The Dragons Return

by J. J. Thompson

  “Aeris, that was dangerous!” Simon stared at him aghast. “Didn't I tell you not to put yourself at risk?”

  “I didn't think I was at risk,” Aeris replied irritably. “I was following the thing at a distance. We need information, don't we? At any rate, I was fine at that moment.”

  He stared at Simon until the wizard, with a sigh of resignation, motioned for him to go on.

  “I followed it back into the hills. It was moving with purpose, not really checking its surroundings. When it crested the hills and began to descend to the other side, I halted at the summit. It's just as well that I did.”

  “What did you see?” Kronk asked him, as riveted by the story as Simon was.

  “The drake raced down the slope and merged with a horde of others of its cursed kind. The plain beyond seemed to ripple with countless monsters. And the dragon...”

  Aeris stopped speaking and he became almost transparent, fading to a mere ripple in the air. His audience waited breathlessly for him to continue.

  He finally reappeared with a visible effort and Simon watched with worry as the little figure seemed to shake with fatigue.

  “Aeris, if you want to wait, regain your strength...”

  “No! No, Simon. Thank you but you must be told what happened. The dragon was awake in the far distance. Immense and evil, it glowed with heat, its skin crackling with power. Little bolts of lightning scurried across its body and along its huge wings. Its minions crowded about its feet like rats. I stopped and stared at it. I was invisible, I know I was. And at such a distance, something that large could not have seen something as small and insignificant as me. But, it did. Somehow it did. It stared right at me. Those blazing eyes seemed to pierce me to the core. And then it roared.”

  Aeris shuddered.

  “That sound, Simon. I will hear it in my mind forever. The land rippled beneath it, flinging the drakes in all directions. And then that horde of monsters turned as one and raced toward me.”

  “My God,” Simon murmured.

  “Yes. I turned and flew back down the slope. You may not know this, Simon, but an air elemental can move like the wind when we need to. And I needed to. Those creatures came barreling over the top of the hills in a tide of bodies and careened down the slope after me. I dodged and weaved and did what I could to keep trees and bushes between us. We have no scent, my kind, so I knew that they had to see me to catch me. Somehow I lost them. But it wasn't until I crossed the river that I dared to turn around to see where the drakes were.”

  And now Aeris chuckled. It was strained but Simon heard the honest amusement in it.

  “They were lined up along the far shore, milling around, trying to find me. I saw a few tentatively attempt to enter the water and then pull back.” Then he laughed loudly and Simon stared at him in confusion. The look made Aeris laugh even harder.

  “Don't you understand, my good wizard? The damned things can't swim!” And the air elemental guffawed again.

  “They can't swim? But I thought all reptiles could swim.”

  “I don't know what a drake is, Simon, but it certainly isn't a reptile. No more than a dragon is, no matter what they appear to be.”

  Simon sat back and thought about Aeris' story. Kronk watched him quietly while Aeris, who seemed to have used up the last of his strength, sat before the fire and gazed into it mutely.

  “Water,” Simon muttered. “They can't swim. And drakes are part of the dragon itself. Is that a weakness they share, I wonder?”

  Aeris looked up sharply.

  “Now that's an interesting thought,” he said. “I wasn't aware that dragons had any weaknesses. But then, there isn't very much available lore on dragons.”

  “Not surprising, considering that even back in the old days, as you told me once, the dragons had long been banished.”

  The three of them sat by the fire and Simon watched the flames flicker and weave in their endless display of light and color.

  If water is a weakness, how can we exploit it? Too bad I didn't build a moat around the tower, he thought with a touch of humor. Better still, I should have built the thing on an island. That would have stopped them.

  He sat up abruptly and stared at the two elementals in surprise.

  “An island,” he said and then jumped to his feet and hurried to the stairs.

  “An island, master? What island?” Kronk called from behind him.

  Simon was too caught up in his thoughts to answer and, as he entered his study, he heard the tap-tapping of Kronk climbing the stairs behind him.

