The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (48 page)

“
If it feels
all right,” said the Wolf, “then it probably is.” Demala walked
past the boy and down the road. The Wolf stopped and turned to face
the young King. “Are you coming?”

Peter went
after a second.

I
t was then that Peter and the
Wolf embarked on their first, though certainly not their last,
journey together.

Chapter Twenty

The One He Didn’t See

As they
walked, Peter frittered with his father
’s
old belt. He took his dad’s old sword off and was trying to attach
his own sword to it. When he finally accomplished this, he put the
belt on.

“
So
what do you think?
” he asked
Demala.

“
It looks
right to me.”

“
This is a
cool buckle my dad had.” The belt buckle was square with the sign
of a Dragon’s claw grasping a colored globe.

“
It wasn’t
originally his,” said the Wolf passively.

“
The
n whose was it?” asked
Peter.

“
Please don’t
pursue it any further.”

“
You just
can’t peak my interest and shut me down like that,” said Peter.
“Come on whose was it?”

“It belonged to King Dragdani first, it was a
gift from his mother,” Demala said, looking as though he suddenly
had a sour taste in his mouth.

“
How do you
know that?”

“
Because
almost every time I saw Dragdani, he was wearing it,” said the
Wolf. “And when I asked him, he told me.”

“
You knew
him? You talked to him?” asked Peter getting more and more
intrigued.

“
Yes, I knew
them both quite well,” Demala sounded even more agitated,
“unfortunately for them.”

“
What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“
It’s none of
your damn business, all right?”

“
Is it
something to do with your name?” asked Peter pushing him further.
“It means murderer, doesn’t it?”

Demala
stopped dead and turned to meet Peter’s gaze. He started toward the
boy at a great speed.

Peter threw an energy ball, which the beast
dodged easily.

The boy then
tried the Cripplize spell that had no affect on the Wolf, thanks to
the talisman he was wearing.

Demala
pounced on Peter with his front paws on his chest. Peter landed on
his back with the Wolf putting his weight on the boy’s back,
holding him down.

“
I asked you
to leave it. Now will you respect my wishes, or do we have a
problem?” asked the Wolf infuriated, his eyes glinting red and his
usually small nostrils widening.

Peter grabbed
his paws and, using his superior strength, threw Demala off of him
and flipped himself onto his feet.

“
We don’t
have a problem,” he said. “It’s just that everyone is willing to
tell me that I look like the great Dragdani, yet no one seems to
want to tell me anything about him.” Peter brushed himself down,
and without another word walked on.

Demala walked
behind him for a while, but soon got a little closer and then, as
before, they walked side by side. They walked for a mile and a half
in total silence.

“
I’m sorry
for pushing you like that,” said Peter.

“
It’s all
right. I shouldn’t have attacked you,” said Demala. “It’s just
-”

He paused for
a second and then continued by saying, “It’s a sensitive subject
for me and contains too many bad memories.”

“
Duh, really?
I hadn’t noticed,” said the King sarcastically.

“
You were
right,” said the Wolf. “About my name I mean. It did mean murderer
among my people.” Demala stopped. “Listen, maybe later I can tell
you everything, but only when I feel ready to do so. No offence,
but I don’t really know you.”

“
That’s
fine,” said Peter.

There was a
sudden yell that rose up out of nowhere; neither of them could tell
where it came from, but both looked around trying to place
it.

“
So you heard
it?” said Demala.

“
Yeah, it’s
these funny ears,” said Peter pulling the top of his right ear a
little. “I wonder where it came from.”

“
It came from
the woods over there,” said the Wolf.

“
Are you
sure?”

“
I’ve been in
this form for over two thousand years, so yes, I’m
sure.”

“
Fine, but I
think we should go and see who or what that was and see if they
need help, don’t you?”

“
No,” said
the Wolf. “My mission is to deliver you to the Grand Wizard, and
that’s what I’ll do.”

“
How did you
get to work for the Grand Wizard?” asked Peter. “Did you, by any
chance, swear to follow the orders of the person who runs the
Wiz-Wit cities?”

“
Yes, but how
did you know that?”

“
I don’t know
how, but there’s a lot that I know that I never knew before,” said
Peter confidently. “As you swore to obey the person who rules
Cayer-Huld, and Uracade, well, in case you’ve forgotten, they both
belong to me. Therefore, you obey me, and I order you to follow me
into that forest.”

“
I’m sorry to
tell you this, but I don’t have to take orders from you until you
enter the city gates. Until then, you have to do as I say,” said
Demala.

“
I see,” said
the boy. “You said that your mission is to bring me
back?”

“
That’s
right.”

“
So no matter
where I go, you’ll have to follow me to find me and take me there,
right?” said Peter. The young Draga-Wizard-Elf shot off in the
blink of an eye.

“
GET BACK
HERE! WE HAVE TO GET TO THE CITY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!” the Wolf
howled after him, though it was pointless. The teenager was already
gone. “Damn Wizards,” the Wolf ranted as he followed.

There was
another yell, and another. It went on continuously. The Wolf
followed Peter’s footprints through the tree line and into the
black forest.

In no time at
all, Demala could see Peter again. He was running to the bottom of
a cliff were there was someone dangling from the edge. The person
looked and sounded like a boy. And as the Wolf saw him, the boy
lost his grip and fell, just as Peter arrived at the rock face in
time to catch him.

The fallen
boy suddenly sounded older then he looked, for he had quite a deep
voice, but was just half the size of Peter.

“
Are you
okay?” Peter asked him.

“
I could’ve
handled it on my own,” said the strange boy. “We Dwarves can handle
ourselves.”

