Storm Holt (The Prophecies of Zanufey Book 3) (23 page)

Edarna slapped her mouth shut and got down to business right away.
 

‘So, hmmm,’ she surveyed the beast. ‘Let’s start on the hard bits whilst we’re fresh.’

The old witch set down her chest, and with a word it expanded to its normal size of about three feet long by one foot high. She whispered her secret spell to unlock it, and it undid smoothly even after all these years and a recent dunk in a lake. She lifted back the lid, and rummaged around inside. She drew out a long knife with a serrated edge close to the hilt, a thin reel of elven rope, and her prized hazel beam wand. At a word the tip of the wand began to glow white and illuminate the area nicely.
 

‘Uh huh,’ she nodded with a smile, then began to work out how she would get on top of the dragon to reach the largest, toughest and unblemished scales flowing along its horny spine.
 

Wand between teeth, she hooked the so far indestructible elven rope that had never let her down around the furthest horn, and pulled herself up onto its head. She stood there balancing for a moment, half afraid the thing would wake up. Moments passed and nothing happened. She breathed a sigh of relief, and hooked the rope around the next reachable horn, leveraging herself onto a flat bit between its horns and its spine. With a belch the scales gave way and her foot sunk an inch into bloody puss.
 

‘Urgh.’ The sudden stench of rotting flesh made her gag, and she wrapped her shawl around her mouth forcing the bile back down. She struggled to pull her foot up and it slowly released with a loud sucking noise. Carefully she scraped the goo off her boot onto one of its horns, and began to leverage herself up again, choosing her footholds more carefully.

‘Oh my.’ She bent over breathless at the top of the beast’s bulk. A particularly shiny scale caught her attention, and she bent closer to inspect it. ‘A little blemish on the side, but nothing major.’ Satisfied she took hold of her wand and placed it against the scale’s edge where it overlapped the next. ‘You remember this part from before don’t you, Wandy.’
 

Carefully she traced the wand around the scale, and where it passed a thin line of orange glowed. Next she took her knife and carefully prised the loosened scale free. It took some tugging, then suddenly came free. Edarna sprawled backwards clutching at her elven rope and the scale for dear life. She held herself still for a moment, then grinned and tossed the scale down onto the grass beside her chest.

She pulled herself up and continued the increasingly tiring process of extracting scales. The hours ticked by as the witch worked over the body of the Dread Dragon, selecting the finest scales of all types and sizes. It wasn’t until the light of dawn blushed the sky pink that she realised how long she’d been working. She stretched out her aching back and yawned, but the thought of more dragon scales drove her on. Just a few more, it was always just a few more.

When the sun began to top the trees, Edarna pulled the last tiny neck scale free with a yawn. Her legs were also beginning to ache, the first sign that her Quick Walk spell was beginning to wear off. She sighed, she wanted more, all of them. Reluctantly she packed the horde of scales into her chest.

‘Now for the fun finale,’ she grinned, pulling out a small black pouch. Using a stick she lodged the pouch into the beast’s lips, held her wand close and whispered a spell. A flame ignited at the end of the wand and set fire to the pouch. Edarna pelted it behind the nearest tree. An explosion rocked the ground and sent every bird in the vicinity screeching into the air. A few moments and lots of smoke later, huge chunks of rotting flesh began to splatter down around the corpse. When the last chunk of flesh had fallen, she ran over to the beast and squealed in delight.

‘One fine dragon tooth.’ She clapped her hands and reached down into the gore where she extracted a tooth thicker than her arm. Carefully, lovingly almost, she wiped the black blood and drool off on the grass, and stuffed the tooth into her chest. With a word the chest shrank down to its travel size, and she tucked it under her arm.

With a last reluctant look at the Dread Dragon corpse, she sped back through the forest, consoling herself that she’d harvested the very best scales she could find, and a dragon tooth.

By the time Edarna arrived back at their camp, Naksu was already up and heating tea over a fire. The albino woman looked at her with a raised eyebrow as Edarna nonchalantly slipped from the trees into the clearing. Edarna smoothed back her hair and sniffed proudly.
 

‘I was up early collecting herbs for my supplies,’ she said. ‘We witches must be disciplined with our sleeping, you need to be up at dawn or before to get the freshest ones.’

Naksu snorted and Edarna noticed her hair was wet.

‘Has it been raining?’ Edarna looked up at the clear sky.

‘No, I had a swim in the river at dawn,’ Naksu said stiffly.

‘Oh. Hah. Must be a seer thing. Is that necessary so early?’ Edarna gave a sweet smile.
They swim at bloody dawn in a freezing river?

‘If you want to exercise and cleanse your body, mind and soul, then yes,’ the seer replied.

‘Oh,’ Edarna nodded, feeling more than a little unfit. She sat down with a yawn. ‘I just need to stretch my back out, not as young as I used to be,’ she lay down and stretched.
 

In less than a minute she was asleep and snoring deeply. The seer looked on with a wry smile as she stirred her tea.

THE next morning everyone was up early with the dawn. They were just about to mount their horses when Issa felt the orb pulse. She pulled it out of her sack, it was flashing blue. Duskar sniffed it with interest. She looked back at the others with a frown. Coronos pulled out his orb. It was flashing white. He cupped the orb with both hands and stared into it. She copied him, but couldn’t see anything other than swirling turquoise. She felt out the magic flowing into it.

‘I can feel a presence, as if the orb is communicating with somebody or something far away,’ Issa said.

