Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (57 page)

Mkel cocked the crossbow and bore down on the comb of the stock, ensuring a good cheek to stock weld, and acquired a good sight picture with Markthrea’s reticle. He moved the crosshairs into the circle to adjust for the lead, carefully gripped the stock with his left hand, and put the pad of his trigger finger on the surface of light trigger. This time he kept the crosshair still and let the black demon horse veer into his sight picture. He then pulled the trigger back in a smooth even motion and fired, taking extra precaution to extend his follow through. The bolt struck the nightmare’s hindquarter, burrowing deep inside the tough pitch-colored hide. The sorcerer’s steed was flipped sideways from the impact of the lightning fast quarrel, which apparently did a great deal of damage.

Mkel cocked Markthrea and took aim again, giving it a little more lead, and fired. In spite of being wounded, the nightmare was still fairly maneuverable and fast. He had better luck this time, however, and the bolt struck the nightmare’s left rib cage after going through the calf of Ashram’s left leg. He could hear the sorcerer scream in pain immediately following the roar-like whinny of the nightmare, as the bolt likely punctured its lungs. It immediately began a forceful descent, with the dying demon horse barely maintaining controlled flight. They then crashed onto the grassy plain, with the Talon sorcerer being thrown from his mount and tumbling head over heels before coming to a halt.

Ashram raised himself to his knees by leaning on his staff. Blood was rushing from the wound on his left calf, and the bolt likely had broken one or both of the bones in his leg. Gallanth back winged hard and landed with a terrific thud, almost knocking the Morgathian sorcerer back to the ground. Jodem’s eagle landed beside Gallanth, as soon as he furled his wings. Mkel and Jodem dismounted. Gallanth watched the sorcerer with a careful eye, in case he tried to cast a spell. As soon as Mkel slid off of his dragon’s front forearm, he leveled his crossbow on Ashram.

Their comrades landed within seconds as the two griffons, eagle, and winged horse set down. “What’s the matter, sorcerer? I’m still waiting for you to take care of us. Amazing how the mighty fall,” Mkel mocked Ashram’s threat from the beginning of the battle. Ashram scowled as he leaned against his staff. “Now that you are a little subdued, what was your objective for this attack? You come here with so powerful a force, although not so much anymore,” he taunted the sorcerer.

“Ashram, if you cooperate with us, you will be treated fairly according to Alliance justice,” Jodem said, stepping in with his staff slightly glowing to cast a counterspell if necessary.

“Alliance justice? I want none of your mercy or your republic. You will only feel our wrath,” the sorcerer lashed back.

“Then it is justice you shall receive for the death and misery you caused today,” Toderan spoke as he raised his holy sword, dragonstone glowing.

“Hah, I dismiss your intent, paladin,” Ashram spat back, preparing to cast a spell.

“You will be persuaded to help us before justice is administered to you, dark sorcerer. We will see to it,” Gallanth’s booming voice emanated from above the group. The sorcerer’s expression suddenly changed after Gallanth’s words. He knew no one could lie in the presence of a gold dragon.

“Death is coming soon to you all,” he quipped as he drew a dagger from his robes, sliced his own hand, and grabbed the dark crystal mounted on top of his staff.

“Mkel, fire!” Jodem yelled. Mkel quickly took an instant sight picture, putting the crosshairs on the black robes of the sorcerer, firing as they filled his sight picture. The bolt struck the sorcerer’s shoulder just as he vanished.

“Jodem, how did he break Gallanth’s spell?” Mkel asked.

“Dark crystal can be temporarily empowered by the sacrifice of a part of the user’s life force. It wasn’t just blood that Ashram offered the stone. It was years off of his life. They can only do this on extreme circumstances, for it will eventually lead to their early death or worse. The conversion into an undead lich, for Tiamat’s blood that empowers the dark crystal stones is as evil and demanding as the arch dragon herself,” the wizard explained.

“He and his ilk are only concerned about the present and their own power, wealth, and influence. They do not care about the future,” Dekeen lamented.

