Drakonika (Book 1) (20 page)

Maren and Fjalldís beamed. Unbelievable!

Aedan gave a furious growl, “That's impossible! He doesn't even have a druid cloak yet!” This was supposed to be a punishment for not paying attention! But so far, it looked more like a reward; all the girls admired Magnus' extraordinary abilities. And the boys? They just envied him in silence.

The Black Squad was no exception. Quite the opposite, envy had overgrown even their heads. While Magnus was enjoying his moment of fame, Darius gave his comrades an unspoken order to change their position. It was time to ruin the big show.

A group of novices surrounded Magnus in a circle.

“
How did you do that?”

“
Do it again, I want to see it one more time!”

“
Can you teach me?” the novices squeaked admiringly over each other, doing their best to get Magnus' attention.

Magnus was tilting his head from side to side, not knowing where to look first. The unpleasant feeling of being watched had suddenly changed into a sensation so fabulous that he couldn't suppress a humble smile.

It seemed like Maren was enjoying his fame with him. She dashed to his side, smiling proudly in all directions as though she wanted everyone to see that she was a friend of Magnus.

Magnus did a few more of his incredible feats in communication with ravens. The novices couldn't stop admiring him and the excitement among them continued to grow, when suddenly a small rock flashed over their heads.

Silence
. Did anyone know such a spell? No, not yet, but they all fell quiet as if someone had used it. There was a rush to see what was going on — everyone turned in the direction the stone came from.

Even though the rock landed near Magnus, none of the ravens flew away. In the next moment there was an outbreak of screeching so loud it made all of them cover their ears, except for Magnus who still had one of the ravens on his arm. Something was telling him the attack was directed at this particular bird. As he goggled into the forest, he saw another stone flying from the bushes and this time it hit his chest.

Although the novices admired Magnus and he was their idol just seconds ago, now they didn't recognise friend from foe. They screamed in horror, running around in circles. No one was certain of what was happening, but as the following words suggested, the attackers were not far.

“
Not him! Throw it at the bird!” a boy's voice hammered in something that was supposed to be a whisper. It came from the nearby bushes.

With a sudden rush of understanding, Maren and Magnus exchanged two unspoken words: Black Squad! As soon as they realised this, all of the black birds set off and flew right into the bushes before them.

There was a set of deafening yells that carried across the whole forest. The Black Squad leapt to their feet, quickly vanishing into the distance. Darius recovered last. With a terrified look on his face, he stumbled as he turned to follow his comrades, the shower of feathery rockets bolting after him.

Magnus and Maren chuckled, but Aedan seemed desperate. There wasn't a single moment when those five would behave! “Magnus, I have a quest for you,” he said swiftly, giving his novice a significant look, “You will guard your friends until I return. I'll be right back!” He then turned away from Magnus who stopped laughing at once and dashed into the bushes. As he went deeper into the forest, he prayed to Mother Nature to forgive him such an imprudent run.

As for the Black Squad, it took a while till they could finally stop and catch their breath. It seemed that the birds stopped following them only after they left the forest. They were now standing on a field of grass and fragrant flowers, right next to a small lake with clear, deep water. Its gentle waves were shimmering under the sun rays like diamonds. For a while, this sight had completely gained their attention.

Giselbert looked around, clumsily raising a torn black sleeve to shield his eyes from the sunlight.

“Have we lost them? I think we've lost them,” he said, still panting hard.

No one answered. Instead, there was a quiet burbling sound coming from the lake, but no one except Darius noticed it.

“Hey guys, I heard something,” he said, leaning closer to the water's surface, “Maybe we should take a look.”

“
Yeah, it's probably a fish,” Rodrick said airily, still looking around. Neither Viktor, Henry nor Giselbert seemed to give it any importance.

Although his friends didn't even turn around, Darius looked so close at the lake that he could see through his reflection. There was nothing strange though — his friends were probably right.

Then he suddenly yelped, sitting back into the grass.

“
What are you doing?” Viktor asked irritably.

“
I... I saw something in there,” Darius said, his voice shaking. Watched by his puzzled friends, he tried to get away from the lake but he was stopped by something even worse.

“
Here you are, band of scoundrels,” growled Aedan angrily which suggested he wasn't exactly going to give them a warm hug. “You have seriously violated the rules of our guild. You tried to hurt an innocent animal!”

“
We didn't want to hurt the bird, we just wanted to shoo it away,” Henry said defensively, but his voice was shaking.

“
That's the same thing. Ten push-ups! All of you!” Aedan commanded, not a sign of compromise in his voice.

The five boys stared at him in silence, as if they were not sure they heard what he said.

