The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (44 page)

“
I do.”

Simon suddenly realized that he was
casually toweling down naked while Tamara and who knows how many
others were watching him. He dropped his towel and hurriedly slipped
in his shorts.

“
Relax, my friend,” the
mage said with a surprisingly girlish giggle. “There is no one
here with me right now and, no offense, but you're not my type. Have
a good day and I'll see you tomorrow.”

“
I'll be there. Thanks for
calling.”

He felt the connection fade and
picked up his towel.

Finally, he thought. Some action!

With his heart racing, Simon trotted
up the slope toward the tower. So much to do and suddenly so little
time.

He slipped through the back gate and
hurried over to the garden. The earth elementals had extended the
outer wall around the tower to make room for the expanded garden and
now there was almost a acre of land to the west of the tower
dedicated to growing crops.

Simon took a moment to appreciate
Kronk's hard work as he looked at rows of corn, whole sections of
peas and beans and lines of tomato plants supported by perfectly
straight wooden stakes.

In the north-west corner were a dozen
robust apple trees that were the little guy's favorite. They looked
pristine and healthy.

The wizard couldn't see Kronk
anywhere but he heard a rustling out among the stalks of corn.

“
Hey Kronk! Are you there?”

“
Coming, master,” the
little guy piped up. “Just one...more...weed. Aha, got it.”

The earthen appeared out of the corn
rows carrying a mass of weeds bigger than he was.

“
They just never stop, master.
If I didn't know better, I would swear that Aeris is sneaking in here
at night and planting them.”

Simon chuckled at that mental image.

“
He hates gardening way too
much to make the effort,” he told the little guy.

“
Quite true, master.”

Kronk dropped the weeds on to a pile
of other debris and looked up at Simon curiously.

“
What can I do for you, master?
Is there a problem?”

“
Not really. I just spoke with
Tamara. The attack on the dark tower is on. We go in two days.”

The earthen's eyes widened and his
expression became grim.

“
Understood, master. I will
speak to my brethren on the walls and arrange for them to care for
the tower and garden while we are gone. Did you need me to do
anything for you?”

“
Not at all, my friend. I just
wanted to let you know.”

Simon looked around and then up at
the top of the tower.

“
Any idea where Aeris is?”
he asked.

“
Possibly up there, master,”
Kronk said, pointing at the roof. “I believe Brethia is on duty
at the moment and they enjoy speaking with each other.”

“
Okay then, I'll go and look. I
don't feel like summoning him and dealing with the headache his
entrance will give me.”

Kronk's deep chuckle rumbled across
the garden.

“
I understand, master. Rest
assured that everything to do with the tower's maintenance and care
will be arranged before we leave. You can concentrate solely on the
upcoming battle.”

“
I never doubted you for a
second. Thanks.”

Kronk trotted off toward the outer
wall while Simon turned and made his way around the tower. He must
have napped for at least an hour because the position of the sun
indicated that it was late afternoon.

He touched his face with his palm and
wondered whether he'd gotten sunburned.

Idiot, he thought. You're going to
look so intimidating to your enemies with peeling skin and a beet-red
nose. Great job.

Simon walked into the tower, hung up
his wet towel and climbed up the three floors to the roof. He
scrambled up the ladder, pushed back the trap door and stepped back
out into the bright sunshine.

There was a slight breeze and he used
both hands to push back his still-damp hair and just stood still to
let the air cool him down.

“
Behold the nearly-naked
wizard. Stand in awe of his pale yet mottled complexion and skinny
shanks. Truly a wondrous sight.”

Simon burst out laughing.

Aeris and Brethia were floating side
by side near the southern edge of the roof looking off toward the
tangled darkness of the forest. She was staring at Aeris with a
mixture of shock and disapproval.

“
Aeris! Show some respect!”
she exclaimed.

“
Relax,” he said calmly.
“Our dear wizard needs a dose of reality once in a while. If I
don't give him one, his head begins to swell with his own importance.
Isn't that right, oh great and powerful one.”

“
Yeah, something like that. How
are you, Brethia?”

Simon walked across the roof and
joined the elementals.

“
I am well, my lord, thank you.
And you?”

“
Very well, all things
considered. Aeris, we are heading for England in two days.”

The elemental's expression changed
instantly and his mocking smile disappeared. He nodded and rose up to
look Simon directly in the eyes.

“
Understood. What do you need
me to do?”

“
We don't know how long we'll
be gone or if our enemies will take the opportunity to mount an
attack against this tower. I want you to call in as many of your
friends from the group of scouts I summoned earlier as you think will
be needed. Set up a schedule of patrols around the area. The earthen
on the outside wall will be walking the perimeter, but if something
moves against us here, a little forewarning would be helpful.”

“
Of course. I'll see to it.”

“
Good. Brethia, you and Orriss
must remain vigilant. I know that I don't have to tell you that, but
I would like both of you to keep watch up here together until we
return, all right? Will that be a problem?”

“
Of course not, sir wizard,”
she replied equably. “Orriss and I get along quite well. And
two sets of eyes are better than one. We will be fine.”

“
Excellent. Then I'll leave you
both to it. Remember, Aeris, England's time is five hours ahead of
ours and we're to meet the others just after sundown. So, since your
time sense is a hell of a lot better than mine, please let me know
when it is time to leave, exactly. Okay?”

