by Rain Oxford
Hegral was actually trying to stab the dragoness in the heart. Obviously, he didn’t realize dragons had more than one heart. In the blink of an eye, she swiped the sword out of the wizard’s hand and swallowed the wizard’s entire upper body. She lifted the man up and it was almost humorous to see Hergral’s legs kicking back and forth. The wizard was screaming profanity and obviously fighting inside the dragoness’s mouth. When the gong rang again, she spit him out. He was out of the running. While his competitor was being swallowed, Lynal had given up and ran away.
I waved my hand invitingly towards the dragon. “Ladies first,” I said.
The magician sneered. “Age before beauty.”
I smirked. “If you insist.” I had to go before him because I knew he could have won otherwise. I walked right up to the dragoness, hoping she would at least give me the chance to tell her who I was before she attacked.
She fixed her gorgeous eyes on me and snorted out a puff of smoke. “Hello again, young wizard,” she said in her language. I highly doubted anyone in the audience could speak the dragons’ language, possibly not even Vactarus’s amulet.
“You remember me after all these years?”
“Of course, young wizard.”
“I am not quite young anymore. Are you surprised to see me?”
“To me, you are an infant, and no, I always knew you would become immortal.”
I laughed. It was bittersweet because her words reminded me so much of my old dragon master. “Do you know what happened to Cennuth?”
“I saw him not long ago. He is doing well.”
It took a lot of effort to keep my reaction from showing on my face. He was alive. “I know you have a job to do, but I need to win this tournament.”
“I understand, young wizard. You were drawn here to protect what is most precious to our kind. Baltezore is after it.”
I frowned. “I came here because I wanted to protect the kingdom.”
“It is the precious one that made you dream of Baltezore’s attack.”
“Then you are here to protect it?”
“No. I cannot protect the precious one, because Baltezore knows my weakness. That is why you must win.”
“Who is the precious one?”
She sighed sadly. “My egg. I am the only female dragon left, and mine is the only dragon egg known. King Garsul is looking for a wizard to protect the egg.”
“I will protect it.”
The dragoness bowed and once again, the audience was utterly silent. Then the pounding of the gong broke the silence.
“You didn’t even fight him!” Vactarus screeched.
“Fighting is not always the answer.”
“Fight me, then.”
“Later,” I said.
“Tomorrow, at sunset, right here.”
I sighed. “Fine.” It was only fair, seeing as how I took the job that would have otherwise been his.
* * *
I was ushered to the king’s castle, where I was given a lavish room with a private balcony. Later in the evening, I was invited to the king’s chambers and given an extravagant dinner. The king and I spoke informally for a while. Although he was a king, he respected my age and knowledge.
“Do you have a disguise spell over you? You hardly look older than me.”
I knew I didn’t look very old. I didn’t age at all in the cave and once I got out, I aged very, very slowly. When I traveled, I would often disguise myself as older so that people wouldn’t question my knowledge or power. When I didn’t want to be recognized, I disguised myself differently and went by different names. This time, I looked like myself.
“It might be more accurate to say that magic keeps me young.”
“Well, you certainly must be very wise to defeat a dragon without even fighting him.”
“Her,” I corrected.
“What?”
“She was a dragoness. She also told me what you really need a wizard for.”
He paled slightly. “Did she? You definitely do your reputation justice. Can you prove to me that you have the egg’s best interest at heart?”
“I was raised by a dragon.”
“That explains some things.”
“Up until today, I thought the dragon that took me in, Cennuth, was gone. The dragoness told me he was still alive. I would never hurt a dragon egg. Do you know about Baltezore?” I asked. He frowned and shook his head. “Baltezore somehow knows about the egg and is going to attack. I came here because I had a vision that he will kill everyone.”
“Have you fought him before?”
“Yes.”
“Did you let him escape?”
“No. He defeated me, but I have learned a lot since. Furthermore, my motivation at the time was revenge, whereas it is now protecting the egg. Baltezore will not get that egg.”
He nodded. “If the dragons trust you, so will I.” He pulled a jewel-encrusted treasure chest out from under his bed and snapped a key off a chain around his neck. When he unlocked and opened it, I saw the egg. It was about a foot tall, blood red, shiny, and smooth as a gem. “If you expose it to heat, it will hatch. Otherwise, it could live for thousands of years as an egg.”
I took the chest back to my room to protect it, though I knew I couldn’t keep it there forever. No matter how much I was paid, I couldn’t stay with King Garsul forever. Fortunately, I had a plan.
* * *
I met Vactarus in the field the next day. We chatted for a while, since neither of us really wanted to duel. He told me about his world and I asked him how he could create a portal with only illusion magic.
“When I was very young, I met a world traveler,” he said. “He took me to dozens of worlds, where I collected some amazing magical tools.” He indicated his amulet. “I got this from a world where people worshiped magic. And this was from a world where magic took the place of technology.” He pulled a metal rod from the pocket of his black robe. It was about five inches long and an inch in diameter. He pressed a small button on the side and a slice popped out of the middle.
