The Dragons of Decay (20 page)

The air elemental stared wide-eyed at
the earthen for a moment and then nodded.

“
Yes, of course. No offense
meant, my dear wizard,” he said contritely.

“
None taken. Don't worry,
Kronk. We both know that Aeris has a habit of hiding his feelings
behind a big mouth.”

The little guy burst out laughing
while Aeris' face darkened.

“
Now wait just a minute,”
he began and Simon cut him off.

“
Oops, sorry. Gotta go. See you
soon,” he said and broke off the connection as Aeris spluttered
in indignation.

Kronk was still laughing.

“
That was marvelous, master,”
he finally managed to say.

Simon grinned at him.

“
Thanks. I rather liked it.”

He put down the mirror and thought
about what he'd learned.

“
It sounds encouraging, don't
you think?”

The earthen's expression became
serious.

“
I agree, master. It is sad
that no Changlings survived in the area, but if there is game and
Aeris has found no obvious signs of danger, then this Florida could
be the correct choice.”

“
We'll have to wait to hear
from the others that are exploring the state, but I think you're
right. I wonder how things are shaping up in Mexico?”

He opened the atlas to a marked page
and examined the map of northern Mexico. He tapped the illustration.

“
I was never under the
impression that this country was the best place to grow food,
although my knowledge of such things is pretty thin.”

Kronk looked at the map.

“
Ah, but that was before,
master. With steady good weather, that country could very well be
lush and fertile. We won't know until the scouts return.”

Simon closed the map with a quiet
sigh of frustration.

“
Patience. The one thing I've
never had in abundance.” He rested his arms on the atlas and
stared, brooding, at the rainbows sparkling and flickering through
the windows.

“
We could you know, master,”
Kronk said suddenly into the silence.

Simon turned his head to look at the
little guy.

“
We could what?”

“
Move your tower, master. My
brethren and I could move it, anywhere you wanted to go.”

The wizard stared at him in
disbelief.

“
You're kidding?”

“
Of course not, master. I don't
really know how to kid, I think; whatever that is.”

Simon had to smile at the little guy.

“
No, that's true. But Kronk,
you actually could move,” he waved at the room around them,
“all this? In one piece?”

“
Oh no, master, not in one
piece. But we could disassemble it, move it to a new location, and
rebuild it exactly as it is now.”

“
Exactly?” Simon asked
skeptically.

“
Exactly, master.”

Kronk looked at the tightly-fitted
heavy stone blocks of the walls with what could only be called
affection.

“
It is what we do, master. We
know rock and stone. We are, after all,” he tapped his small,
rough chest and it made a ticking sound, “made of the earth
too.”

“
That's a good point. Huh.”

Simon leaned back and looked at the
room. He frowned at the thick ice on the windows and the constant
shriek of the wind that he hardly heard anymore. How great would it
be to wake up in the middle of the winter, open a window and feel a
warm breeze blow past him instead of a bitter blast of cold?

But then he thought of his roots. The
tiny cottage that he'd first bought here with his life savings. How
Daniel had offered to build the tower and then had designed the
entire place, hired the contractors, and had made their shared dream
come true. The beauty of the little lake behind the tower on an early
summer morning, wisps of steam rising above its mirrored surface. And
Ottawa. A ruin, yes, but his hometown nevertheless. Could he just
pull up stakes, abandon his country and move south? Would it be that
easy?

Simon looked back at the elemental
and smiled sadly.

“
I can't leave, Kronk. I'm tied
to this land with chains that are too thick and heavy to break. Even
the winter has its own unique beauty. Thanks for the offer, but no. I
stay. And if wights come knocking, if the forest becomes infested
with evil things, well then, we'll see what the true worth of being a
wizard really is.”

The earthen just nodded calmly.

“
I suspected that you would say
that, master. I too love this land. The bedrock goes deep, the dirt
is old and full of memory. It is...soothing to me. I am glad we won't
be leaving it.”

The wizard rubbed the sleep out of
his eyes, or maybe it was a tear or two, and stood up.

“
Let's go out and say hello to
Chief and the girls. I know it's bitter out there, but I think they
should be let out to stretch their legs.”

Kronk perked up immediately.

“
An excellent idea, master! It
will be good for Sunshine to move around a bit. She should not stand
idle all the time, with her delivery so close.”

The two of them spent the next couple
of hours with Chief, Tammy and Sunshine. The brooding mare was huge
by now and even Simon, not exactly an expert on such things, could
tell that she was getting close to delivering her foal.

But Sunshine was still lively and the
three horses were exuberant when the wizard let them out of their
stable, opened the back gate and allowed them into the field between
the tower and the frozen lake.

Chief raced through the crisp snow,
throwing up huge divots behind him as he ran. Tammy was almost as
lively as she ran down to the shore of the lake and cantered along
its edge, tossing her head in the bright winter sunlight and snorting
with glee.

Sunshine was more sedate, ambling
agreeably after her two stable-mates, snuffling along the top of the
crust of the snow and occasionally blowing out a loud blast of foggy
breath.

Simon stayed just outside of the
gate, huddled in his coat and shivering in the deep cold. The wind
was calmer away from the tower, but it was still bitter.

He noticed that neither Chief or
Tammy got too far from the waddling mare and were constantly circling
back to pace along beside her, as if reassuring themselves that she
was okay.

Yes, he thought as he watched the
display, his cheeks going numb. They really are a lot more
intelligent than they were before they Changed.

