The Wizard's Secret (21 page)

“
How do you kill zombies on this world
?”
Merlin asked.

“How do we… kill the dead?” I asked. “You can’t kill
zombies; you have to send them back to their coffins with magic. Asiago doesn’t
have their names, though, so he can’t do it. We’ll have to outrun them.”
Fortunately, the zombies were slow. Of course, there were a few dozen of them,
so I didn’t have many options. I aimed my staff at the majority of them.
“Attack!” I demanded of the staff.

A violent blast of fire burst from my staff and
struck them, causing five of them to catch on fire. The rest scattered and
Kirin started galloping towards the opening so suddenly that I was nearly
thrown off. Merlin, Sam, and Asiago were not far behind, and soon, we were far
from the zombies.

*          *          *

The first familiar landmark we came to was Nightmare
Valley, which Merlin was not keen on entering, so we turned and went in another
direction.
If places are as close or far as we want them to be, then we
should have found the dragons. I want to meet the dragons
. After a while,
Merlin veered off the path and we followed. To my astonishment, we arrived at
the mouth of the dragons’ cave almost immediately.

Merlin studied the werewolf statue. “
I see you
have been practicing your sorcery
.”

“Yes, well, he attacked us first.”

“
Under Veronica’s control
?”

“I had to do something.”

“
I know, Ayden. I am glad that you defended
yourself. Now, before trying to threaten them, appeal to the dragons for their
assistance. You alone will approach the cave mouth, while the rest of us stay
back behind the statue. This tells them that you are not here for battle.
Change your staff into a sword
.”

“But you said---”

“
Just do it
.”

With plenty of confusion, I told the staff, “Change
into a sword.” For once, the staff obeyed perfectly, so I approached the cave.

“
That is far enough. Now sink the sword into the
dirt as far as you can, take two steps back, and kneel
.”

“Stick it in the dirt?”

“
You have no sheath for it, so this is necessary.
If there was a large boulder, I would teach you a very extravagant trick. As it
is, that will have to wait
.” Once I did as he said and kneeled, he
continued. “
Loudly state your name and why you are here
.”

“But I don’t know the dragons’ language.”

“
They know many languages
.
I cannot give
you the words to say because dragons know when your words are not your own
.”

I considered this carefully. I was pretty sure that
meant I couldn’t lie or say something I didn’t mean. “Good evening, dragons…” I
began quietly.

“
Louder, young sorcerer. They are likely deep in
their cave. You do not want to sound like a slow and defenseless snack
.”

I sighed and tried again. “Good evening, dragons!” I
shouted at the top of my lungs. “My name is Ayden Dracre! I know it’s a
sorcerer name, but I’m not really a sorcerer! Well, I am, but I’m also a
wizard! It’s very confusing, I know! I’m not really sure what I am anymore!”

Merlin groaned and put his paw over his eyes.

“Oh, right. Anyway, I’m here to ask for your help!
Well, not in the forest, I mean I’m in front of your cave to ask for your help!
I’m actually in the Endless Forest to defeat my cousin, who is a sorceress, and
save my aunt, who is like me…! Except she had her sorcery removed, so she’s not
really like me anymore! I was going to have mine removed, too, but I changed my
mind! I need your help to save my aunt!” By then, I had to stop to catch my
breath.

“Are you an idiot?” Asiago asked.

“I was just nervous. I didn’t want to embarrass
myself in front of a dragon.”

“You failed.”

“Did I at least get my point across?”

“
I think you have successfully proven that you
need a therapist
,” Merlin agreed.

“Great! What’s a therapist?” He just sighed. “Maybe
the dragons aren’t home,” I said when there was no movement or sound from the
cave. I really hoped they weren’t extinct as my mother had said.

“You probably scared them away,” Asiago said.

“
Perhaps the cave has been empty for some time
now. I wonder how often they update their signs
.”

“Oh, wait.” I turned back to the cave. “Sorry, I
forgot to say one thing! My father is Kille Rynorm!” With no warning or sound,
a massive plume of black smoke flowed out of the cave and surrounded me. I
sensed Merlin about to run to me. “Merlin, stay back.”

He growled, but didn’t say anything.

“Why should we help you, little sorcerer?” a voice asked.
It was as deep and loud as I thought a dragon’s voice would be.

