The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (39 page)

“
Bloody cold
out there,” he said. But when he saw that his three friends were
the only ones in the room, he immediately grabbed the nearest chair
and sat at their table. “So what’s going on so far?” asked the
farmer, sounding just as excited as Braten.

“
Nothing
yet,” Peter informed him. “We’ve just recruited a new soldier into
our cause.”

“
I heard that
just before I reached the door.”

“Sorry,” said Braten, feeling foolish.

“
The
re’s nothing to be sorry for,
my boy. After all, there’s no harm done; no one heard. They’re too
busy getting everything ready for those things,” said
Jert.

“
Good,” said
Euol. “Now what were you saying before Jert came in,
Drago?”

“
Start from
the beginning. I don’t want to miss anything,” added the
farmer.

“
Right. As I
said, I don’t think it would be fair to make you expose who you all
are to your friends. It would destroy the lives that you’ve all
built here,” said Peter sincerely. “So I think that because I’m not
so well known, I should be the one to face the Lores when they
come.”

The mouths of
the others fell open at this suggestion.

“
No, you
shouldn’t have to fight them alone,” said Euol firmly.

“
I can handle
myself. And besides, if I get into trouble, the three of you will
be there to help. I just think that’s the best way of doing this.
It means that if all goes well then you’ll live in peace and the
town’s people will be none the wiser. So what do you
say?”

“
I’ll have to
think it over,” said the innkeeper.

“
The
boy’s right. If anything goes
wrong, we’ll be there to help,” said the farmer.

“
I just don’t
like the idea of letting you go it alone,” said Euol. “It means
that I’ll have to miss out on all the fun while you get to play
around.”

Peter
laughed. “And we can’t have that now, can we,” he said. “Don’t
worry Euol. I think there’ll be plenty for you all to do. After
all, I’ll have a whole town against me. Like you, I don’t think I
can fight these people. So I might need a little help. But promise
that you won’t do anything to blow your cover, and that’s not a
request,” said Peter, unaware that had just given his first
official order.

“
If that’s
your order, my lord, then I promise,” said the
innkeeper.

“I promise,” said Jert.

“I promise too,” added Braten.

Peter said nothing.

“
You never
know. They might just let you go,” said Braten.

“
Somehow I
don’t think that’ll be the case. Normals are all the same. They all
fear, hate and destroy what they don’t understand,” said
Euol.

“
I think that
can be said for most people,” added Peter. “So it’s settled. I face
them, and if anything goes wrong, you help, but only if it’s
needed,” said the King.

“Fine,” said the Tavern owner, clearly still
unconvinced that it was the right course of action.

“I agree,” said Jert.

“
Okay,” said
Braten, disappointed that he might not get use magic. But then it
occurred to the boy that even if the occasion did arise, he didn’t
have a wand anyway. He leaned closer to his father. “Dad, I don’t
have a wand.”

Peter had
heard the boy whispering, and before Euol could reply, he said.
“I’ve got a spare wand in my trunk upstairs. It was my dad’s, but
you can borrow it until you get your own, if you want.”

“
The
King’s wand,” said Braten,
totally gob-smacked.

Peter
shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want it -”

“
Are
you kidding? O
f course I want
it.”

“
Fine,” said
the young King. He held out his hand palm up, thought of the wand.
There was a blue flash of light, and the wand was lying flat on the
palm of his hand. “There you go. One wand as ordered. That’ll be
five Hiwwerts, please.”

“
Very funny,”
said the innkeeper’s son as Peter handed the wand over, though
Braten was truly impressed by what his friend had just
done.

“
I think we’d
better go. By the time we get to the others, they’ll probably be
finished setting the food and drink out,” said the
innkeeper.

Peter and the three Wizards shut the pub and
headed to the town square.

“
So you’ve
decided to join us cowards, have you, husband?” said Kireth
scornfully.

“
You know I
wouldn’t let you near those things alone,” said Euol. “Besides,
something’s going on, and I want to see what it is.”

“
That’s fine,
just don’t do anything stupid, please,” his wife
pleaded.

“
I do
something stupid
never. You know that I’d
never do anything stupid,” said the innkeeper.

“
Don’t do
anything dumb then,” the woman added

Euol said nothing; he stuck out the tip of
his tongue instead.

“
MY CART! MY
CART IS STUCK IN THE MUD!” shouted a stout man whom the friends
recognized as Deril Jint, who played the flute at the tavern in the
evenings.

Euol, Jert,
Braten, and Peter among others ran to help him, for he was right on
the path that the Lores would certainly use.

“
Don’t you
think we should empty it first?” asked one of the
helpers.

“
No,” said
another. “They’ll be here soon. We’ll just have to try and lift it
as is.”

“
Drago, it
would be better if you don’t help. Just make it look as though you
are. You’ll need all your strength for later,” said
Euol.

“Okay,” said Peter as they all grabbed a part
of the wooden farm cart.

They managed
to lift it a little, but not enough to free it.

“
Come on,
lad, put your back into it,” said the man to Peter’s
right.

Peter turned to Euol.

“Just a little,” whispered the Wizard.

Peter pushed
the cart up easily, but he had to make it look as if he were
struggling like the rest. He lifted it a little just as the
innkeeper had said. However, when they were moving it, Peter didn’t
see a rock in front of his foot, and his foot hit it. He stumbled.
His arms flew up, accidentally throwing the cart into the
air.

As this
happened Peter whispered the words, “Oh crap,” which was quite
normal for him.

Euol,
however, covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head. He was
afraid to look, though couldn’t help it. He looked up, and he, like
all the others, couldn’t believe his eyes. After a short but stable
flight, the cart landed on the small building that was the Town
Hall, smashing down on the clock tower, which had never before
stopped ticking since its construction. And the Town Hall just
happened to be the first building built.

