The Dragons of Decay (27 page)

“
Actually, I wanted our dear
wizard to have a happy day, and I think we all needed the tower made
as secure as possible. And now we do.”

“
You wanted me to have a happy
day?” Simon asked him, perplexed. “Why? I mean, thanks
and all that but that's a bit out of character.”

“
Is it? Perhaps.”

Aeris rose up slowly until he was
floating at the wizard's eye level.

“
But I think the next few days
are going to be hard on you. This respite was necessary.”

“
Because I'm going to see Clara
and the others tomorrow and help them plan their move south?”

“
That, yes. But also because
the move will be a hasty one and it will be exhausting for you. After
all, you are the only one who can Gate the population as well as
their baggage to their new home. It won't be easy.”

Simon finished his drink, got up and
put the cup in the sink and then returned to sit down again.

“
Why hasty? I can stretch the
whole move out for as long as I need to. You know, move some of the
folks and their supplies down one day, more the next, etcetera. No
problem.”

Aeris shook his head and looked
uncomfortable. His expression gave Simon a squirmy feeling in the pit
of his stomach and he swallowed nervously.

“
Okay, spill it,” he
said. “What aren't you telling me?”

“
Something I felt earlier when
we were on the wall. I didn't mention it at the time because I wanted
to be sure. But by the time we were done with the arches, I was left
with no doubts.”

“
What are you talking about?”
Kronk asked roughly. “Stop beating around the bush and just
tell us.”

“
There's a storm coming. A
massive one. It will make the one that brought the wights down upon
us look minuscule in comparison.”

Simon gaped at him.

“
But, but, it's too soon!”

“
There is no schedule when it
comes to nature's wrath, my dear wizard. You know that.”

“
Oh my God,” Simon
muttered. He closed his eyes and rubbed them so hard that he saw red
flashes cutting through his vision.

“
How long until it hits?”
he asked reluctantly.

“
Three days,” Aeris
answered simply.

“
Three days? Holy crap,”
the wizard said. Then he frowned. “Wait. Does that mean we have
three full days starting tomorrow or..?”

“
It means that in three days,
the storm will smash into us like the dark gods' vengeance. It means,
my dear wizard, that the people of Nottinghill had best be gone by
the evening of the second day from now, or things could get very bad
for them.”

Simon looked at Kronk, who shrugged
and looked at him sympathetically.

“
So he really means two days,
master,” he said.

The wizard got up abruptly, dragged
his chair back to the table and sat down again. He reached out and
picked up the hand mirror and began casting the Magic Mirror spell.

The two elementals moved to stand on
the table top and watched him closely.

“
Do you think he's calling the
cleric?” Aeris asked Kronk.

“
Who else would he be calling?”
the little guy replied. “She must be warned to increase the
speed of her preparations. There is no more time to waste.”

Simon finished his spell and put a
finger to his lips.

Both of the elementals nodded and he
smiled a thank you at them.

“
Clara? Can you hear me?”

The mirror fogged over for just a
moment and then cleared, showing Clara's face. She was staring right
back at Simon.

“
Oh, hey there,” he said
in surprise. “You walk around carrying a mirror now?”

The cleric smiled wryly.

“
Considering how crazy it's
gotten here lately, it seemed like a good idea.”

The view changed for a moment as she
turned the mirror and Simon saw that she was standing in the
barracks. People were packing large wooden boxes with clothing,
blankets and a myriad of other dry goods. The door at the far end of
the room was continuously opening and closing as people hurried in
and out. The torches on the walls were flickering madly every time a
blast of winter wind hit them from the entrance.

Clara turned the mirror around again
and Simon watched her sit down.

“
So, what's up?” she
asked. “Did your scouts get back yet?”

“
They did.”

“
And? Please tell me it's good
news. Frankly we could use some. People around here are getting a bit
down, what with leaving their homes and all.”

“
Well, good news and bad,
actually. Can anyone hear us from where you're sitting?”

She looked at him sharply and then
glanced around.

“
No, they can't. They're all
too busy right now,” she told him in a much quieter voice. “So,
tell me what you don't want anyone else to hear.”

“
Okay, here goes. Not all of
the scouts got back safely.”

Simon proceeded to tell Clara about
everything that had happened, starting with the loss of the scouts in
Mexico and ending with Aeris' prediction of a storm hitting in less
than three days time. He spoke steadily for fifteen minutes and the
cleric did not interrupt once. Her face, on the other hand, paled and
her lips thinned as she listened closely. For good measure, the
wizard told her about his new wards atop his gates. She nodded
approvingly at that.

When he had finished, Simon swallowed
dryly and waited for his friend's reaction.

“
Wow,” Clara finally
said. “Just...wow. That's a lot to take in, Simon.”

“
I know that. But time is short
and you needed all the facts as quickly as I could give them to you.”

