The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6)

by J. J. Thompson

  “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 ladder 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.

&nb
sp; 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.”

  Kronk looked startled but nodded quickly in agreement.

  “Good thought, master. Galder and his people need to be prepared.”

  “Exactly. Do you think that I should go myself or send Aeris?”

  The earthen hopped down off of the wall and tip-tapped across the roof to stand closer to Simon.

  “You need to work on that instruction booklet for the Defiant's mages, master, if you don't mind me saying so. I think that sending Aeris would be fine. He can certainly express the gravity of the situation to the bear people, and they already know him.”

  “Oh right. That booklet. Okay, I'll do that.”

  They bid Brethia a good night and headed down to the study again.

  “Any idea where Aeris is?” Simon asked the earthen.

  Kronk grinned and gave him a wink.

  “He is dusting the storage rooms in the cellar,” he said in a low voice. “It is that time of the month and, even though he hates it, Aeris is conscientious when it comes to that sort of thing.”

  Simon laughed in surprise.

  “Is he? Well then, I have a feeling he'll be thrilled to get an assignment that gets him out of cleaning. Could you ask him to come up? I don't want to summon him; that clap of thunder will just give me a headache.”

  “Of course, master. It will only take a minute.”

  The little guy hurried out of the room and Simon sat down at his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a sheathe of papers.

  A quick scan showed him where he had left off and he took out a pencil and began writing.

  He quickly became lost in his tutorial and jerked upright when someone cleared his throat.

  Aeris was floating a few feet away, watching him with an amused expression.

  “You called, oh magnificent one?” he said and bowed so low that he somersaulted in midair.

  Simon snorted a laugh.

  “Cute. Yes, I called. Where's Kronk?”

  “He offered to finish my sweeping. Apparently you have another task in mind for me?”

  “I do.”

  Simon sat back and stretched. He yawned and settled more comfortably into his chair.

  “It occurred to me that our new furry friends to the south should be warned about the possible threat from Ottawa. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind heading down there and giving them that message?”

  Aeris' eyes lit up and, seeing his delight, Simon decided to tease him a bit.

  “Of course if you're too busy, I can Gate down and tell them...”

  “No, no, no,” Aeris said hastily. “You're obviously deep in your instruction manual and I wouldn't want you to get distracted. It's very important for the people of the Defiant, after all. No, I'll tear myself away from my many other duties to carry your warning for you.”

  Simon clamped his lips together tightly to keep from laughing and nodded silently.

  “Excellent. I'll leave now while it's still daylight. See you soon.”

  Aeris vanished and Simon chuckled as he went back to his writing.

  Completing the manual took the better part of the evening. It was well past midnight when Simon finished proofreading the final ten pages and dropped his pencil.

  He rubbed his face and ran his fingers through his hair. It hung down below his shoulders now and felt oddly comforting.

  Simon straightened the pile of papers and stood up. He weaved a bit and stood still until he had found his balance again. Oddly enough he was exhausted but not sleepy and decided to head downstairs for a last cup of tea.

  Kronk had begun his usual patrol of the outer wall with his fellow earthen and Aeris still hadn't returned, so the tower was quiet as the wizard walked down the stairs. The building creaked and settled around him as a brisk wind blew past outside and Simon shivered at its mournful sound.

  He crossed the main floor to the fireplace, added several small pieces of wood to the low-burning flames and stood watching the fire until it began burning brightly again. It was always comforting late at night to have a fire blazing in the hearth.

  “Primitive man at his best,” he said out loud with a self-mocking smile.

  He went over to the sink and began pumping water into his kettle.

  “Sir wizard, sir wizard!” someone said urgently from behind him.

  Simon spun around to see Orriss come flying down the stairs. He put down the kettle and stared at the air elemental.

  “What is it?”

  Orriss shot across the room and stopped a few feet away from the wizard, his eyes wide. He looked more confused than frightened.

  “My lord, please come up to the roof. I have spotted...something flying high in the air to the east, perhaps as far away as that ruined city, but I don't know what it is. You must see it and decide for yourself.”

  “Um, okay. Lead the way.”

  Simon forgot about his fatigue as they rushed upstairs. He was confused by the elemental's report. All of these lookouts were ancient beings. If Orriss saw something that he couldn't identify, that was very troubling.

  The wizard climbed up the ladder to the roof. Orriss had left the trapdoor open and he pulled himself up and out.

  The stars were blazing in their velvet mantle and the chilly night wind whipped his hair around as he joined Orriss on the east side of the roof.

  “There, sir wizard,” the air elemental said and pointed.

  He was glowing with a dim light and Simon had no trouble following his extended arm.

  Something was gliding across the sky in the distance. It was flying at a great height and blazed with a horrible purple fire. It left a trail of light as it moved in large circles and Simon guessed that Orriss had been correct; it could very well be flying over the ruins of Ottawa.

  “What the hell is that?” he wondered aloud.

  “I have no idea,” Orriss replied. �
��I have never seen something of that color that could fly. Magic, sir?”

  “I'd say so, but what kind? That purple is ominous though, isn't it?”

  “Yes, my lord. It is.”

  They stood atop the windy tower and watched the point of light swoop and circle in the blackness for a long time. Finally it seemed to just fade out and disappear and the pair exchanged a puzzled look.

  “Well, I have no clue about whatever that was,” Simon told the elemental.

  He leaned on the parapet and shivered. The night had gotten cold now and the wind made it even worse.

  “Neither do I, sir wizard. I will continue my watch. If I see it again, should I report it?”

  Simon folded his arms and hugged them close to his chest.

  “No, not unless it approaches us. Just make sure to report any more sightings to Brethia when she comes to relieve you. I have to get indoors before I catch pneumonia.”

  Orriss looked concerned.

  “Of course, my lord. Please do. We cannot risk your health. I will report any anomalies and sound the alarm if I spot any dangers.”

  “Thanks Orriss. Good night.”

  “Good night, sir wizard.”

  Simon climbed back inside and felt immediate relief as the warmth of the tower wrapped itself around him. Between his exhaustion and the cold night air, he suddenly felt very ill and gave up on the idea of tea. All he wanted to do was to slip into bed and try to feel warm again.

  “I hate this.”

  “Well, so do I, my dear wizard. Especially since you are just so kind and sociable when you're sick. Now take this tea before it gets cold, please.”

  Simon was sitting up in bed with his blanket tucked in around him. His pillows supported his back and he looked sourly at Aeris, who was offering him a steaming cup.

  “Where's Kronk?” he asked petulantly as he accepted the cup.

  “Doing his chores, of course. Why, did you want him here to wait on you hand and foot?”

  Simon stared at Aeris. The elemental sounded even more sarcastic than usual, bordering on angry.

  “What's wrong with you?” he asked pointedly after drinking some tea. “You're angry about something.”