Knights of the Wizard (of Knights and Wizards Book 2) (20 page)

BLACKIE COULD SMELL A WONDERFUL SCENT as he made his way out of the forest; he had picked up a trace in the woods earlier but eventually lost it because a hunter had cleared his snare and placed the muskrat in his pouch making the dog lose the scent. The current scent that he was following was so tantalizing that he couldn’t wait to get at it.

Berhtram jumped off of Blackie’s back as they approached a campfire that had been extinguished for hours. Two skinned rabbits had been cooking over the fire but there was no sign of anyone in the area; the smell of the cooked rabbits was irresistible. The dog took down the now cool spit and commenced to eat one as the raven started to peck at the other. Blackie thought that the slightly burnt rabbit was so juicy and delicious that he consumed it in no time and lay down to watch the bird get its fill and when Berhtram was finished the dog ate the remainder of the other rabbit including most of the bones. They might never get another meal that was so tasty.

The dog picked up an unpleasant scent, the odor of a nearby corpse just inside the treeline, the owner of the campsite. The tall fellow lay dead with two arrows in him, killed by Dwagord warriors for no reason except to kill, although they did take his sword and shield. It had been a sneak attack and the poor fellow never knew what hit him as the first arrow pierced his heart.

Brother and Kadyn came out of the forest, past the dead body and both knights picked up the aroma almost simultaneously. They walked up to the dog and the bird and stared at them; Blackie sensed that they weren’t human but also detected no malice from them. Brother approached the dog and then got closer to the raven, realizing that he was picking up the boy’s scent from the bird. Obviously the bird had come into contact with the boy at some point.

Brother was confused. “Marcus’s scent is on the animal, it is faint but unmistakable.”

Kadyn bent over and took in the scent. She whispered. “I agree. Perhaps the bird belongs to Marcus.”

Brother picked up the bird and whispered to it. “Can you lead us to Marcus? It’s important that we get back to him. He could be in danger.”

Of course there was no response from Berhtram but the dog did bark once.

Brother examined the raven. “The bird is injured and cannot fly but I feel compelled to protect it.”

“As do I,” said Kadyn.

They continued on their way as Brother carried Berhtram with the dog following close behind. Later that afternoon they ran into two knights from Leeander, Alaster and Benedict immediately stopped their horses to stare down at the strange group. The bird is what caught their attention. Could it really be the king’s raven?

“That looks like Berhtram the,” said Alaster. “In fact I’m sure it is. He has that slight discoloration on the side of his head.”

Benedict nodded. “The prince’s golden knights. You, has something happened to Marcus? Answer me.”

Because Brother could only speak in whispers he was forced to approach Benedict. “We have lost contact with the little wizard. His current condition is unknown as is his location.”

Alaster had a short blond beard and short hair and even though he was only in his twenties he was going bald. “Hand me the raven and follow us back to Leeander and from there we’ll head back to Marcus’s castle and begin the search.”

“I’ll protect the raven,” Brother insisted.

Charox flew down and shook the ground when he landed in front of them, giving them dirty looks. “What do we have here? Who wants to be eaten first?”

STONE AND HIS KNIGHTS found themselves facing King Kai in the courtyard after a long night of interrogation; they were tired and disheartened by their situation. Their mission to capture some of the Dwagord ended up with them being taken prisoner, an unfortunate turn of events most likely with dire consequences. King Darius must certainly be having fits, and in fact he had sent out a thousand knights in search of them but locating them wouldn’t be easy, in fact might be impossible. And from what Stone had seen the numbers of the Dwagord were massive, perhaps forty thousand and maybe more, and so even if Leeander’s knight did figure out the location they would almost certainly be defeated.

It was a mild though windy morning inside King Kai’s courtyard. In the far corner more than a hundred horses were being fed. Stone, Alexa and the others were to face off one by one against Dwagord warriors, and any that could survive three battles would be permitted to join them but the others would be put to death. They were all forced to sit on the ground facing the king as he walked by each and every one of them, stopping and staring down at Alexa.

“Stand up,” said the king.

Alexa stood up. “You must know that this is an act of war.”

