Tales from the New Earth: Volume One

by Thompson, J. J.

  “So how long was I...gone?” he asked Aeris after a few minutes.

  “How long? Well now, that is a good question,” the elemental replied with a frown. “Time means nothing in the elemental plane, you know. But I would hazard a guess and say perhaps a week, possibly two.”

  “Two weeks? Good grief, how is that possible?”

  “How is it possible that you are sitting here alive and well?” Aeris responded with a shrug. “It is a time of miracles, it seems. Now, once Kronk returns, you really must get some sleep. You are barely able to sit upright in that chair, my dear wizard. Whatever you have been through has obviously been traumatic and your body needs time to rest and grow stronger.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I need to find out how Sunshine and the others are doing. I also have to get in touch with Clara, Daniel, Liliana...”

  He reached up and tiredly ran a hand over his head. One thing that hadn't regrown during his accelerated growth period earlier was his hair. It was maybe a half inch long now and he felt light-headed and naked without it.

  “You know, you look even younger without that mane of yours,” Aeris told him, amused, as he watched Simon stroke his short hair. “And your white streaks are gone. I will admit, I am dying to hear your story.”

  “Later,” the wizard said. “I'm still trying to work the whole thing out for myself.” He watched the fire burn for a moment. “There is so much to do but I'm limited by my weakness right now. It's going to get frustrating very quickly, I think.”

  “Yes and we all know how much of a joy you are to be around when you're sulking.”

  “What? I don't sulk!”

  Aeris looked at him knowingly and quirked up an eyebrow.

  “You don't?”

  Simon frowned and then had to reluctantly turn it into a sheepish smile.

  “Okay, maybe I do once in a while; a little. But I'm worried about, well, everyone really. The problem is that I think if I tried to cast a Magic Mirror spell, I'd probably pass out.”

  “Exactly why you aren't going to do that,” Aeris said firmly. “You will need a few days of constant nourishment and rest before you cast even the simplest of spells. Luckily for all of us, recalling an elemental that you've previously summoned takes very little magical power.”

  “Fortunately for me.”

  Almost an hour passed before Kronk returned. The door banged open, he hurried in and slammed it firmly behind him. A bitter wind momentarily raced around the room and started Simon shaking again.

  “Good news, master!” the little guy exclaimed as he scurried across the floor. “The horses were inside when I got there. Chief had broken open the door and they had been leaving the stable to use the snow around the tower for water.”

  “Did they have enough food?” Simon asked anxiously. “How's Sunshine?”

  “They were on the last of their hay, master, but I have fed them now and they seem to be happy. And the mare is fine.”

  He paused a moment and then smiled widely.

  “And so is her foal,” he said dramatically.

  Simon gaped at him.

  “She gave birth? Oh my God! How is she? How's the baby?”

  “Mother and daughter are both doing well, master. The filly is the picture of Sunshine, yellow coat and all.” He chuckled. “Chief seems very proud of himself.”

  “I'll bet he does,” the wizard said with a broad grin. He started to get up, hesitated, and then sat down again with a thump.

  “I don't think I'm up to paying them a visit just yet. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Good idea,” Aeris said approvingly. “Don't push yourself if you don't have to. Baby steps, my dear wizard.”

  Simon had to laugh at that and the two elementals exchange confused glances.

  “I said something funny?” Aeris asked.

  “You did, actually, but you won't understand until I tell you how I got back. And,” he stood up cautiously, “that is going to have to wait. I need to get some sleep. Kronk,” he said as he walked toward the stairs. “Would you double-check the wall and the gates, please? Tomorrow I'll recall your earthen friends to keep watch again.”

  “Of course, master. I was going to do that anyway.”

  “I'll join him,” Aeris offered and smiled at Kronk. “I feel no imminent storms, but better safe than sorry.”

  Simon stood at the bottom of the stairs and caught his breath. He'd never realized just how steep they were.

