The Dragons of Decay (39 page)

“
Sunbeam,” Simon spoke
up. “She's almost as yellow as Sunshine, so it makes sense.
Besides, Kronk does most of the work with the horses, so it was only
fair that he have a say when it came to naming our little filly.”

“
Hmm. I think I'll go out and
meet the new arrival after I'm done here,” Aeris said
thoughtfully as he pulled a large pot out of the cupboard. He dumped
the potatoes into it and began slicing up a slab of dried meat.

“
Good idea.” Simon
struggled to his feet. “Thanks for making dinner, by the way.
I'm sure it'll be great. I'm heading upstairs.”

“
Sleep well, master,”
Kronk piped up while Aeris just waved his knife.

The wizard walked slowly to the
stairs, smiled at the elementals and began climbing.

It took two more days of constant
eating and sleeping before Simon felt confident enough to sit down in
his study with his mirror to try to get in touch with his friends. He
was constantly worried about all of them now.

Clara and the people of Nottinghill
were facing the great unknown down in Florida, Liliana and her few
followers were being beaten down by Moscow's harsh winter, and
possibly in line to be attacked by wights, and then there was Daniel
and the elves in a war with the brown dragons. It was overwhelming to
say the least.

“
Who should I call first?”
he asked Aeris, who was floating above the desk. Kronk was out taking
care of the horses.

Snow had begun falling that morning,
but the air elemental assured Simon that it was a simple snowfall and
that no real storm was imminent. Nevertheless, Kronk had decided to
let the horses out for a run early just in case the weather got
worse.

“
It depends on which one you're
the most worried about,” Aeris answered practically.

Simon sighed and shook his head. He
picked up his hand mirror and stared at it.

“
Not that helpful an answer.
I'm worried about all of them. Everyone is facing some sort of crisis
right now. The question is, which group is in the most danger?”

“
Then I'd say call your friend
Daniel first,” the elemental said at once. “The brown
dragons are the greatest threat at the moment. Let's face it; if they
conquer the elven realm, basically it's all over.”

Simon stared glumly at Aeris, nodding
slowly. Put like that, the choice was pretty clear.

“
You're right. Okay then, let's
see what's going on over there.”

He chanted the incantation for the
Magic Mirror spell, sat back and got comfortable in his chair and
then focused on his memory of Daniel's face.

The mirror fogged up and Simon felt
his magic drain away a bit. It wasn't as bad as he thought it might
be.

I must be getting stronger, he
thought with some relief.

The reflective surface abruptly
cleared and the wizard was looking at a scene of chaos.

The mirror showed a large clearing
surrounded by immense trees. Elves dressed in leather armor were
racing here and there, groups coming together and separating again,
several people barking orders. It all looked a bit crazy. But as
Simon watched, he realized that there was no panic to be seen. The
elves, all of whom carried bows across their backs, looked stern and
business-like but none appeared to be frightened.

Instead, they were getting orders
from their leaders and then disappearing into the deep forest again.

Must be their command center, the
wizard thought as he watched the organized chaos. Now where is
Daniel?

He muttered his friend's name under
his breath and let the spell direct his view. The mirror panned to
the left and focused on a table set up under a massive old tree that
was covered with thick moss. The table was surrounded by several
elves wearing robes who were reading from scattered sheets of
parchment and speaking quietly with each other.

In the middle of these important
looking people, Simon spotted his friend who was staring at a map
that was spread out on the table. He tapped at a spot on the diagram
and said something to a elf to his left, who nodded and made a quick
note on a piece of parchment.

“
They must be planning a battle
or something,” the wizard muttered to himself.

Aeris floated over to stare into the
mirror. He looked thoughtful.

“
Perhaps they are responding to
an attack,” he suggested.

“
Yeah, possibly. We'll know
soon enough, but I'm going to wait until Daniel isn't quite so busy.”

The two of them watched as the
meeting went on. Simon thought that his oldest friend, who was
wearing a somber brown robe, looked more like a wizard than he did,
with his long white hair and wise eyes. He may have prematurely aged,
but Daniel seemed more alive than he had in years.

“
This war seems to have brought
out the best in him,” Simon told Aeris as he nodded at his
friend.

“
I agree. Some men rise to the
challenge and thrive in conflict. It appears that your friend is one
of them.”

Simon didn't answer, but watched
Daniel proudly. The elves around him obviously valued his opinion and
he was constantly being consulted by the others at the table.

Some time passed before the meeting
broke up. The clearing had emptied of warriors and the elves that
were with Daniel each bid him farewell and moved out of sight into
the trees. Daniel sat on the edge of the wooden table and rubbed his
eyes tiredly. He ran his hand through his hair, smiled a bit impishly
and stared out across the clearing.

“
Okay,” he said. “You
can say hello now.”

Simon chuckled.

“
You're getting good at sensing
my presence,” he replied.

“
I am, yes. I suspect it's
something in the air. The elven realm is steeped in magic. It
permeates every rock and tree, and every person that lives here,
including myself. So, it's been a while. I was worried that something
had happened to you. Are you okay?”

“
Okay?”

Simon hesitated, wondering whether he
should actually tell Daniel about recent events. But he couldn't see
any honest way to avoid it and answered slowly.

“
Yes, I'm okay. Now. Better
than I was a few days ago, at least.”

Daniel frowned, his thick eyebrows
shadowing his pale blue eyes as he stood up and leaned over the table
on his hands.

“
Why? What happened a few days
ago?”

