The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (36 page)

“
Actually that
doesn't surprise me,” Tamara told him. She sipped her tea and
closed her eyes for a moment.

“
Ah, that helps.
Thanks. No, Keiko came with Octavian and the others from Australia,
along with Miriam, a cleric. None of the group from the south really
likes Octavian. He's been trying to run things since they arrived,
but most of my people just ignore him. Makes him furious. The fact
that Keiko did not attack is a good sign. It means that she's not on
his side in this.”

“
Huh. Sounds like
this was some sort of twisted power grab on his part,” Simon
mused. “How did he get a dozen archers to join in the attack?
And where were Malcolm and Aiden and the others from Nottinghill?”

“
It's hard to
remember,” Tamara said with a frown. “But I think the
warriors were out on patrol, while the townspeople were working the
fields beyond the castle walls. What Octavian offered those idiots to
attack you is beyond me, but none of them were originally from
Nottinghill.”

Her frown turned to a
scowl.

“
When I get back, I
assure you, they will be punished.”

“
One problem at a
time, my friend. Now, your reason for attacking me was your belief
that I abducted your brother. Do you remember that?”

She stood up again and
began pacing, teacup in hand. Kronk waved silently at Simon and
pointed at himself and then at the front door. The wizard nodded his
understanding and watched as the little guy let himself out. Tamara
didn't even notice.

“
That's right,”
she said, shaking her head in dismay. “Bastian went missing
early yesterday, while outside of the castle. What the hell he was
doing out there is beyond me. One of our people saw him leave by
himself and never thought to ask where he was going. Anyway, I was
frightened and tried finding him with the Magic Mirror spell, but all
I found was darkness.”

She looked at Simon.

“
If he had died, I
would have felt it; I know that. So I guessed that I was being
blocked. That's when Octavian came to me and suggested that we
combine our powers and try to see through the blockage. He said he'd
had a vision; his second sight, supposedly. When we did, I saw you,
Simon, and this place. Well, not this place,” she waved at the
room, “but a dark cellar. Sebastian was chained to a wall. He
was covered with wounds and I saw a person that I thought was you
shouting at him, asking him all sorts of questions about us, the
castle, stuff like that.”

Simon nodded thoughtfully.

“
That must have been
right after Octavian cast his spell on you, whatever it was.”

“
What makes you
think so?”

“
Because no one can
see through the wards on this tower. I don't care if you combine your
power with a dozen casters. You will never be able to see into my
home unless I allow it.”

He smiled as he shook a
finger at Tamara.

“
Which is something
you would have known if you were in your right mind at the time. No,
he cast a spell to show you what he wanted you to see and then had
enough control over you to enrage you and get you to lure me into a
trap. Almost worked too.”

“
Thank God it
didn't,” she said earnestly. “But now what? I'm guessing
that Octavian is responsible for my brother's disappearance, but how
do we find out where he is? And why he did it in the first place,”
she added with obvious confusion.

“
You could just beat
it out of him,” Aeris suggested. Both humans looked at him and
he shrugged. “What? It's just a suggestion.”

“
Sounds good to me,”
Tamara growled.

“
Maybe as a last
resort,” Simon said hastily. “There's another way.”

“
I'm listening.”

“
Liliana. The
paladin can get to the truth.”

Tamara looked dubious.

“
How?”

“
Simple enough. She
can't be lied to. As a paladin, she can see through deception; it's
just part of what she is. So we simply sit Octavian down, preferably
with Malcolm and Aiden nearby looking suitably menacing, and have a
chat. If he lies, Liliana will catch it and we can, um, persuade him
to be more forthcoming.”

“
Beat it out of
him?” Aeris asked hopefully.

“
No! Well, probably
not. Since when did you become so bloodthirsty anyway?”

“
Since that mage
tried to kill you, my dear wizard. I tend to take such things rather
personally. Pardon me for caring.”

“
I feel the same
way,” Tamara agreed in an ice-cold voice. “Especially
since he used me as his weapon. That man had better have the answers
I want to hear or so help me, Simon, he's dead. I'll apologize to you
afterward.”

The wizard finished his
tea and sighed loudly.

“
Fine. It's your
call. And speaking of calling, I'd better get in touch with Malcolm
and let him know what's been going on. He might be walking into a
trap when he returns to the castle. Octavian could be in a panic now
that we've escaped his clutches.”

“
Oh damn, you're
right.” Tamara said as she stopped her pacing and stared at
him, aghast. “He may try to kill Malcolm and Aiden. They're the
greatest threat to him now that Sebastian and I are out of the way.”

“
There's also
Liliana,” Simon reminded her.

The mage put her cup down
on the kitchen table and pulled out a chair. She sat down, put an
elbow on the tabletop and rested her chin on her palm.

“
Not really. Liliana
found a place outside of the castle grounds; a small house a few
miles away. She stays there now.”

“
Really? Why?”

“
She likes the
tranquility, so she says. Maybe she does. We are a noisy bunch, some
days. Anyway, she only drops by once or twice a month, so I doubt
that Octavian is all that worried about her. No, I think you're
right; Malcolm and Aiden will be his immediate targets.”

Simon got up and joined
the mage at the table.

“
Aeris, could you
get my hand mirror please?” he asked as he sat down. “It's
in the study.”

“
Certainly.”

The elemental shot away up
the stairs and Tamara watched him go.

