My Faire Dragon [prompt #6] 2/2
A Stolen Apprentice and The Evil Beast
Before night fully envelops the forest with its start-filled cloak, the wizard and his apprentice make their way to higher ground. After hours of going steadily uphill, they find a place to set up camp. The rock pillars and outcroppings at the edge of the forest provide a nice defense at their backs for anything that might stumble out of the woods. Luhan also likes it because he can make shadow-creatures on the rocks by moving his hands in front of the fire.
Yifan makes no comment when Luhan starts barking along with his shadow-puppet, his mind still mulling over the information they uncovered throughout the day. “The guardian of the Lost Forest,” he comments out loud. “Have you ever heard of it before?”
Luhan sits back down and lies on his side. He picks up his lyre and flicks the strings softly. “I don’t think so.”
“That’s not surprising.” Yifan takes off his cape and settles down on the ground, his back against the rock. “What worries me is that I haven’t heard or read about it. Not a single mention in all the thousands of books I read during my long years studying to become a wizard.”
“Maybe it’s a new evil beastie,” Luhan says, strumming an upwards scale. “One that crawled out of the depths of the underworld itself to destroy you and your hopeless romantic views.”
“It has to be new. And powerful.” Yifan steeples his hands together. “It seems to have command of all the creatures here. The water spirit refused to tell us anything about it. The gnome got angry when we called it evil. And the fairies held great respect for it.”
“But why is it causing trouble for the Valentine Faire?”
“That is what we have to find out.” Yifan tilts his head back and admires the star-filled sky. “And my views are not hopeless. They’re pure.”
Luhan laughs.
Yifan drifts off to the sweet sounds coming from his apprentice’s lyre. He dreams of a dark haired young man with a single dimple waiting for him at the faire, of holding his hand and making him laugh, of cupping his face and kissing his lips.
Bliss….
A change in the atmosphere makes Yifan wake up. He feels it in the way one feels a pointed stare across a crowd. It’s something off, something that wasn’t there before that you can feel even if you can’t see. He’s about to call softly to Luhan, when his apprentice sits up.
Screeching shadows jump out from the trees.
“Yifan!”
He has no time to react.
Luhan is snatched from across the campfire.
“Yifan, help!”
Yifan reaches out to the fire and draws a tongue of flame towards his palm. He shoots but misses. Grabbing more flames, he chases after the shadows, guided by Luhan’s yells and the shadow’s peculiar sounds. They’re moving fast further uphill in the forest, jumping over fallen branches, ducking under tangles of moss.
Luhan screams. “Stop! Don’t foll-”
Yifan puts on a burst of speed.
He barges through the tree line and into an open space. He barely has time to stop before an edge of a cliff is right in front of him. He flails his arms wildly, trying to regain his balance and not fall into the dark valley far, far below.
“I hope you like flying, wizard,” a taunting voice says at his back.
The kick isn’t hard. It’s more like a soft pressure on his lower back and then Yifan is falling through the air. His mind races to come up with a spell to slow down his descent, but with the rushing ground below, he’s having trouble remembering.
A great form crosses his path mid-air and Yifan’s air explodes from his lungs at the impact. He clings to the first thing he can hold on to and when his vision isn’t spinning any more, he almost lets go.
He’s hanging by one arm, hand tightly closed around a hard spike as long as his forearm. The skin under is full of hard scales the size of his long fingers, sharp enough that his tunic’s sleeves have snagged and ripped on some. The rush of wind is cold against his face as the creature flies with no wings.
What kind of creature flies with…no…wings….
“Oh my stars,” Yifan says breathless.
It’s a dragon.
It’s a massive, very much alive, and highly dangerous dragon from the east. Outside of the pages of books and the fossils in the magical conservatory at the wizard school, Yifan has never seen one before. They were all but wiped out during the Second Wizard War.
Yifan grips another spike with his other hand as he gawks at his savior. The dragon’s scales glitter white in the moonlight, and its long, serpentine body, undulates in dizzying ways. Thankfully, Yifan clings above the front legs where the body remains relatively still. He looks up, to where the dragon’s head is and is struck dumb by the twisting horns and long whiskers that flow back in the wind like ribbons.
The dragon turns its head to the side and inspects Yifan.
“Nice dragon,” Yifan says. When the creature doesn’t do anything, he pulls his body up, throws a leg over in front of a spike and settles more securely on his perch. If the dragon decides to attack he will have to defend himself, but otherwise he doesn’t want to shoot first. If he knocks the dragon out now, they’ll both fall out of the sky.
