The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (17 page)

“
Protecting
something?”

The paladin stood up,
shook back her hair and began walking along the wall again.

“
Protecting
what?”

Simon smiled humorlessly.

“
What's
the thing that is most important to all lesser dragons? Their primal,
of course. Australia may be where the primal red has its lair. Good
to know.”

“
If
true. Don't jump to conclusions, my friend. The red dragons have
multiplied in the months since you've been gone. Every time that
Tamara and her brother locate a pocket of Changlings living
somewhere, there are almost always dragons in the vicinity. They can
sense us, you know. It's no wonder that the human race is teetering
on the brink of extinction.”

“
Have
you been attacked there?” Simon asked, his mind still
considering the possibility that the primal red was hiding somewhere
in the Australian desert.

He'd been staring absently
at the distant forest glowing in the sun when Liliana stopped
speaking. He peered into the mirror again and saw that she was
standing in front of a large mechanism.

“
Not
since we got a few of these beauties,” she answered with a cold
laugh.

Simon examined the
construct and whistled in appreciation.

“
An
arbalest!” he exclaimed. “Now where did you dig that
thing up?”

“
We
didn't. They're only a few months old. Your friends the dwarves
gifted us with them once we had settled in. Their leader, Stanis
Ironhand? Yes. He showed up with a number of their drilling machines
and offered these to us. Of course we said yes.”

She pointed in several
directions and Simon adjusted his view to examine what she was
showing him.

On each wall, a half dozen
of the huge crossbows had been erected and bolted into place in the
stone. They were large enough to shoot an iron projectile six feet
long and piles of these missiles were stacked neatly next to each
weapon.

“
The
dwarves taught us how to shoot and instructed our master smith on the
forging of the ammunition.”

She patted the arbalest
affectionately.

Ah Stanis, Simon thought
with irritated affection. You never mentioned this to me, did you?

“
And
have you had a chance to use them?” He asked as he turned to
leave the study. He walked downstairs carefully, watching the paladin
and trying not to trip over his own feet at the same time.

“
We
have indeed. The dwarves' timing was fortuitous. A few weeks after
they gave us these beauties, a pair of red dragons swooped down on
the castle. It was late autumn and we were surprised that the beasts
would attack in the cold; probably their intent. At any rate, we have
crews designated to use the arbalests, a suggestion of the dwarves.
They took a while and quite a few bolts to get the proper windage,
but once they did, the dragons were no match for the enchanted
bolts.”

“
Enchanted?”

“
Yes.
The dwarves enchant their weapons as they make them, as I'm sure you
know. They taught our smith how to do it too.” She grinned
fiercely. “They puncture dragon hide with ease. The two dragons
fell in heaps of burning flesh and bone. Quite satisfying.”

“
That
sounds fantastic. And no attacks since?”

“
None.
We have weekly drills to keep everyone's skills sharp, but so far, so
good.”

“
The
primal may have warned his followers off, for now,” Simon told
her as he set down the mirror on the kitchen counter and filled the
kettle with water from the pump next to the sink.

“
The
primals know when one of their own is killed, so that would make
sense. When there is another attack, and I think we can count on that
happening, the dragons will come in force.”

He hung the kettle over
the fire and picked up the mirror again.

“
Let
them come,” Liliana said harshly and clapped a hand to her
sword hilt. “If the human race goes down, the ground beneath
our feet will be drenched with dragon's blood before we fall.”

“
Um,
yeah. Let's save that idea as a last resort, shall we?” Simon
said and watched as the paladin suddenly grinned.

“
Of
course. Sorry, I get a little emotional when it comes to protecting
others.”

“
I've
noticed. Do me a favor, would you?”

“
Anything,
Simon.”

“
Mention
that I called to the others? And please tell them that I'll be
dropping by sometime in the next week. I think I'd rather they were
warned before I pop in; wouldn't want anyone to have a heart attack
if I suddenly appear back from the dead.”

Liliana laughed lightly.

“
I
understand. Yes, I will do that. Ah, my friend, it's good to have you
back. I just wish I'd thought of carrying around a small mirror so
that I could actually see you. This talking to thin air
is...unsatisfying.”

“
Just
think of it as if we were talking on the phone from back in the old
days, before cellphones. It's basically the same thing.”

“
Oh
no it isn't,” she said and scowled playfully. “You can
still see me, and that simply isn't fair.”

“
Fine.
So either dig up a mirror or find a reflective surface to look at the
next time I call. That works just as well.”

“
Does
it? Ah, that's good to know.”

She froze for a moment and
then clapped a hand to her head.

“
Liliana?
What is it?” Simon asked, alarmed.

“
I'm
an idiot, that's what it is,” she answered and rolled her eyes.

“
What?”

The paladin held out her
arm and the shining silver armor reflected her face with an almost
mirror-like quality.

“
I
could have just used this,” she said, sounding disgusted with
herself.

“
Well,
you'll know for next time,” Simon told her, holding back his
laughter.

“
I
suppose so. It was good to talk to you, sir wizard. I hope we'll see
you soon.”