Even though I couldn’t see him, I was amazed. “I knew
dragons weren’t extinct!”

A soft snort was all I heard in response.

“Oh, right. You asked me a question.” I thought about
it for a moment, only to realize I didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know. Is
there something you want that I can help you with? I know you have your own
magic, but I can do other stuff.” It was difficult to speak to a dragon I
couldn’t see. Actually, the smoke made it a little difficult to speak as well.

“We knew your father when he was a very small boy.”

“Really?” The only thing I knew about my father’s
past was that his family trained dragons. He never even told me what they
trained the dragons to do.

“We were not impressed.”

“Oh…”

“He was always skipping out on his lessons and
daydreaming. He was a very smart boy, but he could not pay attention to save
his life.”

“His lessons? I thought he just trained dragons.”

The dragon laughed. “We had a mutually beneficial arrangement.
We protected them and taught them ancient magic in exchange for the easy
lifestyle they provided. As long as we were considered ‘tamed,’ no one was
allowed to hunt us. At least, that was the bargain until Ilvera Dracre stole
the youngest Rynorm son and tried to control us.”

“Why were you hunted?”

“A long time ago, we were worshiped and feared by the
mortals. We lived in every mountain, guarded the skies, and ruled over the
seas. There were thousands of us strong and numerous different types. We had a
hierarchy, a language, and all the food we could want.”

“What happened?”

“Mortals developed magic. It came like a storm; first
it brewed in very few, who were confused and startled when strange things began
to happen. Before we realized what it was, it swept across the world. In two
days, almost every mortal had magic in one form or another. They no longer
served us.”

“There wasn’t a sign it was coming? Or some prophesy
or---”

“Only the white star,” the dragon interrupted.

“White star? I’ve heard of something like that.”

“We sensed a change in the air on the day the first
person developed magic. When we woke that morning, there was a white star
blazing so brightly it was like a second sun. Once most of the population of
mortals had magic, the star died. It burned out right before our eyes. Magic
was not the only thing this star brought to Caldaca. Soon, people began to find
very special stones that could control dragons.”

“The dragon’s eye?”

“Yes, although we call it the galaxy stone.”

“Does anyone know what the white star was?”

“We believe it was another world exploding, and that
the other world had magic, which spread to Caldaca, because magic cannot be
destroyed, only transferred.”

“So the galaxy dragon stone can control dragons?”

“All galaxy stones are different. It depends on the
person it bonds with.”

“Can you tell what mine does?”

“At this time, yours can stop us from attacking you
or call to us for help. However, it has not fully bonded with you, so those
powers may fade and others may arise.”

“A few months ago, I fought a chimera and I
accidentally conjured a dragon. It wasn’t a real dragon, though. How did I do
it?”

“We do not know.”

“
Ayden, Veronica knows we are here
,” Merlin
said. As if it knew it was found out, I heard a familiar shriek from one of
Veronica’s bat spies.

“You must go now,” the dragon said.

“Wait! I still have more questions!”

“We have told you all that you need to know.”

“You won’t help me fight Veronica?”

“We no longer meddle in the affairs of mortals. We
have helped you enough. We will only tell you one more thing. Beware the
raven’s blood.”

The smoke cleared and the dragon was nowhere to be
seen. Merlin, Asiago, Kirin, and Sam were all in the same place I had last seen
them, except they were being attacked by Veronica’s bat creatures.

I stood up, grabbed my sword/staff, and faced the
creatures. That was when I realized I was being watched. Perched leisurely on
the werewolf statue was the same raven I had seen the last time I was there. He
was staring at me, completely unconcerned with the fight going on behind him. I
realized, as I stared back at the raven, that there were two ways to win this
fight; my way or the sorcerer’s way.

With no guarantee that I was making the right
decision, I pointed my sword at the statue. My sword instantly changed back
into a staff. “Let him go,” I said. Red magic shot from my staff into the
statue, causing the raven to take flight. Stone turned back into flesh and the
werewolf was moving his arms before his legs were even mobile. His claws slashed,
his teeth flashed, and he grabbed one of the bat creatures right out of the
air. He’d torn it in half and was going after a second one before I realized he
was on our side.

In what felt like a blink of an eye, he had killed
all four bats and was starting to shrink. His black fur receded, his paws
turned to hands, and his face morphed into that of a man’s. He was panting and
covered in sweat, but he didn’t seem to be hurt. “Thank you for freeing me,” he
said, turning to me.

