by Vic Broquard
“Er right. Now how long will it take to muster your soldiers and prepare for the greatest battle in Jing history?” Gang asked, getting into the act and not wanting to be outdone by his father. They agreed upon marching tomorrow at ten in the morning. On a large map of Jing, Gang then showed them where the two secret mines were located and asked how long it would take for the armies to reach them. Luck was on their side. After a full day of marsh pole boating, the army would be in position to attack them at dawn. Everyone shook hands and the meeting broke up. Many stuck around to chat with old Chen. Philomena was dismissed and soon only the three brothers remained. Their father had finally hobbled his way out of the study.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Jie commented. They chatted a while longer.
That evening when her official duties ended, Philomena went for a walk outside the fortress walls. Once out of sight, she cast Invisibility on herself and morphed back into her true huge, green form. Then, she teleported to Baozhai to report in to Axelrod, who commanded the greens at the mine.
Gang and his brothers and their wives gathered at the appointed rendezvous point the next day, the 13th of April. The combined forces were incredibly impressive. Fully thirty thousand men, many wearing armor, stood on the patches of dry ground, their pole boats beside them. The generals looked resplendent and the barons and baronesses wore their finest armor as well. The mage pool stood close to the three barons and observed the horde of soldiers. Everyone’s morale rose to a fevered pitch and the generals barked their marching orders. Action. Men boarded their crafts and off they went. Gang felt confident that this action would be successful. How could dragons survive this mighty army?
General Tingfeng and Baron Li arrived at the secret mine of Honghui, some hundred miles from Nanchan, long before the main army was to reach the captured Baozhai mine. Three thousand men strong, the force moved into the mine’s area. The entrance to the mine was easily missed in this vast marshland. A low stone, circular wall whose height was barely three feet above the surrounding marsh waters was the actual entrance. It was barely twenty-five feet across. Ordinarily, the security guards, several thousand strong, ought to have been encountered already. They were supposed to be patrolling the marsh waters around the entrance, keeping out locals. None had thus far been seen.
Inside the opening, a spiraling stone staircase attached to the wall led downwards far underground. Some hundred feet below, Chamber One sprawled out, nearly a mile in diameter. Here were the living quarters for everyone. Three dozen additional shafts angled downward from Chamber One, following the many ore veins. This mine had been worked for centuries. An incredibly extensive set of additional tunnels and smaller chambers stretched out for nearly a mile in all directions.
Li, the general, and the three thousand soldiers moved up to the entrance, surrounding it, pole boats packed in tight. Just as General Tingfeng was about to give the orders to unload and head down the stairs, Baron Li’s Duska senses flashed him a dire warning of extreme danger. “Something’s terribly wrong, General,” he whispered his warning.
Just then, four green dragons flew up and out of the circular hole in the ground, their seventy foot long, snake-like bodies twisting and turning as they flew. All four let loose a volley of rotting slime which completely covered the general and Li, who dove off the boat into the shallow marsh waters, but not in time. As the four cleared the entrance, four more flew out, and then four more. The battle was on in earnest. The soldiers had no choice but to attempt to fight the dragons with their pole arms and swords.
Although covered in the slime, Baron Li managed to get off a Disintegrate spell, bringing down the green that slimed him. He collapsed from the intense burning pain, slumping into the slime covered marsh waters. He died shortly afterwards. Twenty minutes later, the last of the greens had finished their mop up action. All of the invading force was now dead, a massive pile of bodies floating on the shallow march waters. Three greens had died. A couple of soldiers had somehow managed to spear two greens, running their pole arms into their eye sockets, quite by accident.
Able ordered his greens to now get rid of the rotting bodies and to clean up the place. He left one green on guard duty just outside the circular entrance. He went back down inside to make sure that the captured humans were still mining as ordered.
At dawn, although Gang and Jie had not yet heard from Li, they attacked the secret mine at Baozhai. This mine was a hundred twenty-five miles from Nanchan. However, its design was pretty much the same as Honghui. Its main chamber was octagonal and double the area of Chamber One at Honghui. Mined for nearly a hundred years longer, Baozhai was far more profitable, yielding quality gems, not gold.
