by Hans Bezdek
“I don’t like that idea,” I said, shaking my head. “We’d have to send most of you out if we wanted to check all of the mountains, which would leave our ground forces open to an attack.”
“Surely we could leave some dragons behind,” said Laurinaitis.
“But they wouldn’t be able to handle a full on attack from the Dar’Ka,” said Kiera. “I’ve no doubt that we’d be able to make a serious dent in their numbers, but at what cost? And the non-dragons would have no hope of a retreat. We’re too open on the top of this mountain, and it’d take them hours to get back down.”
Laurinaitis threw his hands up in defeat. “Then what do you suggest we do?”
“I’m not sure,” admitted Kiera.
“I think I see something in the distance,” said Dhot, messing with his Goggles. “It’s on a mountain pretty far from here, so it’s just at the edge of my vision.”
“What is it?” asked Emerich.
“Some sort of structure,” said Dhot, focusing hard. “It looks like a wall… but it may be a cliff facing… I can’t be sure unless I get closer.”
“That may be Chondar,” guessed King Julfr.
“It may be nothing,” said Antonius. The golden dragon glanced behind us. “Our people are tired from the march and need to rest, not to mention the dwarves and blues that saw battle earlier today. It would be foolish to overexert for nothing.”
“What do you propose?” asked Emerich. “We rest the night and head there tomorrow?”
“Dhot isn’t sure it’s Chondar, though,” I pointed out. “We could be heading in the wrong direction and wasting another day.”
“Does that really matter?” asked Laurinaitis. “Our element of surprise is already gone. The prisoners back in Zundif said as much.”
“The more time we waste gives Ulrich more time to come up with a counterplan,” said Cassandra. “They might be able to spot where we’re heading and set up an ambush for us, or they could resort to outrunning us and tiring us out. After that, they could pick us off with small raids night after night.”
“I think we should send scouts,” said Kiera.
“But you just shot down my idea!” complained Laurinaitis.
“No. I said it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave our army without the majority of the dragons,” clarified the blue dragon. “If we send just a small group of people to scout with Dhot, then we don’t have to worry about the bulk of the ground forces being picked off.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to get credit for my idea,” grumbled Laurinaitis, crossing his arms and turning away.
Kiera gave me a bewildered look. I shrugged back.
Laurinaitis took some getting used to.
“I’d be happy to be part of the scouts,” said Dhot.
“I’ll go with him,” said Cassandra. “If we run into some trouble, the Shattered Sword might be able to cut us out of it.”
“Braun can accompany ye, too,” said King Julfr.
“W-What?!” cried Braun.
“They might need ya to heal em if they get into trouble.”
Braun looked defeated but didn’t put up any more of a fight.
“I’m obviously coming, too,” I said.
“Seems risky,” said Kiera, shaking her head. “I don’t think you should go.”
“Why not?” I asked, taken aback. Of course I would go with my friends… What if they needed me?
“Ulrich is looking for you,” said Antonius. “If he realizes you’ve been separated from us, he’s bound to come for you.”
“We’ll make sure we don’t get caught,” I said. “If it’s just the four of us going, there’s no way Ulrich will spot us. Especially not with this bad weather.”
“If you’re going, I’m going as well,” said Kiera firmly.
“No,” said Cassandra quickly. Everyone stopped and turned to the elf. Her face turned a light shade of pink and she looked away. “Um, I mean, we can’t risk two of our leaders being taken. On the off chance that the Dar’Ka find us, of course.”
“But I can help fight them off if they do,” insisted Kiera.
“I think Cassandra might be right,” I said. The blue dragon looked offended. “The blues need to know that you’re here with them. Besides, if we get captured, I’ll feel more confident knowing you’re coming to save us.”
“Aye,” agreed King Julfr. “That be true.”
Kiera gave me a fierce look. “Fine. Know that I will come for you if you haven’t returned within two hours.”
“Works for me,” I laughed. I doubted we’d be gone for longer.
“Let me help!” said Beatrix. “I’ve felt useless this whole time. I haven’t gotten to fight or do anything. I can summon griffins to fly you four over.”
“They may be on the lookout for dragons, but surely nothing small like griffins,” said Cassandra, nodding.
“A-Are they fast?” asked Braun.
“Super!” exclaimed the gnome. That was not the answer Braun was hoping for. Beatrix’s eyes flashed blue, and suddenly there were four griffins next to her.
“Woohoo!” cheered Dhot, jumping onto the one closest to him without having to be prompted.
Cassandra and I helped Braun onto his, then the elf hopped onto hers. Kiera approached me as I was getting on mine.
“Remember,” she said. “Two hours, then I’m coming after you.”
“Shouldn’t take us longer than that,” I smiled. “Don’t worry. Even if we get caught, I’m pretty good at running away.”
“I don’t think women find that a redeemable trait,” chimed in Dhot. “Maha!”
“Look for the castle then immediately turn back,” cautioned Antonius. “We can’t risk losing you four before the final battle begins.”
“Got it,” I said. The others looked as ready as they were going to be, so I motioned for my griffin to go. The creature let out a screech, then kicked off. I held on tight, glancing back to make sure the others were coming, too. Each of the griffins leapt into the air and followed after mine. I could hardly hear Braun’s terrified cries over the wind.
