The Blacthorn Prophesy, The Connors Chronicles

By C. G. Peltier

Angry and frustrated, the dark wizard from the east, Drake Aldric had come to the far side of the planet for a specific purpose. He had come to the island of Cannise in search of a Vikodlak. He needed this magically, created creature to help him find and eliminate fifteen-year-old Charlie Connors, his biggest threat.
The young wizard is second in line for the throne after his imprisoned father and he and his twin sister Kelly are in with the rebels.
Having been to the Forbidden Place a number of times in search of dark magic and potions, Aldric was familiar with these wretched islands. It was in one of the dodgy villages on this very island where he had purchased the Dragon’s Revenge that he had used to infect Kelly Connors, Charlie's twin sister, and also the antidote for the poison.
He had purposely infected Kelly with Dragon's Revenge to draw Charlie into his trap. He knew that the boy, being a Connors could not watch his sister die an agonizing death. By all rights, both of the Connors brats should already be history, but the clever boy had tricked him, stolen the antidote and escaped his trap.
Those Connors brats had evaded his wrath for the last time. He was going make sure that they wouldn't escape again. He had come this dealer in exotic and magical creature's shop for one of these Vikodlaks. He was here because these ancient creatures had a craving for wizard blood and a nose for finding it. He would not allow Charlie Connors to escape again.
Aldric came for one, but there were two. Which one of these creatures would he take back to Freedonia with him? As it turned out, it wouldn’t take very long to decide.
The one to his right kept his eyes on him as the other kept looking between the exotic animal dealer on the floor and him with its mouth-watering. That was the one that he wanted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C. G. Peltier
• Release date: Jan 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370229130

C. G. Peltier

About the author: C. G. Peltier is a man of many talents. He has served as a United States Marine, has been a die maker and die designer, a tool room and press department supervisor, a machine design engineer, an experimental department engineer, and an inventor. He had founded and run a small but successful manufacturing company twenty-two years. Now, that the reins have been passed on to his son, daughter, and son-in-law, he has become a YA fantasy author, go figure.Why fantasies? His daughter got him hooked on the books and movies of Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. She lent him her computer and inspired him to use his creative imagination in an entirely new way, as a fantasy author.

Book preview

THE CONNORS CHRONICLES

The Series

The Blackthorn Prophesy

C. G. Peltier

Copyright 2016 by Carl G. Peltier

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920858 (CGP Words)

CGP Words, Mount Pleasant, WI.

Published by CGP Words at Smash words

Smash words Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

To Michelle for sharing the world of fantasy with me, inspiring me to write and lending me your laptop.

To Carol Mante, Jell and J.R. for technical assistance.

To Mocha Lisa Coffeehouse for my morning brew and table.

Table of Contents

1 The Aftermath

2 Another Funeral

3 The Vikodlak

4 Aldric Returns

5 Siege

6 The View From the Boulders

7 The Discovery

8 The Long Wait

9 It's About Time

10 The Morning After

11 What Happened?

12 Questions

13 Into Dark Wizard Territory

14 The Estates Overlooking the Sea

15 At Last

16 Extreme Measures

17 Aldric's New Army

18 Trapped

19 Tense Moments

20 Tremor During the Night

21 If Birds Can Fly

22 Come, Said the Spider to the Fly

23 The Beginning of the End

24 Hail to the King

Epilogue

About the Author

-1-

The Aftermath

Alight breeze filtered through the leaves of the giant, oak trees surrounding the old clearing near the southern edge of the Oak Forest. The gentle rain of two days ago had perked up the clearing grasses and wildflowers and had cleansed the forest air.

This was a morning that appeared to be much like most of the other mornings here in the forest. The songbirds had been chirping and flitting between the seed filled grasses in the clearing and the small daytime foragers were searching for seeds and insects amongst the grasses. This was as nature intended it to be.

Suddenly, the peace and serenity of the clearing and surrounding forest ended, as the area birds were spooked by an unnatural happening. They immediately sounded their squawking alarm and scattered to the four winds. This caused the smaller forest animals in the clearing to scurry for cover.

The racket almost immediately subsided as what had caused the ruckus was revealed. Tiny particles of matter were quickly spinning about in a vertical column in what looked like a miniature tornado. These particles began merging together and taking shape, as if out of thin air. An instant later, two figures had materialized in the center of the clearing. This was definitely not how nature intended it.

