The Dragons of Argent and Silver (Tales from the New Earth #6) (2 page)

Tamara, wearing a pale green robe, with
her dark blond hair cut short around her ears, looked angry but not
furious. She was obviously making an effort to keep her temper. She
had a wand hanging on her belt and fiddled with it unconsciously.

Her brother, Sebastian, was sitting to
one side, his somber brown robe making him look like a very young
monk. Unlike his sister, he was dark haired with delicate features
and very pale skin. He had tented his fingers together and rested his
chin on them, watching the argument quietly.

Aiden wasn't sitting but he was
standing several feet away and obviously doing his best to stay out
of the discussion. Unlike his partner, the large, handsome man was
wearing a simple white shirt and black leather pants. Liliana assumed
that he was off-duty.

“I'm not asking you to distrust
him,” Malcolm growled irritably. “What I am asking is
simply for each of you to be aware of what Simon says and how he says
it and tell me if you think something is wrong. That's it.”

Tamara began to speak again but stopped
as Liliana stepped into the sunlight, her armor shining like a mirror
and throwing off rainbow-like reflections.

“Ah, Liliana. Welcome back,”
the mage exclaimed, her annoyed expression immediately replaced with
a broad smile.

“Thank you,” the paladin
replied.

She greeted the others and looked at
Tamara curiously.

“So what is going on? You're
arguing about Simon?”

“I'm not, no. This oaf,”
she used her thumb to point to Malcolm over her shoulder, ”seems
to think that the wizard has succumbed to dark magic and can't be
trusted.”

“Oh for the love of...” the
big man said in exasperation. “I never said that. All I said
was that he seems, I don't know, different. Distant or detached
somehow. Liliana, you know what he's like; we all do. Simon is always
so warm and concerned. He's thrown himself between us, the last of
the human race, and the dragons many times, because he cares so much.
But the last time I spoke to him, he made a few comments that, quite
frankly, have me a little concerned.”

“Such as?” the paladin
asked as she found a sturdy chair and sat down gingerly. Her
enchanted armor was quite heavy.

“Little things. We were
discussing the castle and its defenses. I mentioned that we had had a
few mishaps with the ballistae and several were in need of repair.”

He scratched the back of his neck
thoughtfully.

“Our blacksmith is a clever
fellow and that apprentice of his is an amazing girl, but the dwarven
design in beyond them. Not to mention that the weapons are imbued
with magic and we can't duplicate the dwarves' enchantments.”

“And?”

“And Simon just shrugged and said
something like 'oh well, that's a shame', and that was it.”

“Wait a second,” Tamara
said, jumping back into the conversation. “He wasn't interested
in the mechanics of a ballista and that's a red flag for you? Gods,
Malcolm. Wizards don't care about that sort of thing. Everyone knows
that.”

“Do they? And just how many
wizards do you happen to know?” Malcolm replied derisively.
“One? Nice to have such a large sample size.”

The mage flushed at his sarcasm but
held her tongue as Liliana quickly raised her hand.

“I believe that it is Simon's
lack of concern that bothers Malcolm, not his lack of mechanical
knowledge. Is that not so?”

“Exactly! It was his total 'I
don't give a damn' vibe that surprised me. Because then I said that
if a rogue dragon flew over and attacked, we would mainly have to
rely on our wards for protection. And do you know what Simon said? He
said and I quote, 'oh well, that's life', and walked away.”

There was a long moment of silence and
the group exchanged incredulous glances. Even Tamara's anger seemed
to drain away and she looked at Malcolm in disbelief.

“Are you sure he said that?”
she asked slowly.

“Yes, I'm sure.” The big
man shook his heavy head. “Frankly, I was caught flat-footed
and could only watch as he left. By the time I had gotten over my
shock and hurried after him, he had disappeared. I guess he Gated
out. And that's why I mentioned it to you, Tamara. It's just not
something that the Simon I thought I knew would say.”

“Liliana,” Sebastian said,
breaking his silence. “You're closer to our wizardly friend
than any of us. What do you think?”

