“ Fire, Damn you Fire.” Cadeyrn screamed her eyes wide as the last Dragon passed on overhead. A volley went up from the Elves close to her. The arrows cascaded into the sky, soon joined by human shots from a thousand or more bows but too slow for the Dragons’ swift flight they fell harmlessly into the grasslands below like a heavy rain of steel and iron. A shadow of would be death that killed nothing more than ants and grass. As the Dragons reached the end of the lines of soldiers everyone expected to see them disappear off into the horizon but instead they turned in the air with a flick of their tails and began to fly lower. It seemed they were not heading to Neeskmouth just yet.
“I had offered you a chance at peace.” The black Dragon lord called out as he soared above the terrified faces. “But you have chosen to die.” With that being said the battle for Neeska begun. The Dragons made another pass back the way they had came bellowing out more plumes of molten breath that crystallized the soil below and incinerated anyone unfortunate enough to be in their path. They moved with such speed that the Poles catapults were too slow to even come close and the odd spear that was thrown sailed into open air behind the huge scaled beasts. The Dragons had almost made another clear run but they were not so lucky to make a pass unhindered this time. They had managed to make another sandbank of smoldering corpses in the sea of soldiers but it was soon filled in by men desperately trying to put out and save their companions. With the Pole and Elvin weapons proving almost futile against the Dragons it fell to the White Flags and William. They had brought with them machined harpoons they used to catch whale meat out at sea, something that would turn out to be genius. The wooden craft contraptions’ were manned by three men, one to load and aim it and two to twist the huge cogs that ran at its side tightening the ropes that would fire the harpoon at breakneck speed, in this case into the air. The huge harpoons tore at a handful of the slower moving Dragons wings and they fell crashing down like meteors into the ground below. It took almost no time at all for the beasts to roll back onto their feet but flight would elude them now. Pole,
Neeskmouthain and White Flag Pirate lunged at the down beasts with everything they had but even downed the Dragons were not an easy prey. The Dragons were not as young as the ones that Darcy had fought in the Scorched Lands and were around a third bigger. Their armor like scales made piercing the skin almost impossible even if you could get in close enough to them. Between their razor sharp claws, fiery breath and tree like thud of their tails they held scores of men at bay. Soldiers circled the beasts waiting for a chance to lunge in and try to puncture the scales and soft meat below, but they were more often than not met with crushing blows that came from a swinging tail or slashed almost in two by the white bone claws. By the time the remaining seven flying Dragons made it to the end of the clearing for a second time three hundred lay dead, a mix of Human and Elf. The grand cities of the north would be a lot emptier if the battle was ever won.
“ Ready, and light the buggers up.” Joani said to the cowering Dwarf next to her. The fuse shot off into the field like a snake after a vole. The blast powder exploded into life sending chunks of earth high into the sky ahead of the bright white flame. Another four Dragons were grounded in the blasts and one of the smaller young ones had been killed outright. A cheer went up from the ranks.
“That was incredible.” William said as the smoke begun to clear and he could see the Dragons flailing on the ground like wounded flies. “ You haven’t seen anything yet.” Joani said pushing her small knife between her teeth and running at one of the grounded Dragons. The blast powder had been successful but it was all gone in a single blast. Now Joani would show the humans the might of a Dwarfen arm. The Dwarfs accompanied by humans ran in swords ready to lunge into the Dragons. Many were sent flying back sent airborne by the Dragons’ powerful tails crashing into the ranks of soldiers behind them. If they were lucky they were killed outright by a burst of flame that followed, but the battlefield echoed of the agonized screams of the unlucky. Only two Dragons remained in the skies now, the two fully grown black Dragons the previous Lord and Lady of Neeskmouth. They would not be as easy to kill as the young horde. They moved so swiftly it seemed impossible to hit their wings as they darted around in the skies like Haer Swallows. Even the Harpoons of the White Flags trailed limply through the air behind the beasts as they darted back and forth spewing out flames.
“ We can’t bring them down.” Harvey said trying his best to hold ranks between the panicked men. He was exhausted even before the battle but had been paraded out by Ingaild to get those still loyal to the Handson’s to fight the Dragons. Dead bodies lay smoldering scattered around like chess pieces. Two of the young Dragons that had been grounded in the blasts were still alive and held the attention of a large proportion of the army not far from Harvey but he felt too weak to even lift his sword to strike them let alone find the speed to get past the slashing claws.
“ You didn’t expect it to be that easy did you?” Ingaild said with an uncomfortable grin. He had decided to fight alongside Harvey. It had been safer to have the man who wanted you dead, and more to the point his sword, facing the same direction as your own rather than at your back.
“ We’re losing too many men. At this rate there will not be anyone to return to Neeskmouth.” Harvey said. Even in the heat of the battle and after suffering the loss of everything he still held the cities needs first. He would rather see it in the hands of a Dragon than empty. His family’s name had to go on. The Handson’s had to be remembered.
