Scourge of the Dragons (29 page)

“What am I seeing here?” He asked.

“The humans are angry that we devastated
their ally’s castle. They’ve decided to go on the offensive. I
can’t be certain, but they should be ready to attack us by
tomorrow,” the woman replied.

“What about that army?”

“We aren’t certain where they’ve come from,
but they have less than ten thousand troops. I don’t see how they
could be much of a threat to us or the humans.”

“Are they not allied with the two remaining
kingdoms?”

“They do not appear to be.”

Finrul nodded as he looked back at the
smaller army. There was something strangely foreboding about their
force. He clenched his fists in frustration. Things were happening
too fast and there were far too many variables. It was supposed to
be a simple fight between the humans and the dragons. After which
he and his allies were going to make the final decision on whether
to turn on the creatures or not. Now, there was a new army to deal
with. He couldn’t help but wonder if they had anything to do with
the reports of the death of their earth dragon in the dwarven
lands. True, it was only one dragon, but earth dragons were known
to be the most resilient of dragons. Any person or group that could
slay one was not to be ignored.

*

Kade slowed to a stop when he spotted the
armies moving about. The others stopped as well. Zaira shook her
head and muttered something under her breath. Attos looked to Kade
and the young man nodded to reassure the Knight. Wrotan was the
only one that was undisturbed by the presence of so many armies. He
examined each army in turn and then took in the entire battlefield.
The others knew better than to interrupt him while he was
formulating a plan. They waited patiently as he continued to take
in the situation. Kade took a deep breath as he looked back at the
valley. There was no doubt in his mind that there would be a
massive slaughter in that valley before the end of the day. The
only question on his mind was which of the armies were friends and
which were foes.

“I never imagined it would come to a
showdown like this,” Wrotan said as he rejoined the others.

“What exactly are we looking at?” Zaira
asked.

“This army here,” Wrotan pointed to the
closest of the armies, “they are friendly. Wildlanders and
borderlanders. We would be smart to pair up with them before the
fighting starts. As for the others, the dragons make it easy to
identify our primary enemies. The larger of the two remaining
armies must be whatever is left of the four kingdoms. That smallish
army is made up of dwarves, spirit monks, and paladins. They claim
to be our allies, but I do not trust Lamont.”

“What’s our move?” Attos asked.

“We join up with our allies and hope that
the others show up before the fighting starts,” Wrotan replied.

“What of Lamont and his army?”

“There are four armies. If the leaders have
any experience, they will know to pair off into two smaller one on
one battles. We can deal with Lamont and his men later if
necessary.”

*

Bertram looked over his shoulder as he
neared the small group. Defecting was never an ideal option, but
Lamont had seemingly forced their hand. Hadrin looked as though he
was about to jump out of his skin and murder the monk. Alandra was
doing everything she could to calm him down, but it seemed to do
little good. Hrimgur paced back and forth as he waited to hear what
the others had to say. Mariah and Amber both looked as though they
could wait no longer to leave the army. Nicolai and Charise were
glaring at one another. It was a highly volatile situation and the
leader of the paladins knew it would only get more volatile after
people started making their decisions. He took a deep breath before
addressing the others.

“I believe you all know what this is about,”
he said.

“There is nothing to discuss. We all know
the correct choice,” Hadrin said.

“Hold a moment, some of us have
obligations,” Nicolai said.

“Our deal is with Mariah, Bertram, and
Wrotan. We cannot make a move until the three of you are in
agreement,” Hrimgur said.

“That has already been decided. I just
wanted to be certain that everyone knew the gravity of their
choices,” Bertram said.

“Am I the only one that values loyalty?”
Nicolai asked.

“They are choosing loyalty, Nicolai,”
Charise said as she motioned toward Hadrin, Alandra, Amber, and
Mariah.

“What of our own leader?”

“I owe Wrotan more than I owe Lamont. One of
those two fought alongside me against seemingly impossible odds,
the other did not,” Bertram replied.

