Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (21 page)

The Draconia city constables and the Draco Guards rushed to regain control of the defiant protestors and also brought in two older land dragons and a spiked drake to corral them in with their sheer size. This also kept the metallic dragons safe from any false claims of injury if they would have to protect themselves or their riders. A Nature Purist screamed at the land dragon crew, “Death to those impure creatures! They all should be put to the spear!”

The annoyed retired soldier, now constable, tossed a short spear to the protestor and said, “If you want it done, then do it yourself, fool!” The confused, scraggly looking young man dropped the spear as the old land dragon looked down at him with a hiss; smoke started to pour from his mouth slowly. “Coward!” the crewman again shouted as his dragon billowed out a hot cloud of heated smoke, which caused that part of the crowd to quickly back away from the metallics.

At the other half of the unruly crowd, a somewhat brave Enlightened protestor spit at and then struck a Draco Guard in the face. Immediately, that guard and two other guards grabbed the attacker and threw him away from the crowd. He landed hard and tumbled on the ground. He was then hit multiple times by their shock rods, which were small, three to-four-foot-or-so-long rods with a small, modified lighting crystal that could deliver a bone-shattering, but nonlethal jolt to the recipient. These were the constables’ chief weapon when they didn’t want to harm an assailant. The protestor writhed on the ground as he was bound, gagged, and hauled off to serve a hard sentence for striking an Alliance constable and veteran. He would likely face five to ten years on the prison island, even with the best Enlightened arbitrator defending him in front of the Draconian magistrate, for weir law took precedence now that he assaulted a veteran and weir member.

Another Enlightened protestor came to within shouting distance of the three metallic dragons and shouted, “Vile dragons, killing for gemstones and tyranny!”

Gallanth could not resist but to answer. “The chromatics, Morgathians, and Shidanese deliberately murder women, children, and civilians for cause and effect as well as just for pure terror. Any that are slain by the Alliance are by accident or unintentional collateral damage and are given compensation. It is all about intent, much like your intent to incite violence here today for your twisted sense of peace that is actually capitulation and enslavement. But now you are choosing to relieve yourself,” Gallanth finished as his eyes flashed and moved his head toward the protestor. The fear a dragon could instill in any man, especially those without courage, could be a powerful weapon in its own right. This caused him to immediately urinate and defecate on himself. In the split seconds that it took the shabbily dressed young man to come back to his senses, he realized that somehow he had soiled himself, and he quickly started to run back toward the amphitheater seating and the washrooms. This caused Mkel temporarily to lose his anger toward the ignorant Enlightened protestors and laugh uncontrollably, as did the other riders present. Even the dragons chortled.

By then, the constables and Draco Guards had formed a tight ring around the mob and began to push them back with the aid of several more on horseback, the two land dragons, and the mithril knight on his spike drake. Everyone seemed to fear the new creature, but the several shock rod strikes helped as well. Just then, a counter protest group of dragon supporters mixed with the very cult like dragon gypsies began to clash with the Enlightened protestors and Nature Purists, and several fights started to break out. At this occurrence, the Enlightened mob leadership broke ranks and began to run to an awaiting carriage just on the far right side of the arena seating. The spiked drake and its rider noticed this and took off after them. The protest leaders reached the carriage and quickly got in, but their horses had bolted at the sight of the elephant-sized beast with its menacing two rows of back and tail horns, making it seem even larger and more ferocious.

Since the young but large lizard wasn’t satisfied with this, he decided to move next to the carriage, lift his left rear leg, and send a stream of hot urine onto and into it. Upon seeing this, the section of the crowd that had witnessed it started to erupt in a thunderous laughter as the two Enlightened protesters stumbled out of the carriage, drenched with drake urine.

“A good aim,” Mkel said to Gallanth in between fits of laughter.

“Yes, very impressive; you’re lucky he doesn’t shoot a crossbow,” Gallanth answered quickly, and Mkel laughed out loud at his dragon’s sense of humor. He looked in the direction of the drake and paused. The orange-brown-colored creature looked back and began almost to pant, like a happy puppy that had just pleased its master and then walked away back toward the mass melee, which actually stopped fighting in unison when they heard laughter over the shouting. The constables, with the help of the mounted knights, along with their own shock rods took advantage of the pause and managed to move the mob back to the side of the amphitheater.

