The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (29 page)

“
Yup, that's it, all
right,” Simon said as he examined the silver and black housing.
“You know, I thought it was plastic but it isn't, is it?”

“
Oh no, master,”
Kronk said. He reached out and touched the handle. “It is
ceramic, I believe, inlaid with silver. Quite beautiful, isn't it?

“
It is indeed, my
friend.”

Simon turned the mirror
over and looked at the back. A vine, covered in tiny flowers, all
made of fine silver, wound around the surface and down the handle.

“
I'd forgotten how
much detail it has. Amazing.”

“
Where did your
mother get it, master?” Kronk asked.

“
It was a family
heirloom. She got it from her grandmother, she told me. So that makes
it over a hundred years old. Possibly much older than that.”

“
Really?”
Kronk's voice was hushed and he stared at the mirror with wide eyes.
“I have not seen a human artifact that old since you called me
back to this world, master.”

“
Yes, well, I'd
better not drop it then, right?” Simon asked him with a
lop-sided grin. He set the mirror down carefully, with the reflective
side up.

“
Indeed not, master.
Be very careful with it.”

Simon tried not to roll
his eyes at his little friend's obvious statement as he picked up the
spell-book again.

“
Okay, time to give
this spell a test drive. Let's see now.”

He memorized the spell
easily and then picked up the mirror.

“
Don't you need to
use a map, master?” Kronk asked as he pointed to the atlas.

“
Not this time. I
want to talk to Clara and warn her about what Aeris found on his
scouting trip.” His voice became grim. “And tell her what
happened to him. Something that can harm an air elemental is
definitely powerful. She should be told.”

“
Of course, master,”
the earthen agreed heartily. “It is just too bad that you have
to warn them of yet another danger while they are still recovering
from that last attack.”

“
Yeah, I know, bud.
I know.”

Simon locked the cleric's
face firmly in his mind as he stared at the mirror and cast the
spell. As he uttered the word of command, the surface of the mirror
misted over, as if he'd suddenly breathed on it.

He watched, fascinated, as
the mist faded away slowly and he saw Clara sitting in her quarters
on a couch, reading. Before he said anything, it occurred to him that
this Magic Mirror spell had to be used carefully. What if he had
caught her bathing or getting dressed?

A voyeur's dream, he
thought as he felt his face going red.

“
Hello Clara,”
he said and watched as her head snapped up and she looked around in
surprise.

“
Relax. It's Simon.”

A smile broke out on her
face and she seemed to be looking out of the mirror into his eyes.

“
Simon! Hello there.
How nice to hear from you.”

“
Thanks. I'm using a
new spell to contact you,” he said. He explained the Magic
Mirror spell and about finding the mysterious spell-book on his
bookshelf. She was nodding before he finished.

“
I believe that
Kronk is correct. That sounds very much like something the gods of
Justice would do. As you know, they are limited in how much they can
help us in our fight against the darkness and must resort to trickery
on occasion. The visitations I receive in my dreams are like that.”

She smiled a bit and Simon
was almost convinced that she could see him.

“
I suppose it's
lucky that I was dressed when you called, isn't it?” she asked
archly and Simon knew he was blushing again. Kronk chuckled quietly.

“
Um, yeah. I
actually only thought of that once I reached you. Sorry. Maybe we can
arrange a time of day when you'd be available and, um, decent?”

Her smiled broadened.

“
I'm always
'decent', young wizard. But I'm not always dressed.”

“
Tell her about
Aeris, master,” Kronk urged him.

Simon was about to ask him
to be patient when he saw Clara's eyes widen.

“
Is that Kronk? I
heard him! How can I hear him?”

“
Really? That's
remarkable,” Simon replied. The Magic Mouth spell only allowed
the people using it to hear each other.

The wizard suddenly had an
idea.

“
Clara, do you have
a mirror?”

“
A mirror? Well,
yes. I have a small one on my night table. Why?”

“
Just a hunch. If
you can hear other people on this end, maybe you can see them as
well. If you could get the mirror, or sit in front of it, we'll see
if we can have a face to face conversation.”

“
Oh, that would be
wonderful. I doubt that it works that way, but let's give it a try
anyway.”

“
Great. I'll wait.”

“
Right.”

Simon sat back, staring at
Kronk.

“
Thanks for speaking
up,” he told the little guy. “If you hadn't, we never
would have known that the Magic Mirror spell worked the way it does.”

“
Mere luck, master,
but I'm happy that it does. Won't it be amazing if we could see each
other as well?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
I'm here, Simon,”
Clara said and he looked back at the mirror.

She was sitting in her
bedroom. Simon could see a large bed, covered with a colorful quilt,
in the background. As the cleric's face became more defined, her
mouth dropped open.

“
I can see you!
Simon, I can see you both. It's almost like a conference call on
computers from back in the days of technology.”

The wizard and the
elemental exchanged grins.

“
Well, this makes
things so much better,” Simon said. “I've never been
comfortable talking to thin air when I call you. Now we can meet face
to face whenever we need to.”

“
That's true. Hang
on, I just had an idea.”

Simon watched as she
reached out, as if to touch him through the mirror, and then the view
swiveled and twisted and he found himself looking through a window.

“
Clara? What did you
do?”

“
I just picked up
the mirror. I'm pointing it outside. Can you see?”

“
Definitely. Wow.
It's like you're holding a camera and I'm watching the picture on a
monitor.”

“
What is a camera,
master?” Kronk asked curiously.

Simon chuckled.

“
Old tech, my
friend. Not important now. And besides, it looks like we just found a
replacement for it.”

