Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (52 page)

“What’s wrong, Kazin?”

Suddenly Kazin doubled over, the pain in his stomach too strong to suppress. Several of the companions noticed and arose, alarmed. Milena, concerned, bent forward to examine him. The moment her hand touched the mage’s abdomen he jerked back and screamed. “Don’t touch me!” he shrieked. He sprang to his feet and looked madly around the clearing. With a sudden burst of speed he bolted off into the darkness.

“Keep your hands off me!” he screamed over his shoulder.

“Kazin!” Milena called after him. The companions watched helplessly as the shadowy form of the mage disappeared quickly from view. Like a wraith, Frosty sprang in pursuit.

Kazin ran and ran. He had never experienced such pain before. It spread from his belly into every part of his body. The voice that had plagued his mind for weeks ended its dormant period and laughed gleefully.

“Soon!” it intoned. “Very soon!”

The hysterical laughter caused the mage to run even faster. He stumbled through a small stream that entered a small pond. His feet barely touched the ground as he ran. In fact, when he glanced down briefly, it wasn’t even his feet beneath him. They were more like a giant lizard’s feet with webbed toes.

Hallucinating from the pain, he thought. The pain! It was like a raging inferno in his veins! He had to end it soon or he would go mad. Through the trees he saw the cliff edge. This was his chance!

Screaming madly, running with what he thought was his last ounce of energy, he dove off the cliff—and soared up into the air on giant leathery wings.

The pain inside him surged out through his giant maw in the form of flames, forcing the darkness around him to retreat in fear. The orange light glinted off his giant teeth. Teeth used for gnashing and tearing. Teeth that could only belong to one thing: a dragon.

Kazin stopped the flame, the pain already receding, and glanced around as he soared, the wind whistling through his leathery wings. He inhaled the freshness of the cool night air as it closed around him once more. The majesty of flight was almost too much for him to take in at once. What strength! What power!

“Yes, what power!” the voice whispered in his head.

“Who are you?” demanded Kazin irritably. Just when he thought he was free of the problems of the past, he had the voice bothering him again.

“Why, I am you!” answered the voice.

Kazin was startled. He wasn’t expecting it to answer. “You are me? What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded, flapping his wings to get more height. The Tower of the Sky seemed small and inconsequential in the distance below him. The mountains around him no longer seemed unconquerable.

“Together we will rule the world!” rambled the voice. “Our magic cannot be stopped!”

“What magic?” asked Kazin. “What are you talking about?”

The voice drifted off in laughter.

Kazin seethed in anger. The voice was getting him on edge. What’s more, this caused his belly to burn again. He opened his mouth and released the fire once more. This procedure helped, as it did the first time. Now he knew how to deal with the pain, at least temporarily.

The voice laughed again and then receded. It seemed to like it when he belched forth flames.

Kazin suddenly felt starved. Perhaps if he ate something, then he wouldn’t have to blow flames every few minutes.

He caught the scent of meat in the air and almost on instinct headed in that direction. In the field below, he caught sight of several cows in a field. He was amazed at how keen his eyesight was in the darkness. He soared downward with his claws extended and raked one cow’s back. It was dead before it hit the ground. It all seemed natural and unnatural at the same time.

When he landed, (which was a tripping, running, and hopping affair), the remaining panic-stricken cows fled across the field and into the woods beyond.

Kazin turned and before he knew it began to feed on the dead cow, carcass, bones and all. These were table manners he wasn’t easily going to get used to.

He was just beginning to enjoy his meal, (odd as it seemed, it was delicious), when the voice spoke up again.

“How about some real hunting and razing some human settlements?” it prodded.

Kazin was startled by the careless, matter-of-fact way the voice made the suggestion. It had never spoken like this before.

“I am not going to attack my own kind,” said Kazin.

“There are no dragons in human settlements,” answered the voice sarcastically.

Kazin looked down at himself and conceded the point. He WAS a dragon now. Wait a minute! He was so enthralled by the strength and power of being a dragon that he forgot he really was a human! The only thing was, he didn’t know how he had transformed into a dragon, so he had no clue as to how to change back again!

The voice laughed. “Why worry about that? It is far better to be a powerful dragon than a mere human!”

