by Ben Marble
"Two people were close enough to see what Michael did when he cast that spell. You and him. Can you honestly tell me that curiosity wouldn't have you trying to re-create what Michael pulled off? As for Michael, he deserves to know what happened since he's the one who was directly affected." Fuego leaned back and burned what was left of his cigarette to ash between his fingers. "Both of you might have gone and poked around this magic again. I want to ensure you don't because the repercussions for either of you would be immediate and final."
"You would kill us?" Xander did not like cryptic statements and he felt his hackles rise a little at Fuego's words. With dragons, you had to get them to say exactly what they meant unless you wanted to spend hours guessing.
"Possibly. Or we might leave you permanently shielded from magic locked away somewhere where we might find you if we feel there is a use of you. I hate to waste things with so much potential." Fuego closed his eyes and sighed. "You know as well as I do Xander the moment Ember picked you up as an apprentice there was no going back. Should you decide tomorrow or ten years from now you want to be released from our service it's possible, but with your knowledge, we would be keeping an eye on you for the rest of your life. If you leave or we feel you become a danger, we will do what is necessary no matter how much I would dislike taking those steps."
"You say."
"I do. Our wizards are tired Alexander," Fuego leaned forward. "Wizards live a long time, sometimes as long as a couple thousand years if they are powerful enough. The wizards we have now all have slept through thousands of years with us and they will fail eventually. If we don't have younger blood to replace them, it will leave us vulnerable." The wizards that now served the dragons, of course, had gone to sleep when the dragons had. The oldest apprentices were still several years from working as full-blown wizards on their own. It wasn't hard to image that the old wizards might be nearing their time. "I need wizards with minds like yours. Wizards who question us and keep us honest. Wizards who are uncorrupt and hold the welfare of humans and dragons alike of the gravest importance."
Fuego seemed to grow suddenly, and for the first time he wasn't the kind old man he always appeared as when he talked to Xander, he was an old fierce dragon. "Understand that if this generation of wizards because corrupted by chaos I will not hesitate to kill every one of you if that's what it takes to secure the future of both of our races. I will do it quickly, painlessly and twice if needed. Don't you ever doubt that as much as I like humans, I will break you if you put me in that position."
Dumbstruck Xander nodded. He had never heard Fuego threaten anyone, and now he had been essentially told that knowledge of chaos magic could make him and any other apprentice expendable.
"Good, then I have one thing to ask of you." Fuego folded his hands behind his back and seemed to be a kindly old man again. "There is an apprentice of Torch's named Dell. Ember is taking you all for a few weeks to visit his master as part of your training. You are to try and befriend Dell as he has suffered issues like yours."
"He has dragon eyes and was nearly killed?"
"No, he questions us dragons and our motives openly."
"And you think it's a good idea to bring us together? You say you want me to be willing to question, but this is close to advocating that attitude." Xander pulled the sheets up around him a little tighter. "You said yourself that not every dragon is happy with my attitude, putting us together seems like something that would make them less happy."
"The other dragons need to learn that there is wisdom in allowing yourself to ask questions and be questioned." Fuego shrugged. "Dell's parent were killed by dragons. You might relate to him enough he will open up to you. If nothing else the boy hasn't been able to get along with the other apprentices, it might just help him to have a friend."
Xander suddenly was examining his feet. "My parents weren't killed by dragons."
"No, but you blame us for their death. Dell's parents were part of the groups that rioted when we first awoke. They decided to firebomb a dragon's cave, I am sure you can imagine the rest."
He could. He remembered hearing reports of the uprisings when the dragons first arrived. The dragons tended to settle things as quickly and peacefully as possible, but if you attacked the dragon would defend itself. Firebombing a cave was something that a dragon might just feel justified being aggressive about.
"I'll talk to him. No promises other than that."