“What do I think?”

She looked up at the streams of
multicolored light beaming in through the high windows and frowned in
thought.

“I think that Simon has been
fighting the evil in this world for as long or longer than any of us.
I think that he feels the responsibility of being the most powerful
magic-user in the world very deeply and that maybe,” she looked
around at all of them, “maybe he's tired. Has that occurred to
any of you? He lives alone, by choice it's true, but he's alone and
constantly working on his magic, watching over the rest of us,
burdened by his compassion. How could that not have an effect? And
now he's taken up the task of surveillance of the dragon queen.”

A fond smile replaced her expression of
concern.

“Not to mention the plethora of
new animals he's brought to his tower. That alone would be
exhausting.”

Sebastian's laugh lightened the mood in
the room.

“What is it now?” he asked.

“More cows. Two more. He called
me a week ago just to check in and he had just transported the pair
of them. So that's,” the paladin ticked off a count on her
fingers, “horses, cattle, sheep and some hens for eggs. He says
that his earthen elementals have cleared a large swath of forest for
pasture land. So he's been busy with that along with all the rest.”

Malcolm heaved a great sigh and nodded.

“You make a good point,” he
said. “Simon's always been so cheerful and approachable that
it's easy to forget the burden that he's under. Maybe he's just
starting to buckle under the weight of it a bit. Forget that I said
anything. I'm sure he's fine.”

Everyone seemed to agree and Sebastian
stood up.

“So, now that that is cleared up,
is anyone hungry? It's just about lunch time and I seem to have an
appetite now that we know our wizardly friend is fine.”

“He is far from fine,” a
quiet voice contradicted him.

The mage turned quickly toward the
doorway in surprise and everyone else looked in that direction.

A small Japanese woman dressed in a
sky-blue robe had entered silently and had apparently been listening
in on their conversation.

“Keiko? What do you mean? And
shouldn't you be resting? You have the flu.”

Keiko Mihashi, a tiny but powerful mage
in her own right, moved slowly, almost reluctantly, toward them.

“A few aches and pains. I am
fine. And I always mean what I say, my friend; you know that. And I
believe that your friend, Simon O'Toole, is not at all fine.”

“Okay then; what do you think is
wrong with him?” Tamara asked truculently.

“Tammy, knock it off,” her
brother said sternly. “Trying to intimidate Keiko before she
has a chance to speak is unkind and unfair.”

She glared at him and he returned her
look steadily. Tamara seemed to deflate and she looked back at the
small woman .

“Oh damn, I didn't mean to do
that,” she said apologetically. “It's just, you know, my
way. I'm sorry, Keiko.”

The other woman smiled and bowed.

“I know that. No offense taken.
You are defending your friend, which is right and natural. But what
has happened to him is neither right nor natural and I believe that
he is in serious trouble.”

“What are you saying?”
Liliana asked.

She motioned for Keiko to take a seat
and the small woman sat down gracefully.

“What's wrong with him?”

“I was here that day that Malcolm
spoke with the wizard. Neither of them saw me, but I observed their
conversation and, unlike you,” she glanced at the big man, “I
saw Simon O'Toole Gate away.”

She primly smoothed her robe while
everyone waited.

“And?” Liliana asked. “What
happened?”

The mage frowned, her serene expression
disturbed.

“Something that I have never seen
before. Something rather...horrible.”

Tamara had sat down near her brother to
listen. Now she leaned forward with narrowed eyes.

“Horrible? Simon? I don't
understand.”

“He did not fade as one does
during a Gating. He...”

She gestured helplessly as if groping
for the proper words.

“He seemed to separate, split,
into two beings as he disappeared. Just for an instant. One was the
wizard himself but the other, oh the other was monstrous.”

Keiko actually shivered and seemed to
shrink into herself.

“Never have I seen something so
alien. Misshapen, it towered over the wizard but seemed to have
tendrils wrapped around him like some great leech. It was becoming
detached from the man as the spell took hold and it groped for him as
he Gated away It was horrific.”