“
You’re
welcome,” said the young King.

“
What is that
Wolf doing here?” said the Dwarf, taking out a small axe he had
tucked in his belt.

“
He’s my
friend and guide,” replied Peter. “Why? Is there something
wrong?”

“
It is
forbidden for it to come to our land.”

“
Don’t worry,
we’ll be leaving soon,” said Peter.

“
I’m sorry,
but it’s too late. The fact that it is here and you brought it here
means you both must come with me to see the Lord of the Dark
Halls,” said the Dwarf.

Peter did not
know who this Lord of the Dark Halls was, but the title did not
sound very appealing, so he decided to decline.

“
I’m sorry,
too, but we’re going now,” said Peter, turning and walking
away.

“
It’s all
right, Drago, we should go with him,” said Demala. “We can hide out
there for a few days, and if Ulicoth’s people are looking for us,
with any luck they’ll pass us by.”

“
If you’re
sure that you’ll be safe. He doesn’t exactly sound like a fan of
yours,” said Peter.

“
You can talk
to it?” asked the Dwarf anxiously. “What was it saying?”

“
He said that
it would be better for us to go with you.”

“
I will tell
Lord Eiaten that the both of you followed me of your own free will,
but I doubt that’ll make any difference in the Wolf’s case, though
I think it would be better for you both if it would let me bind his
jaws with this rope.” The Dwarf detached a small piece of rope from
his belt.

“
That’s not
acceptable,” said Peter firmly.

“
Eiaten will
not allow this creature to breathe if he walks into our home
freely,” said the Dwarf, sounding concerned, though Peter thought
that the concern was probably for himself rather than Demala. The
question on his mind was what would this Lord Eiaten do if one of
his people let that particular Wolf walk into their home freely?
However, he thought it wise not to ask.

“
It’s all
right,” said Demala, “I’ll allow it.”

“
But we don’t
know if Eiaten is working for Ulicoth,” said Peter.

The Dwarf
looked startled at the mention of Ulicoth’s name. That was the one
word he did understand.

“
That name
must never be mentioned in our lands, never,” said the Dwarf as his
voice shook.

“
It’s just a
name,” Peter remarked.

“
That name
can destroy anything that hears it, even the very air itself. Lord
Eiaten will hear of this; I swear it.”

Peter looked
at Demala as if to say, ‘now can we walk away?’

“
That’s all
right. We’ll just play along,” the Wolf said in answer to the boy’s
look.

Their host
looked on in anticipation.

“
He says he’s
willing to let you tie his mouth,” said Peter.

“Good,” said the Dwarf. “And you both will
wear these blindfolds,” he said to Peter as he pulled from his
pocket a large cloth that he ripped in two.

Peter was
about to tell him to “get lost,” until Demala gave a short cry to
remind him to go along with it.

“Fine,” the boy said reluctantly.

How long they
walked they were unsure, for they couldn’t see the path. Their new
guide had tied their blindfolds tightly. Peter was very nervous. He
didn’t like feeling defenseless, though he knew they had no choice
but to follow the Dwarf if they wanted to stay hidden from his
enemies. He was also a little nauseous. Whatever the rag had been
used for before he was not exactly sure, though his blindfold smelt
very strongly of a mixture of rotten eggs and what he thought might
have been the sweet smell of blood. The smell made the boy want to
heave, but he did his best to fight the feeling.

After what
seemed like half an hour’s walk to Peter (it was really three
hours), they stopped.

“You may take your blindfolds off,” said the
Dwarf.

With a
feeling of relief and great pleasure, Peter took his off and then
Demala’s. Then he took his first look around. The light from the
sun shone into the clearing in which they stood. It blinded Peter
as his eyes tried to adjust after the darkness.

There were
trees, but they were at least seven meters away in every direction,
and when he looked down at his feet, he saw that there was no path
to speak of, just the greenest grass he had ever seen in his life.
When he looked to where he Dwarf stood, he saw a vast mountain but
no door. He found this quite intriguing. There were other mountains
connected to it, but they were only half its size.

“
You will
both have to wait here with a guard while I talk to the Lord of the
mountain,” said the Dwarf.

“
Sure,” said
Peter, looking dazed at the sight of the massive
mountain.

Their guide
walked up to the rock face leaned toward it and whispered something
to one of the rocks. There was a loud crumbling, grumbling sound
and a chasm opened in the rock face about three and a half feet in
length and five feet in width.

Another Dwarf
stepped out and looked at their new guests. The two kin talked, and
then the guard walked out while the opening closed behind the first
Dwarf.

It was not
long before he returned, and Peter and the Wolf were joined by the
two Dwarves, one guiding them and the other keeping up the rear.
The passage in which they walked was dark, so dark that Peter
couldn’t see anything with his ordinary eyes and kept smacking his
head on the low ceiling. His Dragon eyes kicked in about ten
seconds after they entered. Demala, being a Wolf, could see
perfectly, for his eyes adjusted as soon as the entrance closed
behind them.

At
the end of the long tunnel, there was only a
faint glimmer of light.

“
I wish there
was more light in this place,” Peter said to himself, though it was
loud enough for some of the people in that great hall to hear him.
That was very bad, because as he said it, all of the torches that
lined the walls and sat upon the long thick columns which stood
throughout the massive hall lit up, as if someone had ignited them
all instantaneously. In fact, someone had, so Dwarves knew there
was a Wizard or Witch present.

“
You bring a
magic user into our home,” said a Dwarf at the top of the
staircase. The boy and the Wolf could not see the landing at the
top, as there was a very strong light blinding them. They could see
what they thought was the outline of a throne.