Wizard in the Woods

by Jeffrey M. Poole

  “Son, what is it? Has something happened?”

  Mikal took several steps forward and nodded.

  “Aye. I’d like to introduce you to someone. Father, this is Gareth, my new friend. Gareth, this is my father, Kri’Entu. Standing next to him is Commander Rhenyon, followed by three of his closest advisors, Aleric, Ondo, and Jacobi.”

  His father’s bloodshot eyes flicked momentarily over to Gareth’s before settling back on his.

  “You made a new friend. That’s nice, son. Is there anything else?”

  Mikal frowned.

  “I thought you’d be more excited than that.”

  “That you made a friend? You’re not a child any more, son.”

  “You shouldn’t tease your father,” Lissa quietly scolded. “It isn’t nice.”

  Kri’Entu heard her.

  “You’re teasing me? Is there something I should know about this boy?”

  Mikal put a reassuring hand on Gareth’s shoulder and pushed him forward a few steps.

  “I thought you’d like to meet the renegade wizard you’ve been looking for.”

  It was so silent they could have heard a pin drop. Kahvel reacted first. In less than a second he had whipped his long neck around and had brought his head to within three feet of Gareth’s.

  “You? You are the one responsible for attacking my dragons?”

  Mikal quickly stepped in front of Gareth and held up both hands.

  “I know what you’re thinking. You need to hear the whole story before you leap to conclusions.”

  “Conclusions?” Kahvel snapped as his head lifted from the ground. “There are no conclusions, only facts.”

  His father approached and stared hard at the trembling youth. The king slowly looked back at Mikal.

  “You’re sure, son? This is the wizard?”

  “Pretty sure,” Mikal conceded. “He turned me into a dragon a few hours ago.”

  “What?” His father looked angrily at Gareth. “You turned my son into a dragon?”

  “We needed to do it,” Mikal explained. “Pravara needed help to break Cylandria out of her trance.”

  “What?” Kahvel snapped, stepping forward again. “Another of my brethren has fallen victim to this wizard, this boy?”

  This isn’t going well.

  Tell me about it.

  “Cylandria has already been taken care of,” Pravara told her father.

  “Gareth is only the partial reason why we’re here,” Mikal told his father. “You don’t need to worry about him. What we need to worry about is the Athanaus. Father, we saw it.”

  A collective gasp went up. Everyone, including the dragons, were on their feet and staring at them like they had all just seen a ghost. Mikal was about ready to ask them to calm down when his father pulled him into a hug.

  “Tell me you are alright. Tell me it didn’t touch you, son.”

  “I’d like to tell you that I wasn’t close enough to be worried, but I was.”

  His father’s expression became stern.

  “Mikal, what were you… how did you escape?”

  “It was easy. I happened to have a set of wings on me when I saw it.”

  “You were a dragon then.”

  “Aye.”

  The king looked over at Gareth, who had been silently observing them. As soon as Gareth knew he was the one being watched he dropped his gaze to the floor.

  “We made a deal, father,” Mikal quietly explained. “His father is missing. We’re all guessing that he’s dead but I told him that I would look into it for him if he’d help us try to figure out what to do with this Athanaus thing.”

  “He’s just a boy, son,” his father pointed out. “What could he possibly do to help?”

  “Just a boy? Father, he turned me into a dragon. He created a wind storm strong enough to uproot trees. He created a rock golem in less time it takes for me to put on a pair of boots. And this was all done earlier today, by the way. He’s way more powerful than Shardwyn will ever be.”

  “And more reckless,” his father quietly observed.

  Mikal grunted. “Probably. We need his help, father, just as he needs ours. Oh, and I, er, made one other concession to him.”

  “Oh? Why do I get the impression that I am not going to like this?”

  “Because you probably won’t. He wants a new house.”

  His father’s eyebrows shot up.

  “Does he now? Why in the world would you agree to that, Mikal?”

  “He’s trying to look out for his family. He and his mother live with his aunt. They don’t have a house of their own.”

