The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (32 page)

Simon weakly waved away
his objection and slowly walked to the stairs.

“
Noted. Look, if
you're that concerned, check on me once in a while during the night
to make sure I'm still breathing.” He turned at the foot of the
stairs and glowered at both elementals. “Just don't wake me up
if I am, okay? Night.”

“
Good night, master.
Sleep well.”

“
You do realize that
I'm going to have to check on him every hour on the hour all night,
don't you?” Simon heard Aeris say as he hauled himself up the
steps.

“
Perhaps if you
hadn't gotten master hurt in the first place...”

“
Oh, here we go
again.”

Simon shook his head with
a sigh and kept going. Let them work it out between them. He was
exhausted and his headache was back in full force.

I'm going to have
nightmares about cows for as long as I live, Simon thought two nights
later as he sat in front of the fire. I just know it.

He was scratched in
several places from hiding behind bushes and his recently broken nose
had gifted him with two spectacular black eyes that made him look
like a skinny raccoon. Plus his ongoing headache had apparently taken
up permanent residence. But they had gotten the cows.

In the end, Kronk's plan
had gone perfectly. Well, except for one rather big surprise. Aeris
had neglected to mention that the cows had indeed Changed. They were
huge. Not big: huge.

When he had originally
been attacked by the crazed bull, the wizard hadn't had a chance to
actually see any of the cows for more than a split second. He had
been too busy being thrown around like a rag doll to even care. And
when he'd been able to focus and saw the bull as it ran off, he
thought that it looked pretty much like bulls did back on the old
Earth, except for larger horns. So he wasn't quite prepared for the
fact that the cows were twice as large as the bull. It was, in its
own way, hilarious.

“
Do you think he
struggles during mating season?” Simon had whispered to Kronk
and Aeris when they had returned to observe the herd.

They were hidden in the
shadows on the edge of the field, watching the cattle carefully. The
bull strutted amongst the cows majestically. Unfortunately he was the
runt of the herd.

“
Hard to say,
master,” Kronk had answered, taking the question seriously. “It
is very unusual for nature to create a herbivore where the male is
smaller than the female.”

“
We aren't talking
about nature here,” Aeris had whispered. “These animals
were altered by the dark gods. I think they were just careless.”

“
Can a god be
careless?” Simon asked. It was a startling concept.

“
Why not? In legends
and old stories, the gods made mistakes all the time.”

“
Huh. Interesting.
Well, our current problem is, how to catch six or so of those
monsters and get them back home.”

The wizard squatted down
on his heels to be able to speak to Kronk quietly. There were a
couple of cows grazing about a dozen yards away.

“
And how are we
supposed to keep these damned things penned up in the field back
home?” he asked under his breath. “The walls you put up
for the horses are too low. Besides which, Chief and the girls stay
because they want to. We know that they could easily jump over them
if they wished.”

Kronk nodded. He was
watching the closest cow intently and Simon did the same.

The cow stood taller than
Simon's head at the shoulder, and it was by no means the largest
member of the herd. This one had a calf with her and so her teats
were heavy with milk. The calf was as large as a full grown cow from
the old days. Both of them were a deep black color with a light tan
streak that began on their noses and ran right down their backs to
their tails. Simon grinned. It looked like a racing stripe.

“
Well, there's your
milk, my dear wizard,” Aeris said as he floated down to join
the other two. “If you begin milking her while she still has a
calf suckling, she should continue to produce the stuff for your
use.” He frowned at the cow. “You could probably milk her
standing up.”

Simon rubbed his temples.
His head was thumping softly but steadily and it was distracting him.

“
Master, my plan
will work, regardless of the size of the cattle,” Kronk
reassured him. “But before we capture any of the cows, may I
suggest you send three of my friends back home?”

“
Why? Don't we need
them?”

“
Not really, master.
I was being a bit overcautious. But if you send them back, I will
instruct them to increase the height of the stone fence around the
pasture before we bring back the cattle. That way, they won't be able
to bolt into the forest when you take them home.”

“
Hmm. Good idea.”

Simon looked around but
all he saw were the grazing cattle and the surrounding shadows of the
forest.

“
Where are they,
anyway?”

“
Out there, master,”
Kronk pointed to the sunlit field. “Waiting below ground. I can
retrieve three of them, if you'd like?”

“
Please. Let's get
this show on the road. My head hurts, to be honest, and it's not
getting any better just sitting here.”

“
Oh, I am so sorry,
master,” the earthen said with obvious distress. “I will
return quickly.”

He slipped underground,
leaving a pile of dirt to mark the spot. Aeris moved closer to Simon
and examined his features.

“
Your raccoon
disguise is working brilliantly, my dear wizard, but you are as pale
as cream. Are you sure you're up to this?”

Simon stood up slowly
using his staff for support, still creaking like an eighty year old,
and leaned against a tree.

“
I am, but in a few
hours I don't think I will be. God damn it, I hate being such a
delicate flower. Where is it written that a spell-caster has to be a
wuss, hmm? Why is that a rule? That's what I'd like to know.”

“
Temper, temper,”
Aeris chided with a quick glance at the grazing cattle. He rose up to
float near Simon's head. “Keep your voice down, my dear wizard,
or we'll be chasing these beasts through the forest all day. And I
don't know why wizards and mages are so weak. In theory, it is
because all of your power must be channeled through your mind.
Magic-users choose to cast spells and train for decades to do so,
ignoring their bodies in the process to increase their mental
clarity. Warriors choose to use weapons and physicality and ignore
their minds to improve their physical prowess. There have been some
very rare cross-overs, but they are the exception, not the rule.”