"I would not expect you to make a promise you might not be able to keep." Fuego started to move towards the door. "I will ask you later to let me know what you think of Dell, and how things went. I will not, however, require you to tell me more than you are comfortable with. If that ends up meaning that you tell me nothing, you tell me nothing. Now get some sleep and get healed, my young apprentice."
Xander was pretty sure he mumbled some sort of answer. Later he suspected that Fuego had cast some magic as he left as Xander was asleep before the old dragon closed the door.
Going On a Trip
Brianne had kept watch over Xander the next few days as he healed. Normally healing with magic was a quick process. She had even re-attached a limb once when studying at the hospital within a couple of hours. Whatever Michael had done was making the healing more difficult. It was taking a lot longer, and a lot more energy to do healing normally quick and effortless. Fuego was hiding something, but he would not do more than just tell her to bear with it and keep working.
Now, as she packed her bags for the visit to Torch's cave she wondered exactly what had happened. The other apprentices seemed just as confused as she. Fuego and Ember were keeping their mouths shut in normal dragon fashion, not speaking about anything they did not feel needed to be known. Michael might be able to tell them something, but he had been quiet and evasive since the incident. In like fashion she was sure that Xander had been told more than the rest of them, but he was not discussing the incident at all. Instead, if you brought it up, he would just stare quietly until the subject was changed.
Up to this point, she had been too tired to really question what had happened, or why it had affected Xander so drastically. Sierra and Chandler were just keeping their heads down with the mood in the cave being what it was. Neither of them had much skill at healing, so they had just kept their noses in their books and helped with chores where it was appropriate.
Shouldering her backpack, Brianne made way to the cave mouth. The cave was once again a big flat space except for Embers landing pad and sleeping area where it was raised to the side. A quick bit of levitation took her up to that area, where she discovered Chandler already waiting for the dragon to arrive. Of course, Ember had to be here before anyone could go
Human wizards had yet to do long distance teleportation spells. This meant as far as travel people depended on dragons if they had a great distance to go. There were always several portals in airports teleporting people to different locations around the world as needed. The other option was to drive since airplanes were rarely used. Strangely the dragons encouraged the space program, but Brianne figured this was because it launched people into the air on only rare occasions. It was easy to let the other dragons know when and where the shuttle launches were happening. This had been problematic for her family as her father was a pilot. After the return, he had to take a job driving a taxi for a lot less money. Her apprenticeship had been a godsend, as the dragons were more than happy to pay the bills and help support her family if she was apprenticed. When she was elevated to wizard, she would have the resources to make sure they were taken care of herself.
"You ready for a vacation?" Chandler shouldered his bag a little more securely and smiled.
"I am ready to find out why we are going to study with another dragon's five,” It wasn't unheard of, but not anywhere within the range of normal events as dragons kept their apprentices close and secrets closer. "I keep feeling there is something they aren't saying about this visit."
"Well, I'm looking forward to making some more friends, and meeting anothe
r dragon. Who knows, maybe if it goes well, we will be able to mix it up with more apprentices” Chandler grinned widely. "Not that I don't enjoy learning with you, but sometimes it would be nice to get to know some new faces."
The apprenticeship had to be hardest on Chandler Brianne thought. Out of all the apprentices, he was the most open. The rest of them were content to stay in their rooms and study or keep to the small group they had here, but Chandler's father had been the mayor of some small town back east. He had been surrounded by all types of people growing up and had six or seven siblings. His father who had been well off to begin with, had made a killing financially by backing a project to dismantle airplanes after they were mostly decommissioned, and selling the parts to pay for housing for those who had been less fortunate. Because of this, Chandler had often traveled and spent time with the kids of the families they were helping. It hurt him the most when they had their days off and went out into public to be shunned by all those around them. Wizards were necessary, but that didn't mean they were popular.
"Maybe. I don't think they will have us squaring off against them anytime soon." Brianne said as Chandler looked away from her as if he had heard something. "It might be nice to learn some techniques though. Torch's cave is near a major city, and from what I understand his students spend a lot of time in the local hospital."
