Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (6 page)

The latoucs were used as mounts by shorter men and halflings at some of the coastal weirs and would always go out of their way to destroy evil with a ferocity and a fearlessness that rivaled that of the bronze dragons they drew blood kin with. They worked hand and hand with their riders and the metallic dragons, especially bronze and silvers. They, with their enlarged fangs, struck with a speed that was almost blinding and delivered a poison that could fell creatures much larger than themselves. A latouc could constrict huge creatures with a crushing squeeze like a python’s. They also had the ability to detect evil and had a high resistance to magic, being able to produce a shield that was about half that of an average dragonstone weapon. They were noted for their speed underwater and were fairly fast in the air for short flights. Their main weapon was a lightning bolt similar to a bronze dragon’s, but it had less than a third of their power.

Ice Bay also had a medium-sized cavalry battalion; three varied infantry battalions suited for land operations, seaborne missions, and coastal defense; a catapult battalion; and an aerial battalion, which was a combination of hippogriff and giant osprey. They also fielded a modified sapper battalion that was familiar with maritime missions as well as land combat and a—mounted ranger company; that rounded out the legion. The weir had a standard fleet assigned to its harbor consisting of ten galleys, twenty warships, and over fifteen support ships.

Alliance warships could range from one hundred sixty to over two hundred feet long, with most being closer to two hundred. These were primarily missile engine platforms. They had three masts and could muster two hundred oars if there was no wind. They employed three catapults and eight ballistae, but could only mount smaller rams. They depended on speed and firepower for their punch and survival but could ram if necessary. The naval infantry dedicated to them were used in a dual role to operate the ballista and catapults and some of the oars when necessary and when the fighting went hand to hand, for boarding parties. They were highly effective, for they had nearly the firepower of a galley but greater maneuverability. These ships could cruise at three to four knots with sprints of ten knots or better and up to thirty if the assigned ship’s wizard could master wind spells. Warships could hold two hundred to three hundred tons of cargo with some even having lightly armored hulls.

The galleys were the capital ships of the Alliance Navy and ranged from two hundred to well over three hundred feet long. These mainstays of the Alliance fleet served as both missile platforms and ramming craft and had a contingency of three hundred to six hundred naval infantry for ship-to-ship fighting as well as landing operations on foreign shores and ports. All of the Alliance naval infantry’s thirty-thousand-man fighting forces were based on the galleys and warships. Most galleys were built with three tower castles, each mounting a catapult on top as well as several archers and crossbowmen. They employed eight to sixteen ballistae that fired normal missiles, which did extensive damage to an individual creature or moderate structural damage and could also be tipped with a small canister of dragon’s fire, which would prove deadly to wooden enemy ships or to enemy crews caught in the burst.

The catapults fired similar projectiles as the land-based variants. Each galley was fitted with a ram, which, taking into account the size of the Alliance galleys and the straight-line speed that they could attain, could almost tear a normal ship in two. While not as maneuverable as a warship, they were still just as fast in spite of the fact that some of them actually had copper plates nailed to the sides for added protection. The largest of the galleys could tow a sizeable landing platform for the bronze dragons who accompanied the fleets when they were on large-scale exercises or campaigns to give the Alliance ships more aerial cover and firepower. The galleys had from three hundred and sixty to four hundred and eighty oars and three masts. They could cruise at four knots with light rowing and a maximum ramming speed of twelve knots while being able to attain much greater speeds with wizard help. Their cargo capacity was up to five hundred tons.

The last type of ship was the support ship. These large two- to three-mast vessels ranged from one hundred to three hundred feet in length. They were capable of transporting two hundred to a thousand tons of cargo over the required space for supplies and provisions as well as three hundred to over eight hundred troops. They could employ transported soldiers as oarsmen if there was no wind or use them as a defense. They did not have siege engines and were not utilized in a battle unless it was unavoidable. They supplied the navy with food, water, and ammunition for the ballistae, catapults, archers, and general provisions. They were also used to carry Alliance army legions to reinforce an operation or to transport troops for an invasion. The naval reserve of fifty supply ships could transport up to five legions if necessary. They had good speed and were able to keep up with galleys and warships most of the time. They could also tow a barge for a bronze dragon or a wing of hippogriffs.