“
Understood. And thank you for
that. We don't need the poison pill sugar-coated at this point. So,”
she rested her chin in her hand, “Mexico is definitely out, so
at least we won't have people arguing and complaining when I tell
them that Florida is the place for us. And I think that your air
elemental, Trass was it? He had a good point. Seeing the remains of a
place where I'm sure a lot of us traveled to in our childhood would
be incredibly depressing. I think that Aeris' area, along the ocean
on the east coast, sounds much more promising.”

She paused and fixed Simon with an
intense stare.

“
If we have to evacuate
everyone within two days, are you going to be able to handle it? The
strain of casting that many Gate spells is going to be immense.”

He twitched his shoulders and avoided
looking at Kronk. He was sure that the little guy would be watching
him in disapproval.

“
What choice do I have? You
have got to be out of Nottinghill before that storm hits, no matter
what. There may not be wights accompanying it, but we can't know for
sure. No one is going to die because of me. Not again.”

“
Simon, no one
has
died because of you,” the cleric said firmly. “You did
not knowingly send your scouts into harm's way. It was a tragedy, but
you did not cause it. And certainly the people I've lost did not die
because of you. So please, put that guilt away and let's figure this
out, okay?”

“
She
is correct, master,” Kronk said and Aeris murmured in
agreement.

Simon just shrugged.

“
Fine.
Whatever. At any rate, the answer to your question is yes; I will be
able to handle it. Because I have to be able to handle it. So don't
worry about me. I assume you'll call a meeting right away and tell
everyone what's happening?”

“
Not
hard to do,” she replied with a little smile and looked across
the barracks. “Most of my people are here now anyway. The rest
I'll gather up and we'll talk this all out. Tonight. I wish I had
those maps of Florida that your scouts drew up though.”

“
No
problem there. I can Gate...”

Aeris moved quickly and poked his face around the mirror
to look at Clara.

“
I
will bring them to you directly, lady cleric,” he said, cutting
Simon off. “Our dear wizard used up a lot of his strength today
on the new wards and shouldn't expend any more until he actually
needs to.”

“
Hey!
Wait a second,” Simon protested. Aeris just ignored him. So did
Clara.

“
Excellent
idea, my friend,” she said to the air elemental. “Let's
conserve his strength as much as possible.”

Simon moved the mirror around so that Aeris was blocked
from view and glared at him. The air elemental simply returned his
look stoically.

“
Don't
I get a say in this?” he asked Clara.

“
No,
you don't. Stop being difficult, Simon. Get your rest and call me in
the morning. The next two days are going to be stressful on all of
us, so be a good boy and do as you're told, all right?”

She smiled widely as she spoke and Simon gave in with
bad grace and nodded once.

“
Yes
ma'am, “ he said tersely and then grinned himself. “You're
both right, of course. But damn it, I really resent being such a
wimp. This whole brains over brawn thing is vastly overrated.”

“
Not
if it saves the lives of my people, it isn't,” Clara replied,
the smile fading from her face.

“
Good
point. Okay, Aeris will leave with the maps and notes right away. He
should be there in,” he glanced at the air elemental, “thirty
minutes? Yes, about a half hour. That should give you enough time to
gather your people together.”

“
My
thought exactly. Call me first thing in the morning and I'll let you
know what we've decided.”

“
Will
do. Good luck with everything,” Simon told her.

“
Thanks.
Have a good night.”

He broke the connection and stood up, putting the mirror
on the kitchen table.

“
Come
on, Aeris. Let's get the notes from my study. You can come too,
Kronk, if you want. I'm going to get the proper coordinates for my
Gating targets from the atlas while I'm up there.”

“
I
will join you later, master,” the little guy said as he jumped
off of the table. “I need to bring in more logs from the
woodpile. We are getting low.”

“
Okay
then. Let's go,” he said to Aeris who nodded and followed him
upstairs.

Simon sat down at his desk and pulled out the pile of
notes and drawings from a drawer. He separated the drawings from
Mexico from the maps of Florida, making two smaller piles. Aeris
watched him and began frowning.

“
Why
the long face?” the wizard asked him when he was done.

“
Do
you not want the townspeople to see the reason that they cannot
settle in Mexico?” he asked with a nod at the drawing of the
goblin mound.

“
Why?
You think they should?”

“
Of
course! Simply telling people that there is danger often isn't
enough. They must see it to believe it. I think that the cleric will
be honest in explaining why they cannot go there, but the drawings
will help to back her up.”

Simon began to nod reluctantly.

“
I
suppose you're right. It's just that, I don't know, they've been
through so much and now they're leaving their homes in a rush. I just
thought that it would be easier on them not to see the other horrors
that this New Earth has in store for them.”

“
Yes,
it might be,” Aeris agreed, his voice becoming gentle. “But
you cannot make monsters disappear by pretending they don't exist.
That could actually get people killed.”

“
Yeah.
Yeah, I know. Okay then.”

Simon put all of the drawings in a pile and handed them
to Aeris.

“
Take
it all. We'll let Clara decide how best to present the evidence to
her people. And you have my permission to pop back here directly when
you're done.”

Aeris rolled the papers together and smiled at the
wizard.

“
You've
already given me that permission. Don't you remember?”