The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode click here. To read it from the start, click here.

Gina and Zack’s quest has led them to Rennou, where B’frona the miller’s son has begun telling them about the fate of Gina’s adopted dragon “Puff.”

“Your little dragon’s mournful song came to an end, and he finally began showing signs of strength. Some called it a ‘miracle,’ but it was not. Your little Boof (Puff),” B’frona continued in his thick Frengan accent, “grew hostile, lashing his tail at all who came near. He breathed a great flame at an elder who brought him shrennel. And always, always, he continued to grow. He was the size of a field horse just weeks after you abandoned him.”

“B’frona!” said the boy’s stepsister Sh’renn.

“No! I call it what it was—what it is!” He caged his anger and went on. “I slept in a merchant’s stall near the Great Porch to see if I might observe the cause of this change, and awoke after moontop. At the edge of the stall, I saw that lay-about Skelljaip and his wastrel son Artifíga. Tuéil!

“And then I understood. They had brought your dragon a basket of blood-drenched flesh! That vile knave Artifíga jumped up onto Boof’s back with a dagger, just as his father shoved the basket under the pup’s muzzle. Boof began to devour the meat. And then Skelljaip yanked the basket away. Boof raised his foreclaw to strike, but when he did, Artifíga stabbed him between the horn nubs! Boof shrieked in agony and d-d-dropped his foreclaw!”

Gina and Zack convulsed in pain.

“They were teaching him to believe they had p-p-power over him, and at the same time addicting him to the fresh flesh they brought. For when a Frengan dragon eats meat, it changes. I dove at Artifíga, knocking him off the dragon’s back. But Boof hurled both of us against the doors of the Manse. Then he turned toward Skelljaip.

“He lifted his snout, opened his mouth, and released a stream of fire that scorched the Great Porch. Skelljaip ran. And then, seeing his tormentor behind a column, Boof rose to his full height and rushed at the man, leaping off the Porch and using his wings for the first time!

“He crashed into the column with such force that he nearly brought down the entire Marketplace. But in doing this, he enabled himself to be captured. For while he lay there, dazed, Skelljaip fastened a collar about his neck, then attached an iron chain to it, with two extensions leading to Boof’s horn nubs. When Skelljaip jerked the chain, it caused barbed rings to dig into the whelp’s flesh, crippling him with pain!

“I attacked, but Skelljaip’s venal son Artifiga fell upon my back, and I foundered, laying there like a sack of grain as he pummeled me into unconsciousness.

“So you see, the gentle dragon you adopted is no more. And in his place is the monster you created…

When you abandoned him!”

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Thoughts: Is there anything more agonizing than being unable to save someone whose fate you’ve helped create?

To read the next episode, click here.