The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (18 page)

“
Unbelievable,”
Simon murmured as he examined the picture closely.

A large creature that only
vaguely resembled a bear stared out at him. It was shaggy, with long
arms tipped with claws, short legs and a heavy body. But the face,
though muzzled like a bear's, showed an intelligence that was
extremely disconcerting. The wide eyes seemed to weigh and examine
Simon.

Even odder, the creature
was wearing clothing! True, it was only a heavy belt around its waist
and some sort of harness that criss-crossed its shoulders, but a
crude sword was at its hip and a necklace made of bone hung around
its neck.

“
What the hell is
this?” Simon repeated, stunned. “Where did they come
from? How many are there? You said they repaired the town. Can they
use tools?”

He stopped as he realized
that he was babbling.

Aeris watched him with an
amused expression.

“
Which question
shall I start with? First, I have no idea what they are called.
Bearmen? Ursine warriors? Who knows. Second, I don't know where they
came from or how long they have lived in Nottinghill. We haven't been
back since last year, so they could have been there almost as long.
The repairs on the walls are long done, so I'd guess it's been months
at least.”

Simon was listening
numbly, still staring at the drawing.

“
I counted at least
twenty of them,” Aeris continued. “The males are quite
large, eight feet tall at least. The females are smaller by about a
foot or more. I saw three young ones, cubs I suppose you'd call
them.”

He tapped the paper to get
Simon's attention and the wizard looked up at him.

“
All of them walk on
their hind legs like people,” he said evenly and nodded when
Simon's eyes widened. “Exactly. They are intelligent and
human-like. My conclusion is that either they are bears that were
Changed by the dark gods, or humans mutated by the lords of Light.”

“
Why would you say
that?” Kronk asked him with a frown. “Why would the lords
of Light turn humans into,” he looked at the drawing, “that?”

“
Survival perhaps,”
Aeris replied in a neutral tone of voice. “I'd guess that the
dragons and dark gods alike would be unable to track a mutation like
these creatures, at least not as easily as they seem to be able to
track humans. As I've said, they are definitely intelligent. Maybe
they are content to have survived, especially if their minds were
altered to accept their Change as natural.” He shrugged.
“Certainly I saw no contention among them. The young ones were
playing together quite happily and the population seemed industrious
and placid. I am not even convinced that they are dangerous; I simply
did not want to stir them up by making myself known to them.”

Simon began nodding slowly
as Aeris spoke.

“
You make a good
point,” he said as he looked at the picture again. “They
are scary, yes, but appearances can be deceiving. Hmm.”

The elementals watched him
silently.

“
So, do you think
that trying to make contact with them would be useful?” he
asked Aeris after thinking about it for a few minutes.

“
Ah, good question.”

Aeris stroked his chin as
he bobbed up and down gently.

“
Maybe so. It would
certainly be advantageous to find out if our new neighbors are
hostile or friendly. If they are productive, we could perhaps engage
in trade in the future.” He suddenly grinned. “Oh, I
almost forgot. I think they must like honey, just like the creatures
they resemble.”

“
How could you
possibly know that?” Kronk asked him.

“
In the field just
outside of the front gates, they've build bee hives; dozens of them.
They tend them with great care, I think, because they are clean and
well made.”

“
Bee hives?
Interesting.”

Simon thought that over.
That would absolutely prove that the bear people were intelligent. If
they turned out to be friendly, perhaps they could trade. He
collected his honey from wild hives. Well, actually Kronk did. The
earthen was immune to stings and had no problem digging into a tree
trunk to retrieve the honey. The problem was that the hives were
often damaged beyond repair and the bees would scatter. Not good. But
trading with bee keepers would be ideal.

“
Okay, I'll think
this over. Thanks Aeris. It's good to keep an eye out around the
neighborhood.” He looked at the drawing. “You never know
who's going to be moving in.”

“
Thanks. So what
were you working on so furiously when I came in?”

“
What, this?”

Simon held up several
pages full of notes.

“
I had this weird
brain storm overnight. It woke me up early, actually, and it took me
some time to get back to sleep. I sort of put it aside until I'd
dealt with the call to Nottinghill, but I went back to it after I was
done.”

He put the pages down
again and made a neat pile.

“
It's a way to
create shortcuts for spells, to save on casting time.”

“
I don't quite
understand what you're saying,” Aeris told him, taking one of
the sheets and reading it quickly.

The wizard picked up a
pencil and began twirling it between his long fingers. It was a habit
that he'd picked up since his Change. In his old body, his fat stubby
fingers had been anything but dexterous, but now he could spin a
pencil from finger to finger at high speeds. It helped him think.

“
Let me see if I can
explain it. Um, okay, let's say that I'm in a combat situation and I
want to cast Fireball, for example. The chant to power up the spell
is composed of four runes, which I have to pronounce perfectly, plus
a power-level rune, to set the amount of damage I want to do. Each
rune has several syllables and a few of them are tongue twisters.”
He watched the pencil spin from finger to finger. “I've screwed
up spells more times than I'd like to admit. Fortunately it didn't
get me or anyone else killed, but there have been some close calls.”

Both of the elementals
looked at him in surprise.

“
Wait a second,”
Aeris said. “You've never mentioned this before.”

Simon ducked his head
guiltily.

“
Yeah, I know. Well,
come on! Who wants to admit that they screw up on a regular basis,
especially with something so important? Anyway, let's stay on track
here.”

He took one of his pages
of notes and put it flat on the desk. The elementals moved around to
stand next to Simon and look down at the paper.

