The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (55 page)

Kronk
quickly skittered away into the darkness and Aeris followed him,
quietly for a change. Simon held Mortis de Draconis in front of
himself, end firmly on the ground and he gripped it hard with both
hands.

Here we
go, he said to himself, surprised that he was getting excited at the
thought of the upcoming fight.

I'm
getting as bad as Malcolm.

“
Aethos,
I need your help,” he called out as he looked up to the stars.
“Incendus, come to my aid!”

The wizard
then closed his eyes and tensed up a bit. He knew what came next all
too well.

A dazzling
flash made him flinch and a blast of thunder momentarily deafened
him.

Damned air
elementals and their flashy entrances, he thought irritably for the
umpteenth time.

Simon
opened his eyes to see a glowing, swirling vortex floating about ten
feet in front of him. A point of red then appeared in the inky
blackness above him, which turned into a intense crimson ball of
flame. It shot straight down toward the earth at tremendous speed and
stopped precisely beside the small tornado.

“
Sir
wizard,” an echoing voice, its sound reminiscent of a moaning
wind, addressed him from the vortex. “I am pleased to see you
again.

“
As
am I,” the crackling voice of a wildfire said from the middle
of the hovering ball of flames. “Greetings, Simon O'Toole.

“
Thank
you for coming,” Simon told them gratefully. “I'm
relieved to see you both well. After your intervention with
Lacertus...”

“
That
fool,” Aethos scoffed. “He slipped away from us just as
we were about to tear him apart.”

“
Very
unsatisfying,” Incendus added. “Have we been summoned to
finish what we started?”

“
No,
this is something else. Actually I wasn't sure if I would need your
help this time or not, but I think things are about to get very bad
and it never hurts to have too much help in times of need.”

“
Wise,”
Incendus said as his body altered and became man-shaped. “I
agree. I take it that we are about to go into battle?”

Two dark
spots appeared in the flaming visage and stared at the wizard.

“
Of
course we are,” Aethos told him in an amused tone.

The
air elemental retained his swirling form and dust and small stones
rose up around him.

“
Why
else would the wizard summon us? To clean his tower?”

“
What
is it about your people and sarcasm?” the fire elemental
replied with a shake of his burning head. “I asked a simple
question.”

“
Gentlemen?”
Simon said quickly to forestall an argument. “Time is short.
Yes, Incendus, you're right. As you can see,” he pointed toward
the ruined tower and both beings followed his gesture, “we've
brought down the stronghold of the leader of the necromancers. We
believe that he and his followers are directly responsible for the
undead armies and dragons that are scouring the world as we speak,
trying to destroy the last of my people. They are also attacking the
dwarven cities and, oddly enough, the goblins as well.”

“
Small
loss there,” Incendus said grimly. “Those creatures are
evil through and through.”

“
I
agree,” Aethos said. “I believe that I can see the group
of enemies that you speak of, sir wizard. Gathered near the ruins?”

“
That's
them.”

“
Hmm.
I count only six persons. The group that I spy approaching them
numbers at least a dozen. Surely between them and yourself, you are
more than a match for the evil ones. Why have you summoned us? You
seem to have plenty of firepower on your side.”

Kronk and
Aeris appeared from out of the darkness. Simon saw the little guy's
red eyes and Aeris' glowing form and he smiled at the pair.

“
Guys,
you've met both Incendus and Aethos before?”

Both small
elementals bowed silently, Aeris for once not hesitating in the
slightest.

Incendus
glanced at the two and nodded once. Aethos just continued to swirl,
waiting for Simon to answer him.

“
I've
summoned you both because there's something fishy about this whole
situation,” he said. “I believe that we were set up and
that those casters over there have some nasty surprises waiting for
us. But even if I'm wrong and they are just what they appear to be,
there is a second worry.”

He looked
up at the night sky and examined it quickly. Nope, still no sign of
them.

“
There
are two dracoliches up there, somewhere. Both were created from the
bodies of primals. They are strong, fast and apparently almost
sentient. And I expect them to drop in on us before this fight is
over with.”

“
Ah,
now I see,” Aethos said equably. “Very well, sir wizard.
You may have my aid once more.”

“
You
had mine to begin with,” Incendus told Simon with a trace of
amusement in his voice. “I love a good fight.”

“
Thank
you both. Now, I'd like to rejoin my friends before the battle
begins. Both of you know your own powers best; please just jump in
and help wherever you feel you need to.”

“
Understood,”
Aethos said and he zoomed out of sight, heading toward the rubble of
the tower.

“
I
will do that,” Incendus replied as he watched his counterpart
leave. “And I will be watching for those undead dragons as
well, sir wizard.”

“
Thanks.
By the way, two lawful dragons brought down that tower. We haven't
seen any sign of them since, but if they survived, I'd appreciate it
if you didn't attack them.”

The fire
elemental laughed heartily.

“
I'll
keep that in mind,” he chortled and then shot straight up into
the sky, turning back into a ball of fire as he went.

“
Let's
go, guys,” Simon told his small friends. “Could you lead,
Aeris? I can still barely see the ground in front of me and it would
be embarrassing to break my ankle before the fighting starts.”

“
I'd
be happy to,” Aeris replied, snickering. “Follow me.”

“
It
was wise of you to call for help, master,” Kronk rumbled as he
trotted along beside Simon. “I am sure that the mighty Kassus
would be pleased to lend you his aid as well if you summoned him.”

