The Dragons of Ice and Snow (55 page)

“
Exactly. Thanks,
Tamara. That is exactly what I meant. Yes, I think I can make the
primal drop that anti-magic field. But if I can't, I'll keep trying
other things until I do. Okay?”

Sebastian nodded slowly.

“
Okay. Now, try and
relax until Aeris gets back. It shouldn't be much longer.”

In fact, the air elemental
appeared in their midst a few minutes later, startling everyone.
Liliana gave a little shriek of surprise and then glared around as if
daring anyone to comment. Wisely, no one did.

“
Good to see you
back in one piece, my friend,” Simon said. “So what's
going on up there?”

Everyone was circled
around Aeris, listening intently.

He glanced from face to
face and finally settled on watching Simon.

“
Well, things have
changed a little bit since my last visit,” he began.
“Fortunately I wasn't discovered this time and I scouted the
mesa from several different locations along the rim of the plateau.”

He flew down to the ground
and began drawing in the thin, crusty snow with a forefinger.

“
Here is the mesa,”
he said, making a large circle. “On the north side, there are
eggs. Row upon row of dragon eggs, practically buried in ice and
snow.”

He looked up at the faces
that were staring at the map.

“
I never dreamed
that dragons had so many eggs to hatch out replacements when needed.
It's rather horrible, actually.”

“
They'll have to be
destroyed, after the battle perhaps, but they must not survive,”
Malcolm said darkly. The others nodded.

“
Good. Now to the
east, here, is where the primal white dragon is situated. It is still
creating its abominations.”

“
Damn it,”
Liliana hissed. “Even after learning that it was being spied
on, it is continuing?”

“
It is,” Aeris
told her. “But the dragons must be having a hard time
replenishing their human captives. I saw only a dozen or so being
held there. Quite pitiable. A small blessing, I suppose, is that the
process of fusing dragons and humans seems to be a costly one. When I
began my scout, the primal had just created a new monster and sent it
through the portal. Then it seemed to sag. It collapsed on to its
knees and a dragonoid, as our dear wizard calls them, hurried
forward, offering it meat. It seemed to be a servant and was fussing
over the primal dragon.”

“
So, it's weakened
when it performs the fusion spell. That's interesting,” Ethmira
said and locked eyes with Simon.

“
Yes, it is,”
he agreed. “If we could strike while it's weak, and perhaps
vulnerable, it might make it easier to bring down that null field.”

“
What else, Aeris?”
Aiden asked calmly. “What about the dragon's forces up there?”

“
I'm coming to
that.”

The air elemental made a
small circle to the right of the mark indicating the primal dragon.

“
This is where the
Gate is. I've never seen a stable portal like it before. Certainly no
wizard I ever knew could create one. But the primal may be using
something to keep the Gate open and stable.”

“
Using what?”
Tamara asked.

“
To either side of
the portal are crystals, blazing white crystals. They seem to be
connected to the Gate by streams of light. At a guess, I'd say that
the dragon enchanted these crystals and they are what is keeping the
Gate functioning. Smash them and perhaps it will collapse.”

“
That's important,”
Malcolm said and looked at Aiden. “If we attack and that portal
stays open, the dragon may be able to summon reinforcements through
it. We have to take it out.”

“
I agree,”
Simon said. “If you'd like to volunteer, then you two should
target that portal and those crystals first.”

“
Consider it done,”
Aiden said.

“
Good. What else,
Aeris?”

“
Here, in the center
of the plateau, is where the humans are being held. They are so weak
and broken that we cannot expect any help from that direction.
However, just behind them we have the dragons.”

“
Dragons?”
Liliana's eyes lit up. “What kind? How many?”

“
A mixture of reds
and whites. No browns, which is a bit surprising. But together I
counted twenty, give or take. Here,” Aeris tapped a spot on the
southern part of his map, “there are drakes, the primal's
personal slaves. They are constantly moving, twisting, clawing at
each other, so it is hard to get an exact count, but I'd say at least
two dozen. They cannot fly, as you all know, but their fangs and
claws are formidable.”

“
Leave the drakes to
us,” came a voice from outside of the group.

Everyone turned to look
and saw Aethos standing a few feet away. Next to him was the hulking
figure of Kassus.

“
My brethren and I
will deal with the drakes,” he said and looked at the earth
elemental. “My friend here has promised to keep the dragons
grounded. The elves can then turn them into pincushions at their
leisure.”

He glanced at Ethmira.

“
I assume your
arrows are enchanted to penetrate dragon hide?”

“
Of course,”
she answered.

“
Good. I am not
going to give any of you orders; the wizard is in charge here. But if
we can contain and destroy the drakes, and the elves and earthen can
occupy the dragons, then you,” he nodded at Simon, “can
concentrate on the primal white dragon, along with the mages and the
paladin.”

“
We'll lend a hand
once the Gate is down,” Malcolm added. “With luck, that
won't take long.”

Simon had begun nodding as
Aethos spoke and smiled at the floating figure.

“
Sound tactics, I'd
say. Aeris, anything else to report?”

“
No, that is all. I
would recommend that one of the earthen retrieve the captives as soon
as they can. They will be the most vulnerable once the battle
begins.”

“
I will see to
that,” Kassus rumbled. “I shall transport them to this
spot and rejoin the battle at once. It will only take a few minutes.”

Simon looked around the
group, catching every set of eyes in turn.

“
All right then,”
he said finally. “Anyone else have any more thoughts, comments,
suggestions? Now is the time to speak up.”

