Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy Read online

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  © 2014 Carey Scheppner. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

  Published by AuthorHouse 5/28/2014

  ISBN: 978-1-4969-1465-1 (sc)

  ISBN: 978-1-4969-1464-4 (hc)

  ISBN: 978-1-4969-1463-7 (e)

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909353

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  Table of Contents

  Part I A Sinister Plan

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Part II A New Threat

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Part III The Cure For What ‘Ales’ Ya

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Part IV The Gathering of Evil

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  About the Author

  Part I

  A Sinister Plan

  Chapter 1

  Are you sure it will work?” hissed Gif.

  “Of course!” hissed Garf in response. “I tested the spell this morning.”

  “It had better!” hissed Frag enthusiastically. “I’ve been itching to see what our uncle has been hiding in that study!”

  “What if he finds out?” whined Gif.

  “Just don’t touch anything,” retorted Garf. “If nothing’s out of place, he’ll never know we were in there.”

  “Besides,” added Frag, “Graf’s our uncle. He won’t hurt us!”

  “I don’t know,” muttered Gif.

  “This is it,” announced Frag as they stopped in front of a dark door set in an alcove to one side of Graf’s living room.

  “I still think -,” began Gif.

  “Shh!” interrupted Garf. He pocketed the pick he had used to gain entry into Graf’s home. “I need silence for this spell to work!”

  Gif and his older sister waited silently while Garf cast his spell. The door shimmered and the protecting ward on the door melted away.

  “There!” whispered Garf excitedly. “I told you it would work!”

  Frag reached for the door handle and turned. Silently, the door swung inward, revealing a large room adorned with a wooden table and chair and many shelves crowded with a wide variety of magical books, vials and components.

  Gif’s mouth dropped. “Wow!”

  Garf grinned evilly. “What do we check out first?”

  Frag was already by one of the book shelves. “Look at all the spell books! No wonder Graf is such a powerful spell caster!”

  “I’ve never even seen some of these spell components before!” exclaimed Garf from the other side of the room. “I wonder what this black liquid is.”

  Gif, not wanting to venture too far into the room, spotted a wooden box on the nearby table and approached it slowly. Cautiously, he lifted the lid and looked inside. “Hmm. I wonder what this egg is for.”

  “Egg? What egg?” said Frag. She ran up to the table and shoved Gif aside to see for herself. “It’s cracked!”

  “What’s cracked?” asked Garf. He strode up to the table and gazed into the box. “You idiots! That’s not just an egg! It’s a dragon orb!”

  “Dragon orb?” asked Gif.

  “Are you sure?” asked Frag.

  “Of course!” retorted Garf.

  “Well, it’s broken anyhow,” said Gif.

  “Not necessarily,” said Garf. “Remember the human necromancer Graf told us about? He activated a broken dragon orb and turned into a bone dragon!”

  “He also told us it was pure luck it turned out that way,” said Gif. “Graf said that the magic stored inside a broken dragon orb is unstable.”

  “It’s only a small crack,” mused Frag. “Maybe it’s not completely broken.” She reached for the orb.

  “Let me!” interrupted Garf. He tried to reach past his younger sister’s hand.

  “Wait!” exclaimed Gif at the same instant. He anxiously reached out to stop them. “You told us not to touch -!”

  It was too late. Frag’s hand contacted the egg at the same time as Garf’s, and Gif was holding Frag’s wrist when it happened. A vibrating sensation traveled from the damaged orb up the trio’s hands and into their bodies.

  “L-let go!” stammered Gif.

  “I - I can’t!” cried Frag.

  “S-something’s happening t-to us!” hissed Garf. “My - my body is changing -!”

  Suddenly, the vibrating turned violent and a bright flash engulfed the three young lizards.

  “Nooo!” they shrieked together.

  Then, as suddenly as it began, the light and vibration dissipated.

  Frag looked from one side to the other at her brothers. “Would you guys mind giving me some space?”

  Graf tried to pull away and found he could not. He looked down and his eyes opened wide in shock.

  Gif gasped and drew Frag’s attention. She saw her younger brother looking down as well. She looked down herself and stared when she learned what the others had already discovered. Protruding from what felt like her own body was her brother’s neck and head. She spun her head and stared into the face of her other brother, whose head also protruded from the same body. Dazedly, she looked down at her grotesquely deformed body.

  The body was green like a lizard’s, but shaped like a dragon’s, with two large, clawed hind feet, and two slightly smaller ones in front. The front claws, however, were pressed to the ground due to the massive bulk of the body, which was a thick bunch of muscles used to keep the three necks and heads in position.