Kai grunted derisively. “Since we will soon rule this entire area it means little. We have more than a thousand warriors coming through the mountain every day. You will be the first to do battle. Pick up the battle axe and prepare yourself for the world of spirits.

Alexa picked up the axe and immediately realized that it was a little too heavy for her, would in fact seal her fate. She knew that she needed a more appropriate weapon to have a chance at defeating her Dwagord foe. “Your majesty, may I chose my sword instead?”

King Kai considered her request. That she had called him majesty made all the difference. “Very well.”

Alexa was given her sword and had felt undressed without it; she swung it around several times as the Dwagord that was to be her opponent approached. He was a full head taller than Alexa and the battle-axe that he held glowed red; she wondered if a single touch from its magical blade might do her in.

It was almost more than Stone could bear but he knew they were so outnumbered that to attempt to defend his wife would mean death for all of them and so he was forced to watch as Alexa’s life hung in the balance. The thought of Abbey being both motherless and fatherless was an awful consequence of both parents being knights he supposed.

Bolgar looked at the king and as soon as he nodded he swung his axe and Alexa just managed to get out of the way, it would have sliced her stomach open; he didn’t want to be dispatched by a female. She swung her sword and its tip cut into the top of his chest, blood now running down all the way to his stomach, a shallow wound but painful nonetheless. Stone closed his eyes unable to watch. Bolgar feigned another swing and kicked Alexa knocking her down, bringing his axe over his head preparing to render a fatal wound but she managed to roll away as the axe brought sparks as it hit a rock in the ground. Alexa cut into his leg, almost severing it completely. He screamed and she jumped up and took his head, everyone watching as it rolled awkwardly across the ground.

Kai again grunted low and guttural. “Tomorrow we will have another fight to the death,” said the king. “Great entertainment when a life is at stake. Take them away.”

“I see no way out of this,” said Lance as he stood up and was pushed forward.

“Neither do I,” said Stone.

MARCUS WAS YET AGAIN SLEEP WALKING in the castle, moving through the halls with his newly discovered wand in his hand, repeatedly saying “Where are you?” In his dream he was in a dark forest in search of Nydarien, following the sorcerer who wasn’t much more than a shadow. He made his way into the great hall where he bumped into almost empty wine barrels several times before moving beyond them. His wand was lit up brightly; the magical instrument was confused by the boy’s state of mind, wandering around aimlessly in the middle of the night.

Marcus stopped abruptly and looked puzzled, turning in a complete circle as he felt something. He looked skyward and then down at the floor. He moved his wand making tight little circles of light and then quickly pointed toward the ceiling and out of the floor formed a golden knight on a white stallion complete with a shield and sword. He commenced to make even more of the knights, replete with horses, shields and swords, appearing magically from out of the floor. The fifth one had a red bow and quiver equipped with black arrows. Keven was following close behind watching Marcus’s every move, fascinated by the number of knights popping up, each one nodding down at him in greeting, assuming that was how he was created as well. He continued to wield his wand and every time he pointed up toward the ceiling a new knight was created. When the boy was finished there were eight more knights, nine in the Great Hall including Kevin. One of the spirited horses reared up and whinnied.

Adorok’s ghost appeared and all the knights immediately looked at him and nodded for the sorcerer was also from the spirit world. “Marcus, wake up.”

Marcus was in his own world, in a distant forest staring at two eight-foot guards at the entrance of a trail that led down into a deep canyon and they weren’t about to let him pass, each had a sword so big and heavy that he wouldn’t even be able to pick one up. The guards had stern ugly faces with shoulder length brown hair and goatees; both had identical scars across their cheeks. The guard on the left smiled at him as if to belittle his chances of making it past them alive. Behind them lay a headless skeleton that had obviously not made it past.

Adorok clapped his hands trying to wake the boy, but being a spirit it was difficult to make much noise. He needed to concentrate to make the clap audible but he was upset and couldn’t manage to do so; he thought it might be best for spirits to remain in the land of the dead, certainly a lot less frustrating. The knights continued to watch the apparition as it continued to try and clap Marcus awake.

Kevin clapped his hands together hard, the metallic sound brought Marcus out of his dream and he immediately wondered what he was doing in the great hall, and then he saw all the knights that he had created. “Holy hell! Adorok!”

