“Max, do you know who I am?” the Queen asked.
“Not a very popular person at the moment Your Majesty” Max replied.
“Just call me Mary” the queen replied. “Max I need your help”.
“Does it involve being ripped to shreds by dragoons or torn apart by griffins, never mind the roasting your mages gave me”.
“They are not my mages” Mary spat. “They are traitors”.
“You still didn’t answer my question” Max replied. “The way I see it, royal or not, you aint in any power to start handing out orders right now. And before you get on that sexist shit about me being a male, I just saved your ass”.
“Yes it involves fighting the beast riders” Mary said through clenched teeth.
“What do me and Xander get out of it?” Max asked.
“What do you want?” Mary replied. “Money? Land? My hand?”
“All of those sound great, how about your hand and your help in freeing a friend” Max said as he thought about the dragon in the palace.
“What friend?” Mary asked. “Is he locked up in the stockades?”
“You can say that” Max replied.
“Then with your power why haven’t you just broke him out?” Mary replied.
“It’s not that simple” Max replied. “My friend is being kept in your palace”.
“You mean the dragon?” Mary asked shocked. “How did you know? That isn’t common knowledge and where did you get your dragon from?”
“He found me right here at this very mountain where your dragoon riders snatch street rats out of the slums and use that forest over yonder as a hunting ground for beast riders to find and kill prey”.
“Hunting humans?” Mary said shocked.
“Well I got the better end of it, I ended up with some of Xander’s powers and my life” Max replied. “Not to mention all the wealth I just obtained”.
“You don’t have any wealth yet” Mary began. “I need my throne back first”.
“I don’t need your money” Max said as he dug in his travel sack and pulled out the sack of jewels. “I stole this from the head beastie, I call it my payment for having his students try and kill me”.
Mary looked into the bag and closed it quickly as she handed the sack back to Max. Max could see she was thinking of something, some kind of plan to get herself out of the predicament she was now in. In one day she went from the most powerful person in Gale to the most wanted, Max would have broken down and cried but the Queen looked like she had it all kept together.
“The dragon is part of our security” Mary began. “The dragoons are her babies, I cannot get rid of her. Ask anything else and it shall be yours once I get my throne back”.
“No deal” Max replied. “The dragon goes free or we walk”.
“I will free this dragon if you agree to see me through this coup” Mary began as Max could see she was thinking of a new plan. “Of course upon me regaining the throne we are to be married as soon as possible and you will swear your allegiance to me and help me in anyway possible”.
“If that plan includes the dragons, you should know they are not dragoons” Max replied. “I don’t own Xander, he is not like a horse or something. Xander is intelligent and talks to me, I cannot dominate him no more than you can dominate the rain or the wind. He sees you as enslaving the only other dragon left alive after befouling her by making dragoons. If you try something, know that I am on his side first”.
“Even over your Queen?” Mary said harshly.
“Especially over you” Max laughed. “What have you done for me? I was a poor street rat who used to get the shit kicked out of him and was once hunted for sport under you. Xander saved my life, got me a small fortune then saved my life again”.
“I will free the dragon” Mary said defeated. “Now do I have your oath?”
“Of course” Max smiled. “I was trying to figure out how to broach the subject with you. I would have helped just to free the dragon but now it seems I won the Queen as well. So do you have a plan?”
“I do have a plan” Mary said as a hard look came across her face. “First it involves getting to griffin isle, I have a stronghold there filled with faithful followers. When we get there, then we can talk about what to do about Duchess Yadia, the false ruler”.
