Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm

by J. Michael Fluck

  “If we are not engaged, we will be an exploitation force for the legions. If you are surrounded, go to the turnstile formation until I can send the rangers as reinforcements or break from the battle in the air. We will be teleporting out after the evening meal, so I want all pre-battle inspections performed before we move to the pass. Are there any questions? . . . Thank you, and I will be talking to you all again tonight with hopefully a little more information about the enemy. I also want to get the plans from the platoon leaders on their ideas for the fight after we get to the pass once you have walked the ground,” Mkel finished, and the garrison began to prepare for the movement to the mountain pass and the battle to come.

  “Why hasn’t the main body of the army left yet?” the Morgathian Talon sorcerer Marlok demanded of one of the officers of his senior death knight Restregem.

  “Sire, we are getting the orcs in formation now, and the fire giants have been slow to move as well,” the nervous officer stated. While not a death knight, he was of somewhat importance, as indicated by the polished status of his black-iron armor.

  “I want that oaf of a fire giant king brought here at once!” he demanded. The officer quickly acknowledged, turned, and almost ran to where the hundreds of giants were gathering on the far side of the shallow valley of their mountain castle.

  “Now we must finalize these battle plans or we will be desynchronized with the feint attacks being conducted in Shidan and on the Alliance coastal fortresses,” he directed Restregem and his war council.

  “Yes, my liege,” the death knight answered as they looked over a map of the Gray Mountains and started to argue over the plan of attack. “The advance guard is well on its way to clear the path of any rogue elf or centaur clans, as well as the Alliance outposts in the mountains. They will establish a foothold on Alliance soil on the enemy’s side of the pass. From here, our main army will thrust quickly toward their dragon fortress called Eladran. Our six wings of chromatics will overwhelm the twenty or so dragons there. This will allow the reserve of the army to seize and breach their gates once the main part of our force and the Alliance fortress legion both destroy each other. The plan is simple,” he explained.

  “What of the catapults and their cavalry, not to mention their land dragons—each of which alone is deadly much less when they’re synchronized?” Sadok asked.

  “Our catapults will move through the pass and then establish their firing groups behind the army to prepare for firing on both the Alliance legion and then the mountain fortress itself. As for their land dragons and cavalry, the giants and the behirs will silence them,” Marlok theorized.

  “I wouldn’t be so confident,” Ashram’s voice came through his mind-eye spell, which materialized just above and behind the gathered group. Just at that moment, the dozens of chromatic dragons that were perched at the base of the fire giants’ mountain castle looked up, and the lead red dragon bellowed out his challenge roar to Ashram mounted on his province’s senior red dragon, Infernex. The large red descended quickly and landed by the gathered dozens of chromatics, with a commanding, ground-shaking thud and looked over to the other demon red dragon with a slight hiss to his breathing. Ashram carefully and slowly levitated down from the chromatic’s crude saddle and walked over to the group of other sorcerers and death knights, as Infernex began a heated debate with Marlok’s lead red dragon Vorgash. Ashram’s nightmare steed landed behind Infernex and carefully moved away from the arguing dragons.

  “Well, to what do we owe the honor of the mighty sorcerer of the lost battle of Handsdown?” Marlok spat at him.

  “Keep your fangs together, worm. I am here to warn you of what you are about to face,” Ashram countered.

  “Oh, I would have thought that you were here to either redeem your embarrassing defeat by three dragons and one simple legion or for your chance at the Alliance dragons’ treasure to make up for them pillaging the hoards of your lost squadrons of chromatics that were taken,” Marlok again insulted him.

  “If that is what you think, fool, then send your army out ahead of your dragons and see what will happen when the Alliance chews them apart. But then your army, with the aid of the fire giants, is so much more powerful than the portion of my army that had to face the Alliance. Please go and seek the victory you so rightly deserve, as Nozok and Tbok have done in Ariana against the desert vermin. But this would be a victory against the Alliance. A defeat over our vaunted and ancient enemy and the strength of their metallic dragons, not to mention the untold riches that lay hidden in those weir fortresses of theirs that would be yours for the taking. But you already know that you will easily defeat the two squadrons of metallic dragons at Eladran Weir and easily handle the cavalry legion garrisoned there as well. So who am I to offer you humble advice, oh wise Marlok?” Ashram offered his explanation with a chastising tinge.

