Drakonika (Book 1) (31 page)

Fjalldís and Maren exchanged confused looks, but they didn't give it any importance — everyone was already used to Magnus' strange behaviour and nobody considered it something unusual.

Maren slumped on the bed next to him in such a way that it looked as though she jumped on a trampoline. “You missed breakfast
— again,” she said in disbelief. As soon as Magnus recovered from the sudden ambush, Fjalldís took a seat by his left side.

“
Someone's in a good mood today,” Magnus said vaguely. He looked from Fjalldís to Maren who seemed to be hiding something behind her back. Then his curiosity took the better of him — he couldn't help peeking into Maren's mind to find out what she was holding, although he knew it was inappropriate. It was a letter.

“
But you've been acting kind of odd lately, almost as if you were hiding something from us,” Fjalldís said in a slightly suspicious tone. Magnus knew she was just joking, yet he broke into a sweat. Then their attention shifted to something else.

“
Wow, look at this mess,” Maren said, when she spotted a few strangely hard black scales lying on the bed. “When was the last time you cleaned this room?”

“
What is
that
?” Fjalldís said, looking at the scales closely.

“
Well, I...” Magnus stuttered. “I was just eating breakfast here. I can't stand so many people staring at me when I'm eating. I hate the group smacking, chewing on their food. I like my privacy.” He used the moment when the girls were exchanging puzzled looks to quickly gather all the dark scales. But as he did that, he remained wrapped in the blankets up to his waist.

“
Still, the next time you eat a fish, don't bring it to your bed. It's a bit disgusting,” Maren said in a mildly reproving voice, but it seemed she was finished with this topic. There was something more important to talk about. She suddenly pulled a letter from behind her back. Magnus had already known she was holding it, but he didn't know what was written inside as no one had opened it yet — it was addressed to him.

“
It came this morning,” Fjalldís said merrily and together with Maren she watched his reaction.

A bewildered look landed on Magnus'
face as he finally took the letter. “A letter? For me? I don't understand it, who could send a letter to
me
?” he said, sounding utterly puzzled, but he used this moment to covertly toss the black scales behind the bed with his other hand. Although he felt relieved that he had gotten rid of them, he was opening the envelope with a shallow breath, while the girls were curiously leaning over his shoulders. “Well, let's take a look at it,” Magnus said as he broke the seal. He drew the mysterious letter out and unfolded it with his hands shaking. This was the first letter he had ever received — at least as far as he could remember — but he had no idea what it could be about. Then he started reading aloud:

Dear Sir Magnus Il'Idiel,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to represent Ragna in the world-wide tournament of the game of mages
— Magiker, which will take place in the town of Ragna at the time of Enchanted Trees and exactly the night of Full Moons. You have a chance to win five hundred gold coins for your town and one hundred gold coins for yourself, including the Trophy for the best world-wide Magiker player. Like always, we honour the tradition — one winner takes everything. We are looking forward to your participation and your brilliant skills in playing the most favoured card game in the whole of the Aria Kingdom.

You have been recommended by the head of the Magi Police, General Xanthar Zaleon.

Best wishes and good luck, ITM: the Institute of Tournaments in Magiker.

When Magnus finished reading this, he was white like chalk. He felt as if Xanthar had already finished him, or rather — he was definitely going to.

“
This guy won't quit!” he said in a horrified tone, his throat dry. But Maren and Fjalldís broke into triumphant shrieks, as though they didn't even notice the dread in his voice.

“
Magnus, that's amazing! You didn't tell us you were so good at Magiker!” Maren squealed, shaking Magnus in his bed so much he had a difficulty keeping the blankets on.

“
Yeah, about that —” Magnus begun, but the girls cut him off immediately. There was too much excitement they simply couldn't hold inside.

Fjalldís' eyes opened wide, as though she got a ground breaking idea. “We have to buy new clothes!” she yelled brightly and bounced along with Maren. Now they were both kneeling on Magnus' bed.

“That's a great idea! I hope we manage to buy something in Ragna before the tournament!” Maren exclaimed excitedly.

“
It should be something special,” Fjalldís went on, “We have to look pretty when the artists paint us together with Magnus and the trophy!” Seconds later, both girls started jumping on Magnus' bed merrily, as though they had completely forgotten about his presence. And if Maren didn't stop just a moment later, they would have probably trampled him.

“
Wait. How can we buy anything if we don't have money?” she said with a suddenly pale face.

In the next moment, both girls were leaning over Magnus' shoulders again. “Magnuuus? Will you buy something for us?” Maren and Fjalldís implored together, as they fixed their big begging eyes on him from both sides.

Magnus gave a heavy sigh. He was finally allowed to speak and he was certain that his friends wouldn't like what he had to say. “I'm sorry to disappoint you, girls. I don't have a clue how to play Magiker,” he said weakly.

There was a moment of silence. It seemed to be a great shock for Maren and Fjalldís. Accepting the bad news was much more difficult than believing in what appeared to be news that was
too
good to be true.

“
But... how? And why?” Fjalldís mumbled, sounding thunderstruck.

“
I don't know. I think Xanthar wants to bring me to my knees at any cost. And to tell you the truth, he's doing quite well,” Magnus said, lowering his head.

“
We can't allow that!” Maren challenged. “You have to learn it before then. You have a great talent in magick and learning, you're the best of all the novices! You can do it!” she tried to convince him, but Magnus' expression looked quite doubtful. In the meantime, Fjalldís started counting the days until the tournament.

“
How much time do we have? The time of Enchanted Trees is right now and the Full Moon is exactly in one week!”

