Magician Prince (37 page)

At almost the same moment, shouts and shrieks
came from all around as another eighty magicians all released their
most powerful magic spells. The others were positioned to deal with
the king’s guards stationed throughout the crowd and around the
perimeter. Xander was vaguely aware of the surging of elemental
energies and other creatures being summoned from beyond the veil
all around him, but his focus was on his own casting. Summoning a
dragon required an unparalleled amount of energy and concentration,
but the power of the beast along with the sheer terror it would
cause would be well worth it.

“Archers!” shouted Janus. His personal guards
moved to intercept Xander even as Janus fell back. As commanded a
plethora of bowmen appeared in second and third story windows all
around the square. Their bows were at the ready and they began
firing into the crowd at the magicians.

As the last of the people trapped within the
rune was turned to ash a great black smoke began to form at
Xander’s feet and quickly obscured him at the center of the rune.
Soon the smoke spread out so that the entire rune was hidden. Then
the roar of death came from seemingly everywhere and Xander could
feel the ground shift under his feet. He bent down to one knee and
placed a hand on the sleek, black form that was rising from
underneath him. Its eyes glowed red and he knew that those in front
of him, the king and his nobles, could see them through the smoke.
There were several dull thuds as arrows struck into the darkness,
but their aim was now too low to hit Xander and they bounced
harmlessly off of the creature that he now sat astride. When the
smoke dissipated the horror and shock of the people around him made
Xander smile. They looked upon him as he sat, mounted on the back
of a black wraith-dragon summoned from the deepest realms of the
underworld. It was a beast of such power and terror that only the
most powerful of necromancers could hope to summon and control it.
It required most of the energy that Xander’s young body had to
complete the summoning. The dragon’s strength was drawn from the
lives sacrificed in the summoning and fueled by the lives of thirty
able-bodied men and women this would be a powerful
wraith-dragon.

People were now trampling over one another to
get away from the beast and its rider. It was a mass panic as the
throngs of people who had been so tightly packed together minutes
before were all now trying to flee for their lives. Only the nobles
who were at the front of the assemblage and had an unobstructed
path to escape were having any luck at putting some distance
between themselves and the chaos that was now exploding all around
them. Unfortunately for them, they were the only ones that really
mattered and their escape would be short lived.

The black dragon blew a gust of fire out and
over the king’s personal guard, burning and charring their bodies
black in an instant before taking wing for a few moments and flying
ahead of the fleeing nobles so that he could land in front of them
and cut off their retreat.

“I am the magician prince, Byrn Aurel, and I
have come to claim what is rightfully mine. My magicians are taking
over this city today and the rest of the kingdom will soon be
destroyed if they do not accept me as their leader,” Xander’s voice
boomed so that all in the capital could hear him speak. Let all
know what was happening in the square and that they had a new king.
“First, in a show of good faith, I call upon the former king, Janus
Aurel, and the representatives of all the noble houses gathered
before me to bend their knees and swear their allegiances to
me.”

“Byrn,” the queen’s voice cracked, “why would
you do this?”

Xander ignored her.

“Never!” shouted Janus. His eyes were filled
with such hate that if looks could kill, Xander would be as dead as
the spirits he trafficked with.

A black tendril whipped out of Xander’s hand
and wrapped around the throat of one the nobles. Xander did not
know or care who the man was as he drained the life from him in a
matter of seconds. The dead noble fell to the cobbled stone and
Xander’s triumphant gaze never broke from Janus. “Try again. Maybe
the next victim will be your mother.”

Southernstar flew high over Mollifas when
Byrn heard the screams rise up from somewhere down below. It did
not take long for them to find the source of the cries. A battle
was erupting in the middle of the city and it was a scene of total
panic. People were running in all directions and those that could
not flee were pushing against others in an attempt to get away.
Kenzai flames and anti-magic weapons could be seen clashing against
elemental spells and summoned spirits of all varieties. Regular
soldiers were in the fight too. Some loosed arrows into the crowd
while others took to the streets in an attempt to overwhelm the
magicians. Byrn pointed to a flat rooftop not far away from the
melee, “Southernstar, land there,” and the dragon complied.

