The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (49 page)

Her tone was so
self-deprecating that Simon had to laugh.

“
You're saying
you're nosy?” he teased her and she smiled in return.

“
I suppose I am. But
please don't tell Aeris or Orriss that. They would never agree.”

Simon nodded and scanned
the skies. The clouds were mere streamers stretched across the blue
expanse. The winds up there must have been quite violent.

He squinted up at a smudge
of darkness that spoiled the cerulean beauty of the sky. Was it
moving?

“
What is that?”
Simon asked and pointed up at the odd smudge.

“
What is what?”
Brethia replied and followed his arm upward.

They both strained to make
out details and then Simon jumped up and staggered backwards, almost
tripping on his robe.

“
Oh cripes. It's a
red dragon.”

“
No, sir wizard, not
just a red dragon,” Brethia disagreed. “That creature is
huge or we wouldn't be able to see it at the height it is flying.”

“
The primal,”
Simon gasped.

He had no time to waste
and held up his right hand.

“
Mortis de
Draconis,” he barked and his staff appeared in his hand.

The air elemental pulled
back and stared at it.

“
Sir wizard.
What...”

Simon ignored her. He
moved to stand next to the ward on the roof and rested his left hand
on it. Closing his eyes, Simon gathered his strength and channeled
magic out of the air through his staff and into the ward, stiffening
the tower's protections.

When he was done, he felt
a little wobbly in the knees but ignored it.

“
Is it attacking?”
he asked Brethia as he scanned the skies.

She pointed toward the
dragon. It was still thousands of feet above them, hovering.

“
Not yet. It is just
hanging there. I wonder why?”

“
Scouting us out
before it attacks, I guess.”

Brethia rose up to eye
level and looked at Simon.

“
Can you stop it,
sir wizard?” she asked simply.

“
That?”

Simon leaned on his staff
and gave it some honest thought. Then he walked quickly across the
roof and opened the trapdoor. He shrugged at the air elemental.

“
Nope,” he
said. “Not without some help.”

He glanced up at the
menace above.

“
Call me if
something changes.”

And he climbed down
hurriedly and closed the door behind him.

Back in his study, Simon
rested his staff against his desk, opened a drawer and picked up the
crystal ball. He sat down, put it on the desk and stared into its
depths.

“
Esmiralla, can you
hear me?”

“
Young wizard, you
have called me. How interesting.”

The dragon's power could
be felt through the crystal and Simon shivered.

“
To what do I owe
this...intrusion?”

“
Uh, forgive me,
Esmiralla, but we've got a problem that you might be able to help
with, if you choose to.”

“
Help? With what?”

Her tone was, at best,
neutral and Simon reminded himself that the silver dragon had not
declared herself an ally of his or of the human race. She was an
independent operator in this conflict and he'd better not offend her.

“
The primal red
dragon is, at this very moment, hovering several thousand feet above
my tower.”

“
He is what?”
Her shock was evident. “Are you certain that it is the primal?”

“
Oh yes, I'm quite
certain. He's immense. It's hard to tell from such a great distance,
but he is perhaps the largest dragon that I have ever seen. The color
of coagulated blood.”

“
And he is just
hovering in place?”

“
Exactly. I can't
figure it out. I've strengthened my wards as much as I can, but he
could crush this tower like an egg if he dropped directly on to it.”

“
I see.”

She said nothing else and
the silence stretched on and on.

“
Well, can you help
me?” he asked finally, almost bouncing in his seat with
anxiety. “I don't mean any offense but time is ticking here.”

“
Of course, of
course. The problem is, I do not have enough information to offer an
opinion. But perhaps there is a way to change that. Can you take the
crystal ball to the top of your tower?”

“
To the roof? Uh,
yeah. Sure.”

“
Do it then. I will
be able to extend my senses through the crystal and see what is
happening directly. Then we shall see what we shall see.”

“
Okay then, I'll do
that right now.”

Simon picked up the
crystal ball, grabbed his staff and ran out of the room. He climbed
up to the roof, shoved back the trapdoor and went outside.

“
There has been no
change, sir wizard,” Brethia told him. “It is still up
there, waiting.”

The wizard was surprised
to see that Brethia was no longer alone. Aeris had joined her and was
watching him closely.

“
You saw the
dragon?” Simon asked him as he closed the hatch with his foot.

“
How could I miss
it? In case you hadn't noticed, your cows and horses have panicked
and are huddled in a group in a corner of the field. Kronk is with
them, trying to keep them calm.”

“
They are? Sorry,
I've been a bit preoccupied.”

He held out his staff to
Aeris.

“
Hold Mortis for me,
would you?”

“
Err, all right.”

Aeris took the staff
cautiously, holding it upright as if he was handling a live snake.

Simon held up the crystal
ball in the direction of the distant red dragon.

“
He's there,
Esmiralla,” he stated loudly.

“
Yes, I see. Wait a
moment.”

The crystal ball with its
metal base was heavy and Simon's skinny arms began shaking almost
immediately. He bit his lip and did his best to keep it steady.

Minutes passed with
agonizing slowness and, just as the wizard thought that he would drop
his burden, Brethia shot across the roof and under the crystal,
easily bracing it and taking most of the weight.

“
Oh, thanks so
much,” Simon gasped with relief. His face was dripping with
sweat.

“
My pleasure,”
she replied politely.

“
You may lower the
crystal, wizard,” Esmiralla voice vibrated through the ball. “I
have seen enough.”

