The Dragons of Ice and Snow

by J. J. Thompson

  The ground shook to a ponderous tread and Simon watched as Kassus and his earthen approached.

  “The elves need transportation?” he asked in his gravelly voice.

  “If you wouldn't mind,” Simon told him. “Just to the base of the mesa.”

  “We do not mind.”

  “Thanks. After that, you and your people are free to go. You have our gratitude for what you did today.”

  “It was our pleasure, wizard. We will await your call in the future.” He turned his blazing red eyes to look at Ethmira.

  “Are you ready, lady elf?”

  “We are.”

  She gave Simon a brief hug, waved to the others and then the humans watched as the elves were encased in globes of rock and disappeared into the ground.

  “You know, I'll never get used to that,” Malcolm said tightly.

  “Claustrophobic,” Aiden said wisely to Liliana. His partner glared at him and he just grinned back.

  “Are you all set to go?” Simon asked Tamara and Sebastian.

  “We are. Aiden, you're with my brother. Malcolm, with me please.”

  They had divided the captives into two groups of six each and made sure that each was touching the other.

  Simon watched as the siblings both chanted the Gate spell.

  “Malcolm, one hand on my shoulder, the other on that boy's. Aiden, the same with Sebastian.”

  When they were ready, Tamara nodded at the wizard.

  “We'll see you back in Nottinghill,” she said, giving him a warm smile for the first time.

  “You bet. See you soon.”

  And then there was a brief flash of light and Simon was staring at an empty space.

  “It is good that they're out of this place,” Liliana said. She was standing behind him, staring at the crater in the ground where the primal white dragon used to sit.

  “It is, yes.”

  The wizard leaned on his staff, shivering a bit in the cold wind. He had let the young boy keep his jacket and the chill was starting to seep in.

  He watched with detached interest as the orbs of light, dozens of them, bobbed and shivered in the breeze. Funny how magic works, he thought.

  “So now what?” the paladin asked. “If you stay here much longer, you are going to catch your death.”

  “Quite possibly,” Simon agreed. “So, you didn't know any of the captives?”

  With a dejected sigh, Liliana shook her head.

  “No. I assume my people were used to create new monsters. Oh my friend. That the primal white dragon got away is such a travesty of justice. That monster must not be allowed to live.”

  Simon nodded and stared at the lights again.

  “So, you want justice? Or revenge?”

  “Both? Either? Call it what you will, but wiping that creature off the face of the Earth would be doing all of humanity a favor.”

  “I agree. I'm glad to know that you're still resolved though. I may need that.”

  “Really? Why?”

  The paladin was frowning at Simon's almost detached expression.

  “What is wrong with you, my friend?”

  “You know, magic's a funny thing,” he said as he watched a glowing orb float by in the breeze.

  “Is it?” Liliana asked, sounding puzzled.

  “It is. For instance, did you know that I can cast orbs of light just like these ones? I suspect Tamara and her brother can too. They seem to be a standard magical light source.”

  “Um, I see. And is that a funny thing?”

  “In a way.”

  Simon looked around the mesa. The dragons were beginning to freeze into grotesque shapes and the bodies of the drakes reminded him of misshapen bags of garbage for some reason.

  “Aethos hasn't returned yet. Ah well, I guess he'll turn up sooner or later.”

  He looked straight at Liliana and his dreamy expression was replaced with one of cold anger.

  The paladin actually took a step back at the sudden change.

  She began to speak but Simon made a motion to stop her.

  “Yes, magic is funny sometimes,” he said again as he stared at the crater in the ground. “Did you know that, when I leave a room and move some distance away, my magical orbs of light vanish? Isn't that peculiar? It's like they need my presence to keep functioning. Take that away and they die. Strange, huh?”

  Liliana was still frowning, but then she looked from Simon to the nearest orb of light and back again.

  Her face blanched and she slowly reached over her shoulder and drew her two-handed sword from its sheathe.

  “You're quite right, my friend. It is peculiar.”

  “Yeah, I thought you'd agree.”

  Simon rattled off a string of words so fast that the paladin couldn't understand any of them. He motioned for her to move next to him with one hand, while holding his staff upright with the other.

  “Shield!” he barked.

  Just in time. The bottom of the crater split open and fell away and a massive head, scaled and fanged like a dragon's but with human features, appeared from underground, eyes blazing. With a shrug of huge shoulders, the rock around it collapsed and the primal white dragon leapt out of the earth and stood straddling the hole. The mesa shook with its coming.

  It looked down from its great height, misshapen wings unfurling and began to laugh.

  “Ah little wizard,” it said with obvious delight. “I have you now.”

  Chapter 28

  Simon thought he knew what the primal dragon looked like after its transformation, having seen it through Aeris' eyes. The reality was so much worse.

  As tall as a four story building, the creature had morphed into a nightmare. Although he despised them for what they had done to the Earth and his people, the wizard acknowledged that dragons had a certain kind of majesty. They were like icons from old fairy tales with their horned brows and magnificent wings. They soared through the air as if they were born to rule the skies. In short, their forms were exactly what they needed to be. The primal white dragon had mutated into something grotesque.