  “Oh.”

  “It could be any house, father. Just make sure it has glass in the windows.”

  “What?”

  “Their windows don’t have any glass in them.”

  “Ah. I see. I will consider it.”

  “I don’t need you to consider it, father. I need you to agree to it. For me.”

  His father was silent as he considered.

  “You wanted me to take more responsibility,” Mikal persisted. “That’s what I’m doing.”

  “Very well,” the king said, raising his voice. “His past transgressions will be overlooked.”

  Gareth smiled as a look of relief formed on his features.

  “Provisionally,” Kri’Entu added.

  Gareth’s smile melted away.

  “My son is right, Mister Gareth. We do need your help. If you are as powerful as he says you are then you could be a tremendous help.”

  “Will you help me find my father?” Gareth timidly asked.

  “I will honor my son’s deal. You help us deal with the Athanaus and I will exercise every power at my disposal to attempt to locate your father, be he alive or dead. Once this Athanaus creature has been dealt with then we’ll talk about your new house. Do we have an accord, Mister Gareth?”

  Gareth took a deep breath and nodded once.

  “We do.”

  “You are more trusting than I,” Kahvel dryly observed, once Kri’Entu looked up at him. The Dragon Lord lowered his head down until he was looking Gareth straight in the eye. “You may have made your peace with the human king, young wizard, but you have yet to deal with me.”

  Gareth swallowed nervously.

  “I know. I’m sorry for everything I did.”

  “You wish to atone for your actions, human?”

  I smell a trap.

  Mikal looked over at Pravara. She was staring straight at him.

  What was that?

  My father is up to something.

  “Aye.” Gareth’s quiet answer could barely be considered a response. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Aye. I don’t want anyone mad at me.”

  “Then this will be our accord. You will work with my dragons to teach them how to resist being overcome by whatever you used to bewitch them in the first place. Is that understood?”

  “But it doesn’t work that way,” Gareth stammered. “I used a potion before.”

  “Are you saying there isn’t any precautions the dragons could have taken in order to avoid being placed in that trance?” Lissa asked, coming to Kahvel’s aid. “There isn’t anything that could negate the effects of a potion?”

  Gareth thought for a moment.

  “Well, I guess it’s possible. There are a few things they could have done, but they would have never known how to do it.”

  Lissa smiled and placed a hand on each of Gareth’s shoulders. She gave him a firm shake.

  “That’s what he’s talking about. He wants your help in making sure it doesn’t ever happen again.”

  Kahvel gazed appraisingly at her.

  “Correct, young Lissa. That is precisely what I said.”

  Mikal noticed the flush creeping back into his girlfriend’s face. He looked over at Gareth and nudged him in his ribs. Gareth finally nodded.

  “I accept. I’ll teach you what I can about the different precautions one can make in order to prevent people like me fro
m causing problems.”

  Satisfied, Kahvel grunted.

  “We have an accord. Now, tell us what you know about the Athanaus. What did you see?”

  Mikal recounted the events earlier in the day, starting with their discovery of the loophole in the census and finishing when he explained how they had dunked Cylandria in Lake Raehón.

  “So this mist emerged from within the lake,” Kahvel mused. “Interesting. That’s the second time there’s been a reference to water. Could it be hiding within the water?”

  “Possibly,” Kri’Entu decided. “However, if it’s now living, or hiding, within Lake Raehón then that would explain why Verdayn is experiencing the increased loss of jhorun. I do not like knowing how near it is to that village. I do not want a repeat of what happened in Capily.”

  “My dragons are closer,” Kahvel pointed out. “My brethren are more at risk than your villagers. So what do we do? We have sighted the creature only twice, and each time my dragons had all the jhorun drained from their bodies when they tried to attack.”

  “Will it regenerate?” Lissa asked, forgetting she was addressing the Dragon Lord. “Will a dragon’s jhorun regenerate like a human’s?”

  Kahvel nodded. “Aye, only it takes far longer to completely recharge.”

