Magik

Meanwhile the jaguar pack was sitting under a nearby tree. “Boss, are you sure we can’t kill ‘em?”1

“No! You greedy, self-centered, piece of carrion! She is going to lead us strait to the unicorns. And then, we will have plenty to eat and the stupid unicorn might lead us strait to the changeling child!” The jaguar leader, Merciffin, began his transformation. He grew a human head and arms and even legs. His tail shrunk and his ears receded. Soon he was nothing but a mere human. He being around twenty and having long, shaggy, red hair. He had long fingernails like the jaguar he had been a few minutes before. He wore long, dark purple robes, so dark it was like the midnight sky, yet clearly purple. And his hooded cloak was so blue it was like staring into a bottomless pit. He swiped his hand over the other jaguars and they began to turn back.2

Emerged was beetle like monstrosities with dragon like legs. They had three dagger claws on their talon feet and large eyes on their heads. A sharp beak protruded from their face and long tentacles wavered for arms. On the tentacles there were sharp spikes all the way down. Towards the front of the tentacles was one long spike, twice as long as the others, and on the spikes were sharp thorns that acted like fish hooks, latching onto their victim until they wanted to let go. They wore tattered clothes, hiding their true shape. 3

“Mmmmmmerciffin we gots a slightsy problemmmmm,” moaned out what happened to be a Lorbeean. “Ifs wes supposeds to track the unis, whys ares wes normmmmals? The unis can hears us offs a longs distances.”4

“Do you think I do not know this you dim witted fool?! Magik is a tiring art and I need to give you a gentler look so as not to arouse suspicion. Now I suggest you shut that beak of yours before it is ripped off. I will do as I please and not be interrupted. Unless of course, you want me to turn you into something with a tongue so I can rip it out? Hmm… there’s a thought. Anyone else who screws up my name will know what it’s like to have their non- existing tongue ripped out! Now be quiet so I can think!” Merciffin whipped around and stormed off. After he was out of sight he reached into his pocket. Clinging to his fingers sat a tiny dragon, a cream color. She put her hand out, holding a giant sized vial, compared to the size of her, and filled with a cruel colored liquid. Merciffin’s green eyes widened and his black lips clenched together. He gingerly took it.5

I believe you owe me something Pet, the tiny dragon demanded in Dragonspeak.6

“Ah, dear, beautiful Magnerfa! Thank you so much!” Merciffin said.7

Think nothing of it, I am here to help. Just be ready to lend a thank you to me Pet, or I just might throw another one of my fits!8

Merciffin winced, as much as he hated being told what to do, he did not want to face her wrath. She had almost destroyed the castle and everything in it in her last fit! Her shape shifting powers had their advantages and disadvantages. 9

“Yes Magnerfa, I will remember your kind words.” She snorted. “I mean it!” She blew a flame from her nostrils. Merciffin rolled his eyes and Magnerfa grinned, showing many pearly, sharp teeth.10

A loud crash was heard and Merciffin whipped around and ran towards it. When he burst from the brush he saw a Lorbeean bent over a fallen tree. 11

“You!” Merciffin hissed through clenched teeth. “You! How DARE you break my command! I told you to be QUIET! And you disobey me!”12

The Lorbeean backed away. “I did not mmmmmean tos disobey, onlys to find where you weres. You hads left us a very long timmmmes.”13

“Well, I suppose you just better be more patient then.” 14

The Lorbeean stopped backing and stood straighter.15

“But you won’t have the chance to accomplish that! You know better then try and scare the unicorn away! She is very dear to this plan!” 16

He whipped a hand in the Lorbeean’s direction. The Lorbeean caught fire as soon as the hand pointed its one cruel finger towards him. He moaned in a tongue that not even his fellow brothers and sisters repeated what he was saying. The Lorbeean was reduced to a mere puddle of water. 17

“Anyone else? No? Good! Now then, let’s get moving!” He led the way deeper into the woods with Magnerfa morphing bigger and following close behind him, gently swinging her tail with each step. 18

