Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon (17 page)

“Well this has been easier than expected” Bethany said with a grin as they walked casually past palace inhabitants, who were completely oblivious to the strangers in their midst.

Lloyd acknowledged her with a smile, it would certainly be good not to slaughter anymore innocents today. A sudden tug at the top of his nose alerted him to magic use nearby, “You feel that?” he asked Bethany. She nodded and pointed towards the nearest door into the main palace building. This was the official entrance for the palace and again there was a frenzy of activity. A dragon’s roar sounded from above and they looked up in time to see Maria looping high into the air, smoke swirling in her wake.

Inside the door was a grand reception area, decorated with tapestries depicting the early history of the Empire. On either side of the room, were two large passages feeding into the front wings of the building. A young palace servant suddenly came running from the left hand passage “Monsters…Monsters have the Emperor!” he shouted to anyone who would listen.

“Let’s move!” Lloyd said, sprinting into the passage, quickly followed by the others. He reached the door at the end of the passage and skidded to a halt; he was shocked by the scene of chaos in the room beyond. At first he and the others, who now joined him in the door frame, could not take their eyes off the strange creature, with a black soul portal, bearing down on two combatants; both of whom were throwing spell after spell and bits of furniture at the creature. The combined flurry of fire and air magic, other than causing a trickle of blood from Lloyd and Bethany’s noses, proved futile; no matter what was cast, each spell was sucked into the portal, like light into a black hole.

Lloyd’s heart tightened when he finally focussed his eyes on Edala, her pretty face a picture of grim determination. He studied the portal again and wondered whether it would be possible to close it.

“You two keep the creature busy, I’m going to try and use the portal closing spell on its soul portal.”

Bethany and Allen nodded, the redhead started with a variety of offensive spells and Allen pulled out his sword Redflame and began shouting “Allen, Allen, Allen” over and over again; launching fireballs and lightning bolts at the creature. As with Edala and Justina’s spells, these too proved pointless and were consumed within the void. It did, however, serve to distract the creature from its prey, and turn towards them, revealing a small malevolent looking midget clinging for protection against one of its legs.

Lloyd did not hesitate any further and he tried the spell he had used to seal the earth mage Mal’s portal, back on that terrible day on the Isle of Retreat.

“Quadraplanus, Primuspower, wizard’s portal, portal close.”

Four streams of elemental energy leapt towards the creature’s portal, and began to spin around it, in an effort to bind it in a weave. For a second, the portal contracted within the weave of power, and Lloyd started to feel jubilation. His expectant smile soon turned to a grimace, however, when the streams vanished within the portal, with a flash of energy, which also then became absorbed.

In some way the black hole did remind him of a Daemon Portal, there even seemed to be a slight rotation visible when something was absorbed. Lloyd decided to try the more powerful spell that he had used to close the Daemon Portal back in Seadawn.

“Quadraplanus, Primuspower, seal the void with sorcerous power, stitch it thrice to be so sure and seal the gate and Daemen door!”

Renewed power flowed from his four portals encircling and criss-crossing the black sphere. Finally Lloyd concentrated and tightened the threads; the portal began to shrink but then started to grow again.

Lloyd poured more and more energy into the task;  he was now fully absorbed by the intoxication of the sorcerous power at his command, and did not see that his air portal, which was already much drained due to the translocations over the last few days, was dangerously close to snapping point. His friends also, too focussed on their own attacks, did not see the danger either. Thankfully, the tide had turned in Lloyd’s favour; the black portal suddenly shrank to half its size, but before it could be snapped shut, the creature reached down with its arms to pick up the midget and both vanished in a puff of darkness.

Lloyd collapsed to his knees, blood streaming from his nose, but his look was one of triumph. He could not now take his eyes off of Edala’s; the Dragon-Girl was rising to her feet, wiping her own blood from beneath her nose, her eyes did not move from Lloyd’s as she slowly walked through the destruction towards him; not even to acknowledge Bethany who was moving to help Justina up from the floor.  

She finally sank to her knees in front of him, he could not fathom the emotion in her face, only that there was emotion there...and intent. He swallowed nervously and attempted a disarming smile “Boy, are you a site for sore eyes” he said.

Edala studied his face silently for several seconds “You don’t look too great yourself... what the hell is this?” she said gripping his beard roughly; he could still not detect either joy or anger in her voice.

“I swore I would not shave it until I found you” he replied cautiously.

“You’ve taken your time to get here!” this time he could detect an edge of anger.

“Edala, listen, the beach, it wasn’t me...it was your dragon fear. I love you!” he said desperately. Her anger still flared “Lloyd Brook, I have been here in Kon for weeks, if you loved me as much as you say, you should have been here within a few days’ not bloody weeks and weeks!”

“You don’t understand my love…I have been very busy…”

“BUSY!” she interrupted.

