The Darkness of Old; The Ancient Crown; The Winged One

by Hans Bezdek

  "Thanks for your help," rumbled Antonius. "I'm not sure if I would've made it out of that alive without some backup."

  "Always happy to take out some Dar'Ka," I said, keeping an eye on our back as we spoke. "Got a plan for these three? Don't think another flame breath will do the trick. People tend to avoid things they see their friends die to. Kind of annoying."

  "You take the one behind me. I'll take the other two."

  Without another word, Antonius surged forward. Not wanting to look like I didn't know what I was doing, I flew toward the remaining red behind the gold dragon. The red prepared a flame breath of his own as I neared him. Right before he let it loose, I flew over him. The dragon tried to bring his head up to hit me with his breath, but by the time he reached me with it, the flame had gone out.

  I slammed my Shield into his face and latched onto his neck. The red dragon flew off in a hurry, moving so quickly that I wasn't able to much besides hold on. He flew us close to a few other battles, seemingly hoping some of his friends would jump in and lend a claw. They were too focused on their own opponents to notice us, however, and it wasn't long before the red dragon started to lose some steam.

  This let me rearrange my grip, and I was able to start laying into the back of the dragon's head. He tried a few times to buck me off, but was too tired and had taken too many hits. A minute late and I was flying back to Antonius. The gold dragon got rid of the remaining two before I got to him, and was already looking for more Dar'Ka dragons to fight.

  Deciding to take a short break, I moved my right arm up and down. The wound from that red dragon that had been chasing me was starting to hurt pretty badly. It wasn't serious, at least I hoped not. I could clearly still fight with it, but I was starting to feel fairly tired. I'd need to stop wasting time with these other dragons and look for Varinia before I was too exhausted to fight her.

  I began to notice several frustrated roars springing up around me. As I looked around for what was causing this, I noticed some brown figures darting in between the Dar'Ka dragons. Were those... griffins?

  "Maha!"

  Bang!

  I spun around in time to see one of the smaller black dragons jerk back and let out a terrible screech. A few dozen yards away was one of the griffins, with Dhot on top of it. He was aiming Helga at the black dragon and fired a second time. The dragon's screech was cut off by this second hit, and it fell out of the sky.

  "What are you doing up here?!" I demanded.

  "We could tell the battle up here wasn't going so well," came Cassandra's voice. A griffin flew up next to me, carrying the elf. "Beatrix summoned us a few griffins to help out."

  "Yah!" came a dwarven cry.

  To our left, we saw Braun jump off of his griffin and onto the back of a red dragon. It was fighting with a silver dragon and hardly noticed the dwarf before Braun brought Grimkell's Mace down on its head. This appeared to knock the dragon out, and they began falling down to Vorova. Before I could dive down to try and save him, the griffin that he jumped off of swooped down and grabbed him, tossing him back up onto its back.

  "I don't think we should tell Braun's other side that he did that," I mentioned.

  "Why not?" asked Dhot, casually moving Helga around and pulling the trigger again. I heard a dragon roar in pain in the distance. "The look on his face will be priceless!"

  "We've got work to do," said Cassandra, her griffin flying past goblin. "Let's go find some more silver and golds that need our help, Dhot!"

  I watched as they flew away, still not sure how smart of an idea it was for them to be fighting up here. There was no denying it was effective, though. The black and reds certainly didn't expect to be attacked by people on griffins, and it helped even out the numbers some. In fact...

  I took another look around the battlefield. The gold and silvers seemed to be pushing back the Dar'Ka now, who were looking pretty exhausted. Their fight with the other gold and silvers to the south was finally taking its toll on them. They should've waited another day or two to attack the city. We'd have been toast for sure.

  "Quit slowing down!" roared a dragon in the middle of it all. The black dragon slapped a red dragon that was taking a break between opponents. "If you don't keep fighting, I'll kill you myself!"

  Her voice had obviously changed some from turning into her dragon form, but I knew for sure that had to be Varinia. I narrowed my eyes and flew right for her. As I neared, the black dragon turned in my direction. She smiled, then flew down and away from me.

