The Dragons of Decay (54 page)

“
Holy crap,” Eric
exclaimed as Simon caught up to them. “Where the hell did that
thing come from?”

“
It's like it was waiting for
us.” Virginia said with a frown. “But that's not
possible, is it? I mean, it must have been a random patrol or
something, right?”

“
So it would seem,”
Liliana said tersely but she was staring at Simon as she said it, a
probing look on her face.

“
I'm guessing this area is
under the dragons' control now,” he said as he caught his
breath. His hand was shaking as he rested on his staff, not from fear
but from the energy drain and excess adrenaline. “It probably
was just a case of bad timing.”

“
But to lose an elf like that?”
Anna said with tears in her eyes. “All he was doing was
bringing us across. I mean, we didn't even see that dragon until it
had scooped him up and...and tore him apart.”

She covered her eyes and Virginia
quickly put an arm around the small woman and hugged her tightly.

Eric and Gerard were white-faced but
calm. Liliana looked around them at the surrounding forest, her
expression grim.

“
So now what do we do?”
she asked Simon. “Without a guide, we're basically on our own.”

The sunlight that was trickling
through the branches above them was cut off for a moment by a passing
shadow and they all ducked instinctively.

“
Oh damn!” Virginia
exclaimed as she looked up through the trees. “Another one?”

Simon heard a high-pitched cry, like
the note from an enormous flute, reverberate down through the forest
and he smiled in relief.

“
No, I don't think so. I think
our ride is here.”

He hurried back toward the clearing
and the others followed him hesitantly.

“
Our ride?” Eric asked
dubiously. “What ride?”

They stood at the edge of the opening
in the forest, looking at the remains of the dragon and the smoking
wreckage that used to be living plants. The rot that had sprayed the
ground when the dragon had been killed was spreading slowly,
consuming the grass as they watched, appalled.

Simon looked up and saw an enormous
shadow winging downward, spiraling toward the ground.

“
That ride,” he replied
and nodded upward. “It's a creature called Pharra. She's an
ally of the elves. I guess that she was supposed to meet us here with
our guide.” He shook his head sadly at the thought of the lost
elf. He hadn't even known his name.

“
Well, at least she made it
here.”

Pharra floated gracefully to the
ground and landed with a neat flip of her massive wings. They choked
a bit from the smoke that was blown around the clearing and then
Simon led the others forward.

He approached the enormous swan and
bowed. Then he looked up and, wondering if she could understand,
began speaking.

“
Hello Pharra,” he said
carefully. “My name is Simon. I'm a friend of Ethmira and
Daniel. As you can see,” he gestured at the gruesome horrible
remains, “we were attacked by a dragon. Our guide was killed.
Are you here to take us to our friends?”

The swan watched him, her deep
amber-colored eyes seeming to assess both the wizard, his friends and
the glade around him. After a moment, she reared back and hissed, a
sound that cut the ears like the cry of a steam engine.

She stood a moment as if deciding
what to do and then settled down on to the ground, carefully avoiding
any puddles of rot.

“
I assume that's a yes,”
Liliana stated.

“
Let's hope so. Come on, folks.
Let's get out of here before any more dragons show up.”

Simon stepped forward and Pharra
watched him placidly, lowering her wing so that he could catch hold
and pull himself on to her back. Her black feathers were warm and a
tangy scent, like wild mint, rose from her body.

The wizard settled himself on to her
broad back as firmly as he could, looked down at the others who were
watching him nervously and waved them forward.

“
Let's go. We can't waste any
more time in this place.”

One by one they climbed up and took a
seat behind Simon. Gerard helped Anna climb up and sat with her,
holding her tight as she trembled in fear.

“
I really hate flying,”
she blurted out.

“
Better than the alternative,”
Liliana said darkly as she indicated the remains of the dragon.

“
Okay, are we all ready?”
Simon asked as he looked over his shoulder.

Some of them nodded while Anna and
Gerard just swallowed noisily and grabbed handfuls of feathers.

“
We are all set, Pharra,”
he called out, holding on tightly. He hoped that they weren't hurting
the swan, but she seemed oblivious to their collective grip on her
feathers.

She stood up abruptly, raised her
wings and leaped skyward. One enormous flap later and they were
racing up through the trees to the open air beyond.

Simon was amazed. The giant bird's
flight was smooth and effortless and his grip loosened on her
feathers as he got used to the undulating feeling of Pharra's muscles
under his legs. The warm air flowed by him and he looked down to
watch the huge trees as they slid by below them.

“
This is amazing!”
Virginia cried out.

The wizard looked behind him and saw
her grinning like a little kid at an amusement park. Eric and Liliana
were smiling broadly as well, but Anna and Gerard were sitting
tensely, eyes tightly closed and their knuckles white where they held
on to the swan's feathers.

“
I wonder how long it will take
to get to wherever we're going?” Liliana called out over the
sound of the wind and the flapping wings.

“
No idea. My God, look at this
place. This entire world seems to be one immense forest, doesn't it?”

Simon was overwhelmed by the view
around him. Green. Green forest everywhere he looked. No buildings,
no pollution, no sign of habitation. It was not surprising that the
elves loved trees and plants; their entire world was covered with
them.

“
Look over there,”
Virginia said loudly and everyone, even Anna and Gerard, turned to
look in the direction that she was pointing.

“
Oh my God. Is that the work of
the dragons?” Gerard asked, his voice thick with disgust.

