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Thessa rushed to the platform where Ephaltus was the first to awaken. He pushed himself up from the platform with Thessa’s help. Fia began to stir.
Ephaltus looked at the Ocularius Magnus as it spun down. “I never though I would say this, but bless this infernal machine!” There came a rumbling from outside the Arsenal. “What in the two hells is going on here?”
Marlee came down from the machine, “We are under attack.”
“By whom?” He looked around at Thessa and the dryads. “What has happened? Marlee?”
“There is a dragon named Tanyth Veridian outside.”
“The assassin? Who sent him here?”
Thessa spoke up, “I believe it was Cassany.”
“Of course it was.” Ephaltus lamented.
“Shelayla is keeping him busy.” Marlee said.
Ephaltus spun around to look at her, “You know who Shelayla is?”
“Yes, she is part of the history of the Tourney Masters.”
“Yes, you are correct. My mind is a little befuddled by the portal.” He exited the Ocularius Room into the Arsenal. He popped his head back in for a brief moment, “Well, are you coming Marlee? This is something you should know.”
Marlee followed him along with Thessa and Fia close behind.
Fia put her hand on Thessa’s shoulder, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Don’t get sick on me.” Thessa said.
Ephaltus led them into a room set aside from the rest. “When there is a threat to the arena of this scale, the gods have provided us with this.” He reached for a small box about the size of an apple. “It’s something Cassany knows about and why she has been spying on me to see when I’m gone. I should have shown it to you earlier, but I had no idea she was going to try something like this.” He led them out of the Arsenal to the arena. The place had been wrecked, first by the blood feeders and now by the dragons. “Good gods, they have destroyed the place. The other gods are going to trow a fit.”
“What are you going to do? Kill the dragon?”
“That’s not really what I do. Most of the gods don’t like us killing their creations.” He took the box and set it upon the ground. “Bring him over here, Shelayla.” He shouted.
The smaller dragon brought Tanyth to the arena where he landed. Shelayla flew off.
“Well, you are all here now. I will complete the job I came here for!” He breathed in and smoke began to come from his nostrils. Ephaltus whispered a few magic words and punted the box at the dragon as he was breathing fire. A great shield erupted from the box and covered the dragon completely, then it began to shrink rapidly and return to the box, dragon and all. Ephaltus walked to the box and picked it up. “I will give him to the gods to decide his fate. We will have to meet with them and I suppose I will have to explain where I was all this time.” He looked around the arena, “What a mess I have made of things.” He put the box in his pocket, “You had all better come to the Earth Chamber and have supper. I need to hear the whole story of what happened here. I get the feeling I am going to be called to a lot of meetings in the near future.”
****
The seventh god, Cryonias, turned from his looking glass, “So, he is a Tourney Master. Clever, very clever. No one has ever escaped my trap in all the years of my exile.”
“Well, he did have help. He didn’t figure it out himself.”
“Clydus, you silly dragon! Does that matter, my friend?”
“I guess not,” the small red dragon, about the size of a horse, said as he perched on the enormous shoulder of the seventh god.
“I will have to send this, Ephaltus, a few more clues. Which one would you prefer, Clydus?”
“Oh, the Bramble Path. Make him follow the Bramble Path.”
Cryonias chuckled, “All right, the Bramble Path it is.”
****
Lylah jolted out of bed and ran to the window to look at the garden. The storm from the previous night had produced large hailstones, and she feared it might have destroyed the plants. When she gazed out the window, her worst fears had come true. She rushed into the living quarters of the royal gardener, her father, and noticed her mother crying on his shoulder.
“We will be ruined, Den. The king will punish you and take away our food privileges.”
“It will be all right, dear. I will just explain to him what happened. We cannot be blamed for the acts of the gods.” Lylah opened the door and her parents both looked at her.
“It’s no use. They are not salvageable.” Her father said. Still, Layla went out to the plants. She walked through the garden until she came to her favorite plants, the foxgloves. She reached down to touch one of them and to her surprise the heart-healing plant’s stems reached up to her. She could feel the plant’s pain when it touched her. She could have sworn the plant whispered to her for help. Overwhelmed, she dropped to her knees and wished, no willed, for the plants to be healed. She couldn't bear the cries of them as they called to her for help. She instinctively thrust her hands into the soil and released her will. A green tinge covered the gardens, and the plants began to recover before her eyes. She pulled her hands from the soil and examined them. They shimmered with a green aura. She gasped as the memories came. They were forced into her mind until she felt her eyes would burst from her head. They were memories, knowledge, and thoughts from someone else, someone who once called herself the Green Mage. Lylah’s parents ran out into the garden of now healthy plants to check on their daughter, who had just fainted.
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End of Black Mage Cursed
Green Mage Metamorphosis is the next book in the Tournament of Mages series.