The Wizard And The Dragon (18 page)

I
didn’t have the time to think about caging it or letting it live. I had no
moment to pause and consider that I was about to take my first life in a fight.
In those few seconds it was either me or the monster and it was close enough to
killing me that I didn’t just hear its neck snap, I
felt
it crunch
before it fell dead on top of me.

The
corpse of the farren was too heavy to push off. I squirmed my way from under it
and turned to see Candle jump on its back as if claiming the kill. He must have
fallen from my shoulder at some point during the struggle.

My
vision was already darkening as I got to my feet. My body was shaking from
having narrowly avoided dying. I hobbled toward the tunnel entrance, intending
to erect another barrier, but had to stop after just a few steps.

My
legs felt like I had been climbing the tower stairs for days without a rest. My
arms and shoulders hurt, a deep pain as though it emanated out of my bones. It
was taking a conscious effort to keep my eyes open.

I
had flung around too much magic without a source for my body to handle. The
urge to sleep was overwhelming but I refused to do that in the cellar, so close
to the tunnel. I took two steps toward the stairs and then fell to my knees in
front of them.

Candle
rushed ahead of me as if to light my way. I followed him in a slow crawl. Each
stair was excruciating and made my body feel like it was burning from the
inside. Half way to the top I started to feel nauseous. My legs felt numb, as
if they were someone else’s limbs that I was somehow moving.

To
this day I still don’t know how I got to the top. Most of the climb is a blur,
but the last thing I remember seeing was the table still pushed next to the
front door. It was as if I needed that visual confirmation of safety before
letting go.

The
front door was barred to the outside. The barrier had closed off the
underground. That was enough. Everything went black.

I was unconscious
for at least a week. In the years that I had lived in the tower I had only
managed to read about a quarter of the books in the study. Even with that
meager knowledge I knew that I should have been dead. At the time it didn’t
make sense.

Years
later I would read one of the books that Tower mentioned. It detailed some of
the tower’s magical properties, although it shed no light on why the tower was
built in the first place. He once told me that the tower maintained the candles
and books kept within it. In a similar way it could keep its occupants alive.
After reading it I should have felt reassured, but I mostly felt sickened and
violated. It was strange to know so much about magic and then discover you know
next to nothing at all.

I
woke up on the floor in the same position that I had been in. My stomach and
chest shrieked in pain when I moved. My entire body felt stiff and dirty. My
clothes were disgusting. It took me an entire day to set myself right.

Candle
looked to have watched over me for the entire time I was asleep. I had to move
slowly but I felt more stable than I had when I crawled up the stairs. The
tower had sustained me well enough, although I was ravenously hungry.

There
was no water upstairs and I washed myself with cold water in the cellar. I had
a moment of horror when the farren’s body was gone. I found it in the spider’s
cage. It had dragged it inside somehow and devoured most of it. The corpse was
a mangled mess of misshapen organs and bones. The spider was bloody and looked
pleased with itself. The smell of it was terrible and I would have vomited if I
had had anything in my stomach.

Upstairs
I changed my clothes and then went to eat. The food on the table was rotten and
discolored. I couldn’t recognize what the food had been before. I moved into
the study and ate there instead. The gems in my pocket were enough to create
several meals.

I
recovered over an additional week. I did barely any physical activity except
for getting water for myself and the spider. I let it keep the monster’s corpse
and it was soon covered in its silk.

When
I felt strong enough I went back into the tunnel. At the fork I immediately saw
my second mistake. The barrier was still standing in its solid green. A little
too solid, since I couldn’t see through it and know whether it was safe to take
down.

I
had wondered why Tower had always used a clear gemstone and it suddenly made
sense. Even years later he still would have had something to teach me. The
tunnels were dark enough that a clear barrier would serve as well as any other.
When I brought light I would be able to see through it.

Before
I shrunk the barrier, I picked out two gems in preparation. One was a clear
one, ready to replace the barrier after it was brought down. The other I kept
firmly gripped in my other hand, ready to unleash its energy at whatever might
have been waiting for me on the other side. I had learned well from the week I
had spent asleep. I was not about to strain my body again recklessly channeling
magic without a source.

The
barrier drained away into the center of the tunnel, where I had originally
levitated the gem. A rush of warm air ran over my face like something exhaling
and made me flinch. My hand gripped the gemstone instinctively but there was
nothing in the tunnel. I remembered Tower telling me that the underground was
somehow warmer during winter. The barrier must have been blocking some of that
heat.

