The Dragons of Decay (23 page)

“
Oh I will be, believe me,”
Simon told her grimly. “They killed people who were doing me a
service. I won't forget that, and I certainly won't forgive it.”

“
Did you hear that?”
Sessa whispered to Brethia. “He called us people!”

Simon looked away, pretending not to
hear the comment, and put a hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

Both of the elementals bowed to the
wizard and nodded to Kronk, who smiled and gave them a little wave.
Then as one, they disappeared with two little pops of imploding air.

Simon carefully picked up a pencil
and scratched off the names of the three dead elementals from his
list. Then he opened a drawer and slipped the paper inside.

He sat back and rubbed his eyes
wearily.

“
So now what do we do?”
he asked Kronk as he leaned back in his chair.

“
Now master? I do not know.
Wait for Aeris to return, I suppose. And I think it would be wise to
get as much information on these goblins as you can. Forewarned is
forearmed, isn't it?”

“
True, but where do I get info
on what, until a few minutes ago, I thought were mythical monsters?”

He waved at the shelves lining the
walls of the study, stuffed with books.

“
I don't know that I'll learn
many real facts in the fantasy books I have in my collection.”

Simon picked up his teacup, took a
sip and grimaced. It was cold.

“
Come on, let's go back
downstairs. I want to make some fresh tea.”

Before he could stand up, Kronk
picked up the mirror and offered it to him.

“
And why do I need this?”

“
Because, master, you need
information. And who better to ask about a subject like goblins than
your friend Daniel? If he does not know more than you do, the elves
will.”

Simon took the mirror and smiled down
at the little guy.

“
Brilliant idea,” he told
him as he got up. He took the mirror and his cup and left the room,
Kronk tip-tapping along behind him.

“
Not really, master. Just
sensible, I suppose.”

Down on the main level, Simon made
his tea. He waited for the kettle to boil and watched the light begin
to fade through the windows as the deep winter night approached.

“
I will double-check the gates
and do a perimeter sweep while you call your friend, master,”
Kronk told him as he skittered across to the front door.

“
Nervous?” Simon asked
him. He tried to sound like he was joking and failed.

“
Cautious, master. And I want
to speak with my fellow elementals. I have an idea on how we can
strengthen the wards on the gates. They are the one weak spot in our
tower's defenses.”

“
That's true.”

Simon sat down with his tea and
watched the little guy curiously.

“
What's your idea?”

“
I would rather not say until I
get the others' opinions, master. It may not be practical.”

The earthen smiled, jumped up to open
the door and slammed it shut behind him, leaving Simon alone,
wondering.

How could the little guy make the
perimeter any more secure than it already was? The gates were the
only part of the wall that could be opened, so the wards, which had
to remain in a permanent position, had to be placed on the wall on
both sides of the opening, which weakened them. Simon couldn't think
of a way to strengthen the magic any more than he had.

Maybe bury the ward stones under the
gates, he thought. But no, they'd tried that. The ground absorbed the
magic and dissipated it, making it useless.

He ended up shaking his head and
leaving it to Kronk to work out. He had a call to make.

Simon cast the Magic Mirror spell and
drank tea while he waited for the surface of the glass to clear. He
kept an image of Daniel's face firmly in his mind and wondered with a
stab of guilt if his oldest friend was okay. With all that had
happened that day, the war between the elves and the brown dragons
had slipped from his mind completely.

The image in the mirror solidified
and the figure of Daniel appeared. He was sitting at a large round
table. It was covered with an ornate cloth stitched with beautiful
patterns of green leaves and colorful flowers. There were cups and
plates of silver set out and, on either side of his friend was an
elf, both of whom were speaking earnestly to Daniel.

His friend had rested an elbow on the
arm of his chair and cupped his chin in his hand as he listened to
one of the elves. He was nodding every few seconds and his expression
was one of intense interest.

Simon waited for a few minutes. He
did not want to interrupt what was obviously a very important meeting
and so he listened to the conversation, feeling a bit like a peeping
tom, but curious about what was being said.

“
We cannot attempt a frontal
assault, Daniel, so please stop suggesting it,” the elf to
Daniel's left said with obvious exasperation. He was dressed in
ornate robes of blue and silver, long black hair flowing down to his
collar.

“
Ellar, I'm not suggesting a
suicidal attack,” his friend replied, sounding equally tense.
“But these guerrilla tactics are doing nothing. You are fleas
attacking a herd of elephants. An attack on a lone dragon, killing
it, and I'm not speaking of the primal brown now, would send a
message to the rest of its kind and, possibly, slow down their
advance.”

“
It is equally possible, my
friend, that it would enrage them and make them redouble their
attacks,” the second elf said.

Simon looked at her closely. The
woman was the oldest looking elf that he'd ever seen. They were an
immortal species, but this female's face was crisscrossed with fine
lines and wrinkles and her skin was so thin that he could see the
network of veins beneath it.

Her hair was pure white but very fine
and pulled back from her aged face in a long braid. She wore a simple
dress of fine green material, buttoned up to her neck.

“
At the moment, the draconic
horde is at least somewhat predictable,” she continued in a
strong voice at odds with her appearance.

“
We know how far they expand in
a day and we adjust our tactics to compensate for that expansion.”

“
But you are constantly pulling
back, Willia,” Daniel replied heavily. “You can only run
so far before you will be forced to turn and fight. Is it not better
to do so at a time and place of your own choosing rather than of the
dragons?”

The male elf stood up slowly and
smiled gently down at Daniel.