*

Finrul came to a halt when he spotted an elf
with one purple eye and one gray eye. He followed after the elf,
motioning for Ophelia and Lothrin to follow. They followed until
they came to an empty tent. The sorcerer knew there was something
familiar about him, but he couldn’t remember what. He steeled
himself before entering the tent. The elf with different colored
eyes motioned for the others to join him at a small table. They did
as he asked, but none of them spoke. Finrul knew that this was
either an opportunity or a trap. The strange elf glanced around the
tent before talking to the others.

“Finrul, you know me as the sorcerer who
tried to slay Melisandre. That was a smoke screen. My real identity
is an agent of the Kelimar. You may call me Yarryn. We are the
mortal enemies of the shadow dragons. Our goal is to defeat the
agents of the shadow. I called you together to give you a chance to
join our glorious empire. Fight with us against the shadow dragons
and we will accept you into our fold,” he said.

“I think it is time to make our move,”
Finrul said as he turned to the others.

“We seem to be in agreement on that.
Ophelia?” Lothrin turned to the Queen.

“This is the opportunity that we’ve been
looking for,” the Queen said.

*

Wrotan ducked down into the tall grass when
he saw people approaching. The darkness shielded him more than
anything, but it also made it difficult to see the others. They
were expecting reinforcements, but not from that direction. He
crept closer as he tried to identify the intruders. They didn’t
look like they were prepared to attack, but the hunter knew better
than to assume they weren’t there to fight. Zaira drew an arrow as
she crouched next to him. He held up his hand and she nodded. They
crept a bit closer and she nocked an arrow. The hunter stopped when
he saw just how large the group was. By his estimation, there were
more than a thousand soldiers heading toward them. He grabbed
Zaira’s shoulder and began pulling her back. She slipped under his
hand and disappeared into the darkness. The hunter drew his sword,
wishing that he had insisted on taking the first watch alone.

“There are dwarves with them,” she said as
she reappeared.

“You are certain?” He asked.

“Yes. Is that good or bad?” She asked.

“Good, I hope.”

The hunter stood up from the grass and
sheathed his sword. He raised his arm in the air as he headed
toward the group. Zaira followed him, but she crept low enough that
the grass still hid her from view. Wrotan was glad to see that she
was smart enough not to risk the small army seeing both of them.
Worst case scenario, she could still raise the alarm if they
decided to kill him. He desperately wanted to draw his sword, but
he didn’t want to alarm the other group. Even if they were foes,
there was a small chance they would spare him if he didn’t show too
much aggression. The members of the approaching army began alerting
one another when they spotted Wrotan. One of them raised a hand in
a sign of peace. The hunter lowered his arm and quickened his pace.
Bertram stepped out in front of some of his paladins and waved to
Wrotan.

“We come in peace,” the leader of the
paladins said.

“I’m glad to hear it. We were wondering when
our armies would have a chance to combine,” Wrotan said.

“It is not as simple as it seems. I will
explain when we are in camp.”

*

Bertram looked around the command tent with
no small measure of apprehension. There were far too many
unfamiliar faces for his liking. He wished he could be more like
Charise and accept that they were among friends or like Hadrin,
Mariah, Amber, and Alandra who were all happy see their friends.
That was not his role, nor should it have been. The new arrivals
from the Arcane Academy and the Magic Realm were rightly suspicious
of each other. Nearly every member of the fragile alliance had
something to prove to the others. They fought on the same side out
of necessity as opposed to want. That was the nature of the
situation they had all been thrown into. Forcing people to accept
others as allies wouldn’t help them to trust each other. They
needed to resolve whatever larger issues they had with each other
if they had any hope of efficiently working together. The paladin
hoped that his leadership would allow them to raise those questions
and that Wrotan’s leadership would allow them to get through the
answers.

