The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (17 page)

“
I'll tell him,”
he said to the others. “It's mostly my fault anyway, so I
should be the one to do it.”

“
Richard...”
Clara begun but he cut her off with a look.

“
I'm telling the
truth, Clara. Don't worry, I'm not rolling in self-pity. We've
learned some very valuable lessons from that night, but it was a hard
way to learn them.”

He threw back his
shoulders and stared at the fire. Simon thought that he suddenly
looked and sounded much older than he was.

“
While we were
fighting off the undead at the front,” Richard began, “another
group, unbeknownst to us, climbed over the rear gate. There were no
torches there, no guards. Nothing to stop them. We aren't sure how
many there were but I'd guess at least a dozen, maybe more. They
swarmed over the first home they came to.”

He stopped speaking and
rubbed his eyes with one hand. Simon looked around and saw that
almost everyone was staring at the floor, except for Clara, who was
watching Richard closely.

“
It was a slaughter.
These creatures are strong, but not supernaturally so. They can be
balked by a locked door, but of course none of our houses had locks
on them then. They do now,” he added grimly.

“
There were four
people living in that little house. Jennifer Bernstein, Andrew Lock,
Anthony Haddad and...” A moment's hesitation. “Jacklyn
Bernstein. Little Jackie was the first child born since the dragons
attacked and destroyed the old world.”

Simon heard a sob and
looked over to see Anna weeping quietly. Gerard had an arm around her
shoulders and held her tightly. He looked as miserable as she
sounded.

“
My God,”
Simon said faintly.

“
I think gods is the
proper term here, my friend,” Clara said angrily. “Those
dark gods who have torn our world apart and let loose these
abominations are to blame for this.”

She stood up abruptly and
walked toward Richard so quickly that he took a step back in
surprise. Under different circumstances, Simon would have been amused
seeing the big man retreat from a tiny woman like the cleric. But now
he found nothing funny in anything.

Clara poked the
breastplate of the armored man and it rang with a subdued metallic
sound.

“
Those are the ones
you should be blaming, Richard. Not yourself, not your people. Them.
They unleashed the evil magic into the world that is doing this. And
somehow, we have to stop them.”

She turned around, stomped
back to the bench and sat down again. Then she crossed her arms and
glared at Richard, who stood there, speechless.

“
Um, yeah. So
anyway,” Richard finally found his voice and continued, “we
heard the screaming from the front gate and I left a handful of
people to defend it, the undead were almost all destroyed by then,
and the rest of us raced back toward the screams. We found, well, you
can imagine what we found. All of the undead were inside the house
and it took only one look to see that everyone in there was dead.”

He closed his eyes
tightly, obviously trying to block out the memory and failing.

“
They were torn
apart. So I slammed the door shut, got some beams to seal it closed
and set the house on fire. That's how we destroyed that bunch.”

“
And since then,”
Virginia said in a small, tired voice, “we've been attacked
every night. Richard is right, though. We have learned. Torches are
kept lit outside the gates and on the wall as well. Fire arrows work
well at a distance, as long as you can see your target and fire at
close range works if they do get over the gates.”

“
It's exhausting
though,” Clara added. “I sleep part of the day now so
that I can be ready if I'm called on to deal with any undead that get
over the front gate. Virginia and her group,” she smiled at the
four Changlings, “use their magic to guard the rear gate.
Gerard's Force spell rips these creatures apart quite well.”

Simon glanced at Gerard,
who smiled weakly.

“
Yeah, I've never
wanted to use that power on the living, but against these monsters, I
can help protect our home.”

Everyone stopped speaking
and sat quietly for a time, watching the fire play its game of light
and shadow.

Simon was thinking hard
and eventually turned to look at Clara.

“
I have no idea why
this is happening now, but you seem to be dealing with the attacks as
well as anyone could. So what did you need me for?”

Clara smoothed out her
robe nervously before answering.

“
Our problem isn't
the attacks, Simon. At least, not now. We can repel these monsters.
But there is no way to know how many undead will rise from that one
cemetery. And that is just the closest one. This country is riddled
with burial sites. Not just modern ones, but the sites of aboriginal
burials as well. And the towns and cities where thousands of people
were slaughtered. Yes, I know that drakes...consumed the dead after
the dragon attacks, but I doubt if they got them all. So we thought
that we needed a new strategy, another layer of protection if you
will.”

Simon was intrigued.

“
Like what?”
he asked.

Clara looked over at
Richard, who made a small gesture of encouragement at her. This time,
Simon did grin.

“
Come on, guys, just
spit it out. We're all friends here.”

“
Okay then,”
the cleric said, taking a deep breath. “We think that we need a
moat.”

Of all the requests that
Clara could have made of him, Simon thought, that wasn't one that he
was expecting.

“
A moat?”

Clara nodded once.

“
A moat. You mean
like an actual moat, filled with water, all around the town?”

Richard chuckled.

“
No, not exactly.
What we need is a deep trench around the town, yes, but filling it
with water, even if we could, would serve no purpose.”

“
We doubt that the
undead can drown, Simon,” Clara said with the ghost of a smile.
“And in the winter, the water would simply freeze. So that
would be a waste of time. Now, as I told you once, our blacksmith has
the ability to enchant metals, like Richard's sword.”

“
I remember,”
Simon commented.

“
Yes. Well, that
sword that our large friend swings around so freely has an unexpected
bonus when it cuts through undead flesh.”

