by Dante King
If I had clapped eyes on the sight on Earth, I would have thought it a movie set. Here, in the Subterranean Realms, the abandoned bastion could not have looked more real or solid if it had been carved out of the bones of Galipolas Mountain itself. The fortress was walled on three sides, but the rearward wall was just the wall of the cavern itself.
The black, stone burg would have been captivating enough, but it was what was happening outside the broken-topped walls that really riveted the attention.
Kobolds.
Thousands of kobolds.
They milled around the base of the breastwork like ants around the bottom of a picnic basket. Thankfully, unlike ants, it did not look like the kobolds were much good at climbing.
Great bonfires lit the plain and the activity taking place on it. Overhead, across a ceiling that was lost in murk and mountain shadows, the great weird bioluminescent worms crawled and cast their otherworldly light down on combatants.
For combatants they most certainly were.
At the top of the walls, just discernible from this distance, was the glint of metal; a pencil-thin line of glittering steel that might have signified the positioning of a few hundred helmeted, spear-wielding Imperial troops.
“There they are,” I said.
I swallowed.
I imagined I could hear the withering flurry of arrows being exchanged. The screaming of dying men. The bellowed orders of Elenari and Antou. The clash and ring of metal on metal. The thud of swords on shields.
“That’s where Elenari is,” I said. “Right there. In the damn thick of it.”
Even with our dragon-enhanced sight, we were too far away to make out individual details, but I could easily imagine the lizard-men throwing themselves at the impregnable walls, heedless of the casualties that they racked up, as they desperately tried to get their clawed hands on the Imperial troops that had been so neatly lured in and trapped.
“How the hell do you think this happened? How the hell did our warriors get suckered into this, against a bunch of kobolds?” Tamsin asked, spitting off the edge of our lofty perch, in the manner of one who did not relish the even sound of the word ‘kobold.’
“I can hazard a guess, I reckon,” I said. “Looks like they marched down here, met no opposition in the ratfolk township, and carried on through the tunnel. They probably made it all the way down the road. Probably found some token opposition at the ruined castle there. They would have fought the kobolds or ratfolk or whatever, of course, and they would have won.”
Ashrin had been nodding away at my explanation as I talked. When I got to this point of my guessing, she let out a little laugh. “Yeah, they would have won that fight, and the doors of this trap would have snapped shut behind them.”
“But why the fuck would the kobolds want to let them take the ruins before they closed the ambush?” Saya said heatedly. “Makes no tactical sense that I can see.”
Penelope cleared her throat politely. Despite being on a level with every other Rank One dragonmancer at the Drako Academy, I always got the impression that Penelope thought of herself, for some reason, to be less worthy to speak than some of the more forthright dragonmancers. This annoyed me, because she was in possession of one of the more brilliant intellects in the whole damned place, and could fight like a hellcat when required.
“I think that it was, in fact, tactically sound,” the Knowledge Sprite said.
“How so?” Saya asked. I could see that the Amazonian blonde was getting fired up and was eager to get down there and start canceling a few kobold birth certificates.
“They allowed our legions to take the fortress, yes,” Penelope said patiently, “but, in the process, they also painted themselves into a corner.”
“The kobolds probably think that the Empire has sent as many troops as they can presently,” Jazmyn said. “Now that they have Elenari, Antou, and all of our soldiers penned up, they’re probably not too fuckin’ bothered about biding their time and wearing them down. They have the numbers to lose ten times the amount of fighters that Elenari and Antou can and not rue it.”
Renji made a deep affirmative sound. “I think you’re right. What is more, they have those to help them.”
It was obvious what she meant by ‘those’ for, at that moment, there was a shrieking, snarling chorus of roars and three wild dragons flapped out onto the plain from where they had been lurking in the shadows cast by a hill of rubble and boulders of the mighty skeletal ruin. The trio were made up of one gold, one silver, and one black dragon. The black was by far the largest, and for a moment, I thought that it must surely be another Onyx.