The dragon focuses up front again and dips lower. Is it going to land? Perhaps it’s a nice dragon after all and will let him go. Yifan takes a peek down and sees lights appear on the landscape below. A town in the forest? When he focuses on them, he makes out the cleared spaces and shape of tents.
The faire grounds!
Oh…
No.
“No, no, no. Don’t do this,” Yifan says, realizing his mistake. “Please don’t do this. Please-”
This is not a nice dragon.
This is the evil beast.
The one he must slay.
The dragon dips into a violent dive, heading straight for the main faire tent. Yifan screams-as a warning of course-and holds tighter onto the spike in front of him. He hopes someone hears him below and takes action to scare the dragon away with lances or torches. But no one notices the attack until it’s too late.
With its wolf-like jaws, the dragon bites the red and white canvas of the bigger tent and pulls it up. The canvas rips. Anchor lines snap, while others simply yank the nails clean from the ground. The destruction is swift. No one could’ve stopped it. Lances and torches would’ve only tickled the dragon’s belly.
Chaos ensues below. There are panicked screams from the knights stationed there and the other workers preparing the faire. Yifan looks back over his shoulder to see the damage, but the dragon has pulled up and away by now. Tiny lights move like ants all over the destruction. Part of the canvas fell back down and caught fire. It shines like a giant bonfire blaze in the night.
The dragon changes course and goes further upwards, picking up speed. They fly this way for sometime, further over the expanse of the Lost Forest. Yifan gets as comfortable as he can on his perch, because there’s no way he can get off the dragon until it lands.
Soon enough, they come up on a medium-sized lake of dark waters and he watches their reflections with barely contained fascination. The Great Wizard Wu is riding a living dragon, one of the rare eastern species which are supposed to be extinct. Luhan will not believe it when Yifan tells him. The dragon flies lower as they near the lake’s shore, it’s motions slow down.
Before it lands, Yifan gets ready and jumps from its back. He tries to duck and roll with the momentum, but he fails. The fall isn’t soft and his shoulder and butt hit the gravelly ground pretty hard. Yifan just sits there, eyes pinched closed, dazed and breathing through the pain. That is, until the dragon starts spouting fire.
His first instinct is to call his magic and shoot. But the ball of energy sinks into the dragon scales and does absolutely nothing. Except the dragon has now noticed him and focused its full attention on Yifan. Its head lowers, so that it looks up at Yifan with hooded red eyes that glow faintly in the dark. The long whiskers on the sides of its snout keep flying at the dragon’s sides in an invisible wind.
It’s magnificent.
And by gods, it is frightening.
Yifan steps back. “What do you want, evil beast?”
The dragon’s lips pull back, showing its impressive set of sharp teeth. Is it smiling? About to attack? It’s better not to linger long enough to find out. When the dragon opens its mouth, Yifan moves quickly. Luhan’s words from this morning are on his mind as he picks up a rock and throws it. The rock sails through the air like a projectile, it’s speed enhanced by magic, and hits the dragon on its snout. The beast’s growl rumbles through the air. It snaps its jaws, thrashing back and forth while spouting more flames.
This is his chance.
Yifan breaks into a run and heads for the dark woods. He can’t see much of anything, but the dragon won’t be able to give chase in the dense foliage. Unless it chooses to burn everything to the ground. Yifan is thinking about that possibility and cursing the fact that he left his fireproof cape back at camp, when he smacks right into a low hanging branch.
Stars explode behind his eyes and he falls flat on his back. The trees are moving or coming alive, and the leaves are dancing, probably making fun of him for not watching where he was going.
The world goes black.
…
… ….
… … …!
“Lie still. You hit your head pretty hard.”
Yifan knows that voice, but it takes his muddled mind a moment before he identifies who it belongs to. “La…Lay?”
He opens his eyes and finds the scene around him flickering in the light of a fire. It’s still night. He’s in the forest. And Lay…is so beautiful.
The young man smiles at him. “Hello.”
“How did you…Where did you…come from…I mean….”
Lay presses a wet cloth to Yifan’s temple and the wizard winces. “I found you knocked out on the forest floor with a big bump on your forehead. You also seem to be missing your lively apprentice and your cape.”
Yifan sighs and is about to close his eyes when he remembers. He sits up in a rush and has to hold his head from the pain. “The dragon! Did you see a dragon? He was spouting flame and showing me his teeth, and-and-!”
