„I have your word?“
„Tell me when I may go and rest. I am growing weary of this adventure already.“
Brynn looked over to Juraviel, who wore a perplexed, but ultimately pleased, expression.
The air was still that night, crisp and clear and with a thousand stars twinkling above, but no moon shone over the desert sands. And so it was dark, and so none noticed that some of the stars seemed to wink out momentarily, briefly blocked by a moving line of blackness.
Alone astride Agradeleous, Brynn did not light her sword. Riding her engine of destruction, the woman glided down quietly toward the mighty fortress, repeatedly checking the leather straps she had secured about the dragon as a makeshift saddle.
„Straight and strong,“ she whispered to the great wurm, though she doubted that he could hear her words against the rush of air.
The dragon folded back his wings and dropped like a gigantic spear toward the dark mound of the fortress. Just before impact, Agradeleous swooped back up, opening wide his great leathery wings and landing hard against the side of the fortress, his huge clawed feet digging deep footholds in the soft sandstone, shaking the castle so forcefully that waves rippled across the oasis pond fifty feet away.
Cries began immediately from within the place, and when Brynn lifted her sword and set it ablaze, her soldiers ringing the fortress took up great cheers and war shouts.
Brynn held on tight as the dragon went into a frenzy, his great tail smashing at the walls, his forelegs and great maw tearing at the stone. An arrow came out at him from one nearby slit, bouncing harmlessly off his scaly hide, and the dragon responded by putting his mouth against the slit and breathing a burst of great fire within.
How the howls inside increased!
But the resistance from within erupted suddenly, as well, with many arrows coming out, buzzing in the air about Agradeleous and Brynn, clipping off the dragon’s thick scales to poke and stick against his leathery wings That only increased the dragon’s fury, and he leaped up from the side and dropped back down, again and again, shaking the whole of the place, Weakening the integrity of the thick walls. His tail continued to smash hard as well, and wherever he saw an opening, the dragon breathed his fire.
„The gate! The gate!“ Brynn bade, for she had purposely brought Agradeleous in against the front side of the place, with a definite plan for opening it wide.
The dragon hopped a few more times, smashing and tearing, then finally seemed to hear the shouting woman. He snapped his snakelike neck, sending his maw hard into the soft stone just above the iron gate, and there he focused much of his wrath, burrowing through the soft stone, biting and gnashing until at last his teeth clamped on something more substantial.
With a great heave, Agradeleous retracted his head, pulling the slab of iron right through the soft stone, then snapping his head high and to the side, launching the great gate of Garou Castle far into the night, to splash into the oasis pond.
Agradeleous’ head snapped down even lower and he filled the castle entryway with his killing fire.
And then he thrashed some more, and a great slap of his tail at last toppled a portion of the wall, dropping great chunks of stone on the helpless defenders inside.
But the stubborn Behrenese kept up their rain of missiles, which now included great spears hurled from ballistae.
„Fly free!“ Brynn ordered the dragon.
Agradeleous continued to thrash, snapping his head into the opening left by the toppled wall, grabbing one man up in his toothy maw.
Brynn winced, hearing the bones crunch under the weight of that terrible bite, and then the man was gone, just like that.
„Fly free!“ she yelled again, and the dragon spun out and slammed his tail against the weakened wall once more, knocking a larger chunk free to topple inside. And then, to Brynn’s great relief, Agradeleous leaped away, his great wings beating the air to lift them far away in short order.
Brynn closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe. The dragon had obeyed.
Then the woman opened her eyes and looked back to the battered castle, to see the opened gate area and the even larger gouge in the wall to the side. Smoke was rising from both openings, and from the roof as well, from fires no doubt begun by Agradeleous’ breath. Now, seeing Brynn’s sword held high as she and the dragon flew away, her army began its charge.
By the time Agradeleous set Brynn down beside the elves and Runtly, and she was able to ride her pony back to the oasis, the fighting was done, the fortress taken, and the few defenders left alive had been herded together in a small circle.
