The Dragons of Decay (13 page)

“
Easy
there, Simon,” he said as he wrapped a heavily-muscled arm
around him. “Take a breath, recover your strength for a
minute.”

“
Do...do
we have time for that?” Simon gasped and stared through the fog
toward Virginia and the others.

“
We
can hold them for a few more minutes,” she replied firmly, even
as she stood there shaking like a leaf. Anna was being held up by
Eric, who was himself listing to the side. Gerard looked like a
ghost. His skin had lost all color and he appeared almost
transparent.

“
You
know, it's not nice to lie to a wizard,” Simon told her with a
half-hearted attempt at humor.

The others
chuckled weakly.

“
Aiden,
could you help me over there please?” he whispered to the
guardsman.

“
My
friend, I would carry you anywhere you wanted to go if you needed me
to,” the man replied fiercely.

He
practically lifted Simon to his feet and then put an arm around his
waist and helped him over to the others.

“
We're
all...”

The wizard
gasped, took a ragged breath and tried again.

“
We're
all going to have to be linked for the spell to work,” he told
them.

“
We
know, Simon,” Virginia said with a exhausted smile. “The
problem is that once the four of us connect with someone else, our
circuit will be disrupted and our spell broken. The walls won't be
reinforced anymore and those monsters will rip through this building
like it was made of paper.”

“
Can't...can't
be helped,” Simon told her blearily. “Without that
connection, you'll be left behind. Just wait until I speak the
incantation. I'll hold Aiden's hand. Malcolm, you take his other hand
and touch Virginia's shoulder and then I can invoke the spell. It
will only take a few seconds.”

“
Well,
let's hope those damned wights give us those seconds,” Malcolm
rumbled.

“
Let's
hope,” the wizard panted. “Okay, here we go.”

He chanted
the spell very slowly so that he didn't stumble over the words. One
mispronounced syllable and he would have to start again.

When he
was finished, he pushed Aiden away gently so that he was standing on
his own two shaky legs and took the big man's hand.

“
Okay
folks,” he said. “Malcolm, take Aiden's hand. When I
count to three, put your free hand on Virginia's shoulder. And you
four just keep holding on to each other. Got it?”

“
We're
ready,” Malcolm growled, staring at the door that was twisting
on its hinges from the constant blows from outside. He clasped his
partner's hand firmly and gave him a reassuring grin. Aiden nodded
silently.

Simon
sucked in a huge breath. His throat felt like it was lined with
crushed glass.

“
Okay.
One...two....three!”

A jumble
of things happened at all once.

Malcolm
dropped his hand on to Virginia's shoulder. At the same time, Simon
felt the magical reinforcement of the walls around them dissipate
and, just as he barked “
Invectis
!”,
the front door was smashed open and two wights, pale as death, with
claws and fangs like steel, shot through the opening straight at the
group.

Oh crap!
he thought desperately as they faded into the void.

As the
group materialized in the middle of the main floor of the tower,
Simon crumpled to the floor, totally spent. But he managed to keep
his eyes open as screams and curses echoed through the room.

Malcolm
and Aiden were thrashing around, two wights insanely ripping at them
and trying to get at their throats with their inch-long fangs. The
screeching from the undead was ear-splitting and, mingled with
Malcolm's bellowing, almost deafened Simon.

He pushed
himself up on one elbow, reaching for some spell to help, but he was
simply too exhausted. His numbed brain couldn't find a single
incantation and he was forced to watch helplessly as the warriors
battled the undead.

Fortunately
they weren't alone. While neither of the embattled men could draw a
weapon, they were strong enough to hold the wights in a death grip.
And, as Simon tried to focus and stay conscious, someone leaped over
him and he saw a flash of steel slam down to crush the head of the
wight that was fighting with Aiden. The blacksmith, Gregory, had
pulped the monster with his heavy hammer.

In a
flash, Aiden pushed the body away, jumped up, drew his sword and
sliced the head off of the second wight just as it was about to
fasten its fangs on Malcolm's neck.

The
silence that followed was almost deafening. The guardsmen were
panting, their eye wide with shock and adrenaline. A moment passed
and then the gurgling cry of one of the children made them all jump
and broke the tension in the room.

Clara had
been holding one of the children as she sat on a kitchen chair. Now
she passed the little boy to his mother and quickly crossed the room
to check on Malcolm and Aiden.

“
Are
either of you wounded? Did they scratch you? Their claws are
poisonous, you know.”

The men
exchanged a look and smiled simultaneously.

“
Clara,”
Malcolm said. “Our wounds from earlier have already healed. At
a guess, I'd say that lycanthropes are immune to disease and poison.”

He reached
under the armor at his neck and pulled out an amulet, one of the pair
that Simon and Clara had made for him and Aiden several months
before.

“
The
curse is held at bay by these little miracles, but we are still
werewolves, lady. All of the benefits and none of the bad stuff.”

“
All
of the taste and none of the calories,” Aiden added with a grin
and several people burst out laughing, the sense of relief draining
away the last of the panic that had been hovering in the air.

“
Well,
good then,” Clara said with a smile. “Just make sure you
don't lose that.”

“
Never.
Don't worry about us.”

Malcolm
turned and his face fell as he saw Simon sprawled on the floor.

“
Wizard!
Are you all right?”

He quickly
knelt down beside Simon and raised him to a sitting position, an arm
under the wizard's shoulder.

