Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (69 page)

“No need to bother with them anymore, my love; we have more important things to attend to,” Heathiret told her dragon, as she veered and flew up and away from the sinking ship.

“You are right, my rider, we’ll leave them to the depths as it consumes them. Gallanth and Draden are moving toward the harbor,” the copper dragon replied, as she forcibly flapped her wings to gain speed and catch up to her Weirleader.

The Draden Weir group then flew upward and resumed their tight formation as they headed to the harbor to the cheers of the remaining sailors and naval infantry troops on the Alliance ships. “Thank the Creator,” said the captain of one of the Alliance warships that had maneuvered to face the ten incoming Morgathian vessels. They now had only three smaller ships to deal with in this wave, and they shouldn’t last long against their longer-range catapults and ballistae. He felt a sense of reprieve, but he knew that this would only be temporary, for the metallic dragons and their friends had only bought them a little more time. The second wave of over a hundred enemy warships was reforming and would begin their attack soon. Unless the weirs could quickly defeat the chromatics, his Atlean fleet would not survive against such odds.

Pekram and Lieutenant Ablich had formed the Draden Weir battalion in near record time and quickly moved them to the teleportation circle between the weir and the town. The rangers were already with Gallanth and Mkel, so they were going into battle without any winged cover, at least until the Draden Regiment could muster, which could take at least two more hours. In a gamble, Beckann decided to lead her and her husband’s clan into battle, which effectively left the weir itself almost defenseless, with the exception of the sentinel and a nest bound Silvanth. Eladran Weir was to remain as the defense of the eastern border of the Alliance, which included Draden, so the risk was acceptable.

As they formed up in the large circle, Pekram took a final head count and gave a nod to Beckann, who waved her staff at the stone dragonhead statue at the entrance of the circle. “All right, boys and girls, when we emerge at the weir, we don’t know what to expect, so keep your edge and be ready for anything!” Pekram yelled out loudly enough for all to hear in the tightly packed unit. The whole circle began to glow, and in a blue flash, they were gone. They reappeared in the teleportation circle in the center of Atlean to their amazement.

“Where in the Creator’s name are we?” Pekram wondered aloud.

“We are in the center of Atlean City. I was stationed at Atlean Weir for a short time and have traveled here a few times,” Lieutenant Ablich answered him.

“Then why did the circle send us here?” Pekram asked as he looked around at the large stone and concrete structures and the fleeing citizens of the city, who cheered when they saw the weir’s soldiers emerge as they were trying to get away.

“Remember, the circles are powered by dragonstones and enhanced by the mithril content of the bricks that form the ring. There is a bit of intelligence involved with them, which is how they flawlessly operate with each other. No wrong destinations, no being teleported into another person, and always knowing where those being teleported are,” Beckann added.

“Then I think I know why. Lieutenant Ablich, which way to the harbor?” Pekram asked.

“Straight down that street, which will curve to the right before the docks, Sergeant Pekram. Something tells me we should go that way instead of going to the weir,” Ablich answered.

“Lieutenant, I agree,” Pekram answered.

“As do I,” Beckann said.

“And I,” Dorin spoke up.

“Then it is settled. Lieutenant, let Captain Mkel know where we are and where we are going. Draden Weir! I am not sure what we will be running into, so all of you keep to your edge. These bastards have dared to invade our country, our soil, and they try to blood the innocent. We will answer this! We will stop this!” Pekram yelled out to the Draden Weir battalion, at which they all raised their weapons and cheered in agreement. “Dwarves in the center, First Platoon to the left, Third to the right, Second Platoon and elf infantry behind them. Archers keep close and prepare to move when necessary. Lenor, take your paladins and move ahead of us. You are our eyes now, since the rangers are already in the fight. Land dragons, move in between the infantry and the support corps. Captain Vicasek, ma’am, you should stay two to three blocks behind us in case we are encircled, which would be easy in this restricted city terrain,” Pekram ordered. “Sergeant Pekram, we should place the sappers as the support corps’ reinforcement, and the catapults behind them as security. Not much digging to do here on dwarf concrete streets, and, Lieutenant Willaward, have one thrower ready to fire with spike rounds only. We don’t want to cause more damage to this city than the invaders would have,” Lieutenant Ablich ordered.

