The Lazy Dragon and Bumblespells Wizard (13 page)

“What's all the muttering? Do you need help reading your book?” Cl'rnce was an indifferent student at the Dr'gon Wiz Academy, except in a few courses, one being literature. Anytime you could learn something that went well with napping, like reading yourself to sleep, or practical jokes, or reading all kinds of books to come up with all kinds of practical jokes, he was ready to learn. Cl'rnce worked hard to pull off truly creative and original practical jokes. He not only could read any book he got his paws on, but he'd learned to read every language ever written. He was always ready to find the smelliest recipe for a stink bomb in the whole world.

“I can read just fine,” Great and Mighty snapped, then apologized, “I'm sorry. I can only read a few words here and there in my book. Most of it is written in some magick language that does weird things.” She flipped forward a page.

Cl'rnce was intrigued. He hadn't really paid attention. Could this be a language he hadn't learned? “May I?” He held out a paw, and she handed him the book. “Oh, no problem. That's Old Dr'gon. I know this one.”

“You do?” Great and Mighty grabbed his arm and squeezed it. “Teach it to me, please.”

“Sure. But not now. My Journey. I have to get to Ghost Mountain in the next three days. Of all the languages I've learned, Old Dr'gon is the hardest. It took me a month to learn it. That's twice as long as any other language.”

“Oh.” Great and Mighty's body seemed to shrink with her disappointment.

Cl'rnce knew he shouldn't say it as soon as he formed the words, but he did. “I'll teach you the whole thing as soon as we get my Journey done. Okay?” He reread the passage, then looked at the little wizard want-to-be. “Have you ever done any big magick?”

Great and Mighty blushed. “You mean successfully?”

He nodded.

“Well, so far I haven't really done so much with the spells from this book, but I can cure anybody anywhere with herbs. Of course, I haven't had a chance to really learn
magick
magick. After I escaped, I was going to go through the book and learn it from front to back.” She peered up at him through lowered lashes. “You saw how that first spell I tried on Sir George went.”

Cl'rnce cleared his throat, for no good reason he choked down his usual snarky retort. Instead of assuring her she had failed, he found himself saying, “Don't worry about it. Everything was happening at once, and it
was really confusing. Besides, you got that shield spell to work. If you haven't worked on a formal spell before …. They aren't easy. Which is why I don't mess with magick.” He smiled, pleased with himself for being so kind, even if he'd lied a little.

Great and Mighty giggled. “No offense, but you are just a little on the lazy side for such a learned dr'gon.”

Instead of marking her down on his list of those deserving a practical joke played on them in the near future, Cl'rnce did what he had never done before. He laughed at himself. “Yep. I am the nap king at Dr'gon Wiz. And I hold the skipping-class record five years running.”

Great and Mighty grinned, shaking her head. “Naps. I've never had time for one. But I attended class, sort of.” She lowered her voice as if afraid someone was listening in. “I hid in the trees and listened when Goodwife Greenfield taught her children. I thought it was a big secret, but it turned out she knew I was spying and learning the whole time.”

Cl'rnce didn't know what to say. He'd never had to do a thing to get his education. He'd been sent to the right school by his mother. He'd always had everything he wanted no matter how badly he acted or how little he did to appreciate or earn it, simply because he was the last male River Dr'gon heir. Even though Cl'rnce would rather it was Hazel who inherited. This whole journey
was about Hazel saying it was time for Cl'rnce to step up to rule the clan of River Dr'gons and all the rest of the tribes of the Dr'gon Nations. While River Dr'gons had a paucity of males, the clan was well populated with females. Cl'rnce wouldn't be surprised if they all were mean like Hazel, who had yapped all her life about how she should be the next ruler but couldn't. But that was how it went with River Dr'gons. Cl'rnce was tired of thinking about it.

“Uh-oh,” Cl'rnce said.

“What?” Great and Mighty had her finger on a page of her book.

“Paucity of males.” He raised his eyebrows. “Big trouble.”

“Huh? What's a paucity?”

“Paucity means not many, not many at all. My River Dr'gons are down to one male qualified to inherit the Nations' Primacy. Being down to only one inheritor happens just before the change in rulers.” He raised his eyebrow ridge to let her know she should understand what he was saying.

