The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (28 page)

He smiled a
bit wistfully.

“
It
was something of a bother to their parents, as I recall.”

Simon
laughed, delighted.

“
Yeah,
I can see how it could be. So all of these spells,” he paused
and counted the list, “all twenty of these spells may be the
real thing? Amazing.”

“
We
won't really know until Aeris returns, master,” the little guy
said.

“
Good
point. It's a bit early to call him, but I've been worried that he
might get himself into trouble out there. I might as well go ahead
and contact him now.”

Simon picked
up the book and headed for the door. He preferred being outside as
much as possible now that the weather was more comfortable.

The wizard
opened the door, walked out and sat on the front steps. He easily
recalled the Magic Mouth spell, chanted it steadily and invoked the
spell.

“
Aeris?
Are you there?”

There was a
long silence. Simon felt a twinge of concern but cleared his throat
and spoke again.

“
Hey
Aeris! Are you ignoring me now?” he said in a joking manner.

No answer.

“
Damn
it, Aeris. Talk to me! What's happening?”

A tapping
sound from behind him announced Kronk's arrival.

“
Is
something wrong, master?”

Simon looked
at the little guy standing next to his right knee.

“
He's
not answering. Either the spell's failed or there's a problem.”

“
Or
he can't answer at the moment. If he's in a dangerous situation, he
wouldn't answer, would he?” Kronk stated practically.

“
Hmm,
good point.”

Simon stood
up abruptly.

“
It
doesn't matter though. I want him back here now. If he's mad about
being recalled too soon, well, that's tough.”

He canceled
the Magic Mouth spell, walked down the steps and stared at a spot on
the grass a few feet away.

“
Aeris,”
he said in a commanding voice, “I need you!”

There was a
momentary pause and then a blast of wind, accompanied by a loud
crack, slammed into Simon and he staggered back, almost tripping on
the steps behind him.

“
What
the...?” he exclaimed.

The spot
where he had pictured Aeris appearing was suddenly stripped bare of
grass. Dirt flew up in all directions.

What
followed was an eerie silence and then Simon heard an almost
inaudible groan. He dropped his book and rushed forward with Kronk on
his heels and found Aeris lying sprawled on the ground.

He had never
seen the elemental actually lying down before. The small figure
looked flattened, as if he'd been crushed by something large and
heavy and, when Simon fell to his knees and tried to touch him, his
fingers went right though the transparent little body and touched the
smoking ground underneath.

“
Aeris?
Can you hear me?” Simon asked frantically.

There was
another painful groan, but the elemental didn't move or speak.

Simon looked
desperately at Kronk.

“
What
can we do?” he blurted out.

The earthen
stood next to Aeris and extended his hand, Like the wizard, Kronk
couldn't touch his fellow elemental. He stared up at Simon.

“
He
is gravely injured, master. There is nothing that we can do to help
him. He needs another airy one to lend him aid. One more powerful
than himself.”

“
Another
air elemental?”

Kronk nodded rapidly.

“Fine, I can do that,”
Simon said and jumped to his feet. He opened his mouth and was
interrupted by his little friend.

“Wait, master! If you are about
to do what I think you are, remember; we small ones are not
considered important to our larger brethren. Summoning help may not
do any good.”

Simon glared at Kronk.

“I don't care what his elders
think. If they won't help willingly, then I'll have to do something
that I'll probably regret.”

“Master?”

“I'll
order
them to help
him, something I've never wanted to do.” He looked despairingly
at the crumpled figure of Aeris. “But for him, I will.”

The wizard threw back his head.

“Aethos, I summon you! Come to me
now,” he shouted.

A distant rumble of thunder echoed
across the field in front of the tower. A wind gust blew Simon's hair
into his eyes and he shoved it aside, wiping them with his sleeve in
an abrupt gesture.

“I hope you have a good reason
for summoning me, wizard. I have told you that I am not to be taken
lightly, have I not?”

The voice, like a distant gale given
speech, came from all around them.

Simon looked this way and that, trying
to find its source.

“Yes, I have a good reason,”
he cried out. He pointed at the broken body of Aeris. “My
friend, one of your own people, has been injured. He needs help and I
can't give it to him. Can you?”

A flash of dirty gray light announced
the arrival of a cloudy, man-shaped figure, muscular and larger than
the wizard. It was hovering just above Aeris' body.

Whatever fears that Simon had had about
asking for aid from the powerful elemental were quickly assuaged as
Aethos made a gesture and Aeris rose from the ground, looking like a
deflated balloon and flopping in the disturbed air around the large
humanoid figure.

“Who has done this?” Aethos
thundered. “How dare they attack one of mine!”

His eyes blazed as he carried Aeris
toward Simon, his expression demanding answers.

“We don't know, Aethos,”
the wizard told him hurriedly. “When he didn't answer my call,
I summoned him home and he appeared...like this.”

The air elemental stared keenly at
Simon and then nodded.

“Very well. I shall get my
information after this little one is healed.”

He nodded once more and then vanished
with a loud crack of imploding air.

“Hey, wait a...” Simon
started to say, but the two elementals were gone. He stared at the
naked earth where Aeris had been lying and then sighed, his shoulders
slumping.

“Rest easy, master,” Kronk
said reassuringly. “Aeris will be all right. In his own realm,
he will receive the proper care, I'm sure.”

Simon moved to the steps, picking up
the book he had dropped, and sat down heavily. His little friend
walked over quickly and stood next to him.

“Thanks, bud. I know he will.
It's just, well, that all happened so quickly. I'm in a bit of
shock.”

Kronk patted him gently on the arm.