  “Thanks, both of you. And thanks for the help today. If it wasn't for you, I'm quite sure I would have died. Again.”

  “No master, you would not,” Kronk stated. “You are very resourceful. You would have survived, somehow.”

  Aeris remained silent, only raising a skeptical eyebrow at the earthen's statement.

  “I appreciate the loyalty, my friend,” the wizard said affectionately. “But I think you're wrong. Anyway, if I can actually make the climb, I'm going to bed. Wake me up if a dragon comes knocking. Other than that, please let me sleep.”

  “We will, master,” Kronk said. He moved across the room to stand at the bottom of the steps, watching Simon climb up slowly.

  When the wizard reached the second floor, he looked down and saw the little guy nodding his approval. He winked and headed for his bedroom. Sleep had never seemed so attractive and he was unconscious as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  Chapter 19

  Simon slept long and deep and didn't wake up until midday. When he did, he simply lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. He was going through his memories of the last several days and, the more he thought about them, the less any of it made sense.

  He raised his hands and stared at them in the bright sunlight streaming through the frosted windows.

  A new body, he thought. How about that.

  He wiggled his fingers, balled his hands into fists, opened them again and looked at his palms.

  The skin was pale and pinkish, but the weirdest part was that there were hardly any lines on his palms. A faint heart line and life line, but that was about it.

  “I really am a blank slate,” he said softly and then he thought of the mother of this body; that tragically lonely, brave, desperate woman who had passed away without knowing if her child would live or die.

  “I'll never be able to thank you enough,” he said to her memory. “I just hope that, wherever you are, you know that.”

  Reluctantly, Simon threw back his covers and sat up on the edge of the bed. He grimaced as he realized that he'd fallen asleep fully clothed. He stood up and stripped off his robe, socks and underwear and threw them into the clothes basket in the corner. Then he opened his clothes cupboard and stared at himself in the full-length mirror.

  It was his body, but it wasn't. Pink. Good grief, he was so pink that he looked like a freshly peeled grapefruit.

  Simon stuck out his tongue at himself and then giggled.

  But oh my God, I'm skinny, he thought.

  He ran his hands along his ribs and then up and over his face. His cheeks were hollowed out and his huge eyes, one bright blue and the other a rich brown, stared out of their deep sockets like frightened animals peering out of dark caves.

  “You need food, son,” he told himself sternly. “Get your strength back and your ass in gear. That's it.”

  He took a last moment to rub his head. The hair was so short, he looked like he'd just had a buzz-cut. It made him look about twelve years old.

  “Yeah, people are totally going to take you seriously now,” he said with an eye-roll. Then he grabbed a robe out of the cabinet at random and closed the door.

  After getting dressed and slipping his socked feet into his battered old slippers, Simon carefully walked down the stairs to the main floor. Aeris was just pouring steaming water into a cup and looked up when the wizard appeared.

  “Good day, sleepy head,” he said jovially. “I heard you get up. I thought that you might sleep the day away.”

  “Morning, Aeris. Or afternoon. Whatever.”
/>   Simon sat down at the kitchen table and accepted the cup of tea from the elemental.

  “No, I've slept enough for now. I am really hungry though.”

  “I assumed you would be, so look,” Aeris said and, opening a cupboard, he lifted something out and flew over to the table with it.

  Simon's eyes widened. It was a loaf of whole wheat bread. The smell was heavenly.

  “Fresh bread? Where did this come from?”

  “Night faeries,” Aeris said and when Simon stared at him in confusion, he laughed.

  “I made it, of course. Where did you think it came from?”

  “Hang on a second. You can cook?”

  Aeris flew back to the counter, grabbed a sharp knife from the drawer and brought it back to Simon.

  “Cook? Of course I can cook, although to be honest with you, baking bread isn't exactly challenging, is it? Mix the ingredients, bake until it's ready and you're done.”

  Simon began slicing the bread, fingers trembling a bit in anticipation.

