“Stop poking me! I meant what I said. Our friend is a great wizard and I have faith in him.”
“Guys, please. No squabbling,” Simon said with a tired smile. “You're reminding me more and more of my elemental friends, Kronk and Aeris. Look, I appreciate the vote of confidence but, wizard or not, I'm just one guy. We have to act as a group in this and not rely on one person. Because if we do, I can almost promise you that we'll fail.”
Both warriors stared at him, becoming more serious. Malcolm nodded thoughtfully and Aiden's normally cheerful face became grim.
“Sorry Simon, but the two of us tend to cover up our nerves with jokes and banter,” he told the wizard. “But we do know how dangerous this plan is.”
Before he got a chance to answer, the three men were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking at the doorway. They looked across the room curiously.
“Well, speak of the devil,” Malcolm murmured with a grin.
Simon recognized the striking blond woman standing just inside the room. It was Virginia. And standing right behind here, crowding into the doorway, were her three friends; Anna, Eric and Gerard.
“Did someone ask them to join us?” Aiden wondered in surprise.
“Probably,” Simon replied. “I didn't notice but I doubt that their appearance is mere coincidence.”
Tamara was motioning for the quartet to enter the conference room and they did so with some hesitation. Anna seemed especially nervous and Simon recalled that she had always been the most introverted of the group.
“Everyone, look who's here,” the mage announced.
Virginia, the natural leader of the four friends, smiled at them all. She was still one of the most beautiful women that Simon had ever met. She was also very grounded and self-assured.
“Grab a seat, folks,” Sebastian told them. “And serve yourselves if you want anything to eat or drink.”
“Thanks Bastian,” Eric told him. “But we've just finished lunch.”
Eric was the largest of the group, slim, pale and dark-haired. He glanced down the table and gave Simon a subtle wink.
Anna sat down as quickly as she could and curled up in her chair. Tiny, with bright red hair and freckles across her nose, she looked younger than all of them. Her bright eyes darted around the room, looking from person to person. When she saw Simon, she smiled tremulously and he grinned reassuringly in return. He'd always felt very protective of the little woman.
Gerard sat in the seat closest to Anna. He was always watching out for her, like an older brother, although he wasn't much bigger than she was. With his white-blond hair and pale skin, Gerard looked almost ethereal compared to the others; ghost-like.
Simon noticed that none of the quartet wore robes like other magic-users. Instead they were dressed like the normal townspeople; plain tunics and blouses and leather pants. Anna was wearing a skirt and everyone wore the leather shoes made by the dwarves.
“They always look so ordinary,” he said softly.
“I'm pretty sure that they like it that way,” Aiden replied under his breath. “They've never wanted to draw attention to themselves.”
“Besides,” Malcolm added, “even when there isn't a dampening field stifling their magic, they rarely use their powers. Why dress or act like a spell-caster when you so rarely use that gift?”
Simon replied with a non-committal grunt and waited until everyone got settled.
“Sylvie? Veronique?” Tamara said. “Did you want to explain to the Fearsome Foursome why they're here?”
Virginia and her friends all laughed at the title and everyone else joined in. Simon could feel the atmosphere lighten immediately and silently thanked Tamara for breaking the tension.
“Really, Tammy?” Virginia asked from across the table. “The Fearsome Foursome? Ugh. Please never use that one again. Anyway, there's no need to rehash your plan for the four of us; we already know the general details.”
“You do? How?”
“Jackson,” Eric answered with a little smile. “He's nosy and has a big mouth.”
“Eric!” Anna gasped. “You're going to get him into trouble!”
Tamara snorted in disgust.
“When isn't that man in trouble? Don't worry, Anna. We're all well aware of Jackson's gossipy nature.”
“Besides,” Sebastian cut in, “it's not a secret. If he passed along the information to you and brought you all up to speed, so much the better.”
His sister looked at him hard and he held her fierce gaze until she reluctantly nodded.
“Yes, I suppose that's true enough. Fine then, I won't say anything too harshly to him. This time.”
She turned to look at Virginia and the others.
“So, since you know what we propose, what do you think? Is it a viable plan?”
Virginia looked at her friends, all of whom made encouraging motions for her to stand up. She rolled her eyes at them and pushed herself to her feet.
“Viable? Maybe. But Tammy, it barely is a plan yet. I mean fine, we can get you into the tower undetected; maybe. But what then? What kind of forces await within? How many? Will we be forced to battle our way to the very top of the tower? And if so, how many of us will survive the journey?”
“Simon was just saying something similar,” Malcolm boomed out from his seat.
The wizard sighed and pushed back his hair as everyone looked down the table at him.
“Thanks,” he muttered to the big man.
“What did I do? Ouch!”
Aiden had elbowed Malcolm in the ribs again.
Virginia laughed lightly at their antics and caught Simon's eye.
“Yes, I'm not surprised that our only wizard was thinking ahead. You've always been an excellent strategist, Simon.”
He stood up slowly and decided to move toward the doorway. Once he was standing near the end of the table, he turned around to look at everyone.