Aeris bowed, a rarity for him.

“
I will.”

“
Good. Talk to you both later.”

Simon moved back to the trap door and
the elementals began speaking rapidly in their own windy language. He
wondered what they were talking about.

Back down in his study, the wizard
sat down at his desk and took a moment to just breathe.

Finally, the time was almost here, he
thought. It made him nervous but the sense of relief was immense.
Anticipation might be half the fun but not when it came to
approaching battles. He just wanted to get started and get it over
with.

First things first though. He picked
up his hand mirror and cast the Magic Mirror spell. Time to do some
scouting of his own.

Kronk came in some time later with a
large glass of apple juice and handed it up to the wizard.

Simon accepted it absently and gulped
down half of it while not taking his eyes off of the mirror.

“
What are you looking at,
master?” the little guy asked as he jumped up to one of the
windows and opened it wide. The room was hot and stuffy and Simon had
forgotten to air it out.

“
Hmm? Oh, sorry Kronk. I'm a
bit caught up with this. Come over and see.”

“
One moment, master.”

The little guy opened the second
window and immediately a refreshing cross wind blew through the room
and Simon sighed with relief.

“
Oh that's nice. Thanks so
much. I forgot to open them.”

“
Yes master, I noticed.”

He hopped up on to the desk and stood
at Simon's left side.

“
What is it, master?”

“
Well this,” the wizard
nodded at the image in the mirror, “is the hidden bay to the
north of Nottinghill. That's where we're all going to meet. I just
wanted to make sure that I knew the location well enough to Gate to
it immediately. Also, I was checking to see if there were any undead
patrols in the area.”

“
And are there?”

“
None that I can find. I'm
going to check several times tomorrow and again before we leave the
day after. Safety first and all that.”

“
Wise, master.”

“
Cautious, my friend. Just
cautious. Now this,” Simon made an odd circular motion with the
mirror and waggled it several times, “is the more important
location.”

Kronk looked into the mirror and
hissed. It was the dark tower.

“
Such a hideous construct,”
he muttered in his deep voice. “Built by a truly twisted mind,
master.”

Simon contemplated the soaring height
of the edifice and had to agree. The building consisted of numerous
levels, all bent and twisted together in some madman's version of a
tower. Obviously they had used all of the stone and metal from the
ruins of Nottinghill Castle but they must have also dug deeply into
the surrounding rock to achieve a building so monstrously big.

“
How tall do you think it is?”
he asked the earthen.

Kronk peered at the tower and moved
his mouth silently. Simon waited. He knew that the little guy was the
expert when it came to stone and rock structures.

“
Using that tree for scale,
master,” Kronk finally answered as he pointed at one lonely
tree near the base of the tower, “I would estimate that the
building at least three hundred feet high.”

He looked at Simon soberly.

“
At least. So if each floor
averages ten feet in height, you will have to climb over thirty
stories to reach the top. Less if the floors are larger, of course.”

“
Crap, we're in for a hell of a
hike.”

“
And you may have to fight for
every foot of progress you make, master. Let us not forget that.”

Simon smiled wryly at the earthen.

“
Have you taken over Aeris' job
as cheerleader?”

Kronk looked confused.

“
I do not know what that means,
master. I am simply telling you the truth.”

“
It was a joke, Kronk.”

He moved the point of view of the
mirror to the base of the tower. There was an open archway on each of
the four walls that led into the darkened interior. No torches or
other sources of light were visible and Simon wondered whether any
part of the building was lit.

“
Surely the necromancers, at
least, have to see,” he murmured.

“
Ah, you are worried about
light, master?”

“
Of course. I'm not a dwarf; I
can't see into the infrared spectrum. If the humans in the group are
to be effective during combat, we have to have light.”

“
Which will make you a target,”
came a voice from the doorway.

Aeris zipped into the room and joined
Kronk on top of the desk.

“
Exactly. But it's a risk we'll
have to take, I suppose. Damn it.”

“
On the other hand, master,
that dwarf rogue Hallic could be a huge help to you in there. He does
not need light to infiltrate that tower. Even the undead emit heat,
from decomposition and the magic that animates them. The rogue will
see every target.”

Simon looked at Kronk with surprise.

“
Why didn't I know that?”
he asked. “I assumed that undead things were cold.”

Aeris grinned at him.

“
Cold is a relative term, my
dear wizard. The dwarves can see very tiny emanations of warmth. Have
no doubts; the rogue will not have a problem seeing in the darkness.”

“
Thanks guys, that's at least
somewhat reassuring. I'll pass that information along to Tamara and
the others. Okay, so what else can we see?”

The three of them watched the image
in the mirror and Simon rotated it slowly around the base of the
tower. No matter what he did though, he could not get see any closer
than a hundred yards away from it.

“
I'm being blocked,” he
finally admitted in exasperation as he put down the mirror. “Doesn't
matter what I do, I can't get any detailed views of that damned
place. I can't even see the patrols you mentioned, Aeris. You're sure
that they're there?”

At the air elemental's scandalized
expression, Simon held up a hand, motioning for him to stay calm.

“
Don't get angry; I know your
observations are trustworthy. I was just wondering if they had
changed things up since your scouting mission, that's all.”

Aeris' expression became pensive.