Bad news and really bad news

In Telasa, at the former king's office, the princess received disconcerting news. She approached Heigdal and Emeral.

'Are you telling me that the De Vonders are not only alive; they also attacked the citadels, burned them down, stole everything they could carry, and, in addition, managed to kill Robalt, one of the two titled masters of the dynasty, and managed to flee to another kingdom?'

'Im afraid so, Your Majesty,' replied Heigdal.

The princess screamed in frustration. 'How can you be so incompetent? I gave you an army with enough power to attack a whole kingdom. What were you doing?'

'Your Majesty, we didn't know that...'

'Save your excuses, Heigdal. You have informants everywhere; how is it possible that the De Vonder did all this unnoticed?' The princess interrupted.

'Our forces were focused on suppressing the prince's revolt; we never thought that the De Vonder would betray the dynasty. But don't worry, Your Majesty, we'll find them soon and...'

The princess interrupted him again. 'We'll find them, and what? What are we going to do? They are two titled fire magicians who have murdered one of the titled magicians of the dynasty. They're as powerful as a small army. The kingdom they escape to will have three titled magicians. What are we going to face them with? ¿Our neighbors hate us for what we did during the Dragon War. We're in trouble, you idiots. Activate all our spies in Veldat and Orphen. If they plan to do something, we need to know it in advance. Find out what kingdom they took refuge in.'

'They will probably flee to Veldat, which is the nearest kingdom to the Finch forest, and they hate us,' said Emeral.

'Find out as soon as possible. A kingdom with three titled magicians will not stay quiet for long. They will try to invade other kingdoms; we are all in danger. As soon as you know where the De Vonders are, send messengers asking for an alliance with the other kingdom, the princess reasoned.'

As the princess unleashed her frustration, Lydia pushed Melan forward. The man looked nervous, sweaty, and pale. The princess saw Lydia's gesture and looked at Melan.

'Melan?'

'Majesty, we have another problem,' said Melan with a broken voice.

The princess approached him and looked him in the eyes; they were face-to-face.

'Clinton Van Ferra has disappeared. We don't know where he is; he took advantage of the confusion to kill his guards and flee the castle unnoticed, no...' Melan stopped speaking; he couldn't breathe. The princess had just stabbed his chest with a dagger. Just under the fifth rib, she pulled out the blade. A stream of blood poured out of the wound as Melan fell to the ground. A gray halo covered the princess.

'Find that maniac. Don't capture him; I want him dead. Order all the regulators to search for him,' the princess ordered.

'Your Majesty, Van Ferra's affair is a secret,' warned Lydia.

'I don't care!' interrupted the princess. "I don't care what you think; do your job and look for that bastard. I don't want any more excuses; find him and kill him. The last thing we need is another Van Vatnik.′

Meanwhile, south of the dynasty, in one of the clandestine ports, which is, in reality, a natural bay on a rocky shore.

'Well, that is a lot of gold,' said one of the sailors; the ambition could be felt in his voice.

The captain of the boat struck him, grabbed him by the neck, and drew a dagger on him. 'You don't even think about it. Those four are magicians, and two of them are titled magicians. One belongs to Garland the Red band. We will do our job; we'll transport our customers and their cargo to the southern kingdom, and not a single gold coin will be lost. Is that clear?'

'Very clear, very clear, Captain.'

The captain let the sailor go and approached the De Vonders.

'Leader Xavier, in a few minutes we will be ready to sail,' announced the captain.

His voice surprised Xavier; it sounded soft, almost feminine. Xavier looked at his interlocutor. He was a fat man and low in height. His short hair was hidden under a tricorn hat; he had brown eyes, a beard of a couple days, and was wearing a red noble suit that had seen better times.

'Captain, I do not want to be disrespectful, but I am concerned about the security of your ship,' said Xavier, looking at the boat.

The ship looked old and worn out. The sails had many holes. One of the masts was broken. The captain laughed. 'Worry not, your excellency; the ship will reach its destination without any trouble. We have a wind magician and a water magician to help with our navigation if you want to arrive earlier.'

'Excellent; the sooner we arrive, the better,' replied Xavier.

'This service is not free, Your Excellency,' warned the captain.

Xavier looked at him with a frown. 'You think we are concerned about gold?' asked Xavier.

The captain laughed. 'Of course not, Excellency, but it is my duty as captain to warn these matters in advance.'

Xavier nodded, and the captain returned to the ship to talk to his magicians. A few minutes later, the boat was sailing. Xavier discovered, to his dismay, that he had seasickness and spent the whole trip to the kingdom of the south vomiting.

Meanwhile, north of the dynasty, a man on a horse was crossing the desert. He carried several boxes with rabbits inside. He held one of the rodents in his left hand and the reins in his right. The animal tried to escape from the hand that held him, but every minute it became weaker. The horse was restless, but the rider did not pay attention to it, forcing it to continue the march.

'You have little life left, little one.'