“You’re welcome. Thank you for not eating me… even
though you did try to.”

“I was under the sorceress’s spell; I had no choice.
There is even a psychotic little girl after me.”

“Well, we’re going to fight the sorceress, but we
can’t help you with the little girl.”

The werewolf nodded. “I understand. Little girls are
terrifying. Good luck with the sorceress,” he said before disappearing into the
woods.

“He should have shown us the way to the sorceress,”
Asiago said.

“According to Merlin, we have to find her by wanting
to find her.”

“Really? That seems horribly inconvenient. How are we
going to do it?”

I put my staff back into the saddle and withdrew my
wand. “I am worried, because I know Veronica could kill me. I also know that if
I kill her, I will never forgive myself. But that isn’t most important right
now. I will face Veronica. Show me the way.”

“I thought you had to have something that connects
you to her,” Asiago said.

“I do. She is a Dracre.” I felt my magic pulsing
through my wand right before dim, pink light lit the tip and narrowed into a
beam pointing east.

Before following the wand’s direction, I had another
plan. Asiago and I had two bottles of the invisibility potion left, which
Asiago and Merlin drank. We would have given some to Sam, but we didn’t know if
a griffon could handle it. We probably looked a bit silly, since Asiago’s
clothes were unaffected by the potion.

When Merlin said we were very close, I made Asiago’s
clothes and Sam turn invisible. It would drain my magic, but we needed them to
at least get inside. Finally, we reached Veronica’s cabin. As I had done
several times before, I focused on the presence of my monster and pulled on
that sensation until he felt me calling him. My staff created blue magic that
flowed upward into the air. Out of that, my monkey monster formed.

The creature had the general body of a monkey about
the size of Merlin, with two arms and two legs. He was dark brown, furry, and
fairly thin, although he had much more strength than any man. He also had two
large, black, bat wings suspending him in the air and a row of four black
tentacles down each of its sides. He glanced around before landing in front of
me, seemingly curious as to why I called him.

Once again, the whispering got louder, and once
again, I ignored it. “Do you want to fight my cousin and help me save my aunt?”
I asked.

In answer, the creature flexed his wings.

“Wow, that is a somewhat scary monster that leaves me
both confused and a little worried,” Asiago said.

“
Your necromancer friend sure knows how to put
things in perspective
.”

“Don’t judge him. You three go around and see if you
can find another way in. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult for you to sneak in.”
Without hesitation, Merlin, Asiago, and Sam walked into the forest to do a wide
sweep. Kirin and I approached the cabin. Before we could get close enough for
me to knock on the door, one of the bat creatures appeared. I pulled the locket
out of my pocket. “I got what your master wants. Tell her to come out here.”
The bat rushed forth to steal it, but I had expected that; I was already
pulling my dagger out of my boot. “Stop, or I’ll destroy it.” I said, pointing
the dagger at the locket. The bat didn’t know what a locket was, and he wasn’t
willing to risk inciting his master’s wrath.

After another moment of hesitation, the creature
dived through the door like a ghost. I refused to let that bother me. Then the
door opened and Veronica stepped out. She didn’t look particularly pleased or
angry. “You made it back quicker than I expected. You have the object?”

I held up the locket. “Is Livia safe?”

She pursed her lips, staring straight into my eyes.
Then she reached into the pocket of her robe and I pulled out my wand. “Calm
down,” she said quickly, holding her hands flat to show me she was unarmed.
“I’m just reaching for the crystal.”

“Why?” I asked. Very slowly, she reached into her
pocket, pulled out the crystal, and tossed it to me. It was still glowing red.
“Why didn’t you use it? I thought you wanted the dark magic out of it?”

“You really don’t know?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.”

She frowned. “It appears we were both lied to. This
is not the real crystal. It looks authentic, but there is no magic in it.”

I gaped. “You’re lying.” If that were the case, then
the crystal couldn’t have been what made me feel so calm when I faced her the
first time. “Magnus would have known. He wouldn’t have sent me here with a fake
because you would have had no reason not to kill me. Wizards don’t put people’s
lives in danger like that.”

“Who told you that?”

“That’s just common sense.”

“You yourself prove that people can change.”

“I’m the seventh son of the seventh son. That’s
different.”

