The pain from the shallow stab wound and the shared pain he felt from Gallanth caused Mkel to flinch, and he jerked the trigger of his crossbow as he fired. Ordin was frantically trying to turn around to help his friends, but dwarves were just not that flexible. The bolt just grazed the black Usurper dragon’s right horn with most of the explosive power of the tip blowing outward and away from the chromatic’s head. It was enough to force Doomshadow’s head away from Gallanth, though, as he pulled his horns from the gold dragon’s hide. Gallanth took advantage of this and swung his tail around with the arrowhead-shaped plate smashing into the side of Doomshadow’s head, severing the right horn at its base. As Gallanth launched himself away from the Usurper black dragon, he turned his head and breathed out a blast of fire that caught the demon chromatic on the rear leg and tail. The large evil black rose up and bellowed out a roar of pain.
When Doomshadow tried to retaliate, Gallanth had already dived out of range. Dreadstone also could not cast a spell at the gold dragon for the flash teleport and simultaneous spell cast temporarily drained his staff. Unfortunately for him, the angle at which Gallanth flew away also prohibited Ordin from throwing his hammer.
“Gallanth, are you all right?” Mkel worriedly asked his dragon.
“Yes, my rider, luckily, I caught him before he could drive his horns too deep. I was amazed at his sheer physical strength, that of a gold dragon, and that he and the sorcerer actually cooperated on a spell together. I won’t be caught off guard by them again,” Gallanth answered Mkel.
Mkel was relieved, but that was too close, even closer than at the Fire Mountains when Silvanth came to their aid. He knew if he hadn’t caught that demon dragon’s charge at that moment, a chromatic horn would have pierced Gallanth’s heart. They would have to fight this evil duo very smartly or the Usurper would get the best of them.
“Pogasch sorcerer, what are you doing? I only consented to carry you to keep the cursed metallic’s riders in check, and now I’ve lost a horn and my leg and tail are flamed. I had the big worm right where I wanted him!” Doomshadow roared out in frustration and pain.
“The gold dragon’s rider had two weapons of great power. I’ve never seen that before, and that metallic was incredibly strong; I could barely hold him back. Ashram was not exaggerating about the power of that beast,” Dreadstone spat back. “We mustn’t let them keep attacking from a distance, for they are accurate and powerful. We must reform and keep hitting them to keep them off balance,” he added.
“Jodem, how did that Talon sorcerer cast two spells at the same time? And I’ve never seen a chromatic cooperate with any man, drow, or anything other than themselves, and that is only temporary at best. That demon dragon also used his dark-crystal-enhanced breath weapon more than twice,” Mkel asked with concern at almost being the victim of his spell sword. His right shoulder still hurt from the shallow stab wound of the energy blade. He knew he owed Kershan as well as his dragon hide jacket his life, for that spell sword would have sliced right through even dwarven steel.
“That is the strength of a Covenant sorcerer and a Usurper dragon of Tiamat’s court. Larger dark crystal and more experience in dealing evil magic through it. However, there is a price, a price in stolen life force. This is what converts someone who uses too much of its power into a lich, like our friend Ashram is beginning to become. This also significantly shortens a chromatic’s long lifespan as well. I had to tangle with a lich, who was Ashram’s predecessor, during the Great Dragon War. He almost killed me, but my accuracy in spell placement saved my life and ended his vampire-like undead existence. When they transition to that stage, only the drinking of blood can keep them alive,” Jodem answered his friend.
Gallanth, Mkel, and Jodem took special notice that the Usurper dragons had an even more enhanced dark-energy breath weapon than normal demon dragons and could use it more than just twice a day. They also had greatly enhanced physical strength, almost the same as Gallanth, and their magic shields were threefold as powerful as their peers. This fight with Doomshadow and Dreadstone would prove to be one of Gallanth’s and Mkel’s toughest, they quickly surmised.
The two black demon dragon guards for Doomshadow attempted to move in and box Caraeyeth and the rest of Draden Weir in between them. Toderan veered off to joust with Reigngrim and his wyvern. In splitting up, the two enhanced chromatics had given up their edge in strength of numbers, especially now that their magic shields were gone. Caraeyeth, Dekeen, and Lupek also split up far enough so one chromatic could not fight two of them at once, but close enough that they all could come to the aid of one another if the need arose.