As soon as the little animal lost his life, the man threw the body in the desert and opened one of the cages, bringing out its next sacrifice. At the same time, a sandworm threw itself on the dead rabbit that fell to the ground. The rider ignored him and continued his march. About two hours later, his sight changed suddenly, and he found himself looking towards Liev's tower, in the opposite direction to where he was traveling. The tower could be seen as a small stain in the distance. The rider closed his eyes a bit, adjusting his sigth; some dust could be seen in the distance.

'So I have been found already,' Clinton smiled. 'Well done, but it's too late.'

He came down from the horse and, without releasing the reins, clawed his sword to the ground and began to drag it around what was supposed to be the border between the worlds until the metal collided with something solid. He bowed down and began cleaning the sand until he found a flat rock with multiple diagrams and runes engraved on its surface. Clinton used a dagger to scrape the surface of the rock, altering some of the runes and diagrams. Then he guided the horse onto the rock.

'Entela, Entela, yell feve afric, acta del moloc. Manel lev acta.'

′ Nal canto a gaw'

A light rose from the rock; the horse was frightened and tried to escape, but was trapped in that light.

'Malai, malai, yell feve, bund und nemer.'

Clinton grunted; his face aged a bit, and a few wrinkles showed up. In the distance, the horses of his pursuers were attacked by sand worms. But the magicians eliminated them. Before they could get close enough to attack Clinton, a part of the wall that separated the worlds became visible. A hole opened, and miasma began to come out. They saw Clinton entering the miasma. The wall became invisible again, and the miasma dissipated. There was no sign of Clinton anymore.

'Damn it, fuck, fuck,' cried one of the women who pursued Clinton. Her short red hair gave her an even more aggressive appearance. 'Gerald, go back to the royal city and inform the princess and the court,'

'Are you insane? I am not leaving you here. There is a horde of worms approaching; we have to go. Now!' replied Gerald.

'What if that maniac comes back?'

'Astrid, let it go for now. He's entered the miasma alone; he's on the other side of the dragon world, in a place full of myasma. I don't think there's anything alive that can be sacrificed there. Look at the rock; the rabbits and the horses are dead. I'm sure Clinton has no intention of returning to this world for now. Let's get out of here before the monsters surround us.'

Astrid rode again on her horse and, along with Gerald and the other regulators who accompanied him, turned towards Liev's tower.

Later, in the tavern of a miserable town, north of the kingdom of Veldat.

'Hey, hey, give me another drink,' yelled a drunkard.

'You have already drunk too much and have no money. Go away, Waldro,' replied the barman.

'I can pay you tomorrow. I'm a magician; it's not a problem to get money,' Waldro cried.

The bar's customers started laughing.

'What are you laughing at? I am an elite fire magician; I was an academy master, a mighty magician,' he kept yelling as everyone laughed.

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. I'm actually a titled magician,' one of them mocked, causing even more laughter.

'I will show you,' cried Waldro, stumbling when he stood up from the chair. He raised his hand, the air around him began to warm up, and the laughter stopped. Using fire magic inside a wooden building was a very bad idea. A ball of fire formed in the drunk man's hand, but he was so drunk that the little flame exploded.

'Uh!' said the drunkard. When he saw his magic fail, a "thud" was heard, and Waldro fell to the ground.

'Take him out of here,' ordered the bartender while still holding the club with which he had struck the drunken man. They dragged him out and left him on the floor by the well, next to the pool where the horses drink.

He woke up exalted after a bad dream, his throat burning, and there was some dry vomit on his clothes and beard. He got up, cursing and complaining. The sun shone brightly in the sky. He used the rope and the bucket to extract water from the well and satisfy his thirst. He looked at his reflection in the water of the small pool. His scarce hair, already white, had grown to the sides; he was dirty and pale. His face was full of scars from the master's murder attempt; he had a messy and dirty beard, with remnants of vomiting and remains of food and mud. It had been so long since he became Waldro, the drunkard, that he no longer recognized his old self.

Delfin fell to the ground beside the well and cried. He had just dreamed of Emeral and the masters; he relived the scene from two years ago in which the masters of the tower revealed all the secrets that he ignored and tried to murder him.

Delfin raised his head and looked at the blue sky. Sometimes he dreamed about revenge. Go back to Liev's tower and kill the masters, then go to Telasa and burn it to the ground until there is nothing but rubble and ashes. But he was weak; he didn't have enough power; he was a failure. It was ironic that Xavier de Vonder, who had less talent, luck, and fortune, not only survived against all odds, but his boys managed to defeat and kill Robalt.

"And I, who thought I was powerful." he thought while looking at his dirty clothes.

He laughed.

"If I had power, I could punish all those traitors. If I were a titled fire magician, but in the end I am only a shadow magician; there is nothing I can do, this useless magic will never..." His eyes opened in surprise.

'Arcane magic,' he said in a low voice as he got up and walked out of the town.