Old Wicked

I

I

Dark couldn’t believe his eyes as Norwyn stood in front of him.

Norwyn the White!

His confidante, advisor, trusted friend. In a world that constantly and consistently challenged his power, he could always depend on the white dragon to give him an honest opinion.

In the simulated bog on the roof of Frog’s skyscraper, Norwyn looked as if he’d always looked…yet slightly pale.

The white dragon greeted Dark with bright, cobalt eyes and a wrinkled face. When he and Dark were young, their scales were smooth. Norwyn’s were as smooth as an avalanche rolling down a mountain; one thousand years later, he had aged and the wrinkled scales around his nose showed. He had a hump in his back. His lips were slightly blue and his teeth slightly yellowed. Old age, indeed. As Dark surveyed his old friend, he felt comfort at the fact that someone else had also weathered the corridors of time.

Dark reached out to embrace Norwyn but he passed through the dragon and stumbled into the wet grass. He looked at the dragon, perplexed that he was standing right in front of him, yet he was not!

Norwyn flashed, his blue eyes sparkling, and the corner of his mouth pulled into an almost imperceptible grin.

“Don’t worry,” Norwyn said, his hologram flurrying like falling snow. “We’ll be able to embrace soon.”

Dark wiped morning dew from his face, trying to hide his surprise.

The future was strange. Dark had seen many things that he couldn’t comprehend—tall buildings, television, magical construction, Moss’s daughters. After all, he was on top of a skyscraper in a fake bog that was magicked to look and feel like home. The water was real, the peat was real, the smoky, swampy smell was real.

But how did he know this was the real Norwyn?

“Norwyn, old friend, you look ill,” Dark said.

“What you see is a hologram,” Norwyn said. He walked around the water’s edge and brought his face near the surface. His reflection flickered along with the staticky hologram. The white orb that hovered over his head and served as a projector followed him as he walked.

Dark nodded. “This artificial image of you is not the strangest thing I have seen in this unusual city.”

Frog, who was watching the entire exchange with a smile, croaked. A burp exploded from his mouth, sending him into the air. Then he settled back into a clump of wet grass as a dragonfly flew over his head.

“Awfully fittin’ to see you two reunited,” Frog said. “Never thought it would happen. Ain’t ya got more to say?”

The happiness in Frog’s voice assured Dark that what he was seeing must have been real. Frog could be an absolute imbecile, but when it came to matters of technology, he seemed to know what he was talking about.

Still, Dark couldn’t help but be cautious.

“Norwyn, tell me—how long was I asleep?” Dark asked.

“One thousand years.”

“What happened to me?”

“Do you not remember?”

“I want the truth,” Dark said. “I have heard a story from an elven woman that disturbs me deeply. I want to hear it from a dragon.”

“Fenroot and Moss betrayed you,” Norwyn said. “The curse they cast on you should have killed you, but it wasn’t strong enough to overcome the magic already in your body. I tried to save you. I fought them off, but they were relentless. First they killed your parents. Then they enlisted your enemies to come after you—and you had more foes than you could imagine. I couldn’t reverse the curse, and for that, I’m sorry. Frog’s father and I had no choice but to put you in your tomb and seal it away.”

“Perhaps it would have been better if I had died,” Dark said. “This is terrible, just terrible!”

“I checked on you every few years,” Norwyn said. “I buried you and your parents and encased the tomb with a dislocation spell.”

“Your loyalty is not in question,” Dark said. “And it will be rewarded. It is Moss and Fenroot I want.”

“And you will have them…my lord,” Norwyn said, bowing.

Dark smiled widely and stood upright. “Now those are words I welcome after a thousand-year slumber. Oh, how I have longed to hear them!”

Norwyn continued his bow. Dark held up a claw to signal that he accepted it, and Norwyn raised his head. Then Dark flashed a hard look at Frog.

“Do you hear his deference?” Dark asked.

Frog lowered his head and did not respond.

Yes! Frog knew was in the wrong for not calling him my lord. Dark had quite a bit of training to do with Frog, still. He didn’t blame the river dragon for the error, but he was going to correct it.

“Future or not, custom changes or not, you would do well to remember my sovereignty, boy,” Dark said.

“I told ya this is a different time,” Frog said. “Call yourself whatcha want to call yourself. You’re’n’t going to hear it but from the lips of a few.”

“We’ll see about that,” Dark said.

He looked back at Norwyn, but the dragon’s blank expression had not changed. In fact, Norwyn had an air of concern.

“If I may, a few words of caution, my lord,” Norwyn said.

Dark closed his eyes wistfully. “You are going to tell me that I must be careful because this uncivilized society that I am trapped in has laws, are you not?”

“How badly do you want to die?” Norwyn asked.

“Answer my question,” Dark said.

“In this society, sometimes the proper answer to a question is a question,” Norwyn said.

“I am the dragon lord!” Dark screamed.

“You’ve lost your respect,” Norwyn said. “And I say that objectively. I can help you navigate this new world. But I need to know how badly you want to die.”

“I won’t rest until I have my revenge,” Dark said.

“And then?”

It was an interesting question, one that Dark hadn’t thought of. Was he so blind with revenge that he couldn’t see clearly? Thank the heavens for Norwyn.

Dark sighed. “I don’t know. I haven’t given it any thought.”

“Come with me,” Norwyn said. The white orb beeped and his image disappeared. The orb lifted higher into the sky.

“Where will we go?” Dark asked.

“There’s something you should see. It will put everything you’ve seen so far into perspective.”

Frog spread his wings and jumped into the air. “If you’re thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’—”

“Old friend,” Norwyn said, “it’s time you see what has happened to the aquifer.”