A Transformative Tribulation - Chapter One

He'd always wanted to work for a king. But not like this. He'd always wanted to be an apprentice. But not like this. He'd always wanted his talents to be appreciated. But not like this.

The sound of loud knocking woke him fully from his foggy sleep.

"Varian! Frizfrazzle the Sorcerer needs your assistance in ten minutes," someone called through the door. "Someone will be here to escort you there shortly."

Varian forced himself to sit up. The white sunlight streaming through his window hurt his eyes.

The door pounded again. "Varian?"

"I'll be ready!" Varian responded. He mumbled grumpily to himself as he got to his feet and made up the sad sackcloth mattress and threadbare blankets that consisted of his bed. He got dressed and slipped on the sorcerer's cloak that they insisted he wear. It was becoming depressingly familiar, just like the rest of his morning routine that had started about a month ago. It had all happened so fast. One moment he'd been enjoying life in his small but beloved village, and the next, he'd found himself snatched away in the night by a shady stranger who'd sold him to a faraway king as a "gifted sorcerer" who could be an apprentice and assistant to their aging sorcerer.

"I'm not even a sorcerer!" Varian muttered, splashing water over his face. "Those buffoons can't tell the difference between a skilled alchemist and a babbling fool in a dress."

"Apprentice!" a voice boomed through the door.

"Yes?" Varian yelped, startled.

"Have you finished readying yourself? Or do you need to spend more time polishing those shiny goggles of yours?"

Varian frowned. It was Derric again, his least favorite guard. He rubbed a cloth over his face and whipped open the door. "I'm ready."

Varian's heart sank when he realized Derric was leading him to the west dungeon. Frizfrazzle was doing his transformation experiments on unlucky prisoners again. He was using a mixture of magic and strange chemicals, the properties of which he refused to divulge to Varian until he'd "proved his loyalty". Apparently, he was trying to find ways to create the most frightening and nasty creatures that could be used by the king against his enemies.

"Variable! There you are!" Frizfrazzle exclaimed, waving him over. He was standing at a narrow, wide table facing a large jail cell designed to hold multiple prisoners. As Varian approached, the man shoved a big, battered book over towards the boy's direction.

"I'm trying out some new combinations today," he said, adjusting the container of multi-colored glass bottles on the table. Some were labeled while others were not. "Keep track of the results. Don't forget a detail!"

"It's Varian," Varian mumbled as he dipped his quill-pen in ink and turned to the proper page.

Frizfrazzle pulled out several bottles and glanced over at him with watery blue eyes. His entire appearance was disheveled, from his worn, tattered cloak to his balding head graced with a few bedraggled white strands of hair. "What did you say, boy?"

Varian tried again, but was interrupted by guards bringing in the first prisoner.

"No!" the man hollered, trying to kick the guards that were bringing him in. "I won't be turned into a stupid boar again! I won't!"

"Oh shut it!" Frizfrazzle snapped. "You're lucky King Jeffery hasn't done away with you already. At least here you can finally be of use to your kingdom."

Varian sighed and silently noted the day and hour at the top of the page. It was going to be another long day.

It was late afternoon when the need arose for a new test subject. Occasionally, the formulas would malfunction and cause "side-effects", such as animal features that wouldn't go away, even after the "normalizing" formula had been used on them. Varian winced and looked down as they dragged the screaming man away. Snakes for arms? I think that's the worst mutation I've seen so far.

His head snapped up as a high-pitched, feminine voice echoed through the stony chamber. "Greetings, good sirs! How are you today? I'm fine! Splendid, actually!"

Varian blinked slowly at the young woman who was being escorted into the room. She wore a simple white servant's dress and scuffed brown shoes. She had a cloud of dirty blond hair, freckles all over her face, and bright blue eyes.

Varian blinked again. He'd seen a few female prisoners brought in, but none as young – or as cheerful – as this girl.

"Who in god's name is this?" Frizfrazzle growled. The guards looked at one another. "She…uh…volunteered," one of them offered.

"What?" Frizfrazzle peered at the girl suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"I'm a servant here," the girl said. "Have been for years."

"What are you doing here? Looking for the dishroom?"

"No! I volunteered!"

"Why?" Frizfrazzle spluttered. "Go back to your duties in the kitchen or chambers or wherever you are assigned to…"

The girl didn't seem to hear him. She looked at Varian and waved. "Hello Varian!" she said in a sugary voice. "How are you today?"

Varian blushed. "How do you know my name?"

She giggled and cocked her head sideways. "I've heard all about you, Varian. So, what'cha gonna turn me into? A beetle?"

Varian shrugged and pretended to be focused on the book in front of him. He didn't know how to deal with this sudden, unexpected attention from a stranger.
"….send her away!" Frizfrazzle finished. The guards hesitated.

