Drakonika (Book 1) (16 page)

Rodrick or not, Black Squad or not, Magnus felt sorry for him. Maybe he really dropped the cards into the well by accident and it was just bad luck after all. “All right, all right, just calm down. I'll get them back for you,” Magnus said, trying to comfort Rodrick. But when he looked into the well, he instantly regretted what he had said. It wasn't one of the shallowest ones.

Magnus gulped as the first thoughts of fear invaded his mind. He pulled the rope that was tied to the well, but it didn't look very trustworthy. He heard Rodrick's voice somewhere behind him, thanking him for ten of his lives and praising him to the skies, while Magnus watched the dust from the edges fall into the darkness of the deep pit. What had he bargained for again?

After a short while of thinking whether to go down or not, Magnus tied the other side of the rope around his waist and in the next moment he was descending down the slippery round wall. He was doing quite well aside  his foot slipping several times, making his heart almost jump out of his body. In a while, he spotted Rodrick's card deck, tightly closed in a small wooden box. Magnus didn't even want to think about what would happen if the cards weren't closed.

The card box was lying on a large, flat rock right near the bottom of the well. Magnus descended slowly, but as soon as he set foot on the rock, he slipped again. If he wasn't tied with the rope, he would have surely ended up sprawled on the ground. In this cave everything was slippery. Wait a minute. A cave? That's right! And when Magnus picked up the card box and looked around, he understood that not only the citadel had underground corridors. It was more than certain that there was a vast dungeon beneath the whole town, making its way deep into the rocks it was built on.

Magnus shook from the cold. He would have already climbed up if his eyes didn't catch another interesting sight. There was a small fissure in the ceiling that cast a thin ray of light from the surface down on a small isle in the midst of the cave room. It was enclosed with water, certainly freezing cold water, and in the middle there stood a pedestal made of stone. Magnus couldn't see it well, but that didn't bother him. What was most intriguing was the item sitting on top of the pedestal.

If it wasn't for the thin ray of light, he would have never seen the crystal ball that lay beneath it. Even from a distance it seemed to be completely clear. Magnus' eyes opened wide in amazement. Only two questions remained in his mind. Where did the crystal ball come from and what was it used for?

While Magnus kept gazing curiously at the mysterious ball, Rodrick had already felt the joy of his victory. “Well? Are you okay down there?” he shouted in a slightly mocking tone. The deep hole gave his voice a strong echo.

It took a while for Magnus to react. If they weren't in a hurry, he would have had loosened the rope and went to look at the little round miracle on the pedestal. “Yeah, I'm fine,” he said in a distant tone.

That surely wasn't the answer that Rodrick wanted to hear, but then he realised he could relax again. If the little scarecrow wanted to climb all the way up on the rope, he would need strong and firm muscles. And Magnus didn't have those.

Magnus realised it was time to go, otherwise he would risk Aedan eating him alive. He cast a last longing look at the ball and it was at that time when he noticed a small furtive door on a nearby wall. The length of the stalactites hanging down before the door suggested it must have been here for a pretty long time. And who knows, maybe even longer than the town itself.

When Rodrick began to think of leaving Magnus down in the well and just setting off, he heard suspicious sounds coming from the dark hole. To be more specific, it sounded as if someone was climbing the wall. Rodrick understood that the time had come for drastic action. He wouldn't let the scarecrow get out!

Rodrick jumped to the old knot that tied the rope to the top of the well. He tried to untangle it with all his might but it wasn't enough. The knot looked like it would loosen by itself at any moment, but it was rigid like steel. His eyebrows twisted in horror when he heard Magnus nearing the top of the well. With the speed of  lightning bolt he jumped to the wooden hatch of the well that was leaning on its wall, but he couldn't move it. It seemed to be stuck.

Before Rodrick could make it move, he spotted an arm emerge on the edge of the well and in a short while Magnus was standing right before him.

