by Rain Oxford
* * *
I walked back to the mountain completely lost in thought. By the time I found myself in front of Cennuth’s cave, the same thought was repeating over and over in my head. If I hadn’t had the dream of my mother being sick and gone after her, she wouldn’t have been poisoned. She was poisoned because some wizard wanted me. It was my fault.
I climbed the steps of the mountain in the same daze and passed Caedmon, who was drinking tea under the flowering tree, without a word. I sat down in the chair and just spaced out for a while. The next thing I knew, Caedmon was handing me a bowl of porridge.
“What is this for?” I asked. Caedmon had never made food for me before.
“I’ve been teaching you to survive on your own, but if you are kind, people will help you when you need it. Tell me what happened.”
As I told him, he listened patiently. When I was done, he put his hand on my shoulder. “Divination is one of the most dangerous forms of magic. While it can save your life, it can be your downfall if you don’t know how to use it.”
“So how do I learn how to use it?”
“That takes experience and wisdom. You still have a lot to learn. The best thing for you to do is learn from Cennuth’s experience and listen to his wisdom.”
“But he’s a dragon.”
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t much wiser than you. Take some time to grieve, because once you decide you are ready to get back to work, we will return to our routine.”
* * *
I spent the rest of the day and night grieving before I realized that I couldn’t handle it. Crying over my mother’s death would never accomplish anything; I had to kill the one responsible. Erica was secondary, for she had only been following orders. Her father wanted me, and I was going to let him find me, but first, I would be ready.
I continued with my lessons and convinced Cennuth to teach me how to travel to other worlds. The difficult part was not learning the magic but memorizing the different sigils and placement of those sigils to activate the portals. Although the base of the portal was simple, it had to be perfect, so I spent a month learning to draw circles and pentagrams perfectly.
The next winter, I created a miniature house I saw in my dreams so that the wolf could have a warm place to sleep. I even traveled to a village to buy a blanket for the wolf. He was skittish about it, but he trusted me, so he allowed me to lead him to it. Once he got the idea, he slept there every night. In fact, to my surprise, he didn’t leave in the spring. He began following me out when I went hunting and even drove the prey animals towards me. I enjoyed the company and talked to the wolf like he was a person. I named him Vinr, which was ‘friend’ in Caedmon’s mother language.
Caedmon and Brynjar weren’t from my world, so I asked Cennuth to teach me the code for their world first. While I was memorizing the code, Caedmon told me about the world he was from. Of course, he lived in the cold north, so he and Brynjar lived very different lives before coming to my world to live with dragons.
When I could easily draw both the portal to Caedmon’s world and my own, I finally attempted it. Having a lot of former practice in activating portals to transport plants, I succeeded on the first try. The only thing I took with me was a leather pouch of candles, crystals, and chalk to make the portal home and defend myself if I had to.
The world looked almost identical to mine. I was standing at the edge of a village with strange looking houses made of white stone. At least it wasn’t as odd as some of the dreams I’d had. The only person I saw was a boy about my age carrying two buckets on a stick. He had shoulder-length, blue-black hair and very vibrant green eyes.
When he saw me appear in his way, he slowly lowered the stick from his shoulders to set the buckets down. “Did you just do magic?” he asked.
I felt dread sink deep in my stomach and clutched the satchel to my chest. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Fortunately, he was speaking one of the languages Brynjar taught me.
He smiled brightly. “I know you’re not. I’m just excited to see another person like me.”
“Like you?”
He reached into his purse and pulled out a small, clear stone, which he held up to his mouth. When he whispered something to it and waved his hand over it, his eyes flashed gold. The clear stone changed to gold!
“You can do magic! Is magic normal on this world? Are we safe?”
“It’s not really normal. It depends on if you’re a good witch or a bad one.”
“I would never do magic to hurt anyone.” I knew wizards on other worlds did magic differently, but I wanted him to teach me to turn a rock into gold. “How long have you been doing magic?”
“Since I can remember. My parents teach me. What about you?”
“I have always been able to do it, but I didn’t have anyone to teach me until about seven years ago.”
“Who teaches you?”
“A dragon named Cennuth. I’ve also been learning math and reading.”
“Wow. A dragon taught you magic? Are you from another world?” I nodded. “Will you teach me?”
“It will take a long time, but I don’t see why not. Will you teach me to turn a stone into gold?”
“Of course! My name is Gmork.”
“I’m Merlin. I actually have to get back to my world before Cennuth gets worried about me, but I’ll show you what it looks like and then I can start teaching you when I come back.”
“Will you really come back?”
“Definitely. You’re the first person my age I’ve ever met who can do magic. I’ll come back in two days at sunset and meet you here.”
“I look forward to it.”
* * *
As I learned the code for more worlds, I always returned to show Gmork. I visited him every chance I could, even if it meant lying to Cennuth about what I was doing. I didn’t feel good about lying to the dragon, but I enjoyed magic more when I was sharing it with my friend. I even mastered magic quicker so that I could teach it to Gmork, and then we would practice things the dragon taught me and his parents taught him.