  “Oh, I just thought of something!” Aeris exclaimed. “Be right back.”

  He shot across the room and disappeared down the stairs to the basement.

  Now what? Simon wondered.

  He put down the knife and picked up a slice of bread. It was still slightly warm and the wizard closed his eyes briefly, savoring the moment. His mouth was watering so much that he had to swallow before he took his first bite.

  “Don't eat that!” Aeris yelled from the stairs and Simon actually dropped the slice of bread and stared at him in shock.

  “Why? What's wrong?”

  “Nothing. Sorry, but here,” the elemental said and handed him a jar of strawberry jam.

  Simon took it with a laugh.

  “Oh, thanks, Aeris,” he said gratefully. “I'm so hungry, I never even thought of that.”

  “My pleasure. Now, you eat as much as you can while I go out and find Kronk. I'm sure he's with the mare and her foal, but he wanted me to call him when you got up.”

  “Why?” Simon asked around a mouthful of bread and jam.

  “Because, if you are up to talking about it, both of us would like to know what happened to you. Will you tell us?”

  The wizard chewed and swallowed reflectively and then nodded.

  “Sure. Why not? God knows I owe it to the both of you.”

  “Good. We'll be right back.”

  And Aeris disappeared with a little pop of air.

  It might help it all feel more real if I talk about it with someone, he thought, feeling a bit nervous. It's like it was all a dream...or a nightmare.

  Simon was on his fourth slice of bread and was just getting up to make himself more tea, when the front door banged open and Aeris shot into the tower, followed closely by Kronk.

  The earthen closed the door, cutting off the bitterly cold air that was pushing in from outside and tip-tapped across the room to leap on to the table.

  “Good day, master!” he exclaimed with a wide smile. “You look much better today.”

  “Hello, my friend. Do I? In that case, I must have looked like hell yesterday.”

  Simon fixed his tea and returned to sit down at the table. Aeris floated next to Kronk and the two looked at each other for a second.

  “You could say that,” the air elemental agreed with a shrug. “We could tell that you'd gone through an ordeal, but we didn't want to bother you with questions. Now though, if you want to talk, we'd like to hear about it.”

  “Only if you choose to tell us, master,” Kronk added quickly. “It is not our place to question you.”

  Simon had to smile.

  “Stop that,” he said affectionately. “You aren't servants, as you well know. You're my friends. And yes, I think I should talk about it, while the whole thing is fresh in my mind. It's starting to take on the qualities of a dream and I have a feeling that it may fade from my memory in time. And I don't want that to happen.”

  He drank some tea and tried to organize his thoughts.

  “Okay guys, this is what I remember,” he said and started to talk about his meeting with the goddess.

  How long he spoke, Simon never knew, but Aeris made him two more cups of tea and he gobbled up several more slices of bread and jam before he was done.

  Amazingly, neither elemental interrupted him with questions, but simply listened quietly and intently, their eyes glued to his face.

  When he was finished, Simon sat back with a heavy sigh and stretched. He felt like he'd been on a ten mile hike.

  “That was an amazing story, master,” Kronk told him. The little guy walked over to the wizard and put a hard little hand on his arm.

  “I can never thank you enough for your sacrifice. I am only a servant, master, and you gave your life for me.”

  “You're my friend, Kronk,” Simon said tiredly. “I don't know how many times I'll have to tell you that, but it's true. And friends do that for each other. Hell, you did it for me too. So let's just say we're even, okay?”

  The earthen seemed to consider that for a moment and then nodded.

  “Very well, master,” he said solemnly. “We are even.” Then he shook a finger at Simon. “But let us agree not to ever do that again, shall we?”

  “Deal,” the wizard responded with a laugh.

  “So you are the pivotal point that humanity's destiny revolves around,” Aeris mused as he stared at Simon. “That is a heavy burden to carry, my dear wizard.”

  “I'm trying not to think about it, to be honest. All I can do is take this whole thing one step at a time. And my first step today is recalling our earthen friends to guard the wall. Kronk, can you remind me of their names, please?”

