The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) (37 page)

“
What light.
Master?”

“
In their eyes. That
purple light. It's the same color as that thing we saw gliding above
the city; the one we couldn't identify.”

“
Can we worry about
the immediate threat please?” Aeris said pointedly. “We
need to stop them before they reach the wall.”

“
The wards will hold
them back,” Simon said with a confidence he didn't really feel.

“
Maybe so,”
Aeris said a bit dubiously. “But for how long? If we can
prevent them from attacking in the first place, the wards won't need
to be tested.”

The undead had began
spreading out across the field in a wide front. More of them poured
from the fresh crater, clawing and groping their way to the surface.
What made the horror even worse for Simon was the fact that none of
them made a sound. He could actually hear their bony fingers scraping
across the churned earth as they reached the surface, but once they
had emerged, they just stood there, mute.

Well, they couldn't talk
anyway without tongues, he said to himself. They were dead mindless
drones controlled by an evil wizard. Still, their silence was
unnerving.

“
I wonder where that
damned necromancer is?” Simon said as he scanned the ranks of
the enemy.

“
Good question,”
Aeris replied. “He can't be too far. Without his magic to
animate them, these monsters would collapse like marionettes with
their strings cut.”

There was a disturbance
inside the hole, rumbles and loud crashes echoing across the field.
Simon tried to see what was happening but the undead were so thick
now that they blocked his view of the crater.

“
What's happening?”
he asked.

“
My brethren are
trying to slow them down, master,” Kronk told him.

He was standing on top of
the wall with his small fists clenched tightly.

“
The other earthen?”

The little guy nodded.

“
But I didn't tell
them to do that.”

Kronk managed a strained
smile as he looked at Simon.

“
It was their
choice, master. You have always said that we are not slaves, yes? So
they have chosen to do what they can to help defend you and your
home.”

“
But what if they
get hurt, or worse?”

The little guy only
shrugged.

“
They have made
their choice. I would have done the same, master, but I chose to
wait. If those creatures breach the wall, though, I will fight them.”

Simon stared at him
helplessly. What could he say? Kronk was right. No elemental that
served him was actually a servant, and certainly none were slaves. If
they chose to defend him, all he could do was thank them and hope for
the best.

“
I appreciate their
help, my friend. You know I do. But no one should ever get hurt on my
account.”

“
Noble sentiments,
my dear wizard,” Aeris said with a trace of his usual sarcasm.
“But if you don't want any of us to risk ourselves, you will
have to stop being so damned lovable.”

“
What?”

The air elemental
snickered at his reaction and Simon laughed reluctantly.

“
Yeah, I'll try that
from now on, smart ass.”

The three of them watched
the undead anxiously as the sounds of battle below ground continued.
Even the monsters began to turn en masse toward the hole as their
fellow undead stopped climbing out of the crater.

“
They've managed to
stop them from reaching the surface,” Aeris said.

“
For the moment,”
Kronk agreed. “But I do not know how long they can hold them
back.”

“
Then let's use this
time to our advantage, shall we?” Simon said.

He stepped on to the top
of the wall next to Kronk and raised his staff.

“
Be careful,
master!” the little guy exclaimed.

Aeris flew up beside him
and prodded him.

“
Shh, don't distract
him,” he hissed.

The wizard ignored them
and looked up at the sky. There were a few wisps of cloud passing
across the sliver of the moon that was almost directly overhead and
he pointed Mortis de Draconis at them.

“
Why don't we make
some noise,” he whispered to it.

He knew the spell he
wanted but he hadn't created a word of power for it, mainly because
he had never used it. Theoretically he knew what it did but this
would be his first time testing it.

If I live through the
night, I think we'll call it a success, Simon thought ruefully.

The incantation was long
and convoluted and he had to be precise. Several of the words he
spoke in the ancient language of magic were difficult to wrap his
tongue around and he almost mispronounced them. Simon knew that it he
did that, the spell would have to be started again from the
beginning.

When he'd finished, Simon
could feel the power charging the air around him. His hair was
lifting and sparking from the magic that he was controlling and his
chest was heavy with the weight of the spell that he was holding in
check.

He breathed deeply and
pointed his staff at the crowd of undead staring at him with their
empty purple eyes. He squinted and hunched his shoulders in
anticipation.

“
Lightning Storm!”
he shouted.

There was a silent thump
of air that slammed down from the heavy clouds that had gathered
during his incantation. Half of the horde of monsters collapsed from
the sudden change in air pressure.

The sky flashed several
times and blue fire seemed to rain down from the heavens and slam
into the undead creatures below.

Wave after wave of
lightning bolts seared Simon's eyes and he raised an arm to protect
them. The sound was indescribable and his ears rang and throbbed and
began to bleed. He knew that he was yelling but he couldn't even hear
himself.

He felt a firm grip on his
staff and looked down to see Kronk holding him, anchoring him to the
wall. Aeris was pressed against his back, saving him from falling
backwards. And the lightning struck again and again.

Simon cringed and waited
as the bolts struck the earth in rapid succession.

Seconds felt like hours
but the spell eventually ran its course and he lowered a shaking
hand, blinking back tears as he tried to peer through the
afterimages.

“
Can you see
anything?” he asked the elementals loudly. His ears were numb
and he could barely hear anything.

