Short Story

THE LOVE POTION

copyright 2000 by Nora M. Mulligan

Silena burst into the little room at the top of the tower, panting for breath. "You've got to help me!" she cried to the witch. "I'm at my wit's end."

The witch peered at her for a few seconds. Silena wondered, not for the first time, how the witch could see anything when her glasses were so smudged. "Didn't we go through this already?" the witch asked, scratching her head, and adjusting her glasses. "Something about a love potion you wanted me to give you."

'Yes, that's exactly the problem, the love potion that you gave me. It's ruining my life." Silena collapsed on the chair before the witch's cluttered table.

"Didn't it work?" The witch shuffled around a pile of papers, nearly upsetting a mug filled with something Silena couldn't see that smoked and hissed. "Ah, there it is," cried the witch, pulling out a paper that was stained with something orange. The witch held the paper a finger's breadth away from her face, and began reading. "Silena, daughter of Lady Erin and Lord Falfring. Madly in love with David, son of Earl Williams. David doesn't know she exists. Wants best love potion possible. I have here, 'wants him to be crazy about her.' Then I made a note that I made you the potion, number 233, and gave it to you the next day." The witch looked up at Silena. "Is that all correct?"

"Yes, that's all correct."

"And I told you how to put it in his drink, right?"

"Yes, yes, and I did all that."

"And it didn't work?" The witch looked disappointed. "I can't understand it. Number 233 is one of my best potions. It's guaranteed."

"He did fall in love," said Silena, pushing her long blonde hair away from her face distractedly. "That's the problem."

The witch dropped the paper onto the table. An edge of the paper dipped into a low plate covered with some kind of green liquid. Before Silena's eyes, the paper sizzled and dissolved. The witch didn't seem to notice. She smiled at the young woman. "Well, I'm glad that it worked. Number 233 is one of my very best efforts. If that didn't work, then I don't know what would work." Still smiling, the witch turned to a pot bubbling on the fire behind her chair.

"But I still have a problem. It's a bigger problem now, in fact."

The witch turned back, surprised. "Are you still here? You gave him the potion, he fell in love with you, happily ever after, that's that."

"No, now I need an antidote."

"To my love potion?" The witch frowned, as if she were insulted.

"Yes. No! I mean," Silena stammered, "I mean he did fall in love with me, but I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. He's crazy about me, all right. Or just plain crazy."

"Well, you didn't know him very well when you came to me, asking for the potion," the witch observed.

"If you say 'I told you so,' I swear, I'll scream."

The witch shook her head. "I'd never say 'I told you so.' I can't remember whether I warned you or not. Sometimes I forget to do that, you know. Not that it makes a difference, of course. All sales are final."

"Fine. Fine. I'm not looking for my money back. I want an antidote. I want to get the potion out of his system, and fast. He's crazy about me. He follows me everywhere. If he hadn't been in the middle of a conference with the king just now, I never would have been able to get away to see you now. He waits outside my room in the morning, and doesn't leave me alone till I'm asleep at night. He's constantly making up these songs about me."

"Good romantic stuff." The witch nodded happily. "I must say, number 233 does a very solid job."

"You would not believe how badly, how off-key, he sings. And the things he rhymes with Silena would send you off a parapet!"

The witch shrugged. "So he's not a poet. I think you told me he was in the King's guard. You can't expect much."

Silena leaned forward on the table, shoving one of the mugs out of her way. "That's not all. He fights with everybody who even looks at me. He got into a duel with my brother yesterday. My brother! David nearly killed him! And all because my brother made some joke about the way my hair looked. I can't have a conversation with anyone, male or female, without David jumping to my defense, or pulling me aside. And if anyone protests, David challenges the person to a duel. He's such a good fighter that he's already injured eight people in the last week, all because of this nonsense. The queen told me that if I can't get rid of my oversized lap dog -- that's what she calls him, and I can't blame her -- I won't be allowed to work with the other ladies on the tapestry. What am I going to do if I can't do that? Sit around and let David serenade me all the time? I'd go mad. I'm almost mad already."

The witch nodded. "That is too bad," she said. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about it."

Silena leaped to her feet, horrified. "What do you mean, there's nothing you can do about it? You're a witch. You have magic. You made the silly potion in the first place. You can undo it, can't you?"

