“Whoever she was,” he mused as he stared into the dancing flames, “or whatever, if she was powerful enough to project an illusion through the wards around this tower, then I'm very worried. Was this being a human Changling? A godling like Lacertus? Or something entirely new? That is what we need to know first.”
“Why, master?”
“Because knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating them, Kronk,” Simon told the earthen. “You can't assess an enemy's weaknesses without know who they are. And as of right now, we are completely in the dark.”
“So what is our next step?” Aeris asked as the wizard carried the boiling kettle back to the counter.
“I'm not sure. I'm intrigued by this Ellas person that Elaine told me about; the sprite. Her powers might help us track down our mysterious new enemy.”
Simon rinsed out his cup and made some tea. His supply of coffee wasn't infinite and Kronk could always grow more chamomile.
The wizard moved over to his comfy chair in front of the fire and sat down with quiet delight. This is what he always missed the most when he was away from home; sitting in front of the fireplace with his friends on either side of him, chatting about whatever was on their minds.
Kronk hopped down from the table and up onto the right arm of the chair, while Aeris flew over to float on Simon's left.
“How could the sprite actually help us?” the air elemental wondered. “She needs a physical object to 'read' with her powers.”
Simon sipped his tea and watched the flames dance. It was both comforting and oddly hypnotic.
“Well, maybe she can't. But I'm hoping that whatever residue was left when that cursed stone exploded hasn't been washed away by some diligent member of the castle staff. Oh, speaking of which, I'd better call Tamara and mention that to her. Is it past midnight over in England yet?”
Aeris shook his head.
“Not yet, but it must be close. You need your mirror, don't you?”
“Yes please.”
“Hang on, I'll get it.”
He shot off toward the stairs and Simon looked down at Kronk.
“What do you think?” he asked simply.
“About what, master?”
“All of this, everything that's happened. You are a quiet observer, my friend. I've learned that much. Well, now it's time to put those observational skills to work and give me your opinion on where we stand in the world right now.”
“That is a big question, master,” Kronk replied.
He sat down on the edge of the chair arm, his stubbly little legs dangling.
“And I do not know if I have come to any conclusions yet. No, I must correct myself. There is something that I absolutely do know.”
“Which is?”
“That Argentium must be found before those dragon eggs hatch, and that the queen must be stopped, once and for all. She will be an eternal threat to mankind if she is left unchecked. And her madness makes her too unpredictable to guard against. The fight must be taken to her.”
“That's a tall order.”
“Yes master, it is. And old stories of her make a confrontation seem even more dangerous than a battle with one of her primal children.”
Simon put down his cup and stared at the little guy.
“More dangerous? How so?”
“She is reputedly almost impervious to magic, master. She can use the power in unknown ways, but it cannot be used against her to any great degree. Even spells that do harm to her are muted, made much less powerful by her magical strength. Perhaps it is related to her inability to fly, but the queen is reputedly almost as powerful as a godling like Lacertus.”
“Great,” the wizard said as he rubbed his tired eyes. “Wonderful. So that means that she has been attacked in the past?”
Kronk nodded.
“Oh yes, master, she had indeed. Many times, or so the oldest tales say. Great wizards, mighty paladins, even elves out of legend met her in battle. There were many songs sung by the bards of such conflicts. Sadly, none of the heroes ever returned from those meetings.”
Aeris flew back down the stairs carrying Simon's silver hand mirror. He gave it to the wizard and looked at both Simon and Kronk.
“Who died?” he asked. “You look like you've just had some bad news.”
“That's one way to put it. Kronk was just telling me about the legendary battles that were waged against the dragon queen, back in ancient times.”
“Ah yes, the old tales. There were a lot of them once.”
The air elemental moved back to float to Simon's left.
“The thing is that no one really took them seriously,” he said thoughtfully.
“Why not?”
“Because, my dear wizard, the queen was more of a myth, even back then, than a reality. Remember that she existed long before mankind did. And she was sent deep into the Earth to sleep by the dark gods. We don't even know when that happened. Were there really ever battles between the queen and men? Or did the singers simply make such stories up out of whole cloth? Who can say?”
Simon picked up his cup and drank the last of his tea.
“So the tales about her being immune to magic might not be true?”
Aeris frowned at Kronk.
“You told him that? Kronk, those are just stories. I thought you only dealt in facts.”
The little guy shrugged.
“It is always better to overestimate your foes than to take them for granted, you know.”
“Pfft, where did you hear that drivel?” Aeris scoffed.
Kronk pointed at Simon.
“From our master. Before his battles against the primals began.”
“Oh,” Aeris exclaimed. “Um, well then, that seems like sound advice, I suppose.”
Simon burst out laughing.
“He got you,” he said with a grin at the air elemental's expression. “I don't remember saying that, exactly, but it is good advice. Finding out that your opponent is more powerful than you'd planned for once you enter into battle is a recipe for failure. I knew that back in the old days before my Change and it still holds true today.”
He held up the mirror and stared into it.
