“Again, Senator, this is a forceful negotiation not a capitulation.
These pirate attacks will stop or else there will be consequences,” Becknor fired back.
“Senator, General, we have put a question to the king, and I believe he owes us all an answer,” Canjon spoke quickly directing the question to Ibliss to gain a semblance of control of the meeting as all looked to Ibliss.
“Senators of the Alliance, Dragonriders, we of the kingdom of Shidan neither condone nor support the Blood Wolf scourge on the high seas and will do our utmost to cooperate with the Alliance in these matters. However, as a poor land, we do need aid in this endeavor,” he answered but still tried to skirt the question.
“King Ibliss, while your sentiment is noted, you have not truly answered the question. You can either ally yourself with the Alliance and enjoy the benefit of our friendship or embrace the pirates and the Morgathians and suffer under both their greed and selfish evil. As for your kingdom being poor, the Freilanders are growing a liking to intercepting the shipments of gemstones in your flagless ships bound for Morgathia,” Canjon quickly answered the king, pointing out his falsehoods.
At that moment, a commotion came from outside the palace as the ground shook.
“Amerenth, what is the matter?” Canjon spoke out loud.
“My rider, there are chromatics inbound,” his dragon answered telepathically.
“King Ibliss, everyone, there are several wings of chromatic dragons approaching; we must prepare for battle,” he explained as all in the room began to speak of the impending attack.
“No, no, my brave holy warriors on their manticores will drive them away. This is a common occurrence here. As you see, the Morgathians and their dragon allies attack us as well. I demand you keep your dragons on the ground, for I will not have my squadrons of sacred winged beasts insulted by the Alliance thinking we cannot defend ourselves from a dragon scourge,” Ibliss demanded as he shouted for his general to send their winged divisions up to meet the threat.
“Yes, General, I demand that the Capital Wing remain grounded and let His Majesty’s brave warriors answer this challenge. I would even assume that our mere presence here, your insulting dragons, has drawn this attack,” Tekend rudely spoke out to Becknor.
“I will consent to keeping our dragons from the fight, but if one chromatic gets anywhere near us, we will answer,” Becknor vigorously spoke over the Enlightened senator as he stood up, his pure mithril sword’s large diamond dragonstone glowing, and he walked out of the room toward the palace entrance.
CHAPTER VI
Fire’s March
Mkel and Gallanth were finally getting back to the weir from their escort of the avenger dragons to Battle Point. It was a good but short trip, and he was happy that Valcurath chose Decray as her rider. This was another twist and surprise with these new young species of dragon, in that a female dragon chose a male rider, Mkel thought to himself. He knew the other Avengers were going to be split between Freiland and Ian after they increased their numbers a little and would reinforce the weirs and metallics at other places of instability and danger. Even though they couldn’t truly soul bond, she likely chose him because of their keen sense and ability to know what was in a man’s heart. He was known to be a compassionate yet strong and fierce leader and warrior, as explained to her by Gallanth on their flight to Battle Point. These were qualities that the avengers themselves seemed to possess: a determined and unwavering courage, audacity, and loyalty, but coupled with a caring heart.
“Gallanth, can you ask the weir guardian whether or not Atlean Weir had informed it that the brass dragon egg there was ready to hatch?” he asked. He wanted Crystinj to go to the ceremony to see if the young hatchling would bond with her. “And is that pirate Lawrent and his drunken raiders back from their hunting trip in the Gray Mountains yet?” he asked.
“No, on both questions, my rider, and the fire giants haven’t moved either. Eladran Weir will let us know if they march, and Lupek’s rangers are also watching them,” Gallanth replied.
“Thank you, my friend. Now let’s get to the weir and get you something to eat,” Mkel said to Gallanth as they flew into the mouth of the mountain fortress. Mkel landed, and Annan was there to meet him with Michen. Even at three months of pregnancy, she was barely showing. Silvanth was resting at her ground-level bed now, with her being impregnated as well. Mkel was very glad as always to see his son and wife after being away for a few days, and they spent the rest of the afternoon together.
