The Dragons of Decay (55 page)

The group moved off and Simon found
himself alone with Liliana. The paladin was standing with her hands
on her hips, staring up at the looming mound of stone.

Simon decided to hedge his bets a
little, just in case his fatigue slowed him down later. He waited
until the others were far enough away so that he could speak quietly
without being heard and began whispering to Liliana.

“
While we have second,”
he murmured. “I wonder if you could do me a favor?”

She looked at him and raised an
eyebrow. Then she glanced to the right and left and moved a step
closer.

“
Certainly,” she replied
under her breath. “Is there a problem?”

“
Maybe. Maybe not. I know that
you're always alert, and I appreciate that, especially now when I'm a
bit drained from that dragon attack. But please, don't relax too much
once we find the cave and join Daniel and Ethmira. I don't have time
to explain right now but things may not be what they seem and if
something unexpected happens, I need you to be ready to react.”

She frowned and searched his face
intently.

“
That's a rather vague warning,
my friend,” she replied but held up her hand before Simon could
answer. “But I will take it to heart. Have no fear, I shall be
vigilant.”

The wizard let out a little sigh and
smiled weakly.

“
Thanks, that's all I could ask
for.”

“
Simon!”

He turned to the left and saw Eric
waving in the distance, maybe fifty yards away.

“
We found the entrance!”
he yelled.

“
Okay. We'll be right there.”

Simon looked at the paladin.

“
Go ahead and join them. I'll
get Virginia and Anna and be there in a minute.”

“
Right.”

Liliana hurried off and Simon went to
find the two young women, the wall of rock on his left.

It only took a minute to catch up to
them. He could hear Virginia speaking, talking about some sort of
rock-climbing trip she'd taken back in the old days. Anna was
laughing; apparently there'd been a funny mishap.

“
Hey guys?” he called
out. “Eric and Gerard found the entrance. You can come back
now.”

The voices stopped and a moment
later, the two women appeared from some brush that clung to the wall.

“
That didn't take long,”
Virginia said with a smile.

“
Yep. Let's go. I'll feel
better when we're safely under cover.”

He turned and led the way back.

When they reached the others, Simon
found the three of them watching the opening in the rock as if
expecting a bear to come barreling out of it in full attack mode.

“
Something wrong?” he
asked them.

Gerard shook his head.

“
Nope. Just waiting for you
guys. But caves aren't necessarily friendly places, you know? Pays to
be cautious.”

“
Good point.”

Simon muttered a spell and a globe of
silver light appeared above his head and floated there placidly.

“”
Hey!” Anna
exclaimed with a big smile. “I like that spell!”

Several of them laughed at her
girlish enthusiasm and Simon smiled at her gently.

“
So do I, Anna. It's handy,
especially when exploring spooky caves with who knows what waiting
behind some corner, just ready to spring at us.”

He had lowered his voice and the
small woman's eyes got huge as he spoke. Then Simon winked at her and
she laughed nervously.

“
Don't do that!” she said
and slapped his arm.

“
Sorry. Couldn't resist. Okay,
same as before. Single file. I'll take the lead, Liliana at the rear,
please. Are we all ready?”

“
Let's do this,” Virginia
said resolutely and the others murmured in agreement.

“
Here we go.”

Simon stepped into the narrow crack
in the stone wall, his magic light following above him and lighting
the path ahead. The floor was covered with thin, gritty sand and
crunched underfoot.

So much for sneaking in unnoticed, he
thought wryly. Oh well, it also means that no one can sneak up on us.

The passage was narrow but high and
twisted and turned with snake-like undulations. The ground was level
and dry.

A sharp curve suddenly revealed the
opening to the cavern ahead. Torch light flickered and danced off of
the walls and Simon quickly extinguished his light with a thought and
held up his hand to stop the others.

There was a small gasp from the group
and then silence. He turned and found that everyone had bunched up
and was watching him closely.

“
This cave opens up ahead,”
he whispered. “Shall we try sneaking in or just go on and
announce ourselves?”

“
What's with all the sneaking
anyway?” Eric asked in confusion. “We're meeting friends,
aren't we?”

Simon's thoughts were racing and he
shrugged, trying to sound convincing.

“
Listen, after that surprise
attack earlier, we don't know that Daniel and Ethmira are safe. They
may have been attacked. Hell, they may not even be here for all we
know. I mean, I sort of expected one of them to meet us in the
clearing, but no one showed up. That makes me nervous.”

Eric's eyes widened and he nodded
abruptly.

“
Damn,” he said. “I'm
so thick. I should have thought of that. Sorry, Simon.”

“
Don't be. I hope that my
paranoia is simply that. So what should we do? Group decision time.”

“
We'll scout ahead,”
Virginia said firmly.

“
You'll..?”

Simon stared at her.

“
What, all four of you?”

She smiled a bit impishly.

“
Have you forgotten one of our
little tricks and how we escaped captivity a few years back?”

A light clicked on in the wizard's
mind and he slapped his forehead, quietly.

“
I did. Speaking of being
thick. Okay, go ahead. But please try to be quiet. Just because you
can't be seen, doesn't mean you can't be heard.”

“”
We know, my friend.
Here, let us by and we'll link up and go in for a look around.”

Simon squeezed by the four of them
and then stood watching, Liliana standing to his right.

“
What's going on?” she
asked, clearly baffled. “You think that the four of them can
sneak around unnoticed?”

