The Wrath

by D Glenn Casey

  They flew to the small village that was at the crossroads and noticed there was no activity. There was no one outside tending the gardens or gathering in the small town square. If a dragon was flying over, it would be easy to assume some would be in the open watching the great beast cut through the sky.

  There was no one.

  Hilde had Venia land in the village square and jumped down. They looked around and there appeared to be no one there. There should have been a few dozen people in the village, but it appeared to be deserted.

  She walked toward one of the buildings, which appeared to be a small pub.

  “Hilde, I think we should leave.” said Venia. “Something isn’t right here.”

  “I just want to take a quick look.”

  She reached the front of the pub and Venia was right behind her. She pushed the door open and the smell that hit her almost knocked her down. She instantly recognized the smell and every fiber of her soul told her not to look inside. When she did, the sight was more than she could handle.

  Piled high in the middle of the pub great room, were the bodies of the entire population of the village. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the horror in the room. There were men, women and children of all ages.

  “Oh Mother Earth,” she cried. “Why would they do this?”

  Venia bent down and looked into the pub, over her shoulder, and when she saw the mass of bodies, she hooked a claw into Hilde’s sword scabbard and pulled her back and out of the pub. Hilde tried to fight it, but trying to win a tug of war with a dragon was inevitably a losing battle.

  “Why did you do that, Venia?” she demanded.

  “Because you’ve seen it, you know what happened here and don't need to stand there staring at the misery the dark wizard has wrought. As I said before, we need to leave.”

  Hilde looked at her with defiance in her eyes, but it melted away after just a moment. Venia was right. It wasn’t going to do anyone any good to stand there and soak it in. The deed was done and there was nothing she could do to undo it.

  “In answer to your question about why he’d do this, those troops that came over the mountain are hoping to sneak up on Rosemoor without being seen. They slaughtered all these people to conceal their secret. We need to go right now and make sure that secret is laid bare before it is too late.”

  Hilde reached up and stroked Venia’s face and then climbed up.

  “Let’s go.”

  They took to the skies again and headed straight for Rosemoor. It was only going to take them a few minutes to get there. Hopefully, it was going to be enough time to forewarn them.

  As they arrived back in the skies over Rosemoor, the battle was still as pitched as it was when they left. She could see fallen soldiers scattered all over the battlefield. Soldiers for both Wyndweir and the dark wizard. The dragon riders had cut the numbers of the red dragons in the skies to about half, but that still left half a dozen.

  Hilde looked around and the first place she saw she needed to go was the line Belgard and his troops had formed just west of Rosemoor. They landed there and she jumped down and ran to find Belgard. He wasn’t too hard to find, being the largest of the royal soldiers.

  “Captain, we are in grave trouble.”

  The captain looked at her and let out a sigh.

  “How can it get any worse?”

  “The troops I went in search of? They came over the mountain yesterday.”

  “Yesterday? And we didn’t hear anything about it?”

  “No, sir. They laid waste to Deanburg and took all their men and boys to fight. Next, they came over the mountain and attacked Brillton. They killed everyone in that village and when I say everyone, I mean every man, woman and child. They didn’t want to leave any witnesses to the fact they were here in Wyndweir.”

  Belgard looked like he wanted to sit down.

  “This madman must be stopped.”

  “Yes, and also, this group has the largest number of royal soldiers in their midst.”

  “Do we know where they are right now?”

  “No, I didn’t take the time to go looking for them. I wanted to warn you and Jarell about this. I’m going up to the village now to tell Jarell and Pendivall what I found. Following that, I’ll take a couple of dragon riders and we’ll go looking for those troops.”

  “Cragg!” yelled Belgard.

  “Yes, sir!” yelled the lieutenant as he ran up.

  “Take Lady Hilde up the hill to Master Jarell. Do not allow anything to happen to her. Then come right back here. Take a couple of men with you.”

  “Yes, sir,” he said as he turned and called out to a couple more royals.

  Belgard looked at Hilde and said, “If you happen to see Captain Jong and his men up there, you might want to direct them down here to help.”

  “I’ll do that,” she said as she and the three royals took off up the hill.

  Venia took off to fly patrols over the few troops that were guarding this western entrance into the village.

  When Hilde and the royals finally reached the center of the village, they found the troops of Wyndweir had the battle firmly in hand. Only a couple of red dragons were left and they were keeping away from the Wyndweirian dragons and their fireballs. Hilde could see Kerrick was riding high on the winds, on his red dragon, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to do much of anything.

  When she reached Jarell and Pendivall, she looked across the village square and saw Jong and his men had arrived and were fighting with some Easternesse royals. She turned to Cragg and pointed.

  “Go help them and then take Jong and his men back down to your position.”

  The three royals ran off and joined the fight against the enemy royals, adding some much needed help to Jong and his men.

  “So, what did you find out?” asked Pendivall.

  “Nothing good, I’m afraid.”

  She told them about what they found in Deanburg and also Brillton.

  Jarell turned and looked to the west and the south.

  “That means they could be just outside our sight at this exact moment, ready to attack.”