  He lit the candles in the room with barely a thought and then stood in front of his bookcase.

  “Where did I put that thing?” he muttered as he scanned through the shelves.

  He ran a finger along the spines of the books as he searched. Aeris and Kronk came into the room and then stood quietly watching him.

  “No. No. No. Aha! Yes, here it is.”

  And Simon plucked a book from the center of the shelf and then sat down at his desk and opened it.

  Kronk hopped up to the desktop and Aeris floated to hover behind the wizard, looking over his shoulder.

  “An atlas?” Aeris said with surprise. “Why do you need an atlas?”

  “Because I have an idea,” Simon told him as he leafed through the large pages. “A crazy, desperate, possibly useless idea. The Ottawa River is wide in spots. Very wide. In fact, there are places along it that, when you look across from one shore, you can barely make out the details on the other side.”

  He stopped and stared at the page he'd been searching for.

  “And in one of the wider parts of the river, which isn't too far from here really, there is,” and he tapped on the map in front of him, “an island.”

  Aeris and Kronk crowded in closer and looked at the spot where Simon was pointing,

  “Aylmer Island,” Aeris read aloud.

  “Yes, that's the one. There are dozens of little islands along the length of the river, but this one,” Simon tapped on it again, “may just suit our needs.”

  “Our needs, master? What needs? Why do we need an island?”

  “The island,” Simon said, “isn't very big. Maybe a few acres, if I'm being generous. It does have a little lighthouse on it, which I don't think had functioned for years, but that's about it.”

  He frowned as he stared at the map.

  “I think I read somewhere that it was a native burial ground centuries ago as well.” He shrugged. “But the point is that it is only reachable by boat. I know that because years ago, a colleague of mine sailed me out there once. Beautiful spot, really. Except for the poison ivy, of course.”

  “Of course.” Aeris said and stared at Simon as if he'd lost his mind.

  “I doubt if we have the luxury of sight-seeing right now though, Simon. So what is the point of this sudden walk down memory lane?”

  Simon had to smile Aeris' sarcasm.

  “The point, my dear air elemental, is simply this. If those drakes can't swim, they can't reach that island. And if they can't reach that island after a clever person got the attention of the dragon, say by lighting a large fire in the evening when the monster was in the sky, the dragon would have to investigate personally, wouldn't it?”

  There was a moment of shocked silence.

  “Master, I am not a very smart being generally, so please tell me if I'm wrong.”

  Kronk looked up at him with wide eyes.

  “You want to set this lighthouse on fire and draw out the dragon?” He tapped the island on the map. “And fight it here?”

  Simon sat back with a little smile.

  “Yes, that's exactly what I want to do.”

  “Respectfully, Simon, I have to say something before this goes any further.”

  “I'm sure you would, Aeris,” Simon said with a roll of his eyes. “What is it?”

  Aeris floated around until he was looking at the wizard directly.

  “That is insane. Simply insane.”

  Ae
ris pointed at the map.

  “That island is tiny. You would have no cover. The monster could simply rake the entire length of it with dragon fire and be on its merry way. Result, one dead wizard.”

  “Could it? Aeris, you are forgetting something. We have allies. Clara, her guardsmen and that ranger, whose arrows could be enchanted to pierce a dragon's hide. The four Changlings who can, let me remind you, cast a shield around themselves and others.”

  Aeris looked intrigued for a moment and then shook his head.

  “That's not a lot of allies against a dragon.”

  “True, but you are forgetting the others.” At the elemental's curious look, Simon waved at him and Kronk.

  “Your people. It might be that the air and earth elementals would be willing to send some of their more powerful members to aid me. And there's one other who might, and I know it's a long shot, but might help me as well.”

  “What other, master?”

  Simon looked down at the little dot on the map that represented Aylmer Island.

  “That isn't important right now. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, if I do.'

  He stretched and rubbed his eyes.

