by D. C. Gomez
“Madison just took some of Sageri’s health potion,” Lightning told him, sounding really far away.
“Oh no,” Thunder answered.
“Madison, can you hear me?” Sir Bertrant asked. He sounded far away, too, but his hand on my back told me he stood right beside me.
“Just shake your head if you can hear me,” Sir Bertrant instructed and I slowly moved my head.
“That’s a start,” Thunder said in the distance. “Why did she take it?”
“I told her to because I could sense that she was hurting,” Lightning told his brother.
“Are you trying to kill her?” Thunder asked, his tone harsh even though he sounded like he was shouting from a cavern on the other side of a field.
“No…” I said, unable to form complete sentences to make them stop fighting.
“You need to drink water, Madison. And you two need to stop arguing,” Sir Bertrant announced. “We are going to get you off Lightning and help you drink. Don’t throw up on me.”
“Huh?” I mumbled the word, knowing it wasn’t coherent at all. I couldn’t speak around my numb tongue, and my head felt so heavy I could hardly hold it up. My limbs wouldn’t cooperate with me, either.
A few moments later, the world around me rocked, swaying so violently that my stomach tossed and turned, making me understand Sir Bertrant’s comment. Everything wanted to come back up. Holding my breath, I commanded my stomach to still. As if it had listened, everything stopped, the tornado dissipating and leaving the heat of the sun shining on my face. When I opened my eyes, I had been spread out on something soft.
“Madison, drink.” Sir Bertrant pulled my mouth open.
Before I could react, freezing water slid down my mouth.
“Don’t fight it Madison. Just drink,” Sir Bertrant whispered in my ear.
Where had Sir Bertrant gotten that water from? It started out freezing in my mouth and then it burned as it went down my esophagus. I wanted to scream but more water poured down my throat, rendering me unable.
“How much did she take?” Sir Bertrant asked.
“Just a couple of drops. She put it on her hand first,” Lightning replied
“Thank the Goddess. Just a little more Madison.” Sir Bertrant poured the water in shorter intervals now, and when he had spoken, his voice had been clearer and sounded much closer than before.
The water stopped a few minutes later. I took a couple of deep breaths and the burning/freezing sensation ended. Next, Sir Bertrant dumped water over my face, and when I took another deep breath, I could smell the wildflowers in the air. The sun on my face felt hotter and I could even feel the water drops running down my neck. I slowly opened my eyes and the world was bright with color. Thunder and Lightning were staring down at me and they were gorgeous. Both horses were shining with a glow I had never seen before.
“Madison, can you hear me?” Sir Bertrant asked.
I turned slowly and my gaze landed on his bright eyes, then moved to his younger features. His eyes glimmered, a strange glow surrounding them, making his expression mischievous.
I shook my arms and legs, trying to get the tingling in them to stop. “You look like you are up to no good. What happened?”
“Our dear witch in training has some of the deadliest potions ever. If you survive the treatment, you will be feeling great. It won’t take long,” Sir Bertrant told me, helping me sit up.
“Long for what?” I asked, playing with the brightest blade of grass I had ever seen. In fact, everything became more vibrant, as if energy radiated off things in waves and blasted into my vision.
“Take another deep breath and close your eyes,” Sir Bertrant told me.
I didn’t want to. I wanted to play with the insects flying around and talking to me.
“Madison, close your eyes and take deep breaths.”
Always orders from him. Never any fun.
I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. The tingling sensation stopped, and the sun didn’t feel as hot on my face anymore.
“Can you hear me Madison?” Sir Bertrant asked, his words spaced out and really loud to my sensitive ears.
“Why are you yelling?” I asked him with my eyes closed.
“Thank you, Goddess. Open your eyes now,” Sir Bertrant told me in a lower and calmer tone.
I slowly opened my eyes and the world was normal again. After the brightness from before, the world faded and turned a little dull. The horses were still beautiful, just not breathtaking.
“Wow, now I know what people feel when they do LSD,” I told Sir Bertrant.
