“How much bigger is it?” she asked the rocky little figure that was standing next to her.
Kronk was smiling with pleasure at her compliment and looked away from the new building to stare up at her.
“Almost twice as large, lady mage,” he rumbled politely. “Your choice to expand the castle gives your people a lot of room to grow in the coming years. You may house several thousand humans in there comfortably now. And if you want any renovations, you need simply ask for my master's aid and I am sure that he will send me and the other earthen back to help you.”
There were several people staring across the tops of the trees at the distant castle, including Tamara, her brother Sebastian, Malcolm and Liliana. They had gathered together when the elemental announced that the construction work was finally finished.
“You and your friends have achieved wonders in a very short time, Kronk,” Sebastian told him warmly. “We'll be sending a message down to the dwarven capital later today and with luck they'll start ferrying our people home tomorrow. I'm sure that the excitement level will be very high.”
“My excitement level is pretty damned high right now,” Malcolm told them all with a wide grin. “And Aiden has already started talking about decorating our rooms.”
He rolled his eyes as the others laughed.
“What the hell do I know about curtains and colors? I tried telling him that whatever he decides is fine, but he insists on my input. I predict several loud discussions between us in the near future.”
“Try not to break anything,” Tamara warned as she shook a finger at him. “We're going to be relying on the dwarves for most of our new furniture and I don't want you two breaking things during one of your 'discussions'.”
“No promises,” Malcolm replied with a heavy sigh. “Aiden may look calm on the surface, but get him riled up and that Korean blood in his veins starts to boil.”
Liliana stood apart from the others and stared at the castle, her expression inscrutable. Tamara walked over to her while the two men continued joking with each other and looked at her curiously.
“Is something wrong?” she asked quietly. “You look...less than impressed.”
The paladin shook her head as she kept her eyes on the distant building.
“No, I am very pleased by the results of our elemental friends' efforts. I'm thinking more about what that castle represents.”
“Which is?”
Liliana turned to look directly into Tamara's eyes.
“It's a huge middle finger directed squarely at the gods of Chaos. They used their servants to tear down the old castle and build their dark tower. And now, with the help of the argent dragon, we've destroyed that symbol of the gods' power and rebuilt the castle bigger and better than ever. Don't you think that they will want to retaliate in some way?”
The mage snorted and contemplated their new home.
“How? Their dragons are destroyed; their necromancers as well. And they are still scratching at the wall between the Void and this universe, fighting their endless war with the lords of Justice. What exactly can they do against us now? Our greatest dangers are the many new monsters that are springing up in the world around us, not the old gods.”
Liliana frowned at the almost flippant tone in Tamara's voice.
“And the dragon queen and her new brood? Are you not concerned about that? Couldn't that be the result of the Chaos lords' interference? And what about the goblins and the ogres? The evil gods still have many servants out there in the world.”
The mage's expression darkened.
“Yes, of course I'm concerned. Don't mistake confidence for foolishness, my friend. But we are in a much better position now, especially with the new castle, than we were even a couple of years ago. All of our magic-users are more skillful now; our warriors are as well. We have added several very powerful members to our little community, including the Zhang brothers and the three mages that were living in that cave.”
“And the group from the Caribbean has decided to join us too,” Sebastian added as he joined them. “My sister's right, Liliana. We are much more secure than we've been since the fall of humanity.”
The paladin shook her head and returned to staring at the castle.
“I'm not arguing that,” she told them. “But we are far from being out of danger, and I'm not just talking about random encounters with monsters. Something is happening out there in the world; I can feel it.”
Tamara and Sebastian exchanged worried looks. They had learned not to discount the paladin's hunches; they were often divinely inspired.
“So what do you suggest we do?” Tamara asked.
“I don't know!” Liliana snapped.
She glared at the mage and then her gaze softened.
“I don't know,” she repeated quietly. “But something is coming and we'd best remain vigilant.”
A long uncomfortable silence was finally broken by the sound of Kronk clearing his throat. It was an odd, gravelly sound that grated on the ears.
“Forgive me,” he said in his deep bass voice. “But if you have no further need of me, I would really like to return home. My brethren have already left and I have chores to do. I can only imagine the state of my garden. My master does his best, of course, but the plants are used to my delicate touch.”
The four humans all smiled down at the diminutive figure and Malcolm actually went down on one knee, his armor creaking under his weight.
“I think that I can speak for my friends here when I say that I believe your task is done,” he said with a broad grin.
The warrior extended a hand that was almost as large as Kronk himself and the earthen laid his own hand on Malcolm's palm.
“We will always be grateful to you, Kronk, and to Simon, of course. Tell him to drop by soon when you see him, won't you?”
“Of course, sir warrior,” the elemental said courteously. “I will. And please let him know if you have need of us again and I am sure that he will lend you our aid.”
“Take care, Kronk,” Tamara said.
“Thank you, lady mage. Enjoy your new home.”
And with a final bow, the little guy slipped into the ground and vanished.
“Where would we be without his kind?” Malcolm wondered aloud as he stood up again with a grunt.
