The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (22 page)

There was
nothing but silence in the air, for no answer came, and most there
thought perhaps Ulicoth was stumped by Delsani’s words and had left
to see if what he said was indeed true. Suddenly, his dark voice
rose out from behind the shadow yet again, “What you say means
nothing to me, for if it were something worth worrying about, I
surely would’ve known of it without your futile words. My power can
stretch far beyond the limits of my world, as all of you are seeing
today.”

“
Your power
may stretch to this world; however I assure you that it does not
hold sway with me in its stretched and weakened state,” said
Jaucal, whose voice rang out loud and clear. “Now be gone and crawl
back into the hole in which Salith found you. You are not welcome
here,” he said and raised his arms, tightly griped the Scepter of
Sevlter in the palm of his left hand. The large jewel in the top of
the short staff burst with the brightest and most radiant colored
light to ever grace the faces of those around the Grand
Wizard.

“
Be gone, I
say! For there is nothing and no one here whom you can see or
touch,” said Jaucal. “Now go back and never set your foul air
around the walls of this dwelling again.” He turned his left wrist
slightly, and the scepter tipped forward. The light from it grew
stronger still.

They heard
Ulicoth yell, and the shadow squealed as its master faltered.
Everyone in the room flinched except Jaucal, who stood firm. It
began to retreat slowly, as though it was trying to fight back and
failing miserably. The Grand Wizard tipped the scepter again. “GO
BACK NOW!” he shouted. “NEVER RETURN!”

The darkness
squealed again. This time it was so loud that most thought their
eardrums were going to burst. Some even found tiny amounts of blood
running out of their ears. But it only lasted only a few seconds,
for the shadow made a swift getaway.

Jaucal held
the
scepter out, and it grew longer and
looked like a longer staff. Leaning on it, he went to see Helen and
Peter, whom everyone had forgotten in all the
excitement.

Helen was
still sitting with Peter in her arms. She was holding the top of
this head to her chin, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she
silently wept.

“
Are you
okay?” Saren asked.

“
I’m fine.
But I don’t know about Peter. He passed out when that thing was
destroyed,” said Helen as she wiped her eyes with the end of her
sleeve.

Jaucal put
all of his weight on his staff and knelt down to take hold of
Peter’s right hand. “He’s fine. The spell has put him into a deep
sleep.”

“
What went
wrong?” asked Helen. “I mean, you said that the spells you cast
would stop him from finding us.”

“
One of our
people made a very small mistake,” said Jaucal, “which allowed the
assassin to find you.”

“
And what’ll
stop that from happening again?” asked Helen fretfully.

“
Ulicoth
won’t send another assassin,” said Delsani. “There are no assassins
left for him to send. We destroyed all of them and the Druids are
all dead.”

“
What
happened?” asked Saren.

“
We went to
their place of worship. They saw us, and most of them fought us as
we entered their temple. We had no choice but to fight back,” said
Delsani. “We pushed them back, and when they could go no further
with the fight, they gave up their lives willingly until there was
only one. The chieftain of their clan, before he took his own life,
said, “The Prophecy will be undone.”

The room went
silent, and no one knew where to look.

“
Helen, do
you want me to take Peter to the couch? It would be more
comfortable, and I’m sure getting off the floor wouldn’t do you any
harm either,” said Berlanin, who sounded more than a little
concerned.

“
Yes, of
course,” said Helen. “Thanks.”

Berlanin
lifted Peter. Helen followed, and when he set the boy down, Helen
knelt beside him and stroked his head as he slept.

“
I think it’s
time for us to go,” said Jaucal as he looked around. “There is much
to be done in the aftermath of Ulicoth’s show of power.” He put his
hand on Saren’s shoulder, and it was then that the letter came back
to her mind.

“
I wish I
could stay with the Queen, after all that’s happened, but I have to
go back,” said Saren.

“
Don’t worry
about us,” said Helen, still gently stroking Peter’s head. “You
have your own family to go to.”

Delsani and
Berlanin both saw the concerned look on Helen’s face at the
prospect of being alone after all that had just gone on.

“
If you like,
majesty, I’ll stay and help you with Peter,” said
Delsani.

“
I wouldn’t
mind staying, either,” Berlanin said.

“
Yes, I think
that would be for the best,” said Jaucal. “I think we could manage
without the two of you for a day or so.”

Helen looked
grateful and thanked them both for volunteering.”

“
You know, I
was thinking that it might also be a good idea for you to get more
involved in the politics of the kingdom until Peter is old enough
to rule. It would mean that you would have to travel back and
forth, but I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think it was
necessary.”

“
That sounds
like a good idea. I’d be happy to help, but I don’t want to leave
Peter here alone.”

“
To be
honest, it is your duty as Queen. I didn’t mention it sooner, as
the council thought it best to let Drago grow a little.”

“
In that
case, I guess I have no choice,” Helen said, not knowing to be
happy or not. Part of her was thrilled to be going back, but the
rest of her was fearful of what might happen when she was not
around to watch over her son.

“Good,” said the Grand Wizard.

After the
others had left, she asked how the assassin found them, not to
mention “The big guy,” by which she meant Ulicoth, of
course.

“
The
young trainee Wizard who
thinks he may one day be Grand Wizard,” said
Delsani.

“
I remember
him,” said Helen.

“
Well,
he Phazed into the house
and was detected by the assassin. And as Ulicoth was no doubt
watching his creature from a very safe distance, he came as well,”
said Delsani.

“
Is it safe
to stay here?” asked Helen, concerned.

“
Yes,”
Berlanin said. “The Grand Wizard has stopped Ulicoth from finding
the whereabouts of your house. And he can’t send any more
assassins, because there are none. This place is safe.”

