Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town (31 page)

            
Aldrick introduced him, “This is the new Baron and Archmage Zoran Vladislov.
Archmage, this is the Osterhagen family: Roth and Jutte, and their daughter, Raffaela.
This is the Weiss family: Nagel and Madde, and their daughter, Ursel. This is the Muller
family: Kuefer and Sascha, and their son, Lang.” Zoran shook hands with each, very
pleased to see them all. Now he would have thirteen dragons around the province.
Enemy barons would think twice about bringing an army to take Brn by force.

            
Zoran then explained in detail what he was doing and what their tasks would be,
though Aldrick had already told them nearly all of it. “We would like a few of you to
spend the night in a room next to our Circle room, in case of any nocturnal invasions.
You can rotate who is sleeping there every night, if you like. I can’t imagine that you
would prefer to sleep in human form all that much. Now, I suppose we ought to discuss
your payment?”

            
Roth cleared his throat. “Well, yes, Aldrick said that you would pay us in gems,
which is precisely what we desire. However, we understand that you are just getting
established here and probably are low on funds. We would like to suggest an alternative
to a lot of gems. Our son and daughters are going to be the right age for learning magical
spells. Aldrick has explained that you have six Archmages here at this tower. If you
would consider training our three youngsters when they are old enough, we would lower
our gemstone requirements significantly, to say five hundred per month per dragon.”

            
“Now that would suit us ideally! You have yourselves a deal. How soon will they
be ready to learn magical spells?” Zoran replied, unable to conceal his elation over the
vastly lower expense of having the dragons in his employ.

            
“Not for another year or two,” Roth answered. “Another detail, we need a large
cavern, of course. Three of them. We’ve been scouting the mountains north of your
tower, and there are a number of promising locations where we could make our real
homes. Is this acceptable?”

            
“Of course. And you can have the mining rights to any gems that you may find
there. Those peaks are nearly inaccessible to humans, so I think that makes it a perfect
location for you.”

            
Roth seemed very pleased. Raffaella asked curiously, “Are Emil and Renata really
Archmages too?”

            
Zoran smiled, “You bet they are. We seven studied really hard, six long days a
week, and they made it. Each knows some of the topmost power spells. While I cannot
guarantee you that your three will be able to learn such spells, we all will do our very
best to help them make their attempts. All I ask is that you don’t eat all of the antelope
in one location; rather spread your hunting around the whole area, please. We like to
dine on them as well, though not nearly as much as you folks do.”

            
“Really, this is hoofer heaven,” Lang pointed out. Zoran grinned.

            
One by one, Zoran shook their hands, sealing their bargain. He and Janos
returned to the tower, while the dragons left the house to go exploring the mountains
and begin excavations of their new caverns. “I’ve got the sixty men ready for your review,
Zoran. Honestly, fifty gold a month is quite a lot for their services.”

            
“I know, but I want them well paid, Janos. I’ll give them more when I can afford
it.” Janos shook his head. This young duke was paying these men at least five times what
they could get as fighters elsewhere.

            
“You will certainly have their loyalty, Duke Zoran,” Janos chuckled. The two men
reviewed the well-armed men who stood in several ranks for inspection. All wore chain
mail armor and carried a variety of weapons. After reviewing them, Zoran gave them a
few words of appreciation. Then he was needed inside for the mayor had arrived.

            
When Zoran entered the room, Archmage Nadia was sitting in the dining room
with her son, Mayor Bogdan Oldrich. Bogdan was in his late forties, well-dressed and
well-mannered, as befitting the town’s leader. As Zoran entered, he rose and shook his
hand, “Congratulations on becoming an Archmage, Zoran. I understand that this is a
terribly difficult thing that you have accomplished. Me, I never did like magic, much to
mother’s eternal dismay,” he said jovially.

            
“Thanks mayor. I’m afraid that I am about to shake things up around here, for the
better I hope.”

            
“Yes, mom said that it was urgent that we meet. What’s up?”

            
“First, I should tell you my sir name and then go from there. I am Duke Zoran
Vladislov.”

            
“What? The Baron’s son?” exclaimed Bogdan very much taken by surprise and
startled.

            
“Yes, his youngest. Please, I am not the Baron Kazimir. I hate his guts as much or
more than everyone else does. An assassin tried three times to kill me back in Dorum, so
I ran away from home and came here to study magic from your mother. You’ve heard
how Sholov Province fell?” He nodded and Zoran continued. “It seems that warlord
Mikolas came upon a monumental find when he was renovating his fortress there. He
discovered the long lost writings of the man who created the Circles of Ascension, from
which the Duskas gain their power. There has not been a new House in centuries.
Mikolas was attempting to build a new Circle and House at his fortress when the Baron
invaded.”

            
“Thanks to your mother’s timely intervention, we arrived there just in time to
rescue the partially built Circle and the priceless documents. Mikolas was trying to build
a new House to combat Baron Kazimir and put an end to the Baron’s conquest of the
Wild Lands. He gave his life that we could have the chance. I promised Mikolas that I
would carry on his work. It’s done; in the basement of your mother’s tower is the first
new Circle in hundreds of years. Tomorrow morning we plan to activate it and bring a
new House and baron into the Federation. I’ve volunteered to be the baron, and I am
dedicated to bringing down Baron Kazimir’s iron fisted domination of Adapazan.”