She laughed. “You look like a regular wizard to me.
Let’s make a deal. Give me the locket, I’ll let my mother go, and we can work
together to get what we both want. Magnus sent you to your death, do you really
want to return to him?”

“I’m at least going to ask him why.”

“I can teach you much more powerful magic.”

“Magnus isn’t my teacher. My teacher is hundreds of
years old, wiser than any man on Caldaca, and is patient enough to put up with
me on an almost daily basis.” Privately, I asked Merlin if he had made it in
yet.

“
We have, but this place is much larger on the
inside than we anticipated. We need you to distract her for a while longer
.”

“
Can I drop the invisibility
?”

“
For now, yes
.”

I did, thankfully, and felt a huge strain lift away.
Although Asiago’s clothes hadn’t been a problem, I had underestimated how much
magic it would take to make Sam invisible.

“Are you going to give me the locket or am I going to
have to take it from your dead body?”

“Are you going to release my aunt?”

“If you give me the locket.” I tossed it to her and
she caught it easily. It only took an instant before she sneered at it.
“Another fake?!”

“Not a fake, just empty.”

Infuriated, Veronica raised her hand and her wand
appeared. I would definitely have to get Merlin to show me how to do that. My
monkey monster immediately attacked her. Unfortunately, he had never fought a
real sorceress before. She shot curses at him and all he could do was claw her
and try to wrap his tentacles around her throat.

“Fire,” I said, pointing my staff at her.

I successfully blew fire at her, which she easily
blocked using a shield of magic. In the blink of an eye, magic in the form of
black lightning struck me. My monkey didn’t even have a chance to help me. The
pain was instant and I was tossed backwards into Kirin. I knew immediately that
Veronica wasn’t being merciful as my vision grew black. Furthermore, all I
could feel was pain, so much so that I couldn’t stand to touch anything. Even
my clothes hurt. Being blind and unable to feel my way around, I was completely
defenseless. Over the whispers of the chimera, I heard my monkey fighting and
Kirin making sounds of distress.

I sat as still as I could and closed my mind to the
pain. It wasn’t easy, but I had done this before, as Zeustrum loved using pain
curses on me. I had to force my mind to focus on my inner self, even deeper
than my body, where the pain couldn’t reach. My magic was there, ready to fight
back.

Veronica’s weakness was obvious; she hadn’t thought
the curse through. I formed a protective ward, but I created it inside me.
Then, I pushed outward very slowly, causing it to swell like a growing bubble.
As it did, I also tore away at the curse from the outside by mentally
unraveling the mistakes. I knew how to find the weak points of a curse.

The world around me slowly returned as Veronica’s
curse became weaker and weaker. When I could see again, I was surprised to find
Kirin licking my face. I would have said something about it being gross, but he
was helping to get rid of the pain. A moment later, Kirin knelt and I struggled
to reach into the saddlebag.

We both knew I didn’t have the strength to break many
more curses without rest. I decided to try the spell Merlin told me about. I
couldn’t afford to lose. It
had
to work. I pulled out a mirror, a
candle, a very small knife, and the incantation Merlin had made me write on a
piece of paper. My staff was out of reach, but I didn’t need it for this.

I learned a lot of curses over the years from my
family, which I always failed because I couldn’t do sorcery at the time. Then I
met Merlin, accepted my wizardry, and fought alongside Magnus. I learned that
when I accepted both my wizardry and sorcery, I could do both, but that didn’t
change the fact that I didn’t want to hurt people. This time, however, I didn’t
have anyone to hide behind or make my decision for me. I had to fight if I
wanted my monkey to live, and I couldn’t just call him back because I had to
distract Veronica for as long as possible.

That didn’t mean I had to kill her.

While the monkey dodged her attacks and Kirin blocked
me from her vision, I focused as hard as I could. Most of my magic was spur of
the moment and left up to the judgment of my wand and staff. With serious
magic, it took a lot more skill.

I carved Veronica’s name into the candle, which was
red on one end, black on the other, and had a double wick. Then I placed the
candle on its side on the mirror and lit both ends using my wand. As I did, I
spoke the incantation.

All evil and misfortune that you send

Reversed upon yourself shall be its
end.

Until you stop and be undone

Except yourself, you harm none.

Face the mirror, power, and justice

Every day until you meet repentance
.

