With a Single Spell loe-2

by Lawrence Watt-Evans

  “You think I would let Tobas go back there alone? I don’t intend to let him get away that easily.” She reached out and stroked Tobas’ hair possessively.

  “And I wouldn’t leave you,” Tobas assured her, returning the caress. “Don’t worry; eventually I’ll learn enough magic to make more tapestries, and then we can live wherever we please and still get in and out of the castle at will, assuming we want to.”

  Karanissa hesitated, but then said, “Well, actually, I think we will want to, Tobas. It is beautiful out here, but it’s cold and a little frightening. The castle has been my home for so long that... well, it’s home. My home. Our home.”

  Tobas nodded and put his arm around her. “Yes, it is,” he agreed as they trudged onward.

  He had a home again, someplace to go back to. Telven no longer mattered; he had a new place in the World — or, rather, out of it.

  He still needed more, though. Like Karanissa, he did not want to be cut off from human society indefinitely. He wanted to find a place for himself socially as well as physically; he needed not just a home but a career, and not just a lover but friends.

  And a goodly supply of money to restock the castle’s wine cellar and Derithon’s depleted and decayed supplies wouldn’t hurt, either.

  CHAPTER 29

  On the afternoon of the sixth of Snowfall, in the year 5221, Tobas of Telven and Karanissa of the Mountains were married on a deserted hilltop somewhere in eastern Dwomor, in an improvised ceremony invoking whatever gods might hear, with Peren the White as their only witness and with the required document inscribed on a piece of tree bark.

  “This is silly,” Peren said as they scratched their names on the inside of the bark. “You could have waited until we got to Dwomor.”

  “I didn’t want to wait,” Tobas said. “Karanissa might have changed her mind again.”

  “Or you might have,” she retorted. “You might have decided to marry that princess of yours, Alorria of Dwomor.”

  “Instead of you? Never!” Tobas replied, hugging her.

  “Besides, Alorria’s probably married to some big, brave dragon hunter by now, and getting tired of him already,” Peren said as he started down the slope from the hilltop where they had performed the little ritual.

  “If she’s not, maybe she’ll marry you, now that I’m taken,” Tobas suggested as he followed, his new wife at his side.

  “Oh, maybe; I think I’d rather have her sister Tinira, though,” Peren replied, smiling.

  “You never did have any taste,” Tobas retorted.

  “Why not marry both of them?” Karanissa suggested.

  “Well, I suppose I could,” Peren said. “But I didn’t kill the dragon.”

  “Details, details!” Tobas laughed.

  Karanissa smiled, but then shivered slightly. “You don’t suppose that we’ll run into that dragon, do you?”

  “No,” Tobas reassured her. “I’m sure somebody must have killed it by now and probably married all the princesses as well.”

  “Too bad,” Peren remarked. “We could use that gold.”

  “True enough,” Tobas agreed.

  Peren moved on ahead, allowing the newlyweds a little more privacy; for a moment they all walked on in silence, but then Tobas could restrain himself no longer.

  “Why did you change your mind?” he asked Karanissa abruptly. “I asked again because you had said you wouldn’t marry me until we were out, and we were out, but I didn’t really expect you to agree yet.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just, when we saw the whole World spread out around us yesterday morning, and I heard Peren talking about his adventures, I felt so alone. Things are so strange here. I wanted to have something safe to hold onto, something secure and permanent, something I could trust in, and I wanted it to be you. I wanted to know you’d always be there. The first time I ever saw you, standing in the castle gateway, before I knew anything about you, I liked you better than I think I could ever like Peren. I don’t think I could face the world alone after so long; and with you beside me, I’m not alone. I’m a witch, and witches are taught to know things without knowing how they know them. Once I saw you out here, in the World, I knew that I could trust you to stay with me. I do trust you, and I love you, too. I do love you, I know that now, and I don’t think that will change, after all.”

  “Oh,” Tobas said, embarrassed. “Well, that’s good, then, because I love you, too. I know I do, even without witchcraft to tell me.”

  After a moment of silent affection Karanissa asked, “When will we reach the cottage where you left the tapestry?”