The larger demon black dragon moved to attack Caraeyeth and at three hundred yards unleashed his enhanced dark-energy breath weapon. The agile copper dragon immediately rolled over to avoid the deadly purplish beam, but at the speed of lightning, it still partially hit her shield and glanced the upper portion of her tail. This sapped the last of her shield resistance. Luckily, Caraeyeth had cast an iron hide spell onto herself, which gave her already tough hide twice the armor protection. This only lasted for a short time, however.
The other black dragon fired his last dark-energy beam at Dekeen, as he ascertained from seeing him slay the red dragon over the bay that he was the more powerful among the Alliance group. Dekeen’s giant eagle was able to dive fast enough to avoid a good deal of the deadly energy, but his bow’s magic shield was shaken as it was drained of half its strength by the powerful dark ray. The demon dragon then cast a barrage of magic missiles at Lupek and Razorclaw. The griffon managed to dodge over half of them, and the ranger’s magic shield from his javelin absorbed the rest.
Caraeyeth performed a tight loop and came up underneath the attacking larger black dragon and then breathed out a stream of flaming acid at the dark chromatic. While copper, black, and green dragons were largely resistant to acid attacks, they still caused them damage. The deadly stream struck the black dragon on the underside of his chest and stomach, and in a roar of pain, he dove down and away from his attacker. Caraeyeth followed this attack up with a disruption spell that struck the demon chromatic in the lower back and hip.
Just as the copper dragon was turning away from the dragon she had just fended off, she and her rider where startled by the close roar of pain of the other demon dragon as it was struck by Lupek’s lightning javelin on its right side and two exploding arrows from Dekeen. The demon dragon’s momentum carried him forward, and he clumsily crashed into Caraeyeth’s waiting talons and fangs. Caraeyeth sank her powerful jaws into the black dragon’s upper back while her claws raked the dark hide on the chest and left front leg. Heathiret leaned over and drove her mithril-tipped lance deep into the black dragon’s upper neck.
The dark chromatic angrily pushed Caraeyeth back with relative ease because of his enhanced strength. This burst of great physical power caught Caraeyeth slightly off guard, as she was used to being able to manhandle a black. She still managed to flip hard to the left and bring her tail around to give the chromatic a hard smash to his left shoulder. The stunned demon dragon was unable to follow up on his attack, but Caraeyeth was hit by the chromatic’s partner, returning to exact revenge for his earlier defeat. The dark-green ball of deadly energy smashed into the copper dragon’s left hip and leg, eliminating her iron-skin spell. The black dragon then flew right into her from the rear and bit into her lower back while sinking his talons into the copper-brown hide.
Heathiret turned around in her saddle and threw her lance, which embedded itself deeply into the black dragon’s neck. Just as the chromatic unclenched his jaws from her dragon’s back, the other black attacked Caraeyeth from the front. Caraeyeth caught the black dragon’s talons with hers to prevent him from using them and smashed her strong, stubby horns into the side of his head to prevent him from goring her. She was, however, now caught with two powerful demon dragons in a fang-and-talon fight and was in a bad predicament.
Heathiret
drew her mithril-alloy long sword, but from the corner of her eye, saw Razorclaw dive in from the side. She swung down with her sword, which sliced the chromatic across its nose, causing him to rear his head up. The large griffon landed on the midnight-colored chromatic dragon’s neck and sank his mithril-tipped claws and strong beak into the black hide. Lupek then took careful aim and drove his javelin into the base of its neck behind its head horns. The mithril point penetrated straight into the demon dragon’s brain, delivering the killing blow.
As Caraeyeth let the dying demon dragon go, Dekeen got a lucky shot and hit the other black dragon at the base of its right wing. This caused the huge beast to loosen its hold on the copper dragon, which Caraeyeth took advantage of and rolled away from his grasp while also swiping its chest with her talon. In her typical agile way, Caraeyeth kept turning while she put distance between herself and the chromatic and blasted it with one of her last acid breath weapons. She directed the fiery virulent stream at the wing base that Dekeen had hit with his bow and struck the same area. This caused the demon dragon to fold his right wing partway in and dive away, for now flight was very difficult for him.
