Norwalk the Wizard

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Now there was a new one every day, looking lost, confused, and turning an odd black color. The old wizard squinted his eyes and stared into the distant forest, some of it black now, instead of the beautiful green it used to be before his spell went wrong. He blinked and nodded at a dragon passing by when a strange sound could be heard in the bushes behind him. Curious, he turned to see a pair of deep, green eyes looking at him, darting behind the bush to hide when he looked over at the creature.

"Come out from behind that bush, creature, and let me see you. I am Norwalk, the great.. umm, great wizard of.. well.. whatever this place is"

The creature blinked and slowly came out from behind the bush, picking up the old wizard's glasses that flew off when he was yelling. She reached up with a shaky hand and offered them to the wizard.

"What's that you have there, my glasses? hmm, stole my glasses off my nose did ya, well, I should.."

The wizard stopped cold when he put his glasses back on noticing that he could see well and hadn't been able to do that for a long time.

"Creature, you fixed my glasses so I will cast a spell for you. What is it you want my fellow creature?"

The wizard was beaming, and the creature smiled as big as possible with one front tooth missing. The creature stood up and towered over the wizard because you see, the creature was a dragon.

"Daisy is the name," she beamed, reaching her hand down to shake hands with the wizard who seemed to have turned a bit ashen. Daisy slowly lowered herself to the wizard's height, then smiled, her front tooth gaping open and revealing a dark hole in her smile. "I was hit by a tree limb when you cast your spell," she offered "and it sort of knocked my tooth out."

The wizard felt his face grow warm with embarrassment, knowing he had botched the spell because he couldn't read the spellbook anymore, but wait, his glasses were clear, and if his new friend could help him remember where he left the book, maybe he could fix the spell..maybe..some spells can't be undone. But would Daisy be willing to help him? The wizard smiled his biggest smile and looked at Daisy, his eyes appearing huge through the newly cleaned glasses.

"Daisy, my new found..friend..would you consider doing a poor old wizard a favor?"

Daisy smiled again because she was a happy dragon and didn't hold grudges. "Of course my newfound friend, I would be honored to do you a favor if you can do one for me."

The old wizard stroked his beard and furrowed his brow in thought. What could a dragon possibly want from him? He looked at Daisy and decided to take the bait and see what she wanted.

"All these dragons you see walking around here, the ones turning black and getting so upset? Well, they belong in a different land, a land not far from here, and when you cast your spell you drew them over here and into the dark forest where they were harmed by the dark pool of sludge that is running through the dark lands that were once bright." Daisy stopped a tear as it ran down her cheek. "These are my friends and relatives and I came here to save them and take them home, but we need to find that spellbook and reverse the spell or my friends will die."

Daisy suddenly lit up into different colors and she was energized by color. She was determined to save her friends and then would help the wizard in any way she could.

The two of them quietly sauntered off into the forest, both of them aware of the job ahead of them and how important the mission was. Daisy took the left side of the path in the forest and the wizard began looking to the right, carefully moving piles of leaves and dirt and even looking up into the branches of the trees to see if the book flew up there, but with no luck. It took hours, and it was beginning to get dark when from behind him the wizard heard Daisy sobbing. Her colors had gone bland and she was giving up, and this made the wizard angry with himself. He blasted out a cry into the night that made the birds fly from the trees and the clouds part away from the moon. It felt like the earth shook but when he finished, the spellbook was at his feet as though it had been summoned by its master. The old wizard kneeled down, tears of joy streaming down his face as he hugged the book, dirt getting all over his face and turning to mud as it mixed with his tears.

"Daisy, Daisy!" he shouted, but Daisy was lying on the path, her body almost completely white. The old wizard ran as fast as he could toward her and bent down to see if she was breathing. "Oh Daisy, I need you, please come back to us," he sobbed.

Daisy slowly opened one big, green eye and looked at the wizard. "Us?" she questioned.

"I found it, Daisy, I found the spellbook. It came to me when I cried out, like a bird flying to its master!

A smile slowly started to form on Daisy's face and the color began to come back. The wizard helped her set up and the two of them made a small fire next to the path so they could read the spellbook. The pages were yellow with age and the fire made them appear almost brown in places, which made the print hard to read. Norwalk the wizard squinted hard even with his clean glasses to help him, and they still hadn't identified the correct spell. A couple of dragons ran past them, crying and confused about their colors changing, and Daisy was upset.

"We have to find this Mr. Norwalk," she pled, "the dragons are getting more and more."

"It's Norwalk the wizard, Daisy, and I'm trying to remember dang it!" He grabbed his head and stood up, walking fiercely around the fire, suddenly not needing his cane. Daisy's eyes got huge, as she watched him walk faster and faster, and she watched the spellbook start to move on its own, pages flipping at a rapid rate until finally, it came to a halt, but Norwalk was still pacing.

"Stop Norwalk!" Daisy yelled. Norwalk stopped abruptly and turned to see Daisy with a huge toothless smile on her face. "Look at the book! You did it Norwalk, you called out to the book and somehow found the spell!"

The old wizard was once again limping toward the fire, unable to see clearly, and Daisy hoped he could read the spell clearly. Norwalk sat down, exhausted from his circling the fire and his earlier yelling at the moon, and his head dropped down to his chest, and he began snoring loudly.

"No, Norwalk, No! You can't fall asleep now!" Daisy pleaded as she shook him as hard as she could. She rolled him over, and she yelled in his ear, but nothing worked. A small troll came walking out from behind a stump and whispered something to her from a safe spot. "What's that little troll?" Daisy offered.

"Nobody has ever been able to wake him up for days at a time," the troll said softly, but you can try miss dragon.

Fear was replaced by inspiration, as an idea slowly began to form in her mind.