  Tobas considered. “Probably this evening,” he said. “If I remember right, it’s just past these next two hills and across a little valley.” He looked ahead at the landscape. “I think that’s right, anyway.”

  The distance was actually less than he had remembered; the weight of the tapestry had made it seem far greater than it was. They topped the bare rock crest of the second hill within an hour, and saw the cottage on the far side of the valley.

  Peren had let the two catch up to him. “Where did you see the dragon when you were here before?”

  “Over there,” Tobas said, pointing to the remembered rocky hilltop just a few hundred yards to their right.

  “Where that smoke is?”

  A sudden uneasiness swept over Tobas as he saw the smoke Peren indicated, a thin, pale wisp rising from behind a high, jagged heap of stone and thinning out to nothing in the crisp autumn air. “Yes,” he said, reaching for his athame.

  As he had feared, an instant later the dragon’s head reared up from behind the jumble of rocks. It was looking directly at them; even as they realized this, it clambered out of concealment, spread its great wings, and took to the air, flapping clumsily toward them.

  “Gods!” Karanissa hissed; she stepped back, tripped over a break in the stone, and fell down, landing awkwardly on one hip.

  Tobas reached back to help her, but before his hand reached her, Peren yanked him upright again. “Tobas,” the albino shouted, “do something! It’s coming right for us!” He pointed at the approaching dragon.

  “I know that!” he shouted back, still trying to reach his wife. “Let go of me!”

  “Do something!” Peren insisted.

  “Do what! All we can do is run for it!” He pulled his arm free.

  “You stopped it before with that spell of yours!”

  “I didn’t stop it, and that only worked when its mouth was open.” He turned and saw that the dragon was much closer and coming much faster than he had realized; already it seemed almost upon them. Even if he could get Karanissa to her feet, even if she were unhurt and able to run, they had no chance at all of making the shelter of the trees, more than a hundred yards away. “Oh, gods!” he said, as he found a pinch of brimstone.

  The dragon’s great blue-green wings seemed suddenly to block out the entire sky as it swooped upward over their heads, apparently intending to drop down right on top of them. Petrified, all three of them stared upward, certain they had come to the end of their adventures.

  The monster opened its mouth in what looked almost like a mocking grin.

  Tobas guessed it was probably just baring its fangs for its final lunge, but the reason didn’t matter; knowing this would probably be his only chance, he flung his spell.

  The dragon’s face erupted into yellow flame, and it screamed with fury, but this time it did not stop, nor even slow its attack; it folded its wings and plunged toward them, still screaming, fire dripping and spattering from its jaws.

  Tobas, with a sudden inspiration, remembering what had happened in old Roggit’s shack when he had tried to put out the fire there and what Derithon had written in his Book of Spells, scrabbled desperately at his belt for more brimstone, meaning to fling the spell again.

  The creature opened its wings again, breaking its fall, catching itself in midair; the sudden downrush of air knocked Tobas and Peren off their feet, and Tobas
felt the heat of the flames he had kindled washing across his cheek.

  The entire sky was filled with the metallic gleam of blue-green dragon wings and the yellow glare of its uncontrolled fire as he finally found his little vial and poured part of its remaining contents into his hand. The beast craned down its neck, mouth agape, saliva sizzling and flame flickering wildly as it considered which of its three stunned victims would be the tastiest morsel.

  Tobas struggled to calm himself; if he stammered while speaking the spell’s single inhuman word or if his hands shook too much during the passes, the magic would not work. He forced his hands to steady, made the two simple gestures, then called out the incantation and threw the Combustion upward at the dragon’s still-burning jaws.

  Instantly, the dragon’s mouth and throat exploded violently, the flash and roar blinding and deafening all three of the humans; blood and red-hot scales spattered hissing across the rocks. Fragments of the lower jaw sprayed like bloody hail in one direction, rattling on the exposed stone, while the rest of the fearsome head tumbled wildly in another. The great body slumped to the ground, collapsing with a loud, sodden thump only inches from its intended victims. An outstretched foreclaw smashed Peren flat on his back, raking his chest, and gory scraps of dragon flesh battered Tobas and Karanissa. All three were drenched in smoking, stinking red-purple blood.

