The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (12 page)

“
You would
say anything to distort the truth. We do not believe your lies,”
replied the old Wizard.

“
I
n that case you, may ask your
King Jastark, for when he heard the truth he was so shocked he lost
his head,” said Ulicoth, with a loud menacing laugh that filled the
very air itself. The Wizard-Elf could hear raised voices coming
from below.

Delsani, on
the other hand, did not need to wonder, for he knew exactly what
Ulicoth had meant by that rant. He knew that the only way of
insuring the death of a Wizard-Elf was to cut off their head. His
heart sank at the thought of his dear friend meeting that horrible
fate.

“
Here he is,
and here is the truth. I do hope that it’s not too hard for your
simple minds to understand,” said Ulicoth sarcastically, he looked
at John’s body and said, “Jump.”

The body
jumped off of the balcony, hit the gravel slope and was sliding
down when dust rose up and made it so they could not see what was
coming closer to them.

The King’s
carcass had reached the bottom of the mountain, and Delsani had run
over to it to see that he was right; the Wizard King was dead. The
Wizard’s heart split and sank somewhere near his ankles. He bent
down and took the sword Yeluilat, so he could return it to its
rightful place in the main hall of the Towers of Telian. And with
tears beginning to fill his eyes, he took out his wand from his
pocket pointed it at John’s body and quietly said, “Infero.” An
orange spark shot from the tip of the wand and John’s body was
engulfed in flames. Moments later, it had turned to ashes. Delsani
bent low over John’s ashes, took out two small vials and filled
both. Then he took his place back among the army of the
alliance.

“
We still
greatly outnumber the two of you,” shouted Bacnil.

Again Ulicoth
laughed. “You do remember what happened when you challenged Kilamen
do you not? Let me remind you. She ripped through your pathetic
attempt to defeat her, and she wasn’t even trying. So just imagine
what two of us could do if we really wanted to. Besides, we still
have a few friends that you haven’t met yet. Shall I introduce you?
The first is someone of which I am sure almost all of you know by
reputation. Come forward and make your presence known, my old
friend.”

Suddenly
there came a blood-curdling roar that gripped all of the alliance
with fear like they had never felt.

“
Dragon!”
shouted Avelan fearfully.

“
Fall-back!”
shouted Bacnil, “as far and as fast as your legs may carry you!”
Nearly all ran scattering over the fields like frightened helpless
children, which is exactly how most of them felt.

Except
Delsani. He stood firm.

Bacnil and
Avelan had seen this and ran back to the Wizard. “What do you think
you are doing?” said Bacnil. “We should go before –”

He was too
late. A gigantic black Dragon had already come from behind the
mountains and was almost on them.

“
It’s
Cellock,” said Delsani.

“
How can it
be? He perished while fighting Lanisic at the last battle of
Salith’s reign? It was said that the brothers died together,” said
Avelan, trying not to believe his own eyes.

“
That I
believed as well, but clearly he survived,” said the Wizard
confidently. “He’s been hiding for over six hundred years, waiting
for Ulicoth’s call to arms.”

The Dragon
was getting ever closer to them, and Avelan had his bow in his hand
and an arrow set on the string.

“
Go and join
the others, both of you. I will stay here, for there is something I
know I can do,” said Delsani assertively. He saw that the archers
who had run had stopped short and had already shot a wave of arrows
at the great beast. But Cellock was too quick; he dodged
all.

The Prince
and Elf did as the Wizard said and ran to the archers.

A second
volley was fired shortly after, but again the Dragon dodged all but
one, which was Avelan’s. It caught him under his left wing. The
beast opened his massive jaws as wide as they would go, and fire
flew from his mouth and nostrils like magma from an erupting
volcano. The red merciless flames engulfed most of the archer’s Men
and Elves.

It was then
that Delsani took his wand, aimed it at the wound just below the
Dragon’s left wing and shouted, “AEROSTAY!” A thin red beam of
light shot from the tip of his wand and hit the Dragon right where
the Wizard aimed it.

Cellock was
now flying round and round in circles, for he could not get away.
Delsani had roped him, and only the Wizard could break the
beam.

Cellock
turned, opened his mouth and again spat out fire, but this time at
Delsani. The Wizards that had rejoined Bacnil and Avelan deflected
it away from him.

When Delsani
saw his chance, he shouted “CRIPPLIZE!” And a white pulse was
travelling up the red beam, which was turning white the further the
pulse went up. The pulse hit the Dragon right under his left wing.
Cellock gave another loud roar only this time it was a roar of pain
and distress, for the spell had crippled him completely and sent
him crashing on to the cleft that Delsani had pointed out to Prince
Bacnil earlier that evening.

A loud,
furious cry came from the fortress. It echoed far and wide, and all
on the ground heard it. Delsani calmly glanced up at Ulicoth, who
had hit the stone rail of the balcony with his fist so hard that
part of it cracked then crumbled.

“
You will
have to have more reliable servants than that, oh great and most
powerful Wizard-Elf,” shouted Bacnil sarcastically. The men were
laughing and shouting.

“
You dare
mock me!” shouted Ulicoth angrily. “I wouldn’t be so cocky if I
were you, little Prince. For I have yet to deal my full hand. Let
me introduce you to my reserve troops, who are at this moment
waiting for me and my order to wipe you out like the vermin you
are.”

He raised his
hands and suddenly two extremely large caverns appeared in the
mountains at either side of him.
In them
were thousands upon thousands of Lores, Goblins, Cave and Mountain
Trolls, Imps, and Wroulwert Trolls, which were like Mountain
Trolls, only of normal size.

The alliance
members were once again running back to where Henkot and a handful
of volunteers were doing their best to heal the wounded. And this
time Delsani was with them. The sight of Ulicoth’s true army had
them all running scared.

