There was general laughter at that and Eric rose and looked at his friends.
“I'm not going to decide for you guys, but I get a good feeling from Clara. And everyone else here. After the crap we've had to deal with for the past three years, whatever her home village is like, it can't be worse than that.”
“Gee thanks,” Clara said with a touch of sarcasm, drawing another laugh from them.
“I'm with you, Eric,” Gerard said and stood up as well. He looked at Virginia and Anna. “What do you say?”
Virginia stared hard at Clara for a long moment, but the cleric met her eyes calmly. Her smile was impish and finally Virginia nodded and smiled in return.
“I trust you,” she said. “Anna?”
“Of course we're going,” Anna said impatiently. “Why are we even discussing this? You think Simon summoned a djinn to carry us here so that Clara could get some cheap labor?” She rolled her eyes.
Simon had to chuckle at that. He stood up as everyone else did and walked to the door with them. Richard stopped him from exiting with the group and opened his backpack.
“Clara didn't want us to show up empty-handed, especially after your efforts to save the youngsters. So here.”
He reached into the pack and handed Simon a circular bundle wrapped in thick cloth.
“Cheese,” Richard said with a wide grin. Simon took the bundle. He was speechless and Richard laughed at his expression.
“And a few more bottles of wine.”
He handed these to Simon as well.
“The cheese is quite good. From goat's milk, but tasty.” He winked. “It goes well with the wine.”
Simon chuckled.
“I have no doubt of that. Thank you, Richard. Tell Clara that I'll have some fresh vegetables for you all in a week or two.” He became serious and lowered his voice, making sure the group was outside and out of earshot.
“I trust Clara to treat the Changlings well, but between you and me, keep an eye on them. They survived three years of abuse at the hands of those...people, if you can call them that. They will take some delicate handling until you can gain their full trust.”
Richard looked equally serious.
“I agree, my friend. Not to worry. We've taken in a few others who have had a rough time out in the world. Clara's a genius when it comes to easing them into the rhythm of the village. They'll be fine, never fear.”
Richard slung his pack over his shoulders, nodded once and followed the others. Simon went out after him.
The group gathered just outside the gate. Kronk and Aeris came up behind Simon and waited quietly.
Clara chatted with the Changlings a moment and then walked up to Simon.
“We are in your debt, Simon,” she said gratefully. “You have proven to be the best of friends. If there is ever anything we can do for you, you need only ask.”
“It was my pleasure,” Simon told her and shook her hand in both of his. He looked at the Changlings. “I wish you all the best. You're in good hands and I'm more than pleased that I and my little family,” he indicated the two elementals standing next to him, “could help you. Come back any time.”
“Thank you, Simon,” Eric said and shook his hand firmly. Gerard did the same, as did Anna.
Virginia waited and then kissed him lightly on the cheek. Simon felt himself blushing.
“You saved our lives, Simon. You really did. We'll never forget it. Take care.”
He cleared his throat.
“You as well. Have a safe trip back.”
They separated with many waves and farewells and Simon watched until the last of them, Susan, disappeared with a wave into the forest across the field.
He turned to Kronk and Aeris, who were watching him. Both looked quite pleased with themselves.
Well, he thought, they have the right.
“Thank you, guys. You both did great today.”
“We didn't do much, master. You made the difference.”
Simon stretched with a groan.
“Yeah, I guess. It was a good day though, and we all did our part.”
“True enough, Simon,” Aeris told him as they went back through the gate. Simon closed and sealed it behind them.
“But I agree with Kronk,” the air elemental continued. “You proved to be a true wizard today. And that is the greatest compliment that an elemental can give to a spell-caster.”
“Thanks, Aeris,” Simon said as he dragged his feet wearily up the front steps. He looked up at the darkening sky and saw the first stars appear. “Maybe I have some potential after all. But right now, all I want to do is sleep for a week.”
He turned to enter the tower.
“Good day though,” he mumbled to himself and headed for his well-earned rest.
Chapter 15
The cheese that Clara's group had brought Simon did indeed go well with their gift of wine. He eagerly harvested as many tomatoes and carrots as he could a week later and sent Aeris off to deliver them.
The air elemental grumbled a bit about being a glorified delivery service, but perked up when Simon asked him to check in on the four Changlings and see how they were fitting in with the village. As he had suspected, Aeris seemed to have become fond of the youngsters and eagerly left with his parcels.
“Cleverly done, master,” Kronk told him after Aeris had gone. They were sitting in the study and Simon was skimming through Daniel's book, looking for some inspiration for new spells. He looked at the little guy with raised eyebrows.
“What was clever?” he asked absently.
“The way you got Aeris to deliver those vegetables by asking him to check on the ones he rescued.”
Simon leaned forward, put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm.
“Is that what I did?”
Kronk just gave him a look and Simon laughed.
“You are a very smart elemental, my friend,” he said to the little guy. “A chore is always easier to accept if there's a reward that goes along with it.”
Kronk nodded.
“As I said, master. Clever.”
