He stumbled back just as a second attacker emerged from the opposite side of the tower and passed in a counter-clockwise direction.
Yup, there's two of them, he thought. He ducked back into the tower and slammed the door shut. He canceled the Diamond Skin spell, then leaned against the door and closed his eyes, frantically trying to think of a plan of attack.
“What's going on out there?” Aeris asked insistently. “What is attacking us?”
Simon opened his eyes and stared at the elemental, who was floating a few feet away at eye level.
“Dragons,” he said in disbelief. “Two of them.”
“Dragons? But, but that's impossible! You killed the primal black dragon over two months ago. All of its brood should have died instantly when that happened!”
“Maybe they did,” the wizard said with a touch of despair. “But these aren't offspring of the black. These are red dragons.”
Aeris' mouth worked soundlessly. He was obviously speechless and Simon was bleakly amused by this unusual event.
“Fortunately, they must be young offspring of the primal red, because they're a hell of a lot smaller than that black dragon was.”
Simon walked unsteadily over to his kitchen table, pulled out a chair and sat down heavily.
“Smaller?” Aeris said as he followed and came to rest on the center of the table. “Well, that's good news at least. How much smaller?”
“At a guess, I'd say they're about fifty feet long, not counting their tails.”
“Fifty feet?” the elemental repeated weakly. “Okay, I think that's bad.”
“So do I.”
Simon leaned his staff against the table, wiped off the blood on his palm with a cleaning rag and sighed loudly.
“How am I supposed to take down one of those things, let alone two? I can't use fire, obviously. The reds thrive on fire, and if the old books are correct, prefer to nest in deserts or near active volcanoes.”
“Makes you wonder what they are doing here in the middle of winter, doesn't it?”
Simon stared at Aeris in surprise.
“Now that's a very good point,” he said. “What would draw out two of those monsters to travel to a snow-covered country, where they can't be very comfortable, and then set them to attack me in particular?”
The tower shook again and Simon muttered another curse.
“It must be the gods of Chaos,” Aeris said firmly. “They would have known when you destroyed one of their servants, especially one as important and powerful as the primal black. This is their revenge on you.”
Simon leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table.
“You think so? Would these 'gods' want petty revenge on a nobody like me?”
Aeris snorted.
“My dear wizard, you may have been a nobody back in your world of technology, but in this new world, I assure you that you are anything but. You are a magic-user, one of the few that we know of. And now you are a dragon slayer. How could they not attempt to destroy you?”
“Great,” Simon said, feeling a bit hopeless. He ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair. “Now gods are mad at me. This day just keeps getting better.”
The tower shuddered again and Simon scowled. He grabbed his staff and leapt to his feet.
He recast the protection spell and moved to stand in the center of the room. Then he muttered a second incantation and held up Bene-Dunn-Gal.
Aeris, looking alarmed, flew toward him.
“Simon, what are you doing?”
“I'm going to Gate across the field to the forest. I'll be able to see what's going on from there.”
He grinned faintly at the elemental.
“Hold down the fort,” he told him.
“Oh, funny,” Aeris said sarcastically.
The wizard chuckled.
“Invectis!” he said sharply and disappeared.
Simon staggered and almost fell as he reappeared in the forest at the edge of the field across from his tower.
The snow was knee-deep here and he was grateful that the Diamond Skin spell made him immune to the bone-chilling cold.
He stumbled forward, the icy crust snapping and squealing under his feet. His robe got caught in the underbrush hidden beneath the snow and he almost fell on his face.
“Damn it,” he whispered in exasperation. “Could I catch a break please?”
He finally got to the tree line and peeked around the bole of a large maple, naked of leaves and as hard as iron.
Simon stared at the sight of the dragons swirling around his home. Their wings were as wide as their bodies were long and, as he watched, one of the beast's wings brushed against the tower as it circled and the structure shivered.
So that's why the place feels like they're trying to tear it down, he thought. It's just their wings touching the tower. Which probably meant that if they wanted to, they could destroy his home at any time.
“Great,” he said to himself. “So how do I drive away two dragons?”
The serpentine figures gleamed redly in the bright sunlight. Every time they passed one another, flying in opposite directions, the dragons would snap and shoot small flames at each other.
Simon watched this with interest and remembered that dragons were solitary creatures who were very territorial.
“They can't stand each other,” he said aloud. “Now, how can I use that?”
He watched intently and noticed that the dragons would dip below the top of the tower as they circled it. For a few brief seconds, they were out of each other's sight. And that gave the wizard an idea.
If I can get closer without being spotted, maybe I can instigate something.
And then he shivered as one of the reptilian creatures screamed in fury and blew a blast of fire at the building.
“Yeah, if I don't get eaten first,” he muttered.
He looked at the wall surrounding the tower. It was covered with snow and heavy with thick icicles. He had opened the gates earlier just before the attack began and now he stared speculatively at the opening.
If I can translocate into the shadows inside the open gates, they shouldn't be able to see me. Maybe.
