“Yes, but more important, are you and Gallanth all right? His wounds look nasty,” Lawrent added.
“Gallanth will heal, but it will take time. The power we faced was great and almost claimed us. I see you and your raiders actually served a purpose other than draining the Alliance ale barrels,” Mkel answered with a slight tinge of humor to demonstrate that he was not worried about his dragon.
“They and the weir all fought bravely, Captain. We lost no one, but we have fifty wounded with nineteen seriously, and one soldier in the support corps was killed. As you know, the support corps was ambushed on its way here but fought like infantry and broke the attack. If they get here soon, we should be all right. Ordin’s clan has about the same wounded, and the elves have twenty casualties of varying conditions. Two of the land dragons had to fall back and are being tended to, but we are out of aloras. You also know that Lieutenant Howrek was captured in a stupid move he made to attack several death knights alone.” Pekram gave a quick assessment to Mkel. Just then, the cavalry platoon and the lead support corps floating wagons turned the shallow bend, Captain Vicasek in the lead with Lenor riding beside her wagon. Six Eladran Weir hippogriffs then sailed in from the east; one turned and landed beside Gallanth while the other five kept flying toward where the weir wounded were gathered. Mkel looked over to see Cleric Watterseth dismount from the winged brown-and-white-feathered eagle horse.
The senior cleric quickly walked over to Mkel and gave him a lion’s hug almost lifting the dragonrider off his feet. “Good to see you and your big gold iguana alive, my boy. I saw the fight you had to engage in and the odds that were against you. It was reminiscent of the Great War and the hoards we faced then. You and Gallanth fought magnificently. Speaking of the oversized shiny lizard, your wounds are deep and numerous, Gallanth. You need aid in healing before more of that precious blood of yours is lost. You know that blood lost in defending freedom is no excuse in the weir for not meeting production of heating crystals?” Watterseth smiled as he talked. He took his mace from its holding strap on his hip.
“Bishop Watterseth, your power for healing should be used on the Weir’s wounded,” Gallanth retorted.
“I thought you would say that, which is why I brought Mkel’s mother Glorjuen. She and her healing team are here to address the weir’s needs, as am I, after I address yours,” Watterseth fired back.
“Why is she not tending to the regiment’s wounded?” Gallanth asked.
“The Capital Weir’s second wing brought back several additional talented healers from Draconia and as many of their clerics as the dragons could carry. The regiment, Eladran Weir, and the legions’ wounded are in good hands. Plus, we heard Captain Vicasek was ambushed and our support corps was in a fight for its life but pulled out magnificently, so the greatest need is here, my good dragon,” the weir cleric stated confidently. “Now it is your turn, great Gallanth, for you need the strength to collect all the treasure you won from the slain chromatics. My fellow cleric’s church in Draden needs more tithing,” he also joked.
Mkel was always amazed how Watterseth was one of the few people besides Jodem who could argue with Gallanth and sometimes win, or at least keep him silent for a time. The cleric raised his mace, and its deep-blue sapphire dragonstone started to glow intensely. Gallanth bowed his head as he and Watterseth were then bathed in blue light. He could see the seasoned cleric in deep concentration as he, his holy mace, and Gallanth became of one spirit for a brief moment. As the light subsided, the deep puncture wounds and lacerations were sealed—not totally healed but no longer bleeding and with the tissue damage mostly repaired.
Gallanth took a step back and stretched out his wings, flexing and shaking the effect of the healing off. He let out a low roar and then looked down at Watterseth. “Thank you, Cleric, that does feel much better,” the gold dragon stated.
Mkel called Pekram and Lieutenant Ablich to him. “Gentlemen, start to have the company reconsolidate and make ready to be transported to the assembly area. I must go with Gallanth to acquire the chromatics’ treasure first before they move to secure it now that Gallanth is up to the task. I will have Lenor and maybe the elves who have arrows left pursue the fleeing Morgathians and destroy whatever Caraeyeth misses. I’ll inform Captain Vicasek of the plan so coordinate with her and her wagons to move the men and dwarves. Caraeyeth cannot mass teleport but can ferry whoever she can carry. She will move our two wounded land dragons first.
