The Dragons of Ice and Snow (52 page)

“
Glad
to hear it, master.”

“
You
realize that summoning that many earthen on the day of battle will
exhaust me, right? I won't have a lot left in the tank for the
fight.”

Kronk
made a face.

“
Again
master, you are not thinking like a wizard. You know another rule
already. Once an elemental is summoned, it must return to its master
when it is called by name. You can summon the elementals tomorrow and
rest for a day or two before the attack. Then you can call forth your
elemental forces with no loss of energy or strength.”

Simon
pushed back his hair and looked at the little guy in embarrassed
admiration.

“
I'm
starting to feel like an apprentice wizard again. That slipped my
mind too. Of course you're right. I told everyone that it would be
several days before I was ready. I can always contact Malcolm and
tell him to come in three days instead of two, so that I can be
rested and ready to go when I need to be.”

“
Precisely,
master. And now I will nudge your memory one more time.”

The
wizard sighed and grinned.

“
Go
ahead. Your re-education is helping immensely.”

“
I
do not mean to be insulting, master,” Kronk said hurriedly.

“
You
aren't! Relax, my friend. Stop worrying about my feelings. This
project is too important to fret about bruising my ego. What else is
on your mind?”

“
The
water elementals are now our enemies, master. Of course you know
that. But I wanted to remind you of who
their
greatest enemies are.”

Simon
watched the earthen for a long moment and then he smiled.

“
The
fire elementals,” he murmured.

“
Precisely,
master. And I would guess that there are powerful inhabitants of the
fire realm who would eagerly follow you into battle to have a chance
to stop their greatest foes from achieving dominance on this planet
and beyond.”

Simon
held his head with both hands. Too much, too fast, he thought.

“
If
I'm going to summon that many elementals in one day, I'm going to be
exhausted for at least two days afterward. You know that, right?”

“
Yes,
master. But is it not worth it?”

“
Oh,
I'm not complaining. Just thinking out loud.”

“
Then
there is one last thing to consider, master. Aethos and others like
him are very competitive. If they hear that you are recruiting
powerful elementals from realms other than theirs, they will want to
join you as well, to prove their worth.”

Kronk
shook his head and smiled with some confusion.

“
You
would think that such beings would be above childish things like
that, but they are not. Please do not tell him I said that, by the
way, master.”

With
a laugh, the wizard tapped the little guy on the shoulder.

“
My
lips are sealed. So, you think Aethos and other air elementals will
want to join up? Wow.”

“
Yes
master. Wow. But having these forces to aid you will be for naught if
you do not have a plan to use them properly. That I leave to you. I
am sure your tactical skills are far superior to my own.”

The
earthen turned and jumped off of the table.

“
Where
are you off to now?”

“
I'm
going to join the other earthen on the wall, master. Please remember
to dismiss them before you summon the others tomorrow.”

“
I'll
do that. Thanks for the help, Kronk.”

The
little guy gave Simon a wave and slipped out the door, closing it
behind him to keep out the chilly night air.

The
wizard made more tea and went to sit in front of the fireplace again.

He
sat, sipped and thought deeply.

Okay,
I'm going to have an army, came the giddy thought. It's crazy, but
there it is. Now, what will I do with it?

The
next morning, after breakfast, Simon walked out of the tower, through
the front gate and into the large field beyond. The grass was
knee-high and a cool wind, rich with the smells of pine trees and
spring flowers, wafted across the meadow, blowing the wizard's hair
in all directions and sending ripples across the tall grass like
waves on the ocean.

Kronk
and Aeris had followed him out. They had told the air elemental what
Simon had planned and, for once, he hadn't objected.

“
Why
are you both staring at me like that?” he'd asked irritably. “I
said that the plan was crazy with the forces that Simon had. But with
powerful elementals to help, it's not crazy anymore.” He smiled
slyly. “I'll go with our dear wizard's word. It's not crazy,
it's loony.”

Simon
had laughed.

“
Well,
that's a step up from insane, so I'll take it.”

And
now here they were, at the moment of truth. It had sounded so much
easier when they'd talked about it in the quiet of the evening in
front of the fire, Simon thought. But he reminded himself that
powerful elementals only responded to a summoner if they chose to. If
he cast the spell and no one answered, he was definitely going to
look like an idiot.

Wouldn't
be the first time though, he admitted to himself. Now get on with it.

He'd
brought his staff with him to help him focus his power, as well as a
sheet of paper with the three most powerful runes for earth, air and
fire written on it. He had only used the air rune once, and the
others not at all. But they would boost the strength of the summoning
to call forth a higher-ranking elemental. In theory.

“
Okay,
boys,” Simon said. “This is it, the moment of truth. Oh,
Kronk. I sent your friends back home so that I'd be able to summon
nine of the more powerful earthen.”

“
Yes,
master. Thank you for that. If you had exceeded the maximum number, I
would have been the first to go.”

“
I
know. But you're not getting off that easily,” he told the
little guy with a wink. “Now, let's do this before I lose my
nerve. Earth first, I think.”

