The Dragons of Ice and Snow (42 page)

It
was an incredibly triumphant moment for Simon and the others.

There
was a lot of hugging and laughter as the two big men slowly accepted
the fact that they were free of their curse.

“
Just
remember, you two,” Clara told them after everyone had calmed
down. “Never remove those amulets. They are yours for life. In
fact, when you get a minute tomorrow, I want both of you to go and
see the blacksmith. He's got an enchantment that strengthens metal
and I want him to use it on those chains around your necks. Better
safe than sorry.”

“
Trust
us, dear lady,” Malcolm said, suddenly serious. “From now
on, this chain and amulet is a part of my body as dear to me as an
arm. And I'm sure that Aiden agrees.”

“
I
do. And again, let me say that we will never be able to repay what
you and Simon have done for us. You've literally given us our lives
back.”

“
We
only did what anyone would do in the same circumstances,” the
wizard said, a little embarrassed by the high praise. “You
might also want to spare a small thank you to the poor bastard who
bit you both.”

“
What?”

“
Why”

“
Because,
according to the legends, the only way to kill a werewolf is with a
wound to the heart...with a silver weapon. I'd say your worth as
guardsmen just went up.”

Both
men gaped at him in disbelief and Simon grinned.

“
Maybe
you should ask for a raise,” he added with a sly grin at Clara.

The
cleric stuck her tongue out at him and they all laughed.

“
Well,
what do you know?” Malcolm said in a dazed sort of way. “Every
cloud does have a silver lining, if you'll pardon the pun.”

The
group laughed again and then Clara dismissed the guards.

“
Get
some sleep, you two,” she told them. “And thank you for
your service.”

As
they were leaving, she added, “Tell anyone you happen to see
that our friends here are no longer a threat. I'll do the same
tomorrow when I call a town meeting. We don't want people panicking
if they should happen to see two 'werewolves' wandering around the
village.”

“
We
will, lady,” Liam told her. Becky echoed his words and they
both left.

“
And
you two,” Clara said to Malcolm and Aiden. “For this one
night, I want you to sleep in the hall. I'm not kidding when I say
that some of our fellow citizens might freak out if they run across
you outside tonight.”

“
Of
course we will,” Malcolm said with an approving nod from Aiden.
“If I was in their place, I'd probably feel the same way.”

“
Good.
Let's go. I brought in some food earlier today, to celebrate if
everything went according to plan. Plus, I know that you two are
always hungry.”

“
She
means you,” Aiden said to his partner teasingly.

Malcolm
took a mock swing at him and Aiden ducked out of the way with a
laugh.

As
they made their way to the town hall, Simon couldn't keep the grin
off of his face. With everything that was going on in the crazy world
they were living in, a win like this was even more satisfying and he
intended to savor it for as long as he could.

It
was a late night. Clara laid out a spread of roast chicken, venison,
fried potatoes, gravy and several types of vegetables. She'd also
brought in bottles of wine and urged them all to relax and enjoy
themselves.

Malcolm
and Aiden ate as if they'd been starving and Simon ended up so full,
he had to loosen the belt on his robe. The wine was slightly sweet
and went down more smoothly as the evening went on.

Clara
disappeared for a short while and returned with the guards from
earlier, Liam and Becky, as well as the guard from the night before,
Josh. They were all dressed in civilian clothes and obviously
off-duty.

“
I
thought we needed a few more bodies to help celebrate properly,”
the cleric told them all. “Make it a real party.”

“
I'll
drink to that!” Malcolm bellowed as he quaffed a large tankard
of wine.

Aiden
just rolled his eyes at his partner and then began speaking
animatedly with Liam and Josh about some sort of hunt they'd been
involved in a few months earlier.

All
in all, it was a satisfying and convivial evening, at least what
Simon could remember of it. He ended up having way too much wine, as
did almost everyone except for Aiden and Clara, and insisted on
Gating home when the party was over.

“
Is
that wise, Simon?” the cleric had asked him anxiously. “I
mean, you're the wizard, but you are a bit tipsy.”

She
was being kind. The wizard could barely stand and the room was
spinning in a steady counter-clockwise direction.

“
I'll
be fine,” Simon told her, squinting to keep the woman in focus.
“Nothing to it. I could Gate home in my sleep. And if I wait
much longer, I'll have to.”

Before
he left, Malcolm, who was even more drunk than the wizard, engulfed
him in a massive bear hug.

“
You
are the best, sir wizard,” he boomed and then staggered
sideways a bit. Aiden reached out to steady him and stop him from
knocking over the food table.

“
If
you ever need us for anything, you only have to ask.”

Simon,
who was having trouble understanding what the man was slurring, could
only nod cheerfully.

“
Whatever
you say,” he told Malcolm.

Aiden
shook his hand with some dignity and thanked him yet again.

And
then, somehow, the wizard managed to cast the Gate spell and headed
for home.

Late
the next morning, Simon was awakened by a steady tapping noise next
to his head.

He
reluctantly opened his sticky eyelids to see what was making the
annoying sound and, when he could focus, saw Kronk standing on his
bed-side table with his arms crossed, tapping his foot. The little
guy had a stern look on his face.

“
Kronk,
stop that racket, would you? It's giving me a headache.”

The
earthen complied and then put his hands on his hips.

“
It
is not my tapping doing that, master. It is the amount of alcohol you
consumed last night.”

