Chapter 8
One hour before sunrise the capital city was awoken by the peeling alarm bells from high in the castle, the alarm had been activated by the wizard in the southern province.
Wizards were running towards the castle from all directions, King Gustav entered the sanctum with Daaro, five young wizards were huddled in deep conversation at one end of the room, other wizards were hurrying in, some took seats at the black onyx table others stood round the sides.
As always an old wizard shuffled through the door last, waved his wand, the doors slammed shut and sealed, the old wizard finally reached his seat at the head of the table and slowly sat down and the room fell silent.
The old man muttered something under his breath and waved his wand over the table, an image of the kingdom appeared; a red flashing light appeared in the southern area, again the old man muttered something then waved his hand, the image of a tall skinny man appeared over the table, he looked flustered and placed a jug of beer onto a table that was just out of sight.
“What is the alarm for, you do realise how serious this is” said Daaro, the old wizard at the head of the table said “oh spit it out man spit it out”, the skinny wizard in the south coughed then said “ I need to report that two patrols failed to return, another patrol was sent out, they returned this hour with news that one patrol has been found, all dead, four guards and a wizard, looks like a wolf attack but the other patrol has not yet been located”, Daaro waved his wand over the map, a yellow light flashed on the edge of the western plains, “send a patrol west near the edge of the plains, how many are missing?” he said calmly, the reply came slowly, “three guards and a wizard”.
Daaro instructed the man to make the patrol a full platoon with four wizards, waved his hands the wizard vanished.
A young wizard stepped forward to address the seated wizards, “with much respect, I have studied our history since we killed all the dragons, we have not lost a wizard in battle since ten months after the great battle, that one was killed in a wolf attack, the wolves were defeated and scattered across the land,” he said with some confidence,
“Yes, Yes young man, you don’t have to tell me the history, I was there, I am the last of the original conclave,” said the old wizard at the head of the table, tapping his wand to emphasize the point, he pointed his wand at two young wizards “to the watchtower you two, watch for any disturbance in the dark” as he flicked his wrist the two disappeared.
With great effort he stood up and moved to a position clear of chairs, an incantation slid smoothly from his lips, smoke seemed to fill the room, “Sorry I should have warned you” he said as all the seated wizards fell to the dusty earth, they had been transported to the site of the battle, without waiting , another incantation issued from his lips and they all saw the horror of the attack, the wizard was taken from his horse first by a huge silver wolf, his throat ripped out before he hit the ground, the guards followed within seconds, they stood no chance, “I see about one hundred wolves, the packs are uniting again” said the old man.
King Gustav opened his mouth to speak but closed it again; he had never seen the full power of the dark magic, the old wizard was shrouded in a black mist and the ground was shaking, after a few minutes shards of black mist flew off in every direction, the black mist faded, “all wizards have been alerted, we need to find out if the other missing patrol succumbed to a wolf attack, they are no longer in this area” said the old wizard.
Daaro held out his hands and turned round in a full circle, “in the great battle the wolves were aided by dragon magic, I sense no magic present” , the old wizard nodded then waved his wand and they were back in the sealed sanctum, an apprentice sorcerer bowed deeply before the old wizard “mage I have been tasked with investigating the ripples in the dark, they are many but do not seem to have any location that can be traced, they come and go so quickly” he said rapidly for he had never spoken before so many master magicians and never ever before the great mage.
“Keep working on it young man” said the old wizard then calling the meeting to order they discussed the next steps to take, all wizards were ordered to practice fighting with magic to regain the skills of the old ones that fought in the dark war.
The meeting adjourned when the old wizard started to fall asleep mid-sentence.
Three days later the word came that the lost patrol had been found, five of the conclave transported to the site, they returned to a full wizard court in the sanctum.
Daaro, who was leader of the five addressed the court “This patrol was not killed by wolves, we found this lodged in the skull of the wizard” he placed a gold tipped crossbow bolt on the table in front of the mage, the old wizard picked it up, turned it round then placed it back on the table, “this” he said pointing to the bolt “is full of dragon magic, but not just any dragon, this is the queens magic, and very powerful”, he considered this for a moment, “we have not detected any dragon magic, this could not be hidden from us, I believe that one of the dragon families has found some artefacts and is using them to attack us, what else of the attack”.
Daaro continued, “I have a vision for you, it shows the attack in some detail”, he waved his wand, an image appeared above the table, they watched as the three guards approached the trees, the wizard was behind them, two of the guards reached the trees and the wizard fell seconds later two flashes of light appeared and two guards fell, the third guard drew his sword, a figure jumped out of the trees, one sword cut the guards sword down to the hilt a second sword killed him, the figure looked at the scene, wiped both swords and placed them in scabbards on his back, this man was skilled in the use of these swords.
Daaro was about to speak when the mage held up his hand, “yes we all saw the gold beneath the coat Daaro, riders cannot exist without dragons, there are no dragons therefore I go with my first conclusion, a dragon family has found these relics, do we know of any renegade dragon families”.
A bearded wizard sitting at the far end of the table stood up, “we have had reports of a band of robbers in the mid-land forest, they have attacked patrols but seem to vanish in the undergrowth, we have many reports of travellers being robbed in that area and that they talk in a funny language”.
The mage ordered a platoon patrol to investigate the mid-land forest and catch the band of robbers, “You notice that this attacker ran off after the attack, if he had been a rider he would have just vanished, this I witnessed in the dark war”.
King Gustav stood up to assert his authority, “I need the wizards in the provinces doubled also the patrols, mage can we increase the cover of the dark” the mage smiled “the dark cover is as strong as when we defeated the dragons, it will do its job, the wizards will get support also the patrols”.
The mage called the court to an end and unsealed the doors, all the attendants left except the mage and Daaro, “the dragon magic in the bolt was strong, it had not the feel of aged magic, it felt recent” said Daaro, the mage picked up the bolt, turned it over in his hand, “The bolt is ancient but the dragon magic is very recent, within a year or two,” said the old man, “how is it that we have not detected it before, alert the wizards that dragons are alive and so is the magic, it must be found”.
Daaro broadcast the message through the dark magic; it was received by all wizards everywhere at the same time.