“
Your light
collapsed, master and there is too much smoke hanging over the
field,” Kronk told him faintly.

Simon stepped down on to
the parapet, his legs shaking. He used his staff to support himself
for a moment; it felt very warm and seemed to be throbbing in time
with his heartbeat.

“
Remind me to never
cast that spell again,” he said as he was finally able to focus
on Aeris.

“
I assure you I
will,” the elemental said as he rubbed the side of his head and
then gave it a shake.

“
I know that my kind
have an affinity for lightning, but it is possible to have too much
of a good thing. Phew.”

“
No kidding. And I
think I've drained most of my power.”

Simon flicked his hand and
created a new globe of light. Fortunately they consumed very little
magic. He sent it toward the darkness of the field and waited
breathlessly to see what the aftermath of the spell was.

The mage light rose and
grew brighter as it traveled, lighting up the thick smoke rising from
the burning grass and brush.

“
I can't see a
damned thing,” Simon said as he leaned against the top of the
wall, straining to catch any signs of movement.

“
Kronk, where are
the other earthen? Do you know?”

“
Yes master. I can
feel them through the stone,” the little guy replied. “They
are returning now. Have you given them permission to pass through the
warding?”

“
I did, yes. I'll
want a full report from them when they get back.”

“
Of course, master.
I shall go and meet them.”

Kronk tapped away and
Simon heard him hopping down the ladder.

“
Aeris, can you see
anything? Anything at all?”

“
Nothing yet. I'd be
happy to go over and check it out though.”

Simon glanced at him and
smiled at his obvious eagerness.

“
Fine, but stay out
of reach, okay? Take no chances.”

The elemental began to
rise up.

“
Yes Mother. Will
do.”

The wizard snorted and
Aeris laughed lightly as he flew off.

“
I've taught him
some bad habits,” Simon muttered.

He pushed the hair out of
his eyes, rested his staff against the wall and watched the distant
scene closely.

“
Wish I'd brought my
mirror with me.”

The night had grown eerily
quiet and Simon wondered whether his hearing had been damaged from
the shockingly loud Lightning Storm spell. He touched his ear and
examined his fingertips. Blood. Not much, but it was disturbing.

Whoever had invented that
spell was a maniac, he thought. When the hell would you even use it
except in an extreme situation like he had just been facing?

His mage light was
becoming clearer as it shone down on the field. The smoke was slowly
dissipating. He'd be able to get a better view soon.

“
Master!”
Kronk shouted from behind him.

Simon squinted at the
ground behind the wall but it was too dark to see.

“
Damn it,” he
said irritably and conjured another globe of light. He sent it back
toward the tower and it lit up the inner yard.

Kronk was standing there
with two other earthen. In the uneven light the three looked like
small animated piles of coal.

“
What is it?”
he called down to them. “Where are the others?”

Before Kronk could answer,
the wizard heard Aeris calling from outside the wall.

“
Simon! Seal the
wards! Seal them now!”

Aeris hardly ever used his
name and when he did, it was usually to get his immediate attention.

The wizard spun around and
saw the air elemental streaking toward him, glowing brightly as he
burned across the distance from the field.

“
What's wrong?”
he shouted as he grabbed his staff.

“
Master, he's right.
Seal the wards. Now!”

Two things happened
simultaneously. A muted thump shook the wall as if something had
exploded underground and the crater, which he could finally see
again, boiled over with undead clawing their way to the surface,
pushing aside the remains of the others destroyed by his spell.

And from overhead, a
piercing shriek, like the cry of a huge eagle, shook the air. Simon
looked upward and gaped in shock.

Something huge was diving
down at the tower, something surrounded by purple flames. But it
wasn't a dragon. There were no scales, no leathern wings to catch the
wind, none of the savage beauty that even his draconian enemies had
always had.

Instead, an impossible
creature was on the attack. Bones, sinew and eye sockets filled with
violet fire. A dracolich.

Simon stared at the
descending monstrosity, frozen with shock and fear.

What could he do to
counter something like that?

“
Damn it, wizard!”
Aeris yelled as he got closer. “Get to the roof and seal the
wards!”

The roof? Simon blinked
and tried to focus. The roof. Right.

He looked up at the tower,
raised Mortis de Draconis and concentrated.

“
Gate!”

He stumbled as he appeared
in the center of the roof, next to the pedestal that held the two
ward stones. He risked a glance up at the attacking nightmare and
wished that he hadn't. The undead dragon looked huge as it dropped
from the black sky wreathed in nightmarish flames. It would be on
them in seconds.

Simon put his right hand
on the wards, grounded his staff and, for the first time since he had
trapped the green dragon, sealed his tower off completely.

An opaque shell, similar
to his personal shield spell but surrounding the entire tower and
grounds out to the outer wall, appeared with a loud crackle of
static. The wizard looked up in time to see the dracolich veer off
with a scream of rage and he shuddered with relief.

“
Well, that was a
close one.”

The wizard glanced at
Aeris as he wiped his forehead off on his sleeve. The elemental had
flown up and over the edge of the roof to join him.

“
No kidding. Where
the hell did that thing come from?”

“
The city,
obviously. This necromancer is more powerful than I would have
thought possible. Few of his ilk have ever been able to raise a
dragon from the dead.”