The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (47 page)

Simon's
imagination took off at the thought of a group of wizards, mages,
witches, whatever, taking on the dragons together. It was almost
intoxicating.

“
Calm
yourself, my dear wizard,” Aeris said dryly. “You forget
that all those possible spell-casters are probably under attack at
this very moment just the way that you were. It is quite likely that,
unlike you, they weren't successful. There may be few if any allies
out there now.”

“
You
really are a negative Nelly, aren't you?” Simon said as he
leaned back and turned to stare at the air elemental.

“
Negative
Nelly? That's a new one.” Aeris said with a snort. “And
it's not negativity. It's common sense. If you are bound and
determined to pursue this foolish course of action, at least do so
with a realistic attitude.”

Simon
stared at Aeris for a very long moment, and the elemental squirmed a
bit but held his gaze.

Finally
the wizard couldn't help himself. He threw back his head and burst
out laughing. He laughed until tears rose in his eyes and just as he
calmed down, he saw Aeris' expression and started to laugh again.

When
he at last ran out of breath and was holding his stomach painfully,
he watched as the air elemental looked at Kronk and rolled his eyes.

“
He's
finally descended into madness,” he said. “It was
inevitable, I suppose.”

“
Of
course I have,” Simon said, still chuckling. “This entire
situation is nuts. Haven't you realized this by now? Our chances of
winning this thing are so impossible, you have to laugh.” He
became sober-faced again. “Or cry. But what's the point of
that?”

Aeris' look of irritation was replaced
with a reluctant smile.

“All right, my dear wizard. I
concede your point. I will be cautiously optimistic and hope that my
fellow elementals find at least some hopeful signs.”

“Big of you,” Kronk said
dismissively. “Master, you should get some sleep. You have had
an exhausting day.”

“Mother hen,” Aeris
muttered.

“I will,” the wizard said
as he stood up slowly, a little light-headed. “But I have a
chore to finish first.”

He crossed the room, picked up
Bene-Dunn-Gal and brought it back to the fire. He sat down and rolled
the staff in his hands.

“What chore, master?” Kronk
asked, ignoring the weapon. He didn't like it and refused to look at
it whenever possible.

“I have to recast some spells on
to Bene-Dunn-Gal. I've used a few over the last little while and I
don't want to take a chance of running out.”

He rested the staff on his knees and
looked at his palm thoughtfully. There were multiple dimples in the
flesh where Bene-Dunn-Gal had taken its payment of blood. Simon
supposed that if he wanted to, he could count them to see how many
spells he'd used since acquiring the staff.

He shrugged indifferently. What did it
matter? He needed its power and that was the price he had to pay.

Kronk hopped off of the chair.

“I will join the others on the
wall, master. Try not to over-do it with that...thing.”

“No problem, my friend,”
Simon told him as he ran his hands along the staff. “Have a
good night.”

“I'll join him,” Aeris said
and rose up to float across the room to the door. “He has a
point, my dear wizard. Don't depend on that relic too much. If you do
and it is lost, you might be as well.”

With those grim words, the air
elemental left the tower, closing the door behind him.

Simon grasped Bene-Dunn-Gal in both
hands.

“Guess what?” he said to
it. “My friends don't trust you.”

The staff shuddered and made a low
sound, like a growl.

The wizard stared at it suspiciously.

“Neither do I,” he
whispered and began chanting.

The week passed and early
summer began to make its presence known. The weather became
unseasonably hot and Simon wore shorts all the time. Even his
lightest robes were too heavy in the oppressive heat.

The first crop of
tomatoes, growing unbelievably fast, was ready for picking and he and
Kronk spent part of a day harvesting them while Aeris watched without
offering to help.

Simon got a little payback
when he made the air elemental take a bag of tomatoes to Clara in
Nottinghill. Kronk thankfully waited until the grumbling Aeris
disappeared before laughing out loud.

The following day, Simon
spent most of his time lurking indoors. He had stupidly picked the
tomatoes the previous day while wearing only his shorts and had
gotten a pair of seriously sunburned shoulders for his trouble. Every
move was painful and Aeris actually left the tower rather than face
the wizard's foul mood.

Simon was sitting hunched
over painfully at his desk in the study, reading the spell-book that
had been given to him by the old gods, when the air elemental popped
into view above his notes. He had been gone all day.

“
And where have you
been hiding?” Simon growled, not really interested. His skin
felt tight and seemed red-hot. Every movement was followed by a stab
of pain.

“
Still in a lovely
mood, I see,” Aeris said. He was holding a small canvas bag and
the wizard looked at it with some curiosity.

“
Since I don't want
to deal with you when you're this grumpy, I went to visit Clara. In
exchange for those tomatoes yesterday, she offered you this.”

He extended the bag to
Simon, who took it slowly, gasping as he stretched his arm forward.

“
What is it?”
he asked as he peered into the bag.

“
A plant. The cleric
calls it aloe. She claims that it will help to relieve the pain of
your sunburn and help to heal it.”

Simon gaped at him and
then smiled widely.

“
That's wonderful!
Aloe is exactly what I need.”

For a moment, Simon was
almost tempted to hug the elemental, until he remembered that he
could barely touch Aeris because of his gaseous nature and that the
little guy probably wouldn't appreciate it anyway.

“
Thank you,”
he said instead, putting as much appreciation into his voice as he
could.

Aeris looked a little
taken aback.

