"Wasn’t my idea." Wiz shrugged. "Caitlin and Ian insist LRD’s name is Fluffy."
"Where did they get that, I wonder?"
Wiz shrugged again. "Maybe the dragon told them."
Moira just sighed and shook her head.
"Normalcy," Wiz sighed. "It’s wonderful."
Jerry snorted with laughter.
"What’s so funny?"
"Two kids go tearing out of here chased by a dragon, and you say it’s normal."
"The dragon doesn’t bother me, I just think of it as an overgrown St. Bernard."
A discreet cough reminded him of the waiting seneschal.
"I’m sorry Wulfram. Now, you were saying?"
"There is a dragon to see you, My Lord."
"A dragon?"
"A large dragon," the seneschal amended with gloomy glee. "He is sitting on the East curtain wall and-ah-urgently desires an audience."
For a minute no one said anything.
"Oh boy," Wiz said at last.
"So much for normalcy," Moira said.
"Just think of it as an executive vice-president from the home office," Jerry suggested.
Two: Enter the Dragon
First, know who you’re working for.
Their guest was perched precariously on the east curtain wall of the castle. The walkway on top of the wall was wide enough for eight men to pass abreast, but the dragon gripped it with his talons the way a parakeet grips its perch. Its enormous scaled head stretched well above the watchtowers. Wiz couldn’t see its tail, but judging by what he could see the dragon was a monster, two hundred feet long if it was an inch.
Although the courtyard and walls were deserted, the dragon had an audience. Wizards and others crowded the windows and doorways looking out into the East Court. There was another group at the double gate that led into the courtyard.
Even in silhouette Wiz recognized the bulk of Bal-Simba, the leader of the Council of the North, in the front. The large black wizard nodded to him over the heads of the others as he came up.
Next to him was the one-armed Master of Dragons who commanded the council’s dragon cavalry and Arianne, the tall blond woman who was Bal-Simba’s assistant.
The crowd parted as Wiz approached and he saw that the courtyard was not completely deserted. Out in its center sat Fluffy, n’e LRD. He was gazing up at the visitor and his tail switched back and forth like a fascinated cat’s. Caitlin and Ian were back in the shadows at a side door, huddled up against Shauna’s skirts like frightened chicks with a mother hen.
Wiz ducked back from the doorway.
"Quick," he said to Bal-Simba, "tell me everything you know about dragons."
The giant black wizard shrugged. "Easily done, since I know little enough. Adult dragons are morose, fierce and solitary creatures. They are greedy for treasure, skilled in magic and grow in size and intelligence seemingly without end."
"How smart do you think that one is?"
Bal-Simba looked appraisingly at the shadow darkening the doorway. "I would say very smart indeed. Like lizards, dragons never stop growing, but their growth tapers off as they age. That one must be very old to be so large."
"Great."
He looked at the Master of Dragons, but the one-armed man just shrugged. "Lord, I can tell you of the care and training of young dragons, but I know nothing of them after they mature. As their brains begin to grow the psychic bond with their riders loosens and they become unmanageable. We release them long before they attain full intelligence."
Wiz looked again. This dragon was not only bigger than the ones he knew, it was different. The scales had darkened to a dull gray-green, there were spines along its back and its teeth were much longer. The body was leaner and the whole effect was more predatory. The cavalry mounts were fearsome, but this thing was positively terrifying.
"Do not worry Wizard," a voice at once warm and soft as honey and hard and cold as iron rang in his head. "I will not eat you. Not yet, anyway."
"Uh, thanks," Wiz said. Bal-Simba frowned and started to speak, but Wiz motioned him to silence. Obviously Wiz was the only one who could "hear" the dragon.
Again the honey-and-iron voice rang in Wiz’s skull. "You may call me Wurm."
"Hello Wurm," Wiz said. He took a deep breath and stepped out into the courtyard. The afternoon sun had warmed the flagstones and the air was balmy and sweet with the scent of roses. None of which made Wiz feel any less like a turtle on a freeway.
"Since my presence here seems somewhat disconcerting, may I suggest that we come to the point?"
"Sounds good to me. Ah, what is the point?"
"I have a proposition for you."
" ’Proposition’ as in ’job’?"
The dragon "shrugged" in Wiz’s mind. "If you want to put it so crudely."
Wiz shook his head. "Sorry, I don’t hire out. There’s enough to do here."
The dragon "sounded" amused. "I think once you have heard the terms you will reconsider."
In spite of the mildness of the afternoon Wiz realized there was a trickle of sweat starting down his back. "Okay, what are the terms?"
"If you do this thing I will reward you richly. Gold, jewels, a heap of treasure higher than your head." A dismissive mental "shrug." "The usual."
"What if I don’t take the job?"
The dragon craned his neck high into the sky and peered down at Wiz as if he were something small and soft that had just crawled from beneath a rock. "Then," Wurm said with chilling calm, "I shall burn the town to ashes and ravage the countryside for miles around. And I shall continue until you do agree. Or until I am slain."
Looking up at the monster, Wiz had no doubt Wurm could do it, or that he would.
"Uh, let me think this over, will you?" Wiz ducked back into the doorway where the others were waiting.
"How hard is it to kill a dragon?"
"Difficult," Bal-Simba said in a low voice. "Dragons are inherently magical and their magic is extremely strong. Besides which they are large and powerful beasts." He looked intently at Wiz. "Has it come to that?"
"No, but it might. He wants me to take on a job for him and he’s got a real strong negative incentive plan."
"If we must fight him we had best buy time," the giant black wizard said. "I would advise you to ask him his proposition in detail."