Noticing the two warriors approaching, the creature moves around the side of the dragon where it continues to beat the dying beast against its back.
Soft moans leave the old dragon’s slightly opened mouth as the two warriors arrive, his large head tilted to his left.
Kalder moves in a circular pattern around the right side of the dragon’s snout then leaps on top of it. The enhancing magic enables the warrior to jump the height. Once atop the dragon, Kalder reaches high in the air and leaps across the snout, twirling his great claymore. With the blade facing down and Kalder in motion, the warrior leaps from the scaled snout and lowers the blade with himself, putting his entire weight into the blow. The sword cuts deep into the dragon’s head with the energy of Kalder’s falling body.
At the same time, Nordal rushes toward the other side of the dragon’s head and pierces just rear of his eye.
Struck by the weapons, the old dragon lets out a blood curling scream and quickly falls silent: Kalder is knocked off balance as the dragon jolts his last movement in pain. Nordal lets go of his weapon and pushes himself away as the dragon rolls his head towards the warrior, leaving Nordal’s weapon irretrievable.
Meanwhile, Tilthan turns to the illusionist behind him and shouts, “I need some more arrows. Summon me some and make sure they have a kick to them!”
Sensing the dragon’s death, the elemental moves off and turns to assist the others.
Both warriors follow the conjured creature’s movements with their eyes. To their surprise, the sight is not favorable.
* * * * *
The battle with the female dragon started differently. With one arrow piercing her eye, the dragon rears back on her hind legs and spreads open her wings. She rapidly flaps them towards the five men re-notching their bows and releasing their arrows. The strong gusts are enough to deflect the sailing arrows and knock the men to the ground.
“You fools!” the female dragon yells in the common tongue, “Do you even comprehend what you’re doing?!”
Puzzled that the dragon speaks their language, the warriors and thieves pause before regaining their composure but continue their assault.
Around this same time, the second portal summoned forth by Amendal is fully opened; a second magma colossus steps through to join the battle, ambling toward the standing dragon.
Meanwhile, near the cave, a frosty cloud of blue magic gathers in front and above Igan. Shards of ice take form in the cloud, about half the size of an average man. The cloud thins and icy shafts speed toward the dragon.
Seeing the magic, the female serpent quickly retaliates and lets loose a wave of fire from her mouth. As the ice shards race towards her, the fire from her maw meets them, and the magical projectiles turn to a vapor of steam in the inferno. The flame quickly spreads toward the party and the advancing combatants hastily move out of its way.
Aron, Shen and the thieves retreat in separate directions, mainly to the southeast of the dragon and the now charging conjuration, close to where Igan had launched his icy assault; however, Grasil is not as fortunate as the others in his escape.
With incredible speed, the dragon fire engulfs Grasil’s body. The warrior throws himself to the ground, but is quickly consumed by the raging magical fire. He tries to scream in agony but the flames quench the surrounding air, suffocating and burning him to his final moment.
Seeing his spell thwarted, Igan’s eyes narrow at the dragon, who is now tightly engaged with the magma behemoth.
Amid an exchange of blows, the female dragon attempts to take flight but the heavy creature latches on to one of her hind legs and pulls her to the ground. With one hand, the magma giant swiftly thrusts its strong arm down and backward, causing the dragon to crash to the rocky foothills. It further suppresses her to the ground with blows and grapples.
With this scene playing out before him, Igan closes his eyes and deeply concentrates on his next incantation, one of which demands great control and magical ability. Red and pink magical particles swarm about in front of Igan’s outstretched hands as if grasping a giant ball. The light of the magic shines great in the darkened landscape, illuminating the area around the masterful wizard. Individual clusters take shape between his hands. They dance in circular patterns, and as they do so the magical bolts leave a trail of light in their wake, like a comet in the night sky. Hundreds of individual concentrations of magic dance between Igan’s hands.
