Drakonika (Book 1) (18 page)

First of all, Magnus wanted to save the crystal ball. Who knows what could happen if it ended up in wrong hands! But there wasn't enough time to do that for Maren tossed the torch to the water and quickly dragged him into the darkest corner of the cave.

It was just in time for as soon as they jumped into the corner, someone entered the cave, completely covered in a black cape. It could be a rather scary scenario but they couldn't overlook one remarkable detail; the person wasn't any taller than Magnus or Maren.

Wasting no time, the figure reached out and lightly touched the ball with their fingers. Magnus was almost certain the person had followed them into the cave and was watching them all this time. Even though the person might have known that they were still there, neither of them moved a muscle.

It didn't take long before the cloaked person disappeared up the staircase back from where they came. By then, Magnus could barely feel his feet, drenched in the freezing water.

“
Who was that?” Maren whispered, still hardly daring to breathe.

“
I d-don't know, I c-couldn't see their f-face,” Magnus said, trembling with cold. “But d-did you notice their height? It m-must have been s-someone from the n-novices.”

“
But who from the novices would follow us here?” Maren said mysteriously.

“
I'm not sure, b-but the crystal ball isn't s-safe here any more. We sh-should take it with us,” Magnus tried, but was cut off instantly.

“
Are you crazy?” interrupted Maren. “What it if Aedan finds out? We better wait. For all we know, it could be his!”

Magnus knew that it didn't belong to Aedan, but Maren was right nonetheless; the ball should stay where they found it. And yet, a part of him still longed to take the powerful artefact with them. “W-what do you suggest, then?” he said, hoping to hear a good advice. After all, Maren was a very clever girl.

“I think we should leave it here. That's what I suggest,” said Maren impatiently.

Magnus heaved a deep sigh. She was right.

Suddenly, Maren's stern expression softened. “You saw something in that ball, didn't you? What did you see?” she asked swiftly.

“
Well, I
–
” before Magnus completed the sentence, Maren was already tugging on his sleeves with begging eyes.  If it continued this way, his new tunic would soon look just like the old one.

“
Please, tell me! Was it some kind of prophecy? Tell me, tell me! Pleeaaase, I'm so curious,” Maren shrieked.

“
I don't know, I don't understand it myself. I'll tell you tomorrow,” Magnus said in a distant tone.

“
No, now!”

“
No, tomorrow.”

“
Now!”

“
Tomorrow!”

“
NOW!”

Magnus understood that the only way to slip away from this interrogation was to quickly leave and see Maren home. Since he had to listen to her begging all the way, he walked much faster than he normally would and they made it to their houses sooner than they expected. At the end of their journey, he completely lost count of how many times he said “no” in the last ten minutes.

“Now,” said Maren again, with her blue eyes fixed on Magnus.

“
Maren, I don't feel like it right now. I am confused and really tired, I'll tell you tomorrow,” he said, stopping in front of Maren's house.

“
All right, good night. See you tomorrow,” said Maren disappointedly. She disappeared behind the door before Magnus could bid her a good night in return.

That wasn't the best farewell, but he didn't let it ruin his mood. His feet felt stiff and cold and there was something very pleasant waiting for him in his room; a warm hearth.

This night was, without any doubt, an exciting adventure, but it was also very exhausting. Maren fell into a sweet slumber right away, but Magnus had difficulty falling asleep even after taking a long walk in the middle of the night.

On a lonely cliff, where flowers bloomed as red as blood, there was a wide tree. Darius was sleeping in the shadow of its black branches, leaning against the dark trunk. As the mild breeze caressed his face, he slowly opened his weary eyes. He never saw this place before. Strange, how did he get there? And how did Fjalldís get there, standing on the edge of the cliff?

As Darius tried to warm his cold hands, snow started swirling from the sky. When he looked up again, he saw a giant winged lizard, hissing dangerously at the terrified girl. He didn't know much about mythical creatures yet, but he had no doubt that this one could spit fire. It was a dragon!

He briskly leapt to his feet. It seemed that Fjalldís would soon either fall off the cliff or taste the burning flames coming from the dragon's snout. Like a mighty river, hundreds of questions rushed through his mind at once. Though he was unable to catch any, one of them popped out from the crowd. Would he help her?

Darius knew that neither of them could face this mighty beast. But before he could make a decision, his body took a quick run towards Fjalldís. Throwing himself into her, he saved her from the deadly fire in the last second. They both fell onto the soft mattress of red flowers.

All of a sudden, they were alone, without a sign of a dragon around.

“
Come on, let's get out of here,” Darius said, grabbing Fjalldís' hand in haste, but she didn't move.

“
Why have you done this to me? Why?” she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. That was when Darius felt something running through his fingers. It was dust. Her dust!

“
But... but I saved you!” Darius cried.

“
No,” replied Fjalldís, “you killed me.”

With his eyes open wide in horror, Darius watched her whole body turn to ashes right in front of him. The mild breeze took away what was left of her, carrying it gently to the coast. Now there was nothing left but his tears falling onto his empty hands and a tearing pain inside his guilty heart.

Darius finally opened his eyes, waking up so suddenly he sat upright in his bed. It took him a moment to realise that he was in Sinei, in the room he shared with his housemates, now lit in dim candlelight and his pillow still had the shape of his head imprinted on it. It was all just a dream.

Then he heard Rodrick's sleepy voice beside him.

“What's the matter, did you see a ghost? Get up, we have the... duty in the kitchen today,” said Rodrick in disgust, getting dressed as slowly as possible.

