Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (54 page)

The four giants that threw the rocks then charged from one hundred yards away, fumbling to get another boulder out of their sacks. Dekeen responded by firing an arrow, which hit one of the giants on the left shoulder, causing it to drop its rock and twirling it around from the impact. He followed with another arrow, which hit the grotesque creature in the midsection, causing it to double over. A third arrow hit it right in between the eyes, killing it instantly.

The other three giants continued to advance rapidly, closing the distance between themselves and Toderan and Ordin. Two of the rocks they threw were directed at Ordin, likely because of their intrinsic hatred of their ancestral dwarven enemy. He nimbly dodged the first rock with surprising speed for his stout frame. The second rock he stopped cold with his hammer’s shield, as did Toderan with his, but both force fields were starting to weaken.

“Try to catch this, giant!” Ordin shouted as he threw Donnac. The double-headed mithril hammer spun through the air, crackling with energy, and struck the middle giant on the left shoulder, literally flipping him over in midair from the tremendous impact. He landed on his side with a huge thud.

Lupek, having recovered his javelin, threw it at the giant on the right. The pointed spear pierced the giant in the center in its torso, transferring the electrical energy into its barrel chest. The giant gasped in pain and grasped the shaft of the javelin that was sticking out of his side. Lupek then quickly drew his scimitar and moved from his hiding position onto the valley floor.

The third giant ran right at Toderan and Ordin, raising his club over his head. Toderan moved forward to engage the giant, sword and shield in hand. The brute swung its club in a downward stroke; Toderan half dodged and half blocked the six-foot-long thick weapon as it glanced off his shield and hit the ground. The paladin quickly raised and swung his sword down on the giant’s right arm. The shimmering blade cut into the giant’s thick matted and dirty arm, while also transferring its energy into the beast.

The giant winced, twitching its protruding brow in pain as it dropped its club. It then hit Toderan’s shield with its left fist, sending him flying backward. Ordin caught Donnac on its return, jumped and rolled to avoid the brute’s swing, and then sprung back up and struck the giant in the left leg. The force of the hammer broke the giant’s lower leg, instantly bringing it to its knees. Toderan quickly recovered, moved back to the giant, and delivered a fatal blow to the back of its thick neck. It slumped to the ground, lifeless.

The giant that had been hit by Lupek’s javelin now moved to attack his assailant. He swung his club wildly at the ranger, who dove and rolled out of the way, springing up and slashing the beast in the hip with his scimitar, and continued to move to avoid the counter swing. As the thirteen-foot monster turned to face his nimble adversary, Lupek extended his hand, and his javelin tore from the giant’s chest and flew back to his awaiting grasp. He twirled it to shake off the dark reddish-purple giant blood and assumed a ready stance to face the large creature.

It then roared and growled, charging the ranger with its club ready to strike. The giant lunged forward and brought its club down hard, trying to crush Lupek. He feigned a move to the right and then jumped to the left just in time as the thick wooden club smashed the ground beside him. He then spun around, slicing the giant’s club arm with an upper swing and stabbing the giant’s side with his javelin in a backward, overhand thrust. It took two steps back, grasping the wound as the electrical energy burned deep into its side. It began growling and uttering a slurred but deep and raspy curse in the crude tongue of giants.

“You’re welcome,” Lupek said back to the giant in its own language, with a dubious smile. This enraged the wounded brute, and he charged again, both seven-foot-long arms extended to grasp the ranger. Lupek preempted this charge by diving forward and rolling underneath the giant’s grasp, coming up and thrusting his javelin deep into its abdomen, bracing the end of the weapon on the ground to take the brute’s weight. As the giant’s feet almost came off the ground from its momentum and from being impaled by the javelin, Lupek ducked under its legs, came back around, and thrust his scimitar into its broad back, almost to the hilt. The giant tensed and then went limp and fell. Lupek quickly recovered his weapons and hurried over to Toderan and Ordin.

The giant that Ordin had knocked flat finally got up and started to slowly advance toward the three Draden Weir council members with its left arm dangling, likely broken at the shoulder. Dekeen drew an arrow and shot the giant in the center of its chest, finishing it off. Ordin grumbled, “Pointy-eared elf, that one was mine to finish off.”

