Bastine's Curse - Chapter Three

The Curse of Bastine

A short story in 3 parts

Rekalnus / RC
9/1/12


  Much like any other Thursday, this one dawned with a quiet and slow beginning. Asleep in my chamber, lulled by the routine sounds floating by. Gloriane in her room practicing on a piano, Bastine in his study,the pages of a book turning, and the chop chop chop of the cleaver, Tophe in the kitchen, where his mastery was great. A strange sound mixed to these, the click of a metal lever - a sound unfamiliar, followed by a second.

   The sudden realization of those sounds being the cocking of crossbows being drawn and the quiet footsteps of a small contingent....assassins!

   Bounding down the hallway, a conundrum, three beings in danger, one dragon---which first. Realizing Bastine was closest the sounds, I ran first to his study and expecting to find an archer menacing him, instead found a wizard, his arm recoiling from having doused Bastine in powder and delivering a chant.

   The room, too flammable for fire and the wizard too close to Bastine. I flung my tail catching him and smashing him into a far wall, as he raised his hand again. I used a chant of my own, or more specifically a sonic blast, a single focused roar that concentrated great force. It hit him with impact to rupture his skin and organs, blood splattering from many places and he crumpled broken to the carpet, lifeless. I blew a great wind to Bastine, relieving him of the powder that was thrown.

   He looked to be alright and I thundered upstairs sensing the fear from Gloriane, and confronted six Archers taking aim at her. A swipe of the tailspade turning the six into twelve half-archers dying on the carpet.

   A sound of battle in the hall and flew downstairs to find Tophe in combat with four of the brigands, his cleaver dispatching two with ease and cornering the other two, as I heard the click of the crossbow trigger and saw in slow motion the shaft cross the room and smash into Tophe's chest, throwing him onto the table in pain.

   Not noticing the reddening around my vision- used green fire to remove archers and axemen from the room.

   I was joined by Bastine and Gloriane who stood looking at Tophe' struggling for life as I approached.

   He looked at me and then at the crossbolt and began to groan.

   I turned to Bastine and said "We had an idea, but not his wish yet, and it could save him."

   Bastine nodded yes and placed his hands over her ears and himself yelled aloud so he could not hear the curse as I pointed to Tophe and bellowed it.

   Knowing the healing abilities of the species, I hoped it could save him and the pain of it might cover that of the shaft that had crushed a lung and neared the heart.

   Several minutes later, there was a small blue and yellow dragon struggling to pull the bolt from him, I helped and it pulled loose and clanged to the floor. He sat there for several minutes and finally began moving again, slowly, then more at first, followed by larger moves.

   Weakened by the change and the burst of healing, Tophe sat subdued but alive, his next hours painful, but alive.

   This attack had my rage starting and I was not able to stop it at first but began to start holding it back and place it under more control when Bastine slumped over and fell.

The assassins' curse had worked, slowly. Gloriane and I carried him to his room and frantically tried all the magic associated with healing, plus the modern medicinals to no avail. Hour by hour, then minute by minute, he slipped from us, until his last look and smile to her.

   My vision was clouding red as she closed his eyes and began her sobbing. I began to shake and flew out the window, onto the grass below, because I was already growing and feared crushing the room and her as well. On the lawn, I ran so as not to crush the manor and soon bounded into the sky, the size of a castle and eyes fully red. Rage was in control....and a part of my mind could only sit back and watch in a mix of terror, disgust and yet- such great satisfaction.

   I knew where they all resided and my sense of smell pinpointed each as I neared them. The first was Belde, walking with a second wizard, their last look, skyward in fear as I landed on them, the impact causing nearby cottages to collapse and the earth to rebound and toss me upward slightly.

   Lifting my paw, saw both on the ground, just an inch high, compacted and dead. My thoughtssssss were that thissssss  wassssssss NOT sssssssatisfying at all! Now to the resssssssssst. Both Mittus and Lahargh were together, dosing rows of axemen with the potion, they had found a new maker for it. My approach could not be concealed, for my size.

   Grabbing both in claws crushing down, I climbed and climbed until well over the city, and then dropping them one at a time.

   In the distance, the palace was visible, the source of the ideas to enslave minds, a look through the windows of the grand chamber and seeing the royals with the wizards in their employ, or was it the other way? It did not matter, alighting on the roof, located the chimney and placed my beak over it and summoned blue flame, the second hottest and blew until it came from all of the windows.

