The Dragons of Ash and Smoke (Tales from the New Earth Book 5) (40 page)

“
Thanks,”
he murmured as he heard the shrieks of agony from the goblins.

He
looked up once again and saw the dragons tightening up their
formation, preparing to strafe the castle.

He
felt a swoop of panic in his stomach and ran along the wall, feeling
desperately for the inert ward.

Ah,
there it is!

Simon
dropped to his knees in front of the engraving as if in prayer,
slapped a hand on the stone and chanted the spell. As he invoked the
magic a faint sparkle seemed to race along the castle walls and he
felt the wards mesh together.

He
pushed himself to his feet with his staff and looked up at the
attacking dragons. The shield didn't cover the entire castle. There
needed to be a central tower or high podium of some sort with a ward
that would channel the power of all the others and make a dome over
the entire structure. But if the dragons wanted to attack now, they
would have to dive straight down and land in the courtyard. They
would be blocked by the wards if they tried strafing the ground with
fire.

Simon
still didn't understand dragon senses but as the wards snapped
together, he saw all three monsters immediately back-wing and stop
their attack. They hovered in the sky and he heard a cacophony of
enraged roars from the group.

“
Now,
will they be stupid enough to land and attack from the ground?”

The
wizard turned to see Liliana approaching, her armor gleaming in the
moonlight.

“
Do
you think it would be stupid?” he asked her as she joined him.
Both of them watched the dragons.

“
Don't
you? You are here, my friend, and I assure you that those dragons
know it. You've killed primals, and those three?” She snorted
in disdain. “They are lesser dragons. I doubt that any of them
want to die today.”

“
You're
giving me too much credit,” Simon protested.

“
Perhaps.
But it isn't my opinion that counts in this situation,” Liliana
replied with faint amusement. She nodded at the hesitating dragons.
“It's theirs.”

The
paladin was right. The three dragons waited for a few moments,
staring balefully at the warded castle and then peeled away and shot
off toward the south, quickly disappearing from view.

“
See?
Now we just have to deal with these damnable goblins.”

Liliana
led the way around the wall toward the group commanded by Tamara.
When Simon and the paladin arrived, he saw that she'd been joined by
Malcolm, Aiden and several others, including the mage, Keiko.

“
I
see you got the wards working again,” Malcolm said with a wide
smile. “Those dragons turned tail and ran. A lovely sight.”

“
Well,
technically, they turned tail and flew, but yeah, they decided to
fight another day,” Simon answered with a grin. “How's
the rest of the battle going?”

“
Hard
to say,” Tamara answered and gestured for Simon to join her.

He
dropped his shield so that he could get closer than six feet from
the others and stepped forward. The mage pointed at several low
buildings.

“
Most
of our people are safe. Malcolm and Aiden got them to the towers and
they've barricaded themselves in. Some are inside the castle itself
and they're also locked in. But those buildings down there, mostly
used for storage, have been taken over by the goblins. They have
either archers or casters on the roofs and we can't even get close to
them.”

“
Apparently
the damned creatures can see in the dark like cats,” Aiden
growled. His armor was splattered with dried blood and a small cut on
his chin had left a ragged trail of red down his neck. “We
unfortunately don't have that advantage.”

Simon
looked around at the group.

“
So
where are Kronk and Aeris?” he asked.

“
Scouting,”
Tamara said with a tight smile. “The little earthen is
underground while your air elemental friend is flitting about
invisibly. Before we do anything further, I wanted to know exactly
what we are facing. Happily, at least with the wards up we don't have
to worry about a dragon attack.”

“
For
today. When we have the time, we'll have to talk about you guys
erecting a central tower so that we can put a ward there and cover
the entire castle.”

“
Sounds
good, Simon,” she replied. “But one problem at a time,
please. By the way, the last time you were here, we didn't exactly
have the opportunity for proper introductions. So, allow me to do the
honors now. Simon O'Toole, wizard, meet Keiko Nishikawa, mage. Keiko,
this is Simon.”

“
How
do you do,” the woman said gently, her voice barely louder than
a whisper.

She
bowed formally to him and Simon awkwardly returned it.

“
Pleased
to meet you, as a friend this time,” he said with a smile.

She
nodded, her pale face blank of all emotion. She was wearing a very
formal robe with starched shoulders that almost looked like wings.
The shadows made it impossible to distinguish the colors of her
clothing, but they were somber, like the woman herself.

How
the heck did she manage to starch that thing, Simon wondered.

“
Finished
warding the place, I see,” Aeris said as he popped into view.
Keiko stepped back abruptly, clearly startled.

“
Ah,
forgive me, lady mage,” the elemental said. “I didn't
mean to scare you.”

The
tiny woman made a dismissive gesture and Aeris bowed to her.

“
Okay,
my dear wizard. Here is the situation.”

The
elemental pointed at several buildings, dark blotches against the
shadows in the courtyard.

“
There
is a mage on the roof of that building there with a pair of archers.
The one next to it has three archers on the roof. There is no one
inside either structure. The last two, across there near the far
wall, each have a caster on the roof with several archers and a total
of a dozen fighters inside. The building to the right is going to be
the biggest problem, I think.”

