The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (47 page)

Dusting
off his robe, Simon nodded in agreement.

“
Sounds
good. Okay, let's go. Even if they don't show up there, it seems like
a good place to take a look around, get the lay of the land.”

“
Meet
you there,” Aeris said and shot off ahead of them.

“
He
always needs to be first, master,” Kronk grumbled as he hurried
along beside Simon. “He is so competitive.”

“
I've
noticed. Well, if it makes him happy, let him have his little
victories.”

“
Yes master,” the little
guy said stiffly.

Simon had to smile at Kronk's
disapproving tone as they followed Aeris.

At the top of the hill, the trio
stopped and looked around. The sun had disappeared, going down in a
blaze of red and yellow, and it would be dark very soon.

“
They are actually coming,
aren't they?” Aeris asked, sounding a bit nervous. “I
mean, this isn't a setup or some elaborate joke, is it?”

“
Tamara doesn't have that much
of a sense of humor,” Simon told him as he turned in a slow
circle, looking down the hill. “And if we can't trust her and
the others, who can we trust?”

“
Aeris, that was a silly thing
to say,” Kronk chided him. “The humans in Kingstone are
our allies and our master's friends.”

“
Don't get snippy. It was just
a thought.”

The air elemental ascended a few feet
over Simon's head and scanned the surrounding country.

“
Isn't it quiet though?”
he said in a low voice.

He wasn't wrong about that. The
breeze that blew in from the ocean was becoming chilly as the sun set
and there were no signs of animals of any kind in the rough country
around the hill. Not even a seagull could be seen flying along the
coast. It was eerie.

“
Well, I don't know what would
even live around here,” Simon said as he examined the scrub
brush and low trees that dotted the landscape. “Not the most
hospitable of places, is it?”

“
A little desolate, master,”
Kronk agreed.

He bent down and ran his hands across
the ground.

“
The earth here is thin,
lacking in nutrients for plants. It would not be a good spot for
growing crops, master.”

“
We're not here to farm,”
Aeris told him impatiently. “We're here to meet up with the
others before battle. Where are they?”

Simon adjusted his robe restlessly.
He'd chosen to wear plain brown to blend in with the darkness and had
tied back his hair to keep it out of his eyes. Mortis de Draconis
felt reassuring in his hand and he leaned on it as he waited for
Tamara and the rest of the group to appear.

“
Oh wait,” he exclaimed
suddenly. “Here they come. Move, guys, over to the side of the
hill.”

The wizard hurried to vacate the
central portion of the rise, to make room for the others, and the
elementals followed him.

“
How can you know that?”
Aeris asked.

“
Can't you feel it? That sudden
change in air pressure?”

“
I feel nothing except the wind
from the sea. Are you certain that it isn't just indigestion? You did
have dinner before we came.”

“
Aeris, could you not just be
quiet for a change?” Kronk told him, his red eyes glowing in
the growing darkness.

Before the air elemental could reply,
Simon nodded at the spot where they'd just been standing.

“
There,” he said quietly.

A pearly luminescence appeared just
as the darkness crept over them and suddenly the entire hill was lit
up in a flash of white light. Simon shaded his eyes and squinted
against the brightness which disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“
See? I told you he'd be here
already!”

The wizard knew that voice and
grinned as he tried to see clearly.

“
Malcolm? Sorry, the Gate
nearly blinded me.”

The big man loomed out of the night
and, for a change, gently patted him on the shoulder.

“
Yes, it's me. Good to see you.
And you brought the boys! Hey Kronk, Aeris. How you doing?”

“
The boys?” Aeris
murmured.

“
We are well, sir,” Kronk
said politely as he bowed, both to Malcolm and to the group behind
him.

Simon summoned a globe of light and
it rose up above him several feet.

“
Is that wise?” someone
asked.

The wizard could see a mass of people
now and he grinned at the disapproving look on Tamara's face.

“
The area is clear,” he
assured her. “And unlike our friend here,” he nodded at
Hallic who was looking amused, “I can't see in the dark.”

“
Well, okay then. You'll have
to douse the light when we move though. Hallic will be taking the
lead and we don't want to give away our position.”

“
Understood. So,
introductions?”

Malcolm stepped to the side so that
Simon could see the entire group.

“
You know pretty much everyone
here except for these two. Kate, Fergus, this is Simon O'Toole.
Simon, these are two of the best warriors I know. Well, besides
myself and Aiden, of course.”

“
Modesty, Malcolm,” Aiden
chided him.

Simon laughed and nodded at the two
armored fighters.

“
It's good to meet you both.”

“
And you too, sir,” Kate
said with a smile.

The young woman was a bit taller than
Simon's six feet. She had a crooked nose that must have been broken
at least once and piercing green eyes.

Fergus bowed and grinned but remained
silent. He sported a neat goatee and his hair and eyes were black. He
was just slightly taller than Kate.

Both she and Fergus were wearing
impressive suits of dwarven armor. It was steel, enameled black like
the armor of the royal guard, but fitted for the human warriors.

“
They gave you armor?”
Simon asked them.

“
Actually the king insisted
that armor be made for all of us,” Aiden spoke up. “But
Malcolm and I like our old suits that the smith at Nottinghill forged
for us. It's not pretty but it does the job.”

Both he and Malcolm wore their
slightly battered plate armor. Simon noticed that it had been painted
a dark gray that blended with the darkness and he nodded in approval.

