The Wizard And The Dragon (2 page)

The door was made
of the same kind of stone as the rest of the tower. It was large and heavy and
had a handle carved into the stone itself. I was a small boy and it was a
strain to pull the door open. My feet scuffed and slipped along the floor to
gain only a tiny amount of movement. I had to stop and rest a few times before
the door finally budged enough that I could see inside.

The
interior looked dark and I had a final moment of doubt before the storm blasted
in the sky above the tower. It felt like the thunder was chasing me and I
started to press myself through the doorway. I squeezed my way into the small
opening and then rushed to close the door behind me.

The
storm seemed to be picking up and the wind howled, pressing against the door
and helping me close it with a loud slam. The sound echoed through the hallway
and up through the tower. I walked cautiously down the hall in the dark.

It
was a dozen or so paces before I reached the central chamber of the tower. It
was a large, circular room that ran the entire height of the building. There
was a staircase that spiraled along the interior wall. I saw at least two
closed doors at different levels along the stairs. I guessed they led to rooms
built into the inner wall of the tower. The rest of the room was hollow and I
could see the roof far above my head.

The
tower was easily the largest building I had ever been in. Despite the fear I
had felt outside, I had a quiet moment of wonder at the size of it. Along the
stairs I spotted narrow windows that shimmered with each flash of lightning.
The sound of thunder was muffled by being inside but it still set me on edge.

I
dripped water everywhere as I walked around the ground floor, not wanting to
brave the stairs yet. There was a table and a few chairs in the middle of the
room. The table was bare except for a layer of dust. There was a second door on
the opposite side of the room. This one was made of wood and was smaller than
the front door.

I
walked toward the second door and was about to place my hands on it when I
heard a noise from upstairs. It sounded like another door being closed and I
froze in place. There had been no lightning so it wasn’t thunder. My mind
leaped to the conclusion that it was the dragon landing on top of the tower but
I forced it aside. The sound hadn’t been loud enough for that.

The
thought of monsters was enough to get my imagination going. Every story I had
heard about abandoned buildings came back all at once. Travelers would talk
about trolls claiming empty buildings and hunting out of them, killing and
eating anything. Others spoke of spirits and the undead, former owners
lingering on after they had passed not willing to give up their homes.

The
tower suddenly seemed colder and darker and a shiver ran down my back like
hands on either side of my spine. I could hear footsteps now, coming down the
stairs, but I didn’t wait to hear anything else. I darted across the room and
back into the hallway. I crashed into the door and started to push.

The
wind worked against me now and my feet skidded along the floor uselessly. I
could feel the wind creeping through the tiny gaps between the door frame,
hissing at me as I struggled against the stone. Even throwing my weight against
the door wouldn’t shift it.

I
turned as the footsteps drew closer and put my back against the door. I slid
down onto the floor and huddled together, hoping that I could maybe hide in the
dark from whatever monster was coming to eat me. I thought of how the village
wizard was bitten in half and wanted to scream.

There
was a moment of quiet where all I could hear were the footsteps and my own
heart racing, waiting to explode at the sight of a monster and save myself from
the pain of being eaten. I took shallow breaths that grew more rapid as the
shadows around the hallway began to fade from a light being drawn toward them.
Whatever was coming down the stairs must have been holding a torch.

I
didn’t have the foresight to grasp that a light meant fire until the man was
standing at the end of the hall. The flames danced and were not on a torch, but
suspended above one of his hands stretched out in front of him. I couldn’t
control my fear anymore and I screamed.

The
man clamped his hand together and the fire was extinguished, plunging us back
into darkness. My eyes had already begun to adjust to the light and I was
blinded for a few seconds now that it was gone. I kept staring at where I had
just seen the man and started to press tightly back against the door, as if
backing away from him could somehow protect me.

There
was a bright flash, a lightning bolt that must have struck near the tower that
illuminated the inside through the windows. The thunder came less than a second
after it and I saw the man during the flash. He was walking toward me, his eyes
locked on my face as though he knew exactly where I was.

“Who
are you?” he said, not coldly but not warmly either.

“Bryce,”
I stammered out and closed my eyes.

“What
are you doing here?”

He
wasn’t a troll or a zombie, and he hadn’t struck me yet, but he was still a
strange man who seemed to be able to hold fire in his hand. I kept my eyes
closed and kept bracing to be attacked at any moment.

“A
dragon came to our village,” I answered. “It killed everyone. I ran away. The
village isn’t even there anymore.”

A
moment passed in silence and then I heard his footsteps again, moving away from
me and back down the hall. I opened my eyes slowly and saw him standing in the
main chamber.

“Come
inside then. Let’s have a look at you.”

The
man turned around and faced the table in the middle of the room. It looked like
he placed something on it and a warm light began to emanate from on top of it.
His body blocked whatever it was from my view but it was bright enough to reach
into the hallway.

I
got to my feet and took my first steps slowly. When I reached the end of the
hallway I took a single step into the room and watched the man’s back,
expecting him to turn around and grab me when I got close enough. When he did
turn around I squeezed my eyes shut and flinched.

“I’m
not going to hurt you,” he said, but once again he didn’t sound friendly.

I
opened my eyes once more and found him looking at me. He ran his eyes up and
down me as if he was sizing me up, or trying to puzzle out something that was
bothering him. I looked back at him and kept my mouth closed. His face showed
signs of age but it was difficult to judge how old he was with his back to the
light.

“You
were running from this dragon and came in here to get out of the rain?” he
asked with his eyes on my own. He looked agitated by my presence.

I
nodded. The man stepped aside after seeing my answer and I looked directly at
the fire on the table. It was the same fire he had been holding before but it
was standing on the table, standing as if it had legs. It looked like a figure
of a person, no taller than a drinking glass, made out of yellow fire and
surrounded by red waving flames. It had no eyes but I could feel it looking at
me.

