Simon finished eating and looked down the table at the others. The two sisters were sitting apart from everyone else, speaking quietly. Neither had eaten anything and both seemed even paler after they had finished presenting their proposal.
Tamara and Sebastian were seated near the center of the table speaking with Liliana and Captain Martelli, who had arrived with the servers. Apparently she had been brought up to speed on the plan and now was speaking intently with the others, frowning as she tapped the table with her forefinger, making some sort of point.
“That's the whole reason for wanting to use the powers of Virginia and her friends,” Simon said to Aiden. “If a group could approach invisibly and take the guards by surprise, we could be inside before an alarm was sounded. It would definitely give us a strategic advantage.”
“For how long though?” Malcolm wondered as he traced patterns absently on the tabletop with his fingertip. “And would it be enough? There is no way to know how many enemies are in there, where they are and, more importantly, what they are. Monsters? Spell-casters? Demons? Who the hell knows? Ignorance of an enemy's strength is a bad way to start a battle, my friend.”
Simon became quiet and thought about the proposal. The sisters believed that the ruins of Nottinghill Castle and the tower that had been erected there was where they would find the leaders of the armies of undead roaming the Earth; possibly even the master necromancer who was leading the entire thing. When someone had asked why they assumed that one person was in command of all of the forces, Veronique had been the one to answer.
“It's sound military thinking,” she'd said. “Too many cooks spoil the broth, I believe is the old saying. If you do not focus command through one ultimate leader, your efforts become scattered, wasted. And that can often lead to chaos and disorder. No, my sister and I believe that only one person runs the show; in the name of the dark gods, of course.”
“She was right, you know,” Aiden said suddenly.
Simon looked at him in surprise.
“Who was right?” he asked.
“Veronique. I don't know if she had any formal military training back in her previous life, but my Change has given me a grasp of tactics and the efficient use of troops that I never had in the old days. And she's right. Any army needs a leader, a single focus. The question is, is that leader holed up inside that misshapen tower?”
“Funny,” the wizard said. “I was thinking the same thing. And I'm trying to think of good arguments as to why that person couldn't be in there.”
Malcolm looked at him quizzically.
“Why? Don't you want to find him or her?”
“Of course I do, but you saw the tower, didn't you? Tamara said that all of you had gotten a good look at it thanks to the dwarves' technology.”
The big man scowled and nodded.
“Yes, the king was good enough to take us to their communications hub. Amazing place, by the way. Reminded me of an old-style television studio. Except that, apparently, their devices are run by magic, not electricity. Somehow they've managed to send a probe to the surface far enough away from the tower to be undetected by our enemies. It's a horrible place.”
“I know. I saw it using the Magic Mirror spell. My point is that the tower is huge. It must be thirty or forty stories high. How many levels will we have to climb to reach the top, the logical place for their leader to be waiting? Do we have enough power to make it? And if we do, what kind of shape will we be in when we get there? Because I guarantee you, that person, whoever they are, has to be incredibly powerful.”
“Not too powerful for you, sir wizard,” Malcolm stated confidently. “A man who can take down a dragon will be more than a match for some scummy necromancer.”
Aiden elbowed his partner hard in the midriff and Malcolm grunted in surprise.
“You'll have to excuse him,” Aiden said to Simon. “He still thinks we're living in some sort of fairy tale, instead of a world where life and death often hang by a thread.”
“Stop poking me! I meant what I said. Our friend is a great wizard and I have faith in him.”
“Guys, please. No squabbling,” Simon said with a tired smile. “You're reminding me more and more of my elemental friends, Kronk and Aeris. Look, I appreciate the vote of confidence but, wizard or not, I'm just one guy. We have to act as a group in this and not rely on one person. Because if we do, I can almost promise you that we'll fail.”
Both warriors stared at him, becoming more serious. Malcolm nodded thoughtfully and Aiden's normally cheerful face became grim.
“Sorry Simon, but the two of us tend to cover up our nerves with jokes and banter,” he told the wizard. “But we do know how dangerous this plan is.”
Before he got a chance to answer, the three men were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking at the doorway. They looked across the room curiously.
“Well, speak of the devil,” Malcolm murmured with a grin.
Simon recognized the striking blond woman standing just inside the room. It was Virginia. And standing right behind here, crowding into the doorway, were her three friends; Anna, Eric and Gerard.
“Did someone ask them to join us?” Aiden wondered in surprise.
“Probably,” Simon replied. “I didn't notice but I doubt that their appearance is mere coincidence.”
Tamara was motioning for the quartet to enter the conference room and they did so with some hesitation. Anna seemed especially nervous and Simon recalled that she had always been the most introverted of the group.
“Everyone, look who's here,” the mage announced.
Virginia, the natural leader of the four friends, smiled at them all. She was still one of the most beautiful women that Simon had ever met. She was also very grounded and self-assured.
“Grab a seat, folks,” Sebastian told them. “And serve yourselves if you want anything to eat or drink.”
“Thanks Bastian,” Eric told him. “But we've just finished lunch.”
Eric was the largest of the group, slim, pale and dark-haired. He glanced down the table and gave Simon a subtle wink.