"But sir…we are running low on prisoners."

Frizfrazzle glared at the girl, who was staring at Varian and fluttering her eyelashes. "Fine. Put her in the cell."

The guards unlocked the door and ushered her inside. The girl stood in the middle looking over every nook and cranny. "So this is a cell," she said.

"I've seen stable-boys with more sense," Frizfrazzle muttered, looking through his bottles.

"Tell me, please, what are you going to turn me into?" the girl asked in a voice still way too cheerful for her situation.

A cruel grin spread across Frizfrazzle's face. "A hideous beast." With hands trembling from severe arthritis, he handed bottles labeled "snake" and "raven" to Varian. "Mix these up," he commanded.

Reluctantly Varian mixed the bottles into a third bottle, lifted it into the air, and threw it through the bars of the cell, where it smashed on the floor and released its chemicals onto the girl. Within moments she had transformed into a small dark creature.

"What is that?" Frizfrazzle exclaimed, peering into the cell. A beautiful ebony swan with eyes like blue gems stared back at him. She flapped her wings and skipped around the cell.

Varian actually felt laughter bubble up in his throat. He'd never seen a swam skip before. Well, he'd never seen any animal skip before, and it looked ridiculously silly.

"What is it doing?" Frizfrazzle grabbed a normalizing vial of purple liquid and thrust it at Varian. "Quick, make it normal so we can try something more frightening."

As soon as the girl was human again, she beamed at Varian. "That was so exciting! You're wonderful at this, Varian! My name's Willowyn, by the way."

Varian blushed. "Uh…I like your name, uh, Willowyn."

Frizfrazzle thrust two more bottles in his direction, labeled "wolf" and "bear". Varian winced. He quickly mixed the formula and threw it into the cell. As soon as it released its chemicals, the girl expanded into a massive wolf-like creature with thick tawny hair and familiar piercing blue eyes. The creature pranced around the cell and howled.

"Alack! She's still beautiful!" Frizfrazzle grabbed two more vials for Varian. "Try these next!"

The hawk and lion bottle turned Willowyn into a magnificent silver and gold creature that looked like the storybook creature known as a "gryphon". The gryphon shrieked and spread out her wings with one foot lifted as though she was posing.

By now Varian could barely hold back his laughter, and Frizfrazzle's growing hysteria wasn't helping.

"Fie on you, wench!" Frizfrazzle snapped. He pulled out the snake bottle again and gave it to Varian. "Sometimes simple is best."

Grinning, Varian threw a normalizing bottle into the cell, followed by the snake bottle. From the cloud of chemicals emerged a milk-white snake with large blue eyes and a friendly smile. It was somehow actually cute.

Frizfrazzle's eyes bulged out of his head. He grabbed a normalizing potion and flung it at the snake, changing it back to Willowyn. "I'm not done with you yet, girl! And stop laughing!" he yelled at Varian. By this time, however, even the guards were breaking into laughter.

"That's it!" Frizfrazzle snarled, grabbing potion after potion with shaking hands and mixing them into a bottle, spilling chemicals onto the table and making a mess.

"So…um…if you ever want to come visit me, I can give you the directions to my part of the servant's quarters," Willowyn said, pulling a piece of parchment out of a fold in her dress. She folded it into a bird-like shape and sent it sailing through the air into Varian's arms.

"M'lady, you can give me directions too," one of the guards said flirtatiously, lifting his visor.

"Not interested," Willowyn said dismissively. "Besides, you sound too old for me anyways."

The guard muttered to himself, crossed his arms, and shot Varian a glare. Varian stuffed the parchment into his pocket and looked away. At least you're not a prisoner like me, he thought. I couldn't even visit her if I wanted to.

He was jarred out of his thoughts by Frizfrazzle, who lifted a bottle high into the air and violently threw it at Willowyn. She dove out of the way and it smashed into the wall, creating a huge cloud of brown smoke.
Varian's stomach clenched. "How many bottles did you mix?" he asked his master sharply.

"Enough, hopefully," Frizfrazzle growled. As the smoke cleared, Varian gasped.

A giant scaly beast filled the entire cell, its body pressing against the bars. A gurgling noise came from the blue and purple creature and a burst of flame suddenly erupted from one side of the cell, turning the bars red with heat.

Varian and the others watched with gaping mouths as the dragoness melted more of the bars and then pressed against them. They bent, giving her room to squeeze out of the too-tight quarters.

"I made a dragon," Frizfrazzle breathed. "I made a dragon!" His hands mindlessly grasped at his hair. "The king will be so proud of me!"

"Sorcerer Frizfrazzle!" one of the guards yelled. "Should we do something? It could be dangerous!"

