The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) (58 page)

He was sitting beside a
small campfire, the cool desert night surrounding him and Lacertus.
The darkness echoed with strange calls and distant, mournful howls
that made him uneasy.

“
Have you really?
That's wonderful. Do tell.”

Simon glanced sharply at
the elemental. For a moment he was reminded of Aeris at his most
sarcastic.

But Lacertus simply
returned his look calmly and the wizard decided that he'd misheard.

“
Ever since
Esmiralla used blood and an egg in a spell, I've wondered if such
material things could be used in other types of magic too. Well, God
knows I've spilled enough blood in my battles with the dragons. What
if one of those necromancers was able to get his hands on some of
it?”

“
From where?”

“
No idea, but if
that happened, it's quite possible that I'm being tracked, not by my
magical aura or whatever, but physically.”

Lacertus nodded slowly as
he stared into the fire. His foggy form reflected the light of the
flames and flickered with flashes of red and yellow.

“
You may have hit
upon it, sir wizard. But if that is the case, I fear that you will
never be free of those monsters. Unless you can alter your physical
essence, I don't see how you will break the connection with the
undead primals.”

He smiled widely at Simon,
a look of almost smug satisfaction on his odd little face.

“
Fortunately I will
be here to keep you one step ahead of them. I suppose that means that
we will be together for a very long time.”

The wizard turned away
from Lacertus, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was
something not quite right about the elemental; something
almost...predatory.

He shivered and stared up
at the cold, remote stars that dotted the desert sky.

“
Are you getting a
chill, Simon?” Lacertus asked.

“
Simon? That's the
first time you've used my name,” the wizard told him sharply.

“
Is it? Ah, forgive
me, sir wizard, I misspoke. You have treated me with such kindness
that I almost felt like we were friends.”

“
No, that's fine.
Whatever you want to call me is okay as long as it isn't master.”

“
Oh, I wouldn't do
that,” Lacertus muttered. He said it so quietly that Simon was
sure that he wasn't meant to hear him.

The wizard pulled his pack
closer and casually leaned on it.

“
Could you do me a
favor and make a circuit of the camp please?” he asked the
elemental. “I'm a bit nervous about all of those weird sounds
I'm hearing.”

“
Are you? Well then,
of course I will. Perhaps you should put up a shield, just in case?”

Simon forced a smile.

“
I might, but I want
to conserve my strength. I'll raise a shield when and if I need one.”

“
Wise. Very well,
sir wizard. I won't be long.”

Lacertus flew upward and
disappeared into the darkness.

Simon quickly opened his
pack, dug through it and pulled out his mirror.

He cast the Magic Mirror
spell and focused his mind on a single image.

“
Ethmira,” he
whispered and waited tensely for the foggy surface to clear.

It took a few minutes and
Simon kept looking up and around, expecting Lacertus to reappear at
any moment.

The mirror's surface
cleared and Ethmira's familiar face came into view.

“
Simon!” she
exclaimed and smiled widely. “How lovely to see you again. I
thought that you'd forgotten about us.”

Never,” he assured
her. “Listen, I don't have much time. I need a portal opened to
the elven realm and I need it quickly. Can you help me?”

“
A portal?”

Ethmira looked confused
but didn't question him. Maybe it was the sense of urgency in his
voice. She thought for a moment and replied solemnly.

“
If it is an
emergency, then I can have one opened, yes. For you alone? Of course.
Our time lines are beginning to sync once again, fortunately. Do you
remember the location near your tower? The one that Daniel and I used
before?”

“
I remember it very
well,” he replied quietly, still scanning the area. “How
soon can you create the opening?”

“
In Earth time?”

She looked down and Simon
heard the sound of a quill pen on paper.

“
The next dawn, as
the sun rises above the horizon.”

She narrowed her eyes as
she noticed the pack he was leaning against.

“
You aren't at
home?”

“
No, I'm just about
as far from home as you can get in this world.”

“
Well, get home in
time for the next sunrise and the portal will open. Do not miss it
though. I will have the elders keep it open for as long as possible,
but that time will be quite short.”

“
I know. Thanks
Ethmira. I'll see you soon.”

“
I hope so. Simon,
I'm guessing that you are in trouble. Be careful, my friend.”

“
I'll try.”

He canceled the spell and
slipped the mirror back into his bag. He had just enough time to sit
back and casually stare into the campfire again when Lacertus
reappeared and floated into the firelight.

“
No dangers out
there,” he reported as he approached Simon and settled on to
the ground beside him.

“
Good. That's a
relief. Thanks.”

“
Anything for you,
sir wizard.”

The elemental looked up at
Simon curiously.

“
You look flushed.
Are you not feeling well?”

“
Flushed? It's
probably just a trick of the light. I'm fine. A bit tired, that's
all.”

He looked away but the
wizard could feel Lacertus still watching him closely.

“
Tired? Yes, that's
not surprising. You should try to get some sleep, Sim..., I mean sir
wizard. I will keep watch.”

“
How long until the
dragons catch up to us?”

“
About three hours.
Sleep while you can and I will wake you when it is time to leave.”

“
Okay. Thanks
Lacertus. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

Simon pushed his pack
around so that he could rest his head on it. The sandy soil beneath
him was soft enough that he could lie down comfortably.

“
I am honored,”
the elemental replied smugly.

