The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (39 page)

Tamara sat back, nodding
her understanding.

“
I thought as much.
Sorry for interrupting, but I was just curious.”

“
No problem. And I
have faith in Malcolm and the others. Let's remember that he and
Aiden have werewolf blood running through their veins; it makes them
incredibly resistant to hostile magic.”

“
I know. It took me
a while to get used to that idea, to be honest. I mean, werewolves?
Really?”

Simon grinned as he looked
into the mirror.

“
No weirder than
wizards.” His grin widened. “Or mages for that matter.”

“
Funny man,”
Tamara said lightly.

“
I do try. Okay,
here we go.”

“
Simon! Thank God
you called. We're pinned down here and could really use your help.”

That was the first thing
that Malcolm said when Simon connected with his Magic Mirror spell.

It was night time in
Britain, and hard to see the big man's face in the flickering shadows
and chaos that surrounded him. The wizard and Tamara could hear
shouts and screaming, explosions, and, chillingly, roaring that
sounded like dragons attacking.

“
Malcolm? What the
hell is going on?”

“
A full-blown
battle, that's what.”

There was a high-pitched
whistling sound and they saw the warrior dive behind a low wall,
which shattered as a multitude of glowing projectiles hit it.

“
Magic Missile
spell,” Tamara said tersely.

Simon nodded.

“
Where are you?”
he asked loudly over the ear-splitting din.

“
On the wall. We
made our way through the hidden tunnel and then up from the cellar to
one of the corner towers. Liliana joined us, by the way. Everything
was quiet and I figured we'd made it in without being spotted,
especially since the sun had gone down and it was dark. No such luck.
Yikes!”

Malcolm leaped to his
feet, sprinted about ten yards and ducked behind cover again. This
time a fiery explosion blasted the wall he had hidden behind.

“
Who's attacking
you?” Tamara yelled at the image in the mirror.

“
Well, it sure as
hell isn't Octavian,” Malcolm shouted back. “He's hanging
over there,” he gestured vaguely into the distance, “from
the arch in the middle of the front gate. Which is wide open, by the
way.”

“
Octavian's dead?
Who killed him?”

“
Hang on a second!”
Malcolm exclaimed and they watched him jump to his feet, race down a
flight of shadowy steps and swing his sword twice at a vague target.
There was a shuddering scream and then he picked up a limp figure,
about half his size.

“
Do you recognize
this?” he asked as he shook the body.

Simon stared, slack-jawed,
at the limp figure. It was wearing ragged leather armor and dripping
black blood, but the pointed ears and hooked nose were all too
familiar, even in the darkness.

“
God damn it,”
he exclaimed as he got over his shock. “It's a goblin! What the
hell is a goblin doing in England?”

A whistling scream tore
through the air and Malcolm ducked. A loud explosion followed and lit
up the entire area with a red flash.

“
I don't care about
that,” he told them as he savagely shook the body again and
then hurled it away. “I want to know why they've allied
themselves with goddamned dragons!”

“
Dragons? What about
the wards guarding the castle?” Tamara asked loudly.

“
They're down,
thanks to our late friend Octavian. One of the guards said she saw
him running along the walls muttering incantations. I guess he was
canceling the wards to let in the goblins. How he was connected to
them in the first place is beyond me, but considering the fact that
they've strung him up, I'd say that they weren't the most trustworthy
of allies.”

“
Oh, this is
madness!” the mage exclaimed. She had laced her fingers through
her hair and was pulling at it unconsciously.

Simon looked at her and
then exchanged a worried glance with Aeris. They needed the old
Tamara, strong and resolute. If she crumbled now, they could be in
big trouble.

“
Sorry,”
Malcolm told them as he climbed back up to the top of the wall. “We
won't get a chance to question him about Sebastian now, I'm afraid.”

“
If Octavian was
allied with the goblins, it's more than likely that Sebastian is
their prisoner,” Simon told him as he watched Tamara. “We'll
go after him once this mess is cleared up. Stay there, Malcolm. I'm
coming to you.”

The big man smiled grimly.

“
Hurry,” he
said simply.

“
You think that
those goblins have my brother?” Tamara asked as Simon dropped
the mirror and hurried across the room.

“
Aeris, get Kronk in
here. Now.”

The air elemental nodded
and disappeared. Simon opened his clothes cupboard and took off his
shoes.

“
I think it's quite
likely, yes,” he said as he grabbed a pair of heavy boots and
slipped them on. “Goblins have magic-users among them; I'm
guessing that's who was casting spells just now. They'd be quite
interested in a human mage, I think.”

He stopped and looked
compassionately at Tamara.

“
Look, I don't want
to sugarcoat this; your brother may or may not still be alive. I
choose to think that he is. But before we can try to find him and
rescue him, we have to defend Nottinghill Castle. Are you with me?”

She stared at him blankly
for a long moment, then seemed to catch herself and snap back into
the present. She set her jaw and nodded abruptly.

“
Damned right I am.
I love my brother but those are my people fighting out there and
right now, they are my first concern.”

“
Agreed,” the
wizard told her, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. He hurried
to pick up his staff as the elementals both raced into the tower.

“
Aeris said we are
leaving, master?” Kronk asked him calmly.

“
We are. Nottinghill
is under attack and we're going to help them.”

Simon looked at Tamara,
then at Kronk and Aeris.

“
Guys, we're Gating
into battle. There are goblins attacking, both warriors and
spell-casters. And there is at least one dragon involved as well.”

