Chapter 11

Niko's father went to answer the door. Pembrandt stood there with 4 other men behind him.

"Yes, may I help you?"

Pembrandt answered, "I have come with 4 of my fellow magic testers to prove to you that my reasoning is correct."

Niko's father looked sceptical, he wasn't sure he could trust these people, but he let them in. As they walked in the house Pembrandt let out a breath that he was unknowingly holding, 'That Niklaren kid must not have seen that Henda has helped me pay these people too. Good, they will say the exact same things I did.'

Niko's mother, who had quickly composed herself, came and offered the men something to eat of drink, but they calmly refused. They men formed a semicircle in front of Niko, who looked slightly unnerved by all of them, and began to quietly chant. While doing this they shaped symbols in the air above them and waited as they began to light up. Again Niko saw the slight crimson colour above him and the testers all said the out of place word that Pembrandt had said during the first magic test. Black light appeared around Niko once more and the magic testers were blown back like Pembrandt was before.

Niko stood up abruptly, "No! All of you are liars! You're doing something to the spell to…to mess it up somehow!"

One of the magic testers stood above Niko "How dare you! What would you know about our line of work!"

"I know that it's dishonest and one day you will all get your just rewards for what you are doing."

"Sir and Madam" Pembrandt said, addressing Niko's parents, "As you can see my earlier opinion was correct. You're child is abnormal and…"

"Shut up you stupid, lying, piece of excrement! Your lies aren't fooling me much less my family!" Niko said angrily.

Pembrandt and the other 4 men rose and went to the door, "We shall take our leave. I hope you figure out what to do with that boy". They then turned and left.

Later that night the family sat together in silence in the sitting room when they heard a commotion outside. A moment later a loud knocking came to the door.

This time Niko's mother went to answer it. As she opened the door Malya and Henda stood there with more than 15 people behind them. Niko's mother recognized some as Malya's family and others as former friends.

"We are here because we want that boy gone" Henda said.

Malya nodded her agreement "That boy is a danger to all of us. He almost killed his uncle, Pembrandt, and my children. He needs to go or we just might take drastic measures to get him away from here."

Niko's father came to stand beside his wife "We can take care of our son, thank you. There is no need for any of this. Please, all of you leave."

Malya looked angry and about to speak, but Henda raised his hand and stopped her.

"You take care of your child" he said "Or we will." He then signalled for all of them to leave and left himself.

Niko's mother shut the door and turned with her husband to their children. They finally settled their eyes on Niko, who looked down with white knuckled fists.

"We will talk about this later," Niko's father said "Now, all of you, go to bed."

The 3 children rose from their seats and went up the stairs to their rooms.

Two days later they all went out for a walk around the town square. As they walked together, Corithe, Amuris, and Niko noticed that more and more people had stopped what ever they were doing and stared. They looked in the direction they were staring and realized that they were staring at Niko. Amuris got her father's and mother's attention and told tem what was happening. Their father nodded and they continued walking.

They walked a little while more until a tall man, from Malya's family called out, "That's him, the demon child that almost killed my nephews and nieces, the little black haired one there."

A murmur began to form in the crowd that nearly surrounded the family. Soon the crowd was in an uproar and Niko was getting angry.

He looked up at all of the people and yelled "Stop this, now! Let us pass this instant!", his voice became calm again "All we want is to get back to our home."

"And who are you to order us around? Just shut your trap and stand there like the obedient child you supposed to be!"

The crowd began to cheer agreement as the man who was brave enough to speak stepped forward. Niko looked up at him and smirked, "Were those words directed to me?"

Suddenly a wall of fire rose up and surrounded the large mob, separating them from Niko and his family. The people screamed in fear and panic, they had no idea where to turn. Niko turned to his family, "We have to leave now, please."

They all slowly nodded, fear in their own faces, and quickly walked home. People in the horde could see them going and screamed for Niko to let them go. When Niko and his family were safely in their home the wall of fire surrounding the people vanished and they were left there too shocked and frightened to move.

When evening came Niko's mother and father sat at the dining table talking while their children were in their rooms. For the 3rd time a knock came to the door. Niko's mother and father sighed and got up to answer the door. There stood the magistrate and at least half of the crowd from that morning. They all looked gravely displeased.

