Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow

by J. Michael Fluck

  There was a low haze over the Morgathian capital city of Aserghul and the five dark spiraling towers of Tiamat’s fortress. The sun was barely piercing through the clouds, and the sea surrounding the city seemed angry in spite of no storm on the horizon. The five immense, twisted, grayish black towers rose sharply above the sprawling city and the trash-strewn harbor. The inhabitants of Aserghul were scurrying about, conducting the daily trade and business of the large densely packed city, but with a certain hesitancy, almost like they were constantly watching over their shoulder, and with the ever present Talon guards constantly patrolling, their caution was warranted. Most of the wooden and cheaply made brick houses were dingy and smudged as a result of their use of the black fire rock to heat their homes. While chromatic dragons can make heating and cooling stones, they only do so for a very high price, which only the Morgathian party officials and a few merchants, sorcerers and warlords could afford.

  Many of the lower districts by the harbor were shanty, made of bamboo and light woods with hastily patched roofs. The streets were mostly dirt or thrown down rock, with brick streets only seen in the areas around Tiamat’s fortress or in the military districts and the sorcerers’ guilds. The city was not overly destitute or severely poverty stricken, but the oppression of the Talon Covenant, the chromatic dragons, and the magitocracy severely limited opportunity.

  The bustle of the markets by the shipyards was interrupted when a very large red dragon emerged out of teleport over the harbor and swung toward his perch on the crimson-topped tower. A black dragon then erupted from the choppy waters of the harbor, capsizing a small fishing boat, and worked hard to gain altitude as he flew toward the fortress. People would quickly make the streets less crowded when a chromatic appeared, just as a precaution.

  Shortly afterward, large specimens of the other three chromatic types teleported in and glided toward their respective towers. These were the strongest of each of their species and served as Tiamat’s personal guards; they were known as the Usurper Five. They enjoyed any amount of plunder from others of their species and were given enhanced magical powers from Tiamat. These positions of privilege were decided by a ritual combat tournament every one hundred years (or sooner if that particular dragon was vanquished).

  The fortress of Aserghul was an immense structure; its five thick towers were made from grayish black brick. They rose up from the center hub and terminated hundreds of feet in the air at their colored apexes, representing the five chromatic dragon types and each of Tiamat’s heads: white, black, green, blue, and red. They were all connected in the center to an immense, dimly glowing dome with a huge dark crystal at its center. It constantly emanated a purplish light, as did the crystals at the apex of each of the towers. This structure resembled a sharp talon hand, with its fingers turning in toward the center. From the air, the fortress took the appearance of a colossal clawed hand, defiantly reaching up from the underworld to the heavens.

  The winds were blowing the fifty-foot Morgathian flags straight from each tower. Each flag was of the color of the dragon the tower belonged to, with the outline of a talon in the center of the standard in blazing white. The exception was the tower belonging to the white dragon, which was all a dull white with the black outline of a talon, simple but imposing, like the chromatics themselves. The openings next to the base of each tower, where they met the central structure like a finger joint, were just large enough to accommodate a large type of that particular chromatic dragon.

  A great black stone wall surrounded the towered fortress and was manned with hundreds of troops with dozens of ballistae trained on anything that approached. The stronghold overlooked the harbor, which was lined with catapults and ballistae along its heavily fortified docks and shore line. The dilapidated lower parts of the city almost breathed out its frustration in the oppression of the Morgathian autocratic magitocracy, ruled by the sorcerer elite with the guise of stern protective oversight. The empire itself was ruled with an iron fist by the powerful sorcerers and warlords of the Talon Covenant, along with their chromatic dragon allies, under the strict confederation of Tiamat. The Talon sorcerers each lorded over a province of the empire with almost unchecked power. Almost all of these warlocks had a second in command or deputy that was a powerful death knight and warlord, who vied for power and territory themselves.