Helen then
turned to Peter who was still unconscious. “What’s wrong?” she
asked. “Why isn’t he awake yet?”

“We forgot to change,” said Berlanin.

Helen looked
at them again and Berlanin’s red and gold Council robes were gone,
he was now wearing Normal clothes, which were: track shoes, blue
jeans, and a grey T-shirt.

Delsani had again changed not only his
clothes, but his whole appearance again, looking young and fresh in
a trim business suit.

“Mommy,” said Peter with a frightened
expression on his face.

“
It’s okay,
Peter. It was just a bad dream,” said Helen gently.

“
No,” said
Peter, “are cartoons still on?” he asked hastily.

Delsani
laughed. For a moment he had been worried that Peter might remember
what had happened. However, it turned out that just as before, he
did not remember anything about who and what he really
was.

“
What are
cartoons?” asked Berlanin out of the blue.

Peter shot a
look his way and suddenly became aware of the new man in the
room.

“
Don’t be
scared,” said Helen. “This is er...”

“Ben,” said Berlanin.

“
He’s another
one of your dad’s closest friends who’s come to see you,” said
Helen.

Berlanin gave
a little wave, but still Peter just stared at him and did not know
how to react.

“
He might
watch cartoons with you, if you ask him,” said Delsani.

“
Yeah,” said
Peter excitedly as he jumped off of the couch and parked himself in
the same spot as before. Then he turned his head and said, “Hurry
up Ben, silly.”

Delsani and
Berlanin laughed, and Helen gave only a vague smile as Berlanin sat
beside the boy, which was an honor for him. How many Wizards or
Witches could say that they had even met Peter (Drago) Stark, never
mind sat with him in his own house?

“
Are you okay
Helen?” asked Delsani sincerely.

Helen put her
hand to her mouth and started to weep. “No,” she said, “I’m not
okay.”

“
Let’s go
into the kitchen,” said Delsani sympathetically.

As soon as
the kitchen door closed, Delsani said. “Tell me what’s
wrong.”

Helen laughed
and said hysterically. “That, that thing was in my house trying to
kill my son. Not to mention Ulicoth himself, the man that murdered
my husband and you’re asking me what’s wrong,” she added
hotly.

“
I’m sorry
that you and Peter had to go through that. But now there’s no need
to worry. Ulicoth has no idea where we are, and as this world is so
big, he will never find you. He is running scared, for he knows
that when Peter grows, he will take his place on the
thrown.”

Helen nodded.

“
One more
thing,” she said, “remember when we were in the main hall at the
Towers of Telian and I saw my double?”

“
Yes I
remember. And we also saw Dragdani,” said Delsani, recalling what
he thought was a great moment. “Helen, as I said before, with
different realities, it is best to forget what you see. Sometimes
things can be the same and other times completely different.
Although I know you were right, and I’m sorry that I didn’t listen.
Regrettably, we still could not trust the information,” he said
mournfully.

“
No,” said
Helen, “I wasn’t gloating or anything. It’s just that I haven’t
been able to get it out of my head. I didn’t want to say anything,
but it’s been driving me nuts with guilt. I was wondering if you
could do a swish and a whoosh and get rid of the memory for me,”
she said anxiously. She had never had a spell used directly on her
mind before.

“
If you’re
sure.”

“
Well,
if it means not having to
see her sobbing face in my mind, then yes,” said Helen. “Not to
sound cruel, I know how she feels; it’s just every time I look in
the mirror, that’s what I see. That’s why I try not to look at
myself after what happened.”

“
I
understand. Of course I’ll do it for you. But you’ll have to settle
for an ordinary spell. No swishes or whooshes I’m
afraid.”

“
I think I
could live with that.”

“
If you
remember, that is,” said Delsani.

Helen’s
eyes widened. “I better
remember.”

“
I’m entirely
sure of the spell to use. I hope it’s not too powerful. There’s
really nothing to worry about. If I do get it wrong, you won’t
remember anyway.”

“
Forget it,
I’ll live with the memory, thanks all the same,” said Helen as
quickly as she could get the words out of her mouth.

Delsani
laughed aloud. “Now there’s only one between us.”

“Very funny,” said Helen smiling.

Not long
after Saren returned to Dorminya with
Jaucal and without Berlanin and Delsani, they informed the
Witch of some good news which, apart from the destruction of the
Druids, was probably the only good news they had. It had turned out
that they had rushed the letter she had read in the kitchen at
Weston Road, and in their haste to get the letter away, they forgot
to mention there was one survivor. This survivor was Saren’s
younger niece, who in fear fled the village not long after her
mother was killed.

After being
taken to the city, the girl was tended by none other than Henkot,
and he worked all through the night and well into the morning to
save her. To his dismay, he could not cure her of the disease.
However, he had managed to stop to it from spreading though her
completely, and now she was half Wicca and half Valcota, which was
never even thought possible before this tragedy. She was now only a
shadow of what she was, for she was once a beautiful child with the
softest skin, the brightest eyes, and beautiful red hair with rosy
cheeks and a gorgeous smile. Now her skin was pale, cracked,
crusty, and flaky. Her eyes were as black as coal, as was her
hair.

A potion was
made to quench her lust for blood and help her live her life as
best she could. Saren and Henkot took guardianship of her, as they
and Dorana were her only living relatives.

A
week after the attacks, life in Dorminya was
trying to get back to ordinary, but the fear of further attacks had
swelled out of control. Every village and outpost of Wizards and
Witches were deserted, and the inhabitants were seeking sanctuary
in the cities. For to the refugees, they were now the only safe
places there were, mostly because of Jaucal and Oruealth, as they
were the most powerful Wizard and Witch of their day. Although they
weren’t Wizard-Elves, they were the next best thing.