Max nodded and eventually went off to sleep. Despite the cool air his internal temperature was always warm, so warm in fact he noticed the queen had snuggled up to him midway through the night. It was then Max felt a little bad, although his rough scales could more than handle the rocky terrain, the Queen had to sleep in her armor under the thin clothes she wore. Max still had some gold on him and in the morning he would ask Xander to take them to a town to get provisioned. Max slept peacefully after that, only waking when the sun first peaked over the horizon. The queen looked like she had a hard night Max thought as he stood up to stretch his legs. He could see sometime in the night Xander had dropped off a leg of some animal, probably an elk. The problem was Max didn’t know what to do with it, he wasn’t a hunter. Luckily Max didn’t have to do anything, Mary pulled out a small knife and skinned the animal before cutting little strips off of it. Max took one then heated up his sword, moments later the pair had multiple strips seared and ready to eat.
“Where did you learn to do that Mary?” Max asked.
“My grandmother thought I should be able to take care of myself since I wasn’t a mage” Mary began. “Part of that was how to survive in the wilderness just in case something like this happens”.
Max nodded and ate his food. It was decent fare and he ate more than his share before putting his sword away. Mary seemed fascinated by the blade but did not ask any questions. When Xander returned though she first looked a little apprehensive and shied away from the dragon. When Max told him the plan they had worked out in order to free the female Xander was very supportive, as long as he got to kill mages.
“I HAVE SEEN WHAT YOU CALL GRIFFINS IN THE SKIES NOT FAR FROM HERE” Xander said in Max’s mind. “THEY CANNOT FLY AS HIGH AS I CAN BUT THERE ARE MANY MORE OF THEM THEN THERE IS OF ME. I THINK WITHIN TWO DAYS THEY WILL DISCOVER US, WHERE DOES YOUR FEMALE WANT TO GO?”
“She is not my female” Max said before realizing he was talking out loud.
“I don’t belong to any man” Mary said as she stood up. “I am the woman in the relationship, I am the money earner”.
“Well show me all of your money” Max laughed as he tossed his bag of jewels in the air. Mary smirked and dug into her breastplate and pulled out her own sack of money making the smile on Max’s face falter somewhat.
“We need to get to the coast” Mary said as she put her money away. “The dragon will not be able to carry both of us for long, not in full armor anyway. Let’s first get to a town and get provisioned, then we can figure out our next move from there”.
Max and Mary climbed on Xander as he flew up high to the currents. The air and temperature was different up here and Max could feel Mary shivering. Max knew the reason for the altitude though, Xander could glide on the air currents and cover ground a lot easier without expending too much strength. Max looked down, everything looked tiny as they flew, outside of the occasional bird he saw nothing worth noting as Xander began to circle. Xander lowered himself as he circled, he must have had spotted a village or a town or something as the reason for his descent. Just as Max guessed, a sizable city was spotted. Xander left them a couple of hours walk before he shot back into the sky. Max first wondered how Xander would find them again when the answer came to him, the bond they shared was magical. Max first didn’t know what to look for but now that he did he could tell which direction Xander was in. Max and Mary walked into the town, Nueva Mary called it as the guards didn’t give them a second chance as they walked through. Their first visit was to a tailor; Max was a big man already and if anyone was looking for him finding a warrior in red armor was pretty easy. Max bought a couple of plain clothes to wear, thing that would not make him stick out as
something other than what he was pretending to be, Mary’s husband. Mary on the other hand bought herself a covered wagon and filled it with cheap junk along with some essentials she would need, extra clothes, a sleeping roll, a pan, etc. She would pretend to be a merchant if caught and planned on riding the wagon to some small town on the coast, at least that’s what she told Max. Max had to marvel how it seemed she already had a plan in place, like she made back up plans on top of back up plans. They stayed in the city maybe a couple of hours maximum and was soon on the road again. News from the capital hadn’t reached this far yet, for that Max was grateful. He would give Xander a break, the dragon could periodically meet them in different places, it was deemed too risky for him to be constantly seen hovering about.
