Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm

by J. Michael Fluck

  “May the Creator bless you, for you are a sight for desperate eyes, my large friend,” Mkel heard Rapierth hurriedly roar over to Gallanth.

  “Glad to be here as well, my friend. Now form your wing over the city, Rapierth! The red dragons are mine and Valianth’s problem now,” Gallanth replied as he fired a sunburst beam into a black dragon, which Mkel followed up with an explosive-tipped bolt that was enough to finish off the injured midnight-colored chromatic. Rapierth and Bkert nodded to Gallanth, swung around, and called their metallics to form over the city to defend the legion from aerial attacks. Mkel saw Bkert smile at him before they flew too far to distinguish facial expressions. Mkel was glad they had arrived in time to prevent his whole weir from being decimated. Six-to-one odds they could handle, but at fifty to one, they could not last long.

  Gallanth then flew out over the harbor, followed by Jodem, Toderan, Dekeen, and Lupek with Caraeyeth close behind. Mkel directed the rest of the rangers under Deless to move in and support Atlean Weir until they could rejoin them. They then saw three red dragons diving on an Alliance warship and gave immediate pursuit. As Mkel cocked his crossbow and placed a mithril explosive-tipped bolt magazine in place, he signaled to his companions to attack the outer two reds while he and Gallanth took on the largest one in the center.

  Gallanth’s open jaws fired a plasma fireball followed up by a sunburst beam, both of which struck the red dragon’s shield, shattering it with the combined destructive power. Mkel took careful aim, placing the crosshair of his crossbow’s sight into the illuminated circle in the scope’s field of view to adjust for lead, and fired his most powerful type of bolt. It struck the red on the back above its wing. The mithril-tipped bolt sliced into the red dragon’s heavily armored hide and exploded, knocking him out of formation and away from the ship.

  In the meantime, Jodem fired a disruption beam at the left red dragon, which severely weakened its shield. Dekeen shot a magically empowered arrow out of his bow, followed up by a barrage of nine more in rapid succession. Lupek maneuvered in and threw his lightning javelin, which pierced the last of the chromatic’s defensive shield. The red dragon quickly disengaged from his strafing run on the Alliance warship below and whirled around with two abrupt undulations of his wings and started to pursue the ranger-mounted. Lupek immediately dove to gain speed and spurred Razorclaw to head out to sea as fast as he could.

  The red dragon that had been hit by Gallanth and Mkel turned up but was struck again by a follow-up sunburst beam square in the center of his chest. As the injured chromatic reeled back, Gallanth dove toward him and Mkel fired another mithril-tipped bolt, which found its mark on the red’s underbelly, exploding with great force. Gallanth hit the red dragon in midair. There was a loud thud as the two colossal draconic bodies met. Gallanth sank his front claws into the red dragon’s left forearm and chest and his fangs into its neck. His huge, razor-sharp teeth with the yard long front fangs tore into the chromatic dragon’s crimson neck ripping out a large chunk of flesh. The red dragon let out a muffled roar as his dying moan. It did muster enough strength to swipe Gallanth on his chest with his left front claw, drawing blood, but the damage was minimized because of the dragon’s weakened state.

  Gallanth let the dying red go, and it started to plummet toward the sea. Just as he bellowed out his victory roar and prayer, a green dragon dove on the hovering gold, spitting a stream of fiery acid toward his lower back.

  “Gallanth, to your back!” Ordin shouted as Gallanth instinctively jolted upward with a strong heft of his wings, the flaming acid stream barely missing his back but partially hitting his tail. He then slammed the green dragon’s wing with the hardened broad plate on his tail, half severing the forest-colored membrane. Ordin’s mighty hammer spun toward the green’s flank and struck it with a thunderous clap. As the green began to spin out of control toward the sea, Gallanth dove after it and engulfed it in a cone of fire. This combined counterattack severely wounded the green dragon, but Gallanth did not have the time to finish it and broke off to rejoin the main battle. Gallanth’s tail had been partially hit by the acid stream, as marked by a five-foot-wide acid burn that smoked from the harsh bile. He swooped down close to the surf and dipped his tail into the water to dilute the acid and then started to gain altitude to get back into the fight.