The witch shook her head. "It's the nature of the potion. You see, he drank it, and it filled his whole body, every hair, every drop of blood. You can't purge it out without killing him. And I don't do killings."

Silena threw her head back and wailed. "I can't believe it. I'm doomed! I can't get an antidote for the potion and nobody can kill him. He's the strongest man in the kingdom. I'm going to spend the rest of my life suffocated by David. I can't stand it. Isn't there anything you can suggest?"

The witch smiled sweetly. "If you left the kingdom, maybe he wouldn't be able to find you. This David of yours isn't very bright, after all."

"But he is fast," said Silena. "And remember, he never leaves me alone, not for a minute."

The witch shrugged. "I don't know what else to tell you."

Silena drew a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "Well, thank you, I guess. You were my last chance. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"I'm sorry, my dear, but you got what you paid for."

Silena thought, as she trudged down the steps from the witch's tower, that she got more than she'd paid for, more than she'd wanted.

The passage that led to the tower came out in an unused part of the castle, so Silena figured she had a few minutes, before David found her, even if he had already finished his meeting with the king.

She sidled along the hall, heading for her rooms. She passed the door that led to the parapet. Two guards, patrolling out there on the walkway that ran around the second floor of the castle, were talking.

"Big one," said the first guard. It sounded like Thomas, thought Silena. He was one of the younger guards, and his voice hadn't quite finished changing yet. "Monster sized. Hasn't attacked anyone yet, as far as I know."

The other guard laughed, and Silena recognized him as Wilfred, who was older and more cynical. "You hope he doesn't attack anyone, you mean. I know how you feel about dragons."

"Any sane person feels that way about dragons," said Thomas, enunciating clearly. "Only an idiot would go out and try to fight a dragon if he didn't have to."

"Well, that makes it easy," said Wilfred. "If the dragon causes any trouble, then we can send David out after it."

"Biggest idiot we've got," laughed Thomas. "He's going to lose his position if he doesn't stop mooning around after that Silena and get back to work. Never saw the like. Or heard the like, for that matter. That singing of his kept me awake four nights running."

"Singing? That's what that was?" Wilfred guffawed.

Their conversation gave Silena the first hint of an idea. She strolled out onto the parapet. "Hello, Thomas, Wilfred. How are the defenses?" she asked.

"Fine as always," said Wilfred. He straightened up, brushing off a speck of dust on his uniform.

"I happened to overhear part of your conversation. Is there a dragon somewhere around here?"

"Now, don't go worrying yourself, Silena," said Wilfred, patting her on the shoulder. "It's been spotted, sure, but it doesn't look like it wants to make trouble. No burnings of houses or fields, no attacks on people."

"Live and let live, I always say with dragons," said Thomas, clearing his throat. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "They don't bother me, I don't bother them."

"Oh, I'm not worried," said Silena. Her heart pounded with excitement. Could she finally be getting lucky? "Is it a winged dragon?"

Thomas nodded, swallowing quickly. "Bigger than three horses, they say. And wings the size of a barn. Peters, down by the dell, says he saw it flying over his farm the other night. Can't always believe Peters. Sometimes he exaggerates, but other people say the dragon's one of the bigger ones."

"By Peters' farm?" asked Silena with careful nonchalance. "I suppose it would be denning somewhere around there. In the foothills, maybe?"

"There are a few caves around there which would be the right size," said Wilfred. "Nobody's gone looking, you understand."

"Of course not," said Silena. She hugged herself with pleasure. "I suppose there's nothing to be afraid of, not with you guards keeping watch."

"No, nothing at all," Thomas began. A loud thump interrupted their conversation. "Oh, hello, David," said Thomas, turning pale as he whirled around.

"What are you doing, talking to my Silena?" demanded David. He loomed in the doorway, punching his fist into his palm. "Are you annoying her?"

Thomas took a step backwards, close to the railing on the edge of the parapet. "No, no, not at all, we were just talking."

David pushed Silena behind him and strode up to face the two guards unimpeded. "Do you think the two of you could stand up to me?" He flexed his massive arm muscles at them.

"David, for heaven's sake, stop!" cried Silena, grabbing at the back of his tunic and trying to pull him away. She couldn't even get a good grip. The fabric pulled taut against his back. "I just asked them a question. They weren't trying to do anything! Don't fight with them, please!"

