Dragon's Eye Read online

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  A fellow classmate, Bruno Lovette,

  groaned at this pronouncement and held a hand

  to his face, vigorously shaking his head. The

  Professor cast a stern look in his direction, and

  the young man subsided.

  “I believe that the current system we’ve

  employed, wherein the Magi are superior to all

  other beings, is flawed,” Felicity insisted in a

  passionate tone, putting forth her hand as though

  she wanted to shake a fist but thought better of

  it.

  “Humanity’s greatest flaw has always

  been the ‘us and them’ mentality, as evidenced

  by so many wars among both the Mundanes and

  the Magi throughout history. If we could but

  accept that we are all one and the same race, and

  work together for the good of all humans, not

  just the Magi, we could achieve a far greater

  existence than we have so far.”

  “And I believe you’re a do-gooder, rosy

  cheeked little Mundane lover,” scoffed Bruno as

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  he crossed his arms over his chest. “What good

  does it do to preach the ideas of peace, love, and

  understanding if those things cause me to go

  hungry? What good is it to me or any other Mage

  if kindness to some Mundane means I won’t get

  to have a brand-new suit of clothes when I want

  it? Mundanes exist to serve our needs. You must

  treat them in their designated capacity or they’ll

  believe they’re more than they truly are.”

  “That’s complete and utter rubbish,

  Bruno,” Felicity scolded him. “I’ve been to

  Mundania many times, unlike you, and I happen

  to know that the people there are kind, hard-

  working folks who, for the most part, would

  willingly welcome the chance to help us out if

  we asked them to. They’re not all like the cruel

  thugs who attacked poor Theo.”

  “By the gods, you sound as though you

  believe we should make friends with them,”

  Bruno scoffed. “You don’t make friends with

  your servants, Miss Fancy-pants, you command

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  their respect. You only give them what is

  needful for them to continue to do their jobs.

  Even a Mundane would tell you as much.”

  “Only an uppity, rich one,” Felicity

  retorted in the most scathing tone possible. Her

  nose wrinkled up as she added, “Which appears

  to be universal as well.”

  “If not for the wealth of my family,

  Academie Magica would not even be here,”

  Bruno reminded her as he got to his feet. He

  came over to shake a fist in her face.

  Felicity drew her wand to hold him off.

  “I may be small, Bruno Lovette, but you’ll not

  manhandle me!”

  “Students, please!” Professor Spine

  protested. “This is precisely the sort of behavior

  I was trying to avoid. If the two of you hope to

  become

  useful,

  productive

  members

  of

  Magehold someday, you must refrain from such

  outbursts. Bruno Lovette, Miss Lake has the

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  floor. Please be kind enough to return to your

  seat.”

  “My father pays your wages as well,

  Professor,” he sneered as he stalked back to his

  chair. “You would do well to remember that.”

  “And do you believe your father would

  condone your current antics, young Master

  Lovette?” asked Professor Spine with one

  eyebrow arched in his direction.

  Bruno clamped his mouth shut and sat

  down with his arms crossed over his chest,

  choosing not to answer. Everyone there was well

  aware that the Director of Education, Kael

  Lovette, would have been appalled if he

  happened to witness such behavior from his only

  son.

  “Please continue, Miss Lake,” said

  Gregory with an encouraging smile.

  “Certainly,

  Professor,”

  she

  said,

  resuming her former pose. “I cannot agree with

  the concept that our way of life would fail if the

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  Mundanes refused to help us, either. Even

  though we cannot grow food inside of the Veil,

  I’m certain that we could easily obtain land

  outside of it and grow food there, or that we

  could somehow disrupt the magical barrier

  surrounding farms here. My own aunt was

  already making strides towards that very

  purpose, as a matter of fact. It’s unfortunate that

  one of her spells backfired, and blew up the

  whole thing.”

  Bruno snickered, and Felicity rolled her

  eyes. “Also, I must add that certain Mundanes

  would be willing to help us even if their

  governing body itself did not. But the biggest

  question is, why does everyone just assume that

  if we asked them the answer would be no?”

  Professor Spine straightened up and

  cleared his throat. “Well, I do believe there have

  been occasional attempts to befriend the

  Mundanes, but never within my own lifetime. In

  other words, the last two hundred years or so.

