The Dragons of Decay (24 page)

“
Oh my God,” he
whispered. “It never even occurred to me to call Aeris!”

“
I can see that,” Daniel
replied, his voice gentle again. He smiled sadly. “Like I said;
shock. Now, let me get on that research and you call those scouts.
Contact me again in, let's say, three days. That should give me
enough time, my time of course, to see Theldamor and get whatever
information she has on goblins. Okay?”

“
Okay. And thanks, Daniel.
Thanks for waking me up.”

“
Hey, what are friends for if
not to scream at you once in a while?” his friend said with a
broad smile.

Simon laughed and shook the mirror,
canceling the spell. He emptied his cup and immediately recast the
Magic Mirror spell.

“
Aeris, can you hear me?”
he asked loudly. While he waited for a reply, Simon lit the candles
on the table and on the mantel above the fireplace with a flick of
his power. The night had fallen quickly and heavily, as it would all
winter, and the tower had become dark.

A smell of lavender filled the room
and he looked around in confusion until he noticed that one of the
candles burning on the mantel was a rosy color.

Hmm, must be a new candle from
storage, he thought absently. I didn't know that we had scented ones.
Nice.

“
Yes, my dear wizard,”
Aeris' voice rose from the mirror as the fog cleared from its
surface. “As usual, I can hear you. You must be getting
impatient in your old age, to be calling me back so soon.”

Simon looked down at his smooth,
young hands and chuckled.

“
Yeah, that's me. The old man.
So how goes the scout? Any problems?” he asked in what he hoped
was a natural tone of voice.

“
Problems?”

Aeris came into view and, as before,
he was traveling along the shore next to the ocean. The sky was
darkening but it was still bright enough for Simon to see the
beautiful waves crashing on the beach.

“
Yes, there is a problem. It's
that I'll have to leave here soon and rejoin you in your wintry
tower. Not something that I'm looking forward to, to be honest.”

“
Heh, I don't blame you. But no
sign of trouble? No unexplained structures or odd-looking creatures
around?”

Aeris stopped moving and stared.
Simon could have sworn that the elemental could actually see his face
as he peered straight at him.

“
What are you talking about?”
he asked. “Your voice is strange. What are you hiding, my dear
wizard?”

“
Hiding? I'm not hiding
anything. You do know me too well though. I've had some bad news from
the other group of scouts and I wanted to tell you and your fellows
about it right away.”

He didn't mention that it was because
of Daniel's urging that he was calling in the first place. Some
things were best left unsaid.

Simon repeated the tale of what had
happened as concisely as he could and Aeris, who was already palely
translucent, seemed to fade to gray. He listened quietly, bobbing up
and down in the ocean breeze.

When the wizard had finished, the
elemental looked off into the distance, obviously thinking hard.

“
So that's why I wondered about
strange mounds or creatures,” Simon told him.

“
Yes, I can see that. Well, I
think I might have an answer as to why these goblins,” and his
voice thickened with emotion as he said the word, “haven't
expanded into this territory.”

“
Which is what?”

“
I ran into one of my fellow
scouts yesterday. Whereas my piece of this state extends along the
shore from north to south, his chunk of territory runs east to west.
He informed me that there was apparently some sort of catastrophic
earthquake that hit this part of the country several years ago,
possibly at the same time as the dragons began their attacks. Caused
perhaps by the sudden influx of magic back into the world. At any
rate, an entire section of land dropped away along the northwest edge
of the state and the ocean rushed in, creating a barrier that would
be very difficult to cross.”

“
Wait,” Simon cut in.
“What are you saying? That there's a strip of water separating
Florida from the rest of the continent?”

“
I'm saying, my dear wizard,
that this former state is now, for all intents and purposes, an
island, totally cut off from the mainland.”

“
Well I'll be a son of a...
Hang on. How do goblins feel about water?”

Aeris smiled crookedly.

“
They detest it. Rain they can
deal with, but in the old tales that I remember, they not only
dislike open water, they simply cannot swim. Their bodies aren't,
what is the word, buoyant? Yes, that's it. They aren't built to swim
and only sink if dropped into deep water.”

“
A weakness,” Simon said
with a thrill of excitement. The shock of losing his scouts seemed to
burn away from his mind as he realized that there might be a way to
strike back at these monsters. Or at least a way to protect
themselves.

“
They have a weakness.
Fantastic! Thanks, Aeris, you just made my day.”

“
My pleasure, I suppose,”
the elemental answered dryly. “No need to call the other
scouts, by the way; not with that natural barrier in place. I'm
almost done my sweep. If you'd like to recall me now, that's fine,
but I will be finished in a few hours anyway and I'd rather be sure
that I've scouted the full extent of my territory.”

“
It's your call, Aeris. As long
as it's safe, go ahead. I'll see you and the others when you get
back.”

“
Good. Oh and,” the
elemental said, his voice becoming strangely gentle, “how did
Brethia take the news of the loss of the scouts?”

“
Just about the way you'd
think,” Simon told him, feeling the pain well up inside him
again. “She was upset, as was Sessa. But she hid it well
enough. She wanted to get back to the realm of air to report to your
leaders.”

“
Ah yes. Good. She's always
been strong, that one.”

Simon looked at Aeris speculatively.
Was it possible that the elemental had feelings for Brethia? He had
no idea. He knew that elementals had the same basic emotions as
humans did, so it could be true. Simon also knew that it was none of
his business and kept his thoughts to himself.

