“Well, that's just...” Simon's voice trailed off and then he turned and focused on the trail ahead. “Thank you,” he said simply.
“You are quite welcome, my dear wizard. After all, someone in this family has to be the sensible one, doesn't he? And it certainly won't be you or that earthen lunkhead.”
Simon managed to return to Nottinghill before nightfall, barely. The guard at the front gate opened it just wide enough for Chief to squeeze through and then slammed it shut behind him, bolting it securely.
“Is Clara still in the hall?” he asked.
“I assume so, sir wizard,” the guard replied. It was the young woman, Lynn. She looked tense and kept glancing up at the darkening sky.
“Thanks,” Simon said and urged Chief up the road at a trot.
Once he'd reached the town hall and tied the horse outside, Simon slipped into the building, savoring the sudden rush of heat that enveloped him. Aeris floated in with him and looked across the large room to the central fire pit.
Clara was pacing near the fire, hands behind her back, staring down at the floor as she walked. Standing on a bench nearby was a little craggy figure who was watching her with his arms folded. It was Kronk.
Simon grinned as he saw his friend and hurried over.
“So you made it in one piece, I see,” he said to the little guy as he approached. Kronk jumped a bit in surprise and then his face split into a large smile.
“Master! You're back. I am so pleased. The lady cleric told me that you had gone to investigate the source of the undead. Against her wishes, I might add. That was very reckless.”
The wizard greeted Clara with a wink. She smiled tightly in return but looked relieved to see him return unharmed.
“I don't know about reckless,” Simon said as he sat down next to the elemental. He put his staff and saddlebags next to him. “But you're right. Clara was very...vigorous in her objections to my going. But as you both can see,” he looked from Kronk to the cleric, “I'm back safe and sound.”
Clara stopped pacing.
“And what did you find out?” she asked as she took a seat on a bench across from Simon.
“That we wasted our time,” Aeris said tartly as he floated over to hover beside Kronk. The two elementals exchanged nods.
“What?”
“Aeris, you're wrong,” Simon told him. “We learned that the undead are not coming from the town to the west, Clara. Their tracks cut through the settlement, but come from somewhere beyond that.”
The cleric leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
“Any idea where?”
“Nope. My sweet-tongued friend here has offered to scout it out tomorrow, once the sun has risen, so maybe we'll find out.”
Simon stood up and stretched, working the kinks out after his long ride. Clara watched him with some amusement.
“Hard day in the saddle?”
Simon chuckled and rubbed his backside.
“You could say that. I haven't ridden that much in months. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.”
“Well, I may be able to help with that,” she said. “But in the meantime, we've got about an hour before full dark and I've made some stew to warm you up.” She stood up. “Come on back and we'll eat while we have time.”
“Stew sounds wonderful right about now,” the wizard said and, grabbing his gear, followed her to her quarters, the elementals trailing along behind them.
As they ate the hearty venison stew, along with freshly baked bread and the inevitable tea, Clara explained the town's defenses.
“We've got a routine now,” she told him. “Richard and the other guards try to sleep in the afternoon so that they'll be fresh overnight. We're down to less than forty souls now in Nottinghill, of which ten are willing to act as guards.”
She offered Simon some bread and then buttered a slice for herself.
“I wish we didn't need any troops at all, you know.”
“I understand.” Simon chewed reflectively. “It seems like we're repeating the patterns of the old world, doesn't it? The need for police and then soldiers and then, well, who know?”
“Exactly. But we need protection, so guardsmen we must have. At any rate, Richard and three of his people will man the front gate and four more will watch the smaller one in the back. The two daytime guards will get some sleep, but are ready to be called out if we need them.”
Clara cleaned her plate with a slice of bread and then sipped some tea.
“I'll be checking both gates regularly all night, in case my powers are needed,” she added.
Simon sat back with a sigh.
“Wonderful meal, Clara. Thank you.”
She nodded and smiled appreciatively.
“But how can you stay up all day and all night?” he asked. “You need sleep too, don't you?”
“I slept today,” she said. “And I nap at night, Don't worry, Simon. The old gods have given me the strength to get through this.”
Clara got up and started to clear the table, waving Simon back into his seat when he tried to help. When she was done, they sat companionably with their tea, each thinking their own thoughts.
“What about your defenses, lady?” Aeris asked suddenly. He and Kronk were watching from the couch. “How are your guards driving the undead back?”
“Driving them back?” Clara looked a little confused. “You can't drive them back, Aeris. They are relentless. They only stop if they are destroyed, or when the sun rises.”
“So you use fire?” Simon asked grimly.
“Yes, fire. All of the guards will be on the wall, each armed with arrows dipped in tar. They burn well. Torches in front of the gates are kept lit all night so they have light to shoot by. We have a line of hay bales soaked in oil just inside the gates if they somehow get through the fire arrows.” She scowled. “They hate fire, obviously. If they manage to get over the gates, lighting the bales will hold them back long enough for the guards to deal with them.”
“Does that actually work?” Kronk spoke up in his rumbling voice.