  As the green dragon that Gallanth had sent plummeting downward crashed into the sea, Lupek and Razorclaw were frantically trying to gain speed away from the pursuing red dragon that was closing to breath-weapon range. Dekeen on his giant eagle mount was lining up behind the determined red dragon, powering up his bow to deliver a slaying arrow, which he could only do once per day.

  His bow Elm was shimmering in the pulsating reddish aura emanating from the dragonstone as he knocked a mithril-tipped arrow and drew back the string, taking careful aim at the undulating dull-crimson-colored dragon. He whispered a quick elf prayer and let the glowing arrow loose. It struck the huge red dragon’s back. The red immediately arched sharply as the incredible power of the arrow transferred into its body. The life in the crimson dragon’s eyes then began to fade as it started to spiral downward; it’s huge, blue-tinged reddish wings flopping lifelessly as it crashed into a Morgathian galley, ripping the ship in half.

  The red dragon that Jodem had fired upon whirled on its tail and started to pursue Jodem’s eagle mount. Toderan dove down on the red’s back side and delivered a critical blow with his holy avenger sword, leaving a large gash in the red’s hindquarters. The sword was capable of inflicting a great deal of damage with its enhanced power. His winged horse kept diving and sped away. Alvanch’s speed proved critical, as the red turned in pursuit and breathed a cone of fire that just missed the flying steed.

  Jodem then fired a chain lightening spell from his staff that pummeled the pursuing dragon with twenty rapid bolts, finishing it off. The charred body of the red streamed toward the surf and crashed with a thunderous impact and a large plume of water. Jodem did not like to use one of his most powerful spells this early in a battle, but the red chromatics had to be taken out, for they were the greatest threat.

  “Is everybody all right?” Mkel spoke into his seeing crystal. All of his comrades responded in turn, “Form back up on Gallanth, and we will go back to the city to help Rapierth and his weir. The Capital Wing is pursuing the other groups of red dragons,” Mkel ordered. They all rejoined the gold dragon, who was now heading inland.

  A fierce naval battle was still taking place below. The Atlean Weir’s fleet commodore, upon seeing the ten-to-one numerical superiority of just the first wave of the Morgathian armada, had lashed five of his galleys bow to stern across the Atlean port entrance in a blockade fashion. This enabled them to bring the greatest possible number of their ballistae and catapults to bear. He then directed ten of their twelve remaining warships to sail out to meet the Morgathian fleet in two five-ship wedge formations. They sliced into the black-sailed vessels firing every siege engine battery as fast as they could while trying not to get entangled in a decisive ramming of an enemy ship.

  They did an excellent job of disrupting the invading ships, sending dozens to the bottom or at least setting them ablaze and rendering them disabled; however, there were too many and several sailed through. The Alliance galleys had managed to stop the first fifteen Morgathian and Shidanese ships cold, repelling or destroying them with their powerful catapults and ballistae.

  The Morgathians then changed tactics and sent ten ships to ram the galleys, three of which succeeded, and they were now in a ship-to-ship fight. The naval infantry on the Alliance ships were fighting the Morgathian and Shidanese sailors as well as their orc mercenaries. The naval infantry troops were a tough lot, all armed with a spear, a shortened broadsword for close-in fighting, a large wooden shield that could also be used as floatation device when necessary, a curved dagger, a metal helmet with a visor, a short composite bow with twenty arrows, and banded flexible armor t
hat could be discarded quickly if they had to swim. They did not know the meaning of retreat and would fight tenaciously defending their ship or on a seaborne assault. As orcs and enemy sailors attempted to scamper aboard the three stricken galleys, they either met an arrow in the chest or were hacked down.

  The commodore had left two warships behind the galleys as a reserve, which was now committed as the Morgathian vessels were slipping through the blockade. They became decisively engaged and were also fighting at close quarters while still firing at other enemy ships. The Morgathian ships landing at the docks were met with a fusillade of arrows, siege engine missiles, and spell and land dragon fire. The Atlean Weir Legion had repulsed all attacks until the chromatic dragons began strafing runs on the legion’s positions. These breaks in the Alliance lines allowed some of the Morgathian forces to penetrate through, and an open melee broke out on the docks with the legion’s infantry and cavalry.

  “Mkel, Gallanth, the next wave of Morgathian ships are preparing to charge the galley line,” Jodem said.