The twenty-seven thousand soldiers, the two generals, the two barons, their three wives, the ten mages, and Archmage Liang Don moved in to retake their precious mine from the greens. Axelrod had summoned all of the greens on Jing to help defend the mine, leaving only fifteen to guard the recently taken mine at Honghui. Seventy greens lay in wait, eager to put an end to the human control of Jing. According to Axelrod, they would be the first dragon race to take total control over their new planet home. That they also now had the highly profitable mines was even more important to them.
Axelrod had made precise plans for the coming battle. According to Philomena, the two barons and three baronesses had to be taken out first, followed by the mages. Once those were gone, the army posed no threat at all. In fact, they could probably capture many of them and use them as slave labor along with the men they had taken in raids on other planets. Axelrod made sure that his seventy greens all knew the battle plan. Kill the Duska first. Then kill the mages.
The problem with the greens is that they rarely follow orders, as each thinks that they know best. While all seventy greens nodded to Axelrod, hardly any would actually do as he asked. He had twenty greens out a mile from the entrance, supposedly hiding beneath the marsh waters. They were to rise up and attack the army from its rear, who would then be totally encircled. Others would rise up out of the entrance like a roman candle, spewing forth rotting slime on the barons and baronesses, then the mages. If Axelrod’s plan had been executed as he outlined it, the battle would be over and swiftly.
Of course the opposite occurred. As the thousands of pole boats slipped past the submerged greens, several rose up and began to slime the trailing boats. In the lead boats, the barons and mages were still a half mile from the mine’s circular stone entrance, likewise barely three feet above the marsh waters. Hearing the sounds of battle coming from behind them, the leaders turned to see a number of greens attacking their rear. All launched volleys of deadly spells at the greens. Axelrod was peeved and ordered his remaining greens to spew forth from the entrance and join the fray. Thus, his quick kill of the barons and mages failed at first. Against the original ten greens, the combined spell power took a deadly toll, ten were killed before Gang screamed, “Look out! Behind us!” They turned to see countless greens spewing up out of the entrance, their tiny wings working like mad to support their huge, snake-like bodies. Greens disliked flying, but had little other choice to get into and out of the mine.
Streams of slime flew in all directions, instead of directly at the Duska and mages. Although they had to dodge some streams, they continued to fire off killer spells as fast as they could. To their credit, each of the baronesses managed to kill a dragon themselves before they were slimed. Jie got two and Gang, three. Just when Gang thought that they might yet have a chance, Axelrod managed to sneak his slime stream on the two barons. Jie dove out of the way, but took slime directly in his face, before plunging into the murky waters. Gang was not so lucky; slime covered his body before he was able to reach the protection of the foul waters.
Searing, intense pain, unlike any that he’d ever felt before enveloped Jie. It was all he could do to prevent himself from exhaling and then drowning. With the last of his will power, he attempted to Shadow Walk to Gang’s fortress, where he knew his father sat wa
iting news of their victory over the dragons. Somehow, Jie managed the maneuver, but stumbled and fell onto the floor not ten feet from where his father was sitting, fretting and worrying over the lack of news.
“Good god son! What happened to you?” Ignoring the crippling pain in his leg, he moved over to the prone man and turned him over. His hand went to his mouth, covering it. Jie’s face was slowly rotting away! Hastily, he began casting spells to neutralize and cleanse the deteriorating flesh. He yelled for the physician. By the time the old man arrived, potions in hand, Chen had gotten most of the active slime off of his son’s face. The physician poured four vials of healing potion into what remained of Jie’s mouth, in a valiant attempt to keep the man alive. It actually worked, Jie would live, but he was ever after completely blind; his eyes were long gone. His face was hideous to look at, a mass of twisted, scarred flesh. His mouth was totally mutilated. Few ever dared to look directly at him. He no longer had lips and his speech was difficult to understand. But he lived.
