The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (2 page)

“
Fifty
feet?” the elemental repeated weakly. “Okay, I think
that's bad.”

“
So do I.”

Simon leaned his staff
against the table, wiped off the blood on his palm with a cleaning
rag and sighed loudly.

“
How am I
supposed to take down one of those things, let alone two? I can't use
fire, obviously. The reds thrive on fire, and if the old books are
correct, prefer to nest in deserts or near active volcanoes.”

“
Makes you
wonder what they are doing here in the middle of winter, doesn't it?”

Simon stared at Aeris
in surprise.

“
Now that's
a very good point,” he said. “What would draw out two of
those monsters to travel to a snow-covered country, where they can't
be very comfortable, and then set them to attack me in particular?”

The tower shook again
and Simon muttered another curse.

“
It must be
the gods of Chaos,” Aeris said firmly. “They would have
known when you destroyed one of their servants, especially one as
important and powerful as the primal black. This is their revenge on
you.”

Simon leaned forward
and rested his forearms on the table.

“
You think
so? Would these 'gods' want petty revenge on a nobody like me?”

Aeris snorted.

“
My dear
wizard, you may have been a nobody back in your world of technology,
but in this new world, I assure you that you are anything but. You
are a magic-user, one of the few that we know of. And now you are a
dragon slayer. How could they not attempt to destroy you?”

“Great,” Simon said, feeling a bit
hopeless. He ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair. “Now
gods are mad at me. This day just keeps getting better.”

The tower shuddered again and Simon scowled. He
grabbed his staff and leapt to his feet.

He recast the protection spell and moved to stand
in the center of the room. Then he muttered a second incantation and
held up Bene-Dunn-Gal.

Aeris, looking alarmed, flew toward him.

“Simon, what are you doing?”

“I'm going to Gate across the field to the
forest. I'll be able to see what's going on from there.”

He grinned faintly at the elemental.

“Hold down the fort,” he told him.

“Oh, funny,” Aeris said sarcastically.

The wizard chuckled.

“
Invectis
!”
he said sharply and disappeared.

Simon staggered and almost fell as he reappeared
in the forest at the edge of the field across from his tower.

The snow was knee-deep here and he was grateful
that the Diamond Skin spell made him immune to the bone-chilling
cold.

He stumbled forward, the icy crust snapping and
squealing under his feet. His robe got caught in the underbrush
hidden beneath the snow and he almost fell on his face.

“Damn it,” he whispered in
exasperation. “Could I catch a break please?”

He finally got to the tree line and peeked around
the bole of a large maple, naked of leaves and as hard as iron.

Simon stared at the sight of the dragons swirling
around his home. Their wings were as wide as their bodies were long
and, as he watched, one of the beast's wings brushed against the
tower as it circled and the structure shivered.

So that's why the place feels like they're trying
to tear it down, he thought. It's just their wings touching the
tower. Which probably meant that if they wanted to, they could
destroy his home at any time.

“Great,” he said to himself. “So
how do I drive away two dragons?”

The serpentine figures gleamed redly in the bright
sunlight. Every time they passed one another, flying in opposite
directions, the dragons would snap and shoot small flames at each
other.

Simon watched this with interest and remembered
that dragons were solitary creatures who were very territorial.

“They can't stand each other,” he said
aloud. “Now, how can I use that?”

He watched intently and noticed that the dragons
would dip below the top of the tower as they circled it. For a few
brief seconds, they were out of each other's sight. And that gave the
wizard an idea.

If I can get closer without being spotted, maybe I
can instigate something.

And then he shivered as one of the reptilian
creatures screamed in fury and blew a blast of fire at the building.

“Yeah, if I don't get eaten first,” he
muttered.

He looked at the wall surrounding the tower. It
was covered with snow and heavy with thick icicles. He had opened the
gates earlier just before the attack began and now he stared
speculatively at the opening.

If I can translocate into the shadows inside the
open gates, they shouldn't be able to see me. Maybe.

He looked up at the dragons again.

Oh Simon, you really are crazy, he thought. But I
don't think that I have much of a choice.

He took a deep breath of the biting air and held
up his staff as he muttered the Gate spell again.

“
Invectis
,”
he whispered and felt a tremendous shove between his shoulder-blades
and suddenly found himself standing between the open gates.

He quickly squatted
down and cowered in their shadow, looking up anxiously.

The dragons continued
to circle and belch gouts of fire at the tower.

Why don't they just
tear it down, he wondered. It occurred to him that the beasts might
not be that smart, not like the primal black that he had actually
spoken to before their final battle.

The thought was
encouraging. Maybe his plan would work. The dumber they were, the
better.

If I can just time it
right, when they can't see each other...

The spells shuffled
through his head like a deck of cards and he pulled out the one he
needed.

“
Okay,
Bene-Dunn-Gal,” he murmured to the staff. “We'd better
get this right or I'll have two very pissed-off dragons on my ass.”

He intoned the spell
and waited, the power hovering around him like a loaded gun ready to
fire.

Simon counted under his
breath, trying to learn the pacing of the swirling dragons'
movements.

About ten seconds, he
thought. That's how long it took for them to circle the tower once.
Oh, that's a small window.

He swallowed, gripped
the staff and pointed up at the place he hoped his target would
appear.

He waited for a dragon
to pass and began counting.

When he counted
down from three to two, he muttered, “
Invectis
,”
and held his breath.

A burst of fire erupted
from the tip of the staff and shot straight up.

Please be right, please
be right...

A dragon shot around
the corner of the tower and the fireball slammed into it, knocking it
sideways, up and over the roof.