“
What
makes you say that?” Malcolm asked as he squinted, trying to
peer through the darkness.

“
There
is someone inside who is very powerful. I could feel that power as I
approached the structure.” He glanced at Simon. “Not a
wizard, I think, but possibly a very powerful cleric. There was a
taste of unholy magics in the air.”

“
A
cleric?” Liliana asked. She scowled as she looked down at the
distant building. “Not to worry, my friend. I will deal with
the cleric.”

“
Are
you sure?” Tamara asked her. At the paladin's look, she held up
a placating hand.

“
I
don't doubt you, lady, but the gods of Chaos are powerful; I daresay
that they are stronger at the moment than your patrons, the lords of
Light.”

Liliana
smiled tightly.

“
Perhaps,
my friend. But I have something that that cleric probably does not,
evil or no.”

“
Which
is?” Malcolm wondered.

She
clapped a hand to the weapon on her hip and her smile widened.

“
An
enchanted sword and a very bad attitude.”

There
was a startled moment of silence and then everyone, even the reserved
Keiko, burst out laughing.

Simon
could feel the tension of the group lessening and he silently thanked
the paladin for changing their moods for the better.

“
Then
how can we lose?” Aiden said, still chuckling. “Simon, I
wanted to ask you something.”

“
Yes?”

“
Is
there a way for you to illuminate the courtyard? We can't fight what
we can't see and, since those goblins can see in the dark, I thought
that maybe if we lit up the area, they'd be blinded for a moment or
two. It could give us an advantage.”

He
looked around the wall at the vague shapes of the dozen or so archers
who were trying to get a clear shot at the enemy.

“
Just
give our people some light, and we can deal some real damage to those
bastards.”

Simon
walked to the edge of the wall and scanned the area.

“
Yes,
I think I can do that.” He rested the butt end of his staff on
the ground and looked over his shoulder.

“
Give
me some room, please. I'm going to raise a shield, just in case. I
think this is going to really irritate those goblins.”

Everyone
backed off except for Aeris, who moved to hover next to Simon's
shoulder.

“
I
love a good show,” he said under his breath and the wizard
smiled.

“
I
know,” he said. “Shield.”

A
barrier appeared, glowing faintly in the night.

“
Okay,
Mortis,”
he said to the staff. “I'll need a bit of a boost here.”

“
You
don't really think it's listening, do you?” Aeris asked him.

“
Who
knows? Can't hurt though, can it?”

Simon
looked back at the group again.

“
You
all might want to cover your eyes for a minute. This might hurt a
little.”

And
with that, he extended his staff and pointed it at the space above
the center of the courtyard. He gathered his power, feeling it build
up in his chest until he was actually shaking, trying to hold it
back. And just as it felt like he was about to fly apart, he released
it.

“
Lux,”
he hissed between his clenched teeth.

The
courtyard exploded into brightness with the suddenness of a
flashbulb. A point of brilliance, like a flare but much, much
brighter, hung several dozen feet above the ground and lit up every
building as if it were the middle of the day.

And
the goblins, caught completely off-guard, shrieked and shrank away
from the light, cowering with their arms over their heads.

All
of the horrid creatures were exposed on the tops of the low
buildings, armed with crude crossbows. Before they had a chance to
regroup, Malcolm acted.

“
Archers!”
he bellowed. “Fire at will!”

His
warriors stationed around the courtyard began firing down at the
disoriented goblins below. It was a slaughter and Simon watched with
distaste. He knew it was necessary, but he didn't have to like it.

Just
remember the elemental scouts these bastards killed, he chided
himself. And Sebastian. Don't forget Sebastian.

“
Malcolm!”
the wizard shouted over the wailing and screaming that came from the
dying goblins.

The
big man was grinning with delight, a grin that faded as he saw
Simon's scowl. He trotted over.

“
What
is it? What's wrong?”

“
You
mean besides this?” Simon gestured at the devastated creatures
below.

Malcolm
shook his head, giving the wizard a sharp look.

“
I
understand you not liking this, my friend, but these monsters have
invaded our home, attacked our people and kidnapped Sebastian. So if
you are waiting for me to shed a tear for them, you'll be waiting a
long time.”

Simon
was abashed. Of course the man was right. Still...

“
No,
I understand. But we need at least one of those goblins alive if
we're going to find Sebastian and get him back in one piece.”

Malcolm
stared at him and then whirled around to look at his archers.

“
Cease
fire! Cease fire! We need some of them alive!”

“
Bit
late for that, boss,” one woman called back. She gestured at
the goblins. “I think they're all dead.”

“
Damn
it,” the big man muttered. He looked at Simon. “Now
what?”

“
There
are about twelve of the creatures left in those two buildings at the
far end of the courtyard. The one on the right also contains a
magic-user of some kind.”

“
Possibly
a cleric,” Aeris piped up.

“
Whom
I will deal with,” Liliana said firmly. “Come on, let's
get down there before the little weasels find a way to sneak out of
here.”

“
They
aren't going anywhere with the wards up,” Simon told her as the
group hurried down the stairs.