by A. D. Adams
The land nymphs broke into small groups of ten to twenty fighters and in loose groups attacked small groups of dwarfs with a variety of weapons. They also had been practicing for a long time. The nymphs were well trained to fight in their small groups. Each member had a specific task. Some attacked and some protected the other members. Each group worked as a single killing beast.
Soon, there were only ten or so dwarfs left and they were walked back to the valley. Terra wished to talk to them. He wanted to know if they had feelings of love and friendship or were simply killing beasts that needed to die.
Three hundred or so elves had been injured and perhaps fifty or so humans. Around one hundred nymphs were also harmed. They were brought to the valley and Terra healed each of them. Eleven fighters had been killed-six elves, two humans, and three nymphs. They were buried in the valley and would be remembered. All the fighters walked in front of the burial mound in complete silence, showing their respect for those who had given their lives.
Nine dragons had been injured. The dwarfs had used throwing sticks, which punctured the dragons' wings. Terra easily healed their wounds.
Chapter 53 - A Time to Rest
(After death, life must continue.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Terra flew over the devastated landscape. Hundreds of thousands of dwarf bodies lay upon the land like so many pebbles. His sadness was so profound that Fienna could hardly bear to touch his mind. They flew together with the dragon guard and landed near the remains of the village wall. Terra looked about. As he watched, a few small green sprouts came up through the mud. Life was returning to even this place of death.
Terra flew back to where the lake once lay. He landed and looked about at the devastation. He then noticed a great split in the ground, emanating from the point of his last sound blast. He looked closely at the soil and found numerous fishers of various sizes, leading from the main split. Terra knew he had used too much power and he could have damaged Tone beyond mending. The world would heal these wounds soon enough, but he would have to limit his use of the sounder power.
They returned to the valley where the fighters were preparing to leave for the next village, and the largest of the attacks. There would be no great flood and the Solan had fled to the dark mountain. Terra had told them all this would be the most difficult and costly of the fights. They needed to pass through the gorge behind the dwarfs' village so avoiding the village was impossible. He would have flown directly from where he stood to the dark one's mountain, but after confronting the dark one he may not be able to help deal with the final dwarf village. It had to be destroyed before he encountered the darkness.
There were also dwarfs in the foothills surrounding the black mountain and they needed to be eliminated too. He would like to keep a few dwarfs alive, destroying them entirely seemed wrong somehow. He would only allow a few to survive, for the dwarfs would never again be allowed to take this world to the edge of death.
There was also the possibility that he would not return from his confrontation with the dark one. He intended to destroy this being even if it meant his own destruction. He had to end the reign of the dwarfs no matter what happened. Their elimination was required to allow Tone to survive. So, he needed to bring the fighters with him to root out the dwarfs surrounding the home of the dark one.
It would be a twenty sun-risings walk to the next village and the gorge opening. Terra knew the lightning would get worse as they neared the black mountain. He planned to stay in the valley for two more sun-risings, allowing himself and his fighters to recover. He was still barely able to keep his sadness from overtaking him, only Fienna and his daughter kept him on this path of death.
He allowed the next sun-rising to pass, during which time Fienna was his only companion. As sunset approached, Terra finally came out and ordered the dwarfs to be brought before him. The human fighters stripped the armor from the dwarfs then walked them to where Terra and Fienna had been staying. As they walked, the dwarfs saw hundreds of land nymphs guarding a large enclave in the rocks. Above them flew twenty large dragons and two dragons paced on the ground in front of the enclave.
The nymphs looked at the dwarfs as if they would kill them at any moment. As they passed between the dragons, they growled with a terrible anger. As the ten dwarfs walked into the enclave, an odd sight came to their eyes. There sat a huge green-blue dragon and standing between its front legs was a large powerful-looking human. The dwarfs were lined up in front of these two creatures.
Terra saw that three of the dwarfs were female. The males were slightly larger than the females except for one. This one was a third bigger than the others. He was obviously a leader and showed his hatred in his eyes. He suddenly ran toward Terra screaming in madness, but Fienna was incredibly fast. Her great head swooped down and grabbed the dwarf crushing it in her mouth. She chewed, grinding the dwarf between her teeth. The braking bones could be heard throughout the enclave. She swallowed the dwarf and burped.
“Anyone else?” Terra asked the remaining dwarfs. They all stepped back into the points of the human’s long sticks.
“Good,” Terra said as Fienna picked at her teeth with one of her talons.
“Your kind has killed millions, from trees to all those whom fought against you. You have brought this world to the edge of death. Why should I allow a single dwarf to live?” Terra asked the nine left alive. They looked at each other and finally a young female stepped forward and knelt before the Draman.
“We give our lives to your judgment, great one. We were led to this point by just one, the human wizard we joined with. He is the cause of all that troubles this world. We never wished to destroy the plants or the others here. We needed more land to feed ourselves; those around us would not allow us to expand into their lands. We admit that we started fights, but we did not bring Tone to the worldwide fight. We had no desire to kill everyone, but when we joined with the human wizard, all things changed.
