The Wizard And The Dragon (15 page)

I woke up in a
panic, expecting to find the room ablaze from something that had gone wrong while
I slept. I ran my eyes around the room and found that everything was fine. My
fear was misplaced. I looked at the candle and saw that my familiar was still
on top of it. It looked like it was sleeping.

I
put my feet on the floor and got out of bed. I tried to be as quiet as possible
and halted when I was upright and watched the candle. It didn’t seem to notice
or react to what I was doing. I walked slowly to the door, wondering the entire
time if I was being ridiculous. I wasn’t even sure if an elemental was capable
of hearing things. I reminded myself to start reading the book Tower had given
me as soon as possible.

When
I opened the door I heard something crackle behind me. I turned and saw the
flames jump down from the top of the candle and start walking along the table.
Behind it, the candle remained lit but with a much smaller fire.

The
fire elemental looked bigger to me than it had the night before. There seemed
to be a clearer outline of a figure amongst the white heat in the center
portion of the flame. The ‘legs’ that plopped down from the middle of it looked
to have to stretch further to hit the table.

It
hopped down onto the floor and landed into a roll. It continued to move in that
form, a spinning ball of fire, for a few meters along the floor before stopping
in front of me. I saw the sollite core still rotating quickly even though the
flames around it had come to a stop.

“Coming
with me?” I asked.

The
familiar glowed brighter for a moment, as though it sent out a quick burst of
light as a response. I smiled at it and then walked out of the room.

As
I walked down the stairs I felt as though I was being followed by a stray
kitten. The steps were far too tall for the elemental to descend comfortably,
and it made a faint crackle each time it fell down and landed on each step. At
first I was worried and again wished I knew more about them—could I safely hold
it? But with each fall it continued unperturbed. It didn’t seem to feel pain.

There
was no food on the table and I went over to the stockpile of gemstones. I had
been the sole provider of food for a few months and I hadn’t perfected the
technique yet. It took me a few more seconds than Tower so we had fewer meals
per gemstone. Still he insisted that I continue practicing despite the waste,
instructing me that I would get better at it each time.

There
was no water either and I frowned at the prospect of my familiar following me
down so many stairs. It would take me a few minutes to make the first half of
the trip. I didn’t want to strain my familiar on its first morning.

“You’ll
have to wait here,” I said to it.

I
took a step toward the doorway and saw that it still followed me. I turned
around again.

“No,
no, you’ll have to wait here. Ah,” I looked around the room uselessly, as if I
would find something to help me. “You can see, right? You must be able to if
you can see to follow me. Stay. Here.” I said firmly and pointed to the ground.

The
peak of the flame tilted to the side, as if it had craned its neck to look at
me with a confused expression. I puffed out my cheeks in frustration. I didn’t
know what to do.

“In
any case I should give you a name,” I said and watched as the peak tilted the
other way now. It wasn’t following my words. I began to worry that maybe I had
done the creation spell wrong by using the fire from the candle. Perhaps
because the fire hadn’t came directly from me the familiar wouldn’t listen. I
strained my memory to recall any facts from what little I had read. Names were
important with familiars, I seemed to remember from other books. But maybe a
name couldn’t overcome a botched ritual.

“I
hope I made you right,” I said sadly, dreading the idea of having to snuff out
the little flame and start over. “Let’s try a name then. Considering where you
came from, I like Candle. Your name is Candle, do you like it?”

Another
head tilt. I exhaled and let the air hiss its way between my lips.

“Candle
stay here. Don’t follow me,” I tried one last time and, to my surprise, it
worked. I took a step closer to the door and Candle stayed in the middle of the
room. I took a few steps down and turned back and could still see it. It looked
so delicate, a tiny flame on the stone floor. I promised myself that I wouldn’t
make it be alone for long and rushed down the stairs. I only needed one bucket
of water.

In
the cellar I refilled the spider’s water pail, and filled another bucket for
myself. The water sloshed around wildly when I rushed up the stairs, and I had
to force myself to slow down. I had not expected to be so concerned about a
little being of fire, and already I had begun to understand what Tower had said
about a familiar being a companion. I thought about what he must have went
through when he lost his in the mines and frowned to myself.

I
half expected to see Tower sitting at the table when I got to the top of the
stairs, but the room was exactly how I left it. Candle was still standing in
the exact same spot as it was before. I placed the bucket on the dining table
and then took a seat.

“Come
here Candle,” I said, and it immediately moved toward me, as though my words
freed it of some binding that had it stuck to the floor.

There
was another moment of panic when it moved too quickly and stumbled directly
into my leg. At first it felt like a warm rush of air had hit me, followed by a
small pebble bouncing off of me which must have been the acorn core. I jerked
my leg back, expecting to feel a hot flash of pain, but nothing happened.

Candle
rocked its head back and forth at me as I looked down at it. I stretched out my
hand and felt a dull heat rising from its body. I lowered my hand down closer
and, although the heat intensified as I got closer, by the time I was nearly
making contact with the fire the heat died away.

I
turned my head to get a closer look as my hand moved to and from Candle. Its
body seemed to lose something of its intensity when my hand was near. I could
see the floor through its body when my hand was close. I drew my hand back and
the color returned. I moved my hand down to it and its form faded away again.

I
laid the back of my hand flat on the floor and Candle stepped onto it. It was
still a daunting moment as the body of fire stood on my skin. When I finally
adjusted to the fear that I may be burned at any moment, I had to admit that
the feeling was quite pleasant. It was like having a pool of warm water in my
hand.

I
lifted Candle up to my face. I was curious about how my familiar worked and
began to extend my focus around it. I felt the same type of swirling build up
of magic that I did when Tower was concentrating energy into fire in his hand,
but this energy came from inside of the elemental’s body. The sollite within it
must have been very powerful.