Lay chuckles. “I think you hit your head pretty hard,” he says. “Besides, I’ve read dragons are very playful. I bet he was just trying to be friendly.”
Yifan holds back on describing all the ways a dragon could maim and kill a person. Dizziness comes over him again, and Yifan holds his head and breathes.
The young man dips the cloth on a rusting wooden bowl, squeezes the extra water, and brings it up to pat Yifan’s temple. Lay doesn’t have to move much, because he’s sitting close. Really close. His knees are pressed against the side of Yifan’s thigh. And if Lay leans in any further, their breaths would mingle between their bodies.
“Who are you?” Yifan whispers.
Lay glances up at Yifan and then back at where he’s pressing the cloth. He bites his lip, trying to keep a smile from spreading too far. “A friend.”
“You are one strange friend,” Yifan says. Hitting his head has left him without a filter.
Lay laughs and pulls back. “Is that bad?”
“N-No, just…not what I’m used to.” Yifan touches his forehead and feels around the bump. It’s sore but not like before. He also doesn’t feel dizzy anymore. “It doesn’t hurt that much anymore.”
Lay places the cloth in the bowl and sits back. He studies Yifan for a moment. “It needs a little bit more healing, but you should be fine.”
A sharp intake of breath. “You’re a healer?”
“Of sorts.”
Healers weren’t exactly wizards, but they did study alongside each other for a few years. While wizards became adepts in all things magic-spells, curses, magic items, magic creatures-healers went on to study herb lore and anatomy. How come Yifan had never seen Lay before? “Did you study at the wizard academy?”
Lay smiles. “A long time ago.”
The answer didn’t make sense. Lay had to be younger than Yifan by a few years. How could he have studied a long time ago? Unless he was a prodigy. But then his name would’ve been known throughout the kingdom.
“It was really nice of you to invite Soo, Minseok, Chen, and Baek to the faire,” Lay says, snapping Yifan out of his thoughts.
“Oh! You heard that? But you were gone. How did you-I mean.” Yifan sighs. He’s sounding like the rudest jerk. “You are invited too, of course.”
“Thank you, but no.”
The quick refusal make’s Yifan pause. That and his sudden shattered dream of spending the day at the faire with Lay. “Why?”
“Because I do not approve of the king’s tactics,” Lay says, losing his ever-present smile. “It’s one thing to ask permission to create the faire on our forest, and quite another to come here and start brandishing about his rule over the inhabitants of the Lost Forest. He’s made a mess out of everything.”
“I think the dragon is the one making a mess,” Yifan says.
“Really? The dragon is wrong for defending his territory? For protecting his forest friends and ending the humiliation they’re being put through?” Yifan opens his mouth but Lay presses his hand against it, silencing him. “What would you do if the king came to your home and started dictating how you live? Started dictating what the Great Wizard Wu can or cannot do?”
Yifan frowns. No one has the power to order him about, not even the king. Though he had come to the forest on the king’s orders. But that’s different. Yifan is in the forest hunting down the evil creature because he wants the faire to happen as well.
He removes Lay’s hand.
“I’m here on the king’s request,” Yifan says, “But I do not blindly follow his orders. I’ve seen the grief his rule has inflicted upon the forest creatures and I don’t agree with it. This is why I’ve invited them, all of them, because I believe they have as much right to attend the Valentine Faire as anyone else.”
“You really believe that?” Lay asks, his fingers tightening around Yifan’s bigger ones.
“Yes, I do.”
An unexpected laugh comes out of Lay’s mouth. Just as suddenly, Lay throws his arms around Yifan’s neck and throws himself into a hug. Yifan doesn’t know how to react to a lap-full of happy and giggling Lay, so he settles for patting the young man’s back and keeping his heart from exploding.
“Thank you.” Lay licks his lips. He’s looking up through impossibly long and dark lashes. “It means a lot to me that you understand.”
“I…I’m….” Yifan leans forward slowly, eyes intent on Lay’s moist lips. He’s been wanting to kiss Lay all day long.
“Yifan?”
He stops leaning and stares into Lay’s eyes. They’re dark and deep and full of undiscovered meanings. “Yes?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” The words are breathed upon Yifan’s lips.
“W-What?”
“Luhan,” Lay whispers.