  Jumping to the courtyard, the better to look inside, the grand chamber was burnt out. I heard a clanging sound, a single axeman was there at my foot swinging away, hardly denting the scales. Now remembered the words of Bastine, that once deprived of the potion, all subjected to it would slowly regain their identities. I let him continue, for the image of Bastine was with me. Would he have wanted to be 'avenged'? Somehow I doubted it.

   Shaking my head, it began to clear, and I could now hear the voices calling me from the dragon community, a new one among them, Tophe'. They all wished me to stop and think, and Tophe said "I need you to teach me to fly, and Gloriane needed Fyrene now, more than ever." The vision began to clear, the red retreating.

   But one still remained, Gloche and he was the last of the conspirators. I landed and walked to the house, and saw him making ready, positioning axemen and placing magic defenses around the building and then on the inside readying a trap in the foyer.

I was tired, just wanting it over forever, and summoned the hottest, the fire of purple and blew it at the building, the mix of lightning and particles. The building and all with it evaporated, even the first hundred feet of earth under it turned to steam.

  All was completed, no more enslavement by magic, for now. I began the return home, desparately tired and thinking over what I had done.

In the talk and reasoning came one idea that made me feel hopeless, that while I had sliced some evil from this land, it was also still out there, as it always had been and would be. Even purple fire could not burn it, for it was a group of ideas, and always with us. All of this had been for nothing in the long term.

   The structures would be built again, the incident written into legend in many points of view and slowly forgotten, but the original anger and greed were there just as before, with only rational and compassionate thinking holding any ability to contain or curtail them. Fire was useless to the big picture, and by using it, I was useless.

For hours, or was it days, sat on a stool by Tophe's parlor table. sleeping or just in a daze. There were no thoughts, it was past that time. There was just the sound of the wall clock, each tick joining the rest each reminding of the losses, so many of them.

   After a great period of time, both Gloriane and Tophe both stood by my side and then held me. Forgiveness, pity, sorrow... All three?

   I thanked them and began to think again. Eventually, time becomes its own cure, the desire to move on, the need to replace the situation, by moving in any direction possible.

   Walking to the kitchen one day, I approached Tophe' and looking at his wound, which had healed, he had been ready for some time. "How about that flying lesson, mon ami?" I said to which his face brightened.

   We first went to Gloriane to see that she would be alright for a few hours. She was recovering from the shock and sadness.

   Tophe really didn't need much schooling in flight, in fact by the end of the day, he was teaching me the new discoveries he was making. His joy was infectious and began to cut through the gloom I was feeling.

   One night, the three of us and Tophe's brother were seated in the dining room and talking about our day, we had scattered the ashes of Bastine over most of the province during our afternoon flight.

   Gloriane said that it might be better for all of us to leave this place, Europe as well. England and Wales plus Scotland and Ireland were well settled with dragons as were points East. Tophe suggested the "new world" the newly discovered continents of the Americas.

   In moments it was agreed and decided, we would head West in the morning. Tophe's brother was stunned, what would become of the manor? to which the keys to it were simply placed on the table and slid to him. He promised to keep it in good repair and the cellar stocked with Beaujolais and cognac for brotherly visits.

   With all of the contents of the manor we would need in the satchel on Tophe's back, I found an equine saddle in the stable and strapped it on and bowed to the ground waving Gloriane to be seated.

   On the way over, we saw ships heading the same way, a second wave of explorers, soon to followed with colonists, we would have some time to be private, but not long.

    A cottage was built in a location on the new land, and we quickly settled in. There were humans already here however, a thriving nation of stoic men and women, a native population. They were very friendly when we met which was seldom though. They somehow changed my name to "firebird" in their own speaking and Tophe to  "dances with air".

    I still tried to be both close and yet distant with Gloriane although she tried to bond with me more and more. This was compounded by Tophe setting off to explore the continents, returning with tales of a second southern continent and frozen lands in the far north and far south, of white bears and black and white flightless waddling birds.

   He stopped by from time to time to have me start writing of all of his travels and to drop off many parcels of unique herbs and plants, to add to my medicinal tinkering.

  During the alone times, Gloriane and I talked of many things and she had one day started talking to me about dragons and my experiences as one. Over many days, I was still not able to realize that she was more than just curious, but a decision was forming.

  It would be revealed later that she had read my journals and diaries, and all of my true feelings for her, as written from the very first.