Far off to their right, the forest
ended abruptly. Beyond it the green turned to black and gray and the
trees were gone. From one side of the horizon to the other, all that
could be seen was barren wasteland. A pall of thin smoke hung over
the bleak landscape and Simon was reminded of old pictures he's seen
from the moon landing decades before.

Death, he thought. Nothing but death
and decay. That is what is in store for this beautiful world, unless
we can stop it.

The expressions of the others had
turned from wonder to anger as they obviously shared his emotion.

“
Those monsters can't be
allowed to destroy this place,” Anna's high-pitched voice said
with surprising steel in it.

Simon only nodded silently and then
looked ahead, eager now to reach their destination.

The group settled down and remained
silent for the remainder of the flight. Miles of dense forest passed
by beneath them and Simon was relieved to see no more evidence of
damage from the draconic invaders.

He kept an eye on the skies around
them as well, praying that they didn't cross paths with any dragons.
He didn't think that Pharra would last long in a aerial battle.

How much time passed was impossible
to say; the endless expanse of trees below them was almost hypnotic
and it was with a bit of a start when Simon felt the swan banking to
the left as she began to spiral downward toward the ground.

He craned his neck to try to see
their landing spot and noticed a huge rocky hill, like a small
mountain, peeking out of the forest. There was a small clearing near
its foot and the swan was carefully fluttering down to land in this
cramped spot. Simon watched the surrounding trees tensely, afraid
that the huge bird's wings would get caught up in the branches and
send them all tumbling off her back to their deaths.

But Pharra made it look easy. One
moment they were descending into the clearing and the next they had
landed gently and the swan had settled down and tucked her legs
beneath her.

“
Well, I guess we've arrived,”
he said over his shoulder. His legs were trembling as he carefully
slid to the ground.

Anna and Gerard were looking a little
green while the others seemed as shaky as he was. The flight had been
awesome but his body had apparently been more tense than he'd
realized and the reaction was setting in.

He helped Anna off of the swan, gave
her a quick smile and looked up at the magnificent creature.

“
Thank you, Pharra,” he
said to her. “You saved our lives, you really did. Good luck
out there and please, stay safe.”

The swan stood up, lowered her head
until Simon was staring into her immense amber eyes, and gave him a
gentle nudge with a head as long as he was tall. Then she pulled
back, leaped skyward and was gone in a flash of black feathers.

The wizard covered his eyes to shield
them from the wind that Pharra had stirred up and then looked at the
others.

Liliana had a hand on her sword and
was slowly turning in a circle, scanning the perimeter of the
clearing for any threats.

Virginia and Anna were speaking
quietly to each other; Virginia seemed to be reassuring her smaller
friend.

And Eric and Gerard were simply
standing side by side and watching Simon, waiting for directions on
what to do next.

The glade was very quiet once the
swan had left. Strange trilling birdsong could be heard from far
away, but it was muted and hard to hear clearly. The trees, immense
sentinels that reached hundreds of feet above their heads, were still
and brooding. There was no wind and here on the floor of the forest,
the air was cool and the sunlight meager and weak.

“
So what now?” Gerard
asked, glancing at both Simon and Virginia.

“
Good question. I assumed that
we'd be met by someone,” Simon told him.

He examined the trees and tried to
get his bearings.

“
I think that Daniel and
Ethmira headed off in that direction,” he said, pointing
vaguely. “Toward that big hill we saw as we were landing. May
as well give that a shot, don't you think?”

Virginia shrugged.

“
Better than just standing
here. To be honest, I'm feeling a little exposed, especially after
what happened to that poor elf.”

She looked up at the distant sky
apprehensively and Anna moved closer to her. Virginia put an arm
around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“
Okay then. Let's go. I'll take
point. Liliana? Could you bring up the rear please, just in case we
have any surprises?”

The paladin nodded grimly and waited
until the others filed off after the wizard before following along
behind.

Simon walked slowly into the forest,
holding his staff in his left hand and using it as a walking stick.
There seemed to be a faint trail beaten into the dark soil beneath
the trees and he followed it carefully, scanning the shadows as he
did so.

The day had begun so hopefully, he
thought. Daniel had arranged for an elvish scout to meet them in the
new town at dawn and the handsome elf, wearing mottled leather and
carrying a bow, had led them to the seashore. There he had somehow
found the proper spot and had simply had everyone link hands.

The group had exchanged nervous
smiles and then the scout had walked toward the crashing waves. There
was a faint disturbance in the air over the sand, but it was hard to
focus on. Three steps, no more, Simon thought and then they were
standing in the middle of a forest, blinking in the dim light and
looking at each other in disbelief.

A few minutes later the elf had been
killed in a dragon attack and Simon had been forced to use his
limited energy to bring it down.

I'm going to pay for that, was his
grim thought. He could already feel fatigue setting in and it was the
worst possible time. If he had to confront Ethmira, he needed all of
his strength and he needed to be alert. He hoped they found the cave
sooner rather that later.

As if his wishful thinking had given
fate a nudge, they spotted a flash of gray through the trees a few
minutes later and found themselves staring at a wall of rock that
loomed out of the forest and rose above them to the height of the
trees.

“
Is this where your friend and
Ethmira went?” Eric asked and Simon nodded slowly.

“
I think so,” he say and
reached out to touch the jagged surface. “I mean, how many
small mountains are there around here? It must be the place.”

“
Okay guys,” Virginia
said. “Everyone spread out and look for a cave entrance. Anna,
come with me. We'll go right. Eric, Gerard? You go left. Don't hurry
and everybody stay within earshot. Give a yell if you find anything.”