‘My oh my,’ Coronos said with a smile. ‘If I’m not mistaken I think someone is calling the Wizards’ Circle. Something I have not seen or felt since we fled from Drax. If I had more skill with magic I would know who called it. I must answer this call, our journey must wait.’

‘What happens now?’ Asaph asked.

‘We re-tether the horses and I accept the call. I will then be transported to the gathering of wizards,’ Coronos explained, he seemed excited and eager to be gone. He retied Socks to a tree.

‘Do we all go?’ Asaph asked hopefully.

‘No, we cannot. Only initiated members of the Wizards’ Circle can answer the calling. It’s not a denial of entry,’ he added, obviously seeing the disappointment on Asaph’s face, ‘but a matter of your physical encryption. If you are not a member than you simply won’t be able to be transported there.’

‘But I am the Orb of Water’s Keeper,’ she said. Surely she’d be able to go. ‘And it’s clearly calling me.’

‘Of course, I understand that, but you won’t be able to accept the call even if you tried. You still need to be a member of the Wizards’ Circle.’

‘How do I become a member then?’ she felt a little miffed. She
was
an Orb Keeper now, and she
could
use magic, and the orb
was
calling her.

‘You must be invited by the Circle to undertake the Wizards’ Reckoning,’ Coronos said. ‘But it wouldn’t matter anyway. They will not ask you.’

‘Why?’ she huffed, folding her arms. There better be a good reason. ‘I’ve proven myself to be good with magic, Freydel said so himself. I killed Keteth when no one else could. And now I carry an orb, entrusted to me by the Wykiry.
And
, what other wizard can turn into a raven?’

‘All these things are true, but it’s not about any of that,’ Coronos shook his head with a sigh. ‘They won’t ask you to join because you are female.’

Issa scowled. ‘So what?’

‘Well, I don’t really know the ins and outs of it,’ Coronos said awkwardly.
 

She caught Asaph grinning at his father’s discomfort and pinched him. He forced a straight face and turned away to tether Ironclad as Coronos continued.
 

‘Women haven’t been members of the Wizards’ Circle for… I don’t know how long, maybe since the Ancients. It’s not that they are denied entry, it’s just that few survived the Wizards’ Reckoning after the magic of Maioria was split apart. And when Baelthrom took the Orb of Life, none survived the testing. It seems the magic ability of women was hit terribly hard. Many no longer tried to wield magic, and instead turned to witchery. The strongest of them became seers, of whom we wizards know very little.’

Issa looked at the ground. Hearing this made her sad and annoyed. She knew she could wield more magic than Coronos, and she had an orb. She was still developing her magical skills too. Maybe she would even be as strong as Freydel. She couldn’t be the only woman skilled in the magical arts. How strong were the seers? Were women really not as strong as men?

‘What if I took the test and survived?’ she said, glancing at Coronos to gage his reaction.

He looked at her. ‘If the Wizard’s Circle agree a person has magical ability, and that person wants to take the test, they cannot be denied.’

‘No way.’ Asaph came over to them shaking his head. ‘It’s not worth risking it. We have more important things to do, and our lives are threatened enough as it is.’

Issa ignored him. ‘What happens to me if I take the test and survive?’

‘You will become stronger in every way, particularly when it comes to magic. You will understand yourself better than ever you did before, and you will know your deepest darkest fears, your flaws and weaknesses. Obviously this test will take you to your very limits and beyond,’ Coronos said. His face had paled, perhaps in memory of his own Reckoning.
 

‘But Asaph is right, it’s not worth the risk. And anyway, I’d better get going.’ He set his pack and cloak on the ground and sat down beside them.

Issa wanted to know more about this Wizards’ Reckoning, and for a moment wondered what would happen if she somehow accepted the orb’s call. In the end it was respect for Coronos that made her relent, but she was not happy.

‘I guess you should take this with you then.’ She pursed her lips and handed him the Orb of Water.

He smiled and took it. ‘It would please the wizards immensely.’ Issa and Asaph watched Coronos as he settled down with the orbs.

‘How long will you be gone?’ Asaph asked.

‘As long as it takes, but never more than a few hours,’ Coronos said without breaking focus on the orbs. And then, with a flash, he was gone.

‘Wow,’ Asaph said. ‘I’ve never seen him do that.’

Issa grimaced, unable to stop the intense feelings of jealousy.
 

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. ‘I wish I could go too.’

She sighed. ‘Yes, but, it’s more than that. We need wizards, witches, seers and all magic wielders working together, not separated into their little groups. As one we are strong, apart we are divided.’ Her own words surprised her. ‘I wish I knew how to fight this war to be rid of the Maphraxies for good.’

‘We all do,’ Asaph agreed. ‘But at least this gives us some time alone together,’ he pulled her close, ‘to chat,’ he stroked her cheek, ‘and to…’ The butterflies in her stomach began to dance as she looked up into his blue eyes. ‘…kiss.’ He bent to kiss her.
 

She found her anger dissolving as their lips touched. He hugged her close and rubbed her back gently as they kissed. She returned the touch, the muscles of his back hard and firm under her hands. His hands moved to her hips, and she found herself suddenly giddy. His kisses became more intense, and his tongue touched hers making her shudder in delight. He gently stroked her bottom, and she sensed he was losing himself too.
 

All of a sudden she began to feel out of her depth and afraid. He was too close, not just physically. She couldn’t make sense of her feelings. Like shutters coming down, she felt herself close up. She pulled away with a gasp.