“Nope,” the big man said. “We came in the following year.”
“Right. Well then, the major difference between the corpses that attacked the town back then and the wights that are attacking now is speed and strength. Oh and they are slightly more intelligent than the others.”
Aiden turned, pulled out an arrow and shot another wight off of the wall.
“Not much more, though,” Aeris added dryly.
“I can see that. But that's my point. I was told about the attack and apparently, a lich?” He looked to Simon who nodded. “Right, a lich was commanding the undead in the attack. So my question is, who or what is controlling these wights? What, they all just got together at the undead hotel and decided to attack en masse?”
Everyone fell silent and the only sound was the wind blowing mournfully across the top of the wall.
“That's an unsettling thought, isn't it?” Simon finally said, breaking the silence. “But let's worry about that later. Right now, I have to get down there.”
He slipped the staff off of his back and began to chant the incantation for the Gate spell.
“Do you want someone to watch your back?” Aiden spoke up. “We won't be much help to you from up here if something goes wrong out there.”
“No, that's fine. I can't see to the other side of the moat, so I'm going to Gate to the top of the little hill near the forest where I always come out when I ride here.”
He waved vaguely in what he hoped was the proper direction.
“I'll make my way down to the moat and walk along the edge until I can see the wights. After that, a good dose of fire should take care of the problem, at least for now.”
Kronk grabbed the bottom of his coat firmly while Aeris hurried to float over and catch a hold of his sleeve.
“You guys should wait here,” Simon told them as he took a firmer grip on his staff. His gloves were slipping on its frosted surface.
“Well that's not happening,” Aeris told him stubbornly.
“You may need our help, master,” Kronk said, backing him up and looking at the wizard with wide eyes.
“Oh for...”
Simon rolled his eyes and the two guardsmen laughed.
“Nicely played, boys,” Malcolm said to the elementals. “Okay then. Good luck, sir wizard. Watch your back out there.”
“I will. Just keep those damned things out of the town for a little while longer.”
“You can count on that,” Aiden said firmly and pulled out another arrow.
“Invectis!”
The snow on the hilltop was knee-deep and Simon stumbled and almost fell over as he appeared.
“Crap,” he muttered. “Stupid robe.”
He planted his staff firmly, took one long step forward and made sure his footing was firm before moving his other leg. It was slow going but at least he didn't land flat on his face.
The town was totally invisible from the hilltop. Snow was blowing horizontally across the open space between Simon and Nottinghill and his visibility was reduced to only a few feet in all directions.
“You see? I told you that you'd need us,” Aeris said loudly, with a smug expression on his face.
“Why? I'm doing all right so far.”
“Really? Okay then, which way is Nottinghill?”
Simon glared at him and then pointed straight ahead.
Aeris snickered and the wizard looked down at Kronk, who was tugging on his coat.
“The town is that way, master,” the earthen said, pointing quite a bit further to the right than Simon was.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, master. I can feel it through the ground.”
Simon wiped off his face and flung wet snow away irritably. He was vaguely pleased that his hair was staying tied back.
One less thing to get into my eyes, he thought.
“Okay, you guys win. Kronk, lead the way, would you?”
The little guy bowed slightly and trundled off. The snow was almost level with his head and Simon followed in the wake of the hump he was leaving on top of the snow cover.
“Aeris, since you're feeling so lively, could you go ahead to the edge of the moat? I don't want any surprises.”
“Good idea,” the air elemental told him and shot through the storm and out of sight.
Simon muttered under his breath as he plodded along. He could chant the incantations for two spells now and they would hang around him, invisibly like distant storm clouds, waiting to be invoked. So he energized the two fire-based spells that he had locked in his permanent memory; Fireball and Fire Blast. Hopefully they would do the trick.
Snow was constantly dripping from the windward side of his face and the bottom of his coat was starting to get heavy with ice. He shook his hood and a cascade of wet snow plopped to the ground. He was panting after a few minutes, reminded yet again of his body's frailty.
The mound ahead that was Kronk stopped and the little guy pushed the snow away from his body so that Simon could see him.
“What is it?” he gasped as he caught up to the earthen.
“Master, you are suffering from this cold and snow,” Kronk said mournfully. “Why are you not using your Shield spell? It will keep the snow off of you and it will protect you in case of any surprises.”
Simon stared at him numbly, shivering as a bit of snow slipped from his hood to the inside of his coat.
“Oh for God's sake,” he said, exasperated with himself. “Thanks, Kronk. That's a very good idea. I think my brain is frozen.”
The little guy simply smiled and turned to begin leading the way again.
Simon chanted the Shield spell, feeling it dissolve the other two spells he had waiting to be invoked.
Wish I knew why it worked like that, he thought. He could ready two spells for casting, but chant a third incantation and poof, the first two were gone. Weird.
“Invectis,” he stuttered through lips stiff with cold.
The snow on the ground around him immediately exploded in all directions and the wizard gaped at the frozen ground covered in icy brown grass that appeared in an instant.