  "Stop running away!" I growled, picking up speed so I wouldn't lose her.

  She flew away from the walls of Vorova and over some of the retreating Greeners. It looked like the ground battle had gone the Collective's way, but there was no time to focus on that. I had to get Varinia before she escaped.

  Thankfully, she didn't make me chase her particularly far. Once we reached the edge of the forest she slowed and landed on the ground. I landed a dozen yards away, my eyes locked on hers.

  "Realized I was going to catch you?" I asked.

  "Please," scoffed Varinia. The black dragon smiled wickedly at me. "I just wanted to make sure we were far enough away from your friends. Wouldn't want them jumping in when they saw me killing you."

  "As if I need any help taking you on," I chuckled.

  I quickly stopped as I remembered my talk with the Great Oracle. He mentioned I'd need to accept help when I was fighting... Maybe her getting us away from my friends wasn't a good thing. Fighting her right now might not be for the best.

  "Looks like you're already injured," said Varinia, glancing at all the blood on me.

  "Eh, it's mostly Dar'Ka blood," I shrugged. The motion caused a spike of pain to go off in my right arm. Now I was starting to see why I might need help. I might have to let her leave after all. "It would probably be best for you if you keep trying to run."

  Varinia tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "You want to chase me some more?"

  I nodded back up to the battle behind us. "Looks like the Greeners are making a run for it, and your dragons weren't looking so hot anymore. All I'm saying is it might be time for you to head back to Ulrich."

  The black dragon snickered. "I see... So you really don't feel up for a fight against me."

  "Please," I scoffed, trying to wave her off. "I'm just trying to show you some mercy."

  She wasn't buying it.

  That wasn't good.

  "I think I'll go ahead and take my chances with yo-OOF!"

  Varinia went tumbling into the trees as a medium sized gold dragon appeared in her place.

  "There you two are," said Laurinaitis, smirking back at me. "I thought I saw a green speck flying over the walls."

  Chapter 19

  "Looks like someone decided to finally wake up," I said.

  "I was awake!" said Laurinaitis defensively. "I... I was busy fighting."

  "Really?" I asked. "Where? I didn't see you."

  "The battlefield's pretty big," said Laurinaitis. "It's not like you can see all of it at once."

  "Pretty sure I would've noticed a golden dragon fighting with Greeners while everyone else was in the sky," I said. "Anyway, what are you doing out here?"

  Laurinaitis stood straight and held his head high. "I've come to help."

  I blinked.

  "Okay, well you could help by going and getting someone else," I said, looking past him and into the forest. Varinia looked like she was having problems getting up from under the trees that fell on her, which bought us some time. "I can probably hold Varinia off for a few minutes. Go and get my friends, or someone big like Antonius."

  "No."

  "What do you mean no?!" I growled. "You said you want to help!"

  "I'm offering my assistance to you in this fight," said Laurinaitis proudly.

  "That's kind of you, but I'm not at full fighting strength right now," I explained, gesturing at all the blood. "I need someone who I know can actually fight with me."

  The gold dragon look
ed annoyed. "Look, if you don't want my help, I'm fine leaving you alone. But I'm not going to go off and be some errand boy for you."

  I couldn't believe the Great Oracle meant I'd have to accept help from Laurinaitis of all people. If it was literally anyone else, it'd have been a no-brainer. Heck, I'd have even taken Martin the Magnificent. But Laurinaitis had probably never seen combat, not mention the perilous state of his mental health just a few hours prior. I found it hard to believe a half night's sleep suddenly fixed him.

  It wasn't like I had any other options, though. I either accepted his help, hoped that the Great Oracle was right, and beat Varinia, or I'd die. Actually, now that I thought about it, there was a good chance I'd die with or without his help. Might as well take whatever I could get, right?

  "Fine," I sighed. "I'll take your help."

  "R-Really?" asked Laurinaitis, surprised. "You think we can do this?"

  "Don't get carried away," I mumbled.

  "Laurinaitis!" hissed Varinia, finally done tossing the trees off of her. The black dragon stalked toward us, eyes burning with rage. "You dare attack me?!"

