Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm

by J. Michael Fluck

  Beckann then replied to Sadok’s ice-beam spell with the remaining several lightning bolts. He tried to move back and away but was unsuccessful, and the three strikes almost eliminated his magic shield. Another hit with any spell of power from the elf and it would be gone. Both magic users were quickly preparing their next spells in a race to see who could power up their respective staffs first, but the red dragon had turned and was now diving toward the elf and unicorn with its talons outstretched.

  “He is very angry, Desiran, but has no fire left and wants to rip us apart with his claws. Let’s give him the opportunity, my dear,” Beckann whispered to her unicorn. The elf raised her staff, the stone almost scintillating in bright blue. The dragon roared and bore down on them, but just as his talons reached for the pair, Beckann thrust her staff upward and Desiran did the same with her horn. Beckann had empowered both with a disruption spell, and the weapons hit the dragon’s large black talons with a blinding flash, blowing several in half with large chunks splintering off of the rest. The dragon veered off, roaring in pain as it tried to shake its front feet. Just then, a meteor like projectile struck Beckann and her unicorn in the back as their shields only partially stopped the spell. This was a lucky shot to catch them at a second of weakness in their shield, for the drain the spell she cast to repel the dragon allowed some of the energy of his spell to penetrate their magic defenses. Beckann had received a burn to her lower back and side with her silken robes in that portion seared, but because of its mithril thread weave, it did take some of the blast. A small scorch mark on Desiran’s white rear haunch was left smoking as well.

  The crimson chromatic was almost blind with rage as it circled around shaking the dark greenish blood from its injured front talons. Beckann knew this back and forth between her attacks on the chromatic and the sorcerer would eventually lead to one of their deaths, but she was not sure if she could slay the other before he got her. As soon as her staff was almost recharged and she prepared a sunburst spell to face the dragon, a freezing sphere struck her magic shield. This forced the unicorn to take several steps to the side from the shattering impact of the Morgathian sorcerer’s spell. The dragon continued to bear down on them as flames were gathering around its talons from the firestorm spell it was going to cast.

  Just as Beckann was about to fire a sunburst beam spell at the chromatic, a fiery acid stream struck it on the back, tail, and upper portion of its left rear leg. The red immediately veered away to evade his unseen attacker. Caraeyeth’s roar then echoed against the side of the mountain range as the copper dragon soared over the battle in pursuit of the red dragon. Beckann then turned and fired the golden sunburst beam back at the Talon sorcerer. It struck and shattered his shield, hitting him with the remaining force of the beam. The searing light of the spell burned through his black and purple robes and light black-iron chain mail and into his shoulder. The pain was intense, and the force of the beam also blew him off his feet and spun him to the ground.

  “Sorry for being late, Lady Beckann. We had to chase away several chromatics that were moving in to attack the legions. We will take care of this vile red,” the dragonrider spoke to Beckann through her dragonstone.

  “This chromatic will not bother anyone else after today, and we leave you to deal with that sorcerer. Good fight to you, Wizard,” the female dragon added.

  “Thank you, Caraeyeth; now, my good sorcerer, you have two choices: One, you may surrender and you will be treated fairly. Two, you can continue this contest, but without the distraction of the red dragon, and with your defenses gone, you will not stand long against me,” Beckann stated in a soft and plain but stern voice.

  “I would never surrender to an elf, especially a she-elf,” Sadok spat back and cast a death ray at her. She raised her hand, and her shield easily stopped the dark beam. She then returned the gesture with a magic missile, which struck him in the upper arm of the same shoulder that had been wounded. The small dart of energy tore and burned the flesh of his upper arm and shoulder. This brought him to his knees. She could have easily killed him with another missile or a more powerful spell, but she wanted to capture him.

