The Scent of Death

by Shelby Skabelund

  Vidan knew it could now smell his scent on the book. He had to act quickly, or it would call his mother back. Vidan pushed himself to his knees and yelled out “Incendi” as he wrenched his wand in a slashing motion towards the venti. With a sizzle and a crack, the most brilliant streaks of lightning shot from Vidan’s wand. The sound of scorching flesh and the venti’s cry of pain rang clearly in his ears. He mindlessly pointed the wand to his ears and said “termi”. The roar of the waterfall returned.

  He was now more tired than ever. He had to use his levitation spell to get down from the ledge he was on. When he hit the ground, he stumbled toward the book anxious to place it safely back in his robes. He stepped over the pile of smoldering reptile, the pungent smell much better than the normal dragon scent he detested. He pulled the rocks out of the way and quickly placed the book back into his robes.

  Just as he did he felt his hair stand on end again. “she saw the light you fool!” he spoke out loud. His only instinct was to run back to the ledge. As he did he heard a piercing screech and the night sky lit up with blazing Red and yellow flame. Mortes had seen the white light and had heard the cry of her child. She wanted this human dead. She wanted the book he held destroyed, and she wanted it destroyed now.

  Vidan jumped behind the curtain of falling water as the dragon landed with a crash on the shore. She breathed flames into the falling water with a vengeance. Vidan could feel the unbearable heat, but it was not enough to scorch him. The immense amount of water constantly falling from above was stopping the flames and turning into an enormous cloud of steam. It became the perfect cover. Vidan let out a blood curdling scream as though he had caught fire and dove head first into the flowing waterfall. As he did he swung his wand in an arc and said “impervio, fundo, levito”.

  He shot like a stone slung from a catapult straight into the depths of the water, an invisible bubble keeping him dry and allowing him to breath. The only problem was he could not see a thing. He shot forward until he hit the bottom of the river. He looked back up towards what he thought was dry land. It must have been, because he could see an eerie red light from the flames glowing overhead. He looked back down stream only to see blackness. He motioned his wand forward and the spell moved him in the same direction, but this time it was slower and more controlled. Suddenly he crashed into something in the darkness. Was it a boulder? Maybe this was not such a good idea. Then he felt it. He had done too much. He had pushed himself too far. He was too weak. At least Mortes did not have the book. His vision blurred, and he lost consciousness.

  Vidan came to, cold and wet. He could feel the current pulling at his feet and legs. He was face down in the mud. He was coughing up water and his lungs hurt. His whole body hurt. It was still dark. He pulled at the mud and sand trying to get out of the water. It was no use. He collapsed with his face turned to the side, so he could breath. Mortes had to be out there somewhere looking for him. He knew that she would be combing the river trying to catch the faintest trace of his scent. It would not be long now.

  As he lye there in the cold mud, he found himself caressing the binding of the book. His thoughts went to his sister, her husband and their awful fate. He thought of their two children, Vidian and Rhen, the two beautiful children that had to suffer because their uncle could not protect their family. The uncle who had been entrusted with all the power to protect them yet had failed to do so. The guilt he felt was overwhelming. His throat hurt, and his eyes began to well with tears.

  “Enough” he said out loud, “It will not end this way!” “I will not go down in tales as the coward.” He pushed himself up again and pulled at the mud and sand. It hurt, but he was determined. Slowly but surely, he pulled himself up the muddy shore. Then he noticed the mud started to get warmer and he could smell sulfur. As he crawled he noticed there was a warm stream of water running across him. He knew where he was. He had washed up on the sand bar along the big bend in the river where the mineral hot springs were. He couldn’t wait to soak his sore body in one of these warm pools. Then he thought “Are you crazy? She will be out there searching. You don’t have time for that.” He didn’t exactly know where the thought came from next, but he was glad it came. He needed to rest if he wanted to survive. The smell of sulfur that came from these hot springs would cover what little scent he would have after he had climbed all the way in. If he could make himself comfortable and somewhat hidden here, he might just get the chance to rest for once.

  As he slopped around in the greasy mud, he was very careful to keep track of the temperature. Some of these “pots” got so hot they would boil you alive, but others were very enjoyable to lounge in. He finally reached the side of one. He could faintly make it out in the moonlight. It was nestled right up against an embankment offering at least some shelter. The temperature was excellent. Then he realized it wasn’t exactly water. It was a big pool of mud.

  He was too tired to search any more for a different pool, so he climbed in. It was so warm and comfortable. It was just what his aching body needed. Vidan pulled himself to the far side of the pool where the embankment was at. The mud only came up to about his hips at the deepest part. He worked himself into a comfortable position under the embankment near the edge where it was much shallower. The soft mud under him made the most comfortable bed. He relaxed for the first time in a month. There was no sign of the dragon. He could not smell her, nor did he think he could smell her over the sulfur. This was also comforting. If I can’t smell her, then she will not be able to smell me. He was so tired. He just wanted to sleep.

