Simon stared at the center of the table and took a deep breath.
Okay, he thought with a mixed feeling of excitement and trepidation. Here we go.
He intoned the spell in a steady, measured voice and hesitated when he was done. The spell hung in the air around him, throbbing with potential.
He swallowed noisily and cast the spell by using the word of command.
“Invectis!” he said in a firm voice.
Simon felt a pulling sensation as the magic was drained from his body and channeled into the spell. He waited but nothing happened. Instead of disappointment, the wizard smiled slightly. He'd summoned elementals before and now the spell was waiting for him to specify which one he wanted to appear.
“Kronk, I need you!” he said loudly and stared intently at the open space on the table.
There was a muted rumble in the distance, as if something was shooting toward the tower from deep underground. With a loud crack, the table shook violently and standing in the middle was a little figure made of dark stone.
The elemental looked around, a expression of amazement showing clearly on his rough, rocky features. Then Kronk caught sight of Simon, who was watching him with a wide grin.
“Master! I'm back!”
“That you are, my friend,” Simon said happily.
Kronk suddenly laughed, a rare occurrence, and raised his hands over his head.
“I'm back, I'm back, I'm back!”
He threw back his head and guffawed with joy. Simon sat down at the table and simply stared at his friend. The little guy's reaction was all that he could have hoped for, and he himself was beyond delighted.
“Welcome back, Kronk. I'm so sorry you were banished back to your world.”
Kronk tip-tapped over to Simon and stood next to his shoulder. He stared intently at the wizard, patting his arm repeatedly as if to reassure himself that he was really there.
“It was not your fault, master. The more powerful of my people told me that your magic had been taken by those evil gods. Is that so?”
“That's what happened, I guess. Ethmira told me that, when she showed up yesterday to help me regain the power.”
Kronk's eyes, two dark pits with tiny red flames flickering deep inside, widened.
“The elven maiden came to help?” Simon nodded. “That is wonderful, master. It is good to know that they are willing to help you.”
“Well, I certainly appreciated it,” Simon told him dryly. “Anyway, forget that for now. How are you doing?”
“Oh, I'm fine, master. I was just so worried about you. And the horses, of course.”
Kronk caught himself and looked concerned.
“The horses! I must check on them right away.”
“They're fine, Kronk. I've been taking care of them.”
“Yes master, I'm sure you've done a fine job,” the elemental said, sounding less than impressed by Simon's assertion. “But I should see to them anyway.” He hopped off of the table and started for the door, speaking more to himself than to the wizard.
“They'll need to be fed and watered. The stable should be cleaned. Oh and I'm sure that the tower needs a good dusting. And the fire probably needs tending.”
Simon watched him leave the room and heard him jumping down the stairs step by step, still mumbling to himself. The wizard couldn't stop grinning foolishly and wiped tears from his eyes.
Still the same old Kronk, he thought. Thank the gods for that.
He decided to leave the little guy to his self-imposed duties. Simon had never once asked Kronk to do anything around the place. The elemental had simply taken on tasks by himself, to the point where the wizard could concentrate on his studies.
He had made himself indispensable, Simon thought gratefully. I'm so glad he's back.
The casting had made him more tired than he'd expected but he could rest later. He wanted Aeris back as well, caustic though the air elemental could be. So he stood up, went back to his desk and sat down to memorize the summoning spell once again.
With the incantation firmly in mind, he stood by the work table and chanted the spell one more time.
The spell hovered around him, crackling slightly like an electrical discharge
“Invectis!” he barked and knew the magic was waiting for him to call forth the elemental.
“Aeris, I need you,” he said firmly as he watched the center of the table.
This time, a mutter of thunder echoed through the tower and Simon squinted his eyes. He knew what came next.
There was a loud bang and a flash of light that was blindingly white. A smell of ozone wafted bitterly into his nostrils and Simon sneezed violently.
“Well, it's about time,” an irritated voice said from the table top.
Simon coughed several times and blinked to clear his eyes.
“Good to see you too, Aeris,” he replied.
The air elemental hovered an inch or so above the table, hands on hips. He was semi-transparent with features much more human-like than Kronk's. Right now those features were set in a frown.
“What took you so long?” he asked Simon with a touch of bitterness.
The wizard was used to Aeris' attitude and way of speaking, but was still surprised by his lack of pleasure at being returned from his realm. A realm, Aeris had told him once, that he very much disliked.
Simon sat down and rested his arms on the table. He stared at the elemental and matched his frown with one of his own.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he asked with a touch of anger. “You think that I've just been sitting around, leaving you in the air realm for laughs?”
Aeris' face cleared and he looked a little embarrassed.
“Well, I mean...” he sighed. “I apologize, my dear wizard. I'm sure you've had your struggles since I was sent back. I was worried, actually.”
Simon knew what it took for the elemental to apologize. And to admit he was worried? The wizard was amazed.