“I have a bad feeling you will have more opportunities,” Dekeen quipped back as the bulk of the giant clan was gathering at the edge of the draw.

“I think they will all charge at once, for even those dim-witted creatures should now realize that sending small groups at us will only lead to them to be piecemealed apart,” Toderan said.

“Toderan, you are correct, I count twenty-four remaining in their clan, along with at least that many ogres behind them,” Dekeen said calmly, observing the scene with his elvish eyes and maintaining his composure in spite of the impossible odds they were facing.

“Those are not good numbers, even for us,” Lupek said as he jogged up to the group, slightly winded.

“Ahh, kill them as they come,” Ordin grumbled, holding his hammer ready for battle.

“Mkel, look through your crossbow; our friends are in trouble,” Gallanth spoke out loud to his rider. Mkel looked through Markthrea’s sight and saw the giant clan ready to attack the small Keystone council group. “Toderan, we’re on our way with friends, get out of there now,” Mkel spoke into his seeing crystal.

“We will be all right for a short time and should be able to hold them off,” Toderan replied, even though there was a hint of relief in his voice.
Stubborn fools
, Mkel thought to himself as he felt Gallanth hasten his wing beats and his hide draw air over it faster to gather speed. This was too close to teleport, and they had to get there fast. It would still take them a minute or two to get there, however, for it was several miles away. Mkel loaded a magazine of explosive-tipped bolts into Markthrea’s stock, pre-positioned several more magazines, and took up a good firing position to shoot as soon as they were in range.

Dekeen drew an arrow and fired at the closest giant. The arrow’s speed covered the three-hundred-yard distance in the blink of an eye; it struck one of the giants in the chest and exploded, leaving a deep wound. The giant roared and started to charge, quickly followed by his clan. Another arrow found its mark in the center of the same giant’s chest, exploding with a precise force that likely crushed his heart. He fell to the ground and was quickly trampled by his compatriots as they advanced, killing him if he wasn’t already dead. Dekeen fired another arrow as they rushed to within a hundred yards, and he hit a second giant in the upper thigh, knocking him to the ground, and tripping two others in the process.

Almost simultaneously, the clan began throwing rocks as Ordin’s hammer crackled through the air, striking one in the head and crushing its thick ape-like sloped skull. Toderan’s and Dekeen’s weapons’ shields were raised to stop the dozen or more melon-sized rocks that were heading their way. Both of their shields took the multiple impacts as Ordin and Lupek dodged several thrown boulders and raised their magical shields for protection against the hail of hundred-pound stones.

The four looked at each other with an unspoken exchange, knowing that they would soon be overwhelmed, the dragonstones on their weapons glowing intensely for their last stand. The giants were nearly upon them when Gallanth’s plasma fireball burst danger close in front of them, keeping the Weir group at the edge of blast radius. The first three giants were killed by the explosion, and ten more were blown off their feet. An exploding bolt from Mkel struck one of the giants in the arm, blowing it off at the shoulder. The gold dragon back winged hard as he landed on one of the giants, claws extended, both stabbing it and crushing it beneath his colossal body, killing it instantly. He raised his head quickly and let loose an ear shattering challenge roar to the giant clan.

The giants that were not knocked down began to move around Gallanth at the command of Grummel, the clan chieftain. The other half of the clan began to move toward the sounds of the ongoing battle. Ten of the remaining nineteen giants immediately obeyed and started to move away toward the armies fighting on the plain. This was likely at the order of Ashram to reinforce his army, which was almost on the verge of defeat. The other nine giants and twenty ogres, including the giant chieftain, who was at least sixteen feet tall, began to encircle the gold dragon and his rider. The chieftain had used this technique to slay a white dragon in the north once, and he wrongly surmised that it would work on this larger gold. Another small group of giants then arrived from the valley as the final part of their clan.

Gallanth coiled his tail and smashed the first giant that moved in range of his back quarter. The flattened arrowhead-shaped plate hit the giant like a huge battle-axe, cutting deep into the giant’s side and lifting the large-framed brute off of the ground, throwing it into another giant, knocking both down. He took two steps forward and lunged with his massive jaws open, sinking them into another giant, lifting it up and shaking the huge creature like a doll, and then throwing it thirty yards onto an ogre. Two more giants moved to attack the dragon from each side, clubs raised, but Gallanth stretched his wings out and struck them hard in their faces, knocking them onto their backs. Mkel quickly sighted on the nearest giant and fired, hitting it in the chest with a huge explosion that blasted it to the ground.

