Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm

by J. Michael Fluck

  The ferocious Capital silver dragon Tigrenth went on the attack next; as he delivered a freezing blast almost centered in the target array, his paladin rider, Bagram, waved his holy sword in support of his dragon. Next, it was Mkel and Gallanth’s turn. The large gold dragon moved to the outer portion of the parade field and with a small sprint and jump was airborne. He quickly ascended to attack altitude, and as soon as Mkel gave him the sign that he had Markthrea ready, the gold dragon began his dive. Mkel had a slightly larger than standard explosive-tipped bolt, which he only used for firing at large or grouped targets on the ground, for though it carried a greater explosive power, it fired at a slightly lower velocity.

  Gallanth nosed down and began to pick up speed as he gave a challenge roar that would have torn at the soul of any living creature save Tiamat herself. His attack angle was steep but not so much that it wouldn’t let Mkel get a good shot. Mkel felt Gallanth’s muscles tighten and then the hot blast of air that came over him as the gold dragon released his devastating plasma fireball breath weapon. Mkel quickly took aim just below the center of the target circle several hundred yards away to allow the crossover of his dragon’s fiery discharge with his speedy projectile and fired. His bolt caught up to the glowing mass of destruction just as it hit the ground in the center of the painted scoring circles. The combined detonations had a synergistic effect, which made the explosion that much more brilliant and devastating. Gallanth had released his breath weapon attack early so he could prepare a spell as he passed over the target site. When he and Gallanth flew over the site, he unleashed over twenty chain lightning bolts that fired from his outstretched front claws in a rapid and thunderous succession. Their combined energies again fed the continuous explosions; just when they were dying down, Mkel cycled another exploding-tip bolt and swung Markthrea’s swivel mount around. While twisting around as hard as he could to the right to look back over Gallanth’s tail, he fired the bolt, which screamed back toward the ground as Gallanth was ascending. The bolt exploded just as the last of the fires from the gold dragon’s lightning spell subsided to accentuate the destruction and highlight the accuracy of the combined deadly strikes.

  The devastation left on the surface and the targets were no match for the thunderous applause that the two received as they ascended and turned back toward the weir’s amphitheater. The crowds were very much pleased with what they had witnessed; the judges were equally pleased with the dragon and rider pair shooting a near-perfect score. Nobody got even remotely closer than they did on that run, as the next ten dragons and riders tried to best their score. Mkel and Gallanth’s next two runs went just as well, with only the last diving attack seeing them drop a couple of points.

  “They are definitely on their game today,” Jodem said to Toderan, as they watched the competition from the alcove and from Jodem’s staff’s projection.

  “I think they will at least place, if not take the match. I know Gallanth was determined and Mkel wanted it as well,” Toderan said.

  “I’m just glad they are on our side. I would not like to face them on an angry battlefield or even on the sea,” Lawrent stated as he took another drink from his tankard. “At least Mkel can drink a little tonight; he doesn’t need to be sober for the ground thunder game tomorrow or the dragon race the next day.”

  “He has a lot on his mind with the recent fight at Battle Point and will face no less danger in the senate meeting next week,” Jodem replied.

  “With Gallanth and us by his side, he will be fine,” Toderan assured all present.

  “I agree, but the road will still be rocky—Wait! Canjon is announcing the competition,” Jodem answered and then paused to hear the dragon ambassador.

  “Citizens and Friends of the Alliance, I am ever so anxious to announce the winners of this auspicious and spectacular event. First, I want you all to show your appreciation for those who not only defend us and keep us free, but also provide those comfort stones and crystals that make our lives so much easier and enjoyable, the dragons of the Alliance!” he finished as loud cheers erupted from the spectators. A small fraction was yelling negative epitaphs from the far right of the stands. This was mostly drowned out, however.

  “I am pleased to give you our third-place dragon and rider team, Krysanth and his rider Scandalon of Talinor Weir!” Canjon announced. It was a pleasant surprise to see a brass dragon place in a competition. This was likely due to his rider’s accuracy with his dragonstone crossbow. When the crowd’s applause faded, Canjon continued, “In second place and for the first time in competition, our young but capable team from Talinor Weir, Baranth and Altmed!” The applause rose. It was indeed a surprise for such a young silver dragon and rider to place so high in this difficult competition.

