“Now don't overdo it, sir wizard,” Clara said sternly. “I'm sure you still have a ways to go before you recover all of your former skills.”
Simon rolled his eyes while watching Kronk.
“Don't worry. My friend here won't allow me to overextend myself. He's quite the little disciplinarian when it comes to me working too hard on my magic.”
Kronk nodded, looking suspiciously smug.
“Good to know,” Clara said with a chuckle. “Well, you have a good evening, Simon, and hopefully we'll talk soon.”
“You as well, my friend. Take care.”
Simon canceled the spell, sat back and stared at the fire while he drank his tea.
“All is well with the cleric and her people?” Kronk asked.
“Hmm? Oh yeah, they're good.”
Simon passed on the news of the newest members of Clara's town and the little guy looked pleased.
“I'm glad that they have some protectors again, master,” he said as he stood near the fire. “The world is becoming a very dangerous place.”
“No kidding,” Simon agreed. “I hope that Aeris is being careful on his scouting trip. I have a feeling that we've barely scratched the surface when it comes to the evil that is lurking out there on the New Earth.”
Simon waited two days before getting in touch with Aeris. The garden was finished and now he just had to wait for warmer weather before he and Kronk started planting.
The horses were running by the lakeside late in the afternoon, while Simon sat on the shore and watched, when he decided to call Aeris.
He invoked the Magic Mouth spell easily and lay back on his elbows on the new grass.
“Aeris? Can you hear me?”
There was a pause and Simon watched the horses run and dodge as they played along the water.
“Ah, my dear wizard, there you are.”
“Here I am. So how's it going? Find any sign of people yet?”
“Unfortunately not. But I've found a few other disturbing signs that I wanted to talk to you about.”
Simon sat up and hunched forward. Aeris' tone was unusually serious.
“Signs? Of what?”
“Well, I've stumbled across several small homes here and there, I believe you used to call them cottages?”
The wizard looked at the tower over his shoulder. It had started off as a small cottage once upon a time.
“Yes, cottages. And?”
“And each of them has been razed to the ground.”
Simon stared blankly across the lake, seeing Aeris' face in his mind.
“Razed? How?”
“Fire. All of them have been burned to their foundations. And in some of the ruins, I've found human remains.”
“Oh damn,” Simon muttered. “Is there any chance that they were destroyed by the dragon or its drakes before it was killed?”
“I'm afraid not,” Aeris answered with certainty. “The ashes were dry, not soaked by the snows over the winter. And one of them was still smoldering when I discovered it. In fact, it was a narrow stream of smoke that drew my attention to the ruin in the first place.”
Simon stood up and slowly began to walk along the shore. He reached down, snapped off a stalk of grass and began sucking on it thoughtfully.
“So what's your assessment of the situation? What do you think is happening?”
“Well, until I find evidence to the contrary, I believe that a lot more people survived the return of the dragons than we ever suspected. Some were undoubtedly mundane humans, others were Changlings. Perhaps some of these destroyed homes contained both. Who can say? Bones are just bones, after all.”
The wizard winced at the mental picture that comment conjured up.
“Anyway,” Aeris continued, “I believe that someone or something is systematically killing any survivors it can find. As I said, not all of the homes I found were inhabited, so it looks like all structures are being destroyed indiscriminately, perhaps in the hopes of catching anyone who is hiding. It's very brutal and quite efficient.”
“Damn it,” Simon said to himself. “There aren't enough of us as it is. And now something is trying to kill the survivors off?”
He stopped and crouched down to pick up a handful of pebbles. He tossed them one at a time into the clear water.
“It has to be an agent of the dark gods,” he told Aeris. “They have to kill off all of humanity before they can return, so it makes sense that this is their doing.”
Aeris was slow to answer and Simon waited, a little perplexed.
“You don't agree?” he finally asked.
“Well, I don't disagree, my dear wizard. But we mustn't be too hasty attributing all of the world's evils to just the gods of Chaos. There were cruel people in your old world long before the gods returned.”
“Hmm, that is true.”
“Anyway, I have a feeling that I will discover the culprit soon enough. The ruins have been fresher the further I travel, so I may just catch up to whatever is doing this in the next few days.”
Simon stood up, alarmed.
“Be careful, Aeris,” he said forcefully. “You have no idea what these destroyers are capable of. If they are magic-users, you could be in real danger.”
“How nice to hear that you care,” Aeris replied with just a hint of his usual sarcasm. “But don't worry, my dear wizard,” he continued more seriously. “I am moving invisibly and very high above the ground. I am taking no chances, believe me.”
“Well, that's good to know,” Simon said. He felt a little relieved at the elemental's caution. “I should have had Kronk make a lodestone for you so that you could contact me when needed.”
“And where exactly would I put it?” Aeris answered with some amusement. “Elementals don't come with pockets, Simon.”
The wizard laughed in spite of himself.
“Right. Okay. Well look, I'm going to get in touch every day from now on, just in case.”
“Oh goody,” Aeris replied.
