The torches that sputtered and wavered in the wind atop the walls were planted at ten yard intervals and marginally helped the defenders see each other. Simon actually wondered if they did more harm that good, considering that they made it harder for him to see beyond the battlements.
“I thought you liked him,” Liliana said quietly.
Her armor flickered and blazed in the reflected torchlight and Simon could see her more clearly than anyone else. She wasn't looking at him; like the others, she was looking up into the night sky.
“As much as I can like any dragon, I suppose,” the wizard replied in a low voice. “But I don't trust him. Not after what Esmiralla pulled on me.”
The paladin was the only other person that Simon had told about the silver dragon's treachery; he had thought that she deserved to know, considering her connection with Esmiralla.
Liliana gave him a quick look of understanding before she stared up and out again.
“I know that trust is hard to come by after such an act, my friend,” she murmured, too low for the others to hear. “But I don't think that you should paint Argentium with the same brush as the treacherous silver dragon. I speak as a paladin now when I say that I sense only concern and nobility in the argent dragon.”
Simon thought about that. He had reason to trust Liliana's feelings. He knew the powers that she wielded, none better. But still...
He leaned on his staff in his left hand and unconsciously rubbed his stomach with his right, thinking of his missing kidney.
“Look!” someone down the wall to his right shouted. “What's that?”
“Where? What?” a host of voices responded.
Everyone tried to look in all directions simultaneously. Tamara's voice rose above the babble and she pointed her glowing wand toward the southeast, where the sea glimmered vaguely under the stars.
“There!” she shouted and everyone became silent and looked in that direction.
Far out over the wild waves of the ocean, two specks of light, side by side, the one on the right higher than the other, could just be seen approaching.
“Can you make out any details?” Keiko asked, her voice barely audible.
“Not yet, but unless I've just gone colorblind, they're purple.”
“Damn it,” Simon hissed.
He stepped back from the group, unnoticed, and then hurriedly strode to the southwest corner of the parapet. The area was empty of defenders; everyone had rushed away to get a closer look at the potential threat.
“Looking for me, wizard?” a voice rumbled from the shadows.
Argentium appeared as if he had materialized out of thin air. Maybe he had.
“You read my mind,” Simon told him dryly, looking up at his remote, perfect features.
“Hardly. I anticipated your need. You want to know how to defend against those two primal dracoliches, do you not?”
“If you wouldn't mind, yes.”
“Ah.”
The argent dragon looked at the distant lights and Simon turned toward them as well.
“Those two, they are not the mindless undead that you have come to know,” Argentium said thoughtfully. “Enough of their essence has been gathered and infused into their bones to make them almost as aware as they were when they were alive.”
“How is that was possible?” Simon asked him as he watched the approaching lights.
“To be frank, I do not know. But we are speaking of divine interference here. The dark gods have extended themselves to their utmost, exhausting their powers over this world to make this evil miracle happen.”
“But why? Why would they? Aren't thousands of resurrected sailors enough of an army?”
Argentium glanced down at the wizard with a sardonic look on his face.
“Bah. Cannon fodder. You alone could destroy those mindless automatons by the hundreds. They are of little threat to even the mages that defend this castle. No, they needed to bring back their most powerful servants to destroy the one threat, the one power, that has thwarted their plans to reenter this world time and time again. If they can wipe out that threat, their victory is almost assured.”
“What threat? Us, the remnants of the human race?”
The dragon laughed, a deep bass sound. But he did not sound amused.
“No, not your people, wizard. You.”
Simon gaped at him, speechless.
“Are you serious?” he asked when he'd finally found his voice. “Me? I'm nothing. A minor irritant at best.”
“Can we cease with this self-deceptive drivel, please?” Argentium asked, sounding exasperated for the first time. “Why do you insist on pretending that you are less than you are? Is it possible that you do not yet understand the extent of your powers? Surely not.”
“I...”
Simon had no answer. To himself he'd always been Simon O'Toole, once a middle-aged I.T. guy, now a Changed young wizard. But just a guy; normal, rather shy, grateful for being given the opportunity of a second chance at life. But a major power? A threat to gods? Him? No, not possible.
“I cannot accept that,” he whispered. “I won't. No one should be that pivotal to the direction that this world will take. No one.”