  “How long?” Kri’Entu asked.

  “Nearly a month, if not longer.”

  Kri’Entu turned to Gareth.

  “Mister Gareth, you’re the wizard here. Do you have anything to contribute?”

  Gareth shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and slowly paced in front of the dragons. He was softly mumbling to himself as he walked up and down the length of the cavern.

  “Where’s Shardwyn?” Mikal whispered to his father. “Shouldn’t he be here?”

  “Shardwyn is indisposed. He had been ordered to stay in his tower and, ah, had a little bit of an accident since he’s been in there.”

  Mikal groaned softly.

  “What did he do this time?”

  “He turned his beard blue and grew another set of arms. He’s a little self-conscious about his appearance at the moment.”

  Lissa, overhearing, slapped a hand over her mouth and tried to stifle a giggle. Mikal stared at his father with wide, unblinking eyes.

  “Tell me you’re kidding.”

  “I wish I could, son. Shardwyn told me he was trying to replicate a shifting potion he found which would have transformed himself into an ant. Apparently he’s lost something important and feels it may have slipped down inside a crack in the floor.”

  Gareth walked by, “Turned part of himself blue? Grew an extra set of appendages?” Gareth put his hand on his chin and said thoughtfully, “He mixed up the dosage of zuneik and mistook cedell for theerest. It’s a common mistake.”

  Kri’Entu gave Gareth an appraising look before turning back to his son. His eyebrows had lifted and his father actually smiled at him. Relief washed over Mikal. The one thing he had been truthfully concerned about was what his father’s reaction would be upon learning Gareth was the renegade wizard. Thankfully it was finally starting to look favorable.

  “This thing can’t be killed?” Gareth asked as he passed by again.

  “Correct,” Kri’Entu answered.

  “And we know it escaped from some type of prison?”

  “Correct again.”

  “From where?”

  “Somewhere off the coast of Capily,” his father answered.

  “Where specifically? If we can’t kill it then we’re going to have to get it back inside its prison. Then we’re going to have to figure out how it got out so it doesn’t get out the same way again.”

  “And how would you propose we do that?” Kahvel asked, bemused. He had already proposed this question several hours before.

  “I say we go inspect the dungeon where this thing was held.”

  Kahvel’s mouth snapped audibly shut. Whatever he was expecting to hear, that wasn’t it.

  “We don’t know where that was.” Kri’Entu turned to the wyverian leader. “Didn’t you say the original source of information were the water dragons?”

  Kahvel nodded. “It was. What’s your point?”

  “The first village to report the loss of jhorun was Capily, which is on our western shore. Water dragons must live in the area. I would say that the answer to Mister Gareth’s question, namely ‘where was the Athanaus held’, would be somewhere in the vicinity.”

  Kahvel reluctantly nodded.

  “There are about eighty water dragons living in that area,” the Dragon Lord quietly acknowledged. “Please keep that to ourselves. They would never forgive me if they knew I revealed their numbers and location.”

  “It stays with us,” Kri’Entu vowed.

  “Now that you know water dragons are nearby, how does that help us?” Kahvel asked. “What are you planning on doing? The answers you seek lay many hundreds of feet below the surface.”

  Kri’Entu sank back down in his chair and reached for a piece of parchment. He unstoppered a bottle of ink and began to write.

  “I will task Shardwyn with finding some way to communicate with the water dragons. If he’s going to stay cooped up in his tower then the least he can do is something useful. There must be a way.”

  Gareth stopped his pacing and looked over at Mikal. He mouthed something to Mikal, who instantly nodded.

  “Father? We have an idea.”

  Kri’Entu looked up. “Oh? Go ahead.”

  Mikal nodded at Gareth, giving him permission to speak.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier just to go down there and take a look for ourselves?” the young wizard asked.

  The king stared at Gareth as though he had lost his mind.

  “And how would you propose we do that? The floor of the Erudian Ocean can be anywhere from four hundred feet deep to well over five thousand.”

