Dragonia: Dragon Stone (Dragonia Empire Book 3)

by Craig A. Price Jr.

  He approached each wyvern and checked their saddle. The wyverns hadn’t been saddled up in a little while. They still practiced at least once a week for the most part, but often times they would alternate days. Now, every wyvern had a saddle. And Devarius was grateful for the hard work of the leatherworkers, because now there were enough saddles for all. For a while, they all had to share saddles and take turns using them.

  Devarius took a deep breath. It wasn’t the soldiers or warriors in the resistance who made it great, but it was all the others. The chefs, the leatherworkers, the shoemakers, the blacksmiths, and several other important craftsmen throughout the resistance. Even the jewelry makers helped with their necklaces that wyvern scales were placed in for the spell casters. It was because of those people that they were as far as they were. Without them, the resistance would crumble. He made sure to thank all the craftsmen before preparing for battle.

  Stepping away from the wyverns, Devarius turned to check on the ships one last time. As he made it to the ships through, he caught something in his peripheral vision. A wyvern and a rider approached. Devarius’ heart sank as he saw it was Paedyn and Pyro. No matter what the news, he wasn’t prepared for it. He took a deep breath.

  Pyro landed a few feet in front of Devarius, and Paedyn slipped off his wyvern. He smiled, lips pushed together, and no teeth showing. Paedyn always smiled with teeth. This alone made Devarius nervous.

  “What is the news?” Devarius asked.

  Paedyn nodded. “It’s bad. We don’t have much time.”

  “Is their request for aid legitimate?”

  “Definitely. I studied their facial features closely as we had a meeting. The leaders are definitely sincere. Pyro and I also pretended to fly away, and kept close enough to listen it for a time. They were ecstatic that we were going to help them, but they were still terrified to face the empire. However, there wasn’t any sign of treachery anywhere.”

  “Good,” Devarius said. “I was hoping that would be the case. What of their army?”

  “Who’s?” Paedyn asked. “The empire is two to three thousand strong if rumor could be trusted, with more than a hundred of them dragonriders. The southern cities? Well, around two thousand militia, all untrained, all pitchforks and hammers.”

  Devarius frowned. “But they’re willing?”

  Paedyn nodded. “They’re definitely willing, but any spare weapons we might have, we’d better bring. Even if they’re practice weapons and dull. We can sharpen them when we arrive. There’s only so much we can do with pitchforks.”

  “What did they say about the plan to gather by the mountain?” Devarius asked.

  “They were excited to hear a plan. It seems they hadn’t thought it through much. They probably were going to try to stop the empire at Laeraed, which would have been bad. That small village doesn’t even have a wall. The empire would crush them there.”

  Devarius nodded.

  “I do still think it’s a trap, though, not by the southern cities.”

  “Why?” Devarius asked.

  “I just can’t get over the location. Remember, our first attack against the empire was near that mountain, though, on the western side of it. Their captain escaped, remember? If they wanted to draw us out of hiding, where better than the threat of them heading to the south to destroy the villages and cities, nearby the place where they first encountered us. They have to suspect we’re in the south now. They know we’re no longer in the mountains, and so they’re placing their hopes on the south. I just have a bad feeling.”

  Devarius scratched his chin. “I agree that we’ll have to be careful. Whether or not this is a trap, we weren’t ready for a battle so soon.”

  “I believe it’s also why the southern cities have heard of the attack on the north, and the general numbers of the empire when they attacked. I think the empire would be swift enough to take the south by surprise if they wanted to. I believe the delay is to draw us out.”

  “Are you ready?” Devarius asked.

  “To set things on fire?” Paedyn grinned. “More than ever.”

  Chapter 42

  Devarius looked over the army at the mountain. Paedyn was right. The militia from the villages and cities of the south were ill prepared to fight a war. Pitchforks, axes, and hammers were their primary weapons. All tools meant for other things than war, though he noticed some had been modified to larger tools that made them appear more as a weapon than a tool. Still, he knew without the resistance, the southern villages would crumble. Devarius planned to not let that happen.