  “Yes, that is true,” she said. “I am taking Venia and one or two dragon riders and we’re going to see if we can spot that army. I mean, how in the world do they hide a thousand troops?”

  “True, but that’s not worrying me.” said Claudious, who had just walked up.

  They looked at him and waited for him to continue.

  “What troubles me, friends, is that if they’ve been here since yesterday, they’ve had plenty of time to rest and plan their attack.”

  Jarell nodded in agreement.

  He turned to Hilde and said, “Okay, you go look, but do NOT engage them. If you can see them and report back here without them knowing it, that would be great. If they know they’ve been seen, it will press them to attack immediately.”

  She turned and headed back down the hill and joined Jong and his men as they were heading to Belgard’s position.

  “A good day for a battle, eh m’lady?”

  “Not really captain. We are completely ill-prepared for what is coming at us. Captain Belgard will fill you in when you get to him.”

  She raced across the field to where Venia was just landing and was on her back in a matter of seconds. The two of them took off and went to find Caroline and Gwen. When she told them what she had planned, they all split up and headed in different directions.

  Gwen was going to fly the mountain ridge on the north and see if the army intended to come at Rosemoor from the forest on the mountain, north of the village. Caroline headed south looking to scout the area around Braedon and Whitestone Castle and Hilde was going to go west again, checking the area south of the road to Bridgehaven. They couldn’t think of any other directions to go.

  As Hilde flew back toward Bridgehaven, she came to the crossroads again, near Brillton and felt a sadness come over her soul, thinking that what had happened there wasn’t too different to what had happened to h
er family the year before.

  She and Venia began looking at the ground very closely, looking for any sign the army had crossed the road and headed into the open fields to the south.

  There was nothing. Just as the mountain pass had looked unused, there were no tracks across the fields.

  “Where do you think they went, sweetie?” she asked Venia.

  “Well, we know they didn’t go to Rosemoor and it appears they didn’t go south into the fields and forests. That really only leaves one other direction.”

  “Bridgehaven,” said Hilde softly.

  “Exactly.”

  “Oh dear,” she said. “They have no defenses.”

  Venia continued tracking along the road to Bridgehaven and within half an hour, they began to see smoke coming from where the village was located. When they reached the village, they could see it had suffered the same fate that Deanburg had. Only this time, there were a handful of enemy troops still in the village.

  Hilde tried reaching Jarell through her thoughts, but she couldn’t.

  “I can’t reach Jarell,” she said to Venia.

  “I can,” said the green dragon.

  As they flew circles around the skies over Bridgehaven, Venia communed with Jarell and Pendivall, advising them about the situation below. After a minute of silence, Venia spoke.

  “They want us to fly south and then east, following the road. They are afraid the army of the enemy is heading toward Guilden.”

  “Oh no! If they reach Guilden and capture it ...”

  “Things will not go well for us,” said Venia, finishing Hilde’s sentence.

  They turned and headed south, hoping the army hadn’t reached the small village of Guilden. If the dark wizard was able to capture Guilden and the craftsmen that worked there, it would give his army an immense advantage over the troops of Wyndweir.

  “I am also calling to Morgath and Sophia, to have them meet us there,” said Venia.

  “Thank you, sweetie. Let’s get there as fast as we can, but I fear we may be too late.”

  Venia stretched her neck out, making herself more like an arrow than a dragon. Hilde could feel the air stinging her face as it rushed past her. Venia had never flown so fast.

  Within half an hour they made it to the crossroads to Guilden and Bridgehaven and there was no sign of the dark wizard’s army. They turned east and before they had traveled five more minutes, they could see the smoke in the distance. Their worst fears were about to be realized.

  As they drew closer to the village, they could see two red dragons in the skies over Guilden, raining fire balls down on the town below.

  “We need to see what we can do!” yelled Hilde.

  “My thoughts exactly,” said Venia.

  Hilde nocked an arrow and sighted on the closest red dragon. Neither one had seen her and Venia approaching and she hoped she could take down the first one by surprise.

  “Quietly, Venia.”

  Venia stopped flapping her wings and started gliding silently through the air, being as smooth as water on a lake on a windless day. Hilde sighted down the shaft of the arrow and selected her target carefully. She would only have one shot at this and it had to count.

  One deep breath in, let it out halfway and then hold. Calm the heartbeat and mind.

  The arrow released easily and flew like lightning. It bridged the gap to the closest red dragon and found its mark. It pierced the left eye of the dragon, driving deep into its small brain, killing it instantly. The dead dragon fell from the sky without a screech and the other dragon was left to wonder what had happened.

  It only wondered for a couple of seconds as it saw the green dragon approaching and wheeled to confront it head on. In less than the time it takes to suck in a shallow breath, the two dragons came together and Venia was able to evade the talons of the other dragon and get her claws into the right wing of the enemy.

  They came around on each other, as Hilde pulled another arrow and began looking for an opportunity. With their surprise now gone, the red dragon was able to watch for her arrow and make itself harder to hit. She couldn’t get a good, clean shot and had to just hope Venia would be able to fight this dragon.

  She redirected her focus to what was happening on the ground and it was heart-rending.

