Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two

by J. J. Thompson

  “And the group from the Caribbean has decided to join us too,” Sebastian added as he joined them. “My sister's right, Liliana. We are much more secure than we've been since the fall of humanity.”

  The paladin shook her head and returned to staring at the castle.

  “I'm not arguing that,” she told them. “But we are far from being out of danger, and I'm not just talking about random encounters with monsters. Something is happening out there in the world; I can feel it.”

  Tamara and Sebastian exchanged worried looks. They had learned not to discount the paladin's hunches; they were often divinely inspired.

  “So what do you suggest we do?” Tamara asked.

  “I don't know!” Liliana snapped.

  She glared at the mage and then her gaze softened.

  “I don't know,” she repeated quietly. “But something is coming and we'd best remain vigilant.”

  A long uncomfortable silence was finally broken by the sound of Kronk clearing his throat. It was an odd, gravelly sound that grated on the ears.

  “Forgive me,” he said in his deep bass voice. “But if you have no further need of me, I would really like to return home. My brethren have already left and I have chores to do. I can only imagine the state of my garden. My master does his best, of course, but the plants are used to my delicate touch.”

  The four humans all smiled down at the diminutive figure and Malcolm actually went down on one knee, his armor creaking under his weight.

  “I think that I can speak for my friends here when I say that I believe your task is done,” he said with a broad grin.

  The warrior extended a hand that was almost as large as Kronk himself and the earthen laid his own hand on Malcolm's palm.

  “We will always be grateful to you, Kronk, and to Simon, of course. Tell him to drop by soon when you see him, won't you?”

  “Of course, sir warrior,” the elemental said courteously. “I will. And please let him know if you have need of us again and I am sure that he will lend you our aid.”

  “Take care, Kronk,” Tamara said.

  “Thank you, lady mage. Enjoy your new home.”

  And with a final bow, the little guy slipped into the ground and vanished.

  “Where would we be without his kind?” Malcolm wondered aloud as he stood up again with a grunt.

  “Better to ask where we would be without Simon O'Toole,” Liliana told him. “And the answer is simple enough; we'd all be dead.”

  There was a general murmur of agreement and the paladin nodded toward the distant castle.

  “And now, if one of you mages would oblige, we should Gate back and make preparations for the arrival of our people.”

  “Take Malcolm and Liliana back, would you, Bastian?” Tamara asked. “I'm going to contact Shandon right now and ask him to begin transporting the populace back to the surface.”

  “Will do. Lady paladin? Malcolm? Each of you touch one of my shoulders, please,” Sebastian said and then he grinned. “And don't squeeze, Malcolm; I'm going to want that arm later.”

  The big man guffawed and delicately put one finger on the mage's shoulder. Liliana touched the other one and all three disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Tamara to stare pensively at the castle.

  “What is that?” Aeris said as he pointed at the horizon.

  He was flying several hundred feet above what used to be Death Valley in Nevada, Brethia and Orriss in formation on either side.

  “What is what?” Brethia responded.

  “There, that cloud of dust. The air is still here: something has to be stirring it up.”

  “Well, let us go and look, shall we?” she asked practically. “That is why we are here, after all.”

  “Follow me,” Aeris told them and he shot ahead and lost height at the same time.

  The two other air elementals trailed along behind, making a v-shaped formation in the clear blue sky. They accelerated so quickly that they left little contrails behind them, marking their flight path.

  “I miss this sometimes,” Orriss said as they continued to descend toward the distant plume of dust.

  “What do you mean?” Aeris asked without taking his eyes off of his target.

  “This. Flying with others, exploring as a group. We are so solitary when we scout that I'd almost forgotten the joy of working with my fellows.”

  Brethia laughed delicately.

  “You do have a point,” she said. “We're stronger together, after all. But our wizard has very few tasks for us to tackle as a group, so let's enjoy this moment for what it is.”

