The crews immediately began to prep the engines to fire again. Their efficiency enabled them to launch one to two shots every minute for an excellent rate of fire. This took the form of cranking up the counterweight while winding the dragon sinew ropes and loading the projectile from the ready rack. They could fire solid stones weighing from thirty to sixty pounds or greater, depending on range restrictions or desired effect. A type of frangible projectile was also used that was constructed with fractures and had spikes running all through its cement structure; when it hit solid ground, it burst, sending the spikes flying in all directions, to the detriment of those affected. Additionally, a giant that tried to catch this type of ammunition would be killed instantly instead of the normal return throw that they were famous for.
Still a third and perhaps most lethal of their projectiles were canisters filled with dragon’s fire formula, which burst upon impact, affecting a thirty- to thirty-five-yard area. This inflicted tremendous casualties to tightly packed enemy assault lines. The first volley landed sixteen hundred yards from the river, where the catapults were currently placed. This was a good distance, but they were well within their maximum range of over two thousand yards. The second volley soon was screaming toward the targets. The garrison was still moving at an even pace toward the field, and the ballista crews on top of the land dragons were readying their weapons. They would begin to fire at roughly the thousand-yard mark, which at that range they could hit a giant-sized figure or a densely packed group of infantry or cavalry with their dragon sinew ballistae. They fired either masterwork spear-tipped projectiles that would fell an ogre with one hit or a spear with a small aerodynamically formed canister of dragon’s fire that would hit and explode in a fifteen-yard burst.
Silvanth then flew out of the Weir and down flapped her wings rapidly to get up to join Gallanth. Mkel could see that Annan was mounted on the silver dragon’s back, for her long gold-streaked brown hair was blowing from underneath her riding helmet. He liked it when his wife joined them in these exercises. Good morning, my mate, Mkel heard Gallanth telepathically call to the silver dragon.
Yes my dear, now where would you like me to attack from? she asked, always being direct. Silver dragons were sometimes arrogant but always had good intentions and motives. The female metallic dragons also tended to exhibit a sense of aloofness, but they were always dependable and no less intelligent than their male counterparts. They were usually tasked with defending the support corps supply trains along with teleporting these assets and moving supplies to and from various areas. They also backed up the male metallic dragons in all attacks and in the defense of the ground forces.
Attack from the south against the right flank of the infantry and the dwarves, and please my dear, be nice, Gallanth added. Silvanth looked at him, and with a slight friendly growl, she peeled off and headed south. Her silver toned ventral scales and hide looked brilliant in the warm morning sunlight. Silver dragons had a subtle, more streamlined appearance than most other dragons. Their smooth armored hides had a resistance to cold-based weapons and immunity to acid, as well as an electrical resistance (gold dragons shared in the acid resistance but not the immunity). It was very strong in terms of protection from any form of weapon as well.
Mkel spoke into his seeing crystal. “Good morning, my love, you look radiant on the back of your dragon.” Annan looked over her shoulder at her husband, gave him a scowl, and then smiled as Silvanth broke from away from Gallanth.
“Spare me your attempts, my dear; I will need help with your son tonight,” she replied.
“Yes, my love, he will join us at the banquet; we will talk later,” he told her as Silvanth turned around and started her diving attack.
Silvanth let loose a roar to signal her attack and to simulate a diving chromatic dragon. Her roar, while slightly higher pitched than Gallanth’s, was still no less fearsome. Female dragons, chromatic and metallic types, were usually just slightly smaller than their male counterparts. This was not true of the damage inflicted by their breath weapons, or their spells, all of which had the same strength. Overall, though, they were basically as powerful as their male counterparts. The metallic dragons delineated their roles, with the males doing most of the forward fighting and the females serving as transportation and protection for the support corps, as well as teleporting forces to and from the battlefield. They also gave a follow-on punch when necessary. Both saw their fair share of battle, so the female metallic dragons were not being protected or sheltered. They would not allow this to happen anyway.
The chromatic female dragons were just as vicious, voracious, greedy, and evil as their male counterparts. In any event, among dragons there was no quarter given for gender of either side. Gallanth’s actual mate was killed in the Great War, as was Silvanth’s. Dragons mated mostly for procreation but still mourned the loss of a partner. Only gold and silver dragons could successfully mate outside their own species, while all other types had to partner with their own kind. The offspring between a silver and a gold came out pure; half breeds were never known to have hatched.
As Silvanth swept down on the garrison, Mkel and Gallanth watched their reaction. The calls went out, “Dragon attack, three o’clock,” which prompted the front line infantry to half face the direction of attack and raise their shields, as did the dwarves, all in unison. The archer troops raised their bows and crossbows, as did the three platoons of elven archers, fired one volley at the incoming silver dragon, and then quickly moved in behind the infantry’s raised shields, going into their defensive posture to hide any exposed skin. All arrows and bolts were blunt tipped in case any got through Silvanth’s magic shield, but they all bounced off the invisible barrier by the dozens. She unleashed the blue icy ray of her breath weapon that would have normally frozen anything instantly upon contact, but it was only set to frost for this exercise.