My
breathing became elevated to the point that it was audible. I dug my fingertips
into my palms and forced myself not to scream out of fear that I might anger
this man who had what looked like a pet made out of fire. What looked like the
head portion tilted to the side as if it was studying me.

He
turned his head to me when he heard my breathing and narrowed his eyes. He then
turned to the table and an alarmed expression washed over his face. He snatched
at the figure of fire and plucked something from its chest. The light was
snuffed out and the fire was gone. I saw something sparkle in the man’s hand
but he quickly dropped it in his pocket.

“Sorry,”
he said. “A dragon just burned down your village. My friend must look
frightening to you.”

My
breathing lessened and I felt the tension ease in my shoulders. I said nothing
and only looked at the man.

“Well
Bryce, I have more questions but you must be exhausted. Follow me. We can talk
in the morning,” he said as he started walking toward the stairs.

His
voice sounded warmer now and I watched him with suspicion. I wasn’t sure what
to think of the man and looked back at the hallway and the way out. The storm
seemed to be passing but the door would still be too heavy to open before the
man caught me. I had no choice but to follow him.

I
climbed the stairs behind him and followed his lead around the inside of the
tower. There was no banister or railing to hold onto and the stairs were open
and exposed. I felt increasingly nervous and unsteady with each step. I was
thankful when we stopped at the first door we came to but my curiosity got the
better of me. I peered over the edge of the stairs and down into the dark. I
had never been up so high before, and we weren’t even half way up the tower.

When
I turned around the man had already opened the door and stepped inside. The
room was far darker than the central chamber and I saw that it had no windows.
He held a hand out in front of him and a light began to glow on each of his
fingertips. It trailed out from them and swirled into the room like dust being
caught in the wind.

The
lights were different colors at first: specks of green, blue, and red. In the
center of the room they drew together and joined, like droplets of water
merging together on a window in the rain. United, the lights glowed a pure
white into the room that initially hurt my eyes. It didn’t stop me from staring
at it in awe.

“How?”
I heard myself ask before I could stop myself. I wanted to slam a hand over my
mouth.

“Questions
are for tomorrow,” he replied. “You must be tired after running so far.”

My
legs began to ache as if they were acknowledging what I just heard. The man
gestured to the bed across the room and I walked toward it. The bed was low to
the ground and had a few fur pelts instead of a blanket. I sat on it and looked
around at the rest of the room. The only other furniture was a chamber pot and
a table and chair in the far corner. There were no other doors. This was the
only room on this floor.

“Sleep
now.”

The
man turned and began to walk away. The events of the day and running through
the forest seemed ready to come crashing down on me and send me to sleep. I was
about to lay down when the sphere of light blinked out and left me in total
darkness. Despite trying to stay on guard I must have made some sort of noise
because the man turned back to me.

A
moment passed as he considered what to do and then he walked across the room
away from me. I couldn’t see him in the dark but I could hear him moving. A
loud scraping noise rang throughout the room as he dragged the table and chair
toward the bed. When he was finished he sat down and spoke to me.

“You’ve
seen that I can use magic. Unfortunately it’s not possible to leave a light in
here with you unless I light a candle. That means a little fire. Are you okay
with that instead of being left in the dark?”

Stupidly,
I nodded my answer, but he must have been able to see me somehow because a
small flame sprung to life in front of me. I recoiled from it but didn’t take
my eyes off it. The fire was between his index finger and thumb as if he was
pinching it together. I was caught between both fear and wonder of it. I
thought of the wizard in my village and how he had never been able to create
fire like this man could.

“This
tower is full of magic and secrets. Some of them are dangerous,” the man
explained. “Others are helpful.”

I
watched his hand holding the fire move across the table. There was a candle on
it. He held his hand next to the wick and looked to be ready to transfer the
fire to it when he stopped. I saw an odd smile cross his lips as if he had just
remembered the punchline of an old joke. He gave a short laugh and then let the
flame catch on top of the candle.

“This
candle is the helpful kind of magic. As long as it stays in the tower it will
never melt or run out. The fire will stay lit as long as you don’t blow it out.
Do you understand?”

“Yes,”
I whispered, my eyes full of the candle’s flame. I watched the flame shift into
a bright blue and then settle on a warm yellow.

“Good,”
he said. “Sleep as long as you need. We’ll talk in the morning.”

The
man rose to his feet and walked out of the room. I watched the door close
before I lay back on the bed. The candle stayed alight as he promised, and I
stared at it with a mix of wonder and fear as it calmly sat on top of the
table. I shifted under the furs and my body heat slowly collected and warmed
the bed. I fell asleep.

My nightmares
started that night. They were a regular occurrence during the next few years
and I never went more than a few weeks without having one. Over time I began to
recognize them and even predict how they would torment me. Even armed with that
knowledge they still terrified me. I would scream myself awake and then lay in
bed stunned for a few minutes.

The
nightmares were always focused on one specific thing that happened during the
dragon’s attack.

Sometimes
it would be my fall from my hiding place and I would land in the ruins to find
them covered in dead bodies. There were so many of them, too many to each have
a home in our small village, and yet I was forced to wade through them. My feet
would slip as the bodies compressed and squished together under my feet. When I
fell my face would land in dead flesh with a sickening slapping sound.

Other
times I would be swimming in the polluted river. Each time I would break
through the surface I would be covered in a thick film of congealed smoke and
soot. I would hear my parents calling to me from their boat on the river where
they were fishing. I would remember falling from the boat and I would try to
swim back to them but my eyes were always covered in the sludge. No matter how
hard I tried to clear my eyes, I could never see them and their voices would
float away as they went down the river. The dream would end when I drowned.