The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (10 page)

Simon could think of only
one way, but it seemed a bit stupid and he waited for Ethmira to
voice her own ideas.

Unfortunately the elf
remained silently puzzled and finally Simon cleared his throat to get
her attention.

“
You have an idea?”
she asked hopefully.

“
Well, yeah. I do.
But it might sound a little silly, to be honest.”

Ethmira made a reassuring
gesture.

“
Simon, at this
point, silly could be just what we need. Please don't think I was
judging you earlier when you tried to break the heart with that tool.
It was an honest attempt, after all. I didn't believe it would work,
true, but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth trying.”

The wizard had to smile.
Obviously the elf could read him better than he thought.

“
Okay then, here it
is. If we place one of the things at the base of the tower, and brace
it so that it doesn't move, couldn't we just drop the other one on
top of it from the roof? I mean, it might take a few tries to hit it,
but we certainly have the time.”

Ethmira stared at him for
a long moment and Simon could feel his face getting hot.

At last she smiled broadly
and shook her head.

“
Yeah,” he
said, looking away and feeling stupid. “I know it's a dumb idea
but...”

“
Simon, that's
brilliant!”

He stared at her in
surprise.

“
What?”

“
Brilliant. Why
didn't I think of that? It's so obvious.”

“
You would have. In
time,” he told her with a mischievous grin.

The elf laughed.

“
Perhaps.”

She glanced at one of the
frosted windows.

“
We have a few hours
of daylight left. Let's make the best of them, shall we?”

“
Sounds good. How do
you want to do this?”

She thought a moment.

“
I think we should
take both of the things to the roof. Then we can drop one off, see
where it lands and make that spot our target.”

Simon's eyes lit up.

“
Hey, good idea!”

He put on his coat and
gloves and picked up one heart while Ethmira wrapped up the second
one in the length of cloth she had.

Simon led the way to the
stairs and they climbed up toward the roof.

It took a few minutes to
force the trapdoor open again. It had frozen shut and was covered
with about a foot of snow.

But finally they stood in
the blowing wind, the air cutting through Simon's coat and making him
shudder.

“
Which side should
we use?” he asked the elf.

She turned toward the
west. The sun was descending toward the horizon, but darkness was
still a good two hours away.

“
The wind is coming
from that direction,” Ethmira said, “so let's use the
opposite side of the tower. That way the drop shouldn't be affected
by it.”

“
Sounds good,”
Simon replied and walked over to stand by the eastern edge of the
parapet. He looked over and down to the ground and could see the path
he'd worn in the snow where he walked around the building to the
stables each day.

“
Shall I?” he
asked her and nodded downward.

“
Go ahead. Just try
to let it fall naturally instead of throwing it. Probably the best
way to get a consistent result.”

“
Got it.”

Simon held the heart over
the edge of the parapet, its weight making his arms tremble with
effort. Then he held his breath and released it.

Both of them watched the
flashing crystal drop like a stone, spinning slightly as it fell. It
landed on the soft snow beside the path and disappeared from sight.
It didn't bounce.

“
Perfect, Simon,”
Ethmira said as she stared downward. “That is our spot. Here.”

She handed him the second
heart in its wrapping.

“
I'll go down and
clear away the snow from the one below. Then you can make your first
attempt.”

Simon looked at her
solemnly.

“
Let's hope it's our
first and last attempt.”

She laughed.

“
Doubtful, my
friend. But I don't mind running up and down stairs.”

She pulled open the
trapdoor, gave Simon a little wave and slipped inside, closing the
door after her.

The wizard waited
impatiently for Ethmira to get to the ground floor and around the
base of the tower. While he waited, he unwrapped the ovoid and tucked
the cloth into an inside coat pocket.

It took the elf a
remarkably short time to appear below and he watched as she brushed
away the snow from the heart.

It seemed to have impaled
itself into the frozen ground and Simon's guess was confirmed when he
saw his friend give the crystal a prod with the toe of her shoe. It
didn't move.

“
It's stuck into the
ground,” she yelled up at him. Simon nodded.

“
I noticed,”
he called back. “At least it won't move between attempts.”

“
Good point.”

Ethmira backed several
yards away from the heart and then waved up at Simon.

“
Any time you're
ready.”

“
Okay,” he
shouted. “Here goes.”

He stood in the same
footsteps he'd left when he dropped the first heart, and held the
second one out over the edge.

I think it was about here,
he thought, then with a quick wish for luck, he opened his hands and
dropped the crystal.

He leaned over the parapet
quickly and watched at the heart tumbled and flashed as it fell.

Maybe the gods of Justice
were watching, or perhaps fate decided to cut him a break for once,
but the heart smashed into its counterpart with an ear-shattering
crash.

Ethmira flung herself to
the ground and covered her head as shards of crystal flew in all
directions. At the point of impact, an intense pulse of light shot
outward, momentarily blinding Simon who had been watching closely.

“
Damn it!” he
said as he staggered back and closed his watering eyes. Spots danced
against his eyelids and he wiped away tears and blinked rapidly to
clear away the afterimages.

“
Simon! Are you all
right?” Ethmira shouted from down below.

He moved slowly back to
the parapet and squinted down at her, his vision still a bit blurry.