  “I will never be disgraced by capture, elf-witch!” the young sorcerer screamed as his dark crystal glowed and he touched it to his bleeding shoulder. He writhed in pain as the stone stole some of his life force and began to teleport him away. Beckann knew what was happening after hearing the after-battle report from Mkel and Jodem from the Handsdown fight and immediately fired a barrage of magic missiles at the sorcerer. In the second or two that it took to complete the teleportation, Sadok was hit by two of the three magic missiles that she fired at him with the third passing through his mostly dematerialized body. When he emerged from teleport back at the fire giant fortress camp, he fell to the ground dead in front of Marlok’s servant, who immediately sent a wounded manticore and rider to inform his master.

  “I wanted him alive, Desiran. What a pity; he could have had valuable information for us. Better luck with the next one, my dear. Let’s rejoin the battle,” Beckann told her unicorn as it whinnied and galloped back to the embattled Alliance soldiers.

  “What is the matter, chromatic? A mighty red dragon running from a mere copper?” Caraeyeth roared at the fleeing red dragon.

  “Insolent puny metallic! I will send you to your false Creator,” the red dragon snarled back as he turned sharply to intercept Caraeyeth.

  “That might be a little more difficult than you think, inexperienced worm. You have no fire left, your talons are broken, and your tail is useless. You may surrender to us, and we will heal you, welcome you into our fold, and teach you the error of your ways,” Caraeyeth answered his threat with a calm but commanding voice, knowing the red dragon would never take her up on her offer. She knew the mere mention of it would incense him.

  “Yes, chromatic, the human rulers of the Alliance would treat you well as our prisoner,” Heathiret added to the insult.

  “Silence, you miserable, insignificant she-monkey!” the red dragon roared in sheer rage and charged them with his jaws gaping open as he aimed at Heathiret. Caraeyeth took advantage of this; she folded her right wing and made a hard left turn and half roll to bring her thick strong tail around to slam into the side of the red dragon’s head as he almost clamped down on her rider. The force of the strike threw the chromatic’s head down and away from the copper and broke one of his fangs in the process. Caraeyeth then started to fly hard toward the side of the mountain range as the red, even further enraged, regained his flight composure and dove after them roaring and cursing madly.

  “Caraeyeth, what are you doing?” her rider asked.

  “Heathiret, I think that this young red dragon needs to be better acquainted with rock and earth,” she answered.

  Heathiret knew what she wanted to do; she sheathed her sword and then tightened her riding straps as she leaned onto her dragon’s neck and grabbed the neck ridge in front of her. The copper dragon was flying as fast as she could to stay ahead of the red as she made a shallow dive and straight line toward the sloped mountain face. Just as the red dragon was casting his firestorm spell at them, Caraeyeth cast an ice storm spell behind her to both blind the chromatic and cause his flight to be more difficult to control. Her tactic worked, as the red became unstable in flight with the large hailstones and sleet that began to pelt him and the bouts of steam from the ice extinguishing the sheets of flames that had begun to form. She then forcibly back-winged and turned under to land on the mountainside with her powerful hind legs and forelegs, which crushed the ground and rock beneath her talons. She then sprang up and performed a back flip in the air as the red crashed headlong into the mountainside underneath her.

  Caraeyeth completed her agile maneuver and landed on the red dragon’s back. She quickly sank her stone-crushing fangs into the midsection of its neck as her wide talons tore into the red’s armored hide. Heathiret recovered her balance an
d thrust her mithril-alloy sword into its shoulder as well. The combined strikes were too much for the red, and he was finished. The copper dragon’s victory roar was heard over the two battles going on along the mountain pass.

  Lenor’s knights had almost routed the sorcerer’s guards, and what the catapult platoon could spare had moved in and reinforced the support corps soldiers. With the additional troops, Vicasek rallied all the Draden Weir forces and pushed the orcs back with the aid of her lance and the catapult’s crossbowmen. Ablomar had moved past the weir paladins to aid the orcs, partly for fear of engaging in a fight with them and because he felt he had a better chance against the support soldiers. He saw Captain Vicasek and pushed his way toward her, but at an angle that would not result in his detection.