Pekram smiled. “Good call, Lieutenant. We’ll make you an infantry officer yet. You heard the lieutenant; today, you are all either sword swingers or bolt launchers. Beckann, Dorin, if you would center on me for the movement.” He then asked his fellow Weirleaders, who agreed with him. “All right, let’s move out!” he commanded. All the platoons moved into place and then proceeded down the wide street toward the harbor, as Lenor led his paladin cavalry platoon trotting ahead of the main body.

Lenor moved his knights down the main street of Atlean on their scouting mission. They had just passed the narrow part of the market section where the shops and carts jutted out into the street, as the merchants had not had time to retract them. As the street straightened out, they came almost face-to-face with a company of gnolls, who were part of the Morgathian scouting party. Lenor immediately called for the weir’s paladins to move into their V formation, and they all spurred forward, lowering their mithril-steel-alloy-tipped lances for their cavalry charge. The gnolls let out their hideous war cry and began their blind charge at the knights bearing down on them, raising their crude axes, maces, and clubs. The two groups crashed into each other with almost all of the paladins skewering one of the seven-foot-tall hairy hyena like creatures as they drove straight through them. The remainder scattered and tried to regroup as the paladins turned and prepared to charge back through.

This time, the remaining gnolls were a little more prepared for the devastating formation charge of the weir knights, but it still did not prevent another thirty or so from being impaled by lances or cut apart by holy swords. Two paladins were dismounted by the flying tackles of lucky gnolls, and a general melee then broke out. It did not last long, however, for in spite of their greater strength and foot speed, the leather or hide armor of the hyena like creatures proved easy to slice through and the paladins’ mithril-alloy armor was not easily penetrated. The last gnoll fell to Lenor’s downward stroke that cut well into the creature’s shoulder and upper chest. Lenor counted his wounded, which were two with minor injuries and one with a pretty nasty gash on his lower neck from a lucky gnoll ax that had found a small opening in the knight’s armor. He sent them back with a small escort and began to move toward the harbor again.

They did not get far before they saw the approaching force of regimental strength, consisting of Shidanese, grummish, orcs, Morgathians, ogres, and a few giants, including an evil mountain giant. Upon seeing the weir knights, the Shidanese all raised their scimitars and spears and shouted, “Death to the infidels! Death to the nonbelievers!” and started to charge toward them. Lenor estimated the Shidanese alone were at least of battalion strength with almost a regiment of Morgathians and other enemy forces behind them. This was beyond even his brave and powerful knights, so he turned his men around and headed back to the weir garrison at a full gallop to let them know what they were facing.

The paladins quickly rejoined the weir soldiers as they were marching down the main thoroughfare. Lenor informed Pekram and Lieutenant Ablich of what was bearing down on them. “All right, Lenor, take your knights and try to circle around to the rear of their column and give them something to think about there. Lady Beckann, can you send your elf archers forward to slow them down to buy us some time to set up in that narrow portion of the street where we can canalize them and help even the odds a little?” Pekram started to form their close battle plan.

“Sergeant Pekram, we’ll send all of our archers forward, bait the Shidanese in, and hit them from the rooftops. Your sharpshooters and other crossbowmen with those new repeaters now have almost the same speed, accuracy, and firepower of elf archers, so any left will not last long against them. We will then fall back to the support corps wagons, reload, and rejoin the rest of the weir garrison. I will move in between the garrison and the support corps, for without Silvanth to protect us from the air, I don’t want the garrison defenseless in case an errant chromatic decides to break off from that horrific battle up there and take an attack run,” the elf clan matriarch answered, to which Pekram and Ablich nodded.

“We’ll keep our current formation, but I don’t like this city-type terrain. We must be prepared to fight from both sides, especially with an enemy as numerous as they are. After they get frustrated with our usually tough defensive formation, even the Morgathians will figure out to try and flank us,” Pekram told the assembled leaders.

