Tamara had sat down near her brother to listen. Now she leaned forward with narrowed eyes.
“Horrible? Simon? I don't understand.”
“He did not fade as one does during a Gating. He...”
She gestured helplessly as if groping for the proper words.
“He seemed to separate, split, into two beings as he disappeared. Just for an instant. One was the wizard himself but the other, oh the other was monstrous.”
Keiko actually shivered and seemed to shrink into herself.
“Never have I seen something so alien. Misshapen, it towered over the wizard but seemed to have tendrils wrapped around him like some great leech. It was becoming detached from the man as the spell took hold and it groped for him as he Gated away It was horrific.”
“My God,” Malcolm whispered. “What was it?”
The tiny woman shrugged, looking perplexed.
“I do not know. But I believe that something has attached itself to the wizard, whether physically or spiritually and that whatever it is, it is not benevolent.”
The group fell silent. Liliana could think of nothing that would explain Keiko's observation and, judging by the faces around her, no one else could either.
“Of course, there is a way to get to the bottom of this,” she told them.
“Which is?”
“Ask him. Call him at his home, tell him that we'd like to meet to discuss a matter of importance and, when he arrives, simply ask him.”
“Oh sure, I can see it now,” Tamara scoffed. “'Hi Simon, have a seat. How's it going? We were just wondering if you had an invisible parasite attached to your soul. Oh and have some tea.' Yeah, that'll go over well.”
“Sarcasm is uncalled for, my friend,” the paladin told her. “Keiko is the most level-headed woman I have ever met. If she says she saw something, then I believe her. And we don't have to be that direct with Simon. When I said ask him, I meant more obliquely. We can engage him in conversation and observe him. All of us know him fairly well, some more than others. If he is behaving oddly, it should become obvious fairly quickly.”
“That is true,” Aiden said. He was leaning against a heavy bookcase. “We've all worked with him, spent time with him. And remember, Liliana cannot be lied to. If he's hiding something, she'll probably be able to tell during our meeting.”
“That is my hope, at least,” the paladin agreed.
Tamara began nodding slowly.
“A meeting. Yes, that could work. Certainly with the dragon queen roaming haphazardly around the world in her insanity, not to mention the red dragons that are a constant threat, there's always something to discuss. We could easily find a reason to ask him to come to Nottinghill Castle.”
“And suppose Keiko is right?” Malcolm asked the group. “What if something evil has captured Simon somehow and it feels threatened?” He looked at the three mages and then at Liliana. “If he uses magic against us, can any of you counter him?”
Tamara and Keiko exchanged glances, looked at Sebastian and then back at the warrior.
“That would be like a child trying to attack someone your size, Malcolm,” Sebastian told him, speaking for the three mages. “The wizard is just too powerful. Unless we caught him totally by surprise and managed to stop him from speaking, Simon only needs to say one word to throw up a Shield and then we would basically be at his mercy.”
“And if he is being controlled by some evil entity, we'd all be dead,” Keiko said quietly. “Be quite sure you want this meeting before you contact him, my friends. You cannot capture lightning in a bottle.”
There was another period of silence, broken by Liliana standing up and stretching. Her armor creaked as she adjusted her sword belt.
“Call him,” she said to Tamara. “Today. We will not threaten or frighten him in any way, but I need to see Simon for myself. I need to hear his words and read his body language. If he has been subsumed by some evil, hopefully we can at least learn that much and go from there.”
The paladin walked to the door and opened it. Just as she was leaving, she turned around to look at Keiko.
“But for all of our sakes, I pray that you're wrong. Simon defeated five primal dragons. If he turns on us, the last vestiges of our race may be doomed.”
Chapter 2
Liliana was idly walking the high outside wall of the castle later that day. Evening was approaching and with it a dark storm front was racing in from the west.
Lightning flashed in the distance as the clouds rolled toward the castle over the turbulent ocean. The paladin rested her forearms on the parapet and watched them, her thoughts as restless as the sea itself.
“Aren't you worried about lightning, wearing all that metal?” someone asked from behind her.
The paladin chuckled and pushed herself upright.
“Not particularly,” she replied as she turned around.
Sebastian was standing there, his robe flapping and swirling in the stiff wind.
“When you've faced dragons, storms don't seem quite as intimidating as they once did,” she continued.
“Even so, before the rain hits, perhaps we could get under cover?” the mage asked and gestured at the courtyard below.
“As you wish.”
Liliana followed him as Sebastian led the way to the nearest set of stairs.
“So, did you climb all the way up here just to keep me from rusting?” she asked lightly as they walked down the steps.
The mage laughed lightly but kept his eyes on his footing. The stairs were worn and quite steep.
“Not exactly, no. I wanted to keep you updated on the situation with Simon.”
The paladin waited until they had reached the bottom of the stairs and were crossing the courtyard before speaking again.
“Very well. What's happened? You sound worried.”
