The Fire Within

by Nicholas Clausen

The gates behind them were opening up and allowing a second group to pass through.

  “Run!” Buren shouted. He did not see what was coming, but he could hear them. The sound of horses galloping. Arrows flew by and dug into the ground around him as archers came to their posts along the wall.

  Now that the dragons were fully engaged in their fight above, the Metallic Nation was finally able to unleash their might. The archers sent arrows at the fleeing troops, hitting dozens in their back as they fled.

  Buren continued to run and dodge arrows as they tried to get back to where they had started. He saw a green dragon and rows of archers marching to meet them, and he hoped they would make it in time.

  ~

  “Archers,” Kirin said, with her own bow in her hands. “March.” The archers obeyed her command and began marching in unison. Kirin and Nignra led the advance with their heads held high. They had watched their infantry turn and run after failing to fight off the Metallic Nation, and now they were about to be overrun.

  It was up to them to try and save them, to fight off the enemy or at least stall them long enough for their infantry to escape. The enemies’ archers were far out of range, so they had no fear of being struck by an arrow as they marched.

  They watched with sadness as many of their people were shot in the back as they ran.

  “Prepare to fire,” Kirin shouted, but they continued to march as they notched arrows.

  The archers placed their arrows against their bows and pulled them back. Kirin waited until she was sure that all of their ground troops were out of the way of their bolts before giving the command to fire.

  “Fire!” Kirin shouted. Nignra roared, and as one they let loose their arrows. Before the arrows had hit the target, Kirin had the arches notching their second shots. All the while, they were still marching forward.

  The arrows slammed into the soldiers and dropped a few of them. It wasn’t enough to make a big difference, but it was more than Buren had done.

  The advancing cavalry wasn’t in full gallop yet, but it wouldn’t be long until they were. Kirin still couldn’t see them, but she had heard the sound of their hoof steps change. From the sound of horses riding on metal to the dull thud of them riding on the soft ground.

  “Again,” Kirin shouted as the second volley flew. The arrows did less damage the second time, but now it was time for them to focus on the cavalry. She had hoped the infantry would stay and fight with them, but once they had started running, there was no turning them back.

  “Again!” Kirin shouted. The horses had advanced around the troops and within sight of Kirin’s archers. This time the arrows went soaring into the horses running at them. Even with their armor, they were not able to block all the bolts, and dozens fell in heaps, tossing up dirt and knocking over horses behind them.

  Kirin saw that it was doing more damage, but it wasn’t enough, the horses would be upon them soon.

  ~

  “Was this part of your father’s plan?” The Bone Thief shouted from the back of the shadow cat.

  Gerian held onto the reins with one hand and lifted her ax in the other. They raced in behind the green dragon and all the stick throwers.

  “If we die, I’ll ask him.” She shouted. The moment the infantry had broken and fled, Gerian had felt a knot form in her stomach. A knot tied with fear and defeat.

  She didn’t want to march on the Metallic Nation’s infantry because she was afraid to be caught by their archers or their cavalry. The moment they had turned and ran, and the gate had begun to open, the archers taking their posts, she knew she had made the right decision.

  Now the Metallic Nation were sending out their cavalry to squash the fleeing troops and run through the archers. It was a good plan and one that would have worked.

  It would have worked if Gerian wasn’t there. While the two groups of mounted warriors were similar in size, Gerian had Utahnen, which was something the Metallic Nation’s horses could not fight head-on.

  “I hope you know what you are doing.” The Bone Thief shouted, but Gerian was pulling ahead with the other Utahnen riders.

  “I hope you can keep up.” She shouted back, pushing further ahead. They tried to stay right behind the green dragon, hoping that they would be able to surprise the oncoming attack. An elf riding a giant horned horse had given Gerian the idea, and it seemed like a good time to try it out now.

  The pushed their mounts as fast as they were willing to go. Shadow cats, horses with and without horns all followed the Utahnen as the archers fired their pointed sticks, one after the other at the soldiers and now at the horses. Gerian led her attack to the side and turned to make sure that everyone was following her.

