Stonecutter's Shadow: A young mage's fight through a fantasy kingdom full of treachery

by James Haddock

  “Thank you,” I said heading for the dining room. Coffee arrived shortly after I’d taken a seat.

  “Would you like breakfast now, or would you prefer to wait for Sir Horace to arrive?”

  “I'll wait, I'll just have coffee for now.”

  He nodded, “the master is an early riser so he shouldn't be too much longer.” Bowing, he left the room.

  As predicted Horace soon arrived. “Good morning. An early riser too I see. I trust you slept well.”

  “Very well, thank you,” I answered. Breakfast was served and we enjoyed the repast. Once finished we remained at the table sipping our coffee and talking.

  “Not meaning to pry,” he began,” but do you have any plans for the future?”

  I shrugged, “nothing solid, I'm just getting used to the fact that no one's looking to kill me,” I said smiling.

  He chuckled, “I can only imagine. I want you to feel free to stay here while you decide.”

  “Thank you for the invitation, if it’s not an inconvenience I may take you up on your offer. I like Rockspire, well, so far anyway. I have money and I need to put it to work to make more. I thought I might look for some investment opportunities.

  “Perhaps even invest in a rock quarry, and if I keep the investment in the family no one will look to closely at where the gold came from. Not that I was really worried about questions.”

  He nodded, “how much were you thinking of investing?” I could see I was now talking to Horace the businessman.

  “You tell me, what percentage will you sell me, and at what price?”

  He thought a moment, “let's go to the quarry, so you can see what you are buying into. We've had some labor troubles, and I want you to be aware of the bad and the good.”

  “Sounds good, I'd love to see it,” I answered.

  * * *

  From his carriage I could see the quarry was a big one, but it had been in operation for generations. As soon as we stepped down from the carriage, “Here comes the problem I mentioned.” I turned in the direction Horace was looking. A big man was leading a group of men our direction.

  “Stonecutter!” he shouted. I had his Shadow grab his feet, and he went face first into the hard gravel-covered ground. His men helped him sit up and he sat a moment spitting out dirt and blood.

  We walked over to them, “I'm sorry, did you need to speak to Sir Stonecutter?” He was still dazed. “Someone bring this poor man some water,” I said.

  I knelt in front of him, and he looked at me, “I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding,” I said so only he could hear me. “You, nor anyone else, will ever call Sir Stonecutter anything but ‘Sir Stonecutter’. If they do, they'll never find the body.”

  I could see anger start in his eyes. “Now before you do anything else foolish, tell Mr. O that Mr. H owns this business.”

  His eyes got round, and he nodded. His man returned with water and I stood back out of the way. The big man drank the water then stood up.

  “I'm sorry for shouting, Sir Stonecutter, I wanted to tell you, you'll have no more labor troubles. That's all been resolved.”

  Horace frowned, “Thank you,” he said.

  “All right you lot, let's get back to work,” the big man shouted. The group broke up and went back to cutting stone.

  We watched them walk away, I noticed Horace looking at me. “What?” I asked.

  “What did you say to him?”

  I shrugged,” I reminded him good manners cost nothing, but bad manners could get expensive.”

  He chuckled shaking his head, “I see.” We looked over the quarry and he chuckled again, “You remind me of my grandfather, he was a quiet man too. Until he was pushed, and those who pushed him only did so once.

  “I'll sell you 49 percent of the business, and that includes Stonecutter manor. You are welcome to make it your home or not, but I hope you will. I think my life is about to become more interesting than it’s been in years!”

  “And what will 49 percent cost me?” He hesitated. “I'll give you 250,000 in gold for the 49 percent,” I said. I could tell the amount stunned him. He didn't say a word, he just nodded. We started the carriage back to the manor, “Does the manor have a vault?” I asked.

  He nodded, “it does.”

  “Good, I'll put your gold in the vault, what you do with it after that is your business.”

  “Will we need to go by your bank?”

  “No,” I said smiling “I'll have it delivered.” He nodded.

