“Ah, I have lived with the darkness for so long, I'd almost forgotten what the world really looked like.”
Sylvie was the same height as her sister and pale as well, but she wore her long amber-colored hair loose to her shoulders and almost always wore blue, to match her eyes.
Veronique turned to her quickly and embraced her.
“Oh Sylvie, forgive me! Here I am only thinking of myself, again, while you have your sight back. Mon Dieu, I am such a bad person.”
Her sister laughed gently and hugged her back.
“Of course you aren't. Stop that and greet our friends, why don't you?”
Veronique gave her another squeeze and turned to take Sebastian's hands in hers.
“My friend, how have you been doing?”
She looked beyond him as she spoke and smiled at the others.
“And how are all of you? The castle looks amazing, by the way, even if it is damned confusing to get around in.”
Both Malcolm and Aiden had stood up as the women entered and the men quickly crossed the room to offer their arms to the ladies.
Sylvie gave Malcolm a playful push.
“I am not a delicate flower, my overly large friend,” she told him with a laugh. “I do not need your aid. But thank you for the gesture. Now that I am above ground, magic has restored my sight again and I can make my own way.”
The big man bowed and grinned back.
“Sorry, Sylvie, but you bring out the gentleman in me. I can't seem to help myself.”
“Gods, it's a miracle,” Aiden remarked dryly. “Please never leave again, ladies.”
Both women laughed and Malcolm glared at him.
“I'll get you for that,” he rumbled.
Aiden only shrugged and returned his glare calmly.
“You occasionally need calming down, and don't deny it. Ladies, would either of you like something to drink? We have wine here, or I can go to the kitchen and make you coffee or tea. Instant coffee, but better than nothing. We're still unpacking and none of the staff have returned yet, but I can also make you a simple meal if your delay made you hungry.”
“He's an excellent cook,” Malcolm assured them, his anger gone as quickly as it had appeared.
“Aren't you both sweet,” Sylvie said appreciatively. “Tea sounds lovely. And some people came up with us in our digger. It was one of the bigger vehicles, so there was room for twenty passengers and a lot of luggage. I know that your head chef was among them. I believe that they are getting settled in as we speak.”
“Tea for me as well, Aiden,” Veronique agreed. “But please don't go to any trouble on our account.”
“It's no trouble at all. Mal, come along and I'll try to teach you how to make a decent cup of tea. Again.”
The two of them left the room, the bigger man protesting that he knew quite well how to brew tea, thank you very much.
“Ah, but I am fond of those two,” Sylvie said as she and her sister took seats at the conference table. “I've missed them these past few weeks.”
“They are treasures,” her sister agreed. “So, how is everyone?”
“We're doing quite well,” Sebastian told her. “It will take quite some time to get everyone moved back in and to settle into a routine again, but the place is already starting to feel like home, even if it is a bigger castle than the original.”
Sylvie had been looking around the table and now caught Sebastian's eye as he returned to his seat.
“Where is your sister?” she asked curiously. “Tamara is usually leading these meetings, no?”
“She Gated off with Aeris just before you arrived,” he replied.
After a brief hesitation, the man clasped his hands and rested them on the table. He looked from one sister to the other.
“We may have a problem. You see, Simon O'Toole may be, well, missing.”
Veronique, who had been looking calm and relaxed in her chair, sat up abruptly and stared intently at Sebastian.
“What do you mean, missing? How can the most powerful of our magic-users go missing? And why didn't you inform us immediately?”
“I am informing you,” he replied evenly. “And we don't really know the circumstances. All we know is that he left his tower yesterday after a word with his guards and that is the last that anyone has heard from him. My sister attempted to contact him as soon as Aeris arrived to tell us about the disappearance, but had no luck. So now she's gone with the elemental to Simon's tower to retrieve an object that might help us find him.”
He gave both women a strained smile.
“And now you know as much as the rest of us do. I'm sorry to greet you with such bad news,” he added.
“Nonsense,” Sylvie told him. “We needed to be informed. And Veronique, don't be irritated. Obviously our friends just heard the bad news themselves. What we have to do now is organize a search.”
Her sister nodded and gave Sebastian an apologetic smile.
“Yes, of course. I'm sorry, my friend. Sylvie and I care about Simon very much, as I know you all do as well. We owe him so much, and the world is so dangerous now, that the thought of him lost and possibly in trouble out there somewhere is frankly terrifying.”
Lei, sitting at the end of the table next to Liliana, stood up slowly and bowed to the sisters.
“Greetings, lady mages,” he said formally. “We have not met yet, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Lei Zhang, and this is my brother, Chao.”
Chao jumped up and copied Lei's gesture of respect.
“It is an honor to meet two such distinguished people,” he said politely. “We have heard only great things about you both.”
Sylvie and Veronique looked at each other in surprise and then stood as one and returned the men's bow.
“The honor is ours, gentlemen. We've heard of you as well and we are delighted that you decided to join our little community. Now please, forget the formality and let us speak as friends, hmm?”
The four of them sat down again, the brothers looking somewhat relieved at their reception by the sisters. Apparently they had been worried about it for some reason.
