by Ben Zackheim
“It was like a shadow,” Caradoc answered.
“We can’t just stand here. We have to help her,” Simon pleaded. “Let’s line up. Light your torches.” They made a line, each holding his or her weapon of choice in one hand (Caradoc’s was the crate of gold) and a torch high in the other.
After several yards, the glow illuminated a lone figure, Maille, face down in the leaves — too still for Simon’s liking. They knew something was waiting for them in the darkness, but they kept walking.
Then it appeared. It emerged from the shadows, bending trees aside to fit through. A dragon. It was the size of a whale, with hide like tree bark. It hissed at them and stopped near Maille.
The burning stench from its breath thickened the air. Its glare dared them to come closer.
“Be still. It’s a wood dragon,” Caradoc whispered. “She’s protecting her prey. Nothing more dangerous.”
“We have to do something,” Simon insisted.
“Don’t do it by yourself, Simon,” Gwen whispered.
“On the count of three, then.” Simon said.
“Wait!” Hector yelled.
But Simon had already started counting. “One…”
The dragon opened its mouth and let out a stream of dark liquid, like oil. It covered Josh’s legs. He immediately went rigid and fell straight on his back like a board.
“Dragons can count, boy,” the wood dragon said in a grating, distinctly female voice.
She let out a shrieking laugh that brought leaves down on their heads.
Caradoc was the first to attack. He decided that throwing a box full of gold at a dragon wasn’t a wise way to fight it. So he leapt through the air, spear in hand. It was an impressive sight to see — a one-ton troll ten feet off the ground, arms wide and fists clenched, ready to strike.
It was an even more impressive sight to see him stopped midair and slammed into a tree by a dragon’s tail.
“Next?” the dragon hissed, enjoying herself. Everyone faced her, wand and swords raised.
Simon threw his sword down on the ground and hollered, “Blugablugabluga!” He ran in circles as fast as he could, waving his arms in the air like a monkey.
“What the… Simon?” Russ said.
Hector made a move to stop him, but Gwen stepped in the way.
“What have you done to him?” Russ yelled at the dragon. The dragon simply watched Simon make a fool of himself, eyes at half-mast.
Simon was out of breath. His heart was racing. The conditions were perfect. He raised his sword to the sky, ran toward the dragon and brought it down on the forest floor. The blade struck a stone, sending a painful jolt through his body.
He screamed, “SLIPPITENT!”
The blue glow spread from underneath them and flowed through the dark forest, casting a chill through the air and laying a slick sheet of ice on the ground. The dragon realized she was being attacked. By what she wasn’t sure, but she bared her fangs like a wolf on the hunt. The ice flow slipped under her talons, and she lost her balance.
She fell right as she unleashed her second attack.
The black goo shot straight up in the air. Everyone watched, stunned, as the poison dropped down on the dragon’s head. Her muscles contracted and she fell, shaking the entire forest. The sound of battle faded. The woods became silent again.
“Brilliant!” Gwen and Josh said together. Russ slapped Simon on the back so hard he almost fell down.
“Where did you learn that?” Hector asked, smiling broadly.
“Maille,” Simon said. He leapt into a sprint and slid across the blue ice to Maille. He put his ear to her chest. He begged for a heartbeat.
“I didn’t know you cared,” Maille said through clenched teeth. She was talking as if her jaw was wired shut.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Besides the fact that I can’t move and the ice is freezing my butt off, sure,” she muttered. “That spell was sweet.”
“Josh is okay!” Russ called out. “But he can’t move.”
“Maille too. How about Caradoc?” Simon asked.
Gwen leaned over the troll, and placed her hand on his chest. “He’s unconscious. I think he’s hurt bad.”
Indeed, Simon took one peek at his friend and saw blood coming from his mouth. Caradoc’s chest was moving up and down, but it was catching every few seconds.
“HEY!” Maille barked to get Simon’s attention “Pick me up. Bring me to him.”
Simon and Hector lifted her. She was as rigid as a board. “The poison will wear off after a few hours.” Maille Rose said. “But I don’t know if the troll has that long. Gwen.”