An hour later, his son stabilized and being looked after by the physician, Chen began to attempt to make Mind Links to his other sons, their wives, the mages, even Archmage Liang Don. Nothing. Nothing at all. He could contact none of them. Frustrated, he attempted to contact the three generals next. Nothing. Panic flooded over the old man. After taking a long drink of wine to steady his shaking nerves, he cast every protection spell that he knew on himself, adding Invisibility last. He then Shadow Walked to Honghui and saw the greens disposing of thousands of dead men. Shocked, he moved over to Baozhai, remaining just within the safety of the Shadows. He vomited thrice. The carnage was beyond anything he could have possibly imagined!
Twenty green dragons lay in crumpled masses in a huge random pattern around the entrance of the mine. He spotted the rotting remains of Gang floating on the foul waters. Nearby were the three baronesses. All were dead. Twenty-seven thousand men — he just could not fathom what had happened here. He did not know that many of the soldiers had been captured; some hundred of them were still alive, but had been taken into the mine and forced to work for the greens until they died. As he watched, he mechanically counted the greens and reached forty-four before he believed he had seen them all.
“We got a third of them,” he whispered to himself, “that’s something, at least. My god! The greens now can control all of Jing! Dear god, what has happened to Jing?” The realization that the greens now controlled his whole world sank into the old man. Nothing stood between the greens and anything on Jing. At any time they could walk into the defenseless fortresses and Circles of Ascension and do anything they desired. Gone were all of their possible defenses. Only he remained. He sank into a deep depression and headed back to the fortress at Nanchan.
“He is going to live, Baron, but I am afraid his face will be permanently disfigured. How goes the great battle?” the physician asked.
“We lost it all. They are all dead. Barons, baronesses, mages, generals, soldiers — all dead!” He slumped into a chair, his old bones and joints aching as never before. He lived to see his world overthrown by the Green Dragons, betrayed by them, destroyed by them. My daughters saw my folly and tried to stop them, he thought. What have I done? My daughters! They still live! Maybe it is not too late!
“Physician, look after Jie. I am going to get help if it is the very last thing I ever do,” Chen barked out. He nodded and Chen focused his mind and slipped into the Shadows once more. Soon the blue-white world of Adapazan appeared before him. Snow still covered much of the higher country. He headed for Brn and Messaged Zoran. Baron Zoran, this is Chen Meerong. I beg to meet with you and my two daughters. The greens have wiped us all out. Please, I beg you.
Damn. Sure. Arrive at my Circle. I’ll lower the protections. Zoran hastily did so and Messaged his large group, including Chan and Wen. He stepped through a Mystical Door and arrived just in time to watch Chen Meerong materialize in the middle of his Circle of Ascension. “Welcome to Brn once more. It’s been quite some time since I last saw you,” he began, offering the old man his hand. Other Mystical Doors opened and the room quickly filled up. Both Chan and Wen arrived and saw that their father really had come.
“Please, is there some place we can all go? My leg can’t take much walking or standing,” Chen asked. Zoran looked at a totally beaten man. He put his arm around Chen and stepped him into his study. Everyone else followed them. Zdenka sent for refreshments as Zoran helped Chen to sit down in his comfortable chair.
“Greetings daughters. Forgive me, for I have been an utter foolish old man. I have brought total ruin to Jing. I am afraid that I bring hideous news. The greens now control all of Jing; they are all dead. Only Jie still lives, barely, but he will never be the same. I should have listened to the both of you twenty years ago. All is lost, but I have come to beg you to lend a hand and try to save Jing from the total ruin that it now faces.”
“Please, Chen, start at the beginning. Tell us all what happened, please,” Zoran asked.
Slowly, Chen outlined all that he knew, withholding nothing. “What? We have two secret mines that produce lots of gold and gems?” Chan interrupted.
“Yes, closely guarded secret for all that did.” He went on.
“Wait, you say that the greens are holding women at this place called Xiaosheng?” Zoran interrupted him this time.
