The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (3 page)

The king looked way up until he locked
eyes with the big man. He grinned broadly and then laughed out loud.

“
Ah, my
over-sized friend. Between the king of the dwarves and a man-mountain
like yourself, the war is practically won already!”

The entire group, including Shandon's
bodyguards, burst out laughing at his outrageous statement, and the
underground rang with the merry sounds.

Maybe we do have some hope, Tamara said
to herself. Even if it's only a sliver.

“
Don't
forget to factor in the wind before you shoot.”

“
Yeah, yeah,
I know that,” Simon muttered, hoping that Ethmira didn't hear
him.

He drew back on the bow, held the
string tightly and waited for the breeze to blow across his body. The
thin leather jacket that he wore allowed him to feel the wind quite
well, considering that he was used to wearing a light robe.

He sighted along the arrow toward the
target across the meadow, adjusted for the air flow and took a deep
breath. He counted to three in his head and released the string.

The bow twanged and the missile shot
across the open field and thudded into the target. It was a large
white cloth tacked to a tall tree stump. In the center was a small
red dot. The arrow had impacted an inch below the dot.

“
Well, you
are getting better. Slowly.”

Simon turned to look at the elven
maiden, who was standing several yards behind him and to his right.

“
You do
realize that if the target was a person, he'd be dead if he was hit
there, right?”

“
Do you
really think so?” she replied skeptically as he unstrung his
bow. “A person struck by an arrow an inch below his heart will
very often survive. And not just survive, but counterattack. If the
target is a magic-user, the response could be a face full of fire.”

With a long sigh, Simon rolled up his
bowstring and walked across the thick grass to join Ethmira. She saw
his expression and smiled apologetically.

“
Forgive me,
my friend. I sometimes forget how much you miss your powers. But
don't think of them as gone; think of them as sleeping, hibernating
until the day that you return to your home world.”

He shrugged absently and dropped his
bow and quiver of arrows.

“
Back in a
second,” he told her and headed across the meadow to retrieve
his used arrows from the target.

The day was gorgeous and Simon took a
moment as he walked to appreciate the beauty of the elven world. He
knew he often took the place for granted and didn't give it the
admiration that it deserved.

The entire planet was, as far as he
knew, covered in a vast forest. There were mountains that climbed out
of the trees here and there and he was told that several oceans were
scattered around somewhere, but for the most part the world was
shrouded with trees.

It was a remarkable thought and Simon
wondered how such a place could develop. He wondered even more about
where the elven home was. Was it even in his own universe? Or was it
on another plane of existence or a different dimension. So many
questions, so few answers.

All he did know was that it had
offered him sanctuary from his enemies. And it had rendered him
powerless.

Ethmira caught up to him as he was
yanking the arrows out of the tree trunk. She offered him his quiver
and he nodded gratefully as he slipped the bolts into it and tied it
to his belt.

“
I just
don't understand why I can't use magic here,” Simon said for
what seemed like the hundredth time. “I mean, the last time I
was here, fighting the primal brown dragon, it worked just fine.”

The elven woman handed him his bow
and then led the way into the forest toward their encampment.

“
Simon, I've
explained it the best way that I can. Your last visit was brief and
so you were not out of sync with Earth time for very long. But now
you've been here for several months, our time. However, it has been a
much longer absence back on your own world.”

He shivered at the thought. Time was
slipping away and God only knew what was happening with his friends
and the few other human survivors back on Earth.

“
How much
time has passed now?” he asked slowly, almost reluctant to
know.

“
Three
years, more or less. But the time shift between our worlds in now
increasing and soon the years will begin to slip by much more
quickly. And if too many drift by, not even your slow aging process
will allow you to survive the return to your home.”

He listened without comment to that
grim prediction and remembered his friend, Daniel. He had waited too
long in the elven lands and, when he'd returned to Earth, had aged
decades in an instant. Simon knew that a wizard's metabolism was much
slower than that of a regular human, but he also knew that he was far
from immortal. Unlike the elves, time still marked him and he only
had so much of it to spare.

“
Then send
me back.”

He glanced down at the leather
clothing that he was wearing.

“
I
appreciate the effort you've made to teach me how to fight without
magic, and I think that I'm a decent bowman now, but at my core I'm
still a magic-user, Ethmira, and I always will be.”

The path that the elf was cutting
through the thick forest dipped and weaved around the underbrush and
his companion waited until they were walking along a reasonably open
stretch to reply.

“
I know
that, my friend. But our world is as dangerous as yours is, in its
own way, and I felt that it was only prudent to give you some way to
defend yourself.”

She looked over her shoulder and gave
him a quick smile.

“
And you're
quite good at archery, you know. I would call you a natural. Your
hand and eye coordination is marvelous. Your gods must have
fine-tuned your reflexes when they Changed you into a wizard.”

“
Maybe,”
Simon told her as he ducked under an overhanging branch that was
thick with heavy moss. “But back in my old body, before the
Change, I was quite dexterous for a big man. Perhaps becoming this
skinny kid amped that up. But either way, thanks for the compliment.”

“
It is the
simple truth. Now, as far as getting you back home goes, I've had our
sages working on a way to open a portal back to your world for a
month now.”

