Dragons Shining

by Michael Sperry

  He fell asleep before Ralph and Ender both came down to plant themselves on either side of his hammock. They took turns on watch until Baird came down later and joined them. Ender let Baird sleep as well and later Ralph woke Baird about an hour before dawn.

  Barlow came down at pre-dawn to wake them all with the news they had arrived at the end dock. "I have counted the men and women of the swamp that will support the Toss this day. There are a total of ninety six, thirty five archers, forty swords and twenty one axes."

  "That's ten times as many as I had thought would fight upon the Hills with me. May the Maker help them survive this", said Owen. He felt well rested yet hungry. "We have time for a meal I believe. The fairies should be waking our enemies with a nasty surprise already this morning."

  The entire company ate a quick breakfast and drank the bittersweet root brew that chased the cobwebs from their sleep fogged minds.

  Owen embarked in the pre-dawn hint the day was nigh. He led Gander across to the grassy hill side where everyone was gathered, mounted and spoke. "We have several hours before we can expect our enemies to arrive. We will travel toward the forest as swiftly as possible, looking for an advantageous place to stand. The further we get from the boats the safer they will be. If you see fairies, remember they are there to help us. Do not attack them. Let's move."

  The only mounts were those of the Toss, so Owen and his Toss walked their horses, leading the column four abreast.

  Chapter Nine – The Fairy Surprise

  Vazlos had not wanted to stop here in the Mother's Forest, but the others had insisted. The blasted wyrms were tired of carrying trolls, and the damn orcs were howling that the wyrms were crushing them in their claws and trying to throw them off their backs. There were times he wished he had simply remained a hermit wizard, experimenting with the wayward travelers that sometimes passed his cave in the Remoss Pass, to the wasteland side of the mountains. He had enjoyed the games he played with them before stealing their life force and making his zombie slaves. Vazlos needed little rest. His magic sustained him, at the expense of the occasional prisoner he drained of life force and blood. While the orcs and the two trolls slept in the near dawn light, he was partaking of one of the provisions they had brought with them, slating his hunger and thirst. Even wide awake, the first indication to Vazlos that something was wrong was when the larger Troll woke with a howl and killed one of the others with his monstrous club. Before Vazlos removed its head with a bolt of iridescent lightning, it also bashed the skull of the wyrm closest to it and the sleeping wizard, Koth. It was then that three behemoth earth elementals began pushing themselves from the ground. His wizard's sight detected the fairies, shimmering in their summoning spells in the tree tops surrounding them.

  "Flee! Mount and Ride. The fairies attack", he screamed. "Blast the trees!" As he ran to his wyrm, Vazlos shouted "Inflamonos" and cast fireballs with each hand at the tree tops. He cursed as the fireballs met waves of rain conjured by the fairies. So he blasted them with lightning instead and heard their dying cries. The resulting smoke and steam from his and the other wizard attacks on the trees filled the meadow. He heard the screams of dying wyrms and wizards, and the pounding of rock elementals on dead flesh. He made it to Kell, his wyrm, and they lifted, snatching two orcs from the ground. In the blood red and smoke filled dawn, seven Wyrms with their vampire wizard masters and more, carrying only Orcs or Trolls, flew toward the hills below the Dragon Forest. Vazlos did not sense the dragons as they patiently flew above and behind the wyrms. "Damn fairies. Belaros will make them pay dearly for this. I wonder if this young Owen knows we are coming. The fairies probably warned him by now. Belaros said there were only a few Toss, so this should not be too hard even if there were a few minor wizards among them. I am the strongest wizard alive since Baird was killed, and now I have learned blood magic from the Demon himself. Perhaps they do know, so what shall we find on that bayou? Perhaps they have fled. If so, we will overtake them soon enough."

