Dragons' Onyx (2 page)

“Don’t look at me,” protested Niki. “I am not going to spar you with a sword. Alex tried to teach me to use a sword. He gave up quick enough. I have no desire to use a weapon. Maybe Master Khatama will spar with you.”

Fredrik turned and gazed at the old merchant who was sitting on the seat of the wagon, staring off into the desert.

“What is bothering Master Khatama?” Fredrik asked. “He sits all day and stares into the desert. Even when he is teaching me spells, I can tell that I don’t have his full attention. Has he said anything to you?”

“Barely a peep,” frowned Niki. “I am worried about him. I have never seen him like this. We never stayed so long in one place either. Why do we have to camp next to a desert?”

“It is as if he is waiting for something to happen,” mused Fredrik.

“I can’t imagine what could happen here,” shrugged Niki. “This is the most barren place in the world. I can’t even find any decent animals to talk to.”

Suddenly, Master Khatama smiled and climbed off the seat of the wagon. He strode purposely towards the campfire with a grin on his face.

“Stoke the fire for dinner,” ordered the old merchant as he reached into the back of the wagon and pulled out a large turkey. “We are having a guest tonight.”

Fredrik looked quizzically at Niki who was staring at Boris. The young mage shook his head as he stooped and shoved a few logs into the fire.

“Who is coming?” asked Niki. “Do we know him? Should we be prepared to defend the campsite?”

“Defend the campsite?” Boris echoed. “Heavens, no,” he chuckled. “An old friend of mine is coming. I doubt you could defend it from him anyway.”

Fredrik straightened and looked at Boris with curiosity clearly evident in his eyes. “Is he a warrior or a mage?” he asked Master Khatama.

“A mage of course,” replied Boris as he prepared the turkey. “One of the finest mages alive today. Both of you must show the greatest respect to Master Mustar when he arrives. Perhaps he will agree to give you lessons, Fredrik.”

“I could hardly impose upon his short time here to ask for lessons,” Fredrik shook his head. “That would not be very respectful of me.”

Master Khatama halted and stared at Fredrik quizzically before chuckling. “I am sorry,” he apologized. “I guess I forgot to tell you. Master Mustar is not just coming for dinner. He is coming to join us. He will be traveling with us from now on.”

“Is that why we have been waiting here?” asked Niki. “We were waiting for him to find us?”

“He does not have to search for us,” explained Boris. “He knows exactly where we are camped. We have been waiting for the Emerald of the Elves to be restored to the Sword of Heavens. Did you not feel it this morning?”

“Feel it?” questioned Fredrik. “I didn’t feel anything strange. Do you mean that you can feel when a gem is found?”

“Why were we waiting for that?” asked Niki.

“Of course I can feel it,” answered Boris. “Sorry. I forget sometimes that others cannot feel it. As for why we were waiting for it to happen, Niki, Mustar and I had a theory to validate. It could only be validated when the next gem was restored to the Sword of Heavens. Mustar and I will compare notes tonight to see if we observed the same things.”

“What were you supposed to observe?” inquired Fredrik. “Maybe I can help with the observations.”

“You are not ready just yet,” smiled Boris. “It is a theory about the character of the Darkness. That character changed this morning when the Emerald of the Elves was inserted into the Sword of Heavens. If Mustar agrees with my assessment, then we have a long journey ahead of us.”

“Where are we going?” asked Niki.

“Here he comes now,” announced Master Khatama as a distant figure emerged from the desert.

Fredrik squinted at the figure coming from the desert. He saw an old man with thin gray hair. The man was rather short and certainly was not the imposing figure one would expect for a powerful magician. Fredrik thought that the man would look right at home on the porch of an old cabin rocking in a wooden chair and swatting flies with a rolled piece of cloth. As Mustar got closer, Fredrik noticed the old man’s eyes. They showed none of the age evident in the rest of the man’s body. Mustar’s eyes were young and alert, and they swept the campsite carefully, cataloguing the inhabitants and swiveling enough to verify that nobody was lurking about in the sparse vegetation surrounding the wagon.

“Welcome, Mustar,” greeted Master Khatama. “These two are Niki and Fredrik. Dinner is almost ready.”

“Fredrik is the descendent of Sarac?” responded Mustar as he entered the campsite and stood near the back of the wagon.

Fredrik frowned at Mustar’s knowledge of his identity, but Boris nodded and smiled.

