Free Diary of a Conjurer by D. L. Gardner

driftwood shelters he had seen the
morning before. The storm was hefty enough to cause such damage.
But when he spied the cloth skins of the yurts holding up against
the rain, his heart raced. Those are Taikan yurts, and they were
not here yesterday. Meneka must have survived.
    Slipping down the side of the bank, past the
boulders that bordered the forest from the valley, his heart burst
with excitement. He leapt from the last rock and landed on his
knees in a stream of mud, laughing. Meneka is alive.
    A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky,
diverting his attention to chaos along the coast. Three ships
struggled in the storm, sails down, and one lying broadside to the
raging sea, beating against the rocky point. So near to shore were
they that Kaempie could see its crew. He rose from the mud, wiping
his hands on his leather pants, his eyes peeled to the disaster. A
figure draped in black stood on the quarterdeck, calling orders to
her team of rescuers, her own ship drifting dangerously close to
the reef.
    Hacatine the cursed witch, daring the Winds
to battle. And she’s losing.
    The Sorceress lifted her hands to the sky in
a ceremonial gesture, one Kaempie knew all too well. She’s
releasing some sort of curse and she’s holding the dagger .
    Rising from the depths of the ocean came a
monstrous sea slave, the serpent that had tipped the wizard’s skiff
near the shores of Bandene.
    But no, it’s not the same one. This monster
has wings.
    With a fierce roar, the creature emerged in
a funnel of salty foam, stretching its slimy appendages as it took
to the sky.
    He’d never seen the likes of such a
creature. Fear captured Kaempie’s heart and he turned away to hide.
As he did, he eyed a familiar figure running from the shore toward
the mountain.
    “Meneka!” Kaempie shouted. But the storm
screeched, the ocean pounded, and Kaempie could barely hear his own
voice. The serpent soared overhead with the wind spinning around
it, shooting out an ominous finger that picked it up and slung the
creature through the clouds, carrying it to the mountaintop.
    Meneka followed its path.
    Kaempie struggled through the mud, over the
bank and behind the yurts. Bucking the force and tripping through
the rocky terrain, he hugged the edge of the valley as he ascended,
ever conscious of Meneka's location.
    Where is he going?
    The rain thrashed, thunder shook the earth,
and lightning struck. A loud crack of splintering wood came from
the coast. Kaempie looked over his shoulder to witness Hacatine’s
ship beating against the rocks. Two longboats rode the tide out to
sea, survivors escaping the wrath of the gale.
    Meneka stood high on a cliff now, surveying
the catastrophe. Kaempie scrambled toward him and called again, but
again his voice was inaudible. When he saw that Meneka threw off
his shirt and held a brilliant burning globe, Kaempie stayed his
ground.
    With a commanding toss, the flames shot out
from Meneka’s hands and spun into the clouds in pursuit of the
serpent. The fiery mass took on the image of a dragon and engulfed
the winged sea serpent. The two battled through the storm.
    A crowd of people emerged from the yurts,
pointing in awe at the mountain.
    He doesn’t have the kind of magic to create
a real dragon. It’s a vision. That little deceiver! He’s planning
on taking credit for what the winds of the North are doing. He'll
be called a dragon slayer. Meneka, you fool! That’s wrong. That’s
against our precepts!
    “Meneka!” Kaempie shouted as he dodged out
of view of the villagers.
    Meneka had turned his back and walked
regally toward the peak. Kaempie raced to intercept him, and as he
did, the dueling monsters rolled from the clouds and fell from the
sky.
    With a sudden crash, lightning struck the
serpents, and they soared toward Meneka, a flaming torch diving
from the heavens. The young wizard fell as they touched ground.
Kaempie rushed to the young conjurer's side, dragging him into the
shadows of a cave just as