  The resistance had landed their ships on the southern side of the mountain and traversed to where the mountain and tree-line met. Devarius and Paedyn were in front of the rest, and the southern cities had already set up camp at Paedyn’s request. Devarius was glad they had gone over their plans for a defense if they allied with the southern cities. The trick would be, to convince the empire to attack there.

  Everyone in the militia stared back at the resistance in wonder. Devarius smiled. The wyvernriders, and even several dozen solo wyverns who had not chosen a rider, flew in the sky above them. The militia stared in awestruck wonder at the wyverns in the sky. Devarius turned his attention back to the militia. He noticed a few hundred men with bows. Relief flooded over him. When he first saw the army, he’d been afraid everyone was farmers and blacksmiths, but at least there were hunters within the militia. Now he wondered how accurate they were. Archers would be important in the battle to come. Especially with the wyvern oil he’d brought.

  A man strolled over to them. He bowed before Paedyn and Devarius.

  “Good afternoon. My name is Haeldrov. I met Paedyn the other day.”

  Devarius smiled. “The governor of Vaereal.”

  Haeldrov smiled. “And you are?”

  “Devarius.”

  “Are you the leader of the resistance?”

  Devarius bit his lip. “I don’t know about that.”

  “Yes, he is,” Paedyn said.

  Devarius frowned at him.

  “Come on, Devarius. Everyone sees you as leader now.”

  “What is the situation here?” Devarius asked.

  Haeldrov raised his brows.

  “Is this everyone? Is everyone ready for battle? And, do you know how far out the empire is?” Devarius asked.

  Haeldrov nodded. “Ah, yes. We do have a few more coming. They’re preparing defenses in the villages and cities, but it’s a hundred max. I believe we’re as ready as we’re going to be. We’re grateful you arrived before they have. It’s had some of us on edge, praying to the creator that you’d arrive in time. It’s taken generations of oppression before we finally decided to take a stand, but we’re all still nervous. Without you, we were afraid all hope would have been lost.”

  Devarius smiled. “There is nothing to fear. We’ve beat the empire before, and we will do so again. It won’t be easy, and it will take everyone, but we can do it.”

  “That’s reassuring.” Haeldrov smiled.

  “Do you know when the empire will arrive?” Devarius repeated himself.

  Haeldrov frowned. “Our scouts tell us they’ll arrive in less than a day.”

  Devarius nodded. “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Haeldrov, but I must make preparations. It seems we have little time. Would you please let everyone know I will be giving orders?”

  Haeldrov bit his lip as he looked at Devarius. “I will, but, please, keep in mind, while we’re not as discriminatory in the south as some of the northern cities closer to the empire’s influence, there still may be some issues—”

  “Because of the color of my complexion,” Devarius finished.

  The majority of Kaeldroga was the pale white peach color of human, with less than thirty percent being darker. Some cities discriminated more than others over the color of Devarius’ skin. He’d gotten used to it, but it still irked him a bit.

  “Tell them that me and Paedyn here are in charge. I don’t have time for bigotry here. Not when a b
attle is on its way. The ones who want to turn their nose up at me can take orders from Paedyn. We can discuss such racial influences after this war is done.”

  Haeldrov nodded.

  “Is there anything else we need know about before we get started?”

  “The chefs are preparing bison tonight. We’re going to have one final large meal before we await the arrival of the empire.”

  “Sounds delicious.” Paedyn grinned.

  Devarius nodded. “Thank you.”

  Devarius stormed off and toward the militia. Paedyn rushed to keep up with him.

  “Woah, hold up a second, Devarius. You seem a little upset. Are you all right?” Paedyn asked

  Devarius slowed and looked to his friend. “Yeah. I’m fine. It’s just—” He ran his hands over his short cropped black hair. “I get so tired of the discrimination.”

