The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (20 page)

He considered it for a
second, shrugged and flipped to the appropriate spell and memorized
it. Then he slipped the book into an inside pocket and stood up.

“
I'm ready,”
he said nervously. “Let's go.”

“
Finally,” he
heard Aeris say as they ran for the exit.

“
Be quiet,”
Kronk told him firmly and Simon smiled a bit at the little guy.

The three of them burst
out of the town hall and were met with a scene of chaos.

Simon skidded to a halt,
appalled at what he saw.

Down the narrow road in
the distance, he could see the main gate. Bundles of burning hay lit
up the area and Simon saw people running in and out of the light,
mixed in with unidentifiable shapes that seemed to be chasing them.
The shouts and screams were horrific.

To his right, he heard
more shouting coming from the rear gate, but it was more muted and
Simon assumed that the main attack was centered at the front gate.

He turned and looked at
the two elementals.

“
I want you two to
get to the small gate and give them any help you can. Aeris, if
things get out of hand back there, come and get me. All right?”

Both of them looked at him
with wide eyes and nodded simultaneously. Kronk raised his arms and
slipped into the earth with barely a sound while Aeris spared Simon
one long look and then disappeared with a quiet pop.

The wizard turned and
raced toward the main gate. As he ran, he passed several of the
townspeople. Two men were carrying a young woman toward the hall. His
stomach churned as he saw the bloody mess of her face. They didn't
even notice him.

As Simon approached the
gate, he heard Clara's voice clearly, rising above the shouting and
howls that rang through the air. She was chanted something
unintelligible and finished with a word that made the very ground
quiver under his feet.

A bright, silver light
flooded the area and Simon shielded his eyes from the glare. Through
his fingers, he saw figures that were gathered in front of the gate
begin to shriek, their screams a nightmare mixture of hunger and
rage. Then they seemed to fall in on themselves and crumbled into
dust.

The light faded and, for a
moment, there was silence. Only the sound of the burning hay bales
and someone's sobbing could be heard.

“
Simon! Over here!”
he heard and ran forward to the right of the gate where Clara was
being supported by Richard.

The big man's armor was
stained and covered with soot and several deep scratches. Simon
shuddered as he looked at what were plainly claw marks.

Clara tried to smile and
failed as she clung to Richard, her breathing painful to hear. She
looked frail and exhausted. The armored man was watching her with
obvious concern.

“
What's happening?”
Simon asked as he reached them. “Where are Virginia and the
others?”

“
They're holding the
rear gate,” Richard told him, still looking at the cleric.
“Between the four of them, I think that they'll be able to stem
the tide back there. The main attack is here.”

He looked up and Simon
followed his gaze. On the walkway inside the wall, several guardsmen
armed with bows were looking out into the darkness.

“
Any more of those
bastards?” Richard called up to them.

“
Nothing yet, sir,”
one of them answered. “But we can hear something out there. A
low rumble or something.”

“
More trouble,”
Richard muttered. “Keep your eyes open,” he shouted back
at them. One of them waved in acknowledgment.

“
Clara, are you
okay?” Simon asked.

The cleric smiled a bit
tremulously.

“
Fine. I'm fine.
That Turn Undead spell just...takes a bit out of me, that's all.”

Simon didn't think she
looked fine at all. He caught Richard's eye and the big man shook his
head slightly.

“
Why not sit for a
moment?” the wizard suggested. “It looks like there's a
lull in the attack.”

“
Good idea,”
Richard said. He helped Clara over to a crate that was pushed up
against the wall and she sat down with a relieved sigh.

“
Thank you. I do
need to catch my breath.”

Clara closed her eyes for
a moment and rubbed a hand over her face.

“
I don't understand
what is happening,” Richard said to Simon. “We've
destroyed dozens of the monsters and they just keep coming. Why so
many? And where are they coming from? Clara said that you found signs
that they weren't from the local cemetery?”

Simon leaned on his staff
and looked around the area before he answered. A half-dozen of the
townspeople were pushing more oil-soaked bales of hay to the front of
the gate, leaving a space of a dozen feet for anything that climbed
the gate to be trapped in. There were piles of scorched bones and the
burnt remnants of clothing blowing around in the cold wind.

“
That's right. That
little graveyard was still intact. The tracks of these things came
from beyond the town.”

“
But from where?”

Richard banged his fist
into his palm, the sound of his gauntlets clashing dully.

“
There have been no
more that ten or twelve of these creatures attacking over the past
three nights. And now, we have a bloody horde of the things. Why?”

Simon had a sudden
uncomfortable thought. It seemed a bit absurd but...

“
Maybe it was me,”
he told the two of them. “Maybe when I followed their trail,
it, I don't know, set them off somehow.”

“
Don't be
ridiculous, Simon,” Clara said sharply. “These are
mindless monsters, nothing more. So there are more tonight than there
have been previously. That proves nothing.”

Richard watched Simon
quietly for a moment. He rubbed his chin and then shrugged.

“
You may be right,
sir wizard. Or you may be wrong. The cause is irrelevant at the
moment. The town is in peril now.”

He looked up at the
clouded night sky.

“
There is perhaps an
hour until first light. If we can hold them off until dawn, we can
start looking for answers then.”

Simon stood silently,
thinking that sunrise couldn't come fast enough. They had to know
where these undead were coming from. Then maybe they could find a way
to stop them.

With a sudden pop, Aeris
appeared a few feet away. At the same time, a pile of frozen earth
was pushed aside and Kronk climbed into view.