It wasn’t long before Dhot’s griffin overtook mine, and we followed after the goblin. It was a little unnerving having no idea where we were going, but I had to trust Dhot. He was slightly inclined to get us into danger, but nothing that we couldn’t get out of. Hopefully, he’d remember this was a pure scouting mission and not a blow-something-up one.
We flew between several sets of mountains, including one that turned out to be a volcano. It wasn’t erupting, thankfully, but we could see the red lava circling around the top. That would’ve been pretty awkward if it was the one we walked our army up.
Bolts of lightning crashed into the side of a cliff as we journeyed deeper into the mountain range, causing our griffins to let out surprised cries and scatter. It took a few minutes to get them to calm back down, but we were back on track shortly after. When we began to near an hour of flight time, Dhot slowed down and pointed up ahead. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it was clear what he was gesturing at.
Up ahead was a towering fortress made out of gray and black stones. The structure was at least six levels tall, with slots open at various intervals for archers to use. A long gate formed the base of the castle, with several doors along each side. The mountain it was on didn’t look particularly steep, but was quite long. It would be hard to get much of a surprise attack going.
Dhot landed on top of a nearby cliff some distance away from the castle. I looked over at Cassandra, who clearly wasn’t happy that the goblin decided to land so close to it. She gave me a grim look, then glided down to him. Braun and I joined them shortly after.
“That’s gotta be it!” said Dhot, now that we could more easily hear one another. “I knew I saw something!”
“Good job,” I said. “Knew we could count on you.”
“We should really hurry back,” said Cassandra.
“Aye!” shouted Braun. “I-I don’t like bein out here without th
e others.”
“You wouldn’t like being out here even with them! Maha!”
I grinned and was about to motion for my griffin to lift off again. Right before I could, three red dragons landed around us. Cassandra let out an annoyed sigh while Braun and Dhot stared at the dragons with their mouths open in shock.
I gulped. “Not good.”
Chapter 12
“What do we have here?” growled one of the red dragons. This one had a deep scar under its right eye. I don’t know what gave that to him, but it probably paid dearly for it.
“Looks like we might have come across some unwanted guests,” replied another, this one the biggest of the three.
I gripped the back of the griffin and tried to calm down. I didn’t know if we could outrun the dragons with the griffins in normal circumstances, but I was confident they’d catch us before we got very far since they already had us close to arms reach. We also were at a disadvantage in being able to get to our weapons. Dhot would have to dig around in his bag, I didn’t have the time to transform into a half dragon, and Braun wasn’t his darker self. Cassandra might be able to get the Shattered Sword out before they pounced on us, but would she be enough? Would the griffins even know to fight with us?
“Why is the dwarf shaking so much?” asked the final red dragon, who apparently was female.
“Is that a dwarven fighting technique?” wondered the big one. “I’ve never fought a dwarf before. Actually never really seen one, come to think of it.”
“He’s not about to fight you,” I said, putting my hands up in an attempt to diffuse the situation. There was a chance, however small, that we could talk our way out of this. They might not know who we were. “We’re not really fighters. We have more of a ‘make love, not war’ philosophy on life.”
“Never heard of that,” said the scarred one. “Seems cowardly to me.”
“It’s kind of a new movement,” said Dhot, seeing where I was going with this. “We try to spread happiness and good cheer instead of death and destruction.”
“How has that been going?” asked the female.
“It’s… It’s a work in progress,” said Cassandra. The elf had on a really forced smile. Thankfully, the red dragons didn’t seem to notice it.
“What are you doing out here?” asked the big one. “No one’s allowed up at Chundar right now.”
“Oh, really?” I asked, trying to sound surprised. “I figured now would be a good time.”
“Sorry,” said the female, shaking her head. “We’re preparing for a battle with some people from the mainland-”
“Quiet!” barked the scarred one, backhanding her in the face. The female red dragon snarled and glared at him but didn’t hit him back. “Ulrich gave us strict orders not to give away any details of what’s to come.”
“She didn’t exactly give anything away, though,” pointed out the big one.
“I-It’s t-true,” stammered Braun. “W-We a-already knew about the b-b-battle.”
“You did?” asked the scarred one, narrowing his eyes at the dwarf. “Then why did you think now would be a good time to come visit? Are you trying to spy on us?”
Braun let out a frightened whimper.
“Of course not!” said Dhot quickly. He looked at me to help.
“Right,” I said slowly. “We, uh, we wanted to come out here and try to spread love before the battle. Maybe try to get both sides to quit this war, if at all possible.”
The scarred dragon didn’t look convinced, but the big one was now interested. “You think the war can be avoided? How?”
“What’s the matter with you?” hissed the scarred one. “Do you hear what you’re saying?”
“If Ulrich would just surrender, there wouldn’t have to be a fight,” I offered.
I was sort of coming up with all of this on the spot, but that would probably be enough. He seemed to be the main instigator of all this, and if we got rid of the head, maybe the other dragons that didn’t want to follow him would leave. Whatever dragons remained that were loyal to him wouldn’t have the numbers to be nearly as big of a threat.