******** 19

Ashoola lifted her muzzle into the night air. The crisp coolness of the atmosphere bit her nose as she inhaled the scent of burning earth. She nickered softly, what could want to set Mother Nature on fire? Ricks slithered up to her. “I don’t like fire,” he hissed softly. Ashoola dipped her neck over the snake and he twined himself loosely about her. Ashoola stayed up long enough to see the dancing light die out. 20

******** 21

A few hours before even any of this took place a very important prize had been stolen from the clutches of Merciffin.22

Merciffin stood in front of a small child, her small, eight year old frame thin and battered. She had dirty, dark brown hair and huge bright purple eyes that were exactly like a dragon’s. Her arms were chained to the wall above her head and her leg shackles had been removed, for she had grown too weak to kick out. She had multiple layers of clothing on as to keep her warm in the cool dungeon. Merciffin couldn’t let such an important prize die, a changeling?! No! His master would have his head!23

The child’s face was deeply scarred by Magnerfa’s impatience. Merciffin had told her that the tiny child would not obtain her powers until the age of thirteen, but Magnerfa insisted that she had enough to change even at this age, and clawed and bit the child, weakening her with blood loss. The girl was kept chained and weak so as not to be given the opportunity to change in case Magnerfa was right. She was usually asleep, trying to regain her strength, and she hardly ate enough to keep herself alive, and that was only because Merciffin forced it down her throat.24

“I will kill you soon Warlock, and until then, you better learn to sleep with one eye open, because you and I both know I will get the chance soon enough,” her voice was strong with the few hours of being awake and it sounded fierce and like that of a throaty growl of a dragon, “and you will regret everything. You and that wretched dragon of yours!” 25

“Nonsense Yanaba! Is the lack of food eating at your brain? You are loosing your awareness and speaking worthless thoughts. You know your life is hanging by a tiny thread. You wouldn’t want me to forget to feed you would you?”26

“I would rather DIE than eat the horrible carrion you call food, rotten flesh that forces me into slumber! And you know as well as me, for I heard you fretting about it, that if you killed me, your master would chop off your head and feed it to his animals, and I wouldn’t want such and awful fate to befall the very person who KILLED MY PARENTS!!”27

“You didn’t belong you filthy hybrid. Would you really want to live in a colony of dragons? A human born from the parents of two dragons, I helped you. You will soon be like them, but you have five years before you can. But I will harvest your precious power before then.”28

“Your tongue is sharper than a thorn Merciffin, too bad it doesn’t have anything worth saying.” Merciffin raised his hand. “Oh?! Going to cast a spell Warlock? Go ahead! Your master will be very pleased, and while you suffer, I’ll watch from my afterlife. Do it Warlock! Kill the eight year old child you kidnapped three years ago! Kill the child whose parents you mercilessly slaughtered for your own personal gain, the one you have to chain because you couldn’t keep a hold of her. I fear not Darth! No, my friend, it is YOU who should fear him!”29

“And yours a sword Yanaba!” Merciffin yelled, lowering his upraised arms. “But no matter, I can keep you alive for however long I need to, like a puppet, only you would suffer torture from the inside out. And when I withdraw that support when you outlive your usefulness? Bye-bye my little one.”30

Merciffin waved his hand over Yanaba. She roared in pain and confusion as she was ripped in half. Her roar sounded like a dragon and Merciffin winced at the thunderous sound the eight year old produced. “Merely an illusion hybrid,” he said and she was whole once more, “but do it again, and it’ll be real. I will deal with my master if it comes to that.” 31

He approached her. “Now, let us not talk about it anymore,” he said as he tilted her head up. Using his magik, he forced open her mouth and slid the carrion into it, laced with the sleeping drug. He forced her jaws together and he gently stroked her neck and she swallowed. “Good child,” he sneered. Yanaba weakly kicked out as the drug took effect and sleep overwhelmed her. “See you at dawn.”32

******* 33

Yanaba’s sensitive ears picked up the sound of a sword coming out of its hilt and the slump of a limp body hitting the floor. Yanaba weakly lifted her head. Her heavy eyelids forced open and she stared into the darkness. But, as her eyes adjusted her eyesight became sharper and she could clearly see into the darkness. A slender man was bent over a body, his fingers feeling for the pulse that signified life on the man. He got up, his body language saying that he didn’t find the life beat. 34

