They all quickly acknowledged.
“Good, follow my lead,” he finished as he roared and fired a sunburst beam after Mkel gave him another gemstone. The deadly rays of light struck the wounded red dragon that was in range and finished it off; its bright-red body, more colorful from being a young adult dragon, started to plummet to the ground. Gallanth’s victory roar was deep and resounding and a challenge to the remaining chromatics.
“The large gold is back. That means that the wolf pack, Vorgash, and the demon dragons are slain. We must disperse and attack them since he dispelled our teleport powers. They are wounded, and we must strike now!” the remaining red dragon roared out to his chromatic kin and started to move to attack the stronger metallics.
“Ashram, this fight is over; Vorgash and the other demon dragons are slain, as are the white wolf pack and the two black squadrons!” Infernex roared to the Talon sorcerer.
“Yes, but the metallics are all wounded and their magic defenses are down. The Alliance wizard is also low on power, so it is time for us to strike,” Ashram stated to both Infernex and Marlok.
“Well then, let us show them the power of Talon sorcerers. Molotoc, join me in the air,” Marlok ordered through his dark crystal staff.
“Sire, the battle is turning against us here and our forces are starting to be pushed back. I cannot leave now,” the warlord argued.
“I said now, Death Knight. If we lose the fight with the Alliance dragons, you will have no army to command,” Marlok stated sternly.
“Yes, my liege,” Molotoc replied. He quickly mounted his wyvern after giving instructions to his second in command and took off toward the fight in the sky.
As the battle finally started to die down over the Shidanese capital city, the last chromatic dragon had just fallen from the sky, with only one blue and its sorcerer rider being able to escape. There was a substantial tension between the Shidanese manticore squadrons and the two Capital Wings. During the fight, several manticores had fired spikes at the Alliance dragons. They refrained from responding as long as they could until their actions got in the way of the metallics in their pursuit of the chromatics and many were killed out of necessity. The riders and their dragons knew these multiple incidents were not just accidents. The squadrons of manticores remained airborne as the metallic dragons descended. Amerenth and Canjon landed first with Valianth right behind him. All quickly dismounted and met the entourage of Senators and King Ibliss’s court in front of the palace.
“Ambassador Canjon, an impressive maneuver you and Amerenth performed to down that blue dragon that was on your tail. It is good to know that the official dragon ambassador of the weirs can handle himself in a fight,” Santoric stated to Canjon as he reached out and shook the dragonrider’s hand.
“Thank you, Senator. Amerenth and I were glad to come out on top of that fight. Blue dragons traditionally have a conflict with brass dragons,” Canjon replied.
“Please, Senator, there is no need to congratulate our so-called ambassador for a heinous act of aggressive violence. General Becknor, Ambassador Canjon, our illustrious King Ibliss’s forces had the situation under control until you and your intrusive dragons and riders interrupted their valiant efforts to fend off the chromatics. This was an insult to them and their honor,” Terrjok stated in a condescending manner.
“Senator, did your, well, lengthy service in the navy effect your eyesight? If this chromatic attack was indeed just a group of the evil dragons deciding to destroy Dagrad for their gemstone wealth, then they did a very poor job. Not like they did when they destroyed and sacked the city of Hasera across the strait in Ariana. They swept through that city’s defenders like a foul wind through the leaves,” Colonel Therosvet immediately countered in his sword-point direct manner.
“Yes, Senator, it would seem that the chromatics were baiting the manticore squadrons, for those other two wings of evil dragons that tried to ambush us would have wiped out every single one of the Shidanese aerial forces, unless this was a setup from the start,” General Becknor added to his suspicions.
“The chromatics apparently did not want to fight us quite that early, but that one white dragon tipped their hand with its mindless aggression. They almost seemed to know that we would not attack without being attacked first. This is very uncharacteristic of the meetings between our two groups. Also, how did the manticores last so long against the chromatics? The evil dragon types are many times more powerful and should have easily defeated the Shidanese, but seemed to be not really fighting them with all their strength or ferocity. This is something they never do, for aggression and destruction is always their goal. They didn’t really fight until we took to the air, but by then, it was too late for them. Also why did several manticores attack our dragons with a greater ferocity than they fought the chromatics?” Valianth added to his rider’s comments in an even more booming voice than usual to display his contempt for the Enlightened senator and the Shidanese king.
