Drakonika (Book 1) (41 page)

It took a while until Maren blinked her eyes. “But... but how did you know?” She stammered, then her face brightened as she realized that Magnus could read her thoughts. “You can't give me this... It's your Magiker trophy! It's like a memory... you can't give it away!” She opposed, but her eyes revealed that she really wanted the powerful magickal artifact.

“I am not giving it away... I am giving it to
you
.” Insisted Magnus, then he leaned closer to her and whispered something into her ear, while casting a seemingly furtive glance at Xanthar.

The general looked stunned by the insolent look that Magnus gave him. “Let's go,” he said grumpily, his policemen grabbing the bags of gold at once.  They shuffled out of the room and kept staring at Magnus hatefully until they disappeared back in the dim hallway. Zimbadur was watching them leaving and wondered if Ragna would ever see a gold coin of that money.

Maren gave Magnus a sudden hug. He did not see her face, but he knew that she was crying; her muffled voice and constant sniffing were a proof of that. “This is my best eleventh birthday in my life,” she said with difficulty and sniffed again, clutching the wondrous artifact in her right hand, as though she never wanted to let go of it. She knew this would boost her Mage career immensely.

“
Maren, it's your
only
eleventh birthday in your life,” reminded her Magnus.

“
Oh,” Maren sniffed and chuckled. “You're right.”

“
What? It's your birthday?” Said Fjalldís, Lars and Elmar together, looking dazed. “Well, we didn't know-” Fjalldís said, but Lars interrupted her.

“
Oh no, we don't have any presents for you!” he said and instantly let out a few tears roll down his face.

“
You are better than any presents I could get, silly!” Maren said and with tears of joy still sliding her face, she reached for her four friends and embraced them all together, while they embraced her back. By then, Lars had already broke into terrible cry. It seemed that whether this evening had a good ending or not, he was going to cry anyway.

Zimbadur let out a slight cough. “Ehm... I think you are feeling better now, so perhaps you would not mind to join us at the Magiker party, the other players will unfortunately not be able to go,” he said with a bitter smile, then turned and left the room.

If Zimbadur did not let his presence known to them, Magnus and his friends would have already forgotten he was still there. It seemed like Maren's  interest in Zimbadur had been completely shifted to Magnus; a great help for that was the moment they met him before the tournament and when she found out that he did not remember her at all. While Magnus, on the contrary, would never forget her.

“
Well, let's get the party started,” said Magnus brightly, leaping to his feet and taking their bag of gold off the floor with a very little effort. He felt as though he was reborn, full of energy, strength and ready to face any troubles that his new-found dragon origin could had bring them.

Fjalldís helped Maren to fix the magickal belt around her waist and they both agreed it looked very beautiful on her. In the meantime, Magnus  and Elmar had divided the gold coins into five piles and all five of them stuffed one of these piles into their pouches, hoping they would not tear carrying such a heavy load of coins. When they were leaving the room of clerics behind, Magnus heard some muttering behind him. “I knew there were flying reptiles,” Said Elmar in a  mystic voice, gently slamming his right fist into his left palm, as though a big theory of his had been proven right.

It was not hard to find the Magiker party. There were still a few people to ask in the hallways, talking quietly in groups, seemingly wishing to have some more privacy than in the room where the party was taking place.  When they arrived to the huge, gaping chamber just one level above the arena, they found out that the party had already started. Seeing all those people having fun, drinking, tasting the great variety of cookies, laughing merrily and dancing, made all five of them beam with joy. The tables were groaning under huge plates of fruits, vegetables, roasted meat and sweets of all kinds. Fjalldís' eyes popped open when she saw her favourite cocoa cake among them and Lars looked so happy as though he had never cried in his whole life. Among all things, what soothed Magnus the most was the fact that Xanthar and his fellow policemen had already departed. This party was for him to enjoy.

Just when they were about to go and grab a few plates of the irresistible looking cakes and sweets, five boys in black emerged from the crowd, walking their strut right towards Magnus and his friends. This time, it was five to six. Although, Magnus counted for more than ten.

“
They won't give us a break, will they?” Said Maren in a tone of annoyance mingled with fear.

Magnus could not help scowling, but he was not afraid of them anymore. “Don't worry, they can't try anything here... Besides, I am with you. I won't let them lay a finger on you.” Said Magnus in a highly protective tone. He stepped forward to shield his friends with his own body, as though he was a lion protecting his pack.

The Black Squad with Darius in the lead stopped right before them. Darius tilted his head to the right so that he could see all the frightened faces hidden behind Magnus.

“
Nice pack of cowards you got there,
Magnus
,” he said mockingly.

Magnus returned him a piercing stare. “At least they don't pretend to be what they are not,” he said grimly, now breathing harder as he was getting angry.

  The black squad exchanged a few offended looks, as though they could not believe that someone doubted their courage and strength. Darius cast a spiteful look at Magnus. “Do you think you're a hero now? That everyone adores you and loves you?” He said fiercely in a slightly envious tone. If he moved his fist just a little closer, he would had jabbed into Magnus' chest. “Well guess what... You will
never
have that.” He said hatefully. Darius never looked more serious before. He gave Magnus one last sinister gaze and as he was leaving with his gang muttering something they could not hear clearly, he shot Fjalldís a piercing glance and together with Victor bumped into Elmar and Lars with their shoulders. “Let's go out for a dragon hunt. These idiots are no match for us,” said Darius to his friends, but he made sure to be audible enough for Magnus to hear it.

“
Oh yeah? I don't think the guards will let you go outside at this hour,” bellowed Magnus, ready to bolt after them if he had heard another inappropriate comment addressed to him and his friends.

Fjalldís gently grabbed his arm. “Let them go,” she breathed with her voice still shaking. “He's just jealous.”