“Our coming together is not as joyous as it
might otherwise seem. Lamont and some of the others have paired
together with a group from the spirit realms known as the Kelimar.
We know little about them, but we do know that they are not looking
to defeat the dragons for the take of the realms,” Bertram
said.

“I’ve some experience with the Kelimar. They
are no better than the shadow dragons. Their goal is to rule the
known world. We must stop them, just as we must stop the dragons,”
Kade said.

“It would be foolish to think that we can
set aside our differences and fight side by side against a common
enemy. Instead, we must position our army in such a way that the
rivalries within our alliance are not at odds with each other. The
Arcane Academy and the fairy kingdom are not on the best of terms.
As such, they should not be required to fight side by side.”

“We are all here for one of two reasons.
Some of us owe Wrotan our lives and others are here to defeat the
dragons. These are not things that we take lightly. I do not
believe we need to worry about any rivalries within our ranks,”
Mordus, the wildlander chief, said.

“This is a life and death situation, we
don’t have the luxury of worrying about whatever qualms we have
within our alliance. We fight as a unit or we die,” Wrotan
said.

Finrul watched as the night elf army surged
forward. The dragons took flight behind them as they headed toward
the remnants of the human armies. There was no doubt that Obrin had
been the one to direct them toward such a course of action. That
left the other ragtag army to face the elves and their new allies.
He glanced over at their new target. The army was significantly
larger than it had been the day before, but it was still smaller
than his own. Ophelia and Lothrin were already decked out in their
royal armor and preparing their troops to march on their opponents.
The sorcerer was less optimistic than his fellow commanders, but he
was eager to take to the battlefield. He called Revin over.

“What do you make of them?” Finrul
asked.

“They don’t look nearly as organized as our
force,” the scoutmaster replied.

“What do your scouts recommend?”

“We need to strike hard and fast. They’ve
got the fairies and the Arcane Academy siding with them. Our army
is larger, but we lack the magical power that they can muster.
Their main fighting force is made up of the fairy army, an army
from the borderlands, an army from the wildlands, and a small
contingent of paladins. They have a strong mix. The borderlanders
are likely to have a lot of veterans and the wildlanders are some
of the most skilled fighters I’ve ever seen. We know next to
nothing about the paladins and the fairies, except that the fairies
are not at all what we expected.”

“What else can you expect from tiny
humanoids with wings?”

“They aren’t small and they don’t have
wings.” Revin replied.

“Treat them like you would the humans. This
won’t be an easy battle for us. My magic won’t be enough to stop
all their wizards.”

“Our people will fight to the end.”

“If this is the end for us, let us hope that
it is an end worthy of our people.”

King Lothrin called them over. It was time
to march to victory or death. The elves had chosen their allies and
now they needed to get rid of the first obstacle before moving on
to the main goal. In the event that they were too weak to fight the
dragons outright, they would play it off as though they were
watching the back of the night elves and the dragons. It would, at
the very least, give them more time to plan an attack on the
creatures. Finrul, Revin, Yarryn, Queen Ophelia, and King Lothrin
took the lead as they headed into battle. Their opponents began to
match forth as well. Soldiers from both sides took off in a sprint
toward each other. The two armies met in a clash of steel, staining
the field of battle with sweat and blood.

“Neutralize their commanders!” Yarryn yelled
as he broke off from the others.

Finrul followed behind as they went after an
elf and a human woman. They each had their weapons ready, but they
were yelling orders and only engaging in combat when their
opponents broke through. The spirit mage used his magic to summon a
spear and he threw it at the elf. Finrul followed his lead and shot
a bolt of lightning at the woman. Both of their attacks landed,
forcing the two enemy commanders to retreat. Several Arcane Academy
wizards replaced them and drove off Finrul and Yarryn. They turned
their attention back to the center of the battle. Ophelia, Lothrin,
and their royal guards were fighting against a well-armed
contingent of enemy soldiers. The two sorcerers closed in the
distance in an attempt to assist the two royals.