  Chapter Ten – Battle of Dragon Hill

  "This should do nicely, here close to the trees", Owen said. "Archers stand behind that small ridge where the Fairies can cover you. If you are hit by the Orcs, or pushed back, then take shelter in the trees. The Dragon Forest wakes and knows you as friend. Shoot from the Forest edge if you must. The swordsmen stand along the top of this ridge. Your pikes and spears will be more effective. Axe men on both flanks. Keep the Orcs from flanking the position. The Toss will move along this line as needed. The Dragons will arrive behind the enemy. I will fight here with the Toss until the Dragons arrive. Then I will join them to fight the Wyrms in the sky.

  Owen sensed the Fairies, in numbers all along the Forest edge. Most of the clan was here with their Queen, Delishaterina.

  "Yes, Owen. We must hurt the dark one this day. Set him back while our Mother wakes. Fairies died this morning for the first time in ten thousand years. We are angry."

  "More will die this day, Delishaterina. And of the brave people who fight for the Dragon King as well, some will die. Perhaps we shall die as well, yet we cannot run from this. We cannot hide."

  "Then let us kill these vermin instead. My people are stronger than Belaros thinks. He believes we cower in the Forest, waiting for his pleasure."

  "I know better, mighty Queen."

  "Owen", Baird projected.

  "Yes, Baird?"

  "We need to draw the Wyrms close enough for the archers. To do that we must place glamour on them so they seem as swordsmen or the wyrms will stay out of range while the Malaga send lightning and fire. Ask the Fairies to do this. They are the greatest masters of Glamour."

  "Indeed. I heard you Master Wizard. We will take care of this small detail. We will also hold fire until they come closer."

  The air shimmered around the archers and the bows and quivers appeared as swords and shields.

  "Archers! Do not fire until my signal! It means your lives."

  "Yes, my Lord", Mark replied. He was the archer captain. "We must wait until they are in range."

  "Time to talk is over", the Queen said. "Here they come".

  The Black Wyrms poured overhead, fixed on the abandoned boats.

  "OVER HERE", Baird shouted. "Insendo!" A massive emerald lightning bolt from Baird's sword killed one of the Wyrms outright, sending its group of Orcs plummeting to their death.

  "I think that got their attention", Ender shouted over the screams of the angry Wyrms.

  Eight lightning bolts sizzled toward them, to be shattered on the wards that Owen and Baird had spent half their energy weaving. The Malagae would have to get closer to really test the wards. The Wyrms with Orcs, and two Trolls dropped quickly, and set their charges on the hills below. Then they flew directly toward the Toss position with their mouths dripping fire.

  Owen counted over forty Orcs. "We must hold, and draw the Malagae closer."

  Gander emitted a bright Blue nimbus and a bolt of energy from his horn set the lead Wyrm crashing in blue flames and a massive spray of blood. "Thanks, boy. That was spectacular!"

  Owen drew the Wyrm blood into seven spinning disks and poisoned them, drawing them into the path of the oncoming Wyrms. The sharp spinning disks penetrated the Wyrms hide, and five more Wyrms crashed before reaching them. Owen had an ocean of blood to use now, and life energy from the dying Wyrms replenished their gem stones.

  "PIKES!", shouted the front line captain. Massive jets of flame from the remaining troop carrying Wyrms pored over the protective wards, and then the brutes struck the line of pikes that the swordsmen raised up from the ground. They crashed through the line, fetching dead upon the archer ridge. A dozen swordsmen were crushed out of action, thinning the front line.

  ZAP! The Malaga tested the wards again, which held strong. A second wave of Wyrms converged upon the front line, only to be met by a hundred razor sharp spinning blood disks, so deadly poisonous they all died and fell crashing to the ground.

  "Damn!", thought Vazlos. "Baird is alive! And that
boy is the most powerful blood mage I have ever seen. The Demon has underestimated him and neither of us knew Baird was one of his Toss." "Hit them in the center! Close the gap and smash those wards while they are occupied with the Trolls", Vazlos called to the Malagae.

  "To me!" Owen called to the Toss, and they rode swiftly to the center of the front line where the Orcs and the Trolls were beginning to strike. Soon his enchanted swords were dripping Orc blood while Gander ripped into them with tooth and claw. The drain on his wards was staggering but the level of released life energy matched the draw. As long as his wards held, the foot soldiers would hold.

