Kev waited impatiently, hopping from foot to foot in his haste to get started. Fifty yards ahead he could just see Ro doing the same thing. Dom, off to the right, was slouched in a heap on the ground. Beyond him the imposing figure of the Academy building was a barely visible smudge on the horizon. In every direction the enormous plain of the Testing Field stretched to the high stone walls—dim lines in the distance—that kept the Commons out of Academy grounds. Shielded and warded, the field existed to test prentices' abilities without letting them hurt themselves or anyone else.

"Prentices to attention!" Master Kendon boomed, his voice magically enhanced to reach everyone on the field. Kev jumped involuntarily. Master Kendon’s voice, to him, was not a pleasant sound.

"This is the start of the opening phase of the final examination for fifth-year apprentices seeking graduation to journeyman level," Master Kendon continued. "The examination will consist of two sections. The first begins now. The second will be revealed to you in due course.

"This first section is entirely your prerogative: you are to select or design some spell or combination of spells that accurately reflects your skill and standing as a wizard. There are no strictures on what you may choose to do, but let me remind you, gentlemen, that the Testing Field is covered by the Academy’s wards. I know no prentice would hold a grudge against his esteemed masters…but should any of you wish to call, create, or cast anything life-threatening, I would advise you to keep it confined someplace where there aren’t any lives to threaten. The Prie Caverns would do nicely. Anything that presents a danger to human life or Academy property, here or elsewhere, will be blocked before you can cast it and the offender dismissed from the Academy.

"The first part of the final examination for fifth-year apprentices seeking graduation to journeyman level will begin...now!"

Kev shook himself and got to work. A dragon—that’s what he’d make! A hundred feet long and ten thick, teeth as long as his arm and sharp as Master Kendon’s tongue, claws to tear through rock as easily as flesh. No wings, though. A dragon in the sky might look noble, but wings were weak points, vulnerable. Kev’s dragon would have no weak points.

A tunneler then—secure on the ground and in it, with all the Kashta Desert for its playground. Scales to match the desert sands in color, but harder and sharper than steel, even on the eyelids. A furnace to breathe, of course, and a mind the match of any warrior who might go a-questing. Let the masters blather about caution and due consideration, let the other prentices content themselves with fireworks and illusion if they wanted to, Kev’s dragon would be not only dangerous, but permanent—a testament to what even a prentice could do if he had the guts to go against the masters.

And then the final spell, the spell no prentice was supposed to know existed, let alone be able to cast. (He spared a rare prayer of thanks for Uncle Tam’s study, a treasure-trove of arcane books and spells wide open to any beloved nephew who showed an interest, no matter what his station.)

"Kethi turent turn jitou, prixin turent aldathou, sandan ijitou li seta, setho dathobit esdætha." Wizard’s creature, wizard-made, never dwell in wizard’s shade. From the force that made you be, live and thrive forever free. He shivered with excitement as he finished the spell.

Everything was in place. He held the picture in his mind for one last moment, then whispered the words and felt the dragon solidify, half a world away. His dragon!

They’d try to destroy it, of course. Couldn’t bear to think of a "mere prentice" rising above their rules and petty prattle. Let them try—the dragon wouldn’t care.

"The first part of the examination has now concluded," Master Kendon boomed. "The evaluation period begins...now. Apprentices will remain at their stations until both parts of the examination are complete."

Kev plopped down on the ground as masters wandered about the field, inspecting what they could see and probing magically for what they could not. Master Starn, one of the few at the Academy that wasn't completely despotic, paused near him, squinting to see the magic recently done. Kev, eyes politely lowered, grinned privately as Starn nodded acknowledgement and turned away.

Once he was free to look up, Kev turned his attention to the rest of the field. He could see a couple of castles in the sky, a lush tower of blossoming vines that had to be illusion...he wondered if Dom had had the sense to hide some teeth in all that prettiness. Probably not. Dom couldn’t be nasty if he tried. Ro seemed to have disappeared altogether. Kev wondered if that was invisibility or if he’d actually magicked himself somewhere else. It’d be just like Ro to get himself booted for leaving the grounds during the exam.

"All right, gentlemen," Master Kendon resumed, breaking into Kev’s personal inspection. "I know you’re all dying of curiosity to find out what the second part of the exam is—especially since it determines whether you graduate or leave this Academy with no certification or power whatever. That’s worse than being a prentice, gentlemen.

"This second part will be the exact opposite of the first. More specifically, you will reverse whatever it is you have just done. If you have created something, you will uncreate it. If you have altered something, you will restore it to its original state. If you have left your station, I leave it to your own intelligence to figure out what you are to do.

"Good luck, gentlemen. The second and final part of your examination begins...now."

If not Kev's Dragon, then a near cousin!

---

In a desert on the other side of the world the dragon dozed, secure in the knowledge of its invincibility, paying no attention to the far-away prentice desperately wishing it out of existence. It had time, plenty of time...in time the annoyance would go away. With a contented sigh and a minor sandslide, the dragon turned over and settled back to sleep.

(c) 1999
By Annie McAndrew
All Rights Reserved
Biography