Simon snorted quietly.

“
I didn't
choose
anything. I was Changed into this,” he looked down at his
reed-thin body, “against my will. And because I was, I don't
see why I had to be so skinny. This wasn't a life plan on my part. So
why not let me use magic
and
swing a sword, hmm? Now that would have been awesome.”

“
Yes,
that is one of the cross-overs I mentioned.”

“
Meaning?”

Aeris
kept an eye on the meadow as he spoke, but the cows grazed on
contentedly, apparently unaware that they were being watched. Simon
was a little on edge though; he'd lost sight of the bull and he was
watching for it anxiously.

“
Meaning
that there have been a few heroes, legendary figures, who did manage
to do both; cast spells and engage in physical combat too. I am not
speaking of paladins now; they do not use magic. Their faith and
prayers are what make them seemingly 'magical'. No, these were true
hybrids. And there were only a few of them in all of history that
I've ever heard of.”

Simon
was fascinated.

“
Wow.
They sound great. You'll have to tell me about them when we have the
time. Right now,” the ground beneath his feet was starting to
shake a little, “I think Kronk and the others are coming back.”

He was right. A moment
later, four small mounds of dirt were pushed up from below ground and
Kronk climbed up to the surface along with three of his fellow
earthen.

“
My brethren have
volunteered to return home and adjust the fences around our field,
master,” he said as he shook off some loose dirt.

Simon squatted down again
to speak to the group quietly.

“
Good. You three
know what to do?”

He nodded at the cows and
the earthen all turned to look out at the herd.

“
The walls have to
be high enough to stop animals of that size from jumping over them.
Or through them, for that matter. Cows aren't known for their brains
and, if they panic in their new surroundings, they may very well just
try to smash through the fences.”

“
We understand, sir
wizard,” one of the elementals told him.

Simon smiled.

“
Roke, isn't it?”

The earthen looked
startled and then bowed.

“
Yes, sir wizard. I
am honored that you remember my name.”

“
Don't be. I think
it's only respectful to remember the names of the people you work
with, don't you?”

The elemental nodded,
obviously too startled to reply.

“
Anyway, I also
would like you to temporarily extend the fence around the lake. I
know it's a long way, but if the cows decide to run off, a shallow
body of water won't stop them. So bring the wall all the way around
for now and, once they are comfortable in their new home, we can
remove that section. Can you do that?”

“
They can, master,”
Kronk answered for the others. “It will be no problem.”

“
How long will it
take, Roke?” the wizard asked.

The four small figures
whispered to each other in their rumbling language for a moment and
then looked up at Simon.

“
An hour, sir
wizard. No more.”

“
Really? Wow, you
guys are amazing.” They all beamed at him. “Okay, I'll
take you back to the tower immediately. Kronk, while I'm gone, keep
watching the herd. If you see a chance to isolate a mother and calf,
or three or four beef cows, take it. Don't wait for me, all right?”

“
Yes master.”

“
Aeris? Do me a
favor and do a scout around the area, invisibly of course, and see if
you can spot some likely looking targets. Oh and find that damned
bull. I'm not happy not knowing where he is.”

“
Got it.”

“
Okay you three,”
the wizard said as he stood up slowly, his throbbing head making him
grit his teeth. “Grab a handful of my robe and we'll head
back.”

The earthen moved closer
to Simon and three small hands took hold of the hem of his robe.

Simon pictured the field
behind his tower and, in his mind, placed himself on the shore of the
little lake there.

“
Gate,” he
said under his breath and felt himself pulled into the void.

It only took a few minutes
to get the earthen organized and started on their task, but before he
headed back, Simon decided to check on Brethia and Orriss. He had
asked them to keep an eye on the wall as well as man the top of the
tower while he was away with the earthen and they had happily agreed.

Saving himself the walk
from the field, Simon Gated to the tower's roof. He felt a pang of
guilt knowing that Kronk, and Aeris too probably, wouldn't approve of
him using so much magic while injured. But then, they didn't have to
know.

The short hop took no time
at all and the wizard grinned as Brethia, who had been floating
serenely above the low wall on the north side of the roof, shot up
about six feet in surprise.

“
Sir wizard! Oh my,
you startled me,” she exclaimed.

“
Sorry. Sorry,”
he said with a chuckle. “Didn't mean to. I just wanted to see
how you were doing.”

“
We are fine, thank
you. Orriss is patrolling the outer wall as he should. No problems.”

She lowered her voice,
even though they were alone.

“
I think he's rather
enjoying it, to be honest. More responsibilities and all that.”

“
Oh. Well, good. I'm
happy that he is. So, do you need anything?”

Brethia seemed perplexed
at the question.

“
I'm sorry, sir
wizard, but what would we need?”

A very polite answer to a
very stupid question, Simon told himself, feeling foolish.

“
Sorry. I was just
wondering. Okay then, I'm off. We should be home soon.”

“
Yes, sir wizard.
Thank you for the visit.”

Simon smiled
perfunctorily, focused on the spot where he had left Kronk and Aeris
and locked it firmly into his mind.

“
Gate,” he
said and vanished.

While he was gone, a
couple of things had happened; one good and one...well, not so good.