The Phoenix Ring(41)

"Come now, you're making this too easy," Edwin said, flicking his wrist.  Aidan was thrown onto his back, his magic useless to him without his  staff. The dragon sniffed the scepter, and then opened his mouth.  Aidan's eyes widened as the beast chomped down, swallowing the half that  held the blade. Somehow though, his heart didn't speed its beat. In  fact, it now appeared to be almost calm, a stark contrast from the wild  rampage it had been on a few moments ago.

The dragon dropped the broken staff to the ground, then swiped its  massive paw at Aidan. The boy screamed as three claws raked across his  chest.

Edwin laughed again. "Enough, enough. It is time. Finish him."

Aidan turned his head to the side and prepared himself for the final  blow. His last view would be of the ocean, its waves shining in the sun  as Bartemus's storm cleared, a giant merchant vessel sailing towards the  isle.

That's not possible. Aidan thought. But it was. The boat was huge, and  at the helm was a row of sorcerers donning battle robes, brandishing  wands and staffs.

Malachi was at their lead, and it was at his command that all of them  released a variety of spells into the sky. They hit the dragons with  devastating effect.

Aidan looked back up and saw the four lowest flying dragons dive towards  the island, only they weren't dragons, but griffins, and on the back of  each were at least two amogh warriors.

A blast of magic from Bartemus shoved Aidan out of the way of the Black  Thunder's fiery breath, which the boy hadn't even noticed.

A moment later, one of the warriors catapulted from atop her Griffin and landed on the Black Thunder's back.

"What-" Edwin said, a moment before he was knocked off the beast. Aidan  saw a flash of brown hair and the wink of a hazel eye before the girl  disappeared behind the dragon's wing.

That's why my heart is so calm, Aidan thought. Because hers is.

"Borin, Malachi, glad you could join us!" Bartemus said, walking towards  the fallen Edwin. The fat warlock's dragon was being harried by the  four griffins, and had no time to defend its master.

"I've been wanting to do this for a long, long time Edwin," Bartemus said, "you have-"

The seemingly unconscious warlock suddenly raised his hands, and a  miniature safety sphere rose around him and Aidan, whose joy was  immediately replaced by fear and rage.

"Just you and me now, boy," the warlock said. Aidan lunged for his  broken staff head, but knew before he touched it that there was no power  left in it.

"This shield won't last forever, but it should give us five minutes,"  Edwin said, pulling something out of his cloak as he walked towards  Aidan. It was a wand, beautifully crafted, the symbols on its side  surely devoted to offensive magic.

"This was the weapon that I swore to kill Marcus with. I never got my  chance to do that, so instead I have you. Tell me mage, how does it feel  to know that there is nothing that you can do, just like Jonathan  Gerang felt on the day I slew him? You know, he was still alive in the  vault, he just hadn't picked a Soulrock. I saw the opportunity and ended  his life with this very wand."

Aidan's rage began to build, but there was no magic to support it.  "You're wrong," the boy said, so close to Edwin that he could feel the  magic radiating from the warlock. "There's always something I can do."  The mage swung the remainder of his staff with all of his physical  strength, and felt a satisfying thud as it smashed into the warlock's  forehead.

Edwin half fell, half rolled onto his back, his wand forgotten on the  ground and his sphere sparkling to nonexistence. Aidan lunged for the  wand, though he didn't know what he was expecting.

As soon as he touched it, he felt the familiar rush of power that once  came from holding his staff. He didn't know what had happened, but he  knew that the wand was his.                       
       
           



       

He pointed it at Edwin and yelled "Nergaldok!"

Immediately, a large ball of light appeared in his hand. As he stared  into it, he barely noticed the Black Thunder scream for the last time,  or the rest of the beasts start to retreat to the Dragonback Range.

"Do it, Aidan," Bartemus said, his voice weary. "Finish him."

Aidan started to close his fist, but suddenly Edwin picked up his head.  "No, please," he said. There was no threat or anger in the warlock's  voice, just fear.

