Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (73 page)

As Gallanth pulled hard to the right to come around to face Doomshadow, the Usurper dragon had already slightly turned toward him. He fired another blast of his enhanced dark-energy beam that partially caught the back portion of his shield. Gallanth immediately veered back left to put distance between him and the Usurper. “Gallanth, how did he turn so quickly?” Mkel asked him as they sped away.

“I don’t know, my rider, I’ve never seen a black dragon so fast and maneuverable, but that was his second dark-crystal blast. We will have him now,” Gallanth replied and cast an ice storm spell at the pursuing black dragon, which caused a large whitish cloud to form immediately in front of the chromatic, and he was pelted by dozens of fist- and larger-sized stones. Doomshadow’s magic shield stopped the icy barrage, but he was forced to turn away from his pursuit.

By this time, Vatara had caught up to Gallanth and Mkel as they maneuvered to attack the Usurper dragon. Mkel called over to Jodem as the giant bald eagle flew just off of Gallanth’s wing tip. “Jodem, are you good?” Mkel asked as they both flew in formation and angled back to the right.

“Yes, Dreadstone’s assistant was an insignificant matter,” Jodem answered with a smile across his broad face, but just then, Gallanth quickly pushed forward to take the full impact of Doomshadow’s enhanced energy beam. The force of the full deadly bolt pushed Gallanth down and away from the master wizard. Dreadstone then cast a variation of a force wall spell that hit Jodem’s magic shield like an anvil. While it did not damage the invisible shield, it sent Vatara reeling and tumbling end over end down and away from Gallanth and Mkel. Doomshadow and Dreadstone then did something that no one in the Alliance had ever seen a chromatic do. Both it and the sorcerer concentrated on Gallanth, and in a blink of an eye, flash-teleported in front of the gold dragon.

With the aid of Dreadstone, Doomshadow reappeared right in front of Gallanth. They accomplished this after they argued with each other, with Dreadstone almost ordering the Usurper to work with him on this duel-focused spell. Gallanth was caught in a bad position and off guard as Doomshadow lunged forward and gored the gold dragon with his black, spiraled bull-like horns. Gallanth’s sense of foresight did not totally desert him, for he was able to grasp the black dragon by the shoulder and right front leg, which mostly stopped the deadly charge. However, the Usurper’s strength surprised him, and the horns drove into even Gallanth’s heavily armored hide, with one piercing his shoulder and one stabbing his chest just in front of his heart.

Mkel swung Markthrea and quickly aimed at Doomshadow’s head. Dreadstone then simultaneously cast two spells. One was a magic grasp spell, which enveloped Gallanth’s head and upper neck, holding him off so he couldn’t bite down on the demon black dragon with his powerful jaws. The Covenant sorcerer, while holding off Gallanth, cast a second spell, a ghost sword spell that quickly formed the shape of a long sword made of dark energy, which he directed toward Mkel. The glowing blade darted toward Mkel’s chest, and just before it hit the dragonrider, Kershan sprung from its scabbard and parried the evil glowing sword, but not before it cut right through Mkel’s dragon hide-armored jacket and slightly into his right shoulder.

Dreadstone was shocked that a dragonrider could have two weapons of power. He was having a very difficult time concentrating on fighting the dragonstone sword that had he quickly surmised to be almost pure mithril, while trying to keep the gold dragon’s head from snapping down on Doomshadow’s neck. The metallic was extremely strong, and he was barely able to keep him in check.

The pain from the shallow stab wound and the shared pain he felt from Gallanth caused Mkel to flinch, and he jerked the trigger of his crossbow as he fired. Ordin was frantically trying to turn around to help his friends, but dwarves were just not that flexible. The bolt just grazed the black Usurper dragon’s right horn with most of the explosive power of the tip blowing outward and away from the chromatic’s head. It was enough to force Doomshadow’s head away from Gallanth, though, as he pulled his horns from the gold dragon’s hide. Gallanth took advantage of this and swung his tail around with the arrowhead-shaped plate smashing into the side of Doomshadow’s head, severing the right horn at its base. As Gallanth launched himself away from the Usurper black dragon, he turned his head and breathed out a blast of fire that caught the demon chromatic on the rear leg and tail. The large evil black rose up and bellowed out a roar of pain.