“It’s Boadaiska, she’s alive!” Finally, he had said something that cut through her anger.

“Alive?” she said softly, her eyes filling with tears, “How?”

“It’s a long story; but basically Beth and I worked out how to save her”

“It’s true Edala” Bethany said as she moved alongside her two friends.

The Dragon-Girl looked up at the redhead with an affectionate smile, this stayed on her face when she returned her eyes to Lloyd.

He went to say something but her finger quickly silenced his lips; she then lent in and kissed him gently on the lips, cupping his chin in her hands.

“I thought you hated me!” she said, once their lips separated, her eyes filled with tears.

“Never” he said standing, while also pulling Edala to her feet. He then lifted her chin with his right hand and kissed her again more firmly. She smiled as they separated “This has got to go” she said tugging his beard again.

“You two will need to get a room!” a gruffer female voice said from behind Edala and Lloyd studied Justina for the first time.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE AND WHERE ARE MY GUARDS?” a frightened voice came from beside one of the doors. They all turned to see the trembling form of Emperor Celeon. It was Allen who responded first and he walked over to help the tall man to his feet.

“I am Allen son of Frank; the Kalanan Ambassador from Seaguard, that is Prince Cullen of Kalana, Bethany air mage from the Isle of Retreat and Edala Daughter of Ingemar and this lady here is?” he said, gesturing to Justina.

“I’m the lady who will stick a finger so far up your arse your farts will sound like whistles, if you give me and my sisters any trouble!” Both the Emperor’s and Allen’s faces paled slightly and they both stepped back from the short woman with mousey hair and sharp brown eyes.

Lloyd walked past Justina and carefully took the Emperors hand.

“If you have not heard yet, I am the Sorcerer and it is sorcery which has saved your life today...please remember that, should you discover bad stories about me.”

Again it was Justina who replied, the Emperor too overwhelmed by events to say anymore.

“So you are her Sorcerer boy! She never said what a right scruffy bastard you are!” she did however say this with a fond wink. “Now let's collect what we came for and go!”

She walked across to the couch to retrieve the trembling Themisia. Lloyd, Bethany and Allen had not even noticed the distinctive looking girl, or her dead sister lying on the floor. But Lloyd recognised them immediately as the ebony Daemen half breeds he had seen lying dead on the floor of the throne room in Seadawn.  

“You know she’s a Daemon?” He said to Justina and Edala.

“Yes, at least in part, but she is also a relative of ours” Edala replied.

“Our father likes to get around a bit” Justina added.

The six of them then left the lounge by the door through which Lloyd and the others had arrived, leaving the trembling and confused form of the Emperor alone with the body of his betrothed; a betrothed he had absolutely no memory of.

It had been hours since Mordja had vanished and it was only in the last few minutes that Darrion had recovered any feeling in his limbs and also his ability to speak.

He had been moved to a makeshift infirmary, in the atrium leading to the dining area, and was currently lying on a mattress, along with many others who had been incapacitated by the clash between his spell and the staff of Arren.

He tried to sit up, and with some effort managed to at least lift his head and upper body up, by resting on his elbow.

“Well friend Darrion, I was not expecting to meet up with you again in such circumstances” a familiar voice said. Darrion directed his attention two beds to his left, where Kenelm was helping an apprentice to drink some water.

“I’ve messed up again my friend” he replied.

“I would like to hear the story” Brother Kenneth asked from the other side of the covered area where he too was attending the injured.

“As would I!” “Master Rhodalie added, the tall master, with mousey hair in a ponytail, was the closest to Darrion and she walked over and then crouched to let him have a sip of water. Her sharp blue intelligent eyes, seemed to bore into him.

“Master Darrion, it’s a pleasure to meet you again” she said, but there was no hint of a smile on her face, just a businesslike manner.

Darrion immediately detected the wolf clan accent and scanned her face carefully for recognition.

“I’m sorry, but I am not aware we have ever met?”

This time there was a touch of a smile when she replied “I doubt if you will remember me; I was just a teenager when you came to battle Beith for the hand of the Princess Boadaiska. It was when you used magic, in that battle, that I had a nosebleed and knew then that I could become a mage.”

“That must have been hard for you; the clan do not normally relinquish their children to the schools” he replied.

“They did not relinquish me; I had to run and have never returned.”

“And she is, as of today, the High Master within this school” Brother Kenneth said, as he moved alongside the kneeling earth mage, “Now tell us; what happened here Master Darrion?”

Darrion had not been aware, that Arrenloft School had adopted a High Master approach, as used on the Isle of Retreat, and wondered when this had developed. However, he was not in a position to question, and just sighed laying his head back down on the mattress.