“He is a talented young man,” Boris stated. “I mentioned that you might help with his lessons while we travel.”

“While we travel? So you have already reached a conclusion from your observations?” questioned Mustar with raised eyebrows. “I would have thought that we were meant to compare findings before you decided a course of action by yourself.”

“Can you refute my observations?” questioned Boris. “I do not mean to exclude you from any discussion of findings, Mustar, but surely you understand the urgency that is required for this task. We do not have time to deal with hurt feelings. Am I wrong in asking you to join me?”

“I am sorry,” Mustar shook his head. “My findings obviously match yours or I would not be here. I have spent so long in isolation with only my student that I forget all need for manners. Forgive me. I can think of no greater calling than to join you on this quest. I consider your invitation an honor.”

“Let us eat,” suggested Boris. “We should retire early tonight so we can get an early start.”

The group of magicians gathered around the campfire and ate silently. Niki and Fredrik stole glances at Master Mustar, but neither of them was willing to offer small talk during the meal because of the rocky edge of emotion that Mustar displayed earlier. At the end of the meal, Boris rose.

“I am going to bed,” Master Khatama announced. “It will be crowded in the wagon until we find another horse. I suggest that we all get some sleep.”

Without further words, Boris walked off. Niki rose and gathered the utensils and took them to wash in a bucket. Mustar glanced at Fredrik and caught the young mage staring at him.

“I do not bite,” declared Mustar. “Not often anyways. I take it that you have not been informed of our mission?”

“I did not know we were waiting for anyone until you appeared,” replied Fredrik. “Where are we going and why?”

“It is not my place to say,” Mustar responded after a moment of hesitation. “I was ill-mannered when I argued with Master Khatama earlier. This journey is his. We are only along for what we can offer in aid to him. Do you understand who he is?”

“I have heard about the Mage,” nodded Fredrik. “I am not sure that I fully grasp who he is though.”

“At least you are honest,” smiled Mustar. “I feel the same, and I have been a Master for many years. The Mage is eternal. Some say that he is a child of the gods themselves. Others say his life is without beginning or end. Over the years I knew him as Egam. He was a Master when I was but a child.”

“Have you never asked him?” questioned Fredrik.

“I would not be so presumptuous,” smiled Mustar. “His answer in any event would likely be beyond my comprehension.”

“Master Khatama mentioned that you were involved in some type of experiment dealing with the Darkness,” offered Fredrik. “He said that he was waiting for the Emerald of the Elves to be restored before he could determine what to do next. Is that what this is all about? Are we on some quest to deal with the Darkness?”

“That is as close an answer as I could give,” nodded Mustar. “Master Khatama believes that the Darkness is the essence of Alutar, the Great Demon. I was skeptical at first, but I now concur. My analysis today only confirms my worst expectation.”

“But the Darkness will not matter much longer,” shrugged Fredrik. “King Arik will banish it entirely before long. He has already restored five of the seven gems required. It is my understanding that the seventh gem will eradicate the Darkness entirely.”

“That is what we are supposed to believe,” frowned Mustar. “In fact, King Arik must be stopped. He cannot be allowed to restore the Sword of Heavens completely. That is why I have come to assist the Mage.”

“Stop King Arik?” Fredrik blurted out. “I don’t understand. Everything we have been doing has been in support of Arik. I am supposed to kill Sarac with the restored Sword of Heavens. I do not believe your words. You must be trying to test my loyalty. Know that I stand firmly behind King Arik and his quest.”

“If you think this is a test of your loyalty,” scowled Mustar, “then you should wonder about who you should be loyal to. Does a young human king take precedence over an eternal Mage? Can you possibly believe that Arik’s quest is more important than Egam’s? If you do, you have no comprehension of the world or its history. Have you ever heard of the Great Demon, Alutar?”

“Alutar is the demon who anointed Sarac as the Dark One,” Fredrik replied hesitantly. “He is locked away in another Universe without any chance of escape.”

“So we were led to believe,” sighed Mustar. “Were that true, following King Arik would be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, we have all been tricked, including Sarac.”

“Including Sarac?” echoed Fredrik. “You are saying things that make no sense. You must explain yourself.”

“I am told that you are an intelligent and talented young man,” retorted Mustar. “Let me pose a dilemma to you and see what your conclusion is. You have been present at least once when the Sword of Heavens banished the Darkness?”