“He took control of us. He gave the largest and physically strongest among us magic. They forced us all to kill and kill more. He was too powerful for us to resist. His magic brought us to this state. What he could not control, he wanted destroyed. We were nothing more than tools used by him to obtain his desires.
“We now depend on his magic to change soil to food and make the sky give us water. Without him we would die. We are little more than slaves to his magic. We are truly sorry for what we have done and the state we helped him bring this world to,” the female said prostrate before him.
“You cannot simply say a few words and justify the massive devastation your kind has rot upon the world. I will not forgive your actions, no one can. I will consider what you have said. Until then, you will be kept alive.” Terra asked Naron to move the dwarfs and keep them confined. He wanted each dwarf kept separate, such that they could not talk or communicate in any way. Naron agreed and had them led off through the caves.
Fienna changed back to her human form, and once again, Terra flew them back to Cardana for one final sunset. The two returned the next sun-rising. For that entire sun-rising, all prepared for the twenty sun-risings walk to the next village and another six to seven sun-risings of travel to the end of the mountain range. They needed food and water for at least sixty sun-risings. Terra had decided to have the dragons move supplies while they traveled. He would have them fly back to this valley for the needs of the fighters and the dragons. Humans would keep all the supplies needed stored in the valley. A thousand human guards would keep it safe.
Map of the Dark Mountain Region of Tone
Chapter 54 - Traveling Once More
(Fighting is difficult, but walking towards the unknown is true torment.)
- The Time of the Draman -
At the next sun-rising, the now massive group of fighters began their long journey. Terra once again led all toward the next great fight. The elves followed him and then came the land nymphs. Finally, the humans came with the dragons above.
The size of the group made it more difficult to find a suitable place to stop for the sunset. Dawra, Hectise, and five Flights of dragons flew in advance of the group to find an appropriately sized location to stop. Each sun-rising, the sky lightning intensified, and the trees were able to return the lightning bolt for bolt. The dark clouds tried to come closer to the mountains but were repulsed by the powerful winds that flowed along the mountains' edge.
The sun-risings passed slowly as the fighters walked at a steady rate toward the next great fight. At sunset, all were tired and slept well. Terra was slowly able to rid himself of the deep sadness that had come to him through the massive deaths he had caused. Fienna and thoughts of his daughter helped him to justify his actions.
On the tenth sun-rising, Terra called a one sun-rising halt. They had stopped in a very well protected area and Terra felt everyone needed a rest before continuing. He also needed to send a Flight of dragons back to the human valley to resupply their food and water. It would take the dragons less than one sunrise to sunset to complete a round trip. He could accomplish both needs in one sun-rising.
As sunset approached and Fienna returned to her human form, Terra sat and brought forth his mind visions. He wanted to see if the dwarfs were making preparations for the upcoming fight. He was sure they knew of their coming, for the lightning was attempting to slow their progress.
His mind focused and he was once again flying above himself and his fighters. The land passed below him and he saw all the new trees and the protector trees, as he called them. They were sending their green lightning into the sky to meet the sky lightning. He approached the village and saw great trenches dug around the village. The dwarfs obviously had little idea of what the dragons could do and how to defend against them. A few of the trenches had coverings over them to protect the dwarfs from dragon fire. The dwarfs did not understand how the fire from the dragons would travel down the trenches, concentrating their heat and killing everything within the dwarf-made valleys.
They also had nearly a hundred of the domes spread just in front of the trenches. They were preparing to defend themselves as best as they could. Terra flew behind the village and saw the small opening covered by a single panel. He had to make it impossible to use this exit. He wanted no dwarfs to escape the village and enter the gorge beyond. There was no easy or convenient way to attack the village that he could discover. They would defeat them, but at a great cost of life.
Terra traveled on to the end of the mountain range and saw the trees had filled in the gap between where his mind was and the great black mountain in the distance. As he crossed the gap, he saw the trees ended two to three thousand dragon lengths away from the foothills surrounding the dark edifice. He flew to the foothills and saw only ten to twenty thousand dwarfs. He thought there could be up to fifty thousand hiding within caves dug into the hills and low mountains. He returned to himself and considered how to best fight the dwarfs.
Later that sunset, Terra was sitting looking out across the now vast expanse of trees. He noticed a bright green light within the trees just outside the area the human fighters had set up their sleeping mats. He pointed it out to Fienna and they decided to go look at what it may be. They walked with a small protective group of humans and land nymphs. Even though Terra was enormously powerful, the fighters and the dragons never left him unprotected.
They entered the edge of the trees. As they approached the light, Terra could see a small clearing. At the far end of the open area was one of the protector trees. It had sent several small bolts of continuous lightning striking a single spot just in front of the tree. The lightning formed a round sphere of glowing green energy.
Terra walked into the clearing and the lightning withdrew back into the tree. A low wind began to blow through the trees and the blade-like leaves on the protector tree began to vibrate. An odd sound filled the clearing.
