Tara Duncan and the Forbidden Book (45 page)

Cal, Blondin, and Robin soon joined them. They were accompanied by Master Dragosh, now in bat shape.

“Is everything okay, Tara?” cried Robin.

“No, it isn't!” she answered, still furious. “The Ravager turned into a ghost, he found his wife, and poof! they disappeared. They'll probably live together for eternity and have lots of little ghosts! It's unfair! They should have been punished!”

Cal stared at her, wide-eyed “Er, how do you intend to punish a ghost? By killing it?”

Tara opened her mouth, then closed it again. The little thief was right.

Then she remembered Magister. Gallant landed, and Tara ran toward the pit that the Bloodgrave master had dived into.

When she leaned over the rim, all she saw was an empty pit. Magister had disappeared!

S
uddenly Tara heard a muffled cry behind her. She turned around and stifled a shout of dismay.

Magister was standing before her, and Cal, Blondin, Robin, and Gallant were his prisoners. What looked like silver mittens were clamped around their hands and arms. They were gagged, and their legs were tied. Apparently, only Master Dragosh had escaped Magister's sudden attack. He must have quickly flown away as soon as the Bloodgrave started to cast a spell.

“Now that the Ravager is out of commission, let's get back to business,” cried Magister. “Come here, Tara!”

“You're alive!” she said in astonishment. “I thought the tentacles had crushed you to death.”

“Ho, ho! Do I hear a touch of relief in your voice, dear Tara? Were you afraid for me when I jumped out? Did you consider me . . . a friend? If that's the case, friend, I'd like us to have a chat about a certain demonic scepter I could use. Those-Who-Guard and Those- Who- Judge won't let me get to it, because they answer only to you. Will you kindly do me this little favor?”

Tara snorted with rage. Magister was turning her own arguments against her, using the fact that he had risked his life to save them to bargain with her. Seeing her expression, the Bloodgrave burst out laughing.

“No, I can tell that my proposal doesn't appeal to you. Well, too bad. We'll have to use stronger measures. Although to be honest, I would've been very disappointed if you had agreed.”

“There was never any chance of that!” she said, mopping her sweaty brow.

Master Dragosh suddenly appeared, shape-shifted back, and stood next to her, his hatred for Magister reflected in his eyes.

“It's you and me, Bloodgrave!” the vampyr growled. “I'm finally going to pay you back for what you did to my fiancée!”

Tara gave Dragosh a perplexed look. His fiancée? What was this all about?

She would come to understand later on. For now, they had a fight on their hands. Tara turned her attention back to her enemy, ready to do battle. But the vampyr was way ahead of her and began the duel by firing a Carbonus at Magister.

Dragosh was powerful, but Magister was much more so. He protected himself with a shield that absorbed Dragosh's spell. Then, seeing that Tara was about to join the fray, he shot a Quakus at her. The resulting mini-earthquake shook the ground, and Tara lost her balance. The spell she'd just fired turned awry and missed its target. With his other hand, Magister shot an incredibly powerful Knockoutus. It slammed into the vampyr, and he crumpled to the ground.

When Tara was back to her feet, she was the Bloodgrave's only remaining opponent.

“Well, well, well,” he chuckled from behind his mask. “We're face to face at last. But you have an advantage, Tara. I don't want to kill you.”

“Which isn't the case for me,” she said, trying to hide her fear. “I wouldn't hesitate for a second.”

“You certainly are bloody-minded for such a little girl!”

“No, I'm not,” she said, as a fresh spell lit up her hands. “I don't have any taste for fights, assassinations, or any of those OtherWorld pleasures. But with you, I really don't have any choice.”

“Wait a minute!” said Magister. “Don't you want to hear about the trap?”

So Magister wants to talk—great! Tara was all for talking and for as long as possible. Hope and fear were contending in her head. She lowered her hands a little.

“What trap?” she asked innocently.

“The one you fell into, you and the dragon.”

Tara had since figured it out, of course, but she played along, praying that Master Chem and the full pantheon of high wizards would make a magical, thundering, lifesaving appearance at any moment.

