The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (32 page)

Both warriors stared at him, becoming
more serious. Malcolm nodded thoughtfully and Aiden's normally
cheerful face became grim.

“
Sorry
Simon, but the two of us tend to cover up our nerves with jokes and
banter,” he told the wizard. “But we do know how
dangerous this plan is.”

Before he got a chance to answer, the
three men were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking at the
doorway. They looked across the room curiously.

“
Well, speak
of the devil,” Malcolm murmured with a grin.

Simon recognized the striking blond
woman standing just inside the room. It was Virginia. And standing
right behind here, crowding into the doorway, were her three friends;
Anna, Eric and Gerard.

“
Did someone
ask them to join us?” Aiden wondered in surprise.

“
Probably,”
Simon replied. “I didn't notice but I doubt that their
appearance is mere coincidence.”

Tamara was motioning for the quartet
to enter the conference room and they did so with some hesitation.
Anna seemed especially nervous and Simon recalled that she had always
been the most introverted of the group.

“
Everyone,
look who's here,” the mage announced.

Virginia, the natural leader of the
four friends, smiled at them all. She was still one of the most
beautiful women that Simon had ever met. She was also very grounded
and self-assured.

“
Grab a
seat, folks,” Sebastian told them. “And serve yourselves
if you want anything to eat or drink.”

“
Thanks
Bastian,” Eric told him. “But we've just finished lunch.”

Eric was the largest of the group,
slim, pale and dark-haired. He glanced down the table and gave Simon
a subtle wink.

Anna sat down as quickly as she could
and curled up in her chair. Tiny, with bright red hair and freckles
across her nose, she looked younger than all of them. Her bright eyes
darted around the room, looking from person to person. When she saw
Simon, she smiled tremulously and he grinned reassuringly in return.
He'd always felt very protective of the little woman.

Gerard sat in the seat closest to
Anna. He was always watching out for her, like an older brother,
although he wasn't much bigger than she was. With his white-blond
hair and pale skin, Gerard looked almost ethereal compared to the
others; ghost-like.

Simon noticed that none of the
quartet wore robes like other magic-users. Instead they were dressed
like the normal townspeople; plain tunics and blouses and leather
pants. Anna was wearing a skirt and everyone wore the leather shoes
made by the dwarves.

“
They always
look so ordinary,” he said softly.

“
I'm pretty
sure that they like it that way,” Aiden replied under his
breath. “They've never wanted to draw attention to themselves.”

“
Besides,”
Malcolm added, “even when there isn't a dampening field
stifling their magic, they rarely use their powers. Why dress or act
like a spell-caster when you so rarely use that gift?”

Simon replied with a non-committal
grunt and waited until everyone got settled.

“
Sylvie?
Veronique?” Tamara said. “Did you want to explain to the
Fearsome Foursome why they're here?”

Virginia and her friends all laughed
at the title and everyone else joined in. Simon could feel the
atmosphere lighten immediately and silently thanked Tamara for
breaking the tension.

“
Really,
Tammy?” Virginia asked from across the table. “The
Fearsome Foursome? Ugh. Please never use that one again. Anyway,
there's no need to rehash your plan for the four of us; we already
know the general details.”

“
You do?
How?”

“
Jackson,”
Eric answered with a little smile. “He's nosy and has a big
mouth.”

“
Eric!”
Anna gasped. “You're going to get him into trouble!”

Tamara snorted in disgust.

“
When isn't
that man in trouble? Don't worry, Anna. We're all well aware of
Jackson's gossipy nature.”

“
Besides,”
Sebastian cut in, “it's not a secret. If he passed along the
information to you and brought you all up to speed, so much the
better.”

His sister looked at him hard and he
held her fierce gaze until she reluctantly nodded.

“
Yes, I
suppose that's true enough. Fine then, I won't say anything too
harshly to him. This time.”

She turned to look at Virginia and
the others.

“
So, since
you know what we propose, what do you think? Is it a viable plan?”

Virginia looked at her friends, all
of whom made encouraging motions for her to stand up. She rolled her
eyes at them and pushed herself to her feet.

“
Viable?
Maybe. But Tammy, it barely is a plan yet. I mean fine, we can get
you into the tower undetected; maybe. But what then? What kind of
forces await within? How many? Will we be forced to battle our way to
the very top of the tower? And if so, how many of us will survive the
journey?”

“
Simon was
just saying something similar,” Malcolm boomed out from his
seat.

The wizard sighed and pushed back his
hair as everyone looked down the table at him.

“
Thanks,”
he muttered to the big man.

“
What did I
do? Ouch!”

Aiden had elbowed Malcolm in the ribs
again.

Virginia laughed lightly at their
antics and caught Simon's eye.

“
Yes, I'm
not surprised that our only wizard was thinking ahead. You've always
been an excellent strategist, Simon.”

He stood up slowly and decided to
move toward the doorway. Once he was standing near the end of the
table, he turned around to look at everyone.

“
My
strategies have consisted mostly of dumb luck,” he said to
Virginia. “Dumb luck and faithful allies. But Malcolm was
correct; I was worried about the same things that you are. If we go
into that tower blind, I'm afraid that we may not come back out. I've
faced a necromancer once; well, waves of his minions, at least. And
his most powerful servant, a lich. It was a horrible experience and
not one I'm looking forward to repeating.”

