The Dragons of Ice and Snow (20 page)

“
You really hate
them, don't you?” he asked impulsively.

Aeris glared at him and
then his expression changed and he smiled a little self-consciously.

“
Is it that obvious?
Yes, I despise them. Destruction for destruction's sake? Slaughter
for pleasure? They are less than animals in my eyes, and in the eyes
of my people.”

Simon felt a touch of
unease at Aeris' reaction. He hated the dragons too, but he didn't
think that his feelings were as black and deep as the air elemental's
seemed to be.

“
What I don't
understand,” the wizard continued slowly, “is what
happened after the dragon, or dragons, ripped open the door. What
attacked Liliana and her people?”

“
Drakes, master. It
had to have been drakes.”

Simon looked at Kronk.

“
Drakes? But drakes
live with the primal dragons, don't they? They cover them like a
second skin.”

“
Yes master, that is
true. But I am sure that if a dragon requested it, a primal would
allow it to use drakes for some special task, such as getting at
humans that were out of a dragon's reach.”

“
Of course,”
Simon said. He covered his eyes as he tried not to think of the last
few minutes of life for the Moscow survivors. “And drakes
consume their prey, don't they?”

“
I'm afraid so,”
Aeris said gently.

The wizard drew in a long
breath and picked up the mirror again. He cast the communication
spell once more, staring at his reflection as it fogged over. His
brown and blue eyes were wide with shock and looked much too young.

“
Clara?” he
said aloud. “Are you there?”

“
The cleric?”
Aeris muttered to Kronk.

The little earthen
shrugged and peered at the mirror.

“
Simon! Good
morning,” they heard the cheerful voice of the leader of
Nottinghill. The mirror cleared and they saw her sitting on her
favorite sofa, reading.

“
How are you today?”
she asked.

“
Not too good,
actually,” Simon told her grimly. “Not too good at all.
Clara, I'd like to ask you for a favor.”

The cleric had put aside
her book and sat up alertly.

“
Of course. Anything
for you, my friend. You know that.”

They watched her stand up
and hurry into her bedroom to pick up a mirror. Her image swam and
shifted and then Clara was looking out of the mirror at them.

“
What's wrong?
What's happened?”

Simon hesitated, trying to
collect his thoughts.

“
The outpost in
Moscow has been overrun,” he told her flatly. “I couldn't
reach Liliana, so I checked it out in the mirror. The place has been
ripped open and there's blood everywhere. We think it was dragons.”

Clara's face went white.

“
You're sure? Yes,
of course you are. Damn them.”

She put a clenched fist
over her mouth, biting down on her knuckles.

“
Why can't they just
leave us alone? Survival is hard enough without those monsters
preying on us constantly.”

She looked lost for a
moment and Simon felt his heart go out to her. She had enough to
worry about, watching over her little town, helping her people the
best she could.

“
I'm so sorry for
bringing you this bad news, my friend,” he told her guiltily.

She sniffed loudly and
shook her head.

“
This isn't your
fault, Simon. By the gods, if it wasn't for you, how many of us would
be dead and buried by now?”

She wiped a hand roughly
across her eyes and met his look firmly.

“
Now, you asked for
a favor. Name it.”

“
Feel free to say no
to this, but I want to Gate to Moscow and check things out for
myself.”

She began to protest and
then subsided with a resigned nod.

“
Yes, that makes
sense. There is only so much you can learn from your Magic Mirror
spell. It's incredibly dangerous though, Simon.”

“
Yeah, I know that.”

He looked at the
elementals with a wry smile.

“
As I'm sure my two
friends here are dying to point out. That's why I'd like to take some
back-up.”

“
Back-up? What sort
of back-up?”

He hesitated a moment and
then spoke quickly.

“
I'd like to borrow
your two guardsmen, Malcolm and Aiden. If they're amenable, that is.”

Clara looked at him in
confused surprise.

“
Really? I mean, I'm
sure that they'd love to help. I'm convinced that neither of the big
oafs knows the meaning of the word fear. But Simon,” she
frowned out of the mirror at him, “even with enchanted armor
and weapons, they won't do much good against a dragon.”

“
Oh no, I know that,
Clara,” the wizard said quickly. “That's not why I want
them. We think that the dragons might have forced opened the entrance
to the outpost, but then they sent in drakes to attack Liliana and
her people. I'm fairly certain that your two men would be a match for
one of them.”

“
Drakes?”

The cleric's face twisted
with revulsion.

“
Monsters,”
she said and looked saddened again. “They were overcome by
drakes? How horrible.”

There was a moment of
silence and Simon waited for the cleric to make a decision.

“
You realize going
in there right now is crazy, right?” Aeris hissed at him.

The wizard gestured for
him to be quiet and the elemental folded his arms and scowled.

“
I certainly won't
order them to join you, Simon. That's not my role here,” Clara
said finally. “But things are quiet in the village right now.
We haven't seen any sign of danger for quite some time, so I'm sure
those two are itching for something to do. I think I can guarantee
you that they will want to go. I'll ask them right now, actually, and
fill them in on what's happened. Gate down as soon as you like and
tell them in person though and they can decide then.”

“
Thanks, Clara. I'll
do that. I'm sorry to start your day with such terrible news,”
he said regretfully.

“
Me too, Simon. But
this is the New Earth, isn't it? Horrors stalk us at every turn. We
either learn to deal with them or accept the consequences.”