One of the figures looked menacing while the other appeared to be terrified and in distress. The tall, slender wizard was dressed in dark clothing and was wearing his customary long, black cloak. It was the dark wizard, Drake Aldric. With his menacing appearance, it was easy to see why the forest creatures had scattered.

The second figure was smaller in stature and was dressed in lighter colored clothing. The poor man was bent over with both hands held out in front of his face as if he was protecting himself. This person appeared to be foolishly attempting to shield himself from the dark wizard's dark magic power. The second figure was visibly frightened by what was happening to him and no doubt didn't have any choice in the matter.

- - -

This morning, Drake Aldric was in search of answers and the dark wizard had randomly selected the first western wizard he had come across to help him find those answers. He had brought this cowering wizard here to the Oak Forest for one specific purpose. This ill-fated wizard was here to be used as a subject for his evil magical experiments. This unwilling wizard was brought here to help make sense of what had happened and to ease the eastern dark wizard's evil mind.

This clearing was far enough into the Oak Forest from the road between New Castle and Oxdale that there would be no one would see or hear what was about to happen here. The dark wizard from the east had chosen this spot because it was desolate, he had been here before and he knew that he could perform his evil magical experiments in this desolate spot and no one would be the wiser. Even though he was the most powerful wizard known, he still wanted to keep his abilities secret. He had spent time to portray his image as a protector of the people and he had to protect it.

After the Connors boy had met him at the New Castle Sports Field and had played him for a fool, he felt vulnerable. The boy had tricked him and had taken the cure to Dragon's Revenge and made him question his own abilities. Then Frederick Weaderman had come to his mansion and stole his prize possessions, his magic chest, his book collection, the cupboard and even his chair.

Aldric was experiencing doubts in what he thought was his superior magical powers and protection and he had questions that he’d needed answered. One way or another, this quivering, ill-fated wizard was going to help him supply those answers.

The terrified wizard slumped to the ground and glanced up at the taller dark wizard with fear in his eyes. Aldric enjoyed seeing fear in others.

In a trembling voice the frightened wizard asked, Mr. Aldric, what do you want of me? I...I...I’m no threat to you and I had paid my taxes in full.

Aldric looked down his nose at the trembling wizard and said, Good, then you have done your civic duty, haven't you? However, sometimes being a good, law-abiding citizen, such as yourself, is not enough. Sometimes a good citizen can be required to do more for the good of the country. You are apparently a good citizen, are you not?

The frightened wizard whimpered, Leave me alone, I didn’t do anything wrong.

Wrong, you are not here because you had done something wrong, but I still need your help with something of great importance, if you would be so kind to assist me.

Aldric looked into his eyes and asked, You do want to serve your country, don’t you?

What is this something you want of me?

I have questions that I need answered and you are going to help answer them.

The nervous wizard’s voice cracked, What kind of questions?

First of all, I do the asking and you do the answering, that’s the way that this works.

The shivering wizard started to speak, but he was jolted by the sudden pain of Aldric’s Infliction Spell, Come on, didn’t you hear what I had just said?

The smaller wizard didn’t say a word and again he was jolted by pain.

Let me say this again in a way that even a western wizard like you can understand. I, the one standing before you, asks the questions. You, the one on the ground, answers. Have you grasped what I have said?

Yes Mr. Aldric sir.

But, since you did ask, I will tell you what I require of you. You are going to be providing a service for me, but first you need to answer a few questions for me. Do you think that you can do this?

The quivering wizard wiped sweat from his brow and looked into the eyes of the evil wizard before him, Yes, Mr. Aldric, sir.

Very good, since we have gotten that out of the way, let’s begin. You are a western wizard aren’t you?

Yes, I am.

Wonderful, wonderful, and as a fine tax paying wizard such as yourself, do you know how to block a magic spell or curse?

No, sir, I don’t.

You don’t, now that is a pity, I was hoping that you could block spells, but that is not why we are here.

Aldric tilted his head to the side and gave a curious look at the quivering wizard. And why can’t you, as a western wizard use a blocking spell?

The wizard's voice quivered as he answered, Sir, dark magic use had been forbidden after the Great Wizard War.

Aldric laughed at the cowering wizard’s answer, Yes, it had, hadn’t it? And a good wizard like yourself would never think of using forbidden magic, now would you?