He scanned the faces of the others in
the room.

“
And almost
everyone who was with me back then has died since. It's a dangerous
place, this New Earth of ours, and I'm not at all sure that we should
go looking for even more peril; God knows it will come to us
eventually.”

“
So what are
you saying? That we should just huddle together down here until the
surface is a barren wasteland?” Tamara asked angrily. “Because
you know that once that's achieved, the Chaos lords' servants will be
tunneling down here after us.”

“
They're
already doing that,” Liliana reminded her.

“
Not in very
great numbers. Not yet. But when the surface is 'cleansed'? Then we
few here, and the dwarves, will be all that stands between the
Darkness and total domination over the Earth. Personally I don't want
to wait for that to happen. Do any of you?”

Simon pushed his hair off of his face
again and leaned against his staff. He was feeling tired again, but
it was a mental fatigue more than a physical one.

“
Tamara, I'm
not saying I want to wait for that. In fact, I agree with you.”

“
You do?”
she replied in surprise.

“
Of course I
do. Because you're right; if we try to wait it out, one day soon the
forces of evil will be knocking on the front gate of Kingstone and
that will be the end of all of us. What I am saying is, we need more
intelligence, more data. We need to know what the hell is in that
tower.”

“
And how do
you propose getting that information?” Sylvie asked.

Simon smiled grimly at all of them.

“
By getting
someone inside to take a look around.”

“
Are you
sure that this is the right move?”

Simon was standing in a transport
yard, a place where the dwarves maintained several tunnels that
served as conduits for their drilling machines. Tamara and Liliana
were with him, as was Shandon Ironhand.

“
Reasonably,”
he replied to Liliana's question. “I can't do anything down
here. I need to get back to my tower, tap into the magic and start
the ball rolling if this plan of ours is to have any chance of
succeeding.”

“
I still
think that having a few of my warriors go along with you would be
prudent, lad,” the king rumbled.

His bodyguards stood around the small
group in a loose circle, keeping an eye on the workers busily
preparing a drill for travel.

“
I
appreciate the offer, Shandon, but I'll be fine. If I'm being spied
on, and I think that is quite possible, then the appearance of
dwarves at my tower might tip off the enemy. And that's the last
thing we want to happen.”

“
Very well,
sir wizard,” the dwarf replied reluctantly. “We'll do it
your way. You have my permission to contact me with your magic when
you have news.”

He shook a thick finger in mock
severity at Simon.

“
Don't abuse
it. Some of my councilors would tear their beards out if they heard
that I'd allowed such a thing.”

“
Probably do
them some good,” Tamara muttered.

“
Anyway,”
Simon interjected quickly, looking at the mage and Liliana, “while
I'm gone, both of you need to decide who should come on this mad
quest of ours and who should remain safely here. Fortunately Virginia
and the others agreed to get us inside, sight unseen, or this plan
wouldn't even get off the ground. But we'll need a strong force once
we do enter the tower. Mages, warriors, at least one healer...”

“
A scout
would help,” Liliana told him. “Someone to move ahead of
the main group and check for guards or traps.”

“
I've got
that covered, I think,” Simon told her.

One of the workers approached the
king and bowed, rattling off several sentences in dwarvish.

“
Your drill
is ready, my friend,” Shandon told him. “You will be home
in less than a day.”

Simon thanked him and they shook
hands warmly.

“
Try not to
die up there,” the king said with the merest suggestion of a
smile peeking through his beard. “I have very few friends and
I've become rather fond of you, sir wizard.”

“
I'll do my
best,” Simon replied with a wink.

The dwarf rumbled with laughter,
waved and walked away quickly, his escort hurrying to keep up.

“
He's got a
point,” Tamara said after the dwarves had marched off. “Watch
yourself, Simon. If the forces of Chaos get the merest hint that we
are planning something, they will go after you first. Keep your head
down.”

“
You always
know the right thing to say,” Simon replied teasingly.

She chuckled, shook his hand firmly
and stepped back.

“
It would be
redundant for me to repeat what they just said,” Liliana told
him.

She rested a hand on the hilt of the
sword on her hip as she scanned the transport yard, always alert for
trouble.

“
But I think
that I can reassure you somewhat before you go.”

“
In what
way?”

The paladin lowered her voice so that
none of the busy workers could hear her.

“
I had a
visitor a few nights ago, in my dreams,” she murmured. “And
according to her, your 'friend' Lacertus has been neutralized.”

“
What?”

Simon stared at her, open-mouthed.

“
But how?
He's a god.”

“
Only a very
tiny one,” Liliana said dismissively. “Our friends in
high places assure me that he was recalled for 'punishment', I
believe was the term. Apparently his superiors were less than
impressed that he let a mere human get away. So there's one less
thing for you to worry about.”

Simon looked over at the drilling
machine. It was about ten feet high and thirty feet long, basically
the size of an old city bus. Both ends were rifled to cut through
rock and were serrated and brutal looking. Its metal skin glittered
as if freshly polished and, standing next to an open door in its
side, the pilot was watching him. The dwarf, wearing the leather
apron of the tradesman, looked a bit impatient and was rocking back
and forth on his heels.