The wizard’s eyes flash open, staring directly at the struggling dragon. He takes a final breath of determination before unleashing a masterpiece of magical energy, of the likes he has never performed in such abundance. The wizard retracts his hands, then pushes them high into the air, causing the swarm of magical orbs to fly up and forward.
The armada of blazing magic races toward the dragon and its magmatic assailant. As it nears the dragon, the horde splits into four clusters. The upper two groups of orbs cross each other, perfectly missing one another. They reach a pivotal height and then crash towards the dragon, weaving around each other in a beautiful pattern. One after another they collide into the dragon’s exposed underbelly.
Screams of pain resound from the dragon as she reels in agony from the magma creature’s tumultuous crushing blows and Igan’s magic.
With his gaze tightly fixed on the scene ahead, Igan consciously commands the orbs to weave in and around the two combatants; the skin on his cheeks raises as he senses the impact of the projectiles. From his view, the orbs dance through the air like magnificent crimson fireflies and one by one he sends them down at tremendous speeds.
Out of her injured eye, the dragon can faintly make out the figure of the wizard controlling the ancient magical spell; all the while, tears brim her lids from pain and sorrow.
In that moment, the dragon jars the magmatic conjuration loose with wild kicks and thrashing arms.
Still on the ground with the magical orbs impacting upon her body, the dragon stretches out her nearest arm towards the human manipulating the magic. Sharp and rigid vocal tones roll off her tongue, words of the ancient draconic magical language. In response, a cluster of violet magic rapidly forms at the tip of her extended claw. Almost as soon as it gathers, the ray of purple light beams toward Igan.
The magical ray shatters the wizard’s globe of protection instantly and pierces his chest. At this moment the first dragon had just fallen lifeless.
Hagen and Hex turn only a moment earlier to see their long time friend in his final moment of glory as he masterfully controlled the hundreds of magical orbs. To their astonishment and to the other men near the wizard, Igan falls backward. A hole has burned through his chest from the dragon’s disintegrating magic with a trail of ash strewn behind Igan’s falling body. For a moment Igan realizes his demise, and before he touches the ground he is gone from life to death.
“Igan!” Hex cries out.
“Oh no!” Hagen gasps and looks to the now errant magic in the sky.
As Igan’s body collapses, so too does his control over the remaining magical orbs circling the dragon and the conjured monstrosity. The uncontrolled magic spirals off into various directions: Some of the orbs impact upon the ground, colliding into the stone surface of the mountains. Others fly into the two creatures on the foothills. Several stream across the sky while the rest whiz by the conjuration rushing to the west to assist its magmatic sibling.
Staring at the horrific sight, Hagen and Hex utter the words to bring forth a dispelling magic. White particles of light gather in their hands and they quickly fling the dispelling magic toward the raining arcane orbs, doing their best to dispel the rogue magic with accuracy.
With the wizard vanquished, the dragon turns her full attention to the magma conjuration attacking her. Arrows fly at her from the warriors and thieves in the distance, but they are of little concern to her. She claws at the towering behemoth and kicks out one of its legs, causing it to stumble.
At this moment, the dragon uses the opening to roll forward; her hind legs take hold of
the rocky ground and she pushes herself up and on top of the conjuration. The advance causes Amendal’s colossal minion to lean back and fall to the ground, creating a tremor that shakes the area immediately around the magma monster.
With her foe beneath her, the dragon takes to flight, but is intercepted by the second reinforcing conjured magma golem. Both creatures collide in the air, and the weight of the summoned behemoth is enough to pull the dragon to the foothills.
Recoiling from the dragon’s push, the conjuration which had been initially fighting the female dragon leaps to its feet; it races toward the majestic beast, who has just been knocked to her back.
Pinning the dragon to the ground, the reinforcing conjuration stomps on the dragon’s left wing. The weight is enough to crush the muscles and bones of the dragon’s flapping appendage. The fervent heat, coupled with the grinding motion from the creature’s foot, causes the dragon to cry out in pain.