“I wish it was that easy to stop a Morgathian battle charge,” Mkel said out loud.

“The simplest of actions from the simplest of creatures can have profound effects. That spiked drake diffused a tense situation without bloodshed or injury. This was impressive, even if he did not have that intention for his action, which had an equally profound effect on those POE protest inciters. Good job, my young friend,” Gallanth stated and nodded to the spiked drake, who warbled a kind of thanks, for they did not have the power of speech but were still moderately intelligent.

“Now that we have brushed the rubbish from the field, I declare this day’s games over. Please come back tomorrow, for the open weapons, aerial archery, and the earth-shattering ground thunder game will be played, the Capital Weir against all the other weirs, with the first time inclusion of the land dragons and now the spiked drakes as players. It will be an event not to miss. Please stay for the after-game festivities and thank you. May the Creator bless you and your families,” Canjon finished as he pulled his sword from the podium and sheathed it. He walked over to Mkel and gave him a big hug, as Amerenth bowed to Gallanth, congratulating the gold dragon and rider on their performance in Draconic.

They quickly dispersed and returned to the alcove where Jodem, Toderan, Lawrent, and the remainder of their crew were waiting for them as Gallanth gently back-winged and set down on the landing. As Mkel climbed down off of Gallanth, he was met with congratulatory handshakes and hugs and a tankard of ale was shoved into his hand. Jodem told him how proud he was that he had actually listened to him all these years. Toderan and Lawrent also congratulated him, along with Ordin, Dekeen, and the rest. Annan even called Mkel over his crystal to congratulate him on the match. Mkel was glad to see her and Michen’s image and hear their voices.

The next morning, Gallanth let Mkel sleep in, for the competitions his rider was to take part in were over, except for the final event, the dragon race. The open weapons competitions had begun, as had the aerial archery. The ground thunder game would be starting after lunch. While the weapons matches were basically a brutal competition, the weapons were enchanted by the Capital Weir wizards to simulate a strike. In this, the opponent being hit felt the pain as if it was a real wound, but the blade or club barely touched his or her body. The aerial archery was both a flying duel and a ground strike match, with similar rules and restrictions as the open weapons. Those two games were very interesting to the spectators, but everyone was waiting for the ground thunder match. This game was where the dragons ran and slammed into each other in an attempt to get a large spongy ovoid ball made of the sap from the elven mogra tree to one side of the parade field and carry it over a goal line for one point or throw it into an opening in a solid stone archway at either end of the parade field for three points. The throw or kick of the game ball had to be made from outside the marked-off area where only the goal defender could stand, a half-circular area approximately one hundred feet in diameter. The mogra sap was used for many other applications, like on the bottoms of boots, because of its soft but highly wear-resistant properties.

Each team was composed of fifteen dragons—six land, two brass, two copper, two bronze, two silver, and one gold dragon. For this reason, Gallanth had to play since he was the only non-Capital Weir gold dragon. The game always pits the Capital Weir against all the other weirs. The dragons themselves did not care for the match, since it did not promote practice for combat or mentoring, but since its popularity was at an all-time high in the Alliance among teams of men and women from each city in the republic, for promotion of goodwill, they acquiesced.

“Wake, my rider, I don’t want you to miss even the noon meal from your celebrations,” Gallanth told his rider telepathically.

Groggily, Mkel rose, “Yes, my friend, I would not want to miss your silly game.”

“Don’t remind me; I do not look forward to it either, but all for goodwill,” he replied.

“I will get ready quickly,” Mkel said as he got up and went to bathe.

Mkel walked out with his riding gear on and received several jibes from his friends for getting up late, but they understood that the celebrations of the previous evening were well deserved and necessary.

“Going for your front-row seat for the ground thunder game, young dragonrider?” Ordin said to Mkel in his normal gruff but friendly tone.

“Yes, I look so forward to it, as does Gallanth,” he replied sarcastically.

“Well, the people of Draconia and the republic certainly enjoy it, so it does a great deal for weir and dragon relations, my friend,” Jodem explained.

Mkel knew he was right but still did not catch the fever of the game that had enamored so much of the populace of the republic.

“Gallanth, much luck to you!” Lawrent yelled up to the gold dragon.

