The castle stretches out in front of us as I hover over the town, roaring and wanting to stay in this form for a little while longer. Humans and shifters now know a Wyvern has finally been awakened.
The bells in town start ringing and I lower down, seeing the crowd gathering outside on the courtyard to welcome the winner. People are cheering for me, so I give them a spectacle of my fire magic, spreading my wings wider, releasing the flames. I touch down on the ground several minutes later, and the Duke slides off my back, looking pale. The guards must have noticed he’s injured because they’re running towards him. People are talking loudly now, and when Thayer approaches, I say:
“He needs a doctor.”
“What is the duke doing with you, Astri? He was supposed to be travelling?”
“I’ll explain everything later, Thayer. Astri needs a doctor too; she’s bleeding,” Jorgen hisses, and Thayer gives him a courtly nod. Before long, Jorgen’s taken back inside the castle and I briefly explain to Thayer what happened in the forest. He doesn’t want to believe me at first. He doesn’t understand why the duke would allow himself to be captured. Quickly, his disbelief is replaced by fury as he paces around me, contemplating why Jorgen betrayed him. I wonder why he’s working for a man like the duke. He’s intelligent enough to know the duke seems to always do what he wants without any consideration for others.
“Stay here, Astri. I need to talk to the duke alone,” he eventually says, then disappears for a good half hour inside the castle walls. The other doctor is already kneeling down over me, taking care of my wound. My entire leg is swollen and I don’t feel anything anymore. My plan worked out for the best, and I managed to survive. The next thing I know, Lenin and Jetli are all over me, jumping up and down on my head, and singing.
“We won! We won! Astri is the winner.”
I smile and a few guards bow towards me; news is spreading fast. Soon, the whole town will know I’m the scarred girl who managed to rescue the duke himself. Drew, one of the other doctors, gives me a few potions meant to put me back together, and half an hour later the duke, along with his entourage, appears again. He’s limping, walking on his own towards the stage that was set up earlier.
“The duke is asking for you,” one of the guards says, approaching. Drew helps me back on my feet and I walk towards a shifter who looks lost in his own thoughts. No one knows the truth and for now, it has to stay that way. Everyone’s watching me when I join him on the stage. On my right, I spot Sebastian, as he’s carried by one of the guards, with the same blank look on his face. There’s nothing anyone can do for him now; the betel nut permanently damaged his mind. The other contestants must have been called back from the mountains.
Jorgen looks a little bit better now and his thigh is bandaged. When our eyes meet, he silently nods, as if to remind me I have to keep my mouth shut. Thayer clears his throat setting up the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen. I’ve been told Duke Jorgen sacrificed himself for the contest. He allowed wild shifters to capture him, and as you can all see, he has been injured. Luckily, it’s nothing serious, so he can be here with us now,” Thayer announces. He sounds angry the duke put his life at risk.
The crowd applauds and Jorgen nods for him to carry on.
“Young Astri, standing next to the duke, is one of the contestants who managed to rescue him from the tribe of wild shifters. Astri is a very skilled shifter who exhibited a tremendous amount of bravery throughout the contest. And today, she will officially become the duke’s assistant!” Thayer shouts and the entire crowd erupts into applause, screaming and shouting my name. Suddenly, I have butterflies in my stomach, and I smile in awe of how the shifters of Rivenna no longer care I have a hideous scar on my face.
Jorgen shakes my hand and the photographers keep snapping our pictures.
“Congratulations, Astri,” he says. “Start getting used to it, because from now on everyone will be looking at you.”
I look at the crowd, thinking my life is never going to be the same again. My parents are dead and I don’t have to go back to my old life.
Jorgen lets go of my hand and I’m aware this is the start of my new beginning.
I’m the newly appointed assistant to Jorgen III, a mage who’s no longer a shifter—a mage who finally paid for his crimes.
The celebration in the courtyard is slowly coming to the end as I walk back to my chamber. My head’s buzzing and I think I must have drunk a bit too much wine. The Pixies aren’t with me, they wanted to stay up, playing games and entertain the guards. It’s around three a.m. and even Jorgen left with Thayer earlier, telling everyone to keep the celebration going. I kept watching him when he was walking back towards the doors looking like a shadow of himself–watching a mage who a day ago was one of the most powerful mages in the Eastern World. A heavy weight settled over my shoulders. My inner happiness faded and for some reason I couldn’t pretend I was satisfied with everything that happened with the wild shifters.
I clench my fists, reminding myself to get it together. This is what I wanted all along, to see his downfall, but instead of cherishing this moment I feel like I made a terrible mistake.
I turn the corner and stop abruptly hearing a conversation just along the corridor.
“I don’t know what they’re all so happy about. She’s a Wyvern shifter and won’t be alive for long.”
I see two older guards who are talking, hiding in a dark corridor. All the lights are off and I don’t recognise them. My injury reminds me I should head to bed, but I don’t want to miss anything, so I stay hidden behind the wall.
“What are you talking about? She won and beat everyone else – it was a fair contest. That shifter girl is strong and humble,” replies the other guard and my heart flutters in my chest. At least someone in the castle believes in me.
“I know of a mage who’s been hunting down Wyvern creatures for years. He killed many, taking away their magic. Apparently, over ten years ago he killed the last one. He’s from the Asian continent, another kingdom. This girl won’t be alive for too long if he finds out what she is,” explains the first guard.
Suddenly, I’m struck with an unbelievable urge to vomit –my vision goes blurry. Impossible, this guard must be lying or mistaken. Jorgen’s the one who killed my parents and scarred me.
“Who is this mage? The duke’s going to protect the girl.”
“They call him …”
Then I hear a strange rumbling and drunk singing voices. The rest of the guards’ words are lost and I need to disappear. It looks like a couple of the staff from the castle had too much wine as well.
The guards vanish before I have a chance to confront them. Blood rushes to my ears when I quickly enter my chamber and shut the doors behind me.
It can’t be true – I couldn’t have been wrong – the unicorn… That guard couldn’t have been talking about someone else. I’ve never heard of a mage whose hunted dragons from the Wyvern’s clan. The unicorn gave me Jorgen’s memories, his past visions. It was Jorgen, he was the one who scarred me, but what if …
What if I made a terrible mistake? What if it’s not him? I burst into tears and flopped on the bed, feeling like my heart was splitting into pieces. My head started spinning like a merry-go-round. It can’t be true. I let Bratlav destroy the duke’s dragon. I stood there and watched them perform that cruel, barbaric ritual. I kept hitting the pillows, hating myself for what I’d done. The guard talked about a devil mage who’s been hunting Wyverns; he was convinced it was someone other than Jorgen. The pain in my chest is greater than anything I’ve ever experienced. And the tiny voice in my head keeps whispering:
It’s not Jorgen … it’s never been Jorgen.
End of Book 1
Thank you Angela S. and Lexi for helping me with editing and for bringing these characters to life. You’re both amazing women!
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Joanna Mazurkiewicz, Wyvern Awakening
(Series: Mage Chronicles # 1)
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