“Lieutenant Willaward, have your one catapults as far back from the infantry and dwarf line as possible while still being able to fire onto the enemy column. Lieutenant Wheelor, keep your land dragons just over our shoulder in case we face too many giants to the front or something powerful to our backs. Captain Vicasek, we’ll need armed escort of the wounded back to your healers and a steady supply of bolts and arrows to the line. With only one catapult firing, they should have enough of a supply of spike ammunition on their basic load to last for a while. If we get in too much trouble, we’ll fall back to the teleportation circle as our last defense and I’ll call Captain Mkel and Gallanth, who will hopefully be able to help us,” Ablich added as his part to tie all the combat arms pieces together for a better synergistic plan.

“Good touch, Lieutenant; Draden Weir, Dwarves, and Elves, I know Captain Mkel would normally have a motivational speech at this time, but I am not as good with words as him. So all I have to say is fight your hardest, show no quarter for none will be given to you, and protect the soldier next to you as they will do the same. This is for our republic; these pieces of otyugh scum will be judged for what they have done, and we will be the ones to make that happen!” Pekram shouted out as he drew his sword, to which the Draden Weir soldiers, dwarves, and elves all raised their weapons and cheered in response. “Now, follow me!” he yelled out again as he turned and led the garrison forward. The elf archers started to sprint ahead to meet the coming foe. “Dorin, it’s up to you and me to hold this line together. Are you with me, old friend?” Pekram leaned down and whispered to the red-bearded dwarf.

“From here to the underworld and back, my tall friend,” Dorin replied and smiled, grasping his mithril battle-ax and shield. Eldir led the two platoons of sixty elf archers forward at a full run, which elves could do even in full battle dress and also do very quietly. As they passed the narrow part of the market section of Atlean, he directed two of the three squads in each platoon to move to either the rooftops of the three- to four-story buildings there or the upper windows and prepare to fire and move on his arrow shot. The other two squads were to move forward and harass the charging Shidanese and Kallysh soldiers, who were screaming and moving up the street several hundred yards past the bend in the road. When Dekeen was with Mkel and Beckann was elsewhere or with the support corps, Eldir, the master weapons smith, was usually in charge of the Draden elf clan. Eldir, while an older elf, being likely over a thousand years in age, was still very nimble and one of the most deadly archers in the clan after Dekeen himself.

The two squads on the street sprinted forward and finally encountered the Shidanese battalion about three hundred yards down the main street. The elves stopped, quickly formed a line, and began to fire at the lightly armored Kallysh warriors. The front line of the cloth-clad desert soldiers quickly fell to the elves’ arrows. They let the Shidanese move another couple of dozen yards and fired another volley, again downing another twenty. The deadly elf archers repeated this process several times until the battalion was within fifty yards. They then deftly pulled back, reformed their line fifty yards further back, and fired a quick volley. The two squads kept this routine up until they had baited the Shidanese battalion well into the kill zone of their clansmen. As they fired their last volley, Eldir, from the rooftop of the nearest building, drew his bow and fired, hitting what he thought was a Shidanese captain or sheik. The other sixty elf archers started to rain a steady torrent of arrows down on the unsuspecting Shidanese.

As the Kallysh warriors were starting to fall by the dozens, their archers tried to return fire, but they were notoriously bad shots and proved this rumor true. They were good at barrage and volley firing against an approaching army, but ineffective against covered point targets. The Shidanese commander soon realized he was boxed in. He had arrows coming at him from three directions and did not have the high ground in this urban terrain. He sent the remnants of two companies to each side of the street into the buildings to root out the elves. This also proved fatal, for in a hand-to-hand fight, the speed and dexterity of an elf with a short sword was also deadly. It did slow the arrow fire down a bit, which allowed the last platoon of his forward company to charge at the twenty elves in front of them. They used the last of their arrows to down all but a few who made it to them only to be cut apart in a sword-on-sword duel.

At this point, the remainder of the Shidanese fell to arrow strikes, as the bearded Kallysh commander was hit in the heart by Eldir and fell, cursing the infidel elves in his dying gasp. The Shidanese battalion, consisting of six hundred of their best Kallysh soldiers, was now decimated. As Eldir started to regroup his two platoons, a giant-thrown boulder crashed into the building to his left, and two ballista spears whistled over their heads. Most of his elves were either out of arrows or dangerously low, so he decided to get them back to the support corps wagons to get their second basic load of thirty to forty arrows a piece. This would enable them to get back into the fight when the Morgathians charged the weir’s infantry and the dwarves.