“Citizens and Civilians of the Alliance, we are to begin the game after the die are cast to see who has possession of the ball first,” Canjon announced. The dragons then began to line up on opposite sides of the giant as the crowd’s applause went on for several seconds. Gallanth let the large but graceful female silver dragon from Ice Bay Weir, Shenenth, be the team captain along with her mate Tyrenth. They both flanked her as the trio positioned themselves behind the line of land dragons at the center, two spiked drakes, and the copper and brass dragons on either flank. The Capital Weir lineup was similar in fashion but with no spiked drakes, fielding land dragons instead. Eagrenth was the gold dragon picked to be their team leader.
The thunder giant motioned for the captains to approach him. He looked at both and took a small bag from his waist. He then shook it thoroughly and asked the two dragon team captains to reach in and grab a stone. Eagrenth deferred to the lady silver dragon from Ice Bay, who flicked her tongue into the bag and quickly retrieved a melon-sized stone. She was immediately followed by the Capital Wing gold dragon. They then simultaneously protruded their tongues to show that Eagrenth had the white stone and the silver dragon had the black stone. This meant the Capital Weir would possess the ball first. Many giants used these “stones of destiny,” a fifty-fifty chance game that they employed. Many of the evil races of giants taunted their captives with death if they picked the wrong stone, for this was what they considered fun, especially the ice, fire, and evil mountain giants. The common giants were usually too stupid to contemplate toying with their victims.
Canjon announced that this would be a best of a six-point game, as the gold capital dragon picked up the odd-shaped ball with his massive jaws and formed the line of dragons in front of him. The thunder giant then sent a lightning bolt into the sky to signal the game was to begin. Immediately, the dragons on the line crashed into each other in an attempt to either force Eagrenth to the ground or to prevent that from happening and move the ball to the other side of the parade field to score. Eagrenth moved to the far side of the field. The closest land dragon and spike drake had broken free and intercepted him. While extremely powerful and fast flyers, gold dragons were only average in regard to land speed. One drake jumped and latched onto Eagrenth’s front left leg while the land dragon plowed into his side. This was enough to slow the gold dragon down to allow the copper dragon from Talinor Weir to knock him off his feet. As he was going down, he threw the ball to a waiting bronze dragon from the Capital Weir, who ran it a hundred yards before being tackled by a weir copper and bronze.
The lines quickly reformed, and the ball was passed back to Eagrenth. This time, Gallanth had faked a run to the left side of the line of land dragons, as the other brass and bronze dragons were pushing each other to either protect the Capital gold or to get the ball away from him. The two Capital silvers shifted to counter Gallanth’s charge, which stopped him, but this allowed Tyrenth to shove past a Capital brass and copper dragon and jump on Eagrenth. He was not strong enough to bring the gold to the ground but was joined quickly by two of the fast-moving drakes. As Eagrenth was being pushed over, he tossed the large ball to a nearby Capital Weir copper, who tipped it with his wing and then grabbed it with his jaws and sprinted toward the goal line and the goal keep guarded by a brass dragon from Talinor Weir.
The copper dragon was extremely fast on his feet and outdistanced all the non-Capital dragons except the spiked drake, which was closing in on him. As he came in just shy of the protective area in front of the goal keep, the guardian brass dragon prepared to block the ball. The copper then tossed the ball into the air as the elephant-sized horned drake slammed into his side. The copper could have possibly taken the impact and remained standing but instead folded with the hit but continued to roll, coming up and kicking the ball in midair with his right rear foot toward the goal keep’s upper left corner. The large sphere flew toward the target and the surprised brass dragon that lunged to intercept it with his head and wing but was just not able to make it in time. The ball hit the heavy ropes behind the goal arch. Canjon announced a goal for three points, and the crowd erupted in a thunderous applause.
“Who was that copper?” Mkel asked Jodem.
“He is Taeranth, a fierce dragon who leads the Capital Weir’s third wing. He is rumored to have taken many blue dragons and even a red in a talon and fang fight during the Great War, very talented on his feet,” the wizard answered.