“
RUN LIKE THE
LITTLE ANTS YOU ARE!” shouted Ulicoth triumphantly, for to him that
was what they looked like, frightened little ants scurrying away.
Ulicoth did not give his troops the order to move. He thought it
pleasurable to watch them for the moment anyway, knowing that it
was he and he alone that held the power to decide whether to let
them live or to destroy them in a few last minutes.

“
Having fun?”
asked Kilamen, who had just come through the door.

“
You know me.
I like to watch them squirm,” said Ulicoth. “Where have you
been?”

“
Putting
Cellock back and seeing to his injury,” replied Kilamen
lengthily.

“
And?” asked
Ulicoth.

“
He was
dealt a
harmful blow,” replied Kilamen.
“I thought that the only way to hurt or kill a Dragon was to hit it
in the chest, stomach, or eyes. For their wings are as tough as
their scales.”

Ulicoth
said nothing.

“
So
when do we move on them?”
asked Kilamen briskly.

“
Let’s let
them stew for a little longer,” replied Ulicoth calmly.

At that time,
the allies had no idea how they would defeat such a
force.

“
What do we
do now, Delsani?” asked Avelan and Bacnil together.

“
Why is
it always up to the
Wizards?” asked
Eiaten angrily. “After all, their great Prophecy was false. And
here you both still ask them for advice.”

The Wizards
were furious that the Dwarf had called the Prophecy false, even
though most of them had thought the same thing, though they never
would have said it out loud. The Wizards were staring at Delsani,
wondering what words he would have for the Dwarf lord.

However, the
Wizard said nothing. He walked over to Henkot, who was comforting
Saren. He soon moved away from his distraught wife and struck up a
conversation with the old Wizard. Then when they had finished, each
went to their own people. Some looked shocked at whatever they had
to say. Most of the Witches and Wizards were shaking their heads,
and others shouted in disbelief. Others just stood with their
mouths ajar in shock.

Delsani
merely ignored them and walked back and stood with Bacnil, Avelan,
and Eiaten, unmoved by what was going on around him. For he was now
deep in thought and casting his mind back to the last time he saw
the Prophecies, trying to see if there was anything that he had
missed. After a few more minutes, he slowly raised his head and
said, “The second Prophecy is not false. It just hasn’t happened
yet.”

“
Nor shall
it, or are you forgetting that the one that you said would be the
one to fulfill the Prophecy is dead?” said Eiaten
anxiously.

“
No,” said
Delsani, staring down at the Dwarf, “I haven’t, nor will I ever
forget the Wizard-Elf Jastark, for he was like a second son to me.
Nor will I forget that it was I who persuaded him that he was the
one in the Second Prophecy or that he alone faced the evil Ulicoth
and Kilamen combined and paid with his life.”

Eiaten now
felt sorry for the
Wizard and said no
more of it.

“
I would like
to remind all of you that there are two Prophecies, and we tried to
bring around the second because we didn’t want to sit and wait to
be attacked,” said Delsani loudly so all could hear. “And may I
also remind you that in the first Prophecy it states, and I quote,
‘the dark shadow of Salith would return by the fault of another
evil, and this evil would assemble an enormous and destructive
force. And the races of Dorminya would suffer terrible losses of
life, and this would plunge our world into darkness.’ And if I do
say so myself, it doesn’t get any darker than this.”

“
So what
you’re saying is that we by coming here have brought around the
First Prophecy instead of the second?” said Avelan.

“
Exactly,”
said Delsani.

“
The
re is still the matter of the
death of John Stark, and you said that he was the last in the line
of Thoucil and Dragdani. If that is true then, who is left to
fulfill the Second Prophecy?” asked Bacnil
curiously.

“
Think,”
whispered Delsani, so that only Avelan, Bacnil, and Eiaten could
hear him. “John is dead. Therefore he obviously cannot be the one.
But he was married. And only someone with his blood could be the
one.”

“
A child,”
whispered Avelan, looking as though he had just won first place in
a quiz.

“
I hope so,”
said the old Wizard. “I think that Ulicoth somehow knows, and if
so. Then Helen and the child could be great in danger. I will need
to leave you all,” said Delsani just as a letter landed beside him
and was now running on its bottom corners as if they were feet. It
was jumping up near Delsani when the Wizard grabbed it and ripped
it open.

Delsani I regret to inform you that Helen Stark wife of the
late John Stark has been attacked by one of our people who had been
somehow controlled by
Ulicoth.

However, she has been treated for the wounds she sustained
and is responding well to her treatment. She and her unborn child
should fully recover without any further trouble.

Your friend,

The Grand Wizard,

Jaucal

P. S.

I have enclosed something you may find
useful.

Good luck, old friend.

As soon as
Delsani had read the letter, it turned into a small
plant.

“
The
re is a child,” said Delsani
brightly. “And Ulicoth knows it.” And before anyone could say
anything, the Wizard ran to the Witches who were gathered around a
small dented old copper cauldron.

“
Quickly,
tell me, have you added the substitute ingredient yet?” said
Delsani hastily.

“
No, not
yet,” said Henkot. “Why? Is there something wrong?”

“
No, on the
contrary, everything’s right, for now anyway. We no longer need it;
we have the real thing,” said Delsani as he handed the plant to the
Warlock. “How long until it’s ready?”

“
That depends
on whether we put the right amount in the potion,” said
Saren.

Delsani
pulled Henkot to one side. “Are you sure that Saren is all right to
make the potion?”

“
I’m not
sure, but I do know that Saren is the best potion maker I’ve ever
known. Besides I think she needs to do this.”

Delsani
nodded.
“Fine.” He walked back to the
other Ves-guard generals, and again it looked as though he was
trying to convince them of something that seemed to upset them.
Nevertheless, they all walked over to the Witches.