“Oh, that would be wonderful. I doubt that it works that way, but let's give it a try anyway.”
“Great. I'll wait.”
“Right.”
Simon sat back, staring at Kronk.
“Thanks for speaking up,” he told the little guy. “If you hadn't, we never would have known that the Magic Mirror spell worked the way it does.”
“Mere luck, master, but I'm happy that it does. Won't it be amazing if we could see each other as well?”
“Absolutely.”
“I'm here, Simon,” Clara said and he looked back at the mirror.
She was sitting in her bedroom. Simon could see a large bed, covered with a colorful quilt, in the background. As the cleric's face became more defined, her mouth dropped open.
“I can see you! Simon, I can see you both. It's almost like a conference call on computers from back in the days of technology.”
The wizard and the elemental exchanged grins.
“Well, this makes things so much better,” Simon said. “I've never been comfortable talking to thin air when I call you. Now we can meet face to face whenever we need to.”
“That's true. Hang on, I just had an idea.”
Simon watched as she reached out, as if to touch him through the mirror, and then the view swiveled and twisted and he found himself looking through a window.
“Clara? What did you do?”
“I just picked up the mirror. I'm pointing it outside. Can you see?”
“Definitely. Wow. It's like you're holding a camera and I'm watching the picture on a monitor.”
“What is a camera, master?” Kronk asked curiously.
Simon chuckled.
“Old tech, my friend. Not important now. And besides, it looks like we just found a replacement for it.”
The wizard and Kronk watched as Clara carried her mirror back into her living area and sat down on the couch. She turned it around and they saw her smiling face again.
“I'm glad my experiment worked,” she said. “Now, what was Kronk talking about? What happened to Aeris?”
The cleric's smile quickly faded as Simon told her about Aeris' communications over the past week. When he described the air elemental's condition when the wizard recalled him the day before, her expression became one of concern.
“Oh, I'm so sorry that happened. I know how much you care for that little being. Do you think he'll be all right?”
Instead of answering, Simon looked at Kronk, who responded reluctantly.
“It is hard to say, lady,” he answered. “Certainly Aethos and others on the plane of air have resources that we do not. All I can say is that if he can be healed, they are the only ones who can do it.”
Simon pinched the bridge of his nose and then rubbed his eyes. He was very tired.
“That's not exactly encouraging, you know,” he said wearily.
“I know, master. But I will not lie. I simply cannot answer that question with certainty.”
“Yeah, well...”
The wizard rubbed his eyes again and then looked at the cleric.
“We'll have to wait for word on Aeris. It's out of our hands. For now, there is a more pressing concern. Those mutated Changlings are roaming the countryside, destroying any sign of habitation. The ones that Aeris was trailing were a long way from Nottinghill, but he believes that there are other packs out there. So you and your people have to be doubly vigilant, Clara. I recommend that anyone working the fields be guarded at all times. And whenever your people are inside the walls, keep the drawbridges up and man the walls. Obviously you know best how to protect your own town, but I think that being ultra careful right now is the best way to go.”
She nodded, a determined look on her face.
“I agree. I'm going to call a town meeting right away and explain what's been happening out in the world. Malcolm and Aiden are the leaders when it comes to protecting us now. I'm sure that they will schedule new shifts for anyone who wants to do guard duty. You should be wary too, Simon. If the dark gods hate you as much as we think they do, your tower would make a tempting target for an attack.”
“I know, my friend,” Simon told her. “But, not to sound too cocky, there is one thing that my tower has that your town and those destroyed homes don't.”
She cocked an eyebrow.
“And that is?”
Simon grinned.
“A fully functioning wizard with a bad attitude. If any of the monsters that harmed Aeris show up here, they'll have their hands full, believe me.”
Clara chuckled but sobered quickly.
“I'm not kidding, Simon. Watch yourself. If you need us, you only have to call.”
Touched by her concern, Simon glanced soberly at Kronk and then looked back at Clara.
“Don't worry. We'll be okay. But I think, just as a precaution, that I'm going to summon some of my little friend's fellow earthen for an extended visit. They can man the walls at all times and act as an early warning system.”
He looked at the elemental again.
“Do you think they'd agree?” he asked.
“Master, they would be delighted,” Kronk assured him. “And so will I. We do not sleep and we do not get tired. We will protect you for as long as is needed.”
He turned and looked in the mirror.
“Fear not, lady. My master will be safe. You have my word.”
“Thank you, Kronk,” she said solemnly. “You've eased my mind somewhat. Simon, call back again in few days and I'll give you an update. And if you get any word on Aeris, please let me know how he's doing.”
“I will. Thanks for your concern. Talk to you soon.”
The cleric smiled and nodded and Simon canceled the spell. Then he slumped in his chair and closed his eyes. A headache was starting to throb at the base of his skull and he grimaced at the pain.
“It is past time to rest, master,” Kronk said firmly. “I shall call my brethren to keep watch on the wall. You should get some sleep.”
Simon opened his eyes and stood up slowly, grumbling.
“You're a bit of a bully, do you know that?” he asked the little guy accusingly.