The shield extended six feet out from his body in a circle and he was suddenly standing in a crater swept clean of snow.
“Whoa,” he said in surprise. “That was unexpected.”
The wind and snow were being diverted around him and the sudden calm was such a relief that Simon felt his knees go weak and had to lean heavily on his staff for a moment.
“Well, it's about time you thought of that,” a voice called out from in front of him.
Simon looked up to see Aeris floating just beyond the shield, hands on his hips. The wizard made a gesture and a small round opening appeared in the barrier, just large enough for the air elemental to enter. It closed as he passed through.
Practice does make perfect, Simon thought with a bit of pride.
“So how's it look up ahead?” he asked as he caught his breath.
“About what you'd expect,” Aeris replied. He hovered next to Simon and waited for him to recover his strength.
“The wights are still piled in the ditch below the gates, fighting each other as they scramble up the wall.”
“Will I be able to see them from the edge of the moat or do I have to go down there?”
The elemental's expression became quite serious.
“That would be a very bad idea, my dear wizard. I might have been a bit conservative in my estimation of their numbers. Or else more have turned up. There are definitely a lot more than thirty wights down there now.”
Simon gave himself a shake and an avalanche of snow fell off of his coat. He leaned his staff against his chest and clapped his hands to get clear the ice from his gloves.
“More? How many more?”
Aeris looked a bit uncomfortable and the wizard was reminded that the air elemental hated to be wrong, about anything.
“Maybe twice that number,” he answered reluctantly.
“What? Twice as many
? So you're saying that there are at least sixty of those monsters trying to get into Nottinghill?”
“Um, yes. That's about it.”
Simon shook his head tiredly.
“That's great. That is just great, Aeris. You really know how to cheer me up, don't you?”
“What is wrong, master?” Kronk called out from ahead of them.
Simon opened the shield to let the little guy in and watched as he trundled up, so snow-covered that he looked like a tiny snowman.
Despite the gravity of their situation, he had to laugh.
“Kronk, I don't think I've ever said this to you before but, covered in snow like that? You look cute.”
“Cute, master?”
The earthen looked down at himself and at the ice and snow that layered his body and then back up at Simon.
“Thank you, master. I have never been called 'cute' before.”
Aeris snorted and seemed about to make a smart remark when Simon looked at him sternly.
“Maybe worry less about me complimenting Kronk and more about how you miscounted sixty frigging wights,” he snapped.
The air elemental stared at him, mouth open and Simon immediately regretted his words.
“Sorry. I'm always cranky when my toes are frozen. Just...scout ahead again and recount the damned things. I really need to know what I'm up against. We'll be right behind you.”
Aeris nodded silently and the wizard opened the shield for him. He shot out of the barrier and disappeared into the storm.
“He miscounted the enemy, master?” Kronk asked as he jumped up and down to clear the snow from his body.
“Apparently. Instead of the initial thirty, he says there may be as many as sixty of the cursed things now.”
“Sixty?” Kronk replied in disbelief. “Where did sixty undead come from, master? And there are at least two dozen at the rear gate.”
“Good God,” Simon said, appalled. “What is going on? You know, maybe Malcolm was on to something. This can't be random. These things are targeting settlements. My home, Nottinghill, maybe other places that we don't even know about. The gods of Chaos may be behind this.”
“Perhaps, master,” Kronk said skeptically. “Or perhaps this is just the old world reasserting itself now that magic has returned.”
Simon began to walk with the earthen a few paces ahead leading the way. As he moved forward, the snow was pushed aside by his shield and he smiled with relief at his new ease of movement.
“Okay, but were cities attacked by this many wights back in the old days?”
“It is hard to say, master. I was never present during an attack. I heard of these things second-hand, by listening to wizards discuss it amongst themselves. I don't remember numbers ever being brought up.”
They continued to move forward for a few minutes until Kronk stopped and pointed ahead.
“The edge of the moat is just ten yards in front of us, master,” he said.
Simon peered through the blowing snow, but beyond the shield was simply a mass of white, constantly being whirled around by the howling winds.
“I'll take your word for it. Which way is the front gate?”
Kronk pointed to their left.
“Along the moat, that way, master. Perhaps forty yards.”
“Okay. Good. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get out of this stupid storm.”
He leaned on his staff for a moment and looked from side to side.
“Now where's Aeris? How long can it take to count monsters?”
He walked forward carefully, letting Kronk guide him, until he could finally see the dark line on the ground ahead that showed the edge of the deep ditch.
“There you are,” he said softly. He was happy to finally have a point of reference in the chaos of the storm.
The shield pushed the snow over the edge of the drop as he approached and Simon stopped a few feet away from the moat and looked down.
The bottom was covered with snow and gusty winds shot along the curve of the walls, turning the moat into a wind tunnel. The howl of the storm was even louder here and Simon shivered at the dreadful sound.
“You know,” he said to Kronk as they scanned the trench. “I always pictured Hell as a really hot place, but I think I've changed my opinion. It couldn't be any worse than this.”
