The Wizard

Chapter 11 part 3

Early in the morning, the young man got up and went swimming in the lake, accompanied by Ailin. When they returned, having a coffee that he made appear out of nowhere, he thought of a way to fight the dragons, but he couldn't come to a conclusion.

The men trained by themselves and the women took everything they could save into the forest in case they failed and the village was looted.

Igor was so focused that he was startled when a strong hand weighed on his shoulder. He turned to see the man who called him and saw Ailin with a person, a guy he knew very well, even though, at that moment, he was much younger.

"Igor," she began. "This is my father—"

"Ezequiel!?" he interrupted, astonished. "Are you a Gaul with a Jewish name?"

"My mother was saved by a man named Ezequiel and gave me this name in his honor, however, I don't remember ever seeing you before, son."

"My goodness—" the young man began, laughing. He calmed down and continued, speaking naturally. "Ezequiel, you don't know me yet, but I already know you very well. After the confusion is over, I'll explain everything. Now, you need to know that there is a huge army coming here and that we have very few elements to face it."

"It's fair." Ezequiel smiled. "I already know about the army and my daughter said that you are willing to fight with us and that you are a very powerful druid."

"Yes, I will fight to help," confirmed the young man. "What we have ahead is very complicated."

"So the Romans made the decision, I think manipulated by the warlocks."

"How many druids did you raise for the cause?"

"Only sixteen," he confessed, worried. "And there are almost ten times more warlocks there."

"We'll handle it," Igor replied, calm. Speaking lower, he asked. "Where is the dragon? It's better to keep him away from here because of the warlocks."

"What dragon!?"

"Don't you have a dragon companion?" Igor asked.

"No!" he replied, astonished. "Should I?"

"Well, you'll have one soon." Igor laughed. "Do you have any idea what we're going to face?"

"They already put me in the picture," Ezequiel replied. "I've been working on a way to nullify the effects of control over the dragons and I think I did it."

"Explain to me how it's done that I'll help." Igor noticed that, at that time, magic was empirical and not scientific, but it worked the same way. He learned very quickly and then redid part of the placement of the troops since they became eighteen druids in all."

In the early afternoon, the small village saw the shadow on the horizon. Ten thousand men, a frightening number in front of the group that was there to defend themselves and the thing got even worse when they talked about the warlocks, most of them of the first degree, and the band of dragons.

Gwydion remained in the forest, hidden from the front line at Igor's request so that he would not become another vassal of the enemy. As expected, the soldiers went ahead in wedge formation. As he walked along the defensive lines in a final review, the young man saw Ailin with a sword in her hand, energetic. The girl wore a weapon that the wizard forged to measure for her, where he took care to create the balance and weight suitable for a woman of her size. He smiled at her.

"Do you intend to fight in front?" he asked, worried. "Go to the back line to protect the village."

"I am Ailin, the daughter of the chief and I will fight to the death if necessary," she concluded, proud. "I will not stay behind. If I have to die, I will die taking some Romans with me."