  The wings thrashed once, then were still; the huge crimson eyes above the shattered jaw blinked once, then slowly glazed over in death.

  Tobas found himself sitting atop the hill, Karanissa lying on one side, Peren on the other, all three of them soaked to the skin in the monster’s ichor and surrounded by the thing’s scattered remains.

  “Ick,” he said, looking about in disgust.

  Then he fainted.

  CHAPTER 30

  The lump on his head throbbed dully as Tobas sat on the rock and studied the immense carcass. Karanissa sat beside him, one hand rubbing at her bruised hip as she worked what healing she could, while Peren, his ruined tunic reshaped into a rough bandage, tried to lift the battered remains of the dragon’s head.

  “It’s too heavy,” he admitted at last, as he came panting up to join them. “I can’t get it off the ground.” “We could roll it down the hillside,” Karanissa suggested. “Or I can sort of slide it by witchcraft, but I can’t lift it any more than you can.”

  “If we can’t move it, neither can anyone else who comes across it,” Tobas pointed out. “I say we go back to Dwomor and get men, horses, and wagons and come back for it.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Peren said.

  “Of course he’s right!” Karanissa said. She took her hand from her hip and shifted uncomfortably, then remarked, “I don’t think I can do any more healing today; it takes too much energy.” She picked at her blood-soaked gown critically and added, “I wish I had thought to bring more clothes.”

  “Well, we did come through the tapestry a little unexpectedly,” Tobas pointed out.

  “I know.” She ran her hand over her skirt experimentally, and the blood ran out in a thin stream, leaving clean fabric.

  “How did you do that?” Peren asked.

  “Witchcraft, of course.” She did not bother to look at him but went on brushing at her clothes, separating fabric from gore.

  “Wait a minute,” Tobas said as he saw the dark fluid spilling out onto the ground. “Don’t waste that stuff! Dragon’s blood is worth a fortune; half the high-order spells use it. Wizards back in Telven pay one-fourth its weight in gold, when they can get it at all.”

  She looked up for a moment, then went back to cleaning her skirt. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “There must be gallons of the stuff in that carcass over there.”

  “Besides, Tobas,” Peren said, “you’re already rich, anyway! All you have to do is go back to Dwomor and collect the reward. You killed the dragon single-handed, with your one silly spell!”

  “That’s right,” Karanissa agreed. “They owe you a thousand pieces of gold!”

  “That’s right, isn’t it?” Tobas stared at the dragon’s head in wonderment. “I killed the dragon. With a single spell.”

  Then he shook himself, wishing that his clothes weren’t damp and sticky and already beginning to stink. “You were with me, Peren, I’ll tell them you helped. Karanissa and I won’t leave you out. You can marry a princess, if you like, and have a position in the castle and a share of the gold.”

  “Thank you,” Peren said sincerely. “A few months ago I might have turned that down, since I didn’t do anything, but I’ve learned better now; I’ll take what’s offered in this world. I’ll choose Princess Tinira, if you don’t mind, and take however much of the gold you can spare.”

  “Which princess you marry doesn’t concern me in the least,” Tobas replied. “I’ve got a wife, thank you, and one is all I need. As for the gold, we’ll settle that later; I’m too confused right now to think clearly. A third, maybe?”

  Peren shrugged. “Whatever you two think is fair.”

  “Don’t spend money you haven’t got,” Karanissa said acidly, straining to reach the back of her bodice to wipe it clean. “How do you know that this so-called king of Dwomor will actually pay?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Peren said.

  “Oh, he’ll have to pay,” Tobas said. “He announced that reward all over the known World!”

  “We’ll see,” Karanissa said.

  Her cynicism was contagious; all three sat in gloomy silence for a moment, contemplating the gore-covered landscape, their sorry condition, and the possibility of royal treachery. The witch said at last, “I suppose he’ll come through with the jobs, though, and he’s probably eager to be rid of the princesses. I have the impression from what I’ve seen and what Tobas has told me that things have gotten more primitive since my day, and I suppose unmarried daughters are probably not very welcome.”

