The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (3 page)

“Oh great,” the wizard muttered. His
breath caught in his throat then as the dragon spun around and began
to beat its wings strongly as it raced back toward the tower.

“Here it comes,” Aeris commented
unnecessarily.

“Yeah, thanks, I can see that.”

Simon found the Ice Storm spell in his list of
incantations and hurriedly spoke the words. Bene-Dunn-Gal took its
payment and the wizard grimaced at the pain of the new wound in his
palm.

“Don't get greedy,” he told the staff
and gave it a hard shake. A sound, almost like a snicker, came from
the weapon.

“Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you
hurry.”

Aeris sounded frightened and Simon couldn't blame
him.

The dragon had gone from fly-sized to
seagull-sized in a matter of seconds. It was bearing down on them
like a runaway freight train and Simon could picture it slamming into
the tower at that speed and smashing the building to pieces.

Okay, he thought. I need to reshape the Ice Storm
spell before I trigger it.

He reached out in thought and molded the power
that hovered around him, the spell that waited only for the word of
command to be invoked. He tried to picture a single long shaft with a
razor-sharp point at one end.

Crystal, he thought. Think of it as if it was made
of crystal.

The image became clear in his mind and he held it,
feeling its latent power, and waited for his chance.

“Simon!” Aeris cried suddenly. “What
are you waiting for? Cast the spell!”

The dragon was almost upon them. It was as long as
two tractor-trailers parked end to end and its massive head, eyes
blazing, was aimed straight at the wizard.

“Wait,” he muttered to the elemental.
“I only have one shot.”

“Then shoot, damn it!” Aeris yelled.

“Not yet,” Simon said between tight
lips. “Not yet. It has to be right on top of us.”

“It
is
on top of us! What do you plan
to do, kiss it? Shoot the beast!”

The dragon was no more that a dozen yards away and
Simon could see its gaping maw opening. Down that ragged throat, a
bubble of pure red flame was expanding, shooting forward to engulf
him.

“
Invectis!
”
he shouted as he pointed the staff directly at that mouth full of six
inch fangs.

The scream of the Ice
Spear as it shot from the end of Bene-Dunn-Gal toward the dragon was
painfully loud and Simon flinched at the sound, his ears going numb.

The spear, glowing even
more brightly than the reflected sun off of the surrounding snow,
flew across the gulf between the wizard and the dragon, leaving a
trail of smokey frost in the air, and shot down the dragon's throat.

The beast suddenly
sheered away, its wings flapping frantically as it screamed in mortal
agony. The Ice Spear had shot through its internal organs, ripped
through its guts and burst out of its body, melting into a puff of
red-tinged steam.

The dragon rolled over
on to its back and then somersaulted downward, narrowly missing the
tower as it slammed into the wall below. It gave out one final
screech of torment and then exploded, melting the snow around it and
setting the dead grass beneath it ablaze.

Simon had ducked below
the parapet as the beast burst into flames and waited for a few
minutes before cautiously raising his head high enough to check on
the remains below.

Except for the
shattered section of the wall and a depression in the ground that was
rapidly filling with water from the melted snow, there was nothing
left to indicate that the creature had ever existed.

Simon stared at the
destruction and then turned to look at Aeris.

“
Is that
what normally happens when a dragon dies?” he asked as he
pointed a shaking finger at the broken wall.

Aeris flew up and
regarded the damage. Then he shrugged.

“
I have no
idea, my dear wizard. As I've told you before, the dragons had been
exiled long before I was summoned by the ancient wizards. I don't
recall anyone mentioning them disintegrating when they died but, with
all that internal heat, it's not that surprising.”

“
Yeah?
Maybe not to you.”

Simon leaned the staff
against the parapet, wiped the blood from his palm on to his robe and
ran his fingers through his hair.

“
I think
that was even scarier than facing the black,” he said as he
dabbed a film of sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Even in the
bitter cold, he was soaked with it.

“
Closer to
home,” Aeris said wisely. “And speaking of home, you'd
better get back inside before you catch a chill. You aren't as hearty
as you were back in the old days.”

“
Thanks
Mom,” Simon said with a roll of his eyes. He grabbed the staff
and then lifted the heavy trapdoor just enough to slip inside.

Aeris flew by as he let
it slam shut.

“
Could you
lock the door, please?” he asked the elemental. “I'm
going to tell Kronk about what's happened and see if he and his
friends can repair the wall while they're still here.”

“
Ah,
excellent idea. Go ahead down then. I'll be there in a minute.”

Simon nodded and walked
carefully down the steep stairs. His knees were still wobbly from the
fight and he didn't want to trip and break his neck.

The earth elementals were
quite happy to have helped brace the tower against the dragons'
attack and equally thrilled to repair the damaged wall. Once they had
cheerfully gone outside to start working, Simon set his kettle over
the fire in the fireplace to boil, made some tea and collapsed on to
a kitchen chair.

Aeris popped into sight
and flew across the room to stare at him closely. He raised an
eyebrow.

“
How are you doing,
my dear wizard?” he asked curiously.

Simon closed his eyes
tiredly.

“
I'm beat, to be
honest. Suddenly being attacked in the middle of winter will do that
to you, I guess. I've been sitting here trying to figure out if you
were right, about the gods of Chaos taking revenge on me personally.”

He opened his eyes and
looked anxiously at the elemental.

“
It's a disturbing
thought, having these 'gods' knowing about me. If it's true, then the
question is, what's next?”

Aeris nodded, tapping his
chin thoughtfully.

“
Yes, I agree that
it is troubling. I think perhaps you should ask for some advice from
someone closer to the source than myself.”

