“My God, they're Changlings. They must be.”
“Who must be what?” Aeris asked as he reentered the room. He was carrying a cup of tea, which he handed to Simon.
“Thanks,” the wizard said absently. He nodded at the mirror and Aeris flew closer to his shoulder and peered at the view.
“Changlings?” the air elemental asked with surprise.
“Must be. In London. We just saw them attack a red dragon with some sort of spell.” Simon frowned thoughtfully. “I think it was Magic Missile. Hmm, haven't used that one in a while. I'll have to add a few of them to Bene-Dunn-Gal. Could come in handy.”
“It certainly knocked that dragon for a loop, master,” Kronk said with a smile as he continued to study the group in the mirror.
The armored figures, all very tall, were laughing and slapping each other on the back, while the two robed people stood to one side, speaking to each other with somber faces. Simon studied them intently, fascinated to see other magic-users.
“I wonder if they are wizards?” he said. There was no sound coming from the mirror. Simon had learned that he could only hear someone talking if he used the spell to call another person directly, like Clara.
“Mages are more likely,” Aeris said with some assurance.
Simon glanced at him.
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, for one thing, neither is using a staff. Wizards, good ones at least, usually channel their power through a wand or staff, like yours. Mages hardly ever do. Also, wizards are rare creatures. I know that the dark wizard we've encountered may make it seem like casters with your level of power are common, Simon, but I assure you that they are not. They weren't back in the old days of magic and I doubt that they are today either.”
“Huh. Interesting.” He continued to watch the group as the female magic-user called to the guardsmen and the entire bunch hurried off, fading into the ruins of the city.
“I wish I could speak with them,” he said with a little frustration. “They're fighting back against the dragons. Maybe we could coordinate our efforts, pool our resources.”
“Well, unless you know their names, there is no way to speak with them using the communication spells you know,” Aeris told him practically. “But someday, when you are ready to challenge the primal red dragon, perhaps you can Gate there and initiate a dialog with them.”
“Definitely. That red dragon means that Europe is probably the territory of the primal red. Good. At least I know that much.”
He directed the spell to pull back to a higher level and continued to watch as it flew slowly across London. There were no other Changlings in sight, but that didn't surprise him. Simon was sure that wherever they had their home, it was well hidden.
He finally canceled the spell and put down the mirror. He sipped his tea and sat back to think about what he'd seen.
His first thought was one of simple relief. He wasn't alone in his battle against the dragons. That gave him an actual shiver of excitement down his spine. The gods of Justice had given power to others and created more magic-using Changlings. That was thrilling.
“I wonder how many of us there are in the world?” he said aloud. Kronk and Aeris looked at him curiously. “Casters, I mean. I wonder how many exist? And where they are? Are there dozens of us? Hundreds? It would be invaluable information to have, especially when I move against the dragons.”
There was a moment of silence and then Aeris, who had been frowning to himself, looked quizzically at the wizard.
“There is a way to attempt to get more information,” he said slowly. “I am a little surprised that you hadn't considered it before, my dear wizard.”
Simon put down his cup and raised an eyebrow at Aeris.
“Which is?”
“Summon more of my people. Not great ones like Aethos, but others like myself. Send them off to scout. That is, after all, what we do best.”
“Could they do that?” Simon asked. “I mean, the world is a big place and I'd be sending them a long way.”
“Distance doesn't mean anything to us, my dear wizard. It will take time, of course, but what does that matter? You can send them off and have them report back when they find something. They can, carefully, make contact with any good magic-user and get names and descriptions so that you can speak with them directly.”
The wizard finished his tea and sat thinking, resting his chin on his hand.
“That's not a bad idea, just as long as they are careful to only approach the right magic-users.”
“That shouldn't be hard, Simon,” Aeris told him with some humor. “Since an evil spell-caster would be surrounded by slaves, not free Changlings, they would be easy enough to avoid.”
“Good point. Okay then. Let me check out a few more cities and rest a bit and I'll start summoning this afternoon. Good call, Aeris.”
“Ah, a compliment. I am truly blessed,” the air elemental said with heavy sarcasm.
“Stop that,” Simon told him with a grin. “Now, let's check out Rome.”
Chapter 21
Simon found no more signs of survivors in the other cities he searched. Rome, Madrid, Paris, a dozen others; none revealed anything more than ruins and lifeless vistas.
But he did spot more dragon sign. Above Moscow, he caught a brief glimpse of a stunning dragon. It was as white as newly fallen snow and flew over the old Russian capital so quickly that he could do no more than register its existence before it was out of sight.
Beijing revealed another dragon, this one very large and dirt brown in color. It was circling the city but Simon saw no targets on the ground and the dragon wasn't attacking.
“Something just occurred to me,” he said to the elementals during the search. “There are supposed to be five dragon types in the world, right?”
“That is correct, master,” Kronk told him.
“Then why have we been told that there are actually six? Black, white, red, green, brown and yellow, or gold, I suppose.”
Aeris and Kronk exchanged looks and the air elemental indicated that the earthen should answer.
