The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (59 page)

“Incendus, I need you,”
Simon said quickly.

A flash of red light appeared that was
lost in the blaze of the dragon, and then the fire elemental was
standing a few feet from the wizard.

A living flame, six feet tall or more,
Incendus altered his shape to look like a man, with burning eyes and
molten skin.

“What is your wish, sir wizard?”
he asked politely. He looked over his shoulder at the raging dragon.
“Do you think that I can harm something like that?”

“Not really, no,” Simon
replied. “But bring in your fellows and try to keep him
distracted for a few minutes if you could. When you see the rain,
leave. I wouldn't want any of you to get hurt.”

Incendus' eyes narrowed and he glanced
up at the sky.

“Rain? No rain will fall here.
And if it did, it would do little harm to myself or that beast. What
are you talking about?”

“No time for discussion, my
friend. I need that distraction right now!”

The fire elemental bowed.

“As you wish. We will do what we
can.”

Incendus became a living flame again
and shot upward toward the dragon's head far above them. As he flew,
he split in two. And the two split again and then once more until
eight balls of incandescent fire streaked across the volcano to slam
into Pyrathius.

The dragon may have been immune to
being burned, but the force that the elementals hit him with made the
monster stagger back and actually lose his footing. He smashed into
the far wall of the volcano and slid down it, making the entire
mountain shake and quiver.

Under his feet, Simon both felt and
heard a distant rumbling, like a giant clearing its throat. The sound
was far away, but as the primal struggled to regain his feet, the
noise began to grow.

Oh crap, that can't be good, he
thought. I have to hurry.

“Anaposus, I summon you,”
he wheezed, coughing a little as the fumes blew over him.

The air shimmered and flexed and a
sudden cool dampness filled the air around him, welcome relief in the
arid heat of the volcano. As a shape was revealed, Simon canceled his
Diamond Skin spell and raised a shield again. It helped to filter out
the smoke and stench of rotten eggs.

“Sir wizard, I have come,”
a gentle, high-pitched voice said in greeting.

On the ground in front of Simon a
humanoid figure appeared. A foot tall, the elemental was made of
water that rippled and shimmered in the reflected red light of the
primal dragon.

The wizard looked across the volcano
but Pyrathius was still trying to get to his feet. The fire
elementals were circling around him like satellites, moving in to
attack randomly, keeping him confused. Tamara, Keiko and Sebastian
were casting lightning and magic missile spells and the elves were
still hitting him with their enchanted arrows. It was at least
keeping the monster distracted for the moment.

“Welcome, Ana,” he said as
he looked at the elemental. “How are you now?”

“Still saddened, to be honest, at
what happened between my people and yourself,” she said as she
looked at the ground. “I never meant to betray you, sir wizard.
I hope you know that. And I never tried to harm you or your allies.”

Simon had to smile. He had liked the
water elemental from the start and knew that it was her ruler's greed
that had caused her people to ally with the dragons.

“So you've told me already. And I
believe you, so don't worry about it. I'm told that you have a new
leader?” he asked, still keeping a wary eye on the dragon.

“We do. The most powerful of my
kind were shocked by our ruler's move to join with the Chaos lords
and the dragons. They rose up and overthrew him; something that has
never been done before.” She shook her head and risked a glance
up at Simon. “I am told that he was quite...surprised,”
she added dryly.

The wizard chuckled.

“I imagine he would have been.
Anyway, we can catch up some other time. You've been watching as I
asked? You know what's going on and why you are here?”

“Of course, sir wizard. We have
been observing your conflict with the dragon. We know what you are
doing here today and what kind of help you need.”

She turned and stared at the dragon
hundreds of yards away. Even at that distance, he looked huge.

“What is fire's greatest enemy?
Water, of course.”

“Exactly.”

Simon hesitated and felt a rush of
anxiety. His plan pivoted around a being who was both powerful and
fickle. It could all fall apart if that being did not want to help
him.

“So, what did he say when you
asked for his help?”

Ana looked up at the wizard and gave
him a quirky little smile.

“He said, and I quote, 'we'll
see'.”

“Oh damn. Okay then. Whenever
you're ready, go ahead and give him the signal. If nothing happens in
the next few minutes, I'll assume he's decided not to help us and
I'll use my final card.”

“What final card, sir wizard?”
Ana asked, intrigued.

“Frankly, I'd rather not say. I'm
hoping it doesn't come to that.”

“Very well then. I shall do what
I can. Good luck, my lord.”

“And to you, Ana. I hope to see
you when the battle is done.”

She bowed and slipped into the cracked
earth, leaving only a hint of dampness behind.

Well, this should be interesting, Simon
thought. I'd better help to keep that monster occupied.

He aimed his staff at the primal and
gathered his power.

“Magic Missile!” he yelled
and braced his arm as dozens of eye-searing bolts shot out of his
staff and screamed across the crater to smash into Pyrathius.

Simon smiled in satisfaction as the
missiles overbalanced the dragon again and he fell back against the
wall, bringing down an avalanche of broken rock and debris on top of
himself.

The mages' spells were coming slower
now as they began to tire and he knew that they would soon be too
exhausted to continue.

“Aeris, I need you,” he
said and the elemental appeared inside his shield with the briefest
mutter of thunder.

“Ah good, you're still alive,”
Aeris exclaimed.

“Yes, I'm still alive. Thanks for
the concern. Do me a favor, would you? Get to the mages and tell them
to attack one last time and then retreat to Nottinghill Castle. And
tell them to take the fighters with them. If they argue, just say
that I have a plan and I need them out of harm's way before I
implement it.”

Aeris looked at him closely.

