Drakonika (Book 1) (23 page)

“What's the matter with you, guys? Have you forgotten? No girls!” he whispered angrily.

“
We haven't, this is an exception,” said Viktor calmly, taking his share of cards.

“
Actually, I think it's a silly rule,” Rodrick added, arranging his cards in his hands and looking covertly at Serena. Neither was Giselbert against it.

“
Yeah, why should we be a boy's only gang? I think she fits in,” he said.

“
Are you serious?!” objected Darius fiercely. It was hard to believe, but it seemed that Serena's sweet face had charmed all of his friends in less than one minute.

“
Chill out, Darius, it's no big deal. Just take your cards and let's play,” said Henry.

Although Darius wasn't ready to accept Serena as a new member of their gang, he had no other choice but to sit down. He grabbed his cards with one fierce move, casting venomous glances at Serena in order to show everyone his disapproval. But the girl didn't lose her enthusiasm.

“This is so exciting! I can finally learn to play the renowned Magiker!” she said brightly.

“
That's the last drop! She doesn't even...” Darius muttered desperately, clapping a hand to his forehead.

While the Black Squad and Serena were playing cards (a
lthough according to Darius, it could hardly be called playing), the other novices were already sleeping, except for two. Aedan didn't seem to be anywhere around and just like Serena easily made her way to the door of the Black Squad, Magnus easily made his way to Maren's room. It was a perfect moment to search the mysterious book and investigate it further. They were both sitting on the floor, the black tome before them and a burning candle encased in glass illuminated their faces.

“
Let me be the first to read it!” Maren implored with an insisting glare, the orange candle light reflected in her eyes.

Seeing her excited expression, Magnus couldn't say “no”.

“All right then,” he said quietly. What harm could it do? But as soon as Maren opened the book to the first page, the window blew open with such force it broke the bar that kept the shutters closed. One half of the bar flew right above Maren's head, landing in a corner with a racket.

They both jumped in shock as a strong wind bounded inside. It turned at least fifty pages of the book.

“Maybe you left the window open. I forgot to close mine,” Magnus said immediately, his voice quavering.

“
No! It was locked!” Maren cried.

“
It seems you are right,” said Magnus, picking up a piece of wood from the floor.

“
Are you waiting for the monsters to get inside? Close it!”

Hearing Maren's terrified voice, Magnus didn't wait any longer. He closed the window shutters against the wind, locking them with an iron candle-stand. For a while, he was surveying them, although he knew there was no point in searching for a logical explanation.

Even though the wind had stopped, Maren was still shaking violently. She fell to her knees before the tome.

“
Maybe we shouldn't read it after all,” she said and then she paused for a while. After a long stare at the open pages she added, “Actually, we can't.”

“
What? Why?” asked Magnus, rounding on her.

“
Come and take a look for yourself.”

As soon as Magnus jumped to her side, he understood what she meant. The whole book was written in strangely shaped characters of a language that did not belong to any race in the whole of Aria. In the middle there was a nine-pointed symbol drawn in black ink, some of the strange writing and a few splotches.

Then Magnus' voice cut the silence.

“
Once you find this book, follow these instructions. You must be careful and you must not fail — only then can we be reunited. Learn the spells I left for you here and let no other match you in power.”

Maren looked deeply mystified, “Wait a minute – you can read it? And you understand what it says?”

When Magnus realised that he had read three sentences from the strange book, he heard heavy steps issuing from the hallway. As he exchanged horrified looks with Maren, they both almost jumped out of their skins. Aedan!

Blow out the candle, stuff the book into the backpack, swoop into the bed and hide in a safe place — all this was done in a matter of less than ten seconds. As the door opened quietly, a wild-maned head
peeked in. Aedan surveyed the whole room with his strict gaze, but found nothing unusual. Then he realised the scent of a freshy extinguished candle.

That was a reason enough for him to make a detailed investigation. He checked all the corners of the room. He gazed at sleeping Maren and then he shot a suspicious look at a closet near the wall. It was big enough to hide someone in and Aedan was almost certain he would find someone inside. He strode to the closet, opened it with a swish and
—

—
found a couple of white pillows.

Aedan grumbled quietly as he left the room and slowly closed the door behind him.

As Magnus scrambled from under Maren's bed, he finally breathed out, holding his backpack and its precious contents.

“
He's going upstairs,” Maren whispered, her eyes bulged. It wasn't over yet.

“
He's going into my room!” said Magnus frantically, “If he doesn't find me there, it will be the end of me!”

“
But how do you want to get there? You can't outrun him! Maybe you could go downstairs and say that you had to go to the bathroom,” Maren said swiftly. Magnus didn't think that would be a good excuse, but then the lack of time forced him to do something very spontaneous.

He put on his backpack and removed the candle-stand as he opened the window, staring into the gaping darkness. Strangely, the fierce wind was now gone and although it hadn't been raining for several hours, he could still feel the moisture in the air. As he climbed to the window, he heard a frantic call behind him.

“Magnus, what are you doing?! Come back here!”

As if he didn't hear anything, Magnus fixed his silvery eyes on the wooden ledge above. He flung himself to the outer side of the building, standing on the window sill. And then, it was as if he had disappeared.

There was no time for making any signals to Maren. He climbed up and jumped into his room through the window he had left open. Then he threw his backpack into a corner and wrapped himself into the blanket with his shoes on.

It was just in time. As soon as jumped into his bed, Aedan had entered the room. It seemed that Magnus played a sleeping boy well because he heard his teacher walk out and close the door. He could finally breathe.