That evening, the Freiland raiders finally made it back from their weeks-long hunting excursion. The floating wagons they were loaned by the weir were half filled with cold boxes of venison and other game as they entered the mountain. Most of the raiders were either slightly drunk or in varying stages of sobering up, for with the look of the wagons, they had recently run out of mead, ale, and wine.
“About time you pirates got back; you’ve been gone for almost two weeks,” Mkel said smiling at Lawrent as he stumbled down off of the wagon. “I see you had a couple of mishaps,” he continued as he looked at a couple of places on the wagon where it had hit a tree or large rock.
“These things take a little getting used to steering, much more responsive than a raider ship,” Lawrent said with his normal toothy smile. Mkel motioned for his halfling kitchen workers to come out and take the venison boxes into the kitchen for cleaning and preparation for their ships for travel, after they took their portions for the service. “It was good hunting, my dragonrider friend; you should have been with us,” Lawrent said to Mkel as he grabbed his hand and gave him a hug.
“I would have only shot more game than you, and by the looks of it, you already had a hard time,” he replied with a smile that Lawrent returned.
“Captain Mkel, I need to see you quickly,” Toderan said through Mkel’s crystal.
Mkel replied that he was on his way and took Lawrent with him. They walked into the main council meeting room as Toderan was sitting at the far end of the large oaken U-shaped table with Jodem beside him. They were both looking at the images projected from their seeing crystals.
“Sir, a couple of disturbing events are occurring. First, the Morgathians have destroyed the Arianan city of Hasera. Several of their divisions and three wings of chromatics wiped out the army stationed there and then razed the city. The Morgathians lost half of their force sent against the Arianans and almost a whole wing of dragons, but the city was taken, massacred, and looted. Apparently, something happened to a Morgathian envoy there, and this was retribution. Also, two more wings of chromatics just attacked Dagrad while the two Capital Wings are there on a diplomatic envoy. They have not been attacked directly, but a battle rages in the skies above the Shidanese capital. And the best news, the fire giants are mobilizing and their lead elements are moving toward the Gray Mountains,” Toderan explained as the images of all three events were portrayed from the dragonstones.
“You come back for mere moments and look what you caused!” Mkel lightly punched Lawrent in an attempt to break up the tension from the announced events but turned serious to address his thoughts on the situation.
“Has Eladran Weir mobilized?” he asked.
“They are doing so now. They have sent their centaur battalion forward and are getting their cavalry regiment prepared as we speak,” Jodem answered.
“All right, get the garrison and their equipment staged tonight for a move out sometime late tomorrow morning. I’ll contact Colonel Lordan to synchronize our plans and get Colonel Wierangan informed of the pending battle, for I know the Draden Regiment will want to partake in this one,” he ordered. “I guess you’ll be going now, since you’ve already stayed much longer then you had planned?” he asked Lawrent.
“Dragonrider, I wouldn’t miss this one for all my raider ships. I’ll get my men ready by tomorrow,” he quickly answered. They all agreed
to meet later the next morning and departed to ready themselves for battle. Mkel had to break the news to Annan, but she already knew from Silvanth. They discussed the situation as he prepared his battle gear. Annan made him promise to be careful and not take any unnecessary risks like at Battle Point. He replied that with Gallanth with him, he would be all right, but she stressed that Silvanth was concerned as well, for they both could not help much if the need arose. He calmed her down by reminding her that all of Eladran Weir was going to be there with their full complement of dragons. This put her more at ease, but not totally.
The dragons, their riders, and the senators all watched the aerial battle between the chromatics and the Shidanese manticores for hours. However, the city’s wall-mounted heavy ballistae seemed to fire very haphazardly at the evil dragons during this time, which seemed strange to the Capital Wing riders, considering gunners similar to these took out half a wing of chromatics at Hasera. The manticore squadrons employed a group attack method, wherein they would mass volley their spikes at an attacking dragon, and were having a measure of a success at this, keeping the chromatics from actually attacking the city. However, the metallic dragons and riders noticed something peculiar about the airborne duel.
