The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (36 page)

He pulled two loaves out of the cast
iron oven and left them on the sideboard to cool. Then he tossed his
oven mitts aside and walked out the front door to sit on the steps.
It was cooler out there.

“
Hello?
Tamara?”

“
Veronique
actually, Simon,” he heard a voice reply. It sounded like
someone invisible was standing about five feet in front of him.

“
Oh. Hey
there. How are you?”

“
Quite well,
my friend. And you?”

“
Great,
thanks. It's good to hear from you. I've been expecting a call for a
few days now. What was the hold up?”

There was a pause.

“
No hold up,
Simon, just a lot of vigorous debate and discussion.”

Translation: lots of arguing, the
wizard thought to himself.

“
I see. So
what's happened? Have you all agreed on a plan?”

“
We have,
yes. Subject to your approval, of course.”

He pushed back his hair and pulled
his knees up to his chin while letting out a long sigh.

“
You don't
need my approval, Veronique,” Simon told her. “I'm just
part of the group.”

Another pause.

“
Hey Simon,
it's Malcolm. How you doing?”

Startled by the big booming voice,
the wizard grinned at the empty air.

“
Hey you.
I'm good. What's up?”

“
I just
jumped in to tell you that you may not think of yourself as a leader,
but you are essential to our plans. So if you don't approve, we'll
work things out and adjust them until you do. So uh, yeah. Anyway,
here's Veronique again.”

Kronk tip-tapped around the corner of
the tower at that moment and waved at Simon. The wizard winked and
motioned for the little guy to join him.

“
What's
going on, master?” he asked as he hopped up the steps.

“
Conference
call,” Simon replied and touched his lips with a forefinger.

“
Ah.”

Kronk settled down on the step next
to the wizard and listened attentively.

“
Sorry
Simon,” Veronique said. “But Malcolm wanted it made clear
that we value your input. You are our only wizard and we need you to
be on the same page with us as a group.”

“
Right.
Understood. Who's listening in on our conversation, by the way?”

“
Besides
myself and Malcolm, most of the other leaders are here as well.
Tamara and Sebastian, Liliana. We've also been joined by Barnaby, my
fellow mage from the Defiant, and my sister. Virginia is here
representing her group. Oh and Miriam is here too.”

“
Sorry,
Miriam? The name sounds familiar but...”

“
Miriam is a
cleric, from Nottinghill Castle. She's volunteered to join us as the
healer on our endeavor.”

“
Oh right,
right. Now I remember. So what have you all decided? How are we going
to play this out?”

“
Subject to
your approval,” Veronique said again.

Simon was sure he heard her smiling
behind her words and chuckled ruefully.

“
Fine then.
Subject to my approval.”

“
Good. Now
we've limited the party to the maximum that Virginia and her friends
can cloak with invisibility; twelve. For hand to hand combat, we'll
have Malcolm and Aiden along with Liliana and two talented warriors
from Nottinghill, Fergus and Kate. Malcolm says they're exceptional
fighters. The casters will include myself, you, Tamara, Sebastian and
Barnaby. Miriam will come along to serve as healer, a talent we all
hope she won't be called upon to perform.”

“
Amen,”
Simon said firmly. “But that's only eleven, Veronique. Who's
the last member of our happy crew?”

The mage laughed shortly at that but
then her voice became serious again.

“
The last
person to join our party may come as a surprise to you. He certainly
surprised us.”

Simon and Kronk glanced at each
other, mystified.

“
So who is
he?”

“
A dwarf. A
volunteer, actually. His name is...”

She paused and they heard some
whispered conversation.

“
Hallic
Barston. He was given permission to join us by the king himself and
is apparently a personal friend of Shandon's.”

“
Is he?
Well, that's good to know. But I wasn't expecting a dwarf. I thought
that the king didn't want to get involved in our war?”

Yet another pause.

“
Nay, he
doesn't. But I do.”

The voice with a pleasant baritone
and had a oddly Scottish lilt to it.

“
I'm sorry,”
Simon said to the unseen speaker. “Is this Mr. Barston?”

“
Aye but
please, call me Hallic.”

“
Okay
Hallic, I'm Simon. Nice to meet you. Um, why would you want to join a
bunch of humans on what could very well be a one-way trip into
danger?”

“
Well Simon,
it's like this. I have a certain set of skills, unique ones, at least
to your people, that could serve you well in your quest. And frankly,
when I caught wind of your plan to take the attack to the
necromancers, I thought that my help might aid in your success. I
mean, I don't want to sound immodest, but I'm quite good at what I
do.”

The wizard had to grin at Hallic's
obvious self-confidence.

“
I
appreciate that, Hallic. But what can you do? Are you a warrior? A
caster?”

“
Nay, none
of those things. Warriors be useful, I suppose, but those great
gallumpin' masses of armor are always targets. Not for me, thanks.
And magic? Well now, I'm rather good at countering magic, I suppose,
but I've never had a talent for using it.”

“
Then what
else can he do, master?” Kronk whispered curiously.

Simon shrugged.

Who was this dwarf and what aid could
he bring to the mission?

“
I know you
can't see me, Simon, but I can see you and your little friend there.”
Hallic told him cheerfully. “You both appear a wee bit
mystified by me, am I right?”