“I have no idea what that is, but too much of Sageri’s health will kill you,” he told me as he helped me to my feet. “No more potions without an adult around, is that clear Lightning?”
“I was just trying to help,” Lightning whined.
“Don’t yell at him. He was right to tell me to take it. I was hurting,” I defended.
“I expect recklessness from Thunder.” Sir Bertrant glared at both horses. “Not from Lightning.”
“Hey, Lightning has a wild side too,” Thunder countered, but it wasn’t much of a defense.
“How do you feel?” Sir Bertrant asked me.
The pain in my lower back was gone, and my legs didn’t ache a single bit. I also had so much energy I could run a marathon.
“That is amazing!” I felt so good I wanted to do cartwheels in the grass to celebrate.
“Yes it is, but remember that magic comes with a price,” Sir Bertrant told me.
“Is my hair going to fall out? Or will my skin turn purple?” I asked, taking quick inventory of my hair and face by running my hand over it all.
“Told you, overly dramatic,” Lightning said, chuckling.
“No,” Sir Bertrant replied, climbing back on Thunder. “When you do fall asleep, you will be out for at least a day. Let’s go and take advantage of all your energy.”
“That’s it? I can handle that.” If that was all, we were good. I climbed on Lightning a lot faster than I’d been able to the whole trip.
This energy boost was better than any energy drink on earth. I took another deep breath and my head cleared up even more. I was alert, focused, and nothing hurt. Oh yeah, I could handle a long night of sleep to feel this good.
With one last glance at me, Sir Bertrant took off at a much quicker pace than we’d been going.
The terrain was rougher the farther east we rode, and it slowed us down. Just after we ate lunch we got on the road, eventually reaching some strange mountain formation. The rocks had a blueish tint and the formation leaned at a forty-five-degree angle. Now I knew why Sir Bertrant had made me pack a jacket. Back at the cottage, I thought he had lost his mind. The weather was in the seventies at the house. On this strange mountain, the temperature had already dropped to forty degrees, maybe fifties.
Grabbing his jacket, Sir Bertrant eyed me, so I grabbed mine and put it on. The last thing I wanted was to catch a cold and have to drink another of Sageri’s potions.
As we got closer to the mountain, a gorgeous waterfall came into view. A small river with crystal-clear water started at the base of the waterfall. Sir Bertrant dismounted. My dried lunch was stuck to my stomach and the water looked so appetizing. Sir Bertrant was standing next to the river when I joined him. I was ready to drink when he stopped me.
“Don’t make any sudden moves, we are being watched.” Sir Bertrant barely moved his lips to speak.
I froze, searching around without moving my head, but I found no one.
“Where?” This place was deserted besides the waterfall and the river.
“We have arrived at the entrance to the dragon’s lair.” Sir Bertrant pointed at a rock formation at the base of the mountain with his chin.
As I focused on the rocks, a shadow broke away from the mountain.
“Holy cow.” I gasped as the shadow transformed to a solid form. “Is that the dragon? I thought he would be bigger.”
“I wish,” Sir Ber
trant told me. “That’s the guardian, my dear page, and it’s your job to dispatch him.
“What?” I screamed.
“Keep your voice down,” Sir Bertrant told me.
“Oh please, I’m sure he can hear us the same way he sees us,” I told him, making a grand gesture to point at the thing in front of us. “What do you mean that I have to dispatch him?”
“Simple, knights battle dragons and their assistants take care of the help.” Sir Bertrant put his hands on his belt, making him resemble Peter Pan.
“Since when?” I asked, not liking this plan one bit.
“Since forever. This was your idea, remember? Go dispatch the guardian.” Sir Bertrant pushed me forward. “You should also take your weapons off or he will be forced to cut off your head for violating the rules.”
“Cut off my head? You guys have insane rules. Have you considered writing them down for pages in training?” I took off the dagger and the knife and handed them to Sir Bertrant.