"Aidan, don't!" a voice yelled. The mage looked up and saw Aaliyah  emerge from under the dragon's wing, her sword sticking out of its neck.  The boy desperately turned towards the ship, his mind spinning. There  he saw Timothy, who seemed to be completely healed, and next to him,  Eleanor. As he watched, she nodded, ever so slightly. It was enough.

Aidan closed his fist.

Immediately his felt himself growing up, the youngest of three, his  parents both powerful sorcerers. He saw his siblings and parents die in  the Great Wars, and felt himself go mad with grief, pushing away his  only friends in the world. He watched himself become seduced by  Malcommer, going so far as to murder his first victim. He watched his  anger and hate consume him until he was the most wretched, desperate  scrap of a soul that he could possibly be. And then he watched himself,  at the height of his glory, loose his life to a young boy that only  reminded him of himself.

Then he saw nothing.





Aidan woke suddenly, sitting up in his cot. He was in a dormitory that  was similar to the one at Fort Phoenix, but not quite the same. There  were several people in the room, but the one that stood out the most was  a young man with a lopsided, oversized crown on his head, who rushed to  the wizard's side the moment he awoke.

"Aidan, my name is King Lief, and on behalf of all of Gurvinite, I  cannot express my gratitude enough," he said, grasping the boy's hand.

"Did I kill him?" Aidan asked.

The king chuckled. "Edwin? Yes, you killed him, and you saved-" he  stopped, for the boy had jumped from his bed and ran out of the room.





Aidan sat on the edge of the beach, staring out at the new safety sphere  the sorcerers had been constructing. Here, it was almost invisible,  revealing the sunset to Aidan. The other sorcerers were setting up camp  on the island, as were the amoghs. It would hopefully soon serve as an  outpost with a far larger army backing it up. It wasn't long before  Timothy joined him on the sand.

"The dragons were easily defeated, and they've even agreed to form a peace treaty. Next time, they might be on our side."

"How did you do it? I mean, how did you get to the island unseen?" Aidan asked his friend.

"Amateur cloaking spell, something you probably know nothing about,  master wizard," his friend said, punching him playfully in the shoulder.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, enjoying each other's company.

Then Timothy spoke. "Aidan, I can't begin to apologize for what I did to you and the am-, Aaliyah. If there is any way I can-"

"It's forgiven," Aidan said, "Besides, it wasn't you who did it. Where is Grogg, anyways?"

"Dead."

Again, they sat in silence. There had been far too much death recently.

Eventually they heard Eleanor call Timothy's name.

"Go," Aidan said. "She needs you and you need her."

Timothy gratefully stood and ran to her, leaving the new wizard alone on the beach.

The sun had almost touched the ocean when Aaliyah sat down beside Aidan.

"So you're a dragon slayer too, aren't you?" Aidan asked.

Aaliyah smiled. "Yes, but my Black Thunder was way better than your  stupid spineback. And the merfolk get the credit for the others."

Aidan laughed and looked at his friend. It was amazing that only a few  weeks ago, he would have given anything to leave her behind. Now, their  hearts and souls beat in the same time.

Aaliyah sighed. "Aidan, you once told me that I didn't have to be strong  for you. You were right, it wasn't until I opened myself to you that I  felt peace. Now I'm going to say it to you. You don't have to be strong  for me. If I can help, let me."

Aidan bit his lip. "It's just …  I knew at least ten spells that would  have hurt or crippled him, or even removed his power, but I didn't use  them. I used the one that killed him. Why would I do that?"

For a moment, Aaliyah was quiet. "Aidan, you know how many he killed,  don't you? And how many he was yet to kill? Before, when you killed the  others, why do you feel no regret for them?"

"I had no choice," Aidan said.                       
       
           



       

"You had no choice then, either. There was nothing you could do."

Aidan felt a tear slide down his cheek. "Does it ever get easier?"