“Had you heard that we were ogres or something?” Sylvie asked Chao with a wide smile.
“Oh no. No, no, no,” he stuttered hastily. “But we know of your powers from what the others here have told us and, well, stories grow in the telling, do they not?”
“They most certainly do,” Veronique replied and looked coolly at Sebastian and Liliana. “Did you paint us as she-devils or what?”
The paladin chuckled.
“Hardly, although we certainly told our newest members that you were quite powerful mages. It is the truth, after all.”
“And we do strive for accuracy in these things, you know,” Malcolm boomed from the doorway as he returned carrying a tray with two cups and a squat little teapot on top of it.
Aiden was right behind him with a second tray. It was loaded down with a pot of honey to sweeten the tea and a plate piled high with freshly-made sandwiches.
“Malcolm tends to over-dramatize sometimes,” he said, disagreeing with his partner. “He may have exaggerated your ferociousness a tiny bit.”
The big man sighed as he set down his tray but apparently decided not to argue for a change.
“We made something to munch on, just in case any of you are hungry,” Aiden told the group. “Please help yourselves.”
Veronique prepared her sister's tea before her own and several people moved around the table to grab some sandwiches. Once they had all settled down again, Sylvie sipped her tea and looked at Sebastian.
“So Simon just left? No note, no hint about where he was going?” she asked.
“None. Unfortunately both Kronk and Aeris were away at the time or they certainly would have learned more about his trip. But they returned to the tower several hours after the wizard had left. And they waited a day before deciding to contact us, naturally assuming that Simon would return shortly. But he hasn't.”
&nbs
p; “I don't understand what you said earlier, Sebastian,” Veronique said. “You mentioned that your sister is retrieving something that will help us locate Simon?”
He nodded briefly.
“What sort of object? And how will it aid us?”
Sebastian looked across the table at the diminutive figure of Chao and smiled at him.
“It's an atlas. Aeris believes that Simon may have used it to look up the coordinates of his destination. And our new friend here can apparently summon a creature that can use the book to find out what those coordinates are. Is that about right, Chao?”
“More or less,” the conjurer said equably. “Sprites have interesting abilities, many of which are still a mystery to me. But I do know that Ellas can 'read' objects and tell me about the people who once handled them. She used this skill for me on several ancient Chinese artifacts that we found in Beijing. It's fascinating. I only hope that she can do the same thing with the wizard's atlas.”
“You can summon sprites? That's amazing,” Sylvie told him. “It sounds like a very useful ability.”
“At times,” he said with a little smile. “But the creatures who answer my call are often quite intelligent and need placating before they will do my bidding. I find myself acting more as a negotiator than a conjurer with some of them. It makes for some interesting exchanges, I can tell you.”
“Tell them about the phoenix who burned off your eyebrows,” his brother suggested with a chuckle.
Chao sighed loudly and gave the others a rueful smile.
“It wasn't his fault,” he told him. “Montrey wrongly assumed that I was fireproof. I mean, how was he to know?”
“You name your summoned creatures?” Veronique asked, sounding a little amused.
Lei made a wide-eyed gesture of caution at her but the mage didn't notice it. However, her smiled faded abruptly as Chao frowned at her.
“They are not pets, lady mage,” he replied coolly. “Most are sentient beings and have names of their own. Like Simon O'Toole, apparently, I am not a slave master. These creatures have become my friends, or at least my willing helpers. I would appreciate it if you did not denigrate them by thinking that they are servants or lesser creatures.”
“Easy there, Chao,” Liliana said as she stood up quickly to intervene. “I know Veronique well enough to know that she made an honest mistake. And you, sir, had best be less prickly when it comes to your powers.”
Her voice became stronger and more commanding.
“I know that it has only been you and your brother all alone these last few years, but I'd like to remind you that people say and do things that you are going to find trying occasionally. You will have to learn to let their statements pass without being offended, especially if what they said was an innocent mistake. All right?”
Veronique had sat quietly, open-mouthed in surprise at the man's response to her innocent question. But before she had a chance to turn that surprise into anger, Chao had risen and was bowing to her again, red-faced.
“Forgive me, lady. Liliana is correct. I am still rusty when it comes to the social graces and am so used to my brother's understanding of my summoned creatures that I assume everyone else understands them as well. Of course you do not. I humbly apologize for my outburst.”
Sylvie patted her sister's hand and Veronique forced herself to smile.
“Please sit down, Chao. Apology accepted and returned. I should have known better, having dealt with Simon and knowing how he treats his elemental helpers. Let's forget this ever happened and press on, shall we?”
“Well said,” her sister whispered and Veronique gave her hand a little squeeze.
“You are too kind, lady,” Chao told her as he sat down again. “I only hope that Ellas can actually help us in our search for the missing wizard.”
“We're about to find out,” a voice declared.
Everyone looked at the doorway in time to see Tamara walk in, followed by both Aeris and Kronk.
“Our two friends here,” she said with a glance at the elementals, “insisted on returning with me to see how our luck goes.”
She held up a large, thin book.