"I still want to be the first wizard who can teleport long distances." Chandler's grin was back. "Can you imagine being able to zip off to Japan for tea, then back home for dinner? They keep telling us that humans may never be able to do it, but I plan on proving them wrong."
The nice thing about Chandler was his joy was infectious. Brianne could not help but smile at his optimism as she kicked the rich brown rock beneath her. "Maybe you will. It would be nice to have a friend who could whisk us off to Paris when we wanted to visit."
"Maybe he could help Xander and Michael show up on time," Sierra floated down next to them. "Not that Ember is here yet, but I know I am running about five minutes late. I figured everyone would be ready to go."
"Where's your pack?" Chandler looked at Sierra questioningly.
"Right here," Sierra pulled a green marble out of her pocket and spun it around her fingers.
"I think you won when it came to packing light." Brianne stared at the marble. Some energy seemed to hum from it, but she couldn't put her finger on the purpose.
"Well, you remember how a few weeks ago we were playing with pocket dimensions? Well now my whole closet is in one, and I've tied it to this marble. The marble itself is enchanted to appear in my pocket anytime I call it so I don't have to worry about losing it." Sierra grinned in triumph.
"So, you're telling us, you created a dimensional pocket big enough to hold your closet? Then you made it portable? That is amazing! You are going to have to show me how you did it!" Brianne was excited for Sierra. When they had been taught about dimensional pockets, they had learned to make ones that were barely big enough to fit a couple of baseballs. For Sierra to have figured out how to make one big enough to store a whole room, it was nothing short of fantastic. Especially with what little information they had been given to go on. Tying it to a portable object was a stroke of genius. So much could be accomplished if that spell was applied correctly. Imagine being able to pull a full medical cabinet, or even operating room around with you so you had it when you needed it.
Ember stepped out of the shadows and looked at her students wordlessly. The dragon then turned to Sierra and held out her hand. Sierra slowly lowered the marble into Ember's palm and stepped back while the dragon examined the marble.
"I see you didn't waste any energy correcting the flaws in the marble, good." Ember held the marble up in front of an unnaturally green eye and stared at it carefully. "Perfect, you did well." She handed the marble back to Sierra. "Be aware though, if someone breaks that marble it may be near impossible for you to retrieve anything in your pocket dimension. You would have to recreate the connection to your closet from essentially that same point, using the exact same amount of energy. So, before you let that marble get damaged, make sure there is nothing you need inside."
"Yes master," Sierra bowed with a satisfied smile on her face. She then quickly pocketed the green marble and stepped back. She straightened her jacket and stood silent.
"Waiting on Michael and Xander as normal I take it." Ember stretched and then started to take her dragon shape. Or more aptly she changed back into her dragon shape Brianne amended. It was always strange to watch her turn from the young girl to a thirty-foot serpent. As her limbs reformed and grew you would think that it would be hard to follow the transformation. rather, it was easy to watch but hard to remember. Later you would try and focus on the details but could never fit it together correctly in your head.
"I've been here the whole time," Xander stepped out of the shadows with a lopsided grin. "Apparently my blending spell has improved."
"You've really been here all this time?" Sierra planted her hands on her hips and glared.
"Let's see," Xander struck a pose and adjusted his sunglasses. "First Chandler was here, then Brianne came second. They discussed making new friends at Torch's cave sadly forgetting how closed off most groups of wizards are. Then you decided to show with your magic marble closet or something to that degree. Ember came congratulated you, became all dragony and then I stepped forward. Yeah, I've been here."
"A little less arrogance Alexander," Ember did not sound pleased. "You shielding spell is impressive but if the others had been paying attention, they would have seen it ripple every time you moved. If they had been looking for you, you would have found it less successful."
With a shrug, Xander leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. He closed those strange dragon eyes of his behind his mirrored glasses and waited quietly. It irritated Breanne he wore the sunglasses even in the darkness of the cave.
