Fireball

The dragon slithered to the pedestal as Fred stood waist deep in water, and watched. The dragon raised a forepaw, and touched the stone princess. He then bellowed, "Very good." Then Fred heard the voice in his head, "She is indeed still alive. I feel the warmth from the stone. She is indeed a steingeweser. But to be truly useful, I would need the second spell. The one that will allow her to move, and that will make her life depend on my will."

Anselm said, "We have shown good faith. What will you give us in return?"

"Your lives," the dragon roared.

Anselm replied, "Please do not waste time. We know what you want. We can give you what you want now. It would be a shame to wait hundreds of years because you do not wish to pay a trifling price."

"Suggest something."

"A service. The throne of Aqualaria for Simon. And the ageless charm for me."

The dragon said, "That is not a trifle. I will pledge to go to war with you against Aqualaria. But I will need the second spell beforehand in order to do so. And I will claim ten thousand gold and one dozen servants from the booty as additional payment."

"Done!" said Simon. "And you will convey the knowledge of the ageless charm to Anselm as part of the reckoning after the conquest."

"Agreed. Now give me the second spell."

Simon said, "Anselm, I have taught you this spell. I do not wish to further betray my former mistress and sovereign. You are a foreigner - you do it."

Anselm approached the dragon. Fred was rooted to the spot. Thomas was blacked out twenty yards from Astra and the dragon, breathing in shallow breaths but otherwise still. What could he do? It appeared that Anselm and Simon had been subverted, and were secret traitors. What were those who were manning the catapults thinking? Were they also part of this treachery?

Anselm took a vial of yellow powder from a place on his jacket that Fred had not noticed, and mixed it with some earth and water to make a whitish mud. The dragon's eyes widened. He consented to let Anselm rub the mud around his muzzle. After Anselm had finished, the dragon said, using his audiable voice, "You may proceed."

Anselm then took a couple of rocks from the pond, and started chanting something in a magical cant that Fred could not understand. The dragon seemed pleased. Anselm finished the chant. His hands were shaking. The dragon communicated silently, "Strike the rocks together! You know that is what you have to do." Simon approached Anselm with a frown, as if something were going wrong. Anselm struck the two rocks against each other.

Fred saw a white glare where Anselm and the dragon had been, and saw Simon running toward that glare. A ghastly ball of yellow-orange expanded. Fred saw a corona of fire around Simon as he was appeared to be trying to pick something up. Fred then plunged into the water to escape the oncoming fireball.

Fred stayed under water for as long as he dared. When he broke the surface, the fireball was gone. Fred approached the shore. The dragon lay on the ground, blasted and lifeless. Thomas was frozen in stone, as if he were asleep. Anselm's body was the mottled red and gray of granite, as if he were frozen trying to escape the fire. Simon was shouting in agony as his clothes were burning, and he was running for relief to the lake.

Fred shouted, "Simon! What happened?"

Simon screamed, "Have mercy! Pain! Curse that dragon! Arrr!" And Simon plunged into the water.

Did Simon betray him, only to have his treachery literally backfire? Or had he and Anselm done all this as part of a pre-meditated or improvised scheme, risking their lives in order to use the fire inside the dragon to destroy it? The fact that three of the company were now stone and appeared to be in one piece seemed to be evidence against treachery. But why go through the charade of an attack if creating the fireball were the original intent?

Of the five warriors in the attacking party, three were now stone, and one had been scorched by the firewall. Only Fred was whole.

1. Simon was lucky and his injuries turned out to be superficial.
2. Simon's injuries were significant. He had survived, but his skin was red and peeling from the flash burn.
3. Simon's injuries were mortal, and he died soon after plunging into the water.

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