  Chapter 34

  We went down into the basement of the mansion; Horace disarmed the wards on the vault door and opened it. I followed him in, “it's not as full as it once was,” he said.

  I smelled a sweet-tangy smell I had not noticed the last time I was here. Time slowed as I stared at Horace's back, the reptile smell was strong. My memory jumped back to the day in the quarry when I’d smelled the same strong reptile smell.

  The Shadows told me we were alone and my divination stone was quiet, but I felt something was wrong. I looked around the vault and back at Horace. This was all too perfect; it was all I had ever wanted. I now had a family and a home. It was just too easy. I stepped closer to the old man, and he turned toward me. “Tell me, dragon, how many have fallen into your illusion trap?”

  He frowned at me, “dragon? What are you talking about?”

  “How many unsuspecting have you sucked dry by stealing their dreams and lives? You said you had been trapped by a stronger dragon, was that truth, a half-truth, or a total lie?”

  “Have you gone crazy?” The old man yelled. I drew my knife and launched myself at him, grabbing his throat with one hand and holding my knife at his heart with the other.

  “Release me, you young fool, you have gone crazy!” he shouted, struggling to get lose.

  “Well, let's see if I am crazy. I'm betting if I push this knife into your heart, I'll find I'm holding a dragon by the throat. But if I'm wrong, I'll leave an old man’s dead body in a vault where it will never be found.”

  The old man quit struggling, “if this is an illusion then you aren't hold a knife to my chest,” he said smiling.

  My eyes never left his now ice blue eyes, “true, but I'm a Stonecutter and I don't really need a knife,” I said, and started pushing my knife-hand into his chest. The old man screamed but did not change into a dragon.

  “You're killing me” the old man cried. I kept pushing my hand into his chest, it felt like I was pushing through the hardest of stone. The man began to fight harder, clawing at my hand and chest, but I hung on.

  The man was still a man, had I been wrong? Was I killing a man? Was I killing my family?

  Suddenly, a burst of pain struck me as the dragon's clawed hand ripped into my chest and lifted me off the floor. I was now fighting a man-sized dragon screaming in rage. I wrapped my legs around his waist to keep his back legs from clawing my guts out, and continued to push my hand into his thickly scaled chest.

  He tried to bite me, but I held fast to his throat with my other hand, applying more pressure.

  He was clawing my chest and arms trying to break my grip. We were killing each other and I knew if I let go, I was a dead man.

  I felt my hand penetrate deeper into his chest, past his armored scales. He screamed louder and fought harder, rolling us around on the cave floor.

  The dragon was now on top off me, clawing at my throat and ripping my chest open. “I'm going to die for real this time.” That thought made me angry. “You may kill me dragon, but I'm not going alone!” I screamed.

  With my last strength, I grabbed the dragon's heart in my fist and ripped it from his chest. I felt the dragon’s death shudder as he collapsed on top of me.

  I turned my head away from the dragon's blood that was getting into my eyes and running all over me.

  As my eyes cleared, I realized what I was seeing, and I had to laugh. I was looking at huge piles of the dragon's hoard, now mine.

  “At least I'll die a rich man,” I t
hought.

  I heard people approaching, and shouting. I reached toward the pile of gold and precious jewels. “I need to hide that,” I thought feebly, starting to slip toward unconsciousness.

  I felt someone move the dragon, pulling me from underneath. “My God! He's slashed to rags!” I recognized one of the quarry worker's voices.

  “But there's no blood,” another worker said, “You'd think with all these wounds there would be a river of blood.”

  “Are you blind?” I thought, “I'm covered in the dragon's blood.”

  “Don't you die boy, mother will kill me if you do,” Eldest said. I smiled at the thought of mother turning on Eldest, and slipped into unconsciousness.

  * * *

  Darkness... Convulsions... Pain... Memories... I remember breaking out of my shell and fighting with my clutch mates for food. First, we fought with tooth and claw, then with magic.

  I remember using my illusion talent to hide food from them so I wouldn't have to fight them.