He focused on the mage.

“
This is your home
we're going to and you know it best, so you can decide where and when
to attack the goblins. I'm going to Gate to the wall and get your
wards back up. At least then we can concentrate on the two-legged
attackers because the dragon or dragons will be blocked.”

“
Good idea. I can't
make any decisions until we get there and I see the situation
firsthand. Then I'll coordinate with Malcolm and go from there.”

“
Right. Okay,
everyone gather round. I'm going to shield all of us and, once we
arrive, Tamara, you can go ahead and cast your own protection. Unless
you want to cast your shield now and Gate there by yourself?”

She smiled grimly.

“
All for one, one
for all, my friend. Let's go.”

He nodded and concentrated
on the wall where Malcolm had been standing with the thick night
around him. Simon felt the image of the castle lock firmly into his
mind's eye and knew that he was ready.

He held up his staff and
looked at his friends one last time.

“
Shield,” he
said and the barrier appeared with a loud crackle of power.

Simon took a final deep
breath.

“
Gate,” he
said and they disappeared into the void.

The night air was chilly
and Simon felt a vague regret that he hadn't put on a jacket before
he left home.

Don't be such a granny, he
told himself in disgust and looked around for Malcolm.

The four of them were
standing in almost complete darkness near one of the corner towers of
the castle. Simon had intentionally Gated to the shelter of the tower
that he'd seen behind the big man to give them a chance to assess the
situation before entering battle.

“
He is there,
master,” Kronk said over the sounds of battle.

They all followed the
little guy's pointing finger and saw Malcolm on some steps that led
down to the shadowy courtyard. He was speaking with another figure
and Simon thought that he recognized Liliana's silver armor flashing
in the gloom.

“
I'll join Malcolm,”
Tamara told them “Do you need me to point out the location of
our wards?”

“
Nope, I can feel
them,” Simon told her as he canceled his shield spell. “You
go ahead. I'll join you as soon as I can.”

She gripped his arm and
gave it a grateful shake and then ran off along the wall, chanting as
she went. A shield flickered into place around her and the wizard
felt some relief as he saw it. He recast his own at the same time,
just in case.

“
She'll be fine,”
Aeris said as he bobbed in the breeze. “You'd better get on and
re-energize those wards, before those things come back.”

“
What things?”
Simon asked with a frown.

Aeris pointed at the sky
beyond the castle wall. The night was clear and bright with the moon
almost full. And against that light, the wizard saw three massive
winged shapes flying in formation. They were miles away but banking
slowly, turning back toward the castle.

“
Oh crap. Dragons. I
count three.”

“
I do as well. Time
to move, I think,” Aeris told him.

“
Yep. Kronk, could
you go and join Malcolm and the others, please? They might need your
help.”

“
Of course, master.
Good luck.”

The little guy took off,
running so quickly that his short legs were a blur. Simon opened his
shield for him and watched as he disappeared into the gloom.

“
Any instructions
for me?” Aeris asked as the wizard began to trot along the
wall, extending his senses and feeling for the wards.

“
If you want to
help, please do. I'm not going to order you into battle. You know
that. But if you'd like a suggestion, go to Tamara and see if she
needs you to scout out the goblins' movements.” He gave the
elemental a quick grin. “Remind her that you can turn
invisible; she may have forgotten.”

“
Ah! Good point.
Very well, I'll do that. See you soon.”

Aeris vanished with a
quiet pop just as Simon felt a trickle of power ahead. He sealed his
shield spell and hurried up to a point on the wall that was slightly
discolored. He knelt down and squinted into the shadows. He was
tempted to summon a light but that would only make him a target at a
time when he was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

He ran his fingertips over
the cool stone and felt the jagged lines of a rune cut into it.

There you are, he thought
with satisfaction.

He placed his hand flat
against the stone and muttered the incantation for the warding spell.

“
Invectis
,”
he whispered and felt the power gather in his chest and then race
down his right arm and into the ward. It flashed brightly for a
moment, the rune glowing with cold fire, and then faded again.

“
That's
one,” Simon muttered. “Three more to go.”

While
the wizard was running around the castle walls to energize the wards,
the battle continued. There were shouts and screams, loud bangs and
the hum of arrows in flight. The harsh goblin voices were easy to
pick out of the din; their language was as guttural and foul as they
were.

Malcolm
had rounded up some guardsmen and stationed them along the wall. They
crouched there with bows at the ready, taking the occasional shot
down into the courtyard. The problem was that targets were hard to
make out and the warriors were obviously afraid of hitting their own
people.

Simon
took in the situation as he raced around the wall but couldn't help
until he was finished with his own task. A quick glance at the sky
showed the trio of dragons heading back toward the castle. Their huge
wings flapped almost lazily but they were moving fast. He guessed
that they would be within striking range in less than five minutes.

Three
wards had been re-energized before the goblins finally noticed the
wizard. Simon guessed later that one of their magic-users must have
felt him casting spells. But however it happened, as he approached
the location of the final ward, a barrage of magic missiles slammed
into his shield, momentarily blinding him.

Sparks
erupted from his shield and he staggered back.

“
Crap.
Ah well, had to happen eventually, I suppose,” he hissed
between his teeth.

He
channeled energy into his shield to reinforce it and then watched as
a literal storm of blazing missiles descended from the top of the
castle wall, far across the courtyard from the wizard's position, to
slam into the goblins below. Tamara had answered the attack on Simon
with one of her own.