“No,” Noctis said. “It lacks my scale-sheen. It is more matte, can you not see?”
“I don’t have your eyes, not all of their power at any rate,” I said. “What kind do you think it is then?”
“It is an Opal Dragon, I believe,” Noctis ventured, in his deep, rolling croon. “Though it has been many a long age since I have laid eyes upon a dragon of that kind. I might be wrong. If it is, then I recommend not taking it lightly. The Opals were a vulpine and duplicitous breed.”
The golden dragon was the smallest of the trio in build, but it looked to be the quickest. It moved in the short, sharp bursts of a gecko or skink. The silver creature lumbered along with a strange rolling gate that made me think it was more at home in the air than on the ground.
I gritted my teeth as I watched the three mighty beasts tramp toward the back of the kobold lines.
“It looks like the wild dragons are giving the kobolds the orders,” Renji said thoughtfully.
Saya barked a laugh that was almost a snarl. “That’s where worshipping and idolizing, rather than building relationships of mutual respect, gets you. The fucking kobolds probably wanted to make their gods happy by luring in a nice snack in the form of our soldiers.”
“I think that’s probably what it boils down to, yes, Saya,” Penelope said.
“So, now the dumb shits are caught between a rock and a hard place, right?” I said, shaking my head. “If they fight and lose against Elenari and her soldiers, then they die. If they fight and things look like they’re going badly and they try to run, I bet those three dragons will just turn on them and eat them as the easier option.”
“My people have always said that if you dance with demons, then you should prepare to have your toes trodden on,” Saya muttered, grinding her teeth audibly.
“Can we stop talking and get down there and help?” Tamsin hissed.
“We’re not just going to go in there with our heads down and horns on show and hope for the fuckin’ best,” Jazmyn said sternly. “That isn’t the way that dragonmancers conduct their affairs. That’s not what makes us elite.”
“Jaz is right,” said Ashrin. “We’ll move in closer and assess just how we can turn the tide. The ratfolk might be dumb enough that nine times out of ten they could throw themselves to the floor and miss, but not so the kobolds.”
“And these kobolds are guided by dragons,” Jazmyn added.
Chapter 22
The seven of us dropped down from the perch that our dragons had taken and flew through the intervening airspace that divided us from the kobold army. We stayed high and silent, and our dragons made sure to flap their wings as little as possible.
Luckily, the numerous massive, smoking bonfires of the kobolds, fueled by some sort of peat in the place of wood, supplied all the updrafts and convection currents that such skilled flyers could ever need. The smoke also gave us cover, although it also limited our visibility.
I led the way and dropped Pan to land in the very pile of huge boulders that the wild dragons had recently vacated. The enemy dragons, and the kobolds they drove on like cattle before them, did not notice us land only a few hundred yards to their rear.
“Shit, look at them go,” Jazmyn said, her eyes wide with awe as she watched the silver and gold dragon take to the air.
The pair of glittering beasts, shining in the smoky light cast by the
bonfires, flapped up into the air and headed for the defenders on the wall.
Now that we were closer, I could make out individual helmet-covered heads up on the wall. As the dragons neared, the defenders turned to face them, and a hail of longbow shafts leaped up to meet them. From our vantage point, they seemed little more than matchsticks rising to meet the mythical gold and silver killing machines. However, having spent as much time on the archery range as we had, my fellow dragonmancers and I were well aware of just how deadly dangerous Imperial yew longbows could be.
The bows had a draw weight of one hundred pounds and could shoot a bodkin point arrow up to three hundred and fifty yards. Once an arrow had completed this impressive journey, it struck its target with enough energy to punch through mail, armor, and, if they struck the right spot between scales, dragonhide.
They were dangerous weapons in the right hands. Our preceptors had gone to great lengths to drill into us just how dangerous they were to both dragonmancer and dragon. Many great dragonriders, it had been said, had been thrown from their dragons by a single lucky shaft. It was commonly believed that an arrowstorm was one of the greatest dangers that faced any dragonmancer.
