The Dragons of Decay (56 page)

“
Oh, I think you do. You
believe that I'm a traitor, don't you?”

There were several gasps from the
others and Liliana looked at Simon with narrowed eyes.

“
Why would you say that?”
he asked, trying to remain calm.

“
Why? Because your dearest
friend told me so, that's why.”

And she tapped Daniel on the shoulder
with her free hand.

“
Daniel? You
told
her?” The wizard was aghast. “How could you tell her?”

The older man closed his eyes for a
moment, looking incredibly weary and worn out. Then he looked at
Simon intently

“
Simon, I've known Ethmira for
a very long time. I consider myself a good judge of character,
usually. So, after you and I spoke and realized that we both had
suspicions about her and her loyalty, I felt I had no choice but to
confront her directly.”

“
That was a mad thing to do,”
Liliana snapped at him angrily. “Look what's come of it.”

“
Nothing's come of it,”
Daniel said with more vigor. “Simon, both of us were wrong.”

The wizard stared at him and then at
the elf.

“
Wrong? Daniel, she's holding a
sword to your throat! What the hell are you talking about?”

Ethmira shook her head and looked at
the wizard and the others with something akin to pity.

“
Daniel and I,” she
began, “were a little concerned that you or one of the others
might do something foolish before I got a chance to explain what has
really been going on. This was his idea, actually. I personally think
it's a bit too dramatic, not to mention dangerous.”

She lowered her sword and sheathed it
in one smooth motion and Daniel stepped forward and met Simon's
accusatory stare with a shrug.

“
I had to slow you down a bit
and give us all a chance to talk. And do not draw that sword, young
woman!” he snapped.

The wizard turned quickly and saw
that Liliana's sword was halfway out of its sheathe and she was
glaring at Ethmira murderously.

“
Liliana, stop!” he said
loudly.

She spun to face him and he held up a
hand.

“
Let's hear them out first,
shall we? Bloodshed should always be the last resort.”

The woman stood poised for a moment,
obviously working things out in her head. Then she pushed the sword
back in its sheathe firmly, nodded once and folder her arms, the
armor flashing in the torchlight.

“
Very well,” she said
harshly. “Go ahead and explain. But it had best be convincing
or the consequences will be unfortunate.”

Ethmira accepted this and gestured to
all of them.

“
Please follow me,” she
said. “There's a more comfortable room down this tunnel where
we can sit and talk.”

She led the way followed by Daniel,
Simon and Liliana. The other four filed in behind them, talking in
whispers.

The room that Ethmira led them into
reminded the wizard of a conference room. Torches hung from the walls
and many candles were lit on the large round table that occupied the
center of the room. Heavy wooden chairs circled the table, in front
of each chair someone had place a jug and cup.

Everyone took a seat and Simon
examined the jug. It was full of clean, cool water and he filled his
cup gratefully. The air was warm but moving with a gentle current
that kept it from becoming too hot. The chair was very comfortable.

“
You said you wanted to
explain,” Liliana said coldly. “So explain.”

“
Very well,” Ethmira
said. She folded her hands on the table in front of her and glanced
from face to face.

Daniel was sitting on her left and
Simon had decided to sit on her right. The others were scattered
around the table in no particular order. The place could have held
twice as many people.

“
Let me take you back to our
battle with the primal white dragon,” she began. “You
remember that night?” she asked looking at Simon and Liliana.
Both nodded.

“
Well, it was then that we, my
people, decided that we could no longer sit on the sidelines while
your world was decimated. We had to take matters into our own hands.”

The elven woman poured some water
into her cup and took a sip.

“
Understand, we knew that,
should we choose to, we could retreat to our world here and seal it
after us, keeping our lands and our people safe from the dragons
forever. And frankly, there were some among my people who urged us to
do just that.”

“
So why didn't you?”
Virginia asked as she leaned forward on her elbows. “I mean,
what difference would it make to the elves if the Earth was taken
over by the dark gods or not? You have all you need right here.”

“
True enough,” the elf
answered. “But you see, we elves are an ancient people. Much
older than humans, of course, and even older than the dwarves. We are
calm, controlled and logical in most things. But if there is one
thing my people are passionate about, it is dragons. We hate them
with a loathing that is quite unfathomable. We were there, you see,
at the beginning, when the dragons first ravaged your world. We lived
in both realms then, yours and ours. Those creature decimated my
people. Humans had not even appeared on the planet then.”

She sipped her water again and Simon
watched as she put down her cup and laid her hands flat on the table,
palms down. She was staring at nothing, lost in her memories.

“
We fought back but we were not
a war-like people, and we had no magic. And so, after devastating
losses, we massed for one final assault to drive the dragons back
into the Void. We failed. We were left lessened, weak, our ranks
thin. And so we retreated to our own world and sealed it completely.
We watched from this side as your people rose, conquered the planet,
learned to use magic and fought against the gods of Chaos. It was so
inspirational that we opened the way between worlds again, allowed
contact between our peoples.”

She sighed and drew invisible
pictures with a finger on the tabletop.

“
Together with the dwarves, we
elves and your people rose up once more and defeated the dragons,
sent them back into darkness. With their mightiest servants
vanquished, the dark gods retreated into the Void, taking the lords
of Light with them, as well as the magical energy of your world. We
could not survive in such an environment. We had to return home and
hope for better days to come.”