“My strategies have consisted mostly of dumb luck,” he said to Virginia. “Dumb luck and faithful allies. But Malcolm was correct; I was worried about the same things that you are. If we go into that tower blind, I'm afraid that we may not come back out. I've faced a necromancer once; well, waves of his minions, at least. And his most powerful servant, a lich. It was a horrible experience and not one I'm looking forward to repeating.”
He scanned the faces of the others in the room.
“And almost everyone who was with me back then has died since. It's a dangerous place, this New Earth of ours, and I'm not at all sure that we should go looking for even more peril; God knows it will come to us eventually.”
“So what are you saying? That we should just huddle together down here until the surface is a barren wasteland?” Tamara asked angrily. “Because you know that once that's achieved, the Chaos lords' servants will be tunneling down here after us.”
“They're already doing that,” Liliana reminded her.
“Not in very great numbers. Not yet. But when the surface is 'cleansed'? Then we few here, and the dwarves, will be all that stands between the Darkness and total domination over the Earth. Personally I don't want to wait for that to happen. Do any of you?”
Simon pushed his hair off of his face again and leaned against his staff. He was feeling tired again, but it was a mental fatigue more than a physical one.
“Tamara, I'm not saying I want to wait for that. In fact, I agree with you.”
“You do?” she replied in surprise.
“Of course I do. Because you're right; if we try to wait it out, one day soon the forces of evil will be knocking on the front gate of Kingstone and that will be the end of all of us. What I am saying is, we need more intelligence, more data. We need to know what the hell is in that tower.”
“And how do you propose getting that information?” Sylvie asked.
Simon smiled grimly at all of them.
“By getting someone inside to take a look around.”
Chapter 18
“Are you sure that this is the right
move?”
Simon was standing in a transport yard, a place where the dwarves maintained several tunnels that served as conduits for their drilling machines. Tamara and Liliana were with him, as was Shandon Ironhand.
“Reasonably,” he replied to Liliana's question. “I can't do anything down here. I need to get back to my tower, tap into the magic and start the ball rolling if this plan of ours is to have any chance of succeeding.”
“I still think that having a few of my warriors go along with you would be prudent, lad,” the king rumbled.
His bodyguards stood around the small group in a loose circle, keeping an eye on the workers busily preparing a drill for travel.
“I appreciate the offer, Shandon, but I'll be fine. If I'm being spied on, and I think that is quite possible, then the appearance of dwarves at my tower might tip off the enemy. And that's the last thing we want to happen.”
“Very well, sir wizard,” the dwarf replied reluctantly. “We'll do it your way. You have my permission to contact me with your magic when you have news.”
He shook a thick finger in mock severity at Simon.
“Don't abuse it. Some of my councilors would tear their beards out if they heard that I'd allowed such a thing.”
“Probably do them some good,” Tamara muttered.
“Anyway,” Simon interjected quickly, looking at the mage and Liliana, “while I'm gone, both of you need to decide who should come on this mad quest of ours and who should remain safely here. Fortunately Virginia and the others agreed to get us inside, sight unseen, or this plan wouldn't even get off the ground. But we'll need a strong force once we do enter the tower. Mages, warriors, at least one healer...”
“A scout would help,” Liliana told him. “Someone to move ahead of the main group and check for guards or traps.”
“I've got that covered, I think,” Simon told her.
One of the workers approached the king and bowed, rattling off several sentences in dwarvish.
“Your drill is ready, my friend,” Shandon told him. “You will be home in less than a day.”
Simon thanked him and they shook hands warmly.
“Try not to die up there,” the king said with the merest suggestion of a smile peeking through his beard. “I have very few friends and I've become rather fond of you, sir wizard.”
“I'll do my best,” Simon replied with a wink.
The dwarf rumbled with laughter, waved and walked away quickly, his escort hurrying to keep up.
“He's got a point,” Tamara said after the dwarves had marched off. “Watch yourself, Simon. If the forces of Chaos get the merest hint that we are planning something, they will go after you first. Keep your head down.”
“You always know the right thing to say,” Simon replied teasingly.
She chuckled, shook his hand firmly and stepped back.
“It would be redundant for me to repeat what they just said,” Liliana told him.
She rested a hand on the hilt of the sword on her hip as she scanned the transport yard, always alert for trouble.
“But I think that I can reassure you somewhat before you go.”
“In what way?”
The paladin lowered her voice so that none of the busy workers could hear her.
“I had a visitor a few nights ago, in my dreams,” she murmured. “And according to her, your 'friend' Lacertus has been neutralized.”
“What?”
Simon stared at her, open-mouthed.
“But how? He's a god.”
“Only a very tiny one,” Liliana said dismissively. “Our friends in high places assure me that he was recalled for 'punishment', I believe was the term. Apparently his superiors were less than impressed that he let a mere human get away. So there's one less thing for you to worry about.”
Simon looked over at the drilling machine. It was about ten feet high and thirty feet long, basically the size of an old city bus. Both ends were rifled to cut through rock and were serrated and brutal looking. Its metal skin glittered as if freshly polished and, standing next to an open door in its side, the pilot was watching him. The dwarf, wearing the leather apron of the tradesman, looked a bit impatient and was rocking back and forth on his heels.
