Realms of the Dragons II/The Book Dragon

"The Book Dragon" is a short story by Jim Pitrat published in the 2005 anthology Realms of the Dragons II.

“

Red Wizards kill and steal for a book. But who can blame them when they hear the secrets this tome keeps?

”

Summary[]

Nusair Darkul, a Red Wizard of Thay and spy of the Zulkir Nevron in the Guild of Foreign Trade, promises his master the Scalamagdrion, a magical book, which his contacts have determined to be in a private collection within Skuld. He hopes that the book will achieve a position other than spying on Samas Kul. He sends his apprentice and lover, Saura Umakra, to retrieve it, promising that he will induce her into the numbers of the Red Wizards for it. She believes this will help her overcome the stigma of her Rashemi blood, which has thwarted her quest for promotion too many times.

In Skuld, she sneaks into the book shop, and accidentally awakens the owner, a lesser wizard named Mephnit Nandem. She tries to bargain with him, but he responds too slowly: judging that he has not placed wards, she decides to eliminate him rather than risk that he may have alerted the guard. She then activates a charm of recall, returning to Darkul Tower with the book on hand. However, just as she feared, Nusair refuses to sponsor her promotion.

After spending the night in bed with her, he heads to his study and takes a look at the book. A dragon emerges and attacks; it thwarts his spells with an aura of silence, and reflects his attacks back at him. Nusair soon dies, the dragon returns to the book, and Saura takes the corpse's blood-stained robes. She gloats before the corpse that she knew the secrets of the Scalamagdrion long before returning, and that Samas Kul will appreciate it as a gift.