  “I understand,” Paedyn said.

  “No, you don’t. You’re as white as they come. No one gives you a second glance.”

  “That is not true,” Paedyn said. “People give me plenty of glances. It’s just different. For you, it’s your skin, which is absolute wyvern bugars, but for me, they give me glances when I set fire to things. Oh, look, that pale white boy set fire to the street again. Oh, he burned down the bakery again. Oh, look Paedyn set fire to the town hall for the third time this month. I could talk about the times my mother would have to drag me out of the street by my ear. And oh how people looked at me. Down their noses they did.”

  Devarius chuckled. “You always know how to make me feel better.”

  “Well that makes one of us. You know they called me fire boy?”

  “I bet you were devastated.”

  “I was. Definitely. But, then I would just set one of their houses on fire.”

  Devarius raised his eyebrows.

  “Can you believe I would get in trouble for that too?”

  “Yes. In fact, I believe that when you were a child, you probably stayed in trouble.”

  “I did. It was so unfair.”

  “All right, we need to spread our warriors throughout these villagers. If we keep all the villagers in the front, they won’t last long. We need them to be more than dragon fodder,” Devarius said. “Then we should separate the wyvernriders by ability throughout each side. We don’t want all the fire wyverns on the same side. We’ll want an even mix of all elements scattered throughout.”

  “What about the archers?” Paedyn asked.

  Devarius scratched his chin. “Archers typically stay in the back, but we have too much of a v point here. If we put them all the way in the back, they won’t be able to attack until too much of the front line has fallen. Perhaps we can put them in increments of ten to twenty throughout the V behind a certain number of melee warriors. Then have them fall back behind the next line of melee warriors behind them?”

  Paedyn nodded. “That could work, but … what about the mountain?”

  Devarius tilted his head. “What about the mountain?”

  “Well, there’s a large slope. The empire isn’t going to be running up the slope. If we place warriors up there, it’ll be easy for them to cut anyone who runs up it down. The high ground, if you will. But, if we place archers up there as well, they’ll be able to loose down, which should carry their arrows farther into the empire’s men. And if anyone tries to charge up the mountain to attack the archers, the warriors who are with them will be able to cut them down.”

  Devarius bit his lip, his eyebrows furrowing. “You know, I like that idea, but, they’ll be vulnerable to dragon attack.”

  “Then let’s put an ice wyvern with them, as well as a few ice spell casters. The ice should negate any dragons fire, as well as be an interesting ability to imbue their arrows with.” Paedyn tilted his head, scratching his chin. “Can our spell casters imbue arrowheads with ice magic?”

  Devarius raised his chin. “You know, I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask Zaviana. I’ve been a little out of the loop as far as our spell casters go. There’s been too many other things that’s been given my attention.”

  “Don’t forget about the dragomen,” Paedyn said.

  Devarius clenched his teeth. He still wasn’t happy about bringing the dragomen, but he knew if they didn’t, and if they lost, he would have no one to blame but himself. Devarius looked around the army. He began signaling the warriors of the resistance to blend into the militia.

  “I haven’t forgotten them. We’ll need them to blend with the others as well. I don’t want them all on the same side either.”

  “Are you nervous to use them?” Paedyn asked.

  “Of course. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive them for what they did to Aquila and her wyvern, but I have to think about what’s best for the resistance.”

  Paedyn nodded.

  “Well, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s prepare everyone for battle,” Devarius said.

  They spent the next several hours moving the ranks of the men and women around for a more diverse defense. The amount of militia matched the amount of resistance warriors nearly perfectly, and so they were able to separate them out pretty well, making sure a mix of experience surrounded all the untrained militia. Devarius gave orders to all the soldiers to help the militia with pointers and tips, and if time, a few moments of training. He knew it wouldn’t help much, but if they all survived the battle, they would be able to train the militia more.