“But I have a mission to complete for the Tower of Sorcery!” said Kazin.

“What is a mere mage compared to a dragon mage?” said the voice in a superior tone. “You have ten times the magical power and hundreds of times the strength of the most powerful mage alive! You can do anything!”

“Strength and power aren’t everything,” said Kazin. “I have loved ones and companions who are relying on me.”

“Ha!” laughed the voice. “They would not hesitate to shoot you down and kill you if they saw you now!”

“That’s why I’d rather change back into a human,” said Kazin. “Only, I don’t know how.”

“You want to change back when you could have anything you could ever dream of?” demanded the voice. “I won’t let you make that mistake!”

“You have to help me!” begged Kazin. “I can’t stay this way forever!”

“Forever,” said the voice wistfully. “I like the sound of that!”

This angered Kazin. The burning in his stomach returned and he let out a stream of flame, the voice laughing harshly in his ears. The cow Kazin had partially eaten was now burned to a crisp.

Annoyed, Kazin took several steps and soared back into the air. There was definitely something appealing about being a dragon. But he had a mission to accomplish, and being a dragon right now was not going to help. He decided to head back to the cliff he had left from and retrace his steps. Maybe there he could find a way to change back to his original form. He wondered as he flew if this was what Zylor felt like when he was in the form of a human.

It wasn’t long before he passed over his companions’ campsite. They were all awake, he could see, and they seemed to be arguing about something. Some of them were entering the woods, no doubt to look for him. He thought momentarily of swooping down and surprising them but decided against it. They would probably view him as a threat, as the voice had indicated. He didn’t linger long for fear of actually being seen.

When he returned to the cliff edge—it was another ragged landing (his landings needed practice)—he was no closer to a solution than before. The voice claimed he had one hundred times the strength and ten times the magical power of a powerful mage, yet he couldn’t change himself back into a human. It was frustrating. The voice was frustrating. It constantly goaded him into anger. It forced him to lose his cool.

That was it! If he could regain his cool, he might lower his chances of being angered into belching out flames, and maybe, just maybe, he might become more human and less savage.

The voice returned and laughed tauntingly but Kazin paid no attention to it. He concentrated on finding some water. He recalled the pond he had passed earlier when he was running from the camp. He got up and barged through the undergrowth, flattening brambles and bending over small trees. Small creatures of the night scrambled to safety at the fearsome sight of the dragon as it lumbered toward their hideouts.

The voice laughed again. “Ever heard of flying?” it taunted.

Kazin paid it no heed. The voice laughed even louder. Finally Kazin crashed through some trees and sprawled headlong into the pond.

It was a small pond—for a dragon. Had anyone been watching, it would have looked ludicrous. Back feet, wings, and tail thrashing in the air with the rest of his body only partly submerged in a pond the size of a wash basin (in dragon terms).

Fortunately, the only thing laughing was the voice, harder than ever. Kazin felt the fire in his belly. It wasn’t working. Desperately, he tried to drown out the voice and calm himself. Soon the pain died. The laughter began to change. It changed from a taunting laugh to a gradually fading hysterical one. Finally the voice shrieked, “Nooo!” before fading away completely.

Kazin was relieved. At least the voice was gone for a while. He was just beginning to relax when he began to sink. Was the pond growing larger? He thrashed about, struggling to keep his head above water, but his clothes were dragging him down. Clothes! He looked down at his body—his human body—and rejoiced. How he retained his clothes after all this time he didn’t know and didn’t care. The important thing was that he was human again! He laughed and splashed in the water for several minutes, swimming for the edge where he could touch bottom.

At last he decided it was safe to return to camp. He needed rest and dry clothes, and delaying his return would only cause undue concern among his companions.

As he climbed from the pool, he felt a presence beside him. It was Frosty.

“Hi, Frosty,” said Kazin. “Sorry for—.”

“Never mind,” said the unicorn. “It’s not your fault. I should have foreseen this. I would have prevented your discovery from taking you by surprise and you wouldn’t have bolted in the first place.”

“You mean you know?” asked Kazin.