Those that didn’t react fast enough or correctly could tell it right away, with a light coat of frost on those exposed areas. The land dragons would normally let loose their line of fire breath weapon at a charging or diving dragon but refrained. Their ballista crews mounted on their backs would fire and help drive the dragon away.
Silvanth frosted the entire front line in her pass. Their aim is good, I count well over half would have hit her, Gallanth commented. “That would have likely brought down a white or a black dragon, don’t you think?” Mkel responded. Possibly, it would have definitely driven one off with their true aim. Let us just pray we can make this situation never happen in battle and keep the chromatics away from our soldiers, Gallanth emphasized. “If anyone can, it would be you, my large friend,” Mkel complimented his dragon partner.
Your crossbow is definitely a compliment. We need to get better knowledge on the number of dragons the giants might have. I can feel at least two reds and two or three blues. I don’t know how many green and black dragons, and I don’t think we have to worry about whites. The fire giants like it too hot for them, Gallanth finished. “You’re right, Gallanth,” he replied. “We’ll have to talk to Lupek and Deless to see how close they can get.”
The catapult practice clay stones were striking in the midst of the wooden propped-up targets, as evidenced by the clouds of dust raised by their impacts. The battalion was rapidly approaching the one-thousand-yard mark from the target line as the first round of ballista spears were fired from the land dragon turret weapons. The spear-sized projectiles sailed quickly through the air in their arc toward the targets. The first one struck with a flash of visible fire. The catapults displaced forward and switched to their canisters of dragon’s fire ammunition, and larger plumes of fire were seen billowing from the target array. They were on their mark, as usual.
Mkel and Lupek called to Lieutenant Willaward with their seeing crystal to tell him to stop their firing to allow the rangers to perform a strafing run. The ballista fire from the land dragon crews could still fire, for their ballistic arc was
not as great as the catapults. He then signaled to Lupek to have his rangers begin their diving attacks.
The rangers began to move into their usual V formation. As soon as Lupek and Deless formed their squadrons together, they oriented on the target field. Lupek’s wing dove almost straight down, and as they pulled up, barely fifty feet from the ground, they threw the dragon’s fire grenades, which landed in the middle of the targets; all twelve grenades ignited within seconds of each other, to the cheers of the infantry several hundred meters away. Deless’s squadron then performed their diving attack from a different direction, to confuse enemy archers. Pekram let the company cheer once and then returned to their focused silence. This unnerved the enemy and instilled discipline.
Lupek swung his wing around and dove on the targets again, but this time they employed their bows and let loose a volley of arrows just before the point where the griffons had to pull up from their dives. Deless’s wing performed the same maneuver with an added bolt of lightning from the elf ranger’s bow; he always transferred his spell energy into his arrows. The rangers were very accurate with their aerial fire, with the human rangers able to hit a man-sized target six out of ten times and the elven rangers nine out of ten.
The front line of the battalion was now getting within archer range, so Mkel signaled to Lupek and Deless to clear the air above the target area. The griffons broke their formations into their wingman pairs and flapped their golden brown feathered wings to gain altitude. Upon seeing this, Dekeen nocked an arrow and raised his bow. The ruby dragonstone mounted beneath the hand grip glowed, surging with power, and flashed as energy was transferred into the drawn arrow. He let it loose, upon which the white fletched arrow streaked in its low ballistic arch with unnatural speed over five hundred yards toward the center of the target field. It struck one of the giant wooden frames with a brilliant white flash of light, as the explosion of energy sent a dust plume and wooden splinters into the air. He quickly let loose four more arrows toward the field, which all in turn flashed in their mini explosions.
By this time, the infantry line was almost at the three-hundred-yard distance from the targets. Dekeen shouted in elvish to prepare to fire; all three platoons of his elven archers raised their bows, as did the human crossbowmen. He yelled to fire as over one hundred twenty elven arrows streaked toward their targets. Elves had superior eyesight and were an excellent judge of distance. At three hundred yards, they had at least a three out of four chance of hitting a man-sized target. The infantry crossbowmen fired as well. There were sixty missile soldiers in the Weir infantry company, of which well over half were crossbowmen and the rest archers, equipped with long composite bows. The crossbows had a longer range and utilized graduated sights that adjusted for distance in quarrel drop out to three hundred yards. The crossbowmen overall had a longer range and were more accurate but could not fire as fast as the longbow men.
A hail of arrows and bolts streamed from the elves and men as they approached the target line. As the battalion reached the two-hundred-yard mark, the human archers started to fire. They continued to fire their practice arrows until they were within thirty-five yards. By this time, the targets looked like pin cushions. The elves could fire twenty arrows in a minute sustained, while the human archers could put ten to twelve well-aimed arrows out in that time, while the crossbowmen were able to fire five bolts: an overall devastating firepower that could be brought to bear against an enemy army. Mkel was interested in the new crossbows that he was told were being developed at the Capital; he would get to see them during his upcoming visit to Draconia. His archers would be the first to get them.
