Magnificent Mage of Life

MIGRATING ORCS

PAN SAMA shrieked in despair. "You just let the dragon go… just like that." He put his hands to his head. "And you didn't even pay me enough for it."

Anakin just stood, looking at the open doorway that the dragon had flown through. Ser Arlen came to stand behind Anakin and say, "Don't think about it much, my prince. Dragons choose who can ride or tame them."

Anakin nodded. "We should go now," he replied.

Arlen nodded and turned to Pan Sama. "Where are the dogs?"

Pan Sama reluctantly pointed at some cages. "You did not pay me enough," He grumbled but was ignored.

Commander Arlen gestured with his head to his men and they went to uncaring the cages.

The dogs were well-behaved and on leashes already, so they were easy to control, and they were huge dogs. Almost the size of Grey wolves. These were dire-hounds. It was a species of dog. They were very rare and expensive to take care of, so they were mostly found in royal care. No one knew where Pan Sama found and raised the puppies but they were very intelligent.

"Do not make the mistake of bringing a very volatile animal like a dragon into a public space again," Arlen warned as they left. Pan Sama nodded forlornly, he was still angry at the royal guards for "making him run at a loss" even though he was a handsome profit from them.

Anakin was light-spirited as they left the market square, although he still felt a bit bad. He would have wanted to own a dragon, but it was unlikely. "I would have named him Astrid… the dragon," Anakin muttered. "Astrid the dragon."

"I doubt if there is any warrior or mage of this century that could tame and ride a dragon," Arlen said, hoisting Anakin up to his horse. "Not even your father,"

"Pan Sama could tame that one," Anakin said.

Arlen chuckled. "It takes more than a little magic spells to tame a dragon… Pan Sama makes the dragon sleepy and relaxed. He is still scared of it because, with one tiny mishap, he'll be dead."

The men climbed their horses and started walking back to the capital palace. They went at a controlled pace because of the dogs trotting alongside.

"A dragon chooses its owner," Ser Arlen continued. "And most times, they prefer to be on their own."

Anakin nodded. He was going to read more on that when he got to the palace. And so they continued the rest of their journey in silence.

When they got to the palace, the guards and gamekeepers took the dogs to their kennels to feed and prepare them for their first hunting party with the king, while Anakin disappeared to the library again.

He was hungry for more knowledge. Thankfully, his tutor, Almin was not in the library. He secured a secluded spot in a corner and began reading again. He read for hours without feeling hungry, thirsty, or even tired.

He realized that he needed to get a teacher who would teach him the wielding of life. It had to be a secret teacher who was not moral because a moral teacher who heard of him wielding life from his surroundings would simply report him to his father. Anakin closed his book and closed his eyes, trying to plan how he was going to get a tutor willing to teach him.

LORD HEDERICK LEFT the grand coven with more questions than answers. The grand druid had not said anything more after knowing that the king had brought Daryth along, instead of Anakin.

Hederick sighed as he strapped his sword to his belt and they started the journey back to the capital. Daryth rode up beside the king, he cleared his throat, and started hesitantly, "Uh, father…" Lord Hederick had always told Daryth to address him with that term. "... I was thinking the grand druid wanted to speak with me, or why else would you bring me along?"

Hederick shook his head. His golden crown glistened in the sun. "I was mistaken."

Daryth nodded and kept silent. He saw in the countenance that Lord Hederick did not want to entertain any more questions, but deep down, he knew that the grand druid had asked for Anakin.

They rode the cross country in silence until one of the guards behind made a call. The party stopped and Lord Hederick went back to see what the shout was about. The guard was pointing at something in the distance, there were some marks on the ground.

They all went to inspect it, the footprints were made by tiny feet. "Goblins, no doubt," Lord Hederick said, leaping down from his horse and crouching to look closely.

"Or orcs," another guard said. "Goblins don't normally march in this number."