“
We shall cross that bridge if
and when we reach it, my friend. Until then, the 'guerrilla tactics',
as you call them, shall continue. We are doing some damage, after
all. We have destroyed many drakes and lost very few of our own
people.”

“
You're just swatting flies,”
Daniel said bitterly.

Ellar shook head and walked away.

“
Why do you persist in baiting
him?” the old woman asked him and Simon watched his friend
shrug. He looked tired again.

“
Because I must. And I'm not
baiting him; I'm advising him. Not that he listens very often.
Willia, if there is one thing my people know, it is war. The gods
know we spent thousands of years slaughtering each other to perfect
our technique. And I will tell you this: wars are not fought and won
from the shadows. Wars are won by sound tactics and by being
aggressive. The elves are, I'm afraid, much too passive, and the
dragons know it.”

The woman stood up carefully and
Daniel jumped to his feet to assist her.

“
Thank you,” Willia said
with a smile. “Now cheer up. We elves are ancient. It takes
time for an old civilization to learn new things. If you feel that
your way is the better path, then don't give up in trying to persuade
the others. They are not fools. They are simply set in their ways.”

“
Yes, I know. The council
members are wise, but if Ellar can't be convinced, the head council
member, then I have little hope that the others will listen either.”

She patted his arm gently and her
smile widened.

“
Well now, you did convince an
old woman like me, and I've been told I'm intractable. So there is
hope.”

Daniel laughed, pressed her hand
gently and watched as Willia walked slowly away. Then he sat down
again, took a drink from a silver goblet and sat back with a bitter
sigh.

“
They're gone. You can speak
now,” he said as he closed his eyes and rested his head against
the back of the chair.

“
You knew I was watching?”
Simon asked, startled.

“
Of course. So did they, I'm
sure, but since I raised no alarm, I'm guessing that they assumed it
was you. The council knows that we've been in contact. The magic
infused in an elven habitation gives a person a, well, I guess a
sensitivity to power would be the best way to describe it.”

“
Ah, I see. Interesting. Oh and
I'm sorry about that, by the way. I wasn't spying, you know. I just
didn't want to interrupt.”

“
I know that. So what can I do
for my oldest friend, hmm?” Daniel asked. His eyes were still
closed and Simon couldn't help thinking that his friend looked more
worn out every time he saw him.

Stress, that's all it is, he told
himself uneasily as if seeking reassurance. It wasn't a very
convincing thought.

“
I'm sorry to heap more on your
plate, Daniel, but I was wondering what you could tell me
about...goblins.”

His friend opened his eyes in
surprise and sat up.

“
Goblins? What an odd question.
I suppose that I know about as much as you do. After all, the two of
us killed our fair share when we played role-playing games together
back in the old days. Why?”

“
Because, contrary to what you
and I both obviously thought, goblins are actually real.”

Simon proceeded to tell his friend
about what the air elementals had gone through. As he spoke, Daniel
grabbed a wide, golden bowl and poured clear water into it from a
tall pitcher. And then, instantly, they were staring at each other.

The wizard held his friend's gaze as
he told the story and he could tell exactly when Daniel began to
believe him. When he was finished, Simon picked up his cup, sipped
some tea and waited for a response.

“
If I didn't know any better,
I'd say that you were pulling my leg,” his friend said after a
moment of silence. “But with everything that's been going on,
I'm quite sure that you aren't. My God, goblins. Who would have
believed it?”

“
Not me, that's for sure,”
Simon told him. “And now I've got three more deaths on my
conscience. I'm really racking them up, aren't I?”

“
Stop that,” Daniel
snapped at him. “Self pity is the most useless of emotions and
neither of us has time for it. If your scouts don't blame you, then
don't you blame yourself. Right?”

Simon nodded reluctantly.

“
Yeah, I guess. Anyway, Kronk
suggested that maybe the elves would know more about these creatures
than you or I. Do you think you could ask someone about them?”

“
He's a smart one, your little
helper,” Daniel told him and Simon smiled in agreement. “Yes,
actually I think I can. The archivist, Theldamor, is a guardian of
much elven knowledge. She has access to thousands of books and
scrolls of ancient lore. I've spoken with her several times about the
dragons, in fact, and she's been very helpful. I'll contact her at
once and see what she knows.”

Daniel paused and then raised his
eyebrows.

“
Have you recalled the other
scouts? The ones in Florida?”

“
Nope. I spoke with Aeris this
morning and he said that everything was fine. Why, do you think I
should?”

“
Don't you?” Daniel asked
him with a frown. “You've just lost three elementals, Simon.
Air elementals. They are damnably hard to kill but these goblins
seemed to have no problem doing so. You should at least call Aeris
and the others and warn them, don't you think?”

“
Yeah, maybe you're right.”

Daniel leaned forward until his face
filled the mirror. He peered out at Simon with narrowed eyes for a
minute and then nodded.

“
You're in shock, old friend,”
he said with conviction.

“
What? What are you talking
about?”

“
This guilt of yours has hit
you harder than you think. You are frozen in the moment, afraid to
act. You aren't thinking clearly.”

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose
and then rubbed his eyes.

“
I doubt that,” he said
with an indifferent shrug.

“
Damn it, Simon, get in the
game!” his friend yelled and the wizard almost dropped the
mirror. “Pull your head out of your ass and contact those
scouts. Right now!”

The wizard blinked rapidly. The fog
that was clouding his brain, that he hadn't even been aware of,
lifted suddenly and he gaped at Daniel.