“Yes?”
“You’re going to need to heal him.”
“Me? But I don’t know anything about healing. I only know one spell!”
“Time for you to learn number two then. Get out your training wand and point it at him. I’ll tell you what to do.”
Gwen hesitated. She glanced at Simon. He did his best to fight his own doubts and offered up a reassuring smile. She meekly pulled her wand out.
“Now be careful. You do this wrong and you can kill him,” Maille said.
Gwen threw her arms in the air. “No way! Forget it. We’ll have to wait for the poison to wear off of you.”
Simon glared at the inert Maille. “You know, you’re not a very good teacher.”
“Oh yeah? You did fine against the dragon,” Maille managed. “Now everyone shut up and do what I say.”
Even when Maille was stiff as a board and unable to lift a pinky, she was a force to be reckoned with.
“Go ahead, Gwen,” Simon said. Caradoc’s breath was getting more irregular. “Please.”
Gwen lifted the wand and pointed it at Caradoc. She winced a little bit, as if she were aiming a gun.
“Now clear your mind of all thoughts, all doubts. We know you can do it, but you need to know that also for this to work.”
They waited. Gwen struggled to do what Maille had instructed. But it was only when Caradoc let out a moan of pain that she straightened up. The end of the wand stopped shaking.
“There we go,” Maille said. “Incussitate!”
“INCUSSITATE!” Gwen yelled.
A green glow surrounded Caradoc’s body. Everyone watched as Caradoc jerked a few times. Then he let out a chilling scream.
“Something’s wrong!” Gwen cried.
“It’s okay! Healing is painful!” Maille yelled as loud as she could over the troll’s roar.
But Gwen didn’t hear her. She dropped her wand and went to Caradoc’s side. She placed her hands on his chest. He was still thrashing his arms in a frenzy and one of his swings knocked her off her feet.
Simon tried to help her up, but Gwen shoved him away and marched back to the troll. She waited for a chance to get close to him. Caradoc turned on his side, giving Gwen an opening. She jumped in and laid both hands on the small of his back.
He calmed down. After a few seconds, the screams stopped, his breath slowed, and the boys watched Caradoc’s face relax.
“What’s happening?” Maille asked. She wasn’t positioned to see well.
“I think she’s winging it,” Simon answered.
“She needs to let the spell complete. Stop her!” Maille pleaded.
Russ held up his hands. “Whatever she’s doing, it’s working!”
Gwen’s hands glowed orange. They moved around the troll’s back and he began to stir gently. After a minute, he lay on his back again.
Caradoc’s eyes flickered open.
“Hi,” Gwen said, smiling. Caradoc tried to say something but didn’t have the strength. The thanks filled his eyes, though.
“Holy Eyes of Newt,” Maille said. Russ had turned her so they wouldn’t need to keep telling her what was going on. “What did you do, Gwen?”
Gwen was visibly tired.
“I did your spell wrong. I could feel his pain getting worse. I… had to do something.”
“Using your hands to heal is very advance
d magic. You shouldn’t know how to do that. Try it on me.”
“I don’t think that’s…”
“Will you please drop the hesitant act? Get over here and help me!”
Gwen sighed and placed her hands on Maille’s forehead. After a few seconds, Maille was wiggling her toes. After a minute she sat up.
“That is something else. Merlin’s gonna freak out. You better go help Josh.”
As she put her hands on Josh’s legs, the dragon spoke through clenched fangs.
“Trejure knows you’re coming. You think you’re being clever but no one is more clever than the king of dragons.”
“I’m glad he knows we’re coming,” Simon said. “I want him to. We have his gold.”
The dragon’s eyes darted over to the crate. She might have been paralyzed but that couldn’t douse the hunger she had for treasure.
“He knows that too, I’m sure,” she said. “But it won’t save your lives.”
Simon needed only to glance at Maille and nod his head for her to know what he was thinking. She pulled out her wand and lifted Caradoc over her shoulders, as she’d done on the mountainside weeks before. She was tired but Simon knew she could get them out of earshot of the goading beast.