Lord Hederick nodded. "It seems like there was quite a number of them, and they are marching west." He looked to the direction the footprints led to.

"What do we do, sir?" The guard asked. "Should we head to the capital as planned, or do we follow these prints?"

The king was torn. He tubed and looked at his adopted son, who still sat on the horse. He was not sure the 7-year-old boy Daryth was ready for battle if a battle should ensue. But then, he looked at the footprints again. He owed the capital and the whole continent its protection, and if goblins or orcs are marching in this number, it is never for good cause.

"We follow the prints!" Lord Hederick called in a strong voice and climbed his horse again.

The men cheered and followed Lord Hederick as they raced ahead, following the prints. They rode hard and fast until they saw the goblins in the far distance, it first seemed like a speck of dot, but as they moved closer, the speck started getting bigger and taking shape to form an army of about 5 orcs.

"They're orcs!" Daryth said.

Lord Hederick nodded. "We surround them and try to avoid a fight if we can. We want information. That's all

They caught up with the group of orcs and surrounded the orcs with their horses, running around them in circles.

The orcs snarled and took on a defensive position.

Orcs and Goblins were alike in almost every sense. It was speculated that they shared the same ancestral figure, but broke apart a few million years ago. While most goblins became at peace with the other species, the orcs were aggressive and years of planning evil had deformed them physically.

Even though they had almost the same physical looks and magical prowess as goblins, orcs looked more menacing.

"What do you want?" The leader of the orcs snarled. They each held a crude weapon ranging from axes to stone clubs.

"Where is your party headed to?" Lord Hederick asked.

"We don't answer to you, Lord," the leader said, baring his teeth. "You are way out of your jurisdiction."

"I am the king of the capital," Hederick said, he climbed down from this horse and approached the Orc. "My jurisdiction reaches anywhere I want it to."

The orc looked up at Lord Hederick, it was a funny sight because even the tallest Orcs did not grow taller than 3 feet, compared to the imposing 6 feet of the king.

The standoff lasted a few seconds before the orc leader swung his bat. It was faster than the human brain could process, but Lord Hederick was not an 8th-class warrior for nothing. He anticipated the swing and his reflexes cast a shield spell over his forearm as he blocked the hit and jumped out of the way.

Pandemonium broke out. The king's guard rode their horse into the orcs army to break them up, The orcs yelled and attacked and Daryth jumped down from his horse. He was a baby warrior-mage skilled in fire magic, after all.

He ran into the battle, wanting to impress, but was knocked aside by an orc. They were extremely strong with their short stocky body. The orc turned and smiled a wicked smile as he rushed on Daryth, brandishing his axe.

Lord Hederick drew out his sword and leaped in the air, using his Life to balance himself, he swooped down like an eagle, cutting off the orc heads at once and flying ahead to decapitate 4 others.

The fight was very short-lived, only Lord Hederick could take out the army all by himself. Adding his guards and Daryth, it barely lasted 1 minute and all the orcs were lying dead. Their blood soaked the hot sand.

Only the leader was left writhing in pain, his arm was twisted behind his back by a royal guard.

Lord Hederick wiped his sword on the body of an orc and pulled up a shaky Daryth before walking to the trembling leader. He sheathed his long sword and brought out his short dagger which he placed at the leader's throat. "Where were you going?" He asked, crouching to look into the orc's red eyes.

The leader squirmed. Defiance still flashed in his eyes but he grunted and said, "We were heading up North."

Hederick raised an eyebrow. "Why? What is North?"

The leader squirmed again and refused to answer until the dagger was pressed tight against his neck. "What. Is. Up. North?"

"The rise of… the apocalypse," the orcs snorted.

Lord Hederick's eyes widened and he stood up. It could not be a coincidence. All the signs. What the grand druid had told him… what has happening in this continent?

"Bind him," he told his men. "He is coming with us to the capital."

Quickly, the orc was bound with tight leather ropes and was made to walk behind the horses as they made their way back to the capital.