The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (25 page)

As they got a
closer look at the Scepter, the Dark Wizards realized that this was
not just any old Wizard Ves-guard, but the Grand Wizard
himself.

The invaders
ran back toward the building behind them. Some cried out while the
others merely ran in pure fear.

“
You should
always finish what you start,” said Jaucal as he laughed at the
sight of them. He took out his own wand waved it, and with shimmer
of grey light, chains appeared in midair. They flew around the Dark
Wizards who fell in a heap on the ground.

Then Oruealth
stepped forward, her talisman placed on her hand. She waved her
hand to the left, and the chained Wizards were thrown into the wall
of the building next to them.

Shouting was
heard from inside the Town Hall. More Wizards and some Lores and
Goblins came running out.

“
You don’t
mind if we do our jobs, do you sir, madam?” said one of the Ves
guards.

Jaucal, and
Oruealth laughed and the Supreme Witch said, “Round up the rest
quickly.”

The Ves-guard
nodded. “YOU HEARD!” he shouted. And with that, the light Wizards
and Witches confronted their opposites.

The Lores and
Goblins drew their weapons, although they would only attack as a
last resort.

However, it
was not long before some had fled and the rest were dead, dying, or
in custody. Three of the Ves-guards lay dead, and five were wounded
in the fight. One of the less wounded was the young Wizard, Jert,
who flew to the City Hall with Demala. His arm was broken by a
rather nasty curse, but he was lucky that it hit his arm and not a
more vital area.

Those who were able searched the town from
top to bottom and found that not one of the inhabitants still drew
breath.

Jaucal stood
leaning on his scepter, looking and feeling fresher then he had in
weeks. It seemed the excitement of facing those young Wizards had
reminded him of his old Ves-guard days. Though he knew that then
they would not have run away like children from a tempered parent.
He also knew that he should take no pleasure in it, for he would
rather not have felt the fresh feeling nor had the good memories at
all if it meant that the innocents of this town young and old were
alive and well.

Then a shadow
came in front of him, and his daydream passed. Jert now stood in
his line of sight.

“
Sir, the
town is now secure and has been checked. I’m sorry to say there are
no survivors,” said the young Ves-guard.

“
How is your
arm?” asked the Grand Wizard looking at the sling the young Wizard
was sporting.

“
Still
broken, I’m afraid.”

Jaucal
grinned. “In that case I relieve you of your duty. Go back to
Cayer-Huld and get yourself seen to.”

“
But sir,
there is still a lot to do here, and I don’t want to just go home
while the rest have work to do.”

“
But, my
young friend, I have a job for you. I want you to take all of the
wounded to the hospital and when healed and well, I want you to go
to the City Hall and tell the deputy Grand Wizard all that has
happened here. Please ask him to send a letter to the Wizard
Delsani explaining it all, as well. I think that is certainly far
more important and less depressing than what we will be doing
here.”

“
Yes, Grand
Wizard.”

“
Please call
me Jaucal. All these ‘sirs’ and ‘Grand Wizards’ are making me feel
so old,” laughed the old Wizard. “So do you except your new
assignment?”

“
Yes, of
course, Grand - I mean…Jaucal,”

“
Good, you
may go as soon as you are ready.”

Chapter Eleven

Mr.
Weavger

Ten
years
passed since the Wizard Delsani
cast the spells to suppress King Drago’s powers.

Ten years
since Ulicoth tried to get to the boy through the former deputy
Grand Wizard and the salt assassin.

Ten years for
the one to grow up, and within those years, the Queen Mother, Helen
Stark, married the deputy Grand Wizard, Berlanin. The three still
live in Weston Road as a happy family.

Delsani had
warned Helen that if Peter’s mind became too powerful, the spells
he cast could break under the pressure. Nevertheless, they seemed
to be going strong, for Helen had not seen any sign that the spells
had broken down. In addition, she gave Delsani that very
information every time he came to visit.

“
You know,
Helen, today is the day that we have to tell him that he is not
just an ordinary Wizard and take him to Dorminya,” said
Delsani.

“
Yes, I know,
and everything is ready for later. I’ve sent all my assets to the
M.E.A.L. (Money Exchange, Accounts and Loans) account I opened just
before leaving Dorminya, and I put both Peter and Berlanin down as
the beneficiaries just in case something happens to me,” she said.
“I want them to have something to fall back on financially. I’m not
sure how he’s going to react. He thinks he’s an ordinary Wizard,
but he’ll find out that there is another world and he’s the true
heir to the throne of Opredanas and that he’s far more special than
that.”

“
Yes, of
course you’re right, though it will be hard for him to hear. He
must hear it all the same,” said the Wizard. “So when do you think
we should tell him?”

“
It can at
least wait until he’s had his party,” said Helen
hopefully.

“
Yes, of
course,” said Delsani. “And when will that be?”

“
Half past
five. He wanted to give his friends time to get home and change
after school,” replied Helen. “I’ll keep back some of the cake if
you want to take some home with you.”

“
We would
need at least ten cakes,” said Delsani. “However, that won’t take
long.”

“
Let me
guess. There’s a spell to make it grow to ten times its original
size,” said Helen.

Delsani
laughed and said, “No, but that is a good idea, though a
duplication spell should do the trick,” he said.

“
Could you
make a little room next to the cake?” asked the Wizard.

Helen did as
he asked and Delsani took out his wand, pointed it at the cake and
said, “Duplacant.” And suddenly there appeared an identical cake
right in the space that Helen had just cleared.

“Just think, only another nine to go,” said
Helen sarcastically.

“
Oh, I can’t
wait,” said Delsani in response.