“
The rear gate is
secure,” Aeris told them. “Virginia, Eric and the others
have beaten back the attacks there fairly easily, they tell me. It
seems that this entrance is the main target of the undead.”

Clara struggled to rise
and Richard hurried to support her.

“
Thank you, my
friend,” she said. “And thanks to you two,” she
told the elementals, both of whom bowed slightly. “With any
luck, the attacks have stopped. If not, the monsters have very little
time to mount another assault before the sun rises.”

As if her words were a
signal, one of the guards on the wall began waving at them
frantically.

“
Here they come
again,” she yelled. It sounded like Lynn. “A wave of
them. It's hard to say for sure, but it looks like the biggest wave
yet.”

“
There's something
in front of them!” another guard added. His voice trembled with
fear. “Some big black thing.”

“
Big black thing?”
Richard said with a frown. “Another type of undead?”

“
Just what we need,”
Clara said, sounding tired. “Well, my friends, get ready.
Hopefully this is the last of them. Stand your ground, do your best
and we'll get through this.”

Simon smiled at her and
then hurried back to stand behind the hay bales at the gate. Kronk
and Aeris followed, one on either side.

Richard patted the
cleric's hand lightly and then turned to scramble up a ladder to the
walkway. He clanked along the parapet until he was standing next to
the guards looking over the wall.

“
Can you see what it
is?” Clara called up to him. She had moved slowly to stand
behind Simon where she could see her people and direct them if
needed.

“
No, the blasted
torches are fading out there. I see a tall shadowy thing in front of
the walking corpses, but I can't see any details.”

He waited and Simon held
his breath. What else could be coming for them?

“
They're about fifty
yards out, moving slowly.”

Richard leaned forward,
straining to see through the darkness and Simon looked back at Clara
while he waited. She was watching the big man intently.

“
Wait a minute.
They've stopped!” he called down. “I don't know what...”

He suddenly turned and
waved both hands at all of them gathered below, as if trying to push
them back.

“
Quick! Get back
from the gates! I think that thing is casting...”

Whatever he'd been trying
to say was lost in the sound of a huge explosion. The gates were hit
with terrific force and literally blew apart. Simon raised
Bene-Dunn-Gal without thinking and cast his Shield spell faster than
he had ever dreamed was possible.

The air around him turned
opaque and a bubble of force shot outwards, covering not only Simon
and the elementals, but Clara and the other townspeople who had been
gathered nearby.

Thank you for the boost,
Bene-Dunn-Gal, he thought gratefully. Blood was flowing down his
wrist from his palm, but Simon considered it a small price to pay.

The air was thick with
smoke and stone dust but the shield kept most of it out. Simon held
up the staff with both hands, keeping the spell stable, and around
him everyone peered through the cloudy air, trying to see the gate.

“
Thank the gods you
had that spell ready, my friend,” Clara whispered from beside
him.

“
Just lucky, I
guess,” Simon answered. “But what's happened to Richard
and the rest of the guards? I wish they'd been down here with us.”

“
So do I.”

They waited for the chilly
breeze to clear away the smoke and dust and, when they could finally
see the gates, Simon stared, appalled.

The gates had been almost
vaporized. The hinges hung twisted and limp from the walls but the
gates were gone. On either side, the top of the walls had been
smashed and had fallen in. The walkways were gone for about a dozen
feet on each side and Richard and the guards were nowhere to be seen.

“
My God,”
Simon said in disbelief. “Where are they?”

From behind him, someone
screamed and he turned to see a young woman, one hand covering her
mouth, pointing toward the nearest small house. A body was hanging
head down from the roof. One arm was missing.

There was no way to tell
which guard it was. All of their armor was the same, dark iron, and
they couldn't see the person's face.

Clara gasped and then
began to run toward the house.

“
No. Clara. Wait!”
Simon called.

“
Watch the gate,”
she yelled back without looking. “I have to care for my
people.”

The shield hissed and
sparkled as the cleric left its protection, followed by the other
half-dozen townsfolk. Simon was left alone with just Kronk and Aeris
for company.

He turned back to the
gaping hole where the gates had been and watched for any movement.

“
What kind of
creature can do that?” he asked the elementals as he stood
guard, the shield snapping and popping around him.

“
None that I know
of, master,” Kronk said from his left.

Aeris remained silent and
Simon finally turned to look at him hovering to his right at shoulder
level.

“
Cat got your
tongue?” he asked.

Aeris looked at Simon and
his expression was one of pure fear. Simon had never seen that look
on the elemental's face before, and that included the time that he
had been drawn back into his own plane.

“
Aeris? What is it?”

“
There's only one
creature in the ranks of the undead that could cast a powerful spell
like that. But it isn't possible. No, I can't believe that even the
dark gods would loose something that foul into the world.”

“
What are you
talking about? Damn it, Aeris, answer me!”

From the darkness beyond
the ruin gate came a high, tittering laugh and Simon tore his eyes
from Aeris' expression and looked toward that evil noise.

“
Oh my God,”
he whispered. “I know that voice. But it can't be...her.”

“
Her, master? Who is
that?”

Again, that shrill,
high-pitched cackle echoed out of the night beyond the walls and now
a voice, as brittle as old bones and as dry as sand, began to speak.

“
There you are, my
lovely one. How delightful. Did I not tell you that I had a present
for you? And you ran away from me. That was very naughty of you. And
so impolite.”