“One step closer to shaking the talons of Tiamat, or becoming a lich or shadow, dependent on blood to sustain their tortured life,” Tegent said with his normal cheerful smile, referring to the sorcerer’s hastened path to his own demise by selling his life force to his evil crystal.

“I just hope he didn’t see how we teleported the legion in. I don’t want our edge compromised to the Morgathians. I know he witnessed the defeat of the behirs by the land dragons as well as the sudden appearance of three of the most powerful dragons in the Alliance,” Mkel said.

“I think he was mostly attempting to direct his forces by himself during the battle, and they were taken by surprise by the Battle Point legion. I’m sure he did not see Talonth and Strikenth teleport them here, for he was too busy torturing those legionnaires,” Lupek chimed in.

“You’re right, but I just wish we could have let Gallanth and Jodem work him over for the information he likely had, regarding these scaled-up operations as of late. Maybe he knew something about the gathering you saw in the Smoking Mountains,” Mkel explained.

“In either event, all we can do now is help General Daddonan and our dragonrider friends complete the destruction of the sorcerer’s army,” Toderan spoke up, always with his no-nonsense comments.

“As always, my good paladin, you are correct. Let’s get in the air,” Mkel directed. They all gave him a quick nod and moved back to their mounts. As soon as they were ready, the others moved away from Gallanth, and they took to the sky. When all was clear, the big dragon took a couple of steps and launched into the air with a whirlwind of dust, grass, and debris in the wake of his immense wings. They quickly caught up to their friends, and Gallanth and Mkel led them back to the dwindling battle.

Ashram emerged from teleport in the courtyard of his and Lodar’s shared fortress on the northwestern border of Morgathia. He collapsed from his wounds and the energy that his dark crystal took from him to break Gallanth’s antimagic spell. At his pain-ridden call, several servants rushed to his aid, for the hole in his lower leg was still bleeding and the crossbow bolt that Mkel fired as he teleported out had pierced his upper right shoulder. Another inch or two to the left, and it would have likely killed him.

The slave servants carried him into the fortress hallway and laid him down on the large dining table. A Morgathian cleric came over to him and began to treat his wounds. Lodar soon came into the hall and over to the injured sorcerer. “Ashram, I see you ran into a little trouble,” the warlord said with a sinister smile across his scarred face.

“Careful, death knight, I am not so injured that I couldn’t cast you into oblivion,” Ashram snapped angrily.

“I guess this means that you lost the fight with the Alliance legion,” Lodar chided.

“They were heavily reinforced!” the sorcerer yelled back at him through his pain.

“I sent you two wings of chromatics, almost a third of our total dragons, led by a demon red no less, and what returns with you,” Lodar chided back.

“They had two large silvers and a huge gold dragon that came out of nowhere, along with an Alliance wizard of considerable power. There were a strong group of allies that had dragonstone weapons. It is as if they knew we were coming, and the legion appeared right in front of my army. A whole legion, well rested and ready to fight,” he rambled on. “Ahhhhhhrrrr, fool!” he screamed as the cleric pulled the bolt out of his shoulder; the sorcerer responded by firing a magic missile into his chest, blowing him back against the wall and killing him instantly. He looked at the other two clerics and scowled, “You’d better be more careful, and get my private stock of Alliance aloras.” The two remaining clerics cautiously cast a healing spell over the sorcerer, stemming the blood flow, and then gingerly placed bandages on the wounds.

“Get me wine now,” he shouted at one of the dozen or so slaves in the room, who immediately ran out toward the pantry.

“We will have to modify our methods for our plans along their eastern border,” Lodar surmised.

“Yes, we have much to talk about, but I need rest first, so leave me now,” the sorcerer ordered.

“The whole army, giant clan, and two wings of chromatics, Ashram; the Talon Covenant will not be pleased at your incompetence, and I guess your little back-scratcher Fellaxe did not perform to measure. I also see your dark crystal is taking its toll,” Lodar sniped, referring to his skin, which was showing signs of mummification, as Ashram weakly raised his staff, the dark crystal glowing. “All right, I’m leaving, heal well, my lord. I must tend to what army we have left,” he said sarcastically as he hurriedly exited the room.

