“You know, that always freaks me out a little,” Aiden told the others.
“Well, they're off,” Simon said to the group. “It could be hours or several days, but if anyone can find those glyphs, those three will do it. The next step is finding those nasty orbs that the necromancers use to enhance their powers.”
Every head turned to look at Gerard and he flushed under this sudden scrutiny.
“Why are you all looking at me? I've never seen those orb thingies. I mean, I'll happily try to find them, but it will be a waste of time attempting it if I don't actually have any idea of what they look like.”
Tamara nodded grudgingly.
“That's a good point. Damn it. What I'd really like to know is exactly how many of those buggers there actually are and where they are now.”
There was a massive thump on the door that shook it on its hinges.
“Cripes, who knocking with a sledgehammer?” she snapped irritably. “Someone get that, would you?”
Half of the group was sitting down again while the rest watched curiously as Virginia hurried to the door. Just as she reached for the doorknob, it burst open and slammed back against the wall.
Virginia jumped back and then stared with her mouth open.
Malcolm and Aiden were on their feet and across the room faster than Simon would have believed possible for men of their size.
Aiden gently pushed Virginia aside and the two men barred whoever stood out in the hallway from entering.
“Who are you?” Malcolm growled, a hand on his dagger. “What do you want?”
“I am seeking the wizard, Simon O'Toole,” a voice rumbled, deeper and more resonant than even the big man's rich baritone.
“What do you want of him?”
Simon jerked upright in his chair at the sound of that voice. He leaped to his feet, trying to see past the two warriors.
“Guys? Let him in, please.”
“You know this person, Simon?” Malcolm asked over his shoulder.
Before the wizard could answer, the two men were flung back and slammed against the side of the table.
“We have no time for this,” the commanding voice rang out.
Both of the warriors sprang up again and seemed prepared to do battle.
“Stop guys, stop!” Simon yelled at them.
He rushed forward, pushing past the others.
“Don't try to interfere,” he said to the warriors. “You'll only get hurt, or worse.”
“I'll take my chances,” Aiden said angrily.
Malcolm just growled, his eyes fixed on the door.
“Please don't.”
The wizard waited but the unseen visitor seemed to be waiting for an invitation.
“You can come in,” Simon called out.
There was a collective gasp as a figure filled the doorway and slowly entered the conference room.
He was so tall that he had to duck low to make it under the lintel and when he was actually inside the room and stood up, his head almost brushed the ten foot ceiling.
“My God,” Anna whispered fearfully. “Who is that?”
“Folks, may I introduce Argentium, the argent dragon.”
The man looked at each person for a moment and then sketched a vague salute.
“It is good to meet you all. Unfortunately we have no time for pleasantries. Wizard, you are needed on the battlements.”
“For what?” Simon asked him in confusion. “What are you doing here?”
“More importantly, how did you get past our wards?” Tamara asked coldly.
Simon admired her courage, considering how overwhelming the argent dragon's presence was.
“Your wards impede lesser beings,” Argentium told her in an equally cool tone. “I am not such a one.”
“What's going on?” the wizard asked.
“You and these others are about to face something that you may not be prepared for. I...”
He looked around at the group and a fleeting look almost of pity crossed his perfect features.
“I did not expect this. I did not foresee it. But it has happened and so I have come to warn you. It is the least that I can do.”
“Spell it out, dragon,” someone said from the doorway. “What have you done?”
Argentium looked over his shoulder.
“Mind your tone. Good manners cost nothing.”
Someone else walked in and around the massive armored figure. Her own armor flashed and glittered in the candle light as she stood next to Simon and glared up at the dragon.
“Liliana!” the wizard exclaimed with pleasure. “I was wondering where you were.”
“On patrol. I just returned and followed our 'friend' here. Amazing how he just appeared in the courtyard. Quite a talent you have there,” she added, speaking to Argentium.
He nodded, looking vaguely amused, but then turned back to Simon with a grave look in his eyes.
“We have been deceived, wizard,” he rumbled.
“Deceived? What do you mean, deceived?”
“Misled, tricked, misdirected, whichever term you choose to use. Those glyphs that Esmiralla showed you were a distraction. Our foes wanted our attention diverted away from what they were truly doing.”
“Which was what?” Liliana asked.
“Raising dead dragons.”
There were a few exclamations from the others but Simon frowned at Argentium, puzzled.
“But we already knew that they were doing that, didn't we? I mean, my tower was attacked by a dracolich. And you told me that the necromancers were killing and raising the red dragons.”
Argentium made a dismissive gesture.
“I do not mean those creatures. The necromancers have come together as a group. They have used all of their powers to travel the world to find the sites of your battles, wizard, and then combined their magic to perform hideous rites.”
“My battles? But why...”
Something clicked in Simon's mind and he stared at the argent dragon in horror.
“Oh my God. They've raised the primals?”