“
Oh
God,” Simon murmured into his pillow. “Here we go.”

He
turned his head ever so slowly so that he could see the little guy
clearly.

“
How
do you know I was drinking?” he managed to say. His throat was
so dry, he could barely swallow, let alone talk.

“
Because
when you Gated home, you ended up in the lake,” the earthen
said, his tone as disapproving as it could ever get.

“
Fortunately
I was out in the stables when I heard a loud splashing sound and
yelling and when I hurried to see what all the commotion was, you
were standing in the shallows near the shore, looking like a drowned
cat.”

“
Crap,” Simon
mumbled as he buried his head deeper into his pillow. “I don't
remember that, at all.” He peeked at the earthen. “You
got me out?”

“
And led you up here
and made sure you got undressed and dried off before you fell asleep,
yes master.”

“
Well, thanks for
that. Since I'm apparently about to die, why did you wake me up?”

Kronk uttered a
long-suffering sigh and Simon hid a painful smile in his pillow.

“
Because, master,
you have a letter.”

“
A letter?”
The wizard jerked his head up and then groaned as a pounding pulse of
pain erupted between his eyes.

“
What do you mean, a
letter? From whom?”

“
I would assume from
the elves, master. At least, it was attached to the front gate, as
others have been.”

Simon put his head down
again.

“
Yeah? If you
remember, the last letter I got was a trick by Heather and almost got
me killed.”

“
I recall, master.
At any rate, the letter is on the table downstairs. I have to get
back to my chores now.”

Kronk hopped off of the
table and walked to the door.

“
Hang on a second,”
Simon said as he pushed himself up and turned toward the little guy.

“
Why didn't you just
bring the letter up here?”

“
Because you need to
get out of bed, master. The day is passing and you have things to
do.”

And Kronk left the room.
The wizard heard him hopping down the stairs and collapsed on to his
face again.

Tricky little guy, he
thought with a mixture of amusement and irritation. On the other
hand, he might have saved your life last night.

He couldn't believe he got
that drunk. Sure, it had been a celebration, but to get wasted like
that was unnecessary. And embarrassing.

Well, no more, he thought
abruptly. He sat up quickly, turned and then jumped to his feet. And
immediately sat down on the edge of the bed again, holding his head.

“
Ouch,” he
croaked dryly. “That was a bad idea.”

It took Simon a while to
make his way downstairs. The front door was open and sunlight
streamed into the room. It was a lovely warm spring morning and,
hungover or not, it cheered the wizard up immensely.

He filled the kettle and
set it over the fire before heading to the outhouse. One of the
earthen walking along the wall waved at him and he returned it with a
smile.

After he got back indoors,
he toasted some bread over the fire, spread jam on it and ate his
breakfast.

Kronk walked in as Simon
was making a second cup of tea and jumped up on the table.

“
Feeling better,
master?” he asked with a bit more compassion than he'd shown
earlier.

“
Yeah. I am.”
The wizard sat down with his cup and gave his little friend a
heart-felt smile. “Thanks again for the rescue. I guess I
celebrated with Malcolm and Aiden a bit too much last night.”

“
Just doing my duty,
master. So the amulets worked?”

“
They worked
perfectly. It was such a relief. I don't know if I've ever seen two
more happier people.” He laughed at the memory. “It's
moments like that that make all this magic stuff and mumbo-jumbo
nonsense worth it.”

Kronk nodded at a folded
piece of parchment, sealed with a blob of hardened red wax, lying at
Simon's elbow.

“
Are you not going
to open your letter, master?”

“
I was waiting for
you,” Simon said with a little smile and then quickly became
somber. “If it's bad news, I'd like to have a friend nearby for
support.”

For someone whose face was
made of little pebbles, the earthen's expressions could be remarkably
subtle. This time, Simon thought he saw something like compassion on
it, mixed with surprise.

“
I...am honored,
master.”

With some hesitation,
Simon picked up the stiff paper, snapped the seal in half and opened
it.

He scanned the page
slowly, sat back limply and stared at Kronk.

“
Holy crap,”
he said.

“
Master? What is it?
What's wrong?”

The wizard handed him the
parchment and the earthen laid it flat on the table and bent down to
read it.

“
Sir wizard,”
Kronk read out loud. “I am communicating using this archaic
method, rather than meeting face to face, because I have little
choice. A trusted third party will deliver this note for me and has
sworn not to reveal to anyone that he has done so. Nevertheless,
after you read these words, destroy this parchment and stay vigilant.
You may become more of a target than you already are.”

“
It sounds ominous,
master,” the earthen said, glancing up at Simon.

“
It gets worse. Keep
reading.”

“
We are besieged,”
the little guy continued. “The dark gods, perhaps made more
desperate by the death of two of their primal dragons, have reached
into the depths of the netherworld and unleashed something upon this
New Earth of yours that I thought I would never see. Demons.
Unspeakable horrors walk among us again. Things out of nightmare that
my people thought only stories fit to tell children. However, this
letter is not a cry for help. We shall live or die by our strength
and resolve, without outside aid. But I count you as a friend and I
wanted to warn you of your peril. Tell your people. Strengthen your
wards. And keep watch in the deepest hours of the night. Things move
now in the shadows, and it shelters the darkest evil. I wish you well
and, if we should fall, remember me and my people and that we died
with honor.”