“It has so far,” Clara said. “They don't attack in a group, you know. One or two stagger out of the darkness to attack. They are fairly easy to manage.”
Simon stared thoughtfully at the darkened window framed by pretty drapes covered in flowers.
“So it's like they are each being raised in turn and sent off to attack you,” he mused. “That's interesting.”
The cleric looked at him in surprise.
“I hadn't thought of it like that. But you're right. It is as if someone or something starts the undead moving one by one.”
She shivered suddenly and Simon raised an eyebrow.
“It's nothing,” Clara said with a tight smile. “It's just that you make it sound like we're being deliberately attacked. As if something out there in the darkness is consciously trying to destroy us.”
“Perhaps something is,” he said soberly. “Those corpses are coming from somewhere, and it isn't from that town that Aeris and I checked out. Where are they coming from? And why? And why now? Maybe I'm overly suspicious, but my being attacked by those dragons and now the town being attacked by the undead seems a little too coincidental.”
“You think they're related?”
He shrugged.
“Anything's possible in this crazy new world we live in.”
Clara finished her tea and got up.
“I hope you're wrong, Simon. I really do. The dead rising to attack is a nightmare, but it's somehow easier to accept than the thought of them being animated for the sole purpose of attacking Nottinghill.”
“I agree,” he said. “But until we find the source of these things, we won't know for sure.”
“Don't worry, my dear wizard,” Aeris said from the couch. “I'll locate the source for you. And then you'll have your answers.”
“I hope so,” Clara told them. “But let's worry about all of that tomorrow. I've made up the bed in the room you stayed in before, Simon. You
should get some sleep, my friend. You're barely staying awake as it is.”
“Sleep?”
Simon rose a bit unsteadily and squinted at her, his vision foggy with exhaustion.
“I can't sleep while the town is being attacked!”
Clara took his arm and led him to the guest bedroom. Inside, a candle burned by the bed, its flame flickering and making the shadows jump and move.
“Of course you can,” she told him. “Look, if we need your help, I'll call you. There's no reason to overexert yourself after the long day you've had. Get your rest and, the gods willing, tomorrow we'll get some answers to this whole thing.”
The bed does look comfortable, Simon thought. He gave in with a tired smile.
“Okay, you've got a point. But you will call me if you need me, right?”
The cleric gave him a gentle push toward the bed.
“Yes Simon, I will. Now, good night. I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well.”
“Thanks, Clara. Good luck out there.”
Chapter 10
Simon awoke in pitch darkness to someone shouting in his ear.
“Wake up, master. Please wake up.”
“Hmmf. Wha..?” he mumbled, groping at the air above him.
Suddenly he yelped as he was hit by a sharp blow to the head.
“Hey!” Simon exclaimed as he sat up abruptly, staring wildly around. The candle had gone out and the drapes were tightly closed over the window.
“Don't hit him!” a voice protested. It was Kronk.
“It woke him up, didn't it?” Aeris asked sharply.
There was a sudden radiance that lit the room weakly. Simon realized with some surprise that the air elemental had taken on a shine that illuminated the area enough to see by.
“Hey, I didn't know you could do that,” Simon said thickly.
“Well, I can. Now for goodness sake, get your skinny wizardly ass out of bed!”
Simon pushed back the covers and planted his feet on the cold wooden floor. Kronk jumped off of the pillow where he'd been trying to wake up the wizard and thumped to the ground.
“Now, what is going on? What time is it?” Simon asked, still groggy and weak from lack of sleep.
“We're under attack, master,” Kronk told him quickly. He was bouncing with anxiety.
Simon ran his fingers through his tangled hair, wincing as he pulled out knots.
“But surely Clara and the others expected that, didn't they? If they needed help, they were supposed to call me.”
As he spoke, the wizard stood up and groped around until he found his robe. The glow from Aeris didn't light things up very much.
“They can't call you, Simon,” Aeris told him. He watched as the wizard got dressed, bobbing in midair.
“Why not?”
Simon found his socks, pulled them on and reached for his boots.
“They are too busy, master. The undead are about to overwhelm them.”
“What?” Simon exclaimed as he grabbed his saddlebags and searched through them until he found his spell-book.
“Clara said that there were only a handful of undead that had attacked over the last few nights.”
He picked up Bene-Dunn-Gal and hurried into the main room of Clara's quarters. Her small fireplace glowed with barely burning embers and, as he entered, Simon could hear shouts and screaming coming from outside.
“That may have been true, but tonight they have come in force,” Aeris told him as the two elementals followed the wizard.
Simon took his coat off of a hook on the wall and turned to look at them.
“In force? How many?” he asked as he struggled into his jacket.
“Dozens, master,” Kronk said gravely. “They are attacking in waves. All of the townspeople have been called out to help, but I fear they will not be able to contain the monsters at the gates.”
“Damn it!” Simon muttered. He opened the door to the hall and hurried out. The fire was still burning brightly in the fire pit and he hurried to this light source and knelt down, opening his spell-book frantically.
“Hurry up!” Aeris barked at him. “They don't have much time out there.”
