Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (47 page)

The 29
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Legion’s and Draden Regiment’s archers and Eladran Weir’s mounted archers rained a moderately accurate volley down on the Morgathian and remaining orc cavalry, decimating their numbers and breaking their unorganized charge. The survivors turned quickly to avoid another volley and broke toward their own advancing army. However, they had to gallop through the still plummeting stones that their catapults were raining down, for fire commands with Morgathian catapults were slower to be issued, as they didn’t have seeing crystals to convey messages and orders. Many more became victims of the crashing rocks that struck the ground and rolled along a deadly path. Molotoc did stop the firing of the catapults that were aiming at the cavalry, but the damage had been done. He was still losing his catapults to increasingly accurate Alliance fire, which had narrowed in on his machines and was also still hitting the rear columns of his advancing army.

The giants had begun to throw their boulders at the Alliance line but were already under heavy fire from the ballista gunners mounted on top of the land dragons. While the giants’ armor proved difficult for the spears to penetrate, several were still making their mark. The fire giants were challenging foes for the land dragons because of their strength and resistance to flame, not to mention their weapons prowess. However, the common giants were easier prey to the ballista projectiles, and many were being brought down. The Morgathian behirs were right behind the giants, and as they neared the Alliance line, they started to fire, only to be answered by the land dragons’ jets of flame breath weapons as well as volleys of arrows.

The legion and weir cavalry had moved into the forest and was galloping down the main trail to get in behind the Morgathian army and disrupt and attack them from the rear. The Draden Regiment Cavalry, which had been held in reserve up to this point, led this charge with the Eladran and the 29
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Legion’s mounted knights right behind them. This would take time, however, especially with the two units’ cavalry just out of their fight.

The behirs then shifted their lightning strikes to the legion’s infantry. This forced the legion and weir commanders to send the land dragons out from the flanks to meet them. As the land dragons charged, they crushed any Morgathian infantry who were in their way. However, most of the orcs and black-mail-clad soldiers tried to avoid the rush of the large ferocious creatures as they moved toward the infantry line of the combined Alliance force.

The legion’s catapults had since ceased to fire as the enemy was now too close and were preparing to move their large weapons back to support a withdraw if necessary. Draden Weir’s catapult section was still able to fire and was doing so to the detriment of the rear portion of the attacking Morgathian army. Lieutenant Willaward continued to direct his crews to rain destruction upon the enemy and was amazed at how stable the new floating platforms were for firing his projectiles. This increased his accuracy tremendously.

“Molotoc, I want those catapults on that ridge silenced immediately. Send a regiment and a few giants to crush those annoying insects, but also watch out for any weir troops, for we need to capture the Alliance lieutenant that Marlok and Ashram talked of,” Restregem ordered of his second in command. The senior death knight galloped to one of the army’s battalion commanders in the rear of their attack and ordered him to take his soldiers with a company of behirs and giants and move up the ridge to destroy those catapults. Once they achieved this, they were to get to the rear of the Alliance line if possible.

Restregem knew he had to overwhelm the Alliance forces quickly, for a sustained fight would go against him. He did wonder how they moved at least two of their legions east of the mountains so fast and without being compromised.
Where
is
my
advanced
guard?
And
why
didn’t
they
warn
me
of
the
size
of
the
gathered
Alliance
power?
he wondered. He then screamed into the dark crystal on his sword to Marlok. “Sorcerer, where in Tiamat’s name are our dragons and manticores?”

“We are heavily engaged with the Alliance dragons and winged forces, Death Knight. As soon as we can defeat them, we will support the army, but not before!” the Talon sorcerer snapped his response.

Gallanth and Mkel had just caught up to a blue dragon they were pursuing. The great gold dragon let loose a plasma fireball that smashed its remaining shield and caught it on the lower back and wing with its remaining energy, both wounding it and slowing it down. As Gallanth bore down on the blue, he fired a sunburst beam that struck it in the upper right shoulder. The force of the deadly rays of intense energy turned the creature forward and around. It prepared to fire a lightning bolt at the gold dragon, but an exploding quarrel from Mkel’s crossbow hit it in the base of the neck, knocking its aim, so that the bolt only glanced off of Gallanth’s magic shield.

