A Dragonstone Short Story
By Mark Even
Ten years ago, when Mathias PhefVenscen first held a dragonstone in his hand, a magical transformation occurred and he became Phef the Wizard. Not only was his hair and beard changed to a pure white color, but he innately knew how to tap his inner magic with spells and charms. Phef immediately began using his magic to benefit the villagers and royals within the kingdom of Cladiclad, but he especially tended to the needs of his own village of Talon. Shortly after becoming Phef the Wizard, he wooed and married Loganna, the beautiful daughter of the Baron of Talon. And just last year, the two of them had a child whom they named Mandalina.
One of Phef’s accomplishments was forging an alliance with the dragons of the world. Phef and the golden dragon queen, Paction, were friends as Phef had saved her life many years before. Due to this alliance, the dragons agreed to no longer eat the sheep, pigs, and cattle owned by the villagers and vowed to only feed on wild game such as elk, deer, or wild boars. However, as the dragons began to forage into the forests for food, they also caused a rift with the giant lizards who dwelled there. To hunt such game, the dragons would flush the animals out of the dense foliage with their fiery breath. Unfortunately, they also inadvertently burned many Red Azara bushes in the process.
Giant lizards only ate the fruit from Red Azara bushes and each bush was precious to them. As a result, the lizards began to defend the bushes by battling any dragon that came nearby, often killing a young dragon with their blazing green fireballs that they belched in battle.
In order to prevent an all-out war between the dragons and the giant lizards, Phef arranged a meeting between Paction and the lizard queen called Drof. Phef chose a neutral spot in a field, nearby his very own cottage in the rolling hills of Cladiclad. The meeting was scheduled for today.
As Phef waited outside his cottage, his wife Loganna remained inside, holding their young daughter. Phef could hear Loganna cooing to Mandalina, “My sweet little Mandy. How I love you so.” Phef smiled when he heard the pet name ‘Mandy’, and he felt the love for her and his wife rise up within him. He had just turned to go inside the cottage to give his daughter a kiss when he heard the whoosh of Paction’s wings as she landed in the nearby field. Instead, he smiled at his family and walked out toward the field to greet the dragon.
“Hello, dear friend,” he called out, “Are you prepared to make a truce with lizards?”
“Hello, Phef,” replied Paction. “I am prepared, but is Drof?”
“We shall soon see,” said Phef as he pointed toward the woods beyond the field.
Emerging from the woods was a giant, green lizard that was nearly as large as the dragon. Its tongue was slashing in and out, left and right, as it sauntered into the field to face them. Phef asked Paction to stay where she was and he approached the lizard who stopped and waited for Phef to get near.
Phef heard a raspy voice inside his head, “Well, wizard, are the dragons ready to agree to stay out of our forest?”
Paction bellowed, having heard the same voice, “It is not your forest, demon! The forest belongs to no one, therefore it belongs to all!”
Phef raised his arms, pointing the palms of his hands at each of them, hoping to signal them to stop, “Please, my friends. We are here to discuss your differences, not to engage in accusations.”
Then, directing his comments to the lizard, “Drof, the dragons are willing to not use their flames near any Red Azara bushes, provided that they can see them. But that means that you can no longer hide the bushes from view.”
Drof’s reply rang inside of the other’s heads, “If we don’t conceal them, the unicorns will find them and eat the fruit. We must protect our food at any cost. This is a waste of time! I knew that I couldn’t trust a dragon to be reasonable!”
Before Phef could react, the dragon leaped over him and reached out at the lizard with its leg to stop it from leaving the field. The lizard turned at that very moment and the dragon’s claw ripped into its shoulder.
Drof cried out in a painful roar and spun around belching a flaming fireball directly at the dragon. Paction raised its golden wing to block the fireball and it ricocheted to the right, directly towards Phef’s cottage.
Phef turned around in shock as he saw the fireball strike the corner of the cottage just as Loganna had emerged from the front door.
“NO!” Phef cried as the screams of his wife filled his ears. As he ran toward the cottage, the lizard retreated into the woods, leaving Paction standing alone in the field. When Phef reached his wife who was kneeling on the ground just in front of the cottage sobbing, he saw the devastation the fireball caused. The entire west corner of the cottage had been destroyed and was in flames – the very corner that his daughter’s bedroom was located.
“I had just laid her down when I heard the commotion,” Loganna cried between sobs, “I was worried about you! But look at what happened!”
The she stood and Phef could see the rage in her eyes, “This is YOUR FAULT! You always think you have to do good! Well, this time you did nothing good! This time you tore my heart from my body and stomped on it!” And then she ran off towards the woods.
Unable to move, Phef called out to her, “Wait, Loganna! Where are you going?”
As she entered the woods he heard her answer, “To kill the beast that killed the flesh of my flesh!”
By then, Paction had approached Phef. She lowered her head to the ground and softly said, “I am terribly sorry. I will go now. And I think it is best if my dragon clan finds another kingdom to reside in, away from the lizards, and I think, away from you and your wife.”
Phef silently nodded as tears ran down his eyes. Hours later, he finally tore himself away as he watched his cottage burn completely to the ground. He could have stopped the flames, but he knew there was nothing left for him in it. He retreated to a cave up in the hills and sat down in the middle of it and then closed his eyes as he chanted a spell. When he finished with the spell, he froze solid with his eyes converged into a single eye that glowed with an eerie white light. Phef could not move nor be moved. He was in a state that he no longer required food nor drink. Instead, in his magical mind’s eye, the only thing he could see was Loganna and all that she did.
For over two years, Loganna tried to track down the lizard that spewed the deadly fireball. Over time, she learned and mastered the art of archery and killed many giant lizards but finding none that had the scar on its shoulder that would have been left by the dragon’s claw. She also learned how to throw a bola – a simple weapon of rope and stone that when thrown properly would tangle around the legs of any being and entrap it.
Phef watched and watched as Loganna rampaged through the kingdom killing every giant lizard she found until finally he saw her throw a bola around Drof’s legs, knocking it to the ground. She used another bola and whipped it around Drof’s mouth, preventing it from belching its deadly fireballs. And then he watched her torture Drof with accurately shot arrows that inflicted pain, but did not kill her.
Finally, Drof begged for mercy with its mind voice, “Loganna, please, no more. If you spare me, I will give you my heart which will provide you with a magical ability that could even challenge that of Phef’s. Just stop, please!”
“Your heart?” Phef heard Loganna say, “Yes, I will take your heart like you took mine. Give it to me and I’ll give you no more pain.”
Phef watched as Drof struggled to move a paw to its chest, then a single claw extended and cut a slit and the giant lizard’s throbbing green heart spilled out.
“There,” Drof’s voice could be heard, “If you hold the heart in your hand, it will give you power and I will continue to…NOOOO!”
Loganna had picked up a large rock and slammed it down on the green heart, shattering it into five pieces of stone. Drof burst into flames and disintegrated into dust. Loganna picked up the largest fragment and a green aura shown around her, temporarily blinding Phef’s magic eye.
When the aura cleared, Phef saw a transformed Loganna with flowing green hair standing tall and roaring like a giant lizard. In minutes, the entire lizard herd emerged from the forest and surrounded her. Loganna scooped up the other four lizardstones from the ground and held them above her head and declared, “I have slayed your queen! Bow now to me, for I am Loganna, the Lizard Queen!”
At that moment, Phef awoke from his spell and said, “Oh, no. Loganna, what have you become?”