“
Well, this is going to sound
weird but I sort of...died.”

Saying that out loud sounded absurd,
even to Simon, but how else could he explain it?

“
What the hell are you talking
about? Hang on a second, I need to see you.”

Daniel reached down behind the table
and picked up a canvas bag. He plopped it on to the tabletop and
rummaged around inside it for a minute.

“
I finally got one of the elven
artificers to make me a mirror,” he muttered as he poked around
the bag. “I lost my last one. He was amused, actually. Elves
have no real use for mirrors. Remarkable lack of vanity for people
who are so naturally beautiful. Aha!”

His friend pulled out a small flat
piece of metal. It was square, perhaps four inches across and seemed
to be made of silver.

“
Here we go,” Daniel said
and peered into the mirror.

Simon's own mirrored surface wavered
for a moment and then he was looking into the keen eyes of his best
friend.

“
Well, well,” Daniel said
as he raised an eyebrow. “For a dead man, you look pretty
lively. Don't think I like the buzz cut though. And you're too
skinny, as usual.”

“
Yeah, thanks Dad,” the
wizard answered sarcastically.

His friend barked a laugh and then
became serious again.

“
So tell me what happened. And
take your time. You have a tendency to skip over details sometimes.”

“
Do I? Huh. First I've heard of
that. Okay, here's what happened, more or less.”

And then Simon told essentially the
same story that he'd told the elementals. Like them, Daniel allowed
him to speak without interruption until he was finished.

“
That's about it,” the
wizard concluded. He watched Daniel closely. “So, what do you
think?”

“
Think? I think that you have
more lives than a bloody cat, that's what I think. I also think that
that being, a goddess no less, was right. This is literally your last
chance. If you are gravely injured or killed outright, that's it.
You're gone.”

Daniel stared off with narrowed eyes
and Simon waited quietly. Aeris, who had left the room during the
wizard's story, returned with a steaming cup of tea, which Simon
accepted gratefully.

“
Imagine though. Being reborn.
You realize that we can only call this a miracle, don't you?”

Simon shifted in his seat
uncomfortably.

“
I really hate to use that
word,” he said heavily. “It was a gift, certainly, but I
didn't walk on water, or feed hundreds of people with one loaf of
bread.”

“
No, you just rose from the
dead,” his friend said sharply. “Personally, that screams
'miracle' to me.”

“
Yeah, well, whatever. Anyway,
you wanted to know where I'd been and now you have your answer. Your
turn. How are things going in the war against the brown dragons?”

“
Surprisingly well, to be
honest. The elves are holding their own, at least for now. I don't
think it can last though. The attrition rate is very high and the
elven population isn't that large. Eventually they will simply run
out of warm bodies to throw into the fight. And then we're done.”

Simon nodded, not surprised at the
news.

“
So how much time do you think
they have? I realize that your time stream and ours here on Earth are
different, but in terms of months or years in the elven lands, what's
your best guess?”

Daniel looked away forlornly, his
lips moving as if he were silently counting.

“
We've discussed that. The
others you saw me with earlier are members of the ruling council.
Their estimation is, perhaps, a year. No more.”

“
A year?”

Simon leaned forward abruptly, almost
dropping the mirror in surprise.

“
My God, is that all? A year
for the dragons to conquer an entire world?”

“
Yes, a year,” Daniel
answered with an abrupt nod. “The brown dragons aren't like the
other types of dragons. The acid they spew is like a form of rot. It
spreads like a cancer, infecting every living thing it touches. The
elves have had to burn entire swathes of forest to stop it from
spreading, although harming trees breaks their hearts. It is a
horrible thing to see, Simon, a wave of this infection consuming
everything in its path. Truly terrifying.”

“
I can't even imagine it. Any
word on the primal brown?”

“
Nothing. That damned monster
is laying low, obviously, letting its servants do its dirty work for
it. We have scouts out searching high and low for the beast but so
far, no sightings.”

Simon sipped some tea and thought
fiercely.

“
We know that the primal is the
key,” he said, thinking out loud. “Cut off the head of
the snake and all that. It's obvious that destroying it is the only
chance the elves have.”

“
We're aware,” Daniel
said dryly. “Naturally that's why we're searching for it. Of
course, finding the primal and killing it are two different things.
Any ideas on how we could destroy it?”

Simon shook his head.

“
To be honest, things have been
so crazy that I haven't given it a lot of thought. Now though, while
I'm forced to stay close to home to recuperate, I'll make it my main
focus.”

“
Please do.” Daniel
smiled then. “It's good to know that you're okay, Simon. Take
my advice and don't overdo it until you rebuild your strength. And
don't worry. Time races there compared to here. You'll have plenty of
time to recover before deciding whether to cross over and join us
here. And who knows? We may stop the blasted dragons ourselves.”

“
I hope you do, to be honest.
But if not, my decision has already been made; I will join you in the
fight. You can count on that.”

He drank more tea and watched while
Daniel picked up some papers and slipped them into his pack.

“
Anyway, I'll let you get some
rest,” his friend said. “Call me back whenever you wish.
I doubt that there will be much change here for weeks or months,
Earth time, but call anyway if only to say hello.”

“
Oh I will, believe me. Your
advice is always good and, to be honest, you keep me in touch with my
past. Sometimes I seem to need that stability.”

“
Always glad to help,”
Daniel said with a wink. “Take care of yourself.”

“
You too. Keep your head down
and we'll talk again soon.”

With a smile, Simon shook the mirror
to break the connection and then put it down as he drank his tea.