  They came ripping past the archers, and Gerian waved her ax at the elf sitting on the green dragon. She didn’t know who she was, but she looked important. She nodded and fired an arrow at the horses in front of them.

  Gerian was a little shocked to see that the cavalry racing to meet them did not slow at their sudden appearance. It meant that they were brave and ready to fight whatever stood in their way. Which was good.

  So was she. Gerian pointed her ax at them and shouted.

  The two groups ate the distance between them like starving beggars before a feast. The Utahnen were eager to join in the fight and needed no pushing from their riders.

  A roar above them pulled their attention away from each other as two dragons fell out of the sky, locked on to each other. The copper dragon bit and clawed at the blue dragon until it let go and turned to stone, crashing in between the two advancing groups.

  Dirt and grass went everywhere as the stone dragon slammed into the ground, exploding with thunder. Gerian pulled in the reins to guide her Utahnen around the giant remains. As they made the turn, their riders had to lean with their mounts, and Gerian feared they would flip over before they made it out of the turn. It was an unnecessary fear as they straightened up, riding beneath a giant stone wing that now made an archway above them. They closed the last distance between them and slammed into the armored horses at full force.

  The sound of the two groups hitting each other matched that of the dragon hitting the ground. Gerian let go of her reins, her Utahnen knew what to do next, she swung her heavy ax with both hands, knocking the first rider clean off his horse and sending him flying into the horses behind him.

  ~

  We are winning. Hayden said in a sudden spark of joy as he looked around and saw the number of enemy dragons dwindling. What had started off as them slightly outnumbering the Metallic Dragons had turned into them outnumbering them four to one. More dragons were flying around looking for someone to fight, then there were dragons fighting.

  We are. Draek took his time replying to Hayden because he wanted to be sure.

  Hayden looked around and watched as several of their dragons fell in line with Draek, and soon there was a large group of dragons of every race flying with them. Hayden thought there might have been twenty or thirty dragons on either side of them.

  We need to get down there and help the ground troops. Hayden said. He couldn’t believe that the fight was finally coming to an end. He didn’t know where Elizabeth was hiding, and he knew that they would have to search Celestial City for her, but it was finally coming to an end.

  The storm. Draek said cautiously. Hayden saw that the dark clouds and crept over them and had now blocked out the blue sky, but flashes of light and the sheets of rain were just about upon them.

  Hayden was about to say how glad he was that the fighting was almost over because he did not want to fight in the storm. He was going to tell Draek that when he noticed that far beneath them, around the Metallic Pyramid, he saw movement.

  Now that the sky was nearly clear of enemy dragons, he could stop and look at the pyramid, and that’s when he noticed something was wrong.

  Less than half of the large doors on the pyramid were open.

  That doesn’t make sense, though. Hayden thought. There were so many dragons that we fou
ght. Did they close the doors behind them? He was trying to make sense of what he was seeing when a copper flew at Draek.

  A green dragon leapt in front of Draek and quickly dispatched the copper, that was smaller than even the green dragon.

  Have you noticed how small the copper dragons are? Draek asked. And unorganized they were?

  What are you saying Draek? Hayden asked. The remaining doors to the Metallic Pyramid opened up, and dragons began pouring out of them. Each of the rooms had at least two dragons housed in them.

  Hayden saw several giant silver dragons coming out of the pyramid as well, which was something he hadn’t noticed before.

  There were many silver dragons before. Hayden said.

  Hayden. Draek said as a silver dragon came flying straight to them. It’s Kurok and Giles. Draek roared and began a dive to meet the pair in the air. Hayden couldn’t see any gold dragons, so he assumed Elizabeth was still hiding in the city.

  As they fell upon Giles and his silver dragon, Hayden realized that whatever they had fought in the beginning was just a small portion of the Metallic Nation’s dragons. Hayden wasn’t sure how they had done it, but somehow, they had over doubled their numbers.

