Forced Magic

by Jerod Lollar

  “What? You think that’s my fault?” I asked.

  I sat there looking at this dragon, not knowing whether to be grateful for it not eating me, or angry for it getting me in this mess.

  “This morning you were just a cool looking rock. Then you had to grow on my leg and turn my life upside down. So I guess the rock was an egg with you inside. You used me to hatch didn’t you? You kind of fed on me and hatched."

  The dragon just sat there staring at me as I talked, its eyes continuing to change colors.

  “Well let’s get one thing straight dragon. I’m not your mommy. “

  Again it just sat there staring. A little puff of red smoke came out of its snout.

  “I never heard of a dragon hatching like that before. I’ve read a lot of stories about dragons and I have never heard anything like that.”

  The dragon looked down at the now discarded bag of burgers. It began to poke at the bag as if it was hoping one burger made it out of the mess.

  “Are you with that fairy? Is she part of this? Did she a cause you to hatch?"

  No response.

  “Ok then. Thanks for nothing," I said, annoyed with the dragon.

  Picking up the ruined bag of burgers, the dragon threw them at me, hitting me in the chest. I got the message. I felt a little embarrassed.

  “Uh, thanks for the food,” I said, “It really helped me.”

  The dragon nodded its head.

  “Can you talk?” I asked.

  The dragon tilted its head to the side and huffed. A thrill of excitement went through me as I realized I was actually communicating with a dragon. I smiled and to my surprise the dragon smiled back. Its wide toothy grin was almost comical, if not for the rows and rows of sharp looking teeth. It opened its mouth and let out a little puff of green smoke. I had no doubt in my mind that it could easily bite through a car tire with those teeth and jaws. I counted myself lucky that, in our little scuffles, it had not torn me apart.

  I began to look at my new companion. Its whole body radiated power and strength, from its short front paws, to the powerful back legs. Each claw was equipped with curved talons. A perfect fighting force of nature. I felt a little stupid at the thought of how I yelled at it earlier and he didn’t tear me apart. But I still didn’t know why. The only thing that I could think of, is that in some way, this magnificent creature felt some kind of gratitude. After all, it did attach itself to my leg and, in some way I didn’t understand, used me to hatch.

  The dragon was unfolding its wings as if trying to get used to them. The tunnel was too small to let them out completely. I reminded myself that it wasn’t more than a few hours old. I wanted to think of it as friendly. At least I wanted to believe it didn’t want to kill me. But with a shiver down my body, I remembered that I was naked, bald, and stuck in a tunnel under a busy street, not to mention the incredible pain I experienced when the dragon hatched. I shuddered again and thanked God that I must have been knocked out as the dragon hatched out of my leg. The nightmare must have been a reaction to the dragon tearing itself from my leg.

  I put all these thoughts aside and decided I needed to get out of here. Not sure if the dragon would let me leave, I decided that by just talking to it I might get it to let me go.

  "Sorry about the burgers,” I said.

  The dragon looked at me. Its head nodded slightly. Having nothing to lose, I asked the most important question I could think of.

  “Um, do you know what is going on?”

  The dragon’s head tilted slightly to the side. Its shoulders moved up and down. It had just shrugged its shoulders. It was amazing. This creature could understand everything I was saying to it. I gave it a little thought and then went for broke. “Were you trying to kill me? “ It stared at me, its eyes changing color again. It was almost like watching two big Christmas lights changing colors at a very fast pace. After a few moments its eyes went back to green and its head shook a slow 'No'. It seemed as if it was not sure of what it was supposed to do.

  “You’re just as confused by all of this as I am?"

  Its head looked down at the ground.

  “You both seem to be a little confused,” said an amused voice. “I think I can help."

  The dragon and I jumped. We quickly turned to the mouth of the tunnel, and from the remaining light of the day, I could make out the bobcat from earlier. Another one had joined him. They were both laying on a duffle bag. The voice had come from one of them.

  Chapter 7

  “Did you just talk?” I asked.

  The bobcat opened its mouth again and the amused voice came out.