“The atlas,” she said and looked at Chao. “I hope that there's enough residual energy left in it, or whatever it is that is used by your sprite friend, to find Simon.”
The small man stood up and hurried around the table to take the book from her. He flipped through it quickly, nodded to himself and handed it back.
“As do I, lady. Please, take a seat. I will need some room for my work.”
Tamara returned to her chair and sat down next to her brother, who gave her a little wink.
Chao stood away from the table, in the wide space between it and the fireplace. He slipped the fan out of his sash and examined it briefly.
“Now,” he said as he opened the fan with a flourish. “Let us see what we can do.”
Chapter 8
The magic-users in the hall; Tamara, Sebastian, Sylvie and Veronique, watched with a sort of professional fascination as Chao began his summoning ritual. The others were riveted as well.
The conjurer chanted in a sing-song rhythm, speaking in a language that none of them had ever heard before.
“What's he saying?” Liliana whispered to Lei as she watched.
“It's a classic form of the Chinese language,” he murmured back. “It was spoken many centuries ago. Neither of us could speak or understand it before our Change. We could always speak Mandarin and we learned English in school, but this? It came out of nowhere.”
He smiled as he watched his brother work.
“I still don't understand more than a few words, but Chao is fluent. Apparently he needs to use this particular language in his summoning. Perhaps in the olden times, when magic was common, my people had summoners among them. Who can say? But it works and that is all that matters.”
Chao spun and moved in graceful patterns as he chanted, his fan weaving an intricate dance in the air around him. It began to glow and throw off sparks of intense green and some of those watching gasped in amazement.
The air became charged with static electricity. Malcolm glanced at Aiden and grinned. His partner's long straight hair was sticking up in all directions from the energy in the room.
Finally, Chao planted both of his feet in a wide stance and held up his fan. He beckoned with his free hand at something unseen and sang a final phrase. The watchers could only make out the word 'Ellas' in his speech and they waited in nervous anticipation.
Chao stood immobile, his face expressionless and his fan dripping with sparks. A sudden gust of wind whipped through the room, slapped everyone around their heads and faces and dissipated again.
“And here you are again, seeking my help,” a disembodied voice said.
It was very high-pitched and sounded like a mouse given the ability to speak.
“I am, Ellas,” Chao said in a friendly tone. “You know how much I value your talents.”
“I know how much you benefit from them, that is true,” the voice scoffed. “But where is the gain for me, hmm? What do I get out of this collaboration? Nothing! I exert myself every time I return to your wretched world and leave exhausted when I am done. Why should I continue this nonsense, tell me that!”
Liliana listened, concerned that this mysterious sprite appeared unwilling to help them, until Lei leaned closer and whispered in her ear.
“Chao goes through this with her every time,” he said with a small grin. “I'm convinced that it's a game they like to play. She pretends to be indifferent to him and he flatters and cajoles her until she reluctantly gives in and agrees to help, one last time. I've seen it played out a dozen times now, so don't worry; she will aid us in the end.”
“I hope you're right,” the paladin replied quietly. “Because, quite frankly, without her help we may never find Simon.”
They all watched and listened as Chao and the still-unseen Ellas continued with their verbal jousting; the sprite slowly allowing h
erself to be convinced to answer the man's call and the conjurer constantly flattering her. It was an enthralling exchange to witness.
“Fine then,” Ellas finally said with a dramatic sigh. “I will come to your aid, but this is the very last time! Never call upon me again; I am very busy with concerns of my own.”
Lei winked at Liliana.
“Told you so,” he muttered.
She smiled back and focused on his brother again.
Chao slipped his fan into his sash and then held up his hand, extending one finger as if waiting for a bird to land on it.
From the ceiling, a small oval formed, made of deep green light. A distant call of birds and strange, unidentified animals resounded around the room. And then the oval flashed brightly as a small creature flitted through it, moving in the same jerky, darting way that hummingbirds flew.
The hum of rapidly flapping wings accompanied the entrance of the sprite and the oval vanished as Ellas descended to land on Chao's finger.
“And here I am again, back in this drab, boring world,” she squeaked. “Ugh. How I allow you to talk me into this time after time is beyond me, human.”
The tiny figure of the sprite was beautiful enough to make some of those watching smile in delight. She looked like a tiny human woman, slim and delicate, with long greenish hair that swirled down to her waist. She was wearing a gown of silver and gold and growing out from between her shoulders were gorgeous wings that were as large and elaborate as those of a butterfly. She truly looked like a fairy out of a storybook.
“Oh, she's beautiful,” Sylvie exclaimed in delight.
The sprite looked around at her and flitted from Chao's finger across the room to hover in front of the mage.
“Do you really think so?” she asked coyly in her high-pitched voice. “Because you certainly are pretty, for a human that is.”
“Oh, I truly do,” Sylvie said sincerely. “You look like someone out of a tale and I am so happy that you have chosen to lend us your aid.”
Ellas looked delighted with the mage's compliments and turned around to look back at Chao.
“You see, human?” she said as she pointed at Sylvie. “If you were half as nice to me as this lovely lady here, I would not hesitate to answer your call.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two Page 128