Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (56 page)

“King Ibliss, you have through trickery attacked a diplomatic envoy during a negotiation of peace. You have mistaken Alliance and dragon tolerance and goodwill for weakness and will now see the full power of the weirs and their dragons unleashed. Prepare your army for the coming apocalypse, for there will be little quarter to them!” he shouted over the Enlightened senator to the Shidan king and then raised his pure mithril sword, the silvery blade almost glowing as he pointed it toward the palace. A powerful energy bolt darted from the point of the sword’s blade and exploded against the section of wall over the main gate, leaving a six-foot-wide hole in the decorated wall. Valianth then roared and let loose a plasma fireball toward the left tower. The huge explosion partially collapsed it. They then all mounted and went airborne with six of the Enlightened senators choosing not to mount the metallic dragons.

As the two Capital Wings rose, the manticores hastily flew out of their way, but a few were too slow and were brought down by the dragons or their riders. “Riders, we will take the senators back to Draconia and then proceed to the Gray Mountains to aid Draden and Eladran Weirs,” Becknor stated through his seeing crystal as Valianth rose and started to veer toward the river leading to the sea south of Dagrad. As soon as all the dragons were in position; they teleported out.

“King Ibliss, I want to profusely apologize for the words and actions of our disgraceful dragons and their pet riders,” Terrjok spoke to the Shidan king.

“Fear not, Senator; the weirs will pay for this insolence and the damage to my holy palace. The fight here today, while resulting in the death of so many chromatic dragons and many brave Kallysh men, has provided vital training to my holy warriors and their sacred manticores. This is all part of the overall plan of our powerful allies to the east, one more step toward our eventual victory,” Ibliss stated through his interpreter, the tone of his voice showing his anger. He was still acknowledging his part in the larger plan though.

Most of the remaining chromatic dragons had been downed, but several of the Eladran dragons were wounded had had to retire. Only Gallanth, Talonth, Fieranth, Selenth, and one of the Eladran brass dragons were still able to fight. As the metallics were gaining the upper hand, an attack by the two talon sorcerers brought the battle back to being tenuous. Jodem headed them off, but he had been in battle against the chromatics for hours, and the power in his staff was waning. Gallanth and Mkel broke the two sorcerers’ formation, but Gallanth’s shield quickly went down, and Kershan’s and Markthrea’s shields were also weakening. The deadly aerial dance continued with each of the remaining combatants being careful not to become too engaged as the dragons tried to be nimble enough to avoid the fires from each other and the spells from the sorcerers, while the black-clad Talon warlocks did not want to get too close to the metallic dragons either.

Even as Gallanth and Mkel had Molotoc in their sights, the battle quickly turned as the Capital Wing teleported in. Valianth’s roar signaled the Capital dragons to move to attack the remaining chromatics, which were quickly vanquished. Mkel took advantage of the distraction the Capital Wing provided and fired as Marlok’s nightmare stopped swerving. The bolt easily pierced the sorcerer’s magically armored black-and-purple cloak and went through his leg and into the tough midnight hide of the demon horse. The nightmare sputtered and began to lose altitude. Ashram quickly disengaged his fight with Jodem and Talonth to come to the aid of his fellow Talon sorcerer. Molotoc moved to help his master but was practically annihilated as Gallanth’s sunburst beam struck him and almost vaporized his mount.

Ashram did not move to help his rival out of altruism, but to lord over him that he had needed his assistance. Infernex had been hanging back from the fight, only moving in to strike when he saw an opportunity and then quickly retreating. The demon red dragon also surged forward to meet with the two sorcerers. Ashram raised his staff and levitated Marlok off of his dying nightmare onto his own steed. He then quickly moved to rendezvous with Infernex. The sorcerer cast a dark prism wall spell to slow Gallanth down, and as soon as he was under the crimson dragon’s wing, he reached back and touched the dark crystal on his staff to Marlok’s bleeding leg wound. As the evil stone stole some of the younger sorcerer’s life force, the small group started to teleport out, but not before Gallanth’s sunburst beam partially struck the red dragon in the left wing and back. Infernex let out a shrill roar of pain, which was silenced as they disappeared.

“Damn, we weren’t in time!” Mkel shouted out as he lifted his head from the crossbow stock, as he was not in range before the red dragon flashed out.

