“Yes, I know that. Come on, I want to go and sit in the shade.”
He walked across the bustling central area of the town and around the new town hall. He took a moment to peek into the building and saw piles of wood, already cut into planks, just waiting to be used.
“Good job,” he said to Kronk, who thanked him with a perfunctory smile.
Guess I'm not going to divert him that way, Simon thought and kept walking.
When he arrived back where the chairs and tables were set up under the tarp, he found that Virginia, Anna, Eric and Gerard were already there, sipping lemonade and speaking intensely with Clara and Malcolm. Liliana walked over at the same time and joined them. Everyone looked up as he approached and there were waves and smiles all around.
“Hey guys,” the wizard said as he took a seat. Clara offered him a glass of lemonade and he accepted gratefully.
“You're all looking rather serious on a beautiful day.”
“We were discussing your proposal,” Virginia told him. “According to our beloved cleric, we are to make up our own minds on this, without her interference.”
She smiled warmly at Clara, who returned it.
“As far as I'm concerned, you are all adults and can make your own decisions. I just wanted Simon to lay out the risks before you rushed off to war, that's all.”
She looked at the wizard and then gestured at Liliana, who had pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Our lady paladin here was good enough to relate her experiences with dragons to all of us earlier this morning, so I think that we've heard the worst. If you have anything to add, Simon, now is the time.”
The wizard looked down at Kronk and then over at Aeris, who was watching him closely as he swayed in the breeze.
“I do have something, actually. Something that may well change your minds, that is if you've decided to join me in the fight.”
He drank some lemonade, took a deep breath and then proceeded to tell all of them exactly what he had learned in his conversation with Daniel and Ethmira.
When he had finished, he emptied his glass, refilled it and waited.
The entire group had gone quiet when Simon had told them about the slaughter of the elders by the dragons and now it seemed that no one wanted to be the first to speak.
Finally Liliana twitched her shoulders irritably and looked at each of them.
“This is tragic news, but all it does is change the time line. Instead of having weeks or months to wait before we face the brown dragons, we have days. I for one am happy to just get on with it.”
Then she turned to Simon and smiled.
“That means yes, by the way. I will join in the fight.”
He nodded solemnly.
“Thank you. I appreciate your help.”
He watched as Virginia and Anna looked first at each other and then at Clara as if for guidance. The cleric could only shrug.
“If you're looking for my opinion, I don't have one. It's frightening that you have to make a life-threatening decision so quickly, but Liliana is right; at least you won't have to spend a lot of time dreading what is coming. But the choice is yours alone.”
Gerard and Eric were whispering to each other, heads bowed and almost touching. After a few minutes they looked up and realized that the whole group was watching them.
“Sorry,” Eric said with an uncomfortable grin. “Just weighing the pros and cons of the situation.”
The young man's tall, skinny frame always reminded Simon of a stork and his pale complexion and black hair and eyes gave him a constantly solemn expression. Now he looked even more grave than usual.
“So what do you think?” Virginia asked both young men, keeping her tone of voice neutral. “Unlike Liliana, we aren't making an individual decision here. Either we all decide to go or we all stay. Like the Musketeers, it's all for one and one for all with us.”
“Personally I want to know how safe Nottinghill, the new Nottinghill, is going to be if we never come back,” Gerard spoke up for the first time. He and Anna were the smallest of the group and his white blond hair had always made him look very young to Simon. Now he appeared troubled and he was flicking his gaze from one face to another.
“What if we go with Simon and Liliana and lose, and let's face facts here; we could lose. Will the town go on without us? Can it? After all, there are only twenty of us left now, counting the kids. I'm not afraid of dying, not really,” he added thoughtfully. “But it would be nice to know that our friends here still had a chance at a future if we never return.”
There was a pause, as if everyone had stopped to take a breath.
“Well, that's a depressing point of view, isn't it?” Anna said, wrinkling her nose. Her red hair glowed in the morning sun and her freckles were even more prominent across her nose as she seemed to have caught a bit of a sunburn. Simon felt a great affection for the small young woman; every time he saw her he was reminded of an old book he'd read years ago called Anne of Green Gables. If Anne had been real, he thought, she'd look like Anna. He wondered for the first time if her parents had named her after the fabled girl from the east coast.
“There's every possibility that we'll come back just fine and in one piece,” she continued. “After all, Simon here has been instrumental in the deaths of three primal dragons so far. That's a pretty darned good track record, as far as I'm concerned.”
Everyone turned to look at him and Simon knew his face was getting red.
“Sheer dumb luck for the most part,” he said in a self-deprecating tone. “I've just stumbled from one battle to the next. Don't assume my ridiculous good fortune will last forever.”
Liliana frowned at him. She was wearing a light tunic and pants, but her sword was hanging on her hip and she adjusted it as she leaned forward in her chair.
“You've said something like that to me before, sir wizard,” she told him with an edge to her voice. “And quite frankly it makes me uncomfortable. Take some pride in your accomplishments, man! This golly-gee attitude is, quite frankly, beginning to get on my nerves.”
