The Dragons of Decay (62 page)

Liliana? Dead?

A cold block of ice formed in his
guts as he pictured his friend giving her life just to let him
escape; just to give him an extra minute in his futile attempt to
destroy the primal brown dragon.

Don't let her sacrifice be in vain,
you fool, that little voice snapped at him. Get on with it.

Simon looked up bleakly and matched
the dragon's one-eyed glare with his own.

“
Not exactly for nothing, you
bastard!” he shouted up at it. “You're blind on one side
now. How does that feel?”

The dragon's head dropped down until
it was just above ground level and it narrowed its good eye at the
wizard.

“
You fool. What do you truly
know of my kind? This wound is simply a nuisance. It will heal in
time and then I shall see as well as ever. Do you really think that
pain inconveniences a being as ancient as I? Bah. You know nothing.”

“
I know a few things,”
Simon yelled. “I know that your arrogance will be your undoing,
just as it was for the other primals.”

A deep rumble in the dragon's chest
made the wizard back up hurriedly. He chanted quickly and cast his
Shield spell again. It had collapsed when he'd leaped through the
portal.

But the dragon wasn't attacking; it
was laughing. The sound shook the ground under Simon's feet.

“
Arrogance? Yes, we are
arrogant, but then we deserve to be, do we not? You are an idiot,
little wizard. Do you truly think that I mourn the deaths of my
siblings?”

The dragon chuckled and acid sprayed
from its mouth, splattering the small bushes and grasses and leaving
smoking, decaying pools behind.

“
Now that they are gone, this
world shall be divided between my brother, the primal red, and
myself. We will ravage it, drench it in blood and claim it for our
own. I shall take great pleasure in hunting down the remnants of your
annoying race. Their death throes shall be exquisite. And when we
have cleansed this planet of all of you and those little rat people,
the dwarves, the gods of Chaos will come forth and plunge all into
darkness.”

It closed its lone eye and almost
seemed to smile in contemplation of the future.

The wizard backed away further,
pushing away his fury and concentrating on what he had to do. This
was his chance, while the primal was lost in its wicked dreams.

“
Kassus, it is time,” he
said quietly, watching the ground under the dragon's massive paws.
“Come forth and bring your brethren.”

In the distance, a rumbling began. It
sped toward Simon's location, first as a mere hint of sound, then as
a vibration that the wizard felt through his shoes. Finally the
ground began to heave in earnest.

The dragon, shaken out of its
reverie, opened its eye and glared around, snorting in confusion.

“
What is this?” it cried,
spittle dribbling from its jaws. “What is happening?”

Its eye blazed as it looked down at
Simon.

“
What are you trying to do,
human? There is no trick, no magic of yours that can harm me!”

“
You're right, there isn't,”
the wizard yelled up at it. He shrugged innocently. “Earthquake
maybe?”

The primal spread its enormous wings
as the shaking continued. The ground was actually rolling now, as if
it had turned into a kind of liquid; waves undulating across the
plain like combers on the ocean.

Simon fell to his knees, hanging on
desperately to his staff, and rattled off a spell.

“
Invectis
!”
he said loudly, unable to hear his own voice over the groaning of the
earth underneath him.

His skin
tightened and felt cool and he glanced down at himself. A metallic
coating had replaced his flesh and he felt some relief that the Steel
Skin spell had actually worked. But he felt his energy drain at the
same time and he knew that he was running out of time.

The dragon
hadn't even noticed. It was looking at the ground beneath it with an
almost comical expression of confusion, and then began to flap its
wings, creating huge gusts of wind that nearly knocked Simon over.

“
Don't
let it take off!” the wizard muttered. “Please don't let
it take off.”

And then
the huge body began to sink into the grassy plain under its own
enormous weight as if the earth had turned to quicksand. The primal's
feet and legs were engulfed in sticky mud that started pulling it
down.

“
What!”
it bellowed and flapped its wings even harder, trying to break free.
“Stop that! How dare you try to hold me!”

It blasted
the ground with gallons of acid; sticky liquid that covered the grass
and sent clouds of dirty gray smoke billowing into the sky. It made
no difference. The monster kept sinking.

Its belly
touched the ground and the muddy surface rose up its sides, seemingly
almost eager to embrace the dragon. It held its wings up high but
could no longer flap them because the ground was now up to its chest.
The hideous, twisted visage snapped at the mud and then withered it
with a blast of flame.

But the
earth was indifferent. It kept pulling the beast lower and lower
until the dragon's wings were pushed up and plastered to its sides.

“
Now,
sir wizard,” a voice rumbled up from below.

“
I
know,” Simon muttered and began to chant. He'd never tried to
do this before but, in theory, it should work. In theory.

He
finished the incantation and felt the spell hovering around him,
waiting for him to invoke it. But the wizard paused and stared at the
primal, watching its desperate convulsions as it tried in vain to
free itself.

Now most
of the enormous body had sunk out of sight. All that was left were
the tips of its wings and its neck and head. The single eye had
finally taken on a look of panic and it thrashed and whipped in all
directions, frantic as it was pulled under.

The primal
suddenly stopped struggling and turned to looked directly at Simon.

“
You
did this, you insignificant little worm,” it screamed at him.

Simon
shrugged.

“
Actually
I didn't,” he called back. “I'd say that the Earth itself
has tired of you and your evil kind. Payback time, I guess.”

