Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy

by Scheppner, Carey

  Frosty snorted. “I had no idea elves could gain so much weight so quickly!” He looked slyly at Kazin.

  Sherman snickered and turned away. Rubin and Harran grinned openly.

  Kazin reddened. “Very funny, Frosty,” he murmured dryly.

  “What did someone say about elves?” asked Della, entering the clearing. She had two rabbits and a grouse hanging from a string around her waist. Upon seeing the boar, she stopped, her mouth agape.

  Kazin was staring at the unicorn trying to determine if he should answer the elf’s question and get Frosty into trouble. He decided against it because it would mean telling about his reaction when he heard the scream.

  “Did you kill that thing with your bare hands?” asked Rubin. He had come over to admire Zylor’s catch. “I don’t see any axe wounds.”

  “Yes,” said Zylor. “It’s more fun that way.”

  “How about bringing those rabbits over here, Della,” said Sherman. “I’ll cook them up for lunch.”

  “We can cut up what Zylor leaves of the boar and use it for rations,” said Harran. “I’ve got some salt and waxed paper in my pack. The extra food will come in handy higher up in the mountains where food is scarce.”

  Milena returned with a load of berries in a bag and the companions feasted for lunch.

  They were just packing up their gear when they heard a thundering of hooves.

  Sherman pulled out his sword.

  Suddenly a figure charged into their clearing and came to an abrupt halt. It was a female centaur.

  “Oh, hello,” she said in surprise. Her long, brown mane of hair swung back and forth, revealing her tiny pointed ears as she observed them curiously. She remained calm until she saw Zylor. “Eeek!” she squealed and spun blindly toward the companion’s mounts, bounding toward them in panic. She deftly sidestepped the tethered horses and virtually flew past them in her haste to escape. Then, just as suddenly as she bolted, she halted, coming to a stop about fifty paces down the trail. Slowly, she turned her head and looked back, her jaw working silently. Finally she managed to find her voice. Even so, it was barely above a whisper. “Unicorn?”

  Frosty raised his head and looked at her. Kazin couldn’t hear anything as the two four-legged creatures stood staring at each other, but he suspected Frosty was speaking to her.

  His suspicions were confirmed when the centaur relaxed and said, “If you say so.”

  The centaur cautiously came back and looked closely at the unicorn’s horn. “It IS real,” she said.

  “That’s what I said,” answered Frosty so that all could hear.

  “Then you must help!” said the centaur urgently. “You must!”

  “Relax,” said Frosty. “We are going to do precisely that.”

  The centaur looked around helplessly at the companions. “I’m Perenia. My people are being annihilated by all sorts of evil creatures. We have asked the elves for aid but they are slow to act. I am on a mission to find allies to help in our cause. Several of our communities have already fallen, and more will do so unless we get help! The unicorn has said you will?”

  “We were just on our way to find out about the strange lights some have seen in the mountains,” said Milena. “We suspect they are connected to the unusual incidents occurring in the elven woods. Do you know anything about this?”

  Perenia nodded. “Yes. The lights are those of our enemies. They come pouring out of the mountains at night and use the shelter of the western portion of the elven woods as cover during the day. Then they cut east through the waste and circle around to attack our people from the south. Many have sought refuge within the southern woods of the elves.”

  “Can you show us on which mountain the lights originate?” asked Kazin.

  Perenia nodded again. “I can show you exactly where they originate. Our people would have gone up there ourselves, but alas! We cannot climb that high! It is a failing of our otherwise exceptional bodies.”

  “We’ll go up there and see if we can put a stop to this,” said Sherman reassuringly.

  “Do not boast, warrior,” cautioned the centaur. “You are but a few. I must try to find more who will come to our aid. Then perhaps we can mount an assault that will succeed.”

  “You will find no others,” said Milena sadly. “There is a war being waged to the north that requires every bit of manpower. No humans remain to assist you.”

  Perenia looked shocked. “None?”

  “None,” said Milena.

  “Then we are doomed!” wailed Perenia in despair.

  “Do you underestimate the magical power of a unicorn?” asked Frosty.

  “But you are only one against many mages and other enemies,” argued Perenia. “How can you succeed against such odds?”

  “We can and we will,” said Frosty solemnly. “You must have faith.”

  Perenia sighed. “Then our meagre party will have to do. I wish it were not so.”

  “Let us be off,” said Frosty. “We still have a ways to go. Time grows short.”

  The companions rode off with fresh doubts in their minds after hearing the misgivings of the centaur. Was it really as bad as all that? What difference could the small party make if it were so? They rode in silence and reached the base of the first mountain in under an hour.

  “It is the second mountain where the lights originate,” said Perenia. “If we go up this mountain on the shallow right flank, we can be at the second mountain’s base in a few hours.”

  “The lights were visible from the Tower of the Sky,” said Sherman. “If they originated on the second mountain, how could they see it from the tower?”

  “The second mountain isn’t entirely hidden by the first,” said Kazin. “The upper portion is still visible to the tower.”

  They trudged over the hilly terrain and picked their way around rocky outcrops. Finally they reached the base of the second mountain.