  “What happened?” wailed Gif.

  Frag spun on her brother’s head. “Shut up!” She turned to her other brother. “You’re the magical genius! How do we get out of this?”

  “There are some spells I could try,” said Garf, “but I haven’t got any hands to cast them with.” He looked down with a worried expression.

  Frag swore.

  “At least our heads are unaltered,” said Gif.

  Frag turned to yell at her brother again when a high-pitched, hysterical voice cut into her thoughts.

  “Free at last!” it intoned. “Not the way I expected, but it will do
.”

  “What are you talking about?” demanded Frag, rounding on her older brother.

  “I didn’t say anything!” protested Garf.

  The voice chuckled.

  “This isn’t funny!” shrieked Frag, turning to glare at Gif.

  “It wasn’t me!” wailed Gif, drawing back.

  The voice laughed again.

  “Garf!” snapped Frag, rounding on her older brother again.

  The voice laughed hysterically. “This is too much! But a small modification should make things even more interesting.”

  Suddenly, another change began to take place. This time the three heads began to transform. The pointed lizard heads became longer and wider, and the nostrils grew in size. Teeth appeared in the mouths, growing to several inches, and jaw muscles grew and tightened around the massive jaws. The front legs also grew in size to better support the bulky body, and the claws stretched to curved, razor-sharp tips.

  Frag, whose head was in the middle, panicked, and began snapping at her brothers, who retaliated in kind.

  The voice laughed gleefully at the exchange. This was what it needed to maintain control of the body. As long as at least one head of the hydra was at odds, they all would be under the orb’s control. Only when the three heads were in agreement could the hydra act on its own.

  The voice chuckled. A hydra was a powerful creature. It was strong, intelligent, and, more importantly, magic resistant …

  * * * * *

  It was dark as Alric the elf slunk along the streets of Greenwood, avoiding lighted areas and noisy inns. He was on a mission; two missions in fact. One was on behalf of the Dark Magic Society to which he belonged; the other on behalf of the thieves’ guild, of which he was also a member. He was proud of the fact that he was a member of both organizations, using one skill to aid or enhance the other. Among both guilds, he was respected and looked upon as an expert. More importantly, he was able to keep secret the fact that he was a member of both guilds. No one knew this but he, and he aimed to keep it that way.

  Now, as he skirted past another inn, he concentrated on the tasks at hand. The dark magic society was an organization dedicated to the use of dark or ‘offensive’ magic used for the benefit of the elven nation. They had sent him to visit the lone human living in the community to see what he could learn about humans’ magic. He was to do this without drawing attention to the society.

  Similarly, the thieves’ guild had endowed him with the task of finding a valuable magical item that could be sold to an interested merchant who was in town.

  Alric figured he could do both tasks at once if he was careful. The elf decided that, instead of talking to the human mage directly, he could learn more if he studied the mage’s books and scrolls. To do that, he would have to break into the mage’s dwelling, a simple task for one with his abilities. But as long as the dark magic society was not exposed, they didn’t care how he performed his duty. Then, while he was in the mage’s house, he could easily grab something magical for the thieves’ guild and be off.

  The thief knew that this might not be an easy task, since it was a powerful human mage whose house he was going to break into. But he lacked any sort of excitement of late, and the challenge was welcome.

  Alric lifted the hood of his green elven cloak to cover his chestnut brown hair. His face was well hidden in the hood, hiding even his dark brown eyes. Rounding the last corner of town, the elf stealthily maneuvered along a narrow path that led to a residential area where the houses were separated by thick woods. No one was about, which was fine by Alric. He continued past several houses until he sighted the mage’s house. The structure was dark except for a small light in one of the windows. It was on an upper level, but Alric spotted a large tree nearby. Its branches were fairly high above the ground, but it would be an easy climb for those who could reach. Alric was slightly taller than average, with a slender build and brown hair. He was used to using his agility on a daily basis. Thus, this task was easy for him to accomplish. Deftly, he swung into the tree’s lowest branches and climbed up until he could see through the window.

  Seated at a desk was a female elf, whose long, golden locks of hair shone brilliantly in the firelight. The fireplace roared cheerfully, and the room was filled with shadows dancing playfully on the walls. The elf appeared to be reading one of several ancient tomes which were stacked to one side. The candles on each side of the table sputtered as they neared the end of their life span, the excess wax running into thick puddles in the trays beneath.