“You can't give us such punishments, we're only ten
–
” Darius tried to change Aedan's mind, but he was cut off before he could even finish.

“
THAT is the poorest excuse I've ever heard. Twenty push-ups!” yelled their teacher so audibly it made the whole Black Squad jump up and get to work right away. None of them made it to twenty though.

Just as the five boys in black scrambled to their feet, the rest of the novices panted into sight, emerging from the forest.

Aedan didn't seem to be pleased with their arrival.

“
What are you doing here?! Magnus! Didn't I tell you to wait for me?” he shouted.

Magnus looked as if he had turned to stone. Seeing the druid's red face, he needed a great deal of courage to start talking.

“Y-You only told me to guard them. They're all here, safe and sound, so I did as you asked,” he said carefully, almost whispering.

Aedan just grumbled something under his nose as he turned away. Magnus even thought he heard him counting. Precisely in ten seconds, Aedan rounded back on his novices with a slightly calmer expression.

“Listen up. I forbid you to ever come near this lake, is that clear? There is a vast swamp not far from here and I really don't need anyone to get lost. You give me enough worries as it is,” he said grumpily.

The novices gazed into the distance beyond the lake. Truly, it appeared those woods were darker than anywhere else. Magnus had a disturbing feeling that there was something evil there. Something that Aedan decided not to mention.

“All right, then. Let's continue the lessons,” Aedan said in a slightly brighter tone as he started walking back to the forest, but then he suddenly stopped. “Wait a minute. Where are your books?” he said in a suspicious tone.

There was long and painful silence, then Maren spoke.

“We didn't bring them.”

“
WHAT!?” Aedan blurted out, louder then was appropriate in the presence of Mother Nature.

Maren quickly jumped behind Magnus, but he had difficulty stopping his knees from shaking. “Eh, I think you just broke one of the rules,” he said irresolutely, looking right at his teacher.

“GO GET THEM! NOW!” hammered Aedan's voice. He swung his arm towards Magnus and Maren so furiously they were forced to start running at once. The rest of the novices followed them without hesitation. It was no wonder, with such a wild bear on their heels!

They had several more animal communication exercises but because Magnus wasn't allowed to join them, they were all unsuccessful. However, one good thing happened that day. Aedan decided to take them to the Ragnan Mages Guild the next day so they could borrow more comprehensive books about animals. But Magnus and Maren didn't really care about that. They only cared about one book and Magnus knew exactly where to find it.

It's not like they had any free time that day. Herb study followed right after communication with animals and you can certainly imagine Aedan's face when he found out that most of his novices weren't able to read a single word from their books! That was the end of their lessons outside. Aedan chased them all back into the citadel and those who couldn't read had to stay with him in the underground chamber with the huge hearth, buried under exercises in both writing and reading. The others had to spend the rest of their afternoon closed in their dungeon study-rooms and learn from the books they carried across the forest earlier that day. But this time, Aedan took precautions. He locked the remaining members of the Black Squad — Darius and Viktor — in their study rooms with two heavy locks, just in case.

X. The Forgotten Book

The novices were usually quiet and obedient when Aedan sat with them in the dining room, but that wasn't the case today. He was late coming for breakfast and therefore no one cared about his rules. Everyone used this opportunity to chat and play games with their friends.

Magnus was one of the last novices to enter. As soon as he stepped inside, all faces turned to him, with their words frozen in their throats. Magnus wasn't sure what the reason was for this. He slowly made his way to the seat that Maren had frantically guarded for him.

Shortly they stopped staring and most of the children went back to talking, but there were some who kept on throwing Magnus covert looks. In the morning chatter, Darius couldn't miss hearing the new nickname that Magnus had earned among the novices.

“The lord of ravens, such nonsense,” Darius muttered irritably, shaking his head in disbelief. He wasn't the only one who seemed to be in a gloomy mood — the whole Black Squad was frowning like the sky before a storm, but there was still one member missing.

The door suddenly swung open. Like the wind, Rodrick panted into the dining room and flung himself onto the empty seat among his friends. They seemed to be impatiently waiting for him. All four of them leaned closer.

“Well? Have you found anything?” Viktor said quietly.

Darius wrinkled up his forehead as they all waited for an answer.

“It wasn't easy,” Rodrick said in a weighty tone, “But in the end I found it.” Upon these words, he unveiled a bundle of scrolls, wrapped together in his coat. Compared to the ones in the citadel's library, these were not brownish, burnt, dank nor falling apart. They were all completely new.

