The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (54 page)

“
Can do. Everyone, touch the
person next to you and hang on. Kronk, Aeris, grab hold please.”

He waited a moment while the group
got themselves sorted out and then pictured the hump of broken rocks
they had hidden behind before entering the tower.

“
Is everyone connected?”

There was a general murmur of assent
and Simon smiled in the darkness. They sounded like a chorus of kids
lined up for a school trip who had been told to hold hands.

“
Okay, here we go. And...Gate!”

The Void pulled them in and vomited
them out in the blink of an eye, because of the short distance of the
teleportation. Simon looked around quickly to make sure that he'd
taken them to the proper spot; occasionally he got it wrong.

Fortunately they were exactly where
he wanted them to be and, even better, Virginia and her three friends
were only a few yards away, huddled behind the pile of broken stone.

“
Oh my God, you guys scared the
hell out of us,” the woman said as she and the others hurried
over to the group. “What's going on?”

Simon listened with one ear as
Barnaby excitedly explained what the argent and silver dragons were
going to do. He scanned the starry sky for any signs of Argentium and
Esmiralla, but it hadn't been five minutes yet and there was nothing
to see.

“
Guys?” he interrupted
the chatter. “Talk later, move now. Hundreds of tons of tower
is about to come crashing down and I'd prefer not being under it, if
it's all the same to you.”

“
Simon's right,” Tamara
said loudly. “Let's get the hell out of here. Hallic? You see
best in the dark. Could you lead us please, and quickly?”

“
Right you are, lady mage.
Follow me, everyone. Double time it!”

“
He sounds like a Cockney drill
sergeant,” Sebastian said to someone, prompting laughter from
the group.

Simon saved his breath. Hallic was
almost running in the darkness and the wizard concentrated on keeping
his footing and trying to breathe. He would never be fit enough for a
long run, but survival was a great motivator.

They hurried along for several
minutes until the rogue was satisfied that the tower couldn't fall on
them even if it tipped over in their direction.

“
This should be far enough,”
he called out and the group staggered to a halt.

“
Okay,” Malcolm wheezed
as he bent over and rested his hands on his knees. “Running in
plate armor? Bad idea.”

“
Tell me about it,” Aiden
gasped. “I think I'm going to puke.”

“
Don't,” Liliana said,
sounding amused and barely winded. “It's undignified.”

Simon moved away from the others and
stared at the tower. Hallic had led them to a low hill and, even in
the darkness, they had an unimpeded view of the huge structure.

Aeris floated by his right shoulder
and Kronk stood to his left, both elementals also keeping an eye on
the tower.

“
So what sort of outcome do you
expect?” Aeris asked quietly. “Assuming that the fortress
collapses as we hope it will.”

The wizard leaned on his staff, still
breathing deeply but keeping his gaze locked on the tower.

“
Expect? No idea. But those
dracoliches aren't going to keep idly circling that thing and the
head necromancer won't be defeated by a destroyed building. I think
that if we want to stop him here, we're in for a hell of a fight.”

“
Do you really?” Tamara
asked as she joined the three of them. “Sorry, I overheard you.
So if we do engage the necromancer and whatever followers he has left
after the tower comes down, assuming that it does, what are our best
options for tactics?”

Simon smiled as he looked at her
face, barely visible in the night.

“
Tactics? Hit them with
everything we've got and hope for the best. What else? If there's a
tactician in the group, it certainly isn't me. Liliana is probably
better at that sort of thing.”

The mage laughed softly and shook her
head.

“
No one who doesn't understand
at least the rudimentary principles of tactics defeats five primal
dragons, my friend. I don't care if you have a horseshoe shoved up
your butt and snack on four-leaf clovers all day long, there simply
isn't that much luck in the world.”

Simon had to chuckle at her words but
he nodded reluctantly.

“
Okay, maybe I make good
guesses occasionally. But I do know this; if those two dead primals
attack us, leave them to me. You guys all focus on the spell-casters
and any undead troops they may have.”

“
Do you really think that you
can take on two of those monsters? Alone?”

“
No, I can't. But I don't
expect to be alone.”

“
What are you...”

“
Look!” someone shouted.
“What is that? Coming from the north?”

Everyone's head snapped to the left
and they saw what appeared to be a silvery point of light approaching
the tower at incredible speed.

“
There's another one to the
south!” Barnaby exclaimed. “Cripes, they are moving
fast!”

It had to be the dragons, Simon
thought excitedly. But which was which was impossible to tell.

They were both flying at a great
height but as they closed in on the tower, both points of light, now
blazing like comets, dove in unison toward the lower floors of the
building.

“
My God, they're going to kill
themselves at that speed!”

Simon was suddenly afraid that that
might be true. Could even a dragon survive an impact at that speed?

He held his breath and tightened his
grip on his staff in anticipation.

“
Here it comes!” Malcolm
bellowed.

The two blazing dragons smashed into
the base of the tower simultaneously and a tremendous burst of light
blinded the watchers. Simon dropped his staff and covered his eyes
with both hands at the intense display. A moment later an explosion
of sound rolled over them followed by a howling blast of hot air.

It feels like someone dropped a nuke,
he thought with a chill of fear. How could either of the dragons
survive such a thing?

