The Phoenix Ring (The Thunderheart Chronicles Book 1) (12 page)

              The warlock turned just in time to see the pedestal that held the Phoenix Ring shatter into a million pieces, and a hole appear in the building next to it.

             
But if the boy called the ring, then…

              Bartemus felt a flash of power as the boy put the ring on.  It was a power that he had not felt in sixty years, but he knew it as well as his own.

              It was Marcus.

              "So let me get this straight, you're about to be eaten by a dragon?" Marcus asked.

              "I assume I already am, unless time freezes when I come here."  Aidan answered glumly.

              "Actually time doesn't freeze, your mind is just sped up.  And it only happens during the calling ceremony, I never figured that part out.  Tell me, did this dragon have spines coming up out of the sides of its head, and all along the back?"

              "Yes, actually."  Aidan said, becoming more amazed every second.

              The hero began to pace around the room, warlock's robe flying around him.

             
I am standing in front of Marcus Thunderheart.  Timothy would give his right arm to be here now
Aidan thought.

              "The problem with a Spineback is its speed.  The spines on the back are poisoned, and the tail is stronger than any other dragon of a similar size.  The only nice thing about it is that it doesn't have an inner fire."

              Aidan's mind was now completely numb.

              "You are going to have to drop and roll out of the way as soon as you leave this ring.  Do you think you can do that?"

              Aidan nodded.

              "After that you have two options.  Either you can cast a spell towards the rider, or you can put a curse on the dragon."

              Aidan's mind finally started to process things again.

              "But I thought dragons were immune to magic."  The young mage said.

              "No, they are creatures of magic.  Only their scales are anti-magical, or whatever you want to call it.  The trick with a dragon is to place the curse right inside its mouth.  Do you know the leeching curse?"

              "Yes,"  Aidan said, "That's the first curse I learned.  I took away Edwin's power with it."

              "Edwin is still alive?  What about Bartemus and Malachi?"

              Aidan nodded and Marcus laughed.

              "Edwin must have finally figured out a spell to prolong someone's life.  He always wanted to do that.  Did Barty ever shave his beard?"

              "Master Bartemus had a beard?"  Aidan asked.

              "Never mind,"  Marcus said, smiling.  "Back to Spinebacks.  If you place a leeching curse right in the dragon's mouth, you will kill it.  I would suggest trying that first, because if you aim for the rider and miss you will probably be killed."

              Aidan suddenly felt really small.

              "Do you think you are ready to go back out?"

              "Ready as I'll ever be,"  Aidan said, his voice only shaking a little.

              "Then close your eyes.  When you open them, you will be out of the ring.  Remember, always roll towards the tail if it tries to flick you.  And Aidan?  Try not to get yourself killed."

              The young mage closed his eyes.

8

              Aidan instinctively fell to the ground before he even opened his eyes.  He looked up and saw the great incisors snap shut just as he rolled out from under the dragon's mouth.

              The dragon swung its head around to face Aidan again, and the rider laughed.

              "You're quick, mage.  But I'm quicker."

              Aidan saw the dragon pulling its tail back.  Fighting every instinct in his body, he lunged forward toward the great serpent.

              The tail missed him by inches and slammed through the back of the staff and wand building.  The dragon finally became frustrated and used its massive paw to fling the terrified Aidan into the hole it had just created.

              Aidan slammed against a wall and fell to the ground, the fight gone from him.

              "What's wrong little mage?  Your tricks not working?"

              The dragon pushed its head through the hole and opened its mouth.

              In the moment before the creature struck Aidan felt something long and smooth under his back.

             
A staff.

              He rolled over and put his hand on the weapon, at the same moment yelling out his favorite curse.

             
"Mahor yok wenne!"

              The power flooded out of Aidan in a torrent unlike anything he had ever felt before.  It was as if a part of himself was being wrenched out of him.  It was painful, yet at the same time it felt exhilarating.             

              He knew he had hit the beast as it screamed, raising its head up through the roof of the room and raining bits of wood and stone on Aidan.

              The dragon tried to take flight, but it was already weakening.  The rider figured out what was happening right as the dragon let out a final roar and rolled onto its back, squashing the screaming dark-clothed man.

              Aidan gripped the staff tighter as his vision began to blur, and then turn to black.

              Bartemus heard a yell and turned in time to see the Spineback roll over onto its rider.

              As soon as the other dragons saw that their largest fighter had died they began to sweep off into the night, followed closely by balls of fire.

             
Did the boy just slay a dragon?

             
              Bartemus ran to what was left of the staff and wand building and kicked down the door, which in turn knocked down the last wall.

              "Aidan!" he yelled.

             
Please don't let him be dead, if he's a second Thunderheart…

              Several other wizards and mages that were not looking for friends or nursing injuries began to shift through the rubble with the old warlock.

