THE DRAGON MAGE: THE KNIGHT MAGE 2 Read online

  “Is that why I look like a woman’s shiny bauble?” Samuel asked.

  “It is Knight Samuel” Knight Commander Steele replied.

  “What if I don’t want to leave the Knights?” John asked. “The Crown Prince can’t force me.”

  “Yes he can” Knight Commander Steele replied. “From what I gather he doesn’t hate you as a person, he respects you and your father greatly. If there was a way for you to continue the exact same work you are doing now but without the title of Knight he would jump at it. The Crown Prince is a mage and a proud mage at that, he is used to seeing his kind adored by the people. The people though see you as a Knight first and a mage maybe a distant fourth or fifth. The fact that you dropped out of completing your final few months to become a full and recognized mage has only made your legend grow. You are also not a noble, the people can connect better with you. Do not worry too much about it Knight Thunder, whatever happens will happen. It is far above our heads but know as far as this order is concerned, you will always be a Knight. Now for the part that will make 100% of you angry.”

  “What is that Knight Commander?” Thomas asked. “You just told us the kingdom has spit in the face of Knights being chosen to begin the selection process by invitation only, the Knight that gave us legitimacy may be getting kicked out and whenever the Crown Prince is in charge that we will all be out of a job or the Knights will change so drastically we can hardly be called Knights at all.”

  “Each of you are required to have at least one mage squire” Knight Commander Steele said as loud voices and yelling could be heard. “This is effective immediately, the Queen thinks it is a good idea to prep future Knights this way. There will be a list posted at the tower and at the various City Watch buildings throughout the cities and towns we come across. Samuel, you and John are expected to have a mage Squire within the week.”

  “This is an outrage” John said loudly. “I was already saddled with one mage I didn’t want or ask for, why do I need another?”

  “As I recall Knight Thunder, you and your mage grew closer” Knight Commander Steele said. “As did most of you, I may be a noble but that doesn’t mean I am ignorant of the activities of my Knights. I already have discussed it with Prince Jordan and we are both for your secret unions. Knights should not leave a wake of fatherless babes wherever they go, the mages for now are far more discreet and it is unlikely they would ever get pregnant.”

  “It is no secret that me and my mage became close” John replied. “But you are asking me not to give a coveted spot to a man that really wants and deserves it in order to please some mage.”

  “Yes” Knight Commander Steele replied. “The rest of you can have two squires, just as long as one of them is a mage. Only John and Samuel are required to keep just one.”

  “What if we can't find a mage who wants to become a Squire?” Samuel asked. “Our pay is still shitty and the lot of them are used to the finer things in life.”

  “I already asked that” Knight Commander Steele replied. “The Crown Prince said he would be more than happy to assist. Samuel and John, I know you both were angry at having one mage tag along and now you have two. You are Knights though and Knights can push through it.”

  CHAPTER 2

  “John I already have a list for you of the students who wish to train under you” Sara replied.

  “And I will ignore everyone of them” John replied.

  “Really?” Sara asked in a tone that made John pause.

  “What do you know?” John asked as he narrowed his eyes.

  “I know that your precious order is about to lose what makes it unique in the eyes of the commoners” Sara replied. “Many mages have signed up to become a Knight. It turns out they like the attention you all receive; they even have their own uniforms now.”

  “I have seen prototypes for the garish things” John said shaking his head. “Prince Jordan turned down every one, the ones that were accepted just look like less fancier versions of what the Knights wear. But I am not worried, no way any mage would want to join the Knights for so little pay.”

  “My little brother” Sara said shaking her head. “Many of the people who signed up are already wealthy, they don’t need any money and would most likely stay someplace else in town instead of that little hovel you try to give them.”

  “Still doesn’t matter” John replied. “They will never make it past selection.”

  “Oh really?” Sara laughed. “The great John Thunder was in charge of some training to be conducted here at the tower to help future mages paired with Knights have an easier transition. They have been working out hard for months now, mother has even had a survivalist come in and teach them various tricks to live off the land. Now the dashing John the Relentless needs a mage partner, excuse me. He now needs two mage partners.”

  “I already have a mage partner” John snapped.

  “No you don’t” Sara replied. “You haven’t had a conversation with Dawn in almost three weeks. I have a list here filled with mages who want to be your partner. Some want to see if you are interested in courting them, I have them marked off because I know you have no interest.”

  “How do you know this?” John said crossing his arms.

  “Because I know you like Dawn just like I said you would” Sara replied.

  “John” Jonathan said walking up from behind.

  John turned to face his father and smiled. Half of Jonathan’s face was a mess of scarring, his father was lucky not to lose the eye. Jonathan had taken a direct blast of dragon fire from a big green dragon that was behind most of the Kirby fatalities during the battle. Jonathan had killed the big green dragon when the dragon had attacked John, Jonathan had paid to have the dragon’s body transported to his estate in the country and was busy trying to cut it up to make some armor out of the hide. John knew it was tough going since the dragon scales were almost impenetrable so he had to cut it from the inside out.