As the darkness closed in again, he
turned to see what the outcome had been.

“
There she goes,” Tamara
exclaimed excitedly.

Simon could barely hear her; his ears
were still ringing from the blast.

But what she meant was obvious; the
tower was buckling.

The lower floors had been weakened by
the dragons' assault and whatever support had been built into the
structure was destroyed. The building was collapsing under its own
immense weight.

It was like watching a disaster movie
being shown in slow motion. The tower started to buckle and the lower
floors were crushed. Then the entire thing began to topple like some
monstrous tree.

Someone should yell
timber
,
Simon thought irreverently.

“
Brace
yourselves,” Hallic cautioned the group. “When that thing
hits the earth, we're going to feel it.”

He wasn't
kidding.

The sound
of the tower crashing into the ground was horrendous. An explosion of
small rocks and great bursts of black dust obscured the wreckage but
the ground shuddered and shook for many minutes afterwards.

“
Holy
crap, it worked,” Sebastian said in disbelief. “It
actually worked!”

“
Does
anyone see Argentium or Esmiralla?” Simon asked loudly as he
scanned the sky, searching for movement of any kind.

Everyone
quieted down and looked for any sign of the dragons. There was
nothing, no movement whatsoever.

“
Do
you think they might have been killed?” Anna asked hesitantly.

Simon
jumped a bit. He'd forgotten that she and the others had rejoined the
party.

“
It's
a possibility,” Tamara said. “The dragons may be immortal
but they certainly aren't invincible. Simon has proven that.”

“
Should
we go over there and search through the rubble?” Malcolm asked
dubiously.

“
What
would be the point?” Aiden told him, practical as always. “It
could take weeks to pick through that mountain of debris. Either
Argentium and the silver dragon survived or they didn't; I'm more
concerned about that necromancer and those two dracoliches.”

Anna began
scanning the sky urgently.

“
Oh
my gosh, I forgot all about those monsters. They could be swooping to
attack us right now!”

“
They
aren't,” Aeris piped up.

The small
woman frowned at him. Aeris was glowing slightly and was the easiest
thing to see in the vicinity.

“
How
do you know?” she asked irritably.

“
He
can see in the dark, Anna,” Simon told her. “Just as
Hallic can. And believe me, they are both watching for attackers.”

“
Right
you are, sir wizard,” Hallic told him jovially. He had climbed
up on a stump that was jutting crookedly out of the ground and was
staring intently at the wreckage of the tower.

“
I
too hope that the lawful dragons survived,” he continued. “But
I think we've got other concerns right now.”

“
Meaning?”

“
A
group of six people, I believe, has just pushed their way out of the
rubble. All are encased in shields; I can see them flickering and
sparking.”

“
The
necromancer,” Tamara breathed, a sudden smile of malice on her
face. “Finally.”

“
Perhaps
we should face them before those blasted undead dragons show up?”
the rogue asked her.

“
I
think so. Does anyone have any objections?”

“
It's
what we came here to do,” Malcolm said as he drew his sword and
settled his shield on his arm.

He looked
at Aiden, who was doing the same.

“
Ready?”
he asked softly.

His
partner winked and twisted his shoulders to loosen them up.

“
Always.
Watch your ass, big man. I don't want to have to save your life,
again.”

“
Ha!
Likewise. Tamara, whenever you give the word, we're ready.”

“
Good.
Everyone, arm yourselves or ready your spells. Virginia, I guess that
you and the others are going to have your chance to fight after all.”

Gerard and
Eric exchanged eager smiles, but Anna seemed to shrink in on herself.
Virginia gave the smaller woman a one-armed hug and nodded at Tamara.

“
Okay,
we'll stay back and do what we can.”

“
Excellent.
I was hoping you'd say that.”

The mage
looked around one last time, starting with Simon and finishing with
her brother.

“
All
set? Then let's do this.”

As the
group prepared to follow Hallic back to the mountain of rubble that
used to be the dark tower, Simon stayed behind and motioned for
Tamara to join him.

“
I'll
follow along in a minute,” he told her quietly. “I have a
few preparations to make first.”

She gave
him a long look and then smiled.

“
I
trust that you know what you are doing, my friend, as always. Don't
take too long.”

“
I
won't. Go on ahead, they're waiting for you.”

The mage
hurried off and Simon watched as the group disappeared into the
night.

“
How
long until sunrise?” he asked Aeris.

The
elemental looked toward the east for a moment.

“
True
dawn won't appear for another hour and a half or so, but false dawn
with it's pink and red colors will begin to lighten the sky in less
than an hour.”

“
Excellent.
As much as I enjoy the stars, I'd like to be able to see more than
ten feet in front of me.”

“
Master,”
Kronk said. “Perhaps one day you can do some research and find
the Ultra-vision spell? That could help you in any future battles
that occur at night.”

Simon
stared at him and then caught Aeris nodding.

“
Wait,
there's a spell to help you see in the dark?” he asked blankly.

“
Yes,
of course there is, my dear wizard. How can you not know that?”

“
I
think I'll let that comment pass,” Simon replied a bit wearily.
“We don't have time to argue. Okay, you two stand back and give
me some room please.”