  “May I remind you two of the gravity of the situation?” Aeris said over his shoulder. “Corriss is dead and the dragon queen is trying to hatch a new brood of primals. Enjoyment is the last thing we should have on our minds.”

  “Don't you think I know that?” Orriss said angrily as he glared at Aeris. “He was my brother, after all. But forgive me if I try to find some light in the midst of my grief. I shall not mention it again.”

  The group came to a halt as Aeris slowed to a stop.

  “You're right, my friend,” he said contritely to Orriss. “That was insensitive of me. Perhaps Kronk is correct: I'm getting crusty in my old age.”

  Orriss glowered at him for a moment and then smiled reluctantly.

  “Forget it. And old age is a concept that none of us will ever really understand. Now lead on and let's find out what is stirring up all that dust.”

  “Right. Follow me.”

  The trio set off again with Aeris taking point. They sped toward the plume of dust and, as they closed the distance, the three faded into invisibility.

  “Can't the dragon queen see us when we're hidden like this?” Brethia asked.

  “Possibly,” Aeris responded. “But it doesn't hurt to try. I believe that our dear wizard would say 'better safe than sorry'. An odd phrase but appropriate in this situation.”

  Aeris leveled them off at about a hundred feet above the ground and they zoomed along over the broken landscape. Small hills and abrupt valleys made the countryside tricky to scout; there were places where a creature of almost any size could hide.

  “Hold up a minute,” Aeris told the others. “I've lost sight of that dust cloud.”

  The three elementals stopped and scanned the horizon. They could, of course, easily see each other through their invisibility fields and all of them were frowning in confusion at the lack of dust sign.

  “How could it dissipate so quickly?” Orriss wondered as he spun in a slow circle. “Dust doesn't do that.”

  “No but smoke can,” Brethia told him. “We might have mistaken one for the other.”

  “Either way, this is the direction that the plume came from,” Aeris told them. “So where is the source?”

  They continued on, more slowly this time. The heat rose in waves from the ground and made distant objects ripple and distort as the elementals carefully examined all of the land around them.

  Scrub brush, dessicated trees, brown grasses and dry rock; that was all that could be seen for miles in every direction. The entire country seemed to be entirely lifeless, and content to remain that way.

  “Does it ever rain here?” Orriss asked in a subdued voice. “I mean, those little trees and plants grew once upon a time, didn't they?”

  “It actually does rain occasionally,” Aeris informed him. “A handful of times a year. Just enough to encourage growth and then kill it again. A savage place.”

  “Agreed,” Brethia told them both. “Also a perfect spot to incubate dragon eggs. The shells are fireproof and the embryos must be kept as hot as possible. Why the dragon queen didn't just lay her brood in the heart of an active volcano is beyond me.”

  Aeris gave her an amused glance.

  “That would be a little too hot, even for dragon eggs,” he said with a chuckle. “But you're right; this desert is just about ideal for a nest.”

  Brethia stopped abruptly and pointed.

  “Like that one, pe
rhaps?” she asked with sudden excitement.

  Aeris and Orriss followed her gaze and saw what she was pointing at; a circular formation of rocks laid out perfectly in the burning sands, surrounded by dead plants and shrubs.

  It was over a mile away but an air elemental's vision was keener than that of an eagle and they all saw the details clearly.

  “That might be the nest,” Orriss agreed. “But where are the eggs?”

  “Buried would be my guess,” Aeris said. “There are often wind storms out here that could easily cover the shells. Or the queen herself might have done it; to keep them warm or hide them from the sight of predators.”

  Orriss scanned the empty skies.

  “What predators?” he asked rhetorically. “This entire section of the country is desolate.”

  “Another reason why the queen might have chosen it.”

  “Let's discuss her motivations later, shall we?” Brethia told them. “We have to get closer to confirm that it actually is the dragon's nest. For all we know, it could be something else; a wyvern nest or possibly that of a gryphon.”

  “Too hot for either of them,” Aeris told them as he started moving toward the nest. “Their eggs wouldn't survive.”

  The others followed him and they flew in a V formation again, descending as they went.

