The Lazy Dragon and Bumblespells Wizard by Kath Boyd Marsh

my fire?”
    Something in his voice sounded a lot like how she felt about her spells when they went wrong. He was worried his flaming had gone wrong. Maybe they had something in common. “Was that your first flaming?” she asked.
    Cl’rnce shrugged. “Maybe I was only trying to make him smoky.” He flicked another glance at the thrashing knight. “Maybe that’s all I need to stop him. Smoke.”
    Not wanting to say anything that made him feel bad that his flame had gone out so easily, Moire Ain shook her head, letting more ashes fly. Her hair seemed to want to stick to her face. She pulled everything into a stubby ponytail and stood holding it behind her head. “I need something to hold my hair up. Do you have a ribbon?”
    Cl’rnce choked. “Pardon? We just got through escaping death, and you think I carry around
accoutrement
for hair?”
    She smiled. “I guess not.” Letting her fistful of hairdrop, she peered down her filthy robe and stuck out an ash-smothered foot. “I guess I should have left the shield up a little longer. Like until the wind blew this cloud away. Maybe that’s a flaw to my shield spell. It didn’t last long enough.” She went on, “Or maybe it was that extra I put on the spell. It sounded pretty impressive, but ….”
    â€œOkay. What extra did you say? Do to my fire?” Cl’rnce sounded more irritated than anything. He didn’t sound like he cared about her spell but only wanted to know what went wrong with his flame.
    â€œFog of war, shield me now.” Moire Ain lifted her chin. She was sorry he felt bad, but she’d done something she hadn’t been so sure she could do. She wanted him to be proud of her. “Pretty fancy, huh?”
    Cl’rnce finally looked her in the face. It took a full minute before his mouth curled up in a smile. “You bumbled it.”
    Moire Ain felt like she’d been slapped.
    He reached out and touched her lightly. “Wait. That’s a technical term in magick. It means ….” His muzzle screwed up like he was trying hard to think of some way to get out of insulting her. “It means … you fancied it up. Yeah, it’s Dr’gon for fancied-up spell.” His eyes pled with her to be happy again.
    Moire Ain had had enough of unhappy. If he cared how she felt, that was good enough. “I think I like that.I’m a Bumblespells wizard! Fancy.” Her smile slipped into place as she slapped again at the dirt on her robe. “I need a bath.”
    Cl’rnce chuckled and said, “You’re not the only dirty one.” Using a back talon, he shoved Nasty Sir George, which made the snarky knight curse even louder. “I think your fog addition maybe put out my fire. That’s very interesting. You’re sure you didn’t see Nasty Sir George counteract my flames?”
    Moire Ain covered her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh at the knight. She tried to keep her voice serious like she was being very logical and not critical of a knight who was flailing harder as he spun on his back turtle-like in his overturned shell.
    â€œI don’t think he does magick.” She tucked her hair behind her ears, but being curly the hair sprang forward again. Moire Ain sighed. “As for your flame, he looked like he was covered in it, but you know he wasn’t burning. I think your blast went right over and all around Sir George and his horse, then bounced off my shield. That’s when it got interesting.”
    She waved her hands to demonstrate. “When the bounced-back fire hit Sir George, I’m pretty sure his horse bucked Sir George into the air toward me. Then there was this loud bang. For a second it looked like Sir George was really on fire, but then the fire floated around like a cloud, sort of licked at Sir George, thendrew into itself until it was a tiny little speck. Next I heard a second burp, and ashes