“Accept it or not, as you see fit,” Argentium told him with a measure of sympathy. “But those two primals are on their way here and now to destroy you, not the others. And they will tear down this castle, wipe out its inhabitants and obliterate anything and everything that stands in their way to accomplish their ends.”
“But you can stop them, right?” Simon asked desperately. “They can't stand up to you. They're flying skeletons, for God's sake!”
“Perhaps. Perhaps I could. But I am not allowed to intervene.”
The wizard stepped back to get a better view of the argent dragon's face. The crowd behind him was exclaiming in fear as the pair of undead primals got close enough for people to see their massive wings flapping in the darkness. They left a jagged trail of purple flames in their wake.
“Allowed by whom? You're free to do as you wish, aren't you?”
“No more than those monsters approaching are. Wizard, I am a servant of the Light, as they are servants of Darkness. If I interfere in the fate of this world, it will have consequences that will reach far beyond this mortal realm. No, there are rules, cosmic rules, that cannot be broken. My time to act will come, but it is not now. Now it is humanity's time to fight this evil. And your people's best hope in this fight is you.”
Simon turned his back on the argent dragon and looked beyond the restless crowd at the approaching threat. The primals were arrowing straight at the castle, their wings flapping slowly but with great power. They were obviously moving with tremendous speed.
“Can I beat them?” he asked simply.
There was a pause that seemed to stretch on endlessly.
“No,” Argentium finally answered. “You cannot.”
It was almost with relief that Simon heard that pronouncement. He'd had a feeling that the dragon would say that.
“So what can I do?”
“You can run.”
Simon whirled around and stared up at that smooth, statue-like face.
“Run? Run where?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere. Run, wizard. Those two monsters are tracking you. Do not ask me how; I don't know. But if you leave, they will follow, and your friends here will be safe, at least for the moment.”
“And that's the only way?”
“For now. You need time to make a plan, to set a trap, to do what you do best.”
“Which is what? Simon asked with desperate hope.
“Scheme,” Argentium said with the shadow of a smile on his lips. “You are an amazing tactician, wizard. Find a place where you can catch your breath and take the attack to them. That is the only way that you, your friends and the rest of your race will survive.”
Simon spun around as several people shouted in fear. The dracoliches were close now, a mile out, maybe less. When he turned back to speak to the argent d
ragon again, he was gone.
“Goddamned dragons,” he hissed as he whirled around and ran back to the others.
“Tamara! I need to speak with you.”
The mage heard the urgency in his voice and hurried over to meet him.
“What is it?” she asked as she glanced over her shoulder. “We don't have time for a chat.”
“I have to leave. Right now,” Simon told her.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise and then her eyes narrowed. Before she could say anything spiteful, which the wizard was sure she would, he interrupted her.
“I know it sounds crazy, like I'm running or whatever. But Argentium has just told me that they aren't coming here for you and the others; they are coming for me.”
Tamara's building anger evaporated in an instant at this revelation.
“You? You personally?”
“Yes. If I leave, I can draw them off. He says that they can track me somehow. So, until I figure out how they are doing that, I'll try to stay one jump ahead of them. As undead, they will be limited to moving at night. That gives me an advantage.”
“You are mistaken, my friend,” someone said from behind him.
Liliana stepped forward. Obviously the conversation between Simon and Tamara could be heard by others.
“Mistaken?”
“Yes. These two monsters aren't like other undead. I can feel their unclean power even from here. I think it is quite possible that they will be able to withstand the burning rays of the sun. And if that is true, you will have to stay on the move constantly.”
“Then that's what I'll do.”
He looked to his right and saw that both monstrous dracoliches were mere seconds away from smashing into the castle's wards. Somehow he was sure that the wards wouldn't hold.
“I'm going. Now. I'll get in touch as soon as I can, okay?”
Both women extended a hand and Simon took them both in his own.
“Explain to the others, would you? I wouldn't want them to think that I deserted them.”
“We will. Go, Simon,” Liliana said urgently.
“Here they come!” Malcolm bellowed.
“Damn it, man. Go!”
Simon focused on his tower and nodded at his friends. A flash of lurid purple lit up the sky and almost broke his concentration.
“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.”
The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) Page 38