CHAPTER VII
Extinguishing
Dark Flame
The Morgathians were starting to put heavy pressure on the Alliance main battle line. The 29th Legion and the Draden Regiment were holding and inflicting staggering casualties on the Morgathians and orcs, but the sheer numbers of the enemy were causing steady losses. The infantry on the line were only two soldiers deep in some areas now. Sensing his army needed to give one last good push to break the Alliance defense, Molotoc ordered his reserve of giants and an orc battalion to hit the legion on the right side of its line. This reinforced battalion had a good-sized pod of giants and behirs, and he surmised if he could force just one opening in the Alliance line, he could roll them up from the flank and their disciplined locked shield formation would be broken. He gave the order to his messenger rider, and within fifteen minutes, that battalion was lumbering to the portion of the battlefield where he wanted them to attack. However, as he rode behind them, he noticed the Alliance was shifting forces to counter them, and a company of land dragons and twice that of infantry was waiting just behind that portion of their formation.
The Morgathian commander yelled to his chief captain of the reserve battalion, “How did they shift forces so quickly and efficiently? Those damn Alliance seeing crystals! They are as powerful as their dragons. They can react to any move I make before I can get orders to my chieftains. And what is happening to the battalions sent to silence those catapults on the pass? They are still raining down on the army and causing significant casualties on our back ranks. Even their aerial forces always seem synchronized with their army. Ahhhhhh, attack now! Break their line, or don’t come back, Captain!” the Morgathian commander screamed at his subordinate, who immediately saluted and rode off to spur his battalion forward to the Alliance line. He then heard the Alliance soldiers shout in their language and all looked skyward. He turned around to see several squadrons of dragon spawn and gargoyles bearing down on the Alliance line. “They must have flown around the aerial fight, for otherwise, the Alliance griffons would have torn them apart. The tide is turning now,” he said to himself.
Vorgash watched the large gold dragon take down the white dragon pack. He had never seen their wheel attack broken before, not even by a demon red dragon. “No wonder he was able to slay Infernex’s brother and his wing. We must bring in the squadron of berserker black dragons to reinforce us; Sirex, go and order them to attack at once, and we will face this oversized metallic after they wear him down,” the demon red dragon ordered as he pulled his largest two red and blue dragons from the fight.
“What is the matter, Vorgash? This gold dragon a little more than you expected?” Infernex taunted his rival.
“Silence, worm! Are you going to help us take this gold down or just fly around like a hapless sparrow?” Vorgash roared back.
“I am with you. I assume you will call him out for single combat, and then we will all pounce?” Infernex inquired.
“Yes, but we will need all six of us including all the demon dragons. We even need your strength in spite of the fact that you have used your enhanced breath weapon one time already,” Vorgash answered.
“A rare admission of weakness from a southern dragon,” Infernex again insulted his rival.
“We still have unfinished business to attend to, but not until after this is over,” Vorgash roared back and then veered to lead his group of powerful chromatics away from the main fight with the metallics to intercept Gallanth. However, they would not fight the gold metallic until the senior demon red dragon directed the black dragon wing that was now visible as they sped toward the battle from the mountain lake behind the fire giant fortress.
“Mkel, we must engage those demon dragons; their power is too great for the Eladran wing to contend with,” Gallanth spoke out loud to Mkel as he veered back toward the main fight.
“I agree, my friend, and they seem to be doing us a favor by breaking away from the Eladran wing. Maybe they want to actually challenge us and fight like true dragons,” Mkel answered.
“They always have a deception and back strike planned, my rider; wait, behind us, there are two full squadrons of black dragons soaring in from the mountains,” Gallanth and Mkel looked back to see the two dozen chromatics desperately trying to get to them, seething with rage and bellowing their raspy, unholy roars.
“It’s time for Colonel Lordan and his wingman to spring their trap,” Mkel said.