“There were so many dragons in the air, my winged holy warriors simply became confused,” Ibliss answered through his interpreter. “And I resent your insinuation that this was a trap for the Alliance dragons,” the Shidanese king added.
“My good king, who said this was a trap?” Canjon added, as the king had slipped in his statement.
“This is what you have insinuated. You and your devil dragons come to my kingdom to ensure peace, and instead, you bring conflict with our once benevolent and beneficial relationship with the eastern dragons. Then you ask for our help to resolve the high seas war with the Kallysh pirates. Your insults and blasphemy have convinced me to forgo any treaty that Shidan has with the Alliance and align ourselves with our brothers in their efforts against you,” Ibliss arrogantly blurted out. His outburst was hurriedly translated.
“King, you spew lies, and your indignation is false. This whole peace invitation and feint attack was contrived all along. A diversion to keep the Capital Wings from reinforcing Eladran and Draden Weirs, as were the chromatic- and Saragwin-backed pirate raids against our coastal weirs. Let it be understood, King, that these attacks have failed. Your Morgathian and chromatic allies have been defeated on all fronts, and the fire giant combined army attack against the Alliance has been stopped. You have not chosen your friends wisely!” Valianth almost roared back to Ibliss, his eyes glowing yellow. The king had to back away against the gold dragon’s truth stare, for even in his arrogance, he knew that nobody could lie to this species of dragon. In his fear, he made a hand motion to his military council representative, who immediately turned and ran into the palace.
“See here, dragon, this is no way to treat a royal dignitary not to mention a king,” Senator Murjath of the area just west of Draden attempted to counter Valianth’s overbearing presence against the Shidanese king.
“Senator, Valianth has a point, and you either have to be ignorant, stupid, or blind not to see what happened here over the last day,” Senator Santoric immediately rebuked his colleague. However, just then, two squadrons of manticores dove and attacked the Capital dragons on the ground. A shower of spikes hailed down from the sky. Of the hundreds of the black tail daggers, only a few dozen barely penetrated the metallic dragons’ armored hides. The Capital Wings answer to this attack was devastating. All eighteen of the dragons on the ground looked skyward and exhaled their deadly breath weapons, as their riders added to this destruction with their own powerful spells or energy bolts from their dragonstone weapons. Almost all of the three dozen manticores were instantly killed or driven from the sky.
King Ibliss had not expected this attack to be destroyed so easily and with so little effort.
“War it is then, King. Senators, please come and mount up, for we leave now!” Becknor resolutely stated.
“General, see here, you interfered with the king’s defense forces, of which some mistakenly attacked your mighty dragons. Seeing how they al
l look alike, that is easily understood. Then you insult this honorable king with accusations of collusion with the pirates and chromatic dragons. I will be ashamed to be ferried back to the republic on your steeds of war and aggression,” Senator Tekend snorted out.
“Then we will rescue you from your potential shame, Senator, and your beloved Shidanese king can see to your return to the Alliance, and this applies to any other Enlightened senator who shares your sentiment,” Becknor snapped back as he turned to mount Valianth with the other dragonriders and pro-dragon Senators moving to do the same.
“General Becknor, you wouldn’t dare to leave us behind and—” Terrjok started to complain but was cut off by Becknor.
“King Ibliss, you have through trickery attacked a diplomatic envoy during a negotiation of peace. You have mistaken Alliance and dragon tolerance and goodwill for weakness and will now see the full power of the weirs and their dragons unleashed. Prepare your army for the coming apocalypse, for there will be little quarter to them!” he shouted over the Enlightened senator to the Shidan king and then raised his pure mithril sword, the silvery blade almost glowing as he pointed it toward the palace. A powerful energy bolt darted from the point of the sword’s blade and exploded against the section of wall over the main gate, leaving a six-foot-wide hole in the decorated wall. Valianth then roared and let loose a plasma fireball toward the left tower. The huge explosion partially collapsed it. They then all mounted and went airborne with six of the Enlightened senators choosing not to mount the metallic dragons.