“My rider, there is something wrong with this battle,” Valianth spoke to Therosvet.
“What, my dragon?” he responded.
“This fight almost seems rehearsed. The chromatics are not really trying to kill those manticores, almost as if they are avoiding inflicting casualties, which is very uncharacteristic of them.”
“I agree with Valianth, something is wrong,” Becknor stated.
“The brave Shidanese forces are very proficient in defending their city, General, maybe you should be looking to take lessons rather than criticize,” Tekend yelled over to the dragonriders with a smarmy smile across his wide face, as he continued to sip on his flask of strong ale as if taking extra pleasure in this spectacle.
“No, Senator, you obviously don’t know your chromatic enemy and the merciless ferocity they have. You must realize this is a ruse,” Becknor snapped back at the arrogant senator.
Then a blue dragon broke through the squadrons of manticores and flew over the Capital Wings yelling down in Draconic, “What is the matter, my worm friends? Are you afraid to come up and face us? So much for the famed power of the metallic dragons and their riders!” he roared as he ascended to rejoin the fight.
“Do not respond until we are directly attacked, my friends,” Becknor ordered all in his charge, even though it truly bothered him not to send their mortal enemies to the underworld. This tactic was repeated by several chromatics over the next several hours and into the next morning, until a young but physically mature white dragon flew in close and, obviously frustrated by the lack of response from the metallics, fired its icy beam breath weapon at the Capital Wing. Their combined anti magic shields easily absorbed the bluish ray, which was immediately met with a hail of breath weapons and spells that utterly annihilated the white chromatic. Afterward, Valianth roared a command to mount and prepare for battle.
“What are they doing, sending the first group of fire giants to march without their gnoll scouts or cavalry? Just those several dozen fire giants, common giants, ogres, and orcs. It doesn’t make sense from a tactical standpoint,” Lupek spoke to Deless as he motioned to the accompanying rangers, elves, and centaurs.
“They might have gotten impatient, or they could be sending a robust guard force ahead of their main army,” Deless theorized.
“For now, it doesn’t matter, for I see the gnoll scouts; they are coming up fast on the flanks trying to almost scale the side of the mountain. We can’t be compromised; we have to go now,” Lupek motioned for the small group of his and Eladran Weir’s rangers to fall back but still maintain contact with the enemy advance. “Steilas, Reijner, you are staying?” he asked of the two elves.
“We will be fine here. Someone has to keep an eye on that army down there and all those chromatic dragons. We will not be compromised, for even the gnolls will not find us or smell us,” the two elf rangers stated matter-of-factly.
“All right, but if you are discovered, exfiltrate as quickly as possible and call for us to pick you up. We will be there. Until then, may the Creator watch over you. Tell us what you see,” Lupek quickly nodded to his comrades, and the rest of his group hastily moved out. The two elves quickly lay down and pulled their cloaks over their heads. The garments turned to match the color and pattern of the nearby vegetation, making them almost perfectly blend into their surroundings. Within minutes, the gnoll scouts sped past them oblivious to their presence.
The next morning, Colonel Lordan had most all of his mounted legion assembled. His wife and her silver dragon Asharanth, as well as Baranth and the young silver dragonrider Altmed, had been teleporting the scout centaurs, rangers, and their s all morning, along with a couple mixed platoons of heavy, medium, and light cavalry, as well as a slice from the support corps to the assembly area cleared by the Draden and Eladran rangers. Assembling a force of his legion’s size was no small task, but they had been on alert for some time and had been preparing for it. His three mixed cavalry battalions, the remainder of the allied centaur battalion, and his land dragon battalion were staging on the field between the weir and Lucian Forest along the shore of the grand Eresta Lake. His weir’s dragons were getting their flying rigs fitted for battle, and his catapult battalion and support corps were readying their wagons.