Brvnn rode to that circle and dismounted. Then she walked about the ter-•fjed, overwhelmed Behrenese. „Supply them and send them on their way,“ told her warriors, and then to the prisoners, she instructed, „Go and tell , ur countrymen of the fate of Garou Oasis. Tell them of the Dragon of To-n of the fate that will befall them, all of them, unless the Chezru Chieftain declares To-gai free. There are no castle walls strong enough to defy me.“ And then she walked away.
chapter
One Angry Cat, One Clever Mouse
rom Alzuth?“ the Chezru Chieftain asked, referring to the next r~ city in line south of Pruda, and, to his thinking, the next city in JJL. line for the Dragon of To-gai. Only a couple of weeks before, Yakim Douan had heard of the fall of Pruda, and now, hearing that frantic men had arrived bearing news of another disaster, he expected that Alzuth had fallen.
His new attendant, a skinny and tall Shepherd named Took, shook his head slowly. „Garou Oasis, God-Voice,“ he said quietly.
The others in the room, Yatols who had come in with reports of increasing pirate activity and other unsettling events, began to whisper nervously. The Chezru Chieftain motioned for them to remain calm, but his own expression showed that he, too, was a bit unsettled by the unexpected news. For Garou Oasis was not along the plateau line directly south of Pruda, as he had expected the Dragon of To-gai to run, but was farther inland, farther east, and along the southwestern road out of Jacintha.
Yakim Douan slumped back in his chair, his face tight with concentration.
„God-Voice, what does it mean?“ Yatol De Hamman asked desperately. „Does the Dragon of To-gai intend to charge at Jacintha? „
Again, the Chezru Chieftain patted his hand reassuringly in the air. „Show the emissaries in,“ he instructed Took, and the man bowed repeatedly, skittering for the door, and returned in a moment with three dirty men, one of whom, Doyugga Doy, Yakim Douan recognized as an ambassador from Garou.
„God-Voice,“ Doyugga said, prostrating himself on the floor before the Chezru Chieftain. „I beseech you! She is mighty beyond words! Her horse can change into a great dragon, wielding fire as she wields fire! And the barbarians follow her without regard to their own lives! They are mad, God-Voice! Mad, I say!“ „The oasis was overrun?“ Yakim Douan asked calmly.
„Crushed!“ the man replied. „They swept in like a sandstorm. I think that they were sand, yes, magically transformed sand, sweeping in on fast grinds. My master, Yatol embrace him, brought in all of the villagers, as many as our fortress could hold, but the Ru leader turned her horse into a dragon and smashed down our walls! And then her warriors flew in on the wind, as many as grains of sand!“
The other Yatols began talking amongst themselves nervously, exclaiming „dragon!“ or „sandstorm!“ repeatedly, but Yakim Douan was less impressed. He had been hearing these stories over and over again, about every war that had been fought in the last few centuries. Without fail, those fleeing exaggerated the strength of the enemy, if only to put aside any blame they might otherwise have to shoulder for running away in the first place.
Still, Yakim Douan understood that he had to take this threat seriously, though he doubted that the To-gai-ru, even if all of their tribes had combined into a singular force, could have any chance of doing much harm at all to mighty Jacintha.
But there remained the issue of this
dragon…
„You saw the wurm yourself?“ he asked Doyugga, and the man’s head began to bob.
„God-Voice, it was as large as a great house! Its breath was fire, its tail thunder! Its claws dug the stone as easily as if it was mud! It pulled my friend Yuzeth, Yatol embrace him, right from out beside me, crushed him in its great jaws and swallowed him! I saw, God-Voice, I saw!“
He was bobbing up and down and sobbing uncontrollably as he recounted the story, and so Yakim Douan motioned for a pair of guards to come and gather him up and drag him out of there.
„Where is Yatol Tohen Bardoh?“ the Chezru Chieftain asked his attendant.
„He marches north along the plateau ridge, and should make Dharyan in a few days, God-Voice.“
„Will you send him, too, into To-gai?“ came a question from Yatol De Hamman, and only when Yakim Douan fixed him with a threatening stare did he seem to realize that he was way over the line of good judgment. The fact that Shauntil and fifteen thousand Jacintha warriors were running about the seemingly empty steppes of To-gai, while this Dragon and her army were cutting a swath of destruction across Behren did not sit well with Yakim Douan - and Yatols offering sarcasm on the matter might well find themselves hanging by their necks outside the Chezru temple.
