The Dragons of Decay (25 page)

“
I'm going to bed, my friend.
It's been a draining, exhausting day and tomorrow may be even
crazier. I might as well make it an early night.”

“
That is a good idea, master,”
Kronk said as Simon walked to the stairs. “Get your rest. My
brethren and I will watch over you and our home.”

The wizard smiled affectionately at
the elemental.

“
I know you will, Kronk. See
you in the morning.”

Simon was up bright and early the
next day, which was unusual for him. He wasn't a morning person as a
rule, but he woke up anticipating an interesting day and almost
leaped out of bed.

Outside it was bright but bitterly
cold and his first visit to the outhouse was a quick one. Afterward,
Simon and Kronk chatted while he ate toast and jam and drank several
cups of tea. They had decided that the earth elementals would begin
work on the arches over the gates as soon as Aeris and the others
returned from their scouting mission. Kronk was especially concerned
that if the next winter storm was accompanied by a wave of wights,
that the tower should be as secure as he and his people could make
it.

“
I do hope we don't have to
wait for Aeris all day,” Kronk said to Simon.

He was standing on the kitchen table
and his hard, stony foot was tapping impatiently against the table
top. The sound was reminiscent of a hyper woodpecker attacking a tree
and Simon was doing his best not to laugh. The earthen was normally
the most patient person that he'd ever known and his eagerness was
very amusing.

“
He tends to get sidetracked on
occasion, you know,” Kronk continued, his foot tapping away.
Obviously he wasn't even aware that he was doing it and Simon was
having a hard time drinking his tea because his barely-suppressed
giggles were threatening to choke him.

“
Why must you always complain
about me behind my back?” a voice asked from across the room.

Simon and Kronk looked over at the
stairs and saw Aeris and four other air elementals descend from the
second floor and float in formation toward them.

“
Well, hello there, everyone!”
Simon exclaimed with a broad smile.

The elementals joined Kronk on the
table and bowed as one, except for Aeris who simply nodded.

“
Good morning, my dear wizard.
As you can see, we are back. And we didn't even get sidetracked,”
he added with a roll of his eyes at the earthen.

Kronk stopped tapping his foot and
gave an irritable twitch of his shoulders.

“
You are known to be a little
flighty is all I meant,” he said gruffly and turned to look at
Simon. “Master, now that Aeris has returned, we will begin work
right away.”

“
Go ahead,” the wizard
told him. “Let me know when you're done and I'll create some
new wards.”

“
I will, master. Thank you.”

The little guy leaped off of the
table and tip-tapped over to the door. Before he jumped up and opened
it, he turned to look at Aeris and the others.

“
I am glad you are home and
safe,” he said simply. Then he opened the door, hurried out and
slammed it behind him.

Aeris bobbed above the table, staring
silently at the closed door for a moment and then cleared his throat.

“
Yes, well, um...” he
said, sounding a bit confused as he looked at Simon.

The wizard winked at him and Aeris
smiled tentatively.

“
I'm happy you're all back as
well,” the wizard told him and the others. He looked at Aeris.
“Did you tell your friends about what happened in Mexico?”

“
I did,” he replied. The
other elementals nodded, their expressions becoming very grave.
“Fortunately, that new wide strip of ocean that separates
Florida from the mainland has kept the cursed goblins from invading
the area and, I think, will continue to do so.”

“
Yeah, we got lucky there. But
I am so sorry for your loss,” Simon told them all. “As I
told Brethia and Sessa, if I'd known how dangerous their mission was
going to be, I would never have sent them. So I want to apologize to
all of you. I grieve with you for your fallen people.”

Aeris nodded sadly but the other four
elementals stared at the wizard as if stunned.

Simon looked at them curiously.

“
Is anything wrong?” he
asked after an uncomfortable silence.

“
My lord,” one of the
elemental spoke up hesitantly, glancing nervously at his companions.
“We are...so honored at your concern for our welfare and our
loss. None of us has ever been shown any compassion by a wizard
before. We now understand why Aeris is so loyal to you and so happy
to be in your service.”

“
He is?” Simon looked at
Aeris. “You are? Why haven't I heard this before?”

“
Oh great!” Aeris replied
and scowled at the elemental who had spoken. “You just had to
tell him, didn't you? What is wrong with you all? We of the air realm
should be more subtle.” He rolled his eyes. “Honestly,
you can't take these people anywhere!”

Simon burst out laughing; he just
couldn't help himself. And the air elemental's angry look only made
it worse, as did the confused stares of the others.

As he wiped tears from his eyes, the
wizard tried to catch his breath. He had needed that release.

“
Forgive me for laughing,
folks. It's just that Aeris is always so contained when it comes to
his feelings that I assumed all of his people were as well.”

“
We are not all like him, my
lord,” the spokesperson for the elementals said with a wry
glance at Aeris. “We are, like your people, very diverse. We
can be loud, quiet, shy, bold, and every other combination of
personalities.”

“
Yes, I can see that. Anyway,
let's move on before we get our friend here any more upset.”

“
Bah, I am far from upset.”
Aeris responded shortly. “But you are correct, my dear wizard.
We should submit our reports. Trass? Would you like to begin?”

The air elemental who had spoken up
nodded. He had been given the southern end of Florida to explore and
quickly took some paper and a pencil and drew a map of his territory.

“
This section near the ocean is
quite fertile,” he said, tapping the map with the pencil. “On
the northern edge of my section, there was a very large group of
buildings. It was not a town, I do not think. In fact, I do not know
what they were used for, but all of them were leveled and turned to
slag; dragon attack obviously.”

