The Dragons of Ice and Snow (31 page)

“
Obviously
your powers are still intact.”

Liliana
shook her head and sighed.

“
Your
source of information is only partly correct. Every paladin has a
patron, a god who grants them their powers. My patron is...a little
more forgiving than others. She has given me license to take the
battle to the dragons, come what may. The only way that I would have
my powers removed would be if I were to slaughter innocents. And I
assure you, my only targets in this war are the dragons and their
minions.”

“
She?”
Simon was startled. “Weird. I was visited by a god in a dream,
who appeared to me as a young woman. She told me to call her Lady.
She mentioned something about a legend walking among us. Would I be
correct in assuming that she meant you?”

The
paladin looked at him closely, seeming to be weighing her answer.
After a moment, she nodded reluctantly.

“
Yes,
I suppose she was. You see, the legend she was speaking of was that
of a rogue paladin, one who could go her own way without following
any of the 'rules' that other holy warriors had to follow. It's an
old story.”

“
Is
it? I've never heard of that one, but I'll take your word for it.”

“
Now,
if we are done for the moment, I'd like to get home before the
dragons return or send another wave of drakes after me. I want to get
cleaned up and sleep for a day or two.”

She
stepped forward, removed her gauntlet and offered him her hand. Simon
hastened to extend his own and they shook warmly.

“
I
want to thank you again for your help. If you hadn't come to my aid,
I would have died here.”

The
wizard felt his face getting warm.

“
I
have a feeling that you would have survived without my intervention,”
he told her.

“
No,
my friend. I would not. Take care of yourself. Remember, if you need
me in your battle with the primal white dragon, you need only call.”
She grinned. “I won't block you next time.”

Simon
laughed.

“
Good.
I appreciate that.”

Liliana
waved and, after a quick look at the darkening sky, she slipped out
of the building and was gone.

Simon
cast the Gate spell and stared at the sagging body of the headless
drake.

Well,
he thought. One down, only a few thousand to go.

And
he invoked the spell and headed home.

The
wizard listened with some exhaustion to Aeris' complaints when he got
home. The elemental was upset that Simon had rushed headlong to help
Liliana without even making a plan.

He
made tea, kicked off his shoes and collapsed into his easy chair in
front of the fireplace, all the while doing his best to ignore the
whining.

Finally
he turned to look at Aeris where he was floating to the right of the
chair and fixed him with an intense stare.

“
I'm
very tired,” he said, allowing his irritation to color his
voice. “So stop it. I killed a drake today and saved Liliana's
life, fortunately. If you have nothing constructive to say, try
saying nothing at all.”

Aeris
stared at him open-mouthed. The wizard hadn't cut him off in mid-rant
in ages and he seemed to have been struck silent in his confusion.

“
Good,”
Simon said and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes.

A
few minutes passed and when the wizard opened his eyes again, feeling
sleepy and a bit foggy, the air elemental was gone.

Probably
sulking somewhere, he thought with a touch of remorse. But honestly,
he's worse than my late mother, the queen of guilt trips.

Simon
got washed up and changed his robe and then returned to the chair as
the darkness of evening closed in around the tower.

Kronk and Ana each came in
soon after and Simon told them about the events in Moscow. Unlike
Aeris, they were amazed and pleased that he had killed a drake.

Ana seemed relieved when
the wizard explained why the paladin had lied, and how she had
managed to keep her powers.

“
I know that legend,
sir wizard,” she told him thoughtfully. “I heard of it
many years ago. I do not believe that it originally pertained to
Liliana, unless she is much older than she appears. Rather, it seems
that every generation of paladins contains a rogue, one who can, let
us say, bend the rules to suit their own purposes. Interesting that
she is the one. It makes her unpredictable and dangerous. That is a
good thing when dealing with dragons.”

“
Yeah, let's hope
so.” Simon was making more tea as they spoke. He also whipped
together a few sandwiches. Clara had given him some smoked wild
turkey meat and he had developed a taste for it.

He sat down at the kitchen
table and began eating.

“
By the way, your
Blizzard spell is a keeper. It worked amazingly well.”

Simon explained what the
spell had done to the drake and both of the elementals listened
raptly.

“
You really came
through,” he told the water elemental through a mouthful of
food. He washed it down with some tea.

“
It was my pleasure,
sir wizard.”

Ana looked around
curiously.

“
Where is Aeris? He
usually joins us for these discussions, does he not?”

Kronk frowned as he too
glanced around the room.

“
Um, we had a bit of
a disagreement,” Simon said a little uncomfortably. “He
wandered off somewhere afterward.”

“
Sulking again,
master?” the earthen asked with a touch of exasperation.

“
No idea. He was
angry that I left to help Liliana on the spur of the moment.”

Simon hesitated and then
got up and put his plate in the sink.

“
He actually had a
point, sort of. I should have at least taken a moment to think things
through.”

The wizard turned and
leaned back on the counter as he looked at Kronk and Ana. He rubbed
his eyes and then looked through the window at the darkness beyond.

“
But I had no time!
If I'd waited a few minutes more, Liliana would have been attacked by
that drake and it would have been all over.”

“Don't feel too badly, sir
wizard,” Ana told him. She looked a little amused. “I
have gotten to know Aeris somewhat by now and he is prickly, even for
one from the air realm. At a guess, I would say that he realizes that
he was wrong and does not want to admit it yet.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Simon walked to the front door, opened
it and stepped outside.

“I think I'll take a walk around
the tower, check on the wall. I'll talk to you both later.”