“I don't get it.”

“Primus Thomas. Hazel was telling the truth.” Cl'rnce took a deep breath. It was time to let Great and Mighty know just what she was involved in. “Whether by age, or battle, or even Clause Two Retirement, which has never happened, the change in rulers always happens when
there is only one heir, one male in the direct line. It's always the same. Everybody knows now that I'm the only candidate, and the Whisper Stone has shown up to be presented and restored, it means the current ruler of all the Dr'gon nations will … you know ….”

“Die?”

“Yep. Big nap in the dr'gon sky. It's why I'm on this errand. The Council of all the Dr'gon tribes meets, I have to bring them the Whisper Stone, and it declares the Primus.” He removed the little pebble from his locket and pointed to it. “Which is always a River Dr'gon. I'm the one delivering the Whisper Stone to Ghost Mountain and the Council Chamber.”

“You're some kind of royal herald? You're supposed to deliver the news, and Sir George is trying to stop you? If you don't deliver it, the wrong dr'gon will take over and be Primus?”

“Sort of,” Cl'rnce said. “I'm not so much delivering the stone, as I might be the new guy. If I don't get to Ghost Mountain, to the Council, in three days, then … I might be failing to do what needs to be done to become the Primus of the Dr'gon Nations.”

When Great and Mighty didn't look overwhelmed to be in his presence, he asked, “Do you know what a Primus is?”

“No.”

“It's the Dr'gon Nations' king.” He waited for her to
bow or curtsey.

“King? You? You're supposed to become a king?” Great and Mighty's eyes were wide, but she didn't look impressed. She looked scared.

“What's wrong? Don't you think I should be the Primus?” Cl'rnce was annoyed, even though he didn't really want the responsibility, and down deep thought if everything were fair, Hazel would be the one.

“It's not that. I don't know what kind of king you'd be. Maybe you'd be the best. But could someone be out to … kill you?” She swallowed and stared at him, her hands gripped together like she was pleading with him.

“You mean other than Sir George who is just out to kill a dr'gon from every nation?” Cl'rnce was about to say everybody else loved him, but there were more than a few former and current students at Dr'gon Wiz Academy who definitely bore a grudge because of his brilliant practical jokes. “The Killer Dr'gon tribe is always after the Primus.” Cold fear prickled the scales on the back of his head. He'd been so busy snarking about his bossy sister, he hadn't let himself dwell on how truly dangerous his journey might be. More than snarky Hazel, more than clumsy Nasty Sir George. Hazel had warned him about the Geilts.

“Would they hire a hedge-witch to use magick against you?”

“Wouldn't need to. Killer Dr'gons don't need magick.
They're big and mean and lethal.” Cl'rnce swallowed. “The Primus is always protected. Well, that happens after coronation. I wasn't thinking about this being a big deal to anyone but snarky Hazel. And come to think of it, I haven't heard a word from Mother that Primus Thomas is dead. This could be one of Hazel's tricks. Maybe I really don't know what's going on, and there's another River Dr'gon. And she's using me to attract killers. No, that doesn't make sense. This whole ‘appearing Whisper Stone' thing is only supposed to happen when the heirs are down to one, and … ARGH! I don't want to think about it.”

He pulled out the Whisper Stone and stared at it. “I'm not even 100 percent sure this errand of Hazel's means anything other than getting on her good side so she'll stop black-mailing me and torturing me. I think she switched the stone. Does this even look like some special stone? It looks like a garden pebble to me. And it's not vibrating.

“And now that I think of it, the last I heard from Mother, the Primus wasn't sick or anything. He'll be in charge for centuries. Yep. This is a trick, and besides, I'm not in any hurry to be king of anything. I'd have to work. Ruling is every-day, all-day, no-naps work. Yuck. Not to mention how cranky Hazel will be when she has to bow to me.” Cl'rnce laughed and held out a paw for the book. Great and Mighty handed it to him.

“I'm glad you're not about to be king.” Great and Mighty looked relieved more than happy. Odd little girl. “And you're sure it's a trick?”

