By Susan Sams Baggott
Kazimir reveled in power that exceeded expectation. Mind-control of the dragon he found in the mountains empowered him over nature itself. He now possessed the ability to destroy what is, in order to recreate that which could be. He was a god! What a euphoric thought. He wanted to fly over his domain all day.
Instead, demanding Monasterio bells compelled his return. Kazimir released the dragon’s mind. Human embodiment forced reality. He awoke among lush bed linens in his chamber atop the highest tower. No amount of luxury could heal the chronic physical pain induced by paternal discipline years ago. He groaned, rose, and donned the midnight-blue robe that obscured all but intense eyes that petrified supplicants.
He straightened in front of the mirror. “I am Powerful. I am feared by all.” He hated his compulsion to cling to this daily reassurance. Someone would pay. How he relished the cries of a whipped penitent. Perhaps today he would toy with a victim’s courage first. It amused him to see men squirm. How wonderful it would be if someone vaunted, proud in their honored position, was humbled.
But the bells’ frantic continuance changed his immediate plans. Danger called, not duty.
Kazimir lurched down the spiral stairs to the ramparts. Ships on the horizon! Ships bearing cannon and armed sailors. In the walled town below, soldiers scrambled to load the rotating-platform cannons. Shopkeepers withdrew their wares and shuttered their windows.
The Northern Lakes Merchant Endeavor didn’t trade. They took. They stripped natural resources like locusts among the wheat fields. Only starvation and death remained in their wake. This interior territory of the Western Continent’s furs, minerals, timber, fish, and game were a pirate’s dream. Everyone living here knew that someday the Endeavor would find this remote paradise.
Kazimir saw red. He and the monks had long since fled the ecological devastation wreaked on the Eastern Continent. Never again, he vowed. This time he had the power. No one would make him defenseless again.
He limped back up the spiral stone steps, intending to deposit his body in the safety of his bed. Partway up, a cannon boomed. Driven by rage, he neglected his protective precautions. Soon, he wouldn’t need that body anyway.
He hijacked the serpent’s mind. His body collapsed where he stood. The dragon soared.
Midnight-blue scales against the ash-grey sky rendered Kazimir all but invisible from below. He reveled in his freedom, determined to never return to the cripple in the tower. Yet even dragon flight couldn’t still his father’s voice in his head. “You stupid fool. I named you Destroyer, so you would be powerful. How could you fail a simple question on the Fifth Theory of Incidental Magic? You are a humiliation to the family name.” It never occurred to his father that Kazimir’s failure was intentional.
The dragon’s wings stooped. His serpentine body plummeted. At his bellow, a herd of elk stampeded. Their fear inflamed Kazimir’s desire for more. Always more. Wings snapped wide. Body and ambition soared to the heights. This was his dominion. With the dragon, he need not limit himself to the island where his body resided.
Fifth Theory of Incidental Magic be damned. Father never knew what the frequent punishment he meant for harm had generated. Those dungeon ghosts taught Kazimir real magic—control beyond his father’s wildest dreams. Let father keep the ancient castle crumbling in a dying world. The future was Kazimir’s. He could rule a kingdom through the dragon. Why stop there? He could build an empire.
But first, he would decimate this enemy that threatened his realm.
Kazimir steeled his mind and turned toward the paddle-steam Schooner. Smokestacks bellowed. Engines roared. Sails billowed.
How dare they aim their cannon toward him? He dodged and belched fire into diesel exhaust. The air exploded. Masts caught fire. Kazimir circled and spewed flame again. Sailors, like lit torches, leapt into the water. One ship listed. Its sails ignited the ship next to it. Cannon fire from the fort sent the third crashing into those aflame.
Kazimir veered away. No need to risk wing damage. But the thrill energized him. His blood sang with triumph.
“More,” Kazimir demanded.
He directed fire from the dragon’s maw, igniting a few saplings that sprouted on the rocky beach just for the joy of watching them burn. Flames leapt in the wind. Drunk on proof of his authority, his ambition soared. Kill. Destroy. Torch it all.
The dragon fought for control.
Kazimir wrestled to maintain mental dominance.
The dragon dipped of its own accord and emitted a line of fire among the grasses between the smoldering trees and the rest of the forest. With no fuel to spread the flames, the fires died.
The dragon’s majestic voice filled Kazimir’s mind. “Humans were put on this earth to steward nature’s resources, not destroy them. You failed. You, Kazimir, are named Destroyer, but I am Obronov, Protector. Nature fights back.”
Kazimir’s mind recoiled as the dragon ejected him. He jolted awake on the spiral stone stairway. Pain flared like a conflagration. But pain was a familiar companion. Failure fueled determination. Nature had won round one. Kazimir would not lose round two. He crawled upward to begin again.
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Fine ending!
Great story!