  I remembered using my intellect rather than brute strength to get what I wanted.

  I remembered decades of magic training, then decades of battles against other dragons, humans, orcs, elves, and darker foes.

  I remember becoming a Master Illusionist, then a Master Thief. No other dragon's treasure hoard was safe from me.

  I remember that old dragon catching me trying to steal his wealth and imprisoning me.

  I remember escaping.

  Darkness... Pain... Echoes of sounds and voices...

  “Will he live?” I recognized father's voice.

  “I honestly don't know,” someone replied. “He’s burning up with wound fever. He, or his magic, seems to be fighting my healing magic. His external wounds seem to be healing, but I can’t speak to his internal wounds. His chest wounds were deep enough to expose his very heart.

  “Before I stitched his chest wounds closed, I saw his heart was enlarged, discolored and deformed. I've done all that I can.”

  “He will live,” I heard mother say, “I will not contemplate anything else.”

  “It's in God's hands now,” father said.

  Darkness...

  * * *

  I opened my eyes, and found mother sleeping in a chair beside my bed. She looked the same as I remembered. I looked down at my bandaged arms and chest and realized I smelled of healing salve. I didn't know how long I had been unconscious, but I was thirsty, and hungry enough to eat a whole stag.

  Without a second thought I waved my hand, casting a sleep spell on my mother so I would not waken her. I got out of bed and stepped into Shadow.

  My whole body was itching and my skin felt odd. I started taking off my bandages, and as I did, the stitched and wounded skin peeled off too. I continued to peel the dead skin away from my body using my black clawed fingers.

  I looked at my claws, they were sharp, and incredibly hard. I looked at my feet, my toes had the same claws.

  My whole-body was molting, leaving behind a shimmering, multi-colored, dragon-scaled skin. When I had finished, the claws on my fingers and toes retracted to look like normal human finger and toe nails.

  I stepped out of Shadow to the mirror. The first thing I noticed were ice blue dragon’s eyes staring back at me. I blinked a few times and they changed to my normal brown eyes.

  Examining my new skin, I couldn’t find any blemishes. The shimmering multi-colored dragon scales finally settled into my normal tanned skin color. The scales smoothed out hiding themselves, becoming what appeared to be smooth human skin.

  I felt my body was still trying to adjust to all the changes and without conscious thought I cast an illusion on myself so I would look like an ordinary human.

  I flowed down to the kitchen and found a whole ham. When I bit into it, I found I had sharp dragon teeth. Once I finished the ham, meat, and bone, I morphed my teeth back into human teeth. My hunger sated for the moment; I drank my fill of water.

  I flowed through the house finding each member of my family. They all looked the same age as I remembered, which probably meant I was still 16. While I felt like I had experienced an intense life lasting five years in the illusion, only one or two days had passed in real life.

  I knew that as soon as they found me awake the questions would start. I wasn't quite ready to start answering question just yet — besides, what could I say? I didn't really understand what had happen to me or the ramifications of the changes my body was going through.

  I went back to my discarded bandages, re-wrapped healed wounds, and Flowed back into my bed. Mother was still asleep, and I was still tired, so I went back to sleep.

  I woke but kept my eyes closed. it was midmorning, and I was starving again. The Shadows told me my mother was still sitting beside my bed, and was awake.

  I hesitated, my Shadows had been wrong before, and trusting them to much had almost got me killed... again.

  I studied the feel of the Shadows and realized that these felt different from the illusion’s Shadows. These had more depth to them, like I was looking at a real thing rather that a drawing of a real thing. I pondered what had happened to me during the fight with the dragon. I considered all that I had heard, the changes to my body, and the new magic I could perform.

  “It has to be the dragon's heart and dragon’s blood that have caused these changes,” I thought. Looking at it from every angle nothing else made sense.

  “Well, I might as well get this show on the road,” I thought. I opened my eyes, watching Mother for a moment, “can I have something to eat, please?”

