The Lazy Dragon and Bumblespells Wizard (16 page)

“I hope we never see Nasty Sir George again. I don't want to kill him. That would be bad.” Cl'rnce sat down so only his eyes and horns were above water. He blew bubbles.

“Yes, yes. Killing is very bad,” Moire Ain said. She remembered when Hedge-Witch had deliberately prepared a poisonous tea instead of a healing one for Goodman Fen. Hedge-Witch wanted the man's hut for her own. But Moire Ain had substituted healing herbs. Hedge-Witch had been so furious she had starved Moire Ain for a week.

“Well, yeah. Killing is bad, but for a dr'gon it's
really
bad. Did you know that? All it takes for a dr'gon to risk
becoming a soulless Killer Dr'gon is to slay without extreme justification just once. Killers are outcast in the Dr'gon Nations. There are rumors that they have banded together to execute our leaders and take over the Primacy of the Dr'gon Nations. No way am I ever going to become one of them. Hazel would kill me! Mainly because one day I'm supposed to become the Primus.” He grinned, but his smile was loopy, like he was drugged by the water.

Moire Ain tried to remember what she'd seen in her book that might be about Dr'gons and their Primacy. But there was nothing. Things were getting complicated. “So you're really supposed to become this Primus?” she asked, trying to think what questions he'd be able to answer clearly so she could figure out what was going on, and what she could do. A knot in her stomach said Cl'rnce was the king Hedge-Witch was after.

“Well, yeah. Hazel sent me on this errand. She hopes I'll fail. I know she'd like to become the Primus, but there's never been a female ruler of the Dr'gon Nations. She's crazy.”

“Wait! You say she wants you to fail?” Moire Ain felt chills jumping up and down inside her stomach. He hadn't said that to her before. Could his sister be working with Hedge-Witch? “Don't get mad, but, Cl'rnce, do you think Sir George was telling the truth? Could your sister have hired him to get rid of you?”

Cl'rnce disappeared under the water. Moire Ain waited, counting the seconds, getting worried when she had counted to sixty and there was still no sign of Cl'rnce. She leaned over the water. Below, she spotted his big green body in a darker green shadow. He wasn't moving.

“Cl'rnce!” she yelled.

He didn't move.

“Cl'rnce!” She stood ready to dive into the water. Would she be able to drag someone as big as him up into the air? Could a River Dr'gon drown just by sitting down in a pond? Had she made him so sad at the thought that Hazel could be behind the killer knight that he just wanted to die?

Moire Ain felt like her heart was being squeezed into a tiny wad of nothing. She'd tried all her life to be a good person, but by asking if Cl'rnce's sister could be his enemy, she'd hurt another being so much, he was trying to hurt himself. She couldn't allow that.

She jumped high into the air and out over the pond. She looked down, hoping to land in the water right beside Cl'rnce. As her feet pierced the surface, she felt a soft thrumming along her skin. Sinking down beside the dr'gon, she felt the water shaking ever so slightly. At last, she floated even with Cl'rnce. His eyes were open.

Her heart contracted into a seed. He was dead. That fast. She'd really killed a dr'gon. Tears leaked into the
water surrounding her face, but not because the dr'gon was the one who could read Old Dr'gon and help her become a real wizard. The old crone had been right all along. She was right to tell that stranger that Moire Ain would be the perfect tool to assassinate the king. It didn't make any difference that Moire Ain had run away with her book and her plans as soon as she'd overheard the plot. It didn't make any difference that Moire Ain wanted to be a powerful and good wizard. Moire Ain was only good for helping to do evil. Moire Ain should be the one drowned in the pool, not Cl'rnce.

When bubbles tickled his snout, Cl'rnce opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the little wizard floating in front of him. Her face was all big scared eyes, like she'd done or seen something truly awful. He sighed. This had been an extra busy day; he'd missed all his naps, not eaten, and he wasn't even a third of the way to Ghost Mountain. Now what?

With the tips of his long talons, he caught hold of the neck of Great and Mighty's robe. Cl'rnce pushed off from the bottom of the shallow pond, where he'd settled for the smallest of small naps and tried to not think about how empty his tummy was. The little wizard want-tobe's eyes went from scared to blinking surprise.