  “Let’s give them a little welcome before we go after those blacks and greens. Jodem, take those two ships on the far left, Dekeen, Lupek, and Toderan take the center ship, Gallanth and I will hit the three on the right,” Mkel said into his seeing crystal. Their small formation split as Jodem’s giant golden eagle dove down and left, Gallanth veered right, and Dekeen, Lupek, and Toderan maneuvered to attack the center ship.

  Jodem readied two spells that would do the most structural damage to a wooden ship. His staff glowed from its dragonstone as a meteor spell fired forth from it. Six glowing fiery projectiles streaked toward and hit the ship, where they burst with incredible power, rocking it with the massive explosions and almost scuttling it immediately. He streaked over the burning vessel to the next and waved his staff, casting an incendiary cloud spell, which immediately set the topside ablaze as well as any sailor or orc on the deck. This ship would burn to the waterline in a matter of minutes. As they were still flying low, the orc archers managed to fire a volley of arrows at the large eagle. Luckily, they were all stopped by Jodem’s magic shield, which took five direct hits before the fiery cloud settled onto the ship and starting taking its toll. Orcs and sailors started to fall from the heat and flames.

  Dekeen began to fire his arrows in rapid succession, carefully aiming at the rigging on the ship’s masts. His bow was temporarily drained of power after the slaying arrow, but he did manage to drop the main sail from its mast. Lupek hurled a cluster of six dragons’ fire grenades, as did Toderan, all of which burst on the ship’s bow and deck, immediately starting several fires and also striking individual orcs and Morgathian sailors.

  Gallanth dove on the first ship and let loose a plasma fireball; the fiery sphere almost blew it out of the water. He then back-winged and breathed out a cone of fire on the second ship, setting the whole topside ablaze. On the third ship, he cast a multiple fireball spell, sending six flaming projectiles hurtling toward the vessel along with three successive explosive-tipped bolts from Mkel’s crossbow. The black-sailed galley was rocked by the multiple explosions. Severely damaged, it started to list heavily to one side while burning intensely.

  Caraeyeth flew down from behind Gallanth and moved in close to the Morgathian galley behind the six that the Draden Weir group had just destroyed. She had to get relatively close to be able to cast her disruption spell, for she wanted to save her limited acid breath weapon blasts for the fight against the chromatics. As the copper dragon back-winged, she brought her front two clawed feet together and formed the glowing green sphere, which she sent hurtling toward the ship. The Morgathian ballistae gunners had been scrambling to fire at the dragon, as the copper was just in range of their archers. Caraeyeth’s magic shield had been taking hits from the couple dozen arrows without too much effort, but the larger spears were now striking with greater effect. The ball of disruption energy struck the side of the ship, causing a tremendous tremor; the wooden deck then exploded in a terrific concussion. The ship immediately started to take on water and list. An apprentice sorcerer fired an underpowered lightning bolt at Caraeyeth that glanced off her shield by her left wing tip.

  “No need to bother with them anymore, my love; we have more important things to attend to,” Heathiret told her dragon, as she veered and flew up and away from the sinking ship.

  “You are right, my rider, we’ll leave them to the depths as it consumes them. Gallanth and Draden are moving toward the harbor,” the copper dragon replied, as she forcibly flapped her wings to gain speed and catch up to her Weirleader.

  The Draden Weir group then flew upward and resumed their tight formation as they headed to the harbor to the cheers of the remaining sailors and naval infantry troops on the Alliance ships. “Thank the Creator,” said the captain of one of the Alliance warships that had maneuvered to face the ten incoming Morgathian vessels. They now had only three smaller ships to deal with in this wave, and they shouldn’t last long against their longer-range catapults and ballistae. He felt a sense of reprieve, but he knew that this would only be temporary, for the metallic dragons and their friends had only bought them a little more time. The second wave of over a hundred enemy warships was reforming and would begin their attack soon. Unless the weirs could quickly defeat the chromatics, his Atlean fleet would not survive against such odds.