  It stood on two legs like a man, but one foot was a twisted ruin and so it stood tilted to one side. The weathered iron breastplate it wore was rusted and slashed in places. It fit poorly and hampered the creature's movements.

  The face was split in a wide grin, but half of the fangs had rotted away and brown ichor dribbled from the corners of its twisted mouth.

  However, the wings were the worst. On a dragon, they stretched out like glorious sails, twice the width of the body, looking like pictures Simon had seen in old fantasy books. But the wings jutting from the shoulder-blades of the primal dragon were stunted remnants of their former glory, so small and fragile that it was obvious that the creature would never fly again. It made a mockery of the glory that it must have once had.

  As the primal stood awkwardly, looking down at the wizard and the paladin, a waft of air from it made them both gag. Liliana clapped a hand over her mouth and looked a little green. It was the smell. The monster smelled like an open wound that had begun to rot, a sweet-sour stench that reminded Simon over over-ripe tomatoes mixed with vinegar. He swallowed several times to keep from vomiting.

  “So this is the famous wizard that my people have been so worried about,” the primal rumbled as it stared at them. It raised a clawed hand and scratched its armored chest. “This insect. I must admit that I am...disappointed.”

  The pair stepped back a few paces so they could see that hideous face more clearly.

  “Sorry to disappoint,” Simon shouted up at it. “You aren't exactly what I was expecting either, you know.”

  The primal stretched out its arms and looked down at its twisted body. They could see several running sores in its armpits. Liliana leaned closer to the wizard.

  “What's wrong with it?” she whispered. “It's like it's rotting or something.”

  “No idea,” he murmured. “Maybe whatever the magic did to it went bad somehow.”

  “Yes
, I am different now, am I not?” it boomed out, sounding almost pensive. “But oh, I am so much stronger now than I was in my old form. I can use magic now, just like you puny humans.”

  It threw back its head and roared with laughter.

  “Do you not see, little wizard, what the dark ones have done for me? This gift? I still have all of my strengths, but now I have yours as well. Here, allow me to show you.”

  The primal raised a hand straight up over its head. Simon heard it chant something that he didn't recognize and then the monster flung down its arm and pointed a finger straight at him.

  Without hesitation, he grabbed Liliana's arm and pulled her.

  “Come on!”

  He turned and ran toward the large boulders on the western side of the mesa. Above him, a crackle of electricity made his body tingle and then a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground just outside of his shield, sending both of the humans tumbling end over end.

  Simon pushed himself groggily to his feet and turned to look up at the primal. Liliana pushed herself up and stood next to him. The shield was holding, for now.

  “You see?” the beast said, sounding delighted with itself. “I can summon lightning now, just like you. And fireballs. And many other things. I can even create a stable portal, which even you cannot do, insect.”

  “Sounds like its got confidence issues,” the paladin muttered.

  “Yeah. Weird, isn't it? Something that old and that powerful is trying to prove it's better than me. Why does it even care?”

  The primal took one enormous step forward, shaking the ground beneath it, and looked around at the bodies of the dragons and drakes.

  “I see you and your puny forces have defeated some of my followers. No matter. I am about to do the same to you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Simon yelled.

  It shrugged its heavy shoulders.

  “The tunneling worms that call themselves dwarves. Their capital city is about to fall. You may have destroyed a handful of dragons here today, but there are hundreds of my altered servants who are even now attacking the dwarves in a relentless horde. When some of mine fall, they are simply replaced, but there are no replacements for the fallen worms. They are doomed. Now, does your victory here today still taste as sweet?”

  Its yellow eyes blazed and its broken-toothed grin widened.

  “I don't think you'll be getting any more replacements, monster,” Simon shouted, his voice thick with anger. He pointed at the mass of broken eggs. “Your eggs are destroyed. Now when a white dragon falls, another will not hatch. Whatever happens to me, your kind is finished.”

  The primal turned to look across the plateau and saw the mess that Malcolm and Aiden had left in their wake. Hundreds of shattered egg shells littered the ground and were being scattered by the wind.

  “What have you done?” it growled. The useless limp wings on its back fluttered and flapped, as if trying to lift the creature off the ground. It spun around and raised its arms over its head.

  “What have you done!” it bellowed and the huge arms swung down, its hands balled into massive fists.

  Liliana leaped in one direction and Simon jumped in another. The primal's fists slammed into the ground and actually lifted the wizard off of his feet. He managed to roll as he landed and then skittered to the left and ducked down behind a boulder. He hoped that the paladin was able to find cover as well.

  There was a long moment of silence and then the primal began speaking as if talking to itself.

  “But what does it matter? I have plenty of servants left. Yes, like me. Stronger, more clever. And once this wizard is no more, there will no longer be a threat. I will not need to replace any more dragons. Yes, of course. Doesn't matter.”

  Simon listened to the primal's internal debate and something began to dawn on him. The dragon was insane.

  Whatever magic had twisted it, changed it into the misshapen beast it had become, must have also altered its brain. The thought was frightening. It meant that the dragon was now totally unpredictable. He couldn't trick it the way he'd tricked the other primals. He had no way to know how it would react.