“There are only five, master. The gold dragon is the queen. She rules all.”
“Wait, what? They have a queen?”
“Of course, master.” Kronk seemed puzzled. “Where did you think they all came from in the first place?”
“I don't know. The dark gods? The Void? Munchkin Land? I just assumed that they've always been out there, somewhere.”
“They've been around since the beginning, my dear wizard,” Aeris cut in. “But the gods of Chaos created the queen and she in turn gave birth to the five primals. Each of them can produce lesser dragons of the same color and powers.”
Simon was a little confused.
“But, if she gave birth to the primals, and hasn't done anything since, why is she still around? What good is she?”
Aeris gave one of his exasperated sighs and Kronk frowned at him.
“She is the conduit,” the air elemental said pedantically. “The prime dragons do not take orders from the dark gods. They may call them master, but they respond only to the matriarch. She passes along all commands from the gods to her brood.”
“Wow. Why didn't I know that? That's incredibly useful information.”
“I don't see why,” Aeris responded. “What use is it?”
Simon gaped at him.
“Are you kidding me? If we destroy the queen, we destroy the link between the gods of Chaos and the prime dragons! They'd be left confused and leaderless. Prime targets for an attack, I'd say.”
“Master, I mean no offense, but that is a terrible idea.”
Simon's elation evaporated.
“Why? Cut the head off of the snake and the body will die, eventually.”
“These are not snakes, master. These are dragons, the most powerful creatures that have ever lived. If you destroy their queen, and she is more powerful than the five primal dragons combined, you unleash these monsters entirely. Right now
they are confined to certain parts of the world, trying to wipe out the remnants of humanity, mundane and Changling alike, correct?”
The wizard nodded, listening closely.
“But take away that compulsion and the dragons will spread across the New Earth at their own whim. They will attack what they want, when they want. In short, master, they will become a plague like nothing this world has ever seen.”
“I agree,” Aeris said. “You have a chance, slim as it is, to track down and destroy the primals one by one, as soon as you find their lairs. But the only reason they even have lairs at the moment is because they have been ordered to stay in their own territories. Release them from that and they will never stay in one place long enough for you to mount an attack.”
Both elementals became quiet and waited for Simon to answer.
As difficult as it was to let go of the idea to attack the queen and stop the dragons in their tracks, the wizard reluctantly had to agree that the little guys were right. Their arguments made sense.
“Oh well, you both make good points. I would like to know where this gold dragon is though. If and when we destroy her children, she will have to be dealt with.”
Aeris burst out laughing.
“One impossible task at a time, my dear wizard. Kill the primals first, then worry about their matriarch.”
After scouting a few more cities, Simon caught an hour of sleep and then ate lunch. Afterwards, he sat at the kitchen table and prepared to summon some air elementals.
Before he began though, he asked Aeris for his recommendations.
“So how many of these scouts do you think we'll need?”
Kronk sat at the edge of the table, dangling his feet and watching the proceedings with interest. Aeris floated above the table at eye level. He stroked his chin at Simon's question and seemed to be doing some mental calculations.
“The world is a big place,” he said slowly, measuring his words. “This mission will probably take weeks to complete, no matter how many of my brethren you enlist. But I would say no more than five for each draconian territory. More than that and they would overlap and waste their efforts. Less and it would take even longer for them to finish the job and report back.”
“So let's see,” Simon said, ticking points off on his fingers. “Five each for North America, South America, Europe, the Far East, which would include Russia and China, and Africa. We can check out Australia and New Zealand when the first wave of elementals return.”
He whistled at the magnitude of the task.
“That's not a lot of scouts to cover so much territory.”
“They can do it, my dear wizard, I assure you.”
He pointed at the atlas that was lying next to Simon's left arm.
“If I can make use of your book, I can direct each of them to a specific chunk of the map. That way, we'll know that they won't be searching the same territory twice.”
“Master,” Kronk spoke up. “Are you sure you can do this at one sitting? Summoning so many elementals will be exhausting for you.”
“I know, my friend,” Simon answered with a smile. “And I'll probably sleep the clock around when I'm done, but I'm sure I can do it. After all, I seem to have an affinity for elemental magic.”
“That's because you are an elementalist,” Aeris told him. “As I've mentioned before. So, to use one of your own sayings, shall we get this show on the road?”
Simon took a deep breath and nodded. The Summoning spell was one that he had firmly ingrained into his memory.
“Okay, guys,” he said and swallowed heavily. His throat was suddenly as dry as sand. “Here we go.”
Later, all that Simon would remember about that epic day of summoning was the procession of nearly identical air elementals, each of whom bowed low when he called them forth and then disappeared after getting their instructions and coordinates from Aeris.
By the time he was done, the wizard was literally reeling in his seat.
“Okay,” he said after the last elemental disappeared, heading for Africa, “my butt's asleep and I have to use the outhouse. Then I'm going to crash. Unless a dragon comes knocking, please let me sleep.”
Simon was as good as his word. He woke up the next day in the late afternoon and only stayed up long enough to eat a large meal and get cleaned up before going back to bed again. The next morning though, he was up early feeling alert and well rested.