“
I'm
sure he would,” Simon replied, panting a little. “And if
I need his help, I will definitely call him. But I needed elementals
who were both powerful and could fly, to counter the dracoliches.
Kassus is strong, but he is an earthen; he wouldn't be much help in
an aerial fight.”

“
I
suppose you are correct, master,” the little guy said, sounding
a bit disappointed.

“
But
I will call him if I need backup,” Simon hurriedly assured him.
“Promise.”

A loud
explosion from up ahead muted the earthen's reply and Simon saw a
jagged finger of lightning cut through the sky and slam into the
ground.

“
Damn,
it's started,” he exclaimed and quickened his pace. “They
didn't wait for me.”

“
Tamara
may have seen an opportunity and taken it,” Aeris said over his
shoulder.

“
Good
point. Let's keep moving.”

The three
of them made their way across the distance toward the battle a
hundred yards away. The ground was pitted with holes and mounds of
broken rock and Simon slipped and slid over and around them, almost
falling twice.

“
I
don't remember getting this far away from the tower,” he gasped
at one point as sweat flew from the end of his nose.

“
It
isn't that far,” Aeris informed him. “You simply have no
stamina, as befits one of your profession.”

Yeah, a
skinny weakling wizard, that's me, he thought with some disgust. I
suppose it's a trade-off.

They
finally reached the foursome led by Virginia. They were in a line
facing the conflict, hand in hand with each other. Gerard was
scowling at their opponents, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Behind
them, Miriam was watching over the battlefield, her hands clenched
nervously. She gave the wizard a tight smile.

“
How's...how's
it going?” Simon wheezed as he stumbled to a stop and leaned on
his staff.

“
Hard
to tell,” Virginia answered while keeping her focus on the
fighting. “Our enemies have incredibly powerful shields.
They're resisting Gerard's force blows, but he's at least managed to
knock a few of them on their asses.”

The wizard
looked past her and tried to absorb what he was seeing. It was
chaotic, to say the least.

Six figures, surrounded by bright shields of
energy, were lined up against Simon's forces. It was hard to see them
in any detail and all he could get were glimpses as spells flashed
and flickered on both sides.

How the hell am I supposed to aim at anything, he
wondered. All I can see are vague shapes.

“Ah, screw it,” he said abruptly. “I'm
not going to waste time guessing who's who in the middle of a fight.”

He raised his staff and pointed it toward the area
over the heads of the enemy casters. A half dozen bolts of light shot
across the distance to float twenty feet above the ground, glowing
with a bright white radiance. The entire area was suddenly lit up
like midday.

“Much better,” Virginia exclaimed with
delight. “That will help a lot.”

“I hope so. Take care, guys. I have to go.”

Simon hurried past them and watched events unfold
with the others as he moved to join them.

Now that he could actually see the enemy, he
realized that all six magic-users were definitely necromancers. All
were dressed in flowing black robes and, like him, they each wielded
a staff.

“Evil wizards, master,” Kronk said to
him.

“I can see that. Damn, this isn't good.”

Several of the necromancers were flinging bolts of
dark energy directly at the fighters, who were advancing steadily
upon them. Liliana, Malcolm and Aiden were leading and fending off
the attacks with their shields. The bucklers flashed each time they
deflected a bolt, their enchantments holding so far.

Fergus and Kate were moving forward as well, one
on either end of the line, and Simon watched with admiration as the
man used his two-handed sword to redirect a bolt of energy back at
the magic-user who had cast it. The throbbing black missile was
morphed into a blazing silver projectile by the enchantment on the
warrior's sword and it smashed into the caster's shield with a
tremendous bang. There was a wavering and twisting in the air as the
magical barrier was nullified and the shield collapsed.

“Now! Hit him now!”

It was Tamara who bellowed out that order and, as
Simon watched, both she and her brother let fly with an eye-searing
barrage of magic missiles.

The necromancer was babbling frantically, trying
to recast his shield, and barely had enough time to scream before the
projectiles literally ripped him to pieces.

“That's one!” Sebastian exclaimed with
grim satisfaction.

One of their foes shouted furiously and another
replied in some language that Simon didn't recognize. It sounded
tantalizingly familiar though.

He finally caught up to the others and looked at
his friends.

Both Tamara and Sebastian were wearing identical
expressions of grim determination as they waited for an opening to
cast more spells. Barnaby stood next to them and grinned as he caught
sight of Simon. He looked wildly excited.

All three were protected by shields identical to
those of their enemies and they sparkled and sizzled with magical
energy.

“Good job,” the wizard said to them as
he arrived. “One necromancer down, five to go.”

“Thanks,” Tamara replied, not taking
her eyes off of the dark casters. “We got lucky. I had no idea
that a shield could be shorted out like that.”

“You can thank your blacksmith when you see
him again, lady,” Aeris told her with a grin. “Or whoever
fashioned the sword that the warrior Fergus is wielding. It altered
the enemy's own spell just enough to cause the magic of the shield to
be nullified.”

Simon and the three mages stared at him in
surprise.

“Is that what happened?”

“Yes, of course,” the air elemental
replied in a rather superior tone. “I have seen such things
before, long ago. Obviously these necromancers didn't realize that
you should not cast projectile spells at warriors using enchanted
weapons. I believe that they've learned their lesson now though.”

There was a loud, heated argument going on amongst
the necromancers. Malcolm and the other fighters had halted their
advance and stood side by side about thirty feet in front of the
casters, waiting.