Ana smiled at him while Kronk stared at
him with a wise expression.

Can't put anything over on him, the
wizard thought ruefully, and walked down the steps.

Simon climbed a ladder to the parapet
and began to circle the tower along the inside of the wall. He ran
into several earth elementals who were keeping watch. He greeted them
with a smile and a thank you and each one bowed respectfully.

It's good to have eyes constantly on
guard, he thought.

At the rear of the tower, he came to a
spot that overlooked the lake, gleaming faintly in the darkness. The
stars were hard gems hanging in the sky and the three-quarter moon
lit up the night brightly enough that Simon could see the stone
parapet under his feet.

He stopped and rested his forearms on
the top of the wall. He stared at the calm waters of the lake and let
out a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked
quietly.

Aeris, who had been hovering above the
wall and staring off into the night, nodded silently.

“I hope you understand why I
couldn't wait,” he continued. “Liliana simply didn't have
much time left. A few minutes later...”

He left it at that and watched the
placid lake. A faint ripple and the sound of a splash broke the
silence as a fish broke the surface.

“Yes, of course I understand,”
Aeris finally answered, his voice subdued. “I'm not upset at
you, my dear wizard. You did the right thing. I'm upset at myself.”

“You?” Simon turned to look
at him. “Why?”

Aeris shook his head, still looking off
into the distance.

“Frustrated, I suppose. I'm not
of much use here, Simon. Yes, I do a few chores, complete some tasks.
But an air elemental's first job is as a scout. We long to discover
new lands, search out secrets, expose mysteries. I've become
short-tempered and twitchy because I'm feeling...useless.”

He finally turned to face the wizard.

“I want you to know that that is
not me, not really. This tower is my home now. You and Kronk and Ana
are my family. But...”

He grimaced and shook his head before
turning away again.

Simon looked at him for a long moment.
He was relieved to know that Aeris wasn't angry, but he could
understand his frustration. He wasn't made to be a live-in servant.
He wanted the free air, the thrill of discovery. It made perfect
sense.

But what can I do for him? How can I
show him his own worth?

The air was getting a little chilly and
he slipped his hands into his pockets. In one of them, his three
lodestones bumped and slid together, feeling like a handful of small
eggs. In the other...

An idea bumped into his mind with the
force of a blow and he rubbed the back of his head as he thought it
through.

It would be difficult and dangerous for
Aeris, but it would certainly put his inborn talents to good use.

He looked once more at the glum-faced
little figure bobbing in the light evening breeze and made his
decision.

“You know, I think I might
actually have a job for you,” he said casually.

The elemental turned to look at him.

“A job? Do you mean another
chore? I will do it, of course.”

“No, I mean a real job. A
scouting mission.”

Aeris' eyes lit up.

“Scouting? Really? What is it?”

Simon held up a cautionary hand.

“Before I tell you, I want you to
know that you're free to say no, all right? We're partners here, not
master and servant. And it may be more dangerous than the time you
were scouting that wizard who turned out to be Heather. That almost
got you killed.”

The small anticipatory smile on the
elemental's face grew into a grin.

“Excellent! It sounds like fun.”

Simon sighed.

“Aeris...”

“Relax, my dear wizard. I've
learned my lesson from that event. I'm much more cautious now than
I've ever been. Now, what is the mission?” he asked, rubbing
his hands together.

Simon pulled out the amulet he'd found
and showed it to Aeris, who stared at it wide-eyed.

“We know that this amulet can
locate primal dragons,” he told the little guy. “I also
know that the primal white dragon prefers to live in arctic
conditions. What I need to know is where. Once I have a reliable set
of coordinates, I can use Magic Mirror to keep an eye on the monster
until I have some plan of attack. Would you be willing to head to
Moscow, use the amulet and follow its guidance to find the primal?”

Aeris reached out a trembling hand and
Simon slowly gave him the amulet.

“That...is a very important
mission to offer me, my dear wizard,” he said softly as he
stared at the figure of the dragon in his hands.

“One of the most important that I
can think of,” Simon assured him. “But if you don't feel
up to it, or you think that the risk isn't worth the reward, just
tell me now and we'll say no more about it.”

“Not worth the risk? You
need
this information going forward, don't you? Without it, there is no
way to stop the white dragons continuing their attack on northern
Europe, correct?”

“In the long-term, yes, you're
absolutely right. We can and probably will have to fight the lesser
dragons in the short-term but the only way to stop them completely is
to kill their master.”

“Then I accept the mission, my
dear wizard. With gratitude.”

Simon snorted.

“Don't thank me too soon. I hate
sending friends into harm's way. And if there was an alternative, I'd
use it. But short of scouring the entire arctic for the next century
in the hopes of stumbling across the primal white, I can't think of
any.”

“Neither can I. So, when did you
want me to start?”

“That's your choice, Aeris. I
will get in touch every evening, my time, and see how you're doing.”

“Then I'll leave at once.”

The wizard shook a stern finger at him.

“Don't take any unnecessary
risks, okay? I want that information, but you are too important to me
to lose you for this. Remember that.”

Aeris' grin turned to a rather
embarrassed smile.

“I will. And thank you, Simon.
Thank you for giving me purpose again. I will not fail you.”

“I know that. Take care.”

The elemental nodded, waved and
disappeared with a quiet pop, leaving Simon to stare out at the lake
again and wonder if he'd just made a terrible mistake.

Kronk and Ana responded quite
differently when they heard that Aeris was gone the following
morning.