“They did, but they did not just raise them as mindless slaves. These black wizards and their dark gods have infused the undead dragons with the spirits of the fallen primals. They could not raise all of them, of course. But they found enough mortal remains to revive two of the primal dragons: Pyrathius and Crystallos.”
“Crystallos? Who is that?”
“The primal white dragon. “
Liliana exchanged a look with Simon.
“Oh damn,” she whispered. “He was the most twisted of the lot of them.”
“Was he ever. So where are they now, Argentium?”
“As I just said, you are needed on the battlements. They are here.”
Chapter 30
The walls of Nottinghill Castle were crowded with defenders. At least they felt crowded to Simon, who rarely saw more than two or three people together at a time.
Now all of the able-bodied residents manned the walls, except for a few care-givers who were watching over the castle's dozen children.
Simon stood back and watched as Malcolm and Aiden organized the defenders. He knew very little about such things and left it to the experts. The magic-users; himself, the mages, and Liliana, were grouped together on the southern battlements, looking out into the darkness. So far there was no sign of the attackers that Argentium had warned were about to descend upon them.
“Maybe he was wrong,” Sebastian said as they all scanned the star-fulled skies. “Can you see these monsters in the dark?”
“Definitely,” Simon told him. “The dark magic that infuses them burns with a horrible, purple fire. Didn't you notice it when those undead wyverns attacked the castle?”
The mage shook his head. Simon could just see his eyes reflected in the torchlight.
“I was too busy trying to save our asses to care. But if that's the case, where are they?”
“No idea. I'd ask Argentium but he naturally disappeared,” the wiz
ard said with some disgust. “Typical draconic arrogance.”
The torches that sputtered and wavered in the wind atop the walls were planted at ten yard intervals and marginally helped the defenders see each other. Simon actually wondered if they did more harm that good, considering that they made it harder for him to see beyond the battlements.
“I thought you liked him,” Liliana said quietly.
Her armor flickered and blazed in the reflected torchlight and Simon could see her more clearly than anyone else. She wasn't looking at him; like the others, she was looking up into the night sky.
“As much as I can like any dragon, I suppose,” the wizard replied in a low voice. “But I don't trust him. Not after what Esmiralla pulled on me.”
The paladin was the only other person that Simon had told about the silver dragon's treachery; he had thought that she deserved to know, considering her connection with Esmiralla.
Liliana gave him a quick look of understanding before she stared up and out again.
“I know that trust is hard to come by after such an act, my friend,” she murmured, too low for the others to hear. “But I don't think that you should paint Argentium with the same brush as the treacherous silver dragon. I speak as a paladin now when I say that I sense only concern and nobility in the argent dragon.”
Simon thought about that. He had reason to trust Liliana's feelings. He knew the powers that she wielded, none better. But still...
He leaned on his staff in his left hand and unconsciously rubbed his stomach with his right, thinking of his missing kidney.
“Look!” someone down the wall to his right shouted. “What's that?”
“Where? What?” a host of voices responded.
Everyone tried to look in all directions simultaneously. Tamara's voice rose above the babble and she pointed her glowing wand toward the southeast, where the sea glimmered vaguely under the stars.
“There!” she shouted and everyone became silent and looked in that direction.
Far out over the wild waves of the ocean, two specks of light, side by side, the one on the right higher than the other, could just be seen approaching.
“Can you make out any details?” Keiko asked, her voice barely audible.
“Not yet, but unless I've just gone colorblind, they're purple.”
“Damn it,” Simon hissed.
He stepped back from the group, unnoticed, and then hurriedly strode to the southwest corner of the parapet. The area was empty of defenders; everyone had rushed away to get a closer look at the potential threat.
“Looking for me, wizard?” a voice rumbled from the shadows.
Argentium appeared as if he had materialized out of thin air. Maybe he had.
“You read my mind,” Simon told him dryly, looking up at his remote, perfect features.
“Hardly. I anticipated your need. You want to know how to defend against those two primal dracoliches, do you not?”
“If you wouldn't mind, yes.”
“Ah.”
The argent dragon looked at the distant lights and Simon turned toward them as well.
“Those two, they are not the mindless undead that you have come to know,” Argentium said thoughtfully. “Enough of their essence has been gathered and infused into their bones to make them almost as aware as they were when they were alive.”
“How is that was possible?” Simon asked him as he watched the approaching lights.
“To be frank, I do not know. But we are speaking of divine interference here. The dark gods have extended themselves to their utmost, exhausting their powers over this world to make this evil miracle happen.”
“But why? Why would they? Aren't thousands of resurrected sailors enough of an army?”
Argentium glanced down at the wizard with a sardonic look on his face.
“Bah. Cannon fodder. You alone could destroy those mindless automatons by the hundreds. They are of little threat to even the mages that defend this castle. No, they needed to bring back their most powerful servants to destroy the one threat, the one power, that has thwarted their plans to reenter this world time and time again. If they can wipe out that threat, their victory is almost assured.”
“What threat? Us, the remnants of the human race?”
The dragon laughed, a deep bass sound. But he did not sound amused.
