by Vic Broquard
The red belched forth a huge blast of his fiery breath, and from its size and intensity Zoran guessed that this was an older adult, capable of extremely hot, killing fires. Jarka found it hard to keep from flinching as the huge wall of searing flames came straight at her! It took every ounce of willpower to keep from fleeing from the flames, to stand still and trust in the rod in Zoran’s hand.
The attackers had the compounding problem of not knowing precisely where the women were being held further back in the cavern complex. Thus, they dare not cast area of effect type spells for fear of harming those whom they came to rescue. Zoran cast his Disintegrate spell hoping that it didn’t miss and accidentally cause harm to any who might be behind the red and in the line of sight. Bernard also realized this and cast his Hold spell, hoping to freeze the dragon in its tracks so that they could hack at it with their swords while it was motionless and couldn’t blast them with another fiery cone of searing flames. Jarka merely tried to hold her location against the flames as they rushed around the protective sphere around them. She was fascinated with how the flames were forced to follow this unnatural path, thanks to the rod.
Again, Zoran found himself on a grey plain staring at the old dragon, who glared back at him, evil hatred flowing from his very beingness towards him. He didn’t particularly hate this red. He’d never seen it before, nor did he know what, if anything, his role in these abductions and rapes had been. He held his position and didn’t react to the red’s hatred towards himself. Bernard appeared beside him now, also staring at the red. Likewise, Bernard didn’t react to the flow of hate coming from the red, rather he was merely bored as usual. All this time spent fiddling around on this grey plain seemed a complete waste of time to him. That was the last straw; the red’s will cracked. He could not cast fear into the minds of these two opponents.
Both spells detonated. The red was fast, dodging the Disintegrate spell. A chunk of the ceiling carved out by the spell dropped harmlessly onto the stone floor. However, he could not avoid the Hold spell of Bernard, since it covered the entire area in which he was located. The red found itself frozen to the spot to which it had dove to get out of the way of the deadly beam of destruction.
This gave the other two adult male reds time to get into position behind their motionless comrade. One opened his mouth and sent a second huge cone of fire out and over Zoran’s group, expanding ever outward, striking several other groups who were joining the attack. The second chose to cast his Lightning Bolt spell, aiming for Zoran’s head. Once more the rod activated, sucking into itself the spell’s energy, the bolt fizzled.
By now, Archmage Karel and his group had moved into position behind Zoran’s and they also tried to ignore the intensely hot flames flowing over themselves. Karel cast his Disintegrate spell at the motionless red directly in front of Zoran and this time, the red took the beam directly in its head. The enormous, lifeless body slumped slowly to the stone floor. Bernard countered with a second Hold spell, hoping to freeze the red that had cast the spell at them, while Jarka finally cast her first spell, but failed to win the battle of wills. However, from behind them all, Archmage Zdenka’s huge, Crushing Hand appeared around the red that cast the spell and began pummeling its head, sending bits of the dragon’s saliva right and left.
With so many in front of her partially blocking her view, Archmage Verushka could only dare cast her huge volley of simple Magical Missiles, significantly wounding the red that had just sent its fires towards them all. Several others took their cue from her and sent various volumes of their Magical Missiles towards it as well. While some lost their battle of wills with the dragon, too many succeeded and the red, severely wounded attempted to Shadow Walk out of the battle and the cavern.
“We’re on him dad!” Archmage Nadia called out. Towards the rear, she and her group had yet to get into the fray. Instead, she moved her group back into the Shadows after the dragon. As she moved her group close, her husband, Dusan, fatally stabbed it with his magically enchanted bastard sword. The red’s body ceased all movement and floated off in the Shadows, carried along by its previous momentum. Nadia then moved her group back to the cavern.
By the time that she returned, Zdenka’s Crushing Hand had beaten the red’s head into a mass of crushed bones and brains, and it too slumped onto the floor. Between the two dead reds, their passage into the cavern complex was rather blocked. As they began trying to climb over the huge forms, the female red stuck her head around a corner, peering out at the battle. The three guards were dead or gone and she made her choice. Their searing fires had not stopped the invaders nor had spells. Thus, she did a huge jump over the two dead and began clawing and biting at Zoran, who was in the lead.