  Ablomar reached the leftmost soldier of the Alliance line and quickly overpowered him with his black-iron sword and heavier armor. He did not bother to swing at the next exposed soldier but instead ran behind the line of weir soldiers toward the support corps leader. He was very fast and nimble for being so heavily armored and quickly reached her. Vicasek had just thrust her spear into an orc when she saw him ready to strike her from behind, but she knew she could not block his attack. As he raised his sword to deliver a strong overhand blow, a crossbow bolt struck him in the left shoulder behind his armor plating and sunk in almost to the fletching.

  Milljim’s shot had been true, for his patience with his aim and follow-through paid off. As one of two sharpshooters in the catapult section who had been trained by Mkel, Jodem, and Gemorg and their crew, he had listened well and made the over two-hundred-yard precision shot. Vicasek used this to her advantage and swung the mithril blade of her pole arm around and sliced through his black-iron chain mail just under the side plate of his armor. As he had dropped his shield because of the bolt in his shoulder, it was not a difficult strike. Even as the mithril blade sliced into his lower side, the death knight did manage to bring his sword down and cut the small scale-like plates of her armor and slightly into her upper left arm and shoulder. If she had not been wearing the new dragon-scale armor, he would have likely cut her arm off.

  She quickly pulled her spear back and re thrust it into his abdomen and then angled up into his heart. He paused almost in disbelief that he had been defeated. “A woman,” he gasped out loud as he fell to the ground dead. Those around her cheered while still fighting, but her wound caused her to back off of the line. This, however, did not matter, for at seeing the death knight slain, especially at the hands of a woman, the remaining orcs decided to break and run. This caused a route, and the sappers and support corps crossbow shooters started to knock them down as they ran.

  Lenor’s paladins crushed the last organized resistance among the sorcerer’s guards with only two surrendering. The remainder chose to fight to the death, and the weir knights obliged. Caraeyeth soared over the now dying battlefield, at which all the Alliance soldiers raised their weapons in victory. She angled back and down the mountain pass to where the Draden Weir garrison’s and combined forces were still engaging the Morgathian regiment. The battle was turning now, and the black-armor-clad orcs and Morgathians were starting to be pushed back. There were only three giants left, but Shantor and Strongst were wounded and had to fall back.

  Caraeyeth let her challenge roar be heard and dove on the remaining giants as the two land dragons backed away from them. She breathed a stream of flaming acid that melted one of the fire giants, including his thick, blackened-steel armor, and she landed on another forcing him to the ground. She quickly and viciously tore out the giant’s throat, and with the blackened greenish blood dripping from her fangs, she faced the last standing fire giant. The brute was taken aback by the intensity of her attack, but charged her nonetheless, his oversized sword raised. The copper dragon moved to a slight angle toward him and cast a freezing ray spell. The bluish-white beam only half caught him on the side as he was moving a little faster than she expected, and he suffered a freezing burn on his left arm and torso. She lunged at him as he swung his sword down and to the left.

  Both connected, with her crushing jaws clamping down on his left shoulder and chest, easily piercing his thick armor, and the giant’s black sword cutting into the heavy copper’s hide. Before Caraeyeth released the giant, Heathiret leaned forward and thrust her sword into the brute’s lower neck and shoulder, and the dark blood spurted from the wound. The giant knew he was in trouble but also knew he couldn’t get away either, so his only chance was to get a lucky strike at the dragon’s head or neck. Caraeyeth knew this and baited the giant by stretching her head out toward him in a feint fang strike. The giant took the bait and swung his sword down with all his might. The copper dragon quickly withdrew her head, and the edge of the large sword missed her nose by inches. She immediately whirled around, and the tip of her tail caught the giant’s knees and swept his legs from under him.

