The Dragon's Apprentice

by Ben Marble

  Shadow Ember looked away. "Her master has abandoned and replaced her. Emily is here because no other dragons will take her in after what she did. If you let her live, you will be taking responsibility for her. That means you will be down here daily feeding and cleaning up after her. You will have to do this while keeping it a secret, and not falling behind in your studies. The other apprentices can't know about her. That means no help from Breanne with her healing. No swapping shifts with Alexander, and no help from Sierra or Chandler either. Emily will be your responsibility."

  "So be it," Michael spat. "But get this straight, I am going to start forming a room for her in our cave. As soon as it's secure enough for her she is moving in. Once we have her cured you will have a sixth apprentice even if the other dragons fight against it. I will not abandon her, and neither will you."

  Shadow Ember smiled. "So be it, like you said."

  The dream faded, and Michael was left in an empty black space with Ember herself standing before him.

  "You passed the test. Your mind is intact, and so is your heart."

  Looking around warily at the blackness Michael spoke softly. "Where is Emily?"

  "Emily never existed. After you ripped reality and the backlash affected you, I had to make sure you were whole. I also thought I would use this to make sure you understood what had happened to you." Ember started preparing to take him out of the dream

  "So, I am mad?"

  "You were mad; it should be purged from your mind by now. As for any emotional aftereffects, only time can help you there."

  "What if I rip reality again? How do I avoid that now that I have done it once?" Michael shivered.

  "You won't because next time there may be no coming back." Ember started pulling her energy and their images started to fade from the dream. "If you touch chaos again it might destroy you, and if it doesn't the dragons will."

  "Does that include you Master Ember?"

  "Especially me, apprentice Michael." Ember said and the dream faded.

  Wakening

  The light was blinding when Xander opened his eyes. He was laying on his bed, but his room was well lit. He could see the smooth stone walls, seeming sparse to him for the first time. All the other apprentices had pictures, or posters, or other decorations up in their rooms. He had never had anything to hang up, and even if he had Xander would not be sure where to start.

  Brianne was sleeping in a chair that had been placed by his bed. If she had been the one to heal him after battle practice it was no surprise that she was resting. The drain after fighting in the cave would be enough to put anyone out. Add to that having to expend the energy to heal whatever had needed healing on himself.

  Sitting up was a painful experience. Xander thought his head might not make the trip up, and his ribs screamed every inch of the way. This was worrisome since normally when Brianne was done healing him there was little or no pain. Or any sign of the damage that had been fixed. Lifting his sheets, he could see that there was still bruising visible along his torso, along with several areas of silvery flesh that looked like scar tissue. That was even more worrisome since normally Brianne healed you back to normal. If she was speeding his bodies healing process instead, then he had been severely damaged.

  He started to move out from under the sheets then stopped when he realized he was wearing nothing but underwear. Someone had stripped him and cleaned his wounds. Xander gave a suspicious glance at Brianne, but then decided it would not have been her. Brianne would have died of embarrassment if she had been asked to clean him up. Most likely it had been Ember or Chandler. He doubted that Michael would have been anywhere near him after the stunt that he had pulled. They had all heard stories of apprentices from other dragons being sent home for crossing such lines. He did not think that Ember would exile Mike unjustly, but he remembered her voice shrieking through the air right before Michael had tried to kill him. He still had no clue what she had said, but there had been terror in that voice. Something that his friend had done scared her. There was very little that Xander could think of that could scare a dragon.

  "Psst... Brianne," He watched for a second to see if she would respond. Brianne continued to sleep, so Xander slung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand up to walk across the room and get some clothing. The moment he put weight on his right leg it collapsed out from under him and he hit the ground with a loud thud.

  "So, you decided to get up," Brianne yawned. "Let me help you back into bed.” Despite his protests, she reached down and helped him. While she did not blush, he noticed Brianne kept her eyes upon his face and made a point not to look down.

  "How long have I been down?" Xander pulled the blankets up over himself quickly.

  "About a week. You looked like you had come face to face with a landmine. I've been working on you every day whenever I could. I thought that if we took your clothes away, it would keep you from getting out of bed,” Brianne shrugged though this time some red did paint her cheeks.

  "You took off my clothes." He stated the obvious while worrying about how much time had passed.

  "No, umm... not at all," Brianne cheeks really went red this time. "Chandler took care of it for me. Not that it matters I've had to heal pretty much all of you so..." She trailed off embarrassment keeping her from continuing. Xander figured that she had probably had to give a thorough examination to find all his wounds.

  "Michael?"

  Brianne shook her head. "He's pretty much under house arrest. Whatever he did Ember won't talk about. Fuego himself has hung around since after he initially healed you."

  "Fuego healed me? I thought you had been working on healing me."

  "Well, I took over after you didn't look like a pile of ground beef. Even with Sierra saving you by blowing up that stone, it was like you had walked face forward into an explosion. Ember was afraid to heal you, so he stepped in. I have never seen her so frustrated. I know she wanted to help you, but she worried that she would mess up again on repairing you."

