The Dragons of Ice and Snow (9 page)

“
What?” he
asked as he put down the mirror and rested his elbow on the desk and
his chin on his hand.

“
Oh nothing. I'll
admit I rather like being useful. And part of that is sharing
information from the past, the old days of magic.”

The wizard sighed wearily.
Sometimes you had to draw Aeris out.

“
And? What do you
know that I don't?”

The elemental's smile
widened.

“
Many things, I'm
sure,” he said teasingly. “But as it pertains to your age
right now? Just this. Magic-users age much more slowly than the
general population. They always have. And wizards? Even more so.”

Simon leaned forward and
watched Aeris intently.

“
Why?”

“
It has to do with
the use of magic.” He gestured at the wizard's cascading hair.
“You've seen what it has done to you first-hand. The more you
use the power, the whiter your hair will become. It is a normal
reaction for a wizard. Conversely, the more power you channel, the
slower you will age. For the same reason. Magic,” Aeris paused,
as if searching for the right words, “twists the physical body
of its user. That's the best way I can describe it. You were mutated
by the gods of Light to be a perfect conduit for the power, but now
it's the power itself that is doing the mutating.”

Simon sat back in his
chair, watching the elemental but not really seeing him.

It's continuing to Change
me? Oh that's just great, he thought.

“
Okay, if what you
say is true, then how long,” he picked up the mirror and
pointed at his image again, “am I going to look like an
adolescent boy?”

“
Years,” Aeris
replied simply. “Possibly decades. Some of the old wizards who
summoned me were ancient, yet looked no older than a regular human in
their twenties. Better get used to that smooth face. You'll be stuck
with it for a very long time.”

There was a long silence
as Simon absorbed the knowledge that Aeris had passed on to him. He
stared at himself again.

Well kid, he thought. I
guess we're stuck with each other.

He grinned suddenly and
watched the boy's face in the mirror grin back.

“
Thanks, Aeris.
Since it's something that I can't do anything about, I'll not let it
bother me from now on. But having white hair with this face,”
and he slapped his own cheek lightly, “is going to look weird.
For now though, let's get back to business, shall we?”

Simon began casting the
Magic Mirror spell. He kept looking at the sketch of the paladin that
the scout had made for him while he chanted. He didn't know the woman
well enough yet to be able to draw on her face from memory.

And I may never know her
that well if she's sold out to the dark gods, he thought grimly.

The mirrored surface
turned foggy and he glanced at the air elemental while he waited for
the spell to connect with its target.

“
So where's Kronk
this morning?” he asked idly. “The ground's still too
hard to get the garden ready for planting.”

“
Oh, you know him.
He's cleaning up the debris left over from the winter. Old sticks,
leaves, whatever he can find. I swear he's fussier than an old lady.”

“
He likes to keep
busy, Aeris,” Simon said in rebuke. “You might want to
emulate him occasionally.”

“
Hey now! Who dusted
this very room not two weeks ago?”

The air elemental looked
offended, but Simon just raised an eyebrow and blew across his desk.
A cloud of dust drifted through the sunbeams shining into the study.

“
Err, well. Perhaps
I should make it a weekly chore,” Aeris added quickly.

“
Yeah, maybe.”

The mirror cleared and
Simon nodded at it. The air elemental moved in closer and they both
watched with interest.

The scene that appeared in
the mirror was a rather sad one. Inside of what looked like a
derelict building, very dark in the Moscow night, several people were
scattered around a small campfire.

The wizard could hear some
moaning and at least one person was weeping. He counted five people
in all, either lying bundled in blankets near the fire, or sitting
wearing heavy coats and fur jackets. They all looked very young, and
not one was uninjured.

Standing near the group,
but further away from the fire, was a figure wearing gleaming silver
armor. It was the paladin, Liliana.

Simon looked at her and
the mirror zoomed in closer to where he could see the expression on
her face. It showed a mixture of exhaustion, sadness and pain.

Liliana's cheek was cut
open, the wound inflamed. She had deep circles under her eyes and,
Simon wondered for a moment if it was the flickering reflection of
the fire and realized that it wasn't, she was shaking.

One of the people sitting
by the fire struggled to his feet and moved hesitantly over to stand
next to the paladin.

“
You should get some
rest,” he said to her. He looked too thin and his heavy coat
was smeared with what Simon thought was dried blood. “You've
healed us all as much as you can. You must sleep so that you can heal
yourself as well.”

The paladin shook her head
once.

“
I have to remain on
guard,” she said in a low, strained voice. “You are all
that's left of us. I will not lose any more of you through my own
incompetence.”

The young man reached up
and shook Liliana's shoulder. Her armor clanked in the quiet of the
night. She was much taller than him.

“
Stop blaming
yourself! Taras did not die because of you. Dragon fire is not
selective. You saved the rest of us after the attack. Focus on that.”

She finally looked down at
the young man. Her face twitched as if she was trying to smile, but
it ended up being a grimace.

“
Nikolay, I
appreciate your concern. I do. But none of you is in any shape to
stand watch. Sleep. In the morning, if we survive the night, I will
get my rest.”

She gave him a gentle
shove toward the fire and, after a brief hesitation, the young man
stumbled back to his place and sat down heavily.

Simon had watched and
listened with interest and now he caught Aeris' eye.

“
What do you think?”

The elemental was tapping
his chin and staring into the mirror, looking a bit perplexed.