“Fear not, my rider, they will not be able to wreak evil on anyone anytime soon with the wounds they suffered, and we did slay that senior death knight,” Gallanth consoled his rider. “We must rejoin the others. Valianth and General Becknor are calling us,” the gold dragon added as he slowly turned to meet with the Capital Wing.

“Gallanth, congratulations to you and your rider for a good fight. You, Talonth, and all of Eladran Weir held back the darkness today. I see you have both paid for it, however. I want you all to fly back to the legions’ support area and have aloras applied on those wounds; we will annihilate the remainder of the Morgathian and fire giant army,” Valianth exuberantly said to Gallanth and the remaining Eladran dragons.

“Thank you, Valianth, but you were also in a fight. We should join you,” Gallanth responded.

“No, my young friend, our fight was with but a few wings of ill-led chromatics. They have not encountered the power of the Capital Wing in too many years and forgot their lessons. Your fight was much more difficult, and it is now time for you to rest. Capital Wing, follow me!” the senior Alliance gold dragon roared out as he led the dozen powerful metallic dragons toward the main battle.

Gallanth and the Eladran dragons followed them on their way back to the legion support area.

The Capital dragons roared their presence. Initially, the Morgathians thought they were chromatics. This briefly reinvigorated them, and their depleted forces surged forward against the thinning Alliance battle line, but this enthusiasm quickly turned to panic as shouts and cheers rose from the legionnaires. When the Morgathians and the remainder of the fire giant army realized that the attacking dragons were metallic, most broke and ran. This route was capitalized by the Alliance and elf archers, who rained their remaining arrows down on the fleeing black-clad Morgathians, orcs, giants, and the like. Hundreds fell, and as the enemy army withdrew far enough from the legions, the Capital Wing attacked. Their devastating combined strikes wiped out all of the larger pockets of the retreating army.

As victory cheers arose from the Alliance line, the combined weir and legion cavalries charged to capture or eliminate those that remained from the dragons’ strike. Almost none would surrender, for Morgathian propaganda was very effective, and the orcs were mindless insects and not accustomed to capture. The Capital Wing landed in front of the Alliance battle line to both congratulate them and to help the battle healers and clerics treat the wounded. Gallanth and Mkel had split off from the Eladran dragons and flown to where their weir garrison was still fighting. In his pass over the smaller battle, he strafed the Morgathian regiment with a deadly swath of fire that aided Caraeyeth in routing them. The big gold dragon then landed while the female copper pursued the fleeing and broken Morgathian unit.

The Draden Weir soldiers cheered for their victory and the victory they knew that Gallanth and Mkel must have achieved, for the mere fact that they were there meant they had defeated the chromatics. Some then noticed Gallanth’s deep wounds, as the almost iridescent or glowing blue blood was still oozing out, but now at a much slower pace, as dragons did heal fast and as he had been aided by Silvanth. Unfortunately, it was not fast enough; Mkel could feel Gallanth’s pain and slight weakness at the loss of that precious dragon blood. Half of the infantry’s remaining battle healers rushed from the line of soldiers or broke from tending the garrison wounded to get to Gallanth.

“No, my friends, continue to tend to our wounded. They are in greater need than I,” the dragon spoke out.

“Healers, address the infantry’s needs first; that is an order,” Mkel said as he dismounted Gallanth. As the battle healers saw Mkel was reluctant but still serious, they all turned and went back to the wounded, who were collected over two hundred yards behind the main line of soldiers. Ordin did quickly walk over to Gallanth and Mkel, but just then, Pekram yelled to Mkel that the support corps and the paladins had finished off the last of the orcs and Morgathians and were on their way.

“A fierce fight, my friends?” Ordin asked of them.

“At least as fierce as yours; I heard you and your giant slayers never let the oversized brutes mass on the garrison. I am thankful to you, Ordin. You saved many lives today,” Mkel responded. “And Pekram, Lawrent, good fight! The weir would have been overrun without your tenacity and leadership,” he added.

“It was a good fight, dragonrider, and good to feel the thud of falling giants again,” Ordin replied.

“Yes, but more important, are you and Gallanth all right? His wounds look nasty,” Lawrent added.

“Gallanth will heal, but it will take time. The power we faced was great and almost claimed us. I see you and your raiders actually served a purpose other than draining the Alliance ale barrels,” Mkel answered with a slight tinge of humor to demonstrate that he was not worried about his dragon.