Simon stared at her in surprise.
“What?” he asked faintly as the rest of the group turned to look at the paladin, an angry murmur spreading from one person to the next.
Liliana held up her hands abruptly and glared at them.
“I don't mean to sound harsh, but I too have lost people to dragons. Good people. Friends, comrades. This man,” she pointed at Simon, “has killed not only dragons, but primals! Do any of you comprehend how extraordinary that is? And yet he still seems to have difficulty in accepting this.”
Her voice softened as she looked at the wizard again.
“Simon, I don't know if you are simply modest or if you lack confidence. If it is the former, then I apologize for my remarks. I admire you greatly. I do. But if you lack confidence, please work through that, and quickly. You know as well as I do that on the field of battle, lack of a belief in yourself could get you killed, and everyone else along with you.”
The angry expressions were replaced by confused glances and Simon himself stared at the paladin, wondering if she was right. Did he lack confidence? Or was it just that he didn't want people to think he was an arrogant jerk?
Clara began speaking to the group but he remained lost in thought, analyzing his own feelings.
Through a mixture of what he considered luck, sneakiness and maybe some logical thinking, Simon had beaten the black, green and white primal dragons. And then he'd just sort of forgotten about it, or put it aside, or something. Was that a lack of confidence? Or just him being himself and trying to avoid getting an over-inflated sense of his own importance?
He looked over at Liliana and saw that she was still watching him. As he caught her eye, she gave him a subtle wink and Simon suddenly felt a bit better.
She wasn't unsure of him, he thought. The paladin simply wanted him to have more faith in his own abilities. A very clever woman.
“I don't lack confidence,” he
blurted out, breaking into the conversation. Clara stumbled to a halt in the middle of what seemed to be a very motivational speech and Simon knew that he was blushing yet again.
God, I hate that, he thought.
“Sorry Clara. Didn't mean to cut you off. But I just wanted to let you all know, Liliana most of all, that I am confident in myself. But I've known too many arrogant people in my life to ever want to be perceived that way. I think that's why I downplay what I've accomplished. And, to be honest, many others, including a lot of you here right now, have had a hand in bringing down the primals. I wouldn't ever want to overshadow your achievements.”
“That's exactly what I wanted to hear, my friend,” the paladin said approvingly. “I am reassured that you are indeed ready to face whatever is coming. And that's a good thing. Over-confidence is foolish, of course, but knowing your strengths is an asset.”
“Okay, now that we have that sorted out,” Malcolm said gruffly, “what exactly are you four going to do?”
“Before you guys make your decision,” Simon said to Virginia and the others, “I wanted to mention something that may or may not be relevant. I tried calling the Changling settlement in Australia earlier. Clara, I've told you about them? Right, well, there was no answer. Now they might just be preoccupied or it could be something more ominous. I don't have the coordinates of their town so I can't even take a look at their location to make sure they're okay.”
“You think it's dragons?” Clara asked worriedly.
“Frankly, it could be anything.” He smiled a twisted smile. “I remember back in the day thinking that Australia was basically a country designed to kill you. It seemed that everything that walked, crawled, flew or swam was lethal.”
That made several people laugh and nod in remembrance.
“So who knows what kinds of monsters exist there now? The point is, they could be in trouble and that trouble could head here next. If that's the case, you four might well be needed here to defend the new town. Just food for thought. I wanted you to have all the facts before making your decision.”
“Well, thanks for the added pressure, Simon,” Virginia told him with a strained smile. “Just what we needed. Guys,” she said and looked at Anna, Eric and Gerard, “I think maybe we should take a walk and discuss this alone. Yes?”
The others nodded and as a group they rose and wandered off together, heading for the main gate of the town.
“I don't envy them their choices,” Malcolm said gently as he watched them walk away. “Hard enough to choose to put yourself in danger, but they have to choose to put each other in danger as well.”
“I agree,” Clara said as she refilled everyone's glass from a fresh pitcher of lemonade. “But let's not forget, like ourselves, they weren't children before the Change. None of us were, no matter how young we may appear to be now. I think that whatever they decide, it will be based on rational thought, not emotion.”
“I hope so,” Simon said soberly. He drank some lemonade and then caught Aeris' eye. The elemental was making a subtle gesture away from the group and apparently wanted to speak privately. He nodded and stood up.
“I forgot something in my tent, folks. Be back in a minute.”
He put down his glass, smiled at the others and walked toward the mass of tents.
When they were far enough away to be unheard, Simon looked at Aeris. Kronk was trotting along close behind them.
“So what's up?” he asked the air elemental.
Aeris looked around furtively, saw that no one was nearby and then glared at the wizard.
“It's the little matter of your lie to Daniel,” he snapped.
Simon stumbled to a halt and watched him with raised eyebrows.
“What about it?” he asked.
Aeris looked down at Kronk who simply shook his head silently.
“Fine then, I'll ask,” the air elemental said stiffly.