              "Aidan, are you here?"

              "He's over there." said a strangled voice.

              Bartemus ran to the fallen form of Timothy, who was clenching his teeth against the pain of a broken hip.

              "It was amazing, he saved both of us." the young mage said, gesturing towards Eleanor's limp but breathing body.

              "I am going to take the pain away," Bartemus said, "Amilech and your master can fix you up later. 
Morka eslang!"
  Pain be not.

              Timothy instantly blacked out when the spell hit him.  Bartemus stood up and yelled for Malachi, then hurried to where Timothy had seen Aidan.

             
He has so much power, and if he has Marcus’s ring, then maybe we can-

              The warlock's thoughts were cut off as soon as he saw what the unconscious Aidan was holding.

              It was the black staff.  Malcommer’s staff.

              "Welcome back to the land of the living, Dragon Slayer."

              Aidan rolled over and opened his eyes.  He was in a tent the size of a small palace hall, with cots set up all along the walls, many of them filled with young wizards or mages.  Timothy and Eleanor sat on Aidan's left, Amilech on his right.

              "Where am I?"  he asked, a little dazed.

              "You're in the new infirmary." Amilech said.  "Those stupid dragons had to come down and knock down my building, so where do they make me work?  In a tent! I'll tell you, if I was in charge then…"

              The old warlock continued to mumble to himself as he walked away.

              Aidan leaned back into his pillow, his head pounding.

              Timothy opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it.

              “What?”  Aidan asked.

              Timothy just nodded his head towards Aidan’s left hand.

              There, sitting on his finger as if it had always been there, was the Phoenix Ring.

              “How?”  Timothy asked, a little bit of awe and something else, maybe jealousy, creeping into his voice.

              “I... I don’t know.”  Aidan answered.  “I tried to attack the rider, and then the ring slipped on, and then I was speaking to…”

              He paused, not sure how to word what he was going to say.

              “To who?”  Eleanor asked in a voice too calming to be natural.  “You can trust us.”

              “Please stop trying to use magic on me.”  Aidan said.

              “Oh, I thought you’d like it.  Sorry.”

              “No I do like it, it’s just a little creepy and I need to focus right now.  I think I was talking to… Marcus Thunderheart.” 

              Aidan expected Timothy and Eleanor to be surprised, but instead they seemed disappointed.

              “Amilech and Bartemus said you might be a little delusional when you came to.  Don’t worry, it will all make sense in a little while.”  Timothy said, pushing some magic into his voice the same way Eleanor had.

              “Stop doing that!”  Aidan said, feeling the anger well up. “I’m not insane.  I went into the ring, I did some sort of test, and then he showed up.  He showed me how to beat the dragon, if I didn’t then you would probably be dead!”

              “That is actually probable.” said a voice from behind Timothy.  Master Bartemus was holding an ink quill and a scroll.

              “Marcus never found his attribute, though I think it may have been life energy itself,
Arror.
  There were a lot of experiments at the time that had to do with transferring your
Arror
to a different person or object.  If anyone was going to be successful with them, it would have been him.”

              "Is there a way I can talk to him again?"

              "Probably, but I have no clue how.  There are a few tricks I could teach you, but first we have to have a talk.  Would you two mind…" The warlock said, gesturing towards Aidan's friends.

              "Oh sure."  Eleanor said, helping Timothy to his feet.  The young boy leaned on her a little as they walked away.

              "Are they alright?"  Aidan asked.

              "They're fine." Said Bartemus, sitting down.  "She got a little bump on the head and his hip was shattered, but it was nothing a little magic can't fix.  The residual pain should be gone in a few days."

              "Did Timothy tell you about Edwin?"

              "Yes he did.  And you did too.  You talked the whole time you were sleeping.  It is quite troubling, and it is one of the things I need to talk to you about.  Edwin has always been a master of the mind.  He was able to put an entire sentence into someone's head when he was just eighteen.  As you probably know, it is hard to give anyone anything more than an emotion.  However, through a series of tests, Edwin was determined to try.

              "The only problem with his experimentation was a lack of subjects.  He made his first two go insane, and after that there was a lack of volunteers, so he ended up trying out most of his experiments on himself.  He must have gone too far, because at some point during the war he started to sympathize with Malcommer.  It was just little things, like talking about how wrong it was that we had to kill the goblins when they were only defending their home, but it scared some people.  The council removed Edwin from the fighting.  It was a tough blow for him.   Malachi, Marcus, and myself had always been his friends, and we did everything together.  After the war we tried to make up, but he blamed us for Marcus’s death.  He had, while we had been gone, managed to build up quite a lot of political power for himself, and was only a few steps away from being in the council.

              "He was kind at first, but eventually his heart became harder and harder, until he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.  You saw that with young Gerang."