Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two Read online

  “Amazing how a few pieces of furniture can change a room. I don't think I realized just how much I've missed them.”

  Aeris flew to the sink, filled the kettle and hung it over the fire to boil.

  “We organized the new items you found, by the way,” he told Simon. “Would you care to try that coffee now?”

  “You have some up here?” the wizard asked eagerly.

  “In the cupboard over the sink,” Aeris replied.

  Simon went to the cupboard and took out the can. He shook it with a smile and pulled the tab on top to unseal it. Air rushed in with an audible hiss and he raised the can to his nose and breathed in slowly.

  “Ah. Unbelievable. That smell is even better than I remember.”

  He stared at the ground coffee for a moment.

  “I don't have any filters. Oh well, I guess that I'll just have to live with drinking coffee grounds. No big deal.”

  Aeris frowned in thought for a moment and then his eyes widened.

  “Perhaps you won't have to do that. Give me a moment to check on something.”

  He turned around quickly, flew to the stairs that led down to the basement and disappeared below. Simon took the opportunity to grab the crystal ball from the cupboard. He raced upstairs as quietly as he could, ran into his bedroom and stuck it in his sock drawer. He covered the orb and then, after slipping on his soft indoor shoes, made his way to the stairs again.

  “Hey, where did you go?” Aeris called out.

  “Up here,” Simon replied as he walked downstairs. “I wanted to put my comfortable shoes on.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  Aeris was at the counter, ripping small squares out of a length of material that he had brought up.

  “Cheesecloth,” he said brightly. “We have a roll of it in storage, but until now I'd never found a use for it.”

  “Daniel must have added that, for whatever reason. He stored a lot of things down there that never quite made sense to me. Why cheesecloth?”

  “Well, it's quite porous. You can put your ground coffee in the center of a square of cloth, tie it with some string,” he held up a length of fine string, “and drop it in your cup. And voila, no nasty bits of ground coffee floating around in the liquid.”

  “Aeris, you are a genius,” Simon told him with a wide smile.

  “Hmm, yes, that has been mentioned once or twice before over the eons,” the elemental said, trying to appear modest.

  The kettle began to boil and he nodded at it.

  “And here is your chance to test my idea.”

  The makeshift filter worked like a charm. Simon had never liked cream in his coffee, so he wasn't bothered by its lack. He did like it sweet though, but had to settle for honey instead of sugar. It worked just fine.

  He sat down in front of the fire with his first cup of coffee in years and took a cautious sip.

  “Heaven,” he murmured blissfully as he sat back in his new chair. “Absolute heaven.”

  The front door opened and Kronk tapped into the tower.

  “Master, you are back!” he exclaimed happily. “What took you so long?”

  “He fell asleep,” Aeris said dryly. “Just as you suggested.”

  Kronk hurried over to the fireplace and jumped up on to the wide arm of the comfy chair.

  “I knew you looked tired, master,” he said with some concern. “You must not overdo it this soon after your return. We do not want you to suffer a setback.”

  “I know, Kronk. You're right. But no harm done. I'm home safe and sound, we got the new furniture and I have,” he raised his cup happily, “coffee. I am officially content.”

  “I am glad for you, master. Oh, the horses are settled in and the sentries are all still very alert along the wall.”

  Kronk looked at Aeris, who floated over to hover in front of the fire.

  “Are your people on the roof still working together or have they decided how to split their sentry duty?”

  “Huh, that's a good question. Let me go up and check.”

  Aeris zipped away and shot up the stairs.

  “Are you sure you are okay, master? You seem a trifle...uneasy.”

  Simon looked at his small friend and forced a smile. He reminded himself that Kronk was much sharper than his quiet, slow manner would lead someone to believe.

  “Uneasy? Of course not.” He sipped his coffee. “Maybe it's the caffeine. Nope, I'm great. Never better. Yes sir, I'm A-okay.”

