Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (67 page)

A general melee then ensued as the two metallic wings were maneuvering as fast and as nimbly as they could to both kill and wound as many chromatics as possible without getting decisively engaged. This was a necessary tactic, as they were outnumbered six to one. However, one large red dragon broke out of the fight and led a squadron of chromatics toward the Capital Weir and Draconia.

Michenth slowly hobbled toward the entrance of the weir and roared a challenge to the attacking red dragon and his squadron. As the arch dragon walked toward the massive opening to the Capital Weir that faced toward Sauric Bay, Hestal stepped in from the side of the huge arch. “Master Wizard, what are you doing here? I thought you were with the Capital Wing on the attack against Shidan?” Michenth asked the weir’s apex wizard in surprise.

“Lord Michenth, we both knew something of this nature was coming; we just didn’t think it would be this soon or of this magnitude. We will now face this determined enemy together, or we will fall as one,” Hestal bravely and eloquently replied.

“Master Wizard, you know that we metallic dragons don’t like the term
lord
to be a reference to ourselves,” Michenth nonchalantly replied with almost a smile on his massive silvery-white snout.

“You all, but especially you, are the embodiment of the Creator’s spirit, in thought, word, deed, and action, so the title more than fits,” Hestal replied, also smiling.

The roar of the chromatics quickly brought them both back to the deadly task at hand. The red dragon leading the reinforced squadron of chromatics spied the injured Michenth at the weir’s entranceway. He then directed the majority of the force he was leading to move to attack the arch dragon, figuring he could succeed where his queen had failed and afterward challenge for Usurper status. Two of his dragons, a black and blue, then broke off to attack Draconia itself.

As the wing of chromatics started their dive attack, Michenth told the Capital Weir’s sentinel to direct its fires at the two attacking the city and then ordered the weir’s soldiers manning the fortress’s ballistae to engage the enemy dragons with everything they had. “Master Hestal, we should teach this errant red dragon the error of his ways; let us cast light into their shadow, and may the Creator give us the strength to prevail,” he finished as he prepared his breath weapon. The large stone sentinel fired two energy beams at the two chromatics heading toward the city; the impact caused them to quickly change direction as now their shields were gone.

Michenth looked up and powered his deadly breath weapon, as Hestal also readied his version of the same type from his wizard’s staff. The arch dragon’s brilliant bluish-white beam of pure energy flashed out and struck the red dragon head-on, shattering its shield and tearing a huge, gaping hole right through the foolish chromatic. Hestal stretched out his staff; the glowing diamond dragonstone fired out his own energy beam that struck the red and finished it off. The effort to unleash his breath weapon for the first time in over thirty years was almost too much for the mithril dragon, and he collapsed. Michenth then raised his head and looked back. He roared to the avenger dragons behind him, “Avengers, it is your time. Live up to your namesake.”

The avenger dragons’ first premier in battle, the lead hybrid dragon Darkenth, turned to his wingmates and roared, “Come, my brothers and sisters, our time is now! Our baptism in battle is here, and we will wreak vengeance upon those who harm the innocent!” The five metallic brown-colored dragons all roared their distinctive fierce battle challenge and streamed over Michenth, flying headlong toward the chromatics. The twelve evil dragons didn’t know what hit them as the avenger dragons tore them apart. Their vengeful battle fury took the chromatics completely by surprise, as well as their strength and purpose in the fight.

Lawrent had his ships at full sail and maximum oar speed as they weaved and turned in a zigzag pattern to avoid the Shidanese ballistae and smaller catapults. The special grease they coated the bottom of their hulls with was highly water resistant and allowed the raider ships to almost glide through the water at greater speed than almost all other vessels. He had ordered his men to ram the first ships in the invasion fleet, and after a brief but bloody hand-to-hand fight, they set the Shidanese warships on fire and then pulled away. Rainebard had informed the two weirs of their approach so they would not get caught in the crossfire, their sea dragon standard flying proudly from their main masts.