"They have no right to talk with you," growled David, taking a step closer to Thomas.

"Please, David, relax," said Wilfred, his voice rising in pitch a little from nervousness. "We're brothers in arms, remember?"

"Brothers don't try to steal their brother's ladies," snarled David.

"All right, that's it," snapped Silena. "David, I'm leaving. I'm not going to stay and watch you get into another fight." She turned and stalked off down the corridor.

The ploy worked, as it always did. She hadn't advanced five yards before he came running up to her. "Silena, my dearest one, wait for me!" he cried. He caught hold of her upper arm and nearly jerked it out of its socket. "Don't you know I couldn't allow you to wander the castle all by yourself? It's much too dangerous!"

"Ow! David, you're hurting me!"

He dropped her arm instantly, and threw himself to his knees in front of her. "Oh, most precious flower of the world, can you ever forgive me? How could I be such a churlish oaf as to hurt you, when all I want in life is to take care of you? Please, please, say you'll forgive me, someday. Say that I can make it up to you somehow."

Silena rubbed her upper arm, until feeling came back to it. "Oh, get up. Stop groveling like that! It drives me crazy!"

"Then we are even, my darling, because love for you has been driving me crazy since I laid eyes on you. I can no longer sleep or eat, or do anything but drink in the glory of your beauty."

And fight everybody who looks at me, Silena thought. "Come on, David, get up. You make me nervous when you do that."

"Your wish is my command." He lumbered to his feet.

If it only were, thought Silena. "What did the king have to say to you when you met with him?" she asked as they walked together down the hall.

David shrugged. "Nothing of importance. He just said that I'd been missing guard practices and that there had been complaints about my behavior towards some of the nobles in the palace. I paid him no mind. What is a guard practice against the delight of staring into your eyes, worshipping the ground you walk on?"

"Well, maybe you should go back to the guards. You know, catch up on what they're doing, sharpen your skills."

"And leave you alone? Never!" He raised his fist to the ceiling in defiance.

Silena sighed. That's what she'd been afraid of. Still, the thought of the dragon, somewhere out by Peters' farm, gave her a glimmer of hope.

That night, she heard David roaming the hall outside her bedchamber. Her plan depended on his falling asleep sometime during the night, but as the hours dragged on, she began to wonder if he really had given up on sleep since he took that potion. At last, she heard a loud thump, as of something large landing on the floor of the hall. She opened the door a tiny crack. Yes, David sat there, asleep, his back against the door.

Good, thought Silena. She hadn't intended to leave by the door anyway. She checked the bag she'd strapped across her back. It felt heavy, but secure. She carefully uncoiled the long rope she'd made out of her bedclothes and her yarns for the tapestry. She tied one end to the bed, and dropped the other end out the window. It didn't look sturdy, but she was willing to try anything to get away from David.

To her surprise and relief, the rope held, and she managed to drop herself to the courtyard below her window. Kilting her skirts up, she set off towards the dell.

She smelled the dragon before she found its lair. The air seemed sharper, with a hint of sulfur and a touch of creosote tickling her nostrils. Clearly, the only reason the guards hadn't found the dragon's den was because they weren't looking for it. Silena followed her nose to the caves, and then she could hear a rumble coming from one cave in particular.

"Who approaches?" asked a deep, cultured male voice when Silena had reached the entryway to the cave in question.

Startled by the sound of the voice, she stammered, "My name is, is, Silena. I'm from the palace yonder."

The voice groaned dramatically. "Oh, gods, not a princess. Don't tell me you're a princess, sent by the villagers to placate me."

"No, not a princess. And I came here to ask you a favor. May I come in?"

"I suppose."

Much less confident, Silena stepped gingerly into the cave. The dragon nearly filled the chamber, his purple skin glowing with some inner light. His wings, folded now against his back, probably would be as large as a barn when they were unfurled. To Silena's vast surprise, the dragon had an open book on the floor before him, and appeared to be studying the numbers written there. "A clumsy error," the dragon murmured to himself. "Anyone could see that the assumption in the first equation was based on the wrong data. I suppose it wouldn't be worth my while to write to the author again." The dragon, hearing her enter, looked up at her, his great golden eyes bright. "Well, at least you aren't sniveling. I cannot abide snivelers. Or screamers, for that matter. This has been a fairly comfortable abode. I do trust that you are not coming here to demand that I vacate it."