“
Excellent,” Viktor said, his expression clearing. He grabbed the scrolls and started skimming through them recklessly under the table as none of the other novices were welcome to see what he and his friends were doing. His face brightened even more when he found what he was looking for. “Magnus,” he whispered in hope, but he wasn't too pleased when he opened the scroll. There was no other information than Magnus' name and his age.

Viktor's hands trembled with anger. He almost crumpled the scroll as if it was a piece of junk.

“Why do you care about it so much? It doesn't matter, does it?” Giselbert said negligently. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he involuntarily smelled the dish that lay before him.

“
I want to know who we are dealing with. There's something more to him, I tell you,” Viktor said, watching Magnus with narrow eyes.

“
Trust,” Rodrick agreed, “He's stronger than a mature man!”

Darius rolled his eyes.

“Oh please! He's just lucky, that's all,” he grumbled, without much conviction. There was a great deal of envy in his voice.

Viktor looked more concerned than usual. “Isn't it odd? Nobody knows where he came from or who he is and yet everyone admires him. It even seems that he already knows everything we're supposed to learn here. And his strength... his strength is unbelievable.”

“Believe,” breathed Henry's voice.

When the four boys mentioned nearly all the extraordinary abilities they had observed about Magnus, Darius tore the scrolls from Viktor's hands.

“That girl Maren is with him all the time. She must know something,” he whispered, carefully browsing the papers to find Maren's name. “If we learn something about her, then maybe
through
her
we could learn something about
him
.”

For a moment, his friends stared at him wordlessly, as if they couldn't understand how he came up with such a smart idea. But after all, Darius was their leader, so they should have expected nothing less.

“You're right,” Viktor nodded as he rounded on Giselbert, Rodrick and Henry sitting on his left, “We need a plan.”

“
Right!” said Rodrick eagerly, while Darius who sat at the end of the table was browsing the scrolls in great haste. “One of us could get closer to her and act as a big friend of hers!” he said swiftly, raising his carrot-red eyebrows in excitement.

“
And in the meantime, we'll get a bunch of information from her,” Henry added thoughtfully.

Viktor suddenly turned back to Darius, a sinister sneer breaking across his face.

“What do you think about it, Darius?”

Darius twitched in his seat as if he was interrupted when doing something he didn't want the others to know about.

“What? Oh! Yeah, yeah, that's great!” he said in the tone of acted enthusiasm, as he had no idea what they were talking about. “I found her document. Here,” he said, handing the parchments over to Viktor with his left hand, Maren's scroll on the top. His right hand was hidden under his chair, holding something that no one was supposed to see.

It appeared that Viktor was extremely pleased with their new plan.

“Perfect. I am sure we can find something interesting here,” he said in a tone of malicious delight when he unfolded the scroll and his eyes slid across its rich contents. Maren wasn't even aware Aedan held possession of something like this. But who would expect that Zimbadur's pigeon could bring him information about all the novices?

The Black Squad squeezed close together and started reading, trying to remember as much as they could or as much as their reading ability allowed them. The scrolls ought to be returned to Aedan's desk drawer as soon as possible. Naturally, this desk was located in a forbidden area. But despite the risk of being caught, all five of them seemed to be satisfied.

However, Maren wasn't. Magnus hadn't spoken to her at all since the moment he entered the dining room, not even a “good morning”. He hadn't touched his breakfast either.

“
Why don't you eat? Should I feed you or what?” Maren said tartly as she started eating herself.

Magnus could hardly keep himself awake. It was a wonder his head was still above the plate and not inside it. He had had another sleepless night and his eyelids were drooping so much he saw two plates instead of one. He was just about to fall asleep, when a spoon full of small vegetable balls emerged right in front of his nose.

“Eat,” Maren mumbled.

Magnus didn't have the slightest appetite, especially when someone tried to feed him like a newborn. But when he heard Maren's heavy breath, he took the spoon from her and after a moment of hesitation he placed it in his mouth.

“Ugh,” he shivered as he swallowed. “That's disgusting. Who cooked this?” he said in his best effort to imitate the squeamishness of the Black Squad, but apparently, he imitated it far too well.

“
ME,” Maren said in a highly dangerous tone.

That was probably the only thing that could wake Magnus entirely. Faster than a thunderbolt, he set off from his seat and jumped to the other side of the table with one brisk move.

Everyone raised their eyes from their food, making Fjalldís and the Black Squad no exception.

Magnus was desperately surveying the whole dining room, thinking frantically what to use for his salvation.

“Sorry, I didn't know... I just wanted to
–
” he stuttered as he watched Maren's fierce stare. They were now separated by the table full of plates with food and curious novices sitting in chairs.

“
You didn't
know
, but you were
thinking
it!” Maren said in an injured voice, as she pointed at him with her spoon.

