“Does it matter, Wizard?” There was a trace of irritation in the dragon’s thought. “It was long ago, it happened and it is done. That is enough.”
Wiz didn’t try to make any more small talk.
Northward they flew, and eastward, for what seemed like hours. The sun rose to noon and sank toward the western horizon as they traveled. Below them the neatly tended fields and villages of the World of humans gave way to the rolling green of the Wild Wood and that in turn to a land of jumbled mountain ranges and steep, narrow valleys. Then gradually the mountains flattened and the valleys widened into gently sloping grasslands. The forest did not come back, save in scattered patches, but the land was green and pleasant. Squinting ahead Wiz could see more mountains rising off in the distance.
“Yonder lie the Dragon Lands,” Wurm informed him. “Do you wish to turn back now, Wizard?”
Wiz hesitated. Part of him wanted more than anything to turn around and go home. But there was another part of him that drove him grimly onward. There was a problem here and he had to solve it. Had to.
Besides, if they turned around now it meant more agonizing hours riding dragonback.
“No,” Wiz told Wurm. “Let’s go on.”
Wurm’s expression didn’t change but Wiz felt the dragon “nod” mentally. There was a small, distant part of him that told him he ought to be worried about that.
Wiz glanced at the sinking sun and estimated the distance to the mountains. “Is that where we’re heading?”
“Our destination is somewhat closer,” the dragon said and, without word or warning, winged over and dropped steeply. Wiz whooped in terrified surprise and wrapped both arms around the spine in front of him. He had a confused, whirling view of a broad grassy valley cut by a meandering river with a substantial village or small city nestled along its banks. Then everything was hidden by Wurm’s enormous wings as they locked to brake for a landing.
“Dismount. We are here.”
“Fine,” said Wiz, trying to throw his leg over the dragon’s neck. He found it was numb from hours of sitting and he had to use both hands to hoist the leg over so he could slide off.
He tried to step away from Wurm’s side and his knees nearly buckled.
“Where is here?” he asked to cover his embarrassment.
“The Dragon Marches,” Wurm told him. “Here the lands of mortals run to the borders of the Dragon Lands.”
They were on a grassy knoll beside a dirt road that wound through the valley toward the village in the distance. Dotted here and there he could see clusters of buildings that looked like farmsteads. The fields were laid out in strips, most emerald green with growing grain. The air was cool but not unpleasant and the breeze whispered gently through the grass.
Wiz took a couple of tottering steps. His legs were more or less working again, but his lower back ached terribly and his butt was on fire as the circulation returned.
“I didn’t think people could live beyond the Wild Wood because of the magic.”
“Humans have spread further than your Council of the North ever knew,” Wurm told him. “Here there is magic, but less than in the Wild Wood.”
“So I see.” Wiz shaded his eyes against the setting sun. Off toward the village he saw movement on the road, as if people were coming this way.
“Okay,” Wiz grunted, stretching backwards to try to get the kinks out of his back, “now what’s this job of yours?”
The dragon regarded Wiz with an unwinking golden eye.
“It is not my job, precisely,” Wurm told him. “Rather it is for them. The ones who live in this valley.”
“I thought you . . .”
The dragon breathed a thunderous snort of amusement. “What need would I have of mortal magic? It is the inhabitants of the valley who need you.”
Wiz looked down the road. There was definitely a crowd of people headed toward them.
“Okay, why do they need me?”
“Why to defend them against dragons,” Wurm told him. Then with a sudden motion and a thunderclap of air beneath his enormous wings the dragon launched himself into the sky, leaving Wiz to face the people of the valley.
“Remember, Wizard,” Wurm’s voice came into Wiz’s mind. “Your duty is to them. Fulfill it well.”
There were perhaps a hundred people coming up the road in a compact mass. Welcoming committee? Wiz thought. But why didn’t we just land closer to the village? Most of them were carrying things, as if they had left their work to come welcome him. As they drew closer he could hear them, a low rumble that somehow didn’t sound like cheering. In fact it sounded downright ugly.
By then the crowd was close enough that he could make out details. They were all men, mostly roughly dressed and all carrying something. Some of them had pitchforks, some of them were carrying flails and pruning hooks and some of them just had big sticks. None of them looked in the least bit friendly.
“Uh, hi,” Wiz said, smiling weakly.
Moira fidgeted in the window seat looking north. Outside the bottoms of the clouds were turning pink in the setting sun. To the embroidery in her lap she had managed to add perhaps a dozen stitches.