“Amazing, he can beat the chromatics at their own game. Brave but foolhardy, I think,” Mkel answered, and Jodem agreed.
The thunder giant then quickly recovered the ball as the dragons realigned themselves at the center of the field, with the non-Capital weirs in possession of the ball. The center land dragon picked it up and tossed it to Shenenth. She backed up while the lines of land, brass, and bronze dragons tried to press each other to either protect her or attempt to knock her down. Taeranth, the copper from the Capital Weir, managed to get around the Talinor Weir copper and bore down on her. She quickly wing-tossed the ball to a nearby brass dragon, who attempted to carry it past the line of Capital dragons. He did maneuver his way toward the goal keep but was intercepted by another brass and a copper dragon. They quickly reformed the lines and started the next play. This time, Gallanth broke through the line and brushed off Eagrenth as he caught the ball with his left wing. He moved as fast as he could toward the goal keep but was hit by a Capital silver and bronze. As he was being pulled to the ground, he tossed the ball up and back and slammed it with the plate of his tail, like a giant flyswatter meeting a large bug in midair; the ball went hurtling toward the goal keep. A waiting spiked drake jumped up and tipped it with its nose, and it just went past the guarding land dragon’s front claw for a three-point goal.
“Yes!” Mkel shouted at Gallanth’s goal. “He was on the mark with that one!”
“His tail is as deadly accurate as his breath weapon,” Jodem commented.
The crowd stood up and gave a loud round of applause for the goal, which now made the score even, three to three. Right after the thunder giant handed the ball to the Capital Weir, the center land dragon tossed it back to Eagrenth, who then hit it hard with his right wing. The odd-shaped ball went soaring through the air on its long arc, seemingly over all the dragons, but at the last second, right before it hit the ground, Taeranth caught it in his mouth and sprinted toward the far left corner of the playing field for a one-point goal. The other dragons couldn’t match his ground speed, and he crossed the goal line with three others in close pursuit. Cheers rose for the copper’s goal.
After the dragons reformed their lines, the center land dragon pulled the ball back and tossed it to Shenenth, who backed up and batted it with her wing to a waiting spike drake. He caught it on his back and held it in place with his tail. The elephant-sized creature immediately sprinted toward the left side of the field to avoid the now-pursuing opposing team’s dragons. He managed to outdistance the Capital land dragons, but a copper was bearing down on him fast. He started to zigzag to avoid the copper’s reaching head. Just as he was nudged over the playing field’s boundary, he crossed the goal line, and the spectators’ cheering crescendo. Again, the score was now even.
The thunder giant reset the field and handed the ball over to the Capital Weir dragons. They tried three times to move the ball and score but were unsuccessful, and the ball was given to the weirs. It was quickly snapped back to Shenenth, who caught it with her wing and threw it to the fast-moving spike drake, but just before it reached the running creature, Taeranth intercepted it, clenching it with his jaws. He began to sprint toward the goal keep. Immediately, all the Weir dragons in the vicinity began to pursue him, and Tyrenth lunged to block him. The Capital copper faked to the left and leaped to the right to avoid the large silver. He was partially successful but was hit in his rear quarter in midair. He spun around, grabbed the ball with his front right talon, and threw it into the goal keep for th
e winning two points. The crowd erupted at the victory.
“Did you see that? No wonder he is so fierce in a close fight,” Mkel said to Jodem as the dragons started to line up in front of the stands and bow their heads in a salute to the cheering citizens and civilians. It was a symbolic gesture, but all with a half a brain knew it was sincere.
The communal seeing crystal image was displayed opposite the image that the Capital wizards projected. Each city and many towns had their own announcers, who described certain sports events, news, and politics that could be viewed on an individual’s seeing crystal simply by touching it to the central crystal of that particular city. The images from the capital Draconia were viewed the most as it was the central seat of power.
