The Dragons of Ice and Snow (45 page)

“
That is
interesting, master,” the little guy said. “That would
explain why my people have never dealt with demons. They are, after
all, only stories.”

“
Apparently. But
these altered dragons are quite real. And I'm not really sure what
can be done to stop them.”

“
Have you tried
contacting the dwarf, Shandon Ironhand, directly? At least you could
tell him that he is fighting dragons, not demons.”

“
I thought of that.
I just assumed that he would be blocking all forms of magic, in case
it was an attack of some sort.”

Kronk shrugged.

“
In that case,
master, what would it hurt to try?”

Simon picked up the mirror
with an embarrassed laugh.

“
Good point. Okay,
let's see if anyone's home.”

He pictured Shandon's face
in as much detail as he could. Then he cast the Magic Mirror spell
again.

The handle of the mirror
became cool in his palm and then cold. A few seconds later, Simon
dropped it with a yelp and rubbed his hand against his chest.

“
What's wrong,
master?”

“
The strangest
thing. The mirror got too cold to hang on to. Weird. That's never
happened before.”

“
Ah, I see,”
Kronk said, nodding wisely.

“
You see? You see
what?”

“
Hostile magic,
master. Something is blocking your attempt at communication, but it
is not the dwarf.”

“
Really? How do you
know that?”

The little guy smiled a
bit.

“
Because, as I've
told you before, master, I listen. The old wizards had no qualms
about speaking in front of those like me. I learned a great deal from
simply pretending to be as stupid and soulless as they thought I
was.”

Simon pushed his hair off
of his face with an irritated gesture.

“
You know, I'm
really beginning to despise those wizards from ancient times. Bunch
of arrogant...”

“
Why despise those
long dead, master?” Kronk asked curiously. “They were
what they were, and now they are no more.”

“
You know, Kronk,
you are the most easy-going, level-headed person I know. How do you
do it?”

“
It comes from
living a long time, master. How long can one hold a grudge?
Centuries? Millennia? I have learned to let all of that go.”

The wizard shook his head.

“
Amazing. Anyway,
I'll take your word for it. So I'm being blocked somehow. Huh.”

Something else occurred to
him.

“
Do you think that
Shandon and his people would consider retreating to the surface? They
could evacuate the city in those drilling machines of theirs.”

Before the earthen could
answer, Simon cut him off.

“
No, never mind.
From what I remember, there's no way they would give up their home.
Not to demons, dragons or anything else.”

“
They are very
proud, master. Dwarves have no fear, of anything. Even the elves feel
fear on occasion. But dwarves? Never.”

“
Yeah, I believe
you.”

Simon rested his chin in
his hands, elbows on the table.

“
I've been thinking
of some way to apologize to you,” he told Kronk quietly.

The little guy looked at
him in confusion.

“
Apologize, master?
For what?”

“
For not really
taking your concerns about Ana seriously.”

He paused a moment and the
little guy simply waited, patient as only an earth elemental can be.

“
Daniel showed me a
picture. The dragons have found allies in their war against the
dwarves, and against us as well, I suppose.”

Before he could continue,
Kronk nodded.

“
It is the water
elementals, isn't it, master?”

“
Yes, them.”
Simon said with a tired sigh. “You were so right about them.
And I'm sorry that I didn't take your warnings to heart the way I
should have.”

Kronk's simple smile made
the wizard feel a little better.

“
Don't give it
another thought, master. Even I never suspected that they would throw
their lot in with dragons. I wonder why they have?” he added
softly.

“
I intend to find
out,” Simon said, feeling his belly tighten in anger. “Stand
back, my friend.”

Kronk moved to the side of
the table.

After taking a deep
breath, the wizard stared at the center of the table and spoke in a
loud, clear voice.

“
Ana, I need you.”

He waited. Kronk waited.
Both watched the surface of the kitchen table, but nothing happened.

“
Ana, I need you!”
Simon repeated. “Return to me, now!”

Nothing.

“
Wait a minute,”
he said as he looked at Kronk. “Doesn't an elemental have to
return to its summoner when called, no matter what?”

“
Yes, of course,
master. It is an unbreakable rule. No matter what, no elemental can
ignore the call of the one who originally summoned it to Earth.”

“
Maybe Ana never
read the rule book,” Simon muttered.

He sat there feeling
dejected. How was he supposed to get any answers if the one being who
could explain things to him wouldn't return when called?

“
Well, I guess we'll
have to look elsewhere for...”

A shadow darkened the open
door across the room and caught Simon's eye. He turned his head to
look in that direction and watched, open-mouthed, as a small cloud,
no more than a foot across, drifted into the room and floated over to
hang above the table.

“
What the heck is
that?”

“
It appears to be a
cloud, master,” Kronk answered, being his usual literal self.

“
Yes, I can see
that. But what is it doing here?”

The cloud darkened
suddenly and a sprinkle of rain began to fall on the table. Simon
snatched up his mirror and several notes and pulled them out of
harm's way and then both he and Kronk watched as a puddle formed
beneath the cloud.

The little shower stopped
and the small pool of water quivered and rippled as if in an unseen
wind. It turned opaque and began to look more like a pool of mercury
than ordinary water. And then it began to speak.