Anna sat down as quickly as she could and curled up in her chair. Tiny, with bright red hair and freckles across her nose, she looked younger than all of them. Her bright eyes darted around the room, looking from person to person. When she saw Simon, she smiled tremulously and he grinned reassuringly in return. He'd always felt very protective of the little woman.
Gerard sat in the seat closest to Anna. He was always watching out for her, like an older brother, although he wasn't much bigger than she was. With his white-blond hair and pale skin, Gerard looked almost ethereal compared to the others; ghost-like.
Simon noticed that none of the quartet wore robes like other magic-users. Instead they were dressed like the normal townspeople; plain tunics and blouses and leather pants. Anna was wearing a skirt and everyone wore the leather shoes made by the dwarves.
“They always look so ordinary,” he said softly.
“I'm pretty sure that they like it that way,” Aiden replied under his breath. “They've never wanted to draw attention to themselves.”
“Besides,” Malcolm added, “even when there isn't a dampening field stifling their magic, they rarely use their powers. Why dress or act like a spell-caster when you so rarely use that gift?”
Simon replied with a non-committal grunt and waited until everyone got settled.
“Sylvie? Veronique?” Tamara said. “Did you want to explain to the Fearsome Foursome why they're here?”
Virginia and her friends all laughed at the title and everyone else joined in. Simon could feel the atmosphere lighten immediately and silently thanked Tamara for breaking the tension.
“Really, Tammy?” Virginia asked from across the table. “The Fearsome Foursome? Ugh. Please never use that one again. Anyway, there's no need to rehash your plan for the four of us; we already know the general details.”
“You do? How?”
“Jackson,” Eric answered with
a little smile. “He's nosy and has a big mouth.”
“Eric!” Anna gasped. “You're going to get him into trouble!”
Tamara snorted in disgust.
“When isn't that man in trouble? Don't worry, Anna. We're all well aware of Jackson's gossipy nature.”
“Besides,” Sebastian cut in, “it's not a secret. If he passed along the information to you and brought you all up to speed, so much the better.”
His sister looked at him hard and he held her fierce gaze until she reluctantly nodded.
“Yes, I suppose that's true enough. Fine then, I won't say anything too harshly to him. This time.”
She turned to look at Virginia and the others.
“So, since you know what we propose, what do you think? Is it a viable plan?”
Virginia looked at her friends, all of whom made encouraging motions for her to stand up. She rolled her eyes at them and pushed herself to her feet.
“Viable? Maybe. But Tammy, it barely is a plan yet. I mean fine, we can get you into the tower undetected; maybe. But what then? What kind of forces await within? How many? Will we be forced to battle our way to the very top of the tower? And if so, how many of us will survive the journey?”
“Simon was just saying something similar,” Malcolm boomed out from his seat.
The wizard sighed and pushed back his hair as everyone looked down the table at him.
“Thanks,” he muttered to the big man.
“What did I do? Ouch!”
Aiden had elbowed Malcolm in the ribs again.
Virginia laughed lightly at their antics and caught Simon's eye.
“Yes, I'm not surprised that our only wizard was thinking ahead. You've always been an excellent strategist, Simon.”
He stood up slowly and decided to move toward the doorway. Once he was standing near the end of the table, he turned around to look at everyone.
“My strategies have consisted mostly of dumb luck,” he said to Virginia. “Dumb luck and faithful allies. But Malcolm was correct; I was worried about the same things that you are. If we go into that tower blind, I'm afraid that we may not come back out. I've faced a necromancer once; well, waves of his minions, at least. And his most powerful servant, a lich. It was a horrible experience and not one I'm looking forward to repeating.”
He scanned the faces of the others in the room.
“And almost everyone who was with me back then has died since. It's a dangerous place, this New Earth of ours, and I'm not at all sure that we should go looking for even more peril; God knows it will come to us eventually.”
“So what are you saying? That we should just huddle together down here until the surface is a barren wasteland?” Tamara asked angrily. “Because you know that once that's achieved, the Chaos lords' servants will be tunneling down here after us.”
“They're already doing that,” Liliana reminded her.
“Not in very great numbers. Not yet. But when the surface is 'cleansed'? Then we few here, and the dwarves, will be all that stands between the Darkness and total domination over the Earth. Personally I don't want to wait for that to happen. Do any of you?”
Simon pushed his hair off of his face again and leaned against his staff. He was feeling tired again, but it was a mental fatigue more than a physical one.
“Tamara, I'm not saying I want to wait for that. In fact, I agree with you.”
“You do?” she replied in surprise.
“Of course I do. Because you're right; if we try to wait it out, one day soon the forces of evil will be knocking on the front gate of Kingstone and that will be the end of all of us. What I am saying is, we need more intelligence, more data. We need to know what the hell is in that tower.”
“And how do you propose getting that information?” Sylvie asked.
Simon smiled grimly at all of them.
“By getting someone inside to take a look around.”
Chapter 18
“Are you sure that this is the right move?”
Simon was standing in a transport yard, a place where the dwarves maintained several tunnels that served as conduits for their drilling machines. Tamara and Liliana were with him, as was Shandon Ironhand.
