The Dragons of Decay (9 page)

“
Nothing, really. Just going
through the different scenarios that I might face if I get into the
elven realm.”

He frowned as he tapped his lower
lip.

“
If the numbers of elves are
sufficient, they may not even need my help, and I should just keep my
distance and worry about the primal red and its followers here on
Earth. On the other hand, if they are small in numbers, even with
their magical weapons they won't be able to stand up to the brown
dragons and a wizard could possibly tip the balance of the war in
their favor.”

“
Or you could go there, use
your powers and fail,” Aeris said dryly. “Leaving us and
your home world at the mercy of the gods of Chaos. So before you go
racing off to save the day, my dear wizard, think about
all
of the consequences of your actions.”

Simon
turned and stared at the air elemental.

“
I
do think of all of the consequences,” he stated firmly.

“
Do
you, master?” Kronk asked from the tabletop. “I mean no
offense, but some of your interactions with dragons have
been...spontaneous at best.”

The wizard
couldn't believe that the little guy would take Aeris' side in this,
but the earthen's earnest expression stopped Simon from arguing with
him. Between the two elementals, he knew that Kronk always spoke the
absolute truth, no matter what.

He walked
back to the table and sat down, thinking deeply.

“
Okay
then, let's walk through this whole thing,” he said tersely.
“Maybe I'm too close to it because of my feelings for Daniel.”

He watched
Aeris float back and looked between him and Kronk.

“
So,
give me your opinions. And don't hold back.”

Both of
the elementals hesitated and then Aeris shrugged.

“
Very
well, if you want an honest evaluation of the situation, here's
mine.”

He settled
down on to the tabletop and folded his arms, staring up at Simon.

“
If,
as you've said, the elves have the numbers to defend themselves, then
your aid is moot. You will be able to stay in this world and plan
your battles against the red dragons without hindrance. That is, in
my opinion, the best scenario.”

Simon
nodded without comment and gestured for him to continue.

“
If
the elves do not have enough fighters to have a hope of defeating the
dragons, then this situation becomes much more complex. Assuming that
you will be able to enter their realm, that is.”

“
The
way I see it, master,” Kronk piped up. “Even if you can
join Daniel and the elves, you on your own will not be enough.”

The wizard
raised an eyebrow and the little guy rushed on.

“
What
I mean is that you are going to be on a whole new world, master. You
will have no idea of where the primal brown dragon is, which means
that you may have to fight your way through many of its minions to
reach it, if you can. And not just dragons but drakes as well.”

“
Yeah,
I thought of that,” Simon said as he sat back and stretched a
bit to loosen his spine. “I figure that I'll summon some air
elementals, like Aeris, and get them to scout out the land for me.
Hopefully they'll be able to at least give me an idea of where the
primal is hiding.”

Both of
the elementals shook their heads in unison and he stared at them,
amused and confused at the same time.

“
What
is it?”

“
You
won't be able to summon aid while you are in the elven realm, my dear
wizard.”

“
What?
Why?”

“
That
world is closed to elementals, master,” Kronk said simply. “We
have never been granted access to it. The elves do not have the
ability to summon our kind, so that pathway has never been
established. You will be on your own.”

“
Oh,”
Simon muttered. “Oh crap. Well, that complicates things a bit.”

“
Indeed
it does. So, there's one problem,” Aeris said tartly. “But
the real point is that you simply do not have enough firepower by
yourself to make a difference in the battles that you will have to
face. If you were able to take some allies with you, of course, that
would be a different story. At least it would give you more of a
chance of survival.”

Simon got
up and put the kettle back over the fire.

“
Okay.
Believe it or not, I actually agree with you.” he told Aeris.
“And don't look so surprised. I want to help the elves, and
Daniel, but I'm not really looking for an inventive way to commit
suicide. If any of the other Changlings want to join me, and are able
to survive the trip, then I'll happily invite them to come along.”

He began
making another cup of tea.

“
We'll
just have to wait until I speak to Daniel again. Hopefully he'll have
some firm options for me next time.”

Simon was
still sipping his second cup of tea and chatting quietly with the
elementals when he felt a tingling in the pocket of his robe and a
warmth against his skin. Someone was using their lodestone to reach
him.

He pulled
out the three stones he always carried and saw that it was half of
the stone that he'd given to Clara.

“
Uh-oh,”
he exclaimed. He slipped the stones back into his pocket, jumped up
and raced for the stairs. The elementals chased after him.

Up in his
study, Simon grabbed the hand mirror off of his desk, sat down and
cast the Magic Mirror spell urgently. Kronk ran into the room so
quickly that his little legs were just a blur. He leaped on to the
desk just as Aeris shot across the room to join him there.

“
Clara?”
Simon called anxiously as he made the connection. “Clara, are
you there?”

“
Oh,
thank the gods.” he heard her reply. “Simon, I know what
you've just gone through, but we really need your help.”

“
It's
yours,” he stated firmly. The mirror cleared and he could see
Clara standing in the midst of the blizzard, heavily wrapped in a fur
jacket and scarf, squinting at something that he couldn't see.

“
What's
going on? What do you need?”