  Shut up, you're babbling, he thought nervously.

  Kronk narrowed his glowing red eyes, but nodded.

  “If you say so, master,” he said slowly. “If you are happy, then I am happy.”

  “Oh I'm happy. Absolutely.”

  Simon clamped his lips together and stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace.

  The earthen continued to watch him for a few minutes, then shrugged and turned to watch the fire.

  “It does feel like our old home again, does it not, master?”

  “It does, my friend. It surely does.”

  “When are you going to travel to Nottinghill Castle, master? You must want to see your friends after all this time.”

  Simon relaxed a bit and settled deeper into his chair.

  “I do. Quite a bit. But let's wait a few days. If I'm so drained that I can fall asleep at a moment's notice, then I need more recovery time. I do think that I should get a look at our new neighbors to the south though; the sooner the better.”

  Kronk looked at him in alarm.

  “Master, you aren't actually thinking of going there, are you? If those beasts prove to be hostile, you might not be strong enough yet for an extended battle.”

  The wizard glanced at Kronk wryly.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence there, buddy. And don't worry; I'm not about to go down there, at least not yet. I'll use Magic Mirror to look around. If they've taken over the old town, it will be easy. I'm very familiar with the layout of the place.”

  Kronk settled down again and nodded thoughtfully.

  “Ah yes, excellent idea, master. Scouting them out first is the best way to go. You can get the information you need safely.”

  “Yep.”

  Simon finished his coffee but was so comfortable that he waited to get up and make himself a second cup. The smell from the burning wood was sweet, cedar maybe, and the crackling and snapping as it burned was soothing.

  A short time later, Aeris returned and moved to stand on the arm of the chair across from Kronk.

  “I'm happy to report that those two upstairs have finally worked out a schedule between them.” He made a face. “They were both so concerned about doing a good job for you, oh great wizard, that they were afraid to split the sentry time between them.”

  Simon chuckled and shook his head.

  “So who's doing what?”

  “Orriss prefers standing watch during the day and Brethia seems to enjoy staring at the stars and moon, so it was easy to divide the time after they realized that.”

  “Oh good. That worked well. Any idea what they are going to do with their downtime?”

  Aeris sat down and crossed his legs. He hovered about an inch above the chair.

  “No but I suspect that they will go scouting. It is, after all, what we do.”

  “Yeah but, that's your job isn't it? What do air elementals do when they aren't scouting?”

  Kronk looked across at Aeris and they both grinned.

  “What?” Simon asked.

  “We scout, my dear wizard. Air elementals are, by nature, intensely curious.”

  “Yeah, I've noticed.”

  “So when we are given the opportunity to indulge ourselves, we still poke into this area and that, but we choose where we want to go. I suspect that Brethia and Orriss will do the same.”

  Simon pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the kitchen counter. He grabbed the kettle, pumped more water into it and set it over the fire.

  “Well, that sounds a bit boring to me
,” he told Aeris, “but if that's what makes them happy, good luck to them both.”

  The rest of the evening passed in companionable conversation. Simon and the elementals chatted about the past and about the future, their memories and their hopes. When he caught himself nodding off in his chair, the wizard said good night and headed for bed. It had been a busy but very satisfying day.

  Chapter 13

  The next morning dawned gray and rainy. Simon rolled out of bed and felt the dampness in the air. He sighed and reminded himself that rain was as necessary as sunlight for nature to thrive. It didn't really cheer him up that much.

  He furtively searched through his drawers and pushed aside some woolen socks to look at the crystal ball. He picked it up and examined it closely.

  What was it about the damned thing that he found so alluring? The ball itself was the size of his head, flawless, but no more special than any other large piece of crystal. The base was constructed of metal, mostly silver, with several rubies inset artfully around the edges. It sat on four scaled paws that reminded Simon uncomfortably of a dragon's feet.