  The twenty most powerful of the empire’s sorcerers, with their death knights or death lord companions, formed the Talon Covenant. These ruthless tyrants controlled their provinces through fear, oppression, false propaganda against the Alliance, and their sycophantic religion of worshiping Tiamat, as well as the threat of chromatic dragon retribution. They heavily taxed their people under the guise of service to the state, requiring at least one child sacrifice per family to the local ruling chromatic. Additionally, mandatory service in the army of their particular province for two years or more was required. The Morgathians maintained a strong-armed reign over the orc tribes that inhabited the vast lands to the north and west of their empire. This was accomplished mainly by the pure brute force of the Morgathian army and especially by the power of the chromatic dragons.

  There were, however, many chromatics that operated independently of the empire or just gathered plunder from outside the Morgathian borders. They preyed on the northern Kaskar horse clans; the Eastern, Middle, and Western Ontaror kingdoms; and the islands of the Southern Sea. However, they were reined in by Tiamat’s powerful crew if they got out of line.

  More dragons started to teleport in above the harbor and the spiral towers. The provisional lords also started to arrive on a wide variety of mounts. Nightmares were the preferred steed for Morgathian sorcerers, but manticores and wyverns were also utilized. All the dragons arrived without riders, for chromatics only consented to be ridden when going into battle, and even then it was rare. Their anti-subjugation mentality was a strong emotion with them, along with their fierce independence in not being tied to anything but themselves. Only the senior dragon from each province was allowed to attend, by the permission of Tiamat’s five minions, and even then they were only allowed to view the meeting from the ground through magic eye spells.

  The Usurper dragons were all keeping a watchful eye from their tower entrance perches, as the other province dragons arrived with their respective sorcerer and warlord flying with them. A feared group of death knights, called the Talestra, were standing guard at the heavy reinforced gate to the base of the fortress. They were watching all who entered the imposing opening. Statues of the five heads of Tiamat protruded from the top of the gate and looked down menacingly at anyone entering. The massive doors were several feet thick and had to be opened by the four common giants chained to the side of the entrance. The Talestra death knight guards were chosen for their strength, ferocity, and cruelty in battle, but not their intellectual prowess. They were heavily armed, each with a dark crystal sword or battle-axe, or black iron weapon magically enhanced by one of the Usurper dragons. They also all had demon armor with its imbedded dark crystal, clawed gauntlets, and skull-shaped or jagged-toothed demon face helmet. These formidable guardians also accompanied the lead warlock of the Talon Covenant as his personal bodyguard when he ventured out of the fortress.

  Stalenjh, the prefect of the Talon Covenant, had these death knights trained well. They stared intently at the provincial sorcerers of the Covenant and their warlord companions, as if to entice them to a fight. This, however, was not unusual, for succession of power in the Morgathian Empire was merely a feat of strength, cunning, and favor with Tiamat herself. Even though this was usually a chaotic method of government, the arch dragon Tiamat maintained order. She did so even in the face of armed conflict among the members of her own inner circle. The same was true of the chromatics dragons among the Usurper Five and the provincial hierarchy.

  All of the nine provinces and eleven sub-provinces had this type of hierarchy as well. A red, blue, green, black, and even a white dragon were
senior dragons of a particular area and worked with that particular sorcerer or warlord. It was a very uneasy relationship, considering the chaotic tendencies of the chromatic dragons; however, this was maintained through mutual respect for power and benefit. They knew they had a better chance of maintaining control of their provinces and in obtaining treasure and lands by begrudgingly working together.

  Many of the provincial sorcerers had now arrived, and their mounts were being taken to the stables at the far end of the walled compound. The dragons present gave a salutatory bow to their Usurper Five counterparts and began to settle down on the stone and gravel grounds surrounding the fortress.

  Most of the Covenant that arrived began sitting in the one-hundred-yard-diameter stone circle located in the large center of the fortress that surrounded Tiamat’s personal lodging. The immense dragon queen lay curled up asleep in the center of the large chamber, her bedding of broken and crushed bones lay neatly underneath her, and all five of her colored heads rested on the floor. Her actual lair was underneath this meeting chamber, where she had her immense pile of hoarded treasure. The resting place here was for gatherings only. She was still recuperating from the wounds she received from her defeat by Michenth at the last fight at Battle Point during the Great War. She, like the mithril dragon and her formal mate, would only wake to feed and for Covenant gatherings and the like.

