The Dragons of Decay (7 page)

“
So you're saying that this was
a common occurrence back in the old days of magic?” she asked
when he was finished speaking.

Simon glanced at Aeris, who moved
into view and nodded at her.

“
Yes, lady, it was. Well,
perhaps common is not the proper term. But most settlements knew that
when particularly violent winter weather was approaching, that wights
or other undead might be following in its wake.”

“
Wow. The things we don't know
about this New Earth of ours could fill a library,” Clara
muttered. “But you're okay, Simon?”

“
I'm fine, thanks. I'm more
worried about you and the town. If I may make a suggestion, tell
Malcolm and Aiden to man the walls near the gates and keep an eye out
for anything peculiar.”

“
You mean like hordes of
undead?” she asked dryly.

The wizard grinned.

“
Yeah, something like that.
Your walls are warded and, as long as the gates remain closed, you
should be fine. But as I just saw a little while ago, one mistake can
make all of our protections worthless.”

“
Yes, I can see that.”

The cleric looked across the room at
the blustery weather through her window and shivered.

“
I hate the cold,” she
said. “Strange. I used to love winter. Skiing, Christmas, Jack
Frost nipping at your nose and all that stuff. Now though, I just
find it all so depressing.”

“
I'm with you there,”
Simon said.

“
But I'll get wrapped up and
hunt down our two friends. They'll organize the guards and we'll be
extra vigilant while this blizzard lasts.”

Her lips twitched in an almost-smile.

“
They're going to freeze their
asses off though, and then all I'll hear is whining.”

The wizard chuckled sympathetically
and Clara shrugged.

“
It's all in good fun, though.
Malcolm and Aiden love their drama, but their dedication to the town
and our safety is immense.”

“
I know it is.”

One of the earthen wandered into the
study and stood by the door, obviously waiting to speak.

Simon glanced at him and nodded.

“
Clara, I have to go. Stay safe
and use the lodestone if you need me, all right? I can be there in no
time if necessary.”

“
I appreciate that, my friend,
but I'm sure we'll be fine. Good luck with your repairs.”

“
Thanks.”

He canceled the spell and nodded at
the earthen again.

“
What is it?” he asked.

“
Sir wizard, we have finished
our assessment up here,” he said. “The floors are
basically undamaged. We will have to grind off a layer of singed wood
on the ceiling over your main room below, but that is all. Kronk and
the others are in the basement now, wrapping up their own survey of
the damage.”

“
Thanks. Go ahead and join
them. I'll be down in a minute.”

The little figure bowed and left the
room.

“
So far, not so bad,”
Aeris commented as he moved to hover in the middle of the desk.

“
Yeah, true. It could have been
so much worse. Listen, do me a favor, would you? While the earthen
are in here checking things out, could you patrol the outer wall?
I'll admit I'm a bit spooked by all of this.”

For a change, the air elemental
didn't make a sarcastic comment. He simply nodded seriously.

“
Of course. I should have
thought of that myself. The wards are holding, but better safe than
sorry.”

“
Thanks, Aeris,” Simon
told him and the elemental disappeared with a muted pop of air.

The wizard stared at the shuttered
window for a long moment and sighed.

And just think, Simon, he said to
himself. Only four more months of winter.

The storm would last for a week, just
as Aeris had predicted. If it hadn't been for the need to bring in
wood from the forest to repair the damage in his tower, Simon would
have left the gates closed and sealed until the blizzard had blown
over.

Unfortunately, Kronk needed that wood
to replace sections of the floor on the main level, as well as to
construct new furniture, so the wizard reluctantly agreed.

He went down to the basement and into
storage to get a new winter coat, gloves and boots and then stood
just inside the gates, staff in hand, while the earthen hurried out
into the storm to retrieve the wood.

Fortunately there were no signs of
any wights and the group of elementals returned in an hour with piles
of freshly-cut wooden planks.

Simon closed and locked the gates and
asked Aeris to keep patrolling the wall until the others had finished
their repairs. Then he went back inside and was told politely but
firmly by Kronk to stay upstairs while they worked on the new floor.

After a show of grumbling, the wizard
headed up to his study and sat down at his desk to read, trying to
pass the time.

Unfortunately, while Kronk and his
brethren were efficient, they weren't particularly quiet, and the
banging, the sound of boards being ripped out and the occasional loud
argument in the deep language of the earthen kept Simon from
concentrating and finally, in exasperation, he tossed his book aside
and picked up his hand mirror instead.

It had been about two days since he'd
last spoken to Daniel, more or less, and he decided that now was as
good a time as any to see if his friend had any news.

The Magic Mirror spell connected
quickly and Simon felt a rush of relief to see that his oldest friend
was okay and even seemed more rested than he had been in their last
conversation.

“
Ah, Simon. There you are.”

“
Here I am. How are you doing?”

Daniel was sitting in a room with
dark wooden walls and candles glowing on the table in front of him.
There was a tall glass with amber liquid in it in his hand and he
took a sip before answering.

“
I'm doing well, all things
considered. You?”

“
Well, except for fighting off
a wave of wights, I'm good, thanks.”

Daniel sat up with a jerk, some
liquid sloshing over his hand.

“
What? You were attacked?”

“
Well, not me personally,”
Simon told him with a small shrug. “The tower was, actually. I
just got in the way.”

