Page 11 of Legends of Sorcery
“What is this place?” he whispered. The uncomfortable feeling it gave him had stopped him in his tracks.
“This room contains everything we know about dark magic,” Zallon said.
“It’s more than that,” Arion insisted.
Zallon paused and turned to look at the boy. He was pale as a ghost and his arms had crossed over his chest in a defensive way.
“Interesting,” Zallon observed.
“What?”
“You appear to have a physical response to this room that I cannot understand.”
“You’re the High Keeper of Magic. How can you not feel the evil darkness within that room?” Arion blurted out.
Zallon sighed. “Yes, I am the High Keeper of Magic. I have studied magic my entire life. I can use it to a certain degree. Anyone with the proper knowledge can. I’m called a mage, or a magic user. I’ve been trained to feel the affects of dark magic like that used against your unicorn, but I am not of magic. Do you understand?”
“Yes of course,” Arion said, hesitantly walking into the room. The lingering unanswered question was gnawing at him.If Zallon can’t feel the evil in the room, why can I?
Chapter 5
Arion pushed down his unease for the sake of his friend and worked tirelessly alongside the Keeper in search of answers, but there were none to be found.
Feeling defeated, he left to go to the stables and visit Callia.
As he walked, he noticed even more unicorns lying in the field. Two more stumbled out of the woods and collapsed to the ground in front of him. He ran to them. The dark magic was strong. Arion could feel it before he reached them.
Checking each creature carefully, he found no outward signs of problems, just like Callia.
“Be still, boys. Zallon will find a cure for this,” he said out loud trying to reassure himself as much as them.
He hated leaving them there, but he couldn’t very well take them with him by himself.
Once at the stables he was surprised to find many people there.
“What’s going on?” he stopped a guard to ask. It was not uncommon to see guards at the King’s stables, but Arion thought it was odd to see so many of them.
“I’m not at liberty to say. You need to leave now. The stables are closed today.”
The head stable master saw Arion and came rushing over.
“Arion, have you any word from Zallon?”
“I’m afraid not, sir. I just came by to check on Callia.”
The guard glared down at him. “Arion? The High Keeper’s apprentice?”
“Yes,” Arion confirmed, not wanting to argue the logistics of how he wasn’t technically an apprentice yet. If it helped him to get passed to see Callia, then he would agree to almost anything.
“Why didn’t you say so? You can head in,” the guard said.
Since he was walking with the stable master, no one else questioned his presence, though he did get many questionable stares.
“How is she, sir?” Arion finally asked.
“No change. She’s refusing to eat, but she is drinking normally. Perhaps you could get her to eat.”
Arion shrugged. “I can try.”