“Hold on, my rider! This one will not get away,” Caraeyeth said to her rider. She partially folded her wings and dove after the fleeing black dragon.
“A falcon’s short wings, my dragon,” Heathiret told her beloved dragon as a reminder of the trick they had learned of partially folding her wings in a power dive for greater speed. The copper dragon rapidly gained on the chromatic as both were in a steep dive. Just before she intercepted the demon, she unfurled her wings and stretched out her front and rear talons, which found their mark on the black dragon’s shoulders and hips, and bit down on his neck just below his head to hold him in place.
As the two dragons gained downward speed, Caraeyeth antagonized the demon chromatic, “Now, demon, be prepared to meet your judgment on free Alliance soil!” The black dragon struggled, but Caraeyeth was able to hold him in place in spite of his dark-crystal-enhanced strength because of her positioning and superior balance. Just as they were about to impact, the copper dragon unfurled her wings and almost leaped from the black chromatic’s back. The dark dragon slammed into the hard dwarven concrete road cracking it asunder while Caraeyeth couldn’t quite angle up because of their airspeed and had to crash-land herself.
Her powerful legs took the impact well, and she skidded along the grass field beside the road. It was painful, but she fared much better than her enemy, while also protecting her rider from any serious injury in the rough landing.
“You did it, my love,” Heathiret told her dragon after they had come to a rest.
“No, my rider, we did it, along with our new friends from Draden Weir,” she replied.
“Are you all right?” Heathiret asked in a concerned tone.
“I have pain from their talons and fangs and bruises from this crash, but we are the victors, not them. We must get back into the fight now,” the copper dragon answered.
“Not until you shake this off, my dear. That was a terrific battle we had,” Heathiret answered.
Toderan had goaded Reigngrim into moving away from the others of his weir to prevent him from interfering in those fights. While the death knight’s wyvern was exceptionally large, it was still not much bigger than his winged horse, and he knew that Alvanch was faster and much more agile.
“Well, Death Knight, how about we conduct an old-fashioned joust, if you have any honor or courage left in you?” Toderan yelled over to Reigngrim.
“Ha, I’ve not seen an Alliance paladin’s blood on my sword in some time. It will be good to see you plummet from that shiny winged horse,” Reigngrim answered.
“Then let us begin,” Toderan replied as he spurred Alvanch forward and Reigngrim did the same. Both quickly gained aerial speed as they flew toward each other. Toderan gripped his lance handle tightly and balanced it on the top of his shield. He knew the heavier wyvern would hit harder than Alvanch, but his winged horse was much more maneuverable. He nudged the sides of the horse with his heels and directed him to angle down slightly. Then, at the last second, the paladin had his faithful flying mount swerve up so he could get a downward strike as well as keep the wyvern’s tail stinger from hitting his mount.
Reigngrim lowered his shield in preparation for Toderan’s downward charge. The white demon skull standard of his and Dreadstone’s province showed menacingly on his black shield to remind others that they were well known death dealers. It was of typical Morgathian shape, being a small, round device, but as he was a provincial warlord and top death knight, it was made of black iron. The death knight’s skull-shaped black-iron helmet also looked menacing, but Toderan was more concerned with his lance as they closed in on each other. The wyvern roared as Alvanch angled up and then dove down just as they met. The added speed from the quick maneuver enabled Toderan to hit Reigngrim a little harder than the death knight expected.
Reigngrim’s black-iron pointed lance hit Toderan’s shield on the lower left, causing him to wince and be shifted in his saddle. His riding straps managed to hold him in place as he thrust his mithril-tipped lance with all his might directly at the death knight’s chest. Reigngrim moved his shield just in time to stop the shiny silvery point from hitting his breastplate. The special metal punched a shallow hole in the shield, much to the Morgathian’s surprise and knocked him back. As the two mounts passed each other, Alvanch turned tightly to avoid the bite attempt and the wyvern’s tail stinger as it whipped around to strike the winged horse. He deftly kicked the wyvern’s head with his left rear hoof as he turned to fly away. The dragon-like beast roared in pain as his head was jerked back from the kick, which also opened a nasty gash.