            
“But all of the Circles lie deep within heavily fortified castles, if I understand
this,” Mayor Bogdan interrupted. “We’ve not even a fortification anywhere in the Brn
Province, mere stone walls around Brn. Will not the Barron just come and take over
your new Circle and bring doom down upon us?”

            
“No he won’t dare. You’ve heard the rumors circulating about town that there is a
dragon around here somewhere?”

            
“Well, yes, but those are just rumors, you know,” Bogdan replied. “There are no
dragons.”

            
“Unfortunately, dragons are very real indeed. For the last year or so, there have
been four gold dragons in Brn Province. Your mother has trained two who are now
Archmages themselves. Those two were the dragons that attacked the Baron’s army in
Sholov Province. I’ve hired more to help protect Brn Province. Thirteen in all, Mayor. I’d
like to see any army try to advance upon our province now! The twins knocked off over a
thousand of the Baron’s troops in just a half hour. Think how much damage six times
that number could do! I am doing my very best, Mayor, to ensure that Brn Province
remains a free land.”

            
“Oh my! Thirteen dragons in our town? Oh my! Will they harm us by accident?”
Bogdan looked worried.

            
“No, they do not eat humans; we taste really bad, so they say. Their preferred
food is an antelope a week, and there are plenty of those in our forests. I will have some
walking among us, staying at your mother’s tower, in case someone tries to take over the
tower by force. Mayor Bogdan, you now have an ultimate defense force protecting our
province.”

            
“Now this is good news. Say, how much will they cost us? Their services must not
come cheap.”

            
“Right now, I am covering it from the gems that warlord Mikolas gave us to help
get the Circle setup. They only want gems; nothing else interests them, excepting magic
of course.”

            
“Gems?”

            
“Yes, they value gems highly. The twins only use a bit of gold because that’s what
the merchants around Brn expect in trade for clothes and inns. Now the main reason I
needed to see you today is that tomorrow morning around ten, we are going to try to
activate the Circle. If we are successful, many barons will make a trip here to see what is
going on. I will have the thirteen dragons flying in circles around your mother’s tower. I
don’t want them to scare the devil out of our townsfolk.”

            
“Right! Oh my yes, it would scare the devil out of everyone. I must prepare the
entire town at once!”

            
“Let them know the truth; it’s time to stop hiding. Brn is about to become the
center of the free peoples of Adapazan. I hate to bring this up now, but down the line a
bit, I wonder if they would be willing to increase their yearly taxes a little to help me
offset the cost of the dragons and the security men that I’ve hired to help protect Brn
Province?” Zoran finally got to ask the burning question. Could he expect more funds
from the locals or would he have to find alternate means of financing this whole
adventure?

            
“Ah, it comes down to money. Well, let’s give them time to digest all this. Allow
them to get familiar with dragons overhead and walking the streets. If you can indeed
guarantee our safety, I believe that most would offer up a bit more each year, just as long
as there is no extravagant spending. Mom has always been quite frugal which helps a
lot.”

            
“We will follow in her footsteps. I will do my best to get funding elsewhere for the
long term. I am just going to need some financial help in the short term, just the next
couple of years.”

            
“Ah, that is even better. Say, can I meet one of these dragons?” Mayor Bogdan
asked, becoming curious at last. His fears had subsided.

            
“Sure, come with me; their leader, Aldrick Vogler, is nearby arranging things for
their group.” Zoran nodded to Archmage Nadia and led Mayor Bogdan outside and
introduced him to Aldrick. The two took a fancy to each other, primarily because Bogdan
wore a large green emerald pendent on his suit coat, his emblem of office. The two men
began chatting, and Zoran was called away to attend to another situation.

            
Not long after this, town criers began relaying the mayor’s message. “Hear yea!
Hear yea! Archmage Oldrich has brought a Duska and gold dragons to Brn to protect us
from the evil Baron Kazimir Vladislov! Tomorrow around ten, look to the sky and see
our golden protectors circling her tower!” Up and down the many streets of the city the
dozen criers went, yelling out the information. Zoran knew that the pubs would be filled
with wild gossip and speculations this evening.

Chapter 16 Activation

“What are we supposed to wear?” Zdenka asked Zoran, early the next morning. Lines of
worry marked her complexion.

            
“Yes, what are we to wear?” added Jarka. “This is an important first meeting, and
we do not have a clue about dress protocols, manners, court etiquette, none of that. You
ought
to have given us some clues, you know.” She chided him.

            
“I know, I know, Jarka, but I really don’t know about women’s dresses and things
like that. Honestly, wear something comfortable and be prepared for possible attacks or
assassins and the like. I’m wearing my leathers in case I need to fight. Time enough later
for the court protocols. We have to get this working first,” Zoran replied, slightly
nervously.

            
The gaily embroidered, billowing, white, ceremonial dress of the High Priestess
swished into the room. Priestess Anezka Zar, holding on to the arm of her husband,
Brother Jiri, who wore his suit with twin tails, entered the room. She said, “We are ready
to begin, Zoran.”

            
Zoran let out a sigh and replied, “Okay. Then this is it. Down to the Circle,
everyone.”

            
In the basement room, General Janos Lavos positioned six guards around the
outer perimeter. Others were in the next room. The Archmages and Mages filed in,
taking up positions between the guards, spells at the ready. Anezka already had the
incense burners going, giving the whole room an unusual smell. Brother Jiri offered the
arm of his wife to Zoran, “Good luck, Duke Zoran.”