Dragonborn (29 page)

“We're home,” said Sam. “Safe and home again.”

“Dragonborn,” he whispered.

Starback licked Sam's hand.

THE END

Sam trudged up toward the house, keeping his eyes away from it. He wanted nothing more than to be in Flaxfield's house again. The glimpse of it, in the corner of his eye, empty of the old man, silent and hollow, was more than he could turn and gaze on yet.

He pushed open the door. The kitchen was fresh and clean, scented of herbs. A loaf of bread, a bowl of figs, and a bottle of cordial stood on the kitchen table. Sam picked up the bread and smelled it. He squeezed the sides of the loaf. It was fresh. Almost warm.

Sam climbed the stairs and stood in front of the study door. Laying his hand on the polished oak, he felt that the sealing spell he had lain on it had been removed. He pushed open the door and stepped in.

Flaxfold laid down her book and smiled at him.

“Hello, Sam.”

Starback darted across and wound himself around her legs, then lay at her feet. Sam drew back, half turned to go.

“Won't you sit down?”

“I thought the house was empty.”

“No.”

Sam closed the door behind him.

Flaxfold's arms rested on a sheet of paper. A pen, an inkwell, a glass of cordial stood to one side.

“You've been hurt,” she said.

Sam touched his fingers gently to his bitten face.

“Yes.”

“We can deal with that,” said Flaxfold.

“Where are the others?” he asked.

“Gone home.”

Sam sat opposite her. The ash tree outside the window was in bud, green against brown.

“I didn't want to be with them. I didn't want to fight their fight.”

“What do you want to do now?”

“I had no magic just then,” he said.

“You walked away from it,” said Flaxfold. “Magic does not like to be rejected.”

For a moment, Sam remembered Vengeabil in the library, the same question, day after day.

“Is it too late?” he asked.

“Never too late,” she replied.

“I want to be apprenticed,” he said. “I want to be a wizard for myself. Not to join in a fight. Just for myself.”

“Sometimes,” said Flaxfold, “a day comes when the fight comes to you. And then you have to decide to fight back or walk away, wizard or no wizard.”

“When that day comes, I'll see what happens,” said Sam. “But I won't be a wizard just to look for that fight.”

Flaxfold nodded.

“I've never seen you do magic,” he said.

“No. That's right.”

“Do some magic for me,” said Sam.

“No,” said Flaxfold.

Sam fidgeted with the clasp on his cloak.

“Can you?” he asked.

Flaxfold picked up her book and started to read. Sam waited for something to happen. He watched her carefully. She looked up, smiled, turned the page, and read on.

“I want to ask you something,” said Sam. “I think.”

Flaxfold looked up.

“Trust what you have chosen,” she said. “There is a reason. Sometimes it has chosen you.”

“Please, will you take me as your apprentice?” he asked.

Flaxfold put aside the book, turned the paper over, signed her name at the bottom. She handed Sam the paper, the pen.

“Of course,” she said.

Sam signed.

Flaxfold found a lump of hard wax and a candle. She dripped the hot wax onto the indenture.

“You seal it,” she said.

Sam undid the leather thong and pressed the seal into the wax.

“You know about this?” he said.

Flaxfold nodded.

To Denise, Ellen, and Ben at Walker Books, for encouraging me and for the care and attention they have taken. To Felicity at Curtis Brown, for keeping me at it. To Tina Wexler at ICM for finding me a home in the US and to Margaret Miller for providing it. To Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ted Hughes, T. S. Eliot, and others who didn't know they were writing some of the best parts of this book. To St Alban's Hull, who gave me more than they'll ever know and who I miss more than I can ever say. To Cath Fuller, who believed me. To the Athenaeum, Liverpool, for providing a quiet place where no one can find me. To the Travellers Club, Pall Mall, for their hospitality. To Ursula Le Guin, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, and others, who demonstrate that fantasy is not the same as whimsy, or spy stories with added spells. To everyone who reads this book with pleasure.

To my family, as always.

Copyright © 2011 by Toby Forward
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Originally published in Great Britain in 2011 by Walker Books Ltd
First published in the United States of America in April 2012
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
www.bloomsburyteens.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forward, Toby.
Dragonborn / by Toby Forward. —1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: The great wizard Flaxfield's death leaves his twelve-year-old apprentice Sam halftrained,
but when other wizards gather and debate his fate Sam, not knowing whom to trust,
leaves with only his dragon, Starback, for company, unaware of the perils he must face.
ISBN 978-1-5999-0747-5 (e-book)
[1. Wizards—Fiction. 2. Apprentices—Fiction. 3. Dragons—Fiction. 4. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.F784Drb 2012 [Fic]—dc22 2010051029

Book design by Nicole Gastonguay