There was a tug on his robe and he looked down to see Kronk staring up at him.
“What?” he asked in confusion.
“Nothing, master. Let's go.”
The little guy's voice was matter-of-fact and firm and Simon knew that look. It would be a waste of time trying to argue with Kronk and there was no time to lose.
“Fine,” he said and raised his staff, concentrating as much as his fuzzy thoughts would allow on the barracks. Then he invoked the spell and Gated.
Simon and Kronk reappeared a moment later into pandemonium. Virginia and her friends were standing in a circle, all of them holding hands, heads bowed as the building shuddered and shook around them. Dust was drifting down from the ceiling and the noise was indescribable.
“What the hell is going on?” Simon yelled over the deafening booms and crashes. The wall were shaking and cracks had appeared in the bricks.
None of the four answered him, but Aeris flew across the room from the far side of the circle.
“Wights,” he said shortly. “Hundreds of them. They came in a solid wave and hit the wall like a sledgehammer.”
“They broke through the wall?” Simon asked, stunned.
“No, of course not. The wards repelled them, but the gate was destroyed in an instant. They actually climbed over each other and smashed into it. It took less than a minute.” He looked at the wizard with an expression of disbelief. “I swear it was coordinated effort, which I always believed was impossible for such creatures.”
“Yeah well, we're learning new things all the time, aren't we?”
Simon looked at the silent circle of friends.
“What are they doing?”
“They're reinforcing the walls and ceiling, keeping those devils back for now. But one small break in their concentration and the building will collapse. Listen to them out there.”
The wizard couldn't help but listen. The sound of the monsters tearing at the barracks was ear-numbing.
“My God, how many of them are there?”
“Hundreds, my dear wizard. Hundreds. It's so much worse than the first attack. I cannot understand where they came from or how there are so many of them.”
“Doesn't matter,” Simon said as he walked over to look at the four young people.
All of their eyes were closed, each gripped the hand of the person on either side of them so hard that their knuckles were white and their hands shaking with effort. Sweat was running down their faces and Eric and Gerard's lips were pulled back in identical snarls of fury.
“You can't interrupt them,” Aeris told him, “or you're all dead.”
“I know that,” Simon hissed at him, trying to jog his mind into thinking coherently. “Give me a second, would you?”
The air elemental opened his mouth to respond and Kronk interrupted him.
“Stay quiet,” he rumbled, his little red eyes blazing. “Let our master think this through.”
Aeris subsided with a stiff nod and Simon looked around the room, frantically searching for a solution.
His eyes fell on the last pile of boxes and crates, a few feet to the right of Virginia's circle and he was hit with sudden inspiration.
“Okay, guys, I have an idea,” he said loudly over the din. “I know you can't lose focus, but you can hear me. So this is what I want you to do. The last bit of the supplies is about four feet behind Eric. I need you to all move, as slowly as you have to, until Eric is touching the closest box. I won't need to break your connection by touching anyone; all I need to do is grab one of the pieces of the pile and Gate out with it and you'll be brought along with it.”
Aeris gasped and stared at the wizard.
“That's...that's brilliant,” he stuttered.
“No it isn't,” Simon replied as he watched the group. “But it's logical and it should work.”
He waited for a few moments but the four friends didn't move. They were all shaking now and the strain on their faces was painful to see.
“Why aren't they moving?” Simon finally said with desperation in his voice.
“They cannot, master,” Kronk told him as he watched keenly. “Even moving now will break their bond. The attack on the building is simply too great. They are balanced on the edge of a sword and cannot move, even to save themselves.”
Simon nodded, despair beginning to creep into his thoughts. It was obvious that the little guy was right. Even the four of them together couldn't hold back the tide of undead that ravaged outside.
“I don't know what to do,” he whispered hopelessly.
“I do, master,” Kronk said firmly. He tip-tapped across the room to the nearest wall and laid his small palms flat against its surface. In an instant, the little guy began to glow red-hot, as if he was made of molten lava. The section of the wall that he was touching took on the same fiery glow and with a loud whooshing sound, the red quickly expanded, racing from brick to brick, up to the ceiling and along both sides of the building until they were surrounded by the hellish red of a furnace.
Simon gaped at the walls. He couldn't feel any heat from the burning red stones, but the heat was definitely going somewhere. Through the stone, sudden shrieks and roars split the air as the wights stopped pounding on the building and retreated from the searing, semi-molten walls. Virginia and her friends opened their eyes as one and looked around in confusion.
“What's going on?” she asked in a daze. “Why has the attack stopped?”
“Thank my friend there,” Simon said and pointed at Kronk.
Everyone watched the earthen in awe for a few seconds.
“Master,” Kronk said with obvious effort. “I can only do this for a short time. Get everyone away from here while you can.”
“Okay, everybody. Touch a crate or box and join hands. Aeris, with me. Kronk, I'll chant the spell and then you come over and join me. Then I'll invoke it and we'll get the hell out of here.”
Kronk turned his head to look over his shoulder at Simon, a gentle smile on his glowing face.