“Better to ask where we would be without Simon O'Toole,” Liliana told him. “And the answer is simple enough; we'd all be dead.”
There was a general murmur of agreement and the paladin nodded toward the distant castle.
“And now, if one of you mages would oblige, we should Gate back and make preparations for the arrival of our people.”
“Take Malcolm and Liliana back, would you, Bastian?” Tamara asked. “I'm going to contact Shandon right now and ask him to begin transporting the populace back to the surface.”
“Will do. Lady paladin? Malcolm? Each of you touch one of my shoulders, please,” Sebastian said and then he grinned. “And don't squeeze, Malcolm; I'm going to want that arm later.”
The big man guffawed and delicately put one finger on the mage's shoulder. Liliana touched the other one and all three disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Tamara to stare pensively at the castle.
“What is that?” Aeris said as he pointed at the horizon.
He was flying several hundred feet above what used to be Death Valley in Nevada, Brethia and Orriss in formation on either side.
“What is what?” Brethia responded.
“There, that cloud of dust. The air is still here: something has to be stirring it up.”
“Well, let us go and look, shall we?” she asked practically. “That is why we are here, after all.”
“Follow me,” Aeris told them and he shot ahead and lost height at the same time.
The two other air elementals trailed along behind, making a v-shaped formation in the clear blue sky. They accelerated so quickly that they left little contrails behind them, marking their flight path.
“I miss this
sometimes,” Orriss said as they continued to descend toward the distant plume of dust.
“What do you mean?” Aeris asked without taking his eyes off of his target.
“This. Flying with others, exploring as a group. We are so solitary when we scout that I'd almost forgotten the joy of working with my fellows.”
Brethia laughed delicately.
“You do have a point,” she said. “We're stronger together, after all. But our wizard has very few tasks for us to tackle as a group, so let's enjoy this moment for what it is.”
“May I remind you two of the gravity of the situation?” Aeris said over his shoulder. “Corriss is dead and the dragon queen is trying to hatch a new brood of primals. Enjoyment is the last thing we should have on our minds.”
“Don't you think I know that?” Orriss said angrily as he glared at Aeris. “He was my brother, after all. But forgive me if I try to find some light in the midst of my grief. I shall not mention it again.”
The group came to a halt as Aeris slowed to a stop.
“You're right, my friend,” he said contritely to Orriss. “That was insensitive of me. Perhaps Kronk is correct: I'm getting crusty in my old age.”
Orriss glowered at him for a moment and then smiled reluctantly.
“Forget it. And old age is a concept that none of us will ever really understand. Now lead on and let's find out what is stirring up all that dust.”
“Right. Follow me.”
The trio set off again with Aeris taking point. They sped toward the plume of dust and, as they closed the distance, the three faded into invisibility.
“Can't the dragon queen see us when we're hidden like this?” Brethia asked.
“Possibly,” Aeris responded. “But it doesn't hurt to try. I believe that our dear wizard would say 'better safe than sorry'. An odd phrase but appropriate in this situation.”
Aeris leveled them off at about a hundred feet above the ground and they zoomed along over the broken landscape. Small hills and abrupt valleys made the countryside tricky to scout; there were places where a creature of almost any size could hide.
“Hold up a minute,” Aeris told the others. “I've lost sight of that dust cloud.”
The three elementals stopped and scanned the horizon. They could, of course, easily see each other through their invisibility fields and all of them were frowning in confusion at the lack of dust sign.
“How could it dissipate so quickly?” Orriss wondered as he spun in a slow circle. “Dust doesn't do that.”
“No but smoke can,” Brethia told him. “We might have mistaken one for the other.”
“Either way, this is the direction that the plume came from,” Aeris told them. “So where is the source?”
They continued on, more slowly this time. The heat rose in waves from the ground and made distant objects ripple and distort as the elementals carefully examined all of the land around them.
Scrub brush, dessicated trees, brown grasses and dry rock; that was all that could be seen for miles in every direction. The entire country seemed to be entirely lifeless, and content to remain that way.
“Does it ever rain here?” Orriss asked in a subdued voice. “I mean, those little trees and plants grew once upon a time, didn't they?”
“It actually does rain occasionally,” Aeris informed him. “A handful of times a year. Just enough to encourage growth and then kill it again. A savage place.”
“Agreed,” Brethia told them both. “Also a perfect spot to incubate dragon eggs. The shells are fireproof and the embryos must be kept as hot as possible. Why the dragon queen didn't just lay her brood in the heart of an active volcano is beyond me.”
Aeris gave her an amused glance.
“That would be a little too hot, even for dragon eggs,” he said with a chuckle. “But you're right; this desert is just about ideal for a nest.”
Brethia stopped abruptly and pointed.
“Like that one, perhaps?” she asked with sudden excitement.
Aeris and Orriss followed her gaze and saw what she was pointing at; a circular formation of rocks laid out perfectly in the burning sands, surrounded by dead plants and shrubs.