Each ship was commanded by a captain with a commodore or junior admiral in charge of a particular fleet. A senior admiral oversaw two or three fleets with the master admiral and his staff located at the capital. An experienced wizard was usually assigned to each fleet for magical firepower and protection.

Ice Bay Weir had a contingent of twenty-five dragons under Vermax’s and Tyrenth’s lead; the complement included Tyrenth’s silver dragon mate as well as seven bronze, eight copper, and eight brass dragons. Both Vermax and his dragon led from the front, always stressing courage in battle and honor in life, almost to a fault. They personally sent many a chromatic to its death during the Great War and were credited with stopping a small Morgathian fleet from slipping past to the High Mountain inlet.

“Tyrenth, give Nemareth and Livoth my congratulations, and we will welcome our latest brother to our fold here at the capital and ensure his skills and powers are honed,” Michenth answered in his powerful tone.

“Yes, Vermax, congratulations, and we also understand your circumstances in the sea lanes. This seems to be a common occurrence in our coastal weirs, but keep us informed of the white dragon activity,” Becknor added. “Ferranor Weir, Scimenth, Hardren, what do you have to report?” he asked.

Hardren was a thin, wiry man with short brown hair. He was of modest height and had sharp, almost elvish features. His serious demeanor was offset by a rare show of humor. He did have a definitive sense of purpose that reflected the basic mood of most bronze dragons. The Ferranor Weirleader was a dedicated but calculating fighter, who wielded a javelin dragonstone weapon, similar to Lupek’s in that it could be thrown like a lightning bolt and struck with incredible power. However, his hit with a sonic burst upon impact and was able to inflict severe damage upon anyone within up to thirty yards of the strike. This weapon was also very effective underwater, especially in conjunction with his mithril-lined buckler for close defense.

“General Becknor, Ferranor has also experienced an increased number of attacks to shipping in our assigned seas, but not to the degree that the other coastal weirs have seen. It must be the pirates’ and saragwins’ fear of the dwarves,” he said with his sharp northwestern accent and a slightly mischievous smile as he nodded to King Drekar. Hardren was a staunch friend of the dwarves even though the Enlightened had somewhat of a strong support base in the Ferranor and Denar regions. This was mostly due to the influence of the Tekend family that resided in the area. While it was known that dwarves did not like the water, King Drekar tried to place dwarf contingents on the merchant ships that were hauling their products and especially those with quality gemstones coming in or out of the dwarf mountain city. This had been effective at surprising many saragwin boarding parties attacking these ships; however, the Tekend-owned merchant ships had refused such aid.

Ferranor itself was located in the heavily mountainous region on the northwest coastal part of the Alliance, which the dwarves had almost hollowed out. This was home to their largest population of several hundred thousand. They originally started in Ferranor Mountain Weir, mining it for its large iron ore deposits, and spread out from there. They had either hollowed out or tunneled into almost the whole northern quarter of the Ferran Mountain chain. The industrious dwarves had even made a large tunnel that connected the southern border of the port city of Ferranor, which the weir overlooked, to the southern tip of Kestal Lake, which lay east of the mountains, and the large expanses of forests that surround it. The tunnel was a wonder of dwarven mining and construction ability. There were even inns and keeps within the tunnel for travelers and the wagon train passengers to rest. Most were run by halflings, whom the dwarves employed; the smaller cousins to the dwarves had dispositions that were more suited to inn keeping than the dwarves with their moody temperamental tendencies.

Ferranor Weir, while slightly smaller than Draden, sat on a jagged rock outcropping on a curved mini peninsula, well positioned to defend the city from a naval attack. The mostly human city of Ferranor surrounded the port and the narrow jagged valley that led to the north shore of Lake Kestal. It mainly supported the fishing industry and the dwarves in importing and exporting goods and products, including metal works, stone items of all kinds, and jewelry of their expert make. This uneasy partnership made Ferranor the center of trade in the extreme northwest of the Alliance.

