The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (61 page)

“
Aeris, come home,”
Simon said quickly and braced himself.

A rumble of approaching
thunder and a flash of light announced the air elemental's return as
Aeris popped into room just above the table.

“
Well well, look at
you!” he exclaimed as he saw both Simon and Kronk. “You
are both safe. Excellent!”

“
How are you?”
the wizard asked him. He thought that Aeris looked a little thinner,
less opaque than usual.

“
Me? I'll live.
Can't say the same for the primal dragon though.”

Simon sat up and stared at
him, wide-eyed.

“
He's dead? Are you
sure?”

“
Master?”
Kronk interrupted. “Ana?”

“
Oh crap. Right.”
He focused on the center of the table. “Anaposus, return to
me.”

A gust of cool, wet air
blew around the room and a small pool of water bubbled up from the
surface of the kitchen table. It formed into the slim, feminine shape
of the water elemental, who smiled as she took in her surroundings.

“
Sir wizard, you are
well?”

“
I'm well, Ana.
You?”

“
Fine, thank you.”
She grimaced. “Better than Aquamastis, I'm afraid.”

“
Why? Was he
injured?”

“
He was...diminished
because of the attack. He will survive, of course, but it will be
many, many years before he is the power that he once was.”

She smiled at Simon's
obvious concern.

“
No need to worry
though. He is back in his river and happy to have repaid his debt to
you.”

The wizard nodded,
reassured by Ana's calm demeanor.

“
I'm glad. Now the
question is, what happened to Pyrathius?”

“
I cannot say,
master,” Kronk replied with a frown. “There was no way to
see through the chaos after the water elemental attacked.”

“
So we don't
actually know if the primal is alive or dead?”

All three elementals shook
their heads.

“
Damn it! We have to
know!”

Simon jumped to his feet
and weaved across the room to the stairs. He was feeling a bit
light-headed after such a crazy day.

“
Come on, guys. I'll
use the hand mirror to see what's going on.”

The elementals followed in
a group and all of them climbed up to the second floor and hurried
into the study.

“
By the way, is
anyone else surprised that we're still alive?” the wizard asked
as he sat down at his desk and picked up the mirror.

“
I certainly am,”
Aeris stated. When Kronk and Ana stared at him, he frowned back.
“Well I am! Come on, the primal is or was, whatever, the most
powerful dragon in the world, after the queen. And all of our attacks
had almost zero effect on him. Did you two seriously expect to walk
away practically unscathed?”

Simon cast the Magic
Mirror spell as he listened to the conversation.

“
I actually never
considered it,” Ana said a little vaguely. “Our wizard
gave me a chance at redemption and I took it. I suppose that if I had
thought about death, I would have thought that it was a small price
to pay to make up for my peoples' treachery.”

Aeris looked at her as if
she'd gone mad.

“
Seriously? You
weren't worried about being destroyed by that monster?”

“
Neither was I,”
Kronk said stoutly as Ana shrugged. “It is our job to obey,
Aeris. To the death. You know that. What is the point of worrying
about it? What purpose does it serve?”

“
You two are so
noble,” the water elemental said sarcastically. “If I
could vomit, I think I would.”

“
Gees, I'm sorry I
even brought it up,” Simon cut in. “Never mind that now.
Look, I'm getting something.”

The elementals hurried
across the desk and peered at the mirror. The frosted surface was
clearing and at first it was hard to tell exactly what they were
seeing. Everything was washed out by a searing red light.

Simon made a gesture and
the view slowly pulled back further and further until details began
to emerge.

“
Holy crap,”
he muttered. “The mountain's gone!”

He was almost right. The
mirror's point of view had to be several miles from where the volcano
had stood but the entire top half of the cone was gone, obliterated
by what had to have been a tremendous explosion. Geysers of lava were
shooting up into the air, hundreds of feet high. Roiling plumes of
dark smoke belched upward and met the clouds high above. It was a
scene out of someone's vision of Hell.

“
What are those,
master?” Kronk asked and pointed at shapes dipping downward
almost to the roiling lava and then back up into the soot-stained
clouds again.

Simon leaned forward and
squinted, trying to make out details. Then he cursed under his
breath.

“
Dragons. Damn.
There must be hundreds of them.”

“
And no sign of the
primal,” Aeris said with satisfaction. “His minions must
be searching for him.”

“
Not searching,”
Ana said firmly. She moved closer to the mirror and tapped it near
the bottom of the glass. “Mourning.”

All of them looked at the
spot she had indicated and Simon zoomed the view in closer.

A large hummock rested on
the turbulent edge of the volcano. A misshapen hill that seemed out
of place next to the lake of bubbling liquid rock.

Simon brought the view in
even closer and then felt the tension drain out of him suddenly. He
slumped back in his chair and exhaled loudly.

It was the severed head of
Pyrathius. The force of the blast had ripped it off of his serpentine
neck and flung it to the edge of the eruption. The primal's body must
have been torn to bits by the enormous explosion.

The dragon's maw gaped
open and broken teeth reflected the flickering fires of the lava,
giving the illusion that the monster's lips were moving, as if trying
to speak one last time. But he was unquestionably dead and Simon felt
nothing but relief.

“
Even uglier in
death than he was in life, isn't he?” Aeris observed.

“
His looks don't
concern me,” the wizard said as he rubbed his eyes with his
free hand. “But it seems that he was telling the truth when he
was boasting to me earlier.”

“
About what,
master?”

Simon nodded at the
mirror.