It was over a mile away but an air elemental's vision was keener than that of an eagle and they all saw the details clearly.
“That might be the nest,” Orriss agreed. “But where are the eggs?”
“Buried would be my guess,” Aeris said. “There are often wind storms out here that could easily cover the shells. Or the queen herself might have done it; to keep them warm or hide them from the sight of predators.”
Orriss scanned the empty skies.
“What predators?” he asked rhetorically. “This entire section of the country is desolate.”
“Another reason why the queen might have chosen it.”
“Let's discuss her motivations later, shall we?” Brethia told them. “We have to get closer to confirm that it actually is the dragon's nest. For all we know, it could be something else; a wyvern nest or possibly that of a gryphon.”
“Too hot for either of them,” Aeris told them as he started moving toward the nest. “Their eggs wouldn't survive.”
The others followed him and they flew in a V formation again, descending as they went.
“I see no sign of movement,” Orriss said nervously. “What caused that cloud of dust?”
“Be quiet,” Aeris told him in a low voice. “If it was the queen, she may still be nearby and draconic hearing is excellent.”
They stopped completely as they reached the site and all of them looked down at the circular pattern of rocks fifty feet below them.
“It could just be a natural formation,” Brethia said in a whisper.
“Possibly. I certainly don't see any sign of eggs,” Aeris replied. “But again, they could be buried under a foot of dirt.”
“Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?” Orriss stated.
He recklessly shot straight down toward the ground, obviously intent on digging for the eggs.
“Orriss! Wait!” Aeris shouted at him. “It isn't safe...”
His warning fell on deaf ears. Orriss was too intent on tracking down his brother's killer to listen and he was determined to find that cursed dragon's nest.
Both Aeris and Brethia watched fearfully as the elemental descended like a falling star. He might have been precipitous in his actions, but Orriss wasn't crazy; he moved with the speed of lightning. And that was what probably saved his life.
To one side of the nest, the sand exploded upward and a mammoth form erupted into the sunlight, shooting out of the ground straight up at Orriss. A bellow shook the air and gaping jaws extended to swallow the hapless elemental.
Without any time to backtrack or dodge, Orriss did the only thing that he could do; he increased his speed. Angling his body slightly to the right, the air elemental actually entered the forest of razor-sharp fangs that sought to crush him and zoomed out the other side. He slammed into the ground and skittered along the top of the loose soil for a dozen yards before righting himself and racing skyward again.
The serpentine body of the dragon queen, all one hundred feet of her, writhed and twisted as she searched for the intruder. But Orriss had proven to be too swift for her and he managed to escape her grasp.
With a scream of frustrated rage, the great wyrm dove back into the desert floor and disappeared from sight, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind her.
The sudden silence was almost as shocking as the attack had been and Aeris and Brethia were left staring wide-eyed at the hole created by the dragon.
“Well, that was a little too close for comfort.”
Both elementals spun around to see Orriss flying back toward them wearing a relieved grin. His smile was wiped away by Aeris' furious glare.
“Too close for comfort? You fool! You absolute idiot! I told you to wait, didn't I? The dragon queen is evil, and possibly insane, but she is also cunning in her madness. That was almost
guaranteed to be a trap and you waltzed right into it. You're lucky that you didn't join your brother in death.”
Before Orriss could respond, Brethia surged forward and he backed off in surprise.
“Do you have a death wish? Is that what this is about, Orriss?” she asked with angry intensity. “I have lost too many friends over the years to want to lose one more. So please, tell me if you seek to die so that I can at least prepare myself for the grief to come.”
Beneath their expressions of concern and consternation, Orriss lowered his eyes and shrugged uncomfortably.
“Do I seek death? No, I don't think so,” he said quietly, bobbing in the gentle breeze that blew by them. “I want vengeance, yes, and I won't lie about that. But what good would it do my brother for me to throw away my life stupidly? I half expected the mad queen to be guarding her nest, which is why I moved so quickly. So at least we know that we were right about its location. Right?”
He smiled tentatively at the others and Aeris finally rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.
“Yes, you were right. But the way you went about proving it was foolish. Never do that again, or I swear that I will have our wizard send you straight home immediately. Is that understood?”
Orriss nodded vigorously.
“Good. And do what you are told, would you? We all want the same thing; to stop that monster from creating a new group of primals. So let's work together as a team.”
“I will, Aeris. I promise you.”
“Fine. Okay, so now that we know that the eggs must be down there, the question is what to do about it?”
“Should we contact our wizard?” Brethia asked as she scanned the area around the nest.
There was no sign of the dragon queen but none of them were fooled. She was down there, lurking just out of sight.
“I think that might actually be the best thing that we can do right now,” Aeris replied thoughtfully. “Or we could, you know, lure her away from the nest and destroy the eggs ourselves.”
Brethia looked lost for words for a moment and then spluttered a response.
“What? Aeris, you just got through berating Orriss for his foolish behavior and now you want to do something even crazier?”
The Queen of Dragons (Tales from the New Earth Book 8) Page 5
