The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons

by Virlyce

  ***

  “Why can’t I play with Tafel anymore?” Vur asked Sera. The five dragons were grouped up in their valley: Vernon and Sera were sunbathing next to each other. Leila and Prika were playing golem chess. Grimmy was chatting with Lindyss who was knitting and using his wing as shade.

  “The demons don’t like us,” Sera said as she scratched Snuffles exposed belly. “They’re scared of what we can do. It makes them jumpy when we visit them.”

  “But they should be scared, right?” Vur asked. “We’re dragons. Does it matter what they want?”

  Sera sighed. “Dragon’s aren’t invincible, Vur. If the demons really had to, they would be able to kill some of us, but they’d lose too much. We’d win the fight and wipe them all out, but none of us”—Sera lifted her head and gestured towards the dragons—“want to see each other die. The demons don’t bother us, so we don’t bother them.”

  Vur pouted. “Are they really that strong?”

  Grimmy nodded. “I remember when the humans first invaded. They were pretty strong. They could kill behemoth bears and force elves back. They even managed to take over the fairy queen’s cave, but honestly, no one really cared about that since fairies are annoying. The demons might seem weak now, but that’s only because the strongest ones go somewhere else after a few adventures in the wilderness.”

  “Grimmy’s right. I’ve seen many adventurers come for my Fountain of Youth,” Lindyss said. “Sometimes, the same adventurers come back after many years stronger than before. They tell me stories in exchange for drinks. There’s a man named Charon who’s visited me eight times already. The world’s a lot bigger than you think.”

  Vur lowered his head. “I want to see Tafel.”

  “Tafel’s a princess,” Lindyss said. “Princesses rarely associate with nobles, much less commoners. She’s the future of the country even if she doesn’t become the demon lord. Political marriages to unite factions are pretty common amongst the demons and humans. If I’m not mistaken, the current demon lord is in a political marriage with his wife.”

  “Wouldn’t marrying Tafel to Vur be good for them then?” Prika asked, turning away from her game. “Peace with the dragons would—actually, never mind. We don’t bother them too much anyway.”

  Lindyss nodded. “The humans wouldn’t approve of the demons allying with us. They’d declare war. You”—she gestured towards the dragons—“probably wouldn’t fly out to help fight against them, no offense,” Lindyss said. “So it’s actually a loss to marry Tafel to Vur instead of using her to keep the nobles in check. And can you imagine the outrage of their people if they marry her to a human?”

  “But Tafel’s going to marry me,” Vur said with a frown. “We promised.”

  “Oh?” Prika said. “You sure work fast. Feeling jealous over there?” Prika smirked at Lindyss.

  “Shut up,” Lindyss said and threw a lightning bolt at Prika.

  The red dragon swatted it away with her paw and laughed. “When did you get so brave?” she asked and sighed. “I miss the days when you would tremble in your boots when you saw me.”

  Lindyss shrugged.

  “Well, I guess it’s okay. You’re more like Vur’s older sister than his wife,” Prika said. “It’s a shame. A real shame. You two would’ve made some cute babies.”

  Lindyss threw another lightning bolt at Prika.

  “If you want to marry Tafel,” Lindyss said, turning towards Vur, “you’ll have to become a noble.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “It’s simple. Get the human king’s attention and have him bestow you a title,” she said and paused. “Good attention, not the ‘I burned down your city’ kind of attention. Becoming an SSS-ranked adventurer will probably do it.”

  “That sounds easy,” Vur said.

  “That’s because that’s the easy part,” Lindyss said. “The hard part is learning the etiquette of the nobles. And you might have to unite the humans and the demons, but the former is definitely harder for you.”

  Vur frowned and tilted his head.

  “Don’t worry; it’ll be easy to find you a teacher.”

  ***

  “The undead are approaching!”

  Gale dropped his book and stiffened before retrieving his equipment from the corner of his Spartan room. He donned his mithril robe and equipped his staff, stepping outside while putting on his hat. Outside of his lodgings, human paladins and white mages, demon knights and black mages were rushing into the courtyard in front of the wooden gate.

