Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two

by J. J. Thompson

  “Gate!” he shouted.

  The last thing he heard was a shivering bellow of insane rage.

  “Master, I don't understand,” Kronk said plaintively as Simon threw items of clothing into a canvas bag. “Why can't you stay here? With the wards at full power, you will be able to hold off those creatures.”

  The wizard had returned home, told the earthen what had happened and started packing. He needed to travel light and fast, so he only packed a few robes, underwear and socks. And a jacket; Kronk had insisted on a jacket.

  “No I won't,” Simon told him absently.

  Toothbrush. Where's my blasted toothbrush? And tooth powder?

  He rummaged through his drawers, flinging clothes in all directions.

  Aha, there you are.

  “Argentium warned me that these dracoliches are more powerful than I am,” he continued. “And that means that they will be more powerful than my wards, Kronk. So I have to go.”

  “Where, master? Where will you go?”

  The little guy was wringing his blocky hands in distress.

  “No idea. I guess I'll start out west at the Rockies. That location is fresh in my mind so my first Gate will be easy.”

  Simon picked up his bag, slipped the strap over his shoulder and hurried out of his bedroom. He rushed down the hall and into the study. Kronk tip-tapped after him.

  “And then, master?”

  “No idea.”

  Simon pulled his atlas out of the bookcase and his hand mirror off of the table and stuffed them into his bag. Then he tied it tightly shut and stood up with a tired sigh. He looked around the room one last time and his gaze fell on the earthen and his stricken expression.

  Kronk looked so lost that it penetrated Simon's overwhelming need to run. He felt horrible. It was unacceptable to leave his friend when the little guy was so upset.

  “Oh damn, I'm sorry, Kronk,” he said hastily.

  The wizard dropped his pack on the floor, pulled out his chair and sat down heavily. The earthen jumped on top of the desk and moved to stand in front of Simon.

  “I know that this is all a shock,” the wizard began. “It is to me too. One minute I'm spending time with friends and the next, I'm on the run. It's crazy.”

  “I understand, master, and I agree with the argent dragon. You must stay far enough away from the undead primals to formulate a plan of attack. I just wish...”

  His voice trailed off and Simon patted his sloping shoulder gently.

  “That you could come with me? So do I, my friend, more than anything. But I need you here to take care of the tower and the animals. You can tell Aeris what happened when he gets back, although I'm sure he'll hear all about it when he returns to Nottinghill Castle from his scouting trip.”

  “He is off scouting, master?”

  Kronk sounded scandalized and Simon held up a hand to forestall his protest.

  “On my suggestion, so don't get mad at him. It was before we knew about the primal undead dragons. Look, say goodbye to Ana and the others for me and watch over the old place. I'll call you when I can to make sure that you're okay. Alright?”

  “As you say, master. I will watch over your home, I promise.”

  Simon winked at him.

  “Our home, Kronk.”

  The little guy smiled shyly.

  “Yes master. Our home.”

  “Good. Come on. I'm going to grab some food for the road.”

  The sun was beginning to illuminate the eastern sky by the time that Simon was fully packed and ready to go. He walked outside into the cool morning air, his pack on one shoulder and his staff on the other. He was wearing heavy boots and thick socks and a sturdy, dull brown robe and felt ready to go.

  He climbed the outer wall with Kronk behind him and looked out over the clearing that led to the forest. It was still deep in shadow but the sweet smell of the trees and grass was heavy in the air and he inhaled with pleasure.

  “I'll miss this place,” he said sadly as he watched the sky growing brighter.

  “With luck, you won't be gone long, master.”

  “We'll see. I hope you're right.”

  A loud tapping to his right made Simon turn around quickly and he saw one of the earthen sentries racing along the wall toward him.

  “Sir wizard,” he shouted in a startling baritone voice. “Sir wizard! Look there!”

  The elemental pointed to the northeast, over Simon's shoulder, and he looked in that direction and gasped.

  “No. It's not possible.”

  Two bright purple specks were shooting toward the tower, leaving a glowing phosphorescent trail behind them.

  “Master, is it...?”

  “The dracoliches. How the hell did they get here so quickly?”

  “Divine aid, master,” Kronk said ominously. “Dark magic.”

  “Then the sooner I leave, the better. I just wish I knew how they were tracking me.”

  “Something to investigate on your journey, master.”

  “Definitely. Okay then.”

  Simon knelt down on one knee and held out a hand. Kronk put both of his hands on the wizard's palm.

  “Take care, my friend. I'll be home soon.”

  Why did that feel like a lie as soon as it passed his lips, Simon wondered uneasily.

  “I know you will, master. Now go, before those monsters get here.”

  The wizard nodded, stood up and slipped Mortis de Draconis off of his shoulder. He smiled down at the little guy and held up the staff.

  “Gate!” he said firmly and with a flash of silvery light, he was gone.

  Kronk turned to watch the two undead dragons approaching. He could see their wings flapping now and was startled when the dracoliches suddenly back-winged and stopped advancing.

  One of the creatures threw back its head and shrieked in fury. The appalling sound echoed through the forest and birds and animals cried and screamed in surprised fear.