  Those monsters! Draek roared. They were hatchlings! Draek quickly became infuriated.

  Draek, what's going on? Hayden held on as Draek pushed his wings to dive faster.

  They hatched them to fight us! Draek said. Hayden figured that Kurok was gloating or bragging about something to Draek to make him mad and it was working.

  Who? Hayden still didn’t understand what Draek was saying.

  All the copper dragons, they were small because they were young. Elizabeth hatched them just to fight us and tire us out before sending her real dragons. Draek said. Hayden understood what was going on now, but Draek’s anger led him to believe that there was something more.

  Draek, this is war. Hayden tried to explain. He understood that it was horrible what had been done, but they had fought them. The last copper dragon had attacked Draek, at least tried to.

  No, all the copper dragons Hayden. Draek’s anger was making it to where his words were becoming tied up, and he wasn’t making sense.

  What are you talking about? Hayden asked. They were about to hit Giles and Kurok, but Hayden wanted to understand what was happening.

  They hatched all the eggs. They hatched every one of them, and we killed them. Draek was smoking as he opened his wings and slammed into Kurok.

  Hayden slammed forward as the impact stunned him, but not as much as the fact that Elizabeth had just hatched every dragon egg in Celestial City just to sentence them to death.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  We need to move now! Hayden shouted. All he could do now was hold on as Draek fought with all of his might. Hayden felt the muscles ripple and tense as Draek attacked without thought. He wanted to hurt Kurok, and he wanted to hurt Giles.

  Hayden got bashed from side to side, hitting his face on Draek’s back and reigniting the pain in his face. He did everything he could to not get beat up by Draek, but it wasn’t working.

  Anger and rage were the only thoughts passing through their link, and Hayden desperately tried to pull Draek back. Draek wasn’t thinking in words anymore, just feelings and roars.

  Hayden felt the wind ripping through his armor, making it hard to catch his breath when he saw the first few drops of rain shatter and bounce off of Draek’s scales. It was just one or two at first, but it quickly turned into sheets of rain.

  The falling water drenched Celestial City and began putting out the fires, sending more smoke into the air. The rain wasn’t going to quench the fires that were burning inside Draek however, no matter how hard they tried.

  Draek forced his way past a copper dragon and grabbed onto Kurok. He pulled his wings in, pulling Kurok into a plummeting spiral.

  Hayden had to close his eyes as they spun, but he was able to make out the short flashes of Metallic Dragons flying into the sky to meet his already tired dragons. He could feel himself being pulled out of the saddle by the force of Draek’s spin.

  The dragons that were pouring out of the pyramid were bigger, seasoned, and fighting dragons. They had saved their energy as Elizabeth had sent out wave after wave of young dragons that hadn’t even been hatched a year to die and tire Hayden’s dragons out.

  The two tumbling dragons continued to fall out of the sky and slammed into a copper that had gotten underneath them, trying to grab on to the pair to help Kurok. They were going too fast and threw the newcomer into the city below them, the dragon smashed upon the buildings in the housing district.

  Draek, let go! Hayden had no way of knowing if Draek could hear him, or if he could understand. That didn’t stop him from trying as they continued to fall to the smoldering city of metal beneath them. Hayden didn’t feel the rain anymore and figured they were falling to fast.

  Draek slowed his spin enough that Hayden was no longer dizzy and with a mighty kick to the silver dragon’s stomach, he threw Kurok off of him. The silver dragon flailed and flapped but was able to fly away before crashing into the buildings. Draek roared and chased after Kurok while the other silver seemed content to stay just out of his reach.

  The rain was now starting to pound them with thick, fat drops that stung. It felt like the sky was trying to force the dragons to land and stop burning the world, but that was not going to happen, not yet.

  Each of Draek’s mighty wing beats sent explosions of water everywhere as Kurok tried to climb higher into the sky, back to where all the dragons were fighting. Kurok was fast, but he was still smaller and slower than Draek.