As the party trudged on, walking past the paralyzed dragon, she began to get desperate.
“You aren’t going to leave me here, are you?” the dragon plead. “The poison might not wear off for days. I could die.”
“You should have thought of that before you attacked us, then,” Simon said. The vision of Maille, face down in the leaves, was fresh in his mind.
“He made me! Trejure ordered it!”
Simon hesitated. But Hector stepped up and put his heavy hand on Simon’s shoulder. “Simon, no,” he whispered. “It’s too dangerous.”
Simon pulled away from Hector’s grasp. “We’ll tell Trejure you’re here,” he said. “He can come get you.”
“My failure to catch you will be the death of me, then.”
“I’m sorry,” he answered.
And he was. He wasn’t accustomed to deciding the fate of dragons. Or anyone, for that matter. But if she’d attacked them once under orders, then she’d do it again, and he couldn’t endanger his friends any more than he already had.
“You can take your chances that the poison wears off, or someone else comes along,” Simon said. His stomach clenched as he steeled himself to make the only other offer he could. “Or we can kill you now, quickly.”
Gwen gasped. Hector put a palm on his sword’s hilt, ready to help Simon carry out his offer.
“I’ll take my chances,” the dragon whimpered.
Simon was the first to turn his back and walk away. The party walked as fast as they could to get out of earshot of the dragon’s sobs and pleas for mercy. Simon saw Gwen crying, though she was doing her best to hide it from him.
He started to ponder ways to hand over the reins to Hector. This leader stuff sucked.
39
When the cries of the dragon were behind them, Simon scrutinized his comrades. Caradoc, Josh, and Maille looked like something the dragon brought in, so he insisted on a break. Gwen sat down, leaned against a tree and her chin fell to her chest. She started snoring like an old man after four seconds. Irritated by the racket, Maille cast a spell to mute the sound. Then she proceeded to fall asleep right next to her, her head resting on Gwen’s shoulder.
After an hour, Hector got restless. He kept looking at Simon, as if awaiting the order to pack it up. Simon tried to ignore him. He wanted to give his friends as much time to relax as he could. But when his own instincts started to scream at him to get moving, Simon threw his bag over his shoulder. One by one everyone, even the sleepers, sensed it was time. Not a single word was spoken before they were hiking again.
The trek remained almost silent for a couple of hours. Josh and Russ only managed a lame, whispered argument about how many Lancelot flags they’d seen at the fair (“dozens” according to Russ, “thousands” according to Josh). But what was really happening was obvious to everyone.
They were being watched, though no one would say so out loud.
Simon, for his part, tried his best to forget what he’d done to another living being. That a creature he didn’t even know existed a few weeks ago could die because of him didn’t sit well. Maybe it was his intense guilt, or maybe it was simply time for Simon to take care of business, but, whatever the motivation, he was ready to confront Hector.
He walked to Hector’s side, taking long strides to keep up. The knight glanced down at him, saw the determined frown on his face and smiled. He knew he couldn’t dodge Simon any longer. The time had come for answers.
“Go ahead then. What’s on your mind, Simon?”
“Did you know Victor hated me?” he asked.
“He doesn’t hate you,” Hector said, smiling. “Your uncle is a businessman. He only thinks about money. He’s dangerous if you need something from him. Or if you invade his privacy.”
“But Merlin needed him to take me into his home. That’s needing something, right?”
“Yes. But Victor would never cross Merlin. He’s the key to your uncle’s success. Besides, the wizard would turn him into a snail if Victor ever betrayed him.”
“Why did Merlin want me to stay in that place?”
“Falcon Castle has magic in its stone,” Hector muttered, with a curious amount of disdain. Simon recalled his uncle saying something similar when the location of the hidden staircase had been revealed. “I assume Merlin believed that the magic would protect you until he was ready to take you in.”
“But why did Merlin have you chauffeuring me around?”
“It was my duty to keep you safe from harm when you were outside the castle grounds. You must see by now that some people want you dead.”
“Yeah, that’s what people keep telling me. Who would want me dead, anyway?” Simon was starting to think he should have let this subject stay buried.