The blue dragon’s injuries were such that it could barely maintain flight and could not evade the gold dragon’s charge. Gallanth slammed into the chromatic at full speed with his front talons extended. The four-foot-long deadly claws sank deep into the indigo hide and chest of the blue dragon, and Gallanth’s fangs grabbed the chromatic’s neck and crushed the vertebrae, killing it instantly.

Gallanth’s victory roar was heard by all flying in the aerial battlefield as he let the blue dragon go and it plummeted hundreds of feet to the ground. He then had to quickly tuck his wings and dive to avoid a green dragon’s fiery acid attack. An exploding bolt from Mkel’s crossbow slowed the pursuing green down, which allowed Gallanth to turn hard to come around and face the chromatic.

He only had time to fire a sunburst beam before he heard a brass dragon call for help. The directed beam eliminated the green dragon’s shield and hit him in the side with its remaining energy. This coupled with an exploding bolt from Markthrea convinced the green chromatic to break off his attack. Gallanth then veered hard to the left and made all haste to where a wolf pack of white dragons had caught two brass dragons in their wheel attack trap. As they raced toward the encircled brass dragons, Mkel could see through Markthrea’s sight that the one of the metallics was severely wounded with multiple freeze-burn strikes on his hide, and the other was not faring too well either. Mkel had heard that white dragons used this kind of an attack to defend against larger chromatics, especially reds and blues, since they were the smallest and weakest of the chromatic species.

With a blast of fire, the injured brass dragon slew one of the white dragons but was in turn hit by two other pale chromatics diving on him. This combined strike killed him and his rider. As they fell from the sky, the brass dragon’s last act was to teleport out of existence. Gallanth let loose a horrific and angry roar that got the attention of the pack of white dragons. The sunbeam burst fired from Gallanth’s eyes struck and killed one wounded white dragon. This was immediately followed up by a plasma fireball that sent another spiraling. With a few words uttered in Draconic, the gold dragon cast a barrage fireball spell that sent six large fiery spheres streaming from his outstretched talons at six independent targets. All spell-based flaming projectiles struck home, shattering those white dragons’ remaining shield strength and forcing them out of formation. Mkel quickly fired three bolts in succession that hit three more white dragons to keep the chromatics from reforming.

This combined and devastating attack temporarily broke up the white dragons’ wheel formation and gave Gallanth enough time to get to the Eladran brass dragon and cover him. “Tananth, you and your rider are too wounded to continue this fight. Teleport back to the legion assembly area and seek the healers,” Gallanth told the brass dragon.

“Lord Gallanth, we cannot retreat from battle; there are still too many chromatics left, even for you,” the brass dragon replied.

“No, I do not want to see another metallic dragon die today. Leave now, and if the healers can heal your wounds and get you enough strength back, then you may return, but not until then,” Gallanth ordered. Just then, the brass dragon breathed a jet of flame that drove a diving white dragon away. Gallanth followed up with a blast of fire of his own that overpowered an icy beam of another attacking white dragon and delivered the rest of the fiery energy on the face, neck, and chest of the white. Its hide smoldered from the return blast, which forced it to alter its flight path dramatically. Gallanth then looked at Tananth, who promptly teleported out.

Two more white dragons dove on Gallanth, breathing out their icy beams. He deftly veered and dodged one, but the other struck his shield. He immediately returned fire with a sunburst beam that obliterated one of the white’s shields and seared into its chest and shoulder, almost flipping it back in midair. Mkel began to fire exploding bolts in rapid succession; with his second bolt shattering the other chromatic’s remaining shield strength and the third striking it in the lower neck making it wince. Gallanth altered his flight path and bore down on the white, his talons sinking into and grasping it by the wing and right forearm, breaking both in the process. He actually carried the much smaller white dragon with him as he knocked the chromatic’s head to the side with his large eye horns and then sank his fangs into its neck instantly killing it.

