“Master needs to use the outhouse,” he replied irritably. “Leave him be.”
“Don't be so crabby,” Aeris told him as he hung up the kettle. “I was just asking.”
“It is the way you ask, not what you ask.”
The little guy stepped into the flames and pushed a few pieces of wood around until they were arranged to his satisfaction. He stepped out again and stood on the stone floor waiting for his body to cool off.
“Do not forget to mention the ward,” he said, looking up at Aeris who was hovering beside the kettle.
“I won't forget,” the air elemental said with a roll of his eyes. “Why don't you tell him?”
“Because your people are the experts when it comes to magic, not mine. Your opinion in these matters carries more weight.”
Aeris looked down at him quizzically.
“Don't sell yourself short. He's known you a lot longer than he's known me. He values your opinion too, you know.”
“Yes, on some things. But this should come from you.”
They heard Simon clumsily opening the latch on the door, exchanged a look and became silent.
The wizard walked in looking considerably more alert and grinned at the elementals.
“Morning guys. How was your night?”
“Good, master. No problems.”
“Same,” Aeris told him. “I spent the night on the roof helping to keep watch.”
Simon moved to the counter and washed his hands in the sink. He unwrapped a loaf of bread he'd baked a few days before, sniffed it, nodded and began slicing it.
“Did you? Why? Expecting a zombie attack this soon?”
“Zombies?” Aeris frowned. “I don't recall seeing any zombies in your mirror yesterday.
“I was kidding,” Simon told him with a crooked grin. “Seriously though, do you think that army will be on the move any time soon?”
“No idea. Who can fathom the thoughts of a necromancer? Who would want to?”
“Good point.”
Simon slathered some jam on his bread and walked over to grab the boiling kettle. He made his tea and began eating standing at the counter.
The silence stretched out for a few minutes as the wizard chewed thoughtfully.
Kronk checked on the fire a final time and then jumped up on to the kitchen table and gave Aeris a sharp look.
“Oh, I had an idea earlier this morning,” the air elemental said abruptly.
Simon finished his breakfast, brought his tea cup to the table and sat down. He sipped the sweet liquid, finally feeling fully awake, and watched Aeris float across from the fireplace and join Kronk.
“Did you? What was it?”
“You need to strengthen the wards around the tower and the outer wall, especially that single ward in the basement. As we've seen, the undead are traveling freely during the day using underground tunnels. It would be a nasty surprise if we were attacked by a horde of skeletons erupting from the ground beneath us.”
“Hmm, that's a very good point. Thanks, I'll do that today.”
He grabbed a scrap of paper from the pile that he always kept handy on the table and dug a pencil out of his pocket.
“So let's see; I have to strengthen the wards. I need to summon some scouts to keep an eye on that necromancer. I have to finish writing that guide to creating ward stones for Veronique on the Defiant.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, then pushed his heavy mane out of his face.
“What else?”
“Master, if I might make a suggestion?”
“Certainly.”
“We saw a group of undead in London. It might be wise to warn the people of Nottinghill Castle. They are far to the north of that city but there is still a danger.”
“Yes, of course. Good thought.”
Simon added that to his note, looked it over and stood up. He put his cup in the sink and looked at the elementals.
“Okay, if I could ask one of you guys to tidy up? I'm going up to summon those scouts.”
“You go ahead, Aeris,” Kronk said. “You can give Master some names so that he doesn't have to cast the Summon spell. He needs to conserve his strength.”
“Kronk, I'm fine,” Simon protested but Aeris was nodding at the earthen.
“Good point. He's right, my dear wizard. We have a highly dangerous spell-caster nearby. We need you at your strongest at all times and those wards will drain your magic quite a bit.”
“Fine. I won't argue. Thanks Kronk. Come on up when you're done.”
“Yes master, I will.”
Up in the study, Simon sat at his desk and opened the atlas that he'd left lying there the night before.
He flipped the pages until he found a map of Ontario and then looked at Aeris.
“Okay, do you know two of your people who would like this job?”
“Absolutely. I have just the ones. Stennos and Osteros. Steady, reliable and just crazy enough to want a little danger in their lives.”
Simon raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. They are not reckless, I assure you, but they are definitely the people for the job.”
“If you say so. Okay, here we go.”
He quickly summoned the two air elementals who were thrilled to be called to Earth by such a 'great wizard'.
Simon winced at that phrase and shook his head.
“Um, thanks,” he said shortly, not bothering to argue.
Aeris looked away to keep from laughing.
The wizard tapped the atlas and Stennos and Osteros moved closer to examine the map.
“We are approximately here,” he pointed, “and Ottawa is here. In the northern end of the city is a tower and in front of it there is a huge gathering of undead.”
“Undead?”
The two elementals shared a look.
“As you say, sir wizard,” Osteros said. He seemed to be the more outspoken of the pair. “Why are they there?”
“No idea, but there is a necromancer raising the dead in that tower and we assume that he's gathering his troops for something major.”