Yakim Douan’s stare reminded the upstart and angry De Hamman of just that.
„Send word to Governor Pestle to turn Yatol Bardoh and his forces straight east for Jacintha,“ the Chezru Chieftain commanded. That brought murmurs of discontent among the gathered Yatols, most of whom commanded cities in the western provinces of the country, and who would depend upon that great combined force now led by the fearsome for protection from the Dragon of To-gai.
„They wish to lead us on a fruitless chase about the desert, but Yato] v/li show me the way to them, and this unpleasant business can be finish once and for all,“ Yakim Douan said to quiet them. He glared at Yatol D Hamman before the man could utter a word.
„You were going to note that Yatol led me errantly in sending Shauntil into To-gai? „ he asked.
The man blanched. „No, God-Voice. Never would I - “
„Spare me your lies, Yatol,“ Douan replied. „I understand your fears „
„If you were in our tentative position, you would feel the same,“ Yatol De Hamman said defensively. „The pirates that Yatol Peridan has coddled have been bought by the Dragon of To-gai’s ill-gotten gains, and now attack my coastline mercilessly.“
„No,“ the Chezru Chieftain insisted. „If I were in your position, I would trust in Yatol, and hold all confidence that this Dragon of To-gai would soon enough run out of tricks and out of luck. I will find her, and I will destroy her and all of her followers. And if there is truly a dragon, a great beast of mythology, flying beside her, then I will destroy it as well, and what a fine trophy its horned head will make upon my wall!“
That brought some murmurs of excitement, even a bit of laughter, from the gathered Yatols. But Douan ended it abruptly by fixing Yatol De Hamman with an imposing stare. „And when I am done with her and her followers, I will indeed send Yatol Tohen Bardoh into To-gai, to join with Chezhou-Lei Shauntil to punish the upstart To-gai-ru for the trouble they have caused to me.“
The next day, a report came in from southern Behren that a band of outlaws had attacked a small settlement before being hunted down by the local YatoPs forces. One of the captured raiders had invoked the name of the Dragon of To-gai, and had carried a pouch bulging with coins bearing the Pruda stamp.
A few days later, an emissary from Avrou Eesa, Yatol Bardoh’s own city, arrived with news that demands of ransom had been sent to prominent merchant families, payment for the return of a band of merchants captured at Garou when they had been denied entrance to the fortress.
„Find Doyugga Doy and learn if this is true, that a band of merchants visiting Garou Oasis had been denied entrance to the fortress at the time of attack,“ Douan instructed Took.
„I will return with the response, God-Voice,“ Took said obediently, offering yet another series of his ridiculous bows. Watching him, Yakim Douan could only think of a drunken stork, and how he missed Merwan Ma at that time!
„That is not necessary,“ he said to the attendant. „Ask the question and hear Doyugga Doy’s answer.“
„And if it is true?“ him hung in the square, publicly, and speak his crime as cow-dice,“ Yakim Douan declared. „This is not the time for cowards, my friend. I’U not suffer them to live.“
„Yes, God-Voice,“ the obviously shaken shepherd said repeatedly, back-• a out of the room and continuing his endless series of ridiculous bows.
Douan, glad to be alone, slumped back and blew a frustrated sigh. This ne was getting the better of him. She, if it truly was a woman, was hitting helter-skelter, and finding perfect tactics to overwhelm each target. Douan had spent the morning with some of his Chezhou-Lei, going over the re-norted descriptions of the battles, and they had all agreed that this Dragon of To-gai was a cunning adversary.
Two weeks earlier, Garou Oasis had fallen, which meant that even now, the Dragon of To-gai might be looking across the sands at Jacintha.
So Yakim Douan had sent his Chezhou-Lei out to gather every garrison within the area and form a defensive perimeter about Jacintha, even before the arrival of Yatol Tohen Bardoh and fifteen thousand soldiers. He expected that many of the outlying Yatols would soon be crying for an audience - and De Hamman would scream loudest of all - fearful that he was protecting himself at their expense, but so be it. He certainly could not let Jacintha fall!
