“I’m thinking I could move faster with wheels on my feet,” Eric said, lying on the library floor by Illius, who was reading about different scale patterns in dragons.
“Hireth would certainly be surprised,” Illius assented as his concentration broke. Eric was doing that more of late—breaking Illius’ concentration. Sometimes, Illius would look over at Eric and catch him doing something… well… Eric-ish, like scratching his head with a quill, not realizing he was dripping ink in his hair. He’d forget about the warm tea Illius brought up in the morning, and then he’d have to draw a heat rune to warm it back up. Sometimes, he’d watch Eric draw pieces of runes in the air, forget he’d left the magic attached to them, and then start drawing a second rune. He was more careful after one had caused a minor explosion and Hireth had exiled them to the snow the rest the day. Mostly though, Illius observed his face when he was deeply concentrating and didn’t notice the therian’s glances. Whereas Illius’ dark beard would contrast sharply even with his darker skin, Eric’s was hard to notice because of his light hair until his entire jaw was scruffy. His lips moved when he read, murmuring words or scrunching them up to the side when deep in thought. Sometimes, his nose would itch and he’d have to wiggle it. His eyes, those beautiful blue sparkles full of laughter and mischief, would light up when he caught Illius looking at him, and he’d raise an eyebrow.
The subject of Illius’ scrutiny arose, and Eric started to pull on his magic. “Let’s see.” Eric pooled it all in his feet. He started with a giant wheel on the side of his foot.
“Mm.” Illius hummed for a moment before he also arose. “Make, like, four balls and put them all on the bottom. You should be able to move any direction then.”
“Good point.” Eric did so and then gingerly stood up. He wavered a second and grabbed onto Illius. They stared at each other for a moment. “Thank you.”
Illius looked away but didn’t move his hands from Eric’s arms, steadying him.
“Okay.” Eric took a deep breath and pushed slightly back from Illius. He lost his balance, grabbed a bookshelf, and the whole shelf started to give way.
“No!” Illius ran forward and pushed the bookshelf back. A book came flying from the top shelf and hit him on the head. “Ow.”
“Sorry.” Eric reached up to touch Illius’ head, He suddenly paused as he touched Illius’ horns through his hat, then quickly pulled his hand away. “Uh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I don’t—like… Are your horns… sensitive?”
“No.” Illius turned a little red. “They’re horns. Wouldn’t have hurt at all if the book had landed on them.”
“Really?” Eric asked. “I want horns.”
Illius mouth opened of its own volition, and then he snapped his jaw shut. “No, you don’t.”
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Eric apologized. “I didn’t mean to touch you. That… wasn’t what I meant. Never mind.”
“It’s okay.” Illius looked toward the door. “We should probably try your magic stuff outside. Hireth will kill us if we wreck the library.”
“True.” Eric followed him outside. Illius tromped through some of the snow, and Eric practiced making the wheels on his feet just a little bigger than the snow’s depth, so he could get used to the motion.
“Oh, yes,” he said, “Hireth isn’t gonna know what to do with this.”
He got more confident and stepped out of the snow patch Illius had stamped down for him. Soon, he was rolling all over the snow.
“Be careful!” Illius shouted as Eric started up the steep incline behind the library and then turned to speed downhill. Hireth stepped out of the library, and Eric pulled the magic back inside of himself. Illius watched as Eric’s feet suddenly stopped moving, but his momentum did not. He flew several feet and smacked against a tree with a dull thud.
Not again. Please not again.
“Eric!” Illius heard himself call as he ran up the hill. Illius held his breath as he ran forward. He isn’t moving. Eric isn’t moving.
Hireth reached him first, rolling him over gingerly. Illius was close enough to see his face twist in pain as he clutched his ribs.
“Ow,” he said, tears squeaking out the corners of his eyes as his face twisted in pain.
“What were you thinking?” Hireth almost yelled. She scooped her arms underneath him and lifted him up.
Eric whimpered, grabbing her shoulder for support.
“I can help,” Illius offered. “How are you even carrying him?”
“I’m a witch,” she said it as though it was obvious, “Just open the door.”
Illius ran ahead of them and opened the door to the library. After rushing in, Hireth set Eric down in the foyer, and Illius closed the doors to keep out the chill. Hireth’s magic flew through Eric as she undid his shirt and started to check his chest.
Hireth winced for a second, “Well, that’s two broken ribs.”
“Yeah.” Eric took a few shallow breaths. “That sounds right.”
“What were you doing?” Hireth’s voice was taught.
“I—” Eric started to speak, but she cut him off.
“I was asking Illius. You stay quiet.”