And
so it began. Simon cast summoning spell after summoning spell. Earth
elementals who stood taller than he did began to appear one by one
and, once he had called forth nine of them, the wizard explained to
them all why they were there and offered them a chance to leave if
they weren't willing or interested in helping.

“
Leave?”
one of them growled. It sounded like two boulders being ground
together. “Are you joking, wizard? This will be the most
amusement we've had in millennia. I for one am not going anywhere!”

There
was a chorus of agreement among all of the earthen and Simon thanked
them.

“
The
battle won't be for another two or three days. Aeris, you have that
paper?”

The
air elemental nodded mutely. He seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the
assemblage of so many powerful elementals.

“
Good.
Please give my friend here your names, one by one. I will call for
you on the day of the battle. Be ready.”

One
of the earthen, who seemed to be made of black lava rock, strode up
to Simon. The wizard had to look up to meet his blazing red eyes.

“
We
have your word that we won't be left out of the battle?” he
growled.

“
Of
course,” Simon said calmly. He was quaking inside, but he knew
that the elementals had to respect him from the outset or they
wouldn't obey his orders when it counted most.

“
That
is why I called you here, after all.”

“
Excellent.
Then I pledge myself to you. My name is Kassus.”

He
looked over his shoulder at the others, who all nodded one by one.

“
I
speak for my brothers and sisters in this. Call us and we will
respond. It is time to take the battle to the dragons.”

There
were cheers from the others and as a group, they all bowed briefly to
Simon.

He
nodded in return and the elementals lined up to give their names to
Aeris, who seemed to be shaking rather badly.

As
their names were written down, each elemental disappeared with a loud
pop of imploding air and, as the last one vanished, Simon let out a
loud, ragged sigh.

“
You
okay, Aeris?” he asked as he wiped off his forehead with his
sleeve.

“
More
or less,” the air elemental replied candidly. “I'm not
sure that you'll have an easy time reading my writing, though. My
hand was shaking.”

Simon
had to laugh.

“
I
know what you mean. As a group they're a bit...overwhelming, aren't
they? Kronk? How you doing?”

“
Fine,
master. Intimidated, like you and Aeris, but fine. I am so proud of
my people though, willing to stand with you against the dragons and
the dark gods.”

“
You
should be. I am too, come to think of it. And humbled that they think
I'm worthy of following.”

He
snuck a look at both of his little friends.

“
I've
always been a lone wolf. Even taking on the primals was something I
preferred to do by myself. But this? This is too big for me. So I
guess I have to learn to play well with others.”

“
My
goodness, our wizard is growing up!” Aeris exclaimed to Kronk,
who snorted at him in disgust.

“
Okay,
moving on,” Simon said with a grin. “Your people next,
Aeris. You ready?”

“
Um,
yes?”

“
Great.
Way to sound convincing there.”

It
was Kronk's turn to laugh and Aeris glared at him.

“
And
here we go.”

Simon
called Aethos first. He didn't need a spell to summon him and at
least the air elemental knew him.

“
Ah,
sir wizard,” the tall, foggy figure exclaimed as he appeared in
a blast of wind to hover above the grass several feet away. “How
good to see you again. How did things go with your werewolf problem?”

“
Your
solution worked, Aethos. Thank you for that.”

“
A
pleasure. Now, rumor has it that you are looking for aid in an attack
on the dragons. Is that so?”

“
How
on Earth do you people get your information?” Simon asked a bit
plaintively.

“
Ah,
I so enjoy hearing a wizard refer to my kind as people. It warms my
heart, or it would if I had one. We are supernatural beings, sir
wizard. Our leaders see more than you could possibly imagine. They
know that you are planning on fighting the dragons.”

Aethos
moved a bit closer to the wizard and lowered his voice.

“
Fortunately
they do not know specifics, because she who rules the water realm
watches as well.”

“
Damn,
I hadn't considered that,” Simon said, thinking furiously.

“
Don't
worry, wizard. She has been blocked by your very effective warding.”

Aethos
nodded at the tower.

“
She
and the dragons know that you spied on their operations, because my
small brother here was spotted.”

He
glanced down at Aeris, who lowered his eyes, looking embarrassed.

“
That
was sloppy, little one. For a scout as experienced as you to be seen?
Very disappointing.”

Aeris
didn't answer. He just hung his head and nodded silently.

“
Perhaps
you'd like him replaced with a more, shall we say, skilled servant?”
Aethos asked Simon lightly.

“
What?
No! There's no way in hell I'm 'replacing' my friend here.”

Aeris
looked up at him with wide eyes.

“
He
was spotted because he allowed me to see through his eyes. It froze
him in place for a crucial moment and that's when the primal dragon
sensed him.”

“
Did
you?” Aethos asked Aeris, who nodded again. “I see. Well
then, I withdraw my offer. It shows an almost unknown level of trust
for one of my people to allow a wizard to see what they see. It
speaks well of you,” he said to Simon, “that he permitted
it.”

The
air elemental backed off a bit and folded his arms. Standing like
that, floating above the ground with the grass whirling and twisting
beneath him, reminded Simon of a mythical genie.