Rick Cook - The Wizardry Quested

They had no arms, but they seemed to reach out to clutch. They had no heads, but they seemed to fasten their attention on Jerry and Moira with the intentness of a hunting eagle. They had no mouths, but their voices seemed to call out for them, eagerly, hungrily. Moira whimpered and shrank back against Jerry’s shoulder as the things drew close.

Jerry stepped in front and threw up his hands in a warding spell. A foggy tentacle lashed out to touch him and he collapsed like a sack of meal. In the excitement Ian dropped Fluffy’s leash. With a wheep of dragonish rage the young dragon lumbered into the fray, tail lashing left and right, upsetting tables and knocking down a pavilion. He snapped at the cloud things but his jaws closed on nothing at all with the sound of a rifle shot.

"Wiz!" Moira screamed.

And Wiz was there. Cloakless, hatless, bootless, his wizard’s staff clutched before him in both hands. He looked around wide-eyed, then leaped over his friend’s prostrate body to put himself between the shadows and Moira, but he did not let the things touch him. Instead he raised his staff, shouting a magic word as he did so.

Wiz swung his staff overhead in a mighty bash. There was an eye-searing burst of purple fire as magic met magic and an ear-piercing peal of thunder as the thing disintegrated. Without hesitating he lashed out again and another monster disappeared with the same flash and roar. Again and again Wiz laid about him at the encircling fog things. Behind him Bal-Simba popped into the square. With an inarticulate roar the big wizard charged into the battle. Behind him wizard after wizard popped into existence as the Mighty of the North rallied to protect their own. The square echoed and flashed with the blasts of magic. Wiz tried to reach Moira but Fluffy was in his way. So he put his back against the dragon and struck out furiously at the things in the whirlwind. And then it was over.

As suddenly as they had come the things were gone. The wind dropped to nothing, the air cleared and only wizards and their allies were left in the open space. Wiz looked around. Two of the wizards rushed to where Jerry lay senseless on the ground. The others stood or milled around, alert for their enemy. Pressed up against the tents, Shauna stood with Ian and Caitlin gathered behind her skirts. June stood next to her, knife drawn, nostrils flared, and showing white all the way around her pupils like a frightened animal. She only relaxed when Danny rushed to her side.

The only person Wiz couldn’t see was the person he wanted to see most.

"Moira?" Wiz called, "Moira!"

"Here darling."

Wiz turned to the sound of the voice, but Moira wasn’t there. Only Fluffy, leaning drunkenly against a post

"Moira! Wiz looked around wildly.

"I feel funny," came Moira’s voice again. "So dizzy."

Wiz’s jaw dropped. The voice was coming from Fluffy, the little red dragon.

"Oh my God!"

Wiz Zumwalt stood at the window staring sightlessly at the snowscape below. The wan sun was painting the tops of the clouds sullen red as it sank toward the horizon. Guardsmen manned the castle walls at close intervals and in the growing gloom he could see blue witchfire flicker about one or two towers as the wizards within them worked protective spells.

Listlessly he wiped his Breath fog from the diamond panes with his sleeve. He probably should have been with the other wizards but he couldn’t concentrate. Instead Danny was handling things. Nothing had happened for hours.

"Excuse me, My Lord." Bronwyn, the castles chief healer, was standing behind him. Her square face and brown eyes were grave, but then Bronwyn always looked serious.

"How is she? I mean, how is the dragon?"

"I think ’she’ is most appropriate for now," the chief healer said. Then she paused to pick her words. "Lord, such things are not unknown. Wizards have inhabited others’ bodies by similar methods before. The adepts of the Dark League more commonly, but even the Mighty of the Norm have resorted to the tactic on occasion. As a result we know a good deal about the condition and its effects."

Wiz brushed all that aside. "But is she going to be all right?-

"Her spirit and her intelligence, her ka, if you will, are safe for now," Bronwyn said.

"For now?"

The healer fixed him with her steady brown eyes. "A human in a dragon’s body is not a natural combination. Still less when the dragon is not yet full-grown and intelligent. Such mixtures are not stable."

"Meaning what?"

"If it is allowed to go on long enough, deterioration sets in. The personalities become mixed, degenerate and the level of intelligence descends to match the body. Once that happens there is no restoring the human personality even if it is returned to its body."

Wiz’s breath caught in his throat. "How long have we got?"

Bronwyn shrugged. "Weeks, perhaps a pair of moons. Moira’s personality is strong, so that works in our favor. But the dragon is an alien animal and not intelligent in his own right. That works against us."

Wiz turned from her and slammed his fist into the stone wall. He left a dark smear of blood where his knuckles hit but he didn’t notice.

"We are doing everything we can, Lord."

"I know you are. Thanks Bronwyn. Uh, how’s Jerry?"

"I think he will be well. We think the things attempted to do the same thing to him but you foiled them by your attack. For now he sleeps the enchanted sleep. He will awake in his own time, but we do not know now long it will be. Several days at least"

"Well, thanks." He turned back to the window.

"My Lord, there is something else you should know."

Wiz turned and looked at her.

"Telling you this violates a confidence, but you are party to the situation and I do not think Moira will tell you herself."

The healer hesitated. Clearly violating a confidence did not come easy to her.

"She was-is-pregnant."

"What?"

Bronwyn regarded him soberly. "She is with child, perhaps two moons along."

"But I didn’t know! I mean, why didn’t she tell me?"

"She wanted to be sure. Then she intended to tell you, after the fair. She did not want you to worry during the festivities. Now" -Bronwyn shrugged- "I do not believe she is thinking clearly."

Wiz sank back against the stone wall. "Oh my God. Oh my God."

The healer watched him closely but did not move toward him. "I know it is a shock to find out like this. Still, it is best that you know."

"We’d been trying:" was all he could get out.

With a healer’s instinct Bronwyn ignored his tears. "As you well know it is uncommon for a witch to become pregnant. The practice of magic drains the vital energies and makes it hard for a magician to either father or conceive a child. Still, with patience, persistence and a little luck:" The healer shrugged. Wiz nodded dumbly. Moira had consulted Bronwyn several times in her efforts to conceive. He remembered the earlier byplay between Shauna and Moira. Now he understood.

"What: what should we do?"

Bronwyn shook her head. "Lord, this is beyond my experience. All we can do is to do the best we can to reunite Moira with her body." She paused. "I have no reason to believe that the separation will harm the child."

Wiz sat heavily on a bench beside the window. "Thanks, Bronwyn."

"If there is aught else I can do? Something to help you sleep perhaps?"