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  One of those occasions resulted in the

  Inquisition, and many lives were lost because of

  it. That’s when the Veil was reinforced to the

  point of being too powerful to allow

  cultivation.”

  “And now that the Mundanes have

  modernized the technology, the threat is even

  greater than ever before. Knowledge of our

  existence could very well cost more lives,”

  Bruno piped in. “You don’t want to see any of

  your little pet Mundanes die, do you?”

  “Bruno!” Professor Spine practically

  growled. “I’ve had enough of this intractable

  nonsense. I can see now that those who are for

  and those who are against this damned Law of

  Three are going to continue to argue unless we

  separate the lot of you for the rest of the day. So,

  if you believe as Felicity believes, I want you on

  the south side of the school until further notice.

  Those who feel more as Bruno does, you shall

  go to the north. ‘Us and them’ at its finest. Now

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  go. I’ll be announcing my decision school-wide

  directly.”

  “Yes, sir, Professor Spine,” the students

  chorused, and most of the class branched off

  with Bruno. Only about ten people followed

  Felicity in the other direction.

  One young wizard stood in the middle of

  the hallway biting his lip indecisively, and

  Bruno jabbed him with his elbow as he passed.

  The boy turned and caught up with Felicity as

  quickly as possible.

  “Learning by example, I see, Rian

 
Arnold,” said Felicity with a chuckle. He

  blushed as he continued on his way.

  Up ahead, near the main entrance to the

  large keep in which the Academie was housed,

  a gathering of students had converged on a

  messenger who stood by the huge double doors.

  Every age of student, from the younglings on up

  to the acolytes, stood waiting to hear his news.

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  Professor Spine had followed Felicity’s

  group on his way back toward the head office.

  Now he grasped Felicity’s shoulder for a

  moment as he passed. “Something of great

  import must have happened to bring a messenger

  out here in the middle of the day,” he

  commented with a worried frown.

  Felicity nodded her agreement. She and

  the other students continued along at a slower

  pace, but Gregory lifted his wand high, its light

  shining in the dimness of the darkened hallway

  as he quickly flew to his destination.

  “Ah, Professor Spine, there you are, sir,”

  said Headmistress Primrose Meriwether with a

  sage nod as the man alighted beside her. “Corbin

  Matherson has just arrived with a new update

  concerning today’s goings-on. I think you will

  want to hear about this.”

  “Director Dervish McTavert and Master

  Lancelot Jones, sir,” Corbin said, still a bit short

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  of breath from hurrying. “They’ve taken their

  fight to the Council of Elders.”

  “Oh my, you can’t be serious,” Gregory

  gasped. “Do they really feel as strongly as that?”

  “I fear so, sir,” he shrugged. “There’s to

  be a hearing tomorrow morning, and the elders

  will take a vote once they have heard all the

  evidences. I fear it’s quite likely their fight may

  succeed, with so many of the Magi upset by the

  Law of Three and all that it implies.”

  “Madame Meriwether, I had intended to

  divide the students for the day to minimize the

  fighting, but in light of this new development, I

  feel perhaps we’d do better to simply send them

  all back to their dorms to cool off,” Gregory

  suggested to the witch at his side. “It’s certain

  that not much learning will be accomplished

  today in any case.”

  “I fear you may be right, Master Spine,”

  she agreed with a sad little frown. Then, with a

  school-wide voluminate, she added, “Attention,

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  everyone. All students must return to your

  dorms immediately until further notice. Any

  disagreements between you while you are there

  will be dealt with harshly. To prevent this, it is

  permissible to divide by opinion within your

  dorms. I would suggest that as one side is likely

  to be greater than the other, that those who

  believe the Law of Three should be repealed

  must go above-stairs, while those against the

  removal of that law must remain below. That is

  all.”

  Felicity and her good friend Jane Nance

  linked arms as they found each other among the

  press of bodies headed for the six towers where

  the dorms were located at the east side of the

  keep.

  “Great,” she commented as they went.

  “Looks like we’re sleeping on the floor tonight.

  Won’t that be lovely?”

  “It will be, if it gives us a change to do

  something about all of this,” Jane replied.