Magnus' face darkened with desperation. He felt like throwing the letter into the fire of the hearth and pretending that he had never received it. “I... I'm not going,” Magnus said quietly.

Maren shot him an unbelieving look. “What? You can't do that, it would put all of Ragna in shame! You would also lose the chance to make the town and yourself rich — six hundred gold coins! Do you even know how much that is?!” she shrieked indignantly, trying to change his mind.

“
No, I don't,” Magnus retorted in an unimpressed tone.

“
Magnus, just think about it,” Fjalldís said tentatively. “If you win, maybe Xanthar will finally leave you be.”

“
But I cannot win!” Magnus announced as he desperately flung his arms to the sides, still covered in the blanket. “Don't you understand? I know nothing more about the game than what I've just learned from this letter!”

“
Then we have a lot of work to do,” Maren said calmly.

Magnus knew these girls wouldn't give up easily. And frankly, he was scared already.

“We have to find someone who can play Magiker and who could teach you,” Maren decided and Fjalldís nodded in agreement.

Magnu
s acted as though it was impossible. “And how am I supposed to do that? Aedan always makes a schedule for the whole day — he'll notice me missing his lessons,” he moaned. He clearly didn't feel like moving a finger for the tournament. After all, he didn't ask for it.

“
We need a plan,” Maren announced, making Magnus swallow in horror.

The study program was truly full. The only chance to find a teacher of Magiker among the novices was the lunch break in which Aedan had given up on participating. They started where it “hurt” the least, but neither Elmar nor Lars had ever even held a card deck in their hands. Belinda said that for making one card deck, a tree had to fall. In Magnus' opinion, she was beginning to resemble Aedan a bit too much. Aurora considered card games a waste of time and they didn't have the courage to ask Serena. The same went for Maren's two other house mates, who didn't even want to reveal if they knew what cards actually were. Magnus tried a few other novices, but no one seemed to know how to play Magiker. Maren's gaze landed on the Black Squad, sitting at the very end of the table. Even now they were using the lunch break to quickly play at least one or two games with their beloved cards.

“
No... NO. No way,” Magnus said firmly, when he noticed where Maren was looking.

“
It's our last hope,” she said as she turned back to him, although she felt quite uneasy saying that.

Fjalldís ate the last bit of her druid cake and cast the Black Squad a curious look. Maren was right
— if there was anyone who could play cards, it was definitely them.

“
Darius' gang is no hope for us,” Magnus said, refusing Maren's idea flatly.

“
How do you know? I think Rodrick's not all bad. He's just... under a bad influence. Maybe he'll help you,” Maren said, when her eyes suddenly met with Rodrick's. She quickly looked away.

“
Only to my grave,” Magnus muttered.

“
Or to your victory,” Maren retorted. “I'll ask him.”

“
I'll go with you,” Fjalldís said instantly and they both stood up without hesitation.

Maren smiled. Leaving the murmuring Magnus behind, his two friends slipped around several feasting novices and stopped on the other side of the table's end. As they finally reached the Black Squad, they both seemed to hesitate, but it was too late to turn back
— the boys along with Serena had already noticed them.

The Black Squad looked up from the cards in surprise
— even Serena, who didn't play, and Darius, who was lucky enough to sweep the floors with Fjalldís several times in the past few weeks. He secretly wished that she would talk to him, but the girls came to see somebody else.

“
Er... Hi, Rodrick... We'd like to talk to you. Do you have a moment?” Maren said bashfully.

“
Me...? You want to talk to... me?” Rodrick stammered in shock.

“
Does it look like we have time for you?” Viktor snapped harshly.

“
I didn't ask you anything,” Maren said valiantly, but her voice was shaking. She hoped that Magnus was watching her heroic feats.

Fjalldís was looking at the floor all this time, but when she heard Darius' voice, she shyly raised her gaze.

“Sure,” Darius said, his steel-blue eyes surveying Fjalldís, making her utterly nervous. “It won't hurt if we play in four for a while. Rodrick,” he said as he tilted his head in the girls' direction, giving his friend a command to leave with them. Rodrick did as he was told, but Viktor's angry breathing suggested he didn't agree at all.

Maren and Fjalldís looked quite bewildered from the easy flow of their mission, but Magnus was even more surprised when he saw Rodrick standing right in front of him within a few minutes.

“See? It wasn't that bad,” Maren said, grinning from ear to ear and trying to conceal the fear she felt just seconds ago.

Rodrick and Magnus remained staring at each other with quite unfriendly looks.

“Magnus, what's wrong with you? Am I supposed to do
everything
?” Maren chided.

Magnus gave a small sigh. “Can you play Magiker?” he asked flatly.

“I can. What about it?” Rodrick said airily.

“
And could you... teach me?” Magnus whispered discreetly, leaning closer to him so that nobody else would hear it.

“
Teach?” Rodrick said out loud, audible enough for all novices to hear it. “Me? Teach
you
?” He looked as though he wasn't sure if he should take it seriously or start laughing —
The Great Magnus
wasn't the best at something!

Magnus cast a few gazes around, looking quite uneasy. “Shhhh, quiet!” he scolded Rodrick in a low voice. “Yeah, is there a problem with that?”

To their astonishment, Rodrick's expression changed in a fragment of a second. “No. Not at all. The cards are my life,” Rodrick said brightly. “So what's the plan?”

Magnus let Maren and Fjalldís explain how to avoid Aedan with the help of the telepathic devices from Valezar and meet together by the cards as he watched Rodrick suspiciously. It was certain their teacher wouldn't be happy about what they were up to, but Magnus pleased him with at least one thing
— lately he had been wearing the druid cloak all the time.