  “I see no sign of movement,” Orriss said nervously. “What caused that cloud of dust?”

  “Be quiet,” Aeris told him in a low voice. “If it was the queen, she may still be nearby and draconic hearing is excellent.”

  They stopped completely as they reached the site and all of them looked down at the circular pattern of rocks fifty feet below them.

  “It could just be a natural formation,” Brethia said in a whisper.

  “Possibly. I certainly don't see any sign of eggs,” Aeris replied. “But again, they could be buried under a foot of dirt.”

  “Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?” Orriss stated.

  He recklessly shot straight down toward the ground, obviously intent on digging for the eggs.

  “Orriss! Wait!” Aeris shouted at him. “It isn't safe...”

  His warning fell on deaf ears. Orriss was too intent on tracking down his brother's killer to listen and he was determined to find that cursed dragon's nest.

  Both Aeris and Brethia watched fearfully as the elemental descended like a falling star. He might have been precipitous in his actions, but Orriss wasn't crazy; he moved with the speed of lightning. And that was what probably saved his life.

  To one side of the nest, the sand exploded upward and a mammoth form erupted into the sunlight, shooting out of the ground straight up at Orriss. A bellow shook the air and gaping jaws extended to swallow the hapless elemental.

  Without any time to backtrack or dodge, Orriss did the only thing that he could do; he increased his speed. Angling his body slightly to the right, the air elemental actually entered the forest of razor-sharp fangs that sought to crush him and zoomed out the other side. He slammed into the ground and skittered along the top of the loose soil for a dozen yards before righting himself and racing skyward again.

  The serpentine body of the dragon queen, all one hundred feet of her, writhed and twisted as she searched for the intruder. But Orriss had proven to be too swift for her and he managed to escape her grasp.

  With a scream of frustrated rage, the great wyrm dove back into the desert floor and disappeared from sight, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind her.

  The sudden silence was almost as shocking as the attack had been and Aeris and Brethia were left staring wide-eyed at the hole created by the dragon.

  “Well, that was a little too close for comfort.”

  Both elementals spun around to see Orriss flying back toward them wearing a relieved grin. His smile was wiped away by Aeris' furious glare.

  “Too close for comfort? You fool! You absolute idiot! I told you to wait, didn't I? The dragon queen is evil, and possibly insane, but she is also cunning in her madness. That was almost guaranteed to be a trap and you waltzed right into it. You're lucky that you didn't join your brother in death.”

  Before Orriss could respond, Brethia surged forward and he backed off in surprise.

  “Do you have a death wish? Is that what this is about, Orriss?” she asked with angry intensity. “I have lost too many friends over the years to want to lose one more. So please, tell me if you seek to die so that I can at least prepare myself for the grief to come.”

  Beneath their expressions of concern and consternation, Orriss lowered his eyes and shrugged uncomfortably.

  “Do I seek death? No, I don't think so,” he said quietly, bobbing in the gentle breeze that blew by them. “I want vengeance, yes, and I won't lie about that. But what good would it do my brother for me to throw away my life stupidly? I half expected the mad queen to be guarding her nest, which is why I moved so quickly. So at least we know that we were right about its location. Right?”

  He smiled tentatively at the others and Aeris finally rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.

  “Yes, you were right. But the way you went about proving it was foolish. Never do that again, or I swear that I will have our wizard send you straight home immediately. Is that understood?”

  Orriss nodded vigorously.

  “Good. And do what you are told, would you? We all want the same thing; to stop that monster from creating a new group of primals. So let's work together as a team.”

  “I will, Aeris. I promise you.”

  “Fine. Okay, so now that we know that the eggs must be down there, the question is what to do about it?”

  “Should we contact our wizard?” Brethia asked as she scanned the area around the nest.

  There was no sign of the dragon queen but none of them were fooled. She was down there, lurking just out of sight.

  “I think that might actually be the best thing that we can do right now,” Aeris replied thoughtfully. “Or we could, you know, lure her away from the nest and destroy the eggs ourselves.”