  It only took a few minutes for Simon to summon the five earth elementals who had stood watch over the tower. All of them were thrilled that he was alive and well and, like Kronk, were excited to be useful again.

  They all trooped out to man the wall again, talking in their gravelly language and laughing together. Simon was relieved to have them back. It gave his life a sense of reality again.

  “What's next, my dear wizard?” Aeris asked after the earthen had left.

  “I want to get in touch with Clara and Liliana, but I think I'll have to wait until tomorrow.”

  He staggered to his feet and walked over to the clothes cupboard.

  “Even doing something as simple as recalling those earthen has tired me out.”

  He began to put on his winter coat as he talked.

  “I'm going to visit the outhouse and then check on the horses. And then I'm going back to bed.”

  “Excellent, master,” Kronk told him. “Rest as much as you can, while you can.”

  “That's the plan. I won't waste this new beginning that I've been given.” He chuckled a bit self-consciously. “Well, I'll try not to screw it up anyway.”

  Simon slipped on his winter boots, walked to the door and took a deep breath before opening it.

  A blast of incredibly cold air blew over him and he began trembling immediately.

  “I will meet you in the stable, master,” Kronk told him and hurried past the wizard and down the front steps.

  “And I'll make you some food for later,” Aeris said. “I think a rich stew is in order. It will give your body the nutrients it needs.”

  “Thanks Aeris,” Simon said through chattering teeth. “That sounds great. I'll be back in a little while.”

  The visit with the horses was both exhilarating and exhausting for Simon. The three of them were so happy to see him that they practically burst through the doors on their stalls when he arrived. It was only by quickly handing out pats and caresses that the wizard avoided a riot.

  Once the three had calmed down, he slipped into Sunshine's box stall to meet the new arrival. The little filly was just as Kronk had described her. Yellow as a banana peel with incredibly huge brown eyes and an amazing streak of brown running the length of her back, she barreled right up to Simon the moment that she saw her mother nuz
zling his chest.

  “Hello, little girl,” he said as he bent down to stroke her baby-soft muzzle. “Aren't you beautiful? Yes you are!”

  The filly snorted and thrust her head frantically into his hand, making Simon laugh with simply joy. He reached out to stroke Sunshine with his free hand as the mare watched the interplay calmly.

  “You did good, mum,” he told her and she whickered gently in obvious agreement.

  “Now, what shall we call her?”

  Kronk had been watching from the aisle between the stalls and now he came in and stared up at them. The filly reached down and sniffed him, neighing softly with excitement. The earthen was an obvious favorite of hers.

  “I have an idea for a name, master. If you approve, that is,” he said diffidently.

  “Great. What is it?”

  “Well, since you named her mother after the Sun, and the filly is the same color, I thought perhaps naming her Sunbeam would be appropriate, master.”

  Kronk watched Simon anxiously and the wizard grinned down at him.

  “Perfect, my friend. She's not quite as banana-yellow as her mum, but she is a bright little Sunbeam, isn't she? That's her name then; Sunbeam.”

  He stroked the filly and she quivered with pleasure.

  “How do you like your new name, Sunbeam?” he asked her and she snorted and tossed her head excitedly, making him laugh.

  “I believe she approves, Kronk.”

  “Thank you, master. I hope she does.”

  They spent a few more minutes playing with the filly and Simon made sure to fuss over Chief and Tammy as well. The stallion ran his nose over the wizard's body, sniffing gently as if making sure that he was real.

  “It's really me, old buddy,” he told the big horse as he reached around his neck and hugged him. Chief squealed a little in his throat and carefully rested his head on Simon's shoulder, keeping his dagger-sharp horns high and out of the way.

  Tammy got her share of love as well. The mare, hard to see in the semi-darkness of her stall, was gentle with the wizard as well and, as he often did, Simon thought that the Change had made them so much more intelligent than they used to be.