“
Well,
I spoke too soon earlier, I guess.” Her voice stuttered with
cold. “There are dozens of wights trying to get into
Nottinghill! Maybe more. The ditch around the town has slowed them
down, but the damned things climb like cockroaches and are swarming
up the wall.”

“
My
God,” Simon muttered.

“
The
good news, such as it is, is that your wards are keeping them from
climbing directly over the wall. They are concentrating their attacks
on both gates where the warding is weakest. Virginia, Anna, Eric and
Gerard are manning the rear gate and using their combined power to
blast them off of the wall. But the front gate is only protected by
Malcolm and Aiden and the other guardsmen. They're using bows to
drive them back.”

“
Okay,
okay. I understand,” Simon said, nodding his head
unconsciously.

“
The
problem is that the arrows only knock the wights to the ground. The
barbs aren't blessed, and there's no time for me to do that now, damn
it, so the monsters just jump up and attack again.”

She paused
and shivered, then tightened the scarf around her neck.

“
And
they're running out of arrows,” she added.

“
Okay,
stay right there,” Simon said loudly. “I'll Gate to your
location. Hang on,”

“
Thank
you, my friend,” she replied with relief. “Please hurry.”

Simon
broke the connection and put down the mirror. He grabbed his staff
and ran out of the room.

Down in
the basement, the wizard went into the supply room where he stored
his extra clothing and grabbed the long, hooded winter coat, thick
gloves and winter boots that he'd left there earlier. After a brief
moment, he dug up a set of long underwear too.

Just in
case, he thought.

He ran
back up the stairs to the main level and quickly got dressed.

Kronk and
Aeris were there watching him and, once he was dressed, Simon turned
to look at them.

“
The
other earthen are patrolling the wall, right?”

“
Of
course, master,” Kronk assured him.

“
Good,
because I want you two to come with me,” he told them.

Both of
them exchanged a glance and Aeris actually smiled.

“
A
fine decision, my dear wizard,” the air elemental assured him.

“
Yeah?
Well, we'll see about that.”

The wizard
finished tying his boots, grabbed his staff and nodded at the others.

“
Hang
on to me, guys. We've got to move.”

Kronk took
hold of the bottom of Simon's coat while Aeris floated over and held
on to his sleeve.

Simon
raised his staff, cast the Gate spell while keeping Clara's face
firmly in mind and uttered the word of command.

“
Invectis
!”

And a
moment later, they were standing in the middle of blowing snow and
arctic winds.

“
Crap, I hate the winter,”
Simon muttered and looked around hurriedly, peering through the
whipping ice pellets.

“
Simon! Over here,” he
heard Clara call and turned in the direction of her voice.

He saw a vague blur through the storm
and shuffled toward it. The snow was at least six inches deep.

“
Hey there,” he said
loudly as he reached her. “Lovely day, isn't it?”

Her lips twitched but her eyes were
grave.

“
Good to see you,” she
told him. “Follow me please.”

The cleric led the way through the
wind and snow. Simon could see the shapes of small houses on either
side of the snow-covered road and, as they struggled along, two
shapes scurried by them, heading in the opposite direction. He
couldn't even tell if they were men or women.

The main gate suddenly loomed out of
the storm and the wizard saw someone crouched there digging into a
large trunk and pulling out handfuls of arrows. The person stood up
with a load of ammunition and slipped and slid to the right of the
gate where someone else had climbed down a ladder to take the bundle
and pass it up to another person standing on the parapet that ran
along the inside of the wall.

“
Terry!” Clara called out
and the man at the bottom of the ladder turned and waved. He moved
toward them and they met him at the gate.

“
How's it going?” the
cleric asked, raising her voice over the howling of the wind.

“
Well, we're holding them for
now,” Terry shouted. He was a young, blond-headed man with a
heavy beard that was coated with ice. He was panting and his breath
puffed out in white clouds.

“
But the ammo is getting
scarce, Clara,” he continued. “Another wave of those
bastards and we'll be fighting them hand to hand.”

“
Damn it,” Simon
muttered.

He looked at Aeris, who was hovering
in the air just behind him.

“
Can you scout out the
situation, safely?” he asked. “I need to know how many
wights we're dealing with.”

Aeris snorted, the little puff of air
blowing him back a few inches.

“
Of course I can. Give me a
couple of minutes.”

He disappeared and Simon looked at
Clara and the guardsman.

“
Aeris will give us an accurate
idea of the number of our enemies,” he told them. He looked at
Terry. “Where are Malcolm and Aiden?

The man pointed at the wall to the
left of the gate.

“
Up there. Thank God their aim
is phenomenal. We'd have been overrun by now but for them.”

“
Good. I'm heading up. Kronk,”
he said and looked down at the earthen who was standing next to his
right leg. “Could you check on Virginia and the others at the
back gate? See how they're holding up?”

“
My pleasure, master,”
the little guy said. He vanished into the ground, leaving a small
mound of dirt on top of the snow.

“
Handy friends you have there,
sir wizard,” Terry told him with a tired grin.

“
They are that. Clara, I'll see
you in a bit.”

She nodded and gripped his arm
tightly for a brief moment.

Simon hurried across the road to the
left side of the gate, the snow crunching under his boots. He slipped
his staff across his back and began to climb up the ladder carefully;
the rungs were coated with ice.