“We must divert their attention for at least a few moments to allow the silvers to maximize their strike. Call Lordan with your seeing crystal, and tell them to attack from the black dragons’ left and rear to maximize the concealment the mountain range and the sun will give them. We will slow the lead squadron down to get them as grouped together as possible,” Gallanth told his rider as he performed a tight turn and set a course to intercept the black dragons.
“Hah, he took the bait. This is falling nicely into plan,” Vorgash hissed smugly as the demon dragons flew slowly toward the incoming black chromatic squadrons and Gallanth. “We wait until the fool is either killed by the blacks or is severely weakened by them; then we will strike,” Vorgash ordered.
Gallanth was flying directly toward the lead black chromatic squadron, and as soon as he was within range, he fired a sunburst beam at the virulent midnight-colored dragon, quickly following it up with a plasma fireball. As soon as he could conjure up the spell, he sent six large fireballs streaking toward the mass of chromatics he and Mkel were now closing in on. Mkel stared at the gruesome bull-horned black dragons through Markthrea’s sight and worried about their odds. Gallanth had just defeated a whole squadron of whites, and now they were facing even more enemy dragons, and even with the two Eladran silvers on their way, the demon dragons still had to be dealt with. “No time to ponder,” he said to himself and quickly started to fire explosive-tipped bolts at the foul black-winged beasts, because now speed meant more than accuracy, for the numbers of chromatics in front of them he was bound to hit with every shot. Black dragons were notoriously poor flyers and were not agile enough to dodge the fast projectiles.
The intense barrage of breath weapons, powerful magic spells, and exploding bolts took the squadron of black dragons off guard. Not realizing the power of the gold dragon they were engaging, the sheer force of this initial salvo caused them to reel back, thus bunching them up. Gallanth further added to this by casting one last spell before reaching the chromatics. The hailstorm spell caused some degree of injury to several of the bull-horned swamp dragons; however, more important, it made most of them back-wing to avoid the frigid projectiles and sheets of ice. Gallanth’s and Mkel’s deadly barrage caused two of the chromatics to fall from the sky while two more were barely able to maintain flight with several others wounded.
This was what the Talonth and Baranth needed, and they dove from the artificial cloud they were hiding in, unleashing their chain lightning bolt spells and their devastating icy-blue breath weapons. This was coupled with the energy bolts from Lordan’s lance and explosive-tipped quarrels from Altmed’s crossbow. The overwhelming strike complemented Gallanth’s initial assault and sent six more black dragons to their doom. Gallanth had weakened the shields of several and also allowed the two silvers to streak past the gaggled chromatics and deliver well-placed deadly claw strikes. Gallanth warned Mkel of a wingover maneuver; he barely had enough time to lung forward and grab Markthrea’s mount as his dragon curled his head down and whipped his tail over to perform an immediate change of direction. One black dragon did get a glancing shot on Gallanth’s magic shield with a stream of fiery acid, but it held strong.
“Thank you, my friends! We will handle these swamp dragons from here and will help you with those demon reds as soon as we are done!” Talonth roared to Gallanth and Mkel as they pulled from their dive and maneuvered to engage the black dragon squadron.
“May the Creator give you strength and luck car
ry the rest!” Gallanth roared back as he started to gain speed to intercept the red and blue dragons that were surprised to have just witnessed this unexpected turn of events.
“Damn those metallics! Where did those silvers come from? We must attack at once! All form on me, and I will get this gold off his balance,” Vorgash roared as they all moved with more haste to intercept Gallanth. As Mkel and Gallanth moved away from the now disorganized black chromatic squadron, Tegent and his griffon caught up to them and moved next to the large gold dragon to fly beside him as he was flying back the way they came.
“Mkel, I assume you and Gallanth are going to fight that group of red and blue dragons that is heading our way?” Tegent asked him through his seeing crystal.
“Yes, and we will need your help. Gallanth will give you the finer details,” Mkel answered.
“Yes, my good bard, we will be of need of your innate ability to be the irritant on those who get irritated easily through an attack on their vanity,” Gallanth added.