“Once back at the assembly area we will see what the generals want to do, but I think General Becknor will move the combined army to strike the fire giant castle. We need to do this, for if Howrek is still in the area, he is there. As soon as Lupek and his rangers get back with Jodem and Toderan, they can also help move the garrison. Again, I want to congratulate you for leading this fight, and I am very proud of you and our soldiers. I will go and see the wounded before we leave. Any questions?” Mkel asked.
“No, sir, but I want to let you know that Macdolan took control of the company when Pekram was moving with Lawrent and I was knocked out for a short time. He is to be complimented,” Ablich said in praise of the platoon senior sergeant.
“He did his job, sir; all right, we must get the company ready to move,” Pekram injected just slightly irritated. Mkel was a little concerned over this exchange but decided he would address it later.
“We will talk back at the weir,” he answered as he turned to Gallanth and they started to walk with Watterseth toward his company’s soldiers. All three congratulated and thanked the weir soldiers for their courage and valor during the battle as they moved to the wounded collection point.
Mkel wanted to see his honored wounded and do his best to comfort them, but he also wanted to see his mother as well, for it had been a couple of weeks. Mkel’s mother, Glorjuen, had left the weir after Mkel blood-bonded with Gallanth. She was one of the most talented healers at the Draden Healing Hall, specializing in battle or emergency healing. She had swallowed her anger at Gallanth and volunteered to go with the Draden Regiment’s Support Corps’ healing section for the battle. Her talent with her opal dragonstone, given to her by Silvanth, and its healing powers were legendary. The procedures she developed for non-magical wound treatment had created a revolution in the healing guilds across the republic.
As they approached the collection point, Gallanth and Mkel observed the healers working frantically to dress battle wounds and stabilize the seriously wounded until the clerics or dragonstone-wielding healers could arrive. Glorjuen and her team immediately started to assess and tend to the wounded. Mkel was always amazed at her calmness and talent in treating the injured. She knelt down by one of his soldiers who had taken a spear in the neck and what looked like a sword thrust in his side. She touched her dragonstone opal on her necklace with one hand and the wounded soldier’s forehead with the other. Immediately, a projected image of his internal body appeared over the actual soldier. She focused on the injuries, taking care to look carefully at the extent of the internal damage, and then concentrated on her stone and began to repair the damaged tissue.
She looked over at them just in time to meet Mkel’s stare and then proceeded back to the task at hand. Mkel started to go over to her, but Gallanth stopped him. “No, my rider, she is in her element and should not be disturbed. The wife of Jmes has an innate talent to heal and save lives. Her anger at me over your father’s death is still seething to this day, both at him and at me.”
“Couldn’t you talk to her?” Mkel asked.
“My rider, she blames me for what happened and even before his death, for some of his more fool hardy actions, and then you blood-bonding with me compounded the issue.”
Mkel sort of understood, but at the same time, he wondered, Why not talk it out? But then he was no one to judge, and each must come to healing in his or her own time and own way.
By the time Mkel and Gallanth had retrieved the last of t
he chromatics’ treasure, the support corps and the rangers had transported all of the Draden Weir garrison and soldiers to the legion’s assembly area. Hornbrag had gone swiftly to work in categorizing the slain dragons’ wealth. A substantial amount, Mkel thought, but not as much as he had anticipated. The white dragons were poor by dragon standards, and the demon red dragon had spent or lost a good portion of his cache very recently as indicated by the freshly exposed surface in his cave where that portion of the pile of coins had once been. Talonth and the Eladran dragons had also finished their treasure retrieval, along with part of the Capital Wing that could be spared to get theirs.