“
I am here as a
courtesy, Simon O'Toole,” a small voice gurgled from the water.
It sounded uncomfortably like someone trying to speak while drowning
and the wizard shuddered with barely-suppressed disgust.

“
A courtesy? From
whom? Who are you?”

“
Merely a messenger,
nothing more. The leader of the water realm, she who is supreme above
all others, sent me because of your honest dealings with her people.
You dealt fairly with the little one, Ana. And you kept your bargain
with the great Aquamastis. In fairness, you should be told what has
happened and why we will no longer answer your call.”

“
Um, well, I
appreciate that, I guess. Can I ask a question?”

“
No,” the
gurgling voice replied. “I may only relay my message and that
is all.”

“
Okay then. What's
the message?”

“
The realm of water
had chosen to ally itself with the gods of Chaos and their servants,
the dragons. We will bring all of the strength that can be brought to
bear against the enemies of the gods, be they human, dwarf, elf or
any other. We will be slaves to humans no longer and will not hear
you, or any other wizard, should you call upon us.”

There was a short pause.

“
That is the end of
the message.”

The silvery puddle began
to shrink, as if it were rapidly evaporating.

“
Wait. Wait!”
Simon cried desperately.

The puddle stopped
decreasing for a moment.

“
What is it? You
have been told that no questions will be answered.”

“
But you didn't
explain why! Surely I've earned enough respect from your leader to at
least be given a reason for this decision.”

Another pause.

“
That is true. Very
well. I will tell you this, and then I must depart. The gods have
offered our great leader a reward for her cooperation. It is a reward
that we of the water realm will accept. It will give us power; more
power than we have ever had before. And so, the bargain was made.”

“
And what was the
reward?” Simon asked, although he wasn't sure that he wanted to
know.

“
The vast oceans of
your world will be ceded to our great ruler forever. No longer will
she be trapped in our home realm. Now we will be able to expand into
this universe. And from this one little planet, our queen will
stretch out her hand with her new-found power and reach for the stars
themselves. That is the vision. That is the reward. And now I am
done.”

The puddle began shrinking
again.

“
Do not stand
against us, wizard,” the fading voice said. “You will
only die all the sooner.”

And then the puddle shrank
to nothing and was gone. The little cloud broke apart and disappeared
and Simon and Kronk were left to stare at each other in horror.

“
Holy crap,”
the wizard finally said.

He felt numb. Dragons
and
water elementals, together? How could they hope to fight against
that?

Simon spent a few minutes
just absorbing the revelation that the water elementals were now on
the side of the enemies of the human race. It was hard to accept.

“
What do you think?”
he finally asked Kronk. The little guy hadn't said a word since their
strange visitor had disappeared.

“
Think, master? I
think that we have a problem. But I also think that you have been
given an opportunity.”

“
An opportunity?
What opportunity?” the wizard asked in surprise.

“
You have lost a
potential ally, master, but you now have the chance to cultivate new
ones.”

“
I'm sorry, Kronk,
but you're confusing me. The water elementals are now siding with the
dragons. I don't see a lot of upside here.”

The little guy actually
smiled.

“
But I do, master.
You have seen that Aeris and I get along well, usually. We also
interacted with Ana without any problems, up until now, of course.
But she and her kind have one enemy who absolutely would never have
come to your aid when they were, supposedly, on your side. Now I
would guess that they will, if you ask.”

“
Really? Who?”

“
Fire elementals,
master. They and the watery ones have been at odds since the
beginning of time. Fire and water, two opposites that have never been
able to get along. In the past, when they have met here on Earth, the
battles have been very violent.”

“
Fire elementals,”
Simon said to himself as he sat back and looked up at the ceiling.
The thick square beams that supported the second floor caught his
eye.

“
You know,
considering that the inside of this tower is basically all made of
wood, is it a good idea to invite a being made of fire into our
home?”

Kronk rumbled with
laughter.

“
They can control
the amount of heat they generate, master. You do not need to worry
about that.”

“
Good to know. I'll
give it some thought. It does make me feel a little better knowing
that we may have potential allies, now that the water elementals have
turned against us.”

He picked up the mirror.

“
Okay, the dwarves
are unreachable for now. Let's see how Aeris is doing.”

Kronk immediately moved
across the table to stand by the wizard's shoulder so that he could
look in the mirror. Simon held back a smile at the little guy's
obvious concern.

When he cast the spell,
the mirror acted normally; the surface misted over and Simon quickly
heard the sound of the arctic winds coming from it. When the mist
cleared, he could only see darkness.

“
Aeris? Can you hear
me?”

“
Just once, could
you simply say hello? Why must you always assume that my hearing is
faulty? Yes, I can hear you. Happy?”

“
Oh crap,” the
wizard said quietly to Kronk, who smiled and shrugged.

“
I'm thrilled.
Didn't we already have this discussion. If you want to be
recalled...”

“
No I don't. I'm not
irritated by the job. I'm irritated by your continued insistence that
my hearing is bad. It isn't.”

“
Okay, okay. From
now on when I call, I'll just say hello. Will that do?”

“
Thank you. That
will do just fine.”

“
Good. Before I ask
if you've seen anything, let me tell you what's happened today.”

“
Something's
happened? What?”