  “Anyway, let's let it go for now. I'm beat and you, Aeris, don't look very peppy either. Let's get some rest. We'll talk about this tomorrow.”

  As Simon got up and headed for his bedroom, he heard the air elemental mutter to Kronk.

  “And if we're lucky, he'll have forgotten all about this madness in the morning.”

  Simon grinned to himself but kept walking.

  Chapter 20

  Simon didn't forget about the island the next day, but he didn't talk about it either and he saw his two companions exchange looks of relief.

  Instead, he began to explore his new spells. This time he practiced out in the field beyond the tower, just in case.

  There was a dead tree near the old stump that he had practiced his first Magic Missile spell on. This was his target for his new and improved spell. When he cast the bolts of energy, his arm didn't go numb and there was no pain.

  He did, however, almost blind himself. The bolts screamed with energy and were as bright as flares as a dozen of them shot from his fingers and demolished the tree.

  He blinked back tears and Aeris, who was watching from nearby, told him that he might want to close his eyes the next time he cast the spell.

  “Yeah, that's a good idea,” he replied sarcastically. “You can definitely hit a target better with your eyes closed.”

  Aeris just sighed dramatically and didn't reply.

  Simon examined his fingers. No damage, he thought. That's good.

  He took a few deep breaths and checked his heart rate.

  Nope, no sign of weakness yet. Good enough.

  The next thing he wanted to try were some defensive spells. If he was going to go up against the dragon, and he shivered at the thought, he'd better have some protection.

  “Aeris, how hard can you hit?”

  The elemental floated closer.

  “Hit? Well, fairly hard, I'd say. Why?”

  “I'm going to cast that Stone Skin spell. Except that, in my mind, I've found an upgrade. And after I've cast it, I want you to smack me as hard as you can.”

  Aeris seemed speechless.

  “You want me to hit you?” Simon nodded. “Well, as tempting as that sounds, if that spell doesn't protect you, I could actually do you harm.”

  “Really?” Simon was skeptical. “You can hit that hard?”

  Aeris floated over to a tree at the edge of the forest. He glanced back to make sure that Simon was watching, then he turned, appeared to glow silver for a moment and then smashed head-first into the tree.

  Leafs fluttered down in a flurry of green, and the tree shuddered. Chips of wood flew in all directions and Simon hurried over to examine the trunk of the tree.

  There was a hole roughly the size of Aeris drilled straight through the trunk and Simon gaped at it.

  “That's how hard I can hit,” Aeris told him as he flew back from the other side of the tree.

  “Whoa.” Simon touched the edges of the hole. “You're stronger than you look.”

  “Thank you.”

  They moved back into the middle of the field.

  “Are you sure you want me to hit you that hard?” Aeris asked dryly.

  Simon swallowed, looked at the damaged tree again and nodded slowly.

  “Yes. I can't be too cautious now. Time is running out on us and I have to know my limitations.”

  Simon pulled up the spell easily and held it ready in his mind.

  “Okay. Apparently this is called Diamond Skin. I remember you mentioning it once. Sounds encouraging,” he added with a shrug and cast the spell.

  He felt no different after the cast, although he felt his strength drain away a bit.

  “Did it work?” he asked Aeris curiously.

  “Did it work?” The elemental chuckled. “Look at your hands.”

  “My hands?”

  Simon did as he was told and held his hands in front of his face.

  “Whoa,” he said yet again.

  The shape of his hands was the same but now they seemed to be carved out of crystal. He wiggled the fingers and flapped his hands a few times.

  “They feel the same as they always did,” he said in wonder.

  “Good. The point of these spells is to allow you to move and cast while protected. It wouldn't be of much use if you were frozen in place, would it?”

  “Yeah, good point.” Simon rubbed his fingers together and they rang like little crystal wind-chimes.

  “Okay, let's test it,” he told Aeris. “And don't hold back. If you kill me, tell Kronk that it was my idea.”