“Stop that,” Simon said. “It's just for my own peace of mind. So I'll talk to you tomorrow. Watch yourself.”
“I always do,” the elemental told him.
Simon canceled the spell and stood looking across the lake at the remnants of an old cottage that had been built there years ago.
What could be out there hunting down humans?
Chapter 13
True to his word, Simon got in touch with Aeris every day for the next week, usually late in the afternoon. The elemental reported that he had found several more burned houses, always remote residences that had probably been cottages back in the old days. Each one was a more recent ruin than the last, but so far he hadn't encountered whatever was destroying them.
The wizard was becoming increasingly anxious the longer Aeris was away. According to the elemental, he was over a hundred miles to the southwest now and Simon had decided that the next time they spoke, he would recall Aeris, whether he wanted to return or not.
Something that far away wasn't an immediate threat anyway. Or so he hoped.
One thing that had cheered him up was that he had finally cast the Gate spell for the first time in months. Kronk had fussed over him and insisted that he only try to transport himself from one side of the field in front of the tower to the other.
Simon actually agreed that the first cast should be a short-range attempt. He remembered the first time he had cast the spell a year ago. He had ended up in mid-air and had broken his leg when he'd hit the ground. It wasn't something that he wanted to repeat.
After a light breakfast, just tea because he was too nervous to eat, Simon headed outside with his spell-book. He left his staff inside. He was a bit afraid that Bene-Dunn-Gal would overpower the spell and send him headfirst into a tree.
Kronk had opened the main gates earlier and the wizard walked out on to the field, looking for the best spot to begin.
“Over here, master,” Kronk called out. He was standing at the edge of the forest across from the tower.
Simon waved and hurried over to meet him.
“This is where you should cast the spell, master,” the little guy told him.
Simon looked around, mystified.
“Why here?”
Kronk pointed at the tower.
“Because, master, if you aim for the space between the gates and overshoot, you won't slam into anything.”
“Overshoot?” Simon hadn't considered that. “Hmm, good point. Okay, let's try that.”
“You are ready, are you not, master?” Kronk asked doubtfully.
“Of course I'm ready,” Simon assured him, trying to reassure himself at the same time. “Why don't you head on over? I'll meet you there in a few minutes.”
I hope, he thought anxiously.
Kronk skittered away while Simon opened his spell-book and found the Gate spell. It was just as complex as it had always been, but now he could hold it in his mind for more than a few minutes.
He read through the incantation twice, slipped the book into his robe and took a deep breath.
“Okay, wizard,” he said under his breath. “Don't screw this up.”
He spoke the magical words in a strong, sure voice, stared at the spot that he wanted to move to and, with mixed feelings of both fear and exhilaration, ended with the word of command.
“Invectis!”
A massive force slammed into him between his shoulder blades and Simon felt his body fly forward. The world blurred around him and then...he was standing next to Kronk and looking down at him with a broad smile.
“Ta-da,” he said in a shaky voice.
“Master, you did it!” the little guy said. He sounded more relieved than pleased.
“I did, didn't I?”
Simon ran his fingers through his hair and wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead. His knees were shaking and he felt weak and light-headed.
“You look a little pale, master,” Kronk said as he stared up at him. “Perhaps you should sit down?”
“No, I'm fine,” the wizard said. He took a tottering step and then reconsidered. “Then again, maybe I will sit for a minute.”
He lowered himself carefully and sat down on the warm grass. He lay back on his elbows and just breathed deeply.
Kronk settled down beside him. Simon snuck a look at the elemental and saw the look of concern on his face.
“I'm fine, my friend. Really. And before you say anything, yes, I know that I have to move carefully with this spell.”
He thought about the complexity of the Gate spell.
“This incantation takes me to the next level, I guess. If I get this right, that means that I'll be able to tackle the really useful spells like Lightning Storm and Meteor soon.”
He lay back and closed his eyes.
“I'm afraid that we're going to need those spells soon, Kronk. If Aeris runs into something big and nasty, master-class spells may be the only thing that will stop it.”
“I understand, master,” the elemental said softly. “But you are just one person. You can only do your best. You can't save the world.”
Simon shivered. Kronk's statement echoed in his mind like prophecy. He opened his eyes and stared at the small, worried face beside him.
“Maybe not,” he said with a knot of fear in his belly. “But the powers that be may be expecting me to try.”
The wizard had to sleep for a few hours after casting the Gate spell. He was frustrated at his body's weakness but knew that pushing it would lead to a setback, something that he couldn't risk.
When he woke again, Simon ate a snack and then walked outside and around the tower to the lake. Early dragonflies flitted above its calm surface and he sat on the shore and watched their flashes of blue and purple with a sense of joy.
Spring, he thought. Man, I've missed you.
Then he chanted the Magic Mouth spell while watching the sun flickering on the water.
“Aeris? Are you there?”
“Simon! Wait a minute.”
The wizard sat up, wide-eyed. The air elemental had been whispering; a first for him.