“We don’t have to because most pages attend the castle for their first year before joining a knight,” Sir Bertrant said, mocking me. “You were the one who decided to become an apprentice without the formal training.”
“Remind me to kill Sageri when we get back,” I told him.
“First, you need to survive this, then you can go about threating witches,” Lightning told me, walking away from us.
“Where are you two going?” I asked both horses.
“Dragon lairs are no place for defenseless animals,” Thunder told me.
“We are going to wait down the stream where it’s safe,” Lightning concluded.
“You know there is nothing defenseless about those two,” I told Sir Bertrant, who was waving at the horses casually.
“Stop stalling and get to it. I don’t want to be here when night falls.” The idea of being at a dragon’s den at night was more horrifying than battling his aid.
“Moving.” I jogged towards my enemy.
I reached the edge of the mountain and the Guardian lowered his hood. I was ready for a monster, not the Geico’s Gecko, only this one was seven feet tall and wearing a bathrobe with a hood. The gecko’s oval eyes on the side of his head were moving independent of each other. I wasn’t sure which one to follow so I focused on his nose, realizing if that started moving, I was doomed.
“You are here to see the master?” the Gecko asked me in a scratchy, nasally voice. It was like hearing someone run sandpaper down a wall and trying to make words from it.
“Yes we are,” I told him, waiting for further instructions.
“You must defeat me in a magical duel to gain passage,” the Gecko announced, dropping his bathrobe to the ground.
All he wore under the bathrobe was a belt. What exactly was he keeping up? He wasn’t wearing any pants. I started to ask but he began moving in circles. I had never seen a magical duel, so I imagined he might whip out a wand, Harry Potter style. An interpretive dance with no music was not my idea of a challenge. The Gecko waved his arms a few more times, turned in circles, and threw some hip dips in that made me wonder if he had any bones.
“How good are your skills, little one?” the Gecko asked in his scratchy voice.
“Listen here pal, I’m a pro at Just Dance on the Wii. I got this.” That was the only game my grandma ever let me play. She figured I could exercise and learn coordination all at once. I’m not sure why she didn’t sign me up for Kung Fu instead.
I bowed to my opponent as gracefully as possible, like they did in old martial arts movies. After a quick stretch, I proceeded to go through my own routine of dance moves. I started with the Cabbage Patch, moved to the Sprinkler, added some Twerking for hip movement. I wasn’t very good with that one, but I was sure he had no clue what I was doing. I dropped it low, bounced back to the Floss and killed it with the Moonwalk.
“Deuces. Take that Gecko, bring it!” I was on fire. All I needed was to do a back flip with a dismount and my Olympic performance would have been a solid ten.
“How is it possible?” the gecko muttered.
“I take that as I won and you lost, correct?” I asked the poor guardian, who tried to imitate the Floss and then the Moonwalk.
“Don’t rush it, little one. It took me years to master the last one.”
Not stopping, he continued trying to imitate the moves I’d used on him. He was going to hurt himself if he kept that up.
“The spells I can perform with those moves are endless. You must teach me,” said the gecko.
“If I don’t die talking to your master, I’ll teach you any moves you like,” I told my new favorite Gecko.
“I will be waiting,” the gecko replied and gave me a low bow. The rock formation behind him parted, making a large archway.
Sir Bertrant came running towards us carrying my weapons. He handed me the dagger and the knife and gave the Gecko a quick salute.
“Sorry you lost, Guardian. It was close,” Sir Bertrant told him.
The Gecko moved further away from the entrance, still practicing my moves.
“You never told me you knew magic,” Sir Bertrant said.
“What magic? I just did a few dance moves,” I replied.
“That is not how people dance around here. The temple priestesses and old-magic users do moves like that to call forth spirits and spells.” He pointed at the Gecko as he spoke.
“I have never seen Sageri do any moves when she makes spells,” I told him.
“Sageri is training to be an earth witch. They use plants and natural materials as part of their incantations. The spells I’m talking about are more primal,” Sir Bertrant explained, but I didn’t understand what he was trying to say.
