The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (32 page)

Simon drank some wine and
savored its smoothness. Clara's vintner sure knew how to make wine,
he thought with relish. He put down his glass and felt his pleasure
drain away as the air elemental's expression became grave.

“
No, it's not,
Simon. That woman is evil and she's still out there. She commands
that hellish pack and it is hunting Changlings. And,” he added
with emphasis, “she's a wizard.”

“
Wait. What?”
Simon almost knocked his wineglass over. “Are you kidding me?”

“
A wizard,”
Aeris repeated firmly. “No other type of magic-user could have
seen through my cloak of invisibility or damaged me the way that she
did. Not even a mage can see the invisible. And a witch could not
have harmed me. She is a wizard, I'm certain of it.”

“
Holy crap,”
Simon muttered. He stood up and refilled his glass. Then he looked at
the elementals, nodded at his chair by the fireplace and crossed the
room to sit down in front of the fire. While his two small friends
followed him, he leaned forward and added a log to the low-burning
fire.

A cloud of embers burst in
the fireplace like tiny fireworks and Simon watched them vaguely as
Kronk hopped up on to the armrest on his right and Aeris hovered over
the one on his left.

The wizard sipped his wine and glanced
at Aeris. The air elemental was watching the fire as well. He looked
a bit dazed and Simon wondered if he was really back to his old self.

“So, any suggestions? What's our
course of action now? Aethos made me swear to stop this wizard, if
that's what she is, but I'm not exactly sure how I should do that.”

“I know. And I'm sorry that you
had to make that vow, Simon, I really am. I had no idea that he was
going to do that.” He continued to stare at the red-blue flames
but smiled crookedly. “I am simply not that important to my
people. Personally, I think he used my situation as an excuse to make
you chase down this woman.”

That hadn't occurred to Simon.

“Why?” he asked.

“Why? Because, as you know, an
elemental cannot enter this world unless it is summoned. Aethos
returned with me on his own because he told you that he would, but he
could not then go racing across the country to find the wizard. So
he's put that burden on you.”

Aeris finally looked at Simon.

“It's a rather cruel thing to do
to such a young magic-user as you still are, my dear wizard. But I
will say that I agree that this woman must be stopped. Somehow she
controls that mass of twisted Changlings. Remove her and they will
become leaderless and scatter to the four winds.”

“But still dangerous,”
Kronk pointed out.

“I know that, but welcome to this
New Earth,” Aeris said to him. “It is a dangerous place
and will become more so as time goes on. But it is not on Simon to
right all of the ills of the world. Others, like Clara and her
people, must bear some of that burden as well. So to answer your
question, my dear wizard, I have no idea. If we could track her
movements, then perhaps we could confront her when she was alone and
not surrounded by her monsters. But, no offense, I have no intention
of putting myself in that situation again.”

Simon had an idea.

“Aeris, you know more about magic
than I do, or Kronk does. Could the Magic Mirror spell be used to
track her down?”

The air elemental raised an eyebrow.

“Certainly, at least in theory.
But until you discover that spell and can cast it, it's just wishful
thinking.”

Simon and Kronk exchanged broad smiles
and Aeris looked at them, confused.

“Wait. Have you actually found
the Magic Mirror spell?”

Kronk jumped off of the chair and
tip-tapped across the room. He hurried up the stairs while Simon
relaxed and drank more wine. He was starting to feel a pleasant buzz
and contentedly enjoyed the warmth from the fire as Aeris stared at
him, perplexed.

“Where's he gone?” he
asked.

“Patience, my friend,”
Simon told him with a wide grin. “You've missed a few things
while you were convalescing.”

It only took a moment for Kronk to
return, hopping down the stairs with a book held over his head. He
came back to the chair, jumped up and handed the book to Simon.

“While you were gone, we
discovered this in my bookshelf. Don't ask me where it came from;
Clara thinks the gods of Light snuck it past their evil relatives
somehow. But whatever.”

He flipped through the pages while
Aeris watched intently over his shoulder. When he found the list of
spells, Simon moved the book over so that the elemental could see
better.

“Magic Mirror, Invisibility,
Featherfall. But this is wonderful, Simon! These spells are
incredibly useful.”

He tapped the list.

“Have you actually used any of
them?”

“Yep. I talked to Clara with the
Magic Mirror spell and we discovered that she could see me and Kronk
if she looked into a mirror at the same time.”

“Yes, that is one of its
properties,” Aeris said absently as he scanned the list of
spells. “But it can be used for so much more than that.”

“Like what?” Simon asked
eagerly.

“Well, for instance, if you use
that atlas of yours to find the longitude and latitude of a place,
you can actually see it in a mirror using the spell.”

“Yeah, I knew that,” the
wizard said and Aeris stared at him in surprise.

“You did?”

“Don't look like that. It's
something I remembered from back in my fantasy game playing days. And
I'm thrilled to know that that works. So what else can it do?”

Aeris smiled a bit evilly.

“It allows you to spy on others,
such as our dark wizard.”

“Seriously? That's amazing!”

Simon felt a thrill of excitement, but
then something occurred to him.

“Is it possible for a wizard to
sense that they are being watched that way?” he asked
cautiously. “She
did
see you even though you were invisible.”

The question
seemed to give Aeris pause.

“”
Hmm.
I hadn't considered that. I don't really know, to be honest. At a
guess, I would say that as long as you kept your distance, something
which I foolishly did not, you should go unnoticed.” He
shrugged. “I hope.”

Simon finished his wine and then looked
from one elemental to the other. He was smiling fondly at them and
Aeris watched him, puzzled.