  “If you mean the bobcat, then the answer is no,” said the voice, “I am talking through the bobcat. It’s kind of like a speaker right now. My name is Johnathen. I am a wizard and I have been looking for the dragon all day. Not until my bobcat friend here reported to me about you, did I realize I was searching for you as well, my friend.”

  The bobcat closed its mouth as the voice of Johnathen the wizard stopped talking. It was quiet now in the tunnel. The only sound I could hear was the sound of the dragon’s breath. I took a guess that Johnathen was waiting for me to say something.

  “Why were you looking for the dragon?” I asked. The dragon looked at me, its eyes changing to blue for a second. I guessed it was grateful to me for asking the question.

  “Well, my friend, that is actually a long and complicated story. I can sense when a dragon is about to hatch. I try to locate them and keep them from harm. They are not seen much in this part of the world. Unfortunately, I can only detect them when they are emerging from the host. It is amazing that you survived the experience. It must have been very painful. I have never heard of a host surviving before,”

  “What do you mean? I was supposed to die?” I asked.

  The bobcat laughed. “I can see you are having a hard time with all of this. It would be easier to explain if I could see you in person. I will tell you that you have been changed. You are now part of the magic world. There are however, those in the magic world when they discover you are still alive will not be happy.”

  “Wait, what? What are you talking about? Changed? In what way? Who won’t be happy?”

  “You survived a dragon hatching. You have changed. Haven’t you noticed that you are able to see my bobcat messengers? You are in a dark tunnel and the sun has gone down. “

  He was right. I was able to see in the dark. I looked over at the dragon. Not only could I see it, but I could see the smoke coming out of its nose. It was green. I could even read the graffiti on the walls of the tunnel.

  “Amazing,” I mumbled to myself. This was like my comic books and fantasy novels. I had gained some kind of power. My heart was pounding. I was geeking out.

  "Take my advice and come see me,” said the bobcat, “Both you and the dragon will need my help.”

  I looked over at the dragon. It looked at me for a moment and slightly nodded its head. I breathed a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have to go see this guy alone.

  “Ok, we will come see you, but before I do, I have to go home and get some clothes. I have to explain to my brother where I have been all day.”

  “I’m sorry friend," said Johnathen, “you can’t go home. You won’t be welcome there now. Understand that your life is completely changed and it can be very dangerous for your loved ones to even be around you.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  The excitement at my new night vision faded away as the wizard's words sunk in.

  “What is going on? I never asked for this. First the fairy . . ."

  “You saw a fairy?" the wizard interrupted. “When did you see a fey?”

  “Yes, it started with a fairy, that led to me being here naked and bald, talking to a bobcat, with a dragon that won’t let me leaves this tunnel!”

  By the time I got to the end of my sentence I was yelling. I was tired, still hungry, and trying to maintain a grasp on reality.

  “Are you sure it was a fairy?” asked t
he wizard.

  “She had wings and she was flying. Yes I am pretty sure she was a fairy!” I yelled.

  The bobcat sat there for a second. “You should have told me this before. You need to see me right away. You both are in great danger. I will give you as much protection as I can. Take the dragon and fly to where I am. “

  “Where are you?”

  The bobcats stood up. “At Reid Park. Go to the pond and I will meet you there. Keep your head down and talk to no one. I don’t think the fey realizes you are still alive.”

  The first bobcat nudged the bag it was carrying, toward me. “There is a gift for you in the duffle bag, now hurry.”

  The bobcats turned and ran off into the night, leaving me and the dragon staring after them as they ran off. I approached the bag hoping it would have some clothes in it. Opening the duffle bag I discovered a collar made of leather with silver and gold studs. Obviously it was for the dragon. Cautiously, I showed it to the dragon. It took the collar and studied it for a second, then dropped it.

  “You don’t want it? I think you should take it.”

  The dragon just stared at me with green eyes.

  “You might offend him.”

