The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (23 page)

When Simon gave him a
quizzical look, the little guy smiled.

“
A common saying
from the olden days, master. Well, common among elementals, at
least.”

“
Err, okay. If you
say so.”

Simon slapped the dust off
of his robe while he waited and shook his hair vigorously, sending a
cloud of dirt cascading to the floor.

“
Yuck. That's a lot
of crap.” He said as he slapped the dirt from his hands. “Next
time I go out, I think I'll bring a handkerchief.”

His eyes watered and he
sneezed violently; twice.

“
Maybe two,”
he added with a loud sniff.

“
You can come in
now,” Aeris called out. “The dust has settled, mostly.”

Simon peered through the
doorway. The air was a bit hazy but the boxes were all spread out and
the dust was gone.

“
Thanks Aeris,”
the wizard said as he walked back in. “How many boxes do we
have?”

“
Seventeen,
exactly,” the air elemental replied with a pleased expression.
“Where shall we start?”

“
Why don't each of
us just pick one and open it? Keep going and see if we can find
anything useful. I want to get on with transporting the couch and
chair back home and that's going to take two trips as it is.”

“
Sounds good,”
Aeris told him. “Let's do this.”

Simon picked a box at
random and examined it. He'd been afraid that he'd need a pry bar of
some sort, but the lids were kept shut with small nails that gave way
easily when he pulled up on the top of the box.

The wood squealed as he
slipped his fingers under the top and yanked upward. When it came
loose, he set it aside and looked inside.

“
Greedy bastard,”
he muttered as his light made the contents of the box glow and
sparkle.

“
What is in it,
master?”

“
Gold, Kronk,”
Simon said, disappointed. “Dozens of little golden statues,
gold plates, icons. Looks like the guy raided a church or two. What
possible use would I have for gold?”

He turned away at this
display of avarice and chose another crate.

“
What is this?”
Aeris asked them as Simon began to open his box.

He stopped and stepped
over to look at what the elemental had discovered.

“
Plastic wrapping,”
he said as he picked up a square package. There were stacks of them
inside.

“
Can we use whatever
is inside?” Aeris asked hopefully.

Simon sighed and shook his
head. He dropped the package back into the box.

“
Money. Whatever
paper money they used to use here in Russia. Less than worthless.”

“
Master? This might
be something.”

The wizard was already
beginning to feel dispirited. Obviously the oligarch who had owned
this shelter had had his priorities set on saving his fortune when
he'd packed these boxes. A fortune that meant nothing on the New
Earth. Idiot.

He glanced inside of
Kronk's crate and his mouth dropped open. Now this was more like it!

There were stacks of large
cans inside the box. He picked one up and smiled broadly.

“
What is it,
master?” the little guy asked.

“
The mother lode, my
friend. It's the mother lode.”

He shook the can and heard
a loose rasping sound coming from the contents inside. Simon was
surprised to feel his eyes getting wet.

“
Coffee. Ground
coffee.” He couldn't read the writing on the can but the
picture of a dark steaming cup of liquid was the universal symbol for
coffee.

“
I wish it was
instant, but beggars can't be choosers. Good find,” he said to
Kronk with a broad smile.

The three of them
continued to open boxes with more enthusiasm and, by the time they
were done, had found several more treasures.

One crate was filled with
bottles of vodka. Good stuff, Simon assumed, figuring that the
oligarch would only pack the best. He wasn't much of a drinker but
the liquor might be valuable for trading some time in the future.

There was a crate full of
cigars and cans of tobacco. It was all sealed tightly and Simon
thought that it too might be useful for trade one day. He had never
smoked but didn't have a hatred for the habit. He simply didn't care
about it one way or the other.

A crate of jewelry yielded
some beautiful pieces that caught his interest. Necklaces, earrings,
bracelets, all of the jewelry was incredibly detailed and exquisite.

“
Trade goods?”
Aeris said as he peeked over Simon's shoulder.

“
Trade goods,”
the wizard agreed.

The last box was the
greatest surprise, and the greatest treasure. Kronk pried it open and
the three of them looked inside.

“
Oh my God,”
Simon said. “Who the hell was this guy?”

It was something out of a
wizard's fable. The last box contained books written in the ancient
language of magic. There was a magnificent crystal ball, tablets
engraved with glyphs that made the hair stand up on Simon's neck just
to look at them. Several amulets that made his fingers tingle with
power when he picked them up. And...a wand.

“
What the hell?”
Simon whispered as he picked it up.

Only a foot and a half in
length, the narrow black wand was covered in tiny writing in an
unknown language. It was cold against his skin and made his heart
race just to touch it. And at the tip was a jagged piece of blue
metal, shaped like a claw.

“
Was the owner of
this place a mage?” Aeris wondered aloud as they examined the
box's contents.

“
Not possible,”
Simon told him. “Until the dragons returned, there were no
spell-casters: well, no real ones anyway.”

He picked up the crystal
ball. It was the size of his head and set in a base of silver inset
with red stones, perhaps rubies.

“
This would be so
much nicer to use than a mirror when I'm talking to people,” he
said as he stroked its smooth surface.

“
I don't like it,”
Aeris said flatly.

Simon looked at him.

“
You don't like the
crystal ball?”

The air elemental shook
his head impatiently.