  Before he dared to sleep, there was something he had to do. He couldn’t take the chance that his slightest scent could escape while he slept. Just to be sure, he began to smear the mud into his hair and beard. He filled his hands with the warm creamy, sulfur filled mud and smeared it all over his face and every part that might poke out of the mud hole. All he could smell was the sulfur. He closed his eyes and drifted into a calm, much needed sleep.

  When he opened his eyes again he was blinded by the white-hot sun peering straight down on him. From what he could tell it was just after midday. He had slept the entire night and half of the next day! He couldn’t believe how rested he felt. He also noticed how warm he felt. His entire body was deeply relaxed. After a while he decided to sit up and take bearings on his surroundings. Just as he had predicted the night before, he was at the bend in the river where the steaming mineral springs bubbled into the river. He sat in a creamy brown mud that bubbled around him. The smell of sulfur almost smothered him now.

  He couldn’t believe the amount of time he had been hidden from the dragon. He had never been able to stay hidden for longer than a few hours. This was real progress. He was certain that the smell of the sulfur and the mud mask had been able to shield him from Mortes’s senses for the night. Why had he never thought of this before? How nice it would have been to have slept all those nights. It didn’t matter now. He found a deep peace knowing that this would be where he would spend his nights from now on. He knew that he would now be able to get sleep at night. The smell did not matter. He could regain much of the rest he needed to be at his full strength.

  He sat lounging in the mud and his head seemed clear for the first time in weeks. He started to focus on what he was going to do. He needed a plan. He started to think about the book and all the spells that he had studied over the years. Spells like the levitation spell that had helped him hide last night at the waterfall, the illumination spell he had used so many times to find his way through the dark caves in the mountains, the protection spells that his master had made him work on so feverishly to get right. He never did get the protection spell right. He was able to make a shield that would protect him from small objects. It would at least stop flying arrows, but the objects would always hit him leaving a bruise, or a small cut.

  What a great sorcerer he had turned out to be. If he would have perfected this spell it would have given him some protection from the fires of the dragon. As he had grown ol
der he thought this spell no longer had much significance as his only worries had been the people bickering about who owned what property and the other trivial worries of his government. He had never imagined that Dragons really existed. He had thought they were just old tales to frighten little children. Just then, a thought crossed his mind. If the dragons were real, then maybe some of the other legends were real as well!

  Before he knew what, he was doing, Vidan found himself scrambling out of the mud hole. He headed for the cool river waters. He pulled the book from his muddy robes and dipped it into the clean water. He quickly brushed his hands over the cover and spine under the water. When he pulled it free of the slow-moving current, it was clean and dry even though it had been soaking in the mud all night long and he had just pulled it from the river. He set it down only long enough to rinse his arms and hands. He then set off into the cover of the brush and trees along the side of the river.

  He found an inviting rock and sat down next to it. It was perfect to lean his shoulders against. He rapidly slid through the pages searching for something. Then he stopped abruptly. On the open page in front of him was the title “Portal to Cana”. He started to read. It was the legend of the great and powerful keeper named Brac. He too had met with a dragon and fought many fierce battles. The dragon had been injured, but it could still fight. Brac had also been injured and could barely crawl. He knew that the dragon now had the upper hand. His only thoughts were now to find a way to keep the book safe from the dragon. While the dragon looked over its wounds and caught its breath, Brac cast the spell known as the Portal to Cana. Before the dragon knew what was happening an arch of white smoke appeared next to the keeper and he rolled into the glimmer of the portal. With a loud crack the portal closed, and the dragon screeched in fury to find its prey was gone.

  The legend spoke of another world of humans that were warring between themselves. Brac described it as “a land of death, war and of lost morals”. It was an unpleasant place, but Brac was able to stay hidden for weeks there. He regained his health and eventually returned and defeated the dragon. If it had not been for the portal, the book would have been destroyed and the people enslaved.

  At the end of the writing was the instructions for the spell. Vidan had seen this part of the book many times but thought it had just been a story for entertaining children. He had even read this to Vidian and Rhen many times. How they loved to imagine that their uncle was the same heroic keeper. They would roll through the doorway and pretend to go to another world only to return through another doorway jumping onto their uncles back yelling “Die dragon”.

  This was the plan that he had been waiting for. He could learn this new spell and escape to Cana and practice his spells. Mortes would not know he had left and would continue to hunt for him. He could return with a well thought out plan of attack. Who knows, he could maybe even find something in this other world that might help him defeat the dragon. Either way, it would give him at least some time to focus without the fear that the book would be lost to Mortes while he came up with a better plan. He started to read through the spells instructions. It seemed simple. Just a flick of his wrist and a thrust of the point of his wand with the words “Apellum Di Cana”. He sat there in the bushes flicking his wrist and pointing his wand at the air. He tried different inflections in his voice, but nothing seemed to work.

  At one point he saw a slight ring of white smoke and his heart began to beat rapidly. At the same moment a chill went up his spine as he felt a large dark shadow flicker over where he sat. He flinched as he looked to the sky. Sure enough, he caught the glimpse of a shimmering black scaled body shoot overhead. He should have been watching more closely. He had grown accustomed to smelling the dragon before it even got close. He must not be able to smell her through the sulfur. At least he had his wits about him still.