  “What brings the great dragon slayer here to talk to his apparent embarrassment of a son” John replied as he hugged his father. “How is the armor making going?”

  “Tough” Jonathan replied. “But I have plenty of help and try to make it back whenever I can to help out with the work. I just got here yesterday from the estate, how are you holding up?”

  “I know you have heard about me taking on more dead weight” John replied.

  “I have” Jonathan replied. “And your sister has put in a lot of work in trying to find you the correct partner. I know you don’t get along but you should listen to her.”

  “I know Sara” John replied. “No one on that list is a woman, she still has hope for me and her friend. The rest of that list is filled with men from influential families, probably more than a couple from the Golads or the Nettletons.”

  “Then you are correct” Jonathan said with a laugh. “There is one I would like you to pay more attention to that is not on that list. She has been getting the short end of the stick since she came here and is something of an outcast.”

  “I like her already” John replied.

  “You are seriously considering a woman?” Sara asked shocked. “All that stuff I said before was me teasing, you can't seriously expect a woman to make it through army training do you?”

  “It is not army training” John replied. “Way tougher than that.”

  “What about Dawn?” Sara said angrily.

  “What about her?” John replied. “I am being sent on a mission to Vengeance City, she has to come along whether she wants to or not. Who is this young lady father?”

  “Zionna Douglas” Jonathan replied. “She just is supposed to graduate in a week. She is a poor mage, probably the poorest I have seen.”

  “Worse than I was?” John asked.

  “She has Rusty’s limitation of only being able to cast one spell or element at a time” Jonathan replied. “And she has even less power to work with than Dawn Nettleton does.”

  “You can’t be serious father” Sara replied. “Zionna Douglas doesn’t even come from a mage family.”

  “No she doesn’t” Jonathan replied. “It is speculated that somewhere far along her lineage that someone was a mage, many people have traced it, trying to find out who but came up empty.”

  “That is because some irresponsible mage stuck it places he shouldn’t have” Sara replied. “And he died long before Zionna Douglas was born. Now we have commoners running around with magic they have no idea how to use.”

  “You are a commoner Sara” John replied. “So are your father and your mother.”

  “Both sides of my family are from strong mage houses” Sara replied. “It is the reason we are so strong and I graduated first in my class so it is obvious I know how to use my magic. Zionna Douglas is a girl trying to rise above her station and will try to use John to get what she wants. I disapprove of this.”

  “Who gives a rat’s fat ass what you want or think?” John replied. “Why don’t you go and snuggle with that great idiot of yours.”

  “Rusty has put in to become a squire” Sara replied.

  “Ridiculous” John said angrily. “Just a couple of days ago you were telling me to leave the Knights and now your idiot has put in to become a squire?”

  “Now look who is upset” Sara began. “Rusty will make it through whatever training you have. He is even bigger than your friend Samuel and has been in training since you got lucky in your duel.”

  “I didn’t get lucky” John replied.

  “It doesn’t matter” Jonathan replied. “The young lady I was talking about had dreams of being a mage partner to one of the Knights. She wants to get away from the mage lifestyle she has been thrown into but not fully accepted in. She put in to become a squire but more than likely all of the nobles will be cho
sen first, followed by the stronger mages.”

  “No they won’t” John laughed. “Knights hate mages, well they hate mages who are full of themselves.”

  “You still can’t take Zionna Douglas” Sara replied. “She isn’t even a pretty girl, she makes mousy little Tiffany Tatterson seem like a great beauty.”

  “This Zionna person is sounding better and better” John replied. “I don’t have to hear how great this person thinks she is and she will be happy just to be chosen.”

  “What about Dawn?” Sara asked.

  “Why do you keep bringing her up?” John asked. “She left me, not the other way around. She will either come around or she won’t.”

  “She can’t come around” Dawn replied. “You are the man; you have to go running back to her. She will lose face any other way.”

  “I am not running back to any woman” John said.

  “Why not?” Sara asked. “Are you too embarrassed about what other people might think when they see John the Relentless knocking on her door.”

  “I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks about me outside of our parents and my fellow Knights” John replied.

  “Not even Dawn?” Sara asked.

  “Fine, I will go to your stupid friend” John replied.

  “Not dressed like that you won’t” Sara replied. “Dawn wants to talk to John Thunder, not John the Knight or John the Relentless.”

  “I will do no such-” John began as his father held up a hand.

  “If you don’t you will have both your mother and your sister constantly badgering you” Jonathan replied. “They are already not going to be happy when you pick the Douglas girl, do you really want to hear this every time you are here? Not to mention the animosity and grief you will receive when you, Nettleton and Douglas ride out together. They will be at each other’s throats and you will have to play peacemaker the entire time.”

  “Listen to the real dragonslayer in the family and the Queen’s real champion” Sara said mockingly. “Father found the right woman and look at how far it got him and the opportunities it opened up for his children.”