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  “What do you mean?” asked Felicity

  with a furrowed brow.

  “Just because Dervish McTavert is a

  Director doesn’t mean he should always have his

  own way,” she snorted. “Some of us are working

  on a plan to teach him a lesson. But we

  absolutely must have you to lead the way,

  Felicity. We couldn’t possibly pull it off without

  your help.”

  “I see,” said Felicity with a feeling of

  foreboding. Sometimes being the top student in

  the entire school wasn’t an enviable position.

  “Then perhaps you’d best tell me precisely what

  it is you wish me to lead.”

  “We’ll tell you all about it later tonight,”

  she answered with a grin. “I think it will be just

  the thing, and a bit of a lark as well. I’ll be

  counting on your support.”

  Then Jane pushed forward into the

  crowd and was gone, leaving Felicity standing

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  there and biting her bottom lip as the other

  students milled around her unmoving form.

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  THREE

  Lancelot almost decided to ward the

  Museum for the night and simply go home for

  some rest. After all, he was meant to be giving a

  speech tomorrow before the Council, and he

  needed to be at his best. But for some reason, he

  couldn’t bring himself to leave, and as a general

  rule he always listened to his intuition.

  “Perhaps a night on the couch wouldn’t

  be so bad,” he said, sighing heavily. “I could

  always catch up on some reading—at least until

  whatever it is that’s got me tethered to the

  building plays itself out.”

  Before he decided to turn in on the

  chaise-longue, however, first he needed to make

  sure that every artifact was safely stored, and

  that nothing else would require his attention

  either.

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  If there was one thing about this old

  Museum, it was the fact that its nature was

  unpredictable. One wouldn’t think that would be

  the case, but with so many magical objects in

  close proximity, sometimes the things in the old

  place tended to get into mischief if you didn’t

  watch them with an attentive eye.

  Almost

  every

  item

  that

  could

  conceivably do any real damage was not put on

  display. The items displayed to the public were

  mostly mock-ups of the real artifacts, which

  were safely stored in various vaults and cabinets

  in the most protected part of the building.

  One very real concern had always been

  to keep everything under lock and key so that

  people who wanted to use them for reason most

  foul would have no opportunity. First and

  foremost, that meant people like Caracticus

  Snigget.

  If he could have his way, Snigget would

  break into the Museum and steal every last

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  artifact therein, just so he could horde them for

  himself. He was one of the main reasons why

  Lance protected the walls of this establishment

  so fiercely. He wasn’t about to allow some

  selfish old miser to obtain the means to unleash

  a devastatingly powerful spell on his watch.

>   There were other wizards and beings

  who wanted a piece of the Museum too, of

  course. Even though the Magehold would love

  to pretend otherwise, Lancelot knew not every

  citizen who lived behind the Veil was intent on

  doing good deeds.

  And who could blame them, really?

  Magick was a very powerful tool in one’s

  arsenal, and not something that should be taken

  lightly. Just as Theodore Lundy must now be

  well aware.

  Lance’s inquiry concerning that young

  wizard had not been made lightly, of course.

  Since he had no children of his own, he was

  forced to take an active interest in the children

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  of other people instead. And Teddy’s father,

  Evan, was a good friend while he lived. So

  naturally, Lance intended to continue that

  friendship through the child.

  Using his wand rather than walking

  through the dozens of shelves, Lancelot drifted

  through the darkened library, but he spotted

  nothing out of place. He continued on into the

  artifact rooms, of which there were many, using

  magical means to ensure that every lock was

  secure.

  Nothing seemed wrong, and yet still he

  couldn’t shake the feeling that left him so

  insecure. Something was going on. Of that he

  was completely sure. And yet, nothing within

  the Museum itself was the cause, so he

  determined that perhaps he ought to go out and

  check the grounds.

  It didn’t take long for trouble to find him

  once he’d stepped out the door. Detecting a foul

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  presence, Lance was quick to redouble all of the

  wards and secure every window and door.

  A whoosh of sound assailed his ears, and

  he looked up to the familiar sight of a huge red

  dragon flying through the air.

  Caracticus Snigget wasn’t really a

  dragon, but just a wizard who had learned the