“
No, absolutely not,” Magnus said quickly, trying to save himself. “I was just kidding, it's actually quite tasty, really
–
”

SPLASH!

There was no time to smooth things over. One of the green vegetable balls was catapulted directly from his plate, aiming right at him. Magnus ducked by the wall, his big eyes bulging from between his fingers. It took him a moment to realise that Maren missed him completely.

“
What's the matter? Not enough?” she shrieked, her lips curled in a slightly malicious sneer. There was another shot at once and let's be honest — she took no mercy on him. The rest of the novices just watched food disappear from their plates and some of them joined the battle by giving supportive screams for either Maren or Magnus.

The wentire dining room was in complete chaos which was a perfect opportunity for Rodrick to sneak around Maren and slip out into the courtyard.

Shortly, they were all forced to stop and Magnus could breathe again. Or not?

“
HE'S COMING!” bellowed Lars, the little boy who shared house with Magnus and one other friend. He had been standing on a stool near one of the windows, just to be able to see outside and alarm the others when the time came. He quickly swung himself onto his seat and still panting hard, he shot Magnus a frightened look.

The chaos had settled down immediately and in less than five seconds, everyone was sitting back in their seats, acting as if they were just finishing their breakfast. But there was no time to clean up.

The door banged open. Aedan, who was now standing at the threshold, had surveyed the whole dining room with a suspicious look. There was something strange about the silence, those frightened faces and — the green mess on the right wall.

“
Who did this?!” Aedan's voice made all the dishes in the room shake and chink. The novices trembled too, but with all the guilt on her, Maren was shaking the most. What would happen to the one who had made a shooting range out of the dining room?

Magnus looked at Lars whose eyes were reflecting great fear as he gazed into nowhere. He was shivering and his hair stood upright, as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt. The sight of him didn't help Magnus summon much courage.

Aedan cast a piercing stare at the group dressed in black, sitting at the very end of the table.

“
Only four,” he mumbled, when suddenly Rodrick bounded in. As soon as he noticed Aedan, a terrified expression landed on his face. His teacher didn't seem to be surprised at all though.

“
There we go,” said Aedan bitterly. Then he swished his arm around, pointing his finger at the wall so quickly that the novices sitting in the front had to duck if they didn't want to get a good slap. “Is that your creation?” he said firmly, gazing fiercely at Rodrick.

A moment of silence ensued. Rodrick's eyes darted to the floor.

“Yes. It was me,” he said finally as he returned Aedan's piercing look. The whole room broke into a shocked whisper.

It seemed as though Aedan didn't make the slightest move, yet in seconds there was a lengthy scroll unfolded in front of Rodrick's nose. He leaned closer to his novice, pointing his finger at one of the rules of the vast guild codex, although it seemed impossible that he could find the right one without even looking at it.

“Read it aloud,” he said flatly.

Rodrick gave his teacher an imploring look, but since there was no response, he started reading.

“I will no
–
not
w
–
waste
–
na
–
na
–
nat
–
  natal sorcerers for
–
” he stuttered, but he was stopped by an irritated growl from his teacher.

A few of the novices chuckled, the fiery haired girl Serena among the first.

“I will not waste natural sources for nothing,” Aedan said instead of Rodrick as he stood upright again. “Do you remember this?”

“
Yes,” Rodrick said bravely.

“
And are you aware of the punishment that awaits you for breaking this rule?”

Rodrick gulped. “Yes,” he said, this time much less courageously.

“Wait for me outside,” Aedan said grimly. But before he left to follow his novice, he looked around his shoulder one last time, casting a stern glare at the remaining members of the Black Squad. “I am sure all five of you had a finger in the pie. And you,” he said, looking at the rest of his novices, “You can thank them for a big delay in our trip which means we will also return much later. You can only pray not to meet one of the Ragnan monsters when the darkness comes.” And he departed.

But the fear he had left in the room stayed — everyone trembled at his last words. The horrifying Ragnan monsters! As soon as the entrance door slammed shut, chaos took over the dining room once more. Maren and Magnus received several unfriendly gazes, while the Black Squad, as unusual as it was, was ignored completely. The only novice who looked in their direction was Fjalldís, but when her eyes met with Darius', she turned her gaze away.

Rodrick spent the whole morning exercising and apologising to Mother Nature. The others, on the contrary, had hardly anything to do. They were ready to go before noon, waiting for Aedan and Rodrick to return. Some of them were already packing their bags into a carriage bigger than the carts that brought them to Sinei, yet it looked that they couldn't all fit inside. It had a raised canopy now, since the weather was nice.