“Hang on a minute,” Simon said as he flipped through the pages. “Unless you just want me out there beating the damned things over the head with my staff, I have to memorize some spells.”
“Leave him alone,” Kronk told Aeris crossly. “Master knows what he is doing.”
“Let's hope so,” Aeris muttered.
Simon ignored him as he scanned the spells.
“Fire. Anything to do with fire,” he said to himself. He found the spells he thought would be most useful and set them in his memory as quickly as possible. After firmly locking three into his mind, Simon paused as a wild idea came to him.
He considered it for a second, shrugged and flipped to the appropriate spell and memorized it. Then he slipped the book into an inside pocket and stood up.
“I'm ready,” he said nervously. “Let's go.”
“Finally,” he heard Aeris say as they ran for the exit.
“Be quiet,” Kronk told him firmly and Simon smiled a bit at the little guy.
The three of them burst out of the town hall and were met with a scene of chaos.
Simon skidded to a halt, appalled at what he saw.
Down the narrow road in the distance, he could see the main gate. Bundles of burning hay lit up the area and Simon saw people running in and out of the light, mixed in with unidentifiable shapes that seemed to be chasing them. The shouts and screams were horrific.
To his right, he heard more shouting coming from the rear gate, but it was more muted and Simon assumed that the main attack was centered at the front gate.
He turned and looked at the two elementals.
“I want you two to get to the small gate and give them any help you can. Aeris, if things get out of hand back there, come and get me. All right?”
Both of them looked at him with wide eyes and nodded simultaneously. Kronk raised his arms and slipped into the earth with barely a sound while Aeris spared Simon one long look and then disappeared with a quiet pop.
The wizard turned and raced toward the main gate. As he ran, he passed several of the townspeople. Two men were carrying a young woman toward the hall. His stomach churned as he saw the bloody mess of her face. They didn't even notice him.
As Simon approached the gate, he heard Clara's voice clearly, rising above the shouting and howls that rang through the air. She was chanted something unintelligible and finished with a word that made the very ground quiver under his feet.
A bright, silver light flooded the area and Simon shielded his eyes from the glare. Through his fingers, he saw figures that were gathered in front of the gate begin to shriek, their screams a nightmare mixture of hunger and rage. Then they seemed to fall in on themselves and crumbled into dust.
The light faded and, for a moment, there was silence. Only the sound of the burning hay bales and someone's sobbing could be heard.
“Simon! Over here!” he heard and ran forward to the right of the gate where Clara was being supported by Richard.
The big man's armor was stained and covered with soot and several deep scratches. Simon shuddered as he looked at what were plainly claw marks.
Clara tried to smile and failed as she clung to Richard, her breathing painful to hear. She looked frail and exhausted. The armored man was watching her with obvious concern.
“What's happening?” Simon asked as he reached them. “Where are Virginia and the others?”
“They're holding the rear gate,” Richard told him, still looking at the cleric. “Between the four of them, I think that they'll be able to stem the tide back there. The main attack is here.”
He looked up and Simon followed his gaze. On the walkway inside the wall, several guardsmen armed with bows were looking out into the darkness.
“Any more of those bastards?” Richard called up to them.
“Nothing yet, sir,” on
e of them answered. “But we can hear something out there. A low rumble or something.”
“More trouble,” Richard muttered. “Keep your eyes open,” he shouted back at them. One of them waved in acknowledgment.
“Clara, are you okay?” Simon asked.
The cleric smiled a bit tremulously.
“Fine. I'm fine. That Turn Undead spell just...takes a bit out of me, that's all.”
Simon didn't think she looked fine at all. He caught Richard's eye and the big man shook his head slightly.
“Why not sit for a moment?” the wizard suggested. “It looks like there's a lull in the attack.”
“Good idea,” Richard said. He helped Clara over to a crate that was pushed up against the wall and she sat down with a relieved sigh.
“Thank you. I do need to catch my breath.”
Clara closed her eyes for a moment and rubbed a hand over her face.
“I don't understand what is happening,” Richard said to Simon. “We've destroyed dozens of the monsters and they just keep coming. Why so many? And where are they coming from? Clara said that you found signs that they weren't from the local cemetery?”
Simon leaned on his staff and looked around the area before he answered. A half-dozen of the townspeople were pushing more oil-soaked bales of hay to the front of the gate, leaving a space of a dozen feet for anything that climbed the gate to be trapped in. There were piles of scorched bones and the burnt remnants of clothing blowing around in the cold wind.
“That's right. That little graveyard was still intact. The tracks of these things came from beyond the town.”
“But from where?”
Richard banged his fist into his palm, the sound of his gauntlets clashing dully.
“There have been no more that ten or twelve of these creatures attacking over the past three nights. And now, we have a bloody horde of the things. Why?”
Simon had a sudden uncomfortable thought. It seemed a bit absurd but...
“Maybe it was me,” he told the two of them. “Maybe when I followed their trail, it, I don't know, set them off somehow.”
“Don't be ridiculous, Simon,” Clara said sharply. “These are mindless monsters, nothing more. So there are more tonight than there have been previously. That proves nothing.”
The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) Page 13