No sir, I don't know how and dark magic has been forbidden.

Aldric looked into the eyes of the shaking wizard, Wizard, you have made me curious, if you knew a killing spell, would you use it now?

The quivering wizard looked at the menacing figure standing over him and didn’t say a word.

After a jolt of pain, he was forced to answer Aldric's question, Yes, I would.

Aldric chuckled, Ah, I see and you would also tell the truth, wouldn't you?

The wizard pleaded, Why don't you just kill me and get it over with.

I'm sorry, am I interrupting your busy schedule? I’m not going to kill you, at least not yet. You haven't provided the answers to my questions yet, but you soon will.

The dark wizard held out his hand with his little finger and thumb touching and cast a spell at the cowering, defenseless wizard on the ground and said, Lotis Animalotis mouse.

There was a swooshing sound and smoke surrounded the defenseless wizard. After the smoke had cleared, there on the ground where the wizard had once been, was the body of a tiny, motionless mouse.

- - -

While he waited for the mouse to regain control of his body, Aldric's mind began to wonder.

The Lotis Animalotis Spell was not new to Drake Aldric, he had cast this same spell a number of times in the past. His very first time was right here in this very clearing. The dark wizard had come here to Frederick Weaderman's cottage to test his newfound dark magic ability on the one who had been in charge of the Castle Guard unit. Weaderman was Aldric's boss while he worked as a guard.

Before he had left the forest that fateful day, he had turned Frederick into a mouse, burnt down his newly built cottage and had taken Slingshot, Frederick Weaderman’s horse with him.

About a month later, he had also used that very same spell once again. On this occasion, it was to get rid of three of the brotherhood of four. He had thoroughly enjoyed turning Russell McIntyre, Abner Freeman and Marshall Black into the fox, crow and horse that foggy evening over four years ago.

Back in his early school days, he had once wanted to join the brotherhood of four, but the four wouldn’t allow him to join. This was humiliating and it had made him angry. Turning these three into animals felt good, very good.

It had been over four years now, since he had come to this very clearing to test his newly acquired dark magic skills on Frederick Weaderman, but the experience was still fresh in his memory as the day he had come here.

This evil wizard had returned here today, with this quivering wizard to recreate what he had done to Frederick Weaderman all those years ago.

He had to find out how his old lieutenant had been able to change himself from a mouse back into a wizard and this wizard was going to help him.

- - -

Sure enough, there on the ground, was the mouse that he had moments ago produced. He watched as the motionless mouse started to twitch and flail about uncontrollably. It took some time, but soon the small animal was able control of his newly formed body.

Aldric watched as the mouse attempted to get to its feet and because of his lack of muscle control, he had fallen back to the ground. The master of dark magic stepped up to the struggling creature, reached down and picked the rodent up by the tail. He studied the tiny beast as its tiny feet clawed at the air.

While the rodent was struggling, Aldric heard him letting out a high-pitched squeaking sound.

As the dark wizard from the east held the rodent out at arm’s length and was looking at the mouse’s beady little eyes, he made a shocking discovery.

The mouse’s squeaking sounded a whole lot like high-pitched screaming. He brought it closer and listened to the mouse and sure enough, the darn thing wasn’t squeaking at him. Instead, the impetuous little rodent was yelling at him. It wasn't just yelling, the impulsive little beast was cursing at him.

Drake Aldric's heart sunk in his chest as he struggled to grasp what he had just discovered. He had just learned that this pesky little creature could talk and the darn thing was swearing at him.

His evil mind raced. No, no, this can’t be true. Wait, it must be true, he had heard it with his own ears.

From his experiments on Frederick Weaderman years ago, Aldric had concluded that when he had changed him into a mouse, he had silenced him and had gotten rid of his old boss forever. He had done as he had intended and without triggering the ancient Death Alarm Spell.

He had just come to realize that what he had believed all these years was not at all true. He had made a mistake. It wasn’t any mistake, it was a colossal one. What had made it worse was that until this very moment, he had no idea that he had made this most grievous error. He was overwhelmed with shock and dismay by what he had just discovered.

Aldric’s mind raced back in time. He closed his eyes and replayed the day that he had turned Frederick Weaderman into a mouse in his mind. He had come to this clearing to test his newfound dark magic ability and to use his old lieutenant as a test subject.