Suddenly, I heard Veronica shout with pain and
climbed to my feet before Kirin moved out from between us. My cousin turned to
me with pure hatred on her face. “What did you do?! You can’t do curses!”

“This isn’t a curse.” Merlin spent quite a long time
explaining it. Although I had been more interested in studying Sonya’s locket
than listening, I did get the idea. “Reversing spells are aimed at reflecting
darkness back on the person who inflicts it. In reality, it’s white magic, like
protection spells. If you did nice magic, it would be reflected back onto you
as well. However, since you can only use dark magic, you can’t use it to your
advantage.”

“I will kill you for this!” The snarl on her face
made her look more crazed than angry, which was further proved when she raised
her wand at me. Black magic burst from her wand to strike me, only to stop
halfway and rebound onto her. She screamed as she was tossed back into the air.

I waited patiently for her to recover. I was shocked
my spell worked and excited to tell Merlin, but I kept my expression blank.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last very long, and a sorceress as powerful as
Veronica could wear it down even faster. However, she didn’t know that.

My monkey monster began to harass her again as soon
as she climbed to her feet. There were other curses I could use, but I didn’t
want to use them if I didn’t have to. I wasn’t supposed to be defeating her,
only distracting her. “
Merlin, are you almost done
?”

“
We have your aunt, though it did take some
convincing before she would go with a half invisible necromancer, a griffin,
and an invisible wolf. It should not be long now
.”

I knew I needed another plan, because once she broke
the curse, there was nothing to stop her from coming after us. I reached into
the saddlebag and pulled out the syrus. The sinister whispering increased
tenfold, but this time, I gave into it. I felt my magic flowing from me
straight into it without any prompting, and a passage suddenly appeared on the
front.

That is not dead, which can eternal
lie.

And in strange eons, even death may
die.

As soon as I was done reading it, the lid popped open
and a bright, ominous light poured out. “
Come out, chimera, and speak to me
.”
I didn’t know how, but I was able to speak to it in its mind just like I could
with Merlin. If anything, it was easier than it had been when I first met
Merlin because I’d been hearing the chimera’s calls for several days straight.

Unfortunately, that was when Veronica shot my monkey
with a burst of magic. My monkey went down hard. She turned back to me. “Now,
you will pay for that.”

My spell had already been vanquished. “I thought you
wanted to join forces.”

“You no longer have any use to me.” She raised her
wand, only to lower it when it was clear that something was forming out of the
syrus. Something massive. “What did you do?”

“Hopefully, I made a new friend.” When the chimera
was completely formed and the light of the syrus died, I half expected the
creature to attack me. It didn’t.

A chimera was actually perfect for the plan I had in
mind because they were magical creatures, so Veronica couldn’t control it, and
they were invulnerable to magic. They were also strong, fast, and intelligent.
It had the head and body of a lion with large tan-colored, feather wings and a
goat’s head protruding from its back, and a serpent for a tail.

“
Can you understand me
?”

There wasn’t a comprehensible word so much as a
hissing sound that seemed affirmative.

“
I want you to keep this woman here like you kept
Magnus trapped in his castle. If you do this, I won’t put you back in the syrus
.”
Although I didn’t know if I actually could put him back in the syrus or not,
the chimera probably didn’t either. “
Will you do it
?” I asked when the
beast didn’t respond.

Finally, I heard that whispering hissing again. This
time, I was certain the chimera was agreeing. Veronica shot a bolt of lightning
at me, but just as fast, the serpent shot out and swallowed it like it was a
slow-moving bug.

“
We are out of the cabin and heading away from
Veronica to get Livia to safety. I will be with you momentarily to help you
.”

“
I have it covered here
,” I argued. I didn’t
want him to leave Livia at risk right after he saved her, and I didn’t really
trust Asiago and Sam to protect her. “He won’t hurt you if you don’t try to
escape,” I said, putting the syrus and my staff in the saddlebag and my wand
back in my pocket.

She scoffed. “You have no idea what I’m going to do
to you.”

“And if I were a proper sorcerer, I would kill you
just in case. Does it bother you that I’m not going to do it?” She just glared
at me. Obviously it did, maybe because she thought I didn’t feel threatened or
maybe she just didn’t know how to respond to someone like me. Either way, she
didn’t try to stop me when I turned and walked away. Kirin, of course, followed
me.