“Ha!” scoffed the scarred one. “As if we’d give up the crowned one. We’ll never hand over our savior to the savages on the other side!”
The big and female reds shared the briefest looks, then looked away.
“If they came up here by mistake, should we let them go?” asked the big one. “We were only supposed to be on the lookout for any sign of the invaders. I doubt that we really need to worry about four random travelers.”
“We’d be happy to leave if you don’t want us here,” offered Cassandra. “We honestly had no idea we weren’t allowed over here. It was an honest mistake. Honestly.”
I rolled my eyes. Why couldn’t she keep a lie going without making it seem suspicious?
“These might be scouts for the Yaerna forces,” guessed the scarred one correctly. “They could be trying to figure out what we’re planning.”
“They found us out!” cried Braun. “It’s over!”
I ran my hands over my face. All of that for nothing…
“So it’s true!” hissed the scarred one.
“Does that you’re going to go back and report on us, leaving us alone?” I asked.
The scarred dragon laughed while the other two shook their heads.
“Sorry,” said the female. “You’ll have to come back with us.”
“You three should think this through,” I said, beginning to summon magic into my hands as I talked. “The Dar’Ka aren’t winning this war.”
“Why not?” asked the big one, tilting his head to the side.
“The Collective outnumbers you,” I explained. “We’ve got dragons of every color, not to mention hundreds of humans, dwarves, and elves all marching for this very spot as we speak.”
“T-They’re already coming here?” asked the female, her eyes going wide.
“It’s true,” nodded Dhot. “And they’re not going to stop until Ulrich is dead. Anyone else they have to kill along the way is just collateral damage.”
“Which means it’s in your best interest to run away,” I said, looking intentionally at each of the three of them. “We won’t chase you down, or report you to our people.”
The female and the big one shared a much longer look this time. It seemed like we were breaking through a little bit to them.
“Enough of this foolish talk!” hissed the scarred one. “We’ll never abandon the one who wears the ancient crown!”
“What if we kill Ulrich and take his crown?” asked Dhot. “Will you have to follow one of us? By leaving now, you’d make the four of us happy. Gets you some brownie points with the new boss.”
“Only a dragon can wear the crown,” sneered the scarred one.
“Good thing Reimar is one, then!” said Dhot, folding his arms in victory as he nodded in my direction.
The three dragons shifted their attention to me.
“See,” I said, turning to Cassandra. “This is why I do all the talking.”
“That’s fair,” she sighed.
“A dragon with green eyes?” asked the female.
“I thought this group seemed strange,” said the scarred one, a wicked grin spreading. “Ulrich mentioned the green half dragon traveled with an elf, dwarf, and goblin! Do you two know what this means?”
The other red dragons shook their heads.
“Please don’t say it,” I mumbled to myself. “Please don’t say it, please don’t say it…”
“Ulrich’s going to reward us when we bring back his head!”
“And there it is,” I sighed.
The scarred one let out a roar and dove at us. Cassandra pulled out the Shattered Sword and activated it while Dhot and Braun jumped off their griffins. I brought my hands forward and created a wall of water in front of me. The water didn’t do much as he cut through it with a slice of his claw, but it created enough of a diversion for me to tumble off my griffin and pull out the Time
Shield and my dagger.
“Those little tricks won’t save you now!” shouted the scarred red, bringing his tail down against my Shield. It absorbed the blow and I moved backward to get closer to Cassandra.
The red dragon leapt at the two of us, then let out a surprised grunt as the big red dragon flew into him.
“Huh?” said Cassandra and I at the same time.
The two dragons tumbled over to the edge of the cliff, the scarred one ending up on top of the bigger one.
“What are you doing, you idiot?!” hissed the red dragon, grabbing the big one’s throat with his clawed hand. The big one roared and grabbed at the other dragon’s arm, trying to loosen its grip.
The female red dragon flew over and backhanded the scarred dragon, sending him reeling and off of the big one. The female didn’t let up, spinning around and knocking the scarred dragon’s legs out from under him with her tail. When he fell onto his back, the female red dragon flew up, then shot back down with her clawed feet landing into the scarred dragon’s exposed side. She frantically ripped at him, until his pained screeches came to an end.
“W-What was that?” asked Dhot, holding Helga at the ready but not pulling the trigger.
I turned to Braun, who was peeking out from behind his griffin at the commotion. “Braun! Go offer to heal the big red dragon’s neck.”
“Y-Ya want me to do what?!”
“Just do it!” insisted Cassandra.
The dwarf gave us looks like we had just sentenced him to death and walked over to the red dragons. The big one had gotten up and was holding his neck. He pulled his claw back and looked at the blood, his face grim.
“W-Want me t-t-to fix t-that?” asked Braun, keeping his distance.
“You can heal?” asked the big dragon.
The dwarf begrudgingly inched forward and nodded. The red dragon lowered its neck, and Braun put a single finger out toward it. White light filled the area where his finger touched the dragon’s neck, and a few seconds later it looked good as new.
“Thank you,” nodded the big dragon.
“We should be the ones thanking you,” I said, walking forward with Cassandra. “You didn’t have to intervene for us.”