“I want the rest of you to wait here,” he
told them. Seeing Alia and Sane were going to argue, he interrupted
them. “Alia, I need you to stay safe so you can find our daughter,
and Sane, I need you to protect them if I should fail to return.”
Byrn put a hand on Kaleb’s shoulder. “I never should have dragged
you into this. Stay here out of harm’s way.”

Each one of them looked ready to object, but
Byrn’s voice carried over all of them, drowning them out. “I am the
magician prince, Byrn Aurel, and I have come to claim what is
rightfully mine. My magicians are taking over this city today and
the rest of the kingdom will soon be destroyed if they do not
accept me as their leader. First, in a show of good faith, I call
upon the former king, Janus Aurel, and the representatives of all
the noble houses gathered before me to bend their knees and swear
their allegiances to me.”

“I am out of time,” Byrn pleaded, “Please
just stay here.”

Alia wore a grim expression, but nodded. “We
will stay.”

“No!” cried Sane angrily, “This is
foolishness. You cannot face Xander alone as he is now.
Southernstar won’t help you, if that is what you’re thinking. She
is a pacifist.”

“He speaks true,” added the red dragon. “I am
only here to guard the remaining pages of the black grimoire.”

Byrn took the pages from his pack. He
wondered if he could convince the mighty dragon to fight for him in
exchange for these few pieces of ragged paper. Then thought better
of it. Southernstar had done so much to help him already. It did
not seem right to try and force her to serve him now. “Take the
pages and keep them safe, but before you go will you fly me to
wherever Xander Necros is?”

The pages of the grimoire vanished from
Byrn’s hand. It happened so quickly that he had no idea what type
of magic Southernstar had used to pull off the feat. She held out
her front paw and Byrn stepped into it. Southernstar leapt and beat
her wings repeatedly as they gained altitude. Below them Sane
screamed for them to wait. “Take me with you!” he called after
them, but they did not turn back.

The square came into view and Byrn looked
around for Xander Necros and his style of black magic, but did not
see him among the battle happening below. Southernstar banked to
the right, “Look.” Byrn was about to ask at what, but it
immediately became apparent what Southernstar had seen. It was a
black dragon with glowing red eyes and on its back sat Xander.
Xander executed one of the nobles as they flew in closer. Byrn was
struck dumb with horror as he watched Xander kill someone while
wearing his body.

Southernstar let loose with a fireball that
sped toward the black dragon and hit it directly, knocking it off
balance, but it did not topple. She launched another fire attack
before Byrn could say anything, but this time the black dragon was
ready and erected a barrier to stop her magic.

The black dragon started to take flight and a
black tendril wrapped around Janus at the waist. It hauled him up
and into the reach of one of the black dragon’s claws, which held
the king against his will as they took to the air to deal with
Southernstar.

“I thought you were unable to fight?”

“That is not a natural dragon. It is a
summoned spirit from the underworld. Therefore it cannot be truly
killed and does not fall within the confines of the dragons’ code.
If the humans fall from its grip, then I will save them.”

“Even Xander?” asked Byrn.

Southernstar did not answer.

The black dragon flew directly at them and
Southernstar turned it away with a fireball. The black dragon
twisted and tried to get behind Southernstar, nipping at her tail,
but just missing. Xander was readying a spell and shot a black
lightning bolt at them that narrowly missed as Southernstar twisted
in the opposite direction.

The dragons flung fire at each other as they
both tried to move into a position that would give them an
advantage over their opponent, but they were too evenly matched.
Xander and Byrn also flung magic at one another so that the sky was
alight in fire and black lightning, but the speed with which the
dragons moved was too fast for them to have much hope of hitting
one another.

