Cocky bastards, thought Mavrik. We'll see how they cope with this. The river emptied suddenly into the huge fens that surrounded his destination. The knights were stopped by a short drop that divided dry land from the bogs. Mavrik swam a short distance and turned to face them. He made a rude gesture but they simply laughed, then he saw the boats rounding the last bend before the fens. He sighed and swam faster, the noise of oars not far behind.
He wriggled his way between the rafts of flowering irises and ran over the small islands, always heading in a straight line. As he moved away from the fresh stream of the Whelming, the water went dark and started to stink. Not even the giant tides of the sea reached this far inland. He moved through mud so liquid he had to swim. His passage stirred up a long, grey ribbon to mark his path and caused bubbles of foul gas to rise to the surface. The boats fell behind, but they did not stop.
The water became clean again as he swam into the stream of another river, but it was still the colour of old tea. Mavrik guessed this was the stream of the River Erskine which flowed from the button-grass peat highlands to the south. Not far to go now. Finally he could see his refuge: a large island with a stand of tall trees surrounding a tiny stone hut. He splashed ashore and ran to the hut.
"Pen!" he shouted, banging on the door with both fists. "Pen! Help!" The noise of the boats grounding on the shore sounded loud in his ears. He pounded a rapid tattoo on the door. "Help! Helphelphelp!"
The door was opened by a middle-aged man in an faded green cloak and faded brown trousers. "Yeah, all right. I'm here!" he said. "Now shut up." He sniffed at Mavrik. "Pooh, Mav! Have you been swimming in the fens? Why didn't you fly?"
"I can't," wailed Mavrik. "They broke my wing." He indicated with a nod the approaching men.
Pen looked at the men, then said, "Show me your wing." Mavrik stretched it out, wincing as he did so. Pen examined the ragged holes in the membrane. "Nasty. You've got some broken bones there. Oh no!" he breathed, and turned to Mavrik with a worried frown. "Your main wing-tip bone is fractured."
"Can you fix it?" asked Mavrik in alarm.
"No. It'll take weeks of serious medication I don't have," muttered Pen. He turned to the gathering men. "Good morning," he said brightly.
"You leave that dragon to us, Wizard," said one. "He owes us a debt."
"All I did was eat a stupid cow," said Mavrik.
"That was our best bull," said the spokesman. The others murmured angrily.
Pen looked at the dragon. "Oh, Mav! I can't believe you ate a bull."
"Bull... Cow... What's the difference?"
Pen stared at him for a few seconds. "You're very young, aren't you?"
Mavrik started to argue but the men advanced on them shouting angrily and he cowered down behind his friend.
Pen spun to face the mob and gestured at them. They stopped instantly, frozen in time. "I'm going to send you to when someone can help."
"Good." Mavrik thought for a few moments. "'When?' Don't you mean 'where'?"
"No." The wizard sighed and stared at the ground. "Your wing is bad. I don't think you'll fly again if the bones aren't set properly." He sighed again. "There's one more thing."
Mavrik's head sank to the ground, but his heart felt as if it had sunk even lower. "Just one?"
"I can send you, but I can't bring you back." Pen looked down at the miserable dragon. "You'll have to find a wizard to send you back."
"Back? 'Back' as in Back In Time?" Mavrik blinked. "What time distance are you talking about?"
Pen shrugged. "I can't say for sure. The spell will take you to the point you can get help. I don't know how far that will be." He squatted beside his friend. "It's either this or never fly again. No one here can help."
"You're very definite about that!"
"Yes," said Pen. "Name the people who will help you."
Mavrik looked at him in surprise. "Of course the Elves-" He paused, remembering his most recent dealings with Elves. "Oh yeah. All right then, the Dwaves- Ah. The men... jeez, the men hate Dragons." He looked at Pen "What about the Wizards?" Pen just raised his eyebrows. "Besides me?"
Mavrik sighed deeply. "I tell you what, when this is over I'll not be touching meat again. I'll turn vegetarian." He paused in thought. "And chickens."

"Why chickens?"
"I hate chickens. They have beady eyes."
Pen smiled slightly, then gathered the magic. "Are you ready?"
"No." Mavrik closed his eyes and sat up. "I'll see you later."
Pen concentrated and felt the cold blast of the Winds Of Time blow through the clearing. The ethereal breeze stopped, and a second later there was a noise like thunder. Pen saw the figure of his friend flash briefly and was gone, leaving behind an insubstantial figure like an after-image made of fog. It dissipated rapidly and left a circle of frosted grass.
"Good luck, my friend," he sighed as he turned to the frozen farmers.
Mitch looked around the little valley, feeling as if he may be doing this for the last time. He examined each tree, noting the shading on the smooth, white bark, and listened to the soft rustle of the leaves, then looked up at the 300 metre high sandstone cliffs that walled him in on three sides. He turned again to the data-pad in his hand and read the message.
"Dear Mr. Day, We are pleased to accept your application to the next intake of the Sector Law Enforcement academy. We feel that it should be pointed out that you are the first applicant from your planet..." He turned the pad off and the letters disappeared, leaving behind a featureless grey surface. He tossed the pad carelessly into the tent and stirred the campfire with a stick. The billy was starting to steam, so to pass the time waiting he put a slice of bread on a forky stick and started toasting it.
He considered his future here on Galprax. The planetary council had already indicated that if he took the job off-planet he would be 'banned' and not permitted back. If he left now, he'd never finish the biology degree at Wellington University. If he left now, he'd never- never- um... He couldn't remember what it was that was supposed to stop him from accepting. He frowned at the fire. There was nothing on this planet that could hold him here.