The twin weirs waited until the full lead group of the enemy fleet had sailed right in between them in their angry pursuit of the Freiland raiders and then sent off a barrage of large catapult stones and ballistae missiles. The Shidanese ships were pummeled by the long-arm catapults with the one-hundred- to two-hundred-pound smooth stones crashing through the lightly armored vessels. The ships in range of the larger ballistae were hit with pole-sized spears tipped with dragons’ fire warheads and were immediately set ablaze. The Shidanese pirates attempted to return fire but had to get closer to the weirs because of the much shorter range of their shipboard catapults. This then put them under the full batteries of the weirs, which accelerated their losses.

By the time the main portion of the Morgathian fleet had entered the Bay and engaged the weirs, most of the Blood Wolf pirate ships were either sinking or on fire with very little damage to the two coastal fortresses to show for it. The larger Morgathian ships had slightly longer-range catapults, and a full-scale exchange was underway. The Morgathian naval commander split his force into thirds with two groups of ships engaging the twin weirs and the other third making full speed through the melee toward Draconia.

Taking advantage of the chaos and to be more effective against such odds, Lawrent turned his ships around and rammed the first three Morgathian ships to break out of the weir bombardment. The raider captain drew his large, icy blade and leaped onto the enemy vessel from the ramp over his ship’s ram that had smashed into the Morgathian vessel’s side. The dragonstone-empowered sword came down hard on the first Morgathian soldier that challenged him and sliced through the dark chain mail, partially freezing his shoulder. As the Morgathian fell, Lawrent’s men poured onto the enemy ship, and a vicious fight ensued. The raiders were almost berserk in a bloodlust, and soon, the advantage of the number of men the Morgathians had initially enjoyed dwindled.

A sorcerer apprentice emerged from the Morgathian ship’s midsection and fired a magic missile that struck one of the raiders in the shoulder and knocked him to the ground, smoke coming from the hole in his studded leather armor. Rainebard thought of fire, and a small, flaming projectile shot out from his staff and struck the sorcerer’s shield, pushing him back against the cabin wall. The Morgathian magic user then fired a lightning bolt back at Rainebard, which rocked his shield and almost made him buckle, as he was still very inexperienced with his newfound power. Lawrent saw this and fought his way toward the sorcerer as a magic missile streaked over his head and hit the Morgathian’s magic shield, causing it to crack.

In seeing the charging raider, the Morgathian sorcerer directed his next spell at Lawrent, but the icy beam from his staff was stopped and absorbed by the magic shield from the barbarian’s sword. Lawrent had to cleave through two Morgathian sailors before he ran the sorcerer through. He picked up the sorcerer’s staff and with a deft swing cracked the dark crystal with his mithril-alloy sword, sending it down the ladder well to the ship’s hold. He then shouted to his men to get down as he jumped away from the cabin door. The resulting explosion blew a hole through the deck of the ship and sent everyone within the blast radius cascading into the water.

Lawrent then ordered his men to fight their way back to their ship as the Morgathian vessel was now sinking. As he covered his men’s withdraw, he saw a half-dozen auxiliary Alliance naval vessels arriving to help his severely outnumbered Freilanders, as well as the five avenger dragons roaring overhead to join their kin in battle against the chromatics.
The
tide
has
now
turned,
he thought to himself.

After talking to Lawrent and hearing about how serious the attack on Draconia and the twin weirs was, knowing that this was but a reinforced feint attack, Mkel called Pekram and Ablich to get the weir garrison ready for battle as fast as possible. He directed his two junior leaders to get the garrison to the teleportation circle along with the elf and dwarf clans and transport them to Atlean City’s circle. Mkel told them to prepare for a fight that would make what they had experienced in the Fire Mountains seem like an exercise. He didn’t want his soldiers to get into a battle this soon, especially given the ferocity of the Smoking Mountain fight. He knew that as soon as his council and garrison teleported to Atlean, they would likely be decisively engaged with the dozens of squadrons of chromatics bearing down on that city. Mkel instructed his senior sergeant to coordinate with the Atlean Weir’s legion if possible but also be prepared to fight on their own if necessary. He was just about to call his friend Bkert when General Becknor’s sword projected the image from Atlean Weir’s sentinel.

