A child's birthday wish is to ride on a dragon, just a little ride, maybe?
Bribrid, the gnome that is actually a dragon in disguise, agrees. -- Anon Guest
It's not every day a person turns ten. It's even rarer to turn ten after undoing the plans of a great evil by accident. Wort hadn't meant to break the idol, but their bad foot had turned them off balance and the Master had told them to hurry or get another whipping.
One gnarled root and a loose paving stone sent Wort tumbling. The idol slipped their grip and then...
Wort wasn't sure what happened next, but there was a loud noise and lots of coloured light and then they were out in the sunshine with an Elf and a Gnome. Who were gentle with Wort. Kind. And never angry. They let Wort weep for the loss of the Master and gave them good food and better clothes, and a truth that seemed very strange to Wort. It seemed odd that the Master wanted to open up a hole in the world so he could let a flock of demons in. It sounded strange that smashing a little doll would ruin that.
Until the Elf and the Gnome, Wort had thought that the Master had been kind and good to Wort.
The Elf had been reading through prophecies when ze revealed that Wort must have just turned ten years old.
"Ten's a special age," said the Gnome. "As I recall, children get a wish when they reach ten."
"A very old tradition," noted the Elf. "One from a bygone era, but... I think we can bring it back for Wort. It's been earned. Well? What's your wish?"
Wort couldn't raise their voice enough to speak normally. The master always called them stupid for wanting such things. "I wanna fly with a dragon," they mumbled. "Please?" They cringed, anticipating the normal clip around the ear.
But the master wasn't around to sting Wort's ears any more.
When Wort opened their eyes again, the Elf and the Gnome were looking at each other. "We can grant that wish," said the Elf. "Close your eyes and count to twenty, please."
This time, when Wort opened their eyes, there was a magnificent silver Dragon curled around their campsite. His blue eyes looked very fearful.
Wort couldn't fathom any creature as large as a Dragon being afraid of someone like Wort, but promised not to hurt him. The Elf helped Wort up, and got them seated before climbing up hirself.
It was better than magic, being up above the whole world, seeing it spread out like a map, but alive. The Dragon lit in a little valley far from anywhere, even the starting campsite, and Wort eagerly closed their eyes a second time. They could guess that the Gnome was the Dragon... or... somehow the other way, but decided not to say.
"It couldn't get better," said Wort. "Not even if I met Wraithvine hirself."
"Funny you should say that," said the Gnome.
[Photo by Pixel Rich on Unsplash]
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