  “Up to the left is where the lights originate,” explained Perenia. “There are several levels to this mountain separated by some sheer ledges. The trees end on the third ledge. Beyond that the climbing is too steep for a horse or centaur.”

  “How far do you think we can get tonight?” asked Kazin.

  Harran scanned the mountain’s side carefully. “We’ll reach the second level by nightfall,” he answered. “We’ll have to climb toward the right at first, then work our way left.”

  “Will the horses be O.K. to ride?” asked Milena. “Or will we have to lead them from here on?”

  “The horses will be fine with their passengers,” said Perenia. “The grades are not that steep here. We just have to be careful to avoid the drop-offs. There are several areas where it could be treacherous. Beyond the third ledge it gets too steep for a horse. Everyone will have to dismount and the horses will have to be brought around the mountain the long way from there.”

  “Fabulous,” muttered Frosty.

  “You probably won’t see any lights this night,” continued Perenia. “They start about five eighths of the way up on the left, and move gradually down behind the mountain in a clockwise direction, ending at the southern base. We launched an attack there once, but all who took part in that assault never returned. My guess is they used magic.”

  “It will be best if we don’t see them and they don’t see us tonight,” said Frosty. “We will need the element of surprise.”

  “Let’s go,” said Kazin. He urged Frosty forward and they picked their way cautiously up the mountain.

  Della squeezed Kazin’s waist as they climbed, and Kazin looked back to see that she was O.K. She smiled at him and tilted her head back to let the mountain breeze course through her long, golden hair. Kazin couldn’t help but smile back at her. She seemed so carefree and innocent. She didn’t seem to belong in these times of war. He made a mental note t
o keep an eye on her. She was, after all, just a child. Or was she?

  They made camp on the second ledge in the evening just as Harran had predicted. The wind here was cooler, but the trees provided some shelter to the weary travellers. A small fire was lit and they unpacked some stored pieces of Zylor’s wild boar. Rubin did the cooking this time and everyone was pleased with the results.

  Kazin soon removed himself from the group and out of the light. His stomach was really bothering him tonight. He didn’t want anyone to see the agony on his face and attribute it to an expression of doubt about their mission. Milena, as usual, was observant and went over to see how he was doing.

  “What’s wrong, Kazin?”

  Suddenly Kazin doubled over, the pain in his stomach too strong to suppress. Several of the companions noticed and arose, alarmed. Milena, concerned, bent forward to examine him. The moment her hand touched the mage’s abdomen he jerked back and screamed. “Don’t touch me!” he shrieked. He sprang to his feet and looked madly around the clearing. With a sudden burst of speed he bolted off into the darkness.

  “Keep your hands off me!” he screamed over his shoulder.

  “Kazin!” Milena called after him. The companions watched helplessly as the shadowy form of the mage disappeared quickly from view. Like a wraith, Frosty sprang in pursuit.

  Kazin ran and ran. He had never experienced such pain before. It spread from his belly into every part of his body. The voice that had plagued his mind for weeks ended its dormant period and laughed gleefully.

  “Soon!” it intoned. “Very soon!”

  The hysterical laughter caused the mage to run even faster. He stumbled through a small stream that entered a small pond. His feet barely touched the ground as he ran. In fact, when he glanced down briefly, it wasn’t even his feet beneath him. They were more like a giant lizard’s feet with webbed toes.

  Hallucinating from the pain, he thought. The pain! It was like a raging inferno in his veins! He had to end it soon or he would go mad. Through the trees he saw the cliff edge. This was his chance!

  Screaming madly, running with what he thought was his last ounce of energy, he dove off the cliff—and soared up into the air on giant leathery wings.

  The pain inside him surged out through his giant maw in the form of flames, forcing the darkness around him to retreat in fear. The orange light glinted off his giant teeth. Teeth used for gnashing and tearing. Teeth that could only belong to one thing: a dragon.

  Kazin stopped the flame, the pain already receding, and glanced around as he soared, the wind whistling through his leathery wings. He inhaled the freshness of the cool night air as it closed around him once more. The majesty of flight was almost too much for him to take in at once. What strength! What power!

  “Yes, what power!” the voice whispered in his head.

  “Who are you?” demanded Kazin irritably. Just when he thought he was free of the problems of the past, he had the voice bothering him again.

  “Why, I am you!” answered the voice.

  Kazin was startled. He wasn’t expecting it to answer. “You are me? What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded, flapping his wings to get more height. The Tower of the Sky seemed small and inconsequential in the distance below him. The mountains around him no longer seemed unconquerable.

  “Together we will rule the world!” rambled the voice. “Our magic cannot be stopped!”

  “What magic?” asked Kazin. “What are you talking about?”

  The voice drifted off in laughter.

  Kazin seethed in anger. The voice was getting him on edge. What’s more, this caused his belly to burn again. He opened his mouth and released the fire once more. This procedure helped, as it did the first time. Now he knew how to deal with the pain, at least temporarily.

  The voice laughed again and then receded. It seemed to like it when he belched forth flames.

  Kazin suddenly felt starved. Perhaps if he ate something, then he wouldn’t have to blow flames every few minutes.