"Sir," the magistrate began, "We need to talk about the matter of your son. He has created to much trouble here for us to tolerate. We must come to a decision as to what we will do about him. These people here have come to me about the incident that came about earlier today."

Niko's father looked at the magistrate, "Sir certainly you don't mean to get rid of my son? He is 10; I can't believe that you would want to harm a little boy."

By now Niko and his brother and sister had come down the stairs. Niko had heard what his father said and gasped.

The magistrate saw Niko and shuddered, "That child is dangerous, whatever he is. What shall I do? Wait until he murders someone before I take action? I think not. I wish to take this child with me to see if we can rid him of whatever dem…umm ailment he is suffering from. Now please Niklaren come here."

Niko did not move from where he stood. The magistrate cleared his throat and said again "Niklaren please come with me."

Niko shook his head, "No, if I go…you'll probably hurt me."

"I would never do that, now please come here."

Niko's father stepped forward "Lord Magistrate please, don't take my son from me. We will deal with this in our own way. He is my youngest, please."

Niko's mother ran to grab her son and held him to her close.

"Please" she said pleadingly "Don't take him. We'll do something."

The magistrate looked sympathetic for a moment, then nodded. "I will leave him then, but if the next time something like this happens I will have to remove him from your home." HE then turned and began to leave.

People in the mob yelled angrily. "Why should the boy be left alone?" one yelled. Another man called out, "If the magistrate will do nothing we will kill him ourselves." People yelled their encouragement to that idea, until the magistrate himself turned back.

"All of you return to your homes. No harm will come to that child."

"Maybe not this night, but we can't be sure about tomorrow" someone yelled, a woman this time. They all then dispersed, while Niko and his family sat together in silence.

Niko's father looked at him with concern "I think we should send for the temple dedicate again, this time it is urgent."

A day and a half passed and finally the dedicate arrived. As he and Niko's father talked Niko sat in his room thinking to himself. He was afraid of what the people in the town might do to him. Later on his father called him, his brother and sister, and mother to the sitting room.

Niko's father sighed as he looked from his son to the dedicate, "Niklaren…I have come to a decision. You will go with Dedicate Wrenswing and stay in the temple community…for a time."

Niko looked up at his father with tears in his eyes, "You're sending me away? Why…I …you believe what they're saying don't you. Father, please, I'll never do any of it again. I'll find a way to control it. I…"

Niko's father held up his hand, "Niko stop. This has nothing to do with what you've done. It's a matter of your safety. People here want to kill you, they are afraid of you. I am trying to keep you alive. I don't want any harm to befall you so please…go with Wrenswing for now."

The tears that were Niko's eyes began to fall. His mother came up to him and held him tightly and soothing him. She led him up the stairs to help him pack.

An hour later Niko came down the stairs with his mother and brother helping him with his things. The dedicate helped pack them into the carriage that he had come with. As Niko said goodbye to his family he looked up to his father once more. His father hugged his hard, then let him go, "Don't worry, it's just until things cool down here. When they do I will send for you."

Niko nodded and went into the carriage to sit beside Dedicate Wrenswing. 'Father's right, this is just temporary. When things cool down he'll come get me.' Unfortunately for Niko things would never cool down.

Henda came with Pembrandt and Malya to the house later that same day, a big smile on his lips.

"Well I see you finally got rid of that little sorcerer. This calls for celebration, don't you think?"

Niko's father looked at him with hatred and anger, "Get out you stupid wretch. You do not know how much I despise you right now. Please just leave, now."

"Aren't you happy that I saved your lives from that little devil?"

Corithe and Amuris walked forward, "Go away! You've already ruined our family enough, stop making it worse. Just leave and never come back! Be careful, we may just be demon people too and kill you in the night" Corithe said, bravely.

Henda's face twisted in fury, but then calmed again. He smirked as he said "I've already rid myself of one of you little wretches, don't think I won't do it again."

He then beckoned to Pembrandt and Malya and they turned and left.

YAY! Two chapters in one day, COOL! So what do you think? Poor Niko tear. And Henda was really mean wasn't he? I should really stop letting him come over. Again I want to know how old you must be to get into Lightsbridge (you know, the one in…I think Karang, where Niko went to learn). Remember REVIEW! (The little button is right there! Come on, I need the feed back!)