The flurry of shafts arched into the air. With twin roars of fury, the gold and silver dragon swooped away out of the path of the arrows.
“Proud and dangerous,” Garth said, within my head. “But not fucking stupid, hey Dad?”
“Unfortunately not,” I agreed.
The wild dragons flew around, coming at the wall again. Once more, arrows leapt skyward, and the dragons banked away. This time, the golden beast let loose a jet of terribly beautiful fire that splashed up the ruined wall like gnawing, burning paint.
I expected the wall to simply crumble where the dragonfire made contact but, miraculously, the fire splashed and ran off it like water off a duck’s back.
“What the…?” Renji gasped.
“Goodness me!” Penelope squeaked, her love for all that was new and interesting eclipsing her caution so that I had to pull her back down into the cover of the shadows.
“What is it?” I asked the wide-eyed Knowledge Sprite.
Penelope’s skin was flushed a darker blue in her excitement.
“It looks like the stone with which that fortress was constructed is impervious to dragonfire!” she hissed excitedly, patting her pockets for a fragment of parchment or a notebook, I had no doubt. “I have heard of such things, heard theories for the kinds of spells that were said to be able to do such things, but never seen evidence of them!”
“How can that old-ass building deflect dragonfire and yet still be close to falling down?” Saya asked, her bright blue eyes glued on the action taking place before us.
Penelope shrugged. “If I had to postulate, I would say that it is simply that things might well be protected from all sorts of degradation, but nothing can be effectively protected from the ravages of time. It is the great winner.”
The golden dragon swept away to land, thwarted for the time being by the defenders, although I did see a couple of sad little burning figures plummet from the top of the wall where they had been caught by a splash of the beast’s flames.
The silver dragon turned a back somersault in the air and headed toward a stretch of wall that was less well manned than the section that had been attacked at first.
“Oh gods,” Renji muttered to herself.
A few desultory arrows shot out to meet the oncoming threat, but the silver dragon was a fantastic flyer and corkscrewed out of danger, so that the arrows deflected off its spinning flanks. It opened its mouth to let loose a torrent of deadly fire.
Gharmon, Elenari’s Emerald Dragon, appeared out of nowhere, shooting unexpectedly up from the edges of the wall and flew out to meet the silver.
“Elenari!” I said to nobody in particular.
I could see the elf’s red head, sitting in between Gharmon’s wing joints.
The two dragons met each other in mid-air, above the screeching hordes of the kobolds, and each beast let loose a burst of fire. Mercurial silver fire met a frosty blast of cold air. The torrents of dragonfire fought against each other, like two opposing laser beams. The dragons circled and maneuvered, each striving to force the other dragon’s flame back down its owner’s throat.
More arrows leapt up and rattled along the silver’s side. With the silver dragon being totally distracted by Elenari and Gharmon’s attack, it could spare no thought for dodging the unforgiving projectiles. I saw two shafts hit the great silver wings and pierce them.
The silver flinched, and Gharmon’s frosty breath raked it across its shoulder.
There was a hiss of steam, and a rending bellow of pain. The silver dragon dropped and sped away from the walls. Glittering scales fell like rain onto the kobolds below.
A ragged cheer went up from the defenders on the wall, as Elenari turned Gharmon back to safety and disappeared again behind the curtain of stone.
I let out the breath that I had not realized I had been holding. I punched a fist into my palm and only just resisted crowing Elenari’s name in triumph.
“We’re going to take these damned dragons,” I said vehemently. “And their fucking pet kobolds!”
“I hope those lizardy kobold shits have given their hearts to whatever dragons or gods it is that they worship,” Saya growled, “because their asses are mine.”
