The air elemental was constantly on the move; racing ahead to scout the road, ducking into side tunnels, of which there were many, and then returning to report his findings. So far, what it had basically boiled down to was 'all clear'.
When Simon got up on the fourth day of the trip, or after his fourth sleep, he washed up and ate quickly. Aeris had found another way station and the wizard had slept well. The small shelters were located at fairly even points along the road and had made the journey a bit more comfortable.
But even with a sleeping bag, lying on the solid stone ground had given Simon muscle aches that took a few hours to work out every day. He couldn't even imagine himself back before the Change making this trip; his middle-aged body would not have been able to handle it.
The way station was located just at the top of a very steep, twisting section of the highway and Simon summoned two light globes to travel to the front and rear as he moved. The footing was treacherous due to pebbles and dust that had been dislodged over the centuries from the ceiling above the road and he wanted to be able to see exactly where he was walking.
Kronk led the way, surefooted as always, and the little guy helpfully pointed out the deeper cracks that Simon had to step over carefully.
“Is it just my imagination, or is this part of the tunnel more ragged and damaged than the rest we've been through?” he asked the earthen as they slowly descended along the road.
“No, you are correct, master. I would guess that a major earthquake hit this area some time in the past and that even the reinforcing arches that the dwarves built into the tunnel weren't enough to keep it from being damaged.”
He hopped over a wide crack and pointed at it.
“This is also proof that the dwarves do not used this path any longer, master. They would have repaired broken sections like this long ago it they still used it.”
“Good point. Hmm, I wonder why they stopped trading with other cities. Monsters? Civil war?”
He took a long, careful step over the same crack the Kronk had jumped across and then leaned on his staff while the two magic lights bobbed along over his head.
“Perhaps neither, master,” the earthen said as he looked down the slope at the road ahead. “Monsters have only recently returned to the world, thanks to the dark gods. And I have never heard of the dwarves warring with each other. However...”
His voice trailed away as he stroked his chin.
“Yes? However what?” Simon asked.
“The dwarves, as we know, are very insular. They isolate themselves from the rest of the world and call it protection.”
He shook his head, looking a little sad.
“But what if this isolation extended to their own people over time? Perhaps as the years passed, they simply stopped communicating with each other? These days they are united again, under the banner of Shandon Ironhand, but before that? Who knows, master.”
They began walking again, slipping a little on the steep road.
“You may have hit on the answer, Kronk,” the wizard mused. “Although I doubt that we'll ever know. The dwarves that I have met are very private people. Even Shandon wouldn't talk about something that puts his peoples' past in a bad light, I'm guessing.”
Kronk kicked a jagged rock down the slope and it skittered and bounced out of sight.
“I agree, master. It makes for interesting speculation as we walk though, does it not?”
Simon just laughed in agreement.
The steep section of the road seemed endless. Simon and Kronk had been descending for what felt like hours when they finally saw the road level out ahead of them.
A small pile of dirt and debris had rolled and trickled down the slope over the years and they had to climb over it to continue their hike.
“More evidence that this section of the deep road hasn't been used in years,” Simon said to the little guy, who nodded thoughtfully.
They walked perhaps a dozen yards and then Kronk pointed down the road to the right.
“Look, master, another way station! It would be a good spot for you to rest a bit after that last section of the road.”
Simon's legs were sore and so he agreed happily. He silently blessed the ancient builders of the tunnels for their foresight; the way stations had been the high point of the trip so far.
The small room off of the main tunnel was identical to all of the others they'd seen. A well in the center surrounded by a low wall, some shelving and several benches all carved out of the rock. Simon visited the latrine while Kronk tested the well water to make sure that it was safe to drink.
How both elementals could tell if the water was clear of poisons or toxins was a mystery to the wizard, but he accepted it as fact. They had proved their worth too many times for him to begin questioning them now.
Simon drank deeply after Kronk had announced the water safe. The well water was cold and sweet and the wizard was refreshed by it as always. Then he ate some dried fruit and sat on a bench, resting for a few minutes.
It was always a relief to take off his pack and put down his staff. He had finally decided that he wasn't cut out to be an athlete any more. His old self would have been scandalized by that idea, but facts were facts. He was a skinny, weak wizard with no stamina.
Simon looked up at the pair of mage lights swirling gently as they floated near the ceiling.
But being a wizard does have its compensations, he thought with a smile.
He was just drifting off, his eyes getting so heavy that he could barely keep them open, when another light burst into the room.
Simon jerked upright on the bench and looked around wildly. Then he sagged back in relief.
“Oh, it's just you,” he said to Aeris, who was glowing brightly with his own light. “You had me worried...”
“Get up! Get up!” the air elemental bellowed at him. “We've got trouble.”
The wizard jumped up blearily and grabbed his staff. Kronk raced in from the tunnel where he'd been standing watch.
“What? What is going on, Aeris?” he asked loudly.
