The Wizard And The Dragon Read Free Page B

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.
    On
that night, my first in the tower, I dreamed of the dragon. I was on top of the
wall instead of my hiding spot. I would already be staring at the dragon’s
silhouette in the middle of the sun and I was already afraid, knowing what it
was. The shape of it would grow larger in the light until I was sure no one
could not notice it, but the people below carried on their normal business. I
shouted down at them but none of them heard me.
    The
dragon continued its approach until the sun was blocked out completely. The
blue sky changed into a starless night and still the people did not react. I screamed
at them. I screamed every bad word that my parents ever punished me for saying
and still they stayed calm.