Wizard's Duel

"He's coming back!"  The captain's voice was nearly a scream.

Stevie's hand reached back to his quiver, it groped at empty air.  "Ah'm out!"  He announced to the world at large.  Whirling on Jennifer, he demanded, "Toss me yer sword!"

Jennifer was picking herself up bodily from the deck, fingers clutched tight around Prodigon's Tooth.  "What earthly good do you imagine that's going to do?"  She demanded.  "He's a freaking wizard.  He's not going to land on the deck for us to skewer."

"Just give it to me!"

"Unless you've taken fencing lessons in the last five seconds, I..."  Jennifer's voice broke off.  "What... what is he doing?"

Longstride had tossed the last of the lizardmen over the side and was now striding purposefully toward the front of the ship, staff and sword in hand.  The huge man brushed past Jen and Stevie as if they weren't even there, planting one foot purposefully on the bowspit and staring fixedly at the malevolent figure flying toward them.

Then he sheathed his sword.  Gripping the cable above purposefully, he whipped out his staff and leveled it at the figure. 

"What's he..."  

A brilliant pulse of green energy, far larger and more powerful than the flying wizard's little bolts, blasted out across the water, rippling the water in its wake, sending birds flying away.  The wizard dodged away just in time, and the spell he had been building in his left hand fizzled away to nothing.

"The Free Wizard."  Both children glanced down to see Dagruk, staring dazedly at the big man.  "He is... the Free Wizard."

***********************

More stuff from my "Griffins and Dragons" story.  You remember it, right? From here afalstein.deviantart.com/art/A… and here afalstein.deviantart.com/art/T…  Fantasy woodland creature stumbles across four (or five) modern-day children who were magically transported to his dragon-ruled world?

Right.  Anyway, I've mentioned before how the dragons are magical.  In fact, they're the source of all magic in the realm.  You become a wizard by drinking a dragon's blood (or eating its heart, or tongue... the methods and powers vary.)  Unfortunately, that also places you under servitude to that dragon.  The same also applies to Dragon Warriors--men who have bathed in dragon's blood and become invincible.  Therefore, wizards and dragon warriors are all in the service of the dragons, and consequently they are the primary people attacking the children.

The exception to this rule is Longstride Wayfarer, or "The Free Wizard."  Longstride KILLED a freaking dragon and then ate its heart.  So he's an incredibly powerful wizard (in addition to the badass warrior he was before), and he's not under any dragon's control.  However, his magic won't work against dragons.

I wish I had a better drawing of Longstride to show you.  He's supposed to be enormously tall and powerful looking, but the way this shot is composed, he just looks squat.  But I do like his wizard's blast, and I also like how the flying wizard turned out.  There are a lot of things I'm unhappy with in this picture (it's been done for months, I just never felt like posting it), but it's as good as it's going to get so I'll stick it up.