“Let's talk about this later. Right now I want to speak to Tamara. Hopefully I won't be waking her up. She gets a bit testy when she's overtired.”
Chapter 25
Tamara wasn't sleeping. In fact, she was fully dressed and walking the high walls of the castle when Simon reached her.
He looked in the mirror at her in surprise, watching her robe whip around her body in the brisk wind. He could barely see the woman's face in the darkness; all he could make out was a pale blur.
“Tamara? Are you okay?”
The mage stopped at the sound of his voice and, as Simon watched, she made a gesture and muttered a few words.
A magical light globe appeared above her outstretched hand and rose to float serenely over her head, untouched by the winds.
“Simon, hi there,” Tamara said, her face suddenly appearing out of the darkness. “How are you?”
She looks exhausted, was the wizard's first concerned thought. The burden of leadership, I suppose.
“You can see my image? Good. And I'm fine, thanks. How are you? I was afraid that I'd be waking you up at this time of night.”
The mage shook her head and turned to lean on the parapet that ran along the outside edge of the wall. It rose to her waist and she looked out into the darkness as she spoke.
“I don't sleep very well these days,” she admitted. “Somehow I've ended up being responsible for the well-being of several hundred people and it weighs on me sometimes.”
She frowned at a thought and then shook her head.
“Imagine that. Me, the least sociable person that you could ever meet. You know, back in the old days I had very few friends because I was always considered to be cold or distant or, occasionally, a bitch.” She shrugged. “Not that it bothered me. Sebastian was always there, almost like the embodiment of
everything that I wasn't. Warm, loving, popular.”
Simon watched her silently, wondering where this sudden revelation was coming from. Tamara was always so closed off and guarded that this side of her was something he'd never seen before.
“You know, it would have been easy for me, his older sister, to have resented him,” she continued as she stared off into the night. “Or even hated him, as horrible as that sounds. He was our parents' favorite; he always had load of friends. All of that. But he has always been so supportive to me. And always unaffected by his own popularity. Isn't that odd? I honestly believe that Sebastian still, to this day, does not know the effect he has on others. Have you noticed how he can light up a room just by walking into it?”
“I have,” Simon replied with a smile. “It's a gift that has always amazed me. I was never popular back in the day either, you know.”
Tamara turned around and leaned back against the parapet.
“Really? You? But Simon, you are the kindest, most generous person I know; next to my brother, of course. And, don't get the wrong idea when I say this, but you aren't exactly hard on the eyes either.”
The wizard looked away from the mirror, feeling uncomfortable at the compliment, only to be met by the amused gaze of Aeris.
“You really are as cute as a button,” the elemental whispered with a snicker.
Kronk glared at him while Simon rolled his eyes and mouthed 'shut up' before looking back at Tamara.
“I may be better looking than I once was,” he admitted to her, “but after spending most of my sixty plus years as a very large, bald and, at best, plain-looking man, my appearance today is irrelevant to me. I am happy to have hair again though.”
The mage laughed, her somber mood obviously improved.
“Good to hear. What is it about the midnight hour that encourages soulful confessions, I wonder? Anyway, enough of that. What can I do for you, my friend?”
Simon explained his idea about having Ellas try to 'read' the remains of the cursed stone. Tamara stood up alertly and her eyes went wide.
“Why the hell didn't I think of that? Simon, that's brilliant. Follow me; I'm going to see if that sooty spot is still there.”
“I'm with you,” he replied.
She hurried off and the wizard watched as she trotted past several surprised-looking guards who were on patrol and made her way down the stairs off of the wall.
Her trip through the echoing, maze-like corridors of the castle didn't take long and, when she entered the main hall a few minutes later, it was to find it empty. A fire still flickered in the hearth, although it was burning low, and Tamara sent her mage light ahead to illuminate the floor between the fireplace and the conference table.
“It was here somewhere,” she muttered as she scanned the wooden floor. “But where? Surely if someone had washed it, the char mark would still be visible, wouldn't it?”
“I would assume so,” Simon agreed.
She dropped down to her hands and knees and the mage light obligingly descended to float a few inches off of the ground.
“Aha! There you are,” she exclaimed after a few minutes of searching. “Simon? Can you see it?”
He peered into the mirror, Aeris looking over his shoulder, and spotted the smudge. It was black but no larger than a quarter; easy to miss on the dark brown wood of the floor.
“I see it. Has it been cleaned?”
“No, it hasn't.”
Tamara's nose was almost touching the mark and Simon suppressed a giggle at the mage's rather undignified position.
“I can still see some grains of sooty material on top of the spot. Excellent.”
She pushed herself up and the globe of light followed suit.
“Okay, I'm going to go and fetch Chao. Hopefully I won't wake him. Are you up for a trip back here? If not, don't worry about it; you can watch from there.”
“Oh no, I want to see this in person. I've never seen a sprite before; they sound amazing. I'll get changed and be there in twenty minutes.”
“Excellent. See you then, “ the mage said with a smile.
Simon canceled his spell and stood up.