The dwarves now brandished their throwing axes and hammers and all threw at least one. Driving into the dwarves was like attacking a spiked armadillo. Ordin, in the center of the dwarf line, raised his glowing solid mithril war hammer and hurled it, spinning, toward a larger wooden target. The hammer was pulsating from its dragonstone and hissing with energy. The hammer struck the wooden platform with a loud clap of thunder, pulverizing it and sending wood splinters flying in all directions. The dwarf line then threw a volley of their hand weapons in unison, which struck the first row of targets, and then they threw a second volley. This would decimate an onrushing line of orcs or infantry. They then drew their main weapons and tightened their formation in preparation for what would be an assault if they faced a real enemy.
The infantry company’s battle line on either side of the dwarves readied their long spears and raised their shields. The third rank fired one last volley at close range at the targets. The first two ranks of heavy infantry would bear the brunt of an enemy infantry attack, skewering the first rank of attackers and fighting with their spears until they broke. They then drew their long swords and fought shoulder to shoulder with locked shields, thrusting or slicing the enemy ranks. The archers then took shots of opportunity with their bows and crossbows and drew their swords and backed up the heavy infantry. Both the dwarves and the Weir infantry proudly adorned their shields with the head of a gold dragon in the middle of a red keystone, symbolizing their allegiance to, pride in, and appreciation of Gallanth and Draden Weir.
Mkel signaled to Pekram to have the right flank of the infantry line fold between the first and second platoon to simulate a break in the line. Pekram shouted to lieutenants Akiser and Paloud to split their platoons. Mkel then called Dekeen through his crystal to send his elven infantry platoon to fill the gap. Dekeen turned and looked over to his senior fighter and yelled in elvish to follow him. They immediately started to run in unison and quickly filled the gap between the two parted garrison infantry platoons.
The elven fighters were alternately armed with either a long sword and shield or a double-bladed pole arm, which they swung so fast and gracefully that the naked eye could almost not follow it. Elves were not as physically strong as men but were faster and had greater dexterity. They mad poor wrestlers but were deadly with a sword or blade.
At this point in time, the infantry columns were now passing through the targets, so Mkel called Lenor to make his cavalry charge to the left of the front line. Lenor answered into his crystal and drew his holy sword. The paladin platoon raised their lances and spurred their heavy mounts forward. All thirty-four mounted heavy horses charged in two loose V formations past the infantry; Lenor was at the apex of the charge, with his powerful sword pointed to the simulated enemy.
“The formations look good,” Toderan said to Mkel through his crystal.
“Yes, it seems very well coordinated,” Jodem echoed from his eagle mount as all three circled above the ground formation.
“All we have to do is keep the chromatics and any Talon sorcerers off of them so they can concentrate on the orcs and enemy infantry,” Mkel replied to his two friends.
Jodem then waved his staff and thrust it forward, aiming it like a crossbow, and six fiery spheres of his meteor swarm spell rapidly fired out of the dragonstone and screamed toward the earth. All struck in a line about one hundred fifty yards in front of the charging cavalry, detonating in horrendous explosions. This signaled for the paladins to stop their charge and was also a morale booster for the garrison.
“I get your point, my teacher; Gallanth, let’s give the rest of the Draden legion something to walk through,” he replied.
“It will be a pleasure,” the gold dragon replied. Mkel called to Colonel Wierangan that the Weir’s attack had culminated and to bring the rest of the legion up to move against their set of targets located another five hundred yards beyond the array where his men now stood.
With that, Gallanth wheeled around and let loose a commanding battle roar as he dove toward the ground. Mkel cocked and loaded his crossbow with an exploding-tipped bolt clip and took aim at a selected target on the ground. A sunbeam burst emanating from Gallanth’s now glowing eyes sent two yellowish golden beams down to a target on the grass field, exploding with a tremendous force. Mkel put the crosshairs
of his bow sight on the ground next to Gallanth’s strike and fired. His bolt darted toward the earth with blinding speed and exploded with an even greater force than Dekeen’s arrows commanded. Gallanth then opened his huge jaws, and a glow from within his throat emerged into a ball of brilliant yellowish orange plasma fire. He expelled it out and it then screamed toward the targeted area with the same speed as Mkel’s arrow, exploding with incredible power and leaving a crater over forty yards in diameter and ten feet deep at the center.
The men cheered as they stood among the arrow- and axe-riddled targets, and the land dragons breathed jets of flame as Gallanth roared again when he pulled up from his diving attack. This also signaled to the legion’s leaders to initiate their movement. Colonel Wierangan called to his catapults and trebuchets to begin to fire, as they were now arrayed only five hundred yards behind the Weir garrison. He then signaled to his hippogriff battalion to take to the air and begin their strafing runs and simulated aerial combat with any enemy aerial forces.
“Now we get to watch the show,” Sergeant Tarbellan said to one of his soldiers.
“Yes Sergeant, but I’m sure glad that big dragon is on our side,” the young soldier replied as he looked up at Gallanth soaring overhead past them.
“Between Gallanth and Captain Mkel, they have a great deal of power, and it is usually used very wisely. Even though he’s an officer, he and his dragon go out of their way to help and protect the company. You’ll see that if we have to fight the giants,” Tarbellan informed the young soldier, who had not yet been through an engagement.
Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow Page 12