“If you say so, master,” the earthen replied agreeably.
“Now, let's move toward the gate. Slowly. We don't want to attract the attention of those wights.”
“Yes master. This way.”
They turned to the left and began to follow the rim of the moat. Simon walked five, maybe six steps, still wondering where Aeris was, when a voice to his left, coming from the open field beyond, shouted at him. It was Aeris.
“Simon! Get away from the moat! Get back!”
He turned to look at the wall of snow just beyond his shield.
“What the...?”
He barely saw the streak of light that was the air elemental; Aeris was actually glowing. He shot toward the shield and, at the last minute, soared up and over the barrier.
Simon looked up to where the elemental was hovering several feet above his head.
“Damn it, move!” Aeris shouted.
“Move? Move where? Why?”
A rumble from the field made Simon turn and look out into the storm, just in time to see a wall of monsters appear out of the snow, jaws gaping and claws extended toward him. The wights slammed into his shield and Simon was suddenly soaring up and out over the moat.
He looked down just as the earth came up to meet him and everything went black.
Chapter 6
“Master, wake up,” a frantic voice was calling to him from some incalculable distance.
Simon could feel someone shaking him and his skull suddenly felt like it was going to fly apart.
“Knock it off,” he murmured weakly.
“Master, you must wake up. The air in here won't last much longer.”
The wizard found those words puzzling.
Air in here? Where's here? he wondered vaguely.
Slowly, reluctantly, Simon forced his eyes open, only to be met with...nothing.
He was lying flat on his back on a hard, uneven surface. Blackness surrounded him and the ominous silence that accompanied it woke him up faster than Kronk's urging ever could.
“Kronk?” he whispered, his pounding head making it difficult to hear his own voice. “What happened? Where are we?”
“We were attacked by wights, master,” the elemental answered softly from close to his right ear. “It was an ambush. I have been thinking while waiting for you to wake up, and my guess is that it was all a set up. I believe the attack on Nottinghill was a ruse to draw you out after the assault on our tower failed.”
Even in the midst of his pain and confusion, Simon smiled to himself when the earthen called the tower 'ours'.
“Wait, you're telling me that all those undead monsters, plus however many others jumped me, were all at Nottinghill just to get to me?”
“That is my belief, master.”
“God, I hope you're wrong or all of this is my fault.”
“It is not, master,” Kronk said forcefully. “It is the fault of the dark gods who control these creatures.”
“Yeah? I think you're splitting hairs, my friend. Anyway, we can talk about that later.”
The wizard reached up to rub his temples and his hands scraped across rock mere inches from his face.
“Holy crap!” he exclaimed. “Where the hell are we?”
“Shh! Master, keep your voice down.” Kronk whispered urgently. “When the wave of wights slammed into you, you fell into the moat. Your shield cushioned your fall, but when you hit the ground, you were knocked out and the barrier dissolved.”
“Oh. Oh right. I kind of remember that. A bit.”
Simon slowly moved his hands along his body feeling for wounds and tried flexing his arms and legs. Everything seemed to be working and his headache was
diminishing, but he was still almost entombed in solid rock.
“So how did we get to wherever we are now?”
“The creatures poured down the side of the moat and were going to engulf you, so I did the only thing I could think of, master. I brought you underground. I am sorry if the space is small but I had no time to do any better.”
“You did that? Gees, Kronk, don't apologize! You saved my life.”
There was a short pause and Simon imagined the little guy shrugging his shoulders.
“I did my duty, master. That is all.”
“This is above and beyond the call of duty, my friend. So, how deep are we?”
“Perhaps fifty feet, master. As I pulled you downward, I could feel those horrible creatures digging above us, so I moved us down into very hard rock. There is no chance that they can reach you here, at least not for some time.”
“Then why are we whispering?”
“I remember stories of these wights, master. Their hearing is very keen. They could be above us even now, trying to track you. We should be cautious.”
Something hard was digging into Simon's back and he shifted until he could reach around and move it. It was his staff. He felt a sense of relief as he touched it.
“Thank God I didn't lose the staff,” he murmured. “Now the big question; how long have I been out?”
Another moment of silence.
“About two hours, master,” Kronk told him softly.
“What!”
Simon reared up, slammed his head into the ceiling and flopped back on to the hard ground again. Flashes of light like fireworks shot across his vision and he moaned in agony.
“Master! Are you all right?”
The wizard waited until the flashes faded to red swirls before answering. His blood was pounding in his ears and he felt like his skull was expanding and contracting with his every heart beat.
“Not really,” he finally managed to gasp. “Two hours, Kronk? The defenders of Nottinghill were running out of arrows. God knows what's happened since then.”
“I'm sorry, master. I couldn't wake you up! I tried and tried but...”
“Stop. Don't blame yourself. Blame me,” Simon told him bitterly. “The cocky young wizard strolling through a blinding snowstorm so sure that he was going to save the day. God, I'm such a jerk.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 126