“Were you? Well, it's mutual. I know how much you hate your home realm. Unfortunately, I was stripped of my magic for a while. It was a difficult time.”
Aeris floated closer and studied Simon's face,
“No doubt. Well, I'm back now. Did you recover Kronk as well?”
Simon had to smile at the elemental's slightly acerbic tone.
“Yep, he's back. He took off to check on the horses.”
“Of course he did,” Aeris said sarcastically. “Ah well, back to normal then.”
He rose from the table and flitted about the room for a moment.
“Everything seems to be in order. Care to tell me how you recovered your magic?”
“Sure. But let's go downstairs. I want some tea and I'm a bit tired from casting two summonings so closely together.”
Aeris followed him out of the room.
“Tired? From casting such simple spells?”
Simon nodded as he walked down the stairs.
“Clearly something had changed with your powers.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
So Simon made tea and sat near the fire to explain what had happened over the past few days. Halfway through his explanation, Kronk came in from the stable and stood next to the fire, steam rising from his rocky body. He listened intently while the wizard spoke but stayed silent.
When he was finished speaking, Simon went and got the shard of crystal heart from his coat pocket, putting on a glove before touching it. He showed it to the two elementals who looked at it with fascination.
“A dragon's heart,” Aeris murmured. “Imagine that.”
Kronk stared at the shard and then looked up at Simon.
“Would you like me to smooth those edges, master? They are very sharp.”
Simon sat down and handed the jagged piece to the little guy.
“Can you do that?” he asked in surprise.
“Yes, of course, master.”
Kronk rubbed his stony hands lightly around the circumference of the round
crystal. A light glow followed his movements and Simon watched in awe as the shard became smoother, gleaming with the reflected light of the fire.
When he was finished, Kronk handed the piece back to Simon, who examined it closely.
“Thank you, Kronk,” he said. “That was great.”
The shard looked like a pendant now, almost flat and round with a hole through the center.
“I'll find a strip of leather later so that you can wear it when you leave the tower, master,” Kronk told him.
The wizard put the shard in a pocket and smiled at the little earthen.
“Thanks again. As always, you are a great help to me.”
Kronk seemed to puff up a bit at the compliment while Aeris, as usual, made a disparaging sound.
Simon turned to him and raised an eyebrow,
Aeris looked at him innocently.
“What?” he asked.
Simon just rolled his eyes.
“Nothing. But now that you're back and apparently feeling frisky, I'd like to ask you to do something for me.”
Aeris glanced down at Kronk, who was still smiling, and sniffed.
“Certainly. Our rocky little friend isn't the only one who likes being useful.”
Simon hid a grin at Aeris' obvious competitiveness.
“Good. I'm sure that I won't be able to cast Magic Mouth for some time. It'll take a lot of practice for me to regain that level of competence. But I'd like to reassure Clara that things are back to normal, or at least getting there. She was so helpful in telling me what needed to be done to regain my power and I think that she should know what's happened.”
Aeris' expression brightened and Simon remembered that the elemental was very fond of Virginia and her friends. He'd been instrumental in saving their lives and had forged a bond with all four of them.
“I'd be happy to,” the air elemental said. “I think you're right. She'll be reassured to know that you are back to your old self.”
“Thanks, Aeris. You can leave whenever you want to. If you want to wait until tomorrow or...”
“Oh no. I'll go now,” Aeris said and floated across the room toward the door. “I should be back before nightfall.”
He turned and looked at Simon with a small smile.
“Try not to lose your magic again before I return, hmm?”
And with that, the elemental disappeared with a subdued pop.
Kronk shook his head as Simon sat back in his chair with a contented sigh.
“He is very disrespectful, master. I do not know why you tolerate it.”
The wizard smiled down at the elemental.
“Probably because he's colorful. You and I see eye to eye in most things, while Aeris is almost always contrary. I think I need that once in a while. It keeps me on my toes.”
“If you say so, master,” Kronk replied dubiously. “I find it easier to just ignore him when he begins complaining.”
With a laugh, Simon stretched. He was feeling more and more like his old self and chatting with Kronk was one of the main reasons.
“So do I, Kronk. So do I.”
Over the next week or so, things began to get back into a routine, now that the elementals were home again. Aeris had let Clara know that Simon the wizard was back in business. She was very pleased and passed on her congratulations.
Kronk was in a flurry for a few days, cleaning the tower, removing the snow from the paths around the grounds and generally putting the place back into order.
Simon was amused as he watched the little guy flit here and there, muttering to himself. Apparently the elemental was amazed that the wizard had managed to survive for a handful of days without him. Whenever he mentioned this, Simon would nod meekly and reassure him that he was quite correct.
Aeris seemed torn between scorn for Kronk's enthusiastic work ethic and a need to prove that he was useful as well. A few times, Simon caught the air elemental tidying up a room or rearranging things in the storage area in the basement. Aeris would simply look at him mutely and the wizard would pretend that he hadn't seen anything and move on.
