“Of course, master.”
“Look now. This is how those monsters were able to be above ground during the day.”
The tower had been smashed by the dragon's attack on the Night of Burning, leaving only jagged walls that were a third of the height of the original ones. But now, crude wooden extensions had been attached to those walls and rose up to a flat surface. On that new roof stood a brazier that burned brightly in the evening breeze and placed next to it was a metal stand. The stand, made of twisted, rusty steel rods, held a glass globe that dripped with lurid purple flames.
“What is that?” Kronk asked in wonder.
His question went unanswered because all three observers changed their focus to the figure standing behind the globe.
Black, crusty robes swirling in the wind, the man, if man it was, had his arms raised and his head thrown back. He was chanting in some strange language with his eyes closed. His lips were pulled back in a rictus of apparent ecstasy and he waved a twisted staff as he chanted. It was a very disturbing scene.
“What is he?” Kronk asked, bewildered. “He is using a staff, so he can't be a mage.”
“Do you remember when the lich, Madam, attacked the old town of Nottinghill?”
“Yes, master. She was a horrible creature. I remember that time very well indeed.”
Simon nodded, watching the man in the mirror.
“Well, back then Aeris was worried that she wasn't the original source of the evil creatures that attacked the town. He told me that she might have been created by a...”
“Necromancer!”
The earthen answered the question himself and then stared at Aeris in horror.
“Him?” He pointed at the mirror. “You think that he is the necromancer?”
“There is no doubt of it,” Aeris answered grimly. “You can't see it now but earlier today we saw a dome of force covering that hole, filtering out the sunlight and allowing the caster to continue his incantations.”
Kronk hunched forward and looked in the mirror with a scowl.
“But what is he doing?”
Simon adjusted the mirror again and the view zoomed back to the hole. The three of them watched silently for a moment and then Kronk made a sound of revulsion.
An arm groped out of the hole, catching hold of the churned up ground at the edge of the abyss. The appendage was gleaming with bone barely covered with ragged pale skin. A skeleton wearing a few scraps of rotten clothing pulled itself out of the hole, empty eye sockets flickering with purple light.
“He's raising the dead,” Aeris said. “Swelling his ranks. The hole must extend deep underground and branch off in all directions. He is calling up the dead that have been buried around the countryside.”
“Oh, this is bad, master. This is very bad.”
“You don't say?” Aeris said sarcastically.
“Hush,” Simon told him. “You're right, Kronk. It is very bad. There's no way to tell how many undead that necromancer has gathered or how long he's been doing it, but it's a safe bet that there are no living Changlings left in Ottawa.”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the pebble and held it tightly for a moment.
Goodbye Sarah, he thought sadly. I guess Madam was telling the truth when she said that she had killed you and raised you as a walking corpse.
“At least that bitch is destroyed,” he muttered savagely, reliving the moment when the lich had been immolated by the rising sun.
“Master?”
“Nothing. Okay, now the big question is; what do we do about,” he trained the mirror's focus on to the necromancer, “him?”
“A very good question. Necromancers are fallen wizards. That is why he is wielding a staff. His powers rival your own, at the very least. We saw his shield today. It takes a very strong spell to block out sunlight. That is a powerful man.”
Aeris looked at the chanting figure and then stared up at Simon.
“A necromancer gets his powers from the dark gods. They alter the body to make it easier for the caster to absorb magic, which means that they can cast faster and their powers recharge more quickly.”
“Lovely. More good news. Well, right now my immediate concern is all of those undead. Why is that guy raising so many? What is his end game? Just what the hell is he doing?”
They watched the scene again for a few minutes and then Simon canceled the spell and set down the mirror. He sat back, picked up his cup and finished his tea.
“Why here?” he asked eventually.
“What?”
“I said, why here?” Simon repeated, looking at Aeris. “What's so special about Ottawa? I mean, since the world went all to Hell, this entire area has become isolated. The people from old Nottinghill are in England now, so if that necromancer wants to kill humans, he's out of luck. Why not set up in Beijing or Mexico City? There have got to be some survivors around those ruined cities.”
“Hmm, good point. Why haven't we checked on those places for Changlings?”
Simon rubbed his eyes.
“It's a big world, Aeris. Even your fellow air elementals that I sent out to scout couldn't cover every square mile of it. It will be years, maybe decades, before we locate all of the remaining pockets of humanity. If we survive, of course.”
“Master? Perhaps this city of yours isn't really special.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that we do not know that the evil spell-caster in Ottawa is alone. What if there are many just like him in strategic locations around the world? You've destroyed the dark gods' primal dragons; perhaps this is their next plan to exterminate your race? They must use what was available in ancient times. They cannot create something new. And one of their conduits into this world were the necromancers.”
Both Simon and Aeris stared at the earthen with wide eyes. Kronk looked back at them and shrugged meekly.
“It was just a thought,” he said in a subdued voice.
“Kronk, I think you are a genius,” Aeris told him in a strained voice. “By the way, write that down; I may never use that phrase again.”