When Doomshadow tried to retaliate, Gallanth had already dived out of range. Dreadstone also could not cast a spell at the gold dragon for the flash teleport and simultaneous spell cast temporarily drained his staff. Unfortunately for him, the angle at which Gallanth flew away also prohibited Ordin from throwing his hammer.

“Gallanth, are you all right?” Mkel worriedly asked his dragon.

“Yes, my rider, luckily, I caught him before he could drive his horns too deep. I was amazed at his sheer physical strength, that of a gold dragon, and that he and the sorcerer actually cooperated on a spell together. I won’t be caught off guard by them again,” Gallanth answered Mkel.

Mkel was relieved, but that was too close, even closer than at the Fire Mountains when Silvanth came to their aid. He knew if he hadn’t caught that demon dragon’s charge at that moment, a chromatic horn would have pierced Gallanth’s heart. They would have to fight this evil duo very smartly or the Usurper would get the best of them.

“Pogasch sorcerer, what are you doing? I only consented to carry you to keep the cursed metallic’s riders in check, and now I’ve lost a horn and my leg and tail are flamed. I had the big worm right where I wanted him!” Doomshadow roared out in frustration and pain.

“The gold dragon’s rider had two weapons of great power. I’ve never seen that before, and that metallic was incredibly strong; I could barely hold him back. Ashram was not exaggerating about the power of that beast,” Dreadstone spat back. “We mustn’t let them keep attacking from a distance, for they are accurate and powerful. We must reform and keep hitting them to keep them off balance,” he added.

“Jodem, how did that Talon sorcerer cast two spells at the same time? And I’ve never seen a chromatic cooperate with any man, drow, or anything other than themselves, and that is only temporary at best. That demon dragon also used his dark-crystal-enhanced breath weapon more than twice,” Mkel asked with concern at almost being the victim of his spell sword. His right shoulder still hurt from the shallow stab wound of the energy blade. He knew he owed Kershan as well as his dragon hide jacket his life, for that spell sword would have sliced right through even dwarven steel.

“That is the strength of a Covenant sorcerer and a Usurper dragon of Tiamat’s court. Larger dark crystal and more experience in dealing evil magic through it. However, there is a price, a price in stolen life force. This is what converts someone who uses too much of its power into a lich, like our friend Ashram is beginning to become. This also significantly shortens a chromatic’s long lifespan as well. I had to tangle with a lich, who was Ashram’s predecessor, during the Great Dragon War. He almost killed me, but my accuracy in spell placement saved my life and ended his vampire-like undead existence. When they transition to that stage, only the drinking of blood can keep them alive,” Jodem answered his friend.

Gallanth, Mkel, and Jodem took special notice that the Usurper dragons had an even more enhanced dark-energy breath weapon than normal demon dragons and could use it more than just twice a day. They also had greatly enhanced physical strength, almost the same as Gallanth, and their magic shields were threefold as powerful as their peers. This fight with Doomshadow and Dreadstone would prove to be one of Gallanth’s and Mkel’s toughest, they quickly surmised.

The two black demon dragon guards for Doomshadow attempted to move in and box Caraeyeth and the rest of Draden Weir in between them. Toderan veered off to joust with Reigngrim and his wyvern. In splitting up, the two enhanced chromatics had given up their edge in strength of numbers, especially now that their magic shields were gone. Caraeyeth, Dekeen, and Lupek also split up far enough so one chromatic could not fight two of them at once, but close enough that they all could come to the aid of one another if the need arose.

The larger demon black dragon moved to attack Caraeyeth and at three hundred yards unleashed his enhanced dark-energy breath weapon. The agile copper dragon immediately rolled over to avoid the deadly purplish beam, but at the speed of lightning, it still partially hit her shield and glanced the upper portion of her tail. This sapped the last of her shield resistance. Luckily, Caraeyeth had cast an iron hide spell onto herself, which gave her already tough hide twice the armor protection. This only lasted for a short time, however.

The other black dragon fired his last dark-energy beam at Dekeen, as he ascertained from seeing him slay the red dragon over the bay that he was the more powerful among the Alliance group. Dekeen’s giant eagle was able to dive fast enough to avoid a good deal of the deadly energy, but his bow’s magic shield was shaken as it was drained of half its strength by the powerful dark ray. The demon dragon then cast a barrage of magic missiles at Lupek and Razorclaw. The griffon managed to dodge over half of them, and the ranger’s magic shield from his javelin absorbed the rest.