During the exchange of dragonfire, I had noticed Ashrin and Jazmyn minutely scoping out the battlefield. The two members of the Twelve were crouched next to one another and muttering into one another’s ears. Keeping as low as I could, I scooted over next to them, leaving Penelope scribbling feverishly away with a bit of charcoal in a notebook she had obtained from somewhere in her blue robes.
“What do your expert eyes see?” I asked the two women, without preamble.
“A fuckin’ mess,” Jazmyn said grimly.
Ashrin sighed. “Battle always looks like a shitfight turned up to eleven,” she said. “All of us know that. Any commander who tries and tells you that there’s ever some sort of order to it once the killing starts is lying like a dog with no legs. What we have down here though, looks messy. Real messy.”
I scanned the gathered mass of kobolds pressing forward, sandwiched between the wall in front and the wild dragons behind. Near the back of the army of lizard-men, I could see scaling ladders being pushed through the ranks.
“So, the walls can’t be breached by dragonfire,” I said. “That’s something, but as soon as those scaling ladders start finding purchase, Elenari’s troops are going to last all of ten minutes. The attackers have the numbers. Once they start scaling the walls, our soldiers will have to divide their time, and their own numbers, between the dragons in the air and the kobolds coming up from below. Even with Elenari and Antou, their chances aren’t great.”
Jazmyn nodded. “You’re right, Mike.”
I scanned the battlefield. Time had been a luxury that we hadn’t been able to afford lately. Here we were again, in another tight corner, and with the clock ticking down on a decision that we had to make.
“What to do? What to do?” I muttered to myself, casting my gaze around for inspiration. “How do we thin these kobold numbers? How do we gain a little respite?”
“If you want to feast upon your enemy’s heart, then you first have to understand it,” Noctis said coldly, his deep and ancient voice bubbling up from where it lurked in the back of my head. “Warriors are often prone to make things more complex than they need to be, Mike.”
“You got a little nugget of wisdom you’d like to toss my way?” I asked.
“Simplify things,” Noctis said. “We need to win this battle, to save the soldiers on the walls. Those dragons drive those small lizard folk before them like clouds before a squall. Kill the dragons, and the kobolds will falter and flee most likely. I can smell their fear, even through your dulled senses.”
“You sure know how to spare a guy’s feelings,” I quipped drily.
; Noctis chuckled, but without humor. “You and I are one, Mike,” he said, the bona fide sincerity in his words etching them onto the inside of my chest. “I am willing to sacrifice some of your feelings if it means that you survive this ordeal.”
“Yeah,” I said, my sarcastic levity dissipating somewhat under those heartfelt words. “Yeah, I guess that’s a fair trade. So, the key lies in defeating the dragons. Fine.”
I turned my attention back to Ashrin and Jazmyn. We had not made any decisions about who was the leader of this rescue mission, but I could tell by the look in their eyes that they knew I would take no orders that conflicted with my main goal.
Saving Elenari.
“All right,” I said, “after some wise and rather coldblooded consultation, I think the key here is taking out those dragons. Break them, drive them off, or kill them, then the kobolds can be mopped up afterward.”
Penelope, Renji, Tamsin, and Saya had gathered over to where I was speaking with the two more experienced dragonmancers. The four women listened intently.
“Obviously, I think it’s going to be to our advantage if you two, Ash and Jaz,” and I nodded at the two qualified dragonmancers, “take on your Titan forms. That’ll distract the kobolds and give the wild dragons something to think about too.”
Ashrin and Jazmyn turned to one another and nodded.
“If we can take the dragons by surprise,” Ash said, “Jaz and I should be able to eliminate the Sun Dragon fairly easily.”
“Sun Dragon?” Renji asked.
“I thought that’s what breed the golden dragon was,” Penelope said, tucking her notebook back into the folds of her robe. “But the fact that it was down here in the Subterranean Realms made me doubt the evidence of my own eyes.”
“They’re a fairly common variety up in the mountains,” Ashrin said. “They actually take nourishment from the sunlight. That’s why this one is quite undersized, I imagine.”