“Marcus, your sister and Stone are in grave danger. You must rescue them or you will lose them. From here I can see them just beyond the portal and they will all soon be let into the land of the dead. You need to hurry!” Adorok’s voice sounded like whispers but at least Marcus could understand him.

Marcus looked up at the golden knights on their horses and then back at Adorok. “I don’t even know where they are!”

“Follow the rabbits they will take you there.” Adorok was trying to impress on the boy the urgency of the matter. “You must hurry!”

Marcus was puzzled. “I don’t see any rabbits!”

“Outside Marcus! Time is not on your side.”

Marcus ran outside as fast as he could with all his knights following him. He was pulled up onto the back of one of the stallions as was Kevin, and they all rode off into the darkness as sunrise was still hours away. In the distance they spotted a glowing pink bunny and as they approached it another rabbit appeared in the far distance for them to follow. They were guided into a portal and just before sunrise they arrived at the castle of the Dwagord.

The wizard and his eleven golden knights halted a ways from the castle where they could see about fifty of the Dwagord warriors fast approaching and they were as scary as hell with their battle axes and swords raised for a fight. Marcus aimed his wand and sent a lightning bolt through them, killing nine of them and injuring others but they continued on towards them.

Marcus’s knights cut through the enemy, their warriors were no match for his magical creations. They were under orders from king Kai not to retreat and so they had to fight to the death. Kevin ran his sword through one, cut the arm off another and cut through another’s left shoulder stopping his heart.

Marcus and the knights fought their way through the Dwagord killing scores of them, with the boy hitting them with lightning bolts and killing dozens more with a single bolt. He hated killing but sometimes it was a necessary thing that one would have to live with. When King Kai realized that they were under attack by a wizard and even more magical knights he made Daijulan hide as he didn’t want to be in this strange land without a sorcerer.

Inside the castle a pink rabbit led them directly to Alexa and the others, they were freed and they all fought their way out of the castle which wasn’t easy because of the numbers they faced. The golden knight with the bow forced king Kai to flee lest he also take an arrow, and no matter how many arrows the knight used they were magically replaced and so he had an endless supply.

After the battle and on the way home Alexa looked at Marcus in a new light as he rode between his sister and Stone. “Marcus I can’t believe it. You saved us.”

“You can thank Adorok for that,” said Marcus. “He’s the one that told me you were in grave danger.”

“Where did you get that stick you’re carrying?” Stone asked.

Marcus remembered how difficult it was to get it. “It’s called a wand and supposedly only the most powerful wizard’s use them. Alexa, does Abbey still like to be a donkey?”

Alexa smiled. “She does but at least I can get her to change back by telling her how much I miss my little girl. I imagine she’ll grow out of it.”

The boy remembered what he had to do next. That damn wizard. “I have to kill Nydarien and take his book in order to continue on the proper path to becoming a great wizard. That’s what the wand told me.”

Everyone came to a halt as Alexa stared at Marcus. “Are you crazy! Nydarien will torture you and then kill you just for the fun of it. No one even dares to venture within twenty miles of him. Marcus you best get that stupid idea out of your head.”

“How come I never heard of Nydarien before now if he’s so evil?” said Merrill.

“Because people are afraid to even mention his name,” said Lance. “Wait the wand talks?”

“Oh no,” said Stone. He became silent as everyone waited. “The prophesy tells of two wizards that will battle with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, with one a boy. You don’t think?”

“Surely that’s not Marcus,” said Alexa.

Merrill shook his head at the thought of it. “You know any other boy wizards?”

They all turned and observed more than two thousand of the Dwagord heading straight towards them. Marcus got down off his horse and launched several lightning bolts that went through them; killing almost a hundred and making them stop. When he launched another bolt they turned and headed back.

“If he has to be killed we’ll go with you to face Nydarien,” said Alexa.

“No,” said Marcus. “It’ll be magic against magic and I don’t need to be worrying about you or anyone else. I’ll take my knights with me and no one else.”

“He does have a point,” said Stone.

“The prophesy says that if the boys loses the other wizard will launch a plague upon the world that few will survive.” Merrill’s horse was restless as it reared up. “All magic should be destroyed if you ask me.”