  Impressive indeed, Mkel thought to himself.

  “Now I give you the clear overall place winner of the dragon’s fire competition. Our own victors of the recent fight at Battle Point, the commanders of Draden Weir, the mighty Gallanth and his rider Captain Mkel!” he shouted at the end, clearly excited at seeing his friend win. Mkel looked over to Gallanth and reached up to hug the nose of his dragon.

  In a rare public moment of emotional display, the large gold dragon’s eyes glowed before he closed them and said out loud, “Congratulations, my rider; we did well today.” He then lifted his head to give a triumphant roar as the spectators went wild. All on the Draden Weir alcove went crazy, even Toderan jumped up and shook arms with Jodem and Lawrent in a rare expression of solidarity between the paladin and the raider.

  Canjon and Becknor personally presented the medals to the place winner riders and shook their hands. The dragons themselves did not receive anything, for that was not their way. This would have concluded the games that day, but the POE protestors took advantage of the applause, broke through the security gate by the amphitheater seating, and rushed the field shouting and hoisting their signs. They ran up to the four dragons, which were in front of the others that covered the field, as they were the ones who had received the place awards. They began to shout, “Down with the dragons and wizards! Killers of the innocent!” along with several other insults. Their many protest signs contained slogans such as, “Gold for Peace, Nothing for the Alliance Army,” “Enlightened Rule Not Dragon Cruel,” and “Free Comfort Crystals for All.” There were almost as many Nature Purists in the dubious bunch as the Enlightened, all with equally inflammatory signs and the same ignorant uninformed attitude.

  The Draconia city constables and the Draco Guards rushed to regain control of the defiant protestors and also brought in two older land dragons and a spiked drake to corral them in with their sheer size. This also kept the metallic dragons safe from any false claims of injury if they would have to protect themselves or their riders. A Nature Purist screamed at the land dragon crew, “Death to those impure creatures! They all should be put to the spear!”

  The annoyed retired soldier, now constable, tossed a short spear to the protestor and said, “If you want it done, then do it yourself, fool!” The confused, scraggly looking young man dropped the spear as the old land dragon looked down at him with a hiss; smoke started to pour from his mouth slowly. “Coward!” the crewman again shouted as his dragon billowed out a hot cloud of heated smoke, which caused that part of the crowd to quickly back away from the metallics.

  At the other half of the unruly crowd, a somewhat brave Enlightened protestor spit at and then struck a Draco Guard in the face. Immediately, that guard and two other guards grabbed the attacker and threw him away from the crowd. He landed hard and tumbled on the ground. He was then hit multiple times by their shock rods, which were small, three to-four-foot-or-so-long rods with a small, modified lighting crystal that could deliver a bone-shattering, but nonlethal jolt to the recipient. These were the constables’ chief weapon when they didn’t want to harm an assailant. The protestor writhed on the ground as he was bound, gagged, and hauled off to serve a hard s
entence for striking an Alliance constable and veteran. He would likely face five to ten years on the prison island, even with the best Enlightened arbitrator defending him in front of the Draconian magistrate, for weir law took precedence now that he assaulted a veteran and weir member.

  Another Enlightened protestor came to within shouting distance of the three metallic dragons and shouted, “Vile dragons, killing for gemstones and tyranny!”

  Gallanth could not resist but to answer. “The chromatics, Morgathians, and Shidanese deliberately murder women, children, and civilians for cause and effect as well as just for pure terror. Any that are slain by the Alliance are by accident or unintentional collateral damage and are given compensation. It is all about intent, much like your intent to incite violence here today for your twisted sense of peace that is actually capitulation and enslavement. But now you are choosing to relieve yourself,” Gallanth finished as his eyes flashed and moved his head toward the protestor. The fear a dragon could instill in any man, especially those without courage, could be a powerful weapon in its own right. This caused him to immediately urinate and defecate on himself. In the split seconds that it took the shabbily dressed young man to come back to his senses, he realized that somehow he had soiled himself, and he quickly started to run back toward the amphitheater seating and the washrooms. This caused Mkel temporarily to lose his anger toward the ignorant Enlightened protestors and laugh uncontrollably, as did the other riders present. Even the dragons chortled.