“Who would want Simon dead? Probably no one. Yer a nice kid. Who would want Lancelot dead? That remains to be seen. Though I suspect it’s the same person who tried to kill the king.”
“Someone from Shadow,” Simon finished.
“Maybe,” Hector said. “I know this is a confusing time, Simon. Nothing makes sense. Sometimes life is like that. It takes you over. It takes over whatever sense of control you think you have. You can either fight it, and be scared and miserable…”
“Or I can accept it and be scared and miserable? Fun choice.”
“Accepting it will clear yer mind and judgment. Fighting it will guarantee that you feel as you do now for a very long time.”
Simon wasn’t going to argue. Hector could be right. He could be wrong. But Simon didn’t have the energy to deal with it anymore.
“Dragons, assassins, hooded guys bearing gifts. It feels like there are enemies all around us but none of us knows what they’re after,” Simon said, a little louder than he’d intended. “Merlin talks about some enemy wanting to attack New Camelot, but we don’t know who has it out for us, or what they want. How do you fight that?”
“You tell me,” Hector said. Simon glanced up to see if his teacher was teasing him. But Hector wasn’t wearing his familiar cocky grin. Was this a test?
“I guess you wait,” Simon said, with a shrug.
“Good idea,” Hector said.
“No! I don’t want it!” Gwen yelled. Simon and Hector turned to see what was going on.
“Don’t be an idiot, Gwen,” Maille said, with her typical charm.
“What’s going on back there? Keep yer voices down,” Hector hissed.
“I didn’t mean to offend anyone,” Caradoc mumbled.
“You’re not offending anyone, Caradoc. It’s a thoughtful gift,” Maille responded. She noticed that Simon and Hector were stopped in their tracks. “Caradoc gave me a dragon scale from the wood dragon’s hide,” Maille explained.
“I heard they hold magic well,” the troll
said, nodding his head.
“They do,” Maille said. “I decided to give it to Gwen. We can craft her first wand out of it, if she’ll let me. But she’s acting like a toddler.”
“I don’t want anything that reminds me of her,” Gwen said, referring to the wood dragon.
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Simon added. Gwen gave him a small smile.
“Thanks so much for your support, Simon,” Maille shot back. She took a deep breath, trying to relax (or, as Simon thought, trying not to set Simon’s boots on fire). She held up the dragon scale so everyone could see it. The bumpy surface gave it the appearance of a plate made from rhino skin. “Look, Gwen,” Maille said, her voice calmer than Simon had ever heard it. “It’s not all flowers and light when it comes to magic. Sometimes your attachment to sadness is the deepest connection you can make to magic.”
“What about guilt and a smidgen of rage,” Gwen said. Simon hoped she wouldn’t look over at him, but she did. “Are those good things to carry around in my belt for the rest of my life?”
“It’s up to you. I just ask you to try. There are a million things that could go wrong. It’s really unlikely that we’ll even be able to shape a full wand. But if we can, then I ask that you consider making it your own.”
Gwen hesitated, and Maille took full advantage. She held her hand out for Gwen, who took it. They walked to a fallen tree and sat facing each other. The two girls spent an hour shaping the scale, their wordless focus intense. It was unsettling to watch a wizard-in-training crafting what would be her most powerful tool.
At one point, a loud crack broke the silence. Gwen shrieked, then began to cry. Maille embraced her and rubbed her back until she stopped shaking. Simon made to go help, but Hector stopped him with a hand on the shoulder.
“I want to help her,” Simon whispered.
“She’ll be fine,” his teacher answered. “Look.”
Maille stood, allowing the rest of the party to see what had happened. Gwen held a perfectly straight wand in her hand. And she wore a smile on her face. Through the tears, her eyes met Simon’s. She held it up for him to see. He gave her a thumbs up.
Everyone, even Hector, agreed to make camp for the rest of the night.
As they laid out their poor excuses for beds, Simon was relieved that his dream from the night before seemed to be just that. A dream. Whatever lies he was supposed to unveil would have to remain lies for now.