She swallowed. "No, not at all. I just -- you can fly, can't you?"

The dragon rolled his eyes. "Of course I can fly. I am a dragon. What is it you want here?"

"Could you -- would it be possible for you -- look, here's the thing. I need to get out of this kingdom, and fast, and I need to do it so that I won't be followed."

The dragon tilted his head, regarding her with genuine interest for the first time. "Are you a fugitive from justice, perhaps?"

"No, not from justice, though the witch might say that it's justice. I'm running away from a man who wants to marry me."

The dragon exhaled a puff of sulfurous smoke. "Such a clich�."

"No, no, it's not like that. See, I gave this man a love potion, and now he's crazy about me, and he's driving me mad because he never leaves me alone and he fights with everybody who talks to me, and I can't do anything because he's always there, and he makes up these awful poems and even worse songs, and if I have to stay here I'll never get rid of him!"

"I see." The dragon lifted his head, half-closing his eyes to think. "You humans have the drollest problems, I must say. Why did you think that I might assist you in avoiding the consequences of your folly?"

"I brought all the treasure I have. See?" She opened the bag at her side, showing the dragon the jewels and gold she'd collected there.

The dragon puffed again, laughing. "That paltry collection of junk? Really, you are so ignorant. Not all dragons are enticed by cheap trinkets, no matter what you may have heard of us. I, for one, find gold such a bore. First you have to acquire it, then you have to store it, and keep it polished so it won't tarnish, and then there are all the fools who feel the urge to steal it from you. No, thank you. Not my desire at all."

"How about if I throw myself on your mercy?" This interview wasn't going the way Silena had hoped at all.

The dragon laughed even harder. She couldn't see him through the smoke. "You expect me to find you charming and pitiful? Is that the idea?"

"Please! I'm desperate! I'll do anything if you'll only get me out of the kingdom, as fast as you can! David's asleep now, but I don't know how long he'll stay asleep, and I don't know if he comes in to check on me when I'm asleep, which he thinks I am. But as soon as he finds that I'm not there, he'll come looking for me, and I'm not that experienced at traveling without leaving a trail, and he's obsessed, so I just know he'll find me, and then I don't know -"

The dragon raised a foreleg, cutting through the smoke. "I do not make hasty decisions. I must think about this, mull it over for a period."

Silena clenched her fists. "But I need to go now! I can't go back to the palace!"

"I didn't say you would need to return to the palace. I would be churlish indeed if I failed to extend my hospitality to you while I ruminate over this request of yours. Your kind must sleep in the dark hours. I perceive that you are already somewhat overwrought. You should sleep. The corner over there should be reasonably comfortable, if you move the books aside."

Silena opened her mouth and then shut it again. She didn't want to upset the dragon, and perhaps cause him to decide against her. And she was feeling quite tired. She would need to get some sleep in any event. "Thank you so much," she said, picking her way around the piles of books to the corner the dragon had indicated.

It wasn't the most comfortable place she'd ever slept, but Silena was exhausted, and she didn't even notice the rocky floor beneath her after the first minute or so. She closed her eyes, and the world slipped away. She dreamed that she was perched on top of a high tower and David stood below, menacing everybody who tried to help her get down. Someone sneaked behind her on the tower, and pushed her in the side with the edge of a leather shield. A leather shield? That didn't quite make sense. She opened her eyes to see the dragon looming above her.

"There appears to be some commotion outside," said the dragon conversationally.

Silena, rubbing her eyes, listened for herself. "Sounds like dogs baying," she said. "But there shouldn't be dogs out here. The king doesn't hunt in these parts, and no one else would -"

"This David of yours," said the dragon, "is he a tall human, with golden hair, muscular physique? Does he wear a great deal of metal about him?"

"Oh, no! It couldn't be! He couldn't be looking for me!" Silena scrambled to the entry of the cave to look outside, her heart sinking.

David was being dragged along by three of the king's hounds, all of whom were straining on their leashes and baying as they ran in the direction of the cave. David waved his sword with one hand, and clutched the dogs' leashes with the other.