  “Let them approach the walls and have the white mages rain purification down on them when they’re close enough,” Dustin said. “And have archers with silver and mithril-tipped arrows at the ready.”

  The stone buildings in the small garrison shook as the ground trembled. “They’re almost here,” an archer in one of the two watchtowers said.

  Gale climbed up the steps of the wall, heading towards Dustin’s position. “What do you think?” Gale asked, looking over the edge of the wall.

  “It’s going to be a long battle. The undead don’t get tired or hungry. They can wait us out for weeks and strike when we’re exhausted if we don’t receive reinforcements,” Dustin said with a grimace. Thousands of skeletons and undead horses appeared over the horizon. “We only have so much mana that can be used a day.”

  The ground stopped trembling as the undead cavalry halted and formed a neat 200-by-100 rectangle just outside of the shooting range of the archers and mages in the garrison. The sole undead rider leading the formation stepped forward and pointed at Dustin and Gale with his sword.

  “A duel!” the undead leader shouted. Its voice sounded like rocks grinding against each other. “Send your most noble human. If he wins, we’ll leave.”

  “You expect us to believe that?” Dustin asked. A demon mage amplified his voice with magic.

  The undead leader nodded. “You have no choice,” it said and waved at the army of 20,000 knights behind it.

  Gale’s face paled at the sea of black knights. He couldn’t even see the ground beneath their feet.

  “I’ll go!” A knight wearing full mithril platemail stepped to the front of the courtyard. “Open the gates!”

  Gale exchanged glances with Dustin. The demon adventurer nodded. “There’s no other way,” Dustin said and gestured to the men near the gates. They opened the gates a tiny bit. The undead cavalry didn’t move. After they confirmed the undead weren’t going to attack, the gates swung wide open. The blue knight stepped into the field with a morning star mace and kite shield. He advanced towards the formation as the gates closed behind him.

  The undead leader dismounted and waited for the knight to approach, sword lowered.

  “State your name and title!”

  “My name is Opfern. I am the Baron of Blod,” the knight said as he raised his morning star towards the sky.

  The undead leader rubbed his chin and nodded. “Alright, a baron will do. I surrender! You win,” it said. “Get him, boys!”

  “Huh?” Opfern’s mouth fell open.

  The undead cavalry charged forward, swallowing the blue knight inside the mass.

  “As per our agreement, we’ll be leaving now!” the undead knight said while cackling.

  “Those cowards!” Gale shouted. “Fire the arrows!”

  A wave of arrows flew towards the mass, but the undead cavalry turned around and retreated before the arrows reached them. A cloud of dust flew into the air as they galloped away. The men in the garrison stood in silence as the undead knights disappear over the horizon.

  A voice broke the silence.

  “Did that really just happen?”

  15

  “T-Tafel’s missing, Milord!”

  Zollstock raised his head and furrowed his brow at the sentry holding a salute at the entrance to the storage room. He placed down the quill in his hand and stood up, pushing in his char. There were bags underneath his eyes, and his hair was disheveled.

  “Where’s P
rim?” he asked.

  “She was tied up and gagged in Tafel’s room,” the sentry said.

  “Does Mina know?”

  “Yes, she sent me to come find you, Milord,” the sentry said, keeping his gaze glued to the floor.

  Zollstock sighed and placed his forehead into his hand. “Just kill me now.”

  “Don’t worry, Milord—Prim wasn’t tied up long. We have all the guards searching for the princess. She couldn’t have gone very far,” the sentry said. “Would you like me to tell the lady that we were unable to find you? I can call notify you after the princess is found.”

  “Please do. What’s your name?”

  “My name is Retter, Milord.”

  Zollstock nodded. “When she’s found, expect a promotion.”

  “Thank you, Milord,” Retter said meeting the demon lord’s eyes. “As a fellow husband, I understand your plight.”

