The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (58 page)

By the light of the rising sun, he
saw the air elemental shoot like a glittering streak across the sky
and meet the blazing form of the fire elemental head on. There was a
tremendous blast of purple fire that expanded like a corona around
the point of impact and Simon gasped as if he was watching a
fireworks display.

“
Wow,” he said
breathlessly. “It's so beautiful.”

“
I do not think that their
target will agree, master.”

Now twice their individual size and
burning like a star, the merged elementals didn't hesitate. They
blasted down upon the nearest undead dragon, smashed through its
exposed rib-cage and exploded. The whomp of sound that followed could
be heard for miles.

“
Oh my God,” Simon
muttered in shock. “They blew themselves up!”

“
No, master, they did not,”
Kronk disagreed. “They separated, violently, and that was the
result.”

Thousands of pieces of shattered bone
rained down to the ground below and the wizard hurriedly raised a
shield to keep from being hit.

“
But where are they?” he
wondered as he searched the sky for signs of Incendus or Aethos.

“
Gone, master,” the
little guy told him. “They are used up, exhausted. Both have
returned to their own realms. I felt the surges as they left this
world.”

“
Oh. Okay. Well, I'm relieved
to hear that. It still leaves us with one dracolich and that cursed
necromancer on its back.”

“
But at least the argent dragon
only has one foe now, master.”

“
True.”

They watched as Argentium, seemingly
strengthened by the destruction of one of the undead dragons, used
his special breath attack and sent a storm of lightning bolts
slamming into the dracolich.

Simon saw the small figure of the
necromancer raise a shield just in time to save himself from being
fried to a crisp. Unfortunately, it didn't save him from being
smashed off of the back of his undead mount.

He fell, tumbling and rolling through
the air while the dracolich continued to do battle with the argent
dragon, oblivious to its dislodged passenger. Even though the
combatants were over a hundred feet in the air, it still seemed to
take the necromancer a very long time to reach the ground.

“
I wonder if he knows the
Feather Fall spell, master?” Kronk asked as he watched the
tumbling body fall.

“
Doesn't look like it,”
Simon replied dispassionately. “Well, at least his shield is
holding. Makes for a prettier show, don't you think?”

As he neared the ground, they could
just hear his screams.

So, you are human after all, the
wizard thought. Or at least you've just remembered that you are.

The necromancer slammed into the
ground with a horrible thud and his shield burst like a balloon.

“
Couldn't fly either,”
Simon commented. “Pity.”

Maybe it was the death of the one who
created it, or some other draconian sense at work, but when the
magic-user hit the earth, the dracolich appeared to stagger in the
air. It broke off its attack on Argentium and looked down at the
ground, its head darting about wildly.

“
Master, perhaps we should
retreat?” Kronk said urgently.

“
Why? So the stupid thing
finally realized that its master is dead. So what?”

Simon quickly learned a lesson in
taking an enemy for granted, although he told himself later that it
was actually a lesson on why you shouldn't be an arrogant jerk. But
as he watched, his blasé attitude turned to one of fear.

The undead dragon dropped straight
down to where the necromancer's body lay in a broken heap. It landed
with such an impact that Simon, about fifty feet away, fell backwards
and landed hard on the rocky mound.

He slipped on several loose rocks as
he scrambled to stand, all while watching the dracolich.

The monster was nuzzling the body in
a strangely gentle fashion with its snout, but the necromancer was
obviously dead. Then the dracolich lifted its head and looked around,
its empty eye sockets burning with green fire. It spotted Simon
instantly and reared back, enraged.

“
Look out, master!”

With a shriek so high-pitched that it
reminded the wizard of the squealing of rusty car brakes, the
dracolich threw its head forward and blasted him with black gas,
engulfing him.

“
How strong is this poison?”
Simon asked nervously, thankful that he had left his shield up after
the other dracolich had been destroyed.

“
Unknown, master. But it is
very virulent, I am sure,” Kronk said.

Luckily the little guy had been
standing next to him when he had raised his barrier. Simon wasn't
sure that Kronk could be injured by the gas, but he didn't want to
take any chances. What if it was corrosive?

“
Do not let your shielding
fail, master.”

“
I don't intend to. Damn it, I
can't see anything!”

Simon raised Mortis de Draconis and
pointed it straight up.

“
Wind,” he said
forcefully.

A stiff breeze picked up immediately
and blew away the poisonous miasma so that they could look around
again. Their field of view cleared just in time to see the dracolich
raise a forearm, ready to smash it down on the shield.

“
Magic Missile!” Simon
shouted as he jumped backwards in a vain attempt to avoid the blow.

Luckily the undead dragon was still
rearing back on its hind legs as a dozen bolts of blazing energy
smashed into its head. The missiles were powerful enough to slam the
monster completely over on to its back, where it writhed and shrieked
in fury, its skinless wings flailing futilely.

“
I'm not sure what else to do,”
Simon told Kronk helplessly. “The damned thing is just too
big.”