The dragon watched with interest. "He will lose those dogs presently, if he doesn't hold more tightly to their leashes. Does he actually believe that he can do anything with the sword swinging that way?"

"I don't know what he believes," Silena said, clutching the side of the cave entrance for balance. "He must have given them something of mine for the scent. Probably that scarf he's been fondling as a 'love token.'"

"Ill-advised," the dragon remarked, "to give him anything. He looks quite brainless. Was he like that before the potion, or is that an effect of the potion?"

"I don't know," said Silena.

At that moment, the lead dog yanked his leash out of David's hand and bolted across the field toward the cave. David tripped and dropped both the other leashes. The three dogs came barreling up the hill.

The dragon sighed. "Absurd creatures. I'd better send them on their way." He flowed out of the cave, as if he had no bones in his body. The dogs saw him then. All three stopped in their tracks. Instantly they changed their baying to yipping. They turned tail.

"Foul fiend!" cried David, lurching back to his feet and waving his sword. "Leave my beloved alone!"

"Oh, please," said the dragon, rising to his hind legs to regard David carefully. "I have no particular need for your beloved, or anyone else's. She came to see me voluntarily, and she is perfectly free to leave if she wishes. Now, you are trespassing on my domain, and you are annoying me. Take that toy sword of yours and go home before you get hurt."

"How dare you threaten me!" yelled David.

"No!" Silena cried, as David took the sword in both hands and rushed up to the dragon. The dragon, for his part, sat on his hind legs, watching David, and dodging to one side to avoid a swipe of the sword.

"I will rescue you, Silena, my prize of prizes!" David cried, slashing out at the dragon again.

"You're annoying me. I have warned you once," said the dragon. Curls of smoke wisped up from his nostrils.

"Don't imagine that you can stop me from rescuing the woman I love!" David lunged at the dragon and made contact with the dragon's wing.

"All right, that does it!" snapped the dragon, dropping to all fours and breathing fire at David. "I warned you, and I gave you hints, but you wouldn't listen, so now listen to this!"

Silena couldn't see what happened next, as the whole area was engulfed in black smoke. She heard screaming and then a clattering sound, and then something like crunching. That last was too ominous to ignore. She ran toward the scene of the fight, coughing and spluttering in the smoke that burned her eyes and throat.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she cried, although it sounded more like a croak.

The dragon waved its wings a few times, and the smoke began to clear. "I am so sorry," he said. "I do not ordinarily indulge in such juvenile behavior, but on occasion instinct overpowers reason."

Silena looked around. Pieces of David's armor were scattered here and there, and she saw his broken sword, but no other signs of him. She looked to the dragon, horrified. "You didn't!" she cried.

The dragon belched. It came out as an unusually sulfurous puff of smoke. "I'm afraid I did. As I said, instinct is quite powerful sometimes. He didn't even taste that good. I wonder if he was poisoned."

"No, not poisoned, potioned," Silena murmured, too stunned to think clearly. "I'm really sorry I put you in this position. I didn't realize that David would do this. It's okay, I won't tell anyone what you did, so the guards won't come hunting for you. I just --- why are you looking at me like that?"

The dragon insinuated his huge body between Silena and the path back to the palace. He opened his golden eyes wide, and his expression, which had been reasonably intelligent and cultured, seemed almost stupefied.

Oh, no, thought Silena. She suddenly remembered why the witch couldn't provide an antidote.

"It's the strangest thing," the dragon remarked in a dreamy voice, "but I don't think I've ever met a human as attractive as you are. I can't imagine why I didn't notice this last evening. Why, looking at you fills me with the strangest urge."

"To do what?" she asked, sidling in the direction of his hindquarters.

"To write poems," he said. He curled his tail around her, snugly but not tightly. "Love poems," he added unnecessarily. "Come. Let's return to my den. I'm sure you will be much more comfortable there."

"That's very kind, but I've changed my mind. I have to get back home now. If you don't mind -" She tried to take a step away from his tail. The grip tightened.

"Oh, no, I'm afraid I couldn't allow that," said the dragon, bringing his head nearer to her and staring moonily in her eyes. "I couldn't bear to be without you. Not when I love you so much."

I'm doomed, thought Silena. Just doomed.