  ***

  “He couldn’t be found?” Mina asked. Retter couldn’t help but shudder under her gaze. “Is that so?”

  “Y-yes, Milady.”

  “So he’s hiding from me too?” Mina’s purple dress and hair fluttered. “Very well. You’re dismissed.”

  Retter saluted and left the room with a pounding chest. Mina turned towards Prim. The maid was wearing a black dress with a white apron over it. Her usually pristine hair was disheveled while her dress had wrinkles where the ropes had left their marks.

  “I’m sorry, Mina,” Prim said. “She overpowered me and gagged me before I could do anything. I didn’t realize she had become so strong.”

  Mina shook her head. “It’s not your fault. It’s Zollstock’s,” she said and ground her teeth. “That useless husband of mine. Abandoning her in the wild with a family of dragons. Why couldn’t I have been married to a better man?”

  Prim didn’t say anything.

  Mina sighed. “I didn’t mean to get angry,” she said and shook her head. “It’s just … whenever I look at Tafel, I see myself in her. I don’t want her to make the same mistakes I made. I don’t want to see her cry when her heart breaks. But she’s always fighting against me.” Mina bit her lip. “I just don’t know what to do.”

  Prim put her arm around Mina’s shoulder and pulled her close. “Sometimes children fall when they learn how to walk,” she said. “That doesn’t mean you should stop them from learning.”

  Mina leaned into Prim. “There’s no happiness to be found if she becomes an adventurer,” she said and sniffed.

  “Do you regret becoming an adventurer?”

  Mina nodded. “I do. I miss the nights spent sleeping under the moon. I miss the thrill of winning against a stronger opponent. I miss the satisfaction of raising my level. I miss my companions who I traveled with. Most of all, I miss him. My heart hurts every time I see him, knowing I can’t be with him, knowing I have to be cold to him, pretending to hate him. It would have been better if I never adventured at all; at least, I wouldn’t know what I was missing.”

  Prim sighed and stroked Mina’s hair. “You poor, poor child,” she said. “Maybe you should’ve gone with Tafel to see the dragons instead of Zollstock.”

  ***

  How’d they find out so quickly? Tafel was crouched behind a house across the street from the demon lord’s castle. She was wearing a black cloak on top of her woolen white sweater. The hood cast shadows over her face, only revealing her mouth. Sentries bustled through the streets calling for Tafel. Bystanders whispered to each other, discussing the behavior of the princess. Her mother was going to throw a fit once the rumors spread.

  “Oh? Isn’t that Tafel?” a voice called out from above her.

  Tafel jumped and fell over. Above her, her grandmother’s face was peering over the edge of a window. Tafel shook her head and scrambled to her feet.

  “Wrong person.”

  Her grandmother smiled. “I can recognize your aura from anywhere, child. Would you like some tea? You won’t get anywhere with all those sentries around anyway. Come, keep your lonely old grandmother company.”

  Tafel paused. Her grandmother was right. She was a mage, not a rogue—there was no way she could sneak past all the patrols. She sighed and entered the house, head hanging. Her grandmother was wearing pink pajamas. Wrinkles adorned her face, and her white hair was wrapped around two horns sprouting from her temples. Tafel took a seat on the chair opposite her grandmother. The old demon had prepared a second cup of tea.

  Tafel picked up the steaming tea cup and pursed her lips before meeting her grandmother’s eyes. “You won’t tell?”

  Her grandmother shook her head. “I’m too old to care about these things anymore,” she said. “Just drink some tea with me.”

  Tafel sipped the tea, and her belly warmed up as if she swallowed fire. Her mana flared up, rampaging through her body like a lion. Her eyes widened as her hand trembled.

  Her grandmother smiled. “Good tea, eh?” she asked. “It’s made from the leaves of the Tree of Knowledge. A rare commodity now, I hear. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

  Tafel nodded and fiddled around with her cup before speaking. “Mom never lets me do what I want. She makes me practice the harp for two hours every day. Then I have to read books about politics and history and geography.