He knew that he couldn't just kill Weaderman, doing this would set off the ancient Death Alarm Spell and all wizard kind would instantly become aware of his evil deed. To skirt around the ancient spell, he had decided to change Weaderman into a mouse and leave him defenseless on the forest floor. He was confident that with all the forest predators about, one of them would surely finish Weaderman off for him and no one would know that he was the one responsible.

As Drake Aldric left the forest that day, he was confident that no one would ever know that he had come to this clearing to test his newly found dark magic abilities. Confident in his magic abilities, he could now begin his master plan to rid Freedonia of the Connors Royal Family and to make himself the new ruler of Freedonia.

Even after all those years, he could still picture the spells that he had cast while inside Weaderman's cottage that day. He could picture the back of his hand as he held it out towards the battered body of his old boss.

Lastly, Aldric pictured himself casting the last spell, Lotis Animalotis Mouse.

He recalled the swooshing sound as his spell sped towards the wizard and the translucent cloud of smoke that appeared where Weaderman had once stood. It was exactly like what he had done to this mouse moments ago.

He remembered as the smoke was drifting away, the wizard was gone and where Weaderman once stood was a limp body of a tiny mouse. Over four-years had passed, but he still remembered it, as if it was yesterday.

There was one difference though, four years ago, he didn’t bend down and pick up Frederick Weaderman then as he had just done with the wizard that he had brought here today. That had to be the difference. If he had just picked up Weaderman as a mouse, he would have heard his squeaking and would have recognized it as yelling.

Drake Aldric, the most dangerous wizard alive, was in a state of panic and shock. Four years ago, he had made a tremendous error. He had changed Weaderman into a mouse alright, but a mouse that was also able to talk to others.

Aldric was disappointed in himself and felt like a fool. If it hadn't been for this stupid error, he would have easily been able to rid himself of the Connors Connors vermin and would have been the King of Freedonia years ago.

The dark wizard then dropped this new mouse on the ground and stepped back to about the same distance he had been from Frederick Weaderman four years ago. As he had suspected, this new mouse’s yelling sounded more like squeaking then yelling, from this distance.

As he replayed that day over in his mind, he tried to rationalize what he had done. That day, when he turned Frederick Weaderman into a mouse, it was supposed to have silenced him forever. Because of the Death Alarm Spell, he couldn’t just kill him.

It would have been much easier to cast his killing spell and finish Frederick Weaderman for good, but if he had, all of wizard kind would receive a mental picture of what he had done and he would have to fight a war in order to become the King of Freedonia.

Aldric preferred taking control of Freedonia in a stealthy manner, unlike the way that his ancestor's failed attempt to take the kingship by force. His plan to take over Freedonia was based on his stealthy use of his dark magic powers to avoid a bloody conflict like The Great Wizard War. Since no other wizard had the ancient dark magic ability that he had, he was confident that he could make this ability work to his advantage.

The dark wizard had realized what had really happened four years ago, but he was still puzzled. There must be a reasonable explanation for Weaderman’s being at the New Castle Sports Field yesterday, but what could that possibly be?

The dark wizard gasped for air. Aldric had just realized that his error had been much worse than he had originally thought. If Weaderman could talk, probably the fox, the crow and the horse would most likely be able to talk as well. If that was the case, could it be that Russell McIntyre, Abner Freeman and Marshal Black are also alive?

His surroundings closed in on him as if he was being suffocated causing the mouse’s tail to slip out of his limp fingers. The mouse fell to the grass below. Soon he again became aware of his surroundings and reached for the mouse’s tail as it continued to flail about.

His mind raced again. Whoa, wait a minute. What he had moments ago discovered explained a lot, and insecurity and fear soon enveloped him.

If these four animals could talk, maybe that was how the heir to the throne, Charles Connors had found out about his plan to kidnap the royal family on the day that the king had died. That could explain why the Connors family had been in the process of escaping from the castle when the king had passed away four years ago.

He just had to toy with them before he had changed McIntyre, Freeman and Black into animals that foggy evening four years ago. He had to brag. What a fool he had been!

Prince Charles must have been warned about his kidnapping plan before his men found out the king had passed away and they had begun to storm the royal quarters to capture the rest of the royal family.

He was having difficulty grasping what he had discovered only moments ago, but that had to be it. What else could explain what had and was happening?

