❖ Chapter 66 ❖

“ARE YOU HERE to heal him?” asked Zristara.

“No, I am here to take him,” said the doppelgänger, Areddo.

“If you are not a healer, what are you?” demanded Dareldin. He was not sure what this thing was and, more importantly, he did not know what its intentions were.

“This is… or was my bonded one. One of the beings of First Magic of which all wizards are matched,” the Lord Wizard tried to explain. “But that was so long ago. And your time has passed. So, be gone now.”

“Stubborn to the end,” said Areddo. “Then, if you care not to listen to my counsel, perhaps you will heed the frantic calls of another. The one I foretold to you who would come to require your guidance,” said Areddo.

Then, the doppelgänger waved a pale hand. And a woman’s desperate voice suddenly filled the cabin.

Lord Wizard! Lord Wizard, I have great need of you, My Teacher. Getwin has taken Concera to the place of First Magic. We have nothing to protect us from Shutharja….Please come, let go of your pride and help us….

It was Angelterra’s voice, Dareldin told himself. She must be in grave danger.

“We will sail there at once and rescue her,” said the prince.

“Not enough time, young Prince,” said Areddo. “Come, old wizard, do as the young Princess asks. Forgo thy pride, let us bond again as we did once long ago.”

“You know I could do this without you,” said the Lord Wizard in barely a whisper.

Areddo looked as if he were about to retort that claim, but then decided not to do so.

“Of course, Earendel,” said the doppelgänger, almost kindly. Then, it walked over to the bed and held out its hand to the Lord Wizard. “Take your vessels and go to the Daravinian ship as soon as you can, young Prince. You will find us there.”

Areddo took the outstretched hand of the Lord Wizard, and in an instant, the two dissolved away before Dareldin and the others’ eyes. The Prince took a moment to recover from watching his friend vanish into thin air. Dareldin walked over to the window in the back of the cabin and stared at the quickly receding spear ship. He glanced down at his hand. Though the wizard’s healing had taken most of the pain and redness away, the burn he had received from the demon spear was still a red and black welt upon his open palm, a mark to remind him how close he had come to completing his mission. A mission that he must now abandon in order to save Angel.

“You heard him! We must set a course for the Daravinian ship at once!” barked the prince, without turning around.

❖ ❖ ❖

Angelterra felt the entire ship shake from a violent jolt. She opened her eyes. There, in the narrow strip of water between the ships was a writhing, boiling, brown goo which was beginning to gather at a central point between the ships. And it was…rising! From time-to-time she caught glimpses of snakeheads and long bits of snake bodies, and she realized that the snakes were somehow merging themselves and transforming into something. But what? The enemy sailors and soldiers who were part of the boarding party seemed to sense that something was about to happen that would strand them on the Licentia, so they turned from their fight and scrambled back to the safety of their own ship. A second jolt rocked both ships as the twisting brown mass kept on with its relentless expanding and growing. Then, it rose upward in a great thrust, smashing through all the gangplanks and grappling lines, breaking the ships free from one another. The bone dragon swooped down again, but the rising goo caused it to break off its attack and swing around in a wide arc.

“Get the sails tight,” yelled Captain Petdurlin. “We need to get out of here.”

What was left of his crew, along with the captain himself and Traydreal, began to work furiously to pull the sails taut. Higher and higher the brown mass grew, looking like a mud-colored waterspout as it began to swirl. It was taller than the tallest masts and still it grew. All hints of the squirming reptiles within it were gone. The force of its spinning began to pull the two ships inward towards it. Both ships were caught in a kind of whirlpool as the water surrounding the brown towering mass began to rotate around its base. The Licentia and the enemy ship began to tilt as they were carried along in the rushing water.

“Princess, watch out!” Angelterra heard Chassy’s voice crying out.

The Princess looked over and saw Syveela, blood staining her shoulders from the wound on the back of her head, coming towards Angelterra with arms outstretched and the darkest hate in her eyes. A scarlet energy began to surround the sorceress. Angelterra glanced around and found a wooden sail peg that had fallen out of its rigging. As Syveela neared, the princess swung the peg back and forth wildly, striking the sorceress on the hand and driving her back. But the next time the sorceress came at Angelterra, the peg bounced harmlessly off of the growing energy field now completely surrounding Syveela.

“Without your First Magic, none of you have the power to stop me now,” said Syveela.

Suddenly, the ship began to list hard as the swirling water had picked up speed. Angelterra lost her footing and fell, sliding toward the starboard side. She latched onto a part of the aft ladder and hung on for dear life. Looking about, she saw Chassy holding on to a rope and Jeela was pushed up against the starboard railing clinging on tightly. Syveela lost her footing, too, as the angle steepened. As she flipped backward toward the short starboard railing, she held out her hand toward Jeela.

“Sister, please…save me…,” pleaded the sorceress. Jeela reached out and snatched the outstretched hand.

