The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (11 page)

Everyone had
fallen for her deception, all except for Delsani, who was trying to
use magic to stop the imaginary creatures, for he knew it was
nothing more than a fancy trick. He lost sight of the Wizard-Elf
and was no longer trying to stop the fighting. Now he was trying to
stop Kilamen. His only hope was that Demala was holding her
back.

The imaginary
creatures vanished, and Delsani could now see Demala lying with a
dagger in his chest. Beside him was the body of the young Wicca,
Molnet, both on the blood-soaked ground of that once beautiful and
peaceful land.

Kilamen however, was nowhere to be seen.

“
We’ve
failed,” said Avelan.

“
Perhaps
not,” said Delsani. “We may have stalled her long enough for John
to do his part.”

“
I hope
that’s the case,” said the Elf.

Delsani
turned to Demala who was still on the ground. He bent down and as
gently as he could, he took the dagger from the Wolf’s chest.
Delsani had heard most of what he and Kilamen were talking about
and he knew that Demala had done all that he could to stop the
Wizard-Elf from escaping.

Saren was
with Molnet. She was sitting on the ground with her niece’s head in
her arms rocking to and fro. Henkot was at her side with his hand
on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, child,” said Saren. “I should be the
one lying here and you should be at home with all of your friends
playing games and having fun like someone your age should.” She
broke into tears, and Henkot put his arms around her. “I tried to
help,” she said, “but every spell I tried bounced off
her.”

“
A deflection
spell,” said Delsani.

“
She was gone
by that time. And I didn’t see or hear her use any spell,” said
Saren.

“
That is
because she changed Molnet’s spell and used it against her,” said
Delsani.

“
When she
pushed the spell into Molnet, she changed it into a deflection
spell,” said Henkot.

“
Yes,”
Delsani said.

“
We can’t
leave her here alone,” said Saren.

“
We won’t
leave her here,” said Henkot. “You should go on and join the
others. The four of us will stay and look after the most seriously
wounded,” the Warlock said to the old Wizard.

Delsani
nodded. “Yes I think that would be for the best.” He called for
those who were able to fight to follow him.

“
Be careful,
for the curse is still in your body making you weak. I merely
stopped it from spreading. It will take years to recover fully,”
Henkot said to Delsani.

“
I WILL
BE CAREFUL, THANK YOU!”
Delsani shouted
back as they headed towards their companions to fight what was left
of the battle of Kealhal.

Kilamen had
not Phazed into the room occupied by John and Ulicoth, but the hall
next to it.

She walked to
the room door, which was open, just a crack. She could see John
standing with an energy ball in his right hand. She touched the
door with the tip of her right index finger and a slight glow came
over it. The flow began to move along the wood of the door and went
straight into the hinges. She then opened the door a little more.
Her spell had worked; the door hinges did not creak, and she could
now see Ulicoth lying motionless face down on the floor. John was
still standing beside the Dark Wizard-Elf and now looked ready to
throw the energy ball to finally destroy the evil tyrant who had
threatened their world for so long.

Kilamen however, had now entered the room;
she had begun to sneak up on her enemy. As she walked, she was
ready to throw an energy ball at just the right moment.

John raised his hand a little higher.

Now
, thought Kilamen, and she
threw her yellow energy ball. It hit the back of John’s wrist, and
his energy ball flew out of his palm and hit one of the flags on
the wall. The flag immediately caught fire. The fire was not
orange, red and yellow; instead it was green like the energy that
started it. The fire did not spread. Its remains merely fell to the
ground and became a smoldering pile of ash.

John grabbed
his wrist as soon as the energy ball hit him. He made another
energy ball and turned sharply, but Kilamen had jumped toward him,
kicked him in the chest. As he flew back, he threw the energy
ball.

Kilamen tried
to use her powers to stop it, but she had made the same mistake as
Ulicoth. For the energy ball exploded into smaller pieces. Some hit
her, and the others struck the wall. The paintings that hung there
and whatever else lay in their wake. She let out a squeal, for the
energy had burnt deep holes in her beautiful skin. Then her arms,
legs, face and head all felt as though they were on fire, a fire
that she could not hope to dowse. She fell and slid a few paces
from where she once stood.

John,
however, had hit one of the double doors that lead to the balcony.
The door shattered when he hit it, and pieces of it were sent
soaring across the room. One of them hit Ulicoth on the back, and
slowly he regained consciousness. The Dark Lord was still very
groggy. He looked left and right and saw both Kilamen and John
lying in heaps on the floor. Obviously, John was stronger than
Ulicoth had thought. He found that he was now weaker than before
the Wizard King had arrived, and he could no longer move from the
waist down. The Dark Wizard-Elf’s last hope was that he still had
at least one of his abilities.

He stretched
out his left arm toward a small chest on the floor, of which he was
seeing three. That didn’t make what he had to do any simpler, but
he knew he had to try and focus. With his arm outstretched, he
imagined the chest opening, but nothing happened.

He turned his
head to make sure that John was still unconscious. He then turned
to Kilamen who was also still out for the count. Ulicoth looked
again to the chest and stretched out his arm, concentrating hard.
His life certainly depended on his own abilities. The Dark Lord
knew if John awoke before Kilamen. The Second Prophecy would indeed
come to pass.

It was
working. Ulicoth’s hand was glowing with a shimmering purple light.
The latch on the front of the chest began to move upward, and when
it was all the way up the lid was thrown back.

Ulicoth
heard what sounded like a
disorientated groan that seemed to be coming from John’s direction.
He tried not to be distracted by the fact that his enemy was
regaining consciousness. His hand was now shaking as he tried to
control the contents of the chest. The sound of chains rattling
could be heard coming from the box, and out of it came a pair of
black shackles and a wide arm band. Each of the cuffs had a pink
gem in them, as did the armband. Ulicoth moved his hand, and the
armband came to him. The Dark Wizard-Elf moved his hand in John’s
direction, and the shackles went immediately over and each locked
around each of John’s wrists.

