BOOK ONE
CHAPTER FIVE
“YOU?! I don’t want YOU!” Barnaby hollered. “How did you even get here? I made the trinket for her. So that it would only work for HER!” The Prince, frightened by the man’s fury, tried to think of what Sasha might do in a situation like this.
“If it makes any difference,” the Prince said, his voice cracking childishly. “I really don’t think she was that into you, and she’s not even a woman actually so…”
“I didn’t want her for that!” the man spat defensively. “She’s the Purple Dragon. I’ve been waiting decades for her to come my way. Ever since she did this to my head!” Barnaby took his crutch and started destroying things around the room, grunting woefully with each swing. When nothing breakable around him remained, he fell into a heap on the floor.
When the whimpering ended, the Prince asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Barnaby sat up, sniffled, nodded, and began, “As a boy, my father, angry at having a crippled son, made home an unpleasant place. I often escaped into the woods where I dreamed of the day I could set out on my own and see every corner of the world. One day, I encountered a terrifying sight, a purple wolf, a giant of an animal, fast asleep, and nearby, a diamond, equally huge. I knew I could use this diamond to buy the horses and supplies I needed to leave my father and start my journey. So, quietly I picked it up and snuck away. I hadn’t gotten far when the wolf appeared before me. I tried to run, but fell. Then the wolf transformed into a beautiful woman. I begged her forgiveness, sure that I had angered a goddess. ‘Tell me, broken one,’ she said. ‘What did you plan to do with my diamond?’ I told her I wished more than anything to travel far and wide. ‘Then I’ll do you a favor,’ she said, and the diamond glowed. ‘Now, you will never feel the need leave this forest.’ And the woman took her trinket back and left me. From that point on, try as I might, my feet would not take me out of these woods. Do you realize what happened? My mind, my very will had been compromised. I tried everything I could to fix myself. I asked for help from healers and priests, tried every oil and tonic available, but nothing worked. Eventually a magician took me in, made me an apprentice, and there I found my true vocation, but even magic could not grant me the power to quit this land. These 40 years I’ve prayed and planned for the day she would come back to me, so I could capture her, and force her to let me leave this infernal forest! And I knew if I could not be restored, at least I could be revenged. But now…” The man lost the will to speak.
The Prince, overcome with pity, noticed light emitting from his satchel. He opened it, and energy burst forth knocking Barnaby backwards. When the man found his feet again, he knew, somehow he knew, that his ability to follow his wanderlust had returned to him. He looked at the Prince gratefully, and wept.
“If it makes any difference,” the Prince said, his voice cracking childishly. “I really don’t think she was that into you, and she’s not even a woman actually so…”
“I didn’t want her for that!” the man spat defensively. “She’s the Purple Dragon. I’ve been waiting decades for her to come my way. Ever since she did this to my head!” Barnaby took his crutch and started destroying things around the room, grunting woefully with each swing. When nothing breakable around him remained, he fell into a heap on the floor.
When the whimpering ended, the Prince asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Barnaby sat up, sniffled, nodded, and began, “As a boy, my father, angry at having a crippled son, made home an unpleasant place. I often escaped into the woods where I dreamed of the day I could set out on my own and see every corner of the world. One day, I encountered a terrifying sight, a purple wolf, a giant of an animal, fast asleep, and nearby, a diamond, equally huge. I knew I could use this diamond to buy the horses and supplies I needed to leave my father and start my journey. So, quietly I picked it up and snuck away. I hadn’t gotten far when the wolf appeared before me. I tried to run, but fell. Then the wolf transformed into a beautiful woman. I begged her forgiveness, sure that I had angered a goddess. ‘Tell me, broken one,’ she said. ‘What did you plan to do with my diamond?’ I told her I wished more than anything to travel far and wide. ‘Then I’ll do you a favor,’ she said, and the diamond glowed. ‘Now, you will never feel the need leave this forest.’ And the woman took her trinket back and left me. From that point on, try as I might, my feet would not take me out of these woods. Do you realize what happened? My mind, my very will had been compromised. I tried everything I could to fix myself. I asked for help from healers and priests, tried every oil and tonic available, but nothing worked. Eventually a magician took me in, made me an apprentice, and there I found my true vocation, but even magic could not grant me the power to quit this land. These 40 years I’ve prayed and planned for the day she would come back to me, so I could capture her, and force her to let me leave this infernal forest! And I knew if I could not be restored, at least I could be revenged. But now…” The man lost the will to speak.