“Well, that's amazing news. I just hope that your sources are right. It couldn't have just been a dream brought on by indigestion, could it?”
The paladin raised a mailed fist in a mock threat and Simon had up his hands with a wide smile.
“Okay, okay. Just kidding. But seriously though, thank you. That creature has been on my mind lately and now at least I have one less thing to worry about.”
The paladin nodded and warmly clasped his hand.
“No need to thank me, Simon. I'm just the messenger. Take care and hopefully we'll see you again soon.”
“You can count on it.”
The wizard turned and walked over to the drill. The driver jumped to attention and nodded.
“Are you ready to leave, sir wizard?” he asked through his thick, brown beard.
“I am. You know where our destination is?”
“Certainly. The king gave me the coordinates himself.”
The dwarf seemed very pleased at such a gesture and his chest puffed up with pride.
“Good. Then let's get to it.”
Simon turned back to look at Tamara and Liliana. He waved one last time and then climbed into the drill, eager to get home.
The drill might have been efficient and a marvel of magical engineering, but it was incredibly uncomfortable to travel in. Simon spent hours strapped into a metal seat with a very thin cushion being whipped from side to side and up and down. He was positive that he'd be bruised for days after he got back home.
The operator, whose name turned out to be Dollin, stopped once to let Simon eat and stretch his legs. There was a tiny lavatory that the wizard used as well. It was at least serviceable, if not comfortable.
Near the end of the journey, Simon became so used to the rough ride that he fell asleep and it was the sudden cessation of noise and vibration that woke him up.
“We have arrived, sir wizard,” Dollin called back from the pilot's cabin. “Just at daybreak as well, if that matters to you.”
Disorientated and wobbly-legged, Simon untied his harness and stood up slowly.
“Thanks, Dollin,” he replied loudly. “It matters.”
The pilot unlocked the exit door and kicked it open. It squealed in protest and the dwarf scowled at it.
“We'll be lubricating your hinges when we get home, missy,” he growled at it.
Simon smiled as he heard the pilot speak to the machine, but remained silent. He adjusted Mortis de Draconis on his shoulder and stepped out of the drill and on to solid ground.
The machine was sticking out of the earth, tilted upward a bit but almost level and Simon didn't find it too hard to exit it. He looked around and smiled in relief.
The drill rested in the middle of a field, fifty yards in front of the high wall that surrounded his tower. The wizard shielded his eyes against the rising sun and squinted across the open ground to examine his home.
Was there movement along the top of the wall? His earthen allies should be patrolling the perimeter, but he couldn't really tell. He was relieved that the main gate was closed though.
“That's a sturdy little tower you've got yourself, sir wizard,” Dollin said approvingly. “Doesn't compare to dwarven architecture, of course, but it will do.”
“Thanks,” Simon told him. “I like it. And thank you for the ride, Dollin. I really appreciate it.”
“It was merely my duty, but you are welcome,” the dwarf said and thumped a fist to his chest. “And now, if you will excuse me, I must get back. My eldest is celebrating a birthday and if I'm late for the party, she'll never let me hear the end of it.”
They shook hands and Dollin hopped back into the drill, slamming the door behind him. Simon quickly moved back and watched as the treads along the side of the drill began to
turn and pulled it back into the ground the way that it had come. The back end of the machine pushed dirt and rock out of its path and filled in the tunnel behind it, leaving a hump of fresh earth to mark where it had descended again.
“Remarkable,” the wizard muttered as the rumble of the machine faded away. “Truly remarkable.”
Simon took a moment to close his eyes and just stand in the sunlight and breathe. The mingled scent of grass, tree sap and awakening flowers was sweet in his nostrils and the feeling of the warm sun on his skin was intensely pleasant.
The underground may be safer at the moment, he thought, but the dwarves are more than welcome to it.
Before heading in, he waited a few minutes to see if his powers would return quickly. He slipped the staff off of his shoulder and held it in his left hand as he lifted his right, palm upward.
“Fire,” he said quietly as he concentrated.
A ghostly little flame, almost invisible in the sunlight, popped into existence above his open hand, trembling in the gentle breeze.
“Excellent,” Simon said with a feeling of relief. “It's back.”
He shook his hand to snuff out the flame and began walking toward the tower, feeling a sense of contentment that he hadn't experienced for quite some time.
Later that day, after a swim in the lake and a meal, the wizard was sitting in his study idly flipping through an old book on fantastical beasts and magical creatures.
Both Kronk and Aeris were there, standing on the desk on either side of him and looking at the book curiously.
“What exactly are you looking for?” Aeris asked as he peered at an illustration of a troll.
“Not sure, really,” Simon replied as he sipped a cup of tea. “But I find it relaxing sometimes to just read through one of my books from the old days, see if something pops out at me. And after the last few days, I felt the need to unwind a bit.”
“Understandable, master,” Kronk rumbled. “I cannot imagine how traumatic it must have been to be kidnapped and manhandled the way that you were. The nerve of those dwarves! Treating a wizard in such a fashion. It is a disgrace, that's what it is.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two Page 102