by LJ Davies
I glided across the flames, cutting the tether free with a sweep of my wing blade. The rope snapped with a dry crack and the cage dropped toward the fire. Twisting around, I caught the severed cord in my teeth and pulled as hard as I could manage. I may have been stronger than a normal dragon, but the weight of a whole wing of them was just about the limit.
I slowed their fall just enough, and the cage collapsed into the fire with a loud crash. Releasing the cord, I jumped to their aid, but before I could reach them, a very angry looking set of toothed fungi confronted me.
I’m really starting to hate these things! I inwardly grumbled as three more leapt onto my back, gnawing at my armour while another pair latched on to my foreclaws.
Kicking up, I managed to buck at least one of them off, crushing another in my grip. More kept coming, one landing between my horns, its sickly teeth snapping only inches from my eyes. I dropped to the floor and rolled, crushing the ones on my back and head with a wet splatter as I tumbled into the fire. Their slimy green innards smelt so bad; I was almost glad for the acrid wreak of smoke filling my nostrils.
They smell even worse when they're burning. Resisting the urge to gag I rose to my paws, the inferno spreading rapidly around me. So much for subtlety, that stuff burns more than I thought.
Through the fire, I spotted one of the fire dragons rising to her paws, her muzzle still entombed within an elemental-dampening mask. I dashed over; she wasn't a dragon I recognised, but the same couldn't be said of me. The moment I began melting her bounds and helping her free of the mask, she gasped in surprise.
"By the fires, it really is you!" she blurted.
"Can you free the others and keep this fire under control? We need to keep it and the smoke away from the other prisoners!" I urged, nodding toward the other dragons as they struggled with their own chains.
"We can keep the flames down, but without reinforcements there's little hope of freeing everyone," she responded, glancing to the griffin-filled cage.
"Don't worry, help's on its way," I assured her, and for once, it seemed my reputation was good for something.
She nodded and began to coordinate what was left of her soldiers, while I looked to the upper level, seeing Tarwin taking shots at any orkin that got too close.
Okay, they can keep the fire under control, now for part three!
That required reinforcements, and for once, it felt like they were taking their time.
Surely, they've not left us or worse still, attacked each other!
I knew Risha would never allow that to happen, though my trust in Soaren and Yorik wasn't so strong. I'd little time to dwell on the idea, when a barbed set of limbs suddenly snatched my paws out from under me. Instinctively, I lashed out at the coiling tendrils with my wings, rolling to the floor as they released me.
I spun around, expecting an angry orkin, only to see the thrashing set of bloated limbs and vine-like tendrils extending from below a bulbous mushroom head. The ghastly beast looked more like a rotten pile of firewood than anything that deserved to be alive. Not only that, but this particular grite was larger than me.
Yeah, I’m really starting to hate these things! As if sensing my disgust, the creature's severed tendrils unexpectedly regenerated. Really!?
The grite charged with a gargled shriek, wrapping its thorny tendrils around my legs and pulling me on to its bulk before I could get off the ground.
Upon landing, I discovered a layer of horrible orange slime covering the smooth surface of the bulb. I struggled not to let any get in my eyes or mouth as it pulled me back toward its mouth. One of my blades sparked to life as I moved, melting a deep line through what could only have been its face, before cutting its limbs once more.
It recoiled, severed stumps wriggling like giant worms. Shaking them off, I turned on the creature and opened my muzzle.
I've really had enough of overgrown fungus for one day! Before I could blast it into ashes, the beast lurched forward as a great branch of twisted wood burst up through its body.
"Having trouble?" Boltock announced, retracting the wooden spear with a casual flick of his forepaw, as Risha appeared beside him.
"You really do know how to get everyone's attention," she remarked as she peered out over the flaming chaos.