Simon laughed in spite of himself but he nodded in agreement.
“You may have hit the nail on the head, my friend. Damn, that never occurred to me. I am so myopic. I was thinking locally when I should have be thinking globally.”
He jumped to his feet, grabbed the mirror and raced across the room.
“Where are you going?” Aeris called after him.
“To get my atlas,” the wizard shouted back as he ran up the stairs.
Several hours later, Simon sat at his desk in his study and ticked off another name listed on a large piece of paper. He stared red-eyed at it and then sagged limply into his chair with an exhausted sigh.
The candles on the desk had burned down to nubs and he wearily waved a hand and summoned a mage light.
“Well, that's it then,” he told the elementals who were standing side-by-side next to the open atlas. “Kronk was right.”
Simon had decided to use the coordinates in his atlas to spy out the major cities on each continent. London, Paris, Beijing, New York, Mexico City, the list extended to twenty cities. There were more that he wanted to check on but he was simply too exhausted and his power was almost drained. He'd barely been strong enough to summon a light.
Every city was infested with undead. Every single one.
“We are so screwed,” he said with a groan.
He closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of his chair.
“It's rare that I agree with such a sweeping statement, but in this case you may be right,” Aeris said.
He closed the atlas and looked at Kronk.
“When exactly did you become so clever?”
“There is nothing clever about it,” the earthen said as he watched Simon worriedly. “It just made sense. Ottawa is fairly central to this part of the country, so that is why the dark gods have chosen it as one of the sites for their necromancers. The other cities are si
milarly placed. Plus a larger city would have more available graves. The evil magic-users must still have bodies to imbue with dark magic, after all.”
“Makes sense indeed,” Simon agreed, eyes still closed. “I'm also guessing, not to sound too full of myself or anything, that having my home base located so close to the city would be icing on the cake for the lords of Chaos. When that necromancer decides to move, I'm guessing that this tower will be his first target.”
“Now there's a cheerful thought,” Aeris said dryly. “However, before that happens, if it happens, might I suggest that you get some sleep to build up your power again? And in the morning, you might want to call for help.”
“Help?”
Simon opened his eyes and leaned forward, staring blearily at the air elemental.
“Help from whom?”
“One or more of my people. You need someone to keep an eye on that horde of undead in the city, just in case. Who better than a trained scout?”
The wizard yawned and clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Sorry. Yeah, that is a good idea. As long as they stay a reasonable distance away, so they won't be detected by that necromancer, we'll at least get an early warning when the undead start to move.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay. Thanks for your help, guys.”
Simon stood up slowly and grunted. His butt was asleep. It obviously had more sense than he did.
“See you both in the morning.”
“Sleep well, master.”
Rolling out of bed the next morning was a struggle. Simon was so comfortable, curled into a warm ball with his blanket and sheets wrapped around him, that the only thing that eventually forced him out on to the cold floor was his pushy bladder.
He dressed quickly, eyes barely open, and stumbled downstairs.
“Good morning, my dear wizard. Would you like...”
Simon waved vaguely, fumbled with the front door and staggered outside.
“Was it something I said?” Aeris said as he floated across from the kitchen counter to the fireplace with the full kettle.
Kronk was arranging logs on the embers.
“Master needs to use the outhouse,” he replied irritably. “Leave him be.”
“Don't be so crabby,” Aeris told him as he hung up the kettle. “I was just asking.”
“It is the way you ask, not what you ask.”
The little guy stepped into the flames and pushed a few pieces of wood around until they were arranged to his satisfaction. He stepped out again and stood on the stone floor waiting for his body to cool off.
“Do not forget to mention the ward,” he said, looking up at Aeris who was hovering beside the kettle.
“I won't forget,” the air elemental said with a roll of his eyes. “Why don't you tell him?”
“Because your people are the experts when it comes to magic, not mine. Your opinion in these matters carries more weight.”
Aeris looked down at him quizzically.
“Don't sell yourself short. He's known you a lot longer than he's known me. He values your opinion too, you know.”
“Yes, on some things. But this should come from you.”
They heard Simon clumsily opening the latch on the door, exchanged a look and became silent.
The wizard walked in looking considerably more alert and grinned at the elementals.
“Morning guys. How was your night?”
“Good, master. No problems.”
“Same,” Aeris told him. “I spent the night on the roof helping to keep watch.”
Simon moved to the counter and washed his hands in the sink. He unwrapped a loaf of bread he'd baked a few days before, sniffed it, nodded and began slicing it.
“Did you? Why? Expecting a zombie attack this soon?”
“Zombies?” Aeris frowned. “I don't recall seeing any zombies in your mirror yesterday.
“I was kidding,” Simon told him with a crooked grin. “Seriously though, do you think that army will be on the move any time soon?”
“No idea. Who can fathom the thoughts of a necromancer? Who would want to?”
“Good point.”