“
Someone closer
to...” Simon's eye's widened. “Clara? Of course. Why
didn't I think of that?”

The little misty figure
chuckled, not unkindly.

“
You've been a bit
distracted. But a cleric might have some insights that a wizard would
not.”

Simon dug into a pocket of
his robe and pulled out a rounded piece of stone, gray in color, with
small sparkles of crystal glinting in the candlelight.

“
She hasn't used the
lodestone to get my attention for a while, so I suppose things are
fine at her village, but...”

He almost dropped the
stone as it suddenly vibrated in his hand, glowing with a ghostly
pale light.

“
Apparently great
minds think alike,” Aeris commented dryly.

“
Hmm, maybe.”

Simon put the stone back
in his pocket, easily thought of the incantation for Magic Mouth and
cast the spell.

“
Clara? Are you
there?” he asked aloud as he stared vaguely across the room. He
took a sip of tea as he waited for her reply.

“
Simon? Oh, thank
the gods you're okay,” he heard the cleric say.

He frowned at her worried
tone.

“
Sure, I'm all
right. Why wouldn't I be?”

“
Because I had a
vision, just a few moments ago. The gods of Justice warned me that
you would be punished for your destruction of the black dragon by the
dark gods. I'm actually surprised that it took them two months to
react to its death. Apparently it takes some time for news like that
to reach them in the Void.”

“
Just as well,”
Simon muttered. “Anyway, your news is a bit late, Clara. We
were attacked earlier today.”

“
Attacked?”
She sounded surprised. “But that's not...what attacked you?”

“
A pair of dragons,
believe it or not.”

Simon told the cleric
about the assault and, when he was done, she sounded both relieved
and confused.

“
I'm happy that you
and your two companions are safe, my friend, but I'm a little
mystified. The warning from the gods didn't mention an attack. It
sounds rather petty, doesn't it?”

Simon flicked a glance at
Aeris, who was listening to the one-sided conversation with interest.

“
Yes, it does. But
Aeris has mentioned before that these dark gods are like that; petty,
vengeful, almost child-like in their responses.”

“
They are indeed.
But don't let that lull you into letting your guard down, Simon. They
are still ancient and powerful.”

“
I won't, believe
me. So, if you weren't warned of the attack, what did those gods of
Justice say their opponents would do?”

Clara sounded a little
amused.

“
They are never that
specific, my friend. All of these visions are couched in allegory and
symbolism. But what I took out of it was that their vengeance would
be more personal. The dragon attack seems so, I don't know, random
maybe.”

Simon had to laugh.

“
Well, it sure
seemed personal to me! Anyway, meaning no offense but maybe you
misunderstood the vision? Like you said, allegory can be
misinterpreted, right?”

“
Yes, of course it
can.” She sighed. “You're probably right. I hope you are.
So, putting that aside for the moment, how are you, Aeris and Kronk
doing this winter? Anything you need in the way of supplies or
whatever?”

Simon sipped his tea and
smiled.

“
We're good, thanks.
Kronk and Aeris can almost complete an entire conversation now
without fighting.”

“
Hey, wait a
second!” Aeris cut in. “We're quite civil with each other
now.”

“
That's what I just
said,” Simon told him with a grin.

The elemental snorted in
disgust but didn't respond.

“
They didn't agree?”
Clara asked, sounding amused. She could only hear Simon when he spoke
using the Magic Mouth spell and he could only hear her.

“
Something like
that. At any rate, we're fine. I have enough supplies down in the
cellar to last the winter and then some. I hope you and your people
are doing as well?”

Clara began to speak but
her voice started to fade in and out suddenly, as if he was listening
to a radio signal that was beginning to lose its strength.

“
I'm sorry, Clara,
could you repeat that?” he asked, confused. He had never
experienced a 'signal loss' using Magic Mouth before.

“
Simon? I can barely
hear you. What's going...”

Her voice faded out again.

“
Clara? Clara, can
you hear me?” he asked loudly. There was no response.

“
Well, that's
weird,” Simon said to Aeris.

“
What's weird?”

“
The Magic Mouth
spell. It just sort of...lost power. I didn't know that could
happen.”

A loud clunk made the
wizard look across the room, just in time to see Kronk push the door
closed behind him, jump up and slide the bolt into place.

“
Didn't know what
could happen, master?” he asked as he tip-tapped over to the
table and jumped up to stand next to Aeris. “Oh and the wall
has been repaired. My friends went back to the earthen realm with my
thanks.”

“
Good. That's good,
Kronk. Thank you.”

Simon finished his tea and
got up to make some more.

“
I was just saying
to Aeris that the Magic Mouth spell I was using to talk to Clara just
faded out. Have either of you ever heard of a spell doing that?”

The two elementals
exchanged looks and both shook their heads.

“
Not me,”
Aeris said firmly. “Spells don't fade unless the caster is
destroyed. Once their power is removed from the world, any spells
they've cast disappear over time.”

“
Really?”
Simon made his second cup of tea and sat down again. “That's
interesting. I didn't realize that could happen.”

Kronk remained silent and
Aeris shrugged.

“
The power flows
through the wizard,” he said. “Take away that conduit
and...”

The air elemental stopped
speaking and frowned. An almost identical expression crossed Kronk's
face.

Simon looked at them.

“
What's wrong?”
he asked.

“
I'm not sure,”
Aeris said in confusion. “I feel...strange. It's like...”

His eyes widened in sudden
fear and he reached out toward the wizard.

“
Simon!” he
cried out and abruptly faded away.