His friend frowned at his light tone,
moved his glass over a bit and stared into its reflective surface.
His face filled the mirror and the wizard was suddenly staring at
Daniel directly.

“
Tell me what happened,”
he said tersely.

Simon proceeded to tell his friend
what had happened earlier. Occasionally he had to raise his voice as
loud hammering and the squeal of nails being pulled out of the floor
echoed through the tower.

Apparently his face reflected his
irritation and Daniel's dark look was replaced by one of amusement
every time this took place.

When he finished, Simon relaxed and
leaned back in his chair, watching his friend quizzically.

“
So what do you think?”

Daniel took his time before
answering, gazing pensively away from the surface of the liquid.

“
What I think is that the Earth
is becoming more of a copy of the old world of magic by the day. In
doing my research, I found that these sorts of events were, if not
common, then certainly not unknown. Cities and towns were warded and
locked up tight during winter storms. Wizards were actually highly
prized and sought after to help protect these habitations.”

He smiled through the mirror.

“
I've read that cities would
compete with each other to attract the services of magic-users.
Wizards, being a rare breed, were treated like royalty and offered
extravagant quarters and many perks to move to this city or that.”

Simon had to shake his head in
wonder.

“
What a strange world we've
inherited.”

There was a loud bang just under his
feet and the floor shook violently. Simon looked toward the doorway.

“
What's going on down there?”
he shouted irritably.

“
Nothing, master,”
Kronk's voice called up.

He rolled his eyes and Daniel
laughed.

“
Repairs?” he asked.

“
Yeah. I made a real mess of
the main floor during the attack, but nothing that can't be fixed. My
little friends are efficient, but I suppose ripping out old boards
and building new furniture can be quite a loud process.”

“
You're lucky to have them,”
Daniel chided him gently.

“
Oh I know, believe me. I
wouldn't have survived this long if it hadn't been for Kronk and
Aeris and the others.”

Simon made a small movement with the
mirror and his view of Daniel's location pulled back so that he could
see more of the room around him.

“
You're in a nicer spot than
the last time we spoke,” he commented as he looked at the cozy
room Daniel was sitting in.

“
You're right. The elders were
transported to a distant settlement, as far from the main group of
attacking dragons as possible and they were nice enough to bring me
along. They may not cast spells, but they have ways of moving across
vast distances very quickly when necessary.”

He looked around the room with
obvious pleasure.

“
Believe it or not, I'm
actually sitting inside a tree.”

“
You're kidding!” Simon
replied and leaned forward to get a better view.

“
Nope. Look at the walls.
They're grown, not constructed. In fact, if you could see the outside
of this place, it would look like just a section of forest. There are
absolutely no signs of habitation at all. With the elves' power to
cast a glamor over themselves, it could be quite some time before the
dragons track us down.”

“
Good. So, any word on whether
I can enter the elven realm safely or not?”

Daniel shook his head.

“
Not yet. Remember, it's only
been a few hours, my time, since we last spoke. We just arrived here
a short while ago. I have put the question to several of the wisest
of the elders and they have agreed to give it some thought. That's
actually quite an accomplishment in so short a time. Try and be
patient, my friend. You know that my group is safe, at least for now.
And the elves aren't just passively sitting back and letting the
brown dragons run rampant across their world. They are fighting back.
Yes, we're had losses, but so have the dragons. So get your home back
in order, make sure you warn all of your allies about those blasted
wights and cultivate patience.”

Simon pushed back the hair that had
fallen into his face with an irritated gesture.

“
Since you obviously aren't
going to cut that mane of yours, have you thought about tying it
back?”

The wizard looked at Daniel in
surprise.

“
Tie it back?” He paused
and then laughed. “Oh my God, can you believe that never
occurred to me?”

“
I can, actually. I mean, you
were almost as bald as a cue ball back in your old body. I doubt if
the issue ever came up then.”

Simon shook his head at his own
stupidity.

“
Thanks for the suggestion.
That's exactly what I'm going to do. The damned stuff gets in my eyes
constantly, but I just can't bring myself to cut it.”

Daniel chuckled.

“
Tie it back and you won't have
to. Now, give me a few more days, your time, and call back again.
Hopefully I'll have some news for you.”

“
Will do. It will make the wait
a lot easier now that I know you're safe, for the moment.”

“
Good. Talk to you then.”

Simon canceled the spell and put down
the mirror. There was an incessant tapping going on below that wasn't
loud, but was continuous and it was setting his teeth on edge.

He got up abruptly, left the study
and went into his bedroom, looking for something to use to tie his
hair back out of his face. He rummaged through his drawers for a bit
and finally found a small paper bag with a bunch of shoelaces that
he'd left there. He pulled out a black one, stood in front of his
clothes cupboard with its full length mirror and tried for the first
time in his life to tie his hair into a ponytail.

“
Okay, this is harder than it
looks,” he muttered irritably after it unraveled for the fourth
time. “Women with long hair make it look so easy. Gees.”

He finally managed to pull all of the
hair back at once and hurriedly tied the shoelace around it, making a
bow and feeling slightly ridiculous.

Simon stared at his reflection with
his hands on his hips. The streaks of white in his hair were more
prominent now that it was pulled back tight, but at least it was out
of his face.