The Dragons of Decay (6 page)

Simon really didn't know what to say
as he stared at the remains of whatever the hell had attacked the
tower. He had never seen such uncontrolled violence from the
elementals before and he was trying to process it.

Aeris shot across the space between
then and stopped just outside of Simon's shield.

“
We thought you were dead,”
he exclaimed, drops of black blood trickling off of his hovering
form.

“
No, I'm still here. What
exactly were,” he nodded at the bodies, “those things?”

“
Wights, master,” Kronk
said, his voice thick with disgust. “Back in ancient times,
they were known to follow in the wake of storms, masking their
presence until they attacked. It was a very effective tactic.”

“
Can't argue with that.”

Simon dismissed his shield but kept
his diamond skin spell active to protect him from the intense cold.
He slipped his staff over his shoulder so that it hung down along his
spine and peered through the blinding snow.

“
Any more of those things
around?”

“
I think we've accounted for
all of them,” Aeris told him. “But I'm going to take a
quick spin around the tower, just in case. Be right back.”

With that, the air elemental shot off
and disappeared into the storm.

Simon walked reluctantly over to the
gates and looked down at the bodies.

Seen up close and unmoving, the
wights looked even more horrible. Their glazed, dead eyes still
seemed to burn with insatiable hunger and their gaping mouths were
filled with broken, rotting fangs. Their pale skin reminded him of
dead fish; colorless and slimy. And if they had any gender, there was
no way to tell. Their bodies below the waist were masses of scars and
ragged running sores.

“
They're undead, aren't they?”
he asked Kronk, who took a moment to roll in the snow and clean the
blood and slime off of his body.

“
They are, master. That is one
reason they are only seen during winter storms; they are vulnerable
to sunlight.”

Simon watched as the other earthen
followed Kronk's lead and cleaned themselves up.

“
Well, we can't leave the
bodies here. Can I get you guys to drag them out into the field?”

“
Of course, master,” the
little earthen said quickly.

The six elementals easily gathered
the corpses together and pulled them through the gates to the
wind-blown clearing beyond.

“
Not too far,” Simon
called out. “Just pile them together. If they're undead, I want
to make sure they won't somehow reanimate and attack again.”

Kronk dragged the last body on to the
hideous pile and stepped back.

“
How, master?” he asked.

Simon chanted a familiar spell and
pointed at the bodies.

“
Fire, of course,” he
said simply. “
Invectis
.”

A
ball of flame streaked down out of the storm and slammed into the
remains, instantly igniting them and turning the entire mass into a
bonfire.

“
That
should do it,” the wizard told the watching earthen.

They
stared at the burning bodies for a moment and then Aeris flew through
the gates to join them.

“
There's
no sign of any others. There were scratches on the door of the
stable, but they didn't get through it. Must have preferred going
after you, my dear wizard.”

“
The
horses are safe?” Kronk asked anxiously.

“
They're
fine,” Aeris told him. “Chief was standing just inside
the door. I doubt any wight would have gotten past those horns of
his.”

“
I
must check on them,” Kronk said, obviously worried and would
have hurried off if Simon hadn't stopped him.

“
Check
on them later, my friend,” he said and motioned for the group
to follow him.

Once
they were back inside the wall, the wizard turned and looked at the
six earthen.

“
Okay,”
he said, yelling a bit over the howling wind. “I know we've
just been through a battle, and frankly I think I might still be in
shock, but I have to know something.”

He
looked from one elemental to the next. All of them were listening
closely.

“
Why
were the gates open before the attack?” he asked in a level
tone, trying not to sound accusatory.

Kronk
looked at his fellow earthen.

“
Yes,
I would like to know that as well.”

The
remaining earth elementals looked at each other and then one stepped
forward, looking a bit sheepish.

“
I
saw the storm coming, sir wizard,” he said reluctantly. “And
I wanted to make sure that both halves of the gate were in perfect
working order before it hit.”

“
I
see,” Simon said. “Mittas, isn't it?”

“
Yes,
sir wizard,” Mittas said with a bow.

“
So
you were just trying to be helpful. I understand that. But the
standing order was not to open the gates under any circumstances
unless you asked permission first. Did you ask Kronk or Aeris before
you did that?”

“
He
said nothing to me,” Aeris growled as he hovered by the
wizard's right shoulder.

“
Nor
to me,” Kronk added. He stepped toward Mittas. “You took
the initiative to help our master, yes?”

The
earthen nodded eagerly.

“
Yes,
I did. Nothing is more important than a master's safety! I only
wanted to ensure that the gate was strong enough to face the coming
storm.”

Simon
sighed and dropped his head. He looked down at his body, the white
diamond coating reflecting the gray light around him.

“
Okay,
Mittas. You made a mistake today. Do you see that?”

The
earth elemental hesitated and then nodded.

“
I
see it, sir wizard. I should have asked for permission to open the
gates. It will not happen again.”

“
It
shouldn't have happened at all!” Aeris hissed at him and the
little figure stepped back in surprise.