Holy crap, Simon
thought. That wasn't what I expected.

The dragon bellowed
with fury and the wizard cowered closer to the wall, waiting for it
to strike.

But the creature didn't
attack him. It caught itself in mid-air and spun around with
astonishing agility. Then it swooped back toward the tower and sent a
blast of flame directly at its counterpart.

The second dragon was
caught directly in the chest by the unexpected attack and flung
dozens of feet across the sky toward the lake. It back-winged as it
recovered, its roars of rage making the air quiver.

Simon dropped his staff
and clapped his hands over his ears. The sound of the suddenly
battling dragons was ear-numbing.

Well, that worked, he
thought with surprise. But now what happens?

The dragon who had
attacked first began to flap strongly straight up, distancing itself
from its companion, who darted upward, chasing it into the heights.

Simon stepped out of
the shadow of the gate and stared up at them, watching in awe as they
dipped and weaved across the sky, bright bursts of fire
criss-crossing like small fireworks going off.

“
I wonder
how long it will take them to work out their anger,” a voice
next to him asked.

The wizard glanced at
Aeris, who had emerged from the tower to hover nearby.

“
I'm hoping
that one will destroy the other,” he said as he looked back at
the battle.

“
Doubtful,
Simon. They are blasting each other with fire, which does no damage
to a red dragon. Unless they grapple and use their fangs and claws,
I'm guessing that eventually they will exhaust themselves and return
to harass us again.”

Simon sighed and
nodded. He stooped to pick up the staff and then continued to watch
the fight.

“
Good job
of distracting them, by the way,” Aeris told him and Simon
smiled a bit.

“
Thanks.
High praise from you. But you're right. This is a respite. Now I have
to figure out a more permanent solution.”

He turned to look
directly at the air elemental.

“
Any
ideas?”

“
You're
asking me?” Aeris looked surprised. At Simon's nod, the little
guy looked up at the dragons speculatively.

“
Hmm, if
they were full-sized dragons, like the black, you would have no
chance. However, I think I might have an idea, especially if only one
of them survives this fight. And now, I think that is likely.”

He pointed upward.

“
Look, the
fools have allowed their battle to escalate.”

Simon snapped his gaze
up at the distant flapping shapes. Aeris was right! They had stopped
flinging fire at each other and were grappling, beating their wings
frantically as they tore at each other.

“
My God,
they're vicious,” he said.

“
They are
that,” Aeris agreed. “Now, while they're busy, here is my
thought.”

Simon looked at him
hopefully.

“
You used
the Ice Storm spell against the servants of the black, those damnable
drakes, to great effect. I remember a spell, called Ice Spear, that
was similar to that spell, but in a more concentrated form.”

“
Ice
Spear?” Simon went through the spells in his mind and then
shook his head.

“
Nothing
like that in my memory. I thought the gods of Light had given me
every master-class wizard spell there was.”

Aeris snorted, a small
puff of wind.

“
They may
have, my dear wizard, but Ice Spear is an adaptation of the original
Ice Storm spell. As I understand it, a wizard can chant the spell,
mold it to what he wants it to be in his head, and then invoke it.”

“
Really?
Wow, that could be very useful.”

Simon began to imagine
what he could do with some other spells using the same method when
Aeris cleared his throat rather loudly.

“
Um, have
you forgotten our immediate problem?” he asked pointedly and
glanced upward.

With a deep blush,
Simon quickly looked up to locate the fighting dragons.

There they were, west
of the tower and rising as they fought. It was impossible to tell
which one was winning from that distance, but they were still
slashing and tearing at each other and it looked like the battle
would last for some time.

“
I'm
heading for the roof,” he told Aeris and hurried toward the
front door.

“
Very
well,” the elemental replied as he began to rise. “I'll
meet you there.”

Simon raced into the tower and, when he reached
the stairs, called down to the basement.

“Kronk? How are you guys holding up?”

“We're fine, master,” the earth
elemental's voice drifted up from below. “How goes the battle?”

“I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know.”

And Simon hurried up the stairs without waiting
for Kronk's reply.

When he reached the trapdoor leading up to the
roof, Simon had to brace it with his shoulders and push with all of
his strength. The door was obviously frozen tight in the frigid
winter air. The dragons' fire must have melted the snow on the roof
into ice and it took all he had to force it open.

Finally, with a shattering sound like breaking
glass, the trapdoor let go and flew upward, allowing the wizard to
climb up and outside.

He closed the door and stood up to search for the
dragons.

The icy-blue winter sky was cloudless, but he had
trouble seeing anything with the sun reflecting off of the several
inches of snow and ice that had built up on the roof. He scanned the
horizon frantically, hoping briefly that the monsters might have
killed each other.

“And we have a winner, I believe,”
Aeris said and Simon turned to look at him where he floated atop the
parapet.

The elemental pointed up and over the wizard's
shoulder and he turned to look in that direction.

“Oh my God,” he said in disbelief.

The dragons had risen so high that they were the
size of flies in the distance. As Simon watched, one of them began to
tumble toward the ground, a trail of sooty black smoke marking its
path downward. It picked up speed as it fell and then with a flash of
red and yellow, burst into flames, becoming a meteor streaking to its
doom.

“I think we may be in more trouble now than
we were before,” Aeris observed nervously.

“What do you mean?” Simon asked as he
watched the surviving dragon flapping its wings as it hovered, its
hideous head dipping down to observe its fallen foe.

“I mean that the beast is flush with victory
and filled with rage. Instead of circling the tower and breathing
fire at it, the dragon may attack the structure directly. And I doubt
if Kronk and the others will be able to hold it together under that
onslaught.”