The day had dawned bright and clear and the wizard spent several hours swimming and lolling in the lake. The horses ran along the shore and each one in turn would wade into the water to pay him a visit. He found their presence both reassuring and amusing. Apparently they were afraid he was going to drown or something.
They really are more intelligent than they used to be, he thought idly as he watched Chief wade back to shore and shake the water from his coat, his razor-sharp horns gleaming in the morning sunlight.
I wonder if they're ever going to mate, was his next thought. He had seen no other horses, Changed or otherwise, in his travels and Clara and her people had none. Perhaps these three were the last. If so, it would be a shame if the Change had rendered them sterile. But so far, there was no hint that the mares or Chief were interested in each other that way.
Oh well, maybe Changed horses matured later than mundane ones did in the past, Simon thought with little hope. We'll just have to wait and see.
After his swim, Simon met the elementals in his study. He'd told them that it was time to contact the dwarves and see what had happened since his warning about the dragons.
The wizard held up his mirror, cast the spell while keeping the dwarf leader's face firmly in his mind and then waited.
“I wonder if they found the dragons?” Aeris said quietly. “I'd guess that there are a lot of tunnels down in the deep earth.”
“That's true,” Kronk told him. He was watching the mirror closely. “But I am sure the dwarves know every one of them. It is their natural environment, after all, not the dragons.”
“Good point.”
The mirror remained foggy for so long that Simon was beginning to wonder if the spell had failed somehow. But eventually the glass began to clear and the wizard could see the outline of someone's head. The face was in shadow but he had to assume it was Shandon Ironhand.
“Hello? Ironhand? It's me, Simon O'Toole.”
There was a grunt and then Simon heard a rustling sound, followed by a loud snap. A sudden flame appeared beside the darkened figure and he gasped as the lit candle revealed the dwarf's face.
Ironhand's features looked like he had run face-first into a steel beam. Both eyes were black, his nose was canted to one side, obviously broken and various cuts and scrapes covered his skin. In his partly-open mouth Simon saw several gaps where he'd lost some teeth.
“Wizard, is it?” the dwarf said in a low, slurred voice. “Well, well. Took your time calling, didn't you?” He sighed. “Not that I blame you. You surface dwellers never did care much for the fate of my people. Should have known better than to rely on you now.”
Simon was staring at the mirror in shock.
“What are you talking about?” he asked. “You told me to call back in a few days. Well, it's been a few days. What the hell happened to you? What's going on?”
Ironhand squinted and looked confused. Simon realized that the dwarf didn't have a mirror, so he couldn't see him.
“A few days? Is that all? Huh, what do you know about that? With all the fighting and the running and the dying, a dwarf loses track of time. In that case, you have my apologies. After all, 'twas you that warned us in the first place. I am grateful for that. Some of my people will survive, at least.”
“Survive? Ironhand, what's happened? Tell me, please.”
The dwarf leaned back against the rocky wall behind him and Simon realized that he was sitting in one of the tunnels. He pulled the view of the mirror back a few feet and saw that Ironhand was sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him. One of them was spli
nted and wrapped in dirty bandages.
“What happened?” Ironhand closed his eyes wearily. “Yes, I suppose you deserve to know. After your warning, I gathered my warriors, with my father's blessing of course, and set out to find these crawling dragons of yours. It took many hours but we finally ran into one of the beasties.”
His eyes opened wide and he grinned a gap-toothed smile.
“Ah, it was a glorious battle. Glorious! The dragon was sitting like a huge toad in the middle of one of the wider tunnels. I split my forces and we attacked from both sides. The warriors sang their battle songs and the dragon roared its fury. Yes, my friend. Blood flowed that day, both ours and that dragon's. But we were victorious! I lost six brave souls, but the dragon perished. We sang their souls to their rest, took the head of the creature and set off back home to tell of our deeds.”
Ironhand's eyes closed again and he muttered to himself, shaking his head.
“But we never made it home. When we entered the great cavern where our stronghold is located, we were in for a surprise.”
His eyes opened and they looked searched this way and that in the gloom.
“Are you still with me, wizard?” he asked a bit frantically.
“Of course I am, Ironhand,” Simon told him, trying to sound reassuring. “I'm not going anywhere.”
“Ah, good. That's good.”
The dwarf sank back against the wall again.
“Well, there we were, about a hundred strong, and we marched proudly out of the final tunnel into the open, just below the gates of our home. But the gates were broken, torn down. The walls were pitted and gouged. Bodies were strewn everywhere.”
“Oh my God,” Simon muttered.
“While we, fools that we were, were killing one accursed dragon, fifty or more crawled out of the tunnels like maggots and stormed our stronghold. You've not see it, of course, but over many years we hollowed out the cavern where the city was first built. Fools we were. Idiots! We gave the dragons enough room to take wing underground! They rained fire from above. My people fought back but they had no chance. All they could do was send the young and their families fleeing through a secret passage dug long ago. Whether they actually survived, I cannot say.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 71