“Oh. Um.” Yifan pulls back. Maybe he’d read the signs wrong. “Yes, I need to find my appre-my friend.” He clears his throat and removes his hold on Lay’s waist so the young man can move out of his lap. “He was taken by some creatures, some shadows. I followed them into the forest but they were too fast.”
“Fast shadows, huh?” Lay bites his lip. There’s a rosy tint to his cheeks and Yifan wants to know if he put it there. “Could be elves. Did they make loud, ululating sounds and screeches?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Lay nods. “Definitely elves.” The young man stands and starts to walk away.
Yifan panics, because he doesn’t want him to disappear again. “Wait! Where are you going?”
Lay frowns a bit and blinks fast. “To find your friend, of course. Aren’t you coming?”
“Oh. Yes, I’m....” Yifan shakes his head.
“Come on then.” Lay grabs his hand and pulls him along.
Yifan is content to be lead.
Three Elfin Beauties and The Guardian of the Forest
The forest comes alive in the night as Lay and Yifan venture in search of his missing apprentice. It’s almost as if Lay was part of the forest itself. He knows where to step, which vines and ferns to touch so they glow and light their way. Although Yifan has no idea where they are or even where they are going, with Lay’s hand in his, Yifan doesn’t feel lost.
He does feel out of breath though.
Yifan is about to ask for a break, when he hears it. He stops abruptly and Lay’s hand falls from his. “Oh no.”
“What’s wrong?” Lay asks, turning back to him.
“He’s singing again.”
Lay inches forward slowly. He retakes Yifan’s hand and pulls him once more. “That’s a good thing, otherwise I couldn’t have tracked him. Come on. They’re close.”
Yifan enters the clearing and he wishes he hadn’t. His apprentice is singing at the top of his lungs, a little bit off-key thanks to the empty barrel of mead that sits on its side nearby.
Heeeeyyyy~
I met a maid with big pale jugs,
She had brown hair and drank too much.
But I was a fool, a big fool in love,
So when she asked, I showed her my c-
Hey!
Another day, another night,
My meaty bride demanded a ride
And I was a fool, a big fool in love,
So when she got on, I plowed her c-
Hey!
There came a time when it wasn’t enough,
My stiff broad sword, just wasn’t enough,
And I was a fool, a big fool in love,
So when she asked, I used my f-
“LUHAN!”
His apprentice snaps to attention, his lyre falling from his hands and onto the grassy floor, and starts reciting information.
Elves
Attack: +6
Magic: +4
Luhan burps. “Sorry….”
Weakness: Games, contests, singing.
Danger Ranking: Armed, Dangerous & Sexy.
Notes: Do not fall in love with them.
“Love.” Luhan giggles. “Loooooovvveeee~”
Yifan covers his face with one hand and shakes his head. “You are drunk and you fail.”
Luhan relaxes once he sees Yifan. He picks up his lyre with an offended glare and starts strumming once again. “Oh please. For once in your life, live a little. Sit down. Meet my new friends.”
Yifan crosses his arms. “You mean the forest elves who stole you?”
“Sure!” Luhan plays a fast riff and dances around. “The one dancing his butt off to my tune is Tao.”
The lively forest elf does a twirl when Yifan looks at him. He keeps dancing, holding his cup of mead high, and smiling at his new audience.
Luhan points at the second elf with his lyre. “That one over there who keeps making that serious face but cracks up easily is Sehun.”
The blonde elf hides behind his cup. But when Yifan raises a brow, the elf grins bashfully.
“And the one sleeping on that branch is Kai,” Luhan says. “He doesn’t talk much, but he was the mastermind behind the mead.”
Yifan sighs and looks up. There is in fact a third elf draped like a panther on a branch. These elves had to be young by elf years, otherwise they wouldn’t behave like this. “Mastermind?” he asks.
“For sure!” Luhan says. “This is the faire’s mead! We stole it in protest.”
“What!” Yifan snaps. “We are supposed to be helping the faire, not hindering it!”
“Our people brewed the mead,” Tao says, still swaying to the music. But his gaze has turned darker, focused. “It’s an injustice and an offense that we were treated like mere workers and then banned from the celebrations. We brewed it. We are allowed to take it away.”
Sehun stands, leaving his cup on the ground, and going to Tao’s side. “We’ll only return it when our people are allowed to attend.”
“Otherwise consider it a very dry a-fair,” Kai comments from the branch. He stretches and finds another comfortable position, before closing his eyes again.
Lay snickers.