Tegent immediately knew what they wanted him to do: taunt the chromatics to force them to attack piecemeal. An excellent strategy, he just hoped he and his griffon would not be ground to meal in between the behemoths.
“Gallanth, there are six dragons we are facing, and three are demon empowered. Your shield is at half strength, and we just had a major fight. We need to be careful with this one,” Mkel said to Gallanth with a slightly worried tone.
Gallanth quickly replied to Mkel as they rose to meet the new demon dragons, “My rider, without fear, there cannot be courage; without doubt, there can be no choice; without honor, there can be no love; and without rage, there can be no justice.” Mkel could tell his dragon was focused on the defeat of these demons. If they could vanquish them, it would turn the tide of the battle. He quickly replaced the explosive-tipped bolt magazine in his crossbow with his mithril-tipped variants of the same type of explosive charge, his most powerful class of bolts. He had to deliver the maximum amount of damage he could, and these would do precisely that.
Mkel signaled Tegent to move behind and to the left of Gallanth, both to protect him and to allow him to help them when necessary. Tegent’s griffon was the most agile of any of that noble species to ever take flight, often almost knowing which way Gallanth was going to maneuver. Likely, it was that his griffon had studied the gold dragon’s wing positioning and musculature as he flew over the last several years and could detect the small changes in his posturing to anticipate the next maneuver. As he loaded, cocked, and readied Markthrea, Mkel could feel Gallanth tensing underneath him. He knew his dragon was preparing another all-out barrage, but he had already used several of his more deadly spells. While Mkel was aware of Gallanth’s powerful spell-casting ability, he also knew that unlike his breath weapon and sunburst beam, he was limited to using one type of spell per day. He hoped his friend had enough still left in him for this fight.
Gallanth then roared and fired the deadly bright beams of light from his eyes which struck and shattered the magic shield of one of the red dragons before delivering its remaining energy into the chromatic’s body. In rapid succession, he sent a plasma fireball hurtling toward another chromatic, which smashed the blue dragon’s shield and burned its lower neck, shoulder, and flank. He uttered a short incantation in Draconic and sent a barrage of six glowing fiery meteor like projectiles toward the chromatics. He struck three of the other evil dragons with two apiece to both wear down their shields and keep them off balance. Mkel fired three of his special bolts at those same dragons, delivering a penetrating explosion to each of their magic shields, severely weakening them.
The chromatics’ response was poorly coordinated but deadly nonetheless, as the demon dragons sent their final enhanced breath weapons at Gallanth. The powerful darkened rays of almost pure evil streaked toward the gold dragon. He totally dodged the blast from Infernex as he was too far away for an accurate shot. Vorgash’s purplish beam glanced off Gallanth’s shield, and the dark lightning bolt of the demon blue dragon hit his magic defensive bubble at full strength. With his magic shield at just above a quarter of its strength, he and Mkel decided to move in and use his speed and firepower to his advantage. However, just then, Vorgash called out to him in a loud but less angry roar to get him to talk prior to the fight. As the lead demon red dragon broke from his fellow chromatics’ formation to converse, Gallanth immediately started to track the other five; he could simultaneously follow twice as many if he needed to. Mkel also kept an eye on any chromatic that got too close to them.
“I want to congratulate you on your victory over the white dragons’ wheel attack. This is the first time that we have ever seen that tactic broken. You would be of utmost importance to Queen Tiamat if you were to follow us to Aserghul,” Vorgash uncharacteristically complimented his superior foe.
“That dark crystal next to your evil heart must be affecting your judgment, chromatic. You fear my and my rider’s strength, for we metallics derive greater power from the human emotion our rider’s freely give to us. You feed off of fear; we are nourished by love. Fear is forced. Love is given. You and your five-headed aberration of a queen will never understand this and are doomed to defeat. For freely given emotion is tenfold the power of forced terror,” Gallanth quickly replied as he and the large red dragon began to circle each other slowly. Both he and Mkel noticed that the other five chromatics had spread out and encircled them and their lead red dragon. Gallanth knew what the red was trying to do, set him and Mkel up for an ambush as the others would breathe their breath weapons and charge them in hopes of overwhelming them.