“What is it?” I asked when he handed me the piece. It had a metal frame with a glass center. Etched into the glass were the sigils that would go into a portal.
“You slip in the slide for the world you want to go. This one is to mine, but I have a few dozen. Push this button and get into the portal before it closes.” He put the piece back in and held it up towards the dying sunlight. Light entered through one end and ghosted the image of the portal onto the ground through the other. I only saw the portal for an instant, but I was so used to learning them that I burned it into my mind before the light was too dim to display it.
“You said there are dragons on your world?”
“Yes. There are even dragon trainers.”
I laughed, because that seemed a little ridiculous to me. “Would you show me these dragon trainers?”
“After our duel. The loser buys drinks at the tavern.”
“Sure.”
The magician made the first move by growing to about twelve feet tall. Fortunately, I knew it was just an illusion, so I aimed a blast of raw magic at the spot where his face was previously. The entire duel went on like this. He created monsters and weapons, which I ignored. Since I knew arrogance could be my downfall, I made every move with careful consideration for the magician’s self-confidence.
Then, Vactarus made copies of himself so that it looked like there were ten of him, and when they moved around, I couldn’t tell which one was real. Several of them were able to attack me before I changed my tactic. He didn’t have regular magic, but I could still sense the magic he did have. When I opened myself up to the magic around me, I spotted the real Vactarus easily.
I struck him with energy again and this time, he went down.
* * *
From my dreams, I knew I had at least a week before Baltezore attacked. I explained my plan to King Garsul, gave him back the egg, and went with Vactarus to Caldaca. I didn’t tell Vactarus why, but he agreed t
o take me to meet the dragon trainers. It took four days of travel to reach one of the families that Vactarus knew.
Shaerl Rynorm was a very tough woman with seven boys and a herd of dragons that obeyed her. There was also a very beautiful young lady staying with them named Livia. I only met one of the dragons, who was nowhere near as large or ancient as Cennuth. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry. Shaerl and her husband told me many things about protecting and hatching eggs, as well as how to take care of baby dragons.
When I told them there was only one female dragon left on my world, they were sympathetic. “There are none here, either. We have twelve eggs and other dragon trainers have more, but only males have been born in the last thousand years. The last female was killed by hunters about five hundred years ago.”
When I felt adequately prepared, I returned to Garsul’s kingdom and retrieved the egg. With everything I had learned, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hide the egg there, because the egg would call to wizards. On Caldaca, however, there were other eggs.
After a few months of meeting Vactarus almost every day, I trusted him with my secret. Vactarus and I teased each other relentlessly and even pranked each other, but we somehow became very good friends anyway. I created a blood lock over the chest that only someone who was related to me could open. Since I had no children or family, there was no way it could be unlocked.
However, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be broken into. If the chest was exposed to enough heat, the unborn dragon would hatch and break out. It could also be destroyed through other powerful magic. Thus, I went with Vactarus to Caldaca and hid the egg in a place where I knew it would never be stumbled upon or exposed to heat.
I put my faith in Vactarus once again. When I returned to the kingdom, I used magic to make myself forget where I hid the egg and instructed Vactarus to tell me only when I defeated Baltezore.
* * *
A couple weeks later, I was eating dinner in the main dining room with other members of the castle, when I felt a change in the air. “Do you smell that?” one of the king’s daughters asked her sister.
I didn’t smell anything, but everyone started sniffing. “It smells sweet,” the king said. One of the guards suddenly slumped to the ground, unconscious. Everyone else at the table didn’t even have a chance to panic before one by one, they all passed out.
I covered my mouth and looked around for danger, but there was no one else in the room and the soporific agent wasn’t working on me. Realizing what it was, I opened myself to the magic around me and sensed a wizard almost as powerful as Cennuth had been. There was no doubt in my mind that it was Baltezore.
I left the dining room, saw more two guards and a servant on the ground, and went outside. Standing at the bottom of the steps was Baltezore. “I know what you are here for, and it is already gone.”
“You have disappointed me, Merlin,” he said darkly.
“I disappointed you because I beat you to it?”
“You have disappointed me because you fell right into my trap. I knew very well that you would come here and take the egg. I had planned to make you turn it over, but you had to go and make it more difficult on yourself. Do not be mistaken; I will get that dragon.”
“You will never get your hands on him.”
He laughed. “You are still far too young. I will return on the day she is hatched, and you will give her to me voluntarily.” With that, he turned and vanished.
Chapter 13
After a few decades, I stopped worrying about Baltezore. I never had another dream about him and I didn’t remember where I put the egg. I was confident that if the egg was ever endangered, I would know. Once again, I settled into a quiet life of traveling, teaching, and studying magic. Even though I never saw Cennuth again, it comforted me to know he was alive.
I had no idea I was about to get my second chance at happiness.
* * *
At the time, I lived off the land as a hermit in a small cabin in the woods, on Gmork’s home world. I was wandering the forest in search of some herbs for my potions, when I heard a woman calling for help. Without thinking, I followed that cry right into another man’s land. I knew there were other wizards, but we all kept to ourselves.