The Prince, overcome with pity, noticed light emitting from his satchel. He opened it, and energy burst forth knocking Barnaby backwards. When the man found his feet again, he knew, somehow he knew, that his ability to follow his wanderlust had returned to him. He looked at the Prince gratefully, and wept.
“Well I wouldn’t say wept,” Barnaby told Sasha.
“Then he let me out and showed me around, and you arrived just in time for tea.” the Prince said, ending his recounting of the events.
“It’s almost like fate brought me him instead of you,” the man said to Mo. “From how he tells it, you wouldn’t have been able to fix me even if you tried.”
“No…” she replied contemplatively.
“I always wanted to know, why didn’t you just kill me that day?”
“There was no sport in it.”
“Oh, and there’s someone else for you to meet,” the Prince reported. He led them down a long staircase which let out on a stunning, expansive library. At the center of the room a figure turned to greet them. “Everyone, this is Flori.” The group stood awestruck by this beautiful girl made entirely of gold.
“Then he let me out and showed me around, and you arrived just in time for tea.” the Prince said, ending his recounting of the events.
“It’s almost like fate brought me him instead of you,” the man said to Mo. “From how he tells it, you wouldn’t have been able to fix me even if you tried.”
“No…” she replied contemplatively.
“I always wanted to know, why didn’t you just kill me that day?”
“There was no sport in it.”
“Oh, and there’s someone else for you to meet,” the Prince reported. He led them down a long staircase which let out on a stunning, expansive library. At the center of the room a figure turned to greet them. “Everyone, this is Flori.” The group stood awestruck by this beautiful girl made entirely of gold.
The Tale of Living Gold
The study of magic and the study of science share many similarities. Through experimentation the scientist or magicist (pronounced MA-ji-sist, magicians being either phonies or showmen profiting off the discoveries of magicists) tests theories and makes discoveries about the properties and rules of the materials and/or principles which he or she studies. And like with science, advancements in magic often happen quite by accident. One story has it that the discovery of magic can be credited to some nitwit who, in an attempt to impress his friends by disappearing an egg with sleight of hand, accidentally said the right words over the right symbol, and the egg actually disappeared. The more spiritual story goes that Prometheus had a sister, Dimimetheus, who brought magic to man, and unlike her brother, she told the people to whom she gave it, “Keep this secret, for if Zeus discovers I have given you such a gift, all will be ruined.” And so it remained hidden from most.
Flori’s father had perfected the formula for an agent called ‘kin’, also referred to as ‘Tinker’s Tool’, known for its ability to transform metal into whatever the craftsman intends. Apply it to a bit of steel, say, and one could shape a sword, breastplate, ladle, or what have you with no smithing required. Once finished, the kin becomes inert, preserving the desired form. One day Flori’s father was working with kin and gold in order to create a present for his daughter, a ballerina figurine that could do a pirouette. He thought that if he could create perpetual change within the material he could imitate life in moving metal. In the middle of one of his experiments, a beetle inadvertently flew into the churning kin/gold concoction and died, its body sank to the bottom. However, when another beetle made entirely of gold crawled out of the mixture, Flori’s father realized he had made a huge, albeit accidental, breakthrough.
Attempts to recreate the experiment with something alive but insentient failed (flowers, for example, did not produce the desired effect). What followed was a series of cruel experiments that involved the purposeful killing of animal after animal, starting with worms and increasing slowly in size and complexity, each reborn as golden versions of themselves. Flori’s father couldn’t bring himself to work with anything more complex than a squirrel, until one day, when his beloved Flori came down with a deathly fever, and rather than lose her, he turned his daughter into Living Gold.