“We'd like to know what that was about. And it's not because we're self-righteous or nosy, my dear wizard. It's because you are going into battle at less than full power and Daniel doesn't know that. He may expect more from you than you can give. You have, in my opinion, set yourself up to fail. And I'd like to know why.”
“And myself as well, master. No offense intended.”
Simon ran his hands over his head, hissed in irritation as he again remembered that his hair was too short to push back and pointed at his tent.
“Fine. Let's talk inside, shall we?”
The tent was getting quite warm in the late morning sun and, once Simon had closed the flap, it quickly became stifling. Someone had come in and removed his bathing things and left a pitcher of water and a glass on the bureau.
He poured a glass, feeling sweat begin to roll down his back under his robe, and sat down heavily on his cot.
“Okay. This is just between us, right?”
“Of course,” Aeris said at once. He was floating a few feet away in front of Simon, while Kronk stood close by.
“Your secrets are safe with me, master,” the earthen assured him.
“Right. Well, things are starting to fit together in my mind. Maybe it's good that I can run them by you guys and see if they make sense. Kronk, do you remember the first time you and I saw a dragon?”
“Certainly, master. It was some time before Aeris joined us. Ethmira was visiting for the first time and, soon after she left, the primal black dragon flew by overhead in pursuit.”
“Did it?” Aeris asked in surprise. “You never told me that!”
Kronk shrugged.
“Why would I?” he said in response.
Looking disgruntled, the air elemental cocked his head at Simon.
“What does your first encounter with a dragon have to do with lying to your friend?”
“I'm coming to that. Now, at the time, Ethmira told us that her visit would be short because dragons could sense the presence of elves, correct?”
“That is true, master. I remember that.”
“Good. I accepted that explanation at the time because I didn't know any better. It was only later on that it struck me as bizarre that the primal black dragon himself would fly all the way from his lair north of the Ottawa River just to take on one lone elf. He might have dispatched one of his lesser dragons, but to do it himself? Odd, to say the least.”
“Perhaps the dragon's hatred for elves was so great that he could not restrain himself,” Aeris said, but he looked puzzled.
“Yeah, maybe. But then, if you both remember, when we attacked the primal white dragon on that mesa, with fifty elves along for the fight, the dragon didn't sense them at all. It didn't know any of us were there until the attack began.”
“Easily explained,” Aeris said loftily. “The elves were covered by a glamor. Ethmira told you that herself. The dragon couldn't sense them because they were obscured by elven magic.”
Simon smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“Really? Then why, when she first visited me, wasn't Ethmira covered by a glamor? She was well aware of the dragon's presence and warned us that she couldn't stay long because of it.”
“I...”
Aeris frowned down at Kronk, who was scratching his head, making a sound like sandpaper on rock.
“I have no idea,” he finally muttered.
“Well I do,” the wizard stated harshly. “And the facts were in front of me the whole time, brought to my attention by Daniel of all people. I just couldn't see them. But when I talked to him a while ago, he stated it again and things snapped together in my head.”
“Stated what again, master?” Kronk asked. “What did he say?”
“You both heard him,” Simon told them.
Both elementals looked mystified.
“Elves can't use magic,” the wizard said. “At all. They have no spell-casters, no wizards, no mages. They can't cast spells. They are magic, as we've heard so many times. They create enchanted weapons because their touch infuses the metal. But using spells? Impossible.”
He looked at Kronk and Aeris and was met with blank stares.
“Don't you see? The elves never had a glamor cast on them. Ethmira lied to me.”
Both of the elementals gasped at once.
“But, but master,” Kronk objected. “The elven maiden has been your ally for years now! She would not lie to you.”
“Wouldn't she?”
He held up a hand and counted off his points on his fingers.
“The primal dragon never caught her when she first visited me. Damned lucky girl. When she brought Daniel across from the elven realm, there was no sign of the dragon at all. How convenient. During our showdown with the black, elves were slaughtered but Ethmira was untouched. My, she is one lucky elf, isn't she? She showed up moments after I lost my magic to those two red dragons and helped me regain it. Great timing as usual. When Heather ambushed me at her home, the note that we found on our front gate was written on the exact same type of parchment and sealed with the same wax that Ethmira used in a previous note. How did Heather know about that or that I would respond to such a message?”
He took a drink of water and continued, the elementals staring at him in rising horror.
“She was also remarkably unscathed after our battle with the primal white dragon. But the thing that finally convinced me that something was really wrong was what we heard today.”
“Which was what?” Aeris asked tensely.
“Which was that the entire elder council had been attacked and destroyed by the brown dragons and by their primal. Now, if elves could cover themselves with a glamor, how did the dragons find the elders? They were being moved secretly to a new, more secure location away from the war front. So either a glamor doesn't actually exist, in which case Ethmira's been lying to me this entire time, and the dragons could sense the elders, or a glamor does exist, in which case the elders were betrayed by one of their own.”
“There is a third scenario, master,” Kronk said and Simon nodded at him.
“I know. Go ahead and say it, my friend.”
“It is that dragons cannot sense elves after all and each time they were attacked, it was because Ethmira informed them about the target.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 153