Amid the screams, the dragon’s initial foe reaches her. The conjuration leaps upon her other wing, bearing its entire weight down on it.
Seeing this, Kalder shouts to the remaining members of the expedition, rallying them to follow him. The remaining four warriors, and the two thieves, Nemral and Nath dash behind Kalder.
The warriors and thieves ready their weapons as they rush toward the subdued dragon, which has been knocked even further away than where she had been resting. Sounds of cracking bones and scales fill the air as the two conjurations tower over the almost motionless dragon. Each of the men run around the debris created by the battle and eventually reach the scene.
The female dragon looks at her attackers, too weak to retaliate and too full of sorrow to kill anymore of the humans. Her head rests against the rock and dirt ground of the foothills, gazing at the men coming to deliver her deathblows. The dragon’s expressions are completely un-interpretable by the rushing men, who only see a creature of immense size and power.
Kalder is the first to reach her, with his blade covered in the blood of her former mate.
As the warriors and thieves approach, the dragon closes her eyes and waits.
Sounds of grinding metal against her scales fills the air as the blood covered claymore races into her skull. The other men surround her head and strike similar blows to her cranium. In her final breath, the dragon expresses her final excruciating pain in a deathly scream and is abruptly silenced.
With the second dragon dead, the warriors and thieves remove their bloodied weapons. They turn to face the scene between Iltar’s former captor and their two leaders.
“Remember,” Kalder calls out, “We’re to subdue that one; not kill it.” The warrior points as he finishes speaking to the dragon battling Cornar, the third elemental and another strange creation of transmutive magic.
* * * * *
In unison with the other thieves and warriors, Cornar’s magically enhanced arrow quickly leaves his bow and pierces the eye of Iltar’s captor. The sting of Iltar’s magic mixed with Cornar’s arrow instantly stir the dragon from his sleep.
“You… you tricked me!” the exiled dragon shouts in the common tongue, with no apparent sign of pain from the arrow piercing his eye. He quickly rises upon all fours and faces his foes in a defiant posture. “Now you have enraged me!”
Iltar gazes up at the dragon with a sadistic grin through the watery sphere of diabolical protection. The two globes of darkness dance around the necromancer’s protective barrier as a testament to Iltar’s arrogance.
Meanwhile, Cornar launches several more arrows at the dragon, but the towering beast quickly swats them away with his front claws.
The dragon rears on its hind legs and lets out a bellowing roar; he swiftly snaps his head forward, which propels globs of putrid yellow acidic liquid from his throat.
Throwing himself to his right, the warrior quickly moves out of the acid’s way. Cornar gracefully recovers from the self propelled thrust and regains his footing. In one swift movement, he notches two arrows into his bow and lets them loose.
Concurrently with Cornar’s evasion, steam and crackling sounds pierce the air as the dragon’s acidic spit attempts to break through Iltar’s protective barrier. The vapor grows larger as the acid is eaten away by an even more corrosive power; all the while, Iltar raises his hand toward the acid and reinforces the barrier with more dark magic from his finger tips.
Swatting Cornar’s arrows, the dragon rushes forward to attack the warrior. He closes in but with Iltar’s magic Cornar easily dodges the dragon’s attempts to swipe him with his front claws. The two beings dance in a war-like pattern, with Cornar moving away and then below the creature, taking any opportunity to cut the dragon with his dagger and sword; however, the magically enchanted weapons barely slice through the hardened metallic scales.
With his friend evading and assaulting the dragon, Iltar turns his attention to dealing with the beast in a less direct route. The necromancer kneels to the ground and spreads his hand toward the dirt just beyond his protective magic, uttering a magical incantation. Grayish-brown magic wisps into the ground, causing the earthen floor to quake.
Behind Iltar, the portal created by Amendal fully opens, and the third magical conjuration slowly steps through, just as the others. Once it emerges from the mystical gateway, it looks down, noticing Iltar within his necrotic barrier. The magma behemoth steps forward, stepping on either side of Iltar. Heat from the creature’s molten skin shimmers off of Iltar’s water-like sphere of protection, and the necromancer pays no attention to the behemoth stepping over him.