He walked over to her, cautiously stepping, his sword drawn. She bared her teeth at him and a low growl rumbled. He stopped and looked at her quizzically. She lifted her head off her chest and growled louder. He stepped forward, surprised at the dragon growls the tiny child emitted. She was just a child, and didn’t look like much, but if Merciffin tried to keep her chained up and controlled, she must be important. 35

He stepped closer and Yanaba snarled and showed off her teeth again. Her teeth were human- like, except that a few were deadly sharp. He ran up to her.36

“Don’t touch me!” Yanaba growled.37

“Will you stop?! I’m trying to help!” he cried.38

“Oh? Trying to help me, or that wretched Warlock? Back off and don’t you dare come back.” 39

He swung his sword and the chains broke. She fell and he caught her. However tough and ridged she looked when he had attempted to approach her, it was all gone as she had fallen and passed out from weariness. 40

“You dare enter my lair without my knowledge, and to top it off, you dare try to steal a very important prize of mine? You have guts, too bad I’ll have to rip them out.”41

He swung around and saw the Warlock, in all his glory in his own lair, powerful and threatening. He placed the small girl on a table and picked up his sword, lowering it at the Warlock. “Come, try and see if you can match the power of my sword!” he cried.42

Merciffin raised his hands and a stream of fire laced between his fingers. He gingerly touched it and flung it gleefully. The sword the man held glowed an ember color to match the flame and then swallowed it. Merciffin frowned and flung lightning at him. The sword turned a bright white color and swallowed it too. 43

“You can not defeat me by magik, warlock, only by sword play,” he shouted. Merciffin snarled and drew his sword. The man charged at Merciffin and he dodged neatly aside, twisting his blade so it scored the man’s back. He cried out in shock and twisted away. Merciffin turned and summoned a fire snake. It curled around itself and turned towards the intruder. It lunged and the man dodged away, turning his blade so that it ran through the snake. The snake recovered from its lunge and measured up again.44

“You can not kill dark magik boy, only entertain it until you die!” Merciffin boasted. The man clashed with Merciffin and the Warlock fended off the attacker with quick, neat blows. 45

As Merciffin wore down the attacking man, Yanaba had drawn up, a large heat radiating off of her in pale purple waves. She walked steadily over to the clashing men and delivered a nasty blow to Merciffin’s chest. He flew back and hit a wall. The man rushed over and hacked off his head, the snake he had summoned deteriorated. Merciffin slumped and disappeared in a gush of ash. Yanaba fell to the floor, spent. The boy ran up to her. 46

“I guess you did come to help,” she said.47

“Yes. My name is Maeven,” he told her. She nodded and growled in protest as Maeven picked her up. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” She growled again, but then fainted. 48

******** 49

Yanaba woke when the kiss of the sun touched her face. She aroused at its warm touch, normally accustomed to a chilly atmosphere. Maeven sat beside her, sharpening his blade. She got up and snarled at him. He looked over startled and then calmed down as Yanaba realized who he was. She opened her mouth to speak but then dropped as the heat took hold of her. The bundled clothes she was in protected her in the chilly lair of Merciffin, but not in the warm heat of the sun which she hadn’t seen in three years. Her arms clawed at the fabric, her sharp nails tore through the fabric. Maeven went over to her and tried to help, tearing at the clothes when her hands weren’t in the way. Soon, they had progressed down to the final layer. She roared in relief and headed to the stream Maeven had set her down by. She greedily lapped the water very much like a cat. She rolled over; bloated by the amount of water she had taken in. She dozed off.50

She woke up when she felt the sting of water in her nose. She bobbed to the surface and snorted with a look of disgust on her face. Maeven ran over to her to help her out of the water and was rudely discouraged when Yanaba growled her disapproval, the water felt well on her skin.51

She got out and shook off, dousing Maeven with water. 52

“Did you manage to kill the Warlock?” she asked.53

“I cut off his head,” he boasted.54

“Then we are rid of one problem,” she said. Maeven opened his mouth to start another conversation but Yanaba silenced him with a growl. 55

She got up and jumped back into the stream.56