  Both of the monsters then banked to the right and shot off toward the west. It took only a minute for them to fade away into the distance.

  “Take care, master,” the earthen whispered as he turned back toward the tower. “Take care and be safe.”

  Chapter 31

  “Wake up, wake up! They're getting close!”

  Simon groaned and sat up slowly, pushing his hair out of his face.

  “Where?” he asked as he rubbed the gunk out of his eyes and looked around blearily.

  “There.”

  The elemental pointed and Simon stood up in the deep grass and looked at the sky.

  And there they were, like the ghosts of Christmas past yet again.

  The wizard's head was aching dully, pounding steadily behind his eyes.

  “How long was I asleep this time?'

  “Maybe four hours? Not too bad, really. Come on, you can eat once you Gate.”

  “Hang on. We have a couple of minutes before they get here.”

  Simon opened his battered bag and pulled out a canteen. He shook it, heard the water slosh within and smiled gratefully.

  “You filled it?”

  “Yes. There's a little stream about a mile that way. The water is pure.”

  The wizard nodded and drank his fill. He stared at the elemental in fascination, still not used to having such an odd companion.

  His name was Lacertus and he was, of all things, a being made of pure magical energy.

  He looked like a small human formed out of fog and lightning. He was a foot tall, the same as Aeris and Kronk, and claimed that they were akin, but the wizard had never heard of the element of magic.

  “You're looking at me skeptically again,” the little figure said with some amusement.

  His face was mobile and expressive, but his features would fade in and out. Right now Simon was looking at one eye and the right side of his mouth.

  “Any chance you could stop doing that with your face? It's kind of freaking me out.”

  Lacertus' face locked into place and now Simon w
as looking at the small features of a rather handsome young man, who was grinning at him cheerfully.

  “Sorry. It's been thousands of years since I interacted with a human. In my realm, we don't bother with such things as faces and all that.”

  “So you've told me. That's weird.”

  “Not to me. Now, can we go? Or are you finally ready to face those two monsters?”

  The elemental nodded at the approaching dracoliches.

  “Not just yet. Let's go.”

  “Where to?”

  “The Defiant. Ever been on a ship?”

  Lacertus levitated with a crackle of power, like the sound of static electricity, until he was at head height.

  “Long ago. It was a galley though. Thirty oars on each side, as I remember it. How many oars on this Defiant of yours?”

  Simon laughed for the first time in days.

  “None. Once it was powered by technology, now they use magic to propel it.”

  “Do they? Marvelous! I definitely want to see that.”

  Simon took a moment to brush the grass off of his robe. He'd fallen asleep in a field. He guessed that it used to be pastureland but had grown wild again. He always chose to sleep in the open now unless it was raining. It allowed Lacertus to see the undead dragons approaching from a greater distance. This field was located in what used to be southern France. It was a random location that he'd picked from his atlas.

  He grabbed his staff and the bag and looked at the elemental.

  “You sure you don't want to hitch a ride?”

  Lacertus chuckled and shook his head, little sparks cascading down his body.

  “I will follow you. Now that we are bound together, I can follow you anywhere. No offense to your other elemental friends, but my kind do not need to rely on a wizard to travel around the world quickly.”

  “Right. Okay, I'm off.”

  The elemental looked toward the approaching dracoliches, their wings beating furiously as they tried to catch Simon before he disappeared again.

  “Hurry,” Lacertus urged.

  “Gate!” Simon said quickly.

  He vanished with a crack of imploding air and the elemental watched with glee as the frustrated undead primals roared in fury and banked away, homing in on the wizard's new location.

  “Not for much longer,” Lacertus said to the duo as they faded into the distance. “The wizard has me now and I'll figure out how to stop you from tracking him.”

  He smiled broadly to himself.

  “And when I do, Simon will know that I am the only servant he needs and he'll forget those others. It will be just the two of us. Forever.”

  He giggled with pleasure, snapped his fingers and disappeared.

  The wizard counted to eleven before he was released from the void and on to the deck of the Defiant. He immediately began coughing as thick, greasy smoke obscured his vision and his eyes watered. He blinked furiously to clear them and squinted, trying to see.

  The Defiant's deck was a jumbled mass of twisted wood and metal. The machines that the crew had used to defend the ship were shattered and in pieces. Great holes had been ripped in the deck plating as if the ship had exploded internally.

  “What the hell happened here?” he said out loud.

  “This ship is sinking.”

  Simon turned to look at Lacertus who had appeared behind him.

  “Sinking? Are you sure?”

  “Of course. Wait here and I'll check below decks for survivors.”

  “I can help,” Simon said and immediately tripped over some loose debris.

  “You will get yourself killed. Please wait for me. I'll be right back.”

  Lacertus disappeared and the wizard sighed in frustration and started coughing again.

  He dropped his bag and raised his staff.

  “Shield,” he said and felt better immediately as the opaque shield popped into existence and began filtering out the smoke.

  Simon grabbed his bag and began picking his way across the deck, looking for clues that could tell him what had happened.