I shook off more of the disgusting orange slime while the rest of my companions charged in across the room, their weapons brought to bear on the confused orkin and remaining grites. Soaren headed for the other dragons, before assisting another air elemental in freeing the griffins, while others blasted their fire with deadly accuracy. Apollo and Neera darted through the air above the flames, picking off others with shards of bone or blasts of lightning, while Yorik and his companions traded blows with more surprised beast-men.
"And you all really know how to make an entrance. Now come on, we still need to get them out!" I declared as I leapt up toward the last occupied cage.
Regardless of my audible voice, the frightened humans still shied away at my approach.
"I'll have to melt the locks," I stated, knowing I couldn't just drop the cage into the fire.
Before I could consider how to get them all out safely, a loud, grisly voice interrupted me.
"Wells, wells, wells, more wyrms for me's collection." I glanced over to see an orkin at the end of a looming balcony.
A tatty black robe covered his hide, while a hood covered his horned head. His left arm was merged with a large chain whip, coiling about his spiny back and right limb, moulding into a formidable set of torturous utensils.
"You focus on helping them," I commanded, nodding at the humans before dropping down to confront the new foe.
"No, let us help you!" Risha called out, her eyes darting between the slave master and the prisoners.
"No, save them first!" I insisted.
"Why won't you just let us help you?" she challenged, her eyes narrowing.
"Look out!" Boltock suddenly shouted.
The orkin hadn't simply waited for our argument to conclude, and I glanced back just in time to see the flash of his whip. I darted aside clumsily as the chain struck the wet mud with a splat.
"Nots very impressive, demon, where's is the scourge of Taldran I's been tolds of?" he mocked, swinging for me once again.
This time, it was my turn to knock him aside as I shot to my paws and forced him back.
"Get the cages!" I shouted, slashing my attacker’s knees with my wings.
The corrupted stone glowed white-hot, but didn't yield as his whip struck my side. My armour absorbed most of the impact, enough for me to ram my horns into his legs. The force knocked the brute into the mud, weaponised limbs flailing frantically as I jumped on top of him, coiling back ready to blast fire. He locked eyes with me before cutting off my attack with a well-placed kick to the chest.
"I's don't goes down to wyrms so easy," he taunted as he stood up.
"Well, I'm no ordinary wyrm!" I growled, lunging at him as I recovered.
Clearly anticipating my response, he shifted his whip with alarming skill. With one flick of his hand, the chain wrapped around my front, halting my momentum, before coiling tightly around my neck. I landed beside him, choking on the constricting metal while he laughed. Unfortunately for him, a blast of blue fire abruptly interrupted his moment of success.
"By the skies, what did I tell you!?" Risha shouted, as she jumped between us.
What kind of dark magic is this? I thought as the pressure around my neck eased and the chain relaxed.
Although the orkin’s hide burned, it wasn't enough to make the metal coils any easier to escape. It was as if it was alive, constantly seeking to tighten and tangle. Risha had no such limitations as she coiled back and blasted the stone fiend with another burst of flame.
"Enough, you's stupid wyrm!" the slave master shouted, angrily swiping at her with a flaming claw.
She darted aside when more chains lashed out from his spines, constricting her forelegs and tail. She struggled, but before she could
break free, he dragged her off her paws.
"This is why I should be the one dealing with things!" I hissed as I tried to get into a position to melt the writhing metal.
"Yeah, and you've clearly done a magnificent job – first you leave us all, now this!" she scorned, and I had to admit, the accusation stung.
"Quiet, wyrms! Now where's..."
A high-pitched call cut the slave master's words short when a large mass of snowy white feathers and formidable talons pinned him to the floor.
"Not so tough without your little toys, are you?" the griffin hissed furiously, strong talons cracking his rocky hide like cooked shellfish.
The squirming orkin tried to force his enchanted weapon around her, as he had with Risha and I, but it was only long enough to keep the pair of us tangled up.
"Ice Feather, stop toying with him," another feminine voice demanded when a second griffin slammed down onto two smaller orkin.
The second griffin's hide and feathers were the standard beige colour of most of her kind. While the former griffin, now identified as Ice Feather, screeched and snapped her prey's neck.