Kilamen was
now fully awake and that she was standing over him.

“
What took
you so long?” he snarled, and as he met her gaze, she saw that the
whole left side of Ulicoth’s face was burnt beyond recognition. “He
was nearly the end of me.”

“
I met a lot
of resistance on trying to return. It was nothing that I couldn’t
handle,” replied Kilamen.

“
Good,” said
Ulicoth. “Now help me to my feet so I can finish with our
guest.”

That wretched woman took her master by the
arm and hoisted him up onto his feet.

Chapter Five

John awoke
and found that he was chained to a brick wall which was not there
before. He tried to break the chain of the shackles that were
binding him
but was surprised to find
that he could not, and his heart sank. For it seemed that the
harder he tried. The weaker he became. It felt to him as if his
very soul was being drained from him.

“
I’m glad to
see that you’re okay, John. I would hate to think you were damaged
before I had the chance to take what I need from you,” said Ulicoth
triumphantly.

“
What the
hell are you doing to me?” asked John weakly.

‘
He’s got
spirit,’ Kilamen said to Ulicoth.

“
Yes, he has,
hasn’t he? It’ll be a shame to kill him, but who really cares?”
replied Ulicoth.

“
YOU’RE GOING
TO BURN IN HELL!” John scolded, gathering all that was left of his
strength.

Kilamen
punched him in the face. “Let me kill this weakling” she
said.

“
Soon
enough,” said Ulicoth, whose face was almost completely healed. “To
answer your question, John, I’m draining you of every last drop of
strength and power,” said Ulicoth firmly. “The shackles you’re
wearing are linked to this bracelet that I am wearing, by the small
stones of the birth crystals of the twin Dragons, Lanasic and
Cellock. The crystals on the shackles shall drain you of your life
and give it to me, so I may destroy the simpletons of the Order of
Lanasic and any foolish enough to follow them to their
destruction.”

“
The
y will fight,” said John his
voice now weaker.

“
I have no
doubt in my mind that they will. However, how could they possibly
hope to fight without their champion to fulfill the Second
Prophecy?” said Ulicoth, his voice getting stronger.

Ulicoth
was standing upright. His
breathing was stronger, his hands now looked young and the bulging
veins were gone.

“
How did you
stop the Prophecy?” John asked, finding it harder to breathe. His
skin was wrinkled, and purple veins were now visible bulging out
throughout his entire body.

He had other
questions, but found he could no longer utter even the simplest
word; he could not even move his fingers or toes.

“
How, you
ask?” said Ulicoth. “Simple. I fed our old friend some
misinformation. Kilamen and I put on shows for Demala, and we let
him listen in on what he thought were disagreements between us. We
knew he would take it all to you, his new friend. After all, how
could he pass up an opportunity to gain your trust so you may
one-day reward him by lifting the curse that he hates so much? And
as I knew that getting rid of his curse is and always has been the
only thing that he really cares about, I used him, and he brought
you straight to me. You are the only person other than Kilamen that
could restore me to full health. Thank you truly from the bottom of
what is left of my heart.”

“
Time is
dragging on; his friends have almost won the first battle. So shall
I kill him now?” said Kilamen with optimism in her
voice.

“
Oh, very
well, though personally I would’ve liked to have tortured him
first. But if you must,” said Ulicoth coldly. The wound on his lip
was fully healed, though there was a small scar near the center of
his top lip, just on the left side, that he would carry for the
rest of his life.

Kilamen took a sword from the wall.

“
Wait.”
Ulicoth reached forward and took Dragdani’s Dragon in his hand. “I
almost forgot about this piece of crap that is so valued by the
twits of your order,” he said. As he pulled it from John’s neck the
rope snapped. The Dark Lord stepped back and nodded at his waiting
friend without any more thought.

Kilamen cut John’s head clean off.

“
Pick it up
and add it to my collection, and use this. I don’t want blood all
over the place.” Ulicoth threw Kilamen a black head sack. Kilamen
lifted John’s head by the hair and threw it into the sack and
strode out of the room.

Ulicoth
walked out onto the
balcony, and with his purple eyes, stared down at the almost
finished battle and laughed to himself. Then turning and lifting
his left hand, he said, “Stand and come to me.”

John’s body
jumped up and walked out onto the balcony and stopped beside
Ulicoth. Again, Ulicoth looked down and saw the battle was now
over. There were shouts and cries coming from the side of the
mountain. Three Lores and two Goblins were scampering up trying to
reach the fortress and in doing so. They unwitting were revealing
the two paths that lead the way up.

Elven
archers shot down both Goblins and two of the
Lores. The last Lore was squealing as it ran. But before any of the
archers on the ground were able to let loose any more arrows,
Ulicoth threw an energy ball down which instantly blew the Lore to
pieces.

“
Now that I
have caught your attention,” he said, “I would like to give you the
opportunity to surrender,” said Ulicoth loudly.

Laughter
could clearly be heard. But Delsani put up his hand for it to stop,
for he knew that there was something amiss if Ulicoth was alive and
well.

“
HOW DARE YOU
LAUGH AT ME! I SHALL SOON WIPE THOSE ARROGANT SMILES FROM YOUR
FACES!” shrieked Ulicoth furiously.

“
The
Prophecy says otherwise,”
said Delsani.

“
Ah, yes,
your Prophecy. It is complete rubbish. How foolish can you be old
man? It was fake,” Ulicoth taunted, gleefully smiling.