The Lazy Dragon and Bumblespells Wizard

The Lazy Dragon and the Bumblespells Wizard

Text Copyright © 2016 by Kath Boyd Marsh

Dragon Images Copyright © Shutterstock/notkoo

Witch Body Copyright © Shutterstock/Tatyana Okhitina

Witch Head Copyright © Shutterstock/KathyGold

Background Image Copyright © Shutterstock/Maxi_m

Mountain Image Copyright © Shutterstock/rvika

Forest Image Copyright © Shutterstock/rvika

Knight Image Copyright © Shutterstock/Nottoflick

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without express permission of the copyright holder.

For more information, write:

CBAY Books

PO Box 670296

Dallas, TX 75367

Children's Brains are Yummy Books

Dallas, Texas

www.cbaybooks.com

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-944821-00-5

ebook ISBN: 978-1-944821-01-2

Kindle ISBN: 978-1-944821-02-9

PDF ISBN: 978-1-944821-03-6

Printed in the United States of America.

For my parents Clarence and Mary Ann, who gave me honor, perseverance, and the magic of books. Without their absolute belief in Cl'rnce and Moire Ain, this book would never have been.

Cl'rnce Merlin Clan Principus River Dr'gons—or as his twin sister called him, “waste of dr'gon scales”—crumpled the poster in his paw and stared into his school's main hall. The Dr'gon and Wizard Technological School and Knights Academy students filed past him. None of them looked at him and most gave him a wide berth.

Cl'rnce didn't care. He had plans. “This is war. My sister is going to pay,” Cl'rnce whispered, too low for any of the other students to hear.

Hazel was one snarky sister, and it was over-thetop mean of her to make and hang that poster. He un-crumpled it and read it again:

Fair Warning. Cl'rnce Merlin Clan Principus River Dr'gons has stolen the baby Barforamous from the zoology department. Be on the lookout. Cl'rnce most assuredly plans a messy and smelly practical joke for the annual Students' Assembly.

Cl'rnce sighed. Hazel was a spoiler. Most of what she wrote was true, except for the part about him having the Barforamous. Bubbles had escaped yesterday during Cl'rnce's mid-afternoon nap. The smelly little fart-machine creature was probably eating all the stinkweed on the river's edge and would work his way back to Wiz-Tech all on his own by tomorrow. But that was too late for Cl'rnce's long-planned prank.

“Being brilliant, and the best practical joker at Wiz-Tech, of course I have a backup plan.” Cl'rnce sniggered. Three hours before, he'd snuck in and set a robe-shrinking spell. It would go off in less than an hour.

He was pretty good at magick, although he kept that a secret.
Magick 101
was one of the few classes he didn't sleep through, but he preferred to preserve his title as school slacker and practical joker. No point in ruining his reputation by letting anyone know how good he was at magick. Besides, as much as he liked magick, it was a lot of work.

Bouncing from foot to foot, Cl'rnce kept glancing at the giant hourglass floating above the hall's stage. Cl'rnce wished he'd thought to plant a Speed-Up spell. The program was taking too long. The Senior Knights, always first up during the Students' Assembly, clanked up on stage so slowly Cl'rnce thought they were trying out to be statues. Finally up on stage, they took forever to stand still and stop making creaky armor noises. At last they
recited the school oath.

Almost as slowly, they clanked off the stage and plunked themselves down in their rows of benches neatly lined up on the left side of the hall. Next up. This was what Cl'rnce was waiting for—the Senior Dr'gons and their Wizard Partners, including his sister Hazel and her wizard Gaelyn.

He had two surprises for Hazel and Gaelyn. The first was to create chaos, always a special ingredient in Cl'rnce's jokes. But the second was the part that he looked forward to most. He usually set his jokes to go off on their own so he could observe and enjoy. But since part two was only for Gaelyn, Cl'rnce had to be present, casting the spell so it didn't leak over on anyone else.

When part one went off automatically, the entire student body would be in an uproar. During the confusion, running about and shouting, Cl'rnce would cast the Borrow spell he'd selected from his extensive repertoire of borrowing spells. Cl'rnce maintained such a large category, because he “borrowed” a lot of items, returning them after the fun wore off or the former owner complained to Professor Gralph.

This time Cl'rnce intended to borrow Hazel's Wizard Partner. “Borrow” was all he wanted. No one ever kept what they borrowed. They gave it back. Didn't have to worry about it anymore. Perfect.

Hazel could definitely have her Wizard Partner back.
Cl'rnce was not interested in any long-term commitment, like what was supposed to happen when taking on a Wizard Partner. He'd let Wizard Gaelyn believe she was his partner just long enough to convince her to cast a small spell on Hazel, the one that would make all of Hazel's eyelashes disappear. His sister was inordinately prideful about those eyelashes. And not simply because only royal dr'gons ever had eyelashes, but because she was … Hazel. Cl'rnce shouldn't have needed Gaelyn, but eyelash magick was really hard work. And he hadn't bothered to learn those kinds of spells yet.

It was when the Senior Student Dr'gons and Wizards were supposed to follow the Student Knights that it went wrong. The dr'gons and wizards stood up from their benches scattered in zigzags and careless circles, but then immediately sat back down. Professor Gralph rose from his deep chair in front of the platform and walked up on stage. What was wrong with Gralph? Professors didn't interfere in the annual Students' Assembly. Cl'rnce leaned back against the wall and decided to enjoy it. As Professor Gralph, who was almost as cranky and mean to Cl'rnce as Hazel, crossed the stage to the podium, his robe shortened. It was above his knees by the time he'd trod halfway. The professor's face glowed red with anger. Dr'gon Professor Smith ran onstage with a new robe to throw on him. But as she sprinted, her robe and the one
in her paws, shrank faster than Professor Gralph's. The two teachers dove behind the podium.

