From the dragons' tactic of attacking suddenly, then retreating, Thelvyn could see they intended to destroy his army in spite of his protection by taking advantage of his lack of mobility. So far, the evasive tactics they used to guard themselves against the Dragonlord's weapons had worked well. Thelvyn knew he had to intervene quickly before his own forces lost their courage. He used the bolts of power from his sword carefully, trying his best to keep the dragons at a distance while he waited to play out his one element of surprise.
His chance came suddenly as the red dragon he identified as the leader turned and darted in to attack. He waited until the last moment, then commanded the cape by will, lifting quickly into the air at an angle that would intercept the dragon. The dragon leader was caught by surprise by Thelvyn's sudden move, but he reacted quickly, angling sharply to the side. Thelvyn raised his sword, but all he could do was sting the dragon with a glancing blow across his lower back and haunches. Then he had to turn quickly to ward off the attack of a young dragon coming up swiftly behind him.
Thelvyn knew he was trying to fight dragons in their own element, and his disadvantages were obvious to his enemy. While he could fly faster than any dragon, the weight of his armor was awkward, robbing him of maneuverability. Worse, his massive sword threw him off balance, making it difficult for him to aim the weapon effectively. He maneuvered as best he could, but the dragons only teased him, easily eluding his every attempt. Even so, he was better off than he was on the ground.
Thelvyn knew if he could have simply destroyed the dragons, as he had the renegades in Darmouk, his task would have been much easier. But if he began killing dragons, he could never convince them to keep the truce.
The sudden appearance of the Dragonlord in the sky had been disconcerting to the dragons, but it wasn't in itself enough to make them retreat. They could see his disadvantage for themselves, and they continued to dart in and strike quickly, then withdraw before he could respond. There were just too many dragons for Thelvyn to guard himself effectively, much less attempt to fight them.
The leader of the red dragons continued to circle him slowly at a safe distance, watching him and no doubt thinking of ways to put him even more at a disadvantage. Thelvyn found the actions of the red dragon curious and disconcerting. He realized too late that he had underestimated the cleverness and skill of his enemy, having made the ill-founded assumption that this was the leader of a small, inexperienced band. In fact, the red dragon had identified the hidden vulnerability of his cape even before Thelvyn did.
Suddenly the dragon turned and flew directly toward the Dragonlord, a seemingly hopeless plan of attack. Thelvyn turned quickly to face the dragon and raised his sword. Just as he was about to discharge a bolt, he abruptly found himself falling as the cape's power of flight failed without warning. While the enchantments of the armor of the Dragonlord were fully protected against the effects of counterspells, even those to nullify magic, the cape was not. The wizards who had made it lacked the skill of the mages of ancient Blackmoor, and protecting the enchantment of the cape against all magic was beyond them. The red dragon had simply rendered the cape useless. Thelvyn tried not to allow fear to control him, trusting that the armor would protect him from a fall even from such a height, although he found it hard not to give in to the instinctive terror of falling.
He was plummeting with his legs beneath him, as if he had leaped from a high ledge. The instant his boots touched the ground, he felt a powerful force rebound up through the legs of the armor, catching him and helping to break his fall. Even so, the impact hurled him violently forward, so that he crashed heavily onto his chest. He lost his grip on his sword in his instinctive response to protect himself from impact with the hard ground.
Rolling across the ground to where the sword lay, Thelvyn grabbed the hilt, then scrambled to his feet as quickly as the armor would allow. As he had expected, all the nearby dragons had rushed to the attack as soon as they saw him start to go down, sensing their best chance yet to defeat the Dragonlord. Two were already on the ground, running toward him in long, leaping strides like immense cats. He lifted the sword desperately and summoned its stun power, striking each in the head. Turning in a full circle, he discharged several more bolts in rapid succession to discourage the dragons that were still in the air. They turned to flee in sudden terror.
Though the cape of the Fire Wizards had proved to be a miserable failure, Thelvyn thought he had recovered well, taking the dragons unprepared when they had come to finish him off. Even so, he had no idea just what else he could do to defend the Highlands forces if he didn't regain his power of flight. When he looked about, he saw that the leader of the dragons had come through the brief battle unharmed and was again flying around him in wide circles. The contest was still far from turning to his favor.
At least he had succeeded in diverting the attention of the dragons to himself and away from the Highlands army. While he watched the remaining dragons circle slowly, he became increasingly convinced that what he needed most was to regain his power of flight. Breaking the magic that prevented the cape from working as it should seemed unlikely, but there was a chance he could fly by either magical or clerical means. Flight wasn't a common clerical spell, but in the past he had been able to command some rather unusual clerical abilities.
He took a moment to clear his mind, permitting the spell to come to him. Fortunately, he was usually able to acquire clerical spells almost as quickly as he opened himself to his powers, unlike other clerics, who had to meditate for some time before they gained the ability to use a spell. He didn't even know if such a spell existed, but he knew he had to try. He felt the power of the spell of flight enter him only moments later, and he knew he had one last chance to defeat the dragons.
