The Lazy Dragon and Bumblespells Wizard (21 page)

He patted his pouch and was surprised to feel the locket he thought he had lost. Pulling it out, he checked it over quickly. It was dented but fine, and most importantly, not lost. He sighed in relief. “Weird, but lucky for me. Lucky for you, everything's okay.” He raised his eye ridge at the little dr'gon. “I'd hate to have to tell on you
to Hazel.”

The dr'gonelle flew to Cl'rnce's face and snorted, then hovered over the little case in Cl'rnce's hand and spit on it.

“Stop that!” Cl'rnce said, gripping the locket and getting ready to stow it back in the pouch in the folds of his chest scales. But when he closed his paw, he noticed light leaking out. He opened his paw again. The locket glowed, spraying rays of purple and gold. “I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to do that.”

Raspberries plopped on his shoulder, pecked him behind the horn, and said, “Nevermore.”

Cl'rnce was too absorbed to push the raven off. He couldn't take his eyes off the light in his paw. The rays moved and danced, and then darker rays formed figures. Three images. At first blurry, the three became more distinct, and Cl'rnce was certain one of them was Great and Mighty. But he didn't know what the other figure was. Cold terror made his scales stand on end when he realized the third figure was a dr'gon, and Cl'rnce recognized him.

At Dr'gon-Wiz there was only one class Cl'rnce had attended faithfully and even done the homework for. It was
The History of Villains
. Cl'rnce wasn't convinced all the villains the professor lectured about were real. In particular, Cl'rnce had been sure the Killer Dr'gon of Ghost Mountain was a myth.

The myth said the Killer of Ghost Mountain was obsessed with hunting and destroying all the leaders of the Dr'gon nations. The Killer sought the day when the Dr'gon Nations were in chaos, without a true Primus, to take over everything, to rule humans as well as dr'gons. But that myth supposedly happened hundreds of years in the past. Some hero Cl'rnce couldn't remember had defeated the Killer, or maybe banished him. It didn't matter. No way the Dr'gon Council was stupid enough to set up in Ghost Mountain if this killer guy was real and still around.

Except right there in front of Cl'rnce was the image of the Killer Dr'gon straight from the illustrations in the
Book of Villains
. This was the only dr'gon ever to have four regular horns on his head, plus one the length of a sword on his muzzle. The muzzle horn was said not only to be sharper than any sword but to ooze poison as well. The myth of the Killer Dr'gon of Ghost Mountain said that centuries ago, when the dr'gon had been banished, the horn had been disabled.

Cl'rnce remembered that now. A spell was put on the Killer to deactivate the poison, a spell that a dr'gon could not counteract. It would take the blood of two dr'gons and a wizard to restore the poison and make the Killer Dr'gon of Ghost Mountain lethal enough to take power. Cold ran down Cl'rnce's spine. The Killer might just be there, imprisoned somewhere in Ghost
Mountain, not banished. Hopefully, he was jailed somewhere he couldn't escape from.

Cl'rnce couldn't look away from the figures sparking from the locket. The one he thought was Great and Mighty did something to the Killer Dr'gon, then grabbed a long pole and ran at a cave wall that Cl'rnce felt certain was the same one he and the little dr'gon, and Nasty Sir George and his horse, had come through. As the Great and Mighty figure neared the wall, the locket went dead dark.

Cl'rnce shook it. Rubbed it. Snorted hot breath on it. But it stayed dim. He looked up at the little dr'gon hovering near. “Great and Mighty, she … ” He followed the dr'gonelle's upward gaze. “She's falling out of the mountain. Now!”

Cl'rnce raced to the spot under the plunging Great and Mighty. He ran back and forth as she dropped, holding his arms up to catch her.

Raspberries cawed, “Nevermore.”

The little dr'gon flew in a circle around all of them.

For a moment, Cl'rnce stopped racing about and stared up at Great and Mighty. She had one arm out, and something long and sparkly extended from her hand. It seemed like she had slowed, but she still came plenty fast. Shooting past Cl'rnce, the little dr'gon continued to circle. Cl'rnce dismissed the little guy, who had clearly panicked and gone round-and-round crazy.

But Cl'rnce checked the little guy again when he saw the path of the dr'gon's circle lighting up. It looked like glowing fog. The dr'gonelle flew faster, snorting small flames at his path, which made it more solid. Cl'rnce took a deep breath and turned to follow the circle; he added his own flamed air on the little dr'gon's path. Immediately, the entire circle's glow thickened. It was flattening into a disk, like a big round blanket that might stop Great and Mighty from crashing. But the center where she would hit wasn't filling in fast enough.