“
Okay then. Come back when
you're ready and you and the others can give me a full report so that
I can pass it along to Clara and her people. And I am giving your
fellow air elementals permission, this once, to return directly to
the tower. So let them know.”

Aeris looked surprised but only
nodded.

“
Are you going to tell the
cleric about the goblins?” he asked a bit slyly.

“
Of course I am,” Simon
stared at him. “God, what a question. Why would I keep
something like that from them?”

“
I am not saying you would, my
dear wizard, but remember the old saying? Ignorance is bliss.”

“
Yeah? Well, here's a new
saying for you; ignorance can get you killed. Now, finish your
scouting and we'll talk soon.”

“
Understood.”

Simon shook the mirror and set it
down, shaking his head.

Why on Earth would Aeris think that
he wouldn't tell the people of Nottinghill about such a potential
threat? Sometimes he wondered whether he really understood elementals
as well as he thought he did.

Kronk came back into the tower just
as Simon was frying up some dried venison. He'd fired up the
cast-iron stove and the heat from it wafted over him deliciously.

“
You are using the stove,
master?” the earthen asked with some surprise.

“
Yep. It warms the place up
nicely and it's a lot easier to cook on. Boiling water over the fire
in the fireplace is fine, but using it to cook anything other than
toast is a pain. I know I usually only use the stove for baking, but
it's a nice change. Are we going to be okay for wood? The stove uses
quite a bit.”

“
Certainly, master. I can
always get more. There are dead trees in abundance in the forest.”

“
Glad to hear it. Thanks.”

He flipped the meat over and watched
while Kronk jumped on to the table, some steam rising from the little
guy's body in the warm air.

“
How's everything outside?”

“
Fine, master. My fellow
earthen are patrolling as usual and the gates are sealed.”

“
Good. That's good, Kronk.
Thanks for checking. I'll admit, this crazy day has made me a little
more nervous than usual.”

“
I feel the same, master.”

Kronk watched the wizard cook for a
few minutes.

“
I also discussed my idea about
making the gates more secure with the others, master,” he
finally said as Simon carried the pan to the counter and slid the
meat on to a plate. He set the pan aside and began slicing bread that
he had baked the day before.

“
And? What's the plan?”

“
Well, I know it has been a
hard day for you, master, but I actually got the idea from Brethia's
drawings.”

Simon sat at the table with his plate
and stared at the little guy.

“
You're kidding. Really?”
Kronk nodded. “Huh. Maybe we can get some sort of benefit from
what happened then. So, tell me.”

He began slicing the hot meat and
putting it on the bread.

The little guy slid the drawing of
the goblin mound across the table so that the wizard could see it.

“
Do you remember this arch,
master?” he asked, tapping it with his foot.

Simon nodded silently, his mouth full
of food.

“
Well, it occurred to me that
we could use something like it to make our gates more magically
secure. If we build an arch over each gate,” Kronk said as he
made a semi-circular gesture with both hands, “and you install
a ward in the middle of these arches, the magic would seal the gate
below it. The gates themselves would still work as they always do,
but the ward would be permanent and would be connected with the
entire wall.”

He looked at Simon hopefully, waiting
for his opinion and the wizard hastened to swallow a huge mouthful of
food. Tears sprang from his eyes as the meat scrapped painfully down
his throat and he jumped up and pumped some water into a glass to
wash it down.

“
That's...” the wizard
paused to catch his breath, “Brilliant, Kronk. Really
brilliant! And it makes perfect sense. Permanent wards are the only
way to protect the tower from whatever is roaming around out there in
the world. Well done.”

“
Thank you, master,”
Kronk said, glowing with pride. “Are you all right though? It
looked like you almost choked.”

Simon finished his water, filled the
kettle and put it on the stove. The cast iron was still more than hot
enough to heat the water.

“
I'm fine. That'll teach me to
eat too fast with no tea nearby,” he said ruefully. “Not
to worry. Now, about these arches. Can they be built in cold weather
like this or do we have to wait until spring?”

“
That is not a problem, master.
Earth elementals can shape rock and stone no matter the weather. It
obeys our commands irregardless of the temperature. If you approve,
my fellows and I will build the arches tomorrow and you can cast the
wards on them before nightfall.”

“
Excellent! Ah, my friend, you
don't know how much you've cheered me up. When I spoke with Daniel a
while ago, he, um, pointed out that I was overburdened with guilt,
which I suppose is true. But at least you've let a little sunlight
into my gloomy world.”

“
Anything I can do to serve,
master. You know that. Did you speak to Aeris as well?”

Simon poured hot water into a cup,
added his dried tea and honey and sat down again.

“
I did. It sounds like he'll be
back by morning. I told him about the goblins and he explained that
some sort of cataclysmic event had separated Florida from the rest of
the continent and isolated it from the goblins. What do you think?”

Kronk smiled with delight.

“
That is perfect, master!
Goblins cannot swim! The people of Nottinghill could not have found a
more secure spot to move to.”

“
Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
We'll wait until Aeris and the others get back before telling Clara
and the others, though. There may be some other unpleasant surprises
down there that haven't been reported yet.”

“
That is true, master.”

Simon finished his tea, cleaned the
dishes and set them out on the rack to dry.

“
Keep an eye on the stove,
would you?” he asked the earthen. “Just let the wood burn
off inside. I won't be baking for another few days.”

“
Of course, master.” the
little guy responded and watched as Simon blew out all of the candles
except for one that he always left burning on the mantel.