Max reached the small city after two weeks, the news they had received up until then was not good. The Macomians had invaded, they had been spotted in Gale not long ago as a griffin was sent to the major cities warning them of the event. Max had found out two days ago and had no idea how old the information was. Another thing that was common knowledge was that the Queen had been toppled and was now on the run, the new Queen, Queen Yadia had assumed the throne in order to ensure the queendom was still ran by a mage. Many people gave their opinions, some didn’t care while other were outraged at the coup. None of it mattered to Mary though Max thought, she had acted as if nothing at all bothered her, but now she had arrived at the small town she was looking for, Max could see her nerves showing.
“You think this could go wrong?” Max asked as the rode the wagon into the city.
“My grandmother had this all set up long ago but I do not know who I can trust” Mary replied. “My plan is to sail to Griffin isle then warn them of your arrival. From there I can take better stock of what forces I have that are still loyal. But it all starts here, do you have your sword handy, just in case?”
“Yes” Max replied as he looked into the sky. “Xander is close by also, if this thing goes wrong he will kill everyone here”. Max and Mary rode to the waterfront where they could see a lavish ship waiting, far more extravagant than what should have been at this town.
“Your majesty we thought you would never get here” an old woman said as she stepped out of a small building. “Our late Queen sent us a bird a month ago telling us to expect you in the next year or two. I take it you have been overthrown?”
“Temporarily” Mary replied as she looked the old woman over.
“Well you certainly will have our help” the old woman replied. “When do you want to set sail? The trip is about three days, but getting back usually takes about a week thanks to fighting the strong currents”.
“I would like to leave now” Mary said as Max could see she relaxed a little. “I already have people stationed on the island, maybe you should all come as well”.
“That won’t be necessary your majesty” the old woman said smiling. “We aren’t on any map, this place doesn’t exist. Anyone who attempts to start a town or live out towards this way is normally taxed to oblivion. They might be able to track you to Richter City, but finding this place unless you know exactly where to look is pretty hard. Even if they do come this way, then what? It’s unlikely they know how to operate a ship and even if they did your destination and the way there is still a secret. No, now that you are here we will be your eyes and ears. We can serve you better that way than any other”.
Max saw Mary nod her head in agreement as she got on the ship. Max would join her in a week, hopefully by that time he would have found out some more about the war. As the ship sailed away Max looked at the map he was given by Mary, he thought he could find the place without too much trouble and saw no real reason to hang around in the small town. He already had his money on him and he needed little to survive being a street rat. Xander could hunt and Max, now that he knew how to at least separate the skin from flesh could eat. The only thing he took with him was a small hunting knife, the rest of the items could be spread out amongst the villagers. Max declined invitations to stay and soon left the village, he sensed Xander coming near .
CHAPTER 10
Mary
Mary and her troops had their defenses planned out well, they would not fire until her enemy had actually landed and sent men up the beach. She had placed enough obstacles in their way that they would all have to funnel to a particular point to get to the gates, gates her engineers had done a marvelous job on. The path leading to the walls descended to a point that when an enemy was right up on the gates they would be looking at a wall 50 feet high. Add to the fact the whole trip was through wet sand as arrows peppered them the whole way would add to the misery. The coup de grace would be when the heavy boulders would be dropped. The waters to the front and sides of Griffin’s isle were treacherous and hard to manage which only left one means of attack. Perhaps if they somehow found her little village they could do something else but that would take years to accomplish. They would need to take over the village, build a ship yard then build a vessel worthy of three days travel by sea. Once they accomplished all of that they would still have to know the route to get here through the tricky waters as the lane was narrow and easily missed. Once arriving then whatever little force they had would be summarily slaughtered. The only real opposition she would face came from the skies, the griffins still in Yadia’s control.
Mary would send a missive calling all loyal griffin riders to her aid, the more she received the merrier. She would still have to fight some of them, if she was the enemy, she would send flocks of griffin riders and drop them behind the line as a fighting force. Some could drop a line of rope to their friends below and try to let them up. It would be a bloody affair for the attackers, many of their men would die and those who eventually got over the wall would be faced with a smaller wall inside manned by fresh troops. Eventually if Yadia put all of her forces into sieging the island Mary could be overrun, but Yadia if she was any kind of ruler would see this place as being too much trouble and focus her attacks elsewhere. None of that mattered though right now Mary thought, what did matter was that she could see men piling into boats, men who would soon be on her shores.
