"Magic" drabbles by Jeff Taylor

Help the monks pack

Magic #106

Barnabas sat down on the far end of the log Kralla was sitting on. "Do you really think that we should just stand by?"

Kralla huffed. "We'd only get in the way. If you really want to do something useful you'd better go help the monks pack up." She pointed at the side of the monastery where some horses and pack lizards were being gathered. "That idiot abbot of yours brought this on himself and your brethren. The least you could do is rub it in his nose. I can't wait till Tamryn gets back. He's gonna be so pissed!"

Sit down Fox

Magic #105

Kralla went back to sharpening her sword, as Skaran went over to Barnabas and patted him on the chest. "Sit down fox, relax. We're going to need to be able to move around quickly when the show starts."

"Show?"

"Yeah! Should be a good one too. Old scaly looks like she's got the nadgers to take care of a slayer quickly, but it still might get a little toasty."

Barnabas looked down at the rat. "Have you seen a dragon battle then?"

Skaran laughed out loud. "O'Course not! I should imagine not many have and lived to tell the tale!"

Let the Dragon take care of it!

Magic #104

"So what do we do?" Huffed Barnabas.

"Let the dragon take care of it." Kralla started polishing the blade on her lap.

"But... The dragon slayers guild!"

Kralla looked up. "Barnabas. If you hadn't noticed, she is an old dragon."

"Then we must do something!"

Kralla laughed out loud. "Fox, you betray your naivety. Ask yourself the question. How is Amethyst such an old dragon?"

Barnabas gave her a bemused look. "Because she's avoided the dragon slayers?"

"No. It's because she's probably one of the most feared dragons in this world. Experience, knowledge and likely the wiles to use them."

Slish... Slish...

Magic #103

Kralla looked up from her sword, the whetstone halfway along its length. "Why are you huffing and puffing Fox?"

Barnabas took a moment to catch his breath.

"The abbot has sent a message to the dragon slayer guild about Amethyst."

Skaran's head snapped round. "He what!?"

Barnabas looked around, confused. "Where is master Tellerick and William?"

Kralla's whetstone slished the rest of the way down the shining blade, making it ring. "He went on ahead to take the boy home. The only people who know he's the augury are us and the dragon. Security in obscurity master Tellerick called it."

A message to town

Magic #102

Barnabas looked back at Amethyst. "Now that is a neat trick. How many people have you caught out with that?"

"Far too many." She said, smugly. "Now go away, I've got a headache and I'm knackered."

Barnabas nodded and pushed the barn door closed.

On his way back to the others, a small mouse in a monks habit tugged at his coat.

"Master Barnabas? Please, wait a moment?"

"What is it, brother?"

"Master Barnabas, the abbot has sent word to the dragon slayers guild about the... er... dragon."

"He's done what!?"

"He sent brother Carmichael to town on the horse."

Bed Linen

Magic #101

"Alright!" Bellowed Amethyst from within the barn. Barnabas peered around the door, his mind boggled as he did-so. The stone floor was layered, at least two feet deep, with gold coins.

"I don't see any precious gems." He said quietly.

"I like a soft bed. None of those silly stones that some dragons like. Also no pots, pans or other large items. They're lumpy as anything."

"I've never seen so much..."

"Don't be getting any ideas." She pointed to the edge of the pile. "Take one outside."

Barnabas took a coin through the door. It quickly turned to stone.

Where's he off to?

Magic #100

As Skaran fell over backwards, bemoaning his fate, a horse bolted past. On its back the terrified monk from before. Skaran pushed himself up onto his elbows. "Now where is he buggering off to I wonder?"

The others watched as the horse, and rider, disappeared into the distance...

Barnabas watched Amethyst as she brushed the floor with her tail. Huge plumes of dust, and old bedding, flew out of the huge doors to the stone barn.

"Shoo fox. Stand outside, and wait. I need to set my bed." Forewarned he left quickly, followed by the sound of metal on stone.

Fates entwined

Magic #99

Skaran tossed the giant ruby back to Kralla. "Missy, I may be a pack-rat, but I have a family. The old bat paid you, not me."

Tellerick and Kralla looked at one another and laughed in unison. "Wot?" Said Skaran.

"You're as wrapped up in this as the rest of us Rat!" Growled Kralla mirthfully. "You really think that you're not bound to young Will?" She laughed again. "Tell him Master Tellerick."

"She's right Skaran. We were bound together by the Oracle from the moment we entered the cave. Our fates entwined, by our world itself!"

"Gaagh!" Groaned Skaran.

She pays well.

Magic #98

Kralla pinched the bridge of her nose tightly and sighed herself. "I wasn't planning on sticking around after we returned Master Tellerick. I was on my way to the Clarrianne Plateau. I only took your job because I needed a little extra cash."

"Madam Whitesnow. I think that the Oracle has dented all our plans."

"You can say that again Master Tellerick." Said Skaran. "Although, you have to admit Kralla. The old bat does pay well."

Kralla picked a ruby and eyed it. "That she does Skaran." And tossed it over to the rat.

"Bloody hell that's a nice gem."

How did we end up with a dragon?

Magic #97

As Amethyst disappeared behind the monastery, Kralla turned to Tellerick. "How in the Goddesses name did we end up with a dragon?"

"It seems that the fates have conspired to keep us moving along this path. I know that Will here is simply standing in the eye of the storm, everything swirling around him..."

Skaran sat down on his pack. "So, are you saying that staying close to your boy is the safest place to be Master Tellerick?"

Tellerick sighed heavily. "Will is the Augury. Great change is coming, and often that leads to great strife. War might be inevitable."