As he released the chromatic to fall to the ground, he unleashed a plasma fireball that struck another white dragon, finishing that one off as well. Mkel was still firing as fast as he could to keep the other white dragons from massing on Gallanth. Tegent was also weaving in and around the gold dragon shooting arrows at the same ones Mkel was firing at, his griffon careful to stay close to Gallanth to keep himself shielded from any white dragon attacks.

Gallanth looked back to see four more whites bearing down on him. He quickly cast a disruption spell at one, destroying its magic shield, fired a sunburst beam at another, and breathed a cone of fire at the third just as it flew close to him. Mkel managed to get three shots off at the fourth before it hit Gallanth’s right rear flank with both its talons. The white dragon’s claws had a difficult time penetrating Gallanth’s armored hide but still delivered nasty wounds. Just before the white bit down on his wing, Gallanth’s tail coiled back onto itself and with a lightning-fast strike pierced the chromatic just behind its front leg severing its heart and killing it instantly. He then swung his tail out with the dead white dragon still attached and threw it into another chromatic that was bearing down on him. The dead white dragon’s body took the icy blast and then slammed into its comrade knocking it from the sky. He then combined his victory roar with a prolonged blast of fire he breathed out in a wide arc to repel another four that were beginning a new attack.

Mkel and Tegent finished another of the injured white dragons off with repeated arrow and bolt strikes, but Gallanth had to fold his wings and dive fast to get away from his stationary hovering position to make it harder for the remaining white dragons to mass on him. In his dive, he slammed into another white dragon delivering a crushing and slashing strike that severely wounded the smaller chromatic, partially disabling its one wing and forcing it to glide to the ground. With this maneuver, Gallanth effectively broke the wolf pack’s death wheel.

The gold dragon performed a sharp turn up and to the left to come up even again with the slower white dragons and increased his speed for a direct attack. His sunburst beam finished off one of the whites, with another being felled by a plasma fireball. Mkel started to fire exploding bolts as fast as he could at the next closest white dragon, with his third shot hitting the stubborn creature inside its mouth, slaying it. Gallanth maneuvered quickly and wildly to dodge the many icy beams being fired at him. As he passed through them, he broke one chromatic’s wing with his tail when he flew by it and sent it on a controlled crash.

One of the more aggressive whites pushed another member of its pack directly into the gold dragon’s flight path. Gallanth reacted quickly by slightly angling up and taking the impact of the white dragon with his outstretched talons, grasping its neck and shoulder, thus not allowing it to either breathe its icy beam, bite, or claw him. This did slow him down enough for another chromatic to hit his shield with its breath weapon and three more to close in for a talon fight.

These three white dragons were magically empowered like the black dragon he had fought at Handsdown, which was in a berserker-like state. Even as Gallanth grabbed one of his attackers with his powerful jaws on its shoulder, it clawed at him furiously, leaving gashes on his neck until he pounded it against the white dragon in his talons and pushed both away from him, engulfing them in flames. The other two hit him in the flanks and delivered bite and claw attacks. One was repelled by Gallanth’s tail, the other by a short-range shot from Mkel’s crossbow that blew its head horn off, forcing it to back away from Gallanth, who then smacked it with his wing to keep it off balance.

The fourth berserker white dragon landed on Gallanth’s back and lunged at Mkel. It was too close for him to fire an explosive-tipped bolt, and at the dragonrider’s desperate thought, Kershan sprang from its scabbard and into Mkel’s waiting hand just in time for its shining mithril blade to come down and deliver a deep slice into the white dragon’s upper jaw just behind its nostrils. Dark greenish blood poured out of the deep cut as the chromatic reared its head up and back from the pain of the wound. All Mkel could hear over the white dragon’s roar of anguish and anger was Gallanth’s voice in his head saying to hold on.

Just as he grabbed Markthrea’s mount and sheathed Kershan, Gallanth tucked his head down and curled his body as his massive wings thrust down and back for a wingover maneuver. This took the smaller white dragon by surprise and was enough to break its talon grip on his back. As the gold dragon rolled over, the tail plate whipped around and severed the chromatic’s left wing, sending it roaring and writhing in a freefall to the ground.