He looked up at the dragons again.
Oh Simon, you really are crazy, he thought. But I don't think that I have much of a choice.
He took a deep breath of the biting air and held up his staff as he muttered the Gate spell again.
“Invectis,” he whispered and felt a tremendous shove between his shoulder-blades and suddenly found himself standing between the open gates.
He quickly squatted down and cowered in their shadow, looking up anxiously.
The dragons continued to circle and belch fire at the tower.
Why don't they just tear it down, he wondered. It occurred to him that the beasts might not be that smart, not like the primal black that he had actually spoken to before their final battle.
The thought was encouraging. Maybe his plan would work. The dumber they were, the better.
If I can just time it right, when they can't see each other...
The spells shuffled through his head like a deck of cards and he pulled out the one he needed.
“Okay, Bene-Dunn-Gal,” he murmured to the staff. “We'd better get this right or I'll have two very pissed-off dragons on my ass.”
He intoned the spell and waited, the power hovering around him like a loaded gun ready to fire.
Simon counted under his breath, trying to learn the pacing of the swirling dragons' movements.
About ten seconds, he thought. That's how long it took for them to circle the tower once. Oh, that's a small window.
He swallowed, gripped the staff and pointed up at the place he hoped his target would appear.
He waited for a dragon to pass and began counting.
When he counted down from three to two, he muttered, “Invectis,” and held his breath.
A burst of fire erupted from the tip of the staff and shot straight up.
Please be right, please be right...
A dragon shot around the corner of the tower and the fireball slammed into it, knocking it sideways, up and over the roof.
Holy crap, Simon thought. That wasn't what I expected.
The dragon bellowed with fury and the wizard cowered closer to the wall, waiting for it to strike.
But the creature didn't attack him. It caught itself in mid-air and spun around with astonishing agility. Then it swooped back toward the tower and sent a blast of flame directly at its counterpart.
The second dragon was caught directly in the chest by the unexpected attack and flung dozens of feet across the sky toward the lake. It back-winged as it recovered, its roars of rage making the air quiver.
Simon dropped his staff and clapped his hands over his ears. The sound of the suddenly battling dragons was ear-numbing.
Well, that worked, he thought with surprise. But now what happens?
The dragon who had attacked first began to flap strongly straight up, distancing itself from its companion, who darted upward, chasing it into the heights.
Simon stepped out of the shadow of the gate and stared up at them, watching in awe as they dipped and weaved across the sky, bright bursts of fire criss-crossing like small fireworks going off.
“I wonder how long it will take them to work out their anger,” a voice next to him asked.
The wizard glanced at Aeris, who had emerged from the tower to hover nearby.
“I'm hoping that one will destroy the other,” he said as he looked back at the battle.
“Doubtful, Simon. They are blasting each other with fire, which does no damage to a red dragon. Unless they grapple and use their fangs and claws, I'm guessing that eventually they will exhaust themselves and return to harass us again.”
Simon sighed and nodded. He stooped to pick up the staff and then continued to watch the fight.
“Good job of distracting them, by the way,” Aeris told him and Simon smiled a bit.
“Thanks. High praise from you. But you're right. This is a respite. Now I have to figure out a more permanent solution.”
He turned to look directly at the air elemental.
“Any ideas?”
“You're asking me?” Aeris looked surprised. At Simon's nod, the little guy looked up at the dragons speculatively.
“Hmm, if they were full-sized dragons, like the black, you would have no chance. However, I think I might have an idea, especially if only one of them survives this fight. And now, I think that is likely.”
He pointed upward.
“Look, the fools have allowed their battle to escalate.”
Simon snapped his gaze up at the distant flapping shapes. Aeris was right! They had stopped flinging fire at each other and were grappling, beating their wings frantically as they tore at each other.
“My God, they're vicious,” he said.
“They are that,” Aeris agreed. “Now, while they're busy, here is my thought.”
Simon looked at him hopefully.
“You used the Ice Storm spell against the servants of the black, those damnable drakes, to great effect. I remember a spell, called Ice Spear, that was similar to that spell, but in a more concentrated form.”
“Ice Spear?” Simon went through the spells in his mind and then shook his head.
“Nothing like that in my memory. I thought the gods of Light had given me every master-class wizard spell there was.”
Aeris snorted, a small puff of wind.
“They may have, my dear wizard, but Ice Spear is an adaptation of the original Ice Storm spell. As I understand it, a wizard can chant the spell, mold it to what he wants it to be in his head, and then invoke it.”
“Really? Wow, that could be very useful.”
Simon began to imagine what he could do with some other spells using the same method when Aeris cleared his throat rather loudly.
“Um, have you forgotten our immediate problem?” he asked pointedly and glanced upward.
With a deep blush, Simon quickly looked up to locate the fighting dragons.
There they were, west of the tower and rising as they fought. It was impossible to tell which one was winning from that distance, but they were still slashing and tearing at each other and it looked like the battle would last for some time.