The legion assigned to Ferranor Weir was slightly smaller than the standard Alliance army legion with only two infantry battalions; a catapult battalion; a cavalry company; a reinforced land dragon platoon; a sapper company; a ranger company mounted on a combination of s, giant eagles, and latoucs; and an aerial company of mounted hippogriffs. Ferranor Weir had a complement of six bronze, seven copper, and seven brass dragons. A dwarf battalion was directly attached to Ferranor and fought directly for the weir. The dwarf city of Minara, located all around the weir and under the adjacent mountains, could muster several legions on a relatively short notice and generally worked with Ferranor Weir. These dwarf legions had formed the center of the combined Alliance Army during the last battle of the Great War decades earlier in Battle Point. While at less strength than they had then, the dwarves could still muster a significant army if the need arose, for every dwarf, no matter the trade he or she engaged in, was trained as a fierce warrior. The elves in the Allghen Forest situated between Ferranor and Ice Bay Weirs and slightly to the south could muster a single legion on a moment’s notice, but with half of them being master archers and with dozens of elvish wizards, that legion was the most feared in the Alliance.

“Otherwise, sir, our next biggest problem is the constant harassment from the Enlightened and their arbitrator friends,” Hardren quipped.

“Our fights at sea have also involved engagements with several kraken and pirates. Even the Shidanese have been employing more apprentice sorcerers and dark-crystal weapons. This development is a growing threat and predicates stronger action on our part, as well as the training of more wizards for the Alliance Navy,” Scimenth added.

“Thank you, Hardren, yours and Scimenth’s efforts and dependability are a credit to your weir. We know that you all will stem the tide of the threat at sea and the threat at home from the Enlightened. Denar Weir, Tridenth, Bristurm, please state your concerns,” Becknor stated in a slightly heavy tone, for he knew what was to follow.

“General Becknor, Michenth, my fellow dragonriders, noble dragons, and friends, like always, we shadow Ferranor’s concerns and issues. We at Denar Weir have pursued the saragwin and the pirates out to the deep seas when they attacked our shipping. The dwarves and the sea elves have also been a tremendous aid in this. We strive to help them bring the fight to the enemy, sending those devils back to the abyss of the deep,” Bristurm stated in his usual brisk but reverent manner.

Bristurm was a strong, dedicated, and resolute fighter and proficient monk. He was heavily muscled and physically powerful as well as an extremely strong-willed and intense man. His sharp features indicated that he had some elvish blood in his ancestry, but he had the intensity and drive of personality to match a dwarf. This was not surprising, for it was the dwarves who actually raised him, since his mother was killed by Morgathian raiders when he was seven. His father was Tridenth’s rider for many years until he was killed in a fight with the chromatics during the Great War.

Bristurm spoke fluent dwarf and was the first dragonrider to coax them into venturing onto ships to provide protection when the Alliance Navy was unavailable. He wielded two weapons of power. His dragonstone axe was a weapon created with the help of his dwarf family of the Denar Mountain Province, whom he considered brothers, as did his fierce bronze dragon. The axe had a front main blade that had a unique inward curve. It was similar to Ordin’s thunder hammer in that Bristurm could throw it and control its flight to roughly a hundred yards. It struck with a lightning bolt shock on top of the tremendous slicing capability of the mithril blade and then returned like a boomerang. The shield it generated was of the same power as a holy sword’s. He also had a halberd-type weapon or a mithril-bladed spear/axe that could both stab in a thrust and slice like a long-handled axe. Both his weapons worked underwater as well.

Bristurm was an intense but fiercely loyal dragonrider for the Alliance. He was a warrior through and through; he and his dragon eagerly waited for the word to be unleashed for battle. Mkel considered him a good friend, and they and their dragons’ conversations of politics and military matters would often go on for hours when they were together. Becknor and Therosvet did keep a close eye on him and Tridenth though, for they did have slight tendencies to be overly aggressive at times, and both harbored great anger toward the Morgathians and anything that had any sympathy for them and the chromatics.