  “Yes, I'm sure that will be a comfort to him,” Aeris muttered.

  Simon glanced up at the blue sky dotted with puffy clouds and took a deep breath. Then he braced himself and nodded at the elemental.

  Aeris frowned in concentration, glowed with silvery light and then shot at him like a bolt of lightning.

  He slammed into Simon with the force of a runaway train and the wizard found himself flying through the air, the world spinning around him frantically.

  Oh crap, was all he had time to think and then he was rolling head over heels across the field.

  He came to rest at the edge of the forest and just lay there feeling nauseous while the ground spun and buckled beneath him.

  “Simon! Are you okay?” Aeris sounded frantic.

  “Yeah, yeah. Just...just give me a minute. Dizzy.”

  Simon rolled over on to his back and waited until the clouds stopped dipping and weaving across the sky.

  He sat up slowly and met Aeris' worried eyes.

  “It's okay. I was just a little disoriented.”

  He stood and looked down at his body. Surprisingly, he still looked like a statue carved out of a huge diamond.

  “Hey, the spell didn't break!” he said happily.

  “Yes, that's the nature of those spells,” Aeris told him, sounding a bit smug. “I believe they are called static spells.”

  “Static spells? Huh, good description.”

  Aeris turned serious.

  “Did you feel any pain? Any injuries?”

  Simon stretched his arms out, then twisted his torso and hopped up and down.

  “Nope, not a scratch. Excellent!”

  He was about to cancel the spell and then stopped himself.

  “I'm going to try a more powerful destruction spell. Might as well keep the Skin spell up while I do it.”

  Aeris nodded.

  “Wise. Better safe than sorry.” He followed Simon back into the field. “Which spell are you casting?”

  Simon had been considering the dragon's possible weaknesses, if it actually had any, and had come up with an idea.

  “You said that you saw the dragon in the distance, with something like electricity covering its skin?”

  “I did,” Aeris replied. “A horrible s
ight.”

  “I don't doubt it. I was going to try a Lightning Storm spell. Sounds promising. But if that thing is immune to electrical damage, it would be a waste of my limited energy.” He smiled humorlessly. “And would probably just make it mad.”

  “Well, we wouldn't want to do that, would we?”

  Simon gave Aeris a lop-sided grin.

  “Definitely not. Anyway, if he does have some sort of weakness to water, I thought a water-based spell might do more damage.”

  The elemental looked thoughtful.

  “That's...actually a good idea.”

  “Thanks. Try not to sound so surprised.”

  They reached the middle of the field and Simon looked around, trying to find a target. Then he shrugged and decided that the tree that Aeris had smashed a hole through was as good a choice as any.

  “So what spell are you going to attempt?” Aeris asked as his eyes followed Simon's and he stared at the damaged tree.

  Simon frowned in thought.

  “Something that's called Ice Storm. Ring any bells?”

  “No, none.” Aeris looked a little worried. “It sounds powerful though. If you don't mind, I'll move back a bit. Just to give you some room, of course.”

  “Of course,” Simon said with a twitch of his lips.

  The elemental flew back toward the tower until he was about twenty yards away.

  “Anytime you're ready,” he called.

  “Yeah well, we'll see if I'm ready or not,” Simon said under his breath.

  He concentrated and saw the incantation burning in his mind.

  Well, here goes God knows what, he thought and cast the spell.

  The air above the tree began to fog up until a miniature storm cloud floated several yards above it. A rumble of thunder and a flash illuminated the cloud and then a sheet of jagged ice pellets, shaped like knives, burst from the bottom of the turbulent mass of fog and rained down on the tree. The sound of the shards hitting the leaves and branches was like the buzz of over-sized bees. Or an gigantic electric saw, Simon thought as he watched, stunned.

  The ice shards pulverized the tree. Leaves, branches and then the main trunk itself were shredded by the razor-sharp pieces of ice that pummeled it.