The Dragons of Decay (49 page)

“
Not yet, but there's still
several months of winter left,” Tamara answered.

They were crossing a large square now
that was fairly clear of wreckage and making better time. Both were
shivering with the cold and had recast their shields to stave off
some of the wind. Obviously they had rushed into battle without
grabbing their winter gear.

“
Is your home secure enough to
hold off a horde of wights? If not, I'm sure that Clara and her
people would welcome you here, at least for the winter.”

“
Tempting, my friend. Very
tempting.”

Tamara stopped walking and she and
her brother looked at each other for a moment. Sebastian shook his
head and she nodded.

“
But this is our home, wights,
dragons, winter and all. We have a dozen Changlings to care for and
we are doing well, all things considered. We've even built an
underground greenhouse and are growing fresh vegetables all winter
long now. And we have some chickens and geese for eggs and meat. No,
we're fine. Our refuge is, for all intents and purposes,
impregnable.”

Before Simon could make a comment,
she raised a hand and pressed on.

“
I can't see your face, but I
can guess what you'll say to that statement. Yes, I know nothing is
totally impregnable. But, while Bastian and I aren't wizards, we can
more than hold our own against the dangers that threaten our people.
At least for now.”

“
Considering what I just saw,
you'll get no argument from me. Just the same, I wanted you to know
that if things get really bad, you have a place to retreat to. Just
concentrate on an image of Clara if you need to Gate away in an
emergency, and it will bring you here.”

“
Thanks, Simon,”
Sebastian said with a tired smile. “It's always good to have a
back-up plan. I'm more worried about you and those brown dragons. If
you cross over to the world of the elves, you'll effectively be
trapped there until the dragons are defeated, won't you? I mean, if
I'm understanding you correctly, only an elf can take you through
from one world to the other.”

“
Yes, that's true. But it's
worth the risk, I think. Imagine, if we can neutralize the browns,
that will leave only the red dragons. They will have a hell of a hard
time eliminating humanity on their own, don't you think?”

“
Don't underestimate them, my
friend,” Tamara said darkly. “Their queen remains as
well, and wherever that monster is, I'd guess that she's really the
ultimate threat.”

“
One impossible quest at a
time, guys,” Simon said with grim smile and the siblings
chuckled appreciatively.

“
Right. Well, thanks for the
call. We really want to get indoors now.”

A few flakes of snow had begun to
float down around the mages and the sky was darkening into evening.

“
Okay, guys. Listen, all the
best. Remember that you have a refuge over here if you need it.
Hopefully we'll talk soon.”

“
You take care, Simon,”
Tamara replied earnestly and Sebastian nodded, his expression one of
concern. “And if you do cross over to take the fight to the
browns, give them hell.”

“
I will. Goodbye.”

Simon canceled the spell, tossed the
mirror on to his cot and leaned forward with a sigh, resting his
elbows on his knees.

“
A powerful pair,” Aeris
ventured to say.

“
Absolutely. Tough, resolute,
resourceful. I don't have any worries about those two. It's sad that
they lost someone though.”

“
Yes, it is.”

The wizard reached up to run his
fingers through his hair and realized that there was very little
there. He grimaced and then noticed Aeris smiling at him.

“
That's become a habit, I
think,” he said with amusement.

Simon shrugged irritably.

“
I guess so. I miss it, to be
honest. Oh well.”

He picked up the mirror again.

“
Would you do me a favor and
see if there's any more of that hot chocolate available? I have a
craving.”

“
Certainly. Are you calling
someone else?”

“
Yeah. I figured that since I
have the time, I may as well check in with the folks down in
Australia. It's been quite a while and I'd like to make sure they're
okay,”

“
Ah, good idea. I'll be right
back with your drink,” Aeris said and zipped out of the tent.

Simon got up and peeked out, making
sure that the elemental was actually gone. Then he dropped the mirror
back on to the cot, grabbed his staff where it was lying next to the
bureau and quickly chanted the Gate spell. He took a deep breath and
swallowed nervously.

Aeris is going to be furious if he
finds me gone, he thought gloomily and gripped the staff tighter.

“
Invectis
,”
he whispered and faded to black.

A moment
later he was standing on the beach, close to where he had fallen
asleep the day before. He stood quietly for a moment, feeling for any
weakness within himself but, aside from a slight light-headedness, he
was fine.

Ha, he
thought. Just like I figured. A short hop takes almost to effort at
all, especially when I'm only transporting myself. But I have to be
quick.

“
Kassus,
I need you,” he said firmly and watched as the ground in front
of him began shaking violently.

When Aeris
returned to the tent, Simon was staring into the mirror with a frown.

“
Sorry
it took so long,” the elemental said as he handed over a
steaming cup. “They were just making a fresh batch and I had to
wait.”

“
No
problem. Thanks.”

Simon took
the cup, sipped the hot liquid carefully and then sighed with
pleasure. He looked over the rim at Aeris, looking for signs of
suspicion, but he was just watching curiously.

“
Are
you having a hard time getting hold of the Changlings in Australia?”

The wizard
put the cup down on the floor next to him and stared at the mirror.
He nodded, frowning at the foggy surface.

“
I'm
getting no response, at all. It's making me nervous.”

“
Do
you have the coordinates of their camp? You could just use those to
check out the area instead of contacting someone.”

Simon
hissed in exasperation.