“No, not your people, wizard. You.”
Simon gaped at him, speechless.
“Are you serious?” he asked when he'd finally found his voice. “Me? I'm nothing. A minor irritant at best.”
“Can we cease with this self-deceptive drivel, please?” Argentium asked, sounding exasperated for the first time. “Why do you insist on pretending that you are less than you are? Is it possible that you do not yet understand the extent of your powers? Surely not.”
“I...”
Simon had no answer. To himself he'd always been Simon O'Toole, once a middle-aged I.T. guy, now a Changed young wizard. But just a guy; normal, rather shy, grateful for being given the opportunity of a second chance at life. But a major power? A threat to gods? Him? No, not possible.
“I cannot accept that,” he whispered. “I won't. No one should be that pivotal to the direction that this world will take. No one.”
“Accept it or not, as you see fit,” Argentium told him with a measure of sympathy. “But those two primals are on their way here and now to destroy you, not the others. And they will tear down this castle, wipe out its inhabitants and obliterate anything and everything that stands in their way to accomplish their ends.”
“But you can stop them, right?” Simon asked desperately. “They can't stand up to you. They're flying skeletons, for God's sake!”
“Perhaps. Perhaps I could. But I am not allowed to intervene.”
The wizard stepped back to get a better view of the argent dragon's face. The crowd behind him was exclaiming in fear as the pair of undead primals got close enough for people to see their massive wings flapping in the darkness. They left a jagged trail of purple flames in their wake.
“Allowed by whom? You're free to do as you wish, aren't you?”
“No more than those monsters approaching are. Wizard, I am a servant of the Light, as they are servants of Darkness. If I interfere in the fate of this world, it will have consequences that will reach far beyond this mortal realm. No, there are rules, cosmic rules, that cannot be broken. My time to act will come, but it is not now. Now it is humanity's time to fight this evil. And your people's best hope in this fight is you.”
Simon turned his back on the argent dragon and looked beyond the restless crowd at the approaching threat. The primals were arrowing straight at the castle, their wings flapping slowly but with great power. They were obviously moving with tremendous speed.
“Can I beat them?” he asked simply.
There was a pause that seemed to stretch on endlessly.
“No,” Argentium finally answered. “You cannot.”
It was almost with relief that Simon heard that pronouncement. He'd had a feeling that the dragon would say that.
“So what can I do?”
“You can run.”
Simon whirled around and stared up at that smooth, statue-like face.
“Run? Run where?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere. Run, wizard. Those two monsters are tracking you. Do not ask me how; I don't know. But if you leave, they will follow, and your friends here will be safe, at least for the moment.”
“And that's the only way?”
“For now. You need time to make a plan, to set a trap, to do what you do best.”
“Which is what? Simon asked with desperate hope.
“Scheme,” Argentium said with the shadow of a smile on his lips. “You are an amazing tactician, wizard. Find a place where you can catch your breath and take the attack to them. That is the only way that you, your friends and the rest of your race will survive.”
Simon spun around as several people shouted in fear. The dracoliches wer
e close now, a mile out, maybe less. When he turned back to speak to the argent dragon again, he was gone.
“Goddamned dragons,” he hissed as he whirled around and ran back to the others.
“Tamara! I need to speak with you.”
The mage heard the urgency in his voice and hurried over to meet him.
“What is it?” she asked as she glanced over her shoulder. “We don't have time for a chat.”
“I have to leave. Right now,” Simon told her.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise and then her eyes narrowed. Before she could say anything spiteful, which the wizard was sure she would, he interrupted her.
“I know it sounds crazy, like I'm running or whatever. But Argentium has just told me that they aren't coming here for you and the others; they are coming for me.”
Tamara's building anger evaporated in an instant at this revelation.
“You? You personally?”
“Yes. If I leave, I can draw them off. He says that they can track me somehow. So, until I figure out how they are doing that, I'll try to stay one jump ahead of them. As undead, they will be limited to moving at night. That gives me an advantage.”
“You are mistaken, my friend,” someone said from behind him.
Liliana stepped forward. Obviously the conversation between Simon and Tamara could be heard by others.
“Mistaken?”
“Yes. These two monsters aren't like other undead. I can feel their unclean power even from here. I think it is quite possible that they will be able to withstand the burning rays of the sun. And if that is true, you will have to stay on the move constantly.”
“Then that's what I'll do.”
He looked to his right and saw that both monstrous dracoliches were mere seconds away from smashing into the castle's wards. Somehow he was sure that the wards wouldn't hold.
“I'm going. Now. I'll get in touch as soon as I can, okay?”
Both women extended a hand and Simon took them both in his own.
“Explain to the others, would you? I wouldn't want them to think that I deserted them.”
“We will. Go, Simon,” Liliana said urgently.
“Here they come!” Malcolm bellowed.
“Damn it, man. Go!”
Simon focused on his tower and nodded at his friends. A flash of lurid purple lit up the sky and almost broke his concentration.
Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two Page 78