Autumn leaves crunched under my feet. I should just give up, I thought. I’m in the middle of nowhere and no “wizard’s hideout” to be seen. Merlin was probably just a fictional character. What was the point of this stupid quest anyway? My parents probably just wanted to get me out of trouble. When I was growing up, my parents had said that Merlin was non-existent. Then all of a sudden, a fire-breathing dragon showed up in our village, and I was sent off on a quest to find the mysterious magician. Just then, it started raining. Urgh! Just my luck, I thought. I ducked into a cave nearby to shelter myself from the rain. I headed deeper into the cave. The cave was dark and spooky with cobwebs hanging everywhere. I worried that I would get lost, but I kept going. I wanted to hide from the dragon in the village. Rounding a corner, I froze when I saw a man sitting at a table playing solitaire. “W-who are yo-you,” I asked, voice trembling. If only my sister were here, I thought. My sister was brave, unlike me—that’s why my parents had sent me on this “quest,” not my sister. I remembered hearing my mother say to my father, “We need to get her out of the way. The dragon might scare her, and she might run away. Better to send her to the forest, where she’ll be safe.” My parents were inside their room, and I was supposed to be asleep. I was standing outside their room in the dark when I overheard them. “My name is Merlin, what’s yours?” said the man in the cave in a trembling voice that almost matched mine. He straightened up. ”Never mind, I can read your mind. You were sent here by your parents to find me.” I stared at him, my mouth wide open, dumbfounded. “Can you help me defeat the evil dragon?” I asked, “With your magic?” “How about I teach you magic?” he suggested shakily, without looking up. He continued his game of solitaire as if trying to disguise his uncertainty. “Me?” I asked, taken aback. ”I’m only a farmer.” Merlin stood up, as if he had suddenly changed his mind, and turned his back to me. I could faintly see the outline of the crystal ball in his hands. When he noticed me watching, he hurriedly put down the crystal ball. As he turned around, I could see that all flickers of doubt in him had disappeared. His eyes shone more brightly than they had before and his posture was stronger. Before, his back had been slumped over, but now he stood as tall as a hero posing for a photo. I cowered away from his gaze. Ignoring my further protests, he grabbed what looked like a twig from the table and tossed it to me. “This is a magic wand for you to use. We will practice a freezing spell with it.” He picked up two rocks from the ground. “Wave your wand and say ‘glacio,’” he instructed in a voice that would rival any villain’s. I did as he said, and the rocks iced over, giving them a glassy look. I was too shocked to say anything. Before I could talk, I was whisked away. The room began to dissolve, leaving me in the dark. As the room slowly faded away, Merlin’s voice sounded above me, ”You must speak with courage to make the spell function.” I landed in my village with his words still ringing in my head. Courage. Courage. Courage. The fight was still going on. The dragon was breathing fire everywhere. Buildings were on fire. Children were disguising themselves in the shadows. The parents in the village were trying to extinguish the dragon’s flames by throwing buckets of water over the fires, but they weren't succeeding. For every fire that the villagers managed to put out, the dragon breathed five more. I was aware of the danger, and I felt that I might get killed. But I had to save the village to prove to my parents that I was brave. I wasn't about to give up. Merlin too had told me that I had to be brave, and I had come so far. I gathered up all my courage and waved my wand. “G-Glacio!” I shouted, pointing the wand at the dragon, my hand shaking like mad. Everyone in the village looked at me as if I were crazy and laughed because in their eyes, I was a little girl holding a twig and shouting nonsense. They went back to their efforts, only to discover that the fires were gone. The spell had worked. The ice spread slowly over the dragon’s scales, from the tip of her tail to her forked tongue. She looked just like an ice sculpture, beautiful in a chilly way, staring at me with a look of sorrow spread across her face. For a moment I wondered if I had done the right thing. Even though the dragon was evil, it was a living thing, just like me. Then I looked closely at the dragon. On its back were two tiny baby dragons. The dragon had just been trying to protect her babies. A tear trickled down my face, and I wished I could undo the spell. Then everything went black.
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