Caraeyeth performed a tight loop and came up underneath the attacking larger black dragon and then breathed out a stream of flaming acid at the dark chromatic. While copper, black, and green dragons were largely resistant to acid attacks, they still caused them damage. The deadly stream struck the black dragon on the underside of his chest and stomach, and in a roar of pain, he dove down and away from his attacker. Caraeyeth followed this attack up with a disruption spell that struck the demon chromatic in the lower back and hip.

Just as the copper dragon was turning away from the dragon she had just fended off, she and her rider where startled by the close roar of pain of the other demon dragon as it was struck by Lupek’s lightning javelin on its right side and two exploding arrows from Dekeen. The demon dragon’s momentum carried him forward, and he clumsily crashed into Caraeyeth’s waiting talons and fangs. Caraeyeth sank her powerful jaws into the black dragon’s upper back while her claws raked the dark hide on the chest and left front leg. Heathiret leaned over and drove her mithril-tipped lance deep into the black dragon’s upper neck.

The dark chromatic angrily pushed Caraeyeth back with relative ease because of his enhanced strength. This burst of great physical power caught Caraeyeth slightly off guard, as she was used to being able to manhandle a black. She still managed to flip hard to the left and bring her tail around to give the chromatic a hard smash to his left shoulder. The stunned demon dragon was unable to follow up on his attack, but Caraeyeth was hit by the chromatic’s partner, returning to exact revenge for his earlier defeat. The dark-green ball of deadly energy smashed into the copper dragon’s left hip and leg, eliminating her iron-skin spell. The black dragon then flew right into her from the rear and bit into her lower back while sinking his talons into the copper-brown hide.

Heathiret turned around in her saddle and threw her lance, which embedded itself deeply into the black dragon’s neck. Just as the chromatic unclenched his jaws from her dragon’s back, the other black attacked Caraeyeth from the front. Caraeyeth caught the black dragon’s talons with hers to prevent him from using them and smashed her strong, stubby horns into the side of his head to prevent him from goring her. She was, however, now caught with two powerful demon dragons in a fang-and-talon fight and was in a bad predicament.

Heathiret drew her mithril-alloy long sword, but from the corner of her eye, saw Razorclaw dive in from the side. She swung down with her sword, which sliced the chromatic across its nose, causing him to rear his head up. The large griffon landed on the midnight-colored chromatic dragon’s neck and sank his mithril-tipped claws and strong beak into the black hide. Lupek then took careful aim and drove his javelin into the base of its neck behind its head horns. The mithril point penetrated straight into the demon dragon’s brain, delivering the killing blow.

As Caraeyeth let the dying demon dragon go, Dekeen got a lucky shot and hit the other black dragon at the base of its right wing. This caused the huge beast to loosen its hold on the copper dragon, which Caraeyeth took advantage of and rolled away from his grasp while also swiping its chest with her talon. In her typical agile way, Caraeyeth kept turning while she put distance between herself and the chromatic and blasted it with one of her last acid breath weapons. She directed the fiery virulent stream at the wing base that Dekeen had hit with his bow and struck the same area. This caused the demon dragon to fold his right wing partway in and dive away, for now flight was very difficult for him.

“Hold on, my rider! This one will not get away,” Caraeyeth said to her rider. She partially folded her wings and dove after the fleeing black dragon.

“A falcon’s short wings, my dragon,” Heathiret told her beloved dragon as a reminder of the trick they had learned of partially folding her wings in a power dive for greater speed. The copper dragon rapidly gained on the chromatic as both were in a steep dive. Just before she intercepted the demon, she unfurled her wings and stretched out her front and rear talons, which found their mark on the black dragon’s shoulders and hips, and bit down on his neck just below his head to hold him in place.

As the two dragons gained downward speed, Caraeyeth antagonized the demon chromatic, “Now, demon, be prepared to meet your judgment on free Alliance soil!” The black dragon struggled, but Caraeyeth was able to hold him in place in spite of his dark-crystal-enhanced strength because of her positioning and superior balance. Just as they were about to impact, the copper dragon unfurled her wings and almost leaped from the black chromatic’s back. The dark dragon slammed into the hard dwarven concrete road cracking it asunder while Caraeyeth couldn’t quite angle up because of their airspeed and had to crash-land herself.