I
shifted on my feet and tried to relax, but my shoulders remained tense until I
had the clear barrier blocking the tunnel. The tunnel was clearly visible in
Candle’s light but was lost in the darkness like everything else when we walked
away. Still, I spent many days extracting all the clear gemstones I could find
and erecting multiple barriers before I was satisfied.

In
a few weeks I was convinced that I had safely secured the mines and my life
regained some of its old routine. I spent my mornings in the mines collecting
rocks, and then the early afternoon working on them. I added half of whatever I
found to the massive gem in the study, and left the other half in the cellar
for emergencies.

The
rest of my days were filled with exercising and reading. I kept growing taller
and I pushed myself to become as strong as my body allowed. I often practiced
funneling magic from my own body into spells to test my limits. I was often
surprised by how much of a difference a few months could make when sustaining
spells.

Around
the time of my eighteenth birthday, and my eighth year in the tower, I finally
built up the nerve to venture outside. I had long since moved the table away
from the door but I still had not stepped off the tower’s foundation.

Looking
back it seems like a silly thing, to have an almost fully grown man afraid to
take one step away from his home. I spent hours trying to teach Candle some way
to signal me back if I got lost, and then even more standing at the edge of the
tower’s stone looking down as if I was on the top of a wall, urging myself to
jump off.

I
turned and faced the tower before I did it. I kept my eyes open and stepped
backwards and then nearly fell over as the image of the tower was torn away
from my eyes. Even after so many years of magic and spells it was still
astonishing to witness a whole building vanish. I was sure Tower would have had
some explanation as to why that magic wasn’t impossible but I could make no
sense of it.

I
reached out with my focus and it was like hearing someone singing in the
distance. The magic was emanating in front of me, or so I thought. I stepped
back further and the sensation was fainter. It was then that I could feel that
it was coming from below the tower, not the structure itself.

“The
tower was built here because of the magic below it, not the other way around,”
Tower had once said.

That
winter I was able to finally mix in fallen leaves with the paper when sealing
the windows. It was a small victory but I relished it. After so many years of
nothing but stone it was good to once again feel soil under my feet.

In
the spring I was able to take short walks out into the forest and it was during
those that I decided that I needed to change what I was teaching myself. I
would watch the sky between the trees and remember how the dragon had dominated
the horizon. So many years later I could still picture it clearly.

My
nightmares of the attack had faded but still, then, I had not yet forgotten the
vow I had made as a boy. I promised myself that I would kill the dragon, but I
had struggled against just one farren, a rat of the underground as Tower had
said.

I
decided that I had to go into the underground.

The
barriers were closed one at a time and I placed each of the clear gems into its
own small bag. I had several others strapped to my belt that were already full
and a few loose gems in each pocket. Candle was on my shoulder. I had spent
weeks getting ready and I still felt unprepared.

The
last barrier came down and I stepped into the tunnel. I spread the same gem
over the tunnel behind me. I had no idea how many twists and turns were ahead
of me. I wasn’t going to risk something sneaking by me again and getting to the
cellar.

Initially
I walked quickly, riding on the burst of courage that had let me decide to
venture into the tunnels that day. I didn’t slow down until I came to the first
fork and that was when my decision began to bear down on me. The new tunnels
must have looked identical to the others but they seemed new, foreign, and
terrifying.

Candle
stirred on my shoulder and let out a gentle hiss, as if he was urging me on. I
brought out a gem and closed off the left tunnel of the new fork. I looked
behind and considered, if only for a moment, how easy it would be to turn
around. I closed my eyes and decided against it, walking forward through the
right hand tunnel.

After
a few minutes the floor began to incline, and I stopped to study the walls.
Gems glittered in both sides and the ceiling. I didn’t understand why whoever
had dug this out had decided to go upwards. I thought of the sollite that Tower
had been so anxious to find and considered it a possibility. Still, the change
didn’t bothered me.

I
continued through the tunnel. The incline eventually leveled and then begin to
descend. I stopped again and had to kneel down to see if the floor was safe to
walk on. The angle wasn’t too steep but it was just out of Candle’s light. Each
step was a new danger. It didn’t sit right with me to lower my feet into
darkness.