Clara
joined them, her tired face heavy with concern.

“
Simon.
How are you doing?”

He tried
to smile but his lips barely twitched.

“
I'm
fine,” he said softly, trying to reassure her, but she frowned
at his words and Malcolm's dark face paled.

“
My
God, he sounds like he's had a stroke,” the guardsman
exclaimed.

“
Hold
him still,” Clara ordered. She put her hands gently on Simon's
temples and closed her eyes, her brows lowered in concentration.

Simon
watched, the world fading in and out. He vaguely saw people walking
around the room and heard the murmur of conversation, but couldn't
make out any details. He was just so tired; he wished they'd let him
sleep.

The cleric
released him and stared into his eyes, making sure she had his
attention.

“
I'm
afraid that you have a concussion, my friend. There is also fluid
building up between your brain and your skull. That's why you can't
focus. Malcolm's right; it's similar to a stroke. Now just relax. I'm
going to attempt a healing. There may be some pain.”

Simon
closed his eyes.

“
Do
what you have to do,” he whispered, just too exhausted to care
anymore.

He felt
Clara's touch again, her hands warm as she slipped her fingers under
his hair and along his skull. The warmth was comforting, like a
mother's touch and he smiled contentedly.

The warmth
increased and became more intense, more penetrating. The heat seemed
to come in waves, digging deeper and deeper into his head, not
comforting but burning. Simon felt like his brain was starting to
boil like an egg in hot water and he struggled, trying to push away
the cleric's hands.

“
Malcolm,
hold him steady,” she commanded sharply. “Aiden, hold his
hands. If he interrupts the healing...”

Simon felt
his hands being taken and held firmly away from his head.

“
Easy,
my friend. Breathe. Trust in Clara,” Aiden said softly through
Simon's pain.

He focused
on that; his trust in the cleric. She was his friend, after all. If
she was hurting him, it was only because she had to.

“
Why
is he bleeding from the nose!” a voice asked with a touch of
panic. It was Aeris.

Funny,
Simon thought as he began to drift away. I didn't even see him and
Kronk. I hope they're okay.

“
Damn
it! We're losing him!” Clara exclaimed.

Losing me?
Simon would have laughed if he'd been able to. But it feels so
comfortable. I'm drifting away. The pain is fading. And I'm just so
sleepy.

And with
that last thought, the wizard embraced the blackness and knew no
more.

It was a struggle to find daylight.
Simon was climbing, climbing, up a vast tunnel of darkness. Below
him, he was sure he heard furtive scraping and chittering, sneaky
noises of someone, or something, following him, sniffing in the deep,
seeking prey.

He scratched and clawed up through
the blackness. In the far distance, a point of light seemed to offer
safety, a promise of life, a haven. He just had to reach it.

The sounds behind him were getting
closer and he heaved and pulled himself upward. The tunnel was
shrinking, tightening around him and the light seemed no nearer.
Sweat streamed down his body; his robe was soaked and his feet kept
slipping on the steep incline.

Somehow he knew that something was
reaching out for him, reaching out to snag his robe and pull him back
into the black, where it could feed. He found the panicked strength
for one last effort, one final desperate attempt to free himself from
the depths.

He leaped forward and shot out of the
tunnel and into the light of day.

“
Master! You're awake!”

Simon opened his sticky eyelids and
stared up at the ceiling above him, trying to get his bearings.

“
Finally, my dear wizard. I'm
sure a nice long rest is good for you, but you've outdone yourself
this time.”

“
What?” Simon croaked,
his throat as parched as a dried out mud puddle.

He stared at the ceiling a moment
longer, the familiar wooden beams of his bedroom giving him an
increased sense of normalcy. Then he turned his head to the left and
saw Kronk and Aeris standing on the bed-side table watching him, twin
expressions of relief on their little faces.

He tried to speak, cleared his
throat, swallowed and began again.

“
Hey guys. What's up?”

“
Hooray!” Kronk cheered,
his arms raised in triumph. “Master is better! Master is
healed.”

Aeris looked at him with an
exaggerated eye-roll.

“
Must you?” he asked
sarcastically. “The man is obviously fine. Honestly.”

Kronk glared at him and actually
poked him so hard that Aeris was knocked off of the table and left
floating in mid-air.

“
Well now, that was rude!”
the air elemental exclaimed.

“
Not as rude as you are being,”
the earthen shot back. “Are you not the least bit relieved that
our master is alive and well and finally conscious?”

“
Of course I am! But I don't
need to do handsprings and back-flips to prove it. We aren't
children, you know.”

Simon watched this all with a vague
amusement, but latched on to one word.

“
Finally? What do you mean,
finally? What happened? How long have I been out?”

They turned and looked at him, Aeris
giving Kronk a subtle shove as he moved back to stand on the table.

“
Over a week, master,”
Kronk said and nodded at Simon's look of shock. “Yes, the lady
cleric was very concerned. Her healing took more time than is usual.
In fact, she only left with those two warriors, Malcolm and Aiden,
this morning. But she assured us that you were out of danger and that
you would probably wake up today.” He smiled widely. “And
you have!”

“
A week!” Simon sat up
very slowly, bracing himself with his elbows. “I've been lying
in this bed for over a week?”

“
Well, actually you've been
lying all over the place,” Aeris said with a wry smile. “We've
been organizing and reorganizing over twenty people in this tower,
including three small children. It's been a bit chaotic.”