“Thanks.” Simon went back to his book. “Don't tell him,” he added.
“Of course not, master.”
When Aeris returned, he reported that the four new members of Clara's community were fitting in nicely. Eric and Gerard were a great help in the fields, which Aeris said they had volunteered for, and Virginia turned out to have a natural talent for working with animals. She was cheerfully helping by tending to the goat and sheep herds.
“What about Anna?” Simon asked, still pouring over Daniel's book. For some strange reason, a section that had seemed to be composed of unreadable hieroglyphics was now becoming comprehensible and Simon was trying to figure out why.
“She is well, but suffering from some sort of recurring nightmare.”
“Nightmare?” That got Simon's attention and he looked up at Aeris, who was floating above the desk top as usual. “What kind of nightmare?”
“No idea. She wouldn't talk about it. Clara believes that it is related to her years of captivity. I'm not so sure.”
Simon got up and walked to the window. He sat on the sill and Aeris flew over to join him.
A breeze wafted into the room. Warm but moist, it hinted at rain to come, although the sky was still a clear blue.
“What exactly do you suspect, Aeris?” Simon asked the elemental directly.
“What makes you think I suspect anything?” Aeris answered, looking out across the field beyond the wall.
“Call it a feeling. I share it. I mentioned to Richard before they left that he should keep an eye on the new members of his village. I think that they are more than they appear.” At Aeris' look, he shook his head.
“Not in a bad way. But I believe that Anna's power is not the only magic that that group can control.”
“Really?” Aeris pondered that statement for a moment. “But what does that have to do with Anna's nightmare?”
“I'm gue
ssing nothing. I'm not actually talking about her specifically. It's just...I think it highly unlikely that the four of them could have so easily survived for three years under the abuse that I suspect those true humans heaped upon them. Surely anyone who survived the obliteration of civilization would blame Changlings for it, at least partially. Don't you agree?”
“Yes, I think that makes sense. But...”
“Hang on,” Simon said, holding up a hand. He was thinking it through as he spoke.
“The four of them were in remarkably good shape when you found them wandering through the forest, weren't they? Except for Virginia's injured leg, they were in perfect health. Dirty, bruised and scared, yes. But none of them had any disfiguring scars, no missing teeth, any of that. Not the way I would expect slaves to look after three years of brutal treatment.”
“You make an interesting case, Simon,” Aeris said with a frown.
“Your turn,” the wizard said with a tight smile. “What do you know?”
“Know? I don't know anything. I have a feeling, that's all.”
“Fine. Care to share what that feeling is?”
Aeris turned back to look out the window. He sighed; a breezy puff of wind.
“I like them, Simon. All of them. I do. But as you said, they were in very good condition, considering. So the other day, out of curiosity, I went back to the remains of their old village.”
Simon was surprised but stayed silent, letting the elemental tell it his way.
“It was destroyed, as I said, but I found a few things that unsettled me.”
Aeris turned his troubled gaze on Simon.
“The front gates, built of logs like the rest of the wall surrounding that place, were wide open. They weren't battered down the way you'd expect them to be. And several of the buildings had been burned down, not smashed to pieces the way a drake would destroy them.”
“I don't understand,” Simon said. “Wouldn't the drakes have simply flown over the wall to attack the way the dragon does?”
“Drakes can't fly, Simon,” Aeris said simply. “And they do not breathe fire. No, I believe that someone set the buildings on fire, perhaps as the dragon was passing within view. Remember, that village is near to the line of hills that separate the dragon's domain from the rest of the country. It probably flew within view quite often. And once the dragon released its minions to investigate the source of the fire, someone then opened the gates to allow them to enter. And, as we now know, the drakes slaughtered everyone in that village except for our four Changlings.”
Simon felt like someone had punched him in the stomach.
“Holy crap,” he muttered.
“Indeed. This is all theory, of course. The wooden gates would only have slowed the drakes for a few minutes, but it might have given some of the inhabitants time to prepare a defense, or make a run for it. They weren't given that time.”
Aeris paused and then shook his head.
“It would have been foolish for our young friends to set fire to the buildings. Retribution from their overlords would have been swift.” He looked keenly at Simon. “Unless they could hide by, say, turning invisible.”
Simon slumped back against the window frame.
“Damn,” he said. “I'm sure that their captors were terrible human beings, or at least I hope that they were, considering. But still, luring creatures like that into a village to tear apart the people living there. That's...I don't know. Horrible.”
“It is. I didn't tell you of my suspicions because I wanted to observe them for a while. I was hoping I was wrong. But something Anna said when I asked her about her nightmare gave me pause.”
“What was it?”
“When I asked her what it was about, she only shook her head. 'Nothing, Aeris,' she said, quite sadly. 'Just...guilt, I guess.'”
“Guilt?” Simon thought about it. “And you think she feels guilty because they brought the drakes down upon those people?”
“What else could it be?” Aeris asked almost plaintively, as if Simon had a better theory. Unfortunately he didn't.
