The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (50 page)

She
shook a mocking finger at him.

“
You
should never share your plans with others. Trust is vastly
over-rated, in my opinion.”

“
Clara
is entirely trustworthy,” Simon said angrily. “It was my
own fault for not realizing that someone could eavesdrop on my
conversations.”

Heather
shrugged.

“
Whatever.
But that is how I knew. Imagine how upset my masters were when I
passed on that tidbit of information.”

Simon
felt a coldness settle in his belly.

“
You
told them?” he asked faintly.

“
Of
course.” Heather grinned at his reaction. “After all, you
did manage to kill the black dragon, didn't you? I know it was all
luck and trickery, but the gods seemed to think that you might be a
threat to the other dragons as well.” She chuckled. “Do
you know much about the green dragon and its attributes, Simon? I
still have some power over herbs and growing things and have some
small fondness for the primal green. It lives in deep jungles and
absorbs the life energy of plants. Its breath is chlorine gas, potent
and deadly. And it was very grateful for my warning.”

Simon
took an involuntary step back.

“
You
spoke to that monster? Are you insane?”

“
Not
at all. The dragons are highly intelligent. Even you must know that.
And, as I said, I feel like the green and I have common interests. So
naturally I got in contact with it.”

Heather
frowned a little and stared past Simon.

“
I
wish I could say he or she, but only the gold dragon is female. All
of the others are genderless. Ah well.”

She
focused on him again.

“
I
suppose I should mention, perhaps as a little incentive, that the
green dragon would like to deal with you personally.”

She
giggled at Simon's look.

“
Oh
yes. You have offended it. Killing its sibling, threatening it and
its masters? Yes, if you decide to foolishly follow your current
course of action, I am to deliver you up to the green. Add that into
your decision making process before you say yes or no, Simon.”

Everything
that the former witch had told him about the green dragon's nature,
Simon's research had already uncovered. But she had failed to reveal
one thing; the dragon's only weakness. Either Heather didn't know it,
or chose not to tell him about it. Interesting.

“
Now
then, this little chat has gone on long enough,” Heather said
firmly. “I've given you a choice and now is the time for you to
make it.”

“
Just
one more question, please. It will help me to decide my course of
action.”

The
former witch looked skyward as if in exasperation and then frowned.

Simon
followed her look and then stared fixedly at a spot directly above
Heather's field.

“
What
is that?” he asked.

The
spot was growing larger, swirling in a circular motion, its edges
tinged with green light.

“
Oh
dear,” she said faintly. “Apparently my ally has become
impatient. We're running out of time.”

She
looked at Simon.

“
Ask
your last question, little wizard. The primal green is coming. If you
decide to join us, I believe that I can stop it from destroying you.
If not, well, at least I won't have to drag you down to South America
to meet it.”

Simon
was still watching the now enormous round patch in the sky. The
center had turned a pale red in color while the edges were now
distinctly green, the color of new grass.

He
tore his gaze away from the sight and looked at Heather.

This
is it, he thought. Let's hope I've done this right.

“
Okay
then, here it is. You have my true name in your possession, right?
So, where do you keep yours?”

Simon
watched the woman closely as he asked his question and saw her hand
twitch involuntarily toward her throat before she gave him a look of
disdain.

“
Did
you really think I would tell you that? And what does it matter? You
cannot use your magic on the one who knows your true name, little
wizard. Don't you know that?”

She
looked up quickly.

“
Now,
make your decision, Simon. Join us and live. Deny us and die. Those
are your only choices.”

“
Actually,
there's a third choice,” he said and stepped back quickly.
“Now!” he shouted.

“
What?”
Heather said, confused. And then the ground around her exploded in
all directions.

A
half-dozen earth elementals leaped upward and grabbed her, pulling
her off her feet and slamming her to the earth.

Simon
moved forward while the former witch was pinned by Kronk and his
fellow earthen, but faltered as Heather laughed.

“
What
a fool you are, Simon,” she said as she looked up at him. She
was spread-eagled against the ground, her arms and legs held down by
the enormous strength of the little elementals.

“
I
have your true name. And now you've forced me to use it. Ah well, at
least your death at my hands will be quicker than what the green
dragon would do to you.”

She
grinned evilly up at him.

“
Good
bye, foolish wizard.”

An
incantation spewed from her lips, spoken so quickly that Simon
couldn't even tell what spell she was casting. But instead of trying
to stop her, he simply stood and watched.

“
Master!”
Kronk cried out from where he held one of the woman's shoulders
against the ground. “Quickly, you must stop her.”

Simon
smiled at his little friend and shook his head.

“
Let
her dig her own grave, Kronk,” he said tightly. “She's
more than earned it.”

Heather
finished her incantation and then hesitated, looking up at Simon in
confusion.

“
You
want to die, do you?” she asked him.

“
No,
and for all you've done, I don't want you to die either. Surrender
and you can keep your life. All I will take from you is your true
name, and your power.”

She
hissed and spat at him, then laughed crazily.

“
Oh,
is that all? I have you, fool. Now burn! I invoke this spell with
your true name.”