   She asked about my curse and I told about how only four words had started my journey versus the full seven and that in fact just five began Tophe's signifying that he was also predestined probably.

   Towards the end of that week, she even loosened from me a topic about the origins of dragons and humans. It was held that a creator made both as supreme predators, with interchangeable instincts and thinking. One species capable of great abilities but not able to produce plentifully, the other was lesser in size but could reproduce easier and cooperate quickly and effectively. The actual differences were physical and even these were common in some areas.

   It was thought that the two could cooperate or at least be interchangable to always insure that both would survive in the long term. A big part of this was the ability to in fact change form from one to the other.

   I demonstrated this for her by shape shifting to a few forms and then to a human - Carl, although his features were getting much less easy to recall now.

   She was stunned to see this for the first time, and somehow she also eased closer to her decision by knowing this, that she could in fact "go back" even temporarily, while still not telling me any of this.

   On a further question, she even elicited from me the fact that a dragon could shift to human form for some years uninterrupted if desired.

   She asked how this could be so easy, and I reminded her again that there was so much shared between the two types. I noted that when she, or anyone else of either species looked into a mirror, just behind the image that they see, there in the glass is another image, of an equal self, just a different face and form, only waiting to be seen.

   We talked about other things, and I was unaware that among her fathers' old books, she had both found and was reading the book of dragons, just pages away from the curse now.

   Some days later, I was out in the orchard, gathering peaches and apples into a barrel and hunting small game when I heard her voice become louder. I could hear her talking from this distance before , but not really comprehending. This time however the words were louder, clearer like they were being spoken for emphasis.

   "Convertam Humana Draconum Aeturnum Ignis Ove......"

   NOOOOOO! I thought and raced over the trail back to the front door.
  
   I entered just in time to see the ring of light collapse onto her and the shrinking began.

   She was likely not aware that the first transition was to small size and I remembered that this was the most frightening aspect to me, since you cannot be sure how far the reduction will go. So I held her hands in mine and shrank my own form right along with her, fixing her gaze with mine and smiling, even though I was really terrified in seeing this. She did not seem to notice the shrinking and was only aware of the pains and strains.

   At one point, gaining new strength and flexing her hand, she began to even crush mine a bit and I had to hold in a considerable yelp!

While the transformation went ahead, had determined that I would not question her judgement in any way, knowing her to not be someone who made sudden or careless decisions. I would not even ask her if this was a decision strictly based on feelings for me. Instead would simply welcome her to the new form and allow her to set the course from there.

   And so the change ended, and I carried her to the sofa, to get rest.

   Over the next few days, it was all about seeing her through the discovery of her new existence. I showed the incantations for size and the other needed functions, including talking with the community. She took immediately to her new name of Lyrakh. From the first I noticed and admired her new form, as much as I had her former features.
  
   One day, a very surprised Tophe' visited us and he asked her to leave us alone.

   "Mon Ami, what will Gloriane think- you and this dragoness appearing from nowhere?!" I was turning colors trying to not laugh but Lyrakh could not and burst out laughing in the next room. She stepped in and said a few things that only Gloriane could know, to which Tophe could only repeat "incroyable!".
   
   He just had to know and asked who invoked it, to which she waved in return, getting a knowing nod from Tophe and a call of "Amour!".

   Holding her hand, I now knew that we were finally and truly - home.  

   In the years and decades to follow, Tophe would finish exploring and return to Auvergne and a Dragoness found him before very long. They established a winery (I will leave you to guess which one!) and kept in touch with us.

   With time, Lyrakh and I found passion, family and grandchildren, in that order.

   The immigrants that we forecasted did arrive, built a nation and culture as we stayed hidden in the background.
  
   Following our lead, each generation did as Lyrakh and I, and had their families while in human form and thus the youngsters human as well, hiding the secret until the age of decision (sixteen), when all was revealed to them and the option of a change presented. We always liked to be there for this ceremony, bringing a modest gift (OK, yeah a BIG one, we are grandparents after all!)

   Some of them decided to take to the real form right away, others waited some years and a few... not at all. Each was free to do as they saw fit.

    Over time there was more emphasis of science and less magic, but there always seemed to be a balance of both to be found anywhere and everywhere. Each human and dragon can simply accept the two in the quantity that they can deal with and understand, as simple as that. Some renaming was done and the "curse" is now known as the "choice".

   Maybe you will be presented with a choice someday.

   Adieu, et Bon Voyage...