The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5)

by J. J. Thompson

  Pyrathius lifted his bloody head and looked around slowly, obviously confused. He staggered away from the wall of the crater and moved several huge steps toward Simon. The ground rolled and bucked under his feet.

  He glared across the distance at the wizard and smiled his reptilian grin.

  “You have failed, human!” he scoffed, his voice echoing around the crater. “And see, your allies have deserted you. Typical. Now you stand alone.”

  He shook his head and fat drops of green blood rained down and smoked as they splattered to the ground.

  “You managed to scratch me though, so I will be gracious and acknowledge that. Now I'll be done with you and go and squash that stupid little tower of yours.” The dragon extended his wings in a long, languorous stretch. “And then I will level your friends' castle. Perhaps I will feed then.”

  He narrowed his glowing, hellish eyes as he watched Simon, obviously enjoying himself.

  “Humans are not very tasty but I think I shall enjoy the symbolism.”

  Simon's anger had been growing as Pyrathius spoke and it pushed away both his fear and his caution. He slammed the end of his staff against the broken ground and summoned his power.

  “Shatter!” he shouted.

  A crack, small at first and then growing as it moved, raced across the crater toward the primal. Rock and broken shards of lava shot up in all directions as the floor of the volcano shattered like broken glass.

  “What is this?” the dragon bellowed as his legs began to buckle beneath him. “What are you doing, worm?”

  And then the ground opened up under him and the enormous creature was engulfed in a huge pool of molten lava.

  “How does that feel, you smug bastard?” Simon spat.

  The red dragon might love basking in intense heat, but liquid rock was another matter. The primal's shrieks proved that the lava could at least hurt it.

  “I will rend you slowly,” Pyrathius raved as he struggled to pull himself out of the lake of burning stone. “I will strip the flesh from your bones and make you suffer! Your torment will be endless!”

  Simon was beyond caring about the dragon's threats. He knew that he should retreat, get out of range and come up with another strategy. But all he could do was stand on the edge of the new lava lake and watch the primal thrash and scream in rage.

  He summoned up a shield to repel the spray of burning droplets that the dragon was flinging in all directions as he splashed and roiled in the lake. And then he just stood there and enjoyed the spectacle.

  A part of the wizard's brain was screaming at him to leave, Gate away, run. But his feet seemed rooted to the ground and he just felt so tired of it all. Tired of the constant fear, tired of always waiting for the next attack. Maybe he should just make his stand here and end it, one way or the other.

  Pyrathius finally managed to drag his massive body out of the lava on the far side of the crater. Streams of liquid rock poured off of his scales and he was glowing like a cinder. As far as Simon could tell, the dragon didn't seem particularly injured, although his scales looked blackened along the edges and they smoked and spluttered as they cooled.

  The primal lifted his enormous wings and flapped them slowly, flinging sparks and hard bits of lava all over the crater. He stood on the edge of the lake and glared across it at Simon.

  The wizard realized that for the moment, he was relatively safe. The dragon couldn't reach him where he was standing against the wall. The lava lake extended almost to his feet and the monster would have to swim across it to get at him. Or fly across, and Pyrathius was simply too large. His wings would slam into the wall of the crater long before he got to the wizard. They were at an impasse.

  Simon could tell that the dragon realized this as well. The monster extended his head over the bubbling lava and hissed like a snake. It was ear-splitting and the wizard winced and gritted his teeth at the sound.

  “Enjoy your last moments, wizard,” Pyrathius spat. “You have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Gate back to your little refuge if you wish and I shall follow. I shall follow you now to the ends of the world. You have,” The primal paused and slowly smiled, “offended me and that cannot be borne. So run, little human. Run.”

  Simon shook his head and dust and grit flew in all directions. He slapped his chest and arms and watched powder rise in a cloud. Then he grounded his staff and smiled back at the dragon.

  “No, I think I'll stay right here for now,” he shouted. “I wouldn't want to miss what's coming next.”

  A stray breeze had slipped through his shield and a touch of dampness, a cool, clean sensation, had wafted over his face and made him shiver. Something sizzled as it hit his shield. Then another splatter and another. It was beginning to rain.

  “Coming next? The only thing coming for you, human, is a slow and agonizing death. If you wish to experience it now, simply Gate over here to me and I shall accommodate you.”

  “Diamond Skin,” Simon said as he watched Pyrathius.

  “What are you doing?” the primal asked suspiciously. “That stupid little spell won't save you from my claws and fangs. Surely even a human like you knows that.”

  “”Yeah, I do,” the wizard muttered. “I just don't want to drown.”

  And then all hell broke loose.

  Kronk and Aeris watched from the lip of the crater. Technically they were obeying Simon's order to leave, but it was a very slow retreat.

  They couldn't see much through the thick fumes and blazing redness of the large lake of lava, but Pyrathius was easy enough to see and they could hear his side of the conversation with their master.

  “I do not understand,” the earthen said anxiously. “Why doesn't master Gate out of there? The dragon cannot reach him. He has the time.”

  “No idea,” Aeris said as he floated beside Kronk. “Too stubborn, maybe. You know how he is.”