  “Father could have had…” John started as Jonathan held up his hand. John knew Dawn’s mother Farrah had a crush on him and tried to get with him when he was younger. Sara or his mother didn’t know that and his father wanted it to stay that way.

  “John would be more than happy to stop whatever sentence he was in and go woo Dawn Nettleton properly” Jonathan said and looked at John. “Wouldn’t you son?”

  “Yes” John replied after catching the look in his father’s eyes.

  “What just happened?” Sara said suspiciously.

  “Nothing” John replied. “I need to run off and get some clothes, has any of the other Knights been around to look for a squire yet?”

  “Samuel is supposed to be the first pick, followed by you” Sara replied.

  “They are really pushing Samuel to become the face of the Knights, aren’t they?” Jonathan asked.

  “And he hates every minute of it” John replied with a laugh. “He even has to grow his hair out a bit, there are people who work on his look with him. Sam just wants to be left alone but he fits the hero role better than I do, tall, broad shouldered, blonde hair and blue eyes. Every woman’s dream come true.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short John Thunder” Jonathan laughed. “I beat out a tall, blonde haired man to win over your mother. He was rich and was in line to become a Duke and I still beat him.”

  “I bet it still burns his ass” John said joining his father in the laughter. “But poor Sam is where is he is and cannot get out of the role. He knows it is important for the Knights to have a face.”

  “He is probably not hating the attention the ladies are showing him” Jonathan replied with a wink.

  “Oh he hates it” John laughed. “He uh, well I can tell you about it later when unwanted ears are not around. Let’s just say he is like a beggar looking through a bakery window, he can look but not touch.”

  “There you are John” his mother Crystal said as she walked up with Lady Farrah Nettleton.

  “I have to leave mother” John replied. “I have important business to attend to.”

  “The Knights will not fall apart without you” Crystal replied. “Lady Nettleton came over and wishes to speak with you.”

  “Can we do it at your home?” John said looking at Lady Nettleton. “In about two hours, I have to make myself presentable.”

  “Presentable?” Crystal asked as she looked John over.

  “He is going to see Dawn and doesn’t want to look like he just walked in off the street” Sara replied. “He wants to end the argument between them.”

  “He does?” Lady Nettleton asked surprised. “I wasn’t over here to talk about you and my daughter but she will be, well whatever I have to say can wait. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of young love.”

  John just smiled at her and walked away, he knew Farrah Nettleton had thought he was lucky Dawn was thinking about choosing him. He also knew Farrah Nettleton knew that John didn’t care about money and was becoming famous, many commoners looked up to him as one of their own and treated Dawn far differently than she had been treated. John was on his way out of the tower when he spied the list of Squire hopefuls, there were twenty nine of them. Twenty nine of them that had to be chosen, the Knights were going to hate this. Only some of the names did John recognize, mostly men who probably wanted to prove themselves and gain the fame John had. Rusty’s name was on there, he would have to get picked.

  Rusty had bullied John throughout his time at the tower and was probably the strongest mage around except for John’s father when it came to raw power. Rusty was big like his father, John wasn’t short but was still more than a head shorter than Rusty was. John had beaten him though, Rusty had size but no real skill except with a blade but that was nothing to brag about. John had beaten him thoroughly the last time they fought and knew it pissed the future Duke off. Rusty probably did train like crazy after their match and wanted to surpass John. Rusty volunteered to go fight the Downey after hearing John had killed one of their dragons in an effort to catch up with John’s accolades. The more John thought about Rusty, the angrier he became, Rusty would be able to pass whatever Knight Commander Steele threw at him. If Rusty was a Squire first then it would be guaranteed. Rusty would not be above using his magic to finish out the course, neither would any of the mages but John knew most of them wouldn’t make it. The hand to hand training would make many of them drop out because they wouldn’t like getting bashed in the face so often. Rusty though had the size to make it through any of the real tough stuff. John looked at the other names and could see only three females wanted to become a Knight, one of the names was Zionna Douglas although it looked like it had been scratched out several times. John shook his head looking at the paper, this Douglas girl probably had her name scratched out by bullies and had to keep rewriting it. Next to the Squire paper was something new, it was a list of all those who wanted to be mage partners. John was surprised to see Daphne Nettleton on the list. She was Dawn’s little sister and a total twat, she always bragged about how many boys were trying to court her but John thought she did it to get to Dawn. Dawn was a tall big boned woman, she wasn’t fat by any stretch of the imagination but she was not the type of girl the average man could just pick up and swing around. Dawn’s size was the big reason she found it hard to find someone, most of the men interested in her were thinking about how much money they could have and the ones she was interested in didn’t want such a giant woman. Daphne though was like a smaller version of Dawn, she was normal height for a woman and had an impressive bust for her size and a small waist. What she would want with being a mage partner to a Knight, John could not guess. John smiled as the answer came to him, she was jealous.