“My God,” Malcolm
whispered. “What was it?”

The tiny woman shrugged, looking
perplexed.

“I do not know. But I believe
that something has attached itself to the wizard, whether physically
or spiritually and that whatever it is, it is not benevolent.”

The group fell silent. Liliana could
think of nothing that would explain Keiko's observation and, judging
by the faces around her, no one else could either.

“Of course, there is a way to get
to the bottom of this,” she told them.

“Which is?”

“Ask him. Call him at his home,
tell him that we'd like to meet to discuss a matter of importance
and, when he arrives, simply ask him.”

“Oh sure, I can see it now,”
Tamara scoffed. “'Hi Simon, have a seat. How's it going? We
were just wondering if you had an invisible parasite attached to your
soul. Oh and have some tea.' Yeah, that'll go over well.”

“Sarcasm is uncalled for, my
friend,” the paladin told her. “Keiko is the most
level-headed woman I have ever met. If she says she saw something,
then I believe her. And we don't have to be that direct with Simon.
When I said ask him, I meant more obliquely. We can engage him in
conversation and observe him. All of us know him fairly well, some
more than others. If he is behaving oddly, it should become obvious
fairly quickly.”

“That is true,” Aiden said.
He was leaning against a heavy bookcase. “We've all worked with
him, spent time with him. And remember, Liliana cannot be lied to. If
he's hiding something, she'll probably be able to tell during our
meeting.”

“That is my hope, at least,”
the paladin agreed.

Tamara began nodding slowly.

“A meeting. Yes, that could work.
Certainly with the dragon queen roaming haphazardly around the world
in her insanity, not to mention the red dragons that are a constant
threat, there's always something to discuss. We could easily find a
reason to ask him to come to Nottinghill Castle.”

“And suppose Keiko is right?”
Malcolm asked the group. “What if something evil has captured
Simon somehow and it feels threatened?” He looked at the three
mages and then at Liliana. “If he uses magic against us, can
any of you counter him?”

Tamara and Keiko exchanged glances,
looked at Sebastian and then back at the warrior.

“That would be like a child
trying to attack someone your size, Malcolm,” Sebastian told
him, speaking for the three mages. “The wizard is just too
powerful. Unless we caught him totally by surprise and managed to
stop him from speaking, Simon only needs to say one word to throw up
a Shield and then we would basically be at his mercy.”

“And if he is being controlled by
some evil entity, we'd all be dead,” Keiko said quietly. “Be
quite sure you want this meeting before you contact him, my friends.
You cannot capture lightning in a bottle.”

There was another period of silence,
broken by Liliana standing up and stretching. Her armor creaked as
she adjusted her sword belt.

“Call him,” she said to
Tamara. “Today. We will not threaten or frighten him in any
way, but I need to see Simon for myself. I need to hear his words and
read his body language. If he has been subsumed by some evil,
hopefully we can at least learn that much and go from there.”

The paladin walked to the door and
opened it. Just as she was leaving, she turned around to look at
Keiko.

“But for all of our sakes, I pray
that you're wrong. Simon defeated five primal dragons. If he turns on
us, the last vestiges of our race may be doomed.”

Liliana was idly walking
the high outside wall of the castle later that day. Evening was
approaching and with it a dark storm front was racing in from the
west.

Lightning flashed in the
distance as the clouds rolled toward the castle over the turbulent
ocean. The paladin rested her forearms on the parapet and watched
them, her thoughts as restless as the sea itself.

“
Aren't you worried
about lightning, wearing all that metal?” someone asked from
behind her.

The paladin chuckled and
pushed herself upright.

“
Not particularly,”
she replied as she turned around.

Sebastian was standing
there, his robe flapping and swirling in the stiff wind.

“
When you've faced
dragons, storms don't seem quite as intimidating as they once did,”
she continued.

“
Even so, before the
rain hits, perhaps we could get under cover?” the mage asked
and gestured at the courtyard below.

“
As you wish.”

Liliana followed him as
Sebastian led the way to the nearest set of stairs.