Still breathing rapidly, Darius hardly took any notice of him and although his friends were shuffling around, he felt as though he was all alone. He was the only one who didn't mind leaving his warm bed so early in the morning. Quite the opposite; the farther he got from it, the better. There was no strength left in him for more nightmares.

The five of them shuffled out into the dark street like band of spooks. The only sound they could hear was their own shoes clapping on the cobblestones, echoing in the streets surrounded by houses.

“
Do you think Aedan left the kitchen unlocked?” Viktor said, with his eyes only halfway open.

“
I'm not sure, but I hope not,” said Darius blankly. Like every day, he was dressed completely in black, wearing his favourite black gloves. All of his friends followed the same fashion style and that's why they could proudly call themselves the Black Squad.

They lazily limped off to the citadel and when they found out the kitchen was indeed open, they reluctantly stepped inside. Their last hope that they wouldn't have to cook today was entirely gone.

Giselbert gave a long, tired sigh as he sat on a chair, unwilling to move.

Viktor placed the lantern on one of the wooden shelves. “Light up the candles, I don't feel like it,” he ordered, yawning lazily. Nobody seemed to listen to him though.

Darius took off his gloves. He looked around with a sour face, imagining they would have to spend the next... what? Two hours there?

There was the cracking sound of opening an old book. “All right, who can read?” said Henry, holding a candle in his other hand. Among the five of them there were only two who could read. Well, more or less.

Darius and Viktor came forward, pushing Henry out of their way. Even though there were a lot of books on the table, they squeezed themselves against it so closely that it was as if there were no other books around. Surely, there were enough ingredients in the kitchen and the cellar, but they had to find a recipe first. A random choice would probably not be very wise.

Viktor skimmed through the book airily and then pointed his finger on the very first recipe he saw. “Let's do this one,” he said firmly.

“Are you sure?” Darius said in a doubtful tone,  “Isn't that a recipe to make wine?”

“
No,” Viktor said shortly. There was a moment of silence, in which he looked back at the title and seemed to hesitate a little, but then he spoke again with utmost certainty. “It's a recipe to make bread. See? One of the main ingredients is yeast. Learn to read, Darius.”

Darius scowled as his eyes slid down the recipe one more time. “Oh yeah? But there's no flour
–
”

Bam!

Viktor shut the book so fiercely, he almost slammed Darius' nose inside. “Now you're being smart? Wasn't it you who said we couldn't cook? Be on your own then,” he said with finality in his voice. He grabbed the book and left to one of the desks in the room, searching its drawers. The rest of them joined the one who sounded more persuasive: Viktor.

Darius groped for a chef cap that lay on the desk behind him and placed it on his head. It was pretty loose but he kept it on anyway. “All right then,” Darius said crabbily as he drew another book from the shelf. He had  half of the kitchen for himself now. The others were squeezing by one desk, because clearly, none of them was brave enough to do it alone.

Darius and Viktor exchanged long stares, as if they were preparing for a duel. Sometimes it was really hard to tell if these two were serious or not. When they both pulled up the sleeves of their black tunics, everyone was looking at Darius' left arm.

Seeing the bandage, Rodrick succumbed to curiosity, “Whoa, what's that?”

“Nothing,” snapped Darius angrily, “It's just for image.” At these words, he shot Viktor a warning glare to keep quiet.

“
Oh, okay,” said Rodrick with a trace of fear in his voice.

Darius turned away and grabbed a long white apron, tying it around his waist.

“Cool, now you look like a maid,” said Viktor mockingly, laughing his pants off at his own joke. Neither could Giselbert help sniggering.

“
Keep laughing,” said Darius scornfully. “At least I have armour for this battle, you have nothing.” At these words, he left to the cellar.

There was another outbreak of mirth in the kitchen, followed by a couple more taunting comments.
If they weren't so far from their house, they would have surely woken up all the novices. Maybe even Aedan.

Darius' face was red with anger. He enjoyed making fun of others, but he hated being a target of laughter himself.

When his friends discovered that their poor jokes were no longer funny, they realised it was time to start working. Shortly, Darius seemed to have nearly half of his work done and they suddenly didn't feel like laughing any more.

Viktor furiously clenched his fists.

In a moment, the whole kitchen broke into a baking race. The results were clearly showing that Viktor, Henry, Giselbert and Rodrick didn't have a clue about what they were doing. All that they did were simply feeble attempts to imitate Darius, along with trying to somehow carry out the recipe that Viktor had chosen. And the result? It must have been terrible.

It was a lot of work and a lot of nerves and all the time there was high tension in the air. None of them even noticed that the sun was already rising.

When the “battle” was over, Viktor, Rodrick, Giselbert and Henry could already start getting ready for the afternoon washing. Their black clothes turned to white as they had nothing to prevent themselves from getting flour everywhere. No need to mention that Darius had finished his work long before they did and his clothes were clean just like new.

When they all heard the shrieks of hungry novices bolting into the dining room, they knew it was time to serve breakfast. The Black Squad were pretty hungry themselves, but they would only get what they had cooked. Viktor found the time to shoot Darius an envious look.

Aedan was already sitting among the novices, waiting for the tasty meal. At least that's what everyone was hoping for.

Since the Black Squad didn't work together, they didn't serve together either. Viktor with the others were serving their dish on the left side, Darius on the right. In a few seconds, there was an outbreak of murmuring on the left side, along with a few serious complaints. Not only was the meal was burned black, it didn't even hold together! It poured down like ashes, dropping bits of something that might have once been orange, lemon and heather blooms. It was a mass made
of the ingredients used for making druid wine, with additional flour. However, not even Aedan himself was able to identify it.