“We are the ones who embraced freedom. To do what we want, kill what we want, and take what we want is exhilarating. This is our right as the supreme and most powerful and wisest creatures in the world. Why would you be subservient to the talking monkeys who are no more than ants to us?” Vorgash kept trying to entice the gold dragon.
“Again, this demonstrates that you and your species are fools. You will never know the true freedom and power we gain from the soul bonding with our riders. True freedom lies in that love, which flows through us and demonstrates how dragon-kind and man are inexorably linked. How really free are you and your kin? Free to kill and destroy, only the freedom to harm others and then under orders of your queen. What freedom can be attained by licking the talons of Tiamat and doing her bidding when called upon like a lapdog, only to be put back on your leashes,” Gallanth countered Vorgash’s statement.
He hissed but kept his temper. “Gold dragon, the exhilaration of laying your enemies to waste, taking what you wish is our right. When are you going to throw off your chains, your yoke of servitude to the talking monkeys? Exorcise the curse of being linked to a human rider?” the blue demon dragon countered.
“And ensuring all of your judgments are dealt out today is my right and responsibility, so prepare yourselves. You have forgotten the pledge we all gave as a race to better the lives of all those creatures that crave freedom. We are made strong only for a certain time. As dragons with the blessing of our long lives, we can extend this but should only use our strength to help others,” Gallanth quickly answered the chromatics’ false statements.
“Why should we not dominate all we see? And having that parasite constantly on your back is a curse, not a benefit,” the red dragon behind Vorgash argued.
“Dominate all you see? How is this possible when you have to view it from Tiamat’s shadow and from behind the sorcerers of the Talon Covenant? Your human masters,” Gallanth emphasized his last point knowing it would enrage the red.
“Silence, metallic! We have no human masters!” the red roared back.
“If I am a curse to my dragon, then how did our combined power defeat so many of your weak kin and send them to their judgment as one would swat an insect?” Mkel injected.
“Silence, talking monkey, I need not your insolent words!” Infernex angrily snapped a
reply to Mkel.
“That is funny, for your brother said the same thing before we sent him plummeting to his death, and his hide now provides armor protection for our soldiers and legionnaires,” Mkel continued to help Gallanth goad the chromatics into an angry attack that would desynchronize them. At the same time, Tegent started to sing a song, which further incensed the chromatic dragons.
“Hey, you, traitorous son of a worm, you’re part of a world that will soon be dying, and I know, everybody knows, you try to be like us, but even at your best, you couldn’t be equal to half of us. We are realizing that you’ve lost your simple ways, and now that it’s here and we see it oh so clearly, you’ve come face-to-face with the enemy, your superior enemy.
“You! You’re another false-talking worm to me. You’re a living inspiration for what we never want to be. I see you’ve been blinded by what you believe; now back up and sit down and act like you need to be. Now come to us, the enemy, so predictable; you’re the reason why we fly, simple decision took me to choose for you, to die, checkmate!” Tegent sang his song, amplified by his dragonstone lyre, further enraging the chromatics.
“Puny vermin, I will silence your blasphemous mouths,” Vorgash’s guardian red dragon roared out and immediately changed his flight path, charging toward Gallanth, preparing to breathe out his fire.
“No, not yet!” Vorgash roared, but it was too late and his guard was already committed to the attack. With this, the two blue dragons launched and even Infernex moved slowly toward the gold dragon. Mkel swung his crossbow over, lined up his sights, and fired at the charging red dragon before he could get in range of his breath weapon. The mithril-tipped bolt streaked through the air and struck the red dragon at the base of its neck. The small arrow penetrated the red’s thick, armored hide and exploded with a terrific force diverting the chromatic’s flight path and causing it to breathe its fire to the side of Gallanth.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 39