  “Well, our queen mother is still in slumber,” one of the death knights said in a loud and boisterous manner as he walked into the chamber.

  “Hold your tongue, talking monkey, or I will do it for you,” Uthrex, the red dragon of the Usurper Five, answered in his normal angry but now even more irritated manner.

  “Uthrex, my dear dragon, in a good mood as usual,” the Morgathian overlord said with a smile on his ruddy, scarred, and weathered face.

  “I warn you, warlord, I will not tolerate insolence,” the red dragon growled.

  “Well, demon dragon, a little demanding considering your fellow Thurex was felled by a metallic as of recent. I guess this means that you dark crystal-enhanced hybrids are not the war gods that you proclaim to be. But since he has been vanquished, it does ensure you will remain here as Tiamat’s senior dragon handmaiden.” Uthrex let out another deep growl at the death knight.

  “We should not wait anymore for these overgrown lizards to grow in numbers. Ashram’s defeat on the plains told us not that the Alliance is strong, but they had to get Capital dragons to reinforce them. They are spread too thin, their numbers are still small, and the time to strike is now. Tiamat is either dying or too weak to control the chromatics, for more and more are defying our plans and going on independent quests for treasure and conquest,” the warlord shouted out as he walked about the gathered group.

  “The defeat at Handsdown was just a temporary setback. The master plan in still intact,” Yveshra, the drow countess, weighed into the argument.

  “Ha, your kin didn’t do much better than the chromatics. I heard that the Alliance wizard and a gold dragon wiped out a whole company of spider-mounted drow, killed one of your more powerful sorcerers, and captured a queen court priestess. I think you’ve been underground too long!” the death knight quipped back. “The fleet and the army are ready now; we must strike, or maybe we should seize control from our five-headed dragon god and her minions. The giants are ready, along with dozens of chromatics and the growing armies of orcs. We can bring the Alliance to its knees now, but not by waiting.”

  “You will take your place now!” Stalenjh stood up, shouting at the errant dark knight; the dark crystal skull-shaped head of his sorcerer’s staff was glowing in an eerie purplish color, indicating he was angry and possibly ready to cast a spell.

  “Hold your tongue, sorcerer!” he shouted back. “Your leadership has been knuckled under by your obedience to these lazy lizards here at Aserghul and their weakened queen.”

  “Enough, your lead dragon puts too much ambition in you empty head!” Uthrex roared back.

  “Go kneel before your master, Uthrex, so much for our living god!” he yelled back and spit in Tiamat’s direction. With this, the demon red dragon roared and moved toward the warlord, who drew his dark crystal sword and prepared to defend himself. Faster than the eye could see, Tiamat’s scythe-bladed tail struck out and pierced the knight’s black iron armor back plate and emerged out of his chest. He dropped his sword and grasped the blade-like tail as blood poured from the wound. Even if he could have survived the injury, he would not have been able to cure the incredibly potent poison delivered by her tail stinger. Tiamat lifted him off of the ground as she raised all five of her heads.

  “The only one to kill in my house is me! Enough of this trivial nonsense!” her blue head roared as she flung the impaled knight against the far wall of her chamber, killing him. Uthrex lowered his head and moved back to his place in the room. “If there is any doubt to my power, anyone else is welcome to challenge me!” Tiamat shouted with all five heads as they scanned the gathered crowd and her dragon minions.

  “No one challenges your power, Queen Tiamat,” Stalenjh quickly stated. “He was just a fool drunk with power and overly ambitious.”

  “For all of your sakes, I hope you are correct,” her green head commented as she started to set herself back down.

  “My queen, if I may, we should discuss our plans,” Stalenjh interjected to regain control of the Covenant gathering.