Where's my room?

Magic #96

Amethyst got up and leaned over the monk standing next to Barnabas. "Right then! Where's my room?" The monk looked along Amethyst's muzzle and into her eyes, terror gripping his insides.

"Th... Thi..."

"Spit it out, man!"

The monk started to shake uncontrollably as Barnabas bowed. "Allow me to show you Mistress Amethyst." He nodded at the monk, and then in the direction of the monastery. The monk bowed and then streaked across the grounds and through the giant doors to illusory safety.

Amethyst ambled behind Barnabas. "You have a nice place here fox."

"Thank you mistress Amethyst. Greatly appreciated."

A retainer for services rendered.

Magic #95

Kralla looked at her cupped paws full of large gems. A couple of rubies, three diamonds, emeralds, sapphires. Amethyst leaned in closely.

"Don't get any ideas. I ain't made of money tigress. But the boy is under my wing now and he needs a good set of claws by his side. I know a pro when I see one princess, even if she is dossing about in the low lands."

At the sound of the word princess, Kralla's pupils widened and she looked sharply at the dragon. Again, Amethyst winked. This time knowingly, before turning away and sneezing once again.

A bed innkeep!

Magic #94

Amethyst looked around. "Nice enough place you have here fox. Any chance of a barn I can sleep in?"

Barnabas whispered in the ear of an increasingly horrified monk. "There is a stone annex that's used for wintering the animals. Will that be alright?"

"So long as it's clean, that'll do. I'll do my own bedding." She looked down at Will. "That's lesson number one boy. If you have trouble sleeping, bring your own pillow." She winked at him. "And you, tiger."

"That's Kralla thank you."

Amethyst reached into her pouch and pulled out a handful of gems. "Your retainer."

First Responder

Magic #93

"Why is that not good? Beyond what the Oracle told us about the last time the Augury appeared."

Amethyst sighed heavily, then coughed again. "Because as the first dragon to meet the Augury, I now have to attend him." She thumped the ground. "Hell and damnation! Why couldn't it have been Audrey? She loves this kind of thing! Bloody cold." She grumbled.

"So you will be staying with us?"

Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Yes. But don't expect me to pull your bony arses out of the fire when it comes to it. I'm here for the boy alright?"

"Fair enough"

Smoke and Fire

Magic #92

Amethyst sat on her rump and wiped her nose yet again. "So, master Tellerick, before I lose my voice. What did the Oracle have to say for herself?"

"Well mistress Amethyst, the Oracle said that Will is the Augury."

Amethyst burst into a fit of coughing and sneezing, emitting fire and smoke that lit the late afternoon sky and blanketed the ground in foul-smelling soot; forcing everyone to rush to the monastery for cover.

Managing to calm down, the dragon signalled it was safe for Tellerick to approach. "He's the Augury? Oh, bloody hellfire. That's not good." She croaked.

Back down the mountain...

Magic #91

A few hours later Amethyst settled onto the ground next to the monastery, where Barnabas had to quickly run to and tell them not to gather weapons.

"Blimey. Weeks of trekkin' over in a blink." Said Skaran. "You should do a taxi service missy. Earn a fortune!"

Amethyst blew her nose messily. "I'm not a taxi. That was..." She sneezed into the sky, emitting an enormous gout of blue flame. "Bleurgh! That was payment, rat. And you need to lose weight!"

Skaran looked down and patted his paunch. "I'm no dwarf missy dragon, but I can quaff with the best!"

Don't go back the way you came...

Magic #90

Outside, the dragon was hanging its head over the side of the plateau.

"Ahem! Madam? We have your list!" Said Tellerick loudly. The dragons head rose up from below, and Amethyst wiped her mouth.

"Sorry." She looked down over the edge, then quickly looked away. "Erm, I'm afraid I've been a bit ill. You shouldn't go back the way you came." She reached out and took the list, reading it quickly. "Hmm... You said you could help with some of these?"

"Madam, I'm sure we can."

"Then I shall give you a lift down the mountain as payment. Hop on!"

Ignore nothing

Magic #89

William looked at the ground. "I don't know how to do that."

Tellerick smiled. "And I do not have a clue how to teach you about prognostication either! I'm hoping that there is someone close by who will be able to though. I will carry on teaching you the basics; the standard magic's. But nothing the Oracle says should be taken lightly. Do you remember what she said about the whispers of Amethyst?" Will nodded. "I think that she meant our dragon friend outside. So we should hurry out and give Madam Amethyst her shopping list back don't you think?"

Truth in the flight of birds

Magic #88

As they left the Oracle behind them, Will pulled on Tellericks' robe. "Master? What's an Augury?"

Tellerick smiled. "Most people would say that it is a tool for poking holes in things. But there's an obscure meaning that reaches far back into the past. I'm reasonably sure the Oracle means that one, and not the tool reference." He stopped, turned and knelt in front of William.

"An Augury is a person who can tell the future from the flights of the birds in the sky. And they are, very, special people indeed."

"And I am an Augury?"

"Yes. You are."

No Fate, But What You Make

Magic #87

"But, but you're the Oracle! You tell futures and things!" Spluttered Skaran.

She smiled. "Time is full of eddies, ripples and currents. It is not immutable, it is as water in a river. The appearance of the Augury blinds me." She looked back at William. "Your fate is what you make of it. Follow the teachings of Master Tellerick. Listen closely to the whispers of Amethyst, and be patient with Master Barnabas." He nodded. "Good. Trust your friends William. They will always be there for you." She stepped back. "I also believe Mistress Amethyst needs her shopping list filled out?"