However, Aedan could not.

“
Maybe it was just my imagination,” he muttered under his nose in an attempt to calm himself, but it had no effect — quite the opposite. “Does that mean I'm getting old?” he asked himself, looking around fearfully, as if he heard death itself coming for him. He had a horrible feeling that in the last ten minutes at least three hundred of his precious hazelnut hairs had turned grey.

While he gave Maren and Magnus a hard time, the Black Squad and Serena were lucky. Aedan decided to skip his nightly patrol and get more of his life-giving sleep instead.

The next day they were told to wait for Aedan in a side aisle near the edge of the main square. There was some shopping he had to do before they departed back to Sinei. But he could have expected that until he returned, his novices would get into serious trouble.

Maren was happy to see Magnus alive after his extreme feat from last night and it seemed that she could stop worrying about him. He was getting used to his strength and he had started using it to his advantage. But other than that, she was worried about one more thing.

“
Is it safe?” she said quietly, looking rather anxious.

“
Of course, it's right here,” said Magnus, patting his backpack. He wasn't watching the tone of his voice as he thought that no one knew what they were talking about. But that was a mistake.

“
I don't know about this, Magnus,” Maren said in a low voice, ”Do you remember what it said? What if it belongs to someone and they will come looking for it? What if it's... you know... dangerous?”

The Black Squad and Serena were standing nearby and although they all pretended not to have any interest in what was happening around them, they were listening to each word Maren and Magnus exchanged. They were now alert as they heard them talking about something unnamed. Perhaps “it” was the thing that Serena had mentioned last night as everything they just heard pointed to exactly that.

“Hey,” Darius said confidently, casting a piercing stare at Magnus. “What's in the backpack?”

The shock of hearing that voice made Magnus freeze. The question was directed at him and it almost sounded as if Darius knew about the mysterious book he took from the Mages Guild. But how?

“That's none of your business,” Magnus retorted, but he should have known that such a tone wouldn't make it any better.

“
Really?” Darius said in an affronted tone, stepping forward in front of Serena and his four friends. Yes, Magnus was stronger, but he was alone and Darius had four friends with him (Serena made five, but according to him, girls didn't count). “I think it's time to teach you a lesson,
Magnus,
” he said, spitting out the name scornfully.

The sight of the Black Squad in a full line along with a new member made all novices stand aside and clear the way, creating something like a small arena between them and Magnus.

Darius was growing impatient.

“
Hand it over,” he growled.

Magnus felt his stomach clench. He knew he was stronger than him, maybe even stronger than his entire gang, but he didn't want any trouble. Moreover, he felt as though he had never fought before.

In addition to the novices standing around, a few strangers had come to watch the fight. It seemed that nobody wanted to miss a little action in the streets.

Unfortunately for Magnus, Maren plunged in and that made the whole situation even worse.

“You better watch your mouth, Magnus can breathe fire!” she shot threateningly at Darius.

There was a deeply unpleasant silence as everyone froze in shock. And then the entire Black Squad burst into a laughter so intense, it seemed it was the best joke they had ever heard. Actually, it was.

Rodrick wiped tears from his eyes, still laughing madly. Darius shook his head in disbelief.

“
Fire? He breathes fire?” he scoffed, “Let's see it then. Show us what you can do, if you can do anything at all.” Although he had been a witness to Magnus' extraordinary strength, he didn't seem to be afraid.

There was the whispering sound of an incantation, carried around by the wind. Then Darius made a sudden move, throwing a radiant green whip-like plant that seized Magnus' legs and brought him down with a painful fall.

The audience gasped and for a moment, no one spoke. How could he be so good at magick already?

As soon as Magnus hit the ground, he felt Maren's hands on him, carefully checking each fold of his clothing.

“Magnus! Magnus! Are you okay?” she shrieked desperately. But even then, Darius didn't leave them be.

“
Well? Where's the fire?” he demanded. While his friends were having a good laugh, he discreetly tilted his head in Serena's direction and whispered, “Is
it
in the backpack?”

“
I'm not sure. But if it's there, you probably broke it,” Serena said.

Darius growled, looking angry with himself.

“You don't give me a choice, Magnus. I'll take the backpack and take a look inside myself,” he said resolutely.

Just as Magnus scrambled to his feet, another lash hit him and the backpack slipped from his shoulders. Darius was just about to drag him close when suddenly the plant tore apart, making the bag fall onto the ground and spill all its contents
— mere books.

It took a moment for Darius to recover, “What?! No crystal ball, just useless old books!”

Maren and Magnus exchanged shocked glances. It must have been Serena who followed them to the cave in Sinei! But it seemed now that even she was surprised.

Then all faces turned to a dark-haired girl who was standing out from the crowd, her arm raised slightly and her palms still beaming with purple energy. It was clear that it was her spell that cut Darius
' magickal whip.

It was Fjalldís! Magnus turned to her with a “thank you” on his lips, but he didn't get a chance to say it. A merciless voice came from behind the girl, making everyone shoot horrified looks in her direction.

“What do we have here? Choosing the path of criminals at such early age?” said General Xanthar with relish. In that moment, all colour drained from Fjalldís' face.

“
No, I just wanted to help! He –” she said frantically and pointed at Darius, “He used an attack spell! If not for him, I wouldn't have cast anything. He basically made me do it!” she said desperately, hardly daring to breathe, but no one else spoke. There was a painful silence.