A few of them shook their
heads, everyone else simply waited silently.

“
Okay. Let's do
this.”

Moving through the ground
from the base of the mesa to the top was even more bizarre than using
a Gate, as far as Simon was concerned. The earth elementals split up
the humans and elves into groups of six and seven and then made them
all huddle together.

“
We are going to
encase each group in a shell of rock,” Kassus explained in his
slow, heavy voice. “That way you will be able to flow through
the earth as we do. Wizard,” he said, looking at Simon. “Where
do you want to emerge on the plateau?”

“
Aeris, is there a
clear space up there?”

“
Yes. The western
edge of the mesa is open. There is a large area littered with
boulders and rocks that is not being used for anything. Some of the
boulders are actually quite big. If the earthen brought the groups to
the surface behind these, they would hide you from view until you
attacked.”

“
Perfect. Can you do
that, Kassus?”

“
Child's play. Now,
brace yourselves. We go.”

Simon was grouped with the
other humans. The six of them huddled together and then watched as a
wall of rock rose up from the ground and enclosed them inside a
hollow globe.

“
Well, isn't this
cozy?” Malcolm commented with a brittle laugh.

“
Bit
claustrophobic?” Tamara asked out of the darkness.

“
Until this moment,
I didn't think so. Now though...”

The globe rocked beneath
them and everyone grabbed hold of each other and tried to stay on
their feet.

They could hear the sound
of the globe slipping through the earth, a steady rumble like an
earthquake that seemed to go on and on.

They were jostled from
side to side and then Simon felt a swoop in his stomach, like the
feeling of going up in a high-speed elevator. He swallowed to try to
calm his stomach. He'd never much cared for elevators.

The globe stopped moving
abruptly and they all staggered again.

“
Top floor. Women's
lingerie, men's briefs,” Aiden chimed up and several people
laughed nervously.

And then the globe of rock
collapsed into pebbles and dust around them and they found themselves
standing beneath the cold night sky.

A few yards in front of
Simon was the edge of the mesa, as abrupt as a knife cut, leading to
a thousand foot drop. He turned and looked around and saw that they'd
been deposited behind one of the massive boulders that Aeris had
mentioned. It was a dozen feet high and at least as wide and hid the
rest of the plateau from view.

“
Perfect,”
Tamara whispered. She looked up at the earth elemental watching them
balefully. “Well done.”

The large figure nodded
once and then sank back into the earth.

“
Not big on
chit-chat, are they?” Malcolm observed quietly.

“
Neither am I,”
Tamara said dismissively and walked away to stand next to her
brother.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at
Simon, who smiled and shrugged and then the big man and Aiden crept
up to the boulder and began to sidle around it to get a better view.

Simon looked at Liliana
who motioned toward the men. He nodded and the two of them followed
the warriors carefully.

When they could get a
clear look at the rest of the plateau, everyone crouched down and
examined the tableau before them. It was appalling.

The mesa was lit up by
orbs of magic light that bobbed and weaved in the stiff winds blowing
across the flat ground. Simon recognized the same sort of light that
he himself could summon and his heart skipped a beat.

There was no question
about it; the primal white dragon could cast spells.

In front of them, directly
to the east of their position were two groups of dragons. Aeris had
been right. The wizard counted ten reds and ten whites. They were
clearly segregated. The white dragons were huddled together in one
group and the red dragons in another. Occasionally one member of a
group would hiss and snap its head at the other group, and that group
would reciprocate.

“
Big, aren't they?”
Aiden murmured as he looked at the fifty foot length of the dragons.

“
But they don't much
care for each other, do they?” Malcolm whispered.

“
No, they certainly
don't,” Simon agreed. “Par for the course for dragons, I
think.”

He nodded at a spot beyond
the dragons to the left, near the far edge of the plateau.

“
The Gate,” he
said unnecessarily.

“
Gee, ya think?”
Aiden muttered jokingly.

The portal was the
brightest thing on the mesa. Twenty feet around, it throbbed and
pulsed like a living thing. A low hum could be felt through the
ground under their feet and made the hair on Simon's arms stand up,
like static electricity.

“
Look, the
crystals,” Liliana whispered. She was crouched just in front of
the three men, looking around intently.

On each side of the portal
was a crystal as tall as a man. This was the source of the bright
light. Both crystals were almost blindingly white and streams of
magical energy connected them to the pulsing Gate.

A scrabbling sound behind
them made everyone turn to see Tamara and Sebastian creeping up
behind them.

The woman took Simon by
the arm and leaned in to speak as quietly as possible.

“
Wizard, the primal
dragon isn't the source of the nullifying magic up here,” she
stated urgently. “It's that Gate.”

“
What? How do you
know?” he asked in confusion.

“
I can feel it.
Can't you? The Gate or most likely those crystals, is draining the
magic from me. Stay still and just allow yourself to feel for a
moment.”

While everyone watched,
Simon looked at Tamara dubiously, shrugged and closed his eyes.

He could always feel his
power, filling his body like a jar is filled with water. He knew when
it was low, the times he had overexerted himself and cast too many
spells. But the last few days of rest had allowed him to become
re-energized.

He crouched unmoving and
just listened to his body. He felt a...pulling? A drawing sensation.
It was like some sort of vacuum or an invisible black hole, hungrily
trying to suck all of the magic into itself. And it was coming from
the portal.

He opened his eyes and
nodded at the mage.