“
You are.
I'm just wondering how you can help us.”

“
Polite
dwarven society doesn't approve of my kind,” Hallic said with a
laugh. “They pretend my caste does not exist and shun us when
they can. But Shandon knows better. He uses my kind to good effect in
certain situations. Situations like your recent abduction, for
example.”

“
What? You
were part of the search for me?”

“
Nay,”
the unseen dwarf said, sounding quite pleased with himself. “I'm
the one who found you. With a little help from some casters, I'll
admit. And I cleared the way for the royal guard to swoop in
heroically and rescue you. And not even a thank you from any of
them.”

“
Well, if
that's true, then thank you from me, Hallic. I wasn't told about your
involvement.”

“
Of course
you weren't. Not to worry though; Shandon rewarded me handsomely for
my services. So, do you want me to tag along on this enterprise? I'm
fairly sure that you will need my help somewhere along the way.”

Simon stood up slowly. He stretched
to loosen the kinks in his back and then stepped up the stairs to
lean against the front door jam.

“
You still
haven't told me exactly what you are and what you can do, Hallic,”
he observed.

“
Ah, that's
true. Well, in your language, I would be called a rogue. I am a
member in good standing of the Thieves Guild. Not a guild that the
average dwarf will even acknowledges exists, but it does. Ours is an
ancient and proud order, no matter what others might say about it.”

“
You are a
thief?” Kronk asked suspiciously. “And you ask my master
to trust you?”

“
I didn't
say thief, rock man. I said rogue. There is a substantial
difference.”

“
Veronique,
if you can hear me, could you cancel your spell please?” Simon
said abruptly. “I'm going to cast Magic Mirror from my end. I'd
like to see who I am speaking with.”

“
Of course,
Simon,” the mage replied. “We'll wait for you to
reconnect.”

“
Thanks.”

The wizard felt the spell dissipate
and went inside with Kronk at his heels.

“
You wish to
see them, master?”

Simon hurried up the stairs and into
his study.

“
Him, Kronk.
I want to see Hallic. If we are to trust our lives to a stranger, I
want to get a good look at him.”

“
Ah, I see.
Understandable, master.”

“
What's
understandable?” Aeris asked as he zipped into the room.

“
Where did
you come from?” Kronk said to him.

“
The roof.
Keeping watch as I usually do when things are quiet. What's going
on?”

Simon sat down at his desk and picked
up his mirror.

“
Bring him
up to speed, Kronk,” he said. “while I get in touch with
the others again.”

While the elementals whispered
together, Simon cast the Magic Mirror spell and waited for it to
connect to Veronique. Thanks to Shandon lowering the wards against
his magic, the mirror misted over quickly and then cleared to show
the meeting room in Kingstone, looking almost exactly as it had
during his last visit.

“
Hi again,”
he said to the mage. “Sorry, but I like to see the people I'm
talking to.”

“
And get a
good look at a stranger offering his aid, I'd wager.”

A dwarf was sitting to Veronique's
left and was grinning crookedly at Simon. Obviously the entire group
could see the wizard's image.

“
Yes, that
too. It's good to meet you, Hallic.”

“
And you as
well, sir wizard. In the flesh, so to speak.”

“
Sort of,
yes.”

The dwarf, unlike almost every other
adult male in the city, did not have a long beard. Instead, Hallic's
facial hair was trimmed close to the skin. He had thick black hair
and his eyes were sky blue. They looked like sapphires against his
swarthy complexion.

He wore black leather armor and
gloves with the fingers missing. Simon couldn't see his entire body
from where he was sitting, but the wizard caught sight of at least
three daggers in his belt as well as a short-bladed sword.

Hallic was obviously aware of the
wizard's scrutiny and sat there relaxed while Simon gave him the once
over.

“
So, do I
pass muster?” he asked with a smile after a few moments.

“
Oh, sorry!”
Simon replied, embarrassed as he realized that he'd been staring. “I
didn't mean to be rude. I've just never seen a dwarf like you
before.”

“
Well now,
I'll take that as a compliment, sir wizard. We are not numerous,
those of my profession, and we tend to keep out of sight. Better for
business, don't you know.”

“
Simon,”
Tamara interjected, “Hallic has a unique set of skills that
might serve us well in our assault. In fact, I'd say that he is
essential to our success.”

The wizard looked between the mage
and the rogue skeptically.

“
How so?
What exactly is it that you can do, Hallic?”

“
Oh, is this
a job interview?” the dwarf asked, still apparently enjoying
himself. “How droll. What I can do for you is keep you and your
party alive, Simon.”

He stood up and now the wizard could
see that the rogue was both taller than the average dwarf and much
slimmer. He moved more like a dancer than a warrior.

Everyone was sitting at the table
close to the door and the far end of the conference room was not as
well lit as the rest of the area. Hallic walked toward the end of the
room, speaking as he went.

“
For
example, I can use the play of light and shadow to my advantage as a
scout.”

There was an odd flicker as the dwarf
reached the end of the table and several people gasped. Hallic had
vanished.

Simon peered into the mirror but the
rogue was nowhere in sight. As far as he could tell, that part of the
room was empty.