The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (32 page)

“
I remember
you,” Peter said to the assassin. “I know your name,” he
said.

“
Pray
tell.”

“
Ulicoth.
Ulicoth is your name.”

Ulicoth
clapped his fake hands as
hard as possible. “Very good memory you have, my young friend. I’m
impressed.”

Peter wasted
no time; he attacked first, sending two spells and four energy
balls rocketing at his enemy. But Ulicoth’s new body had been built
for this in mind, and he jumped, dodged, and weaved his way past
them, and a hand-to-hand fight was soon in full swing.

Ulicoth
’s reason for not showing
in person was because he did not know how powerful Peter had
become, so he thought that this test might prove fruitful. For if
he got his way and Peter was to die, great. If Peter were to win,
he would still have the advantage of knowing his strength, speed,
agility and most importantly, how powerful this supposed savior
really was.

Like the
first assassin that attacked Peter, the appearance of this one
changed. Its hair shortened until it had all retracted into its
scalp. Its legs became longer and thinner, as did its arms, body,
and hands. Its fingers and thumbs also grew longer, but only by
sharp bone, which sickeningly cut though the thin skin.

As Peter
watched the creature
’s transformation, he
hadn’t noticed that he too had changed. Now it was Ulicoth who was
completely surprised by Peter’s new appearance. Peter’s hair was
again mostly blonde with small streaks of it dark brown. His brown
eyes changed to green and then to blue, which stretched out and
covered the very whites of his eyes. The pupils of his eyes were
black vertical slits, and he had claws sticking out of the tops of
his fingers and thumbs and fangs in his mouth. His ears had grown
pointed again, though now with three notches out of his earlobes.
There were now also two long golden horns curved out at either side
of his forehead. Yet the most shocking thing was the appearance of
a silver and black scaled tail that was swishing to-and-fro. Then
there was the pure power that he unleashed that almost knocked his
enemy clean off his feet.

Ulicoth
was still avoiding spell
after trying to get close enough to release has own strike. While
part of Ulicoth’s soul inhibited that body, he could not use magic
powerful enough to be a match for the young Draga-Wizard-Elf. That
body was not intended to be used for that purpose. It could only
fight as the assassin that came before. However, as before, this
assassin could not be destroyed except by a curtain spell that only
the creator of the body would know. That would not stop Peter from
trying to kill the thing.

Ulicoth
finally got what he
wanted. He worked his way past the energy balls and spells. Then he
attacked with his long sharp fingers, but he was to slow. Peter
dodged the swipe and jumped up to kick him in the face with his
right foot. Ulicoth, who had seen him, anticipated this and was
ready for it and caught the boy’s leg with ease. Before the monster
could do anything, Peter’s tail whipped round and sliced deep into
the right side of the assassin’s face. A second later, it was in
its chest.

Peter was
released immediately. Just before he landed on his feet, he spun
round and threw an energy ball, which hit the creature on the left
side of the head. The blow blew that whole side of its head away,
and the assassin flopped onto the road like a boneless
fish.

Peter also
fell, for the blast of the energy ball threw him off his feet. He
was lying at the back of the black sports car, and he did not care
where he was as long as the thing was dead. It was then he noticed
something dripping from the back of the car. It took a second or
two to sink in before Peter realized that it was blood. He got to
his feet and hoped he was wrong, even thought that he should leave
it until the police arrived. However, he heard no sirens and saw no
flashing lights. He looked to see where Helen was, but there was no
sign of her.

Peter stood
wondering whether to open the boot of the car and see for himself.
After a short time, his curiosity got the better of him.
After all, if there is someone in
there they might be hurt or worse,
he
told himself. So he opened the door of the back compartment as
slowly as he could, still hoping that it was not what he thought it
was.

At first
glance
, Peter had no idea what it was,
but he soon realized it had once been human, and that without a
doubt it was certainly dead. It was a body for sure, or at least it
would have been before Mr. Slice and Dice had gotten to it. He
stepped backward, but his heel dragged and he stumbled and fell
again, only this time he felt physically sick from the sight of
mangled, blood drenched corpse. He rolled over and heaved most of
the contents of his stomach on the road three times in a row. And
as he picked himself up he saw the assassin standing, its head
quickly healing.

“
What’s wrong
child? Can’t you stand a little art?” laughed Ulicoth.

“
That was a
person you mutilated, whoever it was, and you call it art? I
thought you were mad before, now I know you’re nuts,” said
Peter.

The fight was
resumed with Ulicoth moving fast as lightening and grabbing Peter
and slamming his head into a lamppost and throwing him further down
the road. The young future King jumped to his feet and made his way
back. He did not have to go far, as Ulicoth, not wanting to waste
any time, ran toward him. As Peter ran, the horrors that he had
seen in the back of the black car flashed through his mind once
more. No matter what else he thought of in those seconds, he
couldn’t shake those terrible images.

“
What the
heck is that thing?” he asked himself. “What the hell am
I?”

In truth,
Peter did not know who he was more afraid of, this thing that
attacked him and his mother or the thing that he himself had
become. One thing was clear to him, these questions would have to
wait, for he would have to get rid of whatever that thing was, or
he might end up like that poor person in the boot of its
car.

“
I’ll have to
kill it. But how?” he asked himself. But it was too late to answer
this new question; Ulicoth was upon him.

They met
halfway; Peter jumped onto the assassin, pushed his feet against
its chest and quickly curled his left hand around its throat. It
crashed to the ground and him with it. As he sat on top of the
creature in the middle of the road, Peter held on as tightly as
possible. When the creature’s head hit the ground it split open.
Blue blood gushed from it, and Peter balled up his free hand into a
fist and started to pummel its face over and over again.