  The female elf noticed this with a start and extinguished the flames before they drowned in the liquid wax. Then she put a marker in the book she was reading and closed it, shoving it next to the others. With a yawn, she approached the fireplace, opened a vent into another room, and departed.

  Alric waited for a few moments and light suddenly appeared in an adjoining room. The thief crept along the tree’s branches and stretched over to see inside. The female elf was visible carrying a lit candle she had obtained elsewhere in the house. She strode over to the wall to open the vent where the back side of the fireplace in the study was located. She rubbed her hands together for warmth and then walked over to the bed. The elf was about to climb under the covers when she paused. Suddenly, she approached a closet and withdrew a nondescript grey cloak.

  What happened next nearly made Alric fall out of the tree, for, as the elf donned the cloak, she disappeared!

  Alric scrambled to regain balance, and when he looked through the window again, he saw the bed covers lift of their own accord, and then lower into position around an invisible form.

  The thief couldn’t believe his luck. An invisibility cloak! With an item like that, the possibilities were endless! He could become the greatest thief who ever lived! Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have suspected the cloak’s value. Except for checking its pockets, he wouldn’t have even given it a second glance!

  The problem was - how could he get his hands on it? He could threaten the golden-haired elf by holding a knife to her throat, but that was not his way. His way was to steal without the owner knowing who stole from him or her. Better still, he preferred to steal without the owner knowing that something was stolen in the first place.

  Alric thought about this as he crept back to the study window. He still had work to do, and the night was young. Apparently, the mage was not home. Good.

  The tree’s branches were solid near the window and Alric easily slid it open and lowered himself inside. Once his feet touched the floor, he immediately padded across the room to the bookshelf, his pigskin clad feet making no sound.

  The books were arranged alphabetically, and, using the waning light from the fireplace, Alric scanned the bindings to search for books dealing with black magic. He soon found an entire section on magic. The thief quickly whispered a ‘spell detect’ spell to indicate any wards or traps. There were none. Still, Alric was careful. Gingerly, he began to pull one book from the shelf, but stopped in horror when he noticed a light green aura behind the book in his hand. Alric swore under his breath. The crafty human mage had hidden the ward along the BACK of the books! Any book leaving the bookshelf would alert the mage to an intruder!

  Sweat poured down Alric’s face as he examined the aura behind the book. The spell was unbroken! Alric gently pushed the book back into position and breathed a sigh of relief. That was close!

  The thief cast an antiwarding spell on the books and tried to remove the book again. This time, the green aura was gone and the book was safe to remove from the shelf. Alric flipped rapidly through its pages and sighed. There was nothing of interest here. He returned the book to the shelf and tried another one. This one was filled with complicated spells and incantations, most of which were too complex for him to understand. A third book was more informative, listing the proper spell components and incantations for simpler spells. Alric studied some of these for nearly an hour, familiarizing himself with the magical techniques used by human black ma
ges. There was enough here to make a decent report to the dark magic society.

  Alric closed the book and returned it to the shelf. Then he scratched his head. He didn’t know how to restore the special ward the human mage had set around the bookshelf. He thought vaguely about trying to find the spell in one of the magic books, but decided against it. It would probably take too long to find, not to mention he likely didn’t have the spell components for that particular spell anyway. The bookshelf would have to remain unwarded. There was no helping it now.

  The thief scratched his chin as he thought about his next task. How could he get that cloak? Then he grinned. Of course! The thieves’ guild never told him exactly what to get! Any magical item would do! As far as the cloak was concerned, he could steal it anytime for his own use!

  The elf looked around the room for an alternate item to bring to the guild and spotted a dark wooden box on the mantel above the fireplace. Beside it was a portrait of the human mage standing with his elven wife. He had seen the mage before; humans were not commonly living within the elven lands; and he studied the picture for a few moments. The humans were quite ugly from an elf’s standpoint, and Alric wondered vaguely why the elf was attracted to the human. Pushing the question aside, the elf checked the box for a magical signature and found one. Good. After being certain there was no warding protection, Alric slowly opened the box and peeked inside. The only thing in the box was a single gold coin. Curious, the thief picked up the coin and examined it but found nothing out of the ordinary. Then he placed the coin in his palm and closed the box, returning it to its original location. When he returned his attention to his hand, he blinked in surprise. The coin was gone!

  Alric searched frantically around the floor to see where he could have dropped it when an idea occurred to him. He straightened and reopened the wooden box. As he suspected, the coin was back inside the box. He grinned. Perfect!

  With the box tucked safely under his cloak, the thief left the house the way he had come, pleased with the night’s work, but knowing he would soon return for one more thing.