  Again the dragon stared. I wondered if it understood anything I was saying. I had no idea how I could convince the dragon to do what I thought it should do. I shrugged my shoulders and looked in the duffle bag again. There was a note, which read:

  “It is an old tradition for a wizard to give a gift of great value when introducing himself to someone for the first time. I hope this seven million dollars will help you adjust to your new life. Sincerely Johnathen”

  Looking in the bag I could see it stuffed with money.

  Chapter 8

  So, let’s go down the list.

  One: a fairy from my past may be trying to kill me. Two: A dragon hatched while attached to my leg. Three: A wizard has just given me a bag full of cash. Yup, this was officially the strangest day of my life.

  I stood there in stunned silence. One shocking blow after another, in such a short time frame, took its toll on me. Everything from the fairy, to the dragon, to a bag of money from a wizard seemed too much for one day.

  I looked around the tunnel. There was a cold breeze and my body shivered a little. I felt very tired and a little freaked out. The last words of this wizard were a warning. There must still be a fairy out there waiting for me to show myself, and, as soon as I did, I would be dead. I knelt down and looked out of the tunnel. I heard a dog bark. I jumped at the sound and the dragon let out a grunt. It moved restlessly, head swaying side to side as it made its way to the exit. It had fought me to keep me there, but after hearing what Johnathen had to say, seemed eager to leave. It was if it had been waiting for some kind of information to decide what to do.

  It walked out of the tunnel and turned to look at me. I stepped toward the exit feeling very vulnerable. I felt exposed. I didn’t know what would be worse, the fairy finding me and killing me, or the fairy finding me and seeing me naked. My face flushed at the idea and I knew I wasn’t going anywhere without clothes. The dragon was out of the tunnel, stretching its wings, getting ready to fly. It seemed much bigger with its wings spread out.

  “Hey! Wait a minute! I can’t go anywhere like this.”

  The dragon looked at me with its green eyes glowing. As silly as it seemed, I knew the dragon could understand me. The way it listened to the wizard, the way it reacted to my anger, how it had unwrapped those burgers (“How did it get those burgers?”) I knew it could understand what I was saying.

  "Come on, you need to get me something to wear. You burned my clothes off so you have to find me new ones. Do that invisible thing you did and swipe some. Oh! “

  I had a moment of inspiration. I reached into the duffle bag and pulled out a handful of money. I was hit with amazement at the idea of how much I had now. Seven million dollars! It felt strange having all this money given to me. I made a promise to myself to return it to Johnathen as soon as I could. I felt weird using any of it, but this was an emergency.

  "Leave this money behind when you grab some clothes, ok?"

  The dragon continued to stare at me, unmoving. I was wondering what it was waiting for. Then it hit me. I didn’t want to believe that was what it was waiting for, but I didn’t know what else it could be.

  I gritted my teeth and said “Please.”

  The dragon stepped over to me and took the money. It should have struck me as odd that it would understand what money was. He looked at me and disappeared. No, it wasn’t that it disappeared, it was that its scales changed color. They became the same color of the dark night skyline. It didn’t have the ability to disappear, it had the ability to camouflage itself. Like a chameleon. With a rush of air and a moment of silver flashing of its wings, it flew off into the night.

  As soon as the dragon left I regretted it. I stood at the mouth of the tunnel and held the duffel bag to my body. I was not feeling particularly brave and I felt very alone. Every sound was intensified and I jumped every time a car drove past me on the street above. As I was just about ready to abandon the whole idea of waiting for clothes, I prepared myself to run out to the street and flag down the first car I saw. That is when the dragon returned, carrying a garbage sack in its claws. It had another bag of burgers in its mouth. After dropping the garbage bag in front of me, it took a burger out of the fast food bag and tossed it to me with its mouth. I caught it in midair, the whole time amazed at what this dragon could do. I ripped the paper off of the burger and practically crammed the whole thing into my mouth. It was a little surprising to me that I was so hungry again.

  “Thanks,” I said to the dragon through a mouthful of burger.