  He caught the scent of meat in the air and almost on instinct headed in that direction. In the field below, he caught sight of several cows in a field. He was amazed at how keen his eyesight was in the darkness. He soared downward with his claws extended and raked one cow’s back. It was dead before it hit the ground. It all seemed natural and unnatural at the same time.

  When he landed, (which was a tripping, running, and hopping affair), the remaining panic-stricken cows fled across the field and into the woods beyond.

  Kazin turned and before he knew it began to feed on the dead cow, carcass, bones and all. These were table manners he wasn’t easily going to get used to.

  He was just beginning to enjoy his meal, (odd as it seemed, it was delicious), when the voice spoke up again.

  “How about some real hunting and razing some human settlements?” it prodded.

  Kazin was startled by the careless, matter-of-fact way the voice made the suggestion. It had never spoken like this before.

  “I am not going to attack my own kind,” said Kazin.

  “There are no dragons in human settlements,” answered the voice sarcastically.

  Kazin looked down at himself and conceded the point. He WAS a dragon now. Wait a minute! He was so enthralled by the strength and power of being a dragon that he forgot he really was a human! The only thing was, he didn’t know how he had transformed into a dragon, so he had no clue as to how to change back again!

  The voice laughed. “Why worry about that? It is far better to be a powerful dragon than a mere human!”

  “But I have a mission to complete for the Tower of Sorcery!” said Kazin.

  “What is a mere mage compared to a dragon mage?” said the voice in a superior tone. “You have ten times the magical power and hundreds of times the strength of the most powerful mage alive! You can do anything!”

  “Strength and power aren’t everything,” said Kazin. “I have loved ones and companions who are relying on me.”

  “Ha!” laughed the voice. “They would not hesitate to shoot you down and kill you if they saw you now!”

  “That’s why I’d rather change back into a human,” said Kazin. “Only, I don’t know how.”

  “You want to change back when you could have anything you could ever dream of?” demanded the voice. “I won’t let you make that mistake!”

  “You have to help me!” begged Kazin. “I can’t stay this way forever!”

  “Forever,” said the voice wistfully. “I like the sound of that!”

  This angered Kazin. The burning in his stomach returned and he let out a stream of flame, the voice laughing harshly in his ears. The cow Kazin had partially eaten was now burned to a crisp.

  Annoyed, Kazin took several steps and soared back into the air. There was definitely something appealing about being a dragon. But he had a mission to accomplish, and being a dragon right now was not going to help. He decided to head back to the cliff he had left from and retrace his steps. Maybe there he could find a way to change back to his original form. He wondered as he flew if this was what Zylor felt like when he was in the form of a human.

  It wasn’t long before he passed over his companions’ campsite. They were all awake, he could see, and they seemed to be arguing about something. Some of them were entering the woods, no doubt to look for him. He thought momentarily of swooping down and surprising them but decided against it. They would probably view him as a threat, as the voice had indicated. He didn’t linger long for fear of actually being seen.

  When he returned to the cliff edge—it was another ragged landing (his landings needed practice)—he was no closer to a solution than before. The voice claimed he had one hundred times the strength and ten times the magical power of a powerful mage, yet he couldn’t change himself back into a human. It was frustrating. The voice wa
s frustrating. It constantly goaded him into anger. It forced him to lose his cool.

  That was it! If he could regain his cool, he might lower his chances of being angered into belching out flames, and maybe, just maybe, he might become more human and less savage.

  The voice returned and laughed tauntingly but Kazin paid no attention to it. He concentrated on finding some water. He recalled the pond he had passed earlier when he was running from the camp. He got up and barged through the undergrowth, flattening brambles and bending over small trees. Small creatures of the night scrambled to safety at the fearsome sight of the dragon as it lumbered toward their hideouts.

  The voice laughed again. “Ever heard of flying?” it taunted.

  Kazin paid it no heed. The voice laughed even louder. Finally Kazin crashed through some trees and sprawled headlong into the pond.

  It was a small pond—for a dragon. Had anyone been watching, it would have looked ludicrous. Back feet, wings, and tail thrashing in the air with the rest of his body only partly submerged in a pond the size of a wash basin (in dragon terms).

  Fortunately, the only thing laughing was the voice, harder than ever. Kazin felt the fire in his belly. It wasn’t working. Desperately, he tried to drown out the voice and calm himself. Soon the pain died. The laughter began to change. It changed from a taunting laugh to a gradually fading hysterical one. Finally the voice shrieked, “Nooo!” before fading away completely.

  Kazin was relieved. At least the voice was gone for a while. He was just beginning to relax when he began to sink. Was the pond growing larger? He thrashed about, struggling to keep his head above water, but his clothes were dragging him down. Clothes! He looked down at his body—his human body—and rejoiced. How he retained his clothes after all this time he didn’t know and didn’t care. The important thing was that he was human again! He laughed and splashed in the water for several minutes, swimming for the edge where he could touch bottom.

  At last he decided it was safe to return to camp. He needed rest and dry clothes, and delaying his return would only cause undue concern among his companions.