“I know, master. I am pleased
that Aethos was so eager to help Aeris. I'm not sure that one of my
elders would be as quick to aid me.”

Simon looked at him with raised
eyebrows.

“Other earth elementals wouldn't
help you?”

The little shoulders moved once in a
small shrug.

“I doubt it, master. They never
have before. I was wrong to believe that Aeris' people would treat
him the same way. And I am happy to be wrong in this case. He's lucky
to have them,” he added with a touch of sadness.

The wizard found it hard
to get anything done while worrying about Aeris. But going through
the new spells he had discovered kept him a little distracted. Two
new spells excited him the most: Magic Mirror and the Invisibility
spell that he hadn't believed was real.

“
Why does Magic
Mirror interest you so much, master?” Kronk asked him as he
stood on the desk in the wizard's study.

Simon sat with his chin
resting on his hands as he read through what he had begun to think of
as his new spell-book.

“
A couple of
reasons, I guess,” he told the little guy. “According to
the description, the spell lets me talk to people at a distance, just
like Magic Mouth. But I'll be able to see them at the same time. I
find that it's a bit frustrating to be speaking to thin air when
you're holding a conversation. So that's one thing. But apparently, I
will be able to see places that I've never been before. That holds
some interesting implications.”

Kronk read through the
page that Simon was staring at.

“
Really, master? I
didn't know that the spell could do that. How does it work?”

The wizard got up, went to
his bookshelf and found his atlas. He returned and sat down again.

“
Supposedly, you can
use a map, like the ones in here, to find coordinates. You know,
longitude and latitude. Once you have them, the spell will do the
rest, zooming in on that location.” He tapped the book with a
doubtful smile. “Maybe.”

“
And you want to try
the spell,” Kronk said wisely as he watched Simon's face.

“
Well...yeah. Of
course. Why wouldn't I?”

The elemental was looking
at him closely.

“
I'm sure I don't
have to remind you about not overexerting yourself, do I, master?”

“
Kronk, that ship
has sailed,” Simon replied impatiently. “This spell is no
more taxing than Magic Mouth. Besides, I'm much stronger, magically
speaking, than I have been for months.”

His little friend
hesitated before answering and then slumped a bit, accepting Simon's
statement.

“
True enough,
master. So what do you need for the spell?”

“
A reflective
surface.”

Simon looked around the
study, but the only thing reflective was the window.

“
Hmm. I don't want
to have to use the full-length mirror in my bedroom all the time.
Don't I have a hand mirror somewhere around the place?”

Kronk's face lit up.

“
You do, master!
Down in the storage area, among your clothes and things, there's a
lovely hand mirror. I noticed it ages ago when tidying up. It has a
black frame and a silver handle.”

“
It does?”

Simon tried to remember
where and when he'd picked up such a thing. Certainly he'd never
liked looking at his own reflection back in the old days. He had been
far from attractive. And now that he was, in an awkward, skinny
teenaged way, he couldn't be bothered.

And then a memory popped
into his head; a very old one.

“
Ah yes. That's
where I got it,” he said, his eyes dimming a little.

“
Master? Why does
this make you sad?”

“
Sad? No, not sad,
my friend. Well, maybe a little. It was my mother's mirror. We've
never really talked about her, have we?”

“
No, master. We have
not. Were you very close to her?”

Simon settled into his
chair and stared off into space.

“
I was, actually.
Maybe being an only child was part of that. But she was beautiful.
Truly beautiful. I know everyone thinks their mother is like that,
but mine really was. Dad told me once that he had to compete with
several other men to get her attention.” Simon chuckled at the
memory. “He always sounded a bit surprised that he had come out
on top. Anyway, I remember that mirror on her night table. She liked
to apply her makeup using it, rather than a big one. She's hold it
with her left hand and touch up her eyebrows and put on her lipstick.
I loved watching her do that. She was so graceful.”

“
Were they taken in
the Night of Flames, master?” Kronk asked gently.

Simon snapped back to the
present and looked at the stony little face.

“
Oh no. My father
died of cancer many years ago. Mom was gone long before him,
unfortunately. She died when I was just ten. Aneurysm, they said.”
He smiled a bit wistfully. “So she'll always be young and
beautiful in my memories. Perhaps it's best that way.”

“
Well then, I think
that she would approve of you using her mirror, master,” Kronk
said firmly and hurried across the desk. He hopped on to the floor
and made for the exit.

“
I will find it and
return, master. It will only take a few minutes.”

“
Thanks, Kronk,”
Simon called after him as he heard the little guy bounding down the
stairs.

He stood up and went to
stand at the open window. The trees in the surrounding forest were
filling out. Leaves were unfurling like bright little green flags
and birdsong once again filled the air as the birds frantically built
their nests.

Simon closed his eyes and
just breathed for a minute, savoring the smells of spring. Then he
leaned forward and rested his forearms on the windowsill.

“
Mom. Dad. Sorry
that it's been so long since I thought of you,” he muttered as
he watched the waving leaves. “Things have been really crazy
lately, but that's no excuse. I wish you could have lived to see all
of this. Who knows? Maybe you both would have been remade like me.
Young. Healthy. The whole new world ahead of you.”

He heard Kronk tapping up
the stairs and stood up abruptly, wiping his eyes hurriedly.

“
I'll try not to
screw up too bad,” he promised them and then went back to sit
at his desk.

Kronk skittered into the
room, a hand mirror over his shoulder. He moved around the desk and
handed it up to Simon, obviously not willing to jump to the desktop
for fear that the mirror would break.

Simon took the mirror
gratefully and the little guy jumped up to stand next to the wizard's
shoulder; his usual spot.