“Reasonably,” he replied to Liliana's question. “I can't do anything down here. I need to get back to my tower, tap into the magic and start the ball rolling if this plan of ours is to have any chance of succeeding.”
“I still think that having a few of my warriors go along with you would be prudent, lad,” the king rumbled.
His bodyguards stood around the small group in a loose circle, keeping an eye on the workers busily preparing a drill for travel.
“I appreciate the offer, Shandon, but I'll be fine. If I'm being spied on, and I think that is quite possible, then the appearance of dwarves at my tower might tip off the enemy. And that's the last thing we want to happen.”
“Very well, sir wizard,” the dwarf replied reluctantly. “We'll do it your way. You have my permission to contact me with your magic when you have news.”
He shook a thick finger in mock severity at Simon.
“Don't abuse it. Some of my councilors would tear their beards out if they heard that I'd allowed such a thing.”
“Probably do them some good,” Tamara muttered.
“Anyway,” Simon interjected quickly, looking at the mage and Liliana, “while I'm gone, both of you need to decide who should come on this mad quest of ours and who should remain safely here. Fortunately Virginia and the others agreed to get us inside, sight unseen, or this plan wouldn't even get off the ground. But we'll need a strong force once we do enter the tower. Mages, warriors, at least one healer...”
“A scout would help,” Liliana told him. “Someone to move ahead of the main group and check for guards or traps.”
“I've got that covered, I think,” Simon told her.
One of the workers approached the king and bowed, rattling off several sentences in dwarvish.
“Your drill is ready, my friend,” Shandon told him. “You will be home in less than a day.”
Simon thanked him and they shook hands warmly.
“Try not to die up there,” the king said with the merest suggestion of a smile peeking through his beard. “I have very few friends and I've become rather fond of you, sir wizard.”
“I'll do my best,” Simon replied with a wink.
The dwarf rumbled with laughter, waved and walked away quickly, his escort hurrying to keep up.
“He's got a point,” Tamara said after the dwarves had marched off. “Watch yourself, Simon. If the forces of Chaos get the merest hint that we are planning something, they will go after you first. Keep your head down.”
“You always know the right thing to say,” Simon replied teasingly.
She chuckled, shook his hand firmly and stepped back.
“It would be redundant for me to repeat what they just said,” Liliana told him.
She rested a hand on the hilt of the sword on her hip as she scanned the transport yard, always alert for trouble.
“But I think that I can reassure you somewhat before you go.”
“In what way?”
The paladin lowered her voice so that none of the busy workers could hear her.
“I had a visitor a few nights ago, in my dreams,” she murmured. “And according to her, your 'friend' Lacertus has been neutralized.”
“What?”
Simon stared at her, open-mouthed.
“But how? He's a god.”
“Only a very tiny one,” Liliana said dismissively. “Our friends in high places assure me that he was recalled for 'punishment', I believe was the term. Apparently his superiors were less than impressed that he let a mere human get away. So there's one less thing for you to worry about.”
Simon looked over at the drilling machine. It was about ten feet high and thirty feet long, basically the size of an old city bus. Both ends were rifled to cut through rock and were serrated and brutal looking. Its met
al skin glittered as if freshly polished and, standing next to an open door in its side, the pilot was watching him. The dwarf, wearing the leather apron of the tradesman, looked a bit impatient and was rocking back and forth on his heels.
“Well, that's amazing news. I just hope that your sources are right. It couldn't have just been a dream brought on by indigestion, could it?”
The paladin raised a mailed fist in a mock threat and Simon had up his hands with a wide smile.
“Okay, okay. Just kidding. But seriously though, thank you. That creature has been on my mind lately and now at least I have one less thing to worry about.”
The paladin nodded and warmly clasped his hand.
“No need to thank me, Simon. I'm just the messenger. Take care and hopefully we'll see you again soon.”
“You can count on it.”
The wizard turned and walked over to the drill. The driver jumped to attention and nodded.
“Are you ready to leave, sir wizard?” he asked through his thick, brown beard.
“I am. You know where our destination is?”
“Certainly. The king gave me the coordinates himself.”
The dwarf seemed very pleased at such a gesture and his chest puffed up with pride.
“Good. Then let's get to it.”
Simon turned back to look at Tamara and Liliana. He waved one last time and then climbed into the drill, eager to get home.
The drill might have been efficient and a marvel of magical engineering, but it was incredibly uncomfortable to travel in. Simon spent hours strapped into a metal seat with a very thin cushion being whipped from side to side and up and down. He was positive that he'd be bruised for days after he got back home.
The operator, whose name turned out to be Dollin, stopped once to let Simon eat and stretch his legs. There was a tiny lavatory that the wizard used as well. It was at least serviceable, if not comfortable.
Near the end of the journey, Simon became so used to the rough ride that he fell asleep and it was the sudden cessation of noise and vibration that woke him up.
“We have arrived, sir wizard,” Dollin called back from the pilot's cabin. “Just at daybreak as well, if that matters to you.”
The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) Page 21
