“Good night, guys,” he said to the guardsmen.
They both wished him a good sleep and then left the hall.
The next morning, Simon had a quick breakfast with Clara and then got ready to head home.
“Let me know when the paladin contacts you again, would you?” the cleric asked. “I'm worried about her.”
“I am too, Clara. And yes, I'll give you a call when she calls me. Talk to you soon.”
When Simon appeared in front of his tower, he was greeted by three distinctly different voices.
“Master, you're home! Welcome back!”
“Where have you been? You could have at least called to tell us you were still alive!”
“I hope my spell proved useful, sir wizard.”
He rolled his eyes and turned to look at the open front door. The three elementals were standing beside each other. Kronk was beaming, Aeris was scowling and Ana was watching him with polite interest. Simon had to smile.
“And what are you grinning at?” Aeris barked. “We, I mean, Kronk was worried sick. He thought you'd been eaten by a dragon.”
“No I didn't,” the little guy said indignantly. “I was sure that master was perfectly fine. You're the one who was pacing the wall all night, muttering to himself.”
“I was not! The wizard can take care of himself. I barely noticed that he was gone.”
“Did you get a chance to cast the Blizzard spell, Simon?” Ana asked, after giving the other two a puzzled look.
“No, I'm afraid not. Stuff happened and I never got a chance. And it's good to see you again. I hope your visit with Aquamastis went well?”
He climbed the steps as he spoke and the elementals moved back and then followed him into the tower.
Simon hung up his coat, rested the staff near the door and sat down at the kitchen table with a feeling of relief. It was good to be home.
“And hello to you two,” he said to Kronk and Aeris as they settled on to the table. “I hope there wasn't any fighting while I was gone?”
The air elemental sniffed loudly.
“I wouldn't waste my time,” he said loftily.
“No master, no fighting. Aeris was too busy worrying,” Kronk said, shooting Aeris a sly glance.
“I was not! Honestly, Kronk, you're worse than a child.”
“If I might interrupt your bickering, boys?” Ana said with amusement.
“Did she just call us boys?” Aeris asked Kronk, frowning.
“I believe she did. Hmm. I think I like it.”
“Guys. Guys. Argue later. First let me tell you what happened. It will also explain why I wasn't able to cast the Blizzard spell.”
Simon repeated what he had told Clara the night before almost word for word. As he spoke, he got up, stoked the fire and hung the kettle over it.
He was sitting, sipping his tea by the time he was done.
Aeris had forgotten his irritation halfway through the story. He listened with wonder and, Simon thought, a touch of sadness when he heard that Liliana had been left alone in her devastated city.
“That poor woman,” he said softly when the wizard was done.
They all looked at him in surprise and he bristled.
“What? I do have feelings, you know.”
“Um, yeah. Sure,” Simon said. “Of course you do. Anyway, that's why I didn't use Blizzard, Ana. The battle was over by the time I arrived.”
“I understand,” the water elemental said. She rippled gently as she stood next to Kronk.
The little earthen had simply listened in rapt attention when Simon told them about the events in Moscow. Now the wizard looked at him quizzically.
“Any thoughts, my friend?” he asked.
“Thoughts?” The deep red eyes became a little brighter. “Just one, master. What happened to the dragon?”
Simon frowned a bit.
“What dragon?”
“The dragon you said flew overhead a few moments before you saw the paladin returning. You mentioned it and then said nothing more. What happened to it?”
“It flew away, I guess. Hang on. Out of that entire story, the one thing you took away was the quick appearance of some random dragon?”
It was Kronk's turn to frown at the wizard.
“Master, the dragons are your greatest enemies, are they not?” Simon rested his chin in his palm and muttered a yes. “And yet, the only time you saw a dragon during your trip, all you did was watch it fly over your head. And then you and the warriors with you casually stood there and waited for the paladin to wander across a large open area with a dragon somewhere in the neighborhood. Don't you find that a little odd?”
“Well, no. Not really. I mean, we were...”
Simon slowly stopped speaking and stared at Kronk, not really seeing him.
“You know, now that you mention it, that was weird, wasn't it?”
He looked at Aeris, who was watching him with some confusion.
“Kronk has a point,” he said reluctantly. “Your main focus these days, my dear wizard, is destroying the monsters that almost wiped out your entire species. And yet, when you saw the only dragon to made an appearance during your journey, you just let it go. Why?”
Simon sat back, folded his arms and examined his memory.
The dragon had flown overhead very quickly. He and the two guardsmen had hidden and waited a moment. There had been no sound of flapping wings and no reappearance of the beast and then they'd been distracted when Liliana showed up and that, oddly enough, was that.
He stroked his chin, a little befuddled. Something was niggling at the back of his mind.
There had been no sound of flapping wings. He met Kronk's gaze blankly. There had been no sound.
He sat up so quickly that Ana yelped and pulled back in surprise.
“There was no sound of the dragon flying away!” he said loudly.
Kronk was nodding in satisfaction and Simon caught his eye.
