The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) (47 page)

“
I
would hardly call you odd, Simon. I lived outside of the castle for
months, remember. I am only here now because of the threats to the
people. If we ever reach a point in the future where things are
safer, or at least less dire, I shall probably move out again.”

“
I'm
glad you understand. Now, both you and Tamara have lodestones and
either of you can contact me immediately if there's an attack on the
castle. I don't know if the last attacks were intentionally
coordinated or not, but at a guess I'd say the odds of that happening
again are slim. So if you need my help, just call on me, day or
night. The castle's wards are attuned to me so Gating through them is
no problem and I can be here in minutes. Surely the time saved by my
living here won't be all that significant, will it?”

The
paladin laughed and shook a finger at him.

“
You
are entirely too logical, do you know that? But you're right. Perhaps
I was just being overly concerned for the castle and its people when
I asked you to stay for a while.”

Simon
pushed off the wall and slung Mortis de Draconis over his shoulder
again.

“
No
you weren't, Liliana. You can never care too much for these
Changlings. Don't you ever believe that. I feel the same way about
them. You and I, we were created to be their protectors. I'm
convinced of that now. Any of us who can use magic or prayer to
defend our people have been gifted with those powers for that
specific purpose. And we must never forget that. Call me if you need
me and I will be here, I promise you.”

The
paladin extended her gloved hand and Simon shook it firmly.

“
You've
eased my mind, my friend, and I thank you for that. I'm going to
remain up here. Why not head down and seek out the seneschal? She
will probably have your supplies ready by now.”

“
I'll
do that. I hope to see you again soon, Liliana.”

“
I'm sure you will.
Take care.”

The rest of the day passed
quickly. The wizard spent about an hour speaking with Malcolm and
Aiden. They swapped war stories about their battles with the undead.
He also dropped in to see the quartet of friends, Virginia, Anna,
Eric and Gerard. The four of them were busily involved in castle
life. When Simon remembered the first time they had met and how
traumatized they had been, he felt very proud of them.

Although they were busy
with their various duties, everyone took some time to catch up. They
had all grown as people but Anna was the most changed; she was more
mature and outgoing than she had once been.

When Simon mentioned that,
Anna gave him a mischievous grin.

“
I was always like
this,” she said lightly. “It just took me a bit longer to
come out of my shell.”

Later, when he was taking
his leave, Virginia took him aside for a quick word.

“
Do you think this
mess with the necromancers will be concluded quickly?” she
asked him after a quick look over her shoulder to make sure that they
were out of earshot of her friends.

“
I have no idea.
Why?”

Simon had forgotten just
how beautiful Virginia was. It was a bit distracting, even though he
wasn't really attracted to her.

“
Because the four of
us hope to get out and explore the world one day. Yes, I know,”
she added as she saw his confusion. “We fit in here and love
the place. But we're all getting restless as well. Our combined
powers are growing and we want to find out what we can do away from
the protection of the castle and its people. Does that sound
strange?”

“
Not at all. I think
one reason I live alone is because I have the freedom to try new
spells, new ways of manipulating magic. I'm not constantly worrying
about the effects on others.”

He looked at the waiting
elementals.

“
My friends here are
a lot more resilient than humans are and any accidents I might have
do very little damage to them. If I lived here, I wouldn't have that
kind of freedom.”

“
I knew you'd
understand,” Virginia said warmly.

“
Just don't do
anything hastily,” Simon warned her. “This insane
situation with the undead may last for quite some time. And when you
do leave, do me a favor and let me know, okay? Don't just disappear.”

She chuckled and gave him
a quick hug.

“
We wouldn't be here
if it wasn't for you,” she told him. “And you two as
well,” she added, looking at the elementals.

Both Aeris and Kronk
smiled gratefully and bowed as one.

“
So we won't just
vanish, Simon. Now off you go. The world won't save itself, you
know.”

He snorted a laugh, said
his goodbyes and headed out.

It was late evening by the
time Simon and the elementals returned home. He'd brought back a
dozen bags of supplies including clothes, several bottles of wine and
bundles of dried meat. He had decided on the preserved beef because
it would last a lot longer.

“
Well, that was
productive,” he told Kronk and Aeris as they began putting
things away.

The earthen had stoked the
fire while Aeris filled the kettle and Simon lit the candles with a
wave of his hand.

“
It was indeed. Did
you pick up any new information while we were there?” the air
elemental asked as he hung the full kettle over the fire.

“
Hints. People are
uneasy. Well, you heard Liliana. If someone so brave is worried, it
makes me nervous. We need some intelligence about what our enemies
are up to. I hate flying blind.”

“
What sort of
intelligence, master?” Kronk asked over his shoulder as he
carried several packages of dried meat toward the stairs.

“
Well, for starters,
where the hell are those necromancers? They've all disappeared; all
of them. That's not good. How can we fight something if we don't even
know where it is?”

Kronk nodded thoughtfully
and headed down to the storage area with the packages.

“
Can we help?”
Aeris asked. “I mean myself and my people?”

Simon leaned his staff
against the wall and picked up a couple of bags of clothing. He
nodded slowly, thinking through the idea.

“
Maybe. Let's talk
about it after I put this stuff away.”

“
Go ahead. Your tea
should be ready when you come back.”

“
Sounds good.”