“Potion Jarka!” Zoran yelled, fighting the intense pain in his leg. She’d nearly bitten it off; her teeth marks gouged into his leg bones! Jarka responded, while Bernard took a hold of the rod which Zoran dropped while holding his leg.
Verushka fired off a Disintegrate spell along with Karel, while Zdenka blasted the female red with a huge volley of Magical Missiles. Against all three, the red had no chance and her body joined the two guards. “I got him,” Jarka yelled, motioning for the others to pass them by and head further inside, looking for more reds.
“God, that looks bad,” whispered Baron John as he climbed over the carcasses, passing the prone Zoran, who was guzzling Jarka’s healing potions like water. The red had nearly bitten his left leg completely off, just above his knee!
“Bet that hurts,” Baron Arcangelo teased him as his trio passed them. Zoran gave him a glaring stare.
Soon, he heard various voices calling out, “Clear.” Shortly after that, he heard various gasps and exclamations of horror and revulsion, followed by, “We have some in here.” He relaxed a little, apparently they had killed the dragons and the others were now dealing with the women. “I feel a little giddy, Jarka, but the pain is subsiding.”
“You drank way too much at one time, silly man. It is working now. I can see the wound closing. Don’t try to stand for a while,” she ordered, digging out a wrapping bandage from her med kit that she’d just un-shrunk. “Never forget that a dragon is a formidable foe even if it doesn’t breathe fire on us or cast spells,” she chastised him. He groaned but knew she was right. He’d gotten too dependent upon the rod making him invulnerable and lowered his guard.
Archmage Verushka and her group were the first to enter into the deeper part of the complex and came upon the ghastly sight. The bloody, mutilated bodies of six women lay heaped in a pile, ready for disposal. The cold stone floor around them was covered in blood and quite slippery. The women’s internal organs were mostly gone, leaving a shell of their former bodies, ripped open for all to see. She fought hard to keep from gagging and vomiting, pressing on deeper inside instead. Her companions did likewise, though one muttered, “Oh dear god!”
Deep inside the cavern, four side chambers held the women and the crude pantry. Apparently, the female red had been handling the cooking and heating of these internal caverns, thus keeping the women warm, she concluded. One chamber held only four remaining women, all in labor. Her group and Nadia’s group stopped here and began their usual treatments, Morphing the baby dragon fetuses into human form, easing the terrible pains of the women, at least temporarily.
Archmage Zdenka’s group and Archmage Marek’s group explored the second side chamber, while Baron John’s group and Baron Arcangelo’s group took the third chamber. As the last group came up to Zoran, namely Baron Stefan’s group, Zoran asked him to return to the entrance and keep watch for other reds who might come to help defend the cavern complex. He agreed and took his people back to the entrance.
Zoran hated not being up front where the action was, but he dare not and could not stand on his injured leg yet. The bleeding had ceased and the healing potions were working, though not as fast as he wanted. He resigned himself to missing the action. “Bernard, move on up there and report back to me what they have found. I need to kno
w what’s happening.”
He grinned, “Okay, boss. Here, you are well enough now to hold onto the rod yourself.” He handed him the rod and headed on over the fallen dragons and disappeared from view.
Before long, Baron Arcangelo returned. “What incredible luck. We found our ten missing women. They are not due for a few more days! What luck, Zoran! I’m fetching our Duskas now. Zdenka has ordered us to take them to your infirmary at once. John’s found ten of his women, but they are not due until the 15th of June, according to what the women were told by the female red who was caring for them. Apparently, another ten were taken from Rehor. Old Clav probably doesn’t even know they are missing. Six have already died giving birth. We found their bodies — grizzly sight. Never seen anything as horrible before. The other four are in labor. Verushka and Nadia believe that they are going to have to deliver them right here in the cavern. Yes, over here gang,” he spotted the small army of Duskas materializing near the entrance. “Got twenty-five women from Terra and Cosma to rescue immediately.”