A long drawn out sizzling sound was punctuated by an ear-splitting blast of thunder. At the same time, the entire castle was lit up by a blinding flash and a deluge of rain swept over them
The pair raced across the grounds, managing to get indoors before they were completely soaked. Sebastian's robe was soggy though and droplets dribbled off of Liliana's armor.
The mage pushed back his wet hair and grinned widely.
“Could have been worse,” he said cheerfully.
“True. We could have actually been hit by that lightning bolt.”
There was a sturdy bench in the wide hallway just inside the door and Liliana sat down heavily. She took off a gauntlet and wiped the water from her eyes.
“Now, what were you saying about Simon?” she asked.
Sebastian patted his face on his sleeve and nodded.
“Right. About that. Well, I suspect that Keiko may be on to something.”
“What makes you say that? We haven't even had a chance to speak with him yet.”
“And we're not going to,” the mage told her with a shake of his head. “Simon refuses to come back to Nottinghill.”
Liliana frowned up at the mage.
“What? But why? Does he suspect something?”
“Who knows? All I know is that Tamara called him using the Magic Mirror spell. We thought that only one of us should be present when she made the call.”
“Wise.”
“Perhaps. At any rate, when she made contact, it was audio only. Simon blocked the visual portion of the spell somehow. I didn't even know that was possible.”
“Neither did I. And what did he say?”
“Oh, it was innocuous enough. Just said that it was a busy time for him, that several of his cows were due to give birth and that he was too busy to make the trip.”
Liliana put her glove back on and stood up. She watched as droplets of water splattered on to the stone floor beneath her.
“You do realize that he may be speaking the simple truth, don't you? He does have a lot of responsibilities, after all.”
They began to walk down the corridor together.
“Yes, of course we
do. And I think that is the most frustrating part, at least for my sister. This entire thing is based on speculation and conjecture. We don't actually have any proof that there's anything wrong with Simon, at all.”
The hallway turned to the right and led deeper into the castle. Liliana stopped and looked closely at her companion.
“I think I hear a 'but' in there,” she said.
“But for the first time ever, Simon actually said no to a request. I don't mean asking him to come to Nottinghill. It was something else entirely.”
The paladin leaned back against the dark stone wall and folded her arms.
“What request?”
“As you heard from Malcolm, several of the ballistae are in need of repair and that is beyond the abilities of our craftsmen. So Tammy asked Simon, while she was speaking to him earlier, if he would send one of his earth elemental servants to try and make contact with the dwarves, relay our problem to them. I know that elementals are banned from the dwarven capital, but we thought that if the creature could speak with a patrol outside of the city, we could at least ask them.”
“I see. Simon could also simply contact the dwarves himself, if they aren't blocking him. Apparently that happens on occasion. And? He said no?”
“Turned us down flat. Tamara is furious. She says that it was a very flippant answer, but then my sister is often a bit...overly sensitive.”
Liliana snorted a quick laugh.
“That's one way to put it. Hmm. So Simon won't come to see us and he won't aid the castle either.”
She pushed herself away from the wall and nodded to Sebastian.
“Thank you for the update. I will give all of this some thought. Sleep on it. With this weather, I'll be staying over tonight and heading home in the morning, so we'll speak about this again before I go.”
“Thanks so much,” the mage said sincerely. “You're closer to Simon than any of us, since we lost Clara. Maybe you can think of a way to reach him that we can't.”
“The way to reach him has always been to simply ask,” she told Sebastian grimly. “If he is denying the last members of the human race his aid, I doubt if there is anything that I can say or do that will move him. But we shall see.”
They parted ways and Liliana walked back to the entrance, opened the door and watched as the storm raced across the sky. She had a lot to think about.
The next morning, all of the senior members of the castle met again. The room that had been set aside for meetings was oval shaped with high, narrow windows and ancient shields hanging on the walls, coats-of-arms shining and flashing in the early morning light.
The long, heavy wooden table was laden with trays of fried eggs, ham, toast and pots of honey. Several large pitchers of tea and juice were set in the center of the spread, along with cups, glasses, plates and cutlery.
“Everyone help yourselves,” Tamara said loudly once they were all gathered. “Don't stand on ceremony.”
Malcolm and Aiden didn't need to be told twice. Liliana watched the men with amusement as they loaded up their plates. She knew that warriors were always hungry, as she was herself, but those two were so large that they seemed to inhale anything edible left near them.
The paladin was more delicate as she arranged her breakfast. Her sleep had been long and deep and not entirely uneventful, but she would wait until after she had eaten before telling the others about it.
Tamara and Sebastian were speaking quietly to Keiko as they got their breakfast. The tiny woman was listening intently and nodding occasionally. She barely took any food and seemed to have the appetite of a bird. Perhaps she was still suffering from a touch of the flu.
Miriam, the castle's only cleric, was cheerfully joking with Malcolm. She said something that made the big man squirm and blush like a schoolboy and sent Aiden into gales of laughter. Liliana smiled in spite of herself and the current crisis. Any time she was down, being around that couple always cheered her up.
Virginia and Anna entered with Eric and Gerard trailing behind them and the paladin greeted them with a nod as she ate her breakfast. Sitting in armor for any length of time wasn't all that comfortable, so Liliana stood next to the table to eat.