The announcer in the crystal-projected image was a well-recognized Truth Saying guild commentator in Draconia and was obviously an Enlightened Party member, as he was reporting the dragon version of the ground thunder game in a slanted manner. “And here we see our illustrious metallic dragons make their feeble attempt at our beloved game. They obviously should take lessons from our top players in Atlean, who definitely have a greater mastery of the sport, as do our Enlightened Senators in their mastery of government, politics, and intellect. Maybe if our weir dragons spent more time making comfort crystals for the poor and less time hoarding their wealth and making war on our neighbors, they could play the national sport with greater grace.”
Amerenth overpowered the Enlightened commentator and began to announce, which was a dragon prerogative. The POE spokesman’s face contorted with an annoyed look, “Citizens and Civilians of the Republic, the dragons of all the weirs are pleased to salute you and hope you have enjoyed this earth-shattering ground thunder game. Thank you for your support of those here at the Capital Weir, and to those viewing the game on their seeing crystals across our great republic, please stay to view the remainder of the open weapons competition. We will see you all tomorrow for the final event, the dragon race. May the light of the Creator shine upon you as we remember the purpose of these games to honor those who have sacrificed all for freedom and for the Alliance, and as we dragons and our riders strive to keep the shadows of evil from darkening our great republic,” he finished; his last comment meant to annoy the Truth Saying guilds, who tended to overemphasize the human games to downplay the weirs and the military and attempt to drive a wedge between citizen and civilian and especially turn them against the weirs.
The dragons began to move away from the stands to take off for their alcoves or for something to eat at the feeding stables and to bathe in the Capital Weir lake.
“Gallanth, good game. You almost had the Capital Weir team, but that copper, Taeranth, is very agile on his feet and deadly with those talons,” Mkel started to talk to his dragon.
“I am glad he has such talent, for it will come in handy if we are to fight. He does have an intense hatred of the red dragons and the chromatics in general. This part of his temper must be controlled. But again, it is good he has this ability,” he replied.
“Are you all right? You took a couple of good hits out there,” Mkel stated slightly concerned.
“I am fine, my rider; bruises heal in a short order. Have no fear, I will be able to fly in the race tomorrow,” he said to put Mkel at ease, as his rider climbed up onto the riding saddle.
CHAPTER III
Dragon Race
Gallanth landed back on his alcove, and most of the other two dozen dragons followed his lead, with just a couple others heading to the feeding stables. Mkel jumped off his dragon’s leg. “Again, well done, my friend, and an excellent goal with that tail shot, almost as impressive as when you carved those giants and ogres at Handsdown.”
“That was more important than this trivial game, but this demonstrates our commonality with mankind and the republic’s popular sports game.”
“I don’t know, Gallanth; the trivial part of that incredible display might be the fact that the coastal weirs lost to the Capital Weir,” Lawrent said with his usual wide, toothy grin to tease the gold dragon.
“Take care, Raider. I’ve not dined on an errant Freiland berserker in some time, but if I remember correctly, they tasted good with a little halfling spice sauce,” Gallanth shot right back at him, as he walked over to his bedding area.
Lawrent smiled even wider and laughed. “I’m too tough and gristly,” he replied.
“Again, don’t tempt me to find out,” Gallanth replied, as he walked into the alcove weir entrance. “Mkel, I want to rest for a couple of hours before I eat and bathe. The race tomorrow will be challenging, so we should both get a little extra sleep tonight.”
“I agree, my friend; I’ll go to dinner a little early and relax tonight on the alcove; Jodem says it should be a lovely night and good weather for tomorrow’s race,” Mkel said to Gallanth, who nodded as he lay down.
Later, Mkel, Jodem, Toderan, Lawrent, and the rest of the Draden crew sat on the alcove edge and watched the sunset. They talked about the politics of the senate meeting to come right after the games. In spite of good conversation, good company, and good ale, Mkel kept his promise and did retire early.
Morning came with Gallanth up early looking out over the edge of the alcove, studying the winds as the sunrise fully lit up Sauric Bay and the fields to the north of the Capital Weir Mountain. The grounds crews and halflings were already getting the stands and arena ready for the crowds that would soon be coming. There would be similar preparations for several points along the racecourse but especially on the Befran Bridge, which the dragons would be flying under. Mkel and Jodem walked out to meet Gallanth.
