Dragonborn by Toby Forward Page A

powerful as youth itself.Who would have thought he had such strength left in him?” And he walked away quickly.
    â€œI’m not a wizard,” said Sam, “but I will be one day.”
    â€œYou are already, or you wouldn’t know the secrets of the roffles. That’s wizard work,” said Megatorine, in a voice so gentle and friendly that Sam told him everything, without stopping to think whether it was a good idea or not.
    â€œWell that’s easily settled,” said the roffle.
    â€œReally?”
    â€œYou don’t need a master,” he said. “That’s old-fashioned. You can go to a proper place to learn to be a wizard, with lots of others. Besides, there’s lots of bad magic about these days. Magic that will eat you up if you’re not trained.”
    Sam leaned forward, surprised to hear the roffle saying what the wizards had been talking about.
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œRoffles know lots of things. The tunnels in the Deep World link up all over the place. We move where no one sees us.”
    â€œWhere does the bad magic come from?” asked Sam.
    â€œAh, now you’re asking.”
    â€œAnd what’s the answer?”
    â€œMost things begin with one thing,” said the roffle.
    â€œWhat was the one thing?”
    â€œA cat with a silver knife is one thing.”
    â€œNo, it’s two things,” said Sam.
    â€œSo it is.”
    â€œA silver knife shaped like a cat is one thing.”
    â€œIs it?”
    â€œIt’s a knife,” said Sam. “That’s one thing. But it’s a sort of cat as well, and that’s another thing. So it’s two things.”
    â€œTwo things can be one thing.”
    Sam thought about that.
    â€œWhat was the one thing that started the magic going bad?” he asked.
    â€œIt was a wizard,” said the roffle.
    Waterburn
, thought Sam.
    â€œAnd that’s why you’ve got to go to College, to learn properly. You need lots of wizards around you.”
    â€œBut wizards live alone. They guard their secrets. They don’t share them like that.”
    â€œOh, it’s secrets you want, is it?”
    Sam wished Starback was with him. Somehow, when the dragon was nearby, he seemed to know what to do. This was the longest time they had ever been apart.
    â€œDo you really want to be a wizard?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI’ll take you, if you like.”
    â€œIs it far?”
    â€œDay and a half. And if you see a memmont on the way, give me a shout.”
    â€œAll right.”
    The night was so far on that the road was invisible; even the short path back to it through the trees had curled up on itself and hidden.
    â€œWe’ll sleep here first, though,” said Megatorine. “Make us a fire.”
    Sam had been longing for a fire, for warmth, and for protection against any creatures of the forest.
    â€œI can’t. I’ve no flint.”
    â€œMagic one up for us.”
    Sam shook his head. “I can’t use the magic for myself,” he explained. “It would go wrong.”
    â€œThat’s all right. The fire isn’t for you. It’s for me.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œNo buts. No fire, no help. Find the wizard school yourself. I’m off.”
    Sam flicked his fingers and a crackling fire sprang up in the clearing. Megatorine gave him an orange grin. “That’s more like it,” he said. “I knew it was my lucky day. My own wizard, eh?”
    And he curled up tight like a hedgehog and was snoring before Sam even had time to worry about who the fire was for.
    Starback had flown back to watch the five wizards leave the house and search for Sam. They all set off in the right way, following the boy’s footsteps as though they were glowing in the dark. Wizard sight sees what has been as well as what is there. But when they reached the first fork in the road, the footsteps went in both