“I don’t think they know you are here yet” Pem said as she stood alongside her queen.
“They will know soon, I will fly my flag as high as I possibly can” Mary replied. “I want them to know the true queen has taken refuge here and I still have power. I will crush my enemies beneath my feet and I want them to know who is the cause of it. I want Yadia to hate that she has taken the throne, I will start by picking off her allies one by one. She will find this place a quagmire, she will have a war to fight in two places, stretching the army out even further”.
“We have enough griffins to lash out” Pem began. “We could send them on night time raids and chase her allies right out of their estates”.
“We have our griffins, that is true” Mary agreed. “But I also have a field commander now, I have a champion”.
“Is she someone you can trust?” Pem asked.
“He is” Mary replied. “I deemed him the winner of the grand tournament”.
“Is it the warrior in red I have heard about?” Pem asked. “The one with the flying dragoon?”
“It is” Mary replied. “They will strike hard and fast, I want Yadia to fear she will be next. I have already let our defenders know to let a flying dragoon land. Although the beast is a true dragon, not a dragoon. Regardless he is just one blade of the swords I carry, I still have to play a dangerous game. I cannot crush our fighting forces; the Macomians still need to be dealt with after Yadia. Are you ready to take this journey with me?”
“I am” Pem replied as she watched a ship tilt to its side and throw her contents into the sea.
Mary stood there stone faced as she watched the majority of the men drown, before it was over at least a third of the original force was in the water before they even reached land. Mary thought it was a big waste of life as men started lowering smaller boats into the water from their ships to co
me to shore. They had to know they were being sacrificed, had to know they would be slaughtered. The beach was filled with big jagged rocks which made movement difficult already, the extra obstacles that had been added would ensure they would enter at a small fixed point to be slaughtered. Mary watched some of the small boats tip into the water forcing its occupants to throw off their armor and weapons and make a swim for it. The men who got to shore didn’t immediately charge, they were barely out of arrow range but Mary would wait for them to get right up until the gate before she started the attack.
“Griffins” Pem pointed out as Mary could see a flock of about 50 head her way. Mary thought this was extreme overkill, there were only about 400 at any one time and she had over a hundred of those on this island alone. That left roughly 250 to fight the Macomians, well less than that since Max had killed a few.
“Kill their riders and keep the animals when the attack comes” Mary said as the griffins climbed higher in sky. “Don’t fire upon them though, those animals are what we need to end this. Pem you must have pissed Yadia off for her to send so many after you”.
Mary watched the griffins as they soared overhead then turned around to go back to shore. This was just a fly by, Mary thought. Probably for recon purposes to see how many forces she had available. Mary saw the ships that were still able return for even more men, the enemy ended up losing another ship during the second drop. In all Mary counted the ships had made six drops total and of the roughly twenty or so they started with, they ended up with only 11. The sun began to descend as Mary could see the enemy had no plans on advancing yet, a few fires were started probably with great difficulty since Mary had most of the driftwood taken from the beach along with anything else useful. Mary sent most of her forces to sleep, if there was some stupid night time raid planned she would completely crush it with the plan she had already.
The next day Mary rose early, she had it worked out that Pem would lead during the night and she would during the day. Mary looked out over the water and saw almost every ship in port had to be out on the water, Yadia must have found out Mary was on the island which was exactly what she wanted. How Yadia had moved so many troops though so fast was baffling, they must have ridden throughout the night to get here. Yadia must have requisitioned all the vessels floating on the water, their owners had to be upset. A lot of those ships capsized as they got closer to Griffin Isle, but the impact they made could be seen instantly, Mary now had about 3000 men crowded on her beach and only 400 total defenders. The men started marching as Mary needed a way to set confusion in their ranks.
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