“I'd better get out of this old thing,” he told Aeris and Kronk as he looked down at the robe he was wearing. “It's comfy but not exactly dignified.”
He walked over to the stairs and the air elemental picked up his cup and took it to the sink.
“Now he's worried about his dignity?” he muttered to Kronk.
Simon appeared in the main hall of Nottinghill Castle at almost the same time as the Zhang brothers. He had decided to bring Kronk along and left a disappointed Aeris behind to watch over the tower. Naturally the air elemental had complained bitterly.
Chao and Lei were just entering the hall from a small side door when the wizard materialized and both froze in place and stared at him, wide-eyed.
“Gentlemen,” Simon said with a smile.
He walked over to them and extended a hand.
“We finally get to meet,” he continued. “I'm sorry but I should have said hello before I left the other day. I'm Simon O'Toole.
Instead of taking his hand, both of the men bowed formally and held the bow until Simon awkwardly copied them.
Chao then straightened up first and shook his hand warmly.
“It is a tremendous honor, sir wizard,” he said in his soft voice. “We owe you so much and have wanted to thank you in person for finding us in Beijing.”
“My brother speaks for me as well,” Lei said as he in turn shook the wizard's hand. “We actually began to think that we were the last two people left on Earth, if you can believe it.”
Simon smiled and gestured toward the conference table.
“Let's grab a seat. And yes, I can totally believe that. I felt the same way back in the early days after the Night of Burning.”
The three of them sat down and Simon shook his head at the old memory.
“In fact, Kronk can tell you how worried I was on a daily basis that the black dragon who had been the first monster to attack my home city would swoop down on my tower and destroy me.”
The earthen had hopped up on to the table and stood next to the wizard. Now he nodded in confirmation.
“My master speaks the truth,” Kronk said. “Even after he first summoned me, two years after the end of your civilization, he was constantly expecting another attack.” He looked at Simon. “In fact, I do not know to this day how you avoided being tracked down by the drakes, master.”
“Neither do I. Dumb luck? The favor of the gods? Who knows.”
“If I may interject, sir wizard,” Chao said politely. “I believe it was for the same reason that my brother and I, and the other people living here now, survived.”
Simon stared at him in surprise.
“You know why the drakes didn't finish us all off?”
“An educated guess, sir, nothing more.”
The slight man held up his hands and looked at them.
“It was the Change,” he said as he rotated his hands and looked at his palms. “This person who you see before you is nothing like the man I was. Neither is my brother. And I suspect that you are not either, sir wizard. But beyond our physical appearance, our bodily structure was altered at the molecular level. In point of fact, I do not believe that any of us are, strictly speaking, human anymore.”
“What?” Simon asked weakly. “Not human?”
Chao smiled at his stunned expression.
“Strictly speaking. We are, of course, an offshoot of homo sapiens; a mutation, if you will. But not human. The drakes were sent by their primal dragons to hunt down mundane human beings. We are anything but that.”
“Well, that's an interesting theory,” Simon said hesitantly. “And not one that had occurred to me. I'll have to give it some thought.”
Lei patted his brother on the shoulder, a proud expression on his face.
“He's always been the smart one,” he told the wizard. “Thinking, thinking; that
's Chao.”
Chao snorted and glanced at Lei.
“It is, as our friend here just said, only a theory.”
“What's a theory?”
Simon turned to look at the main entrance. Tamara was just entering behind her brother. Each of them carried a tray holding a silver urn, along with crocks of honey and cups and spoons.
“Hey Simon,” Sebastian said with a grin. “How are you? You're looking so much better than you were a couple of days ago.”
He put the tray down in the middle of the table and moved aside for his sister to do the same with hers.
“I'm good, Bastian. Thanks. Sorry if our little experiment woke you up.”
The mage shook his head and pointed at Tamara.
“It wasn't your experiment,” he said with a good-natured chuckle. “It was my heartless sister. And I had just drifted off too.”
Tamara glared at him and he just looked back with a broad smile.
“Don't you blame me,” she said irritably. “If I hadn't told you about it and went ahead without you, I would have heard nothing but complaints for the next week.”
She looked at Simon and the Zhang brothers.
“Help yourselves,” she said with a nod at the trays. “We made tea to help us all stay alert.”
Everyone poured themselves a cup and Simon took the opportunity to light all of the candles and torches in the room with a single thought. While Tamara and Sebastian just smiled appreciatively, Chao and Lei gasped in surprise.
“That is a truly wonderful talent,” Chao said excitedly. “And I didn't even hear an incantation.”
“My master is an elementalist,” Kronk spoke up proudly. “He has a gift when it comes to working with all four of the elements.”
He smiled fondly up at Simon.
“And with elementals.”
The wizard winked at him and looked at the brothers.
“It's handy, I'll admit, but it really is nothing more than that. I certainly can't set anything non-flammable on fire with my mind. If I could have,” he added grimly, “that damned goblin wizard would have gone up in a ball of flames as soon as I saw him.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two Page 151