They stepped out of the forest into a
small open area where two single-man tents had been set up next to a
fire pit. Their packs and camping gear were undisturbed and Simon
felt relieved. The forest animals were often quite bold and could
tear apart an unprotected camp very quickly.

He was especially irritated by, and
also quite fond of, the amirax. The small primate looked like a
monkey, but it was the size of a terrier, with gray fur and huge
soulful eyes. It could slip into a camp, rummage through everything
and slip out again without anyone even noticing, even the elves. And
if the amirax was caught, it would look at you innocently with those
big brown eyes as if to say 'What? What did I do?' The first time it
had happened to Simon, he'd laughed so hard that he had fallen over.
Naturally the creature had gotten away.

But he couldn't hear any of the
haunting calls of the amirax and their things were intact, so that
was one less worry.

A bigger concern, always, were the
vicious reptiles that prowled the undergrowth and were a danger to
anyone or anything that crossed their paths. Simon had personally
seen one, the elves called them kravon, that was at least twenty feet
long. Fortunately he'd been learning the most efficient technique of
tree climbing at the time and had been high above the ground when
Dellin, a scout who'd been training him, pointed the monster out.

It had been a nightmare combination
of snake and lizard. Black scales and greenish, sickly-looking
stripes blended it with the shadows so that it was almost invisible.

“
My God, are
there many that big?” Simon had asked in a hushed voice as he
and the elf had watched the predator slither through the brush below.

“
Most are
bigger, my friend,” Dellin replied with obvious loathing, his
voice barely audible. “I'd guess that it's a very young one. If
you are caught by one of them on the ground, you are dead. It is as
simple as that. I know that it looks slow and deliberate, but the
kravon can move like lightning when they spot their prey. It is a
blessing that they cannot climb trees.”

It was at that moment that Simon
realized that the elven realm wasn't the idyllic place he had
imagined it to be, but a real, tangible world with its own secrets
and dangers. It had been a sobering experience.

And now here he was, learning to
survive as an elf but constantly pining for home. He felt ungrateful
toward Ethmira and her people but he was so worried for humanity and
each tick of the clock seemed to draw him further and further away
from them. It made him increasingly anxious and moody.

“
The problem
is,” she continued, “the time stream must be aligned
precisely between the two planes or the portal will not lock on and
nothing will happen.”

She chuckled as she set her bow and
quiver on the ground next to her tent.

“
At least
that is what the sages tell me. I know nothing of such things. But
rest assured, Simon, that a portal will be opened soon. Just be
prepared for what might await you on the other side.”

He scoured the campsite as they
talked and gathered up an armful of dry sticks and a few small
branches.

“
Meaning
what?”

He knelt down beside the fire pit and
began breaking the sticks into proper lengths for the fire while
Ethmira opened her pack and took out a small leather pouch. She
pulled out several packages of dried beef and set them down next to
the pit. Then she sat back on her heels and caught Simon's eye.

“
Lacertus.
Surely you haven't forgotten him, have you? You need to think of a
way to either hide yourself from him or destroy him. And I doubt that
even you could destroy a god, even a minor one like him. No offense.”

“
None taken.
I'm well aware of my own limitations. But I may not have to worry
about hiding myself from him, if my reason for coming here in the
first place is correct.”

The elf pulled took a flint and a
small square piece of steel from her belt pouch and quickly started
the fire. Both of them watched as the flames caught on the tinder and
the larger sticks slowly began to burn.

“
You mean
your belief that the physical body is torn apart and rebuilt when it
crosses over from your world to ours?” Ethmira asked as she sat
down cross-legged near the fire. She rested her elbows on her knees
and looked at Simon quizzically.

“
That is not
proven, you know.”

“
I know
that,” he replied as he sat down heavily on the thick grass.

Ethmira offered him a packet of dried
meat and he accepted it gratefully.

“
Thanks. But
the theory is sound and frankly I can't think of any other way to
thwart him.”

He tore off a chunk of beef with his
teeth and started chewing thoughtfully.

“
If he
tracks me down when I return, then I will have to face him.” He
smiled grimly. “And I'll probably die. Rather horribly, I'm
sure. Lacertus was enraged when I escaped his clutches.”

“
You are
taking this rather lightly,” Ethmira told him as she delicately
sliced off bite-sized pieces of beef with her hunting knife and ate
them. “We are talking about your death here.”

Simon finished his meat, drank some
water from a flask on his belt and lay back on his elbows.

“
I know
that. But looking at the dark side of things just isn't my way. You
must know that by now. Besides, I've spoken with several of your
sages and they agree with me. It's all theoretical, of course, as
they've been quick to point out, but they say that matter cannot
cross dimensions in its native state. It has to be converted into
energy on one plane and then reassembled back into itself on the
other. And that should scramble whatever part of my body or essence
that Lacertus was tracking.”

“
In theory,”
Ethmira added with a reluctant grin.

“
Exactly. So
now I just have to wait until your people manage to sync a portal
between the two worlds.”

Simon looked around at the trees that
soared hundreds of feet above the small clearing, and sighed
wistfully.

“
I love this
place, you know. And I'm grateful for your help with my weapon
skills. But when the portal is ready to go, it won't last long and I
need to be close to the sages when it is. If we stay here, I may not
be able to return in time.”