistrust of the Men
and Dwarves. And he was right, for the Men, like the Dwarves, did
not want anything more to do with the Wizards or Witches. However
Bacnil trusted them, and kept the alliance with the Wizards,
Witches, and Elves, for like his new friends, he knew that at that
moment Ulicoth was starting to rebuild everything that he had lost.
And Bacnil believed that when he was ready. The unborn child of
John and Helen Stark would one day lead them to destroy Ulicoth,
and most importantly to him, Kilamen. For the thought of avenging
his family was the only thing that was keeping him going, but it
would not consume him, for he would be patient and wait for his day
to come. But for now, like others, he was getting ready for the
service.