“Of course,” snorted Frosty. “I’m your familiar, remember? When you bolted you were afraid. Nothing spurs me faster than when you’re afraid or in danger. I followed you to the cliff edge and saw you take flight. Then I followed you into the valley but you chose that moment to fly back up into the mountain. You aren’t easy to track when you fly. I just got back from a gruelling climb.”

“I’m sorry,” apologized Kazin. “I didn’t mean to—.”

“Forget it,” said Frosty. “I should have turned myself into a pegasus. At any rate, you’re safe and that’s all that matters. Nevertheless, in the next few days I’ll have to give you advice on your newfound ability. For starters, you don’t have to drown yourself to change back into a human. It’s all in the mind.”

“I was starting to think along those lines,” admitted Kazin. He scratched his head. “Frosty, you said that you might have prevented my initial reaction when the transformation began. How?”

“By simply telling you that you were going to experience the transformation,” answered the unicorn. “Had you told me you had the dragon orb, I would have known it would happen and given you ample warning.”

“It seems I keep forgetting it’s there,” said Kazin, eyeing the end of his staff.

“That explains how you opened the crypt entrance in the Plains of Grief,” said Frosty. “I was wondering about that and I should have asked you how you did it.”

“Now we know who the ‘flying fire’ is,” said Kazin. “I should have seen the connection myself.”

“There you are!” exclaimed a voice in front of them. It was Rubin, accompanied by Sherman. “We were lookin’ all over the place for ya! When you want to disappear, you disappear!”

“Are you all right?” asked Sherman. “You never answered our calls.”

“I’m fine,” assured Kazin calmly.

“Good!” said the sailor. “For a while there I thought it was my cookin’!”

“No,” said Kazin. “Your food was fine.”

“Let’s get you back to camp,” said the warrior. “It’s getting late.”

Sherman and Rubin led the way, followed by Kazin and the unicorn.

“Shall I tell them?” asked Frosty.

“Huh?” asked Kazin. “Oh!” Then he whispered, “No, I’ll tell them when the time is right.”

“Very well,” said the unicorn.

Everyone was there when they arrived at the camp. Della took a step toward the mage but then hesitated. Kazin smiled wearily at her and announced to everyone that he was O.K. now.

Perenia and Della appeared relieved. Harran grunted but looked unconvinced. Zylor, as usual, remained impassive. Milena simply looked away.

“Milena, I’m—,” began Kazin.

“Don’t worry,” she interrupted. “I won’t touch you anymore.” With that she got up and left the clearing.

“But Milena—,” said Kazin, staring after her.

“Don’t worry. She’ll get over it,” said Sherman. “I think she was offended by your reaction when she tried to help you.”

“I didn’t mean it,” said Kazin. “I lost control and—.”

“Never mind,” said Sherman, patting his friend on the back. “Hey! Your clothes are all wet! What happened out there anyway?”

“He wisely jumped into a pond to cool himself off,” snorted Frosty.

Sherman smirked. “Come on, Kazin. Let’s get you some warm, dry clothes.” He led his friend over to the fire. “If I were you, I’d quit running off like that,” continued the warrior in a motherly tone. “You’re better off with someone like me to protect you than out there in the dark alone.”

“You’re so gallant,” said Kazin dryly.

When Kazin had replaced his wet clothes with dry ones, Della came over to him with a bowl of boar stew. “Here, you should eat something.”

“No thanks,” said Kazin. “I’ve already—uh—lost my appetite.”

Della dejectedly started to turn away.

Not wanting to offend two people in such a short time, Kazin amended, “On the other hand, a little food will do me good.”

Della smiled and offered him the bowl. It was not easy eating after his unusual experience, but he had no choice, with Della watching his every spoonful with concern mirrored in her eyes.

‘The things we do for love’, his father would always say to his mother when he was forced to do things he didn’t want to do.

Kazin started and nearly choked on the stew. He had been told that to fall in love with an elf would be sheer folly. The elf almost always outlived the human and such a relationship rarely lasted. Besides, Della was only a girl, wasn’t she? He looked into her hazel, almond-shaped eyes. For all he knew, she was ten years his senior. He couldn’t very well ask the elf her age. That would probably earn him a slap or worse.