“Undead. Lots of them. I ran into them as I was checking on the tunnel behind us. They are boiling down the tunnel from above.”
“They followed us down here? How?”
Aeris flew to the doorway and peered out.
“I have no idea where they came from or if they were sent after you, my dear wizard, but that doesn't matter. They are heading this way, right now.”
Simon strode to the exit and brushed by Aeris. He moved out into the tunnel and stood in the center of it. His twin light globes spun together into one beacon that was a bright as midday.
“How fast are they moving?” he growled as he stared back up the deep road to where it disappeared into the gloom.
“They're undead,” Aeris said with a disdainful snort. “No faster than a fast walking pace. So tell me something, oh great one; what exactly are you doing?”
Simon tapped the butt end of his staff on the ground and looked at the air elemental.
“What do you think I'm doing? Making a stand. If there are that many of the creatures, they will bunched up as they approach to attack. A decent blast of fire should take care of most of them; old bone burns fairly well as I recall.”
“Master?”
“Yes Kronk?” Simon said, looking down at the little figure.
“Are you certain that this is the best course of action?”
The wizard looked from one elemental to the other; each one had almost identical expressions of doubt on their faces.
“Meaning what? Neither of you looks very confident. They're just animated bones, for God's sake.”
“You are forgetting what we said about the nature of magic, my dear wizard. Unlike that time you fought those burrowing dragons, you have been down here for days. Your magic has been leeching into the surrounding rock. Frankly, I'm surprised that you can still summon those.”
Aeris pointed up at the globe of light.
Simon frowned
at them and tried to reach deeply inside of himself, feeling for his magical center.
“I feel exactly the same as I always have. Well, my feet are sore and my back is aching a bit, but that's about it.”
Kronk looked skeptical and Aeris let out a long sigh.
“Why do you never listen?” he asked plaintively.
Before Simon could answer, he heard a distant shuffling sound. A rustling echo, like bundles of dried twigs being crushed together, mixed in with the other noise and the three of them stared out at the darkness.
“Ah, you're in luck,” Aeris said with his usual sarcasm. “Some of the fresher corpses have outrun the other undead. See how well your magic fares against them, hmm?”
“Now is not the time to be a smart-ass,” Simon growled at him.
“I am not being a 'smart-ass',” the elemental replied pertly. “I'm offering a little proof for you. Look, there are three of the monsters in the lead. Before you left for the elven realm, you could have incinerated them with a thought. So off you go.”
The challenge was clear and the wizard threw back his shoulders and lifted his staff in response.
“Fine then. Watch this.”
He pointed Mortis de Draconis at the trio of shambling corpses; animated bones that still had bits of putrid flesh hanging from their ribs and joints; and focused his will.
He took a deep breath and thrust the staff toward the monsters.
“Fireball!” he bellowed.
The staff flared and became warm and Simon braced himself for the recoil of the spell.
He waited but nothing happened. The light around the staff faded and it quickly cooled down. And the undead kept coming.
“Well?” Aeris said as he raised an eyebrow.
“Oh shit,” Simon exclaimed.
He looked at the wall of skeletons that had appeared a dozen yards behind the three leading corpses. There were hundreds of them.
“Run!”
Chapter 12
“Why did they have to chase me down a hill?” Simon gasped as he ran down the steep road, holding his robe up with his left hand so he wouldn't trip on it.
He was carrying his staff on his right shoulder to avoid tripping on it as well and he could only imagine how ridiculous he looked as he ran.
“Bad timing, my dear wizard,” Aeris told him as he flew alongside.
Kronk was running to their right, his little legs just a blur of movement. He was running so quickly that his footsteps sounded like someone doing a constant drum roll. If the situation hadn't been so dangerous, Simon would have been laughing.
Instead, he was thinking at lightning speed, trying to come up with a plan to deal with the undead horde chasing them.
The road showed no signs of leveling out and Simon was doing his best not to trip and roll down the steep slope; he'd probably break a leg if that happened.
Or my stupid neck, he thought bitterly as he ran.
It had never occurred to him to test his powers as they traveled deeper along the road. He'd just assumed that when the time came, he would be ready.
Arrogant, my dear wizard, Simon could almost hear Aeris say. And he would be right too.
What do you call a powerless wizard, his inner voice asked sardonically.
Useless, he answered it. Now shut up.
“Slow down, master,” Kronk said a minute later. “We have put some distance between us. You should take a moment to catch your breath.”
Simon tried to put on the brakes but his momentum almost slammed him face-first into the ground. Aeris caught his robe between the shoulder blades and helped him keep his feet until he staggered to a stop.
“Thanks guys,” he panted.
He finally hung his staff over his shoulder properly, then leaned over and rest his hands on his knees while he concentrated on breathing.
“I just realized something,” he said as his heart rate slowed down enough for him to speak clearly. “I left my pack and sleeping bag back in the way station. Damn it. That means I have no food, no water and nothing to sleep on. Great.”