“Do you? Have a plan, I mean?”
he asked.

Simon summoned up a tired grin.

“Don't I always? Now get going.
They're running out of juice.”

The elemental nodded silently, waited
for Simon to open his shield and disappeared.

The wizard sighed with relief. At least
his friends would survive to fight another day.

He sealed his shield and held up his
staff again, picturing Ethmira's face. When he had it firmly in his
mind, he Gated.

Up on the rim of the
crater, Simon appeared several feet away from the elf maid. Ethmira
was directing her archers and shooting at the same time. The wizard
looked at the group of elves and counted at least a hundred of them,
all wearing mottled green leather armor and shooting with typical
elven grace.

“
Simon! Well, this
is a surprise,” Ethmira said. She stepped back from the edge of
the crater and slipped her bow over her shoulder.

She was as beautiful as
the wizard remembered, her long auburn hair tied back in a braid that
hung to her waist. She smiled warmly at him.

“
What's going on?”
she asked.

“
First of all, my
thanks to you and your people for coming. You've managed to keep the
primal distracted and that's been a tremendous help.”

She nodded and cast a grim
look at the struggling dragon below.

“
I just wish we
could do more damage. But that damnable thing is simply too big. Our
arrowheads may be penetrating his hide, but then they are being
burned off almost immediately.”

“
Yeah, I know,”
Simon agreed with a sigh. “Anyway, things are about to go a
little sideways so I'd like you and your troops to retreat. Head back
to the elven realm with my gratitude.”

“
What?”
Ethmira looked startled. “But we want to remain in the fight!
We have plenty of ammunition left and my people,” she glanced
at the archers with pride, “are willing to stay as long as it
takes to kill that thing!”

“
I know that,
believe me. But you can't do anything more today. I want you all to
live to fight again. If this doesn't work, your own world will need
you. Pyrathius will turn to the elven realm eventually, if he manages
to defeat us and the dwarves. You will have your chance then to face
him again.”

She planted her hands on
her hips and frowned at him.

“
And what do I tell
Daniel when we return with our tails between our legs, leaving you to
deal with the primal dragon alone?”

“
Tell him the truth.
He's pragmatic enough to understand my decision.”

He stepped forward and
took her hand.

“
Please, Ethmira. I
need you all out of harm's way. What is about to happen may destroy
this entire mountain and you don't want to be here when that
happens.”

She held his gaze for a
long moment before finally nodding.

“
Fine, we'll go. But
I want it understood that it is under protest.”

“
Understood,”
Simon said with a grin. “Do you need a lift to the portal to
your world?”

“
Please.”

“
Kassus, I need
you,” the wizard said loudly as he moved away from the elves.

The ground rumbled and a
large figure made of dark rock similar to the hardened lava around
them burst out of the ground to stare down at Simon.

“
Wizard. I apologize
for not holding the dragon longer.” The elemental sounded
disgusted with himself. “That creature is too powerful.”

“
You did what you
could,” Simon assured him. “That's all I asked for. Now,
could you and your brethren transport Ethmira and her archers back to
the portal? I've asked them to get to a safe distance before my next
move against Pyrathius.”

“
You have another
move?”

“
Why do people keep
asking me that?” the wizard said and pushed his hair from his
eyes irritably.

Kassus laughed in his deep
bass voice.

“
Habit perhaps. Yes,
of course we will be happy to take the elves wherever they wish to
go.”

“
Thanks. I have to
get back down there. Ethmira?”

The elf walked over
quickly.

“
Thanks again. Take
care and say hello to Daniel for me, won't you?”

“
I will,” she
replied and gave him a brief hug. “Best of luck, my friend.”

“
You too.”

Simon waved at her and at
the hulking elemental, raised his staff and cast Gate again.

Back inside the crater,
the primal was up on his feet again. The fire elementals were still
on the attack but the wizard saw with some dismay that there were
only six fireballs whizzing around the dragon. As he watched,
Pyrathius swung his head around and caught one of the elementals in
his deadly maw. He ground his fangs together with a horrible, grating
sound and Simon heard a distant wail of despair.

He killed it, the wizard
thought, horrified. Oh God.

“
Come on, Ana. Come
on!” he muttered as he desperately looked around the crater.

There was no sign of any
of the mages or warriors and he hoped that they had all managed to
Gate away in time. If his plan worked, this crater would shortly be
turned into hell on earth. Maybe.

“
Master! I'm back,”
he heard from the direction of his feet and he looked down to see
Kronk pull himself out of the ground.

“
So I see. Thanks
for getting Kassus to attack. It helped a lot.”

The little guy stared off
at the dragon and shook his blocky head slowly.

“
They are losing,
master. The primal won't be distracted for much longer.”

“
I know. Now I want
you to head outside of the volcano, please. Get some distance away
from this place. I'll summon you when I'm done here.”

Kronk stared at Simon.

“
Will you, master?”
he asked, wide-eyed.

“
Yes, my dear
wizard, will you really? Or are you about to do something suicidal to
try to save the world...again?”

Aeris had appeared a few
feet away and was bobbing up and down, looking at Simon suspiciously.

“
I don't want to
die, guys. I really don't. But I want you safe and out of the way so
please, both of you, get away from this mountain and wait for me to
call you. Okay?”

The elementals exchanged a
look. Kronk nodded and Aeris grimaced at him and then sighed loudly.

“
Fine. We'll go.
Just don't die on us. I've grown rather fond of you.”

The air elemental gave
Simon a final piercing look and shot straight up and out of sight.

“
What he said,
master,” the earthen said with a sad smile.

He bowed and slipped into
the ground again.