Again the black dragon charged at
Southernstar and she spit more fire at it, but this time it did not
turn away. With its shield raised it barreled through the spray of
fire-breath and slammed into Southernstar with all of its might.
Suddenly they were falling and the dragons bit and scratched at
each other furiously with their hind legs. Southernstar’s left
foreleg held back the black dragon’s massive jaws while she held
Byrn in her right paw. The black dragon made no such concession for
Janus who clung to its arm for his life while it held back
Southernstar and her pointed teeth.

They spun to one side so that Southernstar
was on the bottom as they fell and the black dragon used that
opportunity to lurch its body forward and press down enough to
clamp its teeth into her throat. The roar of pain from Southernstar
as the black dragon ground its teeth into her neck to burrow
through her scales caused Byrn’s ears to ring and he felt nauseous
as they spun further out of control. He needed a purchase and he
needed to help Southernstar. Almost without thinking about it he
created a flame spear construct and drove it into the black
dragon’s chest. Instead of letting go, the black dragon bit down
harder and Byrn created another spear and stabbed the black dragon
with it, this time aiming for the heart. Finally, it released its
grip on Southernstar and the two dragons separated, but Byrn held
onto the flame spears and stayed with the black dragon. He held
onto one of the spears with his right hand and placed his left
against the dragon’s belly. From his palm he shot a solid spike of
flame directly into the dragon’s gut and it reared back as a cry of
agony let loose in a deafening roar. It was trying to right itself
and take flight again, but Byrn would not allow it. The advantage
was his at the moment and if he lost it now, then he would never
regain it against such a creature. He launched another burning
spike towards the black dragon’s neck and it roared in defiance. It
swung its claws frantically, but could not get a good swing at Byrn
while he impaled it with spike after spike.

By the fifth or sixth spike, he heard Xander
scream in surprise and knew that one of his spears had gone through
the dragon completely and impaled the necromancer who still sat
atop the black monstrosity. He watched as the last spike shook
vigorously as Xander was undoubtedly trying to pull himself loose
of his mount without success.

Janus lost his grip and fell away from them
or perhaps he let go in an act of desperation, because a moment
later a flood of black flames washed from all sides of the
wraith-dragon as Xander attempted to destroy Byrn even if it meant
going through his own creature. Now it was Byrn’s turn to let go
and he pushed off of the dragon’s body that was quickly becoming
engulfed by Xander’s attack.

His magic was nearly depleted as Byrn tried
to conjure flame wing constructs to save him. They flared briefly,
but quickly fizzled. A second attempt was only a little more
successful, but ultimately he could not hold them together
either.

It was the snapping of Southernstar’s jaws
upon his cloak flapping in the wind that caught Byrn and saved him.
He looked up at the dragon and noted that her neck was torn and
bleeding profusely, but she held onto him. Janus, looking utterly
terrified, clung to one of Southernstar’s forearms. His eyes were
held closed and he was praying loudly for Ashura to save him.

The black dragon crashed into the middle of
the square. Most of the fighting had stopped in favor of watching
the aerial battle of legendary creatures and the non-combatants had
managed some semblance of order and were being evacuated. The black
dragon did not stir. Byrn’s spikes and spears were still buried in
its chest and belly, but he could not focus enough to look for
Xander and see if he had survived. Southernstar was still
descending too rapidly. She lacked the strength to keep them
airborne for much longer.

“Are we going to just let them go?” Sane spun
around and questioned Alia as Southernstar flew towards the
battlefield with Byrn.

“Don’t be daft. I only told him we would stay
here so that he would go. Byrn was not going to budge and we didn’t
have time to argue. So I lied to him. Now do you want to get us off
of this roof, so that we can help him or not?”

“Come to me,” the sorcerer said and held out
his arms. Alia hugged him tightly while Kaleb stood there watching
them. “Kaleb,” Sane called and signaled with his hand for the boy
to join them. When they had a firm grip on him, Sane wrapped his
arms around them and closed the circle with his staff, holding one
end in each hand.