“
Honestly, it does
look and sound like they were attacked, doesn't it?”

Simon nodded.

“
So perhaps our
theory was correct. They showed up for the meeting, a patrolling
dragon attacked and they had to fall back.”

Aeris looked more
compassionate than Simon had seen him in a long time.

“
They lost someone
too. It must be hard for such a small group to lose even one member.”

“
Yeah, it definitely
seems to have hit Liliana hard. She's blaming herself. Probably
blames me too. I know I would.”

Aeris stared at him in
surprise.

“
What are you
talking about? How is any of this your fault?”

Simon set the mirror on
the table and rubbed his hands quickly over his face. He sat back in
his chair and steepled his fingers together.

“
I was the one who
contacted Liliana, remember? It was my idea to have a meeting, not
hers. God, how could I have ever thought that it was a trap? I mean,
look at them!”

He leaned forward and
picked up the mirror again.

“
A handful of
survivors living in a burned-out building, all of them wounded? If
they'd been conspiring with the dragons, they sure as hell wouldn't
be in this kind of shape.”

Simon felt disgusted with
himself and guilty for the part he had played in someone's death.

Not someone, he told
himself savagely. His name was Taras. Add that to the list of people
whose deaths you were involved in.

Aeris flew quickly around
and hovered a few inches from Simon's face.

The wizard pulled back,
surprised, but the elemental moved with him. He was scowling.

“
Don't you do this!”
he said angrily. “Don't you do this again. You are always
blaming yourself for the mistakes of others. And I won't have it, not
again!”

“
Aeris? Wha...”

“
No! Enough. You are
fighting a hopeless battle against the most evil creatures that have
ever existed. Do you even know how many souls you've saved over the
past few years? Killing two primal dragons? Destroying both a lich
and
a dark wizard? Do you? Well, neither do I. But it is probably in the
thousands.”

The
elemental's tone softened and he shook his head.

“
Simon,
you are a good man. Don't you know that? Don't you know that neither
Kronk nor I would have stayed with you if you weren't?”

“
You
wouldn't?”

Aeris
pulled back to hover over the desk and Simon relaxed a bit and rested
his arms on its surface.

“
Of
course not. You gave us your permission to leave at any time. We stay
because we believe in you. And your cause. Yes, good people have died
in this war. And yes, more good people
will
die before it is done, if it ever is. But you cannot blame yourself.
There's enough guilt in this world to go around. Don't burden
yourself with more than your fair share.”

Simon
stared at the little figure in wonder. Aeris had never said anything
like that to him before and it took him a moment to absorb it. When
he did, the wizard had to admit that the elemental was right, mostly.
Blaming yourself for things you couldn't control was stupid. But he
had set up the meeting with the paladin and her people. He had to
take some responsibility for the tragic results.

“
Thanks,
Aeris. You...make some good points. Still, these people need our
help.” He picked up the mirror and watched as Liliana began to
walk around the inside perimeter of the building, stepping over
fallen masonry and blackened timbers.

When
he saw that the paladin was some distance from the others around the
fire, Simon took a deep breath and said her name.

“
Liliana?
Can you hear me?”

She
stopped dead in her tracks and a sword appeared in her hand like
magic. She had drawn it faster than the eye could follow.

“
Who
is that?” she asked tightly, her eyes searching the area around
her. “Where are you?”

“
It's
me, Simon O'Toole.”

Liliana
stood still a moment longer and then sheathed her blade. She seemed
to relax slightly.

“
Simon?
You're alive?”

“
Obviously,”
he replied, trying to sound upbeat. “I'm happy to see that you
and your people are too.”

The
paladin's smile lit up her face and her eyes brightened.

“
But
this is wonderful! After we were attacked and withdrew, I was afraid
that the dragon would return to our rendezvous point and pounce on
you as well. I'm so happy that I was wrong.”

“
You
weren't wrong,” Simon told her ruefully.

He
explained what had happened when he'd Gated to their meeting place
and the paladin listened, a scowl replacing her smile.

But
when Simon told her of the death of one of the dragons, the smile
returned, grim with satisfaction.

“
I
am sorry you lost your staff, my friend. But to kill a dragon is an
amazing feat! Worth the sacrifice, in my opinion.”

Simon
shrugged unconsciously.

“
Perhaps,”
he said. “I'll miss it. Right now I'm more worried about the
spell-book I lost. In the wrong hands...”

Liliana
was nodding.

“
Yes,
I understand. Not to worry. I will retrieve the book for you.”

The
wizard sat up in alarm.

“
No,
don't do that! You've lost enough already. Don't risk your life for a
stupid book. It's quite possible that it will never be found anyway.”

The
paladin grinned slightly.

“
I
choose when and where to risk my life, sir wizard. Not you. And don't
worry. I won't be returning to that part of the city any time soon.
When I do, the dragons will, I'm sure, have moved on. Their patrols
change periodically and whole sections of Moscow are safe from them
for weeks at a time.”

Simon
wanted to object again but reminded himself that Liliana was not even
an ally yet. He certainly had no right to try to dictate to her. Not
that she'd listen anyway, he thought.

“
You
know best. But for the present, is there anything I can do for you?
If you'd like, I can Gate to your location, bring you all back here.
Clara, the cleric we talked about before, would welcome you and your
people to her town. They are a good bunch and you'd probably be a lot
safer than you are in Moscow.”