But while Yakim Douan could feel secure in his own safety and in that of Jacintha, he understood well that he could not allow the Dragon of To-gai to continue her rampage through the outer provinces. So far, his scouts had been unable to find her.
Reports of the fall of another city, Teramen, located between Garou and Dahdah Oasis, came in the next day.
Yakim Douan huddled about a large map with the newly arrived Yatol Tohen Bardoh and a few of his Chezhou-Lei commanders. All of them were surprised indeed at this latest choice of target.
„But it does make sense, God-Voice,“ one did admit. „From Teramen, the Dragon of To-gai can resupply, and can then hit back to the northeast, at Dahdah Oasis, or can even turn back to the northwest and strike at Dharyan once more, within a week.“
Yakim Douan let his head loll forward at that prospect. Had he not just brought in Yatol Bardoh and fifteen thousand soldiers from Dharyan?
„I will force march back for Dharyan, God-Voice,“ offered Yatol Bardoh, a man of nearly sixty years, but in fine physical condition and with angry fires burning bright in his dark eyes.
„To Dahdah Oasis,“ Yakim Douan corrected. „Then split your force, with one contingent marching fast for Dharyan, and the other turning southwest to cut off any escape by the Dragon of To-gai to the south. If she hits at Dahdah, you will have her. If at Dharyan, then force her north into the mountains, or back to the To-gai steppes, where your forces and Shauntil’s can close about her and destroy her.“
„Yes, God-Voice,“ the man replied, and he stormed out of the room h’ hard soles echoing loudly against the white-and-pink marble.
„She will beat us to either location, and so she may get one more vict perhaps even two,“ Yakim Douan told his warlords. „But then she will K mine.“
They all seemed quite pleased with themselves.
Of course, when Yatol Bardoh and his force arrived at Dahdah Oas’ they found the place perfectly quiet and secure. Those who force-march rl ahead down the western road were greeted at Dharyan by the blowin horns of intact Governor Carwan Pestle. And those who hastened alone • southwesterly route traveled all the way to the foot of the plateau divide without any sign of the invading To-gai-ru army.
A few weeks later, with the summer of God’s Year 843 fast turning to autumn, Abellican reckoning, a fleet of many ships - mostly Behrenese pirates - sailed out of Entel for the open Mirianic. The fle
et bore Aydrian Wyndon, Brynn Dharielle’s friend of old - and all of old Abbot Olin’s hopes - to a distant island that was rumored to be covered with millions of valuable gemstones. That same day, in Jacintha, Yakim Douan heard the first reports of lines of beleaguered refugees streaming down the road from the conquered southern city of Alzuth.
„They fought well,“ Pagonel remarked to Brynn, when he caught up to the woman outside the conquered city of Alzuth. The place had been fully looted and gutted, with all Behrenese survivors sent on the road to the northeast.
Alzuth had proven to be the toughest battle yet. Brynn had used her bait and ambush tactic, and indeed, a force had come charging out the gate behind her fleeing force.
But a second force, great in number, had followed the first, coming on the battle even as Brynn’s main army had descended upon the pursuing Alzuth force. While the fierce To-gai-ru had won the day anyway, several hundred had fallen out in the desert, prompting Brynn to use Agradeleous once more in the attack upon the city.
So Alzuth had fallen, yet another great victory for the Dragon of To-gai, and greater still because her followers understood that her ploy of unpredictability had worked yet again, luring thousands of Behrenese soldiers out along the road much farther north, far from the actual fighting. With Agradeleous continuing to supply the To-gai-ru, their mobility could not be matched and their route could not be predicted.
Still, they were only five thousand strong, and so a city like Alzuth, braced for battle, proved a formidable foe.
„The Behrenese defended their homes well,“ Brynn admitted, and the mystic nodded.
„The Chezru Chieftain will begin a sweep south, likely,“ Pagonel said.
„And one west and south from Jacintha. Soon enough, I expect, he will rec-
nize that he cannot hope to outguess you.“
„JVlv warriors are weary and battered,“ said Brynn. „Many carry wounds hat require rest, though they’ll not rest if I show them a city to conquer.“
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