Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (14 page)

The platoon leaders were well-trained commissioned officers, aided by the platoon’s senior sergeant. Both had fairly powerful magic or mithril alloy weapons of some sort. Several battle healers were assigned to each platoon, making it approximately forty men strong. While Pekram basically commanded the company, Toderan and Mkel were the overall commander and senior sergeant of the entire garrison.

“Lieutenant Wheelor, how say you of the land dragons?” Mkel asked the tall, lanky officer.

“All four of our dragons are up and ready, as are their crews,” Wheelor replied in his strong mountain accent. The land dragon platoon consisted of four dragons, two mated pairs, and their crews made a formidable force in their own right. Land dragons were just slightly smaller than white dragons but just as strong, averaging fifty feet long and resembling a wingless cross between a gold and a bronze dragon. They were of average intelligence, and while unable to blood bond with humans, they grew very attached to their crews. They could speak crude Draconic and breathe a line of fire out to one hundred yards. They had very powerful claws and a strong bite capable of rendering giants and comparable-sized creatures. Their crews, mounted on armored platforms on their backs, fired a ballista to a decimating eight-hundred-yard range (ballistae were either tipped masterwork blades capable of taking out an ogre or manticore on a successful hit or blades topped with a grenade of dragon’s fire that burst in a fifteen-yard-sized area). This would do double the damage to a single creature if struck. The land dragons were used as a spearhead or breaking force in an all-out land battle or to face larger opponents the infantry encountered such as giants, which they had an intense hatred of. Giants, on the other hand, had a great fear of land dragons and often retreated at the sight of them.

While they did not possess wings, they moved as fast as horses and could jump short distances. Their hides possessed the same magical resistance as their true dragon cousins, capable of taking several spells or magical damage as well as being tough to penetrate with a sword or spear. The magic shields they generated were weak by comparison to those of metallic dragons but still capable of taking several spells.

In battle, the land dragons could break most enemy formations and were employed to protect the infantry. Land dragons always worked in pairs to give themselves mutual support, especially if facing a chromatic dragon. They coordinated and cooperated very effectively together as teams. Lieutenant Wheelor very masterfully maneuvered them in combat and split them into two dragon pair sections for more flexibility if the situation dictates. While Mkel was a dragonrider and infantryman at heart, he had a great fondness for the land dragon units. The crews had a certain laid-back attitude about them, but they went out of their way to protect the infantry. In land battles, they were hard to match and were the mainstay of the Alliance Army.

“Excellent, Lieutenant Wheelor; Lenor, how about the cavalry?” Mkel asked his senior paladin sergeant.

“We are looking pretty good. We will be four paladins short, though, for we are running two patrols on each side of the break in the Gray Mountains,” the wiry, toughened paladin replied.

“Good, my old friend, you’ll just have to tighten up your formation. I will give you the signal as to which side you will counterattack from, so keep your seeing crystal handy. Remember during the exercise today that you’ll be the ones who will either back up the land dragons against the giants, ogres, and trolls or carve through an enemy cavalry charge, which will likely be mounted on dire wolves or hell hounds,” Mkel directed.

“No problem, my boys are ready for a fight,” Lenor replied.

The heavy cavalry platoon consisted of thirty-six paladins of various levels of experience, all mounted on special heavy warhorses or paladin’s mounts. This constituted the Weir’s high mobility ground counterattack force. The paladins all had half plate or full plate armor and large shields. They were armed with long or bastard swords and heavy lances. Most had some type of magical weaponry or armor, with the rest being of masterwork, and half had heavy crossbows. Lenor commanded the platoon, leading with the power of his holy sword. The heavy cavalry platoon usually countered enemy cavalry or Morgathian crimson guards on mounts. They could also keep giants at bay as well.

“Lieutenant Willaward, how is your catapult sections?” Mkel asked.

“All up sir, all four engines ready to go,” the catapult leader replied.