  By then, the constables and Draco Guards had formed a tight ring around the mob and began to push them back with the aid of several more on horseback, the two land dragons, and the mithril knight on his spike drake. Everyone seemed to fear the new creature, but the several shock rod strikes helped as well. Just then, a counter protest group of dragon supporters mixed with the very cult like dragon gypsies began to clash with the Enlightened protestors and Nature Purists, and several fights started to break out. At this occurrence, the Enlightened mob leadership broke ranks and began to run to an awaiting carriage just on the far right side of the arena seating. The spiked drake and its rider noticed this and took off after them. The protest leaders reached the carriage and quickly got in, but their horses had bolted at the sight of the elephant-sized beast with its menacing two rows of back and tail horns, making it seem even larger and more ferocious.

  Since the young but large lizard wasn’t satisfied with this, he decided to move next to the carriage, lift his left rear leg, and send a stream of hot urine onto and into it. Upon seeing this, the section of the crowd that had witnessed it started to erupt in a thunderous laughter as the two Enlightened protesters stumbled out of the carriage, drenched with drake urine.

  “A good aim,” Mkel said to Gallanth in between fits of laughter.

  “Yes, very impressive; you’re lucky he doesn’t shoot a crossbow,” Gallanth answered quickly, and Mkel laughed out loud at his dragon’s sense of humor. He looked in the direction of the drake and paused. The orange-brown-colored creature looked back and began almost to pant, like a happy puppy that had just pleased its master and then walked away back toward the mass melee, which actually stopped fighting in unison when they heard laughter over the shouting. The constables, with the help of the mounted knights, along with their own shock rods took advantage of the pause and managed to move the mob back to the side of the amphitheater.

  “I wish it was that easy to stop a Morgathian battle charge,” Mkel said out loud.

  “The simplest of actions from the simplest of creatures can have profound effects. That spiked drake diffused a tense situation without bloodshed or injury. This was impressive, even if he did not have that intention for his action, which had an equally profound effect on those POE protest inciters. Good job, my young friend,” Gallanth stated and nodded to the spiked drake, who warbled a kind of thanks, for they did not have the power of speech but were still moderately intelligent.

  “Now that we have brushed the rubbish from the field, I declare this day’s games over. Please come back tomorrow, for the open weapons, aerial archery, and the earth-shattering ground thunder game will be played, the Capital Weir against all the other weirs, with the first time inclusion of the land dragons and now the spiked drakes as players. It will be an event not to miss. Please stay for the after-game festivities and thank you. May the Creator bless you and your families,” Canjon finished as he pulled his sword from the podium and sheathed it. He walked over to Mkel and gave him a big hug, as Amerenth bowed to Gallanth, congratulating the gold dragon and rider on their performance in Draconic.

  They quickly dispersed and returned to the alcove where Jodem, Toderan, Lawrent, and the remainder of their crew were waiting for them as Gallanth gently back-winged and set down on the landing. As Mkel climbed down off of Gallanth, he was met with congratulatory handshakes and hugs and a tankard of ale was shoved into his hand. Jodem told him how proud he was that he had actually listened to him all these years. Toderan and Lawrent also congratulated him, along with Ordin, Dekeen, and the rest. Annan even called Mkel over his crystal to congratulate him on the match. Mkel was glad to see her and Michen’s image and hear their voices.