The moment life left its master, the bewitched chain relaxed.
Guess I'm lucky they didn't have sorcery like this in Valcador. I thought, as after a few moments of awkward wriggling, Risha and I managed to stand.
Meanwhile, the bay-coloured griffin shook the orkin blood from her talons, looking at us with a hint of satisfaction, before cocking her head and focusing her sharp eyes.
"Wait... are you?" she asked.
This again? I sighed and lowered my head.
"Yes," was all I muttered, and I saw her satisfied look turn to shock.
Evidently, seeing her supposed saviour beaten by a chain wasn't what she'd expected, enchanted or not. Even so, I noticed Risha was just as unsettled by her look.
Meanwhile, a mass of tightly clustered rocks formed into an arm wrapped around the last cage, slowly easing it to the ground, as Boltock descended.
"Good work," I offered as the green dragon grinned triumphantly.
"You did say the cages were priority one, right?" he asked, as his sister gave a disapproving grunt.
"Maybe he should consider self-preservation among his priorities," she grumbled.
I stiffened; I could see there was still a swell of sadness driving her frustration.
She has to see I only do things this way to keep her out of harm's way, she can't heal like I can, I can't let her get hurt!
"So you're the one?" another voice asked before I could offer Risha a response. I glanced up to see Ice Feather peering down at me.
"That's one of the things they like to call me, yeah," I answered, shifting uneasily.
"And who might they be?" added another voice.
I glanced over to see the red-scaled fire dragoness I'd commanded earlier approaching with two more dragons at her side.
Behind them, the flames were steadily dying. The last of the orkin overwhelmed, and what was left of the insufferable fungus nothing more than ash.
"All of you, and pretty much everyone else I've met in the past few seasons," I answered.
Motioning over them all with a forepaw, my eyes finally fell on the cage containing the humans as Yorik and his men pried it open.
They're all here because of me, no three races have worked together like this in an age. I knew the griffin and dragon relationship was strenuous at best, as for the humans...
The eyes of everyone with wings followed my gaze, and their expressions simultaneously converged into one of abhorrence.
"Savages, it surprises me that these ones weren't helping the orkin," the bay-coloured griffin announced.
Ice Feather appeared ready to add her own bitter observations, but I raised a wing to calm their collective anger, and thankfully that was enough.
Good to see my reputation has its uses, no matter how much I hate it.
Like Tarwin had said, there were at least a dozen imprisoned humans, many of them young and utterly terrified. Many of their surprised faces looked at me, and there was no doubt they'd also heard my voice.
Even that scares them half to death? How am I ever supposed to make this work?
"Is the area secure?" Soaren asked as he approached.
Neera walked proudly beside him, her feathered body blissfully free of harm. Even so, the faldron was met with only a little less resentment than the humans, as Soaren swiftly commanded everyone's attention.
"Thanks to you, we’re secure here. I didn't think anyone would be coming after us," the lead dragoness replied.
"Well, you can thank the Guardian's unwillingness to leave anyone who isn't an orkin behind," Soaren replied, glancing at me before continuing. "Is this all that remains of the wing stationed at Talon's Rest?"
Her head sank slightly at his question, and she glanced over the six remaining dragons.
"It’s what’s left of the whole population, unfortunately. They came on manticores on a late-night raid. There was little we could do," she admitted.
I saw a hint of defeat in Soaren's expression – no matter how much pride the dragon had; he could still fail.
That's something I know too well. I was reminded.
"Very well, we were to stop at Talon's Rest on our trip back to the overlook, but now it seems we have no choice but to head straight there," Soaren explained.
"My wing and I will be happy to accompany you, there's little left for any of our kind out here," the dragoness offered and Soaren nodded, giving a wing salute.
"Very well..." he began, before pausing.
"Talvana, my name's Talvana," she announced.
I could see the bored look in Neera's eyes while she stood quietly at his side, both she and I seeming to think there were more important things to focus on.