“Why yes. The assassin who went there and lost his life suggested that somehow the greens were breeding with them, but that’s utterly preposterous, utter fantasy.”
“Oh no it isn’t! That is precisely what they are doing, using human females to make more baby dragons. It seems they only breed every ten years. With all of their losses, they are getting frantic to produce more greens,” Zoran answered. “But please, continue.”
Chen did so, but was obviously highly unnerved by Zoran’s comments. He talked for an hour. At last, crying too badly to continue, he Mind Linked them and replayed what he had seen while lurking in the Shadows. Wild curses and exclamations echoed randomly through the room. No one had ever seen such carnage before. It dwarfed anything that they had ever seen, far worse than the destroyed villages. Thirty-thousand men gone!
As he finished up, Chan and Wen picked up on his dragon count. “Say, you counted only forty-four there and perhaps a dozen at the other mine? Their numbers must be drastically lower than when we were there hunting them down. Maybe we have a chance yet,” Chan suggested.
“Right sis, only fifty or so. Maybe we can strike back. Zoran, we are going to have to go after the women and soon. If we kill enough greens, we might be able to retake Jing from their clutches,” Wen added.
“Daughters, you two are the last official rulers of Jing. Jie — well he will be an invalid the rest of his life. Please, take back our world if you can. I have so failed you, my daughters.”
“Well, you certainly have, dad. Failed us and the people of Jing, but we’ll do our best to retake Jing from the wicked, vile greens,” Chan declared.
“Thank you. There is much that I must tell you, the secret pass codes, the location of our treasuries, many such things. If I don’t so much will be lost forever,” Chen added, a slight hope in his voice.
“I’m going to let the other barons know that we’ve located some of their missing men and women. We’ll put together a coordinated attack as fast as possible. The women may not have much time left before they give birth and die,” Zoran said quickly.
“You are worried about those women?” asked Chen.
“Of course, dad, their lives are precious. That is what ruling is all about, helping our people live better lives, not about our comforts and finery. That’s where you went so very wrong,” Chan could not resist chiding her father. “We’ve been rescuing folks right and left since Zoran gave us sanctuary in our time of great need.”
The others then returned to their duties, leaving the three alone to discuss what they needed. Obviously, the two women had a lot to get off their chests too. Besides, everyone now had serious pl
ans to make, preparations to handle. None had the slightest doubts that Zoran would not take this opportunity to attack the greens of Jing.
Chapter 16 The New Rulers of Jing
Zdenka joined Zoran in their small, private study. “We are obviously going after the women being held at Xiaosheng. Probably there will only be a few greens there. Are we going into the mines after the whole mass of greens?” she asked.
“Well, Chan and Wen certainly will want us to eliminate all the greens possible, but I am going to leave the fate of the men up to their barons. If John, Arcangelo, and Stefan want to make an attempt to free them, we’ll back them with all we have. If they do not, then we’ll not go it alone. Instead, we’ll do what we can to help Chan and Wen secure the rest of Jing. That makes sense, doesn’t it, dear?”
She agreed and Zoran summoned the three barons to Brn at once. Five minutes later, he explained, “I summoned you here because I have some good news at last. We’ve located a number of women being held by the greens. They are on Jing. We’ve also located the many missing men from your lands and perhaps ours too. It seems that Jing has lost all of its barons, baronesses, mages, Archmage, and its entire army of thirty thousand.”
“What? Gang, Jie, Li, all dead?” asked Stefan in total disbelief. Zoran then explained what Chen Meerong had just related to them all. “He shared his images of the aftermath of the battles with me. Beyond all imaginable horrors, barons. Sickening. At least we now know where the women are and likely all the men — slave workers in the mines there. I will point out, Baron Arcangelo, some of the women might be from Cosma. If the greens didn’t impregnate them as soon as the others did, they may still have a few days at most before they give birth and die as a result. I really can’t say, but there is a chance. I’ve asked you here to find out what you want to do about it. Adapazan will back up you with all that we have.”