The dragoness plopped down in front of Varian, shaking the ground underfoot. She licked his face and chest with her long, cold, purple tongue and blinked at him. Varian staggered back, wiping at his face and shuddering.

Frizfrazzle scrutinized the dragoness. "Can you understand me, beast?"

She nodded calmly.

"Good. Stay put and we won't harm you." He turned to the guards. "I want to show this beast to the king. But I'd like it to be chained first, just to be safe."

"Sir, we don't have chains large enough for a dragon."

"Then have the blacksmith make some!"

Not long after one of the guards left, the dungeon door opened by guards on the outside and a finely dressed servant entered. "Frizfrazzle the Sorcerer, you are summoned by the king to give an account of your talents before his esteemed guests, the Lord Frederick and Lady Isabelle."

Frizfrazzle looked up from words that he was scratching frantically into the log book's next page. "Oh…um…of course. However, I…" he looked from the messenger to the dragon. The messenger followed his gaze and turned white.

"I hope you are not going too far with your enchantments," he said. "You know how the king feels about-

"Everything is under control," Frizfrazzle interrupted. "The beast is completely tame and I have guards around." He finished writing in the book and closed it. "Varian, clean up this messy table and take measurements of the beast. I will be back very soon. Don't mess with any of my vials, understand?"

"Yes sir," Varian replied shakily. He'd heard stories of dragons, but this was the first time he'd seen one in person, and it was staring at him with enormous ice-blue eyes.

Before Frizfrazzle left, he gestured to gain the dragoness' attention. "If you keep still and don't cause trouble, I will give you my apprentice Varias for an entire day to have as you wish."

"Uh…I don't agree to that," Varian spoke up, but his master strode through the door without a backwards glance.

Varian sighed and began wiping up the mess with rags, being careful not to touch the chemicals with his bare skin. At first the dragoness watched every move he made, but soon she moved over to the remaining guard in the room and began licking him with her giant cold tongue.

"Ack!" the guard yelped, backing away from her. "I'll be outside with the others," he told Varian. "Just yell…if she…attacks you."

Varian shivered as the door slammed shut, leaving him alone with the massive dragoness. He grabbed a measuring rod from nearby and forced himself to walk up to her.

"I-I'm going to measure you now," he stammered. "Please don't lick me…or…do anything else."

The dragoness sat like a relaxed cat and nodded, her eyes never leaving him. Warily Varian approached even closer and began measuring her, starting with her tail. After a while, realizing that the dragoness was complying with his every command, such as stretching out her tail, neck, and limbs when he wanted to measure them, he began to relax and appreciate her beauty. She had scales that ranged in color from every shade of purple to every shade of blue in dappled patterns on her sides. She had bright teal, curling horns and a thin, iridescent fin that stretched from her nose to her tail. Her wings were iridescent as well. She also had huge claws on each of her four feet.

Varian had only measured her for a few minutes when the dragoness rested her head and closed her eyes. After that, any attempts of his asking her to move failed.

I guess all that transforming made her tired. I'm tired too. Varian slumped to the ground and breathed out a long sigh. A thought suddenly came to his mind and he took out the crumpled piece of parchment. Looking one more time to make sure the dragoness' eyes were closed, he opened the paper and read it.

Instantly his heart jumped into his throat. These weren't directions at all. The parchment read,

You don't know me, but I know much about you, Varian. Servants find out everything. I had to put on an act to get close to you and give you this message. I wanted to let you know I'm coming up with a plan to help you escape. I know how it feels to be snatched away from your home, and I refuse to let you suffer through what I went through. If you allow yourself to trust me, I think I can find a way for you to escape.

Varian's head twisted back to the dragoness. Her eye was open and watching him.

He stood up, his legs wobby. It was so much to take in at once.

"You…you're trying to help me escape?"

The dragoness nodded. She rose and walked over to the table where the bottles containing the normalizing liquid were held. She nudged one of the bottles and looked back at Varian.

"Wait…you want me to turn you human? But Frizfrazzle will be furious with me!" Varian stammered, reaching her and placing a protective hand on the case of bottles. "I don't see how that's going to help!"

The dragoness grabbed the parchment in his other hand gently with her teeth. She peered at it with one eye cocked downwards, then placed it on the floor and ran a talon underneath two words: "trust me".

Varian swallowed hard. He wanted desperately to be able to escape, get back to his home, and see his dad again, but he wasn't sure he could trust this girl. Had she really been putting on an act this whole time? What if she was putting on a separate act right now for some nefarious purpose? Who knew who she really was?

The dragoness nuzzled his shoulder gently and blew softly into his hair, as though reassuring him. His mouth curved into a hesitant smile and he pulled out a bottle.

"Alright, Willowyn. I trust you."