“
Yes, that was an amusement
park once upon a time,” Simon said with regret, wondering why
every memory from his childhood had been systematically destroyed by
the dragons.

Why do they hate us so much, he
wondered, not for the first time.

“
Ah, is that what it was, my
lord?” Trass replied. “I see. In any case, I would not
recommend this area to set up a new habitation. It would, I believe,
be quite depressing for your people, Perhaps in a generation or two,
when memories of the past have faded somewhat, it might be a more
pleasant place to live.”

“
Thank you for your report,
Trass,” Simon told him and accepted the map that the elemental
handed to him.

“
Okay then, who's next?”

The other air elementals reported on
their missions in turn and each drew a detailed map of the section
that they had scouted. Simon was impressed yet again on how efficient
these scouts were. The maps showed the topography of the former
state, areas that were now ruins, a rough estimate of the type and
number of wild animals and the edible plants and crops that were
growing wild. It was quite remarkable.

“
Thank you all for your hard
work,” Simon told them after all of the reports had been made.
He put the four detailed maps in a pile and rested his clasped hands
on top of it.

“
Your scouting has been
invaluable and I will pass on all of your observations and
recommendations to the people of Nottinghill. I am quite sure that
they will be as impressed as I've been.”

“
It was our pleasure to serve
you, my lord,” Trass said with a bow. The others copied him.
All of them looked quite pleased.

“
If you have need of us again,
please do not hesitate to call. We would be honored to be of use to
you in the future.”

Simon smiled at his earnestness.

“
Thanks, Trass. I'll definitely
remember that. You can head home now. You all deserve your rest.”

The four of them bowed one last time,
muttered a few words in their language to Aeris, who nodded and spoke
in return, and then all vanished at once.

The wizard glanced at Aeris and then
got up to boil more water.

“
Your friends are really quite
good at their jobs,” Simon said as he pumped water into the
kettle.

“
I certainly hope so,”
the elemental replied. He had begun drawing his own map of his
assigned area, stopping occasionally to stare at the picture before
adding more details.

“
They rightfully take pride in
their scouting; perhaps even more so now because of the tragic loss
of three of our people.”

Simon hung the kettle in the
fireplace, turned around and leaned back on the counter. He folded
his arms and watched Aeris work.

“
How do you think the ruler of
the air realm will react to that loss?” he asked.

“
React?”

Aeris stopped drawing and looked at
the wizard.

“
I would not presume to speak
for the great Astrandamus,” he said slowly, his expression
wary. “But if I were in his place, I would be enraged. We, the
elementals I mean, are not friends to the dark gods. But neither do
we take sides in their divine conflict with the lords of Light. But
now? With our people captured, abused and killed by creatures created
by the gods of Chaos, the great one might decide to take action. But
what kind? Ah, that is the real question.”

Simon was fascinated by the answer.

“
But what could he do, really?
I mean, your kind isn't from this world. Someone has to summon
elementals to Earth for them to even get here, so while I understand
that he might be angry, I don't see that it would worry the gods of
Chaos very much.”

Aeris looked at him with something
like pity; or was it disbelief?

“
Ah, my dear wizard,” he
said softly. “You truly still have much to learn about my kind.
There are air elementals existing in my realm who could almost shake
the foundations of the heavens themselves. And my lord Astrandamus?”
Aeris actually shivered. “His powers are nearly boundless.”

“
Really? But, I've never heard
any of this. In all of our conversations over the past few years, you
never mentioned that any of your people were that powerful. Why not?”

“
Why not? Because of the
temptation, of course.”

“
What temptation?”

“
By the Four Winds, don't tell
me that you can't see the allure? There were wizards back in ancient
times who wanted power. They were not content with the powerful
magics they wielded. No, they wanted more, and more”

Aeris paused and looked thoughtful.

“
Perhaps it is like a drug? The
more power you have, the more you want? Hmm, yes, I think that could
be it.”

“
That's possible,” Simon
agreed. “Back before humanity fell, there were some very
powerful people, often leaders of countries, who would go to war to
gain more riches, more territory. A few of them wanted to rule the
entire world.”

“
Yes, exactly,” Aeris
said with a vigorous nod. “That is exactly what these wizards
were like. But you see, they did not acknowledge that all power has
limits, even magic. A few chose to summon some of the most powerful
of the air elementals. That was beyond foolish.”

“
What happened?” the
wizard asked, wide-eyed.

“
What you might expect. They
were obliterated. I told you quite a while ago, my dear wizard, that
if you summon a being of great power, they must agree to serve you;
they cannot be coerced into doing so. Those old-time wizards wouldn't
accept that. And they paid the price.”

While Aeris finished his map, Simon
made the tea and sat down again.

“
Well, I don't feel too sorry
for people like that,” he said, continuing the conversation.
“They obviously had inflated opinions of their own powers. That
is something that I will never have.”

“
Never say never,” Aeris
told him pertly. “Your skills and powers will grow with each
passing year, my dear wizard. I hope that as they do, you will
remember this discussion. Consider what I just told you to be a
cautionary tale. It does not do anyone any good to overestimate their
abilities.”

“
I agree, and trust me, I
won't.”

“
Good. Now, let me show you
what I found during my mission.”

Simon leaned forward and Aeris began
to tap on different features on the map with his pencil. As usual,
the wizard was impressed by the thoroughness of the air elemental.
His map was precise and very detailed.