The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) (10 page)

“
Got that right,”
Simon said harshly. “So how long until the next full moon? I
don't keep track of it for some reason.”

Esmiralla ignored his
sarcastic comment.

'Do not fret. Three days
are all that you will have to endure. Three days and we are free of
each other and can go our separate ways. Patience, wizard. Patience.'

Her presence faded and
Simon let out a long breath.

Three days. Yeah, I can
wait three days, he thought. At least now I have a time frame. That's
a relief.

He made his morning cup of
tea and walked outside. The stone steps out front were a bit cool on
his feet but not too bad and Simon sat down and listened to the birds
singing and the gentle sound of the breeze wafting past his tower. It
was going to be a lovely day.

“
Good morning, all
powerful one,” a voice said from his left.

The wizard turned his head
and watched Aeris fly slowly around the corner of the building. The
elemental looked quite happy.

“
Morning,”
Simon replied. “How's it going?”

“
Very well.”

The small semi-transparent
figure moved to hover next to the wizard's shoulder and bobbed on the
mild wind.

“
I'm overjoyed not
to be in the desert chasing after the mother of the dragons,
frankly.”

He looked around with a
satisfied smile and actually sighed softly.

“
It is good to be
home.”

“
Glad to hear it.”

Simon took a sip of his
tea and watched one of the earthen as it clumped along the top of the
outer wall.

“
I wanted to ask you
a question, if I may,” Aeris said after a few minutes.

The wizard blinked, drawn
out of his thoughts, and looked at the elemental.

“
Of course you can.
Anything.”

“
Okay. Good.”

Aeris actually looked
uncomfortable, which was unusual for him, and he hesitated.

“
Well, come on,”
Simon told him with a grin. “You've never been the shy type.”

“
True. Okay then. Is
the silver dragon available to speak with me as well?”

The wizard frowned and
closed his eyes for a moment, feeling through his thoughts for the
familiar presence. He opened his eyes again and shook his head.

“
Nope. Sorry. She's
off doing whatever it is that she does. Weird how she can mentally
come and go but physically is trapped within me. You wanted to speak
to both of us?”

Aeris shook his head.

“
No, quite the
opposite actually. I wanted to talk to you about the ceremony and the
ingredients we've retrieved for you.”

“
Oh?”

Simon put down his cup,
drew up his knees and rested his forearms on them.

“
Okay, shoot.”

The elemental looked into
the wizard's eyes sternly.

“
All right. What are
you doing?”

Startled at the question,
Simon stared back and blinked several times.

“
What?”

“
You heard me. What
are you doing?” Aeris repeated, almost hissing as his tone
became more intense. “Wizards don't use ingredients in their
spell casting. They don't
need
them. You are mindlessly following the silver dragon's orders,
apparently without question, never wondering if she might have an
ulterior motive. That isn't like you at all, my dear wizard.”

He paused and looked Simon
up and down.

“
And what in the
name of the Four Winds are you
wearing
?”

“
What?” Simon
said again, feeling completely lost and more than a bit stupid.
“What's wrong with my clothes?”

“
Jeans? A shirt? You
look like an ordinary person!”

The wizard had to laugh.

“
And that's a bad
thing?”

Aeris was almost quivering
with exasperation.

“
Yes it's a bad
thing! Do you not know why magic-users wear robes? No? It is because
of the flow of their power. Tight clothing interrupts the channels
that magic uses to travel through their bodies. Wearing that,”
he raked Simon's body with a dismissive glance, “constricts
your power. It is not natural for you. And not too long ago, you
seemed to know that subconsciously and always wore robes. Now? Now I
don't know what's gotten into you.”

Aeris put his hands on his
hips and glared at Simon.

“
Wow. Really? Is
that why casters wear robes? I never knew that. Makes sense, I
suppose.”

He looked away from the
elemental and stared across the bright courtyard, thinking hard.

“
I'm not sure why I
started dressing like this. Sentimentality, I thought. You know,
remembering the old days and all that.”

Aeris nodded silently, his
expression softening a bit.

“
But you may have a
point,” the wizard continued. “I ditched the robes right
after I sent you and the others off to find the ingredients for the
ritual. Now why would I do that?”

He looked sharply at
Aeris.

“
Do you think
Esmiralla has some other reason for using this kind of magic?”

The elemental became
thoughtful.

“
Perhaps, my dear
wizard. Perhaps. My only point here is to make you aware of things
that you might not be. You're too close to it all, obviously, being
merged with the silver dragon. Two kinds of blood? A dragon's egg?
Whatever she is planning, this is dark magic. Very dark.”

Simon picked up his cup
and finished his tea. It was cold. He stood up and motioned for Aeris
to follow him back inside.

“
So what do you
suggest I do?” he asked as he crossed the room and hung the
kettle over the fire again.

Aeris flew to the kitchen
table and stood on it.

“
Do? I have no idea.
I only wanted to focus your attention on the situation. What you do
now is up to you.”

Simon sat down at the
table and rested his chin on his hands. He nodded thoughtfully.

“
I guess so. Oh, by
the way, she's informed me that we must go through the ceremony by
the light of the full moon.”

Aeris jerked back and his
eyes widened.

“
The full moon?”
he whispered. “But that's...that's not wizardry. That is
witchcraft, absolutely.”

“
What the hell is
she up to?” Simon muttered as an icy lump formed in his
stomach.