The dragons and riders of the Capital Wing and of all the weirs heard the cries for help as the images projected from their leader’s dragonstone were also viewed in their seeing crystals and in their dragons’ minds. Scenes of the combined Morgathian and Shidanese fleets and a storm of chromatic dragons and other Morgathian forces bombarding the coastal city of Atlean and the assigned Alliance Atlean fleet in the harbor enraged them. The riders felt their dragons’ anger synergistically adding to their own. They all mounted their draconic partners and secured their flying straps. All checked their armor and readied their dragonstone-powered weapons or wizard’s staffs for the magic-using riders. They all realized the ruse that Morgathia had used in sacrificing Shidan to distract the weirs and the Alliance military.

Therosvet spoke out with his voice amplified by his dragonstone, “This is why the lead Enlightened senators put on a show in their opposition to the Shidan campaign but then made sure that it was supported. They had figured that the weir strike against Shidan would work in keeping the metallic dragons and the majority of the Alliance Army and Navy busy, so they could strike the coastal areas and possibly seize an Alliance city. They did incorrectly surmise that the Alliance dragons would suffer the same number of casualties that the chromatics had taken in Hasera. They were mistaken, and they will pay for it.”

“Yes, my noble dragons and riders. This treachery will not go unpunished, but for now, we must save our city of Atlean as well as our brothers and sisters of Atlean Weir. Once we are airborne, the Capital Weir will take the aerial legion straight to Atlean Weir to join with Bkert and begin to cleanse the skies of our ancestral enemy. We will teach them the fear they have forgotten from the Great War. I want Draden Weir to come with the Capital Wing. All other weirs, as soon as you eliminate the threat to your homes, come to Atlean to reinforce us.

“Eladran, I want you to go back to your weir in the east and ensure that there is no army or chromatic force trying to penetrate that edge of the Alliance, but at my command, be prepared to send half of your force to Atlean if I deem it necessary. We will see you all in the skies above Atlean at the end of this fight. May the Creator bless you all and see us to victory. Dragons and Riders, now go, defend the innocent and cast away the shadows,” Becknor ended as he raised his sword.

All the thousands standing there in the desert of Shidan raised their weapons and shouted with the dragons, roaring in support.

Valianth then looked at Gallanth. “To wing!” Therosvet shouted, as the gold dragon roared in draconic, “To wing!” in a trumpeting bellow as loud and as commanding as Gallanth’s. The lead gold dragon spread his wings and launched into the air. The other eight senior dragons of the Capital Wing echoed the roar and stretched out their wings. Almost in unison, they leaped up, creating an almost hurricane-force wind from the collective downdrafts. Within seconds, they were all airborne and rising in formation. The fine sand of the Shidanese desert blew in all directions, raising a large cloud of dust. All those on the ground braced themselves against the force of the rush of air and sand, while still trying to look up at the departing gold and silver dragons in amazement.

An
impressive
sight
, Mkel thought to himself.
Such
power
they
bring
to
bear
and
such
anger
they
feel
at
the
treachery
of
the
Morgathians.
He wondered if the Capital Wing and his band could stem the tide at Atlean until the rest of the weirs could join them or if they would have to call for the avenger dragon squadron and their supporting mithril knights. He knew they would be anxious for a big fight, but they were defending Draconia, reinforcing the Second and Third Capital Wings. His question was soon answered.

“General Becknor, Lord Michenth has let fly the dragons of vengeance,” the Capital Weirleader’s words echoed in all the seeing crystals of the dragonriders. The wing straightened their classic V formation with Valianth at the apex and the silver dragons Strikenth and Draconth as his wing seconds behind him on his flanks. The other two gold dragons, Eagrenth and Falcanth, were next on the wing’s V, and the remaining four silvers, Lionoth, Tigrenth, Sabrenth, and Aventh picked up the back half. This was done to maximize the strengths of the gold and silvers and minimize their weaknesses. Gallanth and Mkel signaled to the Keystone Weir leaders to take to the air.

Gallanth stretched out his massive golden wings, and with a leap and a strong downward stroke, he was airborne, flapping several times to gain altitude. Ordin was still in his chosen position on Gallanth, on the saddle behind Mkel. He still only liked to fly on the gold dragon, especially since flying on Gallanth was much more stable than on a griffon or hippogriff. He would provide the needed rear coverage for Gallanth and Mkel with his powerful hammer. Jodem’s giant eagle Vatara, Toderan’s winged horse Alvanch, Lupek’s Razorclaw, and Dekeen’s giant eagle also launched skyward with their feathered wings flapping madly to keep up with Gallanth.