“Good morning, Gallanth. Watching the winds?” Jodem asked him.
“There is a slight breeze from the east with some gusts from the northeast. This will favor silver dragons, who are masters of riding the winds,” Gallanth stated.
“I have faith in us, my friend,” Mkel answered him.
“Who wins the race is of little matter, my rider. The speed of my kin and the honed skills of maneuver in flight are what are truly important,” Gallanth stated matter-of-factly. Mkel knew dragons, or at least metallic dragons, were not very competitive with each other. Pride was not a metallic dragon trait; that was rather solely within the realm of the chromatics, whose rivalries, jealousies, and greed could often lead them to a duel to the death. However, being that they were innate cowards, one usually yielded before this happened.
“You will do your best, and if nothing else, I get to soar with you on one hellish flight pattern through that course. That is a reward unto itself,” Mkel replied to his dragon in an encouraging manner, though he knew that Gallanth never needed heartening.
Gallanth looked at him with an almost puzzled smile. “You never cease to amaze me, my rider.” Mkel then smiled back. “Mount, my friend; we have a race to fly,” Gallanth told his rider, who began the climb up the flying harness.
“Good flight to you!” Jodem yelled up to the dragon and rider.
“Yes, good luck,” Toderan also echoed as Gallanth lazily launched off the ledge of the alcove and began to soar down to the parade field where the dragons competing in the race had already begun to gather. There were thirty dragons participating in the race that day, at least one or two from each weir and several from the Capital Weir. As Gallanth and Mkel landed, Falcanth gave them a hearty welcome roar.
“A good day to race, my brother,” Falcanth said to Gallanth.
“I thought you were not going to fly today,” Gallanth replied.
“It is a beautiful day to fly, plus someone besides Valianth needs to give you a challenge,” Falcanth said with a hint of sarcasm to make fun of the small rivalry between the two gold dragons.
Gallanth only snorted in reply, letting his brother know he had caught the sarcasm.
Mkel saluted Lloydell and gave him the morning greetings. “Good morning, sir!” he ye
lled over to the senior rider.
“Good morning to you, my son, and a good flight to you today,” Lloydell answered with his usual smile, his thick peppered gray hair barely moving in the morning breeze. “I wanted to wish you luck at the senate gathering tomorrow. I have a feeling you will need it, but don’t give those damn Enlightened pogaches an inch, especially that traitorous worm Terrjok. He should be broken on the square not making consequential decisions as an Alliance senator. The downside of free choice in our republic,” he said with a distinct tone of disgust in his voice.
Mkel smiled, for he shared the same sentiment, but he was a little worried, for Terrjok and many of his fellow Enlightened senators were arbitrators and were as precise and deadly with words in a debate as he was with his crossbow and sword in battle.
“I will show them no quarter, sir; plus, I do have the truth on my side. Although to them, the truth is always up to interpretation,” Mkel answered with a smile.
Lloydell and the dragons nodded their heads. Just then, Canjon began to announce to all the spectators it was time to take their seats for the race would begin momentarily.
“Dear Ladies and Gentlemen and All Friends of the Alliance, we are here this morning to witness the final event of the Honors Day Games, the much-anticipated Dragon Race!” and with that, the applause rose up to a crescendo. “For this race, our good Capital Weir wizards will be projecting multiple views of the dragons, as they streak across the sky, dodging and weaving their way around our massive city walls and through the ravines of the Maiden Mountains, all through their roving eye spells to give you the best possible vantage points for all the action. The fastest of our metallic dragon protectors are here to hone their speed and maneuvering skills for any future action against the chromatics. Those watching on the seeing crystals or from posts along the many choice vantage points beside the race route will be thrilled to see our dragons streak past you at hurricane-like speeds. Now without further delay, I will turn the race announcing over to my esteemed dragon Amerenth.”
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 17