  Brethia looked lost for words for a moment and then spluttered a response.

  “What? Aeris, you just got through berating Orriss for his foolish behavior and now you want to do something even crazier?”

  “Not crazy. Desperate. We cannot allow those abominations to hatch and there is no way to know how close they are to doing so, especially since we can't see them. Are they cracking even now? Will they emerge within hours or days? I don't know if we have the time to return to the tower, fill in the wizard on the details, get his opinion and get back here before the hatchlings appear. Do you?”

  Before either of the other elementals could reply, a voice rippled through the air around them.

  “The answer is no; you do not have the time.”

  “What?”

  The three small figures looked in all directions for the speaker but saw nothing.

  “Try looking straight up,” the disembodied voice said with amusement.

  The elementals did as they were told and gasped as one.

  High above them, barely visible against the pearly sky, was the soaring silvery figure of the argent dragon.

  “Argentium!” Aeris exclaimed.

  “Yes, it is I. Would you care to ascend and join me? I believe that I might just have a plan to dispose of those eggs. And I do believe that you three could aid me in this, if you are willing.”

  Chapter 5

  The trio of elementals shot straight up toward the circling dragon. Argentium gleamed in the bright sunlight like liquid metal come to life. He wasn't as large as the dragon queen but with his silvery scales, massive wings and horns that spiraled from the top of his head, the argent dragon was a fantasy creature come to life. Even Aeris became awestruck in his presence.

  The dragon stopped his gliding as they approached and hovered to wait for them, his huge wings sounding like sails flapping in the wind.

  “Welcome,” he rumbled at the elementals floating together a do
zen yards in front of him. “I see that Simon O'Toole was clever enough to send you all in search of the queen's nest.”

  “It is good to see you again, Argentium,” Aeris responded respectfully, bowing gracefully.

  The others were quick to follow his lead.

  “Yes, our dear wizard sent us here, but it was in response to our great lord's order. You see, we lost a scout to that monster; my friend's brother,” he told the dragon as he indicated Orriss.

  “Your great lord?”

  “Our ruler, Astrandamus.”

  “Ah yes, of course. I remember him from ancient times.”

  The dragon grinned, displaying teeth like glittering daggers.

  “A rather...volatile personality, wouldn't you say?”

  None of the elementals replied; they just exchanged uncomfortable glances.

  Argentium rumbled a laugh.

  “Forgive me. I know that he can hear every word his subjects utter, if he chooses to do so. Let it go. So, you have lost a colleague? I am sorry to hear that. But at least his sacrifice gave you forewarning of the queen's intentions. She means to birth five new primals and renew her accursed race once more, as I am sure you have already surmised.”

  “Yes, lord argent, we have,” Aeris assured him. “Our wizard sent us to search out the nest, but now that we have found it, I'm afraid that if we leave to seek his advice, we may return to find the eggs hatched and the brood scattered.”

  Argentium nodded his heavy head.

  “Yes, that is exactly what would happen. The eggs are going to hatch soon; perhaps in few hours, perhaps a little longer. But the hatchlings will emerge shortly and something must be done before that occurs. Once freed from their eggs, the whelps will tunnel deep and begin to grow underground, protected by their horror of a mother. We will never find them then; not until they reappear as young dragons. And destroying them then will be a daunting task indeed. No, they must be neutralized now, today. And with your help, I think that we can do that.”

  “What do you need us to do, lord argent?” Brethia asked eagerly.

  “As I heard you discussing earlier, we must divert the queen's attention away from her eggs. But to draw her far enough away for me to destroy the nest, it will take all three of you working in tandem. She must see you as more than just a nuisance, or she will never leave her post long enough for me to do what must be done. And even for one such as myself, a dragon egg is a very difficult object to shatter. It will take me precious seconds to deal with each one. The queen will sense my attack as soon as it begins and, as you have seen, she can move like the wind. If she is not far enough away, I may not have the time I need. ”