The knight pulled with all the strength she had left, but Syveela was still slipping.

“Pull! You pathetic, weak, fool!” screeched Syveela. “Pull, so that I might kill your precious Princess.”

Jeela glared at her sister, but the knight kept on pulling the sorceress from danger. Then, Chassy’s hands slipped, and she went tumbling along the deck towards Jeela as well. Jeela started to reach for the girl.

“Let the brat die! She is not family, I am!” spat Syveela. “Just do not let go of me!”

At that, Jeela stopped pulling and looked directly at her sister.

“Go to the devil, Sister,” said Jeela, and she released her hand. Immediately, the sorceress dropped over the side rail and disappeared into the swirling waters. Jeela lunged out as far as she could and caught one of Chassy’s slender arms. The lady knight easily pulled the girl in to her.

“I have got you, Chassy,” said Jeela. “You are part of my real family, and I shall never let you go.”

“Hard to port!” yelled Captain Petdurlin over the din of the rushing water and churning towering waterspout of brown sludge.

The ship started to respond, angling to port and moving towards the edge of the whirlpool created by the spinning goo. The Licentia was now righting herself enough for everyone to be able to walk upon the deck again.

“Are you all right, Princess?” asked Traydreal, who came to her side and helped her up.

“Yes, we royals are tougher than you think,” was her reply.

“It…it has a head,” called Chassy, as the little girl pointed upwards.

Looking upward, Angelterra saw what appeared to be a dragon’s muzzle, pushing its way out of the top of the spinning tower of goo. This massive bronzed-colored head was thrashing about, this way and that, as if it were birthing itself directly out of the swirling brown waterspout. It opened its mouth, baring hundreds of gigantic teeth, most twice the height of a man. It roared and shuddered. Then suddenly, huge scales began to materialize all along the length of the towering goo and spread out in all directions of what was now becoming its enormous body. A great spiky and scaled frill flared out from the creature’s neck with horns jetting out every so often along its edge. Large triangular spikes emerged from out of what was now becoming its back. The newly spawned creature glanced around as if suddenly conscious of its surroundings. Then, it cast its glowing white eyes down at the tiny Licentia.

“Tis the scourge of the sea, a sea dragon!” yelled someone.

Many of the men scrambled to grab spears, which looked like tiny pine needles when compared to the mighty torso of the sea dragon. The creature’s expression was neither hunger nor malice, but more like curiosity. Angelterra realized that it was not evil, even though it had come from the mingled blood of Syveela and Shutharja. That must mean that the blood of the light hearts of magic was also flowing through the creature. Then, the princess saw that Traydreal was about to cast some kind of spell on the sea dragon, even without his First Magic.

“No! No one attack it, or we shall all surely die,” screamed out the princess.

Everyone looked at her uncertain what to do, but they all refrained from attacking. The creature just regarded the ship, and its crew with mild fascination. Angelterra was reminded of a baby first discovering the world around it. She stepped towards the railing holding up her hand palm open. This caught the attention of the sea dragon. She thought of the mother Perlewyg dragon and her connection with that gentle creature. If she closed her eyes and tried to speak directly to its mind, perhaps she could let it know that the Licentia was no threat to it, but without Concera’s First Magic to help her, she was unsure if she could do it. Angelterra closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could, picturing herself whispering into the creature’s ear.

We are your friends, young dragon of the sea. You need not fear us.

She waited. But nothing. Then, the princess repeated her message to the towering sea dragon. Still nothing. It simply regarded her as if she were just an interesting bit of flotsam. She relaxed herself just like when she was in a chant service and then made a third attempt to communicate with the beast. But this time an answer came back to her mind.

Friends? It asked.

Angelterra sent the image of her and the mother dragon flying together, of their feelings of connection, of their friendship. She hoped the young sea dragon would understand.

Friends, came the reply this time.

She was getting through to it. Angelterra opened her eyes to chance a peek at it. The creature looked relaxed. She gestured for the crew to lower their weapons. Then, gazing high above the sea dragon, she noticed the translucent scarlet image of Shutharja suddenly jetting out a hand towards the young creature. But without her magic, her Concera, she was powerless to stop it. The eerie hand closed around the throat of the creature, causing it to flail about wildly. Giant waves were churned up by this struggle that caused the Licentia to be tossed around uncontrollably.

“You must fight him!” Angelterra screamed out loud futilely at the young sea dragon. “You can resist him! You must!”

Suddenly, the scales of the great serpent changed from their warm brown to a sinister gleaming red, and its eyes too burned bright red. It now looked down upon the helpless Licentia and roared menacingly.

“Nice work, making a connection even without your First Magic,” said a voice behind her. “But in this case, I believe First Magic may be our only true hope to push back this evil.”

Angelterra turned around to see, to her relief, the Lord Wizard standing behind her. But looking closer, she realized that there was now two of him standing before her.