Peter was too
busy ranting and raving to notice or even to care about the clock
tower. “That Bloody Cart, damn rock, and mud,” he raged.

As the cart
took off, he fell flat on his face down in the muck, and again his
whole front was covered in it.

Peter
suddenly realized that all eyes were on him. “Wow, it’s amazing how
light they make those things nowadays,” he said, not realizing that
his blue Dragon eyes were blazing out at the crowd.

It was only
when some of the women screamed at the sight, the men yelled, and
those who weren’t too afraid to do so pointed at the boy in pure
astonishment. It was clear to all there that he was anything but
ordinary. They all took a few steps back, but not the three Wizards
and the two wives.

Peter gave
them a low backhand wave, and they quickly followed the rest, but
Euol, Jert, and young Braten had their wands close at hand, waiting
and ready for anything that might occur.

Just then,
the bell in the lookout tower rang out. “THEY’RE COMING! THEY’RE
COMING!” yelled the guards.

Peter turned
to the south gates, and with his remarkable eyes, zoomed in on the
five figures moving very quickly down the dirt path. Three of them
were wearing helmets. Each had a small skull perched just above
their visors and long thick human hair of all different varieties
sticking out from the top. Their breastplates were pure black, as
was the rest of their armor, and the blades of their swords were
dull and stained with blood.

Peter walked closer to the gates and waited
for them to arrive.

They stared
straight at the Draga-Wizard-Elf.

“You dare stand out of line,” growled the
biggest one, who Peter thought was probably the leader.

“
I’m the
welcoming party,” said the boy arrogantly.

“Get in line,” barked the beast.

“
Why? What
are you planning to do?”

“
I SAID, GET
BACK IN LINE NOW!” the creature bellowed furiously.

“
Fine, fine,
don’t get your pants in a twist. I’m going.” Peter walked toward
his friends and got in line with them.

“
Now I’m sure
you’re all wondering what’s going on,” said the Ledgite. “The truth
is that we need more.”

“
More,” said
one man. “How can you ask for more when we’ve given you all we can
spare.”

“
If that’s
true, there is another way,” said the Lore as his companions
laughed. “If you really can’t give any more, we’ll just have to
take one of you.”

Gasps and cries could be heard as the
creature smiled with delight.

“
You adults
have nothing to worry about. We’re only interested in the more
tender. The children should satisfy or people.”

Louder cries
now, and some cursed them, and others spit at their
feet.

“
How
about your cute child?
” the creature said
to the man who had addressed him earlier.

“
No,” cried
the man reaching for his daughter. He was too late. One of the
Lores had grabbed her.

“Let her go,” said Peter stepping out of line
again.

“
I’ve already
warned you, boy, get back in line, or we’ll take you too,” said the
large Ledgite.

“
Now let me
warn you,” said Peter. “Leave before I kill you all.”

The five
disgusting things laughed at the thought of this (what they
thought) mere boy threatening them. “How dare you?” said the
biggest. “When will your kind learn their place? People like you
are just cattle. Now take your place in line, or you know what’ll
happen.”

“
Oh, no. Oh,
dear. Whatever am I going to do?” said Peter. “To think I almost
forgot about your two hundred imaginary friends,” he
laughed.

The large
Lore lifted its sword an inch just before an energy ball blew its
head clear off its shoulders. The one with the girl quickly put a
knife to her throat.

“
Don’t move,
Wizard, or I’ll cut her,” he screeched.

Some of the
townspeople were crying, and others were saying how they were all
going to die, when the other creatures came forward. Peter raised
his hand. The knife was consumed by a burst of blue light and
vanished. A split second later, there was another flash of blue
light, and the knife appeared in Peter’s hand. He threw the knife
into the ground, blade first. Then he jumped on the beast, grabbed
each side of its head and snapped its neck. One of the other
creatures ran up behind Peter with its sword drawn. Just as he
turned to face it, an arrow struck it down. Almost everyone looked
up at the bell tower where the shaft was shot from and saw one of
the guards waving his bow to and fro victoriously.

Peter, on the
other hand, did not have time to look up, for as soon as that Lore
fell dead, one of its last two friends shot an arrow at him. He hit
the dirt, and when he ducked, it flew past him. Unfortunately, it
struck the poor hostage girl in the chest. An arrow and an energy
ball soon took care of the last of those dirty creatures, and Peter
turned to see what all the shouting and screaming was about. At
first he just thought that they were worried that the stories the
Lores put round about reinforcements were true. But when he looked,
a crowd had gathered around someone, or something, and Peter had to
push his way through them to see what it was. A terrible feeling
struck him, and he was truly worried that his actions had caused
it.

When the boy
finally found the center of the mass, he saw the girl dying in the
mud. Her parents were kneeling at her side as she lay on the ground
struggling to breathe. Peter knelt down beside her and took her
right hand. However, this would be short-lived.

“
I’m so sorry
this happened. I tried everything I could to -”

“
HOW DARE
YOU!” screamed the girl’s mother. “YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN MAKE UP
FOR THIS BY TRYING TO COMFORT US? ALL THIS IS YOUR FAULT! MY MOTHER
ALWAYS SAID THAT WHEREVER THERE’S A WIZARD, DEATH IS NOT FAR OFF!
PLEASE, JUST LEAVE US ALONE!” she cried.

A shadow came
over Peter, and when he looked, he saw a tall, beefy man. The King
knew him from the tavern, and they talked on a daily basis and had
become good friends in the short time that the boy had been in the
town. The man’s name was Jaroe, and he was the sheriff in that
small community.