The Galway School of Dragons book 1: The Death Dragon

Chapter 9

"It's easy, Albany." Delia says, a sad tone in her voice. "I-- just- can't!" I exclaim. "It's okay, just focus." I look down at the sliver of dark oak wood held by my hand. "Every Dragon Trainer has a sliver of magic in them, and some of them are able to harness it." She explains. "And others not..." she adds.

My hands shake, not being able to hold the wand properly. "Hold it steady, Albany, even I can harness my magical properties." She says, pulling out her sliver of wood and pointing it at the sky, little fire works burst from the top.

"Do you know what your mother is?" She asks me and I shake my head, readying against the wall. "She is a witch, Albany, a witch." She says. I give her a questioning look. "My mom would never do a spell, ever." I say with a hard tone.

"Well, she must have some magical object because we where able to find your house to deliver the letter." Delia explains, placing her hands upon her hips and ending the conversation. "But the point is, no matter how much you think you don't have magical properties, you do." She says, then makes me run through the simple spell once more.

I point my wand towards the glass cup and say, "omvandla." I think really hard about small squirming mouse, and with a small pop and a zap of energy, a small mouse is left where the cup once was. "Good job!" Delia exclaims, hugging me tightly around the waist.

"Now, focus." She says after a few seconds. "Now, do you know the spell?" She asks. I nod, she's told me millions of times. "Point your wand at the floor and--"

"Ta mig." Delia quickly holds onto my shoulders as the world starts to spin. My vision turns black then suddenly, it glows with candle light. "Du kommer inte dö." A strange voice floats through my mind, as long with the image of a dragon. "You won't die..." the words float through my head, accompanied by the first words.

Then, my vision swims with black again...

<><><>

"Albany! Albany!" The voice is gaspy and airy. "Mom!" The words fall from my mouth before I can stop them. "Yes! Baby!" No sound comes from my mouth as I stand in shock. "Mom...?" Its more of a moan than anything. "Alllbannyyyy." This time it's a serious groan crossed with a moan.

My eyes fly open so fast my head spins. A soft, candle light is cast over my cold and I sweating body. I lay on a hard stone slab, a slow hissing sound all around me. "Albany..." some sort of golden water drips onto my face, then my legs, arms and the stone slab around me.

"du får vad du har kommit för." You get what you have come for. The voice is sweet and dewy. Reminds me of roses and prairie grass. I recognize the language immediately, swedish. "vem är du." I mean to say, who are you? But the words fall from my mouth in the familiar Swedish tongue.

" jag är vad du har kommit för." I am what you have come for, the voice says. "...Draken..?" The dragon? I ask. A low hissing sound breaks out.... almost like a yes in English. I slowly push myself up onto my elbows and look around. I appear to be in a dim-lit cave, the walls are stone and dripping with water. In the shadows at the end of the room I can see something moving.

Almost slithering around. I slowly stand up on my shaky legs and grasp my wand tightly to my chest. "Hello?" I call out in English as I watch what looks like a human body emerge from the shadows. "Hello." The voice is quiet and calming, suddenly it flickers to a man with dark skin and black eyes. "H-hello." Mid word the man flicker back to the woman that I can see now has golden hair and pale skin.

"My-- My na-ame I-is Ij-Mor-us-ker." The image of the man and woman switches every word or so, and all I catch is them telling me there name, but I don't know what they are. "Who are you..?" I ask "li-dar-gh-kne-t-ss." It's just a jumble of syllables and cut off words. "What..?" I ask again. The golden woman appears, "light." She says in her silky voice. The man suddenly appears. "Darkness." He says in his hard, solid and gruff voice.

His black eyes stay locked on my face as I slowly retreat so my back is pressed against the wall. The golden woman appears, and I deal my legs automatically steps forward. The dark guy appears and I instantly move backwards. "The effects of light and dark." A voice says from behind me as I'm slowly rocking forward towards the golden woman.

My feet stop and I turn to look at the animal that has stepped from the small door. A small dragon, not even tall enough the nip my hand. It's golden skin glimmers in the candle light and the lethal sticks on its back shine with a green sticky liquid. "Hello?" I ask, the dragon purrs. "You have asked for a tear from my dragon?" Somebody behind the small animal asks.

I raise my eyes to see an old man with a short cut beard. He has silvery-white hair and tattered and dirty clothes. "Er, yes." I say, drawing my wand out slightly. The old man holds out his hand as to calm me. "Then he shall give it to you, I can tell. My dragon here would have been going crazy and snarling if he would not." The man says in a light and bubbly tone.

"But..." my voice trails off as a movement catches my eye. A turn back to the wall where the golden woman and the dark man stood. The man stands with a small smile on his face, then flickers to the woman which shows great pride. "They are happy for you, you have exceeded the test." The man says, drawing my attention back to him.

"What test?" I ask, the man chuckles. "Well, if your mind wasn't pure you would have backed up at the golden woman and been drawn forward with the dark man." He says. Before I can answer he pulls out a small glass bottle, rests it beside the dragon eye as a tear drops down. The man throws the bottle at me before saying a simple word, "tilbaka."