“Weee thaaank youuu.” The sound resolved into a complex voice.
“You thank me for what?” Terra asked.
“Youuu gaaave liiife. Weee heeelp youuu.”
“You are already helping, you have protected us from the lightning. That is enough.”
“Weee kiiill Sooolaaan.”
“You wish to kill the Solon for us?”
“Nooo, weee kiiilll Sooolaaan.”
“You have already killed the Solan?” Terra asked in confusion.
“Yeees, sheee huuurt uuus muuuch. Weee stooop heeer.”
“Thank you for the help. I have killed too many and more are to come.”
“Weee knooow, weee heelp kiiill liiittle beeeasts.”
“You wish to help us fight the dwarfs?”
“Yeees.”
“We welcome your help, we would happily accept anything you can do,” Terra told the great tree.
“Weee heeelp.”
“Thank you.”
“Youuu paaart ooof uuus fooor aaall tiiime. Weee heeere fooor yuooo aaall tiiiime.”
“You honor me. I will always be here for you as well. We will rest here for one sun-rising and then continue to the dwarfs' village,” Terra told the tree.
He and Fienna, as well as their escort, walked back to their sleeping area. He was surprised the trees were actually strong enough to kill a Solan. They had made the upcoming fight a bit simpler, but it would still be difficult.
The humans and the land nymphs that had accompanied Terra told their leaders what they had witnessed. They had all been amazed by what had happened. They had no idea trees could communicate. They always assumed that they had no intelligence or feelings. This would change how they treated trees and used wood. Even more amazing was the fact that the trees considered Terra their savior and they would help them fight the dwarfs. Terra was more than simply the Draman; he was the one true savior of Tone.
The sunsets were getting colder and the dragons used their fire to heat large rocks to a red glow. It kept the fighters warm without burning wood.
Chapter 55 - The Fight Planned
(Planning for the unknown is always difficult.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Terra sat atop a great mountain peak with Fienna, overlooking the dwarf’s final village. He saw the great trenches and the domes as well as the high rock walls. Thousands of dwarfs were working in the trenches and some were under the domes. As they watched, Terra noticed a large dwarf standing atop the wall above the central opening. He appeared to be directing the work and a number of smaller dwarfs were watching the trees and lands about the village. They were expecting the fight, but they did not know when or how many they were about to encounter. Terra and Fienna took off to attend a meeting with all the leaders. He had made his final plans for the fight during the last four sun-risings of the walk. They had stopped just out of sight of the village.
Terra and Fienna landed in a small cove at the base of the mountain where they would sleep. Terra turned back to his human form. Fienna landed behind him and lay down. Terra took a long stick and began to draw in the loose soil. He created an uncannily accurate picture of the village and the surrounding area. The leaders arrived as Terra was finishing the drawing. They sat and studied the incredible picture before them. On one side of the drawing were a human and a dragon showing the scale of the picture.
They saw a four-walled village. One wall was up against a large mountain, while the back wall was facing the great gorge. The land behind the village sloped down over three to four thousand dragon lengths to a dry riverbed. The base of the gorge was perhaps four hundred dragon-lengths deep. Numerous channels, obviously cut by water that once flowed from the mountains, led down to the dry bottom of the great gorge. The front of the village stood directly in the path Terra and his fighters had been walking. The fourth wall now faced thousands of trees. More protector trees grouped together than Terra had yet seen.
The two walls not protected by the mountains and gorge had deep parallel trenches dug just in front of them. The domes sat at the edge of the outermost trench. It was a well-cons
tructed and protected village. Terra continued to draw as they watched.
“I wish to explain my plan for the upcoming fight. This is the village that is awaiting us,” Terra explained. He then described the entire village, including the new set of trenches.
“Now that we all understand what we are facing, let me describe my plan. First, we need to prevent the dwarfs from escaping through the back opening. Dawra and Hectise, I wish the dragons to take one thousand humans to the base of the gorge. They will have to put them in place directly after sunset. I do not want the dwarfs to see the dragons dropping the humans off.
Naron, I need eight hundred fighters that throw the small wood shafts and two hundred with the shields and long metal blades to protect the others. They will need to climb to the lip of the gorge just behind the village after they are dropped off. The slope is steep, but it can be walked. At the lip, there are some large groups of rocks, set up behind them. I want no one to know you're there so you must be extremely quiet and remain hidden from the village,” Terra said as he pointed to the drawing.
“At sun-rising, before first light, I want a few dragons to fly into the gorge and find a good place to land the fighters. I need you not to be seen, so fly through the mountains and then cross over to the gorge. Fly up the gorge, and then return the same way you came.
After sunset, I want a thousand dragons to drop their humans off in groups of fifty. The fight will start the next sun-rising. Just before first light, I wish for two hundred dragons to position themselves just below the lip of the gorge behind the humans. The dragons and the humans will keep the dwarfs in the village,” Terra explained.