  "I-I most certainly did!" said Laurinaitis, taking half a step back. "You've betrayed not only the other Councilors and myself, but all of The Republic!"

  "Keep going," I whispered. "You're doing great."

  "You must pay for your crimes!" continued Laurinaitis, bolstered by my fake encouragement. "You can come back to The Republic to face a trial, or we can kill you right here, right now."

  I gave the gold dragon a golf clap as he finished.

  "You think you're going to be the one to kill me?" laughed Varinia. "You must be joking. Reimar, I could understand, but you? You're nothing but a weak politician that was a disappointment to your father the second you were born."

  Yikes. She really went for the throat there.

  "I take it that means you choose not to return?" said Laurinaitis, shockingly not collapsing into a ball of self-pity at the black dragon's words. There was still some of the cocky gold dragon in him after all.

  "I have to kill Reimar because he's a threat to the Dar'Ka," said Varinia, spreading her wings out and preparing to rush at us. "But you, Laurinaitis? I'm killing you for pleasure."

  I shot forward as she did, the two of us meeting where Laurinaitis stood. Varinia scratched out at Laurinaitis' throat with one arm while punching at me with her other. The gold dragon hopped back, barely avoiding her as I caught her punch on my Shield. I jumped up and bit at her arm, but spun and whacked me away with her tail.

  Tumbling back, I quickly scrambled to my feet. Laurinaitis had flown back a few feet and was summoning fire into his mouth. Varinia galloped forward as he let the flame breath go, running directly into it. The black dragon easily pushed through the weak attack and tackled the surprised Laurinaitis, sending the gold dragon onto his back.

  I ran forward and grabbed the black dragon's tail as she pushed down on Laurinaitis, digging her claws into his chest. I yanked her off just enough for Laurinaitis to kick up at her, his right foot connecting to her face with some power. Varinia let out an annoyed roar and stomped on a very, very sensitive body part of the gold dragon.

  Laurinaitis let out a high pitched screech.

  "Walk it off!" I shouted at him, jumping on Varinia's back and wrapping my arms around her neck in an attempt to choke her. Varinia flew backward as she tried to pry my arms off of her. She dug her claws into my forearms, causing me to have to let go. I had successfully gotten her off of the gold dragon, though, who had rolled away in pain.

  I scooted down her back and began digging in as hard as I could. She roared in pain, then flew back quickly. I held on tight, but she flew us into and through a tree. Then another. And another.

  The last one caught my right arm at a weird angle. It was my turn to roar out in pain, and I let go of the black dragon. I bounced off of the floor and ran deeper into the forest, nursing my right arm as I went. I glanced back to see Varinia chasing after me, gliding through the trees and occasionally knocking one down.

  "You can run as long as you wish, but you aren't getting away!" taunted Varinia. "Ulrich will have your head!"

  "I'm tired of dragons saying that to me!" I shouted back, ducking under some low hanging branches.

  Varinia circled around and cut me off from making it any deeper into the woods. I turned around, planning on running back to where I had left Laurinaitis. Hopefully, he'd recover by the time we got back and could continue helping me fight. Before I got very far, however, the black dragon launched a tree at my back, knocking me down.

  Varinia leapt forward, landing on top of me. She was breathing heavily, but wasn't nearly as hurt as I was. She grabbed me by my neck and pulled me up. I dug my claws into her arm, forcing her to let me go. The black dragon apparently didn't approve of this, and sent me flying through a few more trees with a strong tail swipe.

  I like to think I'm pretty tough, but I was really struggling now. Using a lot of my remaining strength, I sat up. Varinia slowly walked toward me, her smile as evil as ever.

  Laurinaitis shot in from her side, catching her off guard again. The two rolled over each other multiple times, breaking some fallen trees as they went.

  "Come on, Laurinaitis!" I cheered.

  The rolling stopped as they hit a particularly firm tree. Varinia was on top.

  "That's not good," I muttered to myself, using part of a nearby tree to stand up.