When Cl'rnce and Great and Mighty broke the water's surface, she coughed and choked out a titanic amount of water. Cl'rnce gave her a smack on the back to expel the rest, then tucked her under one arm and climbed out of the pool at the end with the waterfall. He ducked behind the cascading water curtain, stepping
up on a dry ledge.

“You okay?” he asked, gently depositing her on the rock.

Great and Mighty choked again, spit, and said, “I thought … I thought you were dead.” Water drained off her freckly skin, through her curly hair, and out of her eyes.

“You're
not
crying again, are you?” Cl'rnce said. “Don't do that.” Using his back left paw, he scratched behind his left horn, a bad habit he fell into whenever he was exasperated and unable to control a situation.

“No.” She swiped at her eyes. “Well, maybe a little. Sorry.”

“Just stop. Please,” Cl'rnce said.

“O—o—okay.” Great and Mighty pressed her robe to her face. “I can't,” she wailed. “I made you try to kill yourself. I'm the worst person ever!”

“Huh? No you didn't. Where did you get that idea?” Until today, he'd thought female dr'gons were confusing, but this female human was a puzzle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in ….

“I saw you. Your face … you looked like you were dead.” She let her robe drop and snorted up another sniffle.

“Want me to dry that stuff off your face?” Cl'rnce offered. If he could be helpful, maybe she'd quit the bawling.

“What stuff?” She snuffled again.

“The uh, uh ….” He never knew what would set Hazel off. He was pretty sure if he ever mentioned nose mucous to his sister, she'd rip his horns off for embarrassing her. Great and Mighty wasn't nearly as prissy as Hazel, so maybe she'd think he was being thoughtful to dry her nose leakage so she didn't have to use her ragged robe to wipe it up. Maybe. Then again none of his dealings with his sister or her friends had ever gone smoothly. He had a feeling there was no way this was going to go well. “The snot,” he said fast, hoping she might not hear him correctly but that he'd get points for answering anyway.

“What?”

Yep. She was mad. But there was such a long drip off the end of her nose. He couldn't help himself. He pointed to her nose and made a wiggly motion with one claw to show her the long dribble. “I could flame it off. Just one second's worth, and it would disappear. All gone!” He held his paws palms up to show how simple.

She grimaced. “If you need a reason to spit fire at me, to get even for me saying such a mean thing about your sister, go ahead.” She closed her eyes and threw her shoulders back.

“Argh,” Cl'rnce muttered. He'd almost never used his flame, so he hoped he could control it. He spit a tiny particle ball of fire at the snot drop. The blob burst into
smoke and disappeared. “All gone.”

Great and Mighty slowly opened her eyes. “That was it? That's my punishment?”

“Punishment? You are weird. Do you really think, because you worried Hazel might hire a hit man, that I would do something bad to you?”

“But you were ready to kill Sir George when he said the same thing. And then it looked like you dove in the pond to kill yourself or something.” She shook her head and held up her hands like she was really confused.

“First, I was busy cogitating, you know, thinking in the pond, not hurting myself.” He wasn't about to admit anything about the tiny nap. “And second, I was trying to get rid of Nasty Sir George. That's why I got mad at him.” Cl'rnce shook his head. “You worry a lot.”

“No. I don't. You were leaking fire and talking about killing. I know you're upset about Hazel.” She clamped her hand over her mouth.

“You know so little about dr'gons. I know Hazel didn't hire anyone. For one thing, she doesn't have any money. No dr'gons possess money. Knights like Nasty Sir George always work for money.” He snapped his digits to show Great and Mighty how simple it was.

She took a step closer. “That's it? You're sure, because Hazel doesn't have money? What if she promised him something besides money?”

Cl'rnce was about to dismiss such a notion when
he thought of something. “Oh, you mean like if she can get to be the Primus, she'd be able to give him valuable stuff he'd want.” Cl'rnce glanced over at the waterfall pounding into the pool. Maybe he needed a real thinking session. Cogitating underwater was his specialty, but this time he needed to not be interrupted. He was beginning to feel itchy-around-the-horns uneasy about Hazel and this Primus thing.

The little wizard tapped his arm. “Cl'rnce, I have an idea. You said if you get to Ghost Mountain on time with the Whisper Stone you're carrying, you'll have completed your errand. Are you sure about what kind of errand? Could this be more than you think? Could it be the for-real big one where you become the Primus on the spot, or could it be for something else?”