“
I'm okay. Are you?
Did any of those pieces hit you?”

She pushed a finger
through a hole in her leather jacket, next to her elbow.

“
One shot right
through. Didn't hit me though, luckily. Come down, would you? And
bring your shovel with you.”

Simon turned and walked to
the trapdoor. His vision was back to normal and he heaved the heavy
door open, slipped through and locked it behind him.

Why does she want a
shovel, he wondered as he hurried down the stairs.

He grabbed the implement
from where he'd left it beside the front door and then went outside
and around the tower to where Ethmira was waiting.

She grinned broadly at
him.

“
You did it, my
friend,” she said with satisfaction.

Simon shook his head.

“
We did it, you
mean. Without your help, it might have been spring before I found
that second heart.”

She waved away his
comment.

“
Either way, we've
destroyed the infernal things. I'm relieved to know that.”

She motioned for the
shovel and Simon handed it to her and watched curiously.

Ethmira used the tip of
the shovel to pushed through the snow and spoke to him as she
searched,

“
The fragments that
exploded at the moment of impact flew all over the place. You'll have
to gather them up eventually and bury them, or risk injuring yourself
or the horses some day in the future.”

“
Oh, I see. Good
point. I'll dig around over the next few days and find what I can.
Any I can't find will show themselves come spring.”

“
True enough,”
she agreed but kept poking and prodding the snow.

“
Um, so why are you
still looking for them?” Simon asked in confusion.

“
I'm actually
looking for one in particular, of a certain shape.”

She found several shards
and handed them to Simon with the shovel. He took each one and put it
in a coat pocket.

Finally, Ethmira gave a
little exclamation of satisfaction and examined a piece a little
larger than the others.

“
Yes, this will do
nicely.”

She extended the shovel
and offered him the shard, its sharp edges making it too dangerous
for her to pick up with her bare hands.

Simon took it and looked
at it closely.

It was a piece from the
more yellowish of the hearts. Veins of green swirled within it and
the violent shattering of the structure had snapped a hole through
the center, making it look like a lopsided crystal donut.

He looked at Ethmira and
raised an eyebrow silently.

She grinned at his
expression but quickly became serious.

“
Keep that piece on
your person at all times. If you can find a way to dull its sharp
edges, loop a piece of string or leather through it and wear it
around your neck. But whatever you do, don't leave your tower without
it.”

Simon had never heard the
elf state something so firmly.

“
Okay. Why?”

“
It's a directive I
received from the Elders. You have to wear it like a talisman, in
case the gods of Chaos decide to try to take your magic again. Don't
ask me how it works, because I have no idea. But a piece of a heart
that was imbued with your own magic will block another dragon from
using the same trick again.” She shrugged. “Or so they
say.”

“
Huh, that almost
makes sense,” Simon said as he stared at the fragment. Then he
slipped it into a pocket and accepted the shovel from Ethmira.

“
Now, how about some
more of your wonderful tea, my friend?” she asked. “I
think we've earned it.”

“
Absolutely! Come on
in and I'll make a pot.”

Back inside, Simon took
off his coat and gloves, changed into simple shoes and made some tea.

He and Ethmira then sat in
companionable silence and savored the warmth of the fire that the
wizard had built up.

After some time, Simon
glanced at the elf as she stared calmly into the flames.

“
You know, I don't
feel any different,” he said tentatively.

She looked at him
quizzically.

“
Different?”

“
Well, you know. My
powers. I don't feel any magic yet.”

He looked at one of the
unlit candles on the wall and tried to light it with his mind. As he
suspected, nothing happened.

Ethmira followed his eyes
and seemed to understand what he'd tried to do.

“
Be at ease, my
friend. It is not an immediate result, recovering your magic. Like a
vessel that has been drained of its liquid, your body needs time to
fill with energy again. If you remember when you lost your magic, it
took some time for it to fade away, did it not?”

Simon nodded, remembering
that his Magic Mouth spell fizzled out and that it took a while
before he lost Kronk and Aeris. He felt a twinge of loss at the
memory.

“
So, how long will
it take to get it back?”

“
I have no idea,”
Ethmira told him. Then she smiled gently, reached out and patted his
hand.

“
Try to be patient,
Simon. And have no fear. Your powers will return, slowly certainly,
but they will.”

Then the elf stood up and
laughed lightly.

“
Speaking of
returning, I must get back to my own realm. It will be dark soon and
I would like to get back before then.”

Simon scrambled to his
feet as Ethmira walked toward the door.

“
Are you sure?”
he asked her, suddenly reluctant to be alone for another long winter
night.

“
I'm afraid so,”
she said with some regret. “I'd like to stay and talk for a
while, but my people worry and the Elders will want a full report on
our success.”

She stopped by the door
and then turned and took Simon's hand in both of hers.

“
And we have been
successful here, Simon. Don't forget that. We stopped the gods of
Chaos and Darkness in their tracks. They tried to take away a weapon,
you, from the battle for this world, and failed.” She smiled
grimly. “And gave them even more of a reason to hate the elves
than they already had. I find that quite satisfying.”

Simon had to chuckle at
her tone.

“
I don't know that
I'd find that reassuring, but thanks. I'll try to be patient. Not
that I have a choice.”