Illius froze. It was like confessing to a parent when you’d done something wrong. He didn’t want to make Hireth mad, but he also knew she would find out the truth regardless. “Eric figured out a way to put magic balls on his feet.”
Hireth paused a second and then choked back a laugh. That was not the reaction he was expecting, but now and again, he had found Hireth to be a dirty-minded witch.
Eric colored hotly and glared at her. “It was a good idea.”
“Shush.” She started spinning an elaborate rune around herself and then slowly pushed her black magic through it. It turned white, and she let out a deep breath. “Let’s hope this works. I don’t want to leave you in pain, but I’m also not willing to give you an extra limb just because my magic is fussy.” Her magic gently worked on Eric’s body as he lay on the cold wooden floor. “Take it easy. Maybe I should have given you better instructions.”
“Hmph,” Eric snorted, but he bit his lip as the magic started to knit him back together. They helped him downstairs after Hireth was done, and he fell asleep almost immediately. Hireth sighed, sinking to sit on the other side of Eric’s bed.
“He’s very driven,” Illius observed.
“Ya think?” Hireth looked back at him. “Little shit reminds me of me.”
Illius shrugged.
Hireth smiled softly, “It’s good—he’s learning quickly. I’m glad you’re helping him.”
He merely nodded.
“You can learn too, you know? If you ever want to—I’m here for you.”
Illius looked away. “Thanks, but I don’t think magic is for me.”
For a while, Hireth didn’t say anything, but then she scooted closer to him. “I noticed you have quite an interest in dragons.”
“Mmhmm,” he hummed noncommittally.
“Have you read about dragon magic yet?” she asked.
He nodded again, not liking where this was going.
“Did you know that when dragons are born, their scales are soft? They don’t protect them?”
Illius shrugged—he had read that it took them several weeks for a dragon’s scales to harden.
“When dragons are first born, they can’t breathe fire properly,” Hireth said, “as I’m sure you know.”
“It takes them four-to-six weeks.” Illius could talk about dragons forever, but Hireth seemed to have a point to all this.
“Once in a while, a baby dragon is born and learns to summon their element before their scales harden. Sometimes, they burn themselves, and sometimes they die because of it.”
Illius fidgeted with his hands.
“But… the ones that don’t die, do you think they don’t ever summon their element again?”
He narrowed his eyes at Hireth, knowing somehow that this was going to be her point all along. “I don’t like magic, Hireth.” It was one of the few times he had ever used her name.
“I understand,” she said. “Believe me, I do. Just… consider if you were a baby dragon… what you would want yourself to do. Dragons aren’t meant to hide.”
“I’m not a dragon,” he told her sharply.
“You have the element of one,” she countered, “and the horns.”
That stopped him.
“You didn’t know, did you?” Hireth asked.
He shook his head, feeling numb.
“What did you think you were?” she asked.
“A goat,” he finally said, his cheeks enflamed.
“Ah, the demon goat.”
His mind frantically scrambled over the new information he had just learned until he found something that didn’t add up. “My element isn’t fire. It’s not the element of a dragon.”
Hireth seemed mildly surprised for a moment. “You know that dragons summon all the elements, right?”
He didn’t—none of the books had mentioned that. “I thought they just breathed fire?”
The witch shook her head. “Similar to how there’s very little black magic left in the world, dragons were bred in such a way that the majority are now fire dragons. There are still some left out there, however, that wield other elements. There’s a theory that therians are the human forms of dragons, or that their ancestors were dragons. I… don’t think it’s entirely true, since therians take many different animal characteristics and not just draconic ones. It does make for some fantastic romance novels, though.” She smiled at Illius and then picked up a book she’d brought into Eric’s room. “If you want, read it.”
He turned the book over in his hands and read the title, unconvinced, “I Fell in Love with a Dragon?”
“It’s silly,” Hireth acknowledged, “but with all the absurdity and looming threats in our existence right now… sometimes we need a bit of silly.”
Illius nodded slowly and took the book.
“There’s only small amounts of half-dragon man erotica in there,” Hireth said, waving a hand.
“What?” Illius raised his voice just a notch at her.
Hireth burst into giggles, covering her mouth and trying not to wake up Eric. When she finally calmed down, she had tears shining in her eyes. “Oh, Eric would be so proud of me, and he’s not even awake to see it.”
“Hmph.” Illius frowned and then handed the book back to her. Stupid witch, and stupid Eric for running into a tree. The new information Hireth had given him on dragons made him want to go back to the library and search for more books. After a three-minute debate in his head, that is exactly what he did.
