The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (48 page)

Simon looked at the determined
expressions all around him and then glanced at Kronk and Aeris. He
raised an eyebrow and both of them nodded silently.

“
We're ready. Lead on, Hallic.”

The wizard canceled his light with a
gesture and the globe was snuffed out in an instant. The night was
incredibly dark without its warm glow.

“
Very well. Everyone knows the
order of march?” the dwarf asked.

There was a murmur of assent from the
group and Simon could just detect a motion from the rogue that he
guessed was a nod. It was very hard to see.

“
Sir wizard, you will please
walk between Malcolm and Aiden. And now, we're off.”

The hike to the dark tower was one
that Simon did not look back on fondly. The low bushes that lined the
paths they followed were filled with little thorns and burrs and his
robe was constantly getting hooked on the damnable things.

From the low curses he heard both in
front of and behind him in line, everyone wearing robes was having
the same struggle. The journey wasn't a pleasant one.

Aeris floated to Simon's left and
made sure that he wasn't glowing in the night. Kronk gamely stayed on
the wizard's right and hopped over and ran around brush and small
trees. Fortunately he never got tired and seemed to have endless
amounts of patience, so if he suffered, he did so in silence.

The trip took about an hour, even
though it was only two miles from where the group had gathered.
Between the pitch blackness of an almost moonless night and the rough
terrain, they had moved at a snail's pace.

“
Hold here!” came a rough
whisper from up ahead. It was Hallic.

“
Everyone, come forward slowly
and stay low. I can see the tower in the distance.”

Simon followed the hunched outline of
Malcolm in front of him, still amazed that such a large man wearing
armor could move so quietly. Behind him, Aiden moved like a ghost as
well. How they did that was a mystery.

The three of them, and the
elementals, were the last in line and Simon had to creep around
everyone else to see the tower. And when he caught his first glimpse
of it, he was amazed.

The party was crouched at the border
of the thin forest that turned into a rocky stretch of open land
dotted with clumps of stubborn grasses. About a mile away, the dark
tower rose up to blot out the stars behind it. Even in the darkness,
the twisted building was immense and intimidating.

Simon looked up from the base of the
tower to its peak, craning his head back to see the top. There were
little spots of light glowing from many of the floors and he wondered
if they were quarters for human servants, or slaves. Undead minions
would have no need for lights at night.

At the very top, a hellish orange-red
glow pulsed like a distant heart; throbbing with a slow and steady
beat, the evil crown of the dark tower.

“
My God, it's so much bigger in
person, isn't it?” one of the men whispered in awe. “How
are a handful of us going to take on that?”

“
With skill, determination and
a whole lot of sneakiness,” Hallic replied, his amused tone
lightening the atmosphere slightly.

“
Poor old Nottinghill Castle,”
Anna muttered sadly, her small voice breaking. “There's nothing
left of it. And it was such a nice place too.”

Simon saw some movement among the
shadowy group and guessed that Virginia had moved to comfort her
friend.

“
We'll find a new place to
live, I promise,” he heard her say. “It won't be the
same, but it will home.”

“
Simon? Come up here to the
front of the bus, would you?” Tamara asked.

The wizard smiled to himself at her
choice of words and moved around the group as quietly as he could to
join her.

“
What's up?” he asked.

A tiny light appeared, almost
blinding to him after an hour's travel in total darkness, and lit up
Hallic's face. The dwarf was holding a small glowing stone in his
hand that was no brighter than a lighted match. He grinned at Simon
and nodded at the tower.

“
I'm heading out and I was
wondering if your air elemental friend there would like to join me as
I scout out the perimeter.”

“
Seriously? I thought that your
people hated elementals?”

Aeris floated into the wizard's field
of view to his right, hovering a few inches off of the ground. He
stared at the rogue silently.

“
We don't hate elementals, we
simply hate what they did to us back in ancient times. What their
leaders did, actually. Anyway, I'm not your typical dwarf. I choose
my allies as I see fit and one thing I do know from my studies is
that this guy's people,” he gestured at Aeris, “are
damned fine scouts and infiltrators.”

He winked at Aeris and the elemental
smiled tentatively in return, obviously unsure of the dwarf's
intentions.

“
I could use a second set of
eyes watching my back in there, plus I've read that elementals are
sensitive to magical traps and wards. Is that true?” he asked
Aeris directly.

“
Yes, it is. And I would gladly
join you, if you,” he looked at Simon, “will allow it.”

“
I'm not your master or your
boss, Aeris,” the wizard said, a little exasperated. “If
you want to go with Hallic, feel free. You're an excellent scout and
he'd be a fool not to take advantage of your talents.”

“
High praise indeed, sir
wizard,” the rogue said jovially. “So what do you say,
Aeris is it? Would you like to come along and have some fun?”

“
I would love to, sir dwarf,”
the air elemental replied eagerly.

“
Good. And call me Hallic. I'm
no fine lord like these upstanding spell-casters.”

The rogue closed his fist around the
glowing stone and the light was snuffed out, leaving the group in
darkness again.

“
Give us ten minutes to reach
the tower, lady, and then follow along slowly,” Hallic told
Tamara. “No need to creep along the ground, but everyone should
try to move as silently as possible. And now, we're off.”

“
Good luck, Aeris,” Kronk
rumbled quietly.

“
Thanks. Don't worry; like
Hallic said, this is going to be fun.”

Simon watched the odd couple
disappear quickly into the night and sighed loudly.