For the next four years, Gmork and I were best friends. Unfortunately, tragedy struck his family as his mother fell under a sleeping curse. Gmork stopped having time for me, so I visited him less and less. Instead, I turned my attention on finding my own mother’s murderer and learning enough magic to defeat him when I found him. By this time, I believed I was one of the most powerful wizards on any world, just because I was taught by a dragon.
I came to care very deeply for Caedmon, Brynjar, and Cennuth, but one of the most important lessons I’d ever learned came from Vinr. About ten years from the day I first met him, I was out in the woods, hunting as usual. Although Vinr had always come and gone as he desired, he left less and less over the years. I knew he was getting old.
Maybe it was because I was lonely that I felt very agitated that day. As if they sensed my mood, the prey animals were especially difficult to catch. Unfortunately, I was so absorbed in hunting that I completely missed the fact that I was the one being hunted. The bear attacked me from behind and pushed me to the ground before I realized what it was. I had seen bears before in the woods that never bothered me, but this one was ruthless.
I reacted instinctively with magic and the huge brown bear was thrown back by a bolt of raw energy. The stench of burnt fur and flesh filled the air, yet the bear still got to his feet. If he was after my food, I would have given it to him, but he was after me.
Then I heard a familiar growl before Vinr ran towards us and stopped between me and the bear. The bear swiped at Vinr with his massive paws, but the wolf easily dodged it. Using the distraction to my advantage, I focused my magic. “Traust,” I said. Fire lit the ground between the bear and us, which finally drove the bear away. From then on, Vinr stayed by my side most of the time and I made sure to give him all the luxuries I could, from the best food I could catch to a soft bed next to mine. I even learned to make potions to help him live longer.
* * *
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I had a dream of my mother standing next to Gmork and immediately went to Gmork’s world as soon as I woke. Since I knew how to focus my power on one person when I used a portal, I appeared right in his bedroom. He lived in a huge, elegant home with too many bedrooms and servants, all because of their magic.
Gmork was writing something in a book on his desk and jumped when I called his name. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“Sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have been surprised. You always show up when I have something to talk to you about.”
I hadn’t seen him in a few months, and I was definitely a little worried about him. He had lost some weight and his complexion was paler, telling me he didn’t spend a lot of time in the sun. “What do you need to talk to me about?”
“I have an idea to bring your mother back.”
“She’s been dead for years. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Of course it is. You want your mother back, don’t you?” he asked. I nodded. “I only need something that belonged to her.”
“I’ll find something and come back.” Since I had visited Gmork so often, we had drawn a permanent portal to my world into the floor of his room. I returned to my world and went to Cennuth. Although I was closer to Caedmon, Cennuth was the one I went to when I was unsure about magic.
I waited for a long time in front of the cave before he finally invited me in. As I explained the spell my friend offered to do, the dragon listened patiently. “I understand that you desperately want your mother back,” he said. “However, I am proud of you for coming to me before following your friend down a very dark path.”
“Something doesn’t feel right about it.”
“That is your natural instincts warning you. Trust in them. Your mother is gone, and whatever Gmork could bring back would not be your mother. Deep inside, you know this.”
I nodded and decided not to visit Gmork again.
* * *
I wasn’t ready for things to change, but the world was. Vinr and I went to my home village to see how they were doing, and discovered the entire village was gone, as were five of the surrounding villages. When I finally found a village and was able to ask someone what happened, I was horrified. Soldiers had swept through the entire valley, taking all the men and boys for their armies and making all the women and girls work for them.
The war on magic was spreading. The kings were more ruthless than ever.
I had dreamed of the solution several times, but I had always dismissed it as impossible. By the time I returned to Cennuth, I knew I didn’t have a choice. I told Cennuth I was ready to end the war on magic and asked him to call other dragons.
“Getting multiple dragons together is not going to be easy, and convincing them to cooperate will be even more difficult.”
“I can create the curse, but I need much more raw power than I have. I need as many dragons as possible.”
“I will do what I can.” I sensed his movement before I saw it and scrambled out of the cave to give him room. The massive dragon ambled out of the cave. I was shocked; he was much bigger than I had thought, since I had never seen him out of his cave before. “I will take you somewhere else, for I will not allow another dragon in my mountain.”
When he knelt, I gaped. I knew what he wanted, but it didn’t seem right to me. The dragon was more concerned with respect than anyone I had ever met.
“Get on my back.”
“I don’t know.”
“Do not be afraid, young wizard.”
I carefully reached out and felt his smoky gray/black scales. His hide was surprisingly smooth, but not slick. I gently climbed up on his left front leg and grabbed his left horn to pull myself up. He held perfectly still until I was in place. “Please don’t go too fast.”
The dragon stood and I started hyperventilating. I didn’t climb trees, I didn’t like heights, and this was much scarier than scaling the mountain. “Ready?” the dragon asked.
“No.”