“
I
will get free,” the dragon hissed, dribbling streams of acid.
“Burying me beneath the earth will not stop me for long. You
seem to forget how powerful I truly am.”

It sunk
lower and the wings disappeared entirely.

Time to
make it truly angry, Simon thought with a shiver.

“
Maybe
you will, in time,” he yelled at it with a sneer. “But by
then, the primal red will have taken over the entire Earth and you'll
be seen by it and the gods as a dismal failure. You allowed your
servants to be trapped in the elven plane and yourself to be captured
underground. How will that look?”

The
dragon's eye widened and it snarled and snapped at him.

One more
little push, the wizard thought.

“
Your
great mother is going to be disgusted by you, isn't she?”

“
How
dare you!” it bellowed and the head reared back as far as it
could, maw gaping. The primal dragon sucked in a tremendous breath
and then it lurched forward to spew acid directly at its puny foe.

“
Invectis
!”
Simon shouted and leaped to the side in a vain attempt to avoid the
attack.

But the
attack never came. He rolled over and pushed himself on to his hands
and knees, looking at the thrashing head of the dragon. A head now
enveloped in the strongest Shield spell that the wizard could cast.

The globe
of distortion was so thick that it looked like frosted glass and it
totally covered the primal's head. Inside, an enormous gout of acid
was vomited out by the dragon, which seemed to have no way to stop
its own attack. But instead of covering the wizard, it filled the
round shield to the brim and made it look like the primal was wearing
some sort of bizarre space helmet. A helmet filled with black, sticky
acid.

The dragon
slammed its head against the ground in its agony, as its own weapon
began to dissolve its face, its jaws, its eye. Simon stood up
shakily, leaning on his staff and trying not to collapse. His shield
dissipated and his skin spell faded away and he stood there in the
stinking wind that blew by the acid pools around the dragon and watch
its head dissolve.

“
Eat
that, you bastard,” he whispered, too exhausted to even revel
in his victory.

The shield
didn't last; it couldn't contain that much acid for long. But then it
didn't have to. A few minutes later, it disappeared with a loud pop
and gallons of sticky black liquid sprayed in all directions and the
dragon's neck flopped on to the ground, a smoking tube of flesh
writhing mindlessly where the head used to be.

Simon sat
down heavily and dropped his staff. He pulled his legs up under him
and rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. He was
completely drained.

In the
space between the dragon's remains and where the wizard sat, the
ground rumbled again and large mounds of dirt were pushed out of the
earth. Nine of them. And then, climbing out of the soil, tall, blocky
figures emerged and stared down at him.

One
stepped forward and bowed. It looked like it was made of black lava
rock and its glowing red eyes looked at Simon with something like
admiration.

“
It
worked, sir wizard,” it said simply and Simon nodded wearily.

“
It
did, didn't it?” he replied quietly. “You and your fellow
earthen did well, Kassus.”

Now all
nine of the earth elementals bowed low.

“
We
pledged to come whenever you needed us,” Kassus said. “After
the defeat of the primal white dragon, I thought that you would have
a use for us again.”

“
You
were right about that. I'm just glad that you were waiting for my
call and that our hurried little plan worked.”

“
For
you, sir wizard, we would wait for an eternity.”

Kassus
turned and stared at what had once been the primal brown dragon.

“
To
have aided in the defeat of a second primal is a source of pride for
us. It will make for a great story to tell our people in ages to
come.”

“
I'm
glad you think so.”

Simon
wiped off the dirt and sweat from his face and pushed himself to his
feet, using his staff to brace against.

“
Thank
you all again for your service. You may return home now if you wish.
If I need you again in the future, would you be willing to help me?”

“
Any
time, sir wizard. Just call my name and I and these others will be at
your side. Have no doubt of that.”

Simon
nodded and the elementals sank into the earth again and were gone.

He stood
alone on the grassy plain and looked reflectively at the smoking neck
of the dragon. The acid around it was still chewing at the soil and
plants but he doubted that it would go far. He pushed his hair back,
grimaced at the old habit as his hand met no resistance and then
turned away to look at the distant shoreline.

He had no
energy left for a Gate spell, or any other spell at the moment, and
would have to wait until his magic recharged a bit. In the meantime,
he began to walk slowly toward the ocean, eager to get away from the
scene of carnage at his back.

It took
about a half hour for Simon to reach the coastline. The clean ocean
breeze woke him up and he felt a surge of energy at its salty touch.
He found a small tidal pool, knelt down and laid his staff down next
to him.

He chanted
the incantation for the Magic Mirror spell, focused his mind on his
target and invoked the spell.

“
Daniel,
can you hear me?”

The pool
misted over and the wizard waited. His stomach rumbled and his throat
felt like it was coated in sand but he ignored these annoyances and
concentrated on the spell.

The mist
rolled away and Simon saw the face of his old friend appear on the
surface of the water. His sense of relief made him a little dizzy;
he'd been afraid that Daniel and the others had been attacked by the
primal brown before it had come after him.

“
Simon!”
his friend exclaimed. “Oh, thank God you're alive. Hang on, let
me get something to look into.”

The wizard
watched as Daniel hurried to the small alcove where the well was. He
didn't see any of the others in the cavern.

His friend
filled a cup with water, sat on the edge of the well and looked into
it.

And then
they were staring into each other's eyes.