Helen
laughed. “But still it saves time.” And just as she finished, she
heard the alarm clock in Peter’s room go off.

There was
suddenly silence. “He’s up,” she said. But there was no answer, and
when she turned round, she saw that the Wizard was already
gone.

Indeed Peter
was up
. He put on his stereo and cranked
up the volume so he could hear nothing else. It was the same thing
every morning. He would get up turn on the tunes and then head for
the bathroom to get ready for school. And like always, it took at
least five minutes for him to reach the bathroom, for he was too
busy jumping up and down and nodding his head franticly to watch
where he was going.

When he
finally found his way to the bathroom, it was into the shower and
then on to styling his hair. Peter was lucky, or so his friends
said, as he, unlike the rest of the world, did not need to use hair
gel, wax, or mousse, or any other hair product. His hair was so
thick and wiry that all he needed was water. He would style his
hair while it was still a little wet from the shower, and it only
took a few minutes, which again his friends thought was lucky, for
it sometimes took them at least twenty to get their hair just the
way they wanted it.

It was not long before he was in the kitchen
eating his mixed cereals; he liked mixing different cereals instead
of eating the one boring bowl of the same thing.

“
So what are
you doing today?” asked Helen in an attempt to strike up
conversation.

“Nothing,” said Peter sleepily.

“
You’ll be
doing nothing all day? Wow, school has really changed since I
left,” said Helen sarcastically.

“
Very funny.
I’ll do school work. That’s what people usually do in
school.”

“
All right, I
was only trying to have I conversation with you, Mr.
grumpy.”

“
Sorry, I
didn’t get much sleep last night. I was adding a few things to my
manuscript and I didn’t realize the time,” said Peter.

“
I know what
you mean, it happens to me all the time. Well, are you ready to
face the school world today?”

“
If I say no,
can I stay off?”

“
No,” laughed
Helen. “I was just being polite. Besides, how would your friends
feel if you robbed them of the chance to get you on your
birthday?”

“
What kind of
mother are you? You’re supposed to be concerned when something like
that comes up,” said Peter, hoping that this would change her mind,
although he really knew it would not.

“
I am
concerned. I’m afraid of missing it,” she laughed again.

“
You’ll be
laughing on the other side of your face when I phone child services
and tell them of that kind of abuse I’ve been getting from you all
these years,” said Peter jokily. He now laughed at the look on
Helen’s face.

“
Oh, yes, all
that abuse, like me getting you nearly everything that you moaned
for most of your life. Somehow I think it’s me that needs someone
to call to tell them of the abuse I’ve suffered with you all these
years,” she said smiling mockingly. “So ready to go?” she said at
the last minute.

“
Not yet. I
haven’t finished my breakfast.”

“
You’re
stalling.”

“
I’m hoping
that by being late, all my friends will already be in class and
will unfortunately miss their chance to get me.”

“
The
re’s always after
school.”

“
I’ve already
thought of that. I’ll get detention and again they’ll miss me,”
said Peter confidently.

“
For that,
they’ll get you for sure, cause I’ll help them.” Helen laughed at
the look of annoyance on his face as he was trying to think of a
way out of it.

“
Wait until
everyone’s gone, then I’ll skip detention.”

“
The
n I’ll bring them back and
they can hide in the garden and wait for you to come
home.”

“
Again I ask,
what kind of a mother are you?”

Again Helen
laughed. “The nightmare kind. You should know that by now. Right.
Come on, you’ve had long enough. The sooner you go, the sooner you
come back.”

“
No. The
longer I stay the sooner I get back.”

“
Very good,
smarty pants, but now it’s time to go. I haven’t got all day, you
know.”

“
You’re a
writer; you’ve always got all day.”

Helen said
nothing. She just gave him a stern look. Peter knew this look. He
knew it well, and it meant she was losing her patience.

“Fine,” he groaned and wolfed down the rest
of his mixed cereal.

When they got
to the door, Peter grabbed one of the many skateboards that sat on
the wall rack on the left side of the front hall. Peter liked
skating ever since he got his first skateboard from Delsani for his
seventh birthday.

“
You sure
you’ve got everything you need?” asked Helen as she opened the
front door.

“Yeah,” Peter yawned.

“
Are you sure
you don’t want me to pick you up after school today?”

“Yeah,” he repeated with yet another
yawn.

“
It’s your
own fault for not going to bed early enough.”

“
Yeah, I
know,” he droned.

The car
pulled up beside the curb facing Main Vale Senior High School, and
Peter swiftly jumped out. His friends waved when they saw him, and
Peter waved back as he walked to the first set of steps to head up
to the double doors at the entrance.

A sinister
smile came across Helen’s face, and she hastily pushed the button
to roll down the electric window. “Peter,” she shouted. The boy
turned. “Don’t I get a kiss today?” she said. “I usually get one
before we leave the house. You must have forgotten
today.”

Peter’s
mouth fell open. He
couldn’t believe she had done it.
Just wait
, he thought to
himself.
Just you
wait.

“
You are too
bad, Helen,” she said to herself as she drove off.

As he cleared
the last step and came upon his friends, Peter could see they were
trying not to laugh, though he knew they really wanted too, and he
appreciated their attempt to hide it.

“
So
that was a little
embarrassing,” said Cartman. They gave him that nickname because
every time anyone mentioned his being overweight, he would dismiss
it by saying, “I’m just big boned,” which always brought a ring of
laughter. His real name was Keith Connor. His forehead looked too
tall for his round face and rosy cheeks. He wore a navy hoody with
a white skull; black short pants, and grey and black track
shoes.