  “You may proceed, sorcerer,” Tiamat’s blue head replied.

  “Thank you, Queen Tiamat. We all know of Ashram’s defeat on the plains. While we knew they would have been pushed back anyway, the complete destruction of his northern army’s excursion force came as a surprise. The eradication of the two wings of chromatics and the death of two demon dragons also was unexpected. Thurex fell without even killing a metallic, as they were taken off guard. Our informants within the Alliance have had their families executed for their failure to warn our forces,” Stalenjh explained.

  “He and his wing were ambushed by two large silvers and a huge gold dragon. There was also an Alliance wizard of considerable power with a group of strong warriors with dragonstone weapons,” Uthrex spoke up, defending the efforts of his rival.

  “The three metallic dragons had dramatically increased magical power as well as very short recovery times for their breath weapons. Their antimagic shields were also extremely strong, much more so than we encountered during the Great War,” Zythor, the demon blue dragon, added.

  “The Battle Point legion appeared out of nowhere, as if from thin air, or they teleported in all at once, which is impossible, and there was not supposed to be any metallics at Battle Point at all,” Xylest, the male sorcerer/fighter accompanying Yveshra, explained. “We should hold off on our planned attacks until we can ascertain the source of both the metallics’ increased power and the new mobility of their legions. So much for the information we are supposed to be getting from our enlightened spies in the Alliance.”

  “No, we must keep the pressure on the Alliance, to keep them off balance, or our grand scheme will be compromised. Besides, our allies in their senate will falter if we back away now,” Stalenjh stated strongly.

  “Ashram and Lodar lost half their northern army in just this small fight alone, when they were supposed to roll over the garrison at Handsdown and then ambush the reinforcements. I also understand that adding insult to injury, the three metallic dragons even teleported into our lands and took the slain chromatics’ treasure hoards. The gold dragon actually had the audacity to attack their fortress and inflicted heavy damage,” stated Tbok, an overlord sorcerer of one of the western provinces of the empire.

  “Lodar and Ashram still have the majority of their army left, but if they need a little reinforcement in their province, I would be happy to send over troops to maintain order. At least until poor Ashram heals, of course, or until you repair your damaged fortress,” offered D
readleg, a death knight overlord of the Eastern province; he had an impetuous grin across his black and gray bearded chin, in a very sinister but poignant expression.

  “Our fortress only suffered minor damage before we drove the gold metallic off. We still have most of our army intact and several more wings of chromatics, vermin,” Lodar spat back as he began to stand up and grasp his dark crystal vampire sword in a show of force against Dreadleg.

  “Their dragonriders are the key,” stated Rexkald, the green dragon of Tiamat’s court. “When attacking a metallic you not only have to deal with a dragon’s normal breath weapon, spells, fangs and claws, but they strike you with a dragonstone weapon or powerful spell from their rider that hits you from where you can’t defend yourself. Again, their riders are the key, their familiars, and their focus of magical power. We must separate them first, but the metallics guard them like a treasure hoard.”

  “There is a plan to address this soon,” Tiamat’s blue head said. “As for your forces, you all can lose half or all of your armies if I see fit. The time for our revenge is coming. Stalenjh, Uthrex, contact the fire giants and the dragons we have reinforcing them, and tell them to attack with undue haste. Wvythresher, have the ice giants prepare for their attack in the north as well. Tbok, I want the Shidanese fleet to increase its attacks on all non-Morgathian-aligned ships heading for trade with the Alliance to force them to disperse their navy to a greater degree. We must also pull more dark crystal and giant longnecks lizards from the Canaris Islands to power our fleet with weapons and feed our growing numbers of chromatics and orcs. I demand more gemstones from Shidan and Ariana, as well as more strikes against Southland and Freiland.” The demon, berserker white dragon, and sorcerer nodded an acknowledgment.

  “My queen mother, Shidan, has been losing many ships to the Freiland raiders and the Alliance warships,” Tbok interjected, “and they do not possess the ability to build ships quickly to replace their losses.”