“I'm heading for the roof,” he told Aeris and hurried toward the front door.
“Very well,” the elemental replied as he began to rise. “I'll meet you there.”
Simon raced into the tower and, when he reached the stairs, called down to the basement.
“Kronk? How are you guys holding up?”
“We're fine, master,” the earth elemental's voice drifted up from below. “How goes the battle?”
“I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know.”
And Simon hurried up the stairs without waiting for Kronk's reply.
When he reached the trapdoor leading up to the roof, Simon had to brace it with his shoulders and push with all of his strength. The door was obviously frozen tight in the frigid winter air. The dragons' fire must have melted the snow on the roof into ice and it took all he had to force it open.
Finally, with a shattering sound like breaking glass, the trapdoor let go and flew upward, allowing the wizard to climb up and outside.
He closed the door and stood up to search for the dragons.
The icy-blue winter sky was cloudless, but he had trouble seeing anything with the sun reflecting off of the several inches of snow and ice that had built up on the roof. He scanned the horizon frantically, hoping briefly that the monsters might have killed each other.
“And we have a winner, I believe,” Aeris said and Simon turned to look at him where he floated atop the parapet.
The elemental pointed up and over the wizard's shoulder and he turned to look in that direction.
“Oh my God,” he said in disbelief.
The dragons had risen so high that they were the size of flies in the distance. As Simon watched, one of them began to tumble toward the ground, a trail of sooty black smoke marking its path downward. It picked up speed as it fell and then with a flash of red and yellow, burst into flames, becoming a meteor streaking to its doom.
“I think we may be in more trouble now than we were before,” Aeris observed nervously.
“What do you mean?” Simon asked as he watched the surviving dragon flapping its wings as it hovered, its hideous head dipping down to observe its fallen foe.
“I mean that the beast is flush with victory and filled with rage. Instead of circling the tower and breathing fire at it, the dragon may attack the structure directly. And I doubt if Kronk and the others will be able to hold it together under that onslaught.”
“Oh great,” the wizard muttered. His breath caught in his throat then as the dragon spun around and began to beat its wings strongly as it raced back toward the tower.
“Here it comes,” Aeris commented unnecessarily.
“Yeah, thanks, I can see that.”
Simon found the Ice Storm spell in his list of incantations and hurriedly spoke the words. Bene-Dunn-Gal took its payment and the wizard grimaced at the pain of the new wound in his palm.
“Don't get greedy,” he told the staff and gave it a hard shake. A sound, almost like a snicker, came from the weapon.
“Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you hurry.”
Aeris sounded frightened and Simon couldn't blame him.
The dragon had gone from fly-sized to seagull-sized in a matter of seconds. It was bearing down on them like a runaway freight train and Simon could picture it slamming into the tower at that speed and smashing the building to pieces.
Okay, he thought. I need to reshape the Ice Storm spell before I trigger it.
He reached out in thought and molded the power that hovered around him, the spell that waited only for the word of command to be invoked. He tried to picture a single long shaft with a razor-sharp point at one end.
Crystal, he thought. T
hink of it as if it was made of crystal.
The image became clear in his mind and he held it, feeling its latent power, and waited for his chance.
“Simon!” Aeris cried suddenly. “What are you waiting for? Cast the spell!”
The dragon was almost upon them. It was as long as two tractor-trailers parked end to end and its massive head, eyes blazing, was aimed straight at the wizard.
“Wait,” he muttered to the elemental. “I only have one shot.”
“Then shoot, damn it!” Aeris yelled.
“Not yet,” Simon said between tight lips. “Not yet. It has to be right on top of us.”
“It is on top of us! What do you plan to do, kiss it? Shoot the beast!”
The dragon was no more that a dozen yards away and Simon could see its gaping maw opening. Down that ragged throat, a bubble of pure red flame was expanding, shooting forward to engulf him.
“Invectis!” he shouted as he pointed the staff directly at that mouth full of six inch fangs.
The scream of the Ice Spear as it shot from the end of Bene-Dunn-Gal toward the dragon was painfully loud and Simon flinched at the sound, his ears going numb.
The spear, glowing even more brightly than the reflected sun off of the surrounding snow, flew across the gulf between the wizard and the dragon, leaving a trail of smokey frost in the air, and shot down the dragon's throat.
The beast suddenly sheered away, its wings flapping frantically as it screamed in mortal agony. The Ice Spear had shot through its internal organs, ripped through its guts and burst out of its body, melting into a puff of red-tinged steam.
The dragon rolled over on to its back and then somersaulted downward, narrowly missing the tower as it slammed into the wall below. It gave out one final screech of torment and then exploded, melting the snow around it and setting the dead grass beneath it ablaze.
Simon had ducked below the parapet as the beast burst into flames and waited for a few minutes before cautiously raising his head high enough to check on the remains below.
Except for the shattered section of the wall and a depression in the ground that was rapidly filling with water from the melted snow, there was nothing left to indicate that the creature had ever existed.
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 43