“It is a good thing that I have invited all the forest creatures to attend,” Yifan says, his tone a bit harsh. “Something my apprentice here should’ve informed you.”
“Luhan did say something about it,” Tao says, stopping his swaying. “But your invitation means nothing if the king doesn’t allow it.”
The way the elf says it has Yifan’s temper rising. He did not spend years of his life, training as a wizard, to be told his word means nothing. “I am the Great Wizard Wu,” he says. “My word might not be the king’s word, but it does carry some weight. If I say that you are all my guests, then so it shall be.”
Luhan nods really fast. “Yup, yup. Great Wizard. His word is law.” He snorts.
Yifan stomps his foot and swishes back his cape forgetting he doesn’t have it. He completes the motion, pretending he was swatting an insect away. “You will find the mead and take it back to the faire grounds at once-”
“We will not take orders from you.” Tao steps closer.
Yifan claps his hands together and when he separates them, energy brews between his palms. It turns into fire when he wills it. “Listen, young elf, and listen well. You came into my campfire and captured my apprentice,” Yifan enhances each ‘my’ with a higher flick of the flames in his hands. “You are not the first creature I’ve encountered today who has some problem with the Valentine Faire, but by all the stars in the night sky, you will be the last.”
Tao steps back, at the same time that Sehun moves closer. They’re protecting each other, working as a team.
“Take the mead back,” Yifan says. “Or you’ll deal with me and not with some silly knights.”
In the resulting tension-filled silence, Kai drops from his perch on the tree and yawns, stretching his arms up and arching his lithe body. “So noisy,” he says. “Let’s go get the barrels and leave the wizard alone.”
Tao and Sehun make noises of protest, until Kai barks a word at them in the elvish language. The two young elves settle down, with big pouts on their lips.
“Before you get on your merry way,” Yifan says, stopping them. He claps his hands together and puts the magic fire out. “I must ask you about the forest guardian. The white dragon?”
Tao arches a brow. “What about him?”
These are the first creatures to admit knowing the guardian. Perhaps they were willing to share more. “Do you know where I could find him?”
“You want us to take you to the Guardian?” Sehun asks, scratching his head.
“Yes!” Yifan exclaims.
“But he’s-”
Tao slaps a hand over Sehun’s mouth. “Of course,” Tao says and smiles wide. “We’ll take you. No problem.”
The trek to the forest guardian’s lair isn’t long. In fact, they only have to cross the clearing where the elves had settled, jump over a small creek, and find a natural arch of trees. The elves leave them at the entrance and go away to return the mead.
Yifan, Luhan, and Lay cross the arch into an area densely surrounded by trees with huge roots that curl around each other like the branches of a bird’s nest. The canopy is high above, but a circle remains open so the night sky is visible.
The dragon is nowhere in sight.
“He’s not here,” Yifan says, stating the obvious. Disappointment digs deep into his gut and he doesn’t know if it’s because he’s unable to finish his quest, or because he can’t see the magnificent creature again. To be honest, he was a teensy bit relieved as well. If the creature recognized him for throwing the rock, he was dead meat.
Troubled by all his mental dilemmas, Yifan is surprised when Lay breaks away from where they are and goes to stand in the middle of the nest.
An eerie sensation washes over him. “Lay?”
Lay’s brown eyes flash red. Yifan’s mind can hardly process what he’s seeing. The rest of Lay’s shape dissolves into mist, which swirls like a hurricane and forms the outline of a dragon. The form solidifies into scales, spikes, horns, ribbon-like whiskers, fangs, and the eyes….
Yifan clutches a hand to his chest, as those eyes stay focused on him. His heart only beats faster, like a trapped rabbit about to be eaten.
Luhan, all signs of drunkenness now gone, doesn’t open his notebook this time. He simply stares with wide eyes and recites.
Dragon
Attack: +20
Magic: +50
Resistance to magic: 100%
Habitat: In your worst nightmares.
Weakness: None.
Danger Ranking: Most Dangerous.
Notes: Run or you’ll die.
Yifan doesn’t correct Luhan on those stats even though they are completely exaggerated. His words-when he finds them-are directed at Lay. “Who are you?”
“I am Zhang Yixing,” dragon-Lay says, his voice echoing in Yifan’s mind. “The White Dragon of the East.”
Luhan gasps. He must’ve heard too.