“Here's your card deck, Rodrick,” Magnus said, still sounding rather distant. He looked as though he never climbed all the way down and back to the surface. His breath sounded normal. His hands weren't shaking. It seemed as if it was no big deal for him.

Rodrick broke into a sweat. What was that odd gaze? And where did the extraordinary strength came from? And the luck he had! It looked as if there was some kind of an invisible protective hand watching over Magnus all the time.  

With his hands trembling, Rodrick took his card deck from Magnus, but he wasn't happy at all. His plan had failed; he didn't get rid of the scarecrow!

“
I can see you have calmed down,” said Magnus suspiciously, as he noticed that Rodrick's face suddenly didn't have a single tear on it. “Now that you've got your cards back, can we finally go get the bag? And no stupid games this time,” Magnus commented in a serious voice as he made a step forward.

Rodrick followed him silently, but he was already thinking of another way of disposing of Magnus. And was even better, he was going to throw all the work on him.

They didn't speak a word all the way up to the dining room and back to the streets. When they reached their houses, Magnus stopped suddenly. Rodrick turned to see if by any chance Magnus got lost, but he was wrong. “Now I'd like to ask you for a favour in return,” said Magnus, placing his bag down. “I'm going upstairs to change my clothes. I'm fed up with these rags. Wait here, I'll be right back.” He flung the door open and ran up the stairs in haste.

That was the last he saw of Rodrick standing by his house. However, the overflowing bag did wait for him. “I should have known,” Magnus muttered when he returned, grabbing the bag. What other choice did he have?

In the meantime, Rodrick returned and found Aedan with his group of novices settled by the stream near the forest. He joined his friends with a satisfied smile on his face. He was proud of the cunning plan with which he had gotten rid of his duties and most importantly, Magnus.

Viktor was bustling around their teacher constantly because he had been wrapped up in work of all kinds. Aedan seemed to be pleased with the outcome though.

“See? Isn't it better to do something useful instead of making riots?” said Aedan, a faint smile on his face. And then he sent Viktor and Darius to wash the dusty dishes in the stream. Obviously, nobody had used them in a long time.

The two of them muttered under their breath as they set off, dragging the bags of dishes behind them. They son pulled up the sleeves of their black shirts and began washing. At the moment, Darius completely forgot what was hidden under his left sleeve. He was so used to it that he didn't even notice Viktor's curious look.

Darius' arm was wrapped in a ragged bandage, covering it completely from the wrist to the elbow. Viktor had wondered what reason he had to wear it, but it seemed that his patience had paid off. The bandage on Darius' left arm had loosened in the water.

“
What's that?” Viktor asked curiously and a bit too loudly to Darius' taste.

“
Nothin',” Darius said curtly. He wrapped the bandage around his arm again but it was too late. Viktor had seen the large burn mark that was hidden underneath it.

“
Don't tell anyone,” said Darius grimly. He finished the bandaging by making a double knot, tying it with his teeth. Then he shot Viktor a stiff glance. “Understood?” he said, almost in a threatening tone. It seemed it wasn't something he wanted to brag about.

Viktor shrugged as he continued washing dishes and there wasn't a word spoken about the mark on Darius' arm since then.

When Magnus finally came to the place where the novices had settled, all the work was nearly done. Darius and Victor weren't done though because Aedan gave them the dishes from the bag that Magnus had just brought. They both threw him a hateful glare.

It didn't take long for Maren to notice Magnus' presence. She was setting the blankets on the ground when she saw him coming back. She
left her work immediately and dashed to his side. It seemed as if she hadn't seen him for years as she couldn't take her eyes off of him. That was probably thanks to the new clothes that he had received as a gift for catching the thief. His tunic glowed a clean white.

“
Hi,” Maren said bashfully, touching Magnus' dazzling tunic to see which fabric it was made of. “That's really nice. Very neat,” she said with a faint smile, but she didn't make any eye contact with him. Her face turned pink.