Simon watched as the elementals absorbed the information. They were practically identical in appearance to Aeris, although Osteros was more heavily built while Stennos was slim and wisp-like. Both had humanoid features; Stennos' face was delicate and youthful and Osteros looked quite jolly, with chubby cheeks and crinkly eyes. They were, of course, translucent, but he didn't even notice that anymore after knowing Aeris for so long.
“A necromancer? That's bad.”
“Which is why you are here,” Aeris told them impatiently. “My wizard needs you to keep tabs on whatever that evil caster is up to. If and when his troops begin to move, we need to know about it immediately.”
“Yes, of course. We can certainly do that for you, sir wizard,” Stennos said with a bow.
“Excellent. You both have my permission to return directly here if you have any news.”
Their eyes widened as Simon basically gave them leave to bypass the wards of his tower and they bowed low at the implied trust.
“We shall not abuse your graciousness,” Stennos told him.
“I know you won't.” Simon glanced at Aeris and smiled. “I've learned to trust your people. So, you may begin your watch whenever you wish.”
“We shall begin immediately, sir wizard.”
Both elementals bowed one last time and disappeared with twin pops of air.
“One task done,” Simon muttered as he checked off his list. He slipped the paper into his pocket and looked up to see Aeris staring at him.
“What is it?”
“Did you really mean that?” he asked.
Simon frowned at him.
“Did I mean what?”
“That you trust my people? You do remember that I lied to you back when we were still getting to know each other, don't you?”
“Of course I remember. I also remember that you swore an oath to never do so again. And you invoked the nam
e of your lord when you did it. You haven't been annihilated lately so I assume you have kept your word.”
Aeris snickered and shook his head.
“Not lately, no. Thank you for that trust. My people really are like any others though; some trustworthy, some less so. But when you live as long as we do, you get to know your companions quite well. And I chose those whom I personally trusted.”
“I know you did.”
Simon picked up the mirror.
“Okay, next on the list; a call to Nottinghill.”
“They aren't going to be happy.”
“I don't blame them.”
Simon spoke with Tamara and Sebastian who were initially quite pleased to hear from him. It didn't last long.
“Hordes of undead?” Tamara asked in disbelief. “Hordes?”
“Yes. Hordes,” Simon repeated patiently.
She scowled at his image.
“Define a horde.”
“Err, more than a hundred, less than infinity?” he answered lamely. “I don't know, Tamara! A shitload, how about that?”
“Ah, now you're speaking my language,” she replied and gave him a crooked smile.
Simon chuckled but remained serious.
“Look, all I know is that all of the major cities that I explored with Magic Mirror had these concentrated groups of undead, and all seemed to be led by what Aeris tells me are necromancers.”
“What exactly is a necromancer anyway?” Sebastian asked, sounding a bit baffled.
Both of the mages were in their personal library. Sebastian was sitting in a high-backed chair with his chin in his palm while his sister responded the way she normally did when presented with a problem; she began pacing around the room.
“According to Aeris, they are evil wizards whose powers have been twisted to enable them to raise and control the dead. I suppose it's something like my power over elementals, except that I refuse to lord over them like some sort of slave master.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
Simon noticed that the young man was dressed as usual in a simple brown robe while his sister wore a complicated mixture of several colors with a stiff mantle of silver across her shoulders. It made him look like a monk and her a queen.
Suits their personalities, the wizard thought absently.
“I wondered what happened to them all.”
Tamara stopped and stared at her brother.
“What happened to who all?” she asked.
“The wizards. As far as we know, Simon is the only Changling who became a wizard. We've met and heard of other mages, clerics, witches and all of that, but he's unique as far as we know.”
He sat up and looked directly at Simon.
“What if there have been others, but they've been subverted by the dark gods? Perhaps turned into necromancers?”
“Oh damn. I never thought of that,” Simon replied, wide-eyed.
“It makes sense,” Aeris whispered.
The wizard looked away from Sebastian to see Kronk nodding in agreement.
“If that's the case, I wonder why they didn't twist me into a puppet to do their dirty work as well?” he said as he stared into the mirror again.
“That's simply answered,” Sebastian told him. “You've mentioned it yourself. About the dreams where the gods of Justice made you aware of their plans for you. Maybe you were the first one chosen to be a wizard. Or maybe your connection made you immune to the influence of the evil gods. Whatever the reason, I think you've solved the mystery of why you are the lone wizard.”
“That's horrible,” Simon said and shuddered.
“Well, let's not dwell on it,” Tamara said briskly.
She began pacing again.
“The point is, what do we do about all those damned undead.”
She snorted and glanced at Simon.
“If you'll pardon the pun.”
He rolled his eyes at her and she smirked back at him before continuing to wander around the room.
“I suppose the first thing is for Bastian and me to spy out those monsters in London on our own.”
She scowled fiercely.
“Somehow, knowing that they've infested my home town makes it much more personal, you know?”