  He closed the book and tucked it into his robes. He turned instinctively to the mud where he had spent the night before. It didn’t matter that his hands were all wrinkled and soggy from the night before, he must go back in. Grabbing the base of a shrub, he slipped over the embankment and dropped into the mud. He quickly covered his entire body with the smelly smooth cream and tucked himself in with his head partially hidden by a small bush that hung over the embankment. He hunkered down in the mud so that his nostrils and eyes were above mud level with the rest of his body below the surface. This was his only hope. She was so fast. If she even caught a touch of his scent she would be there in a twitch if her tail.

  That is when he noticed the mud in the pool began to tremble. He could feel the solid ground beneath him tremble, and then he could smell her. It was not as strong, but even her powerful smell of fear drifted through the sulfur and made him want to wretch.

  His hands began to quiver, but he found that he did not lose control for the first time. A black muzzle dripping with black ooze slipped over the embankment directly above him. He could see every detail of the underside of her jaw. Large patches of missing scales were covered with what seemed to be scars. Just then a large glop of the black ooze dripped into the pool next to him. The stench was powerful. It was not the stench of death he was used to. It was more like rotten food. The smell he had smelt at the refuse pile beyond the north castle wall but intensified one-hundred times. He could see the translucent razor-sharp teeth of her upper jaw as her mouth gaped open as if she were tasting the air. He had to admit, she was an amazing creature. She was the perfect killing machine.

  The ground trembled again as she pulled her body over the embankment. Large pieces of dirt crumbled off the edge and rolled into the pool of mud where he tried to stay hidden. One of them just missed him and he flinched pulling his body to the far side of the pool making a gurgling noise. The dragon stopped instantly and swung her head to the side so that her eye could focus on the pools near the embankment. Vidan closed his eyes and lay motionless.

  “What is it?” the calm human voice asked.

  “I can smell the slightest hint of him” she hissed, “but I can’t tell if it is fresh”.

  Her head swung back towards the river and she finished crawling over the bank. Her tail landed directly on Vidan as it cleared the bank. It forced him under the mud completely. He didn’t dare to move until her tail slid free. Luckily it did just before he could not go without air any longer. He surfaced and snuck a breath as quietly as he could.

  He slipped a hand to his eyes to clear the mud. He needed to see what was going on. The dragon had stopped at the shore and was looking at the ground. Vidan had a shot of cold realization wash over him. He knew what she saw. That was where he had exited the river. He realized that he would have left a trail in the mud. A trail that would lead her right to where he lay. Now real fear was welling inside of him along with the fear that came from her scent. He knew he still had the advantage and he must act quickly if he wanted to live.

  He pulled his wand from his robes and sat up. “Inferno, Incendi” he cried at full voice! A large ball of fire encompassed by streaks of crackling lightning, shot from the tip of his wand and struck the dragons rider and dragon in the back. The human had no chance. He fell writhing in the mud with the bones of his back charred and exposed. Almost simultaneously a bolt of white lightning like the one from the night before but much more powerful struck the dragon in the back of the head. She screeched in pain and fury as her body convulsed and thrashed on the beach. Her tail came crashing along the shore and hit Vidan mid body. It threw him almost ten cart lengths into a rock wall along the rivers shore and he fell onto all four in warm soupy mud.

  He propped himself up on his hands trying to get his wind back. His eyes were blurry but could still see Mortes trashing on the beach. As he got to his feet, he realized that he was trapped against the rock wall. The dragon was slowly getting to its feet as well. Mortes let out a scream that almost burst his ear drums. She wheeled about to face him. Her eyes were just small slits now that were full of rage and vengeance. Vidan quickly cried “levito” and motioned t
o a boulder on the shore. He then swung his wand towards the head of the dragon. The boulder flew towards Mortes. Not even looking away from Vidan, the dragon raised her front claw and batted the boulder away like a toy. He cried “Incendi” and a bolt of lightning flashed directly at her chest. She reared up on her hind legs and the bolt hit the large protective scales and made a sizzling sound. It made no mark and then she only began to laugh.

  “You should have taken advantage while you had it!” she snickered.

  “Your magic is no match for my font side, it is impervious to even my own fire. This has gone on too long human, now give me the book!” she commanded.

  He could not run, he knew she would burn him to ashes. He could not defeat her. This was his last chance. Suddenly he could see the face of his niece and nephew. He could hear their voices crying “Hooray for Uncle Vidan”. A tear dropped from the corner of his eye. His wand sent a tingling feeling up his arm. He suddenly felt courage like he had never felt in his life time, and he knew what to do.

  He pulled the book from his robes and held it in front of him. The dragon’s eyes became large again as it caught sight of the Black bound book. Something odd was happening though. The silver ivy that encircled the book was almost glowing. Vidan had never seen this before, but there was no time to waste.