  “Then what would you have us do different, my dear Ashram? And speak quickly, for it looks like your conversion to being an undead lich sorcerer is setting in,” Marlok said in a very condescending manner. He was referring to Ashram’s overuse of his dark-crystal staff for greater magic and those evil stones’ tendency to extract the life force from their users. The end state of most Talon sorcerers who used their dark crystals to a greater extent was their conversion to an undead zombielike creature called a lich. As the sorcerers slowly transformed into this hideous state, their flesh started to rot and they could only sustain themselves through the drinking of blood or ingesting of human flesh. However, even this practice only delayed the inevitable, and the sorcerers eventually succumbed to the evil soul-draining power of their crystals, being absorbed by it. Likely, this side effect was from the power derived from the dark crystal through Tiamat’s or a powerful chromatic’s blood and its fully evil propensity to destroy life.

  “That need not concern you, young upstart, but as for the battle plan, you can start by sending out flankers in greater numbers, as the Alliance knows our seams and the inflexibility of our attack formations. This can be countered by sending forces out farther to the sides of your marching columns and then utilizing these undead zombie warriors that a few of the chromatics are creating. Send them down under the river or over the mountain pass. They do not need air, and there is no concern for them about the cold. They will apparently attack without remorse or fear, just not quickly or smartly,” Ashram dictated.

  “Ha! The Morgathian army always attacks forward. Our strength is in the numbers of our conscript army and the power of our charge, the dark wave of Morgathian might. This has brought us many victories,” Restregem snapped at the Talon sorcerer.

  “Yes, but not against the Alliance’s legions, and usually only if there is a contingent of orcs willing to die as our first echelon,” Ashram answered curtly.

  “Given your last meeting with the Alliance Army, Ashram, your handily defeated Northern Army is not an indicator. Nozok and Tbok led a Morgathian army group to a complete victory over the Arianans at Hasera. Our tactics were sound there; you know nothing of war, as your memory must be fading already, lich Ashram,” Marlok argued.

  “Fighting the Shidanese is akin to fighting with dung beetles, and even with that, Nozok and Tbok lost half of their army. You have to engage the Alliance on their level, with their capabilities, their leadership, flexibility, and might. We need to send the dragons out first. Hunt them down and make them deploy according to our time and choosing. This is how we can defeat them,” Ashram launched another verbal attack.

  “And getting the dragons to launch early is a task that who is willing to take on? Especially since our scouts and advanced guard have not encountered any Alliance forces?” Marlok asked.

  “Infernex will convince Vorgash to attack ahead of their normal time. Remember, my lead dragon is senior to yours, and just slightly more powerful, as well as still seething from losing his brother to the metallic gold and silver dragons we fought,” Ashram said with a sligh
t smile to which his rival provincial sorcerer grunted a response. “Then it is settled. The fire giant army will attack tomorrow morning, and as our army moves out, we will get the chromatics to fly soon afterward. A couple days hence, we will dine in the bowels of the Alliance weir as we count our riches. Oh, remember to tell the forward commanders to watch out for the Alliance lieutenant and to facilitate his fake capture for he has valuable information for us,” Ashram boldly stated, knowing this would likely not happen. However, even in Marlok’s defeat, if they could eliminate the weir’s legion, or even reduce the number of metallic dragons, then this misguided campaign would be considered a success, he thought. Along with weakening his rival sorcerer’s army, either way, this would be a victory for him.