“
Handy friends you
have there,” she said as she sat up straighter. She slowly
stretched as she looked around the room.

Simon winced as he heard
her neck and back snap several times.

“
Sorry,” she
said with a laugh. “Bad habit. So where's your other elemental?
Kronk, is it?”

“
He went out a
minute ago. He likes to check on the animals whenever he returns from
being away, even if it isn't for too long.”

“
Ah, dedication. I
like that.”

“
More tea?”
Simon offered as he got up and put the kettle over the fire again. It
was still almost full of water.

“
No thanks. I'm not
much of a tea person, but don't tell anyone that.”

Simon raised an eyebrow
and she chuckled self-consciously.

“
A British girl who
doesn't like tea? Scandalous!” she said with an exaggerated
expression of shock on her face.

“
Oh I see.”

He grinned, relieved to
see Tamara in a better, calmer mood. She was too powerful to be taken
lightly and her beloved brother was missing. He was hoping, despite
her volatile temper, that she wouldn't destroy their one source of
information, Octavian, before they could interrogate him.

Something tickled at the
back of Simon's mind and he tried to dig it out, whatever it was.

“
What's wrong?”
the mage asked. “You look like you're in pain.”

“
Do I?” He
chuckled “No, not pain. But the more I think about it, the more
I wonder if Octavian was working alone. There was something about
him, some...I don't know, miasma around him, a magical stench if you
will, that seemed familiar.”

“
That's an odd way
to put it, my dear wizard,” Aeris said as he sailed down the
stairs carrying the hand mirror.

Simon accepted it with
thanks and put it down for a moment.

“
I know, but I can't
explain it any better than that. My powers are growing in unexpected
ways,” he added, looking at Tamara. “I don't know if
you've experienced the same thing, but my skills seem to develop in
spurts, like growth spurts when you're a teen, you know?”

She grinned, reached out
and patted his arm.

“
Simon, you
are
a teen, remember? Maybe the fact that your body is so young has an
effect on your magic as well.”

He
snorted and glanced down at himself in disgust.

“
Maybe.
I keep forgetting that the me in here,” he tapped his temple,
“is different than the me out here,” and he waved his
thin hands in the air.

“
But
anyway, the fact is that I can now sense magic more precisely, and I
can use the power to a certain extent without forming it into a
spell.”

Tamara's
gaze intensified.

“
Interesting.
In what way?”

“
That's
how I brought down your shield and the shields of Octavian and Keiko.
It wasn't a spell. I just...disrupted the magic somehow. I sent my
will through my staff and the magic just did what I wanted it to do.”

“
Ah,”
Aeris said with an odd note of satisfaction in his voice. “I
have been waiting for this.”

Simon
and Tamara exchanged puzzled glances and then looked back at the
elemental.

“
Meaning
what?” the wizard asked.

“
It
is a sign,” Aeris told him happily. “The sign of a wizard
coming into his own. Bending magic to your will without having to use
spells to shape the power is what sets a wizard apart from all other
magic-users. They are the true masters of magic.”

He
looked at Tamara and ducked his head suddenly.

“
No
offense, lady mage,” he added quickly.

She
only laughed and waved away his apology.

“
Okay,
we can talk about that later. Right now I have to call Malcolm,”
Simon said and picked up the mirror.

He
studied it for a moment, thinking of the big man's face and picturing
it inside the mirror's surface.

“
Magic
Mirror,” he said and watched the reflection ripple and distort.

“
How
the hell can you cast a spell without using an incantation?”
Tamara asked in surprise.

“
I
figured out a way to attach the incantation to the name of the
spell,” Simon answered as he kept his eyes on the mirror. “So
when I concentrate and invoke the name, the spell is cast
automatically.”

“
Wow.
I'm impressed. Any chance you could show me how to do that? When we
have the time, of course.”

The
wizard nodded, eyes fixed on the reflective surface in front of him.

“
I'd
be happy to. Just remind me when things calm down a bit. I'm a little
scatter-brained about remembering things like that.”

“
Very
true,” Aeris muttered.

“
Hush,”
Simon said. “There's an image coming through.”

Tamara
leaned to the right to try and see into the mirror and the wizard
moved his chair closer to her and adjusted the angle of the mirror so
that they could both watch the surface.

The
fogginess faded and Malcolm came into view. He was walking along a
forest path, talking and laughing with someone. He looked relaxed and
calm, his steel armor glinting in the occasional sunbeam that broke
through the overhanging branches.

“
He's
okay,” Tamara murmured with relief.

“
Thankfully,”
Simon agreed. He raised his voice. “Malcolm, can you hear me?”

The
big man stopped immediately and clapped a hand to the sword on his
hip. His eyes narrowed and he looked around suspiciously.

“
Sir
wizard, is that you?” he asked loudly.

Several
unseen companions began speaking at once and Malcolm held up a mailed
hand, cutting off the voices.

“
Yes,
it's me, my friend,” Simon reassured him.

The
warrior visibly relaxed and smiled. He released his sword hilt and
waved at someone.

“
Aiden!
Come over here. Our friend Simon is calling.”

“
Is
he? Cool.”

Both
Tamara and Simon grinned at the cheerful reply.

The
wizard tilted the mirror a bit and the view pulled back so that they
could see more of Malcolm's surroundings. Aiden entered the picture
and stood next to his partner.

“
Hey
Simon. You there? Or is this great hulk hallucinating again?”