  “Elner told me that they aren’t,” Tobas agreed. “But I don’t want a princess; I’ve got you.” “Well, I know that,” she said with a trace of self-satisfaction in her voice. “But you can at least take the job; you don’t want to spend the rest of your life back inside the tapestry, living off those gardens, do you?”

  “Actually,” Tobas answered, “if we could get the gardens back in shape, I don’t think I would really mind; the castle wasn’t so bad at all. It was just being trapped there that was unpleasant. Once we chase out the rest of the spriggans, it’ll be a nice place.”

  “I’d like to see it sometime,” Peren remarked.

  “You were scared of it, I thought,” Tobas replied.

  “Well, yes,” Peren admitted, “but I didn’t know what it was then.”

  “True,” Tobas conceded. His stomach rumbled. “I wonder if you can eat dragon meat?”

  “I don’t know,” Peren said. “I’m hungry, but I’m not hungry enough to try.”

  “Are we going to sit here all night?” Karanissa asked, getting to her feet and beginning to work on cleaning the back of her skirt. Tobas watched in appreciation.

  “She’s right,” Peren said. “We should at least get to the cottage and make sure the tapestry’s safe.”

  “And get away from all this dead meat before it starts to smell; I suspect dragons decay quickly,” Karanissa agreed.

  Tobas nodded and rose.

  They found the tapestry just as Tobas had left it, and the three of them carefully rolled it up so that no one would accidentally stumble into it; that done, Tobas and Karanissa settled in the cottage for the night, while Peren tactfully found himself a spot well away from the building, out of sight and hearing.

  The following day they simply rested, while Karanissa used her witchcraft to clean their clothes and speed the healing of their various injuries. They were all still exhausted. Karanissa, in particular, had put more energy into her witchcraft than might have been wise, leaving little for traveling.

  On the eighth of Snowfall they headed out again, Peren and Tobas carrying the rolled t
apestry on their shoulders, and on the ninth, at midmorning, they came in sight of Dwomor Keep.

  Someone spotted them as they approached; by the time they neared the gate, the battlements were lined with curious people peering down at the unexpected arrivals.

  The portcullis was down and stayed down despite their presence; they halted, of necessity, just outside, and the two men carefully lowered the tapestry to the ground.

  A guard on the other side called out something in Dwomoritic.

  Karanissa, who had listened intently, called something back, concluding with “Ethsharitic! Speak Ethsharitic!” Tobas was, impressed that she could do so much after hearing just a few words of a completely new language; he had not realized her witchcraft was that versatile.

  The guard, after an instant’s hesitation, called out, “Who goes there?” in Ethsharitic, speaking with a thick, ugly accent.

  “Peren the White, the witch Karanissa of the Mountains, and the mighty wizard and dragon slayer, Tobas of Telven!” Peren announced. He tried to look impressive despite the filth still marring his white hair, the tattered condition of his breeches, and the shredded near-absence of his tunic. Tobas looked somewhat better, his clothes being intact, and Karanissa had used her witchcraft during the journey to restore herself to her best appearance.

  “What... ah, what is your business?” the guard managed in his ugly Ethsharitic.

  “We have come to claim the reward due us for killing the dragon in your hills,” Peren replied.

  “Dragon? Killed? Really?” the guard asked with evident surprise.

  A smile appeared unbidden on Tobas’ face; Peren fought his down, but did not speak. “Yes, really,” Karanissa said, then repeated herself in her improvised witch’s Dwomoritic.

  “Let us in!” Tobas demanded, drawing his athame dramatically.

  The guard still hesitated; Tobas gestured and spoke, setting the left sleeve of the man’s surcoat afire.

  The effect was quite dramatic; he could hear several of the watching Dwomorites suck in their breath. He immediately regretted his hasty, impulsive action, though; attacking the guard was no way to make himself welcome. Besides, he did not want to overuse his spell; his supply of brimstone was finally running low, as he had spilled some when he exploded the dragon.