The Dragons of Ice and Snow (54 page)

“
Speak of the devil
and here they are.”

The paladin spun around
and watched, wide-eyed, as row after row of elven archers appeared
out of the icy wastes.

The tall, slim figures
were all wearing brown and green leather armor with longbows across
their shoulders and quivers of arrows on their hips. At their head, a
beautiful elvish woman led the way, her golden brown hair hanging in
a braid down her back.

As they approached, the
elf met Simon's eyes and smiled widely. She hurried forward and
clasped his hand in hers.

“
Hello, my friend.
Rather an odd place to hold a reunion, don't you think?”

Simon smiled at Ethmira,
his lips stiff with cold.

“
I have to agree. I
wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”

He looked at the
disciplined group of elves and back at his friend.

“
They know the
risks, don't they? I mean, we're talking about dragons here, not to
mention the fact that there's a mutated primal dragon up there
casting spells. Have they been told?”

“
Relax, Simon. Yes,
every one is a volunteer. You know our background and the reasons
that elves detest dragons. We've all just been waiting for a chance
to strike back at them.”

She looked up at the
cliffs rising hundreds of feet above them.

“
Granted, a more
pleasant location for a battle would have been preferable, but it is
what it is.”

Simon took a moment to
introduce Ethmira to everyone. Even Tamara seemed impressed by the
business-like appearance of the elven archers and her brother was a
little tongue-tied when he tried to say hello.

His sister rolled her eyes
as Sebastian stuttered and she and Simon exchanged an amused glance.

The wizard wasn't
surprised at the mage's reaction. Ethmira was quite possibly the most
beautiful woman that he had ever met. She tended to overwhelm others
when they were first introduced.

Malcolm and Aiden, on the
other hand, greeted her enthusiastically, broad smiles on their
faces. Simon watched as the elvish maiden took in their armor and
weapons at a glance and he could see that she approved.

When introductions were
finished, they all looked at Simon expectantly.

“
Okay folks,”
he said loudly, glad that his heavy gloves hid his trembling hands.
“It's been almost a week since Aeris discovered the horror show
up above. We don't know if anything's changed since then and we need
intel.”

He looked down at the
hovering elemental and raised an eyebrow. Aeris nodded once gravely.

“
My friend here has
volunteered to go up and take a quick look around. Now, the last time
he did that, he was spotted. But that was because he allowed me to
see through his eyes and stayed in one spot too long. Today, he is
going to do a fast in and out. No lingering. Just look at the
situation and return. That's it.”

“
Are you sure you
want to do this?” Ethmira asked. “You do not have to, you
know.”

Aeris bowed to her.

“
Thank you, lady,
but yes. This is what I do. And I cannot allow our dear wizard and
yourselves to go in blind. That could be disastrous. But I appreciate
your concern.”

Simon got down on one knee
so that he was almost face to face with both Aeris and Kronk.

“
She's right, you
know,” he said under his breath. “If you want to pass on
this one, I'll understand.”

“
Of course not,”
the air elemental said with a sniff. “I'm quite capable of
scouting out a simple little mountain. Honestly, between you and
Kronk, you're like the parents I never had. I'll be fine.”

The wizard stood up. He
nodded solemnly.

“
Any time then.”

Aeris looked around at
everyone, smiled and vanished.

“
Any idea how long
this will take?” Tamara asked. She was wearing a fur-lined
jacket with a hood pulled over her head, but Simon could see that she
was shivering.

“
Not long. It will
give me a chance to summon the rest of our forces.”

“
Good. I really hate
the cold.”

He grinned at her.

“
Me too. Let's hope
we can get in and out and in front of a warm fire quickly.”

Simon walked away from the
group, Kronk trotting along behind him, his little feet squeaking on
the hard snow.

The elves had broken ranks
and were talking amongst themselves, while both Malcolm and Aiden had
gathered the other humans together and began chatting amiably,
obviously trying to keep their spirits up. It seemed to be working.

“
Okay, bud,”
he said to Kronk when they had walked off about fifty feet. “Time
to call in your big brothers and sisters.”

“
Yes, master. I
know,” the earthen replied, sounding a little more excited than
usual. “You do have the list of names with you, don't you?”

“
Of course I do.
Gees, what a question.”

Simon reached into a
pocket in his jacket and then looked at Kronk blankly. He slipped a
hand into his robe and felt around and then looked at the little guy
with wide eyes.

“
Oh master! I knew
it. I knew I should have been the one to...”

The wizard pulled out the
folded sheet of paper and winked at Kronk.

“
Gotcha,” he
said and snickered.

The earthen put a
misshapen hand over his face and shook his head.

“
You'd give me a
heart attack, master, if I had one.”

“
I know, my friend.
But we're all getting a little too grim around here. Now, here we
go.”

One by one, Simon read the
names of the earth elementals aloud.

“
Kassus, I need
you,” he stated firmly.

The frozen earth and snow
several feet in front of him erupted and dirt and gravel flew
everywhere. From underground, the coal black figure of the large
earthen climbed to the surface and nodded.

“
Sir wizard, you
kept your word.”

“
Of course. We need
you and your brethren for the battle to come.”

“
Excellent.”
The elemental stomped heavily toward Simon and stood next to him.
“Continue.”

