Aldwyn's Academy (21 page)

The necromancer suddenly launched herself at Helene, who screamed in fright, throwing herself back.

In the chamber, Insidian’s tail found Ives between incantations and staved in his ribs.

Blackburn immediately cast a Shield spell of his own around the gravely wounded professor of protection magic.

Maverick rolled into position next to Blackburn and threw up a second Shield spell just as Insidian released jets of acid in wild sprays.

Pinned down, the wizards could do little but defend themselves against the monster’s ceaseless attacks.

Athadora found Helene. The elf princess punched the necromancer, but Athadora absorbed the blow and reached her hands into Helene’s auburn hair. The
Aldwyns student grabbed at her wrists as the necromancer attempted to beat the girl’s head against the floor stones.

Dorian jumped up behind the former Aldwyns professor. He held another length of chain in his hands as he lunged forward.

“Let her go!” he snarled, but Athadora simply ignored him.

Behind the boy, Maverick screamed in pain as his ankle was splashed with acid. Dorian swung hard with the chain. The manacle struck the sorceress high up on her head and sent her tumbling.

A sharp
clap
like a great door slamming closed sounded from over his shoulder and a gust of wind blasted into Dorian’s back.

He spun and beheld a miracle.

Lowadar had returned—and he’d brought a dragon.

“Old Whiskers!” Helene shouted.

Dorian watched in amazement as the great gold dragon, the mascot of the school, surged forward to defend the trapped wizards.

Insidian shrieked in rage and Old Whiskers answered with a naked, challenging roar so loud it hammered Dorian’s ears, making him wince in pain.

The undead black dragon unleashed a devastating blast of concentrated necrotic energy so wide and powerful it cloaked the end of the cavern in a fog of obsidian light.

Old Whiskers met that blast with pure, cleansing fire.

For a moment the competing forces slammed against each other in the air between the dragons. Then, slowly, the fire began to creep to Insidian.

The monster gave back a step.

Lowadar struck.

His voice cracked sharply with the syllables of command and his wand blazed. From one side jagged bolts of energy shot from the wooden and fire-opal baton to strike Insidian’s body.

Instantly thick sheets of ice formed over the bones of the monster.

The undead black dragon twisted, rocked by the spell and tried to escape but could only scream in frustration as it realized how immobilized Lowadar’s spell had left it.

The necrotic energy suddenly faltered and Insidian’s skull was engulfed by Old Whiskers’ fire.

The golden dragon struck while his opponent was blinded.

Swiveling quickly the great dragon twisted and slammed his tail into the section of Insidian’s skeleton coated with Lowadar’s ice spell.

The undead dragon shattered into a thousand shards of bone and ice.

Fire scorched, the lifeless, inanimate skull dropped straight down to the floor where it burst apart like a clay jar.

Dorian dropped to his knees.

It was over.

“No!” Helene shouted.

Dorian snapped himself out of his reverie and whirled.

“What?”

“Athadora’s gone!” Helene replied.

“I expected no less,” Lowadar said, voice grave.

D
orian could only marvel at his proximity to a real, true dragon.

Old Whiskers was more than willing to indulge the boy’s curiosity, but despite the magnitude of what everyone had just been through, time did not stop. Far too soon Dorian was pulled into a circle of professors to explain his part in the tale.

“Is Caleb all right?” he asked, voice anxious.

“Yes,” Lowadar informed him. “You owe our timely arrival to his escape.”

“I knew he could outthink those bugbears,” Dorian grinned. “He really saved the day.”

Lowadar looked around. “He wasn’t the only one. Though perhaps if you hadn’t snuck out of your room in the middle of the night without telling anyone, we might not have cut it so close, hmm?”

Dorian looked down.

“I guess I was a little impulsive,” he confessed. “Just like Mother always says.”

Lowadar reached out a kindly hand and lifted his chin.

“I think if you hadn’t been quite so impulsive, this all might have ended much less happily. For that, I and the academy owe you a great debt. Thank you, and welcome to Aldwyns. I’ve never met a pupil who belonged here more.”

Lowadar turned away and walked over to the knot of professors gathered across the chamber. Dorian stood silently for a moment, taking in the full impact of how much his life, and he, himself, had changed in just twelve short hours.

Helene approached and led the boy to where the professors now gathered to sort through Athadora’s relics and items in an attempt to discover some clue as to where she may have disappeared to.

Dorian smiled broadly at Helene, happy despite being bone weary.

“We really did it, huh?”

She answered his smile with one of her own.

“We really did,” she said. Then in a wry tone, “My sister never did anything like this when she was here. My mother will probably choke.”

“Mothers …” Dorian agreed.

He was looking at Professor Blackburn and knew his decision was going to upset his mother greatly.

When his first year at Aldwyns was finished, he intended to trade his red robes for the black robes of Destruction magic instead of the purple robes of Information magic his mother wore in her time.

It was not a choice he expected to be greeted with enthusiasm at home. He broke out of his reverie and asked, “The other professors want to hear our stories?”

“Yes,” Helene agreed. “They’re as amazed as I am that a knucklehead like you could have pulled this off.”

“Or a spoiled princess,” Dorian added.

His eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter.

Helene smiled back.

“I guess we did make a pretty good team. Pretty lucky for me I got assigned to be your mentor.”

“I feel pretty lucky too.”

The girl whirled and punched the boy hard in his arm.

“Ouch!” Dorian barked. “What was that for?”

“Not one word about the kiss. I’m way better at magic than you and if you tell anyone how I gave you that key, I will make your time here so miserable you’ll wish Athadora had never been defeated.”

Dorian swallowed.

He remembered how Helene’s simple charm spell had enchanted such a powerful sorceress as Athadora and realized how much danger he could be in.

“I promise,” he said, rubbing his arm. “You’re a real
princess
aren’t you?” he added sarcastically.

Helene nodded. “Yes, I am,” she continued in a kinder voice, “and it’s probably not such a bad thing to have one as your mentor.”

“So far it’s been really great,” Dorian muttered.

“What?”

“I …” Dorian coughed. “I said let’s not make Lowadar wait.”

As they walked to the group of wizards, Dorian felt light, as if he were walking on air.

He couldn’t keep the grin off his face.