  “No, that is not it,” the little guy replied stoutly. “He has a plan. That has to be it. But what?”

  He looked at his companion.

  “I should go back down there. He may need my help.”

  “Your help?” Aeris said with a snort of derision. “Kassus and the others couldn't help him against that monster. What could you possibly do?”

  “I don't know. I don't know.”

  Kronk began wringing his hands as he stared down into the inferno below. Aeris watched him and then he sighed and his shoulders slumped.

  “I want to help him too, Kronk,” he admitted softly. “But there really is nothing that we can do, except watch and wait.”

  “You won't have to wait much longer,” someone said from behind them and the pair turned around quickly and gaped at the newcomer.

  An elemental, the same height as the two of them, stood rippling and flowing on the crust of the volcano.

  “Anaposus!” Kronk exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  “How did you return to this world?” Aeris asked as he glared at her. “Who would trust a member of the traitorous water elemental race?”

  She returned their hostile looks calmly.

  “Your master, of course. Who else can summon an elemental?”

  “The primal dragons,” Aeris growled. “As the primal white did once before.”

  “No, they cannot. That was a special case, as you well know. The primal white mutated himself to be able to use wizard-level magic. This primal,” she nodded down at Pyrathius as he paced along the edge of the lava, “does not have that ability.”

  “And why would our dear wizard call upon you?”

  “To act as an intermediary; an envoy. Neither of us knew if I would be successful and I still do not know if my efforts will be enough to stop that nightmarish thing down there, but your master...”

  Her voice faded for a moment and then she suddenly smiled with such joy that even Aeris felt her happiness.

  “Our master,” she corrected herself, “felt that we should try. And now I would recommend that you brace yourselves.”

&nb
sp; “For what?” Kronk asked, puzzled.

  “Don't you know that old saying?” she asked him with an impish smile. “That fire and water don't mix?”

  “What...”

  An enormous explosion interrupted the earthen's question and he and the other two elementals were flung violently through the air, away from the volcano which was suddenly a chaotic storm of fire and super-heated steam.

  Just before the explosion, inside the crater, Simon channeled as much magic as he could pull out of the air around him into his shield. A second later, a massive humanoid shape, almost as large as Pyrathius himself, appeared above the lake of fire. The shape sparkled and threw off rainbow streams of reflected light.

  “What is this?” the primal raged as he threw back his wings, preparing to launch himself skyward.

  “Your end,” a voice of staggering power answered him. And the enormous water elemental, Aquamastis, keeper of the Ottawa River, repaid his debt to Simon. His form collapsed and hundreds of tons of cold water dropped directly on to the bubbling cauldron of lava.

  It was only later that the wizard was able to piece together the sequence of events that followed. All he saw was a blinding flash of white and red and, as he was lifted from his feet, he desperately pictured the one place in the world that always meant home.

  “Gate!” he wheezed, his breath knocked out of him by the blast, and he fell into the void and unconsciousness at the same time.

  I wonder if we won, was his final thought.

  Chapter 30

  When he groped upward into daylight again, Simon found himself lying on his back, staring up at large wooden beams. He was bathed in sunlight and squinted, momentarily blinded.

  Where am I?

  Before he moved, the wizard carefully moved each limb, feeling for injuries. Everything seemed to be working as it should, even though his Diamond Skin and Shield spells had collapsed.

  He sat up slowly and looked around. He sighed and smiled to himself. Home. He was home. His robe was singed and had several holes burnt into it and his staff, lying by his right arm, looked a little charred. But considering how badly things could have turned out, the damage was minimal.

  Simon pushed himself to his feet. He picked up the staff and left it near the door, then staggered over to the kitchen table and sat down at it heavily.

  What happened? he wondered. His memory was fuzzy. He remembered Aquamastis appearing, which had been both a surprise and a relief, an explosion of light and sound and then nothing. Did the primal survive? How were his friends? What about Kronk and the others?

  “Kronk!” he blurted out in sudden fear. Was the little guy okay? “Kronk, I need you!”

  The kitchen table shuddered and scraped across the floor several inches and then the earthen was standing on it, staring at the wizard.

  “Master! You are home!”

  He skittered across the table and touched Simon's hand.

  “Are you injured?”

  “I'm fine, my friend. Better than I have any right to be. What about you? You look a little cooked.”

  The earthen grinned as he looked down at his sooty body.

  “I am all right, master. When the volcano exploded, we were thrown a long way.” He suddenly looked worried. “I have not seen Aeris or Ana since then. I hope that they are unharmed.”

  “Aeris, come home,” Simon said quickly and braced himself.

  A rumble of approaching thunder and a flash of light announced the air elemental's return as Aeris popped into room just above the table.

  “Well well, look at you!” he exclaimed as he saw both Simon and Kronk. “You are both safe. Excellent!”

  “How are you?” the wizard asked him. He thought that Aeris looked a little thinner, less opaque than usual.

  “Me? I'll live. Can't say the same for the primal dragon though.”

  Simon sat up and stared at him, wide-eyed.

  “He's dead? Are you sure?”

  “Master?” Kronk interrupted. “Ana?”

  “Oh crap. Right.” He focused on the center of the table. “Anaposus, return to me.”