The wizard closed his eyes
and tried to calculate the time difference between where they were
and his tower. It had to be about twelve hours, meaning that it was
probably late afternoon there now. So dawn back home was at least
sixteen hours away.

Four Gates at least, he
thought. I'll have to cast four Gates before I can get away from this
strange being. Simon didn't know what Lacertus was, but he did know
one thing; the creature was no elemental.

He slept, somehow, and was
awakened by Lacertus as the sky was beginning to glow in the east.

“
I can feel them
approaching, sir wizard,” he said as Simon opened his eyes and
looked around in confusion.

“
Can you?”

How interesting that you
can feel undead monsters, he thought to himself.

“
Okay then. It's
time to go.”

He opened the atlas,
picked a random location and memorized the coordinates.

“
Surely you want to
eat and drink something first?” the elemental asked, sounding
puzzled. “The primals won't be here for at least ten minutes.”

“
I'd rather Gate
first. We're heading to the west coast of Alaska, apparently, so we
should be able to find some fresh water there.”

“
As you wish,”
Lacertus said with a bow.

Bag hanging off of one
shoulder and staff on the other, Simon nodded at the little being and
cast the spell. The void closed in around him and he felt some relief
as he got away from those piercing eyes.

They Gated twice more over
the next ten hours or so and Simon made sure that the last Gate spell
took them to upper New York state, so that they were in the same time
zone as his tower.

They ended up on a tall
hill overlooking the remains of what must have once been a
picturesque little town. The wizard stood looking down at the
destroyed buildings and leveled homes with a sense of almost
suffocating sadness. Bathed by the light of the stars, the desolation
seemed even worse.

Were we really that bad?
Did we really deserve this?

“
You look unhappy,
sir wizard,” Lacertus commented, his voice hollow with false
concern.

Simon managed to keep his
loathing off of his face and just shrugged.

“
Old memories,”
he said tersely. “Of better times.”

“
Ah yes, better
times. But were they better? Surely one such as you, with as much
power as you now command, has benefited from what happened, yes?”

The wizard looked at the
floating, sparking figure in disbelief.

“
My entire race was
almost wiped out. My friends, my coworkers, hell, my whole world was
razed to the ground and you think I've benefited?”

He pointed down at the sad
remnants of the town and glared at the elemental.

“
Explain to me how
much better off those people are now. Can you? Tell me how much
happier I am as I'm hunted down by two undead monstrosities. Go
ahead, I'd be fascinated by your answer.”

Lacertus stared back
silently and Simon fancied that he could see a slight look of
amusement on that inhuman face before it changed to one of chagrin.

“
I have offended
you, sir wizard. I do apologize. Certainly what happened was horrible
and unfair. Please excuse my insensitivity. I will weigh my words
more carefully in the future.”

Simon nodded curtly and
turned away. He walked back to the little campfire he'd built and sat
down.

He looked up at the sky
and tried to judge the time as the elemental flew back and settled
down next to him.

“
I'm beginning to
hate the darkness,” the wizard said, trying to sound more
exhausted than he was. “I feel like I'm constantly being
stalked by unseen creatures.”

“
You are safe, I
assure you. I sense no danger near us. But dawn is just two hours
away and then you will be more at ease, I am sure.”

“
Thank you,”
Simon said as he felt a thrill of anticipation. Two hours to go and
then he would hopefully escape this...thing.

“
I'm sure you're
right.”

Never had the minutes
dragged by so slowly as they did that night. Simon couldn't sleep and
didn't bother pretending that he could. Instead he flipped through
the atlas, looking at each location that they had Gated to. It was
amazing to think that he'd basically gone around the world, in a
random fashion, in his race to stay ahead of the dracoliches. And yet
when he thought about it, all of the places seemed to blur together
and he couldn't really remember specifics from any of them.

“
Dawn is
approaching,” Lacertus said eventually, surprising Simon out of
his reveries.

“
Is it?” He
looked to the east. “How can you tell? The sky is still dark.”

The elemental shrugged.

“
I just know, that's
all. We will have to leave in an hour or so. The primals will be
getting close by then.”

“
No problem. Just
tell me when. I'll be ready.” He looked out a the darkness
uneasily. “It really does feel like we're being watched.”

Lacertus bowed gracefully
and flew upwards.

“
If it will ease you
mind, I will do a quick circuit of the surrounding trees. There is no
danger, but if it will help...”

“
Ah, would you? I
would really appreciate that.”

“
Whatever I can do
for you, sir wizard. What makes you happy, makes me happy.”

The misty figure flew off,
little sparks dripping from him as he vanished into the woods.

Time to get the hell out
of here, Simon thought frantically.

He'd never Gated from a
sitting position before; it just felt weird somehow. But he had a
feeling that if he stood up or made any noise, Lacertus would return
to see what he was up to. So he carefully grabbed his bag with his
left hand and his staff with his right and concentrated on his
target.

“
Gate,” he
whispered.

Never had the deep cold of
the void felt more welcoming.

Simon appeared in the
middle of the main floor of his tower, still sitting down. The fire
was burning for some reason and several candles were lit. Kronk was
sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace while Aeris was
floating above the right arm of his comfy chair. It almost felt like
he'd just stepped out for a moment, instead of returning after being
on the run for weeks.