The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (43 page)

“
But that else could
draw them below ground?” the cleric had asked reasonably. “They
are creatures of the air. To crawl beneath the earth must be so
confining and unnatural for them, only an assault on the stronghold
of the dwarves could be behind it.”

Simon had to agree. But
whatever the dragons were up to, and by extension their masters, the
dark gods, he could only wait to see what happened next.

With nothing else to do
except wait, the wizard decided to make use of his Magic Mirror spell
in other ways. That afternoon, Kronk tip-tapped into the study to
find Simon sitting hunched over his desk.

The sun was beaming down
from the window behind him and the wizard was holding his hand mirror
in one hand and running his finger across the pages of a large book.
Aeris was floating next to him and nodding.

“
I would think that
would be a main target,” he said to Simon as Kronk entered.

“
What are you
working on, master?” the little guy asked as he jumped up on
the desk to join them.

Simon smiled at him and
rapped a knuckle on the book. It was his atlas.

“
I've decided that
we need to know more about what's been happening in the world around
us, my friend,” he said. “So I'm using the coordinates of
the maps in here to take a look at the major capitals of the old
countries around the Earth.”

“
Really? That's an
interesting idea, master.”

Kronk moved around and
looked into the mirror. It was misted over, obviously about to show a
scene of some sort.

Simon looked dejected.

“
Interesting? I
suppose. Depressing is the word I'd use for it.”

He looked down at the map
of North America he was using.

“
I'd always assumed
that other cities had been attacked by the dragons, just like Ottawa
was, but I've never really had confirmation of that. I think,”
he hesitated, “I think some small part of me was hoping that at
least a couple of the larger cities had survived, somehow.”

“
And they haven't,”
Aeris stated flatly.

“
He's right,”
the wizard said as he waited for the mirror to reveal his latest
target. “I've checked out Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and New
York.”

He stopped speaking and
shook his head helplessly.

“
Bad, master?”
Kronk asked sympathetically.

“
Devastated, just
like Ottawa. Leveled. Smashed flat like a child's model of a city.
Just...gone.”

“
So where are you
looking now, master?” Kronk asked him as the mirror began to
clear.

“
Miami. If it's the
same as the others, I'll try some European cities, although I don't
hold out much hope.”

The three of them watched
the mirror intently and Simon wilted a bit as the picture revealed a
twisted mass of melted metal and smashed stone.

“
The same. Damn it.”

He muttered under his
breath and the view moved steadily across the once-great city, as if
they were seeing through the eyes of a great bird. Or a dragon.

There was no movement on
the ground. It was raining there and the water added a sheen to the
devastation.

“
All those people,”
Kronk said quietly. “All those lives just...gone.”

“
There may be
pockets of life left, my dear wizard,” Aeris said reflectively.
“Changlings like the ones you found in your old home city may
have survived.”

“
Perhaps. Yeah,
perhaps they have. One day, if we win this war, we'll have to seek
them out. Or someone will, anyway. They may be as insular as the
little group back in Ottawa was.”

Simon shook the mirror to
cancel the spell and set it down as he flipped through the atlas.

“
Are you sure you
want to continue, master?” Kronk asked softly. “You are
obviously upset over what you are seeing.”

The wizard found the map
of Europe and then sat back with a sigh and looked at the earthen.

“
No, I don't want
to. But I will. It sounds weird, I guess, but I feel like I somehow
owe it to the memories of my people to check on them, you know? Maybe
like a memorial or something. After all, I survived where so many
didn't. I should at least honor them in my memory if nothing else.”

“
I see, master,”
Kronk replied.

Simon had to smile as he
realized that the little guy didn't understand. That was okay. He
didn't really understand either.

“
I'll be right
back,” Aeris told them and zipped from the room.

Simon watched him go and
then looked down at the map.

“
Okay. Let's
try...London. You know, I always wanted to go to London. My ancestors
were Irish. It would have been nice to tour some of the old castles,
see Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London. Maybe even get to Ireland
itself.”

He blinked back sudden
tears, surprised at himself and the overwhelming sense of loss that
had come crashing down on him.

“
Well, so much for
that dream,” he said sadly.

He traced the coordinates
for the center of London and cast the Magic Mirror spell again. As he
held the mirror and waited for it to clear, he turned to see Kronk
staring at him.

“
What is it?”
he asked the earthen.

“
Nothing, master.
It's just that I do not like to see you upset for no reason. I
understand that you feel you have to do this...tour of humanity's old
cities. You want to remember your people and I respect that. But to
what end, really? You know what you will find and the more you view
the devastation, the more sad and depressed you become. Are you not
simply punishing yourself for surviving where they did not?”

Simon stared at him
blankly. He sometimes made the mistake of thinking the little guy was
child-like or not too bright because of his size and his simple way
of speaking. But he reminded himself that Kronk was thousands of
years old. He was intelligent and obviously capable of insights that
the wizard didn't give him credit for.

He looked back at the
frosted mirror and nodded slowly.

“
You might have a
point, my friend. I do feel guilt, even if none of what happened was
my fault. But that's not the reason I'm doing this, I think. It's
also tactical. The prime black dragon is dead. Its lesser dragons
died with it. But that still leaves others. The red, green, brown,
white and yellow dragons are out there, somewhere, and I have to find
them. I'm hoping to get some idea of which dragons are controlling
which parts of the planet.”

“
Ah, I see, master.
Now I understand.”