Reigngrim immediately felt the pain in his arm from the impact of the paladin’s lance, which had cut through the shield and slightly into his arm through the black-iron armor. He couldn’t believe his black-iron shield was compromised, for it had always proven impenetrable for him. He also noticed that the black-iron tip on his lance was bent, another surprise! They both turned in a wide arc to come back at each other again. Toderan knew he had slightly bested the death knight but would have liked to knock him off his mount; he had deduced that this evil pogasch was no stranger to the joust and aerial fighting in general. He started to maneuver Alvanch in a side-to-side weaving pattern as they moved toward Reigngrim.
The winged horse swung to the right, as would be the customary attack angle one would expect, but then sharply turned left to come around right in front of the wyvern’s nose, and Toderan struck Reigngrim from the left. This caused the death knight to have to shift his shield over his body at a bad angle to take the impact of the lance. As Toderan’s lance punctured the black shield in the forehead of the demon skull device, it drove it right off of the Morgathian’s arm. The paladin pushed his lance to the left with the impaled shield and thrust it into the wyvern’s tail. As Alvanch flew past the beast, Toderan’s lance snapped off in its tail, the black shield nailed to its hide. While it did cost Toderan his lance, it rendered the wyvern’s tail stinger useless.
Again, Alvanch quickly veered away from the dragon like steed so as not to allow it to use its talons against him. Toderan drew his holy sword; its dragonstone started glowing in a bright, scintillating red. He repositioned his grip on his shield. It had taken a slight dent from his opponent’s lance, which was splintered from the impact. The red keystone and gold dragon embossment standard of Draden Weir was still showing well on his shield, however.
Toderan had Alvanch perform a very tight turn, and they came up facing a surprised Reigngrim and his wyvern. The vicious pseudo dragon clumsily lunged forward; however, the winged horse was ready for this and quickly reared back, just avoiding the bite. He then brought his front hooves down on the wyvern’s head and nose, the horse’s mithril shoes slicing into its hide. Alvanch then lunged forward, and Toderan swung his mighty holy swor
d down as Reigngrim raised his dark crimson/purplish vampire blade. As the two opposing swords met, a small explosion of light and sparks emitted from the contact. This was the reaction of the extreme positive and negative energies coming together.
Toderan and Reigngrim exchanged blows; the paladin let it go on, as he knew he would wear the death knight down and eventually gain the advantage. The wyvern then attempted to turn his head around and bite Alvanch’s hindquarters. The winged horse deftly kicked his head away with his rear legs, the sharp hooves scoring into the dark, brownish-green hide on the side of its skull. After blocking another blow from Reigngrim with his shield, Toderan brought his powerful sword down and cut into the black-iron armor and into his opponent’s shoulder.
The wyvern then tried to bite Alvanch again, but Toderan turned back and to the right in his saddle and swung down to cut the wyvern across the back of its head. While not a killing blow, the wound was deep as grayish-black blood poured from the gash. Reigngrim took quick advantage of this and struck Toderan on his upper right leg. The dark-purplish blade didn’t penetrate the paladin’s mithril armor but put a sharp dent in it.
Toderan swung back and hit the death knight in the side, his blade again slightly penetrating the black-iron mail. The wyvern then started to have difficulty flying and began drifting to the left. Alvanch matched the slow twirling descent to keep his rider in the fight with the death knight. As the winged horse repositioned himself, Reigngrim swung down and cut into the pure white hide. A thin stream of reddish-green blood began to ooze from the wound, which would have been much worse if it weren’t for Alvanch’s quick reflexes.
This angered the weir paladin, and he angled a hard downward stroke that knocked the vampire blade away in a crackle of light and then thrust his blade into the black-iron chain mail above the thick breastplate. The shimmering blade drove deep into Reigngrim’s upper chest. As the two opposing knights locked stares, Toderan could see the pain in his opponent’s eyes even through the demon skull-shaped helmet.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 57