“You knew, didn't you?”
The little guy shrugged.
“I guessed, master,” he said.
“What are you two talking about, sir wizard?” Ana sounded baffled.
“Yes, what exactly are you talking about?” Aeris asked in confusion.
“Oh come on, you two. Okay, Ana, you get a pass. I doubt that you've had much experience with dragons.”
Simon was forced to smile at the air elemental's look of irritation.
“But Aeris, you've been exposed to dragons more than once. Think about them. When a dragon is flying over your head, even if they are very high up, their wings sound like sails flapping in a high wind. That sound is unmistakable.”
“Okay, that's true. But so what? What is your point?”
The wizard glanced at Kronk.
“The dragon landed,” the little guy said simply.
Ana and Aeris both gaped at him.
“But...but, if that's the case...”
“If that's the case,” Simon said darkly, “why didn't it attack? What was it doing there? And what happened to it?”
Chapter 11
Simon was sitting at the top of his front steps a few days later, flipping a small rock from one hand to the other and watching the afternoon clouds race across the sky. His thoughts were aimless and he was simply letting his mind drift from memory to memory.
A small sound from below him made him look down.
Ana was standing there, looking at him quizzically. She nodded at the smooth stone in his hand.
“Is that an important object, sir wizard?” she asked.
With a smile, Simon handed her the oval piece of rock and she turned it over in her hands curiously.
“There is a rune of some sort written on it,” she said with mild interest. She weighed it in her palm. The stone covered her entire hand.
“Is it meaningful to you?” she asked as she gave it back to him.
“In a way. A couple of years ago, I traveled back to my home town. Ottawa is a ruin now, razed by the primal b
lack dragon and its minions.”
“The dragon you destroyed?”
He shrugged.
“Aquamastis and I destroyed it, actually. Anyway, while I was there, I was confronted by a group of Changlings.”
“Like you?”
“Not really, no.”
Simon looked down at the stone and ran his fingers over it gently.
“These Changlings were originally children. It seems that those humans who were very young when they Changed were mutated more deeply and, I don't know, more grotesquely than those of us who were adults when it happened.”
Ana sat down and drew her knees up to her chin. Her watery outline flowed and shivered like jelly and Simon again found himself fascinated by the sight.
“Grotesque? In what way?” she asked.
“It's hard to say. Before my world went all to hell and technology failed, there were reports in the mass media about children who were Changing. It happened months before I began my own Change. Maybe their young bodies were more easily mutated by the magic. But the reports said that many of them became monstrous. Their fingers and toes would fuse together, or their skin became bark-like, or scaled or...whatever. Many lost the ability to speak, or began speaking in unknown tongues. The reports went on and on.”
“And you met some of these young ones on your journey?”
“Yes.”
He held up the stone.
“One of them, Sarah, gave me this. She used it to speak to me, sent me a warning when I was being stalked by what later turned out to be a lich.”
“A lich?” Ana exclaimed, her eyes wide. “But they are incredibly dangerous!”
“Yeah, no kidding. I didn't know that then. That's a story for another time though.”
He went back to turning the stone over and over in his fingers.
“So what brought this young person to mind today, sir wizard?”
“I'm not sure. My instincts as a magic-user are weird. Things occur to me now that would never have entered my mind back when I was a mundane human.”
“Such as?”
An errant breeze blew Simon's hair across his face and he lowered his head and then flung it back, feeling his hair cascade over his shoulders.
“Such as the fact that I never saw Sarah's true form. She and the other Changlings were covered from head to toe with thick rags and pieces of clothing. I only saw her hand when she gave me this stone. An elf named Ethmira told me that what I thought I saw was not what was really there.”
Ana focused more intently on Simon at the mention of the elf, but she remained silent.
He felt a little embarrassed.
“I think I scoffed a bit at the time, so sure that I couldn't be tricked like that. But back then I was a lot less experienced with magic than I am now. Thinking about it at this moment, I'm sure that she was right.”
“I am impressed that the elves contacted you, sir wizard,” Ana said, still watching him closely. “But what does any of this have to do with your journey to aid the paladin?”
“I think...” Simon said, feeling his way through his words, “I think that my subconscious is prodding me, telling me not to take anything at face value.”
He flipped the stone in the air like he would flip a coin and it landed on his palm, rune-side up.
“I think that I've been deceived, Ana. Something happened in Moscow; something that I missed. It has to do with that dragon and, I'm afraid, with Liliana.”
He clenched his hand around the stone and tapped the side of his head with his fist.
“But I don't know what! It's bouncing around in my head like a rubber ball, but I can't see the answer.”
He smiled weakly at her.
“It's a bit frustrating.”
The water elemental stared across the front yard to the protective wall. One of Kronk's earth elemental friends was walking slowly along the top, on constant patrol. She watched it thoughtfully.
“So you believe that this paladin deceived you? Why? Do you think that she had something to do with her peoples' deaths?”