“I will see him eat those words, arrogant warlord,” Ashram said to himself as his servants nervously escorted him to his chambers.

Talonth and Strikenth were performing crisscross strafing attacks, freeze shattering dozens of orcs and Morgathian infantry, aided by the blasts from Lordan’s lance. Padonan’s glaive was also slicing through the ranks with each pass. The Battle Point legionnaires had broken their lines, and they were in a hasty retreat, with some still fighting, and others fleeing.

Colonel Ronson yelled to the fleeing human troops in Morgathian to surrender, adding that they would be spared. Morgathian soldiers were indoctrinated from childhood that Tiamat was their god, and the members of the Talon Council were her high priests. The way of servitude, and unquestioned obedience, was what they demanded to maintain their power to keep the Alliance at bay. They were also told that those who surrendered to the Alliance were fed to the metallic dragons or tortured to death, and that their souls would be forever lost. This, for them, was easy to believe, for that was what was done to most prisoners taken by Morgathia. The families of those soldiers who surrender were also threatened and usually treated with enslavement and sacrifice to the chromatics. However, those who believed in the arch dragon queen that were sacrificed were immediately granted access to paradise, or that was what they are told from a young age. What problem this brought to the Alliance was that there were not many that readily surrendered, with most fighting to the death or usually taking their own lives.

Orcs, however, never surrendered, having a more insect-like obedience to their chieftain and queen, like a termite colony. Quarter was rarely given for prisoners, who were usually eaten but occasionally sold as slaves. The exception to this rule was the hierorcs, who possessed greater intelligence, or at least greater cunning, and surrendered on a rare circumstance.

As their lines broke, the Battle Point archers were quickly re-formed and began to hail arrows and bolts down on the sorcerer’s retreating forces. This was aided by the diving attacks from the hippogriffs, griffons, and their riders. The combined attacks, especially from the silver dragons, were quickly decimating their remaining numbers.

The coordinated strikes were keeping most of the fleeing forces contained, along with the cavalry attacks on their flank, but several were making it to the scrub woods at the beginning of the hill country to the south. Gallanth and his group arrived as Talonth and Strikenth had just completed an attack on the forces below.

“Victory!” Colonel Lordan yelled to Mkel with his usual exuberant smile. Mkel quickly drew his sword in a return salute. “We accomplished a great deal today, Captain,” he continued. “Two chromatic wings sent to their repentance in the afterworld. A giant clan eliminated along with a rogue mountain giant, and a whole army bent on destruction was crushed and sent fleeing.”

“Unfortunately, their sorcerer leader managed to escape,” Mkel yelled back.

“No one is perfect. Especially in our business,” Lordan replied.

“Is anyone surrendering?” Mkel asked.

“Colonel Ronson offered them surrender in their tongue, but only a couple of takers. The infamous Morgathian propaganda and coercion at work again,” Lordan answered.

“I wonder why they didn’t carry any banners or regimental colors. They have always done so,” Mkel asked rhetorically.

“I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense to me either,” Lordan replied. “Well, let’s make another run and finish off whatever strength they have left.”

“Sir, you and Talonth, please lead,” Mkel stated; it was a gesture of honor for a gold dragonrider to allow a lesser metallic dragon to lead an attack.

“I am honored, Captain; Talonth, let’s dive,” he yelled to his dragon as the big silver banked and dove, immediately followed by Strikenth and then Gallanth. The sorcerer’s army, which numbered over eight thousand at the beginning of the battle, was now down to only a few hundred, as they fought a retreating battle against the Battle Point legion. The three dragons unleashed their breath weapons almost at once, with two icy beams freezing dozens, and Gallanth’s cone of fire incinerating even more along a thirty-five-yard-wide, one-hundred-yard-long swath of destruction. Mkel fired two exploding-tipped bolts, Lordan blasted a shot from his lance, and Padonan threw his glaive, slicing many along its deadly course.

“That was the last clump of resistance, sir. We should let the Battle Point cavalry handle the rest, plus you know the Enlightened want us to not waste our gems,” Mkel said with a smile.