Two giants and an ogre then charged in from Gallanth’s left rear, their clubs ready to strike. The gold dragon’s huge tail swung back around, with the flattened plate decapitating one of the giants. The other two struck Gallanth with their clubs on the base of his tail and side, causing him to wince from the blows. Mkel swung his crossbow on its swivel and fired at the closest ogre, blowing it off its feet and killing it instantly. Gallanth lifted his left rear leg and slashed one of the attacking giants across its midsection, leaving deep wounds and knocking it to the ground with his great strength. Mkel hit another ogre with a bolt, sending the six-hundred-pound scraggly creature thirty feet back, landing burnt and disfigured.

Three other ogres then threw their spears at Gallanth’s armored hide near his chest and shoulder. Two bounced off, snapping in half, unable to pierce the gold dragon. The third barely penetrated, doing only slight damage. Gallanth reared back and breathed a billowing cone of fire that incinerated two giants and three ogres. He then did a complete whirling strike with his tail, smashing or slicing all within the forty-five-foot radius that his tail length made spinning in a circle. This devastating maneuver, which few dragons can master, killed four ogres and two of the wounded giants that could not move out of the way, along with injuring two more. It was also done to keep them all from converging on him at once.

Dekeen readied an arrow to fire at the ten giants that were fleeing from the battle with Gallanth and Mkel, but Toderan stopped him. “We will finish the fight here first. Help Mkel and Gallanth, then join the main fight.” They all nodded and began to sprint to the ongoing fight between their friends and the giants and ogres.

Gallanth finished his tail sweep and prepared for the next assault as the energy for his breath weapon recharged. Mkel took advantage of the distance Gallanth achieved by his tail maneuver and fired his crossbow rapidly. He hit two ogres in the midsection, taking body shots rather than aiming for their heads, then shifted his aim to the one of the wounded giants and fired two shots as rapidly as he could. The giant was finished off by the two blasts. He then shot his remaining bolt at the other giant that Gallanth had wounded with his tail strike. The explosion slamming it to the ground, severely wounded.

A blast from Dekeen’s arrow struck one of the giants in the back, forcing it to its knees. “Gallanth, our friends are coming,” Mkel yelled to his dragon as he quickly reloaded his crossbow. Grummel, seeing the four giants he had previously sent to kill the gold dragon felled, growled another command for all his clan to attack Gallanth. The remaining giants and nine ogres all began to charge at once, with even the large chieftain joining.

Gallanth again breathed out a billowing plume of fire that engulfed two giants and two ogres, burning them to ashes. Mkel fired two bolts before the brutes reached his dragon, striking one giant twice in the chest, forcing it to stop its advance, wounding but not killing the creature. Gallanth brought his tail down on another giant, delivering a fatal blow. The tail plate cut through its shoulder, crushing its clavicle; the dark blood spurted from the deep wound.

The giants and ogres that were not struck by the combined attacks reached Gallanth and started to strike him with their clubs and spears. Gallanth swiped one giant with his left front claw, spinning it to the ground with deep slashes across its shoulder and chest. The other giants and ogres continued to strike Gallanth, with two ogres jumping up and grabbing the dragon’s flying harness.

Five giants hit Gallanth with their clubs at points on his neck, side, and tail. The ogres had less luck with the gold dragon’s tough hide, breaking most of their spears. The two that jumped up on Gallanth were doing their best to get to Mkel. The ogre that was climbing up Gallanth’s left side got to him first. Just as he was about to strike him with his club, Mkel drew Kershan and delivered a backhand downward swing, cutting the ogre’s head off just below the chin. Its headless body fell backward onto another ogre climbing up behind it. He then switched the sword to his right hand and thrust it down into the approaching ogre on Gallanth’s right side, the point of the blade silencing the creature’s rough growl by piercing its forehead and coming out the back of its skull. The creature fell as Mkel pulled the blade from its head.