Years ago, the dark wizard had changed Russell McIntyre, Abner Freeman and Marshall Black into animals. Just like Frederick Weaderman, this was also to get them out of his hair and to silence them forever. Apparently, his thinking was flawed. He was wrong, totally wrong.

Somehow, the animals that he had created, must have warned the royals of his plan, but how could they have known about his plan in the first place?

Dumbfounded, Aldric stood there as he searched his memory and thought about the night that he had turned Russell McIntyre, Abner Freeman and Marshall Black into the crow the fox and the horse. What a fool he had been? He had changed them into animals all right, but moments before he did, as they lay helpless on the ground, he remembered he had taunted them with a small portion of his plan to get rid of the Connors and make himself the new King of Freedonia. And now, his mistake was evident and it was coming back to bite him on the backside.

His heart sunk in his chest as he realized that he had brought the calamity of the last four years on himself. If he had only recognized that the four animals he had created could talk four years ago, he could have dealt with Weaderman and the three others in a much different way. Maybe he could have taken them out to the Strugard Wizard Prison. They could have been magically confined along with the all of the Connors family.

The island at the center of that dormant volcano is a magic free zone and anyone reaching the outer island would instantly die from the killing spell the moment that they touched land. Because they would be confined with no hope of escape, this would have silenced them once and for all time, but he didn't do that.

He hung his head in self-disgust. If it hadn’t been for his foolish mistake, he could have avoided the problems that he himself had caused. Prince Charles would have never received warning and the entire Connors family would have been stunned and taken out to Strugard Wizards Prison together. The Connors twins would not have been able to escape from the old castle and they wouldn't have joined the rebels. In fact, if it wasn't for his mistake, there would never have been any rebels in the first place.

The Connors brats would have been captured along with their parents and placed in magical confinement out at the Strugard Wizard Prison. All that he would have had to do was find a way to remove the Death Alarm Spell and he could have gone back to the prison island and simply killed all of the Connors vermin at one time.

This all should have been accomplished in one day and he would be the new King of Freedonia. Instead, here he was four years later, still struggling to find the Connors boy and trying to finish what he had started years ago.

Aldric’s thoughts turned to the confrontation that he had with the Connors boy at the sports field yesterday. He had gone over this many times in his mind, but a part of his conversation with the boy had jumped out at him. He remembered asking the boy a question, Speaking of planning, my men haven’t found any of the escaped prisoners or their families. Tell me, what have you done with them?

And the Connors boy replied, I’m sorry, but telling you that isn’t part of my plan.

The word plan stuck in his mind. If there was this plan, who planned it? The boy also said, You might as well tell your men to stop looking for them. It would be a total waste of their time.

Aldric remembered saying, It appears that you have also, done some planning.

And the young wizard’s replied, Oh, I wish that I could take credit for the planning. The idea was mine, but the planning and execution was not. The credit belongs to one more brilliant than I.

He remembered asking, Who is the planner of the prison breakouts?

Aldric thought hard, the boy didn’t take any credit for the prison escape. The words kept playing repeatedly over again in his mind, Oh, I wish that I could take credit for the planning. The idea was mine, but the planning and execution was not. That’s what he had heard. The credit belongs to one more brilliant. If it wasn't the boy's idea, then who's idea was it?

His eyes got big as saucers as if he was smacked in the stomach as he came to the realization. Could the one who had planned the prison escape have been Russell McIntyre all along? It sounded like something that he was capable of doing, after all, he was the brains behind the brotherhood of four. That’s the type of thing that he did for Charles Connors and his father.

When the prince was stuck or needed help, he ran to one smarter than he was. The prince would come up with an idea, Russell McIntyre would do the planning or problem solving, and Abner Freeman and Marshall Black would do the grunt work. Russell McIntyre was clearly the brains of the lot.

A devastating thought crossed the dark wizard’s mind. Was Russell McIntyre the reason why the Connors brats and their rebel helpers had avoided capture all of these years?

- - -

During his visit here in the clearing today, Drake Aldric was totally unaware that the Connors boy and his sister’s home was invisible and was here in the Oak Forest. If you knew where it was, it would take a three-hour walk to get there. Unknown to him, this forest had been where the Connors twins and their band of rebels had been hiding from him, his army and bounty hunters all these years.

If only Aldric could turn back the clock. If only he had discovered that these pesky animals could talk, everything would have turned out differently. There would have been little or no opposition to his takeover of Freedonia and all of his problems