As the two Capital Wings rose, the manticores hastily flew out of their way, but a few were too slow and were brought down by the dragons or their riders. “Riders, we will take the senators back to Draconia and then proceed to the Gray Mountains to aid Draden and Eladran Weirs,” Becknor stated through his seeing crystal as Valianth rose and started to veer toward the river leading to the sea south of Dagrad. As soon as all the dragons were in position; they teleported out.
“King Ibliss, I want to profusely apologize for the words and actions of our disgraceful dragons and their pet riders,” Terrjok spoke to the Shidan king.
“Fear not, Senator; the weirs will pay for this insolence and the damage to my holy palace. The fight here today, while resulting in the death of so many chromatic dragons and many brave Kallysh men, has provided vital training to my holy warriors and their sacred manticores. This is all part of the overall plan of our powerful allies to the east, one more step toward our eventual victory,” Ibliss stated through his interpreter, the tone of his voice showing his anger. He was still acknowledging his part in the larger plan though.
Most of the remaining chromatic dragons had been downed, but several of the Eladran dragons were wounded had had to retire. Only Gallanth, Talonth, Fieranth, Selenth, and one of the Eladran brass dragons were still able to fight. As the metallics were gaining the upper hand, an attack by the two talon sorcerers brought the battle back to being tenuous. Jodem headed them off, but he had been in battle against the chromatics for hours, and the power in his staff was waning. Gallanth and Mkel broke the two sorcerers’ formation, but Gallanth’s shield quickly went down, and Kershan’s and Markthrea’s shields were also weakening. The deadly aerial dance continued with each of the remaining combatants being careful not to become too engaged as the dragons tried to be nimble enough to avoid the fires from each other and the spells from the sorcerers, while the black-clad Talon warlocks did not want to get too close to the metallic dragons either.
Even as Gallanth and Mkel had Molotoc in their sights, the battle quickly turned as the Capital Wing teleported in. Valianth’s roar signaled the Capital dragons to move to attack the remaining chromatics, which were quickly vanquished. Mkel took advantage of the distraction the Capital Wing provided and fired as Marlok’s nightmare stopped swerving. The bolt easily pierced the sorcerer’s magically armored black-and-purple cloak and went through his leg and into the tough midnight hide of the demon horse. The nightmare sputtered and began to lose altitude. Ashram quickly disengaged his fight with Jodem and Talonth to come to the aid of his fellow Talon sorcerer. Molotoc moved to help his master but was practically annihilated as Gallanth’s sunburst beam struck him and almost vaporized his mount.
Ashram did not move to help his rival out of altruism, but to lord over him that he had needed his assistance. Infernex had been hanging back from the fight, only moving in to strike when he saw an opportunity and then quickly retreating. The demon red dragon also surged forward to meet with the two sorcerers. Ashram raised his staff and levitated Marlok off of his dying nightmare onto his own steed. He then quickly moved to rendezvous with Infernex. The sorcerer cast a dark prism wall spell to slow Gallanth down, and as soon as he was under the crimson dragon’s wing, he reached back and touched the dark crystal on his staff to Marlok’s bleeding leg wound. As the evil stone stole some of the younger sorcerer’s life force, the small group started to teleport out, but not before Gallanth’s sunburst beam partially struck the red dragon in the left wing and back. Infernex let out a shrill roar of pain, which was silenced as they disappeared.
“Damn, we weren’t in time!” Mkel shouted out as he lifted his head from the crossbow stock, as he was not in range before the red dragon flashed out.