“What? No!” Simon said quickly. “No, I don't think that. Her grief and rage were too real. But yes, I do think that she is hiding something. Something to do with that dragon we saw. But again, I don't know what it could be.”
“Have you considered just asking her?”
The wizard barked a laugh.
“Sure, I could see that now. 'Hey Liliana, are you lying to me about what happened to your people?' I think I'd be spitting out teeth about two seconds after I asked that question.”
“Hmm.”
Ana continued to stare at the wall, her face screwed up in concentration.
“I must admit, I have not had a lot of contact with humans, except as a servant. Socially, they are a mystery to me. So, you cannot simply ask her. There is also an alternate way to gather intelligence.”
Simon silently raised an eyebrow and Ana looked up at him.
“Spy on her.”
Simon stood up with a sigh, brushed off the back of his robe and sat down again. He reminded himself to sweep the steps later.
“I'd actually thought of that, as distasteful as it is to me. But Liliana told me that she sensed me when I tried to contact her with my Magic Mirror spell. She said that she was on patrol and blocked the attempt.”
“Did she? Interesting.”
“I suppose so. She also said that Clara, my friend the cleric that lives to the south of us, could do that same thing.”
“I see.”
Ana shook her head in seeming wonder.
“What is it?” Simon asked her.
“Nothing, I suppose. I just did not realize that a paladin could lie. I didn't think that it was in their nature.”
“You think Liliana lied to me?”
“I know she did,” she said with quiet assurance. “I know what the powers of clerics are, whether they be warriors or healers. They do not cast spells nor can they block them. Their power relies strictly on the will of the gods. It is not possible that this paladin blocked your spell.”
She shook her head firmly.
“Not possible,” she repeated.
The wizard looked at her in total confusion.
“I don't understand. She did block me. When I called her, I couldn't reach her. I'm sorry, Ana, but you must be mistaken.”
As he spoke, Simon realized that he might have offended the water elemental. Instead, she simply smiled gently.
“I am not mistaken, sir wizard. I do not doubt that she blocked your attempt to reach her. I am simply saying that she did not do so using her holy powers.”
She frowned as she stared down at the steps.
“She must have used other means,” Ana said slowly, obviously thinking it through. “But what powers could she have beyond those bestowed by the gods?”
She glanced up at Simon and the two of them exchanged a long, confused look.
The wizard stood up abruptly and walked back into the tower, the water elemental following behind him.
He sat down at the kitchen table and picked up his hand mirror.
Ana flowed up to the tabletop and watched him.
“You are going to try to contact the paladin?” she asked.
“No, I'm not. Something's not right here. I'm going to call Clara. Let's see if Liliana was actually telling the truth.”
The water elemental frowned a bit.
“Not that I'm doubting you,” Simon hastened to add. “But I'd like to hear it directly from a cleric.”
“Of course, sir wizard. No offense taken.”
Simon began to cast the Magic Mirror spell. While he was chanting, Aeris floated in from outside and joined Ana on the table.
He nodded at the wizard.
“What's going on?” he asked her.
“Simon is calling his cleric friend,” she told him. “I believe we caught that paladin, Liliana, in a falsehood. He wants to confirm it.”
“Really? But a paladin can't lie.”
/> “So I thought, but it seems she did, so...”
“Um, guys?”
“Yes?” Aeris and Ana answered in unison.
The wizard looked at them in exasperation.
“I'm trying to cast here, okay?”
“Well, go ahead,” Aeris told him.
“Yes please. Don't let us stop you,” Ana added brightly.
Simon suppressed a sigh and finished his Magic Mirror spell.
The mirror fogged up and then cleared almost at once.
Clara was standing at the edge of a field, chatting with several townsfolk. Beyond her, Simon could see people walking along furrowed ground, carefully planting seeds.
He watched her for a few minutes until the cleric smiled and walked away from the group.
“Clara? Hi, it's Simon.”
“Ah, good day, my friend,” she answered with a smile. “Just a minute.”
She continued to wander through the town until she came to a crude bench beside the narrow road and sat down in the sun.
“So, how are you today?” she asked, looking around the area while she spoke.
“I'm good, thanks. Sorry to bother you, but I have a question relating to your powers as a cleric.”
“Really?”
Clara sat up straighter and her smile was replaced by a serious expression.
“Very well. What do you want to know?”
Simon paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase the question, when Ana made a gesture to catch his attention.
“One moment, Clara,” he said and raised an eyebrow at the elemental.
“Perhaps I could ask the lady about this subject?” Ana offered a little hesitantly. “If you approve, that is.”
The wizard had to smile at her obvious attempt to help without stepping on his toes.
“Of course I approve. You do have more experience with these powers, by the sound of it.”
He motioned for Ana to stand next to him so that she could look into the mirror. Aeris flew over to hover by his other shoulder.
“Clara, I have someone here who would like to speak with you. She might be able to ask these questions better than I can.”
“Really? Hang on a moment. I want to get the mirror in my quarters.”
“Certainly.”
They watched while the cleric hurried through the village and into the town hall.
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 93