  Caraeyeth continued her spin, crushing several orcs and Morgathians in the process, and charged at the fire giant as it tried to get up. Her fangs sank through his black-iron chest plates and into his torso. She forcefully pushed him down and then jumped on him, finishing the giant off with her claws as she ripped into his throat. Her victory roar broke the Morgathians’ will, and the remainder of their soldiers began to break and run. This left the orcs alone, and with their forces divided, the weir’s soldiers, dwarves, and elves then began to push their line forward. The Freilanders gave immediate pursuit to the fleeing Morgathians, hacking at them wildly. The route was almost complete, but Pekram kept the exploitation under control. Caraeyeth added her destructive power to the slaying of the enemy’s forces to solidify their victory.

  Gallanth and Mkel had flown over to help Talonth and Baranth defeat the remaining chromatics of the black dragon wings. The two silver dragons, while victorious, had suffered injuries similar to Gallanth’s in their fight; though outnumbered twelve to one, they still had better odds than Gallanth and Mkel in their two battles. The three battered but victorious senior metallic dragons then formed up and flew back toward the main aerial fight still raging between the two weirs and the legions’ winged forces and the chromatics and hoards of Morgathian flying creatures.

  Killenth and Fieranth had done an excellent job in leading the Eladran Weir dragons against the army of chromatics. Both bronzes were wounded but still fighting and had significantly improved the odds that were against them. They had even managed to down all but two of the red dragons. Twenty chromatics remained flying with fifty of their kin sent spiraling to the ground. Eladran had lost one copper and two brass dragons. Their younger bronze cousin had to fall back to the legion base camp, as did all but ten of their full complement of twenty-five due to severe injuries. This was also after all the female metallics joined them in the fight. Selenth had also reinforced them at a critical point, for he was fresh even after killing the giants at the main battle for the ground forces. The hippogriff, and giant eagles and their riders had also significantly trimmed the superior numbers of manticores, wyverns, and giant wasps or hymenoids, down.

  As Gallanth and the two silver dragons flew toward the fight, they all bellowed out their battle roars, which also dispelled the remaining chromatics’ ability to teleport away. They flew in with the sun’s rays streaming in from the west to almost illuminate their metallic hides. “About time you all joined us; this has been one tough fight. By the Creator, Mkel, are you and Gallanth all right?” Jodem was relieved to see his friend and his dragon until he noticed the still-bleeding wounds and deep gashes on the gold dragon’s hide.

  “He is hurt but not out of the fight. The wolf pack of white dragons and the other six higher species of chromatics that included three demon dragons were a very tough fight. Not to mention the run we did on the two squadrons of black dragons before Talonth and Baranth took over that part of the melee,” Mkel replied.

  “I am a little worse for wear, Master Wizard, but still fit to fight these remaini
ng worms,” Gallanth added.

  “Your wounds are deep, Gallanth, and should be attended to,” Jodem added in a very concerned tone.

  “As soon as we see these despoilers sent to their judgment, good wizard; do you have any power left in that glow stick of yours to help us?” Gallanth added, in a short humorous note.

  “What do you think I’ve been doing since your and Mkel’s little scuffle? Giving reinforcement and top cover for the Eladran Weir dragons,” he replied. “But I still have enough spells left to fly and fight by you both.”

  “And my sword still seeks more chromatic blood, Captain!” Toderan yelled over to Mkel as Alvanch glided in beside and slightly above Gallanth.

  “Well, then we end this battle here. Gallanth’s shield is almost gone, and our silver friends are not in too much better shape, so we must not be decisively engaged except for a one-on-one quick attack to finish a chromatic off,” Mkel answered and started to formulate a battle plan.

  “Yes, Talonth, Baranth, we will down the two reds first and then concentrate on the blues. Fieranth, Killenth, take your dragons and keep the remaining chromatics off our backs, and we will join you before long. Jodem, whatever you have left, use it now, and Toderan and Tegent, keep whatever manticore or spawn from massing on us. All in agreement?”