  "Sierra saved me? Seriously?"

  "Yes, the rest of us couldn't do anything. All our spells just unraveled against what Michael had done. She was quick enough to pull her energy from the stone she had shaped when he threw it at you. If Sierra hadn't thought quickly, we would be working on two pieces of you. You really ought to give her some more credit Xander."

  Xander closed his eyes and sighed. "I may just have to thank her." That would be an all new pain on its own. "How bad is it for Michael."

  "I don't know." Brianne stood up from her chair and moved to the foot of the bed. "Not as bad now that you actually woke up. Despite everything, we weren't sure you were going to manage that. I don't think he understood what he did, and both Ember and Fuego have been grilling him on it every day for hours at a time. None of us have been allowed to talk to him about it. Not that we've been able to talk to him at all."

  "Thank you," Xander looked down at his feet through the blankets. "I'm not sure anyone else would have taken the time to drop in and check on me."

  The door opened, and Chandler came in. He had a small tray stand under his arm and a plate of food. He stopped when he noticed Xander was awake and looked around awkwardly. "I've got your dinner ready, I'll get you something too if you feel you are up to it Xander." Chandler's eyes were dark with worry, and his clothes were even rumpled. It looked strange on the apprentice who seemed to take joy in ironing his socks.

  His stomach growled loudly at the thought of food, and Xander shifted uncomfortably. "I think that's a yes, please."

  "Alright, I'll grab you something. Ember will want to know your awake, so you might want something on your stomach before she starts asking questions. Umm... you feeling ok?"

  "You mean despite the fact I can't even get up and walk around? Yeah sure, I'm good."

  "Well," Chandler looked around not meeting his eye. "You had a slab of stone sticking out of your forehead. We all thought you were dead, and Fuego even seemed surprised you held on long eno
ugh for him to heal you. Brianne hasn't even left your room in..."

  "That's enough," Brianne stood up, grabbed the tray from Chandler, along with the plate. "Now go get Xander some food before you say something that's going to get us in trouble." Somehow with the tray and plate in her hands, Brianne managed to shoo Chandler out the door.

  "So, I'm guessing there is something you're not telling me." Brianne had stayed here for days watching him? He would have guessed that she would have only spent a couple of hours a day in here between studying, chores, and everything else they were expected to do.

  "Nothing I'm going to tell you, even if I knew for sure. That is up to Ember and Fuego, and I imagine they are looking forward to seeing you seem to be yourself, mostly. You're almost too polite to be you, but I'm not sure if that would be you being damaged or fixed."

  "I guess I'll have to wait then." Xander arranged his pillows behind him so he could sit up more comfortably. "I'll work harder on making sure you don't mistake me for someone else, I mean now that you know how I look from head to toe it should be easy for you to identify me right?"

  Brianne dropped the plate of food onto the floor that she had been setting onto the stand-up tray. She turned and stared at Xander her face going red again. Her mouth worked its way open and shut as if she was trying to find the words she needed to say.

  She was saved by the door slamming open as Ember and Fuego both walked into the room. Now the fun would begin. Brianne took the opportunity to rush out the door leaving Xander alone with the two dragons. Ember looked down to the food laying on the floor and quirked an eyebrow but did not say anything.

  "I see our young apprentice is finally awake. “Fuego had a Spanish accent and had the all the features one would expect. He had bronze skin, black-brown eyes, and black slick hair pulled back in a tail. Unlike Ember, he wore many years in a craggy face that was often split with a big grin. Where Ember seemed to not have any emotions at times and kept cool and collected, Fuego was always laughing and joking. It was rare to see him frown or look unhappy.

  "He is, and he's wondering what you did that Brianne is afraid to tell me." Xander tried to look fierce, as fierce as a sickly half-dressed sixteen-year-old wrapped in blankets can look. Fuego's smile didn't fade, but Ember frowned.

  "We merely made use of the gifts you already had." Fuego grabbed the chair Brianne had been using and sat by the head of the bed so he could address Xander from eye level. "As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for your unique healing experience with your eyes, you wouldn't have survived long enough for me to heal you. It seems more than just your eyes was changed."

  Shifting Xander tried to straighten up. "What do you mean, more than just my eyes changed?"

  "I'm not sure. When Ember healed you, no one was sure the effect of it would have on you in the long run. It seems that your body changed more than we expected." Fuego leaned forward, and his voice dropped. "The important thing is that this doesn't leave this room. Brianne suspects something is different because she spent so much time healing you. The others probably don't know much of anything and we will keep it that way. No dragons other than me or Ember should know about this. I cannot stress the importance of that. They would just see chaos and that would prompt them to take action against you, which I think would be a big mistake."

  "Would it now? You all worship order and you're willing to ignore this for the sake of an apprentice who openly distrusts all of you. What is in it for you?" Xander tried to cross his arms but found that it was hard to sit up straight when he didn't have the balance of planting a hand on his mattress for support.

