The Dragons of Decay Read Free Page B

Aeris added
ominously and then grinned wickedly when the earthen glared at him.
    “Stop that, Aeris,” Simon
said, a little exasperated. “Let's concentrate on the problem
at hand. If I can get to the elven lands and back safely, and maybe
even if I can't and I go anyway, the question is; how do I deal with
a brown dragon?”
    “Your Diamond Skin spell,
master?” Kronk offered tentatively.
    Simon shook his head.
    “If this acid stuff is as
corrosive as it sounds, I don't think the skin spell will do more
than slow it down for a few seconds. And to be honest, I'd rather not
put it to the test.”
    “Well, your standard protection
spell is your Shield spell,” Aeris told him. “You
actually stood in the stomach of the primal white dragon and it kept
you safe.”
    “No, it didn't,” the wizard
said with another head shake. “The Diamond Skin spell kept me
protected for a short time, but even that was being eaten away while
I was in there, which is why I'm sure it won't be effective against
the brown dragons' acid attack. The Shield spell filtered the fumes
from the air so that I could breathe and added to the skin spell's
defense but not for long. I suppose if I added more power to the
shield, it could resist acid for a longer period, but then it would
cut off all of the air as well, so that's out. Huh. That's a good
example right there of how ineffective both spells were when facing
acid, even if it was only stomach acid. I need something that lasts
longer.”
    The three of them exchanged looks but
no one came up with any more ideas.
    “Well, when worse comes to worst,
there's always the standard fall-back plan,” Aeris said.
    “Which is?”
    “Duck,” the air elemental
said dryly.
    Simon heaved a loud sigh and stood up.
He put the kettle over the fire and went to stand by the window,
gazing out over the winter landscape.
    “If there is a silver lining
here, provided I actually do enter the elven realm, it's that I'll
get away from this blasted weather. God, I hate this season.”
    “We know, master,” Kronk
told him. “I have a thought though, since we seem to be out of
ideas.”
    Simon turned and looked at him
enquiringly.
    “Call your allies, master. Clara,
Liliana, the siblings in London, the group in Australia. More minds
mean more ideas. Perhaps one of them has a solution to the problem?”
    “That's a thought,” Simon
said. He leaned on the window ledge, tapping his chin.
    “The problem with that is I
guarantee you that Liliana, and probably Tamara and Sebastian as
well, will want to join in the fight. If anyone hates dragons as
much, if not more, than I do, it's those three.”
    “Well, it is possible that, as
magic-users, they also age slowly like you do, my dear wizard,”
Aeris said slowly. “I actually hadn't considered that before.
Granted, because you channel more magic than they do, your body would
age the slowest but still, it is something to think about.”
    Simon made his tea and sat down at the
table again.
    “That's a good point.”
    He sipped the sweet, hot liquid and
then sat back and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at it a
bit in frustration.
    “There's just so much that we
still don't know about magic and casting spells and long-term
consequences.”
    He tugged at his hair absently.
    “I mean, why is magic slowly
turning my hair pure white, while this,” he tapped his cheek,
“is as smooth as a baby's butt? Where's the logic in that?”
    “Only the gods understand all of
the intricacies of magic, master,” Kronk told him with a tiny
shrug. “Even we elementals are not fully conversant in the ins
and outs of using the power.”
    He looked at Aeris who nodded
reluctantly.
    “Kronk's right. We air elementals
worked more closely with wizards than any of the others and even we
only learned what we learned through observation. If I may use terms
from your old world of technology, my dear wizard, we know that magic
alters the human body at a cellular level.