Cl'rnce stretched up to catch the little wizard. A moment later, she crashed into his arms and bounced out. She hit the circle like it was made of a tight, stretched blanket and ricocheted back into Cl'rnce's arms. This time he closed them on her in a big hug.

“Where did you go?” he said.

Great and Mighty started laughing. “Well, I thought I'd visit with my old mistress, Hedge-Witch. So I let Sir George take me there. While we were at it, I thought why not meet a really scary dr'gon.”

“Dr'gon!” Cl'rnce hissed at the reality. “Bad idea, that dr'gon. Do you know who that dr'gon is?”

Great and Mighty shook her head. “Who? And who is that?” She pointed to the little dr'gon. “He looks like the shiny thing in your locket.”

Cl'rnce shook his head and grinned. “He didn't come out of my locket—I mean, storage device. I'd introduce
you, but I don't know his name. He helped me find you, sort of. And he made the bouncy ring that helped you not crash to earth. But he doesn't talk.”

“Thank you!” She smiled at the little dr'gon. Then she turned back to Cl'rnce. “You know about that scary dr'gon in the mountain?”

“Unfortunately, I think I do. I saw him in the Whisper Stone, or its lights.” Great and Mighty looked blank, so he went on. “Seems the rock does tricks like show you to me, when you were in the mountain with the Killer Dr'gon and someone else.”

“The someone else is Hedge-Witch. She used this staff to call up that scary dr'gon, Killer Dr'gon.” Great and Mighty held up the rod she still gripped. “And she called him ‘my lord.'”

Cl'rnce shivered. “That's not good.” He held a paw out for the rod. At first Great and Mighty shook her head and gripped it harder, but then she passed it to him.

“What did she do with this?” Cl'rnce asked after he sniffed it, licked it, and pinched it. He handed it back to Great and Mighty.

“She slammed it into the ground like this!” Great and Mighty smacked the staff into the forest floor. “And swirly smoke appeared, like the man …. Then a tiny dr'gon appeared. She did it again, and the dr'gon grew into the big scary one.”

Cl'rnce and Great and Mighty both shot looks over
to the little dr'gon who hovered over Sir George's burnt armor. Raspberries walked around the roasted knight, poking at the crispy metal. When the little dr'gon did not grow, they both heaved sighs of relief.

“The little guy is not another Killer Dr'gon, huh?” Great and Mighty asked.

“I guess not. I hope.”

“Why are he and Raspberries so interested in that burned metal pile?” Great and Mighty started to walk over.

“Wait!” Cl'rnce grabbed for her arm. “Let me explain.”

“Sir George,” Great and Mighty said as she bent over the armor. “Talk to me. Right now. We want to know details—why Hedge-Witch wants Cl'rnce dead, and … what she planned on doing with me.”

“He's dead. Burned. And I did it,” Cl'rnce said. He watched her face, waiting for Great and Mighty to show how disappointed she was in him. “But it was him or me. I swear.” He waited again for her to tell him he was as evil as Hedge-Witch.

“He's not dead.” Great and Mighty looked up. “But his face is really red through the armor. I think you roasted him a bit.” She kicked the armor. “Answer my questions.”

“Don't know,” Sir George muttered, still not moving. “I'm not talking to you two.”

“Because you're afraid?” Cl'rnce joined Great and Mighty. “You're afraid of the dr'gon, aren't you?”

“You? I'm not afraid of you,” Sir George said. “The old hag hired me to kill you. Plain and simple. I lied about your sister. Now let me go.”

Cl'rnce poised a big back foot over the knight, like he was going to squash him like a bug.

Great and Mighty pushed him away. “Sir George wasn't there when Hedge-Witch made the dr'gon appear. I don't think he knows any more than he said. Hedge-Witch seemed all excited that I can do magick. I did do it, really big magick. No bumbled spells. Oh, yeah. She ordered Sir George to bring me to her.”

“Yep,” Sir George said.

“So Hedge-Witch calls forth a Killer Dr'gon she calls ‘lord,' she wants me dead, and she wants you to have magick. I hate to say it, but I know about this. It sounds like the formula for unleashing the Killer D'rgon of Ghost Mountain and making him the Primus. All they needed was another dr'gon's blood plus—” Cl'rnce pointed to himself and then at Great and Mighty. “—you.” They both turned to look at the little dr'gon. “And maybe him.”