“Well, when we overheard the conversation between the two Bloodgraves, we suspected you were involved in that whole trial business.”

Magister stiffened, clearly surprised. “When? Where? What conversation?”

“During the hearing, one of you Bloodgraves cast a spell on Manitou to read his mind, didn't you? We figured you wanted us to know about your plan to steal The Forbidden Book. I thought it was it a bit complicated, to be honest.”

Magister's mask turned an irritated orange.

“I never cast a spell on that stupid dog!” he exploded. “And when I want to steal something, I don't usually tell the owner beforehand. I bewitched Brandis's parents to make you come to OtherWorld and keep the old dragon stuck in Omois. I was planning to kill Bandiou myself, who was taking too much power within the Bloodgraves, and have you accused of the crime. Then, after that, I was going to steal the book and kidnap you. I'm going to cure those two Bloodgraves for their habit of discussing my plans in public.”

“Oh, so it was a coincidence?” exclaimed Tara, honestly surprised. “That's unbelievable! If Manitou hadn't left the hearing room—”

“You wouldn't have known I was behind that business. You wouldn't have tried to free Caliban,” Magister continued, “and you wouldn't have escaped me. Unfortunately, you mysteriously disappeared before I could step in. After that, my spies sighted you in Lancovit, but you didn't stay there long enough. Later, I was pleased to hear that Bandiou had an accident, a fatal one. For which I must thank you, since I suppose that was your doing.”

Tara nodded, shuddering as she remembered the horrible wizard.

“I suspected as much. So, thank you for ridding me of that troublesome prince. Then the Ravager showed up, and our little affairs no longer seemed that important.”

Tara could feel that Magister was reaching the end of his speech, and so she reactivated her power. No one was showing up to lend her a hand, so she would have to take care of Magister herself.

Then Magister tried one final appeal: “Tara, we made a powerful team in the battle against the Ravager. We could work together! I'm begging you, don't make me force you, it really pains me.”

She knew he was telling the truth. He needed her alive and healthy. She sighed. “I'm sorry, but I'll never join forces with you.”

“Never say never,” said Magister. “In that case, it's too bad, but I—”

Tara didn't give him time to finish his sentence. She activated a terrible Destructus spell.

Not to be outdone, Magister's hands glowed red and he activated a Defendus. A powerful shield appeared in front of him.

Cast at the same instant, the two spells collided with a deafening crash. Each was buttressed by a magic anchor deep in the island's soil, and the power of the impact shook them both.

“Stop, Tara!” cried Magister. “I don't want to hurt you! If you join with me, I'll make you a being of incredible strength. You'll have power!”

“I already have power!” she retorted, shaking her head to get rid of the sweat dipping into her eyes. “In fact, it's high time you got a taste of it.”

Tara took a deep breath. She had never really unleashed all her power at once. In the back of her mind, she'd always been afraid of hurting her grandmother. But not anymore.

In the surge of energy, her eyes became completely blue, her white forelock began to blaze, and her terrifying blue ray hammered Magister's red shield mercilessly.

The Bloodgrave suddenly realized that she might defeat him. Which would mean death.

Magister then cast a spell he had sworn he would never use. The one that would force him to spend a year of his life in the service of the king of Limbo. The one he had obtained at the price of his soul—to the extent he still had a soul worth bargaining for, that is.

His shield became wreathed in a black glow, and from its heart a monstrous ray shot out that slowly, irresistibly repulsed Tara's pure light.

Without easing the pressure, Tara then did the impossible. She transformed herself.

In her place appeared the magnificent golden dragon with the living stone on its brow. She shone with the blue light that continued its tireless attack on Magister.

“Ha, ha! A dragon!” laughed the Bloodgrave sarcastically. “All right, we'll have a dragon!”

In the next moment, a terrifying black dragon appeared in front of Tara, roaring with hate and spitting hellfire.

Abruptly, Tara broke off the engagement. She leaped into the air so suddenly that the Bloodgrave's burning ray passed behind her, destroying some white rosebushes and part of the island, and vaporizing the lake water so suddenly that the glurps found themselves swimming in midair.