When I came upon a pit trap, I hesitated, for this felt eerily familiar.
“Is someone there? Please help me!”
I approached the pit. Sure enough, there were spikes at the bottom and a woman lying on the ground. “Are you hurt?” I asked.
She was covered in mud and sweat, but she still tried to stand. “I hurt my leg. I didn’t get pierced, but I twisted my ankle.”
I watched her try unsuccessfully to stand and sighed. “I will be back. I need to get some rope from my cabin.”
“Please come back soon. There are wolves out here.”
The only reason I didn’t say she didn’t have to worry about wolves was because there were much more dangerous predators and I didn’t want to frighten her. “I will be quick.” I rushed back to my cabin and grabbed both rope and a sword before returning. For some reason, I hated this young woman being out of my sight for a moment, as if she would be discovered and harmed without me.
I sunk the blade of the sword into the loose dirt next to the pit, focused my magic, and said, “Bjarg.” The dirt turned to stone, freezing the sword into place. Then I tied one end of the rope around the hilt and tossed the remaining rope into the pit. I didn’t make her climb it, though; I climbed in and carefully lifted her out before climbing back out myself. She was staring wide-eyed at the stone patch in the ground, seemingly forgetting her injury. “Ógǫrr.” The stone changed back into dirt and I pulled the sword out easily.
“That was amazing,” the woman said.
“You are not afraid of magic?”
She looked up at me with beautiful blue eyes. “I’m not afraid of you.”
* * *
I helped her back to my cabin, where I sat her down on my bed and gave her a pail of water and cloth to wash herself. To give her some privacy, I went out to get some herbs to make a healing paste. By the time I returned, she was done, and I was stunned.
Her eyes were as blue as the deepest, bluest sky, her hair was like silken strands of gold, and her lips were as pink as the prettiest flower. She was the essence of a warm summer day.
“Thank you for saving me,” she said shyly.
I didn’t know why I did save her, since it was almost exactly the same as how I met Erica Baltezore. However, I could feel this woman was different. “My name is Merlin.”
“I’m Nimue. I should probably be getting back to my family.”
“At least stay until you heal. You might get hurt much worse if you try to walk on an injured ankle.” She agreed and I made a healing paste. I felt completely inappropriate putting it on her, but I did it anyway and wrapped her ankle with a bandage.
“So, do you live out here on your own?” she asked. I nodded. “I thought older wizards lived out in the woods alone.”
“I am an older wizard.”
She scoffed. “You can’t be that old.”
“I am much older than I look.”
“Because of your magic?”
“Yes.”
“Can you teach me magic?”
“I thought you had to get back to your family.”
She shrugged. “I doubt they even realize I’m gone.” She told me her family was very kind and loving. However, it was difficult times for them so her father was going to marry her to a wizard. She didn’t know the wizard’s name or what he was like, as she had never met him. The only thing she knew was that he was rich and powerful.
“It could be worse.”
She nodded. “I know, but I want to marry someone I love.”
“So there is someone else you love?”
“No. I just don’t want to marry anyone unless I love them. I was on the way to meet the wizard when something spooked the horses. I was thrown from my horse and heard a fierce growling, so I ran. The next
thing I knew, the ground vanished beneath me and I fell into the pit.”
“Stay here for tonight, and in the morning, I will help you find your family.”
We talked about her for a while. What I found most interesting was that she had a little experience with magic as well. However, it was not her parents or dragons who taught her magic; she had learned from fairies. Since she was very little, she had an affinity for nature, and somehow, she drew the magical beings to her.
She never figured out why, but I had an idea. Nimue emanated love and innocence. Although I had never met fairies myself, I had read that they adored innocent and gentle children. I figured Nimue just never grew out of that, so the fairies never stopped visiting her. This was another reason I needed to help find her family as soon as possible; nothing as good as Nimue ever lasted around me.
Eventually, she asked about me. I didn’t think she would believe me, but I told her anyway. I liked seeing the wonder in her eyes. The only thing I couldn’t bear to tell her was that it was my fault my mother was killed. Although I admitted my mother died alone, I made it sound like she died of old age.
She was extremely expressive, especially when I spoke about Vinr. When I told her they were gone after I escaped from the cave, she changed the subject. “It must have been exciting to live with a dragon.”
“It had its moments. If I did not excel in healing potions, I fear you would be quite repulsed by me, for I would be covered head to toe in burn scars.”
“Scars do not detract in beauty. Each and every scar a person has is a story written in their skin. Most of them are very sad stories, but they are still a part of someone and that makes them beautiful. Do you always speak so formally?”
“Yes, yes I do.”
“I like that. Will you teach me magic?”
“Go home tomorrow and meet your affianced,” I said. Her face fell. “Give him a week to win your heart. If he is not the man of your dreams or if he mistreats you, return to me and I will teach you everything I know. Beware, however, that my magic is not like that of the fairies.”
