And Simon was sure that it was dying. It raised its head once as if trying to get back on its feet and all he saw was melting flesh and disintegrating bone. The dragon had killed itself.
“I guess we don't need to help after all,” he said weakly.
“Now there's an understatement for you,” Liliana replied dryly.
The wizard looked at her and saw an expression of immense satisfaction on her face. Ethmira looked more introspective but nodded when she caught Simon's eye.
“A very satisfying result,” she said and then smiled as the paladin rolled her eyes.
“And yes, that too is an understatement. Now, shall we see how our victorious young friends are doing?”
They re-entered the tunnel and found the foursome standing together. Anna was shaking and was being hugged by Virginia, who was reassuring her that she'd done a great job.
Eric and Gerard were both grinning. It looked like a combination of relief and triumph.
“That was very well done, my friends,” Ethmira told them heartily. “It could not have gone any better.”
“I take it the plan was a success?” Daniel asked as he hurried down the tunnel, limping slightly.
“Come and see for yourself,” Simon said and waved toward the exit. “The dragon's acid was indeed its greatest weakness. Our friends are safe and the monster is dead. And now things begin to get really interesting.”
“Interesting?” Anna said in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Like I said earlier, the primal will know that one of its lesser dragons has died. It will want to know how and why, which means that wherever it is right now, it's coming this way. I doubt that we have a lot of time.”
Ethmira handed Eric his bow and quiver, which he accepted with a smile, and looked at Simon with raised eyebrows.
“You want to head to the place where the worlds intersect? Now?”
“Right now. It may be hours before the primal arrives, it may be minutes. Let's not take any chances. Now this is the part where some of you are going to get angry and start yelling. Please don't. We haven't got the time for it.”
“What?” Virginia said in confusion. “Why would we do that?”
“Because your part is done. None of you can help me with the primal, so I want all of you, except for Ethmira, to get back in the cave, keep your heads down and wait.”
Just as he had expected, the entire group began protesting at once.
“What are you talking about?” Eric roared. “We can help you! We just killed a frigging dragon, for God's sake!”
The others were saying essentially the same thing, except for Daniel, who was watching him with an understanding smile, and Liliana, who looked grim and forbidding.
I won't be able to stop her from coming along, Simon thought uneasily. She'll do it whether I like it or not.
“Everyone, please, calm down,” Ethmira said loudly, holding up her hands.
The shouting quieted down to a dull rumble and the four friends stared at Simon darkly.
“The wizard is correct,” she continued in the uneasy silence. “You will not be able to face a primal dragon, even with your gifts. Simon says he has a plan, and so far his plans have gone well, so trust him. I know that it's hard to swallow, but the odds of you surviving an encounter with that monster are exactly zero.”
She looked at them compassionately.
“I understand how you feel, believe me. And I know the only reason that Simon wants me with him is to open a portal. I too would be useless in such a confrontation, although I hate to admit it. So please, for your sake and for our peace of mind; stay here. Daniel will be with you. If we succeed, I will come back and take you to the portal myself and send you through.”
She looked at the paladin.
“Liliana,” she began but the woman held up a hand to stop her from speaking.
“I am going,” she said firmly and then looked at the others as they began to protest again.
“Be silent!” she snapped and all four of them stopped talking at once.
“Good. Now listen closely. I am going because it is my calling. I must confront this creature; it is my destiny to do so. But also I only risk myself in this. If I die, I die. So be it. But tell me, all of you, would you like to be responsible for each other's deaths? Would you risk watching your friends die one by one, horribly, as you just saw, because you were stubborn or prideful? Is it worth so much to you?”
Virginia looked at her friends one by one and they did the same. Eric's stubborn expression faded and he looked down at the floor. He slowly shook his head.
“No,” he said quietly. “I wouldn't want that. If we could do some good,” he looked up at Simon as he spoke, “then I would risk it. We all would, I think. But if it means everyone's death just so I can prove I'm brave, then no. I can't do that.”
The others murmured in chastened agreement and Virginia stepped forward and took Simon's hand. He leaned on his staff and waited for her to speak.
“I think...we just wanted you to know that we wouldn't abandon you when things got really bad,” she told him softly. “We don't let our friends face danger alone.”
“I know that. All of you, I know that. But you must know how I feel as well. Letting you face a hopeless battle just to die in the end is not something I can do. It's just not right, you know?”
Anna wiped away a tear and nodded her understanding.
“Okay, Simon,” Virginia said and squeezed his hand. “We'll stay here with Daniel. You go and do what you have to do. Just be careful, all right? We all want to see you again.”
“I will. Thanks, guys. Daniel? Take care of them, okay?”
“I'll do what I can,” his friend said. “And I echo their sentiments. Watch your ass.”
Everyone laughed a bit in relief and Simon grinned at his oldest friend.
“You know me. I always do.”
He turned to Ethmira.
“Are you ready?”
“I am.”
Liliana nodded when Simon glanced at her.
“Then let's do this,” he said.