His wings shot out, filling the clearing, and flapped once. I could feel the dragon’s powerful muscles flex as he leapt into the air and immediately caught the air beneath his wings. We shot straight up into the sky, far higher than the mountain, and I suddenly felt a wave of peace fall over me. It dawned on me that even if I fell, Cennuth would save me. It was amazing.
We flew over land, water, mountains, and villages. Cennuth finally landed in a strange land, without grass or trees. I got off the dragon and looked around. There was a cliff overlooking the ocean. In all other directions, I could only see dry, cracked, hard ground and a few boulders. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere we can fit as many dragons as you need. I will return shortly. However, understand that I will have trouble convincing anyone to come here.”
“You told me I’m supposed to end the war on magic. Why wouldn’t they help me?”
“Dragons are above the affairs of mortals. Kings cannot kill us and their wars do not affect us.”
“Then why are you helping me?”
“Because I believe you can make this world and others better for everyone.” He took off into the sky and I was left alone.
* * *
The sun was setting by the time Cennuth returned. “You couldn’t get any dragons?” I asked, right before I saw what looked like a dark cloud block out the sun. I gaped as hundreds of dragons landed around us. They were in every different color, every different shape, and every size.
The sky was full of an endless number of stars and a bright moon, casting an eerie glow over the dragons. “Everyone knows who you are and what your goal is. All you have to do is explain your plan.”
I nodded and knelt slowly, knowing instinctively that trying to demand their assistance was the wrong way to go. Many of the dragons around me shifted subtly and I realized they were relaxing out of attack stances.
“Speak, young wizard,” one of the dragons said patiently. She was a gorgeous dragon with scales that varied from the most beautiful green to pure black and eyes that were like the brightest emeralds.
With a respectful tone and formal words, I explained my plan. “As you all know, my name is Merlin. I was told from a young age that I would end the war on magic. People fear magic, and the kings use that fear to control the people. Kings enslave wizards and force them to use magic for bloodshed. Wizards not enslaved are killed. They have torn families apart, including my own.”
“So you propose a war on the kings?” one of the dragons asked.
“No!” I stood. “The absence of war is not peace, but the path to peace is not war. I cannot stop people from fearing magic. I can, however, make them fear killing wizards.” Several of the dragons frowned. “I know that sounds wrong. People are always going to fear something. This will stop them from killing us.”
“Explain your plan,” the female dragon said.
“I want to create a curse over the entire world, making it so that if someone kills a wizard, instead of dying, the wizard will change into a dragon. If a king kills a wizard and the wizard changes into a dragon and destroys his kingdom, word will spread fast and no one expected of having magic will ever be murdered again.”
One of the dragons snorted, filling the air with smoke. “You believe turning one wizard into a dragon will end the war on magic?”
“Not quickly, no, but I think it will be a long-term solution.”
The dragons grumbled and snorted for a while, purposefully excluding me from their conversation. I was fine with this since none of them looked like they wanted to eat me. After a while, the dragons fell quiet and the green dragoness addressed me. “Why do you need us to help you?”
“I know how to do the spell.” It was not a spell I found in a book but a compilation of everything I had learned over the years. “What I do not have is the raw power. I can shape it into a curse, but the power I would need to turn multiple wizards into dragons would kill me.”
“Then your cause is not worth dying over?” sh
e asked.
“If I do it with my own energy and it kills me, my curse will be broken. Therefore, my death will have been wasted. If you will each lend me just a little of your power, it can maintain the curse for generations. By then, the tradition of killing wizards will be gone.”
It was silent for a moment before a dozen or so dragons took flight and disappeared into the night. The vast majority of dragons, on the other hand, stayed. The female dragon nodded. “You are definitely passionate, and Cennuth believes in you. We will give you this power.”
“However, you cannot take the magic into your body,” Cennuth said. “That much power, as young as you are, would kill you. Choose an object to contain the power that you can feed your curse off of.”
Afraid of losing the support I had, I glanced around desperately until I saw a particularly large bolder. “Would that work?” I asked, pointing to the rock.
“Yes.”
“First, I need to make a blood bond so that I can control the power. I need yours as well.” I reached up and he leaned his head down so I could reach one of his horns, which I sliced my finger on. It stung, but not more than any of the dozens of times I had done it before. I held my hand over the rock as several drops of blood dripped. When I had shed enough, I wiped my finger on my shirt.
Cennuth reached out his left paw and made a small, delicate cut with one of his fangs. The blood was darker red than mine. When he pulled his hand away a moment later, his wound had already healed.
“Everyone, please focus your power into that rock.”
One by one, the dragons approached the rock and blew fire on it. Each time, I could feel the waves of tremendous power fill the rock. By the time they had all offered up just a fraction of their power, the rock was glowing white hot with raw magic.
I walked up to the rock reluctantly, knowing it was going to hurt when I opened myself up to that magic. It was my only option, though. As I had learned to do, I reached out with my magic. Once I was ready, I spoke the words to form the curse.