“I cannot do that, master. As soon as I release the wall, the stone will lose its heat immediately. The wights will tear through the building in seconds. You will have to go on without me.”
“Are you insane?” Aeris spluttered. “Those creatures will rip you apart, you fool. You can't stay behind.”
“I must protect my master,” Kronk said simply. “As must you. Watch him for me, won't you? He will not admit it, but our master sometimes needs our guidance.”
Aeris, for once, had no response. He could only look at his friend, anguish in his face.
Simon and the others began speaking at once, arguing vehemently against leaving the earthen behind.
“Please!” Kronk bellowed, cutting through the babble. “There is no time. I am failing as we speak. Please master,” he said to Simon, who watched him through eyes blurred with sudden tears. “Please don't make my sacrifice be in vain. Go, protect your friends, be the great wizard that I know you can be. Please.”
Simon's voice caught in his throat. He could hear the howls of hunger and rage just beyond the walls and knew that the wights were simply waiting for their chance to renew the assault. Kronk was right; they had to go.
“Okay everyone, let's move,” he said roughly and hurried over to the heap of boxes.
Virginia looked at him, an expression of contempt on her face. He'd never seen that look before.
“So you're going to leave him? Just like that?”
Simon's exhaustion, grief and anger boiled over and he matched her glare with one of his own.
“No, not just like that!” he shouted and she recoiled in shock. “My best friend in this world is giving his life so that all of us can live. Will you dishonor his sacrifice by standing here arguing about it? If I didn't have to worry about you and your people, I'd stay with him and fight to the end! But I can't.” He felt the tears running down his face and wiped his hand across his eyes angrily. “I can't,” he repeated hopelessly.
“I...
yes, I see that. Forgive me, Simon. I understand.”
She turned to her friends.
“You heard him; move your asses. Right now!”
They all jumped and frantically moved over to the pile of supplies. Aeris stayed with Simon, holding fast to his sleeve.
The wizard chanted the incantation quickly, his eyes fixed on the glowing figure of his friend.
“Kronk, listen,” he said suddenly. “I have an idea. As soon as we're gone, go deep, like you did before with me. Get out of sight and I'll summon you as soon as we arrive down south. Can you do that?”
The strained look on the earthen's little face was replaced by a surprised smile.
“Master! That is a wonderful idea. I will do that. I do not know if it will work but I will try.”
“Okay then. I'm casting now. Get ready.”
Kronk just nodded and Simon took a deep breath.
“Here we go,” he said to the little guy. “Invectis!”
The world faded away and the wizard had a brief moment to watch what happened next. It was a direct view into Hell.
The walls lost their red glow and Kronk raised his hands as he looked down, preparing to burrow into the ground. Then the stone around him literally exploded and a mass of white, undead flesh engulfed him. Simon tried to scream but it was too late. He and the others were pulled into the void, and away to safety.
Chapter 16
As the group appeared in Florida, Simon stumbled away from them, looking around frantically. Aeris was next to him and their eyes met. It was obvious that the air elemental had seen the same thing that the wizard had.
“He was overwhelmed,” Aeris whispered, his face twisted with grief.
“I know.” Simon said. Then he hurried away from the others and the helpful townspeople who moved forward to lend a hand with the supplies. They had no idea about what had just happened and were talking and laughing together.
Simon found a bare patch of ground, an old ant hill poking out of the tall grass, and fell to his knees in front of it. Aeris moved to hover to his right.
The wizard stared at the ground, clenched his fists and focused as much of his power as he could. He knew that there wasn't much left.
“Kronk, I need you!” he stated firmly, watching the bare earth intently.
They waited but nothing happened.
“Damn it,” the wizard muttered. “It won't end like this. I won't let it!”
He focused again, feeling the magic build up inside of him. It was like scraping a bowl for the last bit of icing, frantically looking for one final taste. As the power built up, so did Simon's resolve, and his anger.
“No one else dies because of me,” he said, hissing in fury through gritted teeth. “You hear me, you damned gods of Chaos? You're not going to win, not this time.”
“My dear wizard,” Aeris began to say gently. “Don't you think...”
“No!” Simon said and slammed his fist into the hard-packed earth. “Not this time, God damn it! I've lost enough. Not. This. Time.” And with each world he smashed his fist down, splitting the skin on his knuckles and leaving splotches of red, like a primitive sacrifice, on the dried dirt.
“Kronk,” he bellowed. ”Come back to me!”
And like an explosion, all of Simon's remaining power erupted out of him. A blast of silver light, like an aura of electrical energy, blazed around his frail body, knocking Aeris tumbling through the air. Blood gushed out of his nose and ran down from his ears, but the wizard didn't feel it. All he knew was that he wanted his friend back. All he could feel was his resolve.
If I die from this, then I die, was his last thought as darkness claimed him. Maybe it's better this way.
A face swam out of the night; a shape that glowed with its own light. As if surfacing from deep water, Simon watched as the world began to come into focus, its blurred edges slowly becoming sharp and defined.