“ Harvey, fate spared your life for some reason. Do not let yourself become a coward now. You’re not too much different from me. Battle is in your blood. We’ll find a way to bring these overgrown lizards down.” Ingaild said showing his old enemy a respect he did not even know he felt for him. After so long at war with each other it seemed that they may become sword brothers after all.
“Look out.” Harvey shouted instinctively as the huge female Dragon made another pass. He grabbed Ingaild by the top of his breast plate and shoved him back before trying to make the leap himself but Harvey was too slow, he was too tired and the flame caught his lower half melting his clothes to him instantly. He screamed in agony. The fire started to spread up his body pressing its amber fingers over the top of his chest plate. Harvey tried desperately to shake it off but it was too late. The fire took him. Rolling in anguish his vision blurred to red. His skin blistered and his blood boiled. Ingaild stared motionless on his hind only a foot away. He had felt the blast of heat but had been saved by Harvey. He could not think straight but did not have time to collect his thoughts anyway as he was dragged to his feet by another soldier and found his spear pressed firmly back into his hand. Now was not the time to think, thinking could come once the war was won or lost. With that he threw his spear down into Harvey ending his pain.
“Find peace in battle my friend .” Ingaild said turning away. Maybe Harvey had not been the coward Ingaild had always thought he had been. The man had saved his life and Ingaild intended not to squander it. “Give me another spear now.” He ordered to the heaving mass of men that moved around the battlefield. “I’ll bring that bastard down with my teeth if I have to.”
Away from the heat of the battle at the top of the mages tower Calvin prepared himself. Rinwid flowed through him like water through an open tap. This was what the demon had been planning all along. A second chance to cast the spell they failed to during the Great War.
“ What do you see? Are we winning? Are the mages almost there?” Fintan asked squinting towards the towers of smoke that could be seen on the horizon.
“ The mages will not make it in time. It is too late for them.” Calvin said unblinking. His eyes had blackened as they flooded with power from within. The very tower itself seemed to vibrate alongside his heart beat.
“ Damn it, I’m going back. I am no good here and you bearded old farts don’t seem like you’re going to be much help.” Erin said abruptly turning away from Calvin. The truth was Calvin
was scaring her. She’d seen plenty of frightening men in her time as a cabin girl but she’d never seen the clouds circle above one man and for that matter what sounded like a hundred voices trickle out of one person’s lips either.
“You would do no good. The demon Rinwid knew this all along. He has been showing me the truth all the way through and oddly enough told me the same. Not once has he lied. When the time comes it would be me that would find the heart and destroy it.” Calvin said smiling. It wasn’t his smile though. It felt cold and lifeless.
“What are you on about old man?” Erin snapped back wishing she had let Fintan make the journey himself. It turned out she had been little use in the negations for the mages to help anyway. It was Fintan’s supposed connection to some old alliance or something that the nutty old Arch Mage mentioned before agreeing to send aid. Aid that didn’t even leave until Calvin arrived a few hours later. Erin had feelings for Fintan and had made him a promise, one she’d planned to keep but she couldn’t just sit there with Calvin and his demon. She would come back once all this weirdness was over. At least that was her plan but she would not get the chance to escape and join the battle.
“ This.” Calvin said throwing his head back. The blackened clouds spun into a vortex that poured down around the mages tower shaking loose bricks and mortar.
“ Grab my hand.” Fintan called out from the walled edge. He pulled Erin towards him and together they barely managed to hold onto the quaking brickwork before the wind tried knocking them free. Calvin seemed not to notice the storm raging around him as the blackness grew inside him pulsing from the depths of his soul. His hair whitened and started to fall from his head into the torrent of air. His black eyes sunk into his body and his skin seemed to retract as if shrinking. The shadow of Rinwid appeared surrounding the decaying frame that had been Calvin. A sudden blast shot out from Calvin like dynamite exploding inside a thunder cloud. Bricks fell from the tower and it swayed threatening to fall under the pressure, then just like that it went calm. Calvin’s body fell to the floor lifeless and the shadow of Rinwid faded away to nothing leaving only an unpleasant odor to the air.
“Are you alright?” Fintan asked as he slowly let go of the brickwork his fingertips bloodied by the effort to hold on. “ What was that?” Erin managed as she looked over at Fintan. She had held onto him so tight that his armor had come loose. The belts holding it across his shoulders had slid and Erin knew that if he had not managed to hold onto the wall they would both be dead.
“ I don’t know.” Was all Fintan could muster to say as he looked down at the old man he had travelled with, his body laid so lifelessly, not just dead but void. It looked like he had died years ago. That was until the breeze returned to the high tower and begun blowing the flaking body away to nothing. “We need to get down.” Fintan said not letting go of Erin’s hand and together they begun the decent of the fractured stairway away from the horrors they had just witnessed.