“
Oh
damn it, I don't. They're marked in my atlas but it's at home. I
could Gate there and get it...”

“
Bad
idea,” Aeris said quickly, cutting him off. “Using your
strength unnecessarily would be foolish, especially if you are
thinking of heading into the elven realm soon. Conservation, my dear
wizard. That should be your watchword.”

“
And
if they're under attack by dragons down there?” Simon snapped
at him. “They might need my help.”

“
I
hate to say this, but to be brutally honest what good could you do
them? Gating there would drain you. Do you have any spells that could
harm a red dragon, considering how low your power level is right
now?”

Simon
glared at Aeris for a moment and then looked down in defeat.

“
I
hate it when you make sense, do you know that?”

“
I
know, my dear wizard. But remember, they have a mage, a cleric and a
witch within their ranks. That is a formidable combination. As we're
just seen with the mages in London, the red dragons
can
be beaten back by powerful humans. Hold on to that thought and do
what you can do to help where you can.”

“
Yeah, fine. Okay, if I can't
contact Australia, I'll try to contact Daniel. He said to call every
week or two and it's been over a week now.”

“
Now that
is
a good idea. By the way, Kronk is back. He should be popping in any
time now.”

Simon looked up from the mirror in
surprise.

“
That was quick. Did they get a
lot of wood?”

Aeris rolled his eyes.

“
I think they denuded an entire
forest. The earthen are definitely over-achievers. There should be
enough to build as many homes as the small population here will need
for quite some time.”

“
Excellent. Some good news for
a change. Okay, let's see if Daniel is going to answer.”

He recast the Magic Mirror spell and
invoked it, focusing his mind on his friend's aged face. As
predicted, Kronk walked into the tent a few minutes later, waved and
hopped up on to the cot to stand beside Simon's right hip.

“
Glad you're back safe,”
the wizard said fondly as he waited for the spell to make a
connection.

“
Thank you, master. I was
wondering, if you are going back home today, if my friends and I
could stay on another day. You can check on the horses just as well
as I can, and I'd like to finish our construction.”

Simon looked at him curiously.

“
You won't have enough time
today?”

“
No, master. Not if we want to
also build a small drawbridge for the rear gate. And Mark, the
engineer, told me that several of the people have asked to move their
houses a little from where he has them drawn on the original plan.”

He let out a massive sigh and looked
up at Simon forlornly.

“
Apparently they want a
'southern view' or something. So we'll have to rearrange things and
that will take time.”

“
You'd think they'd be grateful
to have any home at all,” Aeris stated irritably.

Simon stayed quiet but inside, he had
to agree. They had their lives and a beautiful place to begin again.
And now they were being fussy? He actually found it a bit sad after
giving it a few seconds of thought.

“
They want the place to feel
like home, Aeris,” he said compassionately. “They've lost
so much, is that too much to ask, really?”

The air elemental frowned as if that
hadn't occurred to him and then slowly nodded.

“
That is...understandable,”
he conceded and then floated over to hover at Simon's left shoulder.

The mirror began to clear at last and
Simon watched as the familiar figure of Daniel appeared. He gaped at
the area around his old friend and actually groaned out loud.

He was looking at a view of
devastation.

Daniel was standing on a low hill
leaning on a gnarled staff and staring off into the distance. Next to
him, Simon recognized the figure of Ethmira, the first elf that he
had ever met when, a few years earlier, she had knocked on the door
of his tower.

She looked almost the same as she had
then, still wearing the type of mottled green leather clothing that
blended in so well with the trees and plants of her home. A bow
rested across her back and a quiver of arrows hung from her hip.

As he looked beyond the pair, Simon
saw that the hill they stood on was jutting out of a sea of rot and
decay. Where there had once been a forest, now all that he saw were
stunted tree stumps, black, scummy undergrowth and wisps of acrid
smoke rising from the putrid, rotting remains. It was like they were
standing in the middle of a cesspool and, as he watched, Simon saw
Daniel raise a cloth to his face and cover his nose and mouth.

“
By the Four Winds, what has
happened?” Aeris gasped.

Kronk simply looked at the sight in
shock, his red eyes wide.

“
Brown dragons,” Simon
whispered. “My God. Daniel told me that they might not confront
the dragons for months.”

“
Something's changed,
obviously,” Aeris observed.

“
Daniel? Ethmira? Can you hear
me?” the wizard called out.

Both people spun around in surprise
and Simon was shocked again. His friend looked even older and more
haggard than he had the last time they'd spoken. He truly looked like
an old man now. His thin hand trembled on his staff and there were
dark circles under his eyes.

Ethmira, ever young, simply looked
grave and sad. Her bright eyes searched the area for a quick moment
and then she visibly relaxed and her expression softened.

“
Simon? Hello! What a pleasure
to hear from you again.”

“
Well, what do you know?”
Daniel said faintly, pulling the cloth from his mouth. “Maybe
prayer actually does work occasionally.”

“
Hi guys. What the hell
happened?”

“
Can't you guess?” his
friend said acerbically, waving a hand at the nightmare landscape
below them. “Brown dragons happened. This is the result of a
surprise attack.”

“
A devastating attack,
actually,” Ethmira said as she looked down at the surrounding
countryside. Simon noticed that a haze, a miasma of choking dark
smoke, cloaked the distant forest in a dense fog. He had no doubt
though that the entire area had been decimated.