  Draek we need to get back to the plan! Hayden knew that Draek was mad, he was angry himself, but this was a war, and it was bigger than them. They needed to get the Bone Thieves and dwarves on the city walls, and they needed to open the gates.

  Hayden dared a quick glance down to the field that had become a muddy fighting pit. The Metallic Nation was still pouring out of Celestial City, but they weren’t coming out fast enough. Hayden could see Kirin down on the ground and saw that between them and their cavalry, they had things under control. For the moment.

  It did not matter if Kirin and the ground troops won though if they couldn’t get into the city. Their war machines had been next to useless against the gates, and the only way for them to get in would be to open them from the inside.

  Draek! Hayden shouted again. Still, his dragon ignored him and nothing but anger and rage came through their connection.

  Kurok suddenly pulled in his wings and dove back to the city, right at the Metallic Pyramid. Draek followed close behind him and was quickly gaining on them. The rain falling on Kurok made him glow in the darkening sky.

  Dragons shot past them on all sides, some tried to blow fire at them, but they were moving so fast that they simply passed through the flames unaffected. None dared get in their way though. The Metallic Pyramid seemed to be running out of dragons as they neared the metal structure, it seemed all their dragons had finally gotten into the sky.

  Kurok slowed and did a sharp turn around the top of the pyramid. Hayden saw Giles jump of his back and land on the side of the pyramid. He slipped, and Hayden found himself hoping that he would fall to his death and save them the trouble of a battle, but it was not so.

  Instead, he grabbed onto a ledge and began climbing up the pyramid. Draek followed Kurok in the turn, and Hayden tried to reach his dragon again.

  Draek, Giles is right there, go after him! Hayden knew that Draek could easily kill Giles and the chase would be over. Once again nothing but rage came through, and Hayden understood that nothing mattered more to Draek then Kurok.

  Draek had fought some of the young coppers and killed them himself. He didn’t blame himself for it, he blamed Kurok.

  He wanted to be the one to kill Kurok, and he wanted to do it as a dragon, not by killing his rider.

  As Draek pulled out of the turn and was about to start trying to pick up speed, Hayde
n undid his straps and, with a quick glance over the side of Draek, he jumped onto the platform at the top of the Metallic Pyramid. The rain seemed to right itself and was once again falling by the buckets from the sky.

  Draek had made the turn near the platform, so it wasn’t a far drop, but he was still going fast enough that he slipped and rolled off the edge of the platform.

  Hayden tried to dig his dragonaughts into the metal, but all he succeeded in doing was sending out sparks and slightly slowing down.

  His legs went over the edge first, and he twisted so that he was on his stomach, desperately clawing at the smooth surface. He finally stopped with only his arms holding on to the platform.

  With a grunt and his heart bouncing off the inside of his armor, Hayden slowly pulled himself onto the platform, slipping along the way.

  It took everything Hayden had to get back on his feet. When he did, he suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion pass over him, but it was short-lived.

  He looked up and saw Draek still chasing Kurok in the rain. It was getting darker, and soon they were lost in the mix of the other dragons and clouds.

  “Elizabeth has ordered your death,” Giles said. Hayden spun in the rain and faced the silver rider that he had spent his first year of training with.

  “She has finally realized that I won’t surrender,” Hayden said.

  “She has finally realized you aren’t worth it.” Giles corrected.

  “Well, I guess I will have to prove her wrong.” Hayden almost laughed. Giles only shrugged and pulled out his silver sword.

  Hayden reached behind him and grabbed for his own blade, but his hand met nothing but air.

  “Lost your sword, again?” Giles smiled.

  Hayden felt a small prick of fear and tried to ignore it, but a little fear was enough to get in his head.

  His hand reached up for the dagger and stopped as he remembered the dragonauts on his hands.

  “What, no dagger? Are you really going to surrender to me just because you lost your sword?” Giles asked as he started stepping forward, rain bouncing off of him and pooling up on the platform.