“
Of course,” Aiden
continued with a glance to his right, “Liliana's armor is
special and I doubt that even the dwarves could forge better.”

The paladin gave him a cool look and
separated herself from the group and walked over to Simon. They shook
hands and she looked him up and down.

“
You look well, my friend,”
she said quietly “How are you feeling after that confrontation
with the necromancer?”

Simon had called Tamara and relayed
the news about the attack on his tower. She had been both surprised
and angered and had promised to tell the others about it.

“
Honestly? I'm a little pissed
off, if you'll pardon my language. That guy, whoever he was, had the
nerve to try to scare me away. And not just me; he tried to frighten
all of us. Personally though, I think that just revealed his own
fears. I think he's worried that we pose a real threat to him and so
he tried playing mind games with me. It didn't work.”

“
Damned straight it didn't
work,” Malcolm growled. “That weasel has betrayed his own
people and threatened all of us. I think it's time to turn the tables
on him, let the hunter become the hunted.”

“
I would say that we all agree
on that point,” someone said from the back of the group.

Simon watched as Kate and Fergus
moved aside to make some room. Several people stepped forward
together and he recognized Virginia, Eric, Anna and Gerard.

“
Hey guys!” he said with
a broad smile. “Long time no see! How is everyone?”

Both of the young woman gave him a
hug, the tiny Anna making him feel almost huge in comparison, and the
two men shook his hand warmly.

“
We're good, thanks,”
Virginia assure him. She almost always spoke for the four of them.

“
Well, good is a relative
term,” Eric said, looking a little annoyed. “We're less
than thrilled that we can't do more than get you folks inside of that
tower.”

“
Eric, we've discussed this,”
Tamara told him sternly as she looked at each of the four friends.
“We know that you want to fight but your reaction speed as a
group might compromise all of us and we can't take that chance.”

“
We're willing to risk it,”
Anna said in her little voice and then blushed as everyone looked at
her.

“
But we are not,”
Sebastian said suddenly from behind them.

Simon hadn't seen him in the back and
watched as the mage moved around to stand next to his sister.

“
Look, you all know that Tamara
and I don't always see eye to eye.”

“
Now there's an
understatement,” Malcolm muttered.

Everyone chuckled and even Tamara
smiled reluctantly.

“
But in this case, we are in
agreement. We aren't fatalistic about this venture, but if we fall,
our people back in Kingstone will need your skills to carry on. And
besides, the smaller the group, the safer we all will be.”

Eric still looked belligerent but
Virginia reluctantly nodded.

“
He's right,” she told
her friends. “I don't want to miss out on the battle, but we
have to be adults about this. Right?”

There was a mutter of agreement but
none of the four looked very happy about their situation.

“
Hey, cheer up, guys,”
Malcolm said encouragingly. “It's your powers that are going to
get us into that hellhole in the first place. Without you, we'd be
screwed. So it's not like you're just along for the ride.”

“
That's true, you know,”
Gerard told the others. “We aren't just tagalongs.”

“
And now that that is sorted
out,” Tamara said impatiently, “Simon, do you remember
Miriam and Barnaby?”

Miriam was a cleric, a cheerful,
matronly woman who was always smiling. She gave him a strong hug and
winked as she let him go.

“
Ah, the famous wizard. Or
should I say infamous? Good to see you.”

“
And you,” Simon wheezed.
He wondered if his ribs were bruised.

Miriam wasn't tall but she was broad
and obviously strong. She wore a simple brown robe and some sort of
religious symbol made of silver hung from her belt. Simon didn't
recognize it in the uncertain light.

Barnaby wore a robe as well, but it
was dyed a very dark blue that looked almost black in the darkness.
The young mage had long thin hair the color of cinnamon and an open,
attractive face. He and Simon had only met once, on the Defiant, but
the wizard had liked him almost immediately.

“
How are you?” Simon
asked as they shook hands.

“
Happy to be here and raring to
go,” the mage replied with a wide grin. “It's good to see
you again.”

“
And you.”

The wizard looked around and frowned
as he realized that someone was missing.

“
Where's Veronique?” he
asked Tamara.

She shook her head and looked
slightly disgruntled.

“
She had to back out at the
last minute. Sylvie became ill earlier today. Very ill, actually, so
I have no right to be irritated by her sister's absence. Veronique
simply didn't feel that she could come and leave Sylvie alone in that
condition.”

“
Is it serious?” Simon
asked anxiously.

He admired Sylvie very much and had
hated the fact that they'd had to leave her behind.

“
Opheilla is with her,”
Miriam told him. She sounded reassuring. “She is an excellent
cleric. I'm sure that Sylvie will be fine.”

“
Yes, well, let's hope so.
Anyway, now that we're all caught up, let's get down to business,
shall we?”

Tamara opened a pouch that hung from
her belt next to the wand that Simon had given her and pulled out a
rolled-up piece of parchment. She unrolled it and handed it to him.

“
The rest of us have seen this
but I wanted you to take a look.”

It was a rough map of the area around
Nottinghill Castle, including the bay where they were standing. The
route to the castle was clearly marked and Simon was buoyed by the
attention to detail that Tamara had put into her planning for the
attack.

“
You've been busy with your
Magic Mirror spell,” he told her with a smile.

She nodded solemnly.

“
If this whole thing goes
south, I don't want it to be because we didn't prepare properly. Now,
as I said, Hallic will be leading the way from here. Once we get
close enough to the tower, he'll scout out the area and give us any
information we'll need about the outside patrols. So, are you ready
to go?”