“We have more to worry about at the moment,” Aeris reminded him. “I'll go ahead and make sure the way is clear. Hopefully there's a defensible spot somewhere along the road where we can hold off the undead.”
He shot off down the tunnel and Simon watched him as he disappeared.
“Hold them off for what?” he asked Kronk. “My power isn't going to return until I get to the surface again. If we hole up someplace, we'll just take a little longer to die, that's all.”
He stood up and began walking down the steep slope again.
“Well, actually I'm the one who will take longer to die,” Simon corrected himself. “You and Aeris can leave at any time.”
“I will not leave you, master,” Kronk said stoutly. “I will protect you with my life.”
The wizard looked at the little guy fondly.
“I know you will, my friend. But listen; if things go badly and I'm, well, you know; I want you to survive, alright? Don't throw away your life on a lost cause.”
“I will never leave you, master,” the earthen repeated stubbornly. “You will not fall before I do; I could not bear it.”
He looked up at Simon as they descended, a sudden smile on his blocky face.
“Aeris will not desert you either, master. For all of his talk, he is loyal. And between us, I do not believe that even an army of animated corpses will be able to reach you.”
Simon shook his head silently and concentrated on his footing. There was no sound behind him, but he had no doubt that the undead horde was still on their heels. Once you set them loose, the monsters never stopped until they had either caught their prey or been destroyed.
“How in the hell did they even find us?” he wondered. “No one even knows I'm back yet, except for you guys and your people. And I trust the elementals implicitly.”
“Thank you, master. I do not know. I hesitate to accept this, but it is possible that we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“A coincidence? Really? That's a bit far-fetched, Kronk.”
“Maybe not, master. Remember, it had been several years since you left this world. The human survivors have retreated below ground. The necromancers may routinely send down waves of undead to attack the dwarven cities. This may just be one of those waves.”
Simon gave that idea some thought. He really had no clue about the number of necromancers that the dark gods had created or the size of their armies. He'd learned before his retreat from Lacertus that the black wizards were summoning countless skeletons from the depths of the oceans. He had to assume that they had cleaned out every cemetery and burial ground they could find as well.
Maybe Kronk was right. Maybe they simply sent a horde of mindless zombies and skeletons every so often to attack the dwarven cities. After all, what did they have to lose?
“As horrible as it sounds, that's almost reassuring,” he told the little guy. “It would mean that our enemies still don't know that I'm back. And the longer they remain ignorant of that fact, the better.”
He stepped gingerly over a foot-wide crack that split the road and watched as the little guy hopped over it with ease.
“Look master; the road is leveling out. You will find it easier to walk now.”
“Phew. Thank God for that. Let's go another hundred yards or so and take a break. I want to sit down and rest for a minute.
Kronk tilted his head to the side and narrowed his burning red eyes. He listened silently for a moment and then nodded.
“I cannot hear or sense the enemy yet, master, so I think that you will have a few minutes to rest up ahead.”
The pair kept walking, each silent with their own thoughts. Simon's light was faithfully bobbing along over his head and he was grateful that at least that small magic was still available to him. Being trapped below ground in complete darkness was a horrific thought and he pushed it out of his mind with a shiver.
The usual dwarv
en runes and random pictures were etched into the stone walls of the tunnel and he became lost in thought for a moment, wondering who those ancient dwarves were that had left their marks in the deep roads. Had they loved it down here or did they ever wonder about the surface world? What were they like? Fun loving or serious? Happy? Stern? He'd never know.
“Look master, it's Aeris,” Kronk exclaimed. “He looks very pleased with himself.”
“What else is new?” Simon muttered, shaken out of his thoughts.
“Ah, you're both still alive. Splendid!”
“Yeah, thanks for caring,” the wizard said sharply. “So what are you smiling about?”
Aeris was indeed grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, I think I have found a solution to our problem. Well, your problem, actually. I doubt that it will please Kronk, and I'm not really thrilled by it either.” He shrugged. “But you'll survive, my dear wizard, and that's the most important thing, isn't it?”
“What are you rambling on about?” Kronk rumbled, perplexed.
“Follow me and I'll show you. Don't stop here; the undead are coming. I can hear them back there.”
He pointed up the slope of the road behind them.
“Good ears,” Simon said.
He slipped his staff off of his shoulder and used it to help him walk more steadily. His legs were getting a little wobbly.
“Okay then, lead on. I can see you're enjoying your mysterious solution.”
“Maybe a little,” Aeris agreed with a chuckle. “Come along.”
The trio moved down the road, Aeris leading the others. The tunnel here looked almost the same as all of the rest of the passageway, except that it appeared to be less damaged by time and had fewer cobwebs. There was less debris on the ground as well.
“Is this a new section of the deep road?” Simon asked Kronk as they walked along. “Those carvings seem, I don't know, brighter than the others I've seen.”
The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) Page 14