Dragon Charmers: #1 Mountains of Fire

by Linda McNabb

CHAPTER FOUR - SEEING SPELL

  Zared’s shoulders sagged. The silver robe looked as though it hung on a coat hanger rather than a powerful wizard, as the old man turned his back to the king. His eyes glazed over completely and he began to shuffle from the hall. Logan’s heart sank.

  ‘Stop wizard!’ the king bellowed.

  Zared ignored him.

  The king signalled to the guards, who hurried forward to apprehend the wizard and drag him back before the king.

  ‘What is this insolence?’ the king demanded, clearly shocked by the wizard’s reaction. He wasn’t used to people ignoring him. The wizard stared blankly past the king, totally silent. ‘If you don’t answer I’ll have you thrown in the dungeon!’

  ‘He’s not well, Your Majesty,’ Logan burst out, blowing his low profile. ‘He has turns like this now and then. He’ll be fine in a few hours.’

  Logan wanted to add that it was the mention of dragons that had done it, but his courage failed him as the king narrowed his eyes and stared at the outspoken youth.

  ‘You’re that boy from the dragon farm,’ he said slowly. ‘You just stood there and let the red dragon take my son!’

  ‘Get that coward out of here!’ Prince Myles ordered loudly. The guards let go of the old wizard and headed for Logan. They grabbed him by the arms and picked him up as if he were a feather.

  ‘The wizard has an apprentice, doesn’t he? I heard tell that he has been training one for years,’ the king said, to no one in particular, rubbing his chin thoughtfully and sitting back in his throne. ‘We should get the apprentice to do it if the old man is gone in the head.’

  ‘Logan is the apprentice,’ Alyxa said, grabbing hold of the guard nearest her as he helped carry Logan from the room. ‘Your guards are removing the apprentice.’

  ‘He’s the apprentice wizard?’ Prince Myles scowled, as if he had just tasted something very sour. ‘So why didn’t he stop the dragon?’

  ‘The attack was too sudden. There was no time,’ Alyxa replied smoothly. In fact Logan was wondering the same thing himself right at that moment. It had never occurred to him that any spell he knew could help.

  ‘Enough!’ the king snapped. ‘Bring the boy back.’

  The guards hauled Logan back to the foot of the dais and dropped him heavily onto the hard stone floor. The king moved forward to sit on the very edge of his throne, and leaned down so his face was right next to Logan’s.

  ‘I want that seeing spell and I want it now,’ he said in a low voice that was more threatening than his normal bellowing.

  Logan swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and searched his memory desperately for any recollection of learning a seeing spell. After what seemed like hours, but was really only a few seconds, he knew without a doubt that he could not do it. He had never even heard of such a spell — and, even if he had, there was no way he would be able to do it without a spell book.

  ‘I will need to go back to the cottage for some things,’ he croaked.

  ‘Don’t you just wave your arms and shout nonsense?’ the king growled back. ‘Maybe you’re not really his apprentice. Find me someone else who can do it!’

  ‘I’ve lived with him all my life,’ Logan assured the king. ‘There is nobody else.’

  ‘Then I want it by sunrise,’ King Aemon ordered flatly. ‘No excuses.’

  Logan nodded and suppressed the shudder of fear at what might happen if he failed — which was a real possibility. As he was about to back away, Zared came up to stand next to him. The old wizard looked around, frowning in confusion. ‘Why have you changed the banners? Why are you sitting in the king’s throne? Where are Jarret and Rhia?’

  ‘The old man is insane,’ Prince Myles muttered, looking disgusted and shaking his head. ‘Take him away from here.’

  Logan took hold of Zared and began to pull him gently back down the hall. Zared tried to struggle free, but Logan kept a firm hold.

  'But I have to warn them!’ Zared looked around desperately at all the faces, then back at the huge banner above the throne. His face went pale and slack with fear. ‘They’re not to be trusted...’

  Alyxa came up and took the old wizard’s other arm and helped guide him from the great hall. Logan was more worried about Zared right now than the impossible task that the king had just set him. He had never seen the wizard so upset and scared. Normally he just faded into a state of forgetfulness.

  ‘We have to get him back to the cottage,’ Alyxa said, sounding equally worried.

  ‘And before nightfall,’ Logan added, as they left the keep and walked out into the courtyard where the horse and cart stood waiting. The sun was already settling on the horizon and Logan quickly calculated how long the journey would take by horse and cart. His heart sank as he realised what he had to do. He took a deep breath before turning away from the cart;; ‘We’re going to have to fly.’