  "I'm tired of you interfering!" hissed Varinia down at the gold dragon. The two were locked claw in claw, and the black dragon was clearly more powerful.

  "The Dar'Ka can't win," growled back Laurinaitis. "They won't win!"

  "That's where you're wrong!" roared Varinia. "We've got everything going for us! Even if we don't take Vorova today, we've destroyed enough of the city to leave it powerless. We'll go back to Ra'Chok and rebuild our army stronger than ever! With the ancient crown in our power, there will be no one that can stand up against us for long!"

  "Who cares about some stupid crown!" barked back Laurinaitis, having a rough time keeping the black dragon at bay. "The forces of Yaerna will never bow to someone wearing that piece of junk."

  "We'll make them bow!" hissed Varinia, knocking Laurinaitis' claws away and digging them into his chest. The gold dragon roared in pain and tried to push her off, but she wasn't relenting. "Everything and everyone will belong to the Dar'Ka!"

  "Doubt it," I said, jumping onto her back.

  I bit down on Varinia's neck, finding her windpipe. She let out a terrible roar and stumbled backward, but I dug in even harder. She tried to bat me off of her, but each swing of her claws grew weaker and weaker.

  She gave a final swing, then collapsed.

  She never moved again.

  I let go of her neck and spat some of the blood out of my mouth. I fell back and rested against the dead black dragon, looking up at the sky as I tried to catch my breath. I was hurt pretty bad now, but figured I'd be able to make it back to Vorova after regaining a little of my strength in a few minutes. Hopefully, the bulk of the fighting was over by now and some of the healers were still alive.

  "G-Good work there," said Laurinaitis weakly, rolling onto his side. "We... We really showed her."

  "There was a large stretch there where it felt mostly like us getting beat up," I said. "But we came out on top. That's what matters."

  "R-Right you are," grunted the gold dragon, getting to his feet. Laurinaitis walked over and sat down next to me.

  We looked up as the beginnings of light cut across the night sky. It was hard to see, but we could just make out small black and red dots flying away from the direction of Vorova.

  "How about that?" I said, too weak to point at them. "Looks like they're running away."

  "That means we won, right?" asked Laurinaitis, glancing at me. "Not just here, against Varinia, but in the city?"

  "Looks that way," I nodded weakly. I smiled at the gold dragon. "Congratulations on your first military victory."<
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  Laurinaitis shook his head. "We lost too many people."

  "You think Yaerna didn't lose a ton of people in the First Dragon War?" I asked. "They lost way more than we did over the past two days. And you know what? We look back at it as a major success."

  The gold dragon was quiet for a moment. "Yeah... I guess you're right."

  "I usually am," I chuckled. "You might not have always made the right decisions, but you led The Republic to a victory. With some help from Antonius and yours truly, of course."

  "And I appreciate it," said Laurinaitis, his tone serious. He cleared his throat and looked again at me. "Listen, Reimar... I know we haven't always gotten along the best..."

  "Don't."

  "Huh?"

  "Don't do this," I said, shaking my head and wincing. "You'll make me throw up."

  "But-"

  "We're good, man," I said, staring out east. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Laurinaitis smile and nod.

  The two of us quietly watched the sunrise.

  Chapter 20

  Laurinaitis flew me into Vorova. Smoke sprang up from several parts of the city, countless bodies were piled in front of what was left of the walls, and the once impressive tower lay in ruin. There were sections of Vorova where nine out of every ten buildings were destroyed beyond repair. It was a sad sight to see, but it could've been worse.

  We spotted some of the other gold and silver dragons hanging around the southern part of the city and landed near them. There looked to be about fifty remaining, and all of them were injured. Two healers were doing all they could, moving from dragon to dragon.

  "Should I pull rank to get you healed faster?" asked Laurinaitis as we touched down.

  I shook my head. "Nothing's too serious. I don't mind waiting."

  "Same here," Laurinaitis nodded. "We'll wait our turn like everyone else. What a thought!"

  It wasn't long before Antonius came over to us in his human form. He limped and was using a cane, but appeared to be in one piece. The older gold dragon looked the two of us over quietly for a moment.