The dragon briefly ignores Cornar as he looks back toward the mountainside and notices the conjuration slowly stepping toward him.
“Now this is sporting!” the dragon shouts and continues to swat at Cornar, catching the warrior by the leg with one of his talons.
As he connects with the warrior, the exiled beast pins Cornar to the ground. In response, the warrior frantically cuts at the dragon’s massive claw.
In that moment, a stinging sensation rapidly swells along the dragon’s grip; effects from the green magic surrounding Cornar which seeps beneath the dragon’s scales.
“I haven’t felt this spell in ages,” the dragon snarls as his grip tightens and Cornar lets out a agonizing scream. “It’s so painful, but I have not heard the popping of a human’s bones in so–”
At the moment of decision of whether to crush Cornar, the dragon is grabbed by the tail and yanked backward by Amendal’s conjuration. The jolt causes the dragon to let go of the warrior and Cornar rolls to his side and backward onto his feet.
Once freed, the warrior eyes his bow to his left from whence he came and dashes to recover his weapon.
Meanwhile, anger and rage fill the dragon’s visage as he glares back at the summoned creature with his right and only surviving eye; the other ocular organ is rapidly degenerating from the magic carried by Cornar’s initial arrow.
With precision, the dragon quickly spins and thrusts its massive claw into the creature’s head.
Thrust downward by the dragon’s force, the conjuration bends over, but the dragon’s tail is still in its grasp.
Enraged, the exiled dragon continues its furious blows, striking multiple times a second, focused and concentrated on the magma behemoth’s shoulder. Amid his strikes, the dragon lets loose a bellowing roar. Not even a few seconds later, a cracking sound echoes from the giant conjured creature and its hardened magma appendage is severed.
Undaunted, the conjuration holds back any effort of attack and focuses on subduing the dragon with its remaining arm. It reels back in a straightened position as the dragon briefly stops his assault to grab the creature’s smoldering detached arm.
“Agonizing flame!” the dragon shouts with the molten forearm of the conjuration in his grasp, “How invigorating!” The dragon pays no attention to the pain from the heat; it only fuels his anger, causing snarling sounds of hate to burst from his scowling maw as he resumes the assault with his new weapon, striking the conjur
ation with finesse.
Just as the dragon resumes his assault on the magma conjuration, Cornar reaches his bow. With two arrows still in the quiver on his back, the warrior grabs one from them; he swiftly notches it in his bow and takes aim at the great dragon’s side.
The beast is too busy with the gargantuan magmatic to care about what he deems his smaller, more inferior opponents. With this opportunity, Cornar sends the necrotic drenched arrow in between the dragon’s scales, causing the dragon to shift his focus.
“Which of you wield the Ko’delish?!” the ethically fallen dragon cries out and stops his assault on the conjuration. He turns to face both Cornar and Iltar, the latter still kneeling within his protective sphere; huddled before the necromancer is a large skeletal creature, fused together by transmutive magic.
“You,” the dragon snarls and looks at Iltar, “You are no illusionist!”
As the dragon snarls at Iltar, an arrow sails through the air from the south, further behind the necromancer and warrior.
Seeing the arrow, the dragon swiftly swats it out of the air with his free claw; as the arrow touches his scales it erupts into a fireball of magical flame which engulfs the dragon’s claw and immediate vision.
A second arrow flies through the air immediately thereafter, piercing through the fiery explosion and erupting on the dragon’s neck.
Seeing the success of the fiery attack launched from behind him, Cornar grabs the last remaining arrow in his quiver, notches it in his bow and lets it loose. The magically drenched arrow penetrates the dragon’s belly, causing him to cry out in a mixture of fury and pain.
“Have the Qui’sha forsaken their master’s mandate and granted their power to a mortal?!” the dragon growls as he recovers from the blow
The Dark Necromancer Page 17