Flori’s experience differed greatly from that of the animals. While they seemed completely unaware of the change that had come over them, Flori could think of little else. She worked out that her new gold body imitated her human form out of familiarity, out of an unconscious effort on her part. Her eyes and ears functioned for the most part, as well as her vocal chords which operated through a pseudo-diaphragmatic movement in the cavity of her torso. She lacked a heart, a digestive tract and the majority of her nervous system. Her observations about her new state helped advance her father’s research, but it all came at a high price. She could no longer take pleasure in the taste of an apple or the smell of fresh bread. She would never again feel the prick of a needle or the warmth of a body next to hers. She could no longer blush. She could no longer cry. These realities took a severe toll, and she could no longer take respite even in sleep.
Flori’s father had perfected the formula for an agent called ‘kin’, also referred to as ‘Tinker’s Tool’, known for its ability to transform metal into whatever the craftsman intends. Apply it to a bit of steel, say, and one could shape a sword, breastplate, ladle, or what have you with no smithing required. Once finished, the kin becomes inert, preserving the desired form. One day Flori’s father was working with kin and gold in order to create a present for his daughter, a ballerina figurine that could do a pirouette. He thought that if he could create perpetual change within the material he could imitate life in moving metal. In the middle of one of his experiments, a beetle inadvertently flew into the churning kin/gold concoction and died, its body sank to the bottom. However, when another beetle made entirely of gold crawled out of the mixture, Flori’s father realized he had made a huge, albeit accidental, breakthrough.
Attempts to recreate the experiment with something alive but insentient failed (flowers, for example, did not produce the desired effect). What followed was a series of cruel experiments that involved the purposeful killing of animal after animal, starting with worms and increasing slowly in size and complexity, each reborn as golden versions of themselves. Flori’s father couldn’t bring himself to work with anything more complex than a squirrel, until one day, when his beloved Flori came down with a deathly fever, and rather than lose her, he turned his daughter into Living Gold.
Flori’s experience differed greatly from that of the animals. While they seemed completely unaware of the change that had come over them, Flori could think of little else. She worked out that her new gold body imitated her human form out of familiarity, out of an unconscious effort on her part. Her eyes and ears functioned for the most part, as well as her vocal chords which operated through a pseudo-diaphragmatic movement in the cavity of her torso. She lacked a heart, a digestive tract and the majority of her nervous system. Her observations about her new state helped advance her father’s research, but it all came at a high price. She could no longer take pleasure in the taste of an apple or the smell of fresh bread. She would never again feel the prick of a needle or the warmth of a body next to hers. She could no longer blush. She could no longer cry. These realities took a severe toll, and she could no longer take respite even in sleep.
Over dinner with Sasha and her friends, Flori, in her unearthly, wind-chime voice, explained her experience further.
“The way you feel things in your heart, in your gut, those tissues absorb and dispel your feelings...in me, they only echo. My anger and despair, you cannot know how much they are compounded in me now. It’s maddening, and for a while, I went quite mad. Every attempt to take my own life failed, so I lashed out, to put it nicely. My father had to keep me in chains to control me, though it killed him to do so. He worked and worked at finding a cure, a way to free my soul, but he never succeeded. Eventually, I accepted my situation, my head cleared, and I learned to manage myself with routine and distract myself with study. After 200 years, I’m probably the most accomplished magicist around. Plus, I eventually learned to do things like this…” Flori held up her hand, and out of the gold of her palm sprouted a tiny ballerina, spinning a pirouette.
“The way you feel things in your heart, in your gut, those tissues absorb and dispel your feelings...in me, they only echo. My anger and despair, you cannot know how much they are compounded in me now. It’s maddening, and for a while, I went quite mad. Every attempt to take my own life failed, so I lashed out, to put it nicely. My father had to keep me in chains to control me, though it killed him to do so. He worked and worked at finding a cure, a way to free my soul, but he never succeeded. Eventually, I accepted my situation, my head cleared, and I learned to manage myself with routine and distract myself with study. After 200 years, I’m probably the most accomplished magicist around. Plus, I eventually learned to do things like this…” Flori held up her hand, and out of the gold of her palm sprouted a tiny ballerina, spinning a pirouette.