“Negotiation or not, he should have been back by now,” she announced.
Bal-Simba looked over from the oversized arm chair across the room. “Long before now,” the black giant amended. “At the very least he should have contacted us.”
By unspoken consent they had gathered in the programmers’ workroom. Danny and Jerry worked at their desks, Bal-Simba had settled himself into his special chair and relayed instructions through his assistant, Arianne. June, Danny’s wife, was sitting in the corner with Ian asleep in her lap and Moira was in the window seat looking out the way Wiz had gone.
The first several hours after Wiz’s departure had been a rush of frantic effort as programmers and wizards alike prepared for battle with the dragon. In several places in the castle wizards of the Mighty were still casting spells and apprentice programmers were still laboring, but in the main preparations had been complete for a couple of hours. Now as the long summer day drew to a close there was nothing left to do but wait and watch for some sign of Wiz or the dragon.
Danny turned from his workbench. “Time for the locator spell?”
Moira stood up. “Past time.”
Once before Wiz had been kidnapped. As a result all the programmers carried a spell which would locate them anywhere in the World.
Jerry took down a beaten copper bowl from the top of a corner cabinet. The bowl was nearly hidden by scrolls and papers and he almost caused a small avalanche as he worked it free.
“We need some water,” Jerry said looking around.
Moira snatched up the vase she had filled with flowers only hours before, tossed the flowers on the floor and extended it to Jerry.
As Jerry poured water into the bowl, Arianne entered, perhaps summoned by Bal-Simba. She stood beside him while they completed preparations.
Finally Jerry took a splinter from a vial and floated it carefully on the water’s surface.
arg wiz locate exe! Jerry commanded.
As the five leaned over the bowl, the needle spun twice around widdershins, quivered and then slowly drifted off until it was pointing firmly south.
“South?” Danny protested. “But they went north.”
“The needle points south,” Moira said. “They must have circled around when they were out of sight of the castle.”
Jerry frowned. “Hold it.” He reached into the bowl and nudged the sliver of wood gently with his finger. The needle swung aimlessly and finally stopped, pointing in another direction entirely.
“Northwest?” Moira said, “but . . .”
Jerry tapped the needle again. The sliver bobbed aimlessly.
“Shit! We’ve lost him.”
Almost unnoticed by the others, Bal-Simba whispered something to Arianne.
The tall blond woman nodded and hurried from the room.
“But the locator . . .” Moira began.
“Has been masked,” Bal-Simba said, rising from his chair to join them.
The hedge witch rounded on Jerry. “You swore to me that the spell could follow him anywhere. No matter what.”
Jerry spread his hands helplessly “It should. I don’t understand it.”
“I do, I fear,” Bal-Simba rumbled. “The dragon is shielding Wiz’s location from us.”
Moira clenched her fists and hissed something very unladylike under her breath.
“I suspect he had no intention of attacking us at all,” the giant wizard went on slowly. “That was simply a ruse to distract us while he made off with Wiz. And while we prepared for the attack which would never come the dragon wove his spell masking their whereabouts.” He scowled fiercely. “As Wiz would say, we have been slurped.”
“That’s suckered,” Danny corrected.
“What it is does not matter,” Moira snapped. “We have to find him.”
Bal-Simba shrugged. “Easier said than done, I fear.”
Danny twisted the ring on his finger. “I thought these things could punch through any counter-magic.”
“Any human magic,” Bal-Simba said. “Dragon magic is different and of a very high order. This Wurm is extremely powerful even for a dragon, I think.”
“What do you think he wants with Wiz?” Danny asked.
Bal-Simba only shrugged. “Who knows the mind of a dragon?” Then he caught Moira’s expression. “But I do not think he intends to kill him,” he added quickly, “or even harm him, necessarily. Beyond that? I would not venture to guess.”
“Wait a minute,” Jerry said. “Can’t Wiz contact us?”
“He can if he is unconstrained,” Bal-Simba said.
They all fell silent. Everyone in the room knew what it took to constrain a wizard from communicating.
“Well, how do we find him?”
“The Watchers are being alerted now,” the giant black wizard said. He turned to Jerry. “My Lord, can you release the recon demons?”
“I’ll get on it immediately. It will take a while to extend their coverage though.”
“As quickly as you can, then. Now if you will excuse me . . .” He turned and hurried from the room.