The tower was now warm all the time, thanks to Kronk, and possibly Aeris, keeping the fire well-stocked with logs all night. Getting up in the morning was no longer a freezing experience and Simon was much more comfortable.
It was just as well that the elementals had returned when they did. The weather took a turn for the worse and winter storms roared around the tower for days on end, heaping snow up to the first floor windows and dropping the outside temperatures to bitter lows.
Simon's visits to the outhouse were painful, but Kronk at least kept the pathway clear so that the run from the tower and back was unimpeded.
Fortunately, the wizard's days were now filled with studying again. His spell-casting ability was terrible and once the happiness of regaining his magic had faded, Simon found himself back to being a frustrated novice wizard.
He could only memorize one spell at a time and only the easiest ones at that.
The first spell Simon cast for practice, just to prove to himself that he could, was Sparkle. It created little sparkles in the air like fireworks and was the least difficult spell that he had.
Trying to be disciplined in his approach to practicing, Simon spent an entire morning just memorizing Sparkle, casting it, memorizing it again and on and on. By the time he was done, the thought of casting the damned spell one more time almost made him sick.
The frightening part of his new status as a beginning wizard was his lack of stamina. Spells used magic, but the magic was drawn from the wizard and left him fatigued after casting. For the brief time that Simon had known master-class wizard spells, he rarely felt tired even after casting several powerful spells in a row.
Now, however, he had to lie down after his morning's practicing and sleep for several hours. He felt like he had run a marathon and could barely stumble to his bedroom.
“This is ridiculous,” he complained to Kronk a few days later. After the Sparkle spell, Simon had begun casting other simple spells.
Stone-Skin was a protective spell that covered his body with a rough, stony coating. It was flexible and fairly easy to cast. Unfortunately, after casting it three times in a row, Simon had passed out.
“I can barely function as a wizard now. I think I'm less powerful than I was when I first learned I could use magic and began casting spells.”
He had glanced in the mirror that morning, and was shocked to see black circles under his eyes. His cheeks were sunken in and he had begun trembling at any chill in the air. In short, he was frail and becoming weaker by the day.
Kronk listened sympathetically to Simon's complaints as the wizard sat near the fireplace wrapped in a thick blanket. When Simon paused to sip some tea, the elemental tilted his head and stared intently at him.
“Master, you are working yourself too hard. You are trying to regain your old skill more quickly than you should. Take your time, pace yourself or you will become ill.”
“I can't,” Simon replied. “Don't you see, Kronk? I'm the only wizard that we know of, so far. I have to learn quickly, to be able to fight back. The evil gods have noticed me. That means that I might be attacked again. Or worse, they may threaten Clara and her people. They helped me, after all, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that those gods know that.”
Kronk stared at him helplessly and Simon felt a sudden wave of sympathy for him. He was only saying what he was saying because he cared. But before he could speak, a voice from behind him cut him off.
“As much as I dislike agreeing with him, in this case Kronk is correct.”
Aeris floated into view and hovered at eye-level near the fireplace.
“Meaning?” Simon asked shortly.
“Meaning, my dear stubborn young wizard, that you are endangering yourself. And others, if they must depend on your skills to protect them, as you say Clara's people must.”
Simon simply watched him silently, waiting for the elemental to continue.
The wizard looked away from Aeris and into the flames in the fireplace. Now that his memory was jogged. Simon did recall the tale of the powerless young wizard. Aeris had said that she could barely move or even feed herself. But that couldn't be happening to him, could it? He'd just regained his power.
“And I told you at the time,” Aeris continued forcefully, “that she was lucky to have even survived. Most wizards who overextended themselves ended up dead.”
He suddenly flitted forward until he was almost nose to nose with Simon, who pulled back into the chair in surprise.
“And you may too,” Aeris concluded in a terse whisper.
“But, but, I just got my powers back! I need to work at them to make them stronger. Just like in the old days when I trained for power-lifting. Work the muscles until they ache, then work them some more.”
“Magical power is not a muscle, master,” Kronk said softly. “I do not know as much about it as Aeris does, but I do know that magic misused or overused can rebound on the caster with tragic results.”
Aeris looked down at Kronk and nodded once.
“But then what can I do?” Simon asked querulously. Even to himself he sounded like a petulant child and he cleared his throat in embarrassment.
“I will tell you what you cannot do, Simon,” Aeris said seriously. “You cannot cast any spells for at least a week.”
“A week?” Simon asked loudly. He sat up abruptly and his blanket fell unnoticed to the floor.
“Or two. Possible longer.”
Before Simon could protest, Aeris cut him off.
“At least,” he repeated. “Have you seen yourself lately? You have lost weight. Weight that you do not have in abundance, I might add. You are gaunt and pale and,” he looked Simon up and down, “shaking like you have a fever. In short, my dear wizard, you are killing yourself. And you don't even seem to know it.”
“But I, I...”
“Master, look at your hands,” Kronk urged.
The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) Page 8