“What happened to you?” one asked Zoran as he passed him.
“Got bit by the red. Nearly took my leg off with one bite!” he replied glumly. Jarka smiled.
Bernard returned as Baron Arcangelo led the large Duska group deep into the complex. “Boss, it is really bad in there. I’ve never seen women in such awful condition. Their clothes, if you can call them that, are in tatters. They have more filth on them than clean skin. More than a few have been severely beaten. It’s a wonder that they are still alive. All are so emotionally drained that they appear zombie-like. I don’t think that they even realize that they are being rescued, boss. Four are giving birth now. The Archmages are keeping the babies Morphed into human form, so that’s something anyway. I think they are from Rehor, if you can believe that. It’s pretty grim in there. Spotted four piles of vomit along the way. Guess that’s understandable. Otherwise, not much is going on,” he yawned.
“Their arms. Bernard, how are their arms?” he asked.
“Oh, they seem to all have working arms, not like our batch of women. They are not chained either. I believe that they learned from that first batch and this time they kept three dragons watching over them at all times so the women couldn’t do anything — you know, like jump off the side of the mountain there at the entrance. Not sure what else might be wrong with them, though. It’s pretty chaotic in there.”
“Well, that is good news. I feared the worst, Bernard. Thanks.” He relaxed a bit more. If the women survived, at least they would not end up like those from Adapazan had.
The Duskas Shadow Walked the women out of the cavern directly. Thus, Zoran didn’t get to see them go by him as he lay with his back against one of the fallen reds. Before long, the distant noise died down somewhat. Baron John returned to check on Zoran and to report. “Only the four who are in labor are left now, baron. We are going back to the entrance to help guard it, just in case. Verushka says that we will have to remain here until the four give birth. Too risky to try to Shadow Walk them at this time. You hanging in there?”
“Yes, pain’s gone, but I can’t stand on it yet. Thanks, watch the entrance. Sooner or later I expect more to be coming. Honani says that when one is born, a red female comes to take it away and presumably raise it as her own.”
“Why do they need to use our females for this?” he asked.
“I think that their females are fertile only once every ten years or so.”
“Ah, I see. Cheap and easy way to increase their population rapidly then. Makes strategic sense,” Baron John replied, before following his group to the entrance, joining the others there. “I owe you a big thank you for not only finding them and helping to rescue them, but saving their lives when the foul beasts within them come forth. I’ll send along my Archmages when yours tell me that it’s time. These reds are just plain vile, wicked beasts that deserve to be extinct! I’m going to vote for that at the next High Council. I think that Arcangelo is going to second it.”
As he left, Zoran grimaced. Such talk was exactly what he was trying to prevent: an all our war against the dragons. He heard the sounds of a baby crying. At first, he thought it was a human child, but realized that it was just another Morphed Red Dragon. Quickly, the sound disappeared, he knew that one of the Archmages, probably Karel, had Vanished the beast. Mentally, he calculated only three more to go.
“Heads up! We have company coming!” someone yelled from the entrance. “Throw up a series of Force Walls!” another voice called out.
“Damn! Jarka, Bernard, help me up. We have to get to the entrance and back them up,” Zoran ordered, struggling to get onto his good leg. Leaning on Bernard with Jarka holding the precious rod, the three made their way slowly to the entrance. Archmage Karel came flying past them, rod in hand.
Marek stepped back to Zoran. “A few females are hovering outside, probably expecting to pick up new infant dragons. The Force Walls are holding for the time being, but sooner or later, they are going to break through them. I anticipate a whole army of reds to show up any moment. We ought to consider evacuating as soon as possible. I’ll go see how the ladies are doing.”
“Right. We don’t really want to take on a flock of reds. Some of the rods are getting low on charges,” he replied, continuing to make his way to the back of the group holding the entrance. Already one dragon was casting spells at the Force Wall. “Keep putting up more walls, stall them a while longer,” he ordered.