“
Thanks,” said Magnus with a returned kind smile. “Basically I had to 'pay' for it anyway. When I went upstairs to change my clothes, Rodrick had scooted off and made me do all the work for him.” But Magnus had to admit it was worth all the trouble. It was an amazing feeling. He wasn't a scarecrow anymore!

Suddenly, he gave Maren a puzzled look, “But why the stand-offish attitude? Back in Ragna you were hanging on my neck and now
–
”

“
Shhh! Quiet!” Maren interrupted him, as though she didn't want anyone to hear it. She kept looking around. If anyone knew that, it would become a favourite topic for gossip! And who knows how many towns would learn about it.

“
All right, all right,” Magnus said in a calming voice. He didn't understand her behaviour, but he decided it would be wiser to discuss it later.

While Magnus and Maren were having good fun, the preparations were nearing the end, just like their first day in this guild. The golden rays cast by the setting sun were caressing the tree tops and the grass on the flower field where Aedan's novices had settled down for the picnic. Their druid teacher obviously wanted them to take part in nature. Everything was ready. There was a feast spread on the mats; druid biscuits, cookies and drinks, one of them being particularly special. It was what they would drink as a toast for entering the guild. Aedan was probably right when he said that he'd been working hard since early morning.

Aedan didn't take his teacher “career” lightly, therefore he wanted to choose the right novice to serve the toast glasses to the others. He was deciding among a few but in the end he chose Viktor. To Aedan's astonishment, he had been the one who helped him the most that afternoon and he wanted to encourage him to continue that way. He smiled, a few wrinkles crumpling on his face. It seemed that he was so content that his eyes were smiling too.

While Aedan was feeling ecstatic about his novices piously cooperating and helping each other, there were still two groups that kept their distance from the others. The first group was the five members of the Black Squad, as usual. The second one was actually just one girl; Fjalldís who was constantly looking at Magnus. His new clothes obviously didn't catch only Maren's interest, but Fjalldís was still feeling too resentful towards him to go and talk to him. Her thoughts and covert gazing kept her busy so she didn't notice that she was being watched as well.

Darius kept shooting her poisonous looks. The work was finished, Aedan was happy, and now he had time to think of a revenge plan. There was no way he would leave her be after she insulted him so insolently in front of everyone. Darius didn't bother hiding it; his sinister stare was easy for everyone to see.

Viktor couldn't help poking at him. “What's the matter? Do you like her?” he said in a slightly mocking tone.

Darius rounded on him, his face darkened with a spiteful glare. “What are you babbling about?” he retorted, looking at Viktor as if he was the biggest moron he had ever seen. Then he turned slightly to stare back at Fjalldís, but only furtively this time.

“
C'mon, you look really happy when you look at her,” Viktor said, trying to sound as convincing as possible, even though Darius' face looked like the complete opposite of what he had said.

Nobody knew what to think. Viktor seemed to be serious, but then again he liked to make various inappropriate jokes and here was a moment when all five of them had nothing to do. He didn't hesitate to make pranks, even if the victim was his best friend.

Rodrick, Giselbert and Henry stood right next to them, exchanging confused looks. They decided to stay quiet and let Darius and Viktor solve this by themselves.

“
Are you
joking
?!
” Darius breathed heatedly. “She's worthless. She doesn't even deserve my company. Besides that, I don't care about girls. They're pathetic,” he said scornfully.

But even despite these tough words, Viktor didn't stop. “You're going to regret that decision later, you'll see. In a few years you will dream about a girl like her, but she'll already be taken. And that scrubby scarecrow who thinks he's a handsome prince just because he's changed his clothes?
He'll
be by her side, instead of
you
,
” Viktor said in a “take it or leave it” tone, now glaring at Magnus, who was sticking torches in the ground together with Maren. Aedan was standing around desperately grasping his head, telling them to watch out for each blade of grass.