“
You
will, I promise. Take care, Liliana.”

“
And
you, Simon.”

He shook the mirror to
break the spell, put it down on the table and made his tea. Simon was
happier than he'd been in quite a while. While losing Clara was still
like an open wound on his heart, he knew that she would have been
happy to know that her people were safe. And she had loved Malcolm
and Aiden. The fact that they were now leading the survivors of
Nottinghill would have pleased her greatly.

He made his tea and sat
down just as the door banged open and Kronk tapped into the room. He
closed it behind him and hurried across the room to jump up on to the
table.

“
Did
you manage to get in touch with the people at Nottinghill Castle,
master?” he asked as he stood watching Simon drink his tea.

“
I
did, thanks. Well, I spoke with Liliana and she filled me in on
what's been happening. They are doing well.”

He
told Kronk about the conversation he'd had with the paladin. The
little guy looked particularly happy about the dwarves' support of
the new settlement.

“
They
are a generous people,” he said when Simon had finished. “It
is regrettable that there is a schism between we of the earthen realm
and them.”

“
It
won't be forever,” Simon told him sympathetically. “I'm
sure of it. Attitudes are changing among them and one day, who knows?
You may be allies again.”

Kronk sighed and smiled
wistfully.

“
That
would be wonderful.”

“
So
where's Aeris?”

The little guy shrugged
and scratched his rocky head, making a high-pitched squeaking sound
of stone on stone.

“
I
do not know, master. He said something about doing a reconnaissance?
Then he just left.”

Simon put down his cup and
ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

“
Oh
for God's sake. Now what?”

Aeris appeared a few hours
later, just as Simon was about to lose patience and summon him back.

The air elemental popped
into the wizard's study and floated across the room to the desk,
where Simon was writing out a string of ideas that he wanted to get
down before they faded from his mind.

“”
What are you
writing so frantically?” the air elemental asked curiously.

The wizard looked up with
a frown.

“
Where have you
been? I was on the verge of calling you back.”

“
Why? I was fine. I
just had an urge to check out the remains of Nottinghill, so I went
ahead down. Did you have something else you wanted me to do?”

“
Well, no. But you
could have told me or Kronk where you were going. Honestly, you've so
impulsive sometimes.”

Simon went back to his
writing.

“
So why exactly did
you want to go down there anyway?” he asked as he focused on
his notes.

“
Not sure. It was
just a whim, I suppose. None of us has been back there since the
people deserted it and headed south. I guess I thought that there
might be something they'd left behind or overlooked. You know,
something useful.”

Simon glanced up at him.

“
I'm assuming that,
since you're empty-handed, you didn't find anything?”

Aeris hovered over the
desk and grimaced.

“
I didn't get the
chance. The new residents wouldn't have been too forgiving if I'd
started poking around their home.”

“
New residents?”
Simon sat up abruptly. “What are you talking about? What new
residents?”

“
Bears, my dear
wizard. Well, I'm guessing that they used to be bears. Like so many
animals in this new world of yours, they've Changed into something
else.” He gave a small shudder. “Something quite
intimidating, actually.”

Simon put down his pencil
and sat back on his chair.

“
In what way?”

Aeris picked up the pencil
and grabbed a sheet of paper.

“
May I?”

“
Of course.”

The elemental began
drawing at a furious speed while Simon watched, fascinated as always.
One of the talents of Aeris and his people was the ability to scout
out an area and then make incredibly accurate sketches of what they
had seen. Pictures of animals, people, even detailed maps of whole
swatches of land; anything they had seen, they could draw.

While Aeris was at work,
Kronk tip-tapped into the room and stopped in the doorway, surprised.
Simon waved him over silently, not wanting to interrupt the air
elemental.

“
Where did he go,
master?” the little guy whispered to Simon when he jumped up on
the desk and stood next to the wizard.

“
Nottinghill.
Apparently something's moved in there and he's sketching it out for
me.”

“
Ah, I see.”
Kronk replied as he watched Aeris. “Interesting. By the way,
master, the stable is clean and the horses are fed. Oh and the lake
had warmed up sufficiently for a dip tomorrow, if you feel up to it.”

“
Really? That's
awesome. Thanks.”

“
Thank the weather,
master,” the little guy said with a smile. “We are
approaching summer, after all.”

They both became silent
and watched Aeris as he drew so quickly that his hand was just a
blur.

“
Why were you two
whispering?” he asked absently.

“
We didn't want to
distract you,” Simon told him.

“
What is distracting
is people muttering around me. Please don't do that.”

Kronk looked wryly at the
wizard, who just rolled his eyes.

“
There we are,”
Aeris said a minute later. He offered Simon the paper and put down
his pencil.

“
What the hell is
this?” Simon asked as he gaped at the drawing.

“
Oh my. These things
are living in Nottinghill now?” Kronk asked in disbelief.

“
They are. Now you
can see why I stopped before actually entering the town. Oh and they
repaired the walls and the main gate too, so it would have been
difficult to get in anyway. I don't know if they could see me if I
was invisible, so I didn't take the chance.”