“
See here? If I
choose a keyword and link a chant with it and then add the
Invectis
command, I can use that keyword to cast the spell instead of rattling
off a string of syllables and taking a chance of making a mistake.”

“
How does that even
happen, master?” Kronk asked as he scanned the notes. “Just
deciding arbitrarily to use one word to cast a spell shouldn't work,
should it?”

Simon chuckled a bit
sheepishly.

“
I have no idea how
it works, to be honest. Like I said, the idea woke me up and then I
slept on it. When I got up this morning, it was sort of nibbling at
the edges of my mind and I had to investigate it.”

“
Weird. If this
works, you'll have to be careful which word you associate with which
spell,” Aeris said thoughtfully. “I mean, actually using
the word fireball to cast the Fireball spell would be problematic,
wouldn't it? What happens if you say that word accidentally in
conversation?”

“
Nothing,”
Simon told him. “I still have to focus my power to cast a
spell. That hasn't changed. So the easiest thing to do is what you
just said, Aeris; use the name of the spell to cast that spell. What
could be simpler?”

“
But does it
actually work, master?”

“
That's what we are
about to find out.”

Simon stood up, grabbed
his sheaf of notes and grinned at the elementals.

“
Come on, let's head
outside and test out this weird idea, shall we?”

The three of them left the
tower and walked toward the front gates. Simon opened the locking
mechanism and pulled the double-doors wide. He was pleased to note
that they moved smoothly and didn't even squeak.

“
You've done well
keeping the hinges and locks well oiled,” he complimented
Kronk, who glowed with pleasure.

“
Thank you, master.
We like things to function efficiently.”

“
I appreciate that.
Now, let's go. I think we'll do this in the center of the field.”

He stopped dead and
slapped his forehead.

“
What?” Aeris
asked.

“
My staff. I'm still
getting used to having one again. Could you get it for me?”

“
Your wish is my
command, oh great one,” the air elemental said sarcastically
and bowed.

“
Stop that.”

Aeris grinned and zipped
back to the tower.

“
I've been meaning
to ask you about that new staff, master,” Kronk said as they
walked across the field. The grass was halfway up Simon's shins
already and the little guy's head was just barely visible above the
top of it.

“
What about it?”

“
Who made it? And
how? It is enchanted, that much I can tell, but it is a fairly new
weapon, is it not? I'm simply curious, master.”

They stopped in the
approximate center of the field, maybe thirty yards from the wall
around the tower.

“
I understand. You
did a great job with my last staff and I appreciate the work you put
into it.”

“
Oh, that was
nothing, master,” Kronk told him dismissively. “It was
crude compared to this new one.”

“
I still think you
did well. Anyway, this staff was created by Stanis Ironhand himself.”
He paused for effect. “The king of the dwarves.”

He said that just as Aeris
zoomed across the field carrying the staff.

“
Wait,” he
said as he handed the weapon to Simon. “What was that about the
dwarven king? You met him?”

“
He made master's
new staff,” Kronk said in awe.

“
Why would he do
that?”

“
Because apparently
the king is Stanis Ironhand.”

Simon was delighted by the
identical looks of surprise on his friends' faces.

“
Isn't he the dwarf
we met back when you attacked the primal black dragon?” Aeris
asked. He looked confused.

“
That's him,”
the wizard replied. “It's a bit convoluted how he got there,
but he's the king now. And he's my friend. While I was being healed,
he used his,” he held up the gleaming staff and the clear
crystal at the top gathered the sunlight and glowed brightly,
“considerable skill as a smith and artisan to create this
beauty. I've named it
Mortis
de Draconis.
”

“
Killer of Dragons,”
Kronk translated, almost whispering. “That is remarkable,
master. Forged by the king. No wonder it radiates power. It is well
known that the ruler of the deep dwellers controls powers beyond
those of his people.”

Simon leaned on the staff
and stared at the earthen quizzically.

“
What do you mean?
The dwarves have abjured using magic.”

“
I know that,
master. I meant that he has power in his touch.” Kronk nodded
at the staff. “Like that.”

“
Wow, I didn't know
that. Cool. Well, whatever the case, this staff works. It actually
healed the scars left on my body after I was brought back and put
together by the cleric, Opheilla.”

“
It did?”
Aeris began watching the staff suspiciously. “Are you sure you
can trust it? Have you forgotten about Bene-Dunn-Gal? That weapon
liked to taste your blood before it allowed you to use its power.”

Simon took a deep breath
and smiled as the breeze, tangy with the smell of the forest, washed
over him. Even Aeris couldn't aggravate him today.

“
I remember
Bene-Dunn-Gal very well, thanks. And yes, it may have done that, but
it also sacrificed itself to save our lives.”

“
I doubt that it had
much choice,” Aeris said acerbically.

“
We're getting off
point here,” Kronk told him sternly. “Master has said the
staff healed him and he trusts it. Why are you arguing?”

“
To keep our wizard
grounded,” the air elemental retorted. “These enchanted
weapons aren't toys. They can be dangerous if misused.”

“
I know that. Trust
me, I have great respect for anything imbued with magical powers,”
Simon assured him. “Beside, unlike Bene-Dunn-Gal, this staff
has no way to store spells. It only enhances my skills, and that's
good enough for me.”

“
Yes, well, I
suppose that's all right then,” Aeris said grudgingly, although
he continued to stare at the staff dubiously.

“Okay, now that that's sorted
out, let's give my shortcut spells a try, shall we?”