“Remember, you fire first after the rangers. You’ll need to be accurate, for depending on how long it will take Gallanth and I to take care of the chromatic dragons and how long it will take the Draden regiment to reinforce us, this will be a critical time. The more you you rain fire and rock, the more of our soldiers will live,” Mkel soberly reminded him.

“We will be on target as always,” the tall lieutenant replied.

“I have faith,” Mkel said with a smile, always impressed by the catapult section’s confidence. “Clydown, your sappers will be called out to set up hasty defensive earthworks and obstacles if necessary. I know you all are up to it.”

“No problem sir, our men are always motivated to shape the battlefield for our victory,” the engineer and sapper lieutenant replied.

The thirty-man sapper section was expert in defensive and offensive earthworks and siege operations. They oversaw the Weir’s defensive emplacements and traveled with the garrison to provide them temporary defensive structures such as earthen walls, trenches, traps, pits, and the building of siege towers, rams and various other siege techniques. The sappers were armed with picks, war hammers, field spades, short swords, and weapons that doubled as their tools for building and digging or the destruction of structures. Clydown was the sapper expert and leader of this section. Clydown himself was armed with a lesser mithril alloy short sword and similar banded armor along with a staff powered by a garnet dragonstone given to him by the copper dragon Selenth. This enabled him to move large volumes of earth and rock and could detect desired minerals or metals when directed.

“Lupek, what’s your plan for the rangers today?” Mkel asked, although he already knew the answer.

“Deless and I will split sections, with half of us doing aerial sweeps and the other half performing diving runs on the targets. Deless will lead the first flight to simulate us intercepting any aerial threats, for he is more accurate than I am,” the ranger leader commented with a slight smile.

“That is an understatement, my friend,” Mkel chimed in, bringing a slight chuckle, for it was well known that Lupek was a very dangerous foe in close combat, being able to effectively fight with two weapons simultaneously. He was also accurate with throwing weapons, especially daggers and his lightning javelin, but he left much to be desired as far as employing a bow or crossbow.

“The diving units will exhaust their dragon’s fire grenades and then switch to aerial sweeps, while Deless’s section will move to diving attacks until all grenades have been utilized. Hopefully, we will have the aerial combat under control between our griffons and you and Gallanth, and then we’ll fully concentrate on diving attacks, inflicting as much damage as we can,” he concluded.

“Just a reminder to all to remember the signal from the ranger’s griffons as they perform a dive to check your arrow fire,” Mkel added. “I want no griffon hit with a friendly arrow, for it will bleed just as much from ours as an orc arrow, and I like our griffons very much,” he added with a smile, which even got a return grin from Deless, who was usually a very somber individual (even for an elf).

“Colonel Dunn, sir, your focus?” he asked the support corps leader.

“No change from the last briefing,” he said. “We will form just over the bridge and have Silvanth teleport the caravan to the far side the Weir and then back again behind the catapults. We will have all of our wagons, for if we are to fight this unholy gathering of evil, we will need to push as much support forward as possible.”

The supply caravan was an unwieldy, long train of wagons. They had four armament wagons with caches of arrows and bolts, extra swords, spears, and the like. Four more wagons contained foodstuffs to be able to supply the garrison and its animals for a week and provisions for the dwarves and elves as well. Everything was kept cold by two ice container wagons, with many cooling crystals inside the insulated boxes on top of the wagons. Several other wagons were packed with spare clothing and parts for saddles and so on. Four more wagons were utilized to support the catapults, with ammunition, ropes, and any other necessary parts. Several other wagons were solely dedicated to care for and transport the wounded with assigned healer sections and supplies. These wagons could carry four to eight wounded if necessary. There were also three more spare wagons for any purpose needed or just for replacements.

Colonel Dunn masterfully oversaw the smooth logistical operations of the garrison. Silvanth combined with Watterseth, with Beckann occasionally, provide the heavy protection for this group; a silver dragon of her size and a very high level cleric were a force none too easy to dismiss.