“Damn. Just what we don’t need right now,” Archmage Verushka cursed upon hearing Marek’s report. “They could Shadow Walk inside the caverns. I would not put that tactic past them if they can’t get the Force Walls down. However, moving these three women through the Shadows at this critical point — well, I don’t know what’s going to happen to them.”
“If they break through, it will be the end of us,” Marek countered.
“Okay, tell the others to evacuate. Come on, let’s get these three back to Brn if possible, ladies,” she ordered.
“Has anyone ever taken a woman in labor through the Shadows before?” asked Archmage Nadia. She too was worried about this aspect. If the dragons Morphed back to their true forms while they were in the Shadows, the mages could do little to prevent it, she thought. Everyone shrugged, but they had little choice. Sacrificing their lives for these three Rehor women was not an option; far too many others depended upon them.
“I’m taking you and your group through,” Baron John insisted. “Zoran, you can’t walk on that leg yet. Let me pull you through.” Zoran had never allowed anyone to pull him through the Shadows before, but he wasn’t about to crawl on his hands and knees, though he thought that he might be able to move through the Shadows that way. He agreed, much to the relief of Jarka and Bernard. Soon, Jarka felt her usual total disorientation accompanied by the strong urge to vomit, but she valiant fought to control her gagging, especially with Baron John doing the Shadow Walking. Her imagined humiliation of having him see her empty her stomach during the Shadow Walk out weighted her nausea and she survived the trip once more.
Nadia and Verushka, on the other hand, ran into some startling events. Dragons natively can Shadow Walk. Somehow, while still in the mother’s wombs, the infants detected that they were moving in the Shadows. All three had been fighting a losing battle with the Archmages and their Morph spells. Although they were far to young to actually Shadow Walk on their own, they attempted it anyway. All three reds burst out of their wombs, escaping into the Shadows, leaving behind the dying mothers. The Archmages gasped but could do nothing about it. However, the now free infants were confused and lost utterly, drifting off aimlessly in the Shadows. Soon they would die of starvation, a small consolation for their human hosts.
Upon arrival, the bloody dead bodies shocked everyone. “My god, what happened to them?” asked Zdenka. Nadia and Verushka explained what they had seen and were powerless to prevent.
“Well, I think we Duska learned something from this. Don’t take wo
men in labor through the Shadows,” Baron John proclaimed. “I will spread the word to other Duskas about this startling discovery. I don’t think anyone has tried to do this before now and we sure won’t after this!”
“Ladies, I’ll see that they get buried. You go attend all the other women,” Bernard volunteered. Jarka went with them, while Zoran sat down, rubbing his leg.
“It is itching fiercely,” he commented, as John stared at his antics.
Karel gathered up the rods to recharge them and the women went straight to the Infirmary where the other Duska women were already tending to the rescued women’s huge needs. Several of the previously rescued women from Jing were now in labor along with two who had just been rescued, which only added to the complications of handling twenty-six new arrivals. At least the men they’d recently rescued from the Jing mine were in another wing and required little attention at the moment.
By supper, Zoran was at last able to stand on his rapidly healing leg and he joined the others for dinner, receiving a full report from his wife. “Well, we’ve saved six more women — three each from Cosma and Jing. Three more are likely to go into labor this evening. We’ve got the women cleaned up, clothed, and fed, but we are facing a new problem. It seems that the reds have worked out a new method of torturing their captive women. Perhaps this was for the best.”
“What do you mean, dear?” he asked. His feeling of accomplishment suddenly vanished.
“Well, it seems that the reds cast Blindness on the women, shortly after they were brought to the cavern. Thus, the women were unable to see the rapes occurring or the horrors their companions were suffering as they gave birth and died. In a way, that may have been an act of kindness to the women. However, in the case of the Rehor women who were first ones brought to that cavern, the reds removed their eyes after three others tried to escape and chose to fall to their deaths rather than bear the dragon babies. Apparently, that did not go so well and two got serious infections and died before giving birth. That’s when they came up with the idea of using the Blind spell. The lone survivor, Andrea, will be permanently blind, obviously, and unable to learn magic spells, even though magical energies are strong in her body now.”