Zhang Yixing. The most powerful dragon to have ruled the lands of the East. He maintained peace during the First Wizard War by keeping his lands neutral, and ended the second war by uniting the kingdoms with the surrender of the dragon clans. His name is known everywhere, but no one has ever seen his dragon form. Until now.
Yifan wants to speak. He wants to talk to this great being, but words fail him.
“Wu Yifan. Your king holds no respect over the creatures that inhabit these woods,” Yixing says. “He has disrespected them and their kindness, which is why I have retaliated. It is not the faire that I am against. It is him and those who follow his lead.”
Yifan was against it too. After dealing with the grievances of the creatures all day long, he knew the one in the wrong was the king. By the time night fell, he’d already decided to confront the evil beast. Not slay it. “W-we…I don’t a-approve of the way-”
“I know you don’t.” Yixing steps closer to them, body undulating and claws drawing up in the air like a hound begging. But the dragon isn’t begging, it’s looking down at them as a grown up might look at a child. “It is why I followed you, Yifan.”
The sound of his name brings all thoughts to a full stop. Yifan is having a hard enough time speaking to a dragon that he hadn’t caught up with the fact that this Yixing is Lay. This dragon is the young man who makes his blood race with a single look or touch, the one whom he’s wanted to kiss all day long.
“Today, you did well. Helping those is need is not what those in power often do, but you did.” Yixing falls back on his front legs, and snaps his long tail twice. “This is why I am giving you a task.”
“A-Anything,” Yifan breathes.
“Speak to your king and change his mind,” Yixing says. “Make him see us, like you see us.”
“You have to come with me,” Yifan says. The king will understand if the dragon speaks to him directly. “If you speak to the king personally, I’m sure he’ll-”
“My time of being the hero has come to an end. I’ve only stepped in as a defender of those whose powers are too weak to fight back. But this is your battle,” Yixing says.
Yifan’s heart breaks. This is the sound of a goodbye. Lay simply stuck around with him all day to observe his behavior, to decide if he was worthy of fighting for the forest’s cause or just another selfish human who didn’t care.
“I understand.” Yifan bows deep. His voice is controlled, hiding everything. “It was an honor meeting you, great dragon.”
Yixing spouts a puff of fire. “Well met, wizard.” There’s a surge of power and the dragon takes off, flying upwards through the open canopy and disappearing in the night. He takes with him a piece of Yifan’s heart.
A Fair Dragon and A Valentine Faire
The Great Wizard Wu Yifan and his oh-so-unhelpful but irreplaceable apprentice Luhan head into the Lost Forest. They’re on their way to the Valentine Faire all dressed up in their best attire-tight leather pants, pure white tunic with gold-embroidered hearts down the v-shaped collar, and of course his cape for Yifan, tight leather pants and pink tunic with red hearts for Luhan. His apprentice left his lyre back at the castle, but that didn’t stop him from humming out a tune.
Love, my love
Where have you gone?
You’ve taken my heart,
And my set of stones.
Your grip is so fierce,
Your laugh is so pure.
I beg you my lady
To pull a bit more.
Yifan sighs. “Luhan….”
“I know, I know!” Luhan rolls his eyes and kicks a pebble on the road. “You won’t hear my singing today.”
“Actually, I was going to say that maybe you want to save your songs for when we’re at the faire?” Yifan smiles crookedly. “I’m sure your new elfin friends will want to sing along.”
Luhan laughs. “They’re a wild bunch.”
“Meaning I am no fun?”
“Not at all. You are wild in your own way,” Luhan says running a hand through his hair. He snaps his fingers then. “Like for example, you have the hots for A CENTURIES OLD FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON WHO WON TWO WIZARD WARS. I mean, you can’t get any wilder than that.”
Yifan coughs and puffs his chest out. “The Great Wizard Wu aims high.”
His apprentice shakes his head. “The Great Wizard Wu is a fool in love.”
Yifan waves his hand sharply. Only this time, the burst of wind buffets his apprentice who simply closes his eyes and allows the gust to give his hair the perfect wind-swept look.
“Hah! No kilt this time,” Luhan says.
Yifan raises a single finger and lights it on fire. “Can I try again?”
“NOPE!” Luhan runs ahead. “NOT ON THE NEW CLOTHES!”
The wizard and his apprentice continue walking, greeting the families and citizens of the kingdom along the way. Good energy and happy spirits fill the air, making the people smiley and giddy. But when they come upon the bridge, many pause and glance nervously at the troll.
