Free The Archmage Unbound by Michael G. Manning

made it
easy for him to attempt something that would have daunted a mage with more
caution, someone more aware of their own limits!” she spat out angrily.
    “I did not meant to offend,” I hastily
apologized. At the same time I was mentally reviewing what she had said.
Shape-shifting wasn’t something I had read of in the few books I had had a chance
to study so far. The term was intriguing, while also being frightening in its
implications. I stayed silent for a while before speaking again, “If you don’t
mind telling me… what did he do?”
    She watched me for a moment, as if
considering her words. “We were being driven from the Kingdom of Garulon. It
was the first time we had met the shiggreth and they were something of a
surprise for us. Balinthor had kept them hidden from us until that day and
they overwhelmed our defense of the capital. Because we had not faced such
creatures before we had no idea what they could do… or how to fight them. We
lost the city and the army routed. Thousands died in the span of a few hours
and those of us still able to keep order withdrew, seeking to escape the chaos.
The fear and despair drove Gareth to attempt something radical. He was
desperate or he would never have done it.” She stopped then and turned her
back on me, as if to hide her face. Despite her alien body her demeanor was
entirely human, as were the emotions I felt running through her.
    I waited.
    “He became a dragon,” she said at last.
    Apparently I had used up my supply of
‘wisdom’ because in my surprise I interrupted, “I thought dragons were only
fairy tales.”
    “They are, or rather, they were… until
that day. Gareth had always been fascinated with the stories. In a moment of
desperation he sought to create the beasts he had dreamed of from the stories
of childhood. I am not sure if his fear and anger twisted his imagination, or
if it was purely a foolish thing to begin with, but the dragon he became was a
creature of fury and destruction. It tore into the enemy, tossing them about
as if they were dolls, incinerating those it could not reach with its claws.
Very few of the shiggreth that had come against us survived, and even the
avatar of Balinthor left the field, rather than face the dragon directly.”
    “The history book I found did not
mention any of this,” I said.
    “I doubt any of the scholars would have
written of it. The shame of it stained his memory. Before that day Gareth had
been well respected and loved by all that knew him,” she replied.
    “But it sounds as if he succeeded. What
went wrong?” I already had a fair inkling of what she might tell me, but I
wanted to hear it in her own words.
    “After he had killed as many of the
enemy as he could find he turned on what was left of the defenders of Garulon.
He slaughtered friend and foe alike. Few survived, apart from those I was able
to hide.”
    I had expected something tragic. If
anything it helped put my own experiences in perspective, especially the end of
the recent war with Gododdin. At least I didn’t kill my own people, I
thought. “What happened after that?” I asked finally.
    “We hid for days, waiting for the dragon
to leave, but the creature was cunning. Like a cat it waited, catching those
who revealed themselves. Eventually, when I felt him leave I emerged from my
hiding place in the earth and gathered up those few others who had managed to
escape. The dragon that had been Gareth was gone. Whether it still lives or
died long ago I have no idea.”
    We talked for a short while after that,
but our conversation had taken on a dark tone and I had lost my enthusiasm for
it. Eventually I decided to return to the castle. I had had enough of dark
tales and tragic endings. My own life had nearly become one after all.
    “I need to return, do you mind if we
continue talking at another time?” I asked.
    “No need to be polite Mordecai. I am
only an echo, turn your attention aside and I practically cease to exist.