  His Toss fared badly. Outnumbered by the lumbering Orcs, Rolph's mount had been killed and he was besieged by three Orcs at once. Owen reached him just as he was knocked down by an Orcs club, and while Gander eviscerated the Orc that had struck Rolph, Owen beheaded one and drove a blood spear through another's brain. Rolph regained his feet and Owen lifted him up behind him on Gander.

  Barlow, Collin and Whistle were cornered and surrounded, yet throwing fireballs and lightning bolts so fast, the Orcs were kept out of reach. Owen could see that the wizards were tiring and would soon be overwhelmed. Owen charged the ring of Orcs. He and Rolph lay about with their swords and Gander blasted them with killing blue fire, but only if he didn't rip them apart with his dragon jaws. His blue ring of protection remained puissant, crackling with energy. This helped his riders and helped Owen maintain his flagging wards. Purdy, Tamaris and Ender, although all were injured and bleeding, joined them and together they beat the Orcs away from the tiring Wizards so they could help maintain the wards as well. Purdy's large horse was lamed, but still fighting the best he could with the big man on top. Ender remained near Tamaris, who was still a little weak from the last battle. The one time Pirate slayer fought with the skill and determination of three men, yet was bleeding from a head wound. An Orc club had nearly taken off his ear. Tamaris was bleeding as well, yet seemed the least injured. He was also skillful and determined with his big sword, if not as deadly as Ender. Baird joined the other Wizards and a flash of healing energy from his Emerald ring brought much needed strength.

  Owen and his injured friends then galloped to aid the outnumbered and decimated swordsmen. He intensified the wards he had set upon his Toss, not caring that the bloodstones dimmed. The fighting was intense and they struggled to remain together as a solid and mobile cavalry. A large Orc picked up one of the soldier's pikes and rammed it through Purdy's gallant horse. The animal folded and Purdy stepped off of him with his axe swinging. The Orc was pulped, spraying gouts of blood into the air, which Owen once again formed into poisonous whirling disks which he willed into a pack of charging Orcs. The effect was gratifying, and Owen's blood stones were refreshed once again. Purdy joined the Swordsmen, laying about with his axe like a madman, even though he was bleeding from numerous cuts and abrasions.

  Another concerted blast of frost, flame and lightning struck the wards, this time from closer range, and Owen shuddered with effort.

  The only way he could hold the wards was to kill Orcs and steal their life force. His swords blurred faster than the Orcs could see, and they soon began to avoid the dangerous Elf and Human on the monster Unicorn and tried to flank them. The big human axe men they ran into on the flanks were more than a match for the Orcs though. Soon, death was having a good day and Owen's blood stones rejoiced.

  "Look out, Owen!" Baird warned.

  Owen ducked the Troll club as it whistled over his head. Gander twisted his neck violently and drove his horn into the Troll's chest. The ugly beast screamed so loudly the whole battle field paused to see him melt into a pool of blue goo. Then Owen saw the oncoming Malagae almost upon them. He sent a blast of signal fire into the sky. The ground began to shake, and the sky darkened with arrows and Fairy darts. Bolts of lightning and fireballs slammed into the wards so hard and so close, Owen nearly fell from his mount as the blood rubies were drawn almost dark. He saw Baird slump and retreat from the line in pain. With horror he saw young Whistle crumple to the ground still as death. Instinctively, Owen drew the girl's fleeing life force and terrified seer's spirit into his own body. He would not let Whistle go! "Remain with me a while, Whistle. I know a way to save you." The girl's spirit calmed.

  "Baird, another blast and the wards will fail! Our wizards will die."

  "Have faith Owen. Look to the sky."

  But before he could, the screams of dying Malagae and their Wyrms made him slap his hands over his ears. Half of them crashed, writhing in the throws of poisoned death. His blood rubies glowed brightly once again. Orcs all around began to scream as the magically poison arrows and darts found them.