Simon almost laughed out loud.

“
These four can. Watch.”

The foursome joined hands, Virginia
leading followed by Anna then Gerard and finally Eric. They whispered
to each other for a moment.

“
You ready, hon?” Simon
heard Virginia say.

Anna nodded and took a deep breath.

“
Okay then; you're on.”

And then Simon and Liliana were
looking at...nothing. All four friends had disappeared instantly and
Liliana hissed in shock.

“
By the gods, they can turn
invisible?”

“
One of their tricks, as
Virginia likes to call it. I guess I never mentioned it to you, but
the four of them were being held by a group of mundane humans for a
couple of years, as slaves, when Aeris found them on a scout. They
got away during a drake attack by using this ability. It's actually
Anna's gift but it only works in she's linked to the others.”

“
Remarkable,” the paladin
muttered.

The two of them were barely
whispering while they listened closely for any sounds of distress.

The time stretched on like a taut
piano wire ready to snap and Simon found himself sweating in the warm
air. Liliana, as usual, looked cool and collected, her hand firmly on
her sheathed sword and her eyes narrowed.

The wizard leaned his staff against
his chest and wiped his palm on his robe. He dabbed his forehead with
his sleeve and gripped the staff again.

“
Shouldn't they be back by
now?” he whispered finally. “Maybe we should go ahead
in.”

“
Your choice,” Liliana
told him. “You're leading this little expedition.”

“
Okay then. I think...”

He stopped speaking as he heard the
squeak of someone hurrying toward them across the sand of the cave.
The paladin tightened her grip on her sword hilt and Simon heard the
creak of her gauntlet against the metal.

He took a breath and waited.

Gerard appeared in the opening to the
cave and waved them forward.

“
Come on in, guys. It's safe,”
he told them and then turned back and hurried out of sight.

Simon and Liliana looked at each
other and the wizard smiled with relief.

“
That took long enough,”
he said. “I wonder what the hold up was?”

“
Let's go in and find out,”
the paladin suggested and he nodded.

Simon walked forward and entered the
cavern beyond the tunnel. It looked pretty much the same way it had
when he spoke with Daniel in the mirror.

Torches flickered along the walls and
piles of supplies were still scattered here and there. Simon looked
around as he entered the open area and then frowned.

“
Where's Daniel?” he
wondered out loud. He scanned the room again but only saw Gerard, who
had crossed the cave and was disappearing down another passageway.

“
Hey Gerard, have you seen...”
he called after him, but the small man's blond head vanished from
view.

He sighed in exasperation and looked
at Liliana.

“
What's the rush?” he
asked.

The paladin simply smiled vaguely.
She was examining the cavern and stared up at the small holes in the
high roof that were letting sunlight into the cave.

“
I believe this place would be
fairly easy to hold against a dragon attack,” she told Simon
with approval. “Its own water source, openings too small for
dragons to enter? Very nice.”

“
Yep. Listen, let's follow
Gerard. I'd like to speak with Daniel and see if he has any news. I
suppose the others have already told him about the attack. Maybe he
has an idea on what happened.”

The paladin nodded silently, still
looking around thoughtfully and they began to walk across the open
area.

As they approached the next passage,
Virginia entered the cavern through it and stood there watching them.

“
Hey Virginia,” Simon
said with a smile. “What took you guys so long? Is this place
that big?”

“
It's big but that's not what
took the time. Simon, we found...”

Anna hurried out of the tunnel and
stood next to her friend. She stared at the wizard and the paladin
with wide eyes, her face pale.

Simon noticed that the smaller young
woman was shaking and was stopped by Liliana's firm hand on his
shoulder.

“
Wait,” she said tensely.
“Something's not right here.”

He looked at her and her grim
expression and then at Virginia.

“
What do you mean? What's
wrong?”

From the passageway, Eric entered
with Gerard in tow and lined up with the women. All of them stared
blank-faced at Simon and he was suddenly covered with goosebumps.
Liliana was correct; something was very wrong.

“
Well, here you are, my old
friend,” a voice echoed through the cavern and then Daniel
appeared from around the foursome and walked forward. Ethmira was
walking closely behind him. She was holding a short sword against
Daniel's lower back.

“
I wish we were meeting under
better circumstances,” the man added with a grimace. He glanced
over his shoulder and gave the elven woman a grating look of disdain.

Liliana sprang forward, her hand
whipping down to her sword.

“
Hold, paladin!” Ethmira
snapped as she stepped forward and slipped an arm around Daniel's
neck. She rested her sword's edge along his throat. “Do not do
anything foolish. You four, join your friends.”

Virginia and the others carefully
circled Daniel and the elf and moved to stand behind Simon.

“
I'm so sorry,” she
whispered to the wizard. “She knew we were coming, somehow. We
couldn't even try to rescue your friend.”

“
Don't sweat it,” the
wizard told her, keeping his eyes on Ethmira. Daniel looked calm and
in control, which helped Simon to keep his emotions in check.

“
Okay, Ethmira,” he said
as everyone settled down and stood quietly. He could feel the
paladin's eagerness to spring forward and prayed that she wouldn't do
anything precipitous.

“
Would you like to tell me what
is going on? I thought we were friends.”

“
Did you, young wizard,”
she replied in a level voice. “You have an interesting
definition of friendship then.”

“
I don't understand.”