The wizard and Kronk
watched as Clara carried her mirror back into her living area and sat
down on the couch. She turned it around and they saw her smiling face
again.

“
I'm glad my
experiment worked,” she said. “Now, what was Kronk
talking about? What happened to Aeris?”

The cleric's smile quickly
faded as Simon told her about Aeris' communications over the past
week. When he described the air elemental's condition when the wizard
recalled him the day before, her expression became one of concern.

“
Oh, I'm so sorry
that happened. I know how much you care for that little being. Do you
think he'll be all right?”

Instead of answering,
Simon looked at Kronk, who responded reluctantly.

“
It is hard to say,
lady,” he answered. “Certainly Aethos and others on the
plane of air have resources that we do not. All I can say is that if
he can be healed, they are the only ones who can do it.”

Simon pinched the bridge
of his nose and then rubbed his eyes. He was very tired.

“
That's not exactly
encouraging, you know,” he said wearily.

“
I know, master. But
I will not lie. I simply cannot answer that question with certainty.”

“Yeah, well...”

The wizard rubbed his eyes again and
then looked at the cleric.

“We'll have to wait for word on
Aeris. It's out of our hands. For now, there is a more pressing
concern. Those mutated Changlings are roaming the countryside,
destroying any sign of habitation. The ones that Aeris was trailing
were a long way from Nottinghill, but he believes that there are
other packs out there. So you and your people have to be doubly
vigilant, Clara. I recommend that anyone working the fields be
guarded at all times. And whenever your people are inside the walls,
keep the drawbridges up and man the walls. Obviously you know best
how to protect your own town, but I think that being ultra careful
right now is the best way to go.”

She nodded, a determined look on her
face.

“I agree. I'm going to call a
town meeting right away and explain what's been happening out in the
world. Malcolm and Aiden are the leaders when it comes to protecting
us now. I'm sure that they will schedule new shifts for anyone who
wants to do guard duty. You should be wary too, Simon. If the dark
gods hate you as much as we think they do, your tower would make a
tempting target for an attack.”

“I know, my friend,” Simon
told her. “But, not to sound too cocky, there is one thing that
my tower has that your town and those destroyed homes don't.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“And that is?”

Simon grinned.

“A fully functioning wizard with
a bad attitude. If any of the monsters that harmed Aeris show up
here, they'll have their hands full, believe me.”

Clara chuckled but sobered quickly.

“I'm not kidding, Simon. Watch
yourself. If you need us, you only have to call.”

Touched by her concern, Simon glanced
soberly at Kronk and then looked back at Clara.

“Don't worry. We'll be okay. But
I think, just as a precaution, that I'm going to summon some of my
little friend's fellow earthen for an extended visit. They can man
the walls at all times and act as an early warning system.”

He looked at the elemental again.

“Do you think they'd agree?”
he asked.

“Master, they would be
delighted,” Kronk assured him. “And so will I. We do not
sleep and we do not get tired. We will protect you for as long as is
needed.”

He turned and looked in the mirror.

“Fear not, lady. My master will
be safe. You have my word.”

“Thank you, Kronk,” she
said solemnly. “You've eased my mind somewhat. Simon, call back
again in few days and I'll give you an update. And if you get any
word on Aeris, please let me know how he's doing.”

“I will. Thanks for your concern.
Talk to you soon.”

The cleric smiled and nodded and Simon
canceled the spell. Then he slumped in his chair and closed his eyes.
A headache was starting to throb at the base of his skull and he
grimaced at the pain.

“It is past time to rest,
master,” Kronk said firmly. “I shall call my brethren to
keep watch on the wall. You should get some sleep.”

Simon opened his eyes and stood up
slowly, grumbling.

“You're a bit of a bully, do you
know that?” he asked the little guy accusingly.

“Yes, master, I know,”
Kronk answered placidly. “Sleep well.”

The wizard didn't wake until noon the
next day and felt foggy for hours. When he complained to Kronk, the
little guy didn't seem overly concerned.

“You are sick, master. Don't you
know that?”

“I am?”

Simon looked at Kronk with surprise. He
was at his kitchen counter making tea and cleaning his breakfast
dishes while he talked to the elemental. He stopped and spent a
moment just listening to his body. He was so used to being tired and
dragged out from using magic that maybe he was blaming it for every
ache and pain.

Let's see now, he thought. Massive
headache? Check. Joints aching? Check. Weak as water? Double-check.

“Oh, damn,” he said and
stirred some honey into his cup with shaky fingers. “You're
right. I've got the flu.”

He walked slowly to the comfy chair by
the fire and almost collapsed into it.

“Great,” he moaned. “What
perfect timing.”

Kronk hopped up on the arm of the
chair. It was a wet day and he was still damp from his walk back from
the stable. He steamed slightly in the heat from the fire.

“Don't worry, master,” he
told Simon. “It is a good excuse to get some rest. You can
explore those new spells and perhaps do some thinking about how to
deal with those mutated Changlings that Aeris discovered.”

The wizard chuckled weakly.

“Yeah, there's nothing like being
sick as a dog to make you sit still and think. Thanks, by the way.
I'm so used to being tired out from the magic that I hadn't realized
that I just had an old fashioned case of the flu.” He settled
himself deeper into his chair. “Too bad that the Change didn't
give me immunity. Oh well.”

Kronk looked amused.

“You are still human, master. You
have simply been...adjusted to be able to use magic. In all other
respects, you are very similar to a mundane human being.”

Simon sipped his tea and then smiled
down at the little guy.

“If you don't count these oddly
colored eyes of mine.”

Kronk looked at him closely.

“I think they are beautiful,
master. Much more interesting than just regular eyes.”