  The Fairy Queen's Rock Gnomes rose from the ground and roamed the Hills now, smashing Orcs and killing the remaining Troll.

  Then the roars of furious Dragons drowned all other sound as dozens of them descended upon the Malagae and their Wyrms. The sky burned and it was suddenly difficult to breathe. The slaughter was violent and brief, with only one of the fell beasts vanishing in thin air to escape the Dragons ire. Owen forced every bit of the life force into the stones. He would need the energy to save Whistle.

  Vazlos barely escaped. Only by premonition had he looked up, to see his death descending in a sky full of huge, angry dragons. "RETREAT", he shouted mentally to the Malagae. It was too late for them, under attack by the boy and his magi, they could not disengage before they were mortally struck from above. Vazlos uttered a dangerous spell that transported him miles away along the line of the Dragon Hills. His Wyrm nearly crashed as they slammed into a poor landing, only to lie there in twisting agony while they recuperated from the hasty spell. "The Demon may kill me for this", he thought. "Perhaps I should not go back. No, that would definitely get me killed. Better to tell him the truth. He needs to field a much larger army, or there is no capturing the boy. He is far too strong with the Dragons behind him. Belaros should concentrate more on the girl, Briana. She is the key."

  Back at the battleground, Owen quickly dismounted and changed. His dragon form was larger now, and men had to scatter before him as he thundered toward Whistle's crumpled form. Collin knelt beside her body, weeping. Towering over them, Owen turned Whistle over with his snout and the men heard Dragon spell words, strange, guttural and compelling.

  The onlookers and the Dragons in the sky saw the stunning red and white Dragon become enveloped in searing, blinding white light with his snout gently touching the young Wizard girl's body.

  Owen used all his skill and power to repair the damage done to Whistle’s body as her spirit fled and body functions ceased. It had only been a very few minutes, so the cells still lived. Then he urged Whistle’s rejuvenated life force and spirit back into the body and palpitated her still heart. Whistle started coughing and convulsing. Owen calmed the girl with the same spell he had once used on the farm animals, and before long the young Wizard’s heart and breathing stabilized.

  Willow opened her eyes and looked up at the Dragon King, who had saved her life. She felt better than she had before this awful battle, and the memory of being so close to Owen's soul stood out like a shining beacon. She had seen the King's soul, and knew without doubt she would follow this King to the end of her days. "Thank you, great King", she said as she struggled to his feet.

  Murmurs spread rapidly, and now the swamp people looked at Owen with wonder and perhaps even some fear. "The Lord of Dragons has brought the girl back from the dead", they were saying.

  “Come Owen. It is time for you to leave these people and learn the Dragon Way. Znost would see you upon Dragon's Mount.”

  Owen heard the big dragon's call. Falos was his name.

  “Wait Falos. I must heal as many as I can before I leave. These men have fought and died for our cause. I will not abandon them just yet.”

  "We will wait then. The flight was long and we are tired and hungry. A rest would do us some good. I have an image for you."

  An image of a spectacular Blue and
White Yearling Dragon impinged upon Owen's brain.

  "Briana!"

  Just then a host of large pigs came charging from the forest, running from another host of illusionary bears. They could hear Fairies laughing. The Dragons pounced on this boon without hesitation.

  "That was spectacular, Owen," Baird projected. "The mages of the world have never even dared such a feat. Do not listen to those who criticize this act. You were given the gift to save lives and destroy the dark infection. If the Maker had not wanted this, the collectors would have fought you for her soul. Now you know what you can do. Use this gift wisely."

  "It was if I had no part in the capture, Baird. I had the idea in a flash of knowledge and acted without thought. I am very happy that it worked out, and hope that Whistle came out unscarred. She seems ok, though."

  Owen worked his way around the battlefield, healing those he could and easing the pain of those he could not. A few were so torn to pieces he could do nothing for them except ease their pain until they passed. He let the collectors do their job. When he was done, he changed, back into his Elf form and called to Gander. He rode Gander back over to where the Toss gathered.