“Yes, master, I know,” Kronk answered placidly. “Sleep well.”
The wizard didn't wake until noon the next day and felt foggy for hours. When he complained to Kronk, the little guy didn't seem overly concerned.
“You are sick, master. Don't you know that?”
“I am?”
Simon looked at Kronk with surprise. He was at his kitchen counter making tea and cleaning his breakfast dishes while he talked to the elemental. He stopped and spent a moment just listening to his body. He was so used to being tired and dragged out from using magic that maybe he was blaming it for every ache and pain.
Let's see now, he thought. Massive headache? Check. Joints aching? Check. Weak as water? Double-check.
“Oh, damn,” he said and stirred some honey into his cup with shaky fingers. “You're right. I've got the flu.”
He walked slowly to the comfy chair by the fire and almost collapsed into it.
“Great,” he moaned. “What perfect timing.”
Kronk hopped up on the arm of the chair. It was a wet day and he was still damp from his walk back from the stable. He steamed slightly in the heat from the fire.
“Don't worry, master,” he told Simon. “It is a good excuse to get some rest. You can explore those new spells and perhaps do some thinking about how to deal with those mutated Changlings that Aeris discovered.”
The wizard chuckled weakly.
“Yeah, there's nothing like being sick as a dog to make you sit still and think. Thanks, by the way. I'm so used to being tired out from the magic that I hadn't realized that I just had an old fashioned case of the flu.” He settled himself deeper into his chair. “Too bad that the Change didn't give me immunity. Oh well.”
Kronk looked amused.
“You are still human, master. You have simply been...adjusted to be able to use magic. I
n all other respects, you are very similar to a mundane human being.”
Simon sipped his tea and then smiled down at the little guy.
“If you don't count these oddly colored eyes of mine.”
Kronk looked at him closely.
“I think they are beautiful, master. Much more interesting than just regular eyes.”
“Thanks. Anyway, I feel as weak as a kitten. No casting today. But I want to read through that new spell-book again.”
He looked around the room and then sighed.
“Oh crap. I left it in the study.”
“Stay and rest, master. I will get it.”
Kronk jumped down and hurried to the stairs.
“Thanks,” Simon called after him as the little guy scurried up the staircase.
While he waited for the earthen to return, the wizard idly scanned the room, his mind comfortably blank. By the front door, Bene-Dunn-Gal leaned in its usual spot. The light from the fire reflected off of the smooth bronze that spiraled up along its length until it reached the large gem at the top.
Simon stared at the staff and frowned as he remembered something. Maybe it was because he wasn't thinking about anything in particular. Maybe it was something else. But he suddenly recalled the day that he had summoned the staff. Something had changed that day. It teased his memory enough that he got up, crossed the room wincing as his joints ached and throbbed and carried the staff back to his chair.
When Kronk hopped back down the stairs carrying the spell-book, he found the wizard sitting with Bene-Dunn-Gal resting across his knees, slowly running his hands down its length.
“Here is the book, master,” the elemental piped up when he reached the chair.
Simon glanced at him blankly.
“Hmm? Oh, right. Thanks. Just leave it beside the chair.”
Kronk left the book on the floor and hopped back up on the arm of the chair. He looked at the staff with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.
“Why are you looking at that thing, master?” he asked.
“I just remembered something, bud. Weird that it took until now to recall it, actually.”
He continued to stroke the staff as if patting a pet dog. Kronk watched uncomfortably.
“What did you remember, master?”
Simon stopped rubbing the staff, which had taken on a warm glow in the firelight. If an inanimate object could look content, Bene-Dunn-Gal was that object.
He ran a finger along the smooth metal of the staff and looked at Kronk.
“When I first saw the staff, when I summoned it with the spell that Daniel left for me, this metal wasn't bare.”
Kronk leaned forward and examined the bronze wrapping.
“It wasn't? Then what was on it, master?”
“Writing. Line after line of tiny, almost unreadable writing. I was still fairly new to magic then and I didn't recognize it for what it was. But I do now.”
He looked at the elemental with an expression of amazement.
“They were spells, Kronk. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of spells. Row after row of them, all the way from the bottom of the staff to the top. Then I took possession of Bene-Dunn-Gal and it absorbed a drop of my blood...”
Kronk grimaced and Simon smiled grimly.
“Yeah, I know. I still hate that. Anyway, when that happened and the staff bonded with me, all of those spells disappeared, as if someone had erased the writing the way you would wipe off a chalkboard.”
“And what do you think that means, master?”
“I think,” Simon began to speak slowly, feeling his way, “that the staff's previous owner used it to store spells. No matter how advanced the wizard is, except for a few utility spells, all incantations must be memorized before they can be cast. I think that Bene-Dunn-Gal allows a wizard to store spells for future use.”
Kronk's eyes widened as he looked at the staff with new interest.
“Master! If that is so, then the staff would be a potent weapon indeed.”
“Exactly. If I could store twenty, thirty, a hundred spells within it, to be cast as I needed them, just think how useful that would be.”