“
So your people and ours are
responsible for banishing the dragons so long ago?” Anna asked,
wide-eyed.

“
Not alone,” Ethmira
answered with the ghost of a smile. “The dwarves had risen at
that point and joined in the fight with their magical machines and
inventions. They were our allies through much of the fight.
Unfortunately we had a, well, let us call it a falling out after that
final battle, and elves and dwarves have been on uneasy terms ever
since.”

“
While this story is
fascinating,” Simon said coolly, “it doesn't explain what
you have been up to since the magic returned to the Earth. Nor does
it answer several other rather glaring questions, such as how the
brown dragons were able to enter this world in the first place.”

“
I know, sir wizard. I'm
getting there. But I wanted you to know why we loathe the dragons and
to what lengths we would go to destroy them.”

Ethmira refilled her cup and Simon
and Liliana exchanged glances while she did so. The paladin raised an
eyebrow and Simon shrugged slightly. Neither of them was convinced of
anything at this point.

“
Now, back to the battle with
the primal white dragon,” the elf said, picking up the story.
“When we joined you, Simon and Liliana, that night, we saw
firsthand the horror of what the dragons could become. The mutation
that the primal white had undergone and that horrible fusion of human
and dragon that it was performing shocked us beyond belief. It was
worse than anything that we'd experienced back in the ancient times
when facing the dragons. We knew then that we would have to take
drastic action. Simon, “ she looked over at him, “you had
destroyed three of the five primal dragons, but we knew that they
were nothing compared to the brown and red primals. If those two
joined forces, which rarely happens between dragon species, your
world would not be able to stand against them and you and yours would
fall. So we decided on a plan of action and implemented it that very
night.”

“
I don't understand,”
Liliana said with some confusion. “What plan? Simon and I were
the last ones to leave the plateau after the battle. You and your
elves were gone before us.”

“
True. We came home and a hasty
meeting was called by the council of elders. We told them what had
occurred and they came up with their plan.”

She shook her head and the anguish on
her face was heart-wrenching. Simon's suspicions were fading by the
moment.

“
I had never questioned the
elders in all of the years that they ruled this world, but I
questioned them that night. They were firm in their convictions
though and I bowed to their wisdom. We returned to that hellish
plateau. Remember the time differential between our worlds. Only
moments had passed since the death of the primal. You, Simon and the
lady paladin were just Gating away as we arrived. We went through the
area, scattering arrows, leaving a few small items of clothing and
generally making it obvious that elves had taken part in the battle.”

“
But why?” Virginia asked
softly. “Why let the dragons know that you were there?”

“
To make ourselves a target,”
the elf said simply. “We were sure that the brown dragons would
investigate the aftermath of the conflict; their territory is closest
to that part of the world and there was communication between them,
although it was cursory at best. The brown dragons were our greatest
enemies back in the old days. Of all of the draconic species, it is
the brown that we truly despise. Which made what happened next even
harder to do.”

“
Which was what?” Liliana
asked, her voice less cold than it had been. Like Simon, she was
totally caught up in the story.

“
We sent scouts out to act as
bait. They attacked lone brown dragons, killing several and stirring
up the rest. Eventually the primal brown was enraged to the point
where it summoned its forces to it and they followed the signs we
left for them to a transfer point between the realms. And then...”

She bowed her head and pressed down
so hard on the table that her fingers went white.

“
And then those chosen few
opened the way and allowed the browns to cross over, to this world.
All of the scouts were killed in the process.”

“
My God, Ethmira!” Eric
exclaimed. “Why the hell would your people do that?”

He was staring at her in shock and
his expression was mirrored in every face around the table except
Daniel's. He just watched her sadly and reached out a thin hand to
grip her shoulder.

Ethmira looked at him with a sad
smile, patted his gnarled fingers and cleared her throat.

“
We did it for a simple reason,
really. It separated the browns from the reds. Two singular forces
instead of one combined threat. Each species of dragon is powerful in
and of itself, but together? We would have had no chance against them
and neither would your people.”

“
But to allow them to come
here?” Simon couldn't quite grasp what he was hearing. “We
saw the destruction that the dragons have already caused on the trip
here. They are literally using their powers to rot your entire
forest.”

“
I know that,” she
replied. “As I said, this was not my decision. The elders had a
plan, you see, in case we could not destroy the dragons here in our
own lands. We would seal the realm again and the dragons would be
trapped here for all of eternity. Your world, your universe, would be
safe from them. Yes, the red dragons remain, but at least they would
be the only species of dragon left to threaten your home.”

“
Doesn't that mean that all of
the elves would die?” Anna asked in a small voice. She was
curled up on her chair and looked even smaller and younger than
usual.

Ethmira smiled at the young woman.

“
Not all, no. Some would remain
to keep the dragons' attention while the majority would cross over to
your world. My people would survive, but we would lose our homeland
forever. A hard price to pay, but one we would pay gladly if it meant
the end of the brown dragons.”

There was a long moment of silence
where everyone seemed lost in his or her own thoughts. Simon finally
looked over at Ethmira and asked the questions that were burning
brightest in his mind.

“
Ethmira, I may not be the best
judge of people, or so I've been told by some others in the past,”
and he gave Daniel a significant look.

The older man laughed and nodded
appreciatively.