  As the Morgathian sorcerers and warlords were arguing over tactics, some of the local villagers were being forced by the orc lash to carry their dead in coffins from their graveyards to a gathering of chromatics by the base of the fire giant castle gate. As they deposited the bodies, the chromatics would pierce one of their talon pads and put a large drop of their greenish-black blood on the corpse. They would then utter an incantation in Draconic as the blood would seep into the rotting body and in a brief, dim glow reanimate the corpse, which would slowly rise and be charmed by the dragon. It would then be ushered by the orcs to be fitted with crude weapons and herded into a pen to wait for further instruction.

  “Sire, the army is almost ready to march, but they need more supplies, for we only have enough food for one or two days and our fletchers are still making more arrows,” the Morgathian officer reported.

  “What? I ordered you to prepare the army’s provisions yesterday! Why have you disobeyed me?” Marlok screamed, his dark crystal glowing purplish atop the black iron staff it was set in.

  “Sire, I have been working all night trying to get the provisions. We have stripped all of the local villages of their stores and—” The officer’s sentence was interrupted by a magic missile streaking from Marlok’s hand and hitting the nervous Morgathian lieutenant in the forehead killing him instantly.

  “Well, he won’t be a total waste. Guards, take his body to the dragons; he will be of more use to the empire as a mindless zombie than a foraging officer.” Marlok laughed, as did the other Talon sorcerers and death knights around him. “Ablomar, Sadok, since you both seem to have a renewed energy in this discussion of our battle plan, go and ensure this army is supplied by morning or else you will share the same fate,” he stated slyly.

  “Careful, my liege, I wouldn’t go down so easily.” The younger Talon sorcerer scowled at Marlok as he bowed to him with his staff faintly glowing to show he was ready for a contest if it was presented to him. He motioned for his death knight partner, Ablomar, to leave with him. His black, red, and purple cloak fluttered in the mountain breeze as he and the black-iron-armored knight started to walk over to their steeds to engage in this difficult task. While Marlok was clearly a more powerful sorcerer, it would not have been easy to defeat the younger magi, without some cost. This also typified the Morgathian army’s inability for sustainment in their planning. It was also a result of their neglect and overly centralized system of both government and leadership.

  “He’ll get it done somehow, if he knows what is best for him,” Marlok stated with a grin.

  The fire giant king then stormed over to the gathered Morgathian leadership and started to argue that it was time to attack now, for he wanted revenge for his brother’s death during the Great War and his kin’s defeat. He almost roared that his clan would swarm into the eastern Alliance dragon fortress by the lake and plunder and destroy it. The talon sorcerer and death knight told him to be silent and the attack would proceed as planned, but they needed to convince the dragons to attack with them and not wait. They offered to let him negotiate with the chromatics, which he sheepishly declined. The sorcerer and death knight stated that a straight march to attack Eladran Weir was the plan, but the army needed supplies.

  “The Alliance forces are not expecting us to move with so large an army, and this is coordinated with the well-planned feint attacks on all the coastal weirs, and their Capital Wing isolated in Shidan. This leaves only Eladran Weir and the Gate Weir to stand in our way, with a legion and a regiment and maybe a dozen or so metallics. We just need to get a foothold on Alliance territory to topple their government!” he shouted back at the fire giant chieftain.

  “Sorcerer, we have already taken the available food from our serf villages; they have no more. If any more is taken, they will not be able to tithe us next spring, so we must attack now!” the fire giant chieftain growled in his deep, gruff voice as he looked down at the Talon sorcerer. His yellow-brown teeth ground together in anger, as was apparent even through the dark reddish-black skin of his grotesque face.

  “Then winter provisions await at the Alliance Weir, you large oaf. Maybe that will motivate your overgrown simpleton clansmen,” Marlok snapped back. The sixteen-foot-tall stout giant chieftain growled and grasped his oversized great sword’s four-foot pommel and pulled the nine-foot black-iron blade partway from its sheath. The exposed metal was engulfed in flame as he puffed up his broad chest stretching the overlapped black-iron chain-mail shirt he wore.