Yeol has cleaned up good. He’s wearing a flower crown, and has a cart full of roses beside him. He waves at the citizens and hands roses to those that pass closest to him, setting them at ease once more.
“Good job, Yeol!” Yifan calls out.
The troll waves happily from his post. A pair of kids screech and run towards him. He stoops to give them a flower each. The kids return to their parents and cross the bridge. Water spouts arch beautifully over the bridge as the family walks happily on their way to the faire.
“Nice! Suho is helping out too.” Luhan applauds the water elemental’s display as he and Yifan cross the bridge.
The Valentine Faire is in full swing when they arrive at noon. The main tent has been pulled back up. It’s a new one, colored entirely red, since a certain dragon destroyed the last one. Humans and magical creatures interact good-naturedly if a bit hesitant. It all feels right, and it’s too bad the king couldn’t see it that way.
Yifan had brought up the plea when he returned to the castle that morning. The king had been livid and called him a failure for not bringing the evil beast’s head on a platter. Good thing the king’s wife had intervened. Her kind soul and strong will had settled the matter rather quickly, and so all creatures magical and non-magical were invited to the faire.
Yifan keeps his eyes moving over the booths and gathered crowds, a tiny smile forming at the corners of his mouth. He’s looking for a particular head of raven hair, pale skin, and the rosiest lips that when pulled up are accompanied by the cutest dimple ever. Nothing would make him happier than to share this success with Yixing. But the young man-or not-so-young dragon-is not by the fishing barrels, nor by the magic mirrors gallery. He’s not in line at the kissing booth, nor by the sugared webs vendor. Maybe he’s in the main tent watching whatever show they have going on at the moment.
“Are you looking for Lay?” Luhan asks.
Yifan spits his wine to the side. His apprentice was way too perceptive for his own good.
“I mean, Yixing,” Luhan says. “Because if you are, Kai just told me he’s not here.”
Yifan sets the cup down. “I wasn’t looking for him. I was simply admiring the faire grounds. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, both humans and magical creatures alike. The faire is a success and I’m overjoyed-”
Luhan settles a hand over Yifan’s arm. “You don’t seem happy.”
That is the sad, sad truth. A day ago he’d wanted the Valentine Faire to happen so he could find his one true love. But now he had no need of the faire, because Yifan is almost certain he found the one in Zhang Yixing.
“I’m sure he’ll appear sooner or later,” Luhan says. “Or maybe you should go look for him.”
“Hey Lu!” Tao calls out. “Come over here! We brought different flavors of mead and you have to taste them all!”
Luhan takes a few steps in the direction of the elves, but then pauses. He looks back at Yifan, a question in his eyes.
“Go,” Yifan says, making shooing motions with a ringed hand. “Have fun.”
Luhan moves fast and throws his arms around Yifan’s waist, catching him by surprise. “You’re the best master ever!”
“Uh, yeah. Well… I’m not dragging you back home drunk,” Yifan says keeping his voice from wobbling. “You can stay with them and come back sober tomorrow.”
Luhan laughs and runs away.
“Remember to take sugared webs to Yeol!”
Yifan meanders through the faire, a little less excited now. It’s Valentine’s and he is once more dateless. No doubt, he could find a date at the faire if he set his mind to it, but the truth is he doesn’t want any other but Yixing.
There’s a pyramid of barrels, each one full of roses in many colors-white, rose, red, purple, black. Yifan waves at the gnomes attending the place and walks to them. “Your flowers are exquisite.”
“We’ve been asked to grow the flowers for the Easter parade as well,” Minseok says excited. He hands off more flowers to a couple of little boys who giggle and run off to hand them to some elfin girls. “It’s all because of you, great wizard!”
Soo pulls his suspenders and lets them slap back against his chest. “Many fucking thanks, wizard.”
“It was my pleasure,” Yifan says, and he means it. Helping everyone gave him a new sense of purpose. All these years he used his powers in service of the king and of his tutors at the wizard academy. But yesterday he’d used them to help others, to make things better. It was a good feeling that bubbled up in his chest this morning as he explained to the queen how he helped everyone.
Soo grabs a red rose from one of the barrels. He twirls it in his hand and offers it to Yifan. When Yifan takes it, the gnome gives a sharp nod and then moves away to continue handing out flowers.
Minseok laughs. “Give it to your valentine.”