Magnus remained in thoughts for a while, trying to calm himself down, then he turned to Lars and Elmar. “Are you okay?” He said, sounding quite concerned.

“
Yeah... yeah I suppose we're okay,” said Elmar, although it seemed as though he was not even sure of what he was saying.

Maren noticed that there were tears rolling down Lars' face again. “Oh dear...” The words she uttered made the rest of them turn to her, and then in the direction where she was gazing. And in the next moment, Lars let out a painful, long squeal.

Magnus covered his ears instantly; loud sounds were not of his favourites.

With sudden rush of understanding, Maren took Lars by his hand. “Come on, let's take some biscuits.” She said in a cheerful tone and gave him a roguish wink. Hearing those two talking about biscuits, Elmar followed them straight away.

“I'd like strawberries on my biscuits,” said Lars quietly, wiping his face on his sleeve and holding Maren with his other hand, as though she was his mum.

Just as Fjalldís wanted to step forward to follow them, Magnus stopped her. “Fjalldís, wait... I think there's something you should know.” He said in a highly concerned tone.

Fjalldís rounded at him with worry in her eyes. “What's the matter? What should I know?” She asked swiftly.

“
I caught up a few of their thoughts... and you're not going to like it. I think they have something against you. You should be careful...” Said Magnus and his eyes darted downwards. He remained silent for a while.

“
There's more, isn't there?” Fjalldís said, raising her eyebrows as she tilted her head to see into Magnus' face turned down.

“
I put you all in danger,” said Magnus in an anguished tone, casting a guilty gaze at Fjalldís. “I made Elmar do something stupid... I wanted to prove that I am a druid to Aedan, so... I... never mind,” Magnus muttered and turned away.

Fjalldís felt rather confused. “Well, will you finish what you started?” She said, her voice full of shocked curiosity.

“Look, I... I'm sorry I started talking about that... and I'm sorry I've done it in the first place... I can't believe I did that, it was so selfish...” Said Magnus, sounding utterly downcast. He tried to avoid any eye contact with her; his guilt was too strong.

“
But what did you do?” Fjalldís said, losing her patience.

“
I told Elmar to give Darius a letter that would make him act that he was a druid... in exchange for an evening of studying together. It was when Lars caught a sight of my... tail...” Said Magnus, lowering his voice to a whisper.

“
What??” Fjalldís breathed in a shocked voice. “You're not serious now, are you?” She kept staring at Magnus and shaking her head as though she could not believe what she had just heard.

“
You won't believe me, but... now it's me who feels like crying... and I am dead serious about that.” Magnus said, still looking down at the tips of his shoes. Shortly after that, Fjalldís saw a heavy tear splatter on the floor. She let out a compassionate sigh. Magnus received a second hug that night; it was from Fjalldís.

“
Don't worry about that... it's gonna be okay...” Fjalldís said, trying to sound as positive as possible to cheer him up. She had a hard time not to let out her tears as well when she heard Magnus sob quietly. She felt his arms around her so tight she almost could not breathe. “I think this has something to do with your change... maybe... maybe your true nature is...” she gasped and remained wordless for a while, “...evil.” She breathed out.

Magnus let her go at once and looked directly into her eyes, holding her shoulders. “You're right...” he said in a distant voice, his face wet from tears. “I mustn't turn completely... we mustn't let that happen...” He mumbled.

“I agree with you... but what do we do? How do we... stop it?” Fjalldís said, sounding rather worried.

“
The amulet...” Magnus muttered. “Of course! That's it! We must find the amulet!” He cried out and shook her.

“
Alright, just relax! What amulet? Magnus.. what amulet?” Fjalldís tried to calm him down.

Magnus gave her an insisting look. “That day, when Xanthar took you and Darius to the police station... Somebody had stolen an amulet from me, during the fight.” He said swiftly. “The amulet was the only thing that gave me at least the knowledge of my name and age. Now it's gone... and after it was stolen, strange things had started happening to me... I mean, stranger than the usual.” 

Fjalldís looked desperate. “But how will we find it? Anyone could have taken it!” She said indignantly. The two of them did not watch the tone of their voices anymore, but the folk in their vicinity was busy doing other things. 

“
Not anyone,” Magnus said, gazing into distance. “I have a few tips.” Saying this, he took Fjalldís by her hand and dragged her in to Maren, Elmar and Lars in haste.

“
Magnus, wait! Where are you going?” She shrieked out, but did not receive any answer. In a short while, they dashed to the table where their friends were tasting various cookies and biscuits.

“
Maren,” Magnus said to tap her attention. They all turned to him; Lars strawberry cakes all around his mouth, Elmar holding as many chocolate biscuits as he could carry in his hands and Maren giggling gleefully. But when she saw the stiff faces of Magnus and Fjalldís, her smile faded away  in seconds.

“
What happened? What's going on?” Maren said, looking confused. Elmar and Lars did not seem to understand the situation any better.

“
We have to go out, that's what's going on,” Magnus said shortly.

“
What, now?” Lars said, his voice shaking. It was not hard to guess that he was already imagining a giant winged lizard going to eat him for dinner.

“
Yes, now.” Magnus said frantically, then he rounded to Elmar. “You stay here, watch over Lars... We'll tell you everything later, but we can't wait. We have to go, now.”

Elmar looked a little disappointed, that Magnus did not consider him a helpful part on his mission, but on the other hand, he was glad he would not have to face any of the fearsome dragons. And Lars seemed utterly relieved. Elmar nodded with an understanding look.

“Alright, Fjalldís, Maren, let's go.” Said Magnus and without explaining, led them through the crowds of people dancing and tables of Magiker players, back to the hallway. They were close to the exit.