  Gareth looked over at Mikal and grinned.

  “It’s easy. We become water dragons ourselves.”

  Chapter 10 – A Whole New World

  “That? That’s your big idea? You want to turn me into a water dragon? Didn’t you have enough fun at my expense the last time you turned me into a dragon?”

  “We need to know where that mist thing was held and how it got out,” Gareth explained, raising his voice and looking around the room as if daring someone to challenge him. “This would be the most logical thing to do.”

  “By turning my son into a dragon?” the king sputtered. “I like this not, Mister Gareth.”

  The young wizard turned to Mikal’s father and shrugged.

  “I’m just trying to help. You wanted my opinion of what to do, remember? Well, that’s my answer.”

  “Have you turned someone into a water dragon before?” Mikal hesitantly asked. He looked at his newest friend and saw an eager gleam in his eyes. Mikal sighed. “I’d like to think that you have but something tells me you haven’t.”

  Gareth shook his head no, “I haven’t, no. But I will say that I’ve always wanted to try.”

  “Try what? Turning someone into a dragon?” Mikal groaned aloud. “If you’re going to experiment on somebody then it really ought to be you first.”

  Gareth was silent as he considered. He eventually nodded, “I see your point. Very well. I’ll go with you.”

  “My son isn’t going anywhere,” Kri’Entu flatly decreed. “Especially not as an aquatic dragon. It’s out of the question. I’m sure Shardwyn will be able to come up with something.”

  Mikal surged to his feet, “Shardwyn? Father, we don’t have that kind of time!”

  “I know his credibility is waning,” Kri’Entu began, “but I’m confident that, if given enough time, he will prevail.”

  Mikal shook his head no, “Time is a luxury we don’t have, father. We need to see what’s down there. We need to see how the Athanaus was imprisoned the first time. It could tell us what we need to do in order to imprison it again. We need information. This would seem to be our only viable option. I’m s
orry to say we can’t wait for Shardwyn. I will agree to go.”

  “Mikal, no!” Lissa exclaimed, pulling on his arm until he was facing her. “You’re going to let him turn you into a water dragon? Are you insane? You don’t know what’s out there. For all we know the Athanaus could be waiting out there to ambush you. No, it’s way too dangerous.”

  “I forbid this, son,” Kri’Entu proclaimed, agreeing with Lissa. “The risks are too great. A journey into the depths of the Erudian Ocean would be fraught with peril. You would be on your own. We will have to think of something else.”

  “I know of no other option,” Kahvel confided. “The longer we wait gives the Athanaus more time to lay siege to our people. We must act swiftly before another settlement is targeted, be it human or wyverian.”

  Kri’Entu leveled a gaze at the Dragon Lord, “That’s easy for you to say. How would you feel if Pravara wanted to put herself in that kind of danger?”

  Kahvel gave the approximation of a wyverian shrug, “I concede the point. However, I’d like to think that if the situation were reversed and it was Pravara volunteering to place herself in danger then I do believe I would be more open minded than you are.”

  The king folded his arms across his chest and tried to stare down the immense golden dragon, “Oh, really?”

  “Well, I’m sure I can include her if she really wants to go,” Gareth helpfully added.

  Everyone turned to the young wizard.

  “If I can turn a human into a water dragon then I know I can turn a winged dragon into the water variety. Actually, come to think of it, I think it’d be easier.”

  All eyes swiveled to the Dragon Lord’s. Kahvel was staring hard at Gareth. Twin tendrils of smoke drifted up from each nostril.

  Smiling, Kri’Entu looked up at the leader of the wyverians, “You were saying?”

  Kahvel stared, unblinking, at Gareth for a few moments longer before finally looking back at the king. A growl formed but was quickly quelled.

  “There’s no proof that this simple human boy has the power to change one form into that of another.”

  Gareth’s eyes traveled up Kahvel’s long golden neck until he had locked eyes with the Dragon Lord. He cleared his throat.