“That's pretty much how I feel about the ones in Ottawa,” Simon told her. “Even if they weren't so close to my tower, I'd still be taking it personally.”
“As do we,” Sebastian told him.
The mages promised to keep in touch and Simon broke the connection a few minutes later.
“That went about how I thought it would,” he told Kronk and Aeris. “Except for that revelation about the wizards becoming necromancers.”
“You do realize how much more dangerous that makes them, don't you?” Aeris asked him in a grim voice. “Their powers will be on par with your own. And as we've seen, there are over a dozen of them out there in the world; perhaps even more.”
Simon stood up, shook his head silently and walked to the door.
“You always know how to make a bad situation seem even worse, Aeris,” he said over his shoulder. “I need some more tea.”
He walked out and Kronk glared at the air elemental.
“Master has a point, you know. Why can't you be more positive once in a while?” the earthen growled and jumped off the desk to follow Simon.
“What did I say?” Aeris asked the suddenly empty room. “You're both too sensitive,” he called after them.
No one answered.
Chapter 18
Simon spent the rest of the morning working on the wards around his tower. As he'd learned while still new to magic, he had a knack for imbuing stones with magical energy. The problem was that he could only store so much of that energy into each spell. He actually thought of them like batteries; they could only be charged to a certain point and that was that.
So instead of trying to make each ward more powerful, he created a half dozen new ones and placed them at strategic points all around his home. One more to the cellar, a second one on the roof and the last four on the outer wall to the north, south, east and west.
After that he ate lunch and had to rest for a few hours. He was so drained by all of the warding he'd done that he could barely keep his eyes open.
Kronk gently woke him up in late afternoon, holding an aromatic cup of coffee.
“Time to get up, master,” the earthen said gently.
Simon snorted and jerked upright. He looked around his bedroom wildly, unsure for a moment of just where he was. But then he saw the familiar figure standing in the doorway holding a steaming cup and lit by a ray of sunlight slanting across the room and smiled in relief.
“Oh, hey there.”
He rolled off of the bed and stood up slowly, smoothing out his robe.
Kronk tapped forward and offered up the cup. Simon bent down and accepted it carefully; the coffee was still quite hot.
“Ah, thanks so much,” he said as he took a careful sip.
It was delicious as always; made more so because his supply of coffee was so limited that he rarely made it, opting instead for tea.
He wandered out into the hall, stopped for a moment and then turned left. He walked past the door to his study and began climbing the stairs to the top floor.
“Master? Where are you going?”
Simon looked back at the little guy, who was hopping up the steps behind him.
“I want to take a look around,” he said and kept climbing.
The top floor of the tower was used mainly for storage. Many wooden boxes were stacked neatly against the walls, filled with odds and ends like extra candles, dishes and glasses and a host of items that Simon never really thought about until he needed them. Between the things stored there and the dozens of crates of supplies in the basement, he would certainly not run out of a lot of everyday items for a long, long time.
All because of Daniel's foresight, Simon thought with a pang of sadness.
He left his coffee on the floor next to the ladd
er leading to the roof and climbed up to the trapdoor. He opened it, climbed down again to grab the cup and carefully made his way up and outside.
The sun was beginning to descend in the west but there was still an hour or more of daylight left. Simon stood in the center of the roof and turned slowly, searching the skies first as always; even masses of undead couldn't distract him from the memories of previous dragon attacks.
The sky was clear though and he looked around the roof. Brethia, the air elemental on duty, was watching him curiously. She bowed when he noticed her.
“Good afternoon, sir wizard. Did you forget something?”
He'd been up earlier to add a second ward to help boost his tower's protection. Both magical stones, etched with runes, were set on a low pedestal in the center of the roof.
“Hi again. No, I just felt like clearing my head.”
Kronk hopped up the ladder behind him as Simon walked over and stood next to the floating air elemental. She was looking to the east in the direction of Ottawa and the wizard followed her gaze.
“Anything?”
“No, my lord. No change. I am pleased that you sent my fellow elementals to keep a closer watch on the city, though. It is always best to be prepared.”
“Thanks. I'm trying. So where's Orriss?”
She shrugged, unconcerned.
“Who can say? He comes and goes. He will return at nightfall to take over lookout duties.”
Simon watched Kronk jump up on to the wall and smile at Brethia. They began talking and he walked across the roof to look to the south.
The forest stretched out in an unbroken mass as far as the eye could see. The old town of Nottinghill was miles away in that direction and he allowed himself to think about how much simpler things had been only a few years before.
So much has changed, he thought. So many friends lost, so much pain. So much death.
He finished his coffee and sighed dismally. A thought interrupted his brooding and he grabbed his list from a pocket along with a pencil and made a quick note.
“Something wrong, master?”
Simon turned around to see both elementals watching him.
“Not really, but it just occurred to me that our neighbors in old Nottinghill should be warned about the potential danger coming from Ottawa.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two Page 62