The Dragons of Decay (26 page)

They were still deep in conversation
when Kronk came back in, followed by a gust of bitterly cold air. He
slammed the door behind him, jumped up to slide the bolts shut and
then hurried across the room to join Aeris on the tabletop.

“
Hello master,” he said
brightly. “What did I miss?”

“
Aeris was just finishing up
his report,” Simon told him and leaned back to stretch. He
heard his joints crackling.

“
And what have you been up to?”
Aeris asked the earthen. “You raced out of here when I got back
and I never had the chance to ask.”

Kronk smiled, looking satisfied.

“
My brethren and I just
finished building arches over the front and back gates. Once master
creates a ward in the middle of each one, the entire wall will be
firmly enchanted to repel evil. No wight will be able to cross that
barrier. They will be repulsed no matter how many times they assault
it.”

Aeris whistled shrilly in amazement
and Simon almost flipped back off of his chair.

“
Gees, Aeris! Don't do that!
You scared the crap out of me.”

“
What are you talking about?”
the elemental asked with a confused look.

Simon settled himself in his chair
and shook back his hair, laughing in embarrassment.

“
That whistle. I've never heard
you do that before. It just startled me, that's all. Sorry. Go ahead,
Kronk.”

“
I am finished, master. Except
to say that I recommend you create the wards today, before
nightfall.”

“
I intend to. Thanks so much
for your efforts. I'm going to be sleeping a lot easier from now on.”

The little guy smiled widely and
Aeris nodded at him.

“
Kronk, that is really quite
clever. Creating a permanent arch over the gates stabilizes the
magic. Very well done indeed.”

The little guy couldn't blush, but
Simon had a feeling that if he could, he would be glowing red. He
rarely received a compliment from Aeris and, even if he would never
admit it, Kronk valued the other elemental's opinion.

“
It was nothing,” the
earthen said with a quick shrug. “I only want to keep master as
safe as possible.”

“
Yes, well, we all want that.”
Aeris handed his map to Simon. “So when are you going to report
to Clara and the others?”

“
Tomorrow should be soon
enough. They're still getting packed and organized at the moment.”
He added the map to the others he had and put them aside. “Meanwhile,
I'll cast those ward spells and get that out of the way.”

He got up, glanced at the winter
sunlight streaming in the windows and shivered a bit. Going out in
the cold was not something that he enjoyed but better to just get it
over with.

Simon crossed to the clothes cupboard
near the door, slipped on his heavy boots and winter jacket and spent
a minute trying to find his gloves.

As he was putting them on, he looked
back at the elementals.

“
Care to join me, guys?”
he asked as he settled the coat around his shoulders.

“
Certainly, master,”
Kronk said brightly and jumped off of the table.

“
I wouldn't miss it,”
Aeris replied. He floated over to wait by the door. “I'd like
to see these arches that our earthen friends came up with.”

“
They are nothing special,”
Kronk told him hastily.

Simon smiled at his modesty.

“
Don't be so hard on yourself,”
Aeris said to the little guy. “I'm sure they're remarkable.”

Kronk stared at him doubtfully,
obviously wondering whether the air elemental was being sarcastic.

Simon chuckled to himself, took a
deep breath and pulled open the door.

A blast of subzero air slammed into
him as he stepped outside. The early afternoon sky was a chilly,
clear blue; beautiful but not pleasant. Simon puffed out a frosty
breath as he shivered again and then resolutely walked down the
steps.

Kronk had cleared the snow from the
front steps and had stomped down a path to the front gate and around
the tower to the stable.

The wizard headed for the main gate
first, simply because it was closer. He stopped about ten feet away
and stared up at the top of the gate. Kronk crunched up to him and
stood to his right while Aeris hovered by Simon's left shoulder.

“
Wow. That looks amazing!”

The earthen looked up at the arch
above the closed doors of the gate and smiled with satisfaction.

“
Thank you, master. We did the
best we could to make it flow seamlessly from one side of the wall to
the other.”

The arch rose smoothly over the gate.
The stone that the earthen had used was the same color and texture as
the wall itself and there was no evidence of where the arch had been
connected to the main structure of the wall.

It almost looks organic, Simon
thought as his eyes followed the flow of the stone. Almost as if it
was grown instead of built. Awesome.

“
I moved the ladder closer to
the gate for you, master,” Kronk told him and pointed to the
left side of the entrance.

Simon nodded in appreciation and
walked carefully over the frozen ground to the base of the ladder. He
climbed up cautiously, the rungs slippery under his gloved fingers.
At the top, he stepped on to the parapet that ran along the inside of
the wall and checked his footing.

Whether it had been Kronk or one of
his fellow earthen, the walkway had been cleared of ice and snow and
Simon walked to the side of the gate with confidence. From the top of
the wall, he could appreciate the construction of the arch even more.

It was about three feet wide and
flowed up and over the gate. The arch was also clear of ice, for
which the wizard was very grateful. He was going to have to walk
across it to the center to create a ward in the most effective spot.

Aeris flew up and joined him while
Kronk watched from below. The little guy was expressionless, but
Simon noticed that he was wringing his hands nervously.

Not helping, my friend, he thought,
watching the earthen's worried gestures.

“
Are you all right?”
Aeris asked him as he hovered a few feet away.

“
Oh yeah, I'm great. I was just
wondering how many bones I would break if I fell fifteen feet to the
frozen ground down there. No biggie.”