Simon slathered some jam on his bread and walked over to grab the boiling kettle. He made his tea and began eating standing at the counter.
The silence stretched out for a few minutes as the wizard chewed thoughtfully.
Kronk checked on the fire a final time and then jumped up on to the kitchen table and gave Aeris a sharp look.
“Oh, I had an idea earlier this morning,” the air elemental said abruptly.
Simon finished his breakfast, brought his tea cup to the table and sat down. He sipped the sweet liquid, finally feeling fully awake, and watched Aeris float across from the fireplace and join Kronk.
“Did you? What was it?”
“You need to strengthen the wards around the tower and the outer wall, especially that single ward in the basement. As we've seen, the undead are traveling freely during the day using underground tunnels. It would be a nasty surprise if we were attacked by a horde of skeletons erupting from the ground beneath us.”
“Hmm, that's a very good point. Thanks, I'll do that today.”
He grabbed a scrap of paper from the pile that he always kept handy on the table and dug a pencil out of his pocket.
“So let's see; I have to strengthen the wards. I need to summon some scouts to keep an eye on that necromancer. I have to finish writing that guide to creating ward stones for Veronique on the Defiant.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, then pushed his heavy mane out of his face.
“What else?”
“Master, if I might make a suggestion?”
“Certainly.”
“We saw a group of undead in London. It might be wise to warn the people of Nottinghill Castle. They are far to the north of that city but there is still a danger.”
“Yes, of course. Good thought.”
Simon added that to his note, looked it over and stood up. He put his cup in the sink and looked at the elementals.
“Okay, if I could ask one of you guys to tidy up? I'm going up to summon those scouts.”
“You go ahead, Aeris,” Kronk said. “You can give Master some names so that he doesn't have to cast the Summon spell. He needs to conserve his strength.”
“Kronk, I'm fine,” Simon protested but Aeris was nodding at the earthen.
“Good point. He's right, my dear wizard. We have a highly dangerous spell-caster nearby. We need you at your strongest at all times and those wards will drain your magic quite a bit.”
“Fine. I won't argue. Thanks Kronk. Come on up when you're done.”
“Yes master, I will.”
Up in the study, Simon sat at his desk and opened the atlas that he'd left lying there the night before.
He flipped the pages until he found a map of Ontario and then looked at Aeris.
“Okay, do you know two of your people who would like this job?”
“Absolutely. I have just the ones. Stennos and Osteros. Steady, reliable and just crazy enough to want a little danger in their lives.”
Simon raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. They are not reckless, I assure you, but they are definitely the people for the job.”
“If you say so. Okay, here we go.”
He quickly summoned the two air elementals who were thrilled to be called to Earth by such a 'great wizard'.
Simon winced at that phrase and shook his head.
“Um, thanks,” he said shortly, not bothering to argue.
Aeris looked away to keep from laughing.
The wizard tapped the atlas and Stennos and Osteros moved closer to examine the map.
“We are approximately here,” he pointed, “and Ottawa is here. In the northern end of the city is a tower and in front of it there is a huge gathering of undead.”
“Undead?”
The two elementals shared a look.
“As you s
ay, sir wizard,” Osteros said. He seemed to be the more outspoken of the pair. “Why are they there?”
“No idea, but there is a necromancer raising the dead in that tower and we assume that he's gathering his troops for something major.”
Simon watched as the elementals absorbed the information. They were practically identical in appearance to Aeris, although Osteros was more heavily built while Stennos was slim and wisp-like. Both had humanoid features; Stennos' face was delicate and youthful and Osteros looked quite jolly, with chubby cheeks and crinkly eyes. They were, of course, translucent, but he didn't even notice that anymore after knowing Aeris for so long.
“A necromancer? That's bad.”
“Which is why you are here,” Aeris told them impatiently. “My wizard needs you to keep tabs on whatever that evil caster is up to. If and when his troops begin to move, we need to know about it immediately.”
“Yes, of course. We can certainly do that for you, sir wizard,” Stennos said with a bow.
“Excellent. You both have my permission to return directly here if you have any news.”
Their eyes widened as Simon basically gave them leave to bypass the wards of his tower and they bowed low at the implied trust.
“We shall not abuse your graciousness,” Stennos told him.
“I know you won't.” Simon glanced at Aeris and smiled. “I've learned to trust your people. So, you may begin your watch whenever you wish.”
“We shall begin immediately, sir wizard.”
Both elementals bowed one last time and disappeared with twin pops of air.
“One task done,” Simon muttered as he checked off his list. He slipped the paper into his pocket and looked up to see Aeris staring at him.
“What is it?”
“Did you really mean that?” he asked.
Simon frowned at him.
“Did I mean what?”
“That you trust my people? You do remember that I lied to you back when we were still getting to know each other, don't you?”
“Of course I remember. I also remember that you swore an oath to never do so again. And you invoked the name of your lord when you did it. You haven't been annihilated lately so I assume you have kept your word.”
Aeris snickered and shook his head.
The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) Page 21