“
And neither of us
will do that, will we?” he asked her with a sad smile.

“
No, we certainly
will not. I'll see you when you arrive, my friend.”

Simon nodded and broke the
spell. And then he sat back and waited for the inevitable storm of
protests.

“
Master, what are
you thinking?” Kronk said, aghast. “You can't mean to
just Gate to that place. What if it is a trap?”

“
Kronk, we've
already seen it,” he said patiently. “There's no one
there. It's clear.”

“
You can't know
that,” Aeris told him darkly. “You saw only a small
portion of the area. There could be a mass of drakes just waiting to
strike. And then what?”

“
That's why I want
the two guardsmen with me,” Simon said calmly.

He studied both of his
little friends, knowing that their worry meant that they cared.

“
Look guys, I owe it
to Liliana and her people to make absolutely sure that there are no
survivors. Surely you can see that?”

Both of the elementals
stopped talking and exchanged a glance. Then they nodded slowly.

“
Of course we can,
master,” Kronk said, speaking for both of them. “How
could you not? You care for others. Why do you think we admire you so
much?”

Simon squirmed
uncomfortably at the compliment and Aeris laughed a bit.

“
So when are you
leaving?” he asked, changing the subject.

“
Right away. And
before either of you asks, no, you are not coming.”

This set off another round
of arguments and Simon finally just got up wearily and crossed the
room to pick up his coat and gloves. He grabbed the staff and turned
to look at the elementals standing beside each other on the table.
They had stopped complaining and were watching him. Kronk looked
resigned, while Aeris was scowling furiously.

Simon shook a finger at
him.

“
Instead of being
mad, you should wish me luck. You know, just in case.”

“
Master, don't say
that!” Kronk said in shock. He looked at Aeris. “Wish him
luck. Right now!”

Aeris reluctantly nodded.

“
Fine. Best of
luck,” he told Simon grudgingly. “And for all our sakes,
don't do anything foolish!”

The wizard chuckled and
chanted the Gate spell.

“
Foolish? C'mon,
Aeris, you know me.”

“
Exactly. I know
you. So be careful.”

“
Thanks guys. See
you soon.”

Simon invoked the spell
and felt himself being pulled away. His last sight was of Kronk
wringing his hands nervously.

And then he was standing
in the middle of the town hall in Nottinghill.

He looked around but the
place was deserted. He stood still a moment, trying to decide if
Clara would be in her quarters or outside.

While he was making up his
mind, Simon shifted his coat to his left arm and slipped his staff
over his shoulder, adjusting it until it hung comfortably.

Weird how much I've missed
having one of these, he thought reflectively and felt another pang of
loss as he thought of Bene-Dunn-Gal. Ah well, at least this one helps
boost my spells. I might need that soon.

The main door opened at
that moment and the cleric strode in. She saw Simon and smiled at him
affectionately.

“
Not wasting any
time, are you?” she asked as she approached. Then she did
something that she'd never done before. She hugged Simon fiercely.

“
Um, hi?” he
said as she released him and stepped back.

Clara laughed at his
expression.

“
Sorry, but I think
sometimes that none of us appreciates you the way we should. Here you
are, shooting off into the unknown, risking your life for people who
are basically strangers.”

She tilted her head
slightly as she watched him.

“
You're a special
breed, Simon O'Toole,” she added.

The wizard snorted.

“
No I'm not. You
would do the same thing in my place, Clara. Anyone would. But for
some bizarre reason, I was given the skill and the power to step up
and try to help others. That's all it is.”

“
Self-deprecating
too,” the cleric said with a grin and Simon rolled his eyes
silently.

“
Anyway, I've just
spoken to Malcolm and Aiden. They are eager to help you in any way
they can.”

“
Are they?
Wonderful. You did tell them what we might face, didn't you?”

“
Simon, warning
those two about danger just gets them excited.”

The wizard chuckled and
Clara motioned for him to follow her outside.

They left the hall and
turned to the right.

“
We finally built a
barracks earlier this year, as soon as the ground began to soften
up,” the cleric said as they passed several small houses, doors
open to the warm spring day.

“
Several of our
people volunteered to join as full-time guardsmen, so Malcolm and
Aiden have been busy with training.”

She glanced quickly at
Simon.

“
I'm just telling
you this in case you were worried that taking them with you would
leave us defenseless.”

“
I was a bit, to be
honest. Thanks, that's reassuring.”

They approached a low,
one-story building built of rough stone. The roof was made of uneven
wooden planks and the entire structure looked a little unfinished.

“
Yes, I know it's a
bit...utilitarian,” Clara said as she caught Simon's dubious
look.

He felt his face turning
red.

“
It's not that,”
he said quickly. “I think I'm a bit spoiled, to be honest.
Having earth elementals to build for you is great, but they are such
perfectionists that I'm not used to seeing something built by regular
people.”

They stopped several yards
from the barracks and Simon looked from the misshapen building back
to Clara.

“
You know, if you'd
asked, Kronk and his fellow earthen would have happily built the
barracks for you.”

“
Yes, I mentioned
that to the boys, but they wanted to do it themselves. We may all
have Changed but machismo lives on.”

Simon laughed and Clara
sighed and smiled.

The door of the barracks
burst open and two men strode out into the sunlight. Their armor
clanged as they walked up to Simon, both of them grinning like kids.

“
Sir wizard! How
good to see you again,” Malcolm declared loudly.