“What are we going to do?” Great and Mighty asked.

“They're in the mountain, and I have to get the Whisper Stone into the Council Chambers. We have no choice. We have to get into the mountain and put a stop to the Killer Dr'gon's plans.” Cl'rnce stared up at the
mountain. He felt a rush of optimism, because Great and Mighty could do magick now. They were going to need her power. Maybe she could start with finding the Council Chambers, so they could deliver the stone, fast. That done, they could work on finding Hedge-Witch and the Killer Dr'gon. Sounded like a plan.

Magick power or not, Moire Ain hated the idea of going back in the mountain. Somewhere inside was the person she'd feared her whole life. Moire Ain's stomach clenched at the same time her heart beat so hard she put her hand over her chest in case her heart punched through. After years of doing whatever she could to keep from being hurt by Hedge-Witch, Moire Ain had finally escaped. She even had what she'd wished for most, magick power.

If she had to go back in, Moire Ain hoped she could defend herself with that magick. Really hoped. But she worried. How reliable was her magick? How powerful? Was it possible she'd used it all up? Would she have enough to keep everybody safe from the Killer Dr'gon? Even Hedge-Witch acted like she feared him a little.

Moire Ain was so immersed in worrying that she only heard a bit of what Cl'rnce was saying. “What?”

“I said, Nasty Sir George claims he doesn't know anything more. He's useless and a bad guy. I think we should
throw him in the pond and be rid of him forever,” Cl'rnce said.

“Drown him?” Moire Ain shook her head until her hair flew like it was caught in a tornado. “No! Killing makes us evil, like Hedge-Witch. It's what she'd do. It's what she wanted to force me to do. No evil!” She slammed her rod down and repeated “No evil!” two more times.

When she finished, Sir George yelled. Cl'rnce, Moire Ain, Raspberries, and the little dr'gon all whipped around to look at the knight.

Sir George had managed to right himself and get on his feet.

Moire Ain, Cl'rnce, and Raspberries gasped together.

Sir George's formerly dented, rusty, and mismatched armor, which had been charred and full of more holes than ever, now gleamed like new. It shone like a polished silver coin. There wasn't a single hole, and for the first time, his armor really fit him. The missing left lower leg plate had appeared. With arms extended, he stared at himself. He made a chugging noise like he wanted to put together words but couldn't.

“You're welcome,” Moire Ain said.

“You did that?” Cl'rnce asked. “How? Why?”

Moire Ain leaned close to Cl'rnce and whispered, “I guess I did. I sort of only hoped to stop anything evil, like broken bones or us getting dead. You know I'm a
pretty good healer without magick, so I thought … this picture snapped into my mind of Sir George as a good guy when I was yelling about no more evil. And I kind of thought maybe if we did something nice for him, Sir George would stop being evil. Maybe he'll help us now.” She stared at the knight.

For a moment, Sir George stopped admiring his new armor. He looked up at Moire Ain, smiled, and saluted. “I heard the old crone say something about becoming the Primacy's Wizard.” And with that, Sir George turned and ran, faster than he had before, in his new, unbroken and un-rusted armor. Unfortunately, he ran away from them all.

“Ungrateful.” Moire Ain shook her head.

“Nevermore!” Raspberries said, and took off flying. He circled the fleeing knight, dove close, and let loose a signature Raspberries-large raven poop. The little dr'gon, who followed, turned somersaults in the air, almost like he was laughing. Then he zoomed back to Cl'rnce and Moire Ain, with Raspberries right behind. Even with bird dump slipping down his visor, Sir George never slowed. He kept running.

Cl'rnce said, “It's okay. We don't need him. He just told me what's going on. I know why Hedge-Witch wants me dead, and why she kidnapped you and wanted to force you to do magick.” He paused as if for dramatic effect.

“Go on,” Moire Ain said.

“Hedge-Witch summoned Lasair, the Killer Dr'gon, right? She knows of the old myths about him taking back the Dr'gon Nations, becoming the Primus. She's helping him so he'll make her the second most powerful being and the most powerful wizard ever. Like you said, Great and Mighty, dr'gons have some of their own magick, and combined with a wizard, it becomes unstoppable.