“Silvanth will meet us on the grounds, Gallanth?” Colonel Dunn asked the gold dragon directly.

“Yes, I will make sure of it, my good colonel,”
Gallanth replied.

“I know you are the only one she listens to, Master Dragon,” Colonel Dunn added.

“That is not always accurate, for she shares her mood swings with my rider’s mate,”
Gallanth jokingly replied; everyone present burst out laughing, for even though dragons do have a sense of humor, people were often surprised when they exhibited this trait.

“Toderan, any comments?” Mkel asked.

“I don’t think I could top that statement,” he said, looking to Gallanth and smiling (rare for him), “but a reminder to all your sergeants and senior fighters to take note of the performance of your new soldiers. This could be the last garrison and regimental exercise we will likely conduct before we face this threat from the southeast. So make sure everyone learns as much as possible and record it in the platoon journals, for it will save lives later,” he concluded in his normally somber but commanding voice.

“A good point; I do not want any unnecessary casualties, for when this comes down for real, our soldiers are all we have. Myself, Gallanth, Jodem, and Senior Sergeant Toderan will do all that is possible to provide cover and protection to all of our soldiers, but you must be prepared to fight on your own, just in case. All right, if there are no questions, Gallanth and I will see you on the grounds in one hour. Fall out,” Mkel finished as he stood up and saluted. Everyone present stood up and returned the salute to the dragon and rider pair and shouted, “Never a step back!” (the Weir motto).

All the leaders began to leave, with the exception of Toderan and Jodem. “Mkel, I will be observing from the air today after I unleash a spell or two in front of the garrison line, to make sure the coordination between myself, Dekeen, and Declark goes smoothly. I would be doing the same when we do this for real if what the rangers say is true, that they spotted at least two Morgathian Talon sorcerers. I could have my hands full,” Jodem commented with a concerned tone.

“I will also be airborne on Alvanch to critique the formation’s coordination and to help oversee it. I don’t want any mistakes if they can be avoided,” Toderan added.

“No problem,” Mkel said with a smile. “Between you two, and Gallanth and I, we should get a good picture of what goes on today, just coordinate with Pekram. Gentleman, have faith.”

“We both do,” they collectively answered.

“Gallanth, are you ready?” Mkel asked his dragon friend.

“Yes; we should go see Silvanth now to make sure she is ready, then we will get in the air,” the gold dragon said.

Everyone then walked out of the council room and went their separate directions. Gallanth and Mkel walked over to Silvanth’s ground-level sleeping niche at the back base of the interior Weir grounds.

After a brief conversation with Silvanth and Annan, an agreement was reached on their scheme of maneuver for the exercise. Gallanth and Mkel quickly hopped back up to the ledge to finish loading his flying rig. Mkel heard the excited cries of the rangers’ griffons and the shuffling of the paladins’ horses as well as the roars of the four land dragons.

They are all getting ready, my friend
, Gallanth confirmed his thought. “All right then, Gallanth, let’s get airborne,” he replied as he stepped up onto his dragon’s forearm and was lifted up to the main securing strap and climbed to his saddle. He secured the straps and shouted to his dragon he was ready.

Gallanth leaped from the ledge while giving a low intensity roar to signal any creature in the air to immediately go to ground. The whole Weir fell silent for a few seconds as the gold dragon’s roar echoed against the thick stone walls of the Weir interior. A cheer erupted from the ground as Gallanth glided toward the one-hundred-fifty-yard-wide entrance. He flew out of the Weir and into the morning sunlight of the late summer day, over the large stone bridge that crossed the Severic River and out over the plain beyond.

With a few flaps of his massive wings, which seemed to make the very air shudder, he rapidly gained altitude. They circled over the field and looked down at the large array of wooden silhouette targets that were set up to simulate the enemy formation. “If it were only as easy to knock off the orcs and giants as these wooden sculptures,” Mkel said to his dragon.
No, not as easy, but I have faith that the end result will be the same for both
, Gallanth replied in his usual confident manner.