The four young people smiled and said good morning to her and to everyone else. They then eagerly began to fill their plates and the paladin watched them speculatively.
The quartet were the most unusual of all of the castle's inhabitants, in Liliana's opinion. Kept as virtual slaves by mundane humans for several years after the dragons had destroyed humanity, they had developed magical abilities that only functioned if the four of them worked together.
Virginia was a healer and the leader of the group. She was also as beautiful as a cover model with her waist-length blond hair and perfect features.
Anna was quite small, with bright red hair that hung heavily over her shoulders and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. She could actually turn members of the group invisible if they held hands.
Gerard, with his small frame and shaggy, white-blond hair, looked almost elvish compared to the others. His large brown eyes darted around the room curiously. He was inherently cheerful at all times, except when discussing his own powers. Gerard was the only member of the quartet whose talent was offensive. He could use magic to smash things with incredible force. Unfortunately for him, he was a pacifist by nature and he hated that power.
Eric was the tallest of the group. He was pale and thin with dark hair and eyes and was almost always serious. His talent was the ability to cast a force shield around himself and his friends. The shield was as strong as any cast by another magic-user, even Simon O'Toole.
Once everyone had settled in and eaten their breakfast, Tamara stood up and tapped a glass to get their attention. She was sipping a cup of tea and looked relaxed and rested.
“You all know why we've gathered, correct?”
There was a general nodding of heads.
“Good, then I won't have to explain things again. It's quite worrying that our most powerful ally has possibly turned his back on us. Now before I get a chorus of objections, I agree that it's all circumstantial evidence. Simon is a busy man, of course. He has responsibilities of his own that have nothing to do with Nottinghill Castle. I know, for example, that he's assigned several air elementals to track the dragon queen, in case she approaches too closely to any human habitation, including ours.”
“That's a relief,” Virginia said in her husky voice. She glanced at her three friends. “We've been discussing options on that front ourselves. I'm glad to hear that Simon has it covered.”
Tamara nodded.
“Exactly. So that proves that he's still taking his duties seriously. Plus there was the happy discovery, also by Simon and his elementals, that there are indeed other human settlements out there, including that ridiculous ship that's sitting off the west coast of Africa.”
There were several chuckles from the others and Tamara frowned.
“C'mon Tammy,” her brother said with a grin. “Doesn't it appeal to the romantic inside of you that a bunch of people are living on a cruise ship like pirates from a storybook? And using magic to make it move? That's awesome.”
“It's absurd,” she replied in a clipped voice. “Using the powers of a mage to keep that bloody boat afloat is...a waste.”
“I disagree,” Liliana said abruptly.
Everyone looked at her, Tamara obviously surprised.
“You do? Why?”
“Tactically, it is sound. Red dragons are reluctant to fly over large bodies of water. I have been told that the ship, the Defiant is it? Yes. Well, I have been informed that they only see dragons when they are close to land. So they spend most of their time, when not resupplying, at least twenty miles off-shore. Out there all they have to worry about are the sea monsters.”
She said this last bit so matter-of-factly that it took a few seconds before anyone responded to it.
“Hang on a second,” Eric said, looking confused. “Sea monsters?”<
br />
The paladin smiled an affirmative.
“Yes. Sea monsters. Apparently the New Earth and the magic that permeates our atmosphere has spawned dangerous creatures in the oceans as well as on land.”
“Like what?” Gerard asked eagerly.
“Oh, I don't know. Kraken, sea serpents, which are some sort of aquatic dragons that breathe acid, giant turtles; that sort of thing.”
“And how do they survive attacks by things like that?” Anna asked in a frightened voice.
Virginia put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
“They have several mages on board,” Sebastian told her with a gentle smile. “And they have built catapults that throw enchanted iron balls covered with spikes that, I'm told, are very effective. They manage.”
Malcolm poured himself some apple juice and sat back in his chair. He was listening closely.
“I haven't heard anything about this,” he said irritably. “Just how long were you magical types going to wait before you deigned to pass on this information to the rest of us?”
“Excuse me?” Tamara replied sharply. “It's common knowledge.”
The big man returned her look coolly, but didn't respond.
“Actually, it isn't,” Aiden spoke up. “Let me delicately suggest here that what is common knowledge among magic-users may not be common knowledge to the rest of us. Perhaps you could, oh I don't know, put out a release every month or so for the castle's inhabitants on what is going on in the world?”
Liliana could feel the tension rise in the room and moved closer to the table. She put down her plate and then rapped loudly on the wooden surface, getting everyone's attention.
“Before this escalates, Malcolm and Aiden have a point,” she said.
She looked around at each person.
“I was raised in a society where citizens were only told 'what they needed to know'. That can only end badly. You,” she pointed at Tamara, her brother and then Keiko, “have powers that many of your fellows don't. Virginia and her friends do as well; they may not be as powerful as you are, but they are gifted. As such, you know things that others, who are less gifted, do not.”
The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) Page 2