“We're of equal strength,” she shouted. “Since you don't want to kill me, then face me in solo combat without any magic, if you dare.”

The black dragon ran a red tongue over its fangs. “With or without magic, you don't measure up, sweetie. But if it amuses you, let's see what you can do.”

If there was one thing Tara hated, it was being called “sweetie.”

She studied the black dragon carefully. Magister was bigger than she was, but Tara had an advantage over him. On Earth, she had occasionally watched sumo wrestling matches. She'd been fascinated by the grace, agility, and speed of those masses of muscle and fat. And she noticed several times that the smaller wrestler wasn't necessarily at a disadvantage if he had mass.

So instead of making herself larger, she used her resources to increase her mass. The big black dragon noticed that something odd was going on when the ground around Tara slumped under her sudden weight, but he realized too late what that meant. Tara raced at Magister like a golden missile, and at the last moment, lowered her head and slammed into his belly.

The black dragon let out a “Whooof!” as he was tossed backward a dozen yards, half conscious. He'd had the breath knocked out of him and wasn't able to strike back, but reflexively activated a defensive spell to absorb any opposition from her while he was recovering.

But Tara didn't try to attack him. She had just gotten the few seconds that she needed. Then she did what spellbinders never do. The one thing Magister could never have imagined.

“Bond, James Bond!” she yelled, desperately hoping that Cal would understand.

Taking advantage of her opponent's semi-consciousness, she released all her power and projected it onto Cal. It flowed into the boy with such violence that the impact left him speechless. The magic shackles binding him exploded under the shock, and he instantly changed back into gorgeous Cal. Oddly enough, Blondin also recovered his huge red lion body.

The power transfer was so total that Tara was unable to stop the internal bleeding she'd suffered in the collision. She lost her dragon shape, and her vision clouded. All Tara saw now was a wavering, blurry image of Magister getting up, roaring with rage.

With her last ounce of strength, she cast a Destructus.

The big black dragon easily blocked the spell, and laughed. “Is that it? Is that the best you can do? That spell's so weak, a child could block it with its little finger. So, do you admit you're defeated? Give up?”

Tara glared at him.

“In your dreams!” she managed to say with effort.

Then with graceful slowness, she collapsed. Magister stared at the girl's inanimate body, puzzled. And that's when Cal attacked him using Tara's power.

Cal's spell pierced Magister's defenses as if they were paper, extinguishing his consciousness. Like Tara, he collapsed, but much less gracefully, and his brutal fall shook the island.

Cal removed Robin's gag.

“Good going!” the elf shouted. “You killed him!”

“I'm not positive about that,” muttered Cal. “I'm going to give him another dose, just to be sure.”

But Robin noticed that Tara was still sprawled on the ground, motionless.

“Tara's hurt!” he yelled. “Cal, do something, quick!”

Cal cast a quick spell that cut the bonds from Gallant and Robin, who immediately ran to Tara. Cal turned toward her and cast a spell: “By Healus, help Tara conquer strife, and fill her with the breath of life.”

When the spell shot out, it encompassed everything in its path. It hit Tara, then Robin, who was holding her in his arms, then the white roses, the lake, the Mud Eaters' burrows, the Swamps . . . and then vanished from sight. Withered bushes suddenly bloomed, the parboiled glurps regained their green and brown scales, and Tara took a deep, ragged breath.

“Oops!” yelped Cal in surprise. “Hey, this power of hers isn't easy to control. Look at all that! The Healus must've affected half the continent!”

“Well, maybe not that much,” said Tara with a weak smile, as she regained consciousness. “But thanks for reviving me. My heart had stopped beating and the living stone was about to give up. She thanks you, by the way. So, did it work?”

“For heaven's sake, next time tell me your plan before you do something like that!” he shouted. “Good thing I understood what you wanted to do. When you yelled ‘Bond!' I was ready to receive your magic. Otherwise it would've been a real mess. And yeah, it worked. We got rid of the Bloodgrave before he had time to say boo!”

Tara gave him a brilliant smile.