Cl'rnce cackled while the rest of the students gasped and murmured. When Professor Gralph stood, keeping the podium between him and the students, his face was so scarlet it could have been made of tomatoes. Which made Cl'rnce laugh even harder.

“Cl'rnce Merlin Clan Principus River Dr'gons, present yourself to me at once!” Wizard Professor Gralph roared. His arms were bare to where his robe sleeves rubbed his armpits. Gralph extended his skinny arms and whipped the air with a complicated design.

Cl'rnce gulped back his laugh when the enchantment forces flew at him. The air churned and froze as cold silver chains formed, racing to capture him. He didn't have the magick to counteract a Chained spell. Worse, fear made his tongue stick against his teeth, and he couldn't get the Borrow spell's words out fast enough to enchant Gaelyn to get help. All he had was a paw full of rope enchanted with a Tangle-Their-Feet-Until-I-Get-Away spell, which he always kept with him just in case.

He threw the spell out into the hall and turned and ran through the door and on out of the school's main building. He darted behind the warhorse barns of the Knights Academy. Passing the refuse pile topped with the Student Knights' old armor and broken stuff,
Cl'rnce tossed the last bits of rope he had used to create the Tangle-Their-Feet-Until-I-Get-Away spell. The paw full of cut rope was no longer usable, but the moment it hit the hill of rusted and broken armor, a peasant darted out, snatched it, and ran back into the stables.

“Odd fellow.” Cl'rnce shrugged and kept running. In seconds he was near the secret tunnel where he napped in winter. He dove inside at the same time he heard the roar of the whole student body chanting a spell to bring him back. His sister's voice was loudest.

Tucked just inside the spell-proof tunnel opening, Cl'rnce turned for a second, stepped back out, and, with a flick of his claws, threw up a simple reflecting spell to cast back all magick onto his pursuers. They'd be extra mad when they all bounced into each other. He was sorry to miss it, but he wasn't sticking around.

By the time he reached the end of the tunnel, he couldn't hear the mob. But his sister would never give up, so he squeezed out of the tunnel and ran harder, wishing for once that he could fly. If he could soar like his sister, Hazel …. But he made a point of not doing anything like his snarky twin. So he raced on.

At last he spotted ahead of him something moving but not screaming. He squinted. Yep, the rushes at the river edge were blowing in the wind. “Almost there. I am so good.” He raced headfirst into the cattails and waded downstream until he came to his favorite tree.
“Home at last.”

Cl'rnce climbed and balanced on a thick branch high enough that he could see all the way to the school campus. The leaves were thick, so he was hidden while he watched tiny knights and wizards run about searching for him.

“Busy, busy.” Cl'rnce stretched and yawned. “Time for a nap.” He rested his head on his arm and dozed off. He felt himself fall into the same dream he'd had for the past week. He was sure this dream, and all the ones like it, was about the Wizard Partner he'd have one day. The dream unrolled as before, and again he wanted to peek under the vision-wizard's hood but couldn't get close enough. It annoyed him that he couldn't learn who his partner would be. But he laughed it off. After all, he liked being on his own. He didn't need anyone else. Not now.

And then his dream changed and turned into a nightmare. His sister's voice stabbed into his head like a hot lance. Cl'rnce kept his eyes closed trying to believe he was still asleep. But he knew better. Had she smelled out the Barforamous poop at the base of his tree? Probably. He should have cleaned up after Bubbles.

“I know you're rolling your eyes under those lids. Stop it, or I'll give you something to roll your eyes about,” Hazel snarled.

He heard her wings snap shut near his head. She thumped down on his branch, hard. The tree limb
dipped so low Cl'rnce floated above it for a minute before the limb snapped back up, nearly slinging him into the air. He wound his claws into the small side branches and wished for her to go away.

“Doesn't my little brother look like the perfect innocent. Like he'd never do a thing to embarrass the professors or
me
! Don't you dare try to go back to sleep! Open your eyes. Wake all the way up.
Wake up!
Now's not the time for your fantasies. The River Dr'gon has superannuated!” his sister screeched in his ear.

Squeezing his nap-heavy eyes tighter, Cl'rnce drew one scaly arm over his muzzle. “Leave me alone. I don't have time for you. And besides, I'm pretty sure Mother had Dr. Pendr'gon give you and me shots for superannuawhatsis last year. We're safe.”

He hated how Hazel could locate him when nobody else at Wiz-Tech had a clue where he was. If he'd cleaned up after Bubbles, this time she would never have sniffed him out. She couldn't have seen him in the thick foliage. He'd improved his camouflage high in the mulberry tree by weaving extra leaves around his nap branch.

Cl'rnce could tell from the snarlier-than-usual fractured-glass sharpness in her voice that Hazel was in one of her bigger M-A-D moods. She had a lot of them, and usually she shared them with her little brother, because she always assumed he was at fault for whatever had gone wrong. Admittedly, after that last prank, she once
again was right. Cl'rnce wondered what it would be like to have a sister who was sometimes wrong and maybe smiled instead of screamed at him.

He smelled the rising fire in her. For a moment, he thought he might have gone a little far with this practical joke. She had never been the one to personally hunt him down when he was in trouble. He certainly had expected her to wait for someone else to do it this time. This was Bad.