“You would certainly become a force to be reckoned with, master,” Kronk said in an intense whisper. “If it is possible.”
Simon held up the staff with both hands.
“Bene-Dunn-Gal, you heard what I said. Is it true? Can you store spells for the wizard that you are bonded to?”
The staff shuddered along its length and a low moan, barely audible, came from it.
Kronk drew back and stared at the weapon.
“I do not trust that thing, master,” he said. “It is too much like a living creature for my liking.”
Simon put the staff on the floor in front of his chair and sat back, trying to get comfortable. His chest was heavy and he felt feverish.
“I think it does have some sort of rudimentary intelligence, but I don't think it's evil. I think that it enjoys being used, being powerful. Or it would if it could think. Maybe it can.”
He reached down, grabbed the staff and then stood up and returned it to its spot by the door.
“Anyway, I'll try to store a spell on it when I'm feeling better. At the moment I'm so weak that I doubt if I could conjure up a happy thought.”
He walked toward the stairs.
“I'm going to bed, Kronk.”
He stopped at the foot of the staircase and looked back at the little guy.
“Are your friends manning the wall? I should have asked you that earlier.”
Kronk jumped down and tapped over to look up at the wizard.
“Yes, master. I will join them after you lay down to rest. I want to build up the fire before I go out. A sick person shouldn't be cold; you could catch a chill on top of your flu.”
“Thanks, bud. I'll see you in the morning. If anything happens before then, wake me up.”
“Sleep well, master. We will keep you safe while you rest.”
Simon smiled at the elemental and slowly plodded up the stairs.
Maybe I'll feel better in the morning, he thought. I really hate being sick.
Chapter 15
Simon's hopes for a speedy recovery were wildly optimistic. Not only was he not feeling any better the next day, but his flu lingered on for over a week. And he was not happy about it.
“I know I'm grouchy!” he growled at Kronk one morning several days later. The elemental had made the comment when Simon had snarled at him for asking how he was feeling, for about the millionth time.
“Maybe I wouldn't be if you'd quit being such a mother hen.”
He was sitting in his usual spot in front of the fireplace, a cup of tea in one hand and an open book in the other.
Kronk stood on the floor in front of him and put his little hands on his hips. His eyes burned intensely red as he glared up at the wizard.
“Perhaps I would not be such a 'mother hen', whatever that is, if my beloved master wasn't so cranky all the time!” he said sharply.
That got Simon's attention. The little guy never spoke to him in that tone of voice and he knew that he had pushed the endless patience of the elemental too far.
The wizard took a deep breath.
“I'm sorry,” he stated simply. Kronk's expression didn't change. “I really am. I know what a pain I am when I'm sick, especially when it keeps me from doing basically anything.”
The elemental snorted but his eyes returned to their normal soft glow.
“Very well, master. If it improves your mood, you look and sound much better today. I am sure that, in another day or two, you will be back to normal.”
Simon tried to smile. The little guy was right. His joints still ached and the throbbing behind his eyes was still there, but the pain was much more bearable.
“I think you're right. I'm actually going to try to store a simple spell in Bene-Dunn-Gal today. Nothing too strenuous,” he added hastily as Kronk's expression changed to one of concern. “Just the Light spell. It's always in my mem
ory now anyway, so it shouldn't be hard to use it for the experiment.”
“That should be fine, master,” Kronk said reluctantly. “If you are set on testing your theory.” He hopped up on the arm of the chair. “By the way, we saw no suspicious movements last night. All was quiet as usual.”
Simon got up and retrieved his staff. He sat down again, careful not to knock the little guy off the chair as he did so.
“Good to know. I'll have to thank our friends for their efforts. I'll admit that I've slept easier knowing that the six of you have been keeping watch.”
Kronk puffed up a little and Simon tried not to grin at the elemental's pleasure at his compliment.
“We know, master. To be honest, they are all pleased to be helping guard a great wizard.”
Simon almost dropped his staff as he burst out laughing.
“A great wizard? Oh, come on! Me? I'm barely past an apprentice's skill level even now, that much I know.”
He settled Bene-Dunn-Gal across his knees as he stared at Kronk.
The little guy shook a finger at him.
“You destroyed the black dragon, master. Even in the earthen realm, a deed like that does not go unnoticed. There is a certain pride among my brethren to be serving you. In fact, I believe that they are looked upon with some envy when they return to my world after doing some work for you.”
“Really? Huh. Well, if it makes them happy, then why not? That whole episode is a bit over-rated as far as I'm concerned.”
Kronk made a sound of disgust that made Simon smile.
“At any rate, I may as well give this a shot and get it over with.”
He set his cup on the floor next to the chair and then grasped Bene-Dunn-Gal firmly with both hands.
“Okay. I have no idea how this is supposed to work,” he muttered to Kronk.
The elemental tapped his chin thoughtfully.
“I suppose you simply cast the spell at the staff, master. If you are correct, it will absorb the spell into itself and hold it until you wish to release it.”
Simon looked from Kronk to the staff and back again.
The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) Page 20