Minutes passed, and Brianne found herself tapping her foot and looking around. The rest of the apprentices were impatient as well. Chandler was absent-mindedly straightening his clothes while Sierra was rolling a coin over her fingers. This went on for several moments until Ember finally broke the silence.
"If you would be so kind Brianne, go fetch Michael. If something is keeping him, please help him figure it out so we can get moving. We are running late, and Torch has never been patient when it comes to waiting on people."
"Yes, master Ember," Brianne inclined her head and was quickly levitating her way back down to the cave floor. She did not quite run to Michael's chambers, but it would be wiser to hurry instead of taking her time. Dragons were calm creatures, but you still didn't want to get on one’s bad side.
Michael's door was shut, and despite her hurry, Brianne knocked softly and waited for a response. When none came, she knocked a little more loudly on the smooth cherry wood. She waited a few more moments and decided to just walk in. Michael had been sulking long enough, they had barely seen him since the accident during battle practice, and now his holding them up was just a step too far. It was time to fix the problem.
All but kicking the door open, Brianne stomped into the room and looked around. She couldn't help but shake her head at the dirty clothes laying on the gray stone. The light was on, but barely so it seemed extra dim and dismal in the room. Posters covered the wall almost hiding all the stone silently bleeding colors into the air. The room seemed quiet without Michael playing music on his stereo. Normally upon walking in past his soundproofing spell, you were bombarded with anything from Beethoven to heavy metal. You never knew what he was going to be playing at any given time, but he claimed that the music helped him concentrate. Brianne had to have absolute silence in her room when she was studying or the noise would distract her.
Michael was on his bed wearing wrinkled clothes that showed enough dirt and staining that it was apparent he had not changed in days. The bed was made, which seemed strange with everything else being in a state of disarray, with its sheets tightly pulled and folded
into place. Michael did not look at Brianne as she entered. Instead, he just stared at the ceiling even though there was no conceivable way he could not have heard her.
"You're running late, get your butt in the shower and let's get going." Brianne crossed her arms and looked down on Michael's still figure. She tried to tower over him, but at even laying down Michael seemed to take up so much space and it ruined the effect.
"No more tests Brianne," Michael continued to watch the ceiling. "Next time we are tested we might not be able to save any causalities. I can't see anyone killed just so I can pass a test."
"It's not a test, we are visiting to form some relations with other apprentices as far along as we are. You can't tell me you don't want to meet some more people that won't fear us." Brianne found herself unconsciously rubbing the dragon tattoo on her cheek. "Now hit that shower, let's go!"
Rolling to a sitting position Michael regarded her carefully. Dark circles under his eyes seemed to make his features even more darkened by the shadows in the room. "It's always a test. You are pushed and watched. Then you are pushed some more. Then you break past the limits they expect you to hit and instead of being rewarded they lock you up and keep you away from all your friends." Michael stood up and started walking towards his bathroom. "They won't even tell you if your friend is alive until you are finally un-quarantined. You are just stuck for days with endless questions and no answers." Michael drew a curtain across the bathroom doorway.
"We tried to get in to visit you." Brianne raised her voice slightly as she the sound of water start spraying in the next room. "Fuego and Ember were insistent that you needed the time alone and that they had to figure out what you had done. That magic trick scared them pretty fiercely. You frightened two dragons, so what happened couldn't have been planned, or part of a test. It was totally unexpected. They still won't tell us anything about what you did."
"I about killed my friend, that's what happened," Splashing water signaled that he was talking from in the shower. "Not only did I almost kill my friend, but I was so damn proud of what I did that I didn't feel guilty about it for days. Now all I feel is guilt." The water abruptly shut off. "Can you imagine if you had done that to Sierra and you couldn't feel guilty about it? It's worse when the guilt does finally hit you. Like I said, no more tests."