  Devarius had a few wyvernriders camp at the northern entrance of Laeraed to direct the empire to them. He placed one of each type of wyvern, with clear directions of where in the army they should fall when the time was right.

  Wyvernriders scattered throughout the defense between the mountain and forest, as did dragomen. Archers were placed at different ranks throughout, where they could easily move in and out of third and forth lines of defense to loose their bows. Devarius also oversaw an effort to equip the mountain with soldiers, including several archers who had a good view of the northern path. They’d also found a few mounted ballista they brought up to the mountain for aiming at dragons.

  They nearly had everything organized and complete when the sun set over the western horizon. It disappeared over the mountain when Devarius noticed five wyverns flying toward him from the northeast. His eyes bulged as he watched them. He searched for the sixth wyvern, and finally found it behind the others. But two dragonriders chased it, flames spiraling toward its rear. The rider and saddle slid off of the gold wyvern. Devarius watched, horrified as the rider fell to the ground. The gold wyvern didn’t make it much farther as the two dragons caught up with it, and with a massive jaw against its throat and tail, the wyvern died in the air. When the two dragons released the wyvern, it too dropped to the ground.

  “Well, I guess we’re not going to eat that bison tonight,” Paedyn said softly next to him.

  “Prepare for battle!” Devarius yelled.

  Chapter 43

  Devarius wasn’t ready. He had no choice. The first dragon soared toward the army. Flames blazed on the ground leading up to them. His eyes widened. Had he made a mistake? Was this where everyone would die? Now they were all bunched together, waiting for an army to crash into them, but now as he watched the dragon flying toward them, its large flame burning the ground, Devarius was uncertain. They were trapped, without room to run, as they were all wedged in there tighter than a than a wyvern trying to fit its head in a gopher hole. If enough dragons flew forward to blaze fire at them, that would be it. The battle would be over. They’d all be dead.

  Three blue wyverns flew toward the dragon, each opening its jaw to release cold mist, which mixed with the fire and created water. The three wyverns didn’t give up, continuing to fly toward the dragon, who’s fire became useless, and up toward its jaw. Their ice pushed the fire back into the dragon’s mouth, until no flame at all could come from its jaw. The dragon reared backward, trying to flee, but the wyverns were swifter, and reached the dragon before it could escape. Ice formed around its tail, the
n its hind legs, and finally around its wings. The three wyverns turned around and flew back toward the resistance. Devarius heaved a sigh of relief as the dragon fell from the sky to crash against the ground.

  “Ayla,” he called.

  A beautiful blue wyvern appeared in the sky and flew toward him. They’d been apart for far too long. He’d been seeing to the defense of the men and women from the southern villages. Devarius hadn’t expected to see the empire so soon. He’d hoped to eat first. His stomach growled, but this was no time for hunger. When Ayla passed over him, he reached his hand up and grabbed the hanging rope. She lifted straight into the sky and he climbed. There wasn’t room for her to land. Everyone was a bit cramped, but, as long as the dragon fire didn’t ruin it, they would have an advantage over the empire during the battle.

  It’s good to see you, little one.

  Devarius rolled his eyes at her nickname for him. It’s good to see you too.

  Ayla took him high into the sky where he could get a good look at the approaching empire. As the governor had said, there were a few thousand of them. The difference was, they were all trained soldiers. Devarius wished they had a stronghold like Saefron to fight inside of. They had to create their own, but it was limited. Hundreds of dragons filled the sky. Devarius looked to all the wyverns at his side.

  This time, the numbers looked more even. Devarius had hoped the wyvernriders would outnumber the dragons, but now the aerial combat would stand on a more equal wing, though, Devarius knew it wasn’t equal at all. The dragons were a lot stronger than the wyverns, however, the wyverns had several elements to work with instead of just fire. Perhaps that could save them.

  He looked to the ground, and saw the fifty drake riders in front along with fifty horse riders. Half of the horses were from the resistance while the others were from the villagers. Together, they made a Calvary unlike any Devarius had ever seen.