  He reached the bow, which was quite a bit higher than the stern, and still couldn't figure it out. There were no signs of a dragon attack; no blackened spots from a dragon's breath, no gouges from claws. What the hell had attacked them?

  The one bit of good news was that there were no bodies and Simon hoped that meant that the mages had been able to evacuate the people to safety.

  “No one down below,” Lacertus stated as he appeared a few feet away, his foggy body sparking and swirling. “And no remains. I'd guess that they got away safely.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But what happened? This wasn't a dragon attack.”

  The elemental looked thoughtfully at the burst deck plates.

  “Explosions, do you think?” the wizard asked him.

  “I think not. I'd say it was a kraken.”

  Simon looked closely at him to see if he was joking, but Lacertus looked quite solemn.

  “Are you serious? A kraken?”

  “Yes, of course. A giant squid. Very aggressive and destructive. They were quite the scourge back in ancient times. I assume that they live again, like so many other monsters.”

  He shook his head, making a tsk-tsk sound in his throat.

  “Even with their machines to defend themselves,” he pointed at the wreckage, “the crew would have had little chance against such a creature. A shame, but at least they got away.”

  “I hope so. I wonder where they went?”

  “Worry about that once you yourself are safe. Have you given the tracking mystery any more thought?”

  Simon kicked some shards of metal and a piece of wood out of the way and sat down on the deck, his shield shifting around him. Lacertus easily slipped through the barrier, which the wizard still found disconcerting.

  “How do you do that again?” he asked as the magical elemental settled on to the deck next to him.

  “Harmonics,” the small figure told him and shrugged. “I don't know how to explain it, as I've told you before, but my people cannot be checked by wards, shields or other magic-based defenses. That's just the way it is.”

  “That isn't very reassuring, you know.”

  “Would you rather I made something up? I can if you'd like.”

  Simon shook his head and laughed lightly.

  “Never mind. Hell, I'm still trying to figure out how I summoned you in the first place, considering the fact that I've never even heard of a realm of magic. And considering that my elemental friends never told me about your people.”

  “No, they wouldn't,” Lacertus said dryly. “Other elementals don't like us and they never have. I did explain this as well, sir wizard. We are not as limited as they are. Earth elementals are attuned to rocks and stone, water elementals to water and so on. But we, well we are attuned to magic itself, the one element that permeates everything in this world now. The people, the animals, the plants, the earth and water. Even the air. Everything is saturated with magic, thanks to the gods; both Light and Dark. Which means that I can come and go as I wish.”

  He made a little gesture and a shard of metal rose from the deck and bent in half with a shrill squeal. It fell to the deck with a clang and now a piece of wood rose up and shattered into splinters.

  “We magical elementals can work with metal or wood or water. And the other elementals hate it.”

  “Hmm, somehow I doubt that Kronk would hate it. Resent it, perhaps, but the only thing that I've ever known him to hate are the evil dragons.”

  “How would you know?” Lacertus asked reasonably. “You only learned of me and my people when I answered your summons.”

  Simon untied his bag, dug through it and found a package of waxed paper. He opened it and pulled out a strip of dried meat.

  “How did you do that, by the way?” he asked as he tore off a hunk and began chewing.

  The elemental shook his head.

  “I still don't understand it myself. You are the o
ne that cried out in despair for aid, or so you told me. How many times had you Gated by then? A dozen? More?”

  “More. God, I was exhausted,” Simon mumbled as he swallowed the meat. “Every time I relocated they were on me in what felt like minutes. I couldn't stop, I couldn't rest. I felt like I was going to collapse or lose my mind. I think...”

  He bit into the dried beef and began chewing again.

  “I think that I was about to make a last stand, while I still had enough strength left to fight. That's when I, I don't know, called for help.”

  He frowned at the elemental.

  “But I didn't summon you specifically. It was more like I was calling out to the universe itself.”

  “Or the gods?”

  “Maybe. Did they send you?”

  “As I have told you, I don't know. I only know that one minute I was floating in the ether of my realm, at one with my fellows, and then I was here, in this world. Was I sent by the gods? Perhaps. Or perhaps you, wizard, as so deeply immersed in your magic now that it answered your plea as best it could and summoned me to aid you. Does it matter? I am here and fortunately I've been able to muddle your trail enough that the dracoliches take longer to lock on to you and track you down.”

  “Well, I'm definitely grateful for that. But someday I'm going to want better answers than 'I think' or 'maybe'.”

  Lacertus grinned at him.

  “Good luck with that. Personally I think that you should try to figure out how those damnable undead primals are tracking you in the first place. If we can counter that, you will be able to get enough of a respite to plan your counterattack.”

  Simon ate several more strips of meat and then drank some water. He packed up again, stood up and looked around at the desolate ship.

  “Such a shame. They had a good home here. Why can't we ever catch a break?”

  “We?”

  “What's left of the human race. We're on the ropes and the evil just keeps pushing us down.”

  The sky was gray and oppressive and the ship was settling lower in the restless sea. Now that he was fed and somewhat rested, Simon felt the rise and fall of the waves and his stomach started to rebel.