“
Easy,
Aeris,” Simon told him. “None of us is perfect.”

He
looked at the entire group.

“
But
this can't happen again, do you all understand? This world is just
too damned dangerous for such mistakes. None of you is a servant and
each of you can leave at any time. But if you stay here, you must do
as you are told or you are of no use to me. No one opens the gates in
the future unless it is approved by either myself, Kronk or Aeris.
Right?”

They
all hurriedly nodded, Mittas' head bobbing so quickly it was almost a
blur.

“
Good.
Now please close the gates and seal them.”

Simon
watched as this was done and smiled grimly at them.

“
Okay,
that was the easy part. Now I need your expert opinions on what to do
with the tower.”

“
The
tower, master?” Kronk asked, puzzled. He looked up at the
shadow of the building, barely visible in the blowing storm. There
was a buildup of snow on his head and he looked like he was wearing a
white beanie.

“
What
is wrong with the tower?”

“
Come
with me and see,” Simon told him and he led the way to the
front door, the snow and wind still screaming past them.

When
they walked into the main room, the wizard felt a rush of sadness.

The
winds had blown away all evidence of the immolated wights, but the
room itself looked like a bombed-out wreck.

Long
icicles hung from the scorched ceiling. The floor was partially
covered with snow and had been blackened by his Fire Blast spell. His
furniture; the sofa, his kitchen table and chairs, his easy chair in
front of the fire, even his clothes cabinet near the door, all had
been reduced to heaps of barely-recognizable charred wood and fabric.

“
Damn
it,” he muttered as he surveyed the damage. “Gone. All of
it, just gone.”

“
Oh
my, master,” Kronk said as he looked around. “We heard
the explosion when you cast whatever spell did this, but we assumed
the worst and thought you had perished. I never thought about what
kind of damage that spell would cause.”

“
Me
neither,” Simon replied. “But it was either this or
death. I chose this.”

“
And
rightfully so,” Aeris averred. “This can all be rebuilt
or replaced. You cannot.”

He
shot across the room and examined the kitchen cupboards, the
fireplace and the cast-iron stove.

“
The
good news,” he said loudly, “is that all of your food and
dishes are okay. The outside of the cupboards will have to be
replaced, but the contents are fine.”

“
Well,
that's something.” Simon said as he carefully walked across the
room. The kitchen counter was scorched as well but the pump still
worked next to the sink, so that was a relief.

“
Kronk,”
he said, turning to look at the earthen and his friends. “Can
you tell if this floor and the ceiling are sound? Am I going to fall
through to the basement or have the tower collapse on top of me?”

“
We
will check, master,” the earthen assured him. He spoke to the
others in the deep guttural language of the earth elementals and
three of them hurried up the blackened staircase to the second floor,
while Kronk and the other two walked around the room, running their
hands along the floor every two or three feet.

“
You're
going to have to dig out some new winter clothing from stores,”
Aeris said as he nodded at what was left of the clothes cabinet.

“
True
enough,” Simon agreed, feeling tired and depressed. “New
boots and gloves and all of that. Luckily I have spares. Ah well, I
needed to freshen up my wardrobe anyway,” he added, trying to
sound more cheerful.

“
That
is the right attitude, my dear wizard,” the air elemental said
approvingly. “All of this can be fixed. You are safe and the
tower is secure once more. Considering that hordes of wights wiped
out countless towns and villages back in the old days, I'd say you
got off lightly.”

Simon
held on to that thought. Aeris was right, of course. He'd been caught
flat-footed and off-guard and had managed to survive basically
intact. It was a lesson for him to never get too complacent.

Suddenly
he looked at the elemental with dawning horror.

“
What
is it?” Aeris asked as he saw Simon's expression. “What's
wrong?”

“
You
said that the wights used to wipe out towns and villages,” the
wizard said in a strangled voice.

The
two of them locked eyes.

“
Nottinghill!”
they said at the same time.

Simon
turned and raced up the slippery, icy stairs with Aeris zipping along
behind him.

He
ran into his study, lit all of the candles in the darkened room with
a thought and canceled his Diamond Skin spell. He slipped off his
staff and leaned it against the desk. Then he snatched up the hand
mirror and rattled off the Magic Mirror spell.

“
Clara!”
he said loudly into the mirror, Aeris floating next to him. “Clara,
can you hear me?”

“
Simon?
Hello again. You were right about the storm. Luckily we got everyone
indoors before it hit.”

The
wizard sagged with relief. The cleric sounded normal and calm. He'd
been terrified that somehow the wights had gotten into the town.

She
appeared in the mirror's surface, standing at a window in her
quarters and gazing out at the violent storm just beyond the glass.

“
Clara,
listen. I need to warn you about something.”

“
Warn
us? About something other than this blasted storm?”

“
Exactly.
Let me tell you what just happened.”

Simon proceeded to explain about the
attack on the tower. Clara gasped once or twice but didn't interrupt
his story. As he spoke, the cleric moved through her rooms and picked
up her own mirror so that she could look back at the wizard. Then she
went into her living room and sat down on her sofa.