  I reached into the garbage bag to see what was in there. I pulled out a pair of purple sweatpants, two mismatched flip-flops (one yellow, one blue), a blue t-shirt with “It’s all good” written across the chest, and a red stocking cap. I started to put the clothes on. It wasn’t until I put the stocking cap on that I remembered that I was now bald. My hand went up to my face feeling the lack of eyebrows. I moaned a little bit and wondered if my hair and eyebrows would ever grow back. I looked down at the clothes the dragon had picked out for me. The sweatpants were twice my size. The shirt was too small, stretching tightly across my chest. And the red stocking cap had a fuzzy ball on the top. The dragon seemed to be laughing at me. It had picked this ensemble on purpose. I knew I had to look ridiculous. The jerk had played a joke on me.

  “This is what you got for me?”

  The dragon chuckled. Blue and green smoke came out of his snout. I was not going to let this beast get the best of me.

  “I guess it's too much for me to think you would have any sense of style. You probably can’t even see colors.”

  The dragon stopped laughing. Its eyes narrowed and the smoke started to look a little red.

  “And this stupid hat? Only an idiot would wear this.”

  I took off the hat and threw it at the dragon. It landed right on its snout. With eyes changing color to purple and crossing to look at the red fuzzy balled cap, the creature looked so comically surprised that I started laughing.

  “Yeah,” I laughed, “I think you should wear it dragon. It looks much better on you.”

  It walked over to me slowly, staring me in the eyes. The red cap still dangled on the end of its snout. I was standing behind the duffle bag, the dragon now on the other side, its eyes turned green. Reaching up, the creature pulled the stocking cap off of its nose and handed it to me across the duffle bag. I had stopped laughing not knowing what to expect next. A smile played across its face. You could see all the teeth in that smile. My blood ran cold. I had reached the end of my rope with this beast. I didn’t dare move out of fear of what it would do to me next. Its mouth opened a little bit and a short jet of green flame shot out, straight at the money in the duffle bag. It caught fire and before I realized what I was doing, I was beating it out with my hands. I got the small fire under c
ontrol quickly. By the time the flames were out, the dragon had walked down the wash a little way, and before I could stop it, the dragon launched into the air, not even bothering to camouflage, and flew off into the night.

  I could have kicked myself. I was alone again and I got the idea that the dragon was not coming back. I stood there searching the night sky for any sign of the dragon. It was no use. I was on my own.

  Chapter 9

  I had decided to leave the wash. I needed to get moving. I knew that Johnathen wanted me to stick with the dragon but I blew that.

  “What is wrong with me?” I mumbled as I made my way to the side walk. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. Not like me. I needed that dragon." I thought as I walked. “That dragon could have killed me at least four times over and I still pushed it.”

  As I started walking down the sidewalk, I noticed I was getting some strange looks from people. Who could blame them? I looked like a clown in these clothes. Dumb dragon. I stopped walking and stood there, just out of sight of the grocery store where earlier I had made such a mess of things.

  “What am I going to do?” I mumbled to myself. ”I have to get past the store. If I’m recognized as the guy who caused the damage I’m in deep trouble.”

  I quickly looked around when I realized I was talking out loud to myself, embarrassed by my mumbling, even though no one was there to hear me. I took a deep breath and decided to move forward. I hoped I looked different enough that no one would recognize me. It was a long shot but it was all I had.

  Walking as normally as possible, I walked past the front of the store. “Maybe they won’t recognize me.” I thought. “I’m bald now and my goatee and eyebrows are gone.”

  Looking up at the darkening sky, I hoped I would catch a glimpse of the dragon's silver scales in the night sky.

  Getting near the store front, I saw my brother's car. He was probably looking for me. My cell phone was destroyed so I never got to call him. Sometimes, when he would get off work, he would look for me at the store coffee shop and give me a ride home. I started to head toward my brother's car and then stopped. I stood there trying to figure out what to do. Johnathen's words of not being able to go home came back to me. There might be a chance that my brother could be in danger if I tried to get in contact with him. I looked up at the night sky wishing the dragon would return. It could be helpful to have a dragon on my side. Like it or not, I knew it was better to have the dragon with me.