  The enemy troops were moving through the village, rounding up all the people that lived there and moving them to the center of the town square. She could see there were almost no bodies on the ground as they had seen in Bridgehaven. It was apparent the enemy was trying to capture this village and not destroy it. Capturing the craftsmen and women of the guilds would represent a blow the armies of Wyndweir would find hard to stand against. She started counting the number of enemy soldiers in the village and could see that they numbered at least five hundred. That was confusing to her because she expected to see in the neighborhood of a thousand. It didn’t matter for Guilden, because even a smaller force would be able to capture the village without much trouble. Most of their soldiers, the swordsmen and bowmaidens were already out of the village and fighting at Rosemoor, leaving Guilden open for attack.

  She turned back to the battle between Venia and the red dragon and saw it was not going as well as she had hoped. Venia had a couple of gashes on her neck where the red dragon had been able to get his claws on her. Hilde was ready to get her out of there, not wanting to lose her in this battle.

  Just as they were about to make another pass on the red dragon, a flash of white went by and two large rear feet reached down and raked the wings of the red dragon. Morgath was not planning on taking any prisoners in this fight. He intended to end it as fast as he could.

  Caroline had an arrow at the ready and Hilde joined her in sighting on the eyes of the red dragon, waiting for the right moment. It didn’t take long to present itself and both arrows flew at the same instant, both finding their targets in a split second, sending the dragon crashing to the ground.

  As they circled over the falling dragon, Gwen and Sophia showed up and both the Guildenians looked down on their village. Hilde could see the anguish in their faces as they tried to figure out what they could do to stop the attack on their home.

  “We need to stop this!” yelled Caroline.

  Hilde was game for just about anything, but she couldn’t see how they could help from the air. Anything they did was going to place the villagers at even greater risk than they were now. They couldn’t rain fire down on the village, because the enemy army had already captured it and was moving its inhabitants to the middle, out in the open.

  Gwen cried out to Hilde, “What can we do, m’lady?”

  “Ladies,” she said, “I am open to suggestions. Venia is hurt, so I can’t ask too much of her right now.”

  “I will fight to the end, Hilde,” said Venia.

  “I know you would sweetheart, but I don’t intend to let the end be today.”

  She looked across at the others and then said, “Morgath, talk to Jarell and Pendivall and tell them what is happening. Maybe they will have an idea.”

  Within a minute, Morgath spoke up, “They are advising us to leave and do it right now.”

  “They want us to leave?” cried Caroline.

  “Yes, Caroline, they do. The enemy is not going to kill anyone below if they can capture them. We can’t attack the enemy army without putting the villagers at risk. We need to withdraw.”

  “So, we should let the village fall and my people become slaves to the dark wizard?” yelled Caroline.

  Gwen reached out to her cousin, “Better they become slaves today than to die. Slaves can be freed.”

  Caroline looked at Gwen and they both had tears streaming down their faces. She looked down and for an instant, she saw her father, the weapons guild master and he was looking right at her. At that moment he raised his hand and motioned her away, telling her to flee.

  She cried out softly, “I’m so sorry papa. We will be back.”

  Then the three dragons turned and headed back to the no
rth.

  Chapter 29 ~ Knee Deep In Treachery

  “So, it looks like we’re going to lose Guilden, along with Bridgehaven.”

  Pendivall looked at his younger counterpart.

  “We may lose them today, but we will get them back.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt of that,” said Jarell, “but the question is, what else could go wrong for us? Hilde reports only about five hundred troops in Guilden. Add that to the thousand or so that are here, that leaves us short about five hundred. Where are they?”

  Pendivall looked at him and shook his head.

  “Maybe instead of bringing the girls back here, we should send them on to villages like Fairwick and Braedon, to see what is happening there.”

  Jarell went silent as he started to commune with Morgath.

  “It might also be a good idea,” added Pendivall, “to direct one of them to the Gates of Terranasia and see if those are still open.”

  Jarell finished relaying his orders to Morgath and opened his eyes.

  “Venia is hurt and coming back here. Morgath and Caroline will check on Braedon and Fairwick and Gwen will fly to the gates. We should be seeing Venia and Hilde within half an hour.”

  Pendivall nodded and put his mind back into the battle raging in front of him. The dark wizard’s troops were still being held at the edge of the moors and not being allowed to advance any further. The royal soldiers under Belgard and Jong’s command had come from their line at the western edge of the village and rushed to the moors to see if they could push the enemy back into the swamp.

  Kerrick was still flying high above the battle, not getting any closer than he felt he needed to. With no red dragons to defend him, he didn’t want to place himself or his dragon in any harms way. He was quite willing to sacrifice all of his troops, but he wasn’t willing to take part in their fight.

  Claudious had moved from the roof of Toddie’s pub and went to the battle at the moors, along with Agoroth. The giant bear was growing weary of being told to stay back and let the troops handle the fight. He wanted to charge into the middle of the action and bring this battle to an end.

  As he was getting ready to move to the front of the lines, Kerrick fired a fireball right at him and stopped him. Agoroth rose up and fired his own fireball right back, causing his red dragon to evade the attack.