Soon, all remaining forces were ready and assembled in the late-autumn morning just as the two silver dragons returned from their last trip to the assembly area. Lordan gave the order of transport to the battalion commanders, as well as a quick synopsis of where they were to go in the field the rangers and his advanced forces had secured for them. He and Talonth would teleport three battalions to their destination, and Asharanth and Baranth would ferry the rest in a couple of trips. His legion was highly mobile, being pure cavalry or mounted in some fashion or another.
As he was about to tell his dragons to leave, the lead elements of the 29th Legion started to arrive through the teleportation circle beside the weir. As the legionnaires began to move from the mithril alloy ring, he called to the legion commander through his seeing crystal and told him that as they had a battalion ready, the two other silver dragons would teleport them to the assembly area. With that, he raised his mithril-tipped lance, its dragonstone glowing brightly to signal his weir dragons to take to the sky and meet them at the assembly area. The nineteen dragons all rose into the air and glided over the large lake, the two bronze dragons Fieranth and Killenth leading the other dragons and the hundreds of hippogriffs, giant eagles, and s of the Eladran aerial battalion right behind them. As soon as they had gained the proper height and achieved the densely packed formation and the two bronzes and their riders ensured that all the dragons had the proper picture of their destination, they vanished in a brilliant blue flash. This was a feat that they had never tried before, but it was a success as they all emerged over the grassy meadow of the assembly area in the forests to the east of the Gray Mountains.
Mkel had the entire Draden Weir garrison assembled on the weir grounds between the lake and the weir landings across from the tavern. He called everyone to pay attention as he was to give them a warning order to ensure all knew what was in store upon their arrival to the designated assembly area. He drew Kershan and stuck the mithril blade into the stone floor. He then spoke a couple of words in Draconic, and the ruby dragonstone displayed a model of the assembly area in the forest to the east of the Gray Mountains. All of his garrison, the elves, and dwarves were gathered in a semicircle around Gallanth, who was lying down as a backdrop, with Mkel in front of the gold dragon.
“Soldiers and Friends of Draden, I want to give you the latest on what is happening with this threat we are about to engage. First, Gallanth and I will be teleporting you to this location in t
he assembly area that the rangers picked out for us. We will immediately assume this portion of the field to place ourselves and defend it should the need arise. Once all of our garrison and the Draden regiment arrive here, and all of Eladran with the 29th Legion get settled in, we will confirm the latest the rangers have on the advancing fire giant army coming from their westernmost colony. They are attacking from here.” He had his sword brighten the fire giants’ crude castle built on the side of a semi active volcano. “They have gathered the largest army seen since the Great War and dozens of chromatics are with them. Their intent is not clear, but we think they want to raid either Eladran or Draden Weir just to prove that they can conduct a successful attack on Alliance territory, as well as to sack our treasury, especially the gemstones. We will give a more complete battle plan when we get all our forces together. Now mount up and prepare for teleport,” he ordered as the image from his sword disappeared back into the gem. He pulled the blade from the ground and sheathed it in his belt; for he already had Markthrea slung over his back and would move Kershan there before battle.
They all started to mount and assume their positions around Gallanth. They had an easier time fitting the whole garrison around and under him since the wagons of the catapult section and the support corps were now without the need for horses. All of them now mounted the floating battlewagons. The box-shaped reinforced wagons were quietly hovering three feet above the ground as all moved to their places. The soldiers had determined that three of the special dragonstones allowed the wagon to float and be pulled effortlessly by horses. Four allowed a wagon to move on its own power for moderate speeds of an average horse gallop. Five allowed them to carry the heavy loads of the catapults or supplies and still move on their own. This would, however, be a baptism by fire for these new inventions.
As soon as they were ready, Gallanth and Mkel focused on the image that Lupek had sent him on his seeing crystal, and as all the weir staff and families waved, they disappeared in the familiar blue flash of light. They emerged in the middle of the meadow on the north portion of the clearing. All the soldiers, raiders, dwarves, and elves immediately dispersed and moved to their planned areas to help fortify the temporary location. Dekeen sent out two small patrols of his elves for local security and to tie in with the rangers and centaurs.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 31