“Sounds complicated. Either way, I got us in. Give me five,” I told Sir Bertrant, raising my hand and waiting for the tap.
“What are you doing?” Sir Bertrant asked.
“You are supposed to hit my hand with yours as a victory celebration.” I demonstrated the act with both of my hands.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes. You raise your hand this time.” I could tell he wasn’t too eager, but he did it. I slapped his hand and he did nothing. “We need to work on that. Let’s go.”
“You are a strange one Madison,” Sir Bertrant told me. “Now it’s my turn. Get behind me and stay close.”
“My pleasure,” I replied.
I was not looking forward to wandering around some creepy cave, and I was glad I wasn’t going first. Sir Bertrant had his sword at the ready and I unsheathed my dagger. I gave the Gecko one last wave as he stared at me, and he waved back. I could have even sworn he smiled at me, but I could have been wrong.
When I glanced forward again, Sir Bertrant had already entered the cave, so I chased after him.
Compared to the brightness we left behind us, the inside of the cave was dingy and humid, with a temperature of at least ten degrees colder. Moisture thickened the air, making the stones we walked on smooth and slick, causing my feet to slip on them over and over. Sir Bertrant moved like a mountain lion down the cave. I sounded like an elephant charging behind him. The tunnel we were following made a sharp right, and Sir Bertrant stopped at the entrance.
“Whatever you do, don’t take anything,” Sir Bertrant told me when I glanced around him.
“Like what?” I asked, not seeing a thing in front of us.
“You will see,” Sir Bertrant told me.
His cryptic explanations were irritating, and I fought the urge to pinch him.
The tunnel opened to a large, dark cavern. As soon as we stepped inside, torches lit the inside like tiny blazing infernos scattered everywhere, but with a built-in motion sensor. The deeper we walked inside the cave, the more torches came on. I was impressed.
“We need these torches back at the house,” I told Sir Bertrant.
“No, we don’t. Those are enchanted, and I’m not willing to give up my soul for fire,” Sir Bertrant said, not slowing his pace. Normally, I was the dramati
c one, but he’d stepped it up a notch with that response.
“Well, when you put it that way, I think I’ll just stick with matches,” I replied back.
“Remember, don’t take anything,” Sir Bertrant repeated.
Before I could ask what he was talking about, we reached a seven-foot-tall mound of gold. Not like the gold bricks you saw on TV, these were coins, stones, and all sorts of crazy shapes. As the torches continued to light themselves, I saw more and more mounds of golds. Some mounds were made up of precious stones. Others were mixed with gold, stones, and animal-shaped statues made of precious metals. The cavern felt like it went on forever.
“What is all this stuff here?” I asked Sir Bertrant.
“Shhhh. This is dragon treasure,” Sir Bertrant hissed, dropping to the ground in front of me.
“What are you doing?” I asked looking at Sir Bertrant on the floor.
“The dragon could be anywhere. We must be prepared.” Sir Bertrant sniffed the ground, getting closer to the mounds of jewels.
“I have a feeling that crawling around is not going to help us. Besides, why does he collect all this stuff? It’s not like he is going shopping anytime soon.” My eyes landed on the mound of gold.
“Because they are pretty,” a male voice whispered from behind us.
“Ahhhh,” I screamed, pretty sure I had peed my pants from the fright.
“Get behind me Madison!” Sir Bertrant shouted, trying to get back on his feet.
“A girl page, well that’s different,” the man said in a melodious tone.
“Show yourself! “Sir Bertrant shouted.
“Are you sure that’s a wise request?” I asked him, trying to peak over his shoulder.
“Not at all, little one, not at all,” the voice said, this time from the opposite side.
We quickly turned around to face a tall, handsome man walking towards us wearing a sparkling purple cape and a striking red suit. He was taller than Sir Bertrant by a few inches, had a strong build, and sported jet-black hair that made his purple/reddish eyes pop. I couldn’t stop staring at him. He moved so fluid it was like water had taken shape and become a man.