  He put it back into the drawer and stared at it, puzzled. Why this though? There was a wand back in that box in Russia that he should have been more attracted to, but it held no interest for him.

  Well, I do have my staff, he thought with a shrug. Still, a crystal ball? Really?

  He patted the thing, closed the drawer and got dressed, still at a loss.

  Downstairs, Kronk was adding a log to the fire and Simon smiled at him gratefully. The dampness in the air made it cool and the heat from the blazing fireplace was very welcome.

  “Good morning, master. It is wet outside today.”

  “Morning, Kronk. Yeah, I noticed. Where's Aeris?”

  The earthen reached up and tapped the kettle hanging over the fire. He was standing in the middle of the flames.

  “He filled this and then went outside, master. I do not know where he went, but I am sure that he will be back soon.”

  “That's fine. I was just curious.”

  Worried about using up his limited supply of coffee too quickly, Simon made tea instead and had a bowl of oatmeal sweetened with honey.

  “Wish we had a cow,” he muttered as he ate. “Oatmeal isn't oatmeal without milk. And butter on my toast would be a nice change.”

  He sucked on his lower lip for a moment.

  “If I could figure out a way to make it, that is.”

  Kronk finished waiting for his body to cool down after standing inside the fireplace and then hopped up on to the table.

  “So why do you not get one, master?” he asked practically.

  “I beg your pardon?” Simon asked him blankly.

  “Get a cow, master. Or several. There are wild cattle roaming the fields all over the New Earth, I am sure. I do not think the horses would mind sharing their pasture.”

  Simon sat there feeling like an idiot.

  “Oh for God's sake. I am so stupid.”

  “You are not, master,” Kronk averred. “You are a wizard and you were raised in a city, were you not? Then of course it might not occur to you to seek out a cow if you wanted milk or butter. Why would it? But with this new reality we live in, we must go about things the old-fashioned way.” He paused and smiled brightly. “I like cows.”

  “You like cows?” Simon asked. “Really?”

  “Oh yes, master. Cows, horses, all domesticated animals. I especially liked dogs. Even back in ancient times, your people had dogs.”

  “Dogs,” the wizard repeated wistfully. “I like them too, Kronk. We always had dogs when I was growing up. Cats as well. My mother adored having pets around the house. It really seemed to help her after my father passed away and she was raising me alone.”

  “Then you should have one now, master. Perhaps make a list; a wish list. Write down all of the things that you would like and then, make it so.”

  “Just like that?” Simon asked, amused.

  “Yes master, just like that. You are a wizard. You can make your dreams a reality if you choose to.” Kronk winked at him. “Especially little dreams like having a cow or a dog.”

  Simon burst out laughing.

  “Okay, my friend, I'll think about it.”

  “Think about what?”

  Aeris popped into the room, a few drops of water trickling through him to drip on to the floor.

  “Getting a pet. So where did you go?” Simon asked absently as he finished his breakfast.

  “Just did a quick circuit of the forest around the tower. Never hurts to be careful.”

  “I agree. Good thought.”

  The wizard got up, put his bowl in the sink and then picked up his cup.

  “Anything out there?” he asked as he leaned back on the counter drinking his tea.

  “Wet leaves, wet grass and a wet squirrel. The way it chittered at me, I don't think it likes the smell of damp fur, even its own.”

  Simon snorted a laugh, almost choking on a mouthful of hot liquid.

  “Okay then. Do me a favor?”

  Aeris nodded.

  “There were a lot of farms to the south and west of here. Could you do a scout and see if you can find any cows? Milk cows in particular? You can tell they give milk by...”

  “I am well aware of the difference between cows, my dear wizard,” the air elemental said loftily. “I don't need a biology lesson.”

  “Fine, professor. If you find any, come on back and let me know. We'll see if we can't add a few to our herd of livestock. That should give Chief and the girls a bit of a surprise.”

  Both elementals chuckled and Aeris suddenly looked eager.