“
About the lesser
dragons. He said that he had severed the bond between them and that,
in the event of his death, they would survive. Apparently, he was
right.”

“
That's horrible,”
Ana gasped. “I'd forgotten about that connection. Then that
means the dragons will still be hunting your people?”

“
I would think so,”
Simon told her. “But it's gets worse. If he was telling the
truth about that, he might have been telling the truth about
something else too.”

“
What else?”
Aeris asked hesitantly.

The wizard shook the
mirror to cancel the spell and put it down on the desk. He pushed
back his hair and stretched, feeling several stabs of pain from a
half-dozen cuts and bruises.

“
Pyrathius told me
that he had found a way to allow his subjects to procreate, to
produce more red dragons. It might have been a lie, but as we've just
seen, he was truthful about them surviving his death, so...”

“
So he might have
been telling the truth,” Aeris said flatly.

The three elementals
looked appalled.

“
But that means that
there is no stopping them, not for good at least,” Ana said.
“Even a lesser dragon is a fearful thing. To have to deal with
hundreds, possibly thousands one day? How can humanity survive?”

“
Damned good
question. I wish I had the answer, but I don't. And right now I don't
even want to think about it. I have to call Tamara and the others and
let them know what's happened. I think that we should focus on the
fact that the primal is dead. We can worry about the aftermath
later.”

“
Not too much later,
my dear wizard,” Aeris said ominously as Simon picked up the
mirror again. “I'm quite sure that those red dragons are angry
about the death of their leader. They may want revenge.”

Simon focused on Tamara
and cast the communication spell.

“
Yes, I'm sure they
do.”

Tamara, Sebastian and the
others were thrilled to hear about the death of Pyrathius. Their good
mood didn't last long when Simon told them about the survival of the
lesser red dragons. And they were horrified by the idea that the
dragons might have the ability to procreate.

They were all gathered in
the meeting room to talk. Simon elected to remain at home and use the
mirror. He was just too tired to Gate again that day.

Everyone sported a
multitude of cuts, burns and bruises. Even the fighters had been
singed by hot ash and splashing droplets of molten rock.

After meeting for at least
an hour, it was Liliana who finally asked the most important
question.

“
So what do we do
now?”

Everyone went silent and
Simon felt his stomach tie itself in knows as all of his friends
looked at him.

“
Hang on, guys. Why
are you looking at me?”

“
Who else can we
look at?” Tamara said reasonably. “You've been at the
forefront of the fight against the primals since the beginning. Well,
they're all gone now, so congratulations. But things may actually
still be just as bad as they were, if not worse. The red dragons
could be at our doorstep before the day is out. And at yours too,”
she added with a grim look at Simon. “Plus we have the queen to
worry about. A creature that is not only ridiculously powerful but
may also be insane.”

“
Yeah, so now that
our friend has laid out the details, you can just tell us what to do,
Simon, and we'll get on with it.”

The wizard gaped at
Malcolm and then had to chuckle as the big man grinned at him.

“
Wiseguy,” he
said. “Okay, look everyone, I'm as unsure of our next move as
you are. We'll have to depend on our wards for now to at least blunt
any airborne attack. Remember, dragons don't cooperate naturally.
They are vicious, solitary creatures when they aren't following the
orders of a primal. Well, there are no primals anymore and my guess
is that the red dragons will scatter to the four winds and begin to
stake out their individual territories. Personally, I think it's a
whole new ballgame. I think that our future battles with dragons will
be against one at a time. We might confront two dragons working
together if they are a mated pair, but I'm guessing that's about it.
As for the queen...”

Simon shrugged and looked
at each of them helplessly.

“
I don't have a
clue. She's a distant threat for now and may be for a long time.
We'll try to set up some sort of surveillance system to keep on eye
on her and her whereabouts. That's all I can think of for now. Anyone
else?”

“
You see?”
Malcolm said and smacked Aiden on the shoulder. “Told you he'd
have the answers.”

His partner just elbowed
him back, but he looked at Simon gravely.

“
I think that your
advice is sound, my friend. We need to be vigilant, continue our
training and bolster our defenses. And maybe then we'll at least have
a chance to get on with our lives.”

“
I second that,”
Sebastian said briskly. He stood up and looked around. “And I
think we should start now. I'm going to get some sleep. The rest of
you should get your wounds tended to and do that same.”

His sister gave him a fond
glance and stood up as well.

“
I think that means
that this meeting is adjourned. Simon, thank you for everything you
did today. Without you and your elemental friends, we would have be
finished.”

Tamara began to applaud
and, one by one, the others stood up and joined her.

Simon felt his face
turning red and looked down, too embarrassed to catch anyone's eye.

“
Guys, stop. Please.
It was a group effort and honestly, I didn't have a clue whether
Aquamastis would help us or not. We were lucky and that's the bottom
line. If you want to thank anyone, thank lady luck, not me. I'll be
in touch in a day or two. In the meantime, if you need me for
anything, don't hesitate to call. Right?”

He waved at the group and
canceled the spell.

Thank God that's over
with, was his relieved thought.

“
They are right you
know, master,” Kronk said. “You do deserve recognition
for all of your efforts.”

Ana nodded briskly and
Aeris winked.

“
Oh come on. Not you
too. I'm just one member of this team. You three, Aquamastis, Kassus
and Incendus, among others, deserve as much praise as I do. More,
frankly. Not to mention the elves and their contribution. If you want
to thank me, let's forget about it and try to get back to a normal
routine, okay?”