  The next morning, Gallanth let Mkel sleep in, for the competitions his rider was to take part in were over, except for the final event, the dragon race. The open weapons competitions had begun, as had the aerial archery. The ground thunder game would be starting after lunch. While the weapons matches were basically a brutal competition, the weapons were enchanted by the Capital Weir wizards to simulate a strike. In this, the opponent being hit felt the pain as if it was a real wound, but the blade or club barely touched his or her body. The aerial archery was both a flying duel and a ground strike match, with similar rules and restrictions as the open weapons. Those two games were very interesting to the spectators, but everyone was waiting for the ground thunder match. This game was where the dragons ran and slammed into each other in an attempt to get a large spongy ovoid ball made of the sap from the elven mogra tree to one side of the parade field and carry it over a goal line for one point or throw it into an opening in a solid stone archway at either end of the parade field for three points. The throw or kick of the game ball had to be made from outside the marked-off area where only the goal defender could stand, a half-circular area approximately one hundred feet in diameter. The mogra sap was used for many other applications, like on the bottoms of boots, because of its soft but highly wear-resistant properties.

  Each team was composed of fifteen dragons—six land, two brass, two copper, two bronze, two silver, and one gold dragon. For this reason, Gallanth had to play since he was the only non-Capital Weir gold dragon. The game always pits the Capital Weir against all the other weirs. The dragons themselves did not care for the match, since it did not promote practice for combat or mentoring, but since its popularity was at an all-time high in the Alliance among teams of men and women from each city in the republic, for promotion of goodwill, they acquiesced.

  “Wake, my rider, I don’t want you to miss even the noon meal from your celebrations,” Gallanth told his rider telepathically.

  Groggily, Mkel rose, “Yes, my friend, I would not want to miss your silly game.”

  “Don’t remind me; I do not look forward to it either, but all for goodwill,” he replied.

  “I will get ready quickly,” Mkel said as he got up and went to bathe.

  Mkel walked out with his riding gear on and received several jibes from his friends for getting up late, but they understood that the celebrations of the previous evening were well deserved and necessary.

  “Going for your front-row seat for the ground thunder game, young dragonrider?” Ordin said to Mkel in his normal gruff but friendly tone.

  “Yes, I look so forward to it, as does Gallanth,” he replied sarcastically.

  “Well, the people of Draconia and the republic certainly enjoy it, so it does a great deal f
or weir and dragon relations, my friend,” Jodem explained.

  Mkel knew he was right but still did not catch the fever of the game that had enamored so much of the populace of the republic.

  “Gallanth, much luck to you!” Lawrent yelled up to the gold dragon.

  “Thank you, Raider, but the actual outcome of the game is of little consequence to the dragons, just the goodwill and camaraderie we share with those we serve,” Gallanth stated in a matter-of-fact manner. Mkel then mounted, and he and Gallanth stepped off the ledge and glided down to the front side of the parade field where the other dragons had begun to gather. The weapons competitions had just ended and the aerial archery finalists had landed to the cheers of the crowd. The dragons lined up as the place awards were given for those two competitions to give respect to those who strived for excellence and those who gave their best.

  Mkel and the other riders then walked over to the front row of seating reserved for them beside the premier’s cordoned-off section. Canjon then began to announce the beginning of the ground thunder game, “Citizens and Peoples of the Republic, I am honored to announce the start of the much-awaited ground thunder game of our friends and protector dragons of the Alliance. We all like to watch the hand-and-foot or thunderball league games our cities’ teams play both in the stadiums across our great republic and on the communal seeing crystals. But here for you now, the one time a year that this popular game is played with the ground-shaking thunderous tremors of the largest and most powerful dragons in the world, I present to you, the ground thunder game!” he shouted as the applause rose to new heights.

  The dragons began to line up on opposite sides of the parade field, and a thunder giant moved from the weir’s northern entrance to referee the match. The twenty-five-foot-tall pale, green-blue-skinned giant strode in, his off-white, opal-colored tunic flowing in the slight breeze accentuating his thin but muscular build. Even though they looked less powerful than the mountain giants, they were considerably stronger, both physically and in their ability to generate magic. This was not King Golefad, but one of his relatives; a noble of some sort, Mkel believed his name was Rathorn. This event needed an impartial creature big enough, fast enough, and nimble enough to officiate a game of this magnitude. He was carrying the large spherical ball under his left arm. It was an oversized version of what the human athletes carried for their thunder ball game—over eight feet in length and weighing several hundred pounds. It was made of solid mogra material.