“Where am I?” he asked vaguely as he tried to identify what he was seeing. He blinked rapidly and things suddenly sharpened and snapped into clear definition.
He was lying on his back, the sweet grass under his body wafting its comforting scent past his nostrils. Above him were only stars in an inky sky, blazing like jewels. Simon frowned up at them, disturbed by their clarity. They looked too bright, too close to be real.
He was so focused on the sky that the face that was staring down at him was almost lost in the heavenly splendor behind it.
“Are you done star-gazing?” a voice asked with amusement.
Simon narrowed his eyes and concentrated on that blurred visage above him. The features became clear and he found himself looking up at a woman.
“Ah, and there you are, young wizard,” she said. She laughed with seeming delight, reached down and pulled him to his feet in one smooth motion.
Simon stood on his own with no sense of dizziness or disorientation. He couldn't remember how he got there, wherever there was, or even what had happened in the recent past.
“Where am I?” he repeated, feeling a bit stupid.
His companion smiled and he looked at her closely.
She looked familiar somehow. Taller than the wizard, she was wearing bright silver armor and had a gleaming sword resting on her left hip. Her blond locks cascaded down her back in waves and her fine features and large blue eyes gave her a beauty that was breathtaking.
“You are here, young one,” she replied with a wave indicating their surroundings. “Here, where you are safe from the depredations of my kin, from their evil intentions.”
Simon turned in a slow circle, trying to get his bearings.
They were standing in an endless sea of grass. No trees or plants broke the unending vista and the waving grasses stretched on into darkness. It was the dead of night, but those crystalline stars lit the field so brightly that he could easily see the woman and beyond her for many yards in all directions. He felt like he'd been transported to the middle of the prairies, except that he would have expected to see wheat or corn fields. But it was just tall grass, gently rippling in the warm breeze that caressed them both.
“I don't recognize this place,” he told her. “But I feel like I should know you.”
“You should, child. We spoke once before, in a dream. I gave you a small gift then. Do you not remember?”
Simon actually felt something click in his head, like two gears had met and engaged, allowing his memory to function properly. His eyes widened and he sucked in a breath.
“I remember!” he gasped. “I remember now. You are one of the gods of Light!”
She shrugged and pushed a strand of hair off of her face.
“Gods. Goddesses. Simply labels used by those who do not understand us. But yes, if you must call us something, call us that if you wish. But we are merely those who came before all others.” She smiled again. “Age has given us status, it seems. Perhaps that is a benefit? Who can say.”
“Why am I here, Lady?” Simon asked, feeling the power of the woman like heat beating against his mind. There was no pain, but it was almost overwhelming. He resisted the urge to back away from the source.
She seemed to know how he was feeling and made a reassuring gesture.
“I brought you here to talk, Simon,” she said softly and the wizard shivered as she used his name.
“I did not expect to ever have the chance to speak with you directly again, at least not in this life. But circumstances have made this meeting possible and I took my opportunity, against the wishes of some of my kin.”
Her laughter tinkled like the ringing of bells and Simon smiled in response.
“But then I have never been able to follow the rules that they would impose upon me and they know it. It has caused a few arguments over the eons, I can tell you.”
“Why have circumstances changed?” the wizard asked, looking up at the stars again for a moment and feeling the thrill of their endless light. Had the sky over Earth ever had so many stars?
“Because you are dead, child
,” she said simply. “Even now your soul is struggling to tear loose from your mortal realm and fly free. You are between Heaven and Earth, as it were, and so I have this brief time to visit with you once more.”
“Dead?”
Simon stumbled back in shock and almost tripped in the long grass. “What are you saying? I feel fine.” He frowned and looked down at himself. “Actually, I feel amazing. Never better.”
“Of course you do,” the goddess answered with a sigh. “The soul feels no pain, no need. Hunger, thirst, physical want, all are gone when a mortal passes away. You are on the verge, young wizard. But you have been such a staunch ally and so loyal to your people and to us, in a way, that I wanted to thank you for your service.”
She too looked up at the night sky, a look of profound sadness twisting her perfect features.
“I fear that with your passing, our cousins, the dark gods as you call them, are going to win the battle for your New Earth. You were the most powerful of all of our Changlings and, without you, I believe that the dragons will eventually overcome the elves and then the remnants of humanity.”
She shook her head and caught Simon's gaze with her own.
“We will be left out here, in the dark, and they will ravage across the stars, plunging your universe into eternal blackness.”
“What are you talking about?” Simon asked in frightened confusion. “I'm just one man. There are a lot of others who will stand against the gods of Chaos and their servants. What about the elves? They're strong and powerful. Surely they will be able to hold against the brown dragons?”
“Hold? Yes, they will hold, for a time. But what are a few years, decades, even centuries to the dragons? The elves are immortal but they do not reproduce quickly. They will be worn down and beaten by attrition if nothing else. Time moves differently in their realm, as you know, and if it takes a generation to conquer that world, who will care? Our cousins are not patient, but they will wait for that. After all, they will gain a universe out of it.”
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