  A gust of cool, wet air blew around the room and a small pool of water bubbled up from the surface of the kitchen table. It formed into the slim, feminine shape of the water elemental, who smiled as she took in her surroundings.

  “Sir wizard, you are well?”

  “I'm well, Ana. You?”

  “Fine, thank you.” She grimaced. “Better than Aquamastis, I'm afraid.”

  “Why? Was he injured?”

  “He was...diminished because of the attack. He will survive, of course, but it will be many, many years before he is the power that he once was.”

  She smiled at Simon's obvious concern.

  “No need to worry though. He is back in his river and happy to have repaid his debt to you.”

  The wizard nodded, reassured by Ana's calm demeanor.

  “I'm glad. Now the question is, what happened to Pyrathius?”

  “I cannot say, master,” Kronk replied with a frown. “There was no way to see through the chaos after the water elemental attacked.”

  “So we don't actually know if the primal is alive or dead?”

  All three elementals shook their heads.

  “Damn it! We have to know!”

  Simon jumped to his feet and weaved across the room to the stairs. He was feeling a bit light-headed after such a crazy day.

  “Come on, guys. I'll use the hand mirror to see what's going on.”

  The elementals followed in a group and all of them climbed up to the second floor and hurried into the study.

  “By the way, is anyone else surprised that we're still alive?” the wizard asked as he sat down at his desk and picked up the mirror.

  “I certainly am,” Aeris stated. When Kronk and Ana stared at him, he frowned back. “Well I am! Come on, the primal is or was, whatever, the most powerful dragon in the world, after the queen. And all of our attacks had almost zero effect on him. Did you two seriously expect to walk away practically unscathed?”

  Simon cast the Magic Mirror spell as he listened to the conversation.

  “I actually never considered it,” Ana said a little vaguely. “Our wizard gave me a chance at redemption and I took it. I suppose that if I had thought about death, I would have thought that it was a small price to pay to make up for my peoples' treachery.”

  Aeris looked at her as if she'd gone mad.

  “Seriously? You weren't worried about being destroyed by that monster?”

  “Neither was I,” Kronk said stoutly as Ana shrugged. “It is our job to obey, Aeris. To the death. You know that. What is the point of worrying about it? What purpose does it serve?”

  “You two are so noble,” the water elemental said sarcastically. “If I could vomit, I think I would.”

  “Gees, I'm sorry I even brought it up,” Simon cut in. “Never mind that now. Look, I'm getting something.”

  The elementals hurried across the desk and peered at the mirror. The frosted surface was clearing and at first it was hard to tell exactly what they were seeing. Everything was washed out by a searing red light.

  Simon made a gesture and the view slowly pulled back further and further until details began to emerge.

  “Holy crap,” he muttered. “The mountain's gone!”

  He was almost right. The mirror's point of view had to be several miles from where the volcano had stood but the entire top half of the cone was gone, obliterated by what had to have been a tremendous explosion. Geysers of lava were shooting up into the air, hundreds of feet high. Roiling plumes of dark smoke belched upward and met the clouds high above. It was a scene out of someone's vision of Hell.

  “What are those, master?” Kronk asked and pointed at shapes dipping downward almost to the roiling lava and then back up into the soot-stained clouds again.

  Simon leaned forward and squinted, trying to make out details. Then he cursed under his breath.

  “Dragons. Damn. There
must be hundreds of them.”

  “And no sign of the primal,” Aeris said with satisfaction. “His minions must be searching for him.”

  “Not searching,” Ana said firmly. She moved closer to the mirror and tapped it near the bottom of the glass. “Mourning.”

  All of them looked at the spot she had indicated and Simon zoomed the view in closer.

  A large hummock rested on the turbulent edge of the volcano. A misshapen hill that seemed out of place next to the lake of bubbling liquid rock.

  Simon brought the view in even closer and then felt the tension drain out of him suddenly. He slumped back in his chair and exhaled loudly.

  It was the severed head of Pyrathius. The force of the blast had ripped it off of his serpentine neck and flung it to the edge of the eruption. The primal's body must have been torn to bits by the enormous explosion.

  The dragon's maw gaped open and broken teeth reflected the flickering fires of the lava, giving the illusion that the monster's lips were moving, as if trying to speak one last time. But he was unquestionably dead and Simon felt nothing but relief.

  “Even uglier in death than he was in life, isn't he?” Aeris observed.

  “His looks don't concern me,” the wizard said as he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “But it seems that he was telling the truth when he was boasting to me earlier.”

  “About what, master?”

  Simon nodded at the mirror.

  “About the lesser dragons. He said that he had severed the bond between them and that, in the event of his death, they would survive. Apparently, he was right.”

  “That's horrible,” Ana gasped. “I'd forgotten about that connection. Then that means the dragons will still be hunting your people?”

  “I would think so,” Simon told her. “But it's gets worse. If he was telling the truth about that, he might have been telling the truth about something else too.”

  “What else?” Aeris asked hesitantly.

  The wizard shook the mirror to cancel the spell and put it down on the desk. He pushed back his hair and stretched, feeling several stabs of pain from a half-dozen cuts and bruises.