“Fear not, my rider, they will not be able to wreak evil on anyone anytime soon with the wounds they suffered, and we did slay that senior death knight,” Gallanth consoled his rider. “We must rejoin the others. Valianth and General Becknor are calling us,” the gold dragon added as he slowly turned to meet with the Capital Wing.
“Gallanth, congratulations to you and your rider for a good fight. You, Talonth, and all of Eladran Weir held back the darkness today. I see you have both paid for it, however. I want you all to fly back to the legions’ support area and have aloras applied on those wounds; we will annihilate the remainder of the Morgathian and fire giant army,” Valianth exuberantly said to Gallanth and the remaining Eladran dragons.
“Thank you, Valianth, but you were also in a fight. We should join you,” Gallanth responded.
“No, my young friend, our fight was with but a few wings of ill-led chromatics. They have not encountered the power of the Capital Wing in too many years and forgot their lessons. Your fight was much more difficult, and it is now time for you to rest. Capital Wing, follow me!” the senior Alliance gold dragon roared out as he led the dozen powerful metallic dragons toward the main battle.
Gallanth and the Eladran dragons followed them on their way back to the legion support area.
The Capital dragons roared their presence. Initially, the Morgathians thought they were chromatics. This briefly reinvigorated them, and their depleted forces surged forward against the thinning Alliance battle line, but this enthusiasm quickly turned to panic as shouts and cheers rose from the legionnaires. When the Morgathians and the remainder of the fire giant army realized that the attacking dragons were metallic, most broke and ran. This route was capitalized by the Alliance and elf archers, who rained their remaining arrows down on the fleeing black-clad Morgathians, orcs, giants, and the like. Hundreds fell, and as the enemy army withdrew far enough from the legions, the Capital Wing attacked. Their devastating combined strikes wiped out all of the larger pockets of the retreating army.
As victory cheers arose from the Alliance line, the combined weir and legion cavalries charged to capture or eliminate those that remained from the dragons’ strike. Almost none would surrender, for Morgathian propaganda was very effective, and the orcs were mindless insects and not accustomed to capture. The Capital Wing landed in front of the Alliance battle line to both congratulate them and to help the battle healers and clerics treat the wounded. Gallanth and Mkel had split off from the Eladran dragons and flown to where their weir garrison was still fighting. In his pass over the smaller battle, he strafed the Morgathian regiment with a deadly swath of fire that aided Caraeyeth in routing them. The big g
old dragon then landed while the female copper pursued the fleeing and broken Morgathian unit.
The Draden Weir soldiers cheered for their victory and the victory they knew that Gallanth and Mkel must have achieved, for the mere fact that they were there meant they had defeated the chromatics. Some then noticed Gallanth’s deep wounds, as the almost iridescent or glowing blue blood was still oozing out, but now at a much slower pace, as dragons did heal fast and as he had been aided by Silvanth. Unfortunately, it was not fast enough; Mkel could feel Gallanth’s pain and slight weakness at the loss of that precious dragon blood. Half of the infantry’s remaining battle healers rushed from the line of soldiers or broke from tending the garrison wounded to get to Gallanth.
“No, my friends, continue to tend to our wounded. They are in greater need than I,” the dragon spoke out.
“Healers, address the infantry’s needs first; that is an order,” Mkel said as he dismounted Gallanth. As the battle healers saw Mkel was reluctant but still serious, they all turned and went back to the wounded, who were collected over two hundred yards behind the main line of soldiers. Ordin did quickly walk over to Gallanth and Mkel, but just then, Pekram yelled to Mkel that the support corps and the paladins had finished off the last of the orcs and Morgathians and were on their way.
“A fierce fight, my friends?” Ordin asked of them.
“At least as fierce as yours; I heard you and your giant slayers never let the oversized brutes mass on the garrison. I am thankful to you, Ordin. You saved many lives today,” Mkel responded. “And Pekram, Lawrent, good fight! The weir would have been overrun without your tenacity and leadership,” he added.
“It was a good fight, dragonrider, and good to feel the thud of falling giants again,” Ordin replied.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 43