  ‘You’re going to fly?’ Alyxa repeated in surprise. ‘You both hate flying.’

  ‘Zared hates the dark more than he hates flying. If he was sane enough to choose he would do the same thing.’ Logan was walking faster now, wanting it to be over as soon as possible. ‘Can you find us a ride?’

  ‘Sure,’ Alyxa agreed quickly. ‘Do you want the big green I came on or a fast blue one?’

  ‘The faster the better,’ Logan muttered as he glanced at the sinking sun. His whole body was tingling with a coldness that belied the warm summer weather.

  ‘This one will do,’ Alyxa said as they reached the dragon landing pad which was in the middle of the courtyard. She stopped by a blue dragon that was smaller than Prince Myles’s dragon. Over in the stables a howling cry made Logan look around sharply, and even Zared frowned as he searched for the source of the noise.

  ‘That’s Prince Erik’s blue. It’s missing him,’ Alyxa said a little sadly. Then she turned to the dragon master who held a clipboard, marking the coming and goings from the castle. ‘We need to borrow this dragon.’

  ‘And who’s going to bring it back?’ the dragon master asked a little shortly.

  ‘I charmed it. It’ll fly straight back here as soon as I tell it to,’ Alyxa assured him patiently. ‘It’ll be back in the time it takes you to write your report on that clipboard.’

  The dragon master grunted and nodded reluctantly. Logan was feeling even less sure about the flight now, the closer it got. It had taken nearly two hours by wagon to reach the castle and they were going to do the return trip in a few dozen breaths.

  By the time Logan had decided he wouldn’t do it, it was too late. Alyxa had hurried them up the small steps which led to the loading platform and whistled to the dragon. It hopped over obediently and settled in front of them. Logan felt the safety of solid ground vanish as he was pushed onto the narrow back of the glittering blue and purple dragon. Zared didn’t make any protests as he was seated in front of Logan; the wizard appeared to have sunk so deep he wasn’t aware of anything.

  Alyxa leapt onto the front, just in front of the huge wing muscles, and turned back to talk to them. ‘Hang on to the riding straps. It can be a bumpy ride back there.’

  Logan gulped again but tried not to look as scared as he felt. He put his arms around the old wizard and grasped the leather straps in front of Zared. It was a stretch that hurt his arms, but he doubted the wizard could hold the straps even if they could get him to understand what they wanted him to do.

  ‘Ready?’ Without waiting for a reply, Alyxa pulled firmly on the lead straps and the blue dragon shot straight up into the air.

  Logan felt the breath ripped from his lungs as he was crushed against the old man’s back. After a second they stopped going up and Logan realised the wizard had instinctively grabbed the straps and was holding himself firmly on the blue’s back. He had obviously done this before! Logan moved his arms back, one at a time, to hold on to a closer strap, trying not to look to the side or down. The back of the dragon was moving up and down in huge sweeps, as the wings rose, cupped the air and drove down with immen
se power.

  Logan recited an old nursery rhyme to take his mind off the fact that he was in the air. He had repeated it only twice by the time they began descending at an alarming rate. A few seconds later the dragon landed, almost without a bump, right in the front yard of the cottage.

  ‘There, that didn’t take long,’ Alyxa said with a grin as she slid off and held out her hand to Logan. He refused her help, and instead prised the wizard’s hands loose and guided him off the slippery, cool back of the docile dragon. Alyxa gave the dragon a firm, but not hard, slap on its rump. ‘Go home!’

  The blue leapt up into the sky and was a blurred dot in the dusk within a few seconds. Alyxa followed them into the cottage and helped the old wizard into his comfy armchair by the fireplace. She watched as Logan hurried around the room lighting the dozens of lamps and shutting the heavy curtains.

  ‘Would you like some help?’ she offered. She obviously didn’t understand why they liked so many lamps, but she didn’t say anything this time. Logan nodded and she helped him light the whole cottage before they went into the workroom, leaving the wizard gazing at the empty fireplace.

  ‘So now we need to find the spell,’ Logan said with a heavy sigh. His legs were still wobbly from the dragon ride, and his hands were shaking so much that he had had trouble lighting the lamps, but he knew he had to concentrate on the task ahead.

  ‘You mean you don’t know it?’ Alyxa asked incredulously and looked at the dozens of spell books scattered around the room. ‘Which book is it in?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ Logan admitted. ‘But we’ve got till morning to find it. Maybe Zared will be feeling better by then and he can cast the spell.’

  Alyxa’s expression said that she didn’t think there was much chance of that happening. She picked up a brown leather book, decorated in gold, and opened it. ‘So what’s this spell called again?’