From out of nowhere, it seemed, an
enormous silver body slammed into the helpless dracolich with a
tremendous roar. The resulting explosion from the impact almost
obliterated the huge creature. A hailstorm of bony shrapnel sprayed
in all directions and Simon stood gaping.

“
Well, that'll work,” he
said weakly.

Argentium turned his enormous head in
the wizard's direction and gave him a satisfied smile, which on a
dragon actually looked terrifying.

“
Well done, wizard,” he
rumbled. “You have destroyed not only the primal dracoliches
but their creator as well. Even now, the undead forces around the
world are returning to their slumber, to rest in peace as the gods
intended.”

“
Are you sure, Argentium?”
Simon asked loudly. “There are other necromancers.”

“
No, there
were
others. I believe that your friends have eliminated those twisted
creatures. The undead hordes and the dracoliches are no longer a
threat.”

Simon
dropped his shield and immediately began coughing. Whatever the
undead dragon had breathed at him lingered in the air, and it was
bitter and foul in his nose and throat.

The argent
dragon stepped a little closer to Simon, careful to tread lightly so
that his weight didn't knock the wizard off of his feet again.

“
And
what of Esmiralla?” Simon asked reluctantly. “Did she
make it or...?”

The
massive silver head dropped and Argentium closed his eyes for a
moment.

“
No.
She died during our attack on the tower. But she gave her life for a
noble cause and she will be remembered by me and, I hope, by you.”

Simon
thought about the silver dragon. She had taken a piece of him to give
Argentium life again, and had done so without his permission. For
that, he would never forgive her. But now she had given her life to
save his people and for that, he would never forget her. He owed her
that much, at least.

“
She
will be. I promise you that.”

“
Good.
Well, I think that you can handle affairs here on your own now. I
must retreat and rest. My wounds will take some time to heal. I wish
you well, Simon O'Toole.”

“
I
wish you well, Argentium.”

The dragon
stepped back several paces, looked around one last time and then
leaped into the air. His immense wings swept down once, twice and he
was gone, flying off into the sunrise.

“
Quite
the day, my dear wizard.”

“
Aeris!
There you are. How did it go?”

The air
elemental's expression was smug as he flew up the mound to join Simon
and Kronk.

“
Very
well. The warriors were understandably enraged by the loss of Fergus,
as were the mages. The necromancers asked for no quarter nor were
they given any. They are all dead. Tamara got a little singed and
Malcolm is going to have a lovely scar across his cheek, but those
were the only injuries. Aiden commented that the big man only got
that cut to look more dashing.”

Simon
laughed, the first time he'd truly been amused in a while.

“
Sounds
plausible, considering that it's Malcolm. So do they need any more
help?”

“
No.
We saw the undead dragons fall, along with the leader of the dark
wizards, and Tamara sent me to tell you that you can head home at any
time. They're already called for a pickup from the dwarves.”

Simon
nodded and leaned on his staff, feeling drained.

“
Speaking
of dwarves, what happened to Hallic? Was he injured or...”

Aeris
chuckled.

“
Hardly.
When we attacked the necromancers, he appeared as if by magic and
took one of them out before the caster could even raise his shield.
Apparently he'd just been awaiting his chance. He's fine.”

“
Good.
I like that rogue. So, are you two ready to go home?”

“
More
than ready, thanks.”

“
Yes
master. My chores will pile up if I don't get back soon.”

Aeris
rolled his eyes but for a change he didn't make a biting comment.

Must be
tired, Simon thought with relief.

He took a
moment to look around. The sun was still climbing and setting the
world ablaze with color. On top of the mound, the small pieces of
bone and gristle, all that remained of the dracoliches, were fading
away into smoke as the sunlight touched them, their twisted magic
dispersed. Birds were chirping and a light wind blew away the last
stench of battle. It was truly over.

He sighed
with a mixture of pleasure and exhaustion and prepared to cast his
traveling spell.

“
Are
you well, master?” Kronk asked.

“
Fine,
my friend. I'm fine. I was just thinking that with the necromancers
and the dracoliches gone, we only have one more thing to worry about
in this world.”

“
Really?
Just one?” Aeris asked sarcastically. “You mean besides
the countless monsters, unknown spell-casters, and wild magic that
now permeates this world? Not to mention the lords of Chaos who are
continuing to try to enter your plane?”

“
Yes
well, besides those things and probably others as well.”

“
What
is it, master? What worries you?”

“
The
dragon queen. She's still out there. She's still capable of laying
eggs, according to Argentium. If she chooses to. And so she continues
to be a threat. One day soon we'll have to deal with her.”

“
But
not today please,” Aeris asked, sounding a bit drained. “I
could use some peace and quiet for a while.”

“
Not
today,” Simon promised. “But eventually. Because I'm
afraid that if we don't deal with her, she will eventually decide to
deal with us. And for the few of us that are left, that would spell
disaster.”

He raised
his staff and looked at the elementals.

“
Now
grab hold, and let's go home. I could really use some tea.”

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