“
Is something wrong, Simon?”
Malcolm asked from the shadows.

“
No, but I never thought I'd
run into someone else as eager to sneak into danger as Aeris is, but
I have. And now both of them are going to poke around that tower.
Heaven help us all.”

There was a chorus of stifled
laughter and then everyone settled down to wait out the ten minutes
before they had to move. Simon sat down stiffly and rested his staff
across his knees, looking around constantly for any hint of danger.

“
Master? Do you think Aeris
will be all right?”

The little guy was sitting a few
inches in front of the wizard but all Simon could see were his small,
burning eyes.

“
He'll be fine,” he
replied quietly. “Actually, I'd say that with the skills both
he and Hallic have, he's probably safer than we are at the moment.”

The hulking outline of Malcolm could
just be seen against the stars a few feet away. He and Aiden had
elected to stand watch over the group until it was time to move, in
case a random patrol wandered by.

Kronk looked over at the warrior
standing silently in the night and then back at Simon.

“
I'd say that you are fairly
safe, master, with warriors like him in the group.”

“
Good point.”

While they were waiting, several
people went back into the woods to answer the call of nature. Tamara
sternly made sure that none of them went alone.

“
Tammy, I can take a piss
without any help,” her brother snapped at her when she insisted
that Fergus go with him.

“
He's there to watch your back,
Bastian, not watch you. Now don't be a child; either let him go with
you or hold it for the next six hours: your choice.”

The mage walked off into the forest
muttering under his breath, the armored figure of Fergus at his back.

Simon grinned at the sight. His
vision had adjusted enough for him to see vague details even with
just the starlight above them.

He was pleased that he'd stopped on
the hike to the tower to do his business. The water bottle hanging on
his belt was still full and he wasn't thirsty. The last thing he
wanted to think about at the moment was his bladder.

“
Time, everyone,” Tamara
said at last. “Okay, since Hallic isn't here, would you take
point, Malcolm?”

“
Of course,” the big man
said confidently.

“
Good. Single file, everyone
take your time and Aiden bring up the rear, please.”

They set off again, their goal
looming in front of them. Simon was following Eric and behind him was
the cleric, Miriam. Everyone was being remarkably quiet and the
wizard was grateful. They were all taking the venture quite
seriously.

Malcolm led them toward the tower and
then turned slightly to the right as they got to within a quarter of
a mile of the building. Fortunately there were heaps of discarded
rock and debris left over from the construction of the massive
edifice and he made sure to lead the party to the shelter of one of
them.

“
Good God, what is that
stench?” Virginia said in disgust as the group huddled behind a
pile of broken stone. It was at least ten feet high and hid them all
easily.

“
Smells like...roadkill,”
Barnaby piped up.

The mage had moved to stand next to
Simon and the wizard stared at him, puzzled.

“
How would you know that?”
he asked.

Barnaby laughed shortly.

“
I spent a lot of time on the
road, back in the day. Long story, but I know the smell of rotting
flesh.”

“
Ew, is that what that is?”
Anna exclaimed. “Gross!”

“
Be quiet, everyone!”
Tamara hissed. “This isn't a bloody Sunday stroll in the park.
Now settle down and wait for our scouts to report in.”

The veteran of several battles, Simon
had learned that the hardest part was the waiting. So to pass the
time, he went through his list of quick spells, trying to decide
which ones would work against different opponents. It was, at least,
distracting.

“
Well, doesn't this look cozy?”

Several people yelped as Hallic
appeared as if by magic out of the night. He pulled out his little
glowing stone and they could see him grinning at them.

“
Jumpy, are we?” he asked
in his rough, oddly British accent.

“
Hallic, we're about to go into
battle,” Tamara barked at him, trying to keep her voice down.
“Of course we're jumpy.”

“
Not all of us.”

Aiden loomed up behind Hallic and
glared coldly at him.

“
I almost took your head off,
dwarf,” he growled.

It was hard to tell in the uncertain
light, but Simon thought that the rogue's face went a little pale.

“
Ah yes, sorry about that. Just
a little joke,” he stammered.

Hallic moved closer to Simon and
avoided looking back at Aiden.

“
Right. Well now, it's time to
coordinate our attack. Everyone, gather around, please.”

The dwarf knelt in the dirt and used
a small stick to begin sketching a rough map. The base of the tower,
which was almost perfectly square, was laid out, showing an entrance
on each side.

Inside, there was a series of
hallways laid out like a maze that led to a central hall.

“
Here,” Hallic said,
tapping on the middle of the map. “There is a staircase that
leads upward. We have to reach it. There are two patrols constantly
circling the tower.”

He pointed at the perimeter.

“
They are made up of two groups
of undead and they are moving very predictably. Typical mindless
zombies. Each group is led by a goblin magic-user. The air elemental
says that they were not members of the patrols the last time he was
here, so that's new. I assume they are casters; both runty creatures
are wearing robes anyway.”

“
So the goblins are definitely
allies of the necromancers. Great,” Simon muttered angrily.

Tamara stared at the map.

“
Are the goblins necromancers?”

“
I have no idea, lady,”
the rogue told her. “Perhaps. They are wearing the obligatory
black robes, so I suppose it's possible. But both creatures appear
very young, so if they are necromancers, they are very new at their
jobs.”

“
Probably why they're leading
those patrols of low-level undead,” Liliana mused.

“
Possibly. What is your
recommendation, Hallic? Can we avoid the patrols or should we
attack?”