  I'm flying blind, he thought. So what do I do now?

  “Come out, little wizard. There is nowhere to run,” the primal rumbled mockingly. “Face me, magic-user to magic-user and at least die like a man and not like a worm.”

  Simon didn't answer. He was thinking fast. His shield would fall in a moment and he'd have to recast it. Would the primal sense that? Probably. Maybe he could divert it somehow.

  “Oh, so the little paladin chooses to face me instead,” the dragon said, sounding delighted. “I see now which of you is more brave.”

  Simone gasped. Liliana! No!

  “You killed my people, monster,” he heard her shout somewhere to his right.

  The wizard crept around the boulder and peeked out to see what was going on.

  The paladin was standing on the far side of the primal, her sword held firmly in both hands. There was a shimmer in the air around her and Simon wondered if it had something to do with her powers. He knew very little about the holy warriors.

  The hulking primal had turned and was watching her, its hands on its hips. Its back was facing Simon.

  “You turned them into atrocities against nature. And for that, you are going to pay.”

  “Against nature?”

  The primal rubbed its jaw reflectively.

  “Nature is what I will it to be, human. You should be thanking me. I took your little friends and made them part of something greater. Why, they couldn't be happier now! Imagine, part human and part dragon. A rebirth! I would like to offer you the same gift, but I am afraid that you would be too hard to tame, would you not?”

  Simon watched Liliana's face darken and felt his stomach twist.

  It's baiting you, he thought frantically. Don't let it.

  “Enough talk!” she shouted. “The world will be a cleaner place once you are dead.”

  “Said the ant to the mountain,” the primal laughed. “Come then. I will allow you the first blow.”

  Liliana dropped her head and her hands twisted on her sword hilt. And then to Simon's amazement, her sword began to glow a brilliant silver. A low chime, like a church bell, echoed across the plateau and the paladin bent her knees and glared up at the primal's horrible, grinning face.

  “For my people!” she screamed and leaped forward.

  Simon could barely see her move, she was that fast. Like a streak of light, she shot toward the primal and then jumped at the last moment. Her sword slashed; once, twice and then she had passed the monster and stopped, her sword resting point-first on the ground.

  She fell to one knee, unmoving and the wizard looked back at the primal to gage its reaction.

  “Well, that was very pretty,” it said with amusement. “However, I do not think you accomplished much.”

  It began to turn and then a leg buckled beneath it and it fell to one knee, in almost the same pose as Liliana after her attack.

  The primal bellowed in pain and Simon saw buckets of green blood running from its slashed leg. The paladin had hamstrung it.

  Ear-shattering screams of rage replaced the dragon's mocking laughter and it tried to push itself to its feet. As it began to rise, still roaring with anger and pain, Liliana turned and leaped toward it again.

  The primal reacted faster than Simon believed a being that large could. It swung its massive hand and swatted her away like a man would a fly.

  From where he was crouched, the wizard heard the thud of the blow and winced. Liliana flew back and hit the ground hard, rolling at least twenty feet before she ended up sprawled on her face, motionless.

  Simon looked from his friend's body to the dragon and back again. The primal was still struggling to stand and seemed to be ignoring his victim, so the wizard took a chance and renewed his shield spell. Then he raced across the broken ground until he reached Liliana, keeping one eye in the monster as he went.
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  He gently rolled the paladin over on to her back and hissed as he saw her face.

  She was scraped and bruised. One eye was already swelling and a trickle of blood ran out of her nose. He felt frantically under her jaw for a pulse and finally found one. Her heart was beating too fast, but at least she was alive.

  “Liliana? Can you hear me?” he whispered, forgetting about the monster that was still growling and cursing behind him.

  He shook her lightly, afraid to do more in case she had broken bones or internal injuries. There was no response.

  I have to get her to Clara as soon as I can, he thought desperately. I should have sent her away with the others and faced this nightmare on my own, as always.

  He gently pushed a strand of hair off of the paladin's face.

  “Don't worry,” he whispered. “You'll be okay, I promise.”

  Suddenly his shield collapsed in a shower of sparks and Simon was lifted off of his feet high into the air. His arms were pinned to his sides and his staff fell to the ground far below. The dragon had simply reached down with one horny, scaled hand and picked him up.

  His hair whipped across his eyes as he was turned and found himself only a few yards from the primal's hideous face.

  The creature was scowling with pain but managed a twisted smile.

  “Never turn your back on an enemy in battle, little wizard. Don't you know that?”

  It breath was foul and stinking and Simon turned his face away, trying to breathe.

  “Ah, what is it, insect? Not pretty enough for you?”

  It laughed and then the enormous yellow eyes narrowed. The vertical slits in the center widened as it turned him this way and that, examining him closely.

  “Strange,” it mused to itself. “You do not look any different than any of the other humans I have seen. How could such a puny specimen of a weak species like yours defeat not one but two primal dragons? It is a mystery.”

  “Maybe I know a secret, monster,” Simon said loudly, trying to sound braver than he felt.

  “A secret? What secret is this, little wizard?”