The blast of power shot across the Tower Plains uprooting what few tall trees dotted its landscape and it hit Briers Hill blowing the thatch clear from the rooftops before arriving at the battle for Neeska. The ball of energy hit the ground missing the Dragons’ Lords completely burrowing deep into the earth. Clouds of loose stones and soil shot into the air injuring those soldiers unlucky enough to be close by. Then silence. The battle seemed to stop. The two huge Dragons stopped beating their wings and slowly drifted to the ground, the remaining seven hundred or so living people of Neeska’s army stopped to look at the crater in the landscape with baited breath.
“ Destruction has opened the seal.” The Dragon Lord said which on its own would have scared anyone who knew the story of the dark ones return but what terrified Cadeyrn more was the look of horror on the Dragons face. The seriousness of what she had heard did not have time to sink in as out of the crater began crawling shadows. Not in a metaphorical sense but sharp clawed human looking demons.
“Retreat everyone, just run now.” Cadeyrn screamed, the blackness striking something inside her blood. Although she had not lived through the fall of the Earth Mother, she could sense the darkness here. Human, Dwarf and Elf scattered like mice. Some too slow and the shadow creatures caught them tearing at them like they were nothing but paper. The demons moved with ungodly speed and their strength ripped through metal as easy as flesh. The battle had ended and the ranks fell away. No one would stay to face the Dragons who sat still staring at the gaping hole. The Dragons went to take flight but before even they could beat their wings a sea of the creatures clambered over them. After the blackness passed and the snarl of the agonized Dragons ended, all that remained was the rusted armor. The last Dragons of Valadfar lay dead. It seemed the spell had worked and the Dragons would not get to reclaim Neeskmouth but there was no time for victory in-between the screams. The scuttling shadows gave chase to the fleeing masses but seemed to slow as they got further away from the crater and eventually faded to nothing. For now the demons power could only stretch so far. All that was left on the battlefield was the lifeless signs of a war. No bodies remained. No bones. Just empty suits of armor from those the Dragons killed or those unlucky enough not to outrun the shadows. Deep inside the crater the spell Calvin cast had broken the seventh seal. Rinwid sat weakened by the ordeal. A demon does not lie but its deals are not ever black and white. He had done what was promised. He had saved Neeskmouth from the Dragons and in return Calvin had destroyed the heart. He would even one day return to the spirit realm but that would not be today.
Chapter twenty three – The end or the beginning The days that followed the implosion of dark energy and the fall of the last Dragon were oddly peaceful as families made the long journeys back to their homelands and the loving embrace of those they had left behind. The dark crater remained silent and whatever dark force had crept out from it ravishing the Dragons seemed to have fallen silent. The grasslands remained empty and those that had survived the battle fought off their nightmares with prayers that it had at least not turned into another sector of the Scorched Lands. Funerals were held at Celebration square for all those that had not returned. The most shocking of names to be scribed into the stonework was that of Ingaild, lord of the Iron Giants. As with his death they had lowered their weapons and returned to their original name. The mighty weapon of Ingaild was no more. The Poles would be laid to rest until a time when war would once more spread over Neeska. The continent broken and with a new threat looming in the darkness, whispers of demons rising from the crater sent panicked gossip through the solemn taverns of Neeska. No one could believe the Dragons were really gone. The city of Neeskmouth remained open to both Neeskmouthains and Iron Giants while many refugees from both sides spread to the four corners of the map hoping to get as far away from the memories of the shadowy demons as they could. Not everyone had left the great city of the north though and word had been passed out for the council to meet. Three weeks would pass before they were all ready to see the walls of the Handson castle once more and face the fact that the Dragons’ death had released something far more horrifying into the world, but on Nymon the 8th Solar, the summer month, the dignitaries arrived ready for debate.
“ Thank you for coming.” Annar said at his seat at the head of the table. It was not surprising he took the lead of the Iron Giants upon Ingaild’s death and the fall of his mighty Poles. He was always the next in command and no one would have dared to raise a sword against Annar to challenge his place once Ingaild died. That was before the battle with the Dragons. Now it was anyone’s guess how long he would hold the title of king in his current state. Annar had been badly wounded during the battle and seemed crippled down one side. His head hung slightly to the left and the white glaze to his eye showed that he had been blinded. The Dragon’s tail had made a direct hit against the man and most people would have died from such a battering but Annar’s reputation was well earned. He had not died but for an Iron Giant, being weakened so terribly was worse than death. When word passed through his peop
le that he was crippled it would only be a matter of time before someone challenged his rule. The first to speak from the gathered council inside the familiar settings of the Handson throne room was Cadeyrn. She had come representing the Elvin people. Cadeyrn had been lucky enough to come away from the battle unwounded and remained as beautiful as ever, sadly not all of her kind had been so lucky. They had suffered loses just like the humans of Neeska, but unlike them were fewer in numbers to start with and Cadeyrn was not stupid enough to think they could hold the stalemate for dominance of the Alienage any longer. If the wars returned in the aftermath of the Dragons’ death then the Alienage Isle would fall. With the promise of the heart to send them safely into the spirit realm removed from her grasp Cadeyrn had no choice but to put her faith in diplomacy.
Dragons Blight (Valadfar Book 1) Page 26
