The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) by J.J. Thompson Page B

be patient.
    He was suddenly reminded
of how he felt as a child on Christmas Eve, lying in bed and trying
to sleep, but unable to keep thoughts of the next morning's presents
out of his mind.
    He'd tried to be patient
then too. It worked about as well as it was working now.
    Thoughts tumbled around in
his head as he watched the fire, feeling his toes start to warm up
finally.
    At last he blew out all of
the candles except one, picked it up in its holder and climbed the
stairs. Tomorrow was another day. But whether he'd be opening any
presents in the morning or not, he didn't know.
    But impatient or not,
Simon was exhausted by the day's events and slipped into sleep
quickly, his last thoughts vaguely hopeful.

Chapter
6

    The next morning, Simon
woke up slowly, his mind groggy and his legs aching. When he peeked
out from under his blankets, he saw that the frosted window was dark
and gloomy-looking.
    Cloudy day, he thought
dully. Great.
    The room was shadowed and
he could feel the coldness in the air. He missed having a furnace. At
least the heat would be steady all night.
    I wish Kronk was still
here. Not only was he good company, but the little guy never slept
and would keep the fire burning all night, ensuring that the tower
was warm and toasty all winter.
    With a resigned sigh,
Simon thought about getting up and standing on the cold floor in the
dark. He grimaced and glanced at the candle standing on the table
next to the bed. He frowned at it.
    I'll have to take it
downstairs and get the fire going before I can light it.
    He sighed again and
flipped back the covers. He began shaking immediately and looked down
at the goosebumps running across his body.
    Maybe I should start
wearing pajamas to bed, he thought and grumbled as he put his
reluctant feet on the cold floor.
    He stood up and quickly
slipped on a robe before grabbing the candle holder. He glared at the
candle in sudden frustration.
    “ Just light, for
cripes sake,” he said to it angrily.
    And the wick burst into
flame.
    “ Holy crap!”
Simon exclaimed and almost dropped the holder.
    He stared in disbelief at
the flickering candle for a minute, a slow grin stretching across his
face.
    “ It's back. Yes!
It's back.”
    He laughed out loud, blew
out the candle and lit it again with a flick of power.
    “ Merry Christmas,
Simon,” he said, giggling like a schoolboy. “God bless
us, everyone.”
    Forgetting the chill in
the air, he put on his slippers and hurried downstairs.
    After building up the
fire, he ran outside to use the outhouse and then returned to make
his breakfast. As eager as he was to attempt to summon Kronk and
Aeris again, Simon knew that he needed to take it one step at a time.
    Food first, then he'd have
to find the spell in his spell-book and memorize it. With the spells
that the gods had given him wiped away, he would have to learn each
spell again before he cast it. And then it would fade from memory and
he'd have to learn it again.
    I wonder how many spells I
can memorize at once, he thought. When he'd started learning to use
magic, he could only keep one spell in mind at a time. With practice,
it had grown to two and then four.
    But it was only when the
gods of Justice gave him all of the spells that a master wizard would
know, that he was able to call up incantations at will. Somehow he
suspected that he was starting at square one.
    He shrugged unconsciously.
If that's the way it has to be, then so be it. Better to have to take
baby steps than to have no magic at all.
    When he was done with his
tea and oatmeal, Simon went upstairs to his study and lit all of the
candles on the table and in the wall holders, both for the light and
the sheer joy of being able to use magic again. Then he sat down at
his desk, opened his spell-book and found the summoning spell.
    He read through it slowly,
concentrating on each word to make sure he had them firmly locked
into his memory. He closed the book, stood up and walked across the
room to his work