  “I would calm down if I were you and concentrate your energy on getting your fellow giants and army together for this march. You wouldn’t want your clansmen to have a new leader just before battle with the Alliance, now would you?” Marlok stated as his staff glowed intensely in the eerie purplish light of the dark crystal mounted on its end.

  “Ahhrrr,” the large fire giant snorted and lumbered back to his fellow giants and gathered army.

  “You were lucky there, Marlok. I think he wanted to eat you,” Ashram said sarcastically with a smile on his pale face.

  “He knew better. Restregem, how are the reapers and those giant dragon hybrids?” Ashram asked.

  “They are getting restless but still holding. I feel they will not be able to do so in another day or so. The dragon giants are incredibly strong, and we feel they will have enhanced protection with their dragon-like skin, and as for the reapers, just stay away from their multiple arms, each of which is wielding a weapon of some sort. They were the bane for the Kaskars in a small skirmish a few weeks ago. They waded into battle whirling and slicing the plainsmen. It was a terrific sight to see,” the demon-armored death knight stated with a sort of glee.

  “Well, keep them in check for now until we need their fury unleashed. I’ll have Sadok put a sleep spell over them until the battle if necessary. Vorgash, what of you and the dragons?” Marlok spoke into his dark crystal.

  “We are ready, Sorcerer, as soon as the other worm decides whether or not he will join us or nurse his sorcerer,” the senior demon red dragon hissed. Infernex growled back at him.

  “Then we march before morning’s light, and the Alliance treasure will be ours by the following week,” Marlok predicted.

  “May Tiamat’s merciful shadow cast over you, my powerful sorcerer,” Ashram added sarcastically, which angered his rival.

  Ashram was enticing Marlok to attack as soon as possible, he thought, to help him just a little bit, feigning anger at the Alliance for his defeat and for the greater good of the Morgathian Empire collective. Ashram wanted to see Marlok defeated to bring him down a notch so he wouldn’t present a threat to his province, at least until he could replace the destroyed portion of his army and his lost chromatic dragon squadrons. However, he still wanted to inflict as much punishment on the Alliance as possible, and if he could manipulate Marlok well enough, he could achieve both ends.

  In the meantime, several Talon sorcerers on their nightmare mounts were teleporting back and forth to reinforce the groups of Shidanese and Arianan pirate ships that were sailing toward all of the Alliance’s coastal weirs. This was all designed to keep the weirs busy so as not to allow the reinforcement of Eladran and Draden weirs a
gainst the fire giant advance. Stalenjh had arranged for these attacks with the promise of backing by sorcerers, the saragwin, and the chromatics—a promise he had no intention of keeping. However, he still needed them for the diversion, if anything as a denial of Morgathian involvement and a sacrificial lamb. He knew the Alliance naval and winged patrols would spot these squadrons and move to intercept and destroy them. At present, they were all within a day’s sail from their destinations and all flying the standards of the archipelago island kingdoms as a ruse, to be followed by either the Shidanese or Blood Wolf flag.

  Mkel had gathered his weir garrison together at the widest portion of the mountain pass that they were now in place to defend. He wanted to give them a pre-battle talk before the events that were about to unfold and the ensuing chaos that would take place. This was the first time that the whole garrison with the Draden elves and the weir dwarf clan would go into battle together; it was not a drill. Mkel was impressed by the several hundred soldiers that had gathered around him and Gallanth—over three hundred of his own combined arms company, not to mention the over one hundred twenty elves and an equal number of dwarves. An impressive sight, it almost made him feel as good to be in front of them as to be beside Gallanth and his friends of his weir council. He did miss Dekeen and his one platoon of archers, however.

  “Please, all of Draden Weir, gather close,” he motioned as he stepped up on Gallanth’s outstretched forearm to give himself a little height, so he wouldn’t have to talk quite as loud and all could hear. The entire garrison tightened their group as they shuffled closer to Mkel and Gallanth. Toderan, Jodem, and the rest of his council were behind him, and his officers were to the side, but several of the support corps sections were still back with the legions preparing to support the weir in the battle.