“
Courage, my dear wizard. I
won't let you fall.”

“
You won't?” Simon asked
doubtfully.

Aeris chuckled and shook his head.

“
Of course not. The arch is
wide enough and strong enough for you to traverse it safely. And the
stone is clean and dry. Just don't look down.”

“
Easier said than done,”
Simon muttered under his breath.

“
Be careful, master,”
Kronk called out as the wizard began to slowly walk up the arch.

Again, not helping, the wizard
thought. He gritted his teeth and prayed that an errant gust of wind
didn't toss him off the arch on to his head.

Aeris floated serenely beside him,
looking amused by Simon's shuffling snail's pace, but his presence
was actually comforting. The gate was no more than a dozen feet
across, but to the wizard it felt as long as the Golden Gate bridge
and as wide as a strand of hair.

Standing in the exact center of the
arch, Simon got down on one knee, took off his gloves and shoved them
roughly into a pocket. Then he placed both of his hands on to the
bitterly cold stone and began to chant the incantation for the ward
spell.

He had to recharge the tower's wards
periodically and the spell was permanently etched into his memory, so
casting it was simple. The effect, on the other hand, was rather more
spectacular than usual.

As he finished casting the spell,
Simon invoked it with the word of command.

“
Invectis,
”
he said tentatively and suddenly found his hands locked to the stone
of the arch as if actually frozen there.

“
What
the..?” he said in surprise as he tried and failed to lift his
arms, almost collapsing on to his face.

“
Something
wrong?” Aeris asked him as he floated closer.

“
Yeah.
I seem to be stuck to the damned arch.”

And then
he felt the warmth draining out of him. It rose from his legs,
gathered in his chest and then, in a rush, rolled down his arms and
into the stone. A bright silver-blue burst of light, like a
flashbulb, blazed for a second from the arch and then, his hands came
loose.

Simon
stood up so quickly that he overbalanced and began to teeter on the
edge of the stone.

Oh damn,
this is gonna hurt, was the despairing thought that raced through his
mind, just as he felt a gentle but firm push that centered him back
on the arch again.

He
trembled, feeling cold sweat rolling down from his hairline as he
looked to his right. Aeris was holding his elbow and met his gaze
calmly.

“
I
told you that I wouldn't let you fall,” he said with a quick
smile.

Simon
stood still for a moment and then took a deep breath.

“
Yeah,
I know you did. Thanks for that.”

“
I
live to serve,” Aeris said with a hint of his usual sarcasm.
“Now, shall we move on?”

“
Yes,
please.”

Simon
turned carefully, the air elemental moving with him, and made his way
back to the parapet. He stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from
his forehead before slipping his gloves back on.

“
Well,
that was unexpected,” he said, leaning against the wall to wait
for his heartbeat to slow down again. “The wards don't usually
drain me of so much magic.”

“
It
is the nature of the wall now, I believe,” Aeris replied. “You
didn't just energize a new ward up there; you actually recharged this
entire section of the wall. I think that once the arch at the back
gate is enchanted, the barrier around our tower will be almost
impenetrable.”

“
Huh.
Good to know. At least now I'll be ready when I cast the second ward
spell.” He took another deep breath, coughed a bit as the cold
air bit into his lungs and then began to move.

“
Okay,
let's get this done. My face is starting to freeze.”

Once the second ward over the back
gate was cast, Simon and the elementals returned to the tower. The
wizard was relieved to get out of the bitter cold and immediately
took off his outerwear and set water over the fire to boil. He was
dying for something hot to drink, but decided that he had earned some
hot chocolate for a change. It had been that cold out there.

Kronk added wood to the fire while
Aeris shot up the stairs and came back down a moment later carrying
one of Simon's heavy sweaters.

“
Here you go,” he said as
he handed it to the wizard. “You should put this on. You are
still shaking.”

Simon thanked him, startled by the
air elemental's concern, and put on the sweater. He took a moment to
think of how absurd he must look wearing a thick cardigan sweater
over a long robe, but then who was going to see him besides his
little friends? And it was very warm and comforting.

He made his hot chocolate and moved
one of the kitchen chairs so that he could sit in front of the
fireplace, mourning the loss of his comfy chair yet again. He
promised himself that in the spring, he'd send Aeris off to search
the surrounding towns and villages for a replacement. Maybe there was
a warehouse or old shopping mall somewhere that hadn't been
completely flattened by the dragon attacks. There could be a lounge
chair packed in bubble wrap just waiting to be discovered. It was a
nice dream anyway.

The light was fading from the windows
as the sun went down and a biting wind howled around the tower,
screaming to be let in.

Up yours, Simon thought at it and
sipped his sweet drink.

Kronk sat down beside the fireplace
and Aeris moved to hover nearby.

“
So why the sudden concern for
my comfort?” Simon asked him with a tired grin.

“
Sudden concern? My dear
wizard, you wound me. I've always got your best interests at heart.”

Even Kronk turned to look at him with
wide eyes.

“
What?” Aeris said at the
look.

The earthen shrugged.

“
Nothing. I know you worry
about our master as well as I do. But he is correct. You are usually
not as...forthcoming as you have been today.”

Simon watched them both, amused by
the exchange.

Aeris sighed loudly but then the
exaggerated wounded look faded from his face and he looked up at the
wizard with a frown.