A movement from one side caught his attention as he circled to watch for sudden attacks. One of the stunned dragons had revived and was sitting up, shaking his head. A the massive bolt from one of the catapults caught the young dragon in the shoulder. He leaped up like a startled cat, roaring in pain and outrage. Twisting his long neck completely around, he drew out the bolt and tossed it aside. The wound was less serious to the dragon than an arrow would have been to a man, but nevertheless the fight was over for him. Limping awkwardly, he was able to launch himself into the air and soar out of range of the Highland weapons, coming to rest on a distant hill where a second injured dragon was waiting.
In the meantime, Thelvyn had been deliberately trying to give the appearance of inattentiveness, hoping to bait the remaining dragons back into range. His spell of flight would be useless to him if he had to chase down the dragons; he needed to take them by surprise. He continued to work his way out into the open field, farther and farther from the support of the Highlands forces.
For once, his strategy worked to perfection. The leader of the red dragons turned suddenly and rushed toward him, a move that led several of the others to break off their circling and dive to the attack. Thelvyn waited patiently as they came closer, still feigning a lack of awareness. He knew the dragons' own disadvantage from his long familiarity with Kharendaen. Their vision was extremely effective at long distances, but they could hardly see anything moving just under their noses.
Thelvyn employed his spell of flight and shot into the air. He noticed immediately that he was moving even faster than before. He stayed low at first, moving quickly just over the surface of the ground, then hurtled straight up between the dragons as they converged toward the place where he had previously stood. As he had expected, the dragons failed to see him coming, and most of them still didn't know where he was as he began to use his sword to strike at them, throwing them into confusion. He had to be careful to use just enough power to stun the dragons without actually knocking them out, which would have sent them crashing to their deaths to the ground below. The dragons scattered, roaring with the pain of the bolts and with their frustration.
Suddenly Thelvyn found himself enveloped in flames. Fortunately, his armor prote
cted him completely. Guessing that the unseen dragon was making a pass from behind on his right, he moved sharply to the left. An instant later the leader of the red dragons shot past him, and the dragon's whipping tail just missed him. He brought up his sword and discharged a rapid succession of bolts, three of them striking the large dragon squarely in the back.
With that, the dragons seemed to have had enough. They withdrew to the hills across the field where their injured companions waited and proceeded to have an animated discussion with the leader of their band. Many of them had felt the sting of Thelvyn's sword, leaving their muscles cramped and painful. Four had been struck by bolts from the catapults; two had tears in their wing sails, while two others had taken damaging injuries to their bodies. But dragons were sturdy; they would recover quickly enough, Thelvyn knew, although for the time being they were no longer willing to risk themselves.
Thelvyn returned to the ground, fearful of losing his spell of flight to hostile magic. He removed his helmet and put away his sword, giving him his first chance take account of the situation. The Flaem had done reasonably well in holding their own with the dragons. Even so, they had suffered more casualties than they had inflicted. Portions of the line of freight wagons had been set aflame, and explosive blasts of dragonfire into the ranks of soldiers had left many burned or dead. The dragons had done their best to direct their attack toward the catapults, the only weapons they had to fear, destroying three.
Captain Gairstaan rode over to join his commander, leading Thelvyn's horse, Cadence. As he pulled himself into the saddle, Thelvyn was glad the king had given him a new horse. This mount was larger and sturdier than the two previous mares by the same name and breed, and thus better able to bear his weight when he was in armor.
"Have they given up?" Gairstaan asked.
"I believe so, although I intend to stay in my armor and remain visible until they leave," he said. "You seem to have everything under control."
"We've done the best we could," the captain said. "Since the archers were ineffective against dragons, I put several companies of them to work keeping the fires from spreading among the wagons. We've lost perhaps a hundred men, possibly less. Considering what we were trying to fight, things could be worse."
"Things would have been a good deal better if we had been fighting them with catapults from established defensive positions. I'm encouraged by the effectiveness of the catapults against dragons. I want to send a message back to Braejr immediately requesting that all the catapults that can be spared be sent north immediately."
They camped at the edge of the woods, so that the necessary repairs could be made to damaged wagons and catapults. Once they had salvaged what they could, the army prepared to continue on to the north. Only the wounded remained behind, waiting to be evacuated to a nearby garrison. Thelvyn believed that time was now a matter of great importance, and he had sent word back to Braejr that additional supplies, weapons, and soldiers were to be sent to the frontier as quickly as possible.
At least Thelvyn was spared the time involved in sending a messenger. There were wizards in their own company who were able to communicate with their fellows at the
Academy by magical means. The message came back only hours later that more supplies had been requisitioned from all across the Highlands and were already being prepared to be sent north, including as many catapults as the southern dukes would part with. A steady stream of men, weapons, and supplies would be coming up the main road from the south, beginning within the next few days and continuing for some time to come.