“What's going on?” he asked quickly.
There was a long moment of silence and Simon waited anxiously for Aeris to respond.
“Okay, I'm here,” the elemental finally answered in a more normal voice. “Sorry about that. I had to get some distance away from them before I could speak out loud.”
“Away from them? From whom?”
“Changlings, Simon.”
“Changlings?” The wizard frowned. “What are you talking about? I'm a Changling.”
Aeris laughed humorlessly.
“Not a Changling like you and Clara and the others. These creatures are monsters. I ran into a pack of them earlier today. They are the ones who are hunting humans.”
Simon's blood ran cold. He couldn't help but remember Sarah and the other Changlings that he'd run into in Ottawa. They had kept their bodies swathed in heavy robes to hide whatever they had turned into.
“What kind of monsters are we talking about?” he asked.
“They are each different,” Aeris told him. “Hideous amalgams of scales and claws. Some are immense, ten feet tall or more. One is more like a wolf covered in spines. A few have more than four limbs. They are horrors, my dear wizard.”
“How many?”
“At least twenty in this pack alone. But I've come across several trails that meet and separate, leading me to believe that there are a lot more than that.”
Simon stood up and began to pace along the lake shore.
“So let me understand this. There are packs of monstrous Changlings roaming the countryside killing humans indiscriminately? What the hell is that about?”
“I have no idea. But they are not mindless. They speak to each other in some language that I do not know. I saw them attack a small home and one of them, the leader I assume, had the pack surround the structure before they attacked. They are organized. Fortunately there was no one inside. And then another creature cast a spell and set the structure on fire.”
Simon stopped so quickly he almost tripped.
“Hang on a minute. You saw one cast a spell?”
“I did. That is the truly frightening thing about them. They are spell-casters, or at least some of them are. As far as I know, the only other Changlings who can use magic are yourself, Clara and the four youngsters we saved last year. And that's it. But here we see that the Changlings who were mutated into monsters can also cast spells. It worries me, my dear wizard, I must admit.”
Simon continued his walk around the lake, staring at the ground and thinking hard as he went.
“It worries me too. Is that why we have found so few Changlings who are human? Because a lot more Changed into those things?”
“Frightening thought, isn't it?”
“That's an understatement.”
Simon stopped near the remains of the old cottage and looked across the lake at his tower. The white stone building gleamed in the bright sunlight. He felt a sudden sense of grief at the thought of innocent people being twisted by the dark gods into monstrous creatures.
“Simon? What do you want me to do?”
“Are you in any danger?”
“Not at the moment. Apparently none of these creatures can see me when I'm invisible, and I've been keeping well behind and above them.”
“You mean there are things that can see you when you're invisible?” Simon asked with some surprise.
“Very few. Usually only high-level magic-users and only when they cast the See Invisible spell. The monsters here may be casters, but they are crude and don't seem to have much skill, really.”
“Good to know.”
The wizard leaned on a tree, its leaves just emerging from buds, and looked at the sad remnants of the old cottage. He'd never met the people who had once owned the little building. Who had they been? Why had they abandoned this pretty little spot? His mind wandered for a bit.
“Simon? Are you still there?”
He blinked
rapidly and pushed away from the tree.
“Sorry,” he said. “I was just thinking. Okay, I'm going to leave this up to you. If you feel safe enough to follow them for a day or two to see if we can figure out exactly why they're hunting down humans, then go ahead. If not, I can summon you back home right now.”
Simon waited for Aeris to make a decision and began to walk back around the lake at the same time.
“I think I'll keep watching them, at least for now,” Aeris finally replied. He didn't exactly sound thrilled with his choice. “But I get a very bad feeling from these creatures, so I think that I'll only stay on their trail one more night and then return tomorrow.”
The wizard felt some relief at Aeris' decision.
“Good. I'll call you tomorrow morning and summon you back then.”
“That's fine. Don't be late with that call, my dear wizard. I really don't like being around these monsters.”
“I won't be. Be damned careful, Aeris.”
“I will be, Simon, believe me.”
The wizard canceled the spell and made his way thoughtfully back to the tower, considering the information that he had received.
Kronk and Simon talked about these new Changlings later that night in front of the fire. The wizard noted with some amusement that their nightly chats by the fireplace had become a routine. He appreciated the sense of normalcy it gave to his life.
After he had told Kronk everything that Aeris had seen, Simon waited while the little guy digested the information. You didn't try to hurry the earthen. His thoughts were slow and deliberate, but he almost always came up with interesting responses to problems.
“Do you think it is possible that those Changlings you met in Ottawa are part of the pack of creatures that Aeris is following, master?” he finally asked.
Simon looked at him, wide-eyed. Such a thing hadn't occurred to him.
“Why? Do you?”
Kronk shrugged, a quick motion of his shoulders.
“I do not know, master. But if they were evolving into something, I suppose that it is possible.”
The fire snapped and sparked and Simon watched an ember jump up and flare for an instant before falling back into ash.
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 59