“
It does?”
Simon looked at Richard. “What is it?”

“
They explode,”
the big man said with a sudden grin. “Literally. They burst
into flames and continue to burn until they are cinders. Gregory, our
smith, swears he didn't know that would happen, but says that he can
add the same enchantment to any metal object.”

“
And?”

“
And so we thought
that if we had a moat surrounding Nottinghill and planted metal
spikes imbued with this enchantment, we could stop the undead, and
any that follow them, before they even reach the walls.”

Clara sat back, smiling
happily and waited for Simon to comment.

The wizard thought about
their idea. It sounded slightly mad, but it could work, he supposed.
Certainly Kronk, along with a handful of earth elementals, could dig
the moat. But there was one snag in their plan, he thought.

“
Yeah, Kronk could
do the job, Clara. You know him, always happy to help.”

Aeris made a gagging sound
but Simon ignored him.

“
But the problem I
see is, it will take hundreds, perhaps thousands of these metal
spikes to line the bottom of the moat. How long would it take your
blacksmith to forge them? And do you have enough metal to even start
such a project?”

Simon was waiting for a
negative reaction to his questions, afraid that his friends hadn't
quite thought this through. Instead, Clara just beamed at him.

“
Those are good
points, Simon, but we've already thought of that.”

She looked at Richard
inquiringly.

“
We have indeed,”
he said. “We've had some luck on our side. Or the gods help, if
you believe the way our dear cleric here does.”

Clara stuck out her tongue
at the big man and he chuckled.

“
Anyway, our trading
partners, the dwarves, appeared the day after the first attack. Be it
providence or luck, they showed up and we told them what had
happened. It was their idea to construct the moat, sir wizard, not
ours. And they promised to supply us with enough spikes to do the
job. Gregory will still have to enchant them, but he says that he can
do that in bunches and that he could have them done in a day. We've
been holding off though until we spoke to you.”

Richard looked at Simon
closely.

“
So what do you
think?”

“
Think?” Simon
looked around at the hopeful faces watching him and grinned broadly.
“I think it's a wonderful idea! You have more than enough room
around the circumference of the town for a moat and, if it saves
lives, my friends and I,” he looked at Aeris who nodded
vigorously, “will do whatever it takes to help you.”

There was a general cheer
from the group and Clara leaned over and gave him a quick hug.

“
Thank you so much,
my dear friend,” she whispered. “I've been at my wits end
trying to save my people.”

Simon returned the embrace
and then released her.

“
You take too much
on yourself, Clara,” he told her quietly as the others laughed
and talked loudly around them. “Cleric or not, you are only one
person.”

She gave him a teary smile
and shrugged helplessly.

“
What else can I
do?” she said and then, with a quick squeeze of his hand, she
stood up and joined the others talking around the fire.

Simon sat back and watched
them as they sorted themselves out and then began to leave in groups.

Everyone thanked the
wizard as they passed him heading toward the door. Simon nodded and
smiled at each of them and soon found himself alone with Clara and
Aeris.

“
Come along, Simon,
and I'll make you some tea,” the cleric said and waved toward
her quarters at the rear of the hall.

He stood up, grabbed his
saddlebags and his staff, and followed her through the room. He
winced a bit as he walked; it had been a while he had ridden and his
butt was tingling uncomfortably.

Inside her rooms, Clara
got Simon settled on her leather sofa and went into her kitchen to
make some tea.

The wizard dropped his
saddlebags next to the door and sat down with Bene-Dunn-Gal lying
across his knees. He always kept his Magic Mouth spell in memory now
and, using the staff to make it easier, he quickly cast the spell.

“
Kronk, can you hear
me?” he said clearly. Aeris was floating above the arm of the
sofa to his right and listening closely.

“
Master? Hello! I
did not expect to hear from you until tomorrow at least.”

“
Yeah, I know. We've
had some news since we arrived here. Let me fill you in.”

And he did, explaining
what had happened at Nottinghill and what they wanted to do.

“
Could you and your
friends actually dig a moat around the town with the ground frozen?”

“
Of course, master!
We would be happy to do it. If it will keep the cleric and her people
safer, it is worth the effort.”

Simon winked at Aeris, who
smiled with some relief.

Clara came back into the
room carrying a tray with a teapot and cups on it. She set it down on
a table and pour the tea while obviously listening to the one-sided
conversation.

“
Excellent. Why
don't you give them a call in my name, so they will answer the
summons, and head down here when you're ready. You can start on the
moat in the morning. Don't forget to lock up the tower and the gate
before you leave.”

“
Very well, master.
We should be there by sundown. And I always lock up before I leave,”
he added tartly.

Simon chuckled.

“
I know, my friend.
So we'll see you when you get here.”

“
Yes master.”

Simon ended the connection
and then accepted tea from Clara.

“
Thanks,” he
said to her and sipped the hot brew appreciatively.

“
My pleasure,”
she said and sat down at the end of the sofa. “So, Kronk is
going to help?”

“
Naturally. You know
how eager he is to please.”

The cleric smiled and then
sat back with a sigh.

“
I am so relieved.
These past few days have been trying. I've never lost people before
and for one of them to be a precious child...”

She shook her head
helplessly.

Simon watched her
sympathetically.

“
I can't begin to
understand how that feels, Clara, but with any luck, once this moat
is installed, you won't have to face that horror again.”