  She jumped, startled by my speaking, “Horace? Oh thank God!” She knelt beside the bed, “Yes you can have as much as you want to eat,” she answered. Food was brought to my bed, and I ate two breakfasts before I was full.

  “I've sent word to the quarry to let your father know you are awake and eating.”

  “How long have I been asleep?” I asked.

  “Five days. Do you remember what happened?”

  I hesitated. How much do I tell, and how soon? I decided to keep it simple and safe. “No, not really,” I answered frowning, as if trying to remember.

  “Well, don't worry about it now, it will come back to you, and if it doesn't, that's OK, too,” she said, patting my arm. I nodded and went back to sleep … letting my body heal.

  I stayed in bed for two more days and was fed twice as much as I usually ate at every meal. I got up stealthily at night going into Shadow to stretch and exercise.

  The next day the Healing Mage returned to examine me. I placed an illusion on my healed wounds making them look healed but with angry red lines of scars.

  “I see my healing magic finally took hold,” he said. He was satisfied with my recovery and that I was eating well.

  I now took meals at the dinner table with the family. The reprieve from my brother's antagonisms was at an end. “So, do you think you’re able to get back to work, or are you going to lie around for a while longer?” The brother closest to my age asked, giving me what he thought was a menacingly look.

  My anger flared … I was not the same boy they teased and pushed around. What, for them, had been a week had been five years for me.

  I stood up and walked over to the stone wall. I stuck my hand into the stone and cut a four-foot by seven-foot block from it. Then I melded all the smaller stones into one solid block.

  I picked up the block and moved it out into the middle of the room. I reached to the top of the stone block and raked my hands down its front, sending chips flying, then stepped back.

  Left standing, in all its vicious glory, was a life-size statue of the dragon I had killed. I turned back to my stunned family.

  “Yeah, I think I can handle moving a few of your little stones, brother. I'll see you at the quarry in the morning,” I said, and walked out of the house.

  By the time I walked to the quarry I had my anger back under control. I went straight to the dragon's cave and went inside. I had not seen what it really looked like, as I ha
d been a little busy trying not to get killed.

  There were large piles of bones lying around, some obviously human. I blinked my eyes, changed them to dragon eyes and looked at the back wall.

  I hadn't imagined it before when I was about to pass out, I did put up an illusion. Through a passage in the wall, I saw that the treasure hoard was indeed real.

  I walked through the illusion, leaving it in place, and entered a huge cavern. I tossed a fire ball up to light the cavern. The Shadows told me I was alone. There were piles and piles of every kind of treasure imaginable. There was gold in every shape and size; gems of all kinds, shapes, and sizes; jewelry of all kinds; and magic artifacts lay everywhere.

  “He was indeed a Master Thief,” I said, chuckling, my voice echoing around the cavern. I moved the light ball around behind me, casting the cavern into Shadow, I moved my hoard into Shadow and extinguished the light ball.

  I left the cavern and removed the illusions from its entrance, then melded the rock, closing the cavern off from the front part of the cave. Looking over my work, I nodded and left the cave.

  I had already been working loading wagons when the labor crews arrived. They joined me, and we worked for an hour before my brothers arrived.

  I had my shirt off and had worked up a good sweat. The Shadows told me they were approaching, but I kept working.

  “Boy,” Eldest called.

  I'd had about enough of that 'boy' crap. I stopped, took a breath reining in my temper. I turned to face them. “My name is not ‘boy’, and I don't particularly like the name Horace. If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate you calling me Mason, rather than boy, Bryant.” I called Eldest by his given name for the first time in my life.

  My other brothers looked at Bryant waiting to see what he would do. He smiled, “fair enough, Mason. I was going to tell you, you left too quicky after you finished your sculpture.” They were all smiling now. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  “Father made Jacob clean up the gravel from the dining room and move the dragon back into the grotto it came from. Father said it was a reminder not to mess with anyone who had killed a dragon with their bare hands.” They all were laughing now. It was funny, and I laughed with them enjoying the joke.