Free The Dragons of Decay by J.J. Thompson Page B

raised to cover the front gate. Beneath it, Simon stared intently
at fuzzy white blobs that seemed to be creeping up the walls of the
moat with slug-like speed. Wights? He leaned further. Wights.
    They could move incredibly fast on
level ground, but on the slippery wall they moved with glacial
slowness. But the climbing monsters crept upward with a deliberate
intent that was frightening.
    He watched as one reached the bottom
of the drawbridge and started to climb up the wooden structure. As it
got closer, Simon saw at least a half dozen arrows sticking out of
its pallid, emaciated body but the creature ignored its wounds and
crawled steadily toward the top of the gate.
    Aiden followed Simon's gaze and
whipped an arrow out of the quiver hanging on his hip. He aimed his
bow and shot in one smooth, economical motion.
    The arrow slammed into the wight's
face, right between its dead, red eyes and it was flung off of the
drawbridge to tumble back into the moat. It made no sound at all.
    “ Nice shot,” Malcolm said
and clouted his partner on the shoulder.
    Aiden laughed shortly and then his
face took on a serious expression.
    “ This has been fun and all, but
what happens when we run out of arrows?”
    He pointed beyond Malcolm to the
other side of the gate and Simon could just see a handful of figures
standing on the opposite parapet.
    “ There's just us two and those
four over there who are trained in combat. We sent another three to
the back gate along with our four magical friends, but that's all we
have to defend the town.”
    Malcolm's smile faded as Aiden spoke
and he nodded reluctantly.
    “ He'd got a point,” he
said soberly. “Aiden and I have enchanted blades, which
hopefully will work against the undead. The others do as well, but
they simply aren't as well trained yet.”
    He sighed and his foggy breath blew
away in the incessant wind.
    “ We've been working with them,
but everyone has other duties as well, so their skills aren't where
we'd like them to be.”
    “ They will stand though,”
Aiden said firmly. “Those damned beasts will have to go through
all of us before they can get into the town.”
    “ Aye,” Malcolm said with
a scowl. “That they will.”
    The pair suddenly fitted arrows to
their bows, turned as one and let the missiles fly.
    Simon looked down and saw two more
pale bodies falling back into the ditch below.
    “ Nice,” he said with a
smile. “If you had enough arrows and could keep doing that, all
we'd have to do is wait out this blasted storm.”
    “ Wishful thinking,” Aiden
said with a shrug. “Speaking of which, any idea how long this
blizzard is going to last?”
    Simon wiped his eyes. Tears were
leaking down his face from the bitter wind and icy snow and kept
blurring his vision.
    “ According to my air elemental
friend, another couple of days. Too long, I'm afraid.”
    “ Lovely,” Malcolm
grumbled. “To be honest, we can't hold out that long, Simon.
Even if we had the arrows, eventually exhaustion would set in and
we'd lose our focus. Personally, I'd rather face those monsters in a
stand-up fight before that happens.”
    Before Simon could find something
reassuring to say, Aeris popped up in between him and Aiden.
    “ Whoa!” Aiden exclaimed
and stumbled backward. Malcolm steadied him and laughed at his
partner's reaction.
    “ Skittish?” he teased and
Aiden glared at him.
    Simon chuckled and then looked at the
elemental.
    “ What's the word?” he
asked anxiously.
    “ Well, good and bad news, I
think,” Aeris said looking from one face to another. “I
counted at least thirty of the monsters out there. They're bunched up
at the bottom of the trench and climbing over each other as they try
to reach the gate. Disgusting,” he added with a grimace.
    “ Is that the good news or the
bad news?” Aiden asked with a frown.
    “ That is the bad news. The good
news is that they are spending as much time tearing at each other as
they are in trying to climb over the