“
DIE! DIE!”
the boy yelled as the awful mental pictures of the mutilated body
leaped back into his head.

The
assassin’s face, not to mention Peter’s fist, were completely
covered in the thick, blue blood.

Ulicoth
did the only thing he
could do and slashed his long sharp fingers across Peter’s stomach.
The boy jumped back high into the air, did a flip and landed on his
feet with such a force that the ground cracked with his landing. He
saw the mess that was the assassin trying to crawl away, and
already it had begun to heal, but he was not going to give it the
chance.

“
I think it’s
ready for another ass-kicking,” he thought as he moved to catch it.
However, the sparkling white light that had whisked Helen away had
come back and brought five other people with it. Four of them wore
the uniforms of the Ves-guards, and the fifth was none other than
the Grand Wizard, Jaucal. Jaucal stepped to Peter and gently
touched the boy’s shoulder from behind in a bid to stop him. In
pure reflex, Peter, who had no idea who or what had grabbed, took
hold of the Grand Wizard’s hand and twisted his wrist.

“
Please, you
wouldn’t hurt an old man would you?”

“
That
depends. Are you an old man, or are you and your friends
reinforcements for that thing over there?”

The
Ves-guards, who clearly were not ready for Peter’s retraction,
lifted their wands in retaliation and complete
confusion.

Peter
tightened his grip. The Grand Wizard flinched.

“
Do not point
your wands at King Drago, unless you wish to be lying on the ground
next to that creature. Put them away quickly,” said the old Wizard.
“I assure you, we’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help you
Peter.”

Peter
loosened his grip a little at the mention of his name, but still
held on tightly enough. “Who are you?”

“
Your mother,
Helen, called us here to help you, King Drago,” said
Jaucal.

“
King Drago,”
Peter repeated to himself. He remembered that the old man had
called him that before, and the assassin called him Drago, King.
“But what does it mean? What does any of this mean,” he said. Peter
let the Wizard go; he was not really sure why he trusted them,
though he did recognize the uniforms of the Ves-guards. Peter did
as the Grand Wizard asked and waited with the others while the old
Wizard went to see to Ulicoth, who by now was on his feet
again.

“
I told you
before that you aren’t welcome here. It seems you didn’t get the
message,” said the old Wizard, “I’m sure the beating the boy gave
you today might knock some sense into you.”

“
I’ve had
enough of you old man. Now get the hell out of my way,” said
Ulicoth as he started toward Peter.

Peter braced
himself, and the Ves-guards lifted their wands, though it was
Jaucal who stopped the creature with a blow to the ribs with his
staff. He advanced on the assassin, hitting its arms away as its
hands swung at him. He ducked as the second attack came, spun on
his heels, threw up the middle of the scepter and yelled words in
the Wizard language at the top of his voice.

“
DEM TUR UIEK ET CALMULGER OLERK COMLER TRU JUNTE ET UER
FITECOR HAET NILO UER FITCOHL HAET GVAKLA
!”

Translated it
means:

Feel the light of Calmulger creep into the joints of
your
bones and slow your limbs
and heart.

At those
words Ulicoth, felt the limbs of the body getting heavy as he
moved, though he did his best not to show it.

“
You old
fool, your pitiful light can’t penetrate this body’s skin,” he
said.

“
We will see
about that.” the Wizard continued to hit the creature wherever he
could see an opening in its defenses until finally as the light at
the top of the staff grew brighter. He held it aloft for a moment
and spun it round. The creature advanced, and the Wizard brought
the scepter down with his hands spread out along it. He suddenly
brought the middle of the staff up to impact the assassin’s chin
and shoved the illuminated end into the creature’s
chest.

The assassin
stood for a second and then cried out in pain. The light could be
seen shining out of its eyes and mouth as it squealed. Then it
leaned forward and fell on its face.

Jaucal used the bottom end of the staff to
roll the broken body over onto its back.

“
The
Druidess, Hatyue, was
captured by the Ves-guards at the border to our lands; you will
never create a monster like this again.”

The creature
laughed. “I will always be able to do whatever suits me. The
capture of the priestess means nothing to me. Besides, if memory
serves, I believe you said those words once before.”

“
Who was that
in the car?” Peter asked the fallen assassin suddenly, as he joined
the Grand Wizard.

Ulicoth
laughed louder still.
“Some boy I modeled the creature’s appearance on.”

“
But, what
was his name,” demanded Peter.

“
Ask your ex.
Ask her if she still thinks she loves him,” said the
assassin.

“
A spell to
destroy your relationship with the girl, that’s why she left you,”
Jaucal said to Peter.

Peter gave the Wizard a look of true
astonishment.

“
It’s a pity
that I didn’t get the chance to torture her the way I did him,”
said Ulicoth.

Peter lifted
his right foot, stomped down and crushed the assassin’s head with
sheer force. He continued to thump the thing with his foot until it
was nothing but a pile of salt. He then looked at Jaucal and didn’t
know which of the many questions that were buzzing round his head
to ask first. The old Wizard saved him the trouble by saying. “I
will explain all to you soon enough. All that I ask of you is that
you keep an open mind. Okay?”

“
Fine.”

“
Good. Now if
you don’t mind we walk back to your house. I think a walk would do
us both good.”

“Fine,” repeated Peter, as though stuck in a
loop with the same puzzled look on his face.

“
I would like
two of you to remain here for now,” Jaucal said to the Ves-guards.
“I would like to report to my deputy at the queen’s house and then
send for reinforcements, for we have to be sure that no Normal has
seen what has transpired here. I’m sure you know what to do if you
find any witnesses.