The three of them stepped out of the tunnel, paused in the sunlight to wave back at their friends and then began walking. Before they got too far from the cave, Liliana looked at Simon curiously.
“How exactly do you plan to get the primal to follow you to the portal site? Set up signs? Put down a trail of breadcrumbs?”
He chuckled.
“Something like that. Do either of you have a knife?”
Ethmira reached around and pulled a small knife from a sheathe on the back of her belt.
“Careful, it's very sharp.”
“Good,” Simon said and rolled up his sleeve. Before he could continue, the elf made a movement too quick for his eyes to follow and was suddenly holding the knife again.
“Are you about to do what I think you are?” she asked sharply.
“The dragon is going to want to know who or what killed its servant. It will want evidence and answers. If I leave a blood trail, it will easily smell it and follow us.”
“Clever,” Liliana muttered.
“Yes, clever,” Ethmira agreed. “But foolish. You will need all of your strength to deal with the primal, whatever you intend to do, and draining your blood will quickly diminish it.”
“Then what do you suggest...” Simon started to say and then watched, amazed, as the elf neatly slashed open a cut in her forearm and then slipped the knife back into its sheathe.
“Since I'm not going to be involved in any upcoming battle, I may as well shed my blood in some other useful way. Besides,” she added as she began walking away, “the primal brown hates elves. It will follow my blood trail eagerly.”
Simon and Liliana exchanged glances and the paladin just shrugged.
“She's right,” she said and hurried after the elf.
Simon sighed heavily and began following them.
Strong women, he thought ruefully. Gotta love strong women.
The journey to the weak spot between worlds wasn't too taxing for the wizard, at least at first. He knew that his magical energy wasn't at its maximum level, but he thought that it would be adequate. He hoped it would be anyway.
Ethmira led them with assurance, twisting and winding her way through the massive trees and ducking around the undergrowth.
Her blood trail was easy enough to see, even for Simon, and when her wound began to close, she matter-of-factly cut her arm at another spot and kept going.
He guessed that they had been walking for about an hour when the elf stopped abruptly.
Simon and Liliana pulled up short behind her and the wizard took the opportunity to lean against his staff and catch his breath.
The day was warm but not hot; however he had to wipe his forehead off with his sleeve as he breathed deeply.
“What's wrong?” the paladin asked.
Ethmira looked puzzled and frowned in concentration. She cocked her head and listened intently.
“What...” Liliana began to say again but the elf held up a hand.
“Wait. There's something...”
From behind them, a long way away, a faint shivering cry rolled through the forest. A sprinkle of leaves cascaded down on them from above and all three looked at each other, wide-eyed.
“Primal?” the elf asked, her face suddenly pale.
“Primal,” Simon replied bleakly.
They hesitated a moment, as if frozen in time.
“Let's move!” the wizard barked and Ethmira spun on her heels and began to run.
The race had begun. Simon had no idea how far the portal location was and didn't have the breath to ask. All he could do was try to move fast enough to keep the elf in sight as she ran lightly through the forest and, at the same time, try to listen for pursuit through the pounding of the blood in his ears.
How long they ran, the wizard never knew. But as they stumbled into a small clearing, dazzlingly bright after the comparative darkness of the ancient forest floor, Ethmira slid to a halt and waved her hand at the open area around them.
“Here,” she gasped, sounding almost as winded as Simon felt. “It's here.”
He leaned on his staff and bent over, watching sweat droplets hitting the knee-high ferns and grasses that grew thickly in the glade.
When his vision had finally stopped pulsing red, he stood up painfully, wiped off his face and finally had a chance to look around.
The clearing was perhaps fifty feet across and almost circular. To one side, the gnarled roots of an ancient tree poked skyward and he realized that the fallen tree had opened up this section of the forest and allowed small bushes, leafy ferns and thick grass to get a foothold. If they hadn't been in fear for their lives, it would probably have seemed pretty. Now it just made him feel exposed.
“Where is it?” he asked, speaking slowly as he tried to catch his breath.
Ethmira walked to the exact center of the glade, turned and pointed at the ground.
“Right here. I can feel the veil, like thin strands of webbing, overlapping here. The worlds are close together, meshed and intertwined.”
“How long will it take you to open a portal?” he asked. “And how long can you hold it open?”
“Hold it open?” she replied quizzically. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Because,” Simon said, “I want you on the far side of it when the primal arrives. I need him to follow me through and I'd rather you weren't between the dragon and the portal. If you open it now and stand behind it, how long can you hold it open?”
She shook her head.
“Not long. It takes its energy directly from me, you see. And it's an enormous drain on my strength. At a guess I'd say, perhaps, two minutes.”
“Oh damn. So how long to open it?”
“A minute, no more.”
Simon looked at Liliana, who looked almost fresh after their run, even in full armor. He reminded himself that the paladin healed herself automatically, giving her a huge advantage over most other humans, himself included.
“Liliana, have you heard any sounds of pursuit?”
She shook her head. She was staring off into space, obviously straining to hear any suspicious noises.