Because of this, Thelvyn had changed his plans by the time they reached the crossroads at Nordeen. He elected to establish a main staging camp at Nordeen for the purpose of distributing weapons and supplies necessary to establish a new fort or reinforce an existing one by sending wagons either east or west along the lesser roads as they were ready. In that way, their defenses could leapfrog along the northern border, the last fort in either direction secured before a new group was sent on to establish the next one. As soon as wagons and teams of horses had been relieved of their loads, they were sent back south immediately to prepare for another trip.
The first of the new shipments from the south, mostly catapults, began arriving only four days later. Since Thelvyn was now acquiring weapons faster than forts could be built to hold them, many of these catapults were dispatched to various towns and settlements along the frontier. Of course, there was neither the time nor the labor to establish true forts. The defenses of these forts were the weapons themselves, protected as much as possible by stone and earth embankments built by the soldiers while they awaited battle.
Soon the Highlands cavalry began to arrive and was divided into small companies to distribute among the forts and settlements. Thelvyn wanted as many mounted troops as possible at the front, which would give them the mobility to hitch teams to the catapults and move quickly to reinforce areas under attack. Even so, he hoped that there would be no further battles. He knew that the dragons were watching everything closely, especially his own movements. He hoped that they were content simply to watch and eventually become convinced of the truth of his promise that the Highlands army would not pursue them into the mountains.
On the tenth day since arriving at the frontier, Thelvyn rode back into the main camp at Nordeen to be told that the wizards had received a message that he was to report to Braejr. The king wished to see him in person, and he was needed also to coordinate the movement of additional supplies to the north, but only if he could spare the time. Thelvyn was reluctant to be away for long. He would have preferred to fly, which would have enabled him to go to Braejr and return again in a matter of hours. Unfortunately, the enchanted cape had never regained the power of flight.
"I won't be gone any longer than I can help it," Thelvyn assured Captain Gairstaan as he prepared to depart. "This is your show at any rate. I know you can handle things."
"The dragons seem content enough to wait for now," Gairstaan repled. "I'd feel a great deal better if you were riding with bodyguards."
Thelvyn shook his head. "You forget that I'm the Dragonlord. If dragons do attack, I'd only have to protect my bodyguards. Better I ride alone."
Convinced that the dragons were watching him from a distance, Thelvyn decided that he should slip out of camp as quietly as possible. His concern was not for his own safety. He suspected that if the dragons were to learn of his departure, they would seize the opportunity to attack and destroy the border defenses before he could intervene. He meant to ride alone, drawing no attention to himself in the
hope that his journey would remain unobserved.
*****
Recent days had been a bitter time indeed for Kharendaen. The attack upon Thelvyn and Solveig White-Gold's serious injury had caused her great concern. Sir George's disappearance had also caused her a good deal of anxiety, and then there was her personal nightmare of rage and shame over her capture by the renegade king. But her separation from Thelvyn had been especially difficult for her to accept, made even more so by their brief encounter in the ruins of the ancient city. Dragons didn't commonly form such close attachments, even to their own mates, but the Dragonlord had been her constant companion for the past five years. Times were changing quickly, and she wanted to be with him to protect him. There were many things she could have told him or done for him to make his life easier, but her duty as a cleric forbade her from doing them.
The Dragonlord would soon face the most difficult days of his life, and he was not yet aware of the demands that fate would make upon him. He simply didn't yet know enough about the events of his own life or the ultimate purpose of his existence to anticipate what might happen to him. Kharendaen was afraid she wouldn't be there when he needed her most.
Her heart was heavy as she rode the gentle winds above the mountains and forests of Wendar. Day was only just beginning to fade to night. The long summer days in these northern lands were slow to surrender to darkness. Returning at last to Shadowme
re was like coming home, for this ancient sanctuary of the Great One had indeed been her home for many years when she was young, beginning when she was only a half-grown child. And yet a storm had seemed to rage over this place in recent years, when Shadowmere had seen some of the greatest yet also the most shameful events in the long history of dragons.
Shadowmere lay hidden in a great pocket of forest known as the Foxwoods, partially surrounded by the northern Wendarian Range. Here were trees unique from those found anywhere else in the world, even the enchanted forests of Alfheim. There were towering pines of such incredible height that a dragon could easily fly beneath their lowest branches. The sanctuary itself, a half-ring of hills where the lairs of dragons had been cut into the native stone long ago, was hidden deep within the woods. A rustic building of stone and timbers with a tiled roof had been built within that ring. It was in the shape of a horseshoe and set back against the hill so that it enclosed the older lairs.
Guided by instinct, Kharendaen dropped down into the forest to glide slowly in the generous space between the ground and the canopy above. She approached Shad-owmere from the east, passing above the icy stream that ran below the open end of the ring of hills. In a happier past, she might have seen dragons in the enclosed yard of the sanctuary, and many of the woodland elves who served the order of the Great One would have been gathering in the twilight of the summer evening. Her delight in returning to her old home turned to sorrow to see it as it had become, abandoned since that terrible day when the rogue dragons had turned on their own clerics. Long strokes of her wings slowed her descent as she glided to a landing in the yard before the main doors.
D& D - Mystara 02 Dragonking of Mystara Page 20