I
opened one of the bags and brought out a gemstone. I held it up to Candle and
pressed it into his body. It floated around his core as if it was in orbit.

“Don’t
eat quickly. Use it to shine brighter,” I whispered to him.

He
let out another hiss and I wasn’t certain if it was a protest or an agreement.
Either way his light extended further on and I could see the floor a few meters
ahead of me. Each step became more comfortable but I still moved slowly. If I
fell I had no idea what might be waiting for me at the bottom.

The
floor abruptly straightened and I brought my foot down too hard, expecting
there to be air where I met the ground. I spat out a curse and brought my other
foot down carefully. It was only then that I noticed the light coming from down
the tunnel.

I
snatched Candle from my shoulder and extinguished him. The gem I had given him
fell to the floor and bounced along the stone. I crept forward, unsure what the
light could mean and preparing for a fight. When I put Candle’s core in my
pocket I brought out a handful of gems.

The
air grew warmer the closer I got to the light. I had read in books of
underground lakes and rivers of lava, but it was another thing entirely to
experience them. The tunnel felt hotter than a midsummer’s day when I reached
the end. When I stepped out of the tunnel I found out why.

There
was only a small ridge that stuck out of the floor. The roof was still close to
my head and I saw that whoever had mined here had broken into a massive
chamber. I crouched down and looked down into the opening.

The
drop from the tunnel would have easily killed me. I had once considered the top
of the tower the highest I had ever been, and this drop was at least ten times
that. Directly below me was a river of fire, and it took a few moments for me
to realize that was the lava I had read about. Even from my height I could feel
the heat of it causing my forehead to sweat.

The
lava moved slowly and it was oddly hypnotic to watch. Candle had helped me move
past my fear of fire but part of me was still unsettled by the river. Parts of
it were charred black, as if it was burning up itself as it crawled along. It
reminded me of the river’s surface, with a thick coating of ash on top, after
the dragon had attacked.

I
looked up to survey the rest of the chamber. It stretched out far enough that
it faded away into the shadows, where the light from the river didn’t extend. I
frowned at that, not being able to grasp how such a large place could be found
underground. Maybe it wasn’t a chamber at all, but a gigantic cavern that kept
stretching on and on.

The
floor of the cavern, comfortably above the lava, was littered with pillars and
statues. I considered for a moment that it might have been a lost city, or
another structure made by whoever built my tower; however, the statues seemed
to be lined up and stretched off into the shadows. They filled the entire floor
between the pillars, row upon row of them, with seemingly no purpose. There
were no creatures or monsters among them. They were alone.

It
didn’t make sense to me. I wanted a closer look but I had no way to safely get
down. I had read of a spell that seasoned wizards could use to slow themselves
as they fell from a great height. It was not something I felt capable of yet
and trying it above a river of fire would be foolish. Even so, I felt as though
I stumbled upon something important as I turned away and went back into the
tunnel.

I
brought Candle back out when I had climbed the first slope. Back at the fork I
scorched a large ‘S’ into the right tunnel wall in the same way I had learned
in the window’s room. I didn’t like to think about those words but the letter
would remind me that this tunnel was safe if I ever came back.

I
removed the barrier and stepped through before I placed it back. The discovery
of the statues had sparked some excitement in me. I felt like a boy again,
exploring parts of the village that I wasn’t allowed to, or wandering off into
farms when my parents were fishing. I patted down the bags of gems on my belt
as a reminder of my ultimate goal. I continued on with my eagerness somewhat
diminished.

The
tunnel continued forward for a long time. It felt like there was a slight
downward slant to the floor but it was too dark to tell. There were no turns or
diverting tunnels. I considered turning back many times and Tower’s
reassurances suddenly made sense. Something would have to be determined to make
the journey through here to get close to the cellar.

My
attention waned after nearly two hours of creeping forward. I started walking
faster, growing complacent after seeing nothing but rock. I hadn’t heard
anything either. When the tunnel abruptly opened I had to stop and remind
myself to be careful.

The
darkness melded with the rock around us. I could only see a few meters out in
any direction as Candle’s light made a visible circle around us. I took a few
steps forward and saw that the floor was uneven. The tunnel had, at least in
part, been penetrated into this opening rather than dug out. Like the previous
chamber, it was so dark that I had no way of knowing how far it extended.