The Queen decided to check out “Sorceress Esmeralda’s Home of Living Gold & Tchotchke Shoppe” personally.
“I understand a wanted criminal came into this shop a few days ago,” she stated. “Tell me, was she alone?”
“She wasn’t, your royal royal-ness,” replied the bug-eyed shop girl. “There were two others with her, a man and woman. He was pretty normal looking, but she was tall and strangely dressed, and she had purple eyes, your high highness. Very unusual. Unusual indeed.”
“Indeed,” agreed the Queen.
“I didn’t remember about them purple eyes until those other people came asking earlier today,” the girl added, unaware of her now impending death.
“I understand a wanted criminal came into this shop a few days ago,” she stated. “Tell me, was she alone?”
“She wasn’t, your royal royal-ness,” replied the bug-eyed shop girl. “There were two others with her, a man and woman. He was pretty normal looking, but she was tall and strangely dressed, and she had purple eyes, your high highness. Very unusual. Unusual indeed.”
“Indeed,” agreed the Queen.
“I didn’t remember about them purple eyes until those other people came asking earlier today,” the girl added, unaware of her now impending death.
The next day, Sasha found Flori in her library examining the North Star, open books surrounding her.
“What do you make of it?” Sasha asked.
“It’s very special. Do you know much about magic?” Flori asked.
“No. I didn’t even think it existed until recently.”
“Well, the physical world has rules – as we live in this world we uncover these rules, that is science. Magic is the study of how to break the rules of the physical world, and fittingly, it has rules and limitations of its own. One cannot manipulate time with magic, or bring back a life after death, or exert power over the mind, not really. It can fool the senses through illusion or chemistry, but it cannot truly affect the way one thinks. Look at me, I no longer even have a brain, yet my mind stays intact. Something different works in this diamond.”
“A magic that can break the rules of magic,” Sasha offered.
“Precisely. It has something to do with the realm of thought, of consciousness – which is something more mystical than science or magic, much less quantifiable. So much goes into making up a mind – our memories, our desires, our ability to reason, our beliefs, our relationships, our instincts, skills, imagination, humor, our love—the list goes on and on and on, and it’s all fluid and beautiful and mad. Power over it is… I’ve only ever heard of gods affecting humans that way, and those are just stories.” Sasha nodded vaguely, wondering if she should mention the North Star’s deistic origins. Flori continued, “I’ve actually spent a good amount of my life studying this kind of thing, hoping it would hold the key to my freedom.”
“What do you mean freedom?”
“My death,” Flori answered matter-of-factly. “But I have had no success in cultivating it myself.”
“So, what happened to Barnaby? Was it just him coming in contact with the Star again that fixed him?”
“I don’t think so. We can discuss it further on the road.”
“Sorry?”
“Oh, I’m coming with you. I figure a person made of Living Gold will surely impress the Queen more than a sparrow, plus I can be of help. I’m rather powerful, you know. I’m giving this place to Barnaby so he can finally become master to an apprentice of his own, if he ever returns from his travels, I mean. He has been a loyal friend these many years.”
“We’d be delighted to have you,” Sasha said warmly
“Good, because I already packed,” joked Flori. It was then that they heard an unfamiliar and threatening voice coming from outside, calling Sasha’s name. Sasha and Flori ran to the sound; the three assassins, Lauori the Quick, Huge Iver and Stellan the Hyena had found them. Stellan held a sword to Barnaby’s throat. Sasha, Mo, Flori and the Prince all came outside.
“Fantastic camouflage,” Iver commented, “Wouldn’t have even seen it if this one hadn’t come out.”
“What do you want?” Sasha asked carefully.