“
I don't like any of
it. Look, everything inside that crate is something that would appeal
to you, a wizard, specifically. What are the odds of that happening?”

He looked darkly from one
object to the next.

“
I think you should
leave all of this stuff right where it is. It could be cursed or
imbued with dark magic.”

Simon snorted.

“
Oh come on, Aeris.”
He bounced the heavy crystal ball in his hand. “It's just a
shiny piece of crystal, that's all. What harm could it do?”

The air elemental threw up
his hands and looked down at Kronk.

“
You tell him. He
isn't listening to me.”

“
Tell me what?”

The earthen looked at
Simon intently.

“
Master, Aeris could
be right. There were many cases of hexes and curses cast between
magic-users back in the old days. Assassinations were carried out by
giving someone an innocent bauble with a dark curse on it. All
casters were wary of unexpected gifts. I would err on the side of
caution here.”

Simon put the ball back
into the box and stood up, dusting off his robe. He looked around the
room.

“
But how would
anyone even know that I was coming here? Or that I would open these
boxes if I did? I think it's a stretch, guys.”

Aeris flew up to eye
level.

“
It may not be a
trap set specifically for you, my dear wizard. Perhaps it was created
to catch the first person with magical talent who opened the box and
used these things.”

“
Yeah but, who would
do this?”

“
Who are your
greatest enemies, master?” Kronk asked.

“
You mean besides
the dragons? The gods of Chaos, of course.”

Aeris nodded once.

“
Exactly. It
wouldn't be the first time that they've tried to do away with you, or
any other magic-user. Remember Heather? She was subverted by the dark
gods and Changed from a witch to an evil wizard. Perhaps she came
across a cache like this?”

Simon stretched. His back
was aching and he was getting tired. He rubbed his face and sighed
with frustration.

“
Okay, if this stuff
is cursed, or whatever, is there any way to know for sure?”

“
Yes, master,”
Kronk said brightly. “It needs to be examined by a cleric, a
representative of the Light. They can sense dark magic by sight and
touch, even more than a wizard can.”

“
Hmm, a cleric.”

Opheilla came to mind but
a trip back to the dwarven capital was not practical any time soon.

Clara's face floated up
into Simon's consciousness and her loss hit him yet again.

“
The only human
cleric I knew was taken from us,” he said sadly. “So
that's out.”

“
There is a cleric
at Nottinghill Castle,” Aeris told him. “The one who
moved there from Australia, remember?”

“
Yeah well, I don't
know her. Okay guys, let's wrap this up. We'll leave the magical
stuff here. I know where it is if I want it in the future, so let's
just take the rest for now.”

Kronk had pushed the four
boxes that held the useful items together and Simon walked over and
sat down on one. He made sure that all of the boxes were touching
each other.

“
Would you two head
back into the main room, please? I'm going to Gate directly to our
storerooms with this stuff. We'll sort it out later. Then I'll come
back and grab the furniture.”

“
Certainly, master.
We will meet you in there.”

“
Cool.”

Simon pictured his
storeroom where he kept his boxes of clothes and other dry goods. He
smiled at the elementals.

“
Gate,” he
said firmly and the void claimed him.

When he appeared in the
basement of the tower, Simon found that his light globe had Gated
with him and he chuckled. That hadn't happened before that he
remembered. He pushed the boxes over against the nearest wall,
pictured the main room in the shelter and cast Gate again.

The elementals were
waiting for him.

“
Which one do you
want to take first?” Aeris asked looking from the couch to the
armchair.

“
Might as well start
with the couch. You guys hop on and come along. I'll come back by
myself for the chair and you can move the couch over to the spot that
the old one used to sit.”

“
We will do that,
master.”

“
Good. Let's go.”

Simon waited until both of
his friends were standing on the couch, put one hand on the back of
it and Gated home again.

Once they were back, Kronk
hopped off of the couch and Aeris rose up to hover above it.

“
Over there?”
he asked, pointing across the room at the rough wooden bench that the
earthen had made for him.

“
Yep, near the wall.
Come on, you remember where the old one used to be, don't you?”

“
I don't use
furniture,” Aeris replied carelessly.

“
I remember,
master,” Kronk told him assuredly. “You can go back for
the chair and we will move the couch. I can use the wood from the
bench as fuel, so there will be no waste.”

“
Good for you,”
Simon said with a wink at the little guy. “Be back in a couple
of minutes.”

Being careful to picture
his target precisely, he returned to the underground room, his globe
of light bobbing along over his head. The wizard was starting to feel
tired and sat down on the chair for a minute, waiting for his legs to
stop shaking.

He stared around the room,
trying to picture the man who had had this refuge built. What had he
been like? Liliana believed that the bunker had been dug out as a
shelter against a possible nuclear attack.

I guess an assault by
dragons never occurred to him, Simon thought with dark humor. But
then, it had never occurred to anyone else either. Well, except for
his best friend, Daniel.

He sat back and closed his
eyes.

Daniel. I wonder how he
is? His friend was trapped in the elven realm, stuck there because
returning to Earth would kill him instantly by rapidly aging him.
Time in that world moved at a different pace than it did on Earth.

Of course, the seven
months that he'd been out of commission may have only been a week or
two in the elven realm. He'd have to call Daniel in the next few
days.

Simon sat up with a snort
and looked around in confusion.