  Striding forward Ember looked down on him. "Fuego just saved your life. He spent hours healing you after you should have died. Not only are you alive but you have no apparent brain damage despite that melon on your shoulders having rock sticking two or three inches deep in your thick skull. That is not mentioning all the broken bones and shredded flesh elsewhere. Do not question his generosity."

  "I don't question his generosity, I question my value to a bunch of magic wielding lizards who have hundreds of other apprentices that pull the line and don't question their motives. I question, I am angry, I would gladly throw you all back into the abyss you came from if I could. I would give back my sight, I would give back the magic, and I would live bouncing foster home, to foster home if that was the price. Yet here you are talking about generosity? No, you have plans for me, or you feel you need me for something, that means generosity has nothing to do with it." Xander had to lie back down feeling exhausted. He had put all his energy into those words and felt exhaustion creeping into his limbs.

  "Leave us Ember. I want to talk to your apprentice alone."

  "He is my student. You cannot tell me to leave." Ember stood firm and stared at Fuego.

  "Yes, I could, but I would rather ask. You won't be comfortable with the discussion we are about to have, and I would rather you took the time to make sure your other students are fine." Fuego did not look up at Ember. He stayed focused on Xander.

  Ember gave the older dragon an irritated look. "Fine, I will check on you later Xander." She then swept out the door and slammed it behind her.

  "You, my friend, are lucky to have a protective teacher." Fuego sat up and leaned back in his chair. He pulled out a hand rolled cigarette, that lit the second he touched it to his lips. "Silly of me I know, but I find some human habits fascinating and this one is amusing. Imagine breathing in smoke and poison just for a little fix of nicotine."

  Xander just stared at the old dragon and waited. He wasn't going to be the one to break the silence or start the conversation.

  "First let's address your value. Alexander, you are right that your attitude could be considered troublesome but that is the very reason there is value to you as an apprentice. Not only are you extremely gifted but you are willing to do what most people are too scared to. You question us openly and to our faces. This won't win you many points with most dragons, but when you have been around as long as I have you begin to see that most dragons would benefit from being questioned more often. This also makes you valuable because if we can convince you eventually that we are good for this world you will be stronger for having gone in questioning, rather than walking blindly along."

  "Nice choice of words."

  "Well, I chose them on purpose. Most people don't understand the value of the phrase like you would. Now, let's discuss your friend Michael and his loss of control during your battle practice. That may not have been his fault at all."

  "Well, I will remember to use that argument if I ever kill anyone." Xander tried to slacken his face and look bewildered. "But Judge, it's not my fault, I just lost it and while I have extensive training that centers around perfect control, it couldn't be helped."

  "What has Ember taught you all about chaos magic?" Fuego chewed the end of his cigarette as he waited for a response.

  "I've never even heard of chaos magic," Xander was trying to focus now. "Is it something we will be learning?"

  "My heaven's no. No sane person would run around using chaos magic, it's something you just can't control." Fuego leaned forward as he continued. "Imagine if instead of creating order in the energy around you, you tore the energy and forced it to do whatever you needed it to do. You would be able to do magic, but it would be more unpredictable. Your spells would cast quicker, hit harder, and use less energy."

  "I would say sign me up."

  "Now imagine that in order to cast chaos magic you had to take certain precautions. Chaos magic has a bigger price than regular magic because it has a backlash to it. Every time you cast a spell, you run the risk of creating a surge that can leave you deformed, cause an explosion, or even effect your mind so that you are driven mad. Now imagine if someone accidentally stumbled across chaos magic without any protection and catches the backlash at a moment of high emotion. That would be your friend Michael."

  "You're saying that Michael is now insane?" Xander shook his head. "That's not possible, Embe
r would have surely warned us about this magic if it existed." There were risks with regular magic that they were warned about constantly. Every time they did battle practice the apprentices knew there was a chance they might be injured or even killed. Death was rare when training with dragons, but not unheard of. When you created a spell or reordered energy there was always the chance that if you did not know what you were doing that you could create an effect or spell you did not intend. This could do anything from creating an explosion to simply fizzling out. In a cave where you had five people constantly experimenting, reminders to be careful was a daily occurrence.

  "We don't teach or talk about chaos magic because it is very rare for someone to find it on their own. Even after discovering it, most likely your friend Michael won't be able to remember what he has done or how he did it." Fuego laid a hand on Xander comfortingly. "Michael doesn't look like he was permanently affected. Ember has tested him and worked to make sure that no lingering chaos is left in his mind, and he should be fully healed. Otherwise, he is going to need your support."

  "As long as he doesn't try to kill me again, he has it," Xander tried to sound lighthearted but even to his ears, the comment came out completely sarcastic. He winced a little, but he could not take them back.

  "He won't." Fuego continued to watch Xander carefully. "Now both of you know about chaos magic, and that is as far as this goes. No telling the other apprentices, no discussing it with each other if it can be helped. The fewer people who know about chaos magic the better off the world is."

  "So, I understand why you are telling him, why are you telling me? Wouldn't it be easier to leave me just believing it was an accident?"