“I have travelled to Arrenloft to give the monks and masters here, my notes concerning symbols, I have seen, on a strange set of stones on another world” he said handing Kenneth his notebook. The older monk quickly leafed through the pages.

“The world that the Sorcerer Prince Cullen grew up on?” he asked. Darrion threw Kenelm an inquisitive glance, the monk shrugged his shoulders admitting his guilt, “I had to tell them everything friend Darrion, they know of Lloyd and his heritage and of everything that happened, from stealing the forbidden tomes from under Hextar’s nose, to the events on the Isle of Retreat and the final battle with Hextar and his Daemen!”

“Everything? What of Ingemar’s part?” Darrion asked, curious as to whether Edala’s identity would be exposed. The monk shrugged apologetically again, “My friend I do not see the need for secrets now, most of those on the Isle know that Edala is Ingemar’s daughter”

Kenneth finished looking through the notebook and placed it in a pocket in his robe, for later investigation. It was the new high master who spoke next.

“But back to now, Master Darrion, please tell us what happened when you arrived?” Master Rhodalie asked.

Darrion nodded and continued; “I had translocated to the bathing caverns and was surprised by how quiet the school was. Luckily, that worked in my favour, and I was able to hear Brother Justin in conversation with four masters, one from each school. I knew immediately that something was amiss; which I confirmed by viewing the dining area with my soul vision. Brother Justin and the four mages were Daemon possessed, and he was using the staff of Arren to somehow mesmerize the others in the room who were not Daemon possessed”. He then remembered the distorted Daemon portal and his eyes bulged in urgency “Please tell me you have discovered the Daemon portal?”

Master Rhodalie nodded, “We have two air and two fire initiates guarding it now. A creature did try to tear its way through; but it was incinerated before its body could emerge.”

“Tell us, what happened to Justin and the four masters, and all of those recovering here?” Brother Kenneth directed. Darrion sighed again, and began to question whether his decision to strike hard against the five, with no regard for the innocent souls within, had been the correct one.

“Back when Lloyd Brook...Prince Cullen, opened fully the Daemon portal at Seadawn, he did so under threat of his friends and loved one’s lives. If he had forsaken our lives... the lives of just a few…many thousands of innocent people, including children, would not have suffered possession, torture, and even being eaten by the foul creatures. The Daemen horde also then grew with much more haste” he paused and was glad to see some reflection of the horror mirrored in their faces.

“Killing Daemen is not easy; a weaker spell could possibly have disabled the hosts, but the Daemen would then have just left their hosts to find others, possibly myself. So I decided, with the element of surprise, to try an air spell from the forbidden tomes; one that was so destructive that it would fry them, both human and Daemen, where they stood. Unfortunately, I did not realise that the staff of Arren would act like a ground; attracting the energy and feeding back to all in the room, before it too was overwhelmed by the power and exploded”

Master Rhodalie stood up from the air mage and blew out a breath in astonishment at what she had heard.

“So you freely admit to murdering five people and causing the range of injuries to our friends here?”

Darrion nodded at the High Master.

“And to using a forbidden spell?” Brother Kenneth asked.

Darrion sighed and nodded at the Brother.

“Friend Kenneth...Brother, and High Master Rhodalie, please do not be too hasty to judge Master Darrion. The things...no…the horrors I have witnessed, where Daemen are concerned, will weigh heavily in favour of destroying them when deciding whether they live or die.” Kenelm said, causing the High Master and Brother Kenneth, to look at each other inquisitively.

“I must admit Brother, that I have no idea what to suggest here” Rhodalie said “but we should at least consider calling a
Synedrion.”

Brother Kenneth considered this, “There has not been a sitting together of the school to decide the fate of a mage, for centuries. But if one is to be called, then it is for you and me to discuss in private.”

“Before you hang draw and quarter me, I would suggest we deal with the Daemon Portal” Darrion pointed out looking in the direction of the dining area.

“How would you suggest we do that Friend Darrion, it was, after all, a Sorcerer spell that Lloyd used to close the one in Seadawn?” Kenelm queried.

“Lloyd and Bethany have been experimenting with magic a lot, since Amy and I last left you on the island. They have even been merging their soul portals; and I wonder, if a mage from each school were to do this, whether it would be possible for them to cast the Sorcerer spell to close a Daemon Portal?”

“Merging portals? This is heresy!” Brother Kenneth protested. A few other monks in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

“Brother, friend, remember our conversation in the tent? The world has moved on, leaving the monks and mages in this school behind...we can no longer base our beliefs on a doctrine of fear!  The genie flew out of the bottle centuries ago, when the Daemon summoning spells were first discovered. There’s no point trying to put the cork back in now!” Kenelm protested again in Darrion’s defence.

Rhodalie and  Kenneth again locked eyes, in a silent conversation, before the tall master turned back to Darrion “Ok show us how to close the portal.”