A twinge of pain registers in his chest. “I don’t have-”
“Wizard! Wizard Wu!” Twin chime-like voices break in. Baek and Chen fly rapidly towards him, their translucent wings blurring in their speed. They buzz and squee rapid-fire words that he can barely make sense of.
Chen flails his arms. “They’re coming for him!”
“Who is coming?” Yifan asks, settling the rose on his belt.
“The knights!” Baek yips. “The king’s knights!”
Yifan growls. Had the king gone back on his word? Was he going to forcefully remove the magical creatures from the faire? “Coming for who?”
“They’re going to kill him!” The two chorus.
“Kill who?” Yifan exclaims exasperated.
The fairies stop moving and fly right into Yifan’s face where they scream. “The guardian of the Lost Forest!”
It’s like the whole world stops spinning. All sounds cease to register and his mind goes blank until the only thing he can hear is the ba-dump ba-dump of his heart. The king has sent the knights to complete the task he couldn’t. They’re going to slay the evil beast that guards the forest.
They’re going to kill Yixing.
“No.” The word comes out in a half-sob.
Minseok stomps on his foot. “What are you doing? Stop wasting time and go save him!”
Yifan snaps out of it. He points at his boots and murmurs a spell for speed and flight. He flicks his cape back and runs, the magic lending wings to his mad dash. This time he doesn’t trip on any root or knock into any tree. He is swift and sure, his blood rushing through his body, firing him up and helping him focus.
It’s not long before he sees the tree arch.
“Yixing!” Yifan barges in through the opening and into the nest. “Yixing! Where-”
He clutches his chest and exhales loudly.
There’s a hammock made of vines and leaves off to the side. Yixing is asleep in it, head cradled on one arm, lips slightly parted and letting out the softest of snores. His other hand is thrown over the side, hanging down so his fingers brush the floor.
Yifan’s heart is about to carve itself out of his chest, so he breathes and breathes, until it settles down. Only then, does he approach and kneel by Yixing’s side. He grips the edge of the hammock and lets his eyes take in the beautiful creature before him. Soft black hair. Small ears, the left one with a pretty mole. Barely-there lashes beneath brown eyebrows. A cute, straight nose. Plush and totally kissable lips.
The young man blinks his eyes open. His eyes focus on Yifan, and he smiles a bit. “Yifan? Why aren’t you at the faire?”
“I thought…the fairies said….” Yifan swallows when Yixing licks his lips. “They said the knights were coming to kill you.”
Yixing sits up, making the hammock swing a bit, and yawns. “And you…came to save me?”
“Of course!” Yifan grabs Yixing’s knees. “I couldn’t let them hurt you! If they even laid a hand on you I would’ve….”
Yixing is smiling, wide and beautiful.
Yifan could just swoon.
“You do know I’m a dragon,” Yixing says. “What did you think a bunch of knights could do to me?”
“I-I-I…I don’t know.” Oh gods. He was a fool. He really was a fool in love. Yixing was a dragon! He would’ve swatted the knights away with his tail and continue on with his nap as if nothing had happened. Yixing didn’t need his protection. He should’ve realized it before running here like a mad man. But the faeries had been so scared, screaming at him to come save Yixing and Minseok stomping on his foot so he’d get a move on and-Oh. Ohhhh. He’d been set up.
A blush with the heat intensity of dragon fire spreads over his cheeks and neck. He really, really was a fool.
“Thank you for coming though,” Yixing says.
“Oh. I, uh, yeah.” Yifan picks at the edge of his cape. If he throws it over his head, he’ll hide his embarrassment. “It was nothing. Can I ask…why you weren’t at the faire?”
Yixing rubs one eye. “It didn’t feel right to attend when I was the one who kept destroying it. I also didn’t have a date,” Yixing says, blushing a bit.
It’s like the first time he saw Yixing. His heart leaps, and restarts out of sync. This time he’s much closer, so he grabs one of Yixing’s hands and holds it in his. This is the moment all his romantic fantasies come true, the moment he’ll get to sweep the one off his feet.
Yifan takes the rose from under his cape and presents it with a flourish. “My fair dragon, would you be my date at the Valentine Faire?”
Instead of taking the rose or giving him an answer, Yixing leans down and kisses him full on the mouth.
The Valentine Faire continues its celebrations well into the night, and when the clocks strike the midnight hour, the fairies release their sparkle rains across the sky. In the midst of it all, a white dragon with a cape-clad rider light up the night with fire-shaped hearts.
A very drunk assistant yells from below. “Get a room!”
~The End~