Brethia helped Simon as he
put the crystal down on the roof. He sat down in front of it, folded
his legs and leaned forward.

“
You had best get in
touch with your allies,” the silver dragon said. There was a
sudden urgency in her voice.

“
Really? Why? What's
happening?”

“
What is happening
is that you have been tricked. That image above your tower is an
illusion. One of the primal red's specialties. It is a diversion,
nothing more.”

“
What!”

Simon leaped to his feet,
grabbed his staff from Aeris and glared upward.

The dragon was still
there, but now, perhaps because it had been exposed as a ruse, the
huge flapping menace began to break apart like smoke. A minute later
nothing remained but a few smudges that floated away in the wind.

“
Bastard!”
Simon shouted. He whirled around, fell to his knees next to the
crystal ball and glared into it.

“
Where is he?”

“
I do not know, but
as I said you should contact your fellow humans. I fear they may be
in great danger. Now go. We shall speak again later.”

And Simon felt the
connection with the silver dragon fade away.

He scooped up the ball and
pushed himself to his feet.

“
Brethia, please
continue to keep watch. Aeris, come with me.”

Aeris nodded and hurried
to open the trapdoor for Simon. Both of them went inside and raced
down the stairs.

“
Could you put this
in the study,” the wizard asked as he handed the crystal ball
to Aeris.

“
Of course.”

“
Good. Meet me
downstairs. I have to call Tamara and the others.”

Down in the kitchen, Simon
picked up his mirror and cast the communication spell. He sat down at
the table and tried to clear his mind. He was becoming a bit frantic
at the thought of what might be going on at Nottinghill Castle if
Esmiralla's conjecture was correct.

He concentrated on Tamara
as he stared into the mirror.

Aeris flew down the stairs
and joined him.

“
Anything?” he
asked.

“
Not yet. Give it a
minute.”

They waited impatiently
for the mist to clear from the mirror's surface.

“
Damn it, where is
she?” Simon said. “Tamara, can you hear me?”

“
Simon? Shh! Be
quiet.”

He lowered his voice with
a confused look at Aeris.

“
Okay,” he
murmured. “What's happening?”

The mirror cleared but the
picture was blurry and Simon realized that it was because the spell
was trying to focus on Tamara and she was moving steadily through
what appeared to be underbrush.

It was getting dark where
she was in northern England and that didn't help him to see her in
the shadows.

“
What's happening?
We're on the run, that's what's bloody happening!” she spat.
“We're in the forest to the south of the castle. Thank God
Malcolm found that secret tunnel or we'd all be dead now.”

She said nothing more and
he watched her groping through crackling branches and swishing
leaves. Simon felt like his brain was stuffed with wool. He couldn't
grasp the situation. A few hours ago, Tamara and her people were fine
and Sebastian was recovering in his own bed. Now...

“
Where's your
brother? Why did you leave the castle? Damn it, Tamara, talk to me!”

“
Okay, we should be
safe enough here for now,” he heard her say to someone he
couldn't see. “Just set him down; I'll keep an eye on him.”

“
I'm perfectly
capable of looking out for myself,” Sebastian protested
somewhere out of sight of the mirror. “Now sit down here and
speak with Simon. And don't you blame him for this,” he added
firmly.

The wizard could finally
get a decent view of Tamara and her situation. She and a bunch of
people were scattered around a shadowed clearing in the woods.
Sebastian was sitting against a tree with his legs stretched out in
front of him. His pale face seemed to glow in the darkness.

His sister slid down
beside him with a grunt and both of them looked up at Simon.
Obviously his image was visible to them.

“
I have no intention
of blaming him. I'm past that, thanks.”

Both of the siblings were
wearing dark robes and boots. Around the clearing, Simon could see
several dozen people, all of whom seemed to be carrying bags and
packs. Whatever had happened, the townspeople at least had had a
chance to grab some of their belongings before they fled.

“
We were attacked by
the biggest goddamned dragon I have ever seen,” Tamara said as
she leaned her head back and rested it against the tree trunk.

“
It descended on
Nottinghill Castle about an hour ago, but slowly, as if taunting us.
I told everyone to grab some essentials and get out through the
hidden exit while that monster just circled lower and lower, finally
landing on the ramparts and just...squatting there like a broody
chicken.”

Simon frowned at her.

“
No one was hurt?”

“
Nope. It's like the
dragon just decided to make a bloody nest of the castle. It would be
funny if it wasn't so nightmarish.” She looked around, checking
on her people. “We've split up into groups. Malcolm and Aiden
took a third of the people each, so that the dragon wouldn't have a
single target to attack in case it discovered us.”

She patted her brother on
the shoulder and got up with a loud sigh.

“
Stay here. I want
Simon to see this.”

Sebastian nodded and
Tamara cut into the trees, the view of the mirror following along.

“
We aren't that
deeply into the forest,” she whispered. “Maybe you can
figure out what is happening.”

Simon told her about the
image of the primal red dragon that he had seen above his tower. The
mage was nodding as he spoke.

“
Yeah, that
definitely sounds like a ruse to me. Obviously you were meant to
focus on the illusion while the real primal attacked here.”

“
But you said that
it didn't actually attack, right?”

The trees thinned out and
Tamara ducked down and crawled forward. The view in the mirror did
the same and Simon wondered whether his image was on its hands and
knees too. It was an odd thought.