The mirror began to clear
and the two of them watched intently.

Simon felt his heart ache
again at the sight that met his eye. It was the tower with the clock
known as Big Ben. Like the Peace Tower in Ottawa, all that remained
of the once-great structure was its lower four walls. All the rest
was rubble and blasted stone.

“
Whoa!” Simon
said abruptly and pulled back from the mirror. He almost dropped it.

The image of the city had
been momentarily blocked by a massive shape that had flown across his
field of view. Simon hunched forward again and instructed the spell
to scan the area.

It took a moment but he
finally zeroed in on what had startled him. It was a dragon.

“
A red! It's a red
dragon, Kronk!” he said excitedly.

“
Yes, master, I can
see that.” The little guy stepped closer to the mirror. “It
appears to be searching for something, doesn't it? Why would it be
doing that? The city is destroyed.”

They had their answer a
moment later.

From the ruins below the
high-flying creature, a flash of light was followed by an explosion
that smashed into the dragon and knocked it sideways in the air,
sending it rolling end-over-end across the sky.

“
Someone's attacking
it!” the wizard shouted, almost cheering as he watched the
winged monster scream in obvious pain and abruptly change course,
fleeing the area.

Simon hurriedly changed
the view of the mirror and it zoomed toward the spot where he thought
the attack had originated.

“
Look, master.
Humans.”

They watched a small group
of people, maybe a dozen or so, standing in a street cleared of
debris and staring up at the retreating dragon. To Simon's
astonishment, two of the group, a man and a woman, were wearing robes
very similar to his own. The others were clad in armor that looked
very old, maybe authentic armor from the middle ages.

“
My God, they're
Changlings. They must be.”

“
Who must be what?”
Aeris asked as he reentered the room. He was carrying a cup of tea,
which he handed to Simon.

“
Thanks,” the
wizard said absently. He nodded at the mirror and Aeris flew closer
to his shoulder and peered at the view.

“
Changlings?”
the air elemental asked with surprise.

“
Must be. In London.
We just saw them attack a red dragon with some sort of spell.”
Simon frowned thoughtfully. “I think it was Magic Missile. Hmm,
haven't used that one in a while. I'll have to add a few of them to
Bene-Dunn-Gal. Could come in handy.”

“
It certainly
knocked that dragon for a loop, master,” Kronk said with a
smile as he continued to study the group in the mirror.

The armored figures, all
very tall, were laughing and slapping each other on the back, while
the two robed figures stood to one side, speaking to each other with
somber faces. Simon studied them intently, fascinated to see other
magic-users.

“
I wonder if they
are wizards?” he said. There was no sound coming from the
mirror. Simon had learned that he could only hear someone talking if
he used the spell to call another person directly, like Clara.

“
Mages are more
likely,” Aeris said with some assurance.

Simon glanced at him.

“
What makes you say
that?”

“
Well, for one
thing, neither is using a staff. Wizards, good ones at least, usually
channel their power through a wand or staff, like yours. Also,
wizards are rare creatures. I know that the dark wizard we've
encountered may make it seem like casters with your level of power
are common, Simon, but I assure you that they are not. They weren't
back in the old days of magic and I doubt that they are today
either.”

“
Huh. Interesting.”
He continued to watch the group as the female magic-user called to
the guardsmen and the entire bunch hurried off, fading into the ruins
of the city.

“
I wish I could
speak with them,” he said with a little frustration. “They're
fighting back against the dragons. Maybe we could coordinate our
efforts, pool our resources.”

“
Well, unless you
know their names, there is no way to speak with them using the
communication spells you know,” Aeris told him practically.
“But someday, when you are ready to challenge the primal red
dragon, perhaps you can Gate there and initiate a dialog with them.”

“
Definitely. That
red dragon means that Europe is probably the territory of the primal
red. Good. At least I know that much.”

He directed the spell to
pull back to a higher level and continued to watch as it flew slowly
across London. There were no other Changlings in sight, but that
didn't surprise him. Simon was sure that wherever they had their
home, it was well hidden.

He finally canceled the
spell and put down the mirror. He sipped his tea and sat back to
think about what he'd seen.

His first thought was one
of simple relief. He wasn't alone in his battle against the dragons.
That gave him an actual shiver of excitement down his spine. The gods
of Justice had given power to others and created more magic-using
Changlings. That was thrilling.

“
I wonder how many
of us there are in the world?” he said aloud. Kronk and Aeris
looked at him curiously. “Casters, I mean. I wonder how many
exist? And where they are? Are there dozens of us? Hundreds? It would
be invaluable information to have, especially when I move against the
dragons.”

There was a moment of
silence and then Aeris, who had been frowning to himself, looked
quizzically at the wizard.

“
There is a way to
attempt to get more information,” he said slowly. “I am a
little surprised that you hadn't considered it before, my dear
wizard.”

Simon put down his cup and
raised an eyebrow at Aeris.

“
Which is?”

“
Summon more of my
people. Not great ones like Aethos, but others like myself. Send them
off to scout. That is, after all, what we do best.”

“
Could they do
that?” Simon asked. “I mean, the world is a big place and
I'd be sending them a long way.”

“
Distance doesn't
mean anything to us, my dear wizard. It will take time, of course,
but what does that matter? You can send them off and have them report
back when they find something. They can, carefully, make contact with
any good magic-user and get names and descriptions so that you can
speak with them directly.”