A short time later, Simon
was back downstairs curled into his comfy chair in front of the
fireplace. He had changed into a fresh robe and new woolen socks and
was sipping a hot cup of tea.

Everything had been put
away and the elementals were each sitting on opposite arms of the
chair. No one spoke for a while. Simon was tired after the trip and
he enjoyed the warmth of the fire, thinking about nothing in
particular.

“
Have you given it
some thought?” Aeris asked eventually.

“
What?”

Simon blinked at him
sleepily, feeling a bit muddled.

“
Oh, right. The help
you offered?”

Aeris nodded.

“
What help is that?”
Kronk asked him.

“
Oh, our dear wizard
is nervous about the disappearance of the necromancers. I am too, to
be fair. So I thought that if we summoned more of my people and sent
them out to scout, we might get lucky.”

“
Get lucky?”
the earthen said dubiously. “That is a bit vague, isn't it?
Just tell them to head out into the world and poke around?”

Simon smiled at the little
guy, while Aeris looked a little uncomfortable.

“
Well yes, I suppose
it is. But we do need to know where the necromancers are, don't we?
Do you have a better idea?”

“
I think I do, yes.”

There was a moment of
silence while Kronk's answer filtered into Simon's sleepy brain. He
sat up a bit and stared at the earthen.

“
What? You think you
have a way to track them down?”

“
No master, I do
not. But you do.”

“
And what, pray
tell, is that?” Aeris scoffed.

“
Argentium. The
argent dragon told you that if you should ever need his aid, all you
had to do was call on him, master. I would wager that if anyone could
find those necromancers, it is he.”

“
Do you really think
that calling on that creature, after what Esmiralla did to our
wizard, is a good idea? You can't trust them!”

“
Well now, someone's
changed his tune,” Simon said with a little grin.

Aeris glowered at him.

“
Yes, I have. I lost
my reverence for the silver dragon when she betrayed you for her own
benefit.”

“
I do not trust her
either,” Kronk assured him. “But I am speaking of the
argent dragon. Even we earthen know that he sacrificed himself for
the greater good. And the three of us saw how he reacted when he
learned of Esmiralla's treachery. I think that we can trust him, at
least somewhat.”

Simon forced himself to
consider asking the great dragon for help. He still did not trust the
silver dragon and probably never would. But Kronk was right;
Argentium was another matter entirely. For the first time since he'd
had contact with the dragon, he wondered what he and Esmiralla had
been up to since they had disappeared that fateful night.

Had they taken the fight
to the red dragons? Or had they been biding their time, planning,
scheming. He simply didn't know enough about how such creatures
thought to even hazard a guess.

“
I'll think about
it, Kronk,” he said carefully. “It's a big decision.
Letting those two into our lives again might not be for the best.”

“
As you wish,
master. It was just a thought, after all.”

“
I know. Let me
sleep on it.”

That night Simon had a
dream. He dreamt that he was floating high above the world. He could
see far, to every corner of the globe. And from every direction, a
darkness advanced; creeping forward into every valley and over every
hill. Horrific shapes moved within the darkness, choking fumes rose
up around it and the world withered as it came.

“
No, I have to stop
it,” the wizard moaned in his sleep.

He tossed and turned,
flinging his blankets to the floor. His body began to glow with a
silver aura as he started sweating and panting in the grip of his
nightmare.

Simon suddenly gasped and
flung up his hands, trying to protect himself from something that
only he could see. The entire tower seemed to convulse in response to
his fear and the walls cracked and groaned; dust trickling down from
the ceiling.

“
What is happening?”
someone yelled from outside.

Aeris and Kronk burst into
the tower and stopped, looking around frantically. A shout from above
them was followed by another shudder of the tower. Pieces of calking
popped out of the joints in the walls and the building seemed to rise
up several inches and then settle into the earth again with a loud
groan.

“
Master!”
Kronk bellowed and raced for the stairs.

Aeris shot by him, flew up
the steps and into the bedroom. He stopped and gaped at the wizard.

Simon was floating several
feet above his bed. His naked body was engulfed in crackling energy,
like lightning running up and down his limbs. He was pulsing with
silvery light.

“
What is happening?”
Kronk asked as he ran into the room. “Master?”

A sobbing groan came from
the levitating wizard and he covered his face with his hands.

“
He can't hear you.
He's dreaming,” Aeris told the earthen. “And whatever
he's dreaming about, it's obviously horrible.”

“
Then we must wake
him!” Kronk said and moved forward.

“
Wait! Are you
insane? If you touch him, he could lash out in his sleep and kill
you.”

“
Master would never
hurt me,” the little guy said stoutly.

Simon jerked and twitched
and dropped a few inches. The tower creaked alarmingly.

“
Not awake he
wouldn't. But he's asleep, Kronk. He's not in his right mind.”

The earthen stared at
Simon and reached out toward him.

“
Then what can we
do? This nightmare could harm him. And it may bring the tower down
around us.”

“
Hang on! I have an
idea.”

Aeris shot out of the room
and Kronk was left alone, helplessly watching Simon's suffering.

“
Hold on, master.
Hold on!” he cried.

Another shout from the
wizard drew Kronk forward. He wanted to ease his master's pain but he
didn't know how. Aeris was right though. Asleep, Simon's power could
destroy even an earth elemental and he would never even know he'd
done it.