  “Ah, finally, a real job. I'll be happy to do it.” He flew to the door. “Time frame?”

  Simon thought about it for a moment.

  “I'd rather you didn't stay out overnight, so if you have no luck today, come home and set out again tomorrow. We'll continue like that for now.”

  “Sounds good. I'd rather be in the tower after dark anyway, if we're going to have flights of dragons flying over our heads on a regular basis.”

  “Oh my, let us hope it does not come to that,” Kronk said with mild alarm.

  Aeris rolled his eyes, waved at them both and disappeared with a quiet pop.

  “You know, I've noticed that sometimes he opens the door to leave and sometimes he does that short teleport trick,” Simon said to Kronk.

  He moved over to the sink and began pumping water into it.

  “Any idea why?”

  “Laziness?” the earthen replied with a shrug. “Who can say, master. I know that the airy ones can't teleport over large distances. Aeris can port back home at any time from any distance because you gave him permission to do so, but that is a special case.”

  “Yeah, so you guys once told me. I was just curious, that's all.”

  He poured the last of the hot water from the kettle into the sink and began to wash the dishes.

  Kronk hopped down to the floor and hurried to the front door.

  “So where are you off to?” Simon asked.

  “It is repair day, master,” the little guy said as he reached the door. “There are several cracks in the base of the tower as well as some weathering on the outside wall. My brethren and I will take care of those.”

  Simon nodded at the fat droplets of water banging into the windows.

  “You won't have a problem doing that in the rain?”

  Kronk laughed lightly.

  “No master. Such things do not bother us.”

  “Okay then. Have fun.”

  “We will, master.”

  Kronk left and slammed the door closed behind himself, leaving the wizard alone to finish washing his dishes. He cleaned off the table and counter, swept the floor and then, with an approving nod at the tidiness of the kitchen, headed upstairs.

  Simon realized that he had been presented with a golden opportunity to examine the crystal ball that he'd smuggled in from Russia. He felt a guilty sense
of unease as he retrieved the ball from his sock drawer and took it into the study. He remembered his mother saying once that if you are doing something that makes you feel guilty, it's probably because what you are doing is wrong.

  Yeah, thanks Mom, he thought wryly. Way to make me feel bad.

  He lit all of the candles in the room with a tiny pulse of magic and looked at the pounding rain outside with a shrug. Lousy weather.

  Simon sat down at his desk, placed the crystal ball in the middle of it and stared at it, chin in hand.

  The crystal gathered the light of the candles around the room into itself and glowed warmly. Simon could only see the room warped by the curve of the surface in the glass and nothing more. No visions and no surprises.

  “Okay, you're pretty,” he muttered. “But so what?”

  He focused his magical senses on the object and then sat up and extended his arms, holding his open palms on either side of the ball.

  What are you? What can you do? Why am I drawn to you? Simon's mind hummed with questions and he closed his eyes, trying to sense something, anything, emanating from the orb.

  Finally he sat back with an exasperated sigh. Nothing. He could feel nothing at all and he rubbed his eyes tiredly before opening them and staring at the crystal ball again.

  Simon pushed himself back from the desk so quickly that he flipped his chair over and barely managed to stay on his feet. He staggered and caught himself on the window ledge behind him.

  The crystal ball had turned black. It was a solid orb of darkness, seeming to draw in all of the light from around it, like a miniature black hole set in the center of the room.

  “What the hell?” he said in a strained voice.

  “Ah, so there is someone out there.”

  The voice that shivered out of the ball was powerful, humming around the room. But it was not ominous or threatening. It sounded almost...amused.

  There was a long moment of silence as Simon waited for something to happen. But whoever, or whatever, was watching or listening at the other end of the orb remained silent.

  “Who are you?” he finally asked, mustering up his courage.

  “Who are you?” the voice replied. “You called me, after all.”

  “I did not. I just found this crystal ball and, I don't know, activated it accidentally. That's all.”