Free The Dragons of Decay by J.J. Thompson

Simon grabbed the hand mirror off of his desk, sat down and
cast the Magic Mirror spell urgently. Kronk ran into the room so
quickly that his little legs were just a blur. He leaped on to the
desk just as Aeris shot across the room to join him there.
    “ Clara?”
Simon called anxiously as he made the connection. “Clara, are
you there?”
    “ Oh,
thank the gods.” he heard her reply. “Simon, I know what
you've just gone through, but we really need your help.”
    “ It's
yours,” he stated firmly. The mirror cleared and he could see
Clara standing in the midst of the blizzard, heavily wrapped in a fur
jacket and scarf, squinting at something that he couldn't see.
    “ What's
going on? What do you need?”
    “ Well,
I spoke too soon earlier, I guess.” Her voice stuttered with
cold. “There are dozens of wights trying to get into
Nottinghill! Maybe more. The ditch around the town has slowed them
down, but the damned things climb like cockroaches and are swarming
up the wall.”
    “ My
God,” Simon muttered.
    “ The
good news, such as it is, is that your wards are keeping them from
climbing directly over the wall. They are concentrating their attacks
on both gates where the warding is weakest. Virginia, Anna, Eric and
Gerard are manning the rear gate and using their combined power to
blast them off of the wall. But the front gate is only protected by
Malcolm and Aiden and the other guardsmen. They're using bows to
drive them back.”
    “ Okay,
okay. I understand,” Simon said, nodding his head
unconsciously.
    “ The
problem is that the arrows only knock the wights to the ground. The
barbs aren't blessed, and there's no time for me to do that now, damn
it, so the monsters just jump up and attack again.”
    She paused
and shivered, then tightened the scarf around her neck.
    “ And
they're running out of arrows,” she added.
    “ Okay,
stay right there,” Simon said loudly. “I'll Gate to your
location. Hang on,”
    “ Thank
you, my friend,” she replied with relief. “Please hurry.”
    Simon
broke the connection and put down the mirror. He grabbed his staff
and ran out of the room.
    Down in
the basement, the wizard went into the supply room where he stored
his extra clothing and grabbed the long, hooded winter coat, thick
gloves and winter boots that he'd left there earlier. After a brief
moment, he dug up a set of long underwear too.
    Just in
case, he thought.
    He ran
back up the stairs to the main level and quickly got dressed.
    Kronk and
Aeris were there watching him and, once he was dressed, Simon turned
to look at them.
    “ The
other earthen are patrolling the wall, right?”
    “ Of
course, master,” Kronk assured him.
    “ Good,
because I want you two to come with me,” he told them.
    Both of
them exchanged a glance and Aeris actually smiled.
    “ A
fine decision, my dear wizard,” the air elemental assured him.
    “ Yeah?
Well, we'll see about that.”
    The wizard
finished tying his boots, grabbed his staff and nodded at the others.
    “ Hang
on to me, guys. We've got to move.”
    Kronk took
hold of the bottom of Simon's coat while Aeris floated over and held
on to his sleeve.
    Simon
raised his staff, cast the Gate spell while keeping Clara's face
firmly in mind and uttered the word of command.
    “ Invectis !”
    And a
moment later, they were standing in the middle of blowing snow and
arctic winds.
    “ Crap, I hate the winter,”
Simon muttered and looked around hurriedly, peering through the
whipping ice pellets.
    “ Simon! Over here,” he
heard Clara call and turned in the direction of her voice.
    He saw a vague blur through the storm
and shuffled toward it. The snow was at least six inches deep.
    “ Hey there,” he said
loudly as he reached her. “Lovely day, isn't it?”
    Her lips twitched but her eyes were
grave.
    “ Good to see you,” she
told him. “Follow me please.”
    The cleric led the way through the
wind and snow. Simon could see the shapes of small houses on either
side