She started to add something, but Cl'rnce shook his head and held up one digit. “I know what you're thinking. You think maybe our journey is for real, and what happens if I don't become the next ruler? Don't worry. I'm impossible to kill, and I have a plan. If Hazel thinks I'm on her side now, when the real time comes, not this stupid test of hers, and she can't inherit because of the Laws but I do, she'll still be on my side. Because she's my sister. See? Simple.” He hoped he sounded convincing.

He pointed to Great and Mighty's book. “I think this spell is what we need right now. Let's find some good drinking water, hopefully on the way to Ghost Mountain.” He sighed. No matter what he'd told Great and Mighty, if he delivered Hazel's stone, he had an itching feeling he might indeed be accepting the job of Primus. Not only did he not want Primus Thomas to be dead, but he did not want to be ruling dr'gons that included a sister who was irrational about being excluded. She had friends, angry friends, and none of them agreed with automatically passing the Primacy of all dr'gons to a male. Would Hazel and her allies become his enemy, start a civil war? Nah. Mother wouldn't allow it.

Cl'rnce yawned. And besides, he was opposed to fighting through naps.

He read the magick words aloud, first in the rolling Old D'rgon tongue that included a lot of clicking of back teeth. Then he translated it. “It's a simple spell. Just close your eyes and say the words three times. While you're saying the words, keep picturing the kind of water you want. Make it clean and drinkable, please. No bumblespell embellishments. Don't end up with muddy garden water, okay?”

Great and Mighty nodded her head.

“Here we go:

Nourisher of the earth

Drink of the Goddess Aquariana

Show me.”

Great and Mighty took a breath and opened her mouth.

“Wait!” Cl'rnce said. “You have to get the words exactly right. And I cannot repeat them more than one more time. Do you need me to say them again?”

“No. I have a really good memory.” The little want-to-be wizard took a deep breath and started.

“Nourisher of the earth

Drink of the Goddess Aquariana

Show me.”

She stopped. Cl'rnce hoped she wasn't messing up the envisioning part. He suspected that was where her bumblespell-additions came from. He circled a claw in the air to encourage her to repeat again. She did. After the second time, Cl'rnce smiled, circled his claw, and nodded, holding up one digit. She said the spell the third time.

And they waited.

“Uh,” Great and Mighty said. “I don't see any water.”

“Oh, right. Close your eyes and tell me what you see. Remember, think clear, drinkable water we can get to.”

She squeezed her eyes and told Cl'rnce what she saw: a cliff with crystal water. The water fell into a small pool and disappeared. The pool was surrounded by trees and boulders. She tried harder and said, “I can't figure out where it is. Show me where.”

Her shoulders hunched as she seemed to gather herself into a tight ball to get the whole picture. “I see it. It feels like I'm Raspberries. I'm flying above a dusty road. I see you and me on the trail. The king's castle and the chicken-stomping village are far away. We're alone on the road. And … we're close. We're almost at the water right now! We're maybe half a mile through ….” She opened her eyes and pointed at a group of trees. “Through there. There's a pond. This way.” She took off running.

Cl'rnce scooped up the book she'd forgotten and followed her. He called to Raspberries, who flew circles
around his head, “If she's right, there's hope she can really do magick. She might be my Wizard Partner. I think I might just need her to get to Ghost Mountain.” He hadn't meant to say his hopes about Great and Mighty out loud, but it was true. He felt like maybe she could help him, really help, like a real wizard.

Raspberries cawed one sharp note and landed on Cl'rnce's shoulder. The dr'gon winced, expecting an attack, but the raven sat quietly. Something was wrong. Cl'rnce stood where he was, not running after the little wizard. It was too quiet, and her suddenly “seeing” was too easy. Too many things were very wrong. If this was really his journey to become the Primus, why would Hazel help him get to the Council? She had never supported him before. Even if she made it impossible by waiting until he almost didn't have enough time, she still gave him the rock and the locket. As badly as she wanted to be Primus, would she trick him? Would she send him to the wrong place? If he missed the appointed time … what would happen? Had she figured out a way to become the Primus? Would her scheme cause a war?