“Well, at first we were thinking we’d trade this one for you, but now we think we’ll just kill you all. I mean, why not, am I right? Go ahead, Stellan.” But before he could pull his blade to kill his captive, Stellan flew straight up in the air out of sight! Lauori went to draw an arrow, but her muscles would not work. Barnaby had secretly cast spells on the both of them. He turned to aim a third at Huge Iver, but Iver got to him first and snapped Barnaby’s neck, killing him instantly. Flori screamed - a hideous sound - and before anyone could stop her, she was running at Huge Iver full speed. Lauori, now released from Barnaby’s spell, loosed arrow after arrow to stop her, but the gold girl’s metal body deflected each one. Flori jumped onto Iver and grabbed hold of him with her whole self. Iver laughed at the gall of this tiny girl, then Flori’s body exploded with golden spikes, impaling her apprentice’s killer in 100 places.
“What do you make of it?” Sasha asked.
“It’s very special. Do you know much about magic?” Flori asked.
“No. I didn’t even think it existed until recently.”
“Well, the physical world has rules – as we live in this world we uncover these rules, that is science. Magic is the study of how to break the rules of the physical world, and fittingly, it has rules and limitations of its own. One cannot manipulate time with magic, or bring back a life after death, or exert power over the mind, not really. It can fool the senses through illusion or chemistry, but it cannot truly affect the way one thinks. Look at me, I no longer even have a brain, yet my mind stays intact. Something different works in this diamond.”
“A magic that can break the rules of magic,” Sasha offered.
“Precisely. It has something to do with the realm of thought, of consciousness – which is something more mystical than science or magic, much less quantifiable. So much goes into making up a mind – our memories, our desires, our ability to reason, our beliefs, our relationships, our instincts, skills, imagination, humor, our love—the list goes on and on and on, and it’s all fluid and beautiful and mad. Power over it is… I’ve only ever heard of gods affecting humans that way, and those are just stories.” Sasha nodded vaguely, wondering if she should mention the North Star’s deistic origins. Flori continued, “I’ve actually spent a good amount of my life studying this kind of thing, hoping it would hold the key to my freedom.”
“What do you mean freedom?”
“My death,” Flori answered matter-of-factly. “But I have had no success in cultivating it myself.”
“So, what happened to Barnaby? Was it just him coming in contact with the Star again that fixed him?”
“I don’t think so. We can discuss it further on the road.”
“Sorry?”
“Oh, I’m coming with you. I figure a person made of Living Gold will surely impress the Queen more than a sparrow, plus I can be of help. I’m rather powerful, you know. I’m giving this place to Barnaby so he can finally become master to an apprentice of his own, if he ever returns from his travels, I mean. He has been a loyal friend these many years.”
“We’d be delighted to have you,” Sasha said warmly
“Good, because I already packed,” joked Flori. It was then that they heard an unfamiliar and threatening voice coming from outside, calling Sasha’s name. Sasha and Flori ran to the sound; the three assassins, Lauori the Quick, Huge Iver and Stellan the Hyena had found them. Stellan held a sword to Barnaby’s throat. Sasha, Mo, Flori and the Prince all came outside.
“Fantastic camouflage,” Iver commented, “Wouldn’t have even seen it if this one hadn’t come out.”
“What do you want?” Sasha asked carefully.
“Well, at first we were thinking we’d trade this one for you, but now we think we’ll just kill you all. I mean, why not, am I right? Go ahead, Stellan.” But before he could pull his blade to kill his captive, Stellan flew straight up in the air out of sight! Lauori went to draw an arrow, but her muscles would not work. Barnaby had secretly cast spells on the both of them. He turned to aim a third at Huge Iver, but Iver got to him first and snapped Barnaby’s neck, killing him instantly. Flori screamed - a hideous sound - and before anyone could stop her, she was running at Huge Iver full speed. Lauori, now released from Barnaby’s spell, loosed arrow after arrow to stop her, but the gold girl’s metal body deflected each one. Flori jumped onto Iver and grabbed hold of him with her whole self. Iver laughed at the gall of this tiny girl, then Flori’s body exploded with golden spikes, impaling her apprentice’s killer in 100 places.
The showdown continues in Chapter Six...