“Thank you, Raider, but the actual outcome of the game is of little consequence to the dragons, just the goodwill and camaraderie we share with those we serve,” Gallanth stated in a matter-of-fact manner. Mkel then mounted, and he and Gallanth stepped off the ledge and glided down to the front side of the parade field where the other dragons had begun to gather. The weapons competitions had just ended and the aerial archery finalists had landed to the cheers of the crowd. The dragons lined up as the place awards were given for those two competitions to give respect to those who strived for excellence and those who gave their best.

Mkel and the other riders then walked over to the front row of seating reserved for them beside the premier’s cordoned-off section. Canjon then began to announce the beginning of the ground thunder game, “Citizens and Peoples of the Republic, I am honored to announce the start of the much-awaited ground thunder game of our friends and protector dragons of the Alliance. We all like to watch the hand-and-foot or thunderball league games our cities’ teams play both in the stadiums across our great republic and on the communal seeing crystals. But here for you now, the one time a year that this popular game is played with the ground-shaking thunderous tremors of the largest and most powerful dragons in the world, I present to you, the ground thunder game!” he shouted as the applause rose to new heights.

The dragons began to line up on opposite sides of the parade field, and a thunder giant moved from the weir’s northern entrance to referee the match. The twenty-five-foot-tall pale, green-blue-skinned giant strode in, his off-white, opal-colored tunic flowing in the slight breeze accentuating his thin but muscular build. Even though they looked less powerful than the mountain giants, they were considerably stronger, both physically and in their ability to generate magic. This was not King Golefad, but one of his relatives; a noble of some sort, Mkel believed his name was Rathorn. This event needed an impartial creature big enough, fast enough, and nimble enough to officiate a game of this magnitude. He was carrying the large spherical ball under his left arm. It was an oversized version of what the human athletes carried for their thunder ball game—over eight feet in length and weighing several hundred pounds. It was made of solid mogra material.

“Citizens and Civilians of the Alliance, we are to begin the game after the die are cast to see who has possession of the ball first,” Canjon announced. The dragons then began to line up on opposite sides of the giant as the crowd’s applause went on for several seconds. Gallanth let the large but graceful female silver dragon from Ice Bay Weir, Shenenth, be the team captain along with her mate Tyrenth. They both flanked her as the trio positioned themselves behind the line of land dragons at the center, two spiked drakes, and the copper and brass dragons on either flank. The Capital Weir lineup was similar in fashion but with no spiked drakes, fielding land dragons instead. Eagrenth was the gold dragon picked to be their team leader.

The thunder giant motioned for the captains to approach him. He looked at both and took a small bag from his waist. He then shook it thoroughly and asked the two dragon team captains to reach in and grab a stone. Eagrenth deferred to the lady silver dragon from Ice Bay, who flicked her tongue into the bag and quickly retrieved a melon-sized stone. She was immediately followed by the Capital Wing gold dragon. They then simultaneously protruded their tongues to show that Eagrenth had the white stone and the silver dragon had the black stone. This meant the Capital Weir would possess the ball first. Many giants used these “stones of destiny,” a fifty-fifty chance game that they employed. Many of the evil races of giants taunted their captives with death if they picked the wrong stone, for this was what they considered fun, especially the ice, fire, and evil mountain giants. The common giants were usually too stupid to contemplate toying with their victims.

Canjon announced that this would be a best of a six-point game, as the gold capital dragon picked up the odd-shaped ball with his massive jaws and formed the line of dragons in front of him. The thunder giant then sent a lightning bolt into the sky to signal the game was to begin. Immediately, the dragons on the line crashed into each other in an attempt to either force Eagrenth to the ground or to prevent that from happening and move the ball to the other side of the parade field to score. Eagrenth moved to the far side of the field. The closest land dragon and spike drake had broken free and intercepted him. While extremely powerful and fast flyers, gold dragons were only average in regard to land speed. One drake jumped and latched onto Eagrenth’s front left leg while the land dragon plowed into his side. This was enough to slow the gold dragon down to allow the copper dragon from Talinor Weir to knock him off his feet. As he was going down, he threw the ball to a waiting bronze dragon from the Capital Weir, who ran it a hundred yards before being tackled by a weir copper and bronze.