  “She makes me wear stuffy dresses that takes hours to put on and take off. She makes Prim teach me how to act like a lady, and I get punished when I do something un-lady like. I’m not allowed to read the books I want to read. I don’t get to play with other children. I finally made my first friend and now Mom won’t let me see him.” Tears pooled in Tafel’s eyes as her breaths shortened. “I hate being a princess! I hate it! Why can’t I just be normal!? I want to have adventures and see the world like the people in the stories.” Tafel sniffed and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, staring at her lap.

  Her grandmother sighed. Oh, Mina. What have you done? “Tafel. Look at me. Do you want me to help you?” she asked. “I used to be a pretty strong black mage you know? It runs in the family.”

  Tafel raised her head and asked through sobs, “R-really?”

  Her grandmother nodded. “Your mother shouldn’t have any problems if I teach you,” she said. “I did raise her after all.”

  Tafel fell silent as she clutched the edge of her sweater’s sleeves. She wiped her nose with the napkin on the table. “Why does Mom hate me?” she asked and lowered her head, wrapping her hands around the tea cup.

  “Oh, Tafel. She doesn’t hate you,” her grandmother said. “She just doesn’t know how to raise you. Your mother used to be an adventurer too, you know? Although she had to stop because your father took a fancy to her when she was seventeen and passing through the capital. Of course our family—including me—was ecstatic that the prince liked her, so they arranged a marriage with the royal family. Mina wasn’t so happy about that.” Her grandmother sighed. “I think she’s afraid something similar will happen to you.”

  Tafel frowned. “She’s still mean to me,” she said and drank her tea. “And I don’t like that.”

  “You’re right. You shouldn’t like that,” her grandmother said. “More tea?”

  Tafel nodded.

  ***

  “The undead are back!”

  Gale stopped writing and rubbed his temples. He still hadn’t figured out a way to explain Opfern’s incident with the noble’s family, yet the undead were already back. He sighed and picked up his staff before exiting his quarters.

  “You think it’s going to be the same as yesterday?”

  “I hope so. If they seriously fought us, we’d lose.”

  “Would you volunteer to duel them?”

  “Heck no. You crazy? I have a wife and kid waiting for me at home.”

  The knights and paladins ambled to the courtyard as the ground trembled. A few demons yawned and stretched as they made their way to the gate. Gale shook his head, but didn’t say anything. He walked up to Dustin who was standing on top of the city wall.

  “
It’s about the same size as last time,” Dustin said.

  “Same plan as before,” Gale shouted towards the soldiers. “Don’t let your guards down.”

  The ground stopped trembling as the undead cavalry took the same formation as yesterday, once again outside of attacking range.

  “Return him,” the undead leader at the front said.

  A few cavalry rode forward and threw a naked Opfern onto the ground before returning to the formation. His legs were tied together with rope, and his mouth was gagged.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Dustin asked.

  “We need a real noble. Not a fake one who poops his pants in the presence of a child,” the undead leader said. Opfern shivered and covered his head with his hands as tears leaked from his eyes.

  “Aren’t there any—. Wait. Give me a second,” the undead leader said and froze in place.

  A few moments later, he turned around and faced the undead army. “I just got a message from the mistress. We’re going back.”

  The cavalry rode away, leaving the bound Opfern behind. Dustin and Gale stared at each other without saying anything.

  Two knights opened the gate and went outside to retrieve Opfern. They reached him and were just about to pick him up when forty skeletal hands sprang out of the ground and grabbed them. Twenty skeletons rose up from the ground along with twenty undead horses. Ten skeletons lifted each knight, and they rode off into the distance, chasing the undead cavalry.

  The men in the garrison were silent as the screams of the two knights trailed away into the distance. They looked at Opfern.

  “Think we should just leave him there?”

  ***

  “I’m terribly sorry,” the undead leader said while lowering its head. “I just assumed the knights would be humans, not demons.”