“What is it? Wine finally kicking
in?” he asked sarcastically and the wizard burst out laughing.
The laughter was a mixture of relief and pleasure and he laughed all
the harder at Aeris' look of irritation.

When he finally settled down, Simon
wiped his eyes but he couldn't stop grinning.

“No, it's not the wine. I'm just
happy that we're back together again. I even missed your bad
attitude, you cantankerous elemental, you.”

Aeris stared at him, trying to look
offended, but he ended up chuckling. Kronk looked amused.

“Fine then. I've missed both of
you as well. You know how I feel about the plane of air. When I came
to and realized that I was back home, it was almost as painful as my
wounds.”

The elemental looked around the room
and heaved a heavy sigh of contentment.

“It
is
good to be home.”

The
next few days around the tower were some of the most pleasurable that
Simon had experienced for quite some time. When he looked back at
that time, it seemed like the calm before the storm that was to
follow.

Aeris
was more helpful with chores, which the wizard was sure would be
short-lived, and he was even friendlier than normal to Kronk, who
seemed confused by this change of attitude.

Simon
explained what had happened while the air elemental was away and
Aeris was particularly interested in the news that Bene-Dunn-Gal
could store spells for later use.

He
floated over to stare at the staff, keeping a respectful distance
from the weapon.

“
This
is more than just a staff, my dear wizard,” he said in a hushed
voice. “This is a legendary relic. I had heard of something
similar once, but assumed that it was just a story.”

“
I'm
going to add a few spells to it every day,” Simon told him.
“The problem is, it's just as exhausting to cast a spell and
store it in Bene-Dunn-Gal as it is to cast it in battle. So I can
only do a few at a time before I have to rest.”

He
added this last with some irritation and Aeris stared at him with a
scowl, hands on his hips as he bobbed up and down in mid-air.

“
Don't
over-exert yourself, Simon. You don't want to be dealt a setback,
especially after suffering through a severe illness like you just
have.”

“
It
was only the flu,” Simon protested. “And how did you even
know that?”

“
Kronk
told me, of course. So don't push yourself too far. We need you
strong and healthy if you have to face that evil wizard anytime
soon.”

Simon
snorted.

“
Great.
You're just back and Kronk is already telling tales about me.”

He
was washing some dishes and wiping down the kitchen counter as he
spoke and ended up muttering under his breath about conniving
elementals. Secretly though, he was amused that the two were chatting
and scheming behind his back to keep him healthy.

“
I'll
have to have a word with that earthen about spreading gossip,”
he added, just to see what Aeris would say.

“
Don't
bother,” the air elemental declared as he flew over to the
counter to watch Simon work. “He only told me because he cares,
so don't bully him.”

“
Ha!
That's your job. I know, I know.”

“
Exactly.”

The
two glared at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.
Obviously neither of us was fooling the other, Simon thought happily.

The
day after Aeris returned, Simon asked the elemental to join him as he
contacted Clara.

“
I
promised her that I'd get in touch as soon as you got back,” he
told Aeris as he sat at his desk in the study, mirror in hand. “She
was very concerned about you.”

“
She
was?”

The
elemental floated across the room and hovered by Simon's shoulder. He
looked a bit surprised.

“
It's
nice to know that she cares, I suppose,” he said dubiously.

Simon
gave him a little smile and cast Magic Mirror.

When
the mist cleared from the mirror's surface, both of them saw Clara
walking down one of the narrow roads in Nottinghill. She was just
waving at someone out of sight and obviously enjoying the warm spring
day.

“
Hi
Clara,” Simon said loudly.

The
cleric stopped abruptly and looked around.

“
Simon?
You surprised me. How are you?”

“
I'm
great, thanks. Guess who's back?”

He
nodded at Aeris and the elemental spoke up reluctantly.

“
Good
day, lady cleric,” he said formally.

Clara's
eyes widened in surprise.

“
Aeris?
My goodness. You're home! How wonderful. How are you feeling?”

“
I
am very well, lady.”

The
cleric grinned impishly.

“
Why
so stiff, my friend? We're at least on a first name basis, aren't
we?”

Simon
saw the elemental thaw noticeably at the cleric's warm tone.

“
Sorry,
Clara. You're right, of course. It was a horrible experience, but I'm
fine now, thank you.”

“
That's
better,” the cleric answered as she began to walk again. “Give
me a minute to get back to the hall. I want to see you for myself.”

Simon
and Aeris watched as Clara hurried through the town and into the main
hall. She greeted a few townspeople as she went but didn't stop to
talk.

A
few minutes later she was sitting in her quarters looking at them
through her own mirror.

“
And
there you are!” she exclaimed as she saw Aeris hovering by
Simon's shoulder. “You look as good as new.”

“
I
am. Believe me, I am. Thank you again. But this isn't just a social
call, is it, my dear wizard,” Aeris said pointedly to Simon.

“
No,
that's true. We wanted to tell you what happened to Aeris and what
the situation is now.”

Clara
narrowed her eyes and looked at them intently.

“
Go
ahead. I'm listening,” she told them seriously.

Simon
let Aeris tell his story while he sat back and watched the cleric's
reaction. She went from looking shocked and angry at the attack on
the elemental to pale and tense as he described the dark wizard.

When
Aeris was finished, Clara sighed and stared into space, tapping her
bottom lip reflectively.

“
Just
when you think things can't get any worse, they do,” she said,
sounding tired. “Now on top of a possible necromancer out there
somewhere, we have a rogue wizard who apparently works for the gods
of Chaos. And she commands those packs of mutant Changlings.
Wonderful.”