Therefore, I glanced about, finding Tarwin, coming upon her climbing down a thick set of roots to join the others.
"This is going to take a lot of getting used to," she proposed, clearing the sweat from her brow and securing her weapons as she warily observed the congregation of dragons and griffins.
"Now you know how I felt when I found out about all this the first time," I added.
"Indeed, despite all of the legends regarding this world, it is populated by numerous threats. Regardless, I believe your plan was a complete success," Apollo interrupted as he appeared beside us.
Perplexed sets of eyes focused on the shimmering hawk, but in a situation where humans, faldrons and talking dragons were all present, it really didn't seem to matter.
"So, you really are a leatherwing and not a griffin," Ice Feather announced, and I found myself confronted with the frosty-coloured griffin once more.
Tarwin stared, meanwhile Soaren gave a subtle snort somewhere behind us.
"Is that a problem?" he asked.
The griffin snorted back.
"No, it’s not; I just didn’t expect a dragon to save our tails in these parts. I'm Ice Feather, this is Meadow Hide, and it seems we are indebted to you," she formally introduced herself, while motioning to her bay-coloured friend.
"What are they saying?" Tarwin whispered to me.
"I suppose you could say they're introducing themselves... Which I suppose means the old alliance still stands for something," I added while she looked at me as if that explanation had gone right over her head.
"Old alliance?" she questioned sceptically.
I shook my head and quickly covered my muzzle with my wing.
"I’ll explain later."
"In that case, I guess you'll be coming back to the overlook with us too?" Soaren asked the griffins.
Before the featherwings could respond, a sudden roar, splintering wood and rattling chains burst through the tangled thicket above as a manticore rider landed on top of the humans’ cage. Men, women and children scattered as it buckled, several of them falling over as the beast lashed out with its venomous tail. As it did, another manticore-mounted raider jumped down from the new hole in the ceilin
g, slashing at Soaren and the griffins.
The air dragon's wings flared, forcing Tarwin and me back as the brute atop the mangy beast smacked him in the face with a hammer blow, preventing a fiery retort. Without a second thought, I darted away. Neera seemed to have the same idea as she leapt up onto a cage, sending a flurry of bone projectiles into a third rider’s neck as he stalked amidst the tangled branches above.
The sharp bone struck rotten wood as the beast jumped back, its orkin rider more intent on drawing a bow from his back, to fire down into the chaos.
No, everything's falling apart! Without thought I charged forward and blasted a jet of white flame over the orkin confronting Soaren.
The beast howled, rearing back as the griffins and Talvana dispatched it. I saw Risha and Boltock tackle the rider, while, Tarwin backed up next to me. Aiming her arrow at the manticore on top of the cage she let it fly into the barbed tail, giving Yorik a chance to slice the poisonous bulb off.
The winged feline reeled back in pain, and at the sight of the enraged beast, I charged over as Tarwin fired again, the second arrow finding its mark in the manticore's shoulder. Jumping up, I tackled the rider from his saddle and into the midst of the humans below. The crowd parted like braking waves as the stone brute rolled to a stop and readied an arrow.
I coiled back, but before I could blast him, he released the poisoned projectile. I instinctively leapt aside, dodging the black shaft, only for it to strike home in Yorik's right thigh. I glanced back, filled with cold dread as the man gasped in pain and fell to the dirt.
No, no one else is going to die, not while I'm here!
Without hesitation, I jumped at the orkin, while behind me, another arrow struck the manticore’s head bringing its flailing to an end. With her opponent vanquished, Tarwin ran to her fallen companion, while the orkin’s stone fist grabbed my shoulder.
"Go, warn’s the masters, warn’s the masters!" my opponent called, and with shards of ice and bony feathers glancing at his mount's barbed tail, the third rider took flight.
Sweeping around, I knocked my opponent’s twisted feet out from under him, took in a deep breath, and opened my muzzle.