As he called forth the
rest of the earthen, the wizard heard loud, excited comments from the
group of humans and elves. He guessed that they had either never seen
large elementals before, or had never seen this many at one time. He
had to admit that they were impressive.

This might just work, he
thought with a small surge of hope.

When he was finished,
Simon explained to the elementals that they were waiting on a
scouting report before they began. He waved toward the elves and
humans.

“
Will you and your
people be able to transport all of us to the top of that,” he
pointed at the mesa towering over them, “at the same time?”

“
Child's play,
wizard,” Kassus said confidently. “We will each take
several of you with us. Only tell us when and where.”

“
Great. Thank you.
Um, talk amongst yourselves for a bit, okay? I have more summoning to
do.”

Kassus just stared at him
and Simon smiled at little diffidently at him and walked away to find
an open area.

“
How are you
feeling, master?” Kronk asked as he trotted along at Simon's
heels. “Any fatigue?”

“
None. Which is
great, by the way. Calling forth elementals by name takes no energy
at all.”

“
Good to hear,
master.”

The wizard had moved away
from the group of earthen so that he could have an open area with
enough room to summon the air elementals.

“
Next phase,”
he said to Kronk. “Here we go.”

“
Aethos, I need
you,” he said into the blustery wind.

A distant mutter of
thunder announced the imminent arrival of the powerful air elemental
and Simon braced himself for the inevitable blast of wind that
normally followed.

This time, however, the
man-sized misty figure appeared a few feet away with no disturbance
whatsoever.

Simon stared at Aethos,
who seemed amused by his expression.

“
I thought a quiet
entrance would be more appropriate, considering the battle to come,”
the airy voice said.

“
Um, good call,”
the wizard replied. “As you can see, my people are gathered and
I've already summoned the earth elementals.”

Aethos turned to look at
the group of hulking, rocky humanoids and suddenly flew toward them.

“
Kassus? Is that
you? Why, you old hunk of dirt!”

“
Aethos?” the
earth elemental rumbled in reply. “By the Stone, it is you!
Well, my friends, we're doomed now. If this airhead is involved in
the upcoming fight, we're bound to lose.”

Simon watched,
dumb-founded as the two elementals continued to insult each other,
laughing like old friends. He looked down at Kronk.

“
They've met?”

“
Apparently, master.
They must have known each other back in the old days of magic.”

“
Well, they seem to
get along, so that's good. While they reminisce, I'll call in the
rest of the air elementals.”

By the time he was done,
and there were nine air and nine earthen elementals mixed together,
Simon decided that this was probably the weirdest experience that he
had ever had. Several elementals on each side were acquainted with
each other and the entire bunch was talking and laughing when the
wizard turned around and walked back to the group of humans and
elves.

Ethmira was smiling when
he rejoined them.

“
Holding an
elemental party?” she asked with laughter in her voice.

He turned and looked at
the elementals and shook his head.

“
You'd definitely
think so. I had no idea that beings from different realms would
actually know each other.”

“
It's not all that
surprising,” Tamara said as she watched the two groups. “They
are immortal, after all. Certainly stories of ancient times tell of
wars and periods of conflict where wizards employed servants from
different planes. A few were bound to run into each other from time
to time, don't you think?”

Liliana was nodding as she
studied the interaction between the creatures.

“
That isn't such a
bad thing either,” she said. “Friends fight harder for
friends, as a rule. If the elementals are comrades, they may be even
more aggressive than they would normally be.”

“
I'll take any help
I can get,” Simon told them all.

“
I noticed that you
haven't summoned the fire elementals,” Malcolm stated
curiously.

“
No, I haven't. I'll
call for them later, if needed. They are destruction personified and
may actually do more harm than good. Let's see how things go first,
hmm?”

“
You're the boss,”
the big man said cheerfully. “Just tell me what to do and when
to do it.”

Aiden grinned and nodded
in agreement.

“
You'll get your
chance,” Simon said grimly as he looked from face to face.
“You'll all get your chance.”

There was some time to
kill as they waited for Aeris to return from his scouting trip. Simon
spoke to each of his allies in turn, trying to judge their mood and
doing his best to bolster their confidence.

Liliana was in a dark
place. Hers were the only people that they absolutely knew had been
abducted by the dragons to be used in their hellish alchemy. She was
eager to go and seemed to be holding it together by sheer willpower
alone.

Tamara and Sebastian were
worried about their ability to use their powers when they reached the
top of the mesa.

“
What happens if we
get up there and can't use our magic?” Tamara asked. She looked
at her brother, who was shifting from one foot to another, either
because of the cold or nerves or both.

“
Yeah, Simon,”
he added. “In case you hadn't noticed, neither my sister or I
are exactly geared up for hand to hand combat.”

Like the wizard, the
siblings were wearing robes under their heavy coats and gloves.
Neither seemed to be armed.

“
Don't worry,”
he said reassuringly. “If the null field is still active up
there, I'll distract the primal white dragon long enough to make him,
her, whatever, drop it.”

“
How?”

He shrugged.

“
I have an idea, but
if it doesn't work, then we'll figure something else out.”

“
Figure something
out?” Sebastian commented in disbelief. “You mean you're
just winging this?”

“
Hang on, Bastion,”
his sister said as she put a firm hand on his shoulder. “You
can't plan out a battle that specifically. You have to remain fluid
and be willing to adapt. I think that's what our wizard friend is
getting at.”