“I don't know, my friend. We could be missing something. It could just be survivor's guilt. After all, they made it out alive while everyone else was killed. But after what you found in the village, I just don't know.”
He got up and went back to sit at the desk. He stared unseeing at one of the flickering candles, his mind a jumble of images, none of them very nice.
Aeris floated back and watched him, waiting.
“I have to tell Clara about this,” Simon said finally. Before Aeris could object, he cut him off. “But not now. What's done is done. We'll let the four of them get used to their new home, heal up, get comfortable. And I want you to drop by every week or so. If anyone asks, tell them you're running errands for me. It's true enough, after all.”
“And when will you tell the cleric?”
Simon tried to clear his mind as he began reading the book again.
“When the time is right,” he told Aeris. “And not before.”
Several weeks passed. High summer was upon them and Simon's garden kept him and Kronk busy weeding, watering and harvesting. The vegetables were growing faster than Simon would have thought possible and he finally got Kronk to admit that he was enriching the soil to hasten the crop. The little guy seemed to think that he'd be angry because he was 'cheating', but Simon assured him that he was very pleased by the elemental's initiative, which kept Kronk happy for hours.
Aeris delivered crops to the village at least once a week, which gave him a good excuse to check in on Anna and the others. He reported that the four were fitting in nicely with their new community, that Anna's nightmares were occurring less often, and that she seemed happier all the time.
Simon was pleased and decided to keep his and Aeris' theories to himself unless there was a very good reason to share them with Clara. As he told the air elemental, the Changlings had suffered enough and deserved a chance at a new life, so why do anything to ruin that unless absolutely necessary? Aeris agreed.
Heather sent a packet of assorted herbs to Simon when Aeris checked in on her one day and traded some potatoes and celery for them. Simon also let her know about his ability to cast Magic Mouth, but in typical fashion she asked Aeris to tell him that she had no interest in speaking to anyone directly. When he heard this, Simon just shrugged. He didn't want to intrude on her solitude and accepted her decision.
Clara, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy their talks and Simon spoke to her regularly. He was becoming a bit frustrated that it was a one-way communication and wished there was a way for the cleric to reach him when she wanted to.
“She's not a wizard, Simon,” Aeris said simply when he complained to the elemental. “I have never heard of clerics being able to communicate over distances.”
Simon sighed with irritation while making some notes. He had discovered more and more runes and symbols hidden within Daniel's notes and was busy experimenting with new combinations of possible spells.
He was being cautious though. Simon ruefully ran his fingertips over his eyebrows. He'd singed them several days before from a mispronounced spell and didn't want to repeat the experience.
“There is something called a lodestone, I believe, that could help you a bit,” Aeris told him after silently watching for several minutes.
“A lodestone?” Simon looked up from the notes. “What's that?”
“Wizards used to use them. Basically you have two of these stones that are in tune with each other. When you want to speak with someone, you simply hold the stone and think of that person. The other stone glows and warms a bit. So if you and Clara had these stones and she wanted to speak with you, that could be a way to signal you to call her.”
“Hmm, a lodestone.”
Simon looked at the dozens of scattered spells strewn across his work table and shook his head.
“I haven't come across anything like that. Not yet anyway.”
Aeris looked amused.
“The lodestone isn't a wizardly invention. In fact, you have someone living right here who could fashion you a pair quite easily, I think.”
“What? Someone living here who...”
Simon's eyes widened.
“Kronk? Kronk could make them for me?”
“Of course. Earth elemental, remember? Anything related to minerals or metals or, in this case stones, are his specialty.”
“Sheesh, I wish you'd mentioned this a few weeks ago. Never mind though. That's great news.”
Simon looked around the room and then glanced out of the window. It was almost noon by his reckoning and he guessed that Kronk would either be working in the garden or in the stable. He dropped his pencil on the table and headed for the door, Aeris gliding silently behind him.
Simon found the little guy puttering in the garden, pulling weeds and humming to himself tunelessly. He stood back a moment and watched the elemental with a little smile of affection. Kronk actually seemed happy and Simon realized that not so long ago he wouldn't have believed a summoned being could experience such an emotion.
He exchanged a look with Aeris, who smiled and nodded as if reading his thoughts and then they approached the busy little guy.
“I see you're hard at work, my friend,” Simon said with a grin.
Kronk turned and wiped his hands off on a broad leaf.
“It's not really work, master,” he protested. “I enjoy keeping your garden in its best condition and producing food for you and your allies.”
“Allies. Hmm. Yeah, I guess that's a good way to describe them.” Simon looked around at the plants surrounding them. They were planted in perfect lines and the ground was clear of weeds and debris. He wondered, not for the first time, what the thing would look like if it was only him working on it. Shabby and wilting probably, he thought with a mental wince. Well, fortunately he had Kronk and his smile widened as he looked down at the elemental.
“What is it, master? You looked pleased with something.”
“With you, my friend. I was thinking about where I'd be with this darned garden if you weren't here to help me. It's not a pretty picture.”
The Dragons Return Page 22