As Gallanth moved toward the garrison, he was hailed by Colonel Wierangan, who was with the legion commander and General Craigor. He and Lordan walked toward the command tent where the leaders were gathered. They both overheard Valianth scold Selenth for teleporting one of his weir’s battalions to this battle for six dwarves and two men never reappeared from the jump. The copper dragon and his rider expressed deep sympathy for those who sacrificed just to get to battle but stated that they had only taken volunteers. Valianth retorted that Alliance soldiers almost always volunteered, even if the risks were outlined to them and that was no excuse. He did concede that the appearance of the copper dragon and the combined dwarf and human battalion proved pivotal and saved many lives and perhaps the battle; however, this did not alleviate the Talinor Weirleaders of their responsibility in this matter. Valianth stated that he would not relieve them of weir command, but they would be on a short leash and would take lessons from Gallanth and Mkel on mass teleport and only attempt it again when the gold dragon felt they were ready. They were to also compensate the families of the dwarves and the soldiers who were lost in that action. Selenth and Dkert agreed to all that was said and the conditions by which they were to train their teleporting skills with Draden.
Mkel and Lordan decided not to get involved with the situation, for Valianth was the senior dragon in all the Alliance except for Michenth himself. As they reached the command tent, Craigor, Wierangan, and the 29th Legion commander greeted and congratulated them. Craigor, the general who was in operational control of the three legions that were stationed in the east, along with the tactical oversight of the three weirs, High Mountain, Draden, and Eladran, then briefly informed the two Weirleaders of the plan both to teach the fire giants a lesson and to find and rescue Lieutenant Howrek, they hoped, as well as a young soldier from Eladran who also had been captured. All available catapults were to move with whatever cavalry the legion and Eladran Weir could spare to the fire giant fortress at the end of the Gray Mountain eastern trail. They, along with whatever dragons could fly, would then bombard the crude castle until it was ruble. This, however, would only take place after a combined ranger infiltration of the castle was completed to find and rescue the lieutenant and the soldier.
Mkel informed them that two of his rangers had seen a group of death knights ride hard to the fortress but only thought they saw a prisoner with them. They would remain there until the Alliance forces arrived to keep the fire giant castle under observation. Lupek quietly walked up to Mkel and whispered to him that he had twenty of his rangers fit to fight and would like to join the other rangers in the raid and rescue mission. Mkel agreed and said he would offer his weir’s rangers to reinforce the others. He knew in spite of Howrek’s foolishness, they must get him back.
General Craigor and his staff finalized the plan after a quick collaborating session and the support requirements for the simple attack were met. The Eladran Weir cavalry would escort any and all available catapults to within firing distance of the fortress, along with enough support corps wagons to provide a resupply of three additional basic loads of stones to the throwers. The dragons who were still fit would attack the darkened castle from the air. It would then be hit with multiple volleys from the catapults. The general accepted risk by consolidating the throwers, provided that the Second Capital Wing was still available as a reserve. It was also doubtful that there were any more chromatics in the vicinity—this and the fact that the giants’ castle was only lightly defended since most of the giants were slain and their army was annihilated.
Talinor Weir would exploit the breaches once the rangers were clear. Prior to the attack, the rangers themselves would go into the castle under an invisibility spell from the weir wizards or at least with elf cloaks on. All were given only an hour to prepare to move to keep the remaining giants and their orcs from consolidating and reorganizing.
Mkel and Gallanth would only serve in a distant attack role since they were both exhausted, Gallanth was still wounded, and their shields had only partially recovered. They did want to see the fortress fall, however. Within the hour, all available catapults were ready to move, especially Willaward’s section. Their agility was due to the floating wagon bases they were on. Mkel nodded to his long-arm section as they started to move out with almost two full battalions of catapults with them and at least a battalion of cavalry between Eladran Weir and the 29th followed by the soldiers and dwarves from Talinor Legion.