Cl'rnce shook his head. “I'm not so sure. It could be for real, but Mother would have said something, gotten all teary and packed me five lunches for something that important. Hazel wants me to return the Whisper Stone. But something's wrong with the rock she gave me. When I first got it, I knew it was real from the vibrations. But it's not doing that anymore. Maybe Hazel stole it back. Knowing Hazel, it might be a trick.”

He heard himself saying words the lazy side of him wanted to believe. “One of the things the Primus can do that no one else can is communicate with the Whisper Stone. If this is the real one, and I'm supposed to
be the Primus, which I someday am, it's not working. I can't talk to it, and it can't talk to me. Taking it back to the Council Chamber won't change that. It's like me reading the Old Dr'gon spells to you in your language doesn't make you able to read Old Dr'gon.” He felt a little better. That made sense. A practical joke from Hazel. It would be over soon. He'd get back to naps. His future as Primus was not yet here.

“Are you sure?” Great and Mighty asked, staring at him intently.

“Pretty sure.” Cl'rnce thought back to his classes at Dr'gon Wiz. “Well, maybe. Then again, maybe not. I might have missed maybe a little something when I sort of played hooky the entire semester of Dr'gon History 101. I mean why should I have to go to that class? I'm a dr'gon; I know about my kind. That should have been a class just for wizards.”

“There are classes just for wizards?” Her face turned dreamy, like she'd heard something impossibly wonderful.

“Sure, at Dr'gon Wiz. The point is, I may have missed the part about the step-by-step process to become the Primus for the Dr'gon Nations. It's sort of possible I don't know everything.” Cl'rnce kicked some loose gravel through the waterfall's curtain.

“What if you missed an important part about the Whisper Stone?” she asked.

Cl'rnce stared through the waterfall, thinking how he'd like to sit in this water, or any water anywhere, right now and not think, just nap. But Great and Mighty wasn't going to let him goof off. He could tell by the way she'd started pacing. He wanted her to calm down.

“Look, Hazel just sent me on another one of her endless errands.” When Great and Mighty shook her head and kept pacing, he went on, “Fine, let's say taking the Whisper Stone to Ghost Mountain is really a step toward becoming the Primus. If Hazel was trying to sabotage me, why would she even give me the stone in the first place? Why not take it there herself? We're letting liar Nasty George confuse us.”

“I don't know. It doesn't make sense. Unless she was testing to see if you're the real Primus. You know, finding out if you could communicate with the stone and all. Would she do that?” Great and Mighty sat on a small boulder and twisted her hair, wringing water out of it. At least she wasn't dripping tears anymore.

“I don't think so.” Cl'rnce ducked down to look into Great and Mighty's eyes. “What if she's truly doing her sisterly duty, even if she has no choice but to send me on this errand, because the Primus
has
to be me?” Cl'rnce felt proud of his reasoning.

“Why does the Primus have to be you?” Great and Mighty asked.

“I thought I said a gazillion times. It's always been
the law. One of the male Merlin Clan River Dr'gons at the time of change is it. And I'm the last male of the clan.” He smiled. This was easy. Hazel couldn't possibly undermine him. There was nothing she could do about him becoming the Primus, no matter how often she nagged him about what a lazy, no-good slacker he was and how she'd be twice the Primus he would. And how it just wasn't fair.

“What happens if the River Dr'gons run out of males?” Great and Mighty walked to the falling water and cupped a hand. She captured a palmful of water, turned, and offered it to him.

“Thanks, not thirsty. I had plenty while I was napping—I mean thinking underwater.” Cl'rnce watched the little wizard drink. Run out of males? He'd never thought of that. What
would
happen, really? Hazel and he were twins. She was seven minutes and seven seconds older than him by birth. Eldest or not, she was still a girl. But if there were no males, like he was dead, could she be the Primus? Did his clever sister have a plan to foil the Geilt clan's claim?

“Do you have an idea how to find out if the rules would let her become the Primus?” Cl'rnce asked. He hoped Great and Mighty wouldn't think of going back to Dr'gon Wiz Academy. He had an errand to do, no matter what. But it really made his hungry tummy knot to think there was even the smallest chance his snarky
sister might try to have him killed. On the other hand, he had to admire a plan where she had someone else do it. She was one clever dr'gon to figure out how to prevent herself from morphing into a Killer Dr'gon. Cl'rnce shook his head to make the traitorous thoughts go away. Hazel wouldn't do that.