On
a whim I funneled some energy into my hand and felt the heat increase
dramatically. I turned my face slightly from it and felt the heat burn against
my cheek as if I was sitting too close to a fireplace. My hand felt fine, but I
knew that would be the case from watching Tower hold flames. Candle seemed
almost happy with the power I concentrated around it, and let out little crackles
and tiny roars in response.

Once
again I found myself smiling at the little creature. I let my focus recede and
then placed him on the table. I saw him walk around it and noted that it kept
its faded form when it stood on the wooden table. Like the one upstairs, each
little ember left behind quickly rejoined with Candle’s body and was lost in
the rest of the flames.

Focusing
fire had drained me of some energy and my stomach let out a loud rumble. My
body was too small and unprepared for sustaining magic without a source. I
concentrated my focus naturally around the stockpile of gems across the room
and lifted one of them without getting out of my seat. I floated it casually
through the air and then set it down on one of the plates on the middle of the
table.

I
worked the gemstone quickly, filling out the energy into roast lamb, potatoes,
green beans, and peas. I was proud of how far I had come in efficiently forming
food out of gemstones, but the food was still about two thirds of what Tower
could have made with the same gem. Still, for someone who had barely been
practicing magic for a year I was pleased.

I
filled my plate and ate while I watched Candle poke at the food. One thing I
did remember from other books was that elementals feed off of energy in a
magical form or a similar element. Candle would be happy consuming energy from
the gems directly or from sitting in a fireplace.

Tower
had still not come out of the study by the time I finished breakfast. It was
unusual but had happened enough times before that I wasn’t concerned. I
portioned out a meal for him and hoped it wouldn’t be too cold before he came
out. I hadn’t been taught how to suspend food yet.

I
spent the rest of the morning fussing over Candle and didn’t start worrying
that something was wrong until it was passed noon. At first I was concerned
that maybe I had done something wrong with Candle after all, and that Tower had
sensed as much and was angry with me for not following his directions. I had
grown attached to the elemental over the course of the morning and hoped that
it wouldn’t be taken away from me.

I
waited another hour before I knocked on Tower’s door. In the entire year that I
had been living with him, he had never not answered within a few minutes after
I knocked, even if it was a quick shout to say he was busy with a spell. When
he didn’t answer, my mind immediately jumped to that he was hurt and I wanted
to dive into the room. I still remembered that he had said to never go into the
room if the door was closed. He had been so serious about that, what felt like
a lifetime ago, that I paused with my hand still on the door handle.

The
two options battled inside me, conflicting with each other. Candle was busy
jumping up each of the steps one at a time, struggling with each one. I looked
at it and then the door and decided. Tower may be hurt inside and I might be
wasting time. I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The
room seemed unchanged to me at first. Books were still strewn across Tower’s
desk and got more and more disorganized in the bookshelves the more I walked
along the wall. The alchemist apparatus was intact and in their usual
positions. Mist was still pouring out of the barrel half way into the room.

The
only difference was that the massive gem at the end of the room was gone. The
stone floor was lighter where it had been, probably for years, and I stared at
it. I remembered Tower telling me that it was the most powerful item in the
entire room. He had made it by combining hundreds of other gems.

That
large gem would have contained more magic than I could have worked with in
years. For that amount of energy to be gone now, missing with no sign of how it
was moved, sent me into a panic.

I
sprinted across the room and banged my fists against the door to Tower’s bedroom.
The sound rang out hollowly and I shouted out for him between slamming my hands
against the wood. There was no answer.

My
heart was thumping loudly in my chest. I could feel my pulse in my ears. I had
never been inside his bedroom before and I’m not sure if it was a surge of
courage or fear that caused me to open the door and barge in. It was one of the
strangest moments of my life—I hoped to be in trouble and to have a lecture
waiting for me on the other side of that door. I wanted to rush inside to be in
trouble and to be shouted at just so I wasn’t abandoned.

The
room was dark. There were a few candles inside but only one of them was lit.
The bed was larger than mine but just as simple. It was empty. It dominated the
small room and was circled by a few other scattered pieces of furniture:
baskets, a cabinet, and a chest of drawers. No table, no closet, and no Tower.

I
marched out of the room and back into the main section of the tower. Candle had
finally gotten himself up enough stairs that he was waddling through the door.
I walked passed it and back down the stairs and heard a faint rustle behind me
as it followed, likely disheartened that it climbed all of the stairs for
nothing. Some part of me noticed but I was too focused on finding Tower to stop.

I
kept moving to the doorway that led down to the cellar. We had never gotten
another door for it but I dragged a chair and propped it between the archway.
It was enough to know if someone climbed up and moved it while I had to go
around and search everywhere. I didn’t want Tower to be moving around at the
same time and for us to keep missing each other. It was unlikely but even at
that point I was already grasping at any possibility.

I
searched outside at first. I was terrified of accidentally tumbling off the
stone foundation and away from the tower. It was ridiculous to think I could
fall far enough to get out of range of whatever hid the tower from sight but I
wasn’t thinking clearly.

I
did a quick circuit around the tower’s base and then another one. I did a third
and final patrol at a much slower pace, staring at the earth around the stone
for any sign of footprints. There were none, but it was the middle of summer
and the soil was mostly dry. I couldn’t rule out whether he had left or not.

When
I was back in the tower I noted that the chair hadn’t been moved. I closed the
front door and dragged the other chair to it, doing the same thing there.
Candle was dropping down from the last step when I started climbing back up
again. A high hiss, like something hot being doused in water, came up from it
as I went up the stairs. I turned and saw it start climbing again.