“
Um, you're welcome,
my dear wizard,” he said gruffly. “Your thanks should go
to the cleric. I simply wanted a way to improve your foul mood.”

“
Yeah, I am a bit
cranky when I'm sore, that's true.”

He stood up, slowly, and
took the bag with him.

“
Let's go
downstairs. I have to cut open the leaves and squeeze out the sap.
Then I can rub it on my shoulders.”

After applying the
relieving sap from the aloe leaves, Simon was able to relax somewhat.
He and Aeris got into a deep discussion about the nature of
elementals and their place in the universe. It was one of the most
enthralling conversations he had ever had with the, sometimes
truculent, little guy.

By the time Kronk had come
in from planting the new crop of tomatoes, Simon was pain-free enough
to make some dinner. The three spent a congenial evening around the
fire and, for the first time in a long time, the wizard felt almost
at peace as he went off to bed.

Simon spoke to Clara the
next morning, thanked her profusely for the aloe and learned that
Ironhand had left at the break of day. One of the dwarven digging
machines had appeared outside the gates of Nottinghill and he had bid
them farewell and left to journey to his people's capital city.

“
How the heck did
they even know he was with you?” Simon asked the cleric, who
just shook her head with a smile.

“
As Shandon said,
his people have their ways. All I know is that a band of armored
dwarves showed up and shouted at us until we lowered the drawbridge
and allowed them to enter. Then they had a quick conversation with
Ironhand in that unintelligible language of theirs and they all left
together. Oh and he wanted me to thank you yet again for your aid. He
said to keep that token that he gave you close. He didn't say why.”

Simon rubbed his chest.

“
No need. I put it
on the same string around my neck as the dragon crystal I wear. Funny
that he wants me to keep it nearby though.”

“
Dwarves are known
for their brevity. They rarely say more than they need to and he
didn't explain. Now, please take my advice and stay out of the sun
for a few days. Use the aloe as much as you need to and, if you run
out, send Aeris down for more. We have plenty to spare and it's a
fair trade for those lovely tomatoes you sent us.”

“
Thanks, I will.”
He smiled at the mirror ruefully. “Back in my old body, I could
tan almost black and never feel it. I keep forgetting that the new me
is so delicate.”

Clara giggled. It made her
sound very young.

“
Well, let the sting
on the sunburn remind you. Thanks for calling. I have some of my
people waiting for me; a meeting about crop distribution,” she
added with an eye-roll.

“
You're welcome,”
Simon told her as he chuckled at her expression. “Talk to you
soon.”

He canceled the spell and
put down the mirror. He was just getting up to make a second cup of
tea when the front door burst open and Aeris flew in, followed
closely by Kronk, who tripped on the way into the room, got up and
hurriedly tip-tapped over to the table.

“
Hey guys,”
the wizard said as he watched them. The pair got up on the table and
waited side by side. The little earthen was holding what looked like
a folded sheet of paper.

“
Morning, master,”
Kronk said quickly.

“
Good morning, my
dear wizard,” Aeris said with a nod. “We found
something.”

Simon sat down, forgetting
about the tea, and nodded at the paper.

“
What is it?”

Kronk handed the sheet to
him and the wizard examined it closely.

It was made of parchment,
similar to a note that the elves had left him before, and sealed with
a drop of wax.

“
This was attached
to the front gate. We only just found it, master.”

“
It must be from
Ethmira,” he said to them as he snapped the seal in half. “I'm
guessing no one saw her?”

“
None of us,”
Aeris said with some disgust. “I know that they can come and go
like the wind, and I respect that, but it's unnerving how they can
elude elementals and your wards at the same time.”

Simon smiled and unfolded
the note.

“
Don't sweat it,”
he told them absently as he scanned the parchment. “It's just a
natural talent, I suppose.”

He read the script on the
paper and his smile changed to a frown of confusion.

Kronk looked from Simon to
the parchment and back again.

“
What does it say,
master? Is there a problem?”

The wizard put down the
note, rested his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands.

“
Problem? No, I
don't think so. But the last time Ethmira left a note, she was a
little more...personal than she is in this one.”

“
Was she?”
Aeris looked at the parchment and Simon motioned for him to read it.

Both of the elementals
hunched down over the note and the wizard looked past them toward the
window as Aeris read out loud.

“
Sir Wizard: It
has come to our attention that the herb witch known as Heather has
information regarding green dragons. As these

types of dragons are
jungle-dwellers, we assume that her talent with plants has somehow
allowed her to gain some knowledge in this

area. Irregardless, if
you wish to learn more, we would suggest visiting the witch and
discussing this subject with her. Sincerely, your

friends, the elves.
”

He
looked at Simon.

“
I
see what you mean. Sounds a bit, um, impersonal, doesn't it?”

Picking
up the note again, Simon nodded and read through it again.

“
Exactly.
They don't even mention my name, or Ethmira's. It reminds me of form
letters I'd receive back in the old days. Weird.”

“
Not
really, master,” Kronk said. “The letter is probably not
from the lady elf. As she has told you, her elders watch world events
closely from their realm. This is probably their doing. Sir wizard is
a title of respect from the days of magic. They would probably
consider it rude to use your name. After all, Ethmira is your friend.
They are not.”

Simon
had a mental picture of a group of stodgy old elves sitting around a
scrying pool and muttering about the goings-on in the world. He
almost laughed.

“
That
may actually be the case,” he told the elementals. “But
whatever. If Heather has information about the primal green dragon, I
definitely have to talk to her.”

Aeris
looked dubious.