With
a great convulsion, Heather pulled her shoulders out of the earthen's
grasp and pointed at Simon.

“
Invectis ienna
Nomis!
”
she cried loudly and then cackled, watching him with anticipation.

Her
laughter turned to screams as Heather burst into flames; fire
covering her as if she'd been soaked in kerosene.

The
earthen moved back quickly. They weren't harmed by the fire but
simply stepped back while the former witch writhed and convulsed in
her final agonies.

Part
of Simon regretted her death, but a very small part. He remembered
the heap of bodies in that burned-out farmhouse. Mundane humans or
Changlings, it made no difference. They were innocents, cruelly
destroyed by Heather for her own ambitions.

The
fire that the wizard had involuntarily called down upon herself was
so intense that within moments she had burned to ashes. If she had
been wearing her true name around her neck, on a pendant or
something, it was consumed. Nothing remained but a faint outline that
hinted at a human figure.

Around
the field, the wall of thorns shuddered and faded from a vibrant
green to a dead brown color. It shivered and collapsed into itself,
snapping and crackling as it dried out and died. A smell of dust
swept across the field from the remains of the barrier.

Simon
sighed and wiped his sleeve across his forehead.

Well,
he thought, that was step one. Now things are going to get really
bad.

“
Master?”

He
looked down as Kronk hurried over to him. The little guy pointed up
at the swirling sky.

“
I
was listening below ground, master. Is the green dragon truly on its
way?”

“
I'll
go out on a limb and say yes.”

The
wizard looked up at the intensifying colors swirling high above them.

“
But
moving something as large as a dragon through a Gate probably takes
more time and power than it would for just a person. Hopefully we
have a few minutes before it arrives. Come on.”

Simon
turned and ran back to the cottage, Kronk hard on his heels.

Inside,
he grabbed Bene-Dunn-Gal and tore the cloth off of it. The staff
purred happily at his touch.

“
Yeah,
nice to see you too,” Simon told it as he hurried to the
witch's table and searched through the heaps of detritus that
littered its surface.

“
Ah,
thank God,” he exclaimed with relief as he found his rawhide
necklace with the dragon crystal and the dwarven token still
attached.

He
slipped it over his head and tucked it inside his robe, found his
shoes and put them on and then headed outside again.

“
I'm
glad to get that crystal back,” he told Kronk as they rejoined
the five other earthen. All of the little guys were watching the now
huge round spot in the sky with trepidation.

“
At
least the dragon won't be able to absorb my magic when it gets here.”

“
But
master, I don't understand something.”

Simon
leaned his staff against his chest, wiped his face off again and
pushed back his hair. Then he planted Bene-Dunn-Gal butt-first on the
ground and looked down at his little friend.

“
What
don't you understand?” he asked, looking up from time to time
in anticipation.

“
The
witch, wizard, whatever she was,” Kronk gave the pile of ashes
that were Heather's remains a quick glance, “had your true
name. Her spell should have done to you what it did to her. Why did
it not work?”

Simon smiled a crooked
grin.

“
Call it my own
paranoia, I suppose. You remember last year, when I learned that I
needed to know my own true name before I could use magic most
effectively?”

“
Of course, master.
You asked us how wizards kept their names with them, what items they
used.”

Simon nodded slightly as
he glanced skyward again.

“
Yes, and I said
then that a bracelet or ring would be a bit obvious and that if a
wizard were captured, their names could be stolen and used against
them.”

“
But, master, that
is what happened!” Kronk said emphatically. “You wisely
decided to inscribe your true name on your belt buckle but the witch
found it anyway. I heard her use it when she cast her spell.”

“
Did you?”

Simon looked down at the
earthen and grinned.

“
What did you hear?”

“
Your secret name,
master. It was...”

Kronk hesitated and the
wizard nodded encouragingly.

“
It was Nomis,
master,” the little guy said, almost whispering.

Simon couldn't help it. He
began laughing. There was a slight note of hysteria in the sound, but
he could feel some of his fear diminish in the honest rush of
emotion.

He calmed down and shook
his head.

“
Kronk, my little
friend, Nomis is just Simon spelled backwards. Heather's spell was
aimed at no one and so it rebounded on her.”

The little red eyes
widened as the earthen absorbed what the wizard had said.

“
Then, then, the
name inscribed on the buckle was just a ruse,” he said to
himself.

“
Yes, Kronk. It was
a trick. I took Aeris' suggestion last year, the one that I initially
thought was nuts, and decided to run with it.”

“
His...?”
Kronk frowned, obviously trying to remember what was said in that
long ago conversation. He gave a little jerk as he finally recalled
what they had talked about.

“
You put your name
on your body itself?” he asked Simon in a small voice.

“
I did. I won't tell
you exactly where, but I don't think I need to. You saw me limping
for a day or two after that.”

Kronk looked at Simon's
feet, looked up at him again, and the wizard winked at him.

“
Master, you are
brilliant,” the earthen said in awe.

“
Not brilliant, my
friend. Just lucky. I...”

A blast of hot wind,
smelling of damp weeds and rotting plants suddenly swept down from
above and sent Simon reeling, wiping his stinging eyes.