“They and the weir all fought bravely, Captain. We lost no one, but we have fifty wounded with nineteen seriously, and one soldier in the support corps was killed. As you know, the support corps was ambushed on its way here but fought like infantry and broke the attack. If they get here soon, we should be all right. Ordin’s clan has about the same wounded, and the elves have twenty casualties of varying conditions. Two of the land dragons had to fall back and are being tended to, but we are out of aloras. You also know that Lieutenant Howrek was captured in a stupid move he made to attack several death knights alone.” Pekram gave a quick assessment to Mkel. Just then, the cavalry platoon and the lead support corps floating wagons turned the shallow bend, Captain Vicasek in the lead with Lenor riding beside her wagon. Six Eladran Weir hippogriffs then sailed in from the east; one turned and landed beside Gallanth while the other five kept flying toward where the weir wounded were gathered. Mkel looked over to see Cleric Watterseth dismount from the winged brown-and-white-feathered eagle horse.

The senior cleric quickly walked over to Mkel and gave him a lion’s hug almost lifting the dragonrider off his feet. “Good to see you and your big gold iguana alive, my boy. I saw the fight you had to engage in and the odds that were against you. It was reminiscent of the Great War and the hoards we faced then. You and Gallanth fought magnificently. Speaking of the oversized shiny lizard, your wounds are deep and numerous, Gallanth. You need aid in healing before more of that precious blood of yours is lost. You know that blood lost in defending freedom is no excuse in the weir for not meeting production of heating crystals?” Watterseth smiled as he talked. He took his mace from its holding strap on his hip.

“Bishop Watterseth, your power for healing should be used on the Weir’s wounded,” Gallanth retorted.

“I thought you would say that, which is why I brought Mkel’s mother Glorjuen. She and her healing team are here to address the weir’s needs, as am I, after I address yours,” Watterseth fired back.

“Why is she not tending to the regiment’s wounded?” Gallanth asked.

“The Capital Weir’s second wing brought back several additional talented healers from Draconia and as many of their clerics as the dragons could carry. The regiment, Eladran Weir, and the legions’ wounded are in good hands. Plus, we heard Captain Vicasek was ambushed and our support corps was in a fight for its life but pulled out magnificently, so the greatest need is here, my good dragon,” the weir cleric stated confidently. “Now it is your turn, great Gallanth, for you need the strength to collect all the treasure you won from the slain chromatics. My fellow cleric’s church in Draden needs more tithing,” he also joked.

Mkel was always amazed how Watterseth was one of the few people besides Jodem who could argue with Gallanth and sometimes win, or at least keep him silent for a time. The cleric raised his mace, and its deep-blue sapphire dragonstone started to glow intensely. Gallanth bowed his head as he and Watterseth were then bathed in blue light. He could see the seasoned cleric in deep concentration as he, his holy mace, and Gallanth became of one spirit for a brief moment. As the light subsided, the deep puncture wounds and lacerations were sealed—not totally healed but no longer bleeding and with the tissue damage mostly repaired.

Gallanth took a step back and stretched out his wings, flexing and shaking the effect of the healing off. He let out a low roar and then looked down at Watterseth. “Thank you, Cleric, that does feel much better,” the gold dragon stated.

Mkel called Pekram and Lieutenant Ablich to him. “Gentlemen, start to have the company reconsolidate and make ready to be transported to the assembly area. I must go with Gallanth to acquire the chromatics’ treasure first before they move to secure it now that Gallanth is up to the task. I will have Lenor and maybe the elves who have arrows left pursue the fleeing Morgathians and destroy whatever Caraeyeth misses. I’ll inform Captain Vicasek of the plan so coordinate with her and her wagons to move the men and dwarves. Caraeyeth cannot mass teleport but can ferry whoever she can carry. She will move our two wounded land dragons first.

“Once back at the assembly area we will see what the generals want to do, but I think General Becknor will move the combined army to strike the fire giant castle. We need to do this, for if Howrek is still in the area, he is there. As soon as Lupek and his rangers get back with Jodem and Toderan, they can also help move the garrison. Again, I want to congratulate you for leading this fight, and I am very proud of you and our soldiers. I will go and see the wounded before we leave. Any questions?” Mkel asked.