An icy wind sprang up from nowhere and stopped just as suddenly, followed an instant later by an ear-shattering peal of thunder. Mitch jumped in fright, the sudden movement caused the bread to fall into the fire. He ignored it.
"Bloody hell! That was close!" he muttered. He looked at the sky but the view was mostly obscured by the dense tree canopy. He stood and walked to the little clearing beside the Welling River. The forest grew lighter as the sun started to peek over the tall cliffs. He looked up through the thinning trees but could only see a clear blue sky, then turned to look at the cliff tops where the top of the sun was just showing. He walked backwards into the clearing, turned, and felt his heart skip a beat.
There was a huge animal lying there, facing him. Mitch's first instinct was to run, but the animal didn't move. Then Mitch saw the layer of frost covering it and realized it must have died there last night. He walked forward slowly, wondering what it was. It looked like a 10 metre long lizard caught up in the wreckage of a hang-glider. Instead of scales it had a smooth grey skin. Each toe ended in a sharp talon the colour of ebony.
He circled the body slowly and examined it. It looked familiar somehow, but he was sure he'd never seen one before.
He stood by the large head and stared down at it, deep in thought. A shiver ran up his spine when an eyelid twitched. It was still alive! Mitch started to creep back to the forest as quietly as he could, hoping to leave the animal undisturbed. He mentally added up the number of talons, twenty, and estimated the number of teeth. That made sixty sharp things. If I am lucky, he thought, it won't tear me to shreds.
The creature groaned and stirred. Mitch froze on the spot. His heart pounded loudly in his ears. He stared at it, hardly daring to blink in case it attacked. It groaned as it moved its head to look at him.
"Oh shit," whispered Mitch to himself.
"Help," said the creature softly.
"I must be going mad," he muttered.
"Help me," it said again. The voice was like a sigh. "I don't want to die."
If I am going to go mad I might as well play along until I talk myself out of it, Mitch thought. "Neither do I," he said aloud. "This is why I'm going to run away."<
"No! Please, don't run," said the creature plaintively. "I won't hurt you." It groaned again and lay still. Mitch crept forward slowly, ready to run in an instant. "So cold," muttered the animal.
"The sun will be over the cliffs in a few minutes," said Mitch. "It'll be warmer then." He hesitated. "Er... what are you? If you don't mind me asking," he added hastily.
"Haven't you seen a dragon before?" asked Mavrik.
"No. I mean, we have lizards around here we call dragons, like the frilled dragon and the water dragon, but they're only forty centimetres long, and... uh..." Mitch realized he was babbling. "You...? You're a dragon?"
Mavrik stared at the frightened human standing before him. He smiled slightly when the man took a backward step. "I won't eat you, if that's what you're wondering."
"It isn't," lied Mitch. He felt dizzy. "A real dragon? That's..." The phases 'amazing' and 'impossible' fought to come out at the same time, rendering him speechless. He jumped back as Mavrik stretched his wings to expose their surface to the warmth. All he could say was "Wow."
"Are you a healer?" asked Mavrik suddenly.
Mitch was caught off balance. "I usually get better-" he began.
"No! I mean, do you heal others?"
"Oh. No, I'm just a biological sciences student. Why?"
"Have a look at my right wing." Mavrik slowly extended the wing fully but Mitch hung back. "Come closer! You won't see much from there."
Mitch moved hesitantly closer and looked at the wing. When he saw the ragged hole in the membrane he forgot himself and knelt to get a better look. "There's been a lot of bleeding," he said. "It's stopped now, but it looks like it could open up in an instant." He reached out, then paused and looked up to see the dragon staring at him. "Can I touch?"
Mavrik nodded. "Softly!" he added as he felt the fingers. "Ow!"
"Sorry." Mitch ran his fingers along the ridges of the support bones inside the membrane, noting where the dragon twitched in pain. "What's your name?" he asked suddenly.
"Mavrik."
"My name is Mitch."
"You shouldn't go telling just anyone your name!" spluttered Mavrik. "It's dangerous!"
"Is it?" said Mitch absently. "You just told me yours'"
Mavrik stared off into the distance but said nothing. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid as to reveal his name. He winced as Mitch carefully moved the edges of the ragged tear together. "That tear starts near the wing elbow and runs right to the edge," said Mitch. "It'll have to be stitched, and the bones will have to be set."
"The wizard said the main bone was fractured, too."
"Hm?" Mitch ran a hand over the leading edge. "Yeah, I think can feel some bone-chips-" Mavrik roared in pain. "Sorry. So how is it dangerous?"
"What?" gasped Mavrik.
"Names."
Mavrik felt faint. "If you know the name of a thing, you have power over it," he said softly.
Mitch looked up. "What, like I can say 'Hey Mavrik, look at this' or 'Hey Mavrik, Come and eat dinner'?" He ducked his head and pretended to look at the wing.
"No!" said Mavrik. "Don't you know anything about magic?"
"There's no such thing as magic," said Mitch with a laugh.
Mavrik sniffed the air. He could smell the magic all around him, a vast reserve untouched and unused as if there were no wizards to use it. "Of course there's magic," said Mavrik softly. He looked at Mitch. "You just don't know how to see it."
"The stories say there were wizards, but they're just fragments of half remembered tales from the Dreamtime," said Mitch as he straightened. "I'll have to strap up your wing until we get a vet- uh- a doctor to have a look at it. There's a medkit at the camp." They walked back to Mitch's camp site in silence. The sun now shone into the little valley, the long beams showing in the slightly misty air. Mavrik looked around in approval and nodded.
"Are you hungry?" asked Mitch as he stirred the fire. He suddenly became wary.
"No, I've just eaten." Mavrik noticed Mitch's attitude. "It's against the Law to eat thinking beings," he said. "I think you should know that."
"That's a relief."