The dragons arrived within minutes of the call from General Craigor. As they flew toward the black fortress, Mkel saw the rangers were sprint-flying out of the castle. Lupek called him through his seeing crystal and told him that none of the rangers had found Lieutenant Howrek, and they had performed a quick search of the entire fortress. Only moderate resistance was encountered, for most of the remaining giants and their armies were on the walls preparing whatever small defense they could muster. Deless was able to concentrate enough to cast a knowing spell in which he could capture images imprinted in the surroundings. This told the elf that Howrek was quickly moved through the fortress and then to the east, but something was wrong with this, although he could not tell what.
As the catapults were being positioned, General Craigor gave the dragons the word to attack to allow more freedom of movement for the throwers. Once all the catapults were in position to fire, and with the order from the commanding general, all thirty-two siege engines sent their large stone projectiles hurtling toward the black-rock castle. In spite of the giant-built structure being constructed right out of the hewn rock of the dormant volcano, the smooth, one-hundred-pound rocks smashed the walls of the fortress. Hundreds of years of neglect and poor maintenance proved detrimental, and parts of the scorched walls and several towers started to crack and give way.
The three-weir combined force of metallic dragons then dove again on the fortress and pounded it with whatever breath weapon or spell they and their riders could muster to damage a hardened structure. The plasma fireballs of the gold dragons and the disruption shatter spells of the copper dragons proved most effective, and a third of the wall crumbled, sending giants and their orc defenders crashing down. A few arrows and ballista spears feebly attempted to drive the dragons away but were of little use. As soon as the dragons cleared, all the catapults fired again. The fire giant king raised his sword defiantly and roared out loud to where the Morgathians were to come to his aid and cursed them for abandoning him. He swore against the Alliance as well, as the catapult stones began to pummel his crumbling castle. This last barrage was enough to finish the stronghold and the pounding it took brought the remainder of the fortress to the ground, turning it into rubble.
Mkel and Gallanth watched from the air as they flew slowly above the crumbling fortress. Gallanth then told Mkel that something else was going to happen. Immediately thereafter, the ground below started to rumble and a minor quake shook the Alliance forces below. The volcano then had a minor eruption; a small portion of the side of the mountain blew out and lava started to pour down the jagged slope. The molten rock oozed down the side of the volcano and began to cover the remains of the fire giant fortress, almost as if the mountain itself was trying to erase the sore that the evil castle was on its side.
“What timing, my friend,” Mkel said to Gallanth.
“It was no coincid
ence, my rider; it is the expunging of a foul growth. The soul of the mountain was suppressed by the giants for too long, and it is now cleansing itself,” Gallanth answered much to the surprise of his rider.
CHAPTER VIII
Silent Daggers, Retribution, and Provocation
Howrek and the Eladran soldier were led into the immense but dark hall of the fire giant king by several Morgathian guards, three death knights, and an apprentice Talon sorcerer. This was likely as much for their protection from the giants and their evil associates as it was to ensure that they did not try to renounce their pact with the Morgathians and attempt an escape. Howrek could hear the fire giants arguing with the sorcerers as they walked from the far end of the hollowed-out portion of the mountain, as he did understand several languages. He had surmised they had traveled for several days to the next closest fire giant clan and their fortress to get away from any Alliance prying eyes or magical intrusion.
“What were you promised to turn?” Howrek asked the Eladran Weir soldier.
“Many women and much gold, sir, and a position of power when the Enlightened take control of the Alliance,” the young soldier replied.
“The Enlightened agent said I would be the next commander of Draden Weir, and when the Morgathians took over, the Talon sorcerers would either subdue and charm the gold dragon Gallanth for me or have him slain, and I would mount a mighty red dragon in his place. I will make a great dragonrider,” Howrek explained.
“Silence, Alliance dogs. No talking until we see Lord Ashram and Marlok,” the Morgathian guard snapped at them as they were led into the throne room portion of the fire giant hall. The huge, dark, crimson-colored giant was leaning forward on his carved volcanic rock throne arguing with the two sorcerers. A large red dragon was lying off to the left of the group; its rear right leg, right wing, and lower back were heavily bandaged as its wounds were deep.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 44