After he let the horses get as much exercise as
they could before he froze solid, Simon called them back to the gate
and led them into their stable again. Kronk had cleaned the place
from top to bottom, laid out new straw in each stall and filled their
water buckets and hay boxes. Both wizard and elemental watched them
for a while, each pleased with how well the three beautiful creatures
were doing.

“Do you really think that there are others
out there somewhere, master?” Kronk asked him as they observed
the horses munching hay contentedly.

“Other horses? I sure hope so. Even if
Sunshine's foal is healthy, that's only one more horse. Tammy could
give birth as well, but you couldn't breed the offspring to continue
the species; they would simply be too close genetically.”

“Then I hope that you are right, master,”
the little guy said and Simon looked down at him. He was watching the
horses with a look of undisguised love. “I would hate to see
horses fade from history.”

“As would I, my friend,” the wizard
agreed softly. “As would I.”

They made their way back to the tower shortly
afterward. Simon was dying to sit next to the fireplace with a cup of
tea. His shivering was constant now and his fingers and toes were
numb.

As they entered the building and Simon closed and
locked the door behind them, he heard Kronk gasp in surprise.

“We have a visitor, master,” the
earthen warned him.

Simon spun around, his coat half off, and saw a
misty shape standing on the kitchen table. Actually, it was slumped
over and weaving a bit.

He threw off his coat, stomped his feet to knock
off the snow and walked over, still wearing his heavy boots.

The figure turned out to be one of the air
elementals. Simon looked closely at it, but the only one he was ever
able to identify by sight was Aeris. This individual was vaguely
shaped like a woman and he assumed that the little figure was female.

“Hi there,” he said as he sat down at
the table. Kronk leaped up and moved to stand next to the wizard.
“Welcome back.”

The little figure turned slowly and looked up at
him. Simon caught his breath. He had never seen such a look of
complete despair on the face of an air elemental before.

“Thank you, sir wizard,” came the
reply. Her voice was delicate and very high-pitched. She sounded
absolutely exhausted.

“Did the earthen let you in?”

“Yes, sir, they did. They recognized me and
opened the gate. I hope that is acceptable?”

“Of course it is. Kronk,” he glanced
at the little guy, who nodded, “told them to allow any of you
to pass when you returned. Which group were you with?” Simon
asked her intently. When she didn't answer right away, he and the
earthen exchanged concerned looks.

“I was with the group sent to Mexico,”
she finally replied wearily.

“Ah okay. So, uh, where are the rest your
friends? It looks like you finished your mission early.”

She straightened up painfully and slowly shook her
head.

“I could not finish the scout, sir wizard. I
humbly beg your forgiveness for my failure. It is unbecoming for one
of my kind to leave a task undone.”

“Don't worry about that,” the wizard
told her reassuringly. “Where are the others?”

She sighed raggedly. It was painful to hear.

“Gone, my lord. All of them. Destroyed, I
believe.”

“What?”

Simon stood up abruptly and leaned forward. The
air elemental pulled back fearfully and he felt a pang of guilt for
scaring her. He took a deep breath and sat down again.

“I'm sorry,” he told her quickly.
“Don't worry, I'm not angry with you. Please, tell me what's
happened. And you can start by telling me your name. Forgive me but I
have a hard time telling you air elementals apart, until I get to
know you better.”

She looked at Kronk and he smiled and made an
encouraging gesture.

“Yes, of course. I am called Brethia, my
lord. I was tasked with scouting the northern-most strip of northern
Mexico. We divided the country equally between us. That is probably
why I survived. I was furthest away from the danger zone. We split up
when we arrived and I began my sweep.”

She seemed to acquire new life as she spoke and
was finally strong enough to rise up above the table and hover there.

“The country itself is lush, my lord. Many
crops from the old world are growing wild and the land is rich. I was
curious to see no animals though and wondered why it was so bereft of
wildlife. I thought it possible that some sort of disease might have
swept through the area and killed off the wildlife. Or perhaps
dragons had slaughtered them as they searched for humans.”

She shrugged and put a small hand to her head.

“I made the mistake of taking these signs
too lightly, my lord. I continued my mission and, perhaps, let my
guard down a bit.”

“What happened?” Kronk asked
breathlessly. “What caused them all to disappear?”

Brethia spotted the pile of blank paper on one
side of the table and flew over to pick one up. She scooped up a
pencil and returned to her original position.

“May I, my lord?” she asked as she
held up the writing material.

“Certainly,” Simon told her. He knew
how well all of the air elementals could sketch out maps and
pictures.

“Thank you. It will be easier for me to show
you than to try to describe it.”

The wizard and Kronk watched in amazement as
Brethia put the paper on to the table and began drawing. The pencil
moved so quickly that it was just a blur and a picture soon appeared
in exquisite detail. When she was finished, she slid the paper across
the table to Simon and then watched silently.

“What is this?” he asked in wonder.

“I do not know, master,” Kronk said as
he stared at the picture. “It seems familiar, somehow. It looks
like a termite mound, does it not?”

Simon murmured in agreement.

The picture showed a flat plain with scattered
trees and plants growing randomly. In the middle of the drawing, a
huge mound rose above the closest trees. Simon guessed that it was at
least a hundred feet high, maybe more.

The mound was beautiful in its own way. It had
canting spires and rose in rounded steps, becoming narrower as it
grew. It was flat at the very top, and some sort of arch had been
built there. You could see the sky through it. It reminded him a bit
of an ancient Mayan pyramid.

“Who built this thing?” the wizard
asked Brethia.

She quickly grabbed another sheet of paper and
began drawing again. She spoke as she worked.

“That one is not the only such mound down
there, my lord. I found three others and that was just in the area
that I was assigned to scout. I fear that there are many more further
south.”