What had he gotten himself
into this time?

Esmiralla informed Simon
on the day of the full moon to be prepared to start the ritual that
evening. And then her presence faded from his mind again. She had
been popping in and out ever since Aeris and the others had returned
and, while the wizard enjoyed the solitude when she was 'away',
wherever that was, he was becoming more and more suspicious.

“
It's tonight,”
he told Kronk when the two of them were out back later that day
tending the garden.

Simon had shared his
worries with the earthen and was a bit surprised to find out that the
little guy actually agreed with Aeris.

“
Oh dear. Are you
worried, master?” Kronk asked as he pulled up a weed from
between rows of young tomato plants and threw it on a refuse pile.

“
Yes and no. Yes,
I'm nervous about it, and no, I just want her the hell out of my
head. You know?”

Simon threw several small
rocks on to the weed pile. No matter how many of the damned things
they dug up, the stones always seemed to return to plague them. Maybe
the stupid things grew back just like the weeds.

“
No master, but I
understand.”

Kronk smacked his hands
together and took a critical look at the row of plants.

“
These look fine,
master. I will dispose of the garbage.”

The wizard stood up and
leaned back. His spine cracked loudly in several spots and he sighed
in relief.

The little guy smiled up
at him.

“
The day is warm,
master. Perhaps a swim to wash off the dirt?”

“
Brilliant idea, my
friend. I'll go and get my swimming things.”

Simon turned away, walked
several steps and turned back.

“
What should I do?”
he asked simply.

Kronk looked at him and
Simon was warmed by the deep affection he saw in the earthen's eyes.

“
Be ready, master.
For anything.”

He looked Simon up and
down and put his small hands on his hips.

“
And please, in the
name of all the ancient wizards, master; wear a robe tonight.”

Simon laughed in surprise
as he realized what he was wearing; a threadbare pair of sweat pants
and a gray tank top, both of which were, as usual, miles too big for
him. He'd put them on without thinking. His bare feet were quite
dirty.

“
I'll do that.
Thanks, Kronk.”

The little guy waved and
began shifting the pile of refuse.

Back in the tower, Simon
grabbed his bathing things, stripped down to his loincloth and went
out again. He made his way down to the lake and, after testing the
water and finding it cool but not cold, waded in with a bar of soap.

He spent a long time after
washing up just floating in the middle of the small lake and blindly
staring up at the deep blue sky. He was trying to think through
various scenarios of what might happen during the ceremony and come
up with ways to counter them, but the variables were too confusing.
He had no way of knowing what Esmiralla was up to, if she was up to
anything at all. And if she was, what exactly could he do to stop her
when she was quite literally inside his head? Blow his own brains
out?

“
Yeah, there's the
solution, Simon,” he murmured as the water lapped against his
body. “You're an idiot.”

“
Well, I wouldn't
say that, but don't let me stop you from doing so.”

Simon rolled his eyes to
the right and saw Aeris hovering just above the surface of the lake,
a few feet away.

“
Good morning,”
he said as he flipped around and began treading water. “Where
have you been?”

“
Oh, here and
there,” Aeris replied vaguely. “Went down to check on our
ursine neighbors. It has been a while. When this is over with, you
really should head down there and try to set up a dialog. They could
be useful allies.”

The wizard swam slowly
back to shore, grabbed his towel and began drying off. Aeris followed
along.

“
You think so?”
Simon asked dubiously. “I'm not so sure. I mean, a humanoid
bear is still a bear, which means one good swipe of a paw and I'm
dead.”

“
I know that, my
dear wizard. Naturally I would make first contact, feel them out, see
if they are hostile or not. We can go from there.”

“
Let's talk about it
after tonight, okay? It's the full moon, you know.”

“
I'm an air
elemental. Of course I know.”

Simon finished drying off,
put on clean underwear and his shoes and began walking up the gentle
slope toward the tower. Chief and the other horses cantered by him
and the big stallion whinnied as he passed. The wizard smiled and
waved.

“
Anyway, I asked
Kronk this, so now I'm asking you; what should I do?”

Aeris hurried to catch up
and floated along beside Simon's right shoulder.

“
Do? If the dragon
turns out to be treacherous, you mean?”

The wizard nodded.

“
Hmm. Well now,
that's a hard one to answer. We don't know if she really is planning
something deceitful, do we? And if she is, what is it? The silver
dragons, as I told you once, were incredibly powerful in their day.
On par with the most powerful of the evil dragons. And even though
Esmiralla isn't a primal, she must be considered very close to one in
sheer strength. I would say that if she is going to do something
during or after this ritual of hers, you may have to wait until it is
done to respond.”

Simon stopped abruptly and
looked at the elemental.

“
Seriously? That's
your advice; wait and see?”

“
If you have a
better plan, I'm all ears,” Aeris replied with a shrug.

The wizard began walking
again, thinking hard.

It wasn't the fault of
either elemental; they knew as much about the situation as he did,
which was nothing. All three of them could be completely wrong about
Esmiralla and her intentions. She was a dragon, after all, and he was
sure that dragons didn't think like other beings, natural or
supernatural. Aeris was right. He would simply have to wait and see
what happened under the full moon.

“
You're right, I
guess. I'll have to try to be prepared and play it by ear,” he
said as he entered the tower. “But as a plan, I hate it.”