“Nothing since that first cry and that was perhaps thirty minutes ago. Maybe the damned thing lost the trail? Or it decided to attack the others in the cave instead?”
“Oh God, I hope not,” Simon muttered. “Okay, look. If and when the primal arrives, we'll need to give Ethmira the time to open the portal, so we might have to distract the beast. Can you do that?”
The paladin snorted and slipped her shield off of her back. The plain wooden buckler suddenly began to glow with a clear silvery sheen and, when she drew her sword, it matched the shield's intense light.
“Of course I can. I've been waiting for this moment,” she said with an unpleasant smile.
Simon looked at her dubiously and wondered if her lust for vengeance would override her common sense.
“Easy,” he said. “We just need to keep the beast away from Ethmira long enough to allow her to open the portal.”
“And then?” the elf asked. “You really haven't said what you intend to do after you pass through the doorway.”
“As I told you, it's crazy, and a bit complicated. I'm kind of improvising as I go.”
“You're improvising?” Ethmira said, aghast. “Are you joking? Simon, you're luring that monster back into your own world! You can't just...make it up as you go!”
“Well, it's worked for me so far,” he replied with a shrug.
“You are joking about that, aren't you?” Liliana asked as she stared at him.
“Which part?”
Whatever the paladin was going to say was cut off as a ear-splitting roar tore through the still air. A deafening crashing shook the ground and the three companions turned as one to look back the way they had come.
The bright sunlight of the glade made it impossible to see into the shadowy reaches of the forest, but then they all knew what the sounds meant.
“It's coming,” Simon said as he and the paladin backed away from the edge of the clearing.
“Oh really?” Liliana said sarcastically. “Thank you for the update.”
“Ethmira? Start opening the portal!” the wizard said urgently.
“I am, Simon,” the elf replied tersely. “Just keep that thing off of me for a minute.”
“I intend to,” the paladin growled.
And then the forest gave way to the immense head of the primal brown dragon.
Almost long as a lesser dragon in length, the scaled head of the dragon was grotesque. Brown, slimy scales covered it, each a yard across or more. They were cracked and twisted, looking like split, dried mud and almost the same color. The yellow eyes, slit like a cat's, were as large as Simon's body. They blazed with evil intent and the grizzled maw, dripping black liquid that smoked and ate away at the growth on the ground beneath it, was filled with rows of greenish fangs, some broken, others black or missing entirely.
The monster breathed and Simon covered his nose and mouth as the foul breath, stinking like rotten eggs, rolled over him. His stomach rebelled and he turned away and retched, dry-heaving because his stomach was empty.
Liliana seemed detached and unaffected by the primal. She reached out a mailed hand and steadied the wizard until he got his stomach under control.
“You okay?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the dragon.
“Yeah, good. Thanks.”
Simon watched the primal as well, but turned his head slightly.
“How are you doing?” he murmured, hoping that Ethmira could hear him over the loud breathing of the dragon.
“Almost there,” came her quiet response.
“So,” the voice of the primal echoed around the glade and made Simon stagger back a step.
“So,” the creature repeated. “I have found the killers.”
The head rose up and up again until they were craning t
heir necks back just to keep it in view.
Branches snapped off and fell thickly around the dragon, leaves and twigs fluttered to the ground. The monstrous body was still hidden in the forest and Simon couldn't understand how the primal had managed to force its enormous bulk through the ancient trees.
“Hmm, an elf and two humans. A strange combination.”
The head tilted down and this globules of tarry acid continued to dribble from its mouth. Somehow the yellow eyes caught Simon's gaze and seemed to burn into his soul.
“Before I crush you like the insects you are, tell me how you killed one of mine. If you do, perhaps I shall make your ends quick and painless.”
It threw that insanely huge head back and let out a bellow of laughter that sent even more branches and leaves raining down on them.
“But probably not.”
The dragon dropped its head down so quickly that the leaves and debris in the clearing flew up in all directions as it created a massive displacement of air. And suddenly the primal's face was at ground-level, its chin almost resting on the grass. The eyes were still twenty feet above them.
“I shall have to punish you, you see. Others of your kind must not believe that they can rebel against us. Against me. I have wiped out your 'elders' and now the only thing to threaten my servants is...you!”
Those egg-yellow eyes, flumey and jelly-like, widened as if in surprise.
“Imagine,” the primal boomed, making Simon wince. “Three of you killed a dragon! What weapon did you use? What magic? I know that elf,” it snorted contemptuously, “has no spells, but humans? Yes, humans have magic again, don't you? What did you do? And how are you even here, in this realm, hmm? Tell me. You know you want to.”
That voice was almost mesmerizing. Simon had the sudden urge to tell the primal everything. Why not? They weren't going to beat it anyway, were they? It was hopeless. The thing was larger than the biggest jumbo jet ever built. They had no chance.
He opened his mouth to answer and then staggered to the side as Liliana gave him a sharp shake that almost knocked him off of his feet.
“It's using its voice on you, Simon!” she snapped angrily. “Pay attention! That's part of their power, their voices.”
Tales from the New Earth: Volume One Page 159