“Yes, I have,” nodded Fredrik.

“Where did the Darkness go?” inquired Mustar.

“It rolled away,” answered Fredrik.

“But to where?” pushed Mustar.

Fredrik hesitated and finally answered, “Back to the areas still covered with Darkness, I suppose.”

“A valid assumption,” agreed Mustar. “And where will it go when the last gem is restored to the Sword of Heavens? There will be no other Darkness for it to roll back to.”

“I don’t know,” admitted Fredrik. “I have never thought about it.”

“Nor has anyone else until just recently,” Mustar pointed out. “You see, that is the trick that we have all fallen for. The Darkness must go somewhere. At first it was thought to have been destroyed by the Sword of Heavens, but we now know that that is not true. The effects on Master Khatama’s memory proves that the Darkness is concentrating in areas that have not yet been cleared. So if it is not destroyed, but rather concentrated, what happens when the last gem is restored?”

“I suppose that someplace in the world there will be a dense cloud of Darkness,” offered Fredrik. “Is that so bad? If the place is known, could it not be charted and avoided?”

“Given the mass of the Darkness,” lectured Mustar, “when it finally gathers in that small dense cloud that you mention, it will no longer be a cloud. It will be solid.”

“Do you mean like a rock?” queried Fredrik. “If so, that would make things easier. It would be easy to dispose of.”

“You are slow,” Mustar shook his head. “The Darkness is alive. In fact, the Darkness is made up of the essence of Alutar. The trick that Alutar played on Sarac was to ensure the Great Demon’s freedom. When the seventh gem is restored to the Sword of Heavens, the Darkness will coalesce into Alutar himself.”

“But he is imprisoned,” argued Fredrik.

“He is imprisoned in the sense that he cannot see Junctions,” corrected Mustar. “His Universe is the only one that did not collapse, therefore we expect that he is imprisoned. Consider for a moment that Alutar would have no reason to trust Sarac. Add to your knowledge the fact that Alutar taught Sarac the spell that called forth the Darkness. By infusing himself into the Darkness, Alutar is not really in the Universe that we thought he was. Oh, his shell of a body may indeed be there, but a body means little to the Great Demon. I would not doubt for a moment that Alutar has been helping young Arik in some way. His goal, you see, is for Sarac to die. For when the seventh gem is fitted to the Sword of Heavens, Alutar is free at last.”

“But that would be catastrophic,” gasped Fredrik. “He surely has greater powers than the Dark One.”

“By many magnitudes,” declared Mustar.

“How can we rid the world of Sarac then?” asked Niki who had finished her chore and had listened silently to the exchange between Mustar and Fredrik.

“There is no need to kill Sarac,” proposed Mustar. “We let King Arik restore six of the seven gems. We let the armies of King Arik destroy Sarac’s creatures. All you have left is a mad magician held captive in a prison castle. Alutar cannot be formed until the seventh gem is restored, and it never will be restored. Do you understand now?”

“And what if King Arik is intent on restoring the seventh gem?” questioned Fredrik.

“He cannot be allowed to succeed,” stated Mustar. “Your job, Fredrik, is to ensure that he understands that.”

“My job?” asked Fredrik. “Why would he listen to me?”

“Because his life depends upon believing you,” replied Mustar. “The Mage will never let him succeed in his quest. Surely you can see that now?”

“If what you say is true,” agreed Fredrik, “but I find it hard to believe that Master Khatama would ever hurt Arik.”

“His responsibilities are to the world,” cautioned Mustar. “While it would pain him to destroy Arik, believe me that no power in the world could stop him. Do you know the transportation spell?”

“I have not learned it yet,” answered Fredrik.

“Then you shall learn it now,” Mustar declared as he rose. “You are to go to Tagaret and inform Arik of the Mage’s demands.”

“Shouldn’t he wait until morning?” interrupted Niki as she thought of Fredrik being away from her. “Shouldn’t Master Khatama give the instructions to Fredrik?”

“You could wait for morning,” Mustar nodded to Fredrik, “but there is no guarantee that Egam will want you to inform Arik. He may suspect that Arik can be stopped without his knowing why. I, however, see no harm in King Arik knowing exactly why he must not succeed. He still has an essential part to play in the Ancient Prophecy, but his efforts should be directed at destroying Sarac’s minions instead of Sarac himself. That is, after all, what will make this world a more hospitable place.”