  Pekram and Lieutenant Ablich had formed the Draden Weir battalion in near record time and quickly moved them to the teleportation circle between the weir and the town. The rangers were already with Gallanth and Mkel, so they were going into battle without any winged cover, at least until the Draden Regiment could muster, which could take at least two more hours. In a gamble, Beckann decided to lead her and her husband’s clan into battle, which effectively left the weir itself almost defenseless, with the exception of the sentinel and a nest bound Silvanth. Eladran Weir was to remain as the defense of the eastern border of the Alliance, which included Draden, so the risk was acceptable.

  As they formed up in the large circle, Pekram took a final head count and gave a nod to Beckann, who waved her staff at the stone dragonhead statue at the entrance of the circle. “All right, boys and girls, when we emerge at the weir, we don’t know what to expect, so keep your edge and be ready for anything!” Pekram yelled out loudly enough for all to hear in the tightly packed unit. The whole circle began to glow, and in a blue flash, they were gone. They reappeared in the teleportation circle in the center of Atlean to their amazement.

  “Where in the Creator’s name are we?” Pekram wondered aloud.

  “We are in the center of Atlean City. I was stationed at Atlean Weir for a short time and have traveled here a few times,” Lieutenant Ablich answered him.

  “Then why did the circle send us here?” Pekram asked as he looked around at the large stone and concrete structures and the fleeing citizens of the city, who cheered when they saw the weir’s soldiers emerge as they were trying to get away.

  “Remember, the circles are powered by dragonstones and enhanced by the mithril content of the bricks that form the ring. There is a bit of intelligence involved with them, which is how they flawlessly operate with each other. No wrong destinations, no being teleported into another person, and always knowing where those being teleported are,” Beckann added.

  “Then I think I know why. Lieutenant Ablich, which way to the harbor?” Pekram asked.

  “Straight down that street, which will curve to the right before the docks, Sergeant Pekram. Something tells me we should go that way instead of going to the weir,” Ablich answered.

  “Lieutenant, I agree,” Pekram answered.

  “As do I,” Beckann said.

  “And I,” Dorin spoke up.

  “Then it is settled. Lieutenant, let Captain Mkel know where we are and where we are going. Draden Weir! I am not sure what we will be running into, so all of you keep to your edge. These bastards have dared to
invade our country, our soil, and they try to blood the innocent. We will answer this! We will stop this!” Pekram yelled out to the Draden Weir battalion, at which they all raised their weapons and cheered in agreement. “Dwarves in the center, First Platoon to the left, Third to the right, Second Platoon and elf infantry behind them. Archers keep close and prepare to move when necessary. Lenor, take your paladins and move ahead of us. You are our eyes now, since the rangers are already in the fight. Land dragons, move in between the infantry and the support corps. Captain Vicasek, ma’am, you should stay two to three blocks behind us in case we are encircled, which would be easy in this restricted city terrain,” Pekram ordered. “Sergeant Pekram, we should place the sappers as the support corps’ reinforcement, and the catapults behind them as security. Not much digging to do here on dwarf concrete streets, and, Lieutenant Willaward, have one thrower ready to fire with spike rounds only. We don’t want to cause more damage to this city than the invaders would have,” Lieutenant Ablich ordered.

  Pekram smiled. “Good call, Lieutenant. We’ll make you an infantry officer yet. You heard the lieutenant; today, you are all either sword swingers or bolt launchers. Beckann, Dorin, if you would center on me for the movement.” He then asked his fellow Weirleaders, who agreed with him. “All right, let’s move out!” he commanded. All the platoons moved into place and then proceeded down the wide street toward the harbor, as Lenor led his paladin cavalry platoon trotting ahead of the main body.

  Lenor moved his knights down the main street of Atlean on their scouting mission. They had just passed the narrow part of the market section where the shops and carts jutted out into the street, as the merchants had not had time to retract them. As the street straightened out, they came almost face-to-face with a company of gnolls, who were part of the Morgathian scouting party. Lenor immediately called for the weir’s paladins to move into their V formation, and they all spurred forward, lowering their mithril-steel-alloy-tipped lances for their cavalry charge. The gnolls let out their hideous war cry and began their blind charge at the knights bearing down on them, raising their crude axes, maces, and clubs. The two groups crashed into each other with almost all of the paladins skewering one of the seven-foot-tall hairy hyena like creatures as they drove straight through them. The remainder scattered and tried to regroup as the paladins turned and prepared to charge back through.