Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (35 page)

“Is Gallanth hurt?” he asked with a concerned expression on his face.

“Just a few scratches, my good captain. They will heal quickly,” Gallanth answered, looking down at the squad of men. Gallanth did have several nasty gashes, but Mkel knew he would be almost totally healed by tomorrow morning. All he needed to do was to rest. “Mkel, I will take a short bath in the river and get a little rest after the prisoner is secured,” Gallanth continued.

“Be careful, my friend, that river is nothing more than a large stream,” Mkel told his dragon mate.

“It will suffice,” he said as Jodem walked the drow over to them.

“Good afternoon, Captain,” Jodem said pleasantly as the squad of men that accompanied the Battle Point officer surrounded the priestess.

“You might want to have a few paladins guard her as well, for she is very tricky and can easily seduce a man. Your cavalry knights have more of a resistance to this type of manipulation. No offense to your men, but she almost had me under her spell. I would have at least three men with her at all times, and a female soldier from your support corps units wouldn’t hurt either,” Mkel explained.

“She seems somewhat sedate at present,” the captain said.

“That’s because she is currently under my control,” Jodem stated, “but this will wear off by tomorrow. Her name is Vorgalla, and she is a priestess of the High Aranean order. She should have a little information about what the nature of this attack is all about. Gentlemen, you may escort her. She is harmless in her current state so swords are not necessary,” Jodem explained to the soldiers, who looked slightly spooked at being so close to a drow cleric. There was a great deal of lore about the power of the dark elf priestesses. “If it makes you feel better, place her hands in irons,” he added as he smiled at the nervous soldiers.

They sheepishly lowered their swords but still did not sheath them, for in spite of the discipline of the Battle Point soldiers, the fear of dark magic was strong. The drow did spill Alliance blood, and she was one of the two most powerful dark elves they faced today, so retribution was also likely on their minds. These top fighters were to not only keep her from escaping, but to protect her from their fellow soldiers.

They walked toward the wooden keep as Gallanth stepped behind them. If there was a plan to kill Vorgalla between Mkel, Jodem, and especially Gallanth, it would not happen now. They were greeted at the keep’s gate by Colonel Sheer and the rest of his hastily formed staff with a squad of paladins. Mkel noticed that several riders had arrived on hippogriffs from Battle Point, mostly senior officers with some reinforcements to help relieve the battle-weary battalion; the reinforcements were now preparing the defenses.

“Be careful of the little spider, my friends,” Gallanth said
. “
Even without her staff, she still has a nasty bite.” He continued walking toward the river while looking at the group now entering the keep’s walls. “Get some rest, you big lizard. We will need you tomorrow,” Mkel called to his dragon. He knew Gallanth would fully heal from his wounds in a matter of hours, but he still felt the dragon’s pain and did not like his partner to be wounded in any way.

“Master Gold Dragon Gallanth, we owe you our gratitude today,” Colonel Sheer spoke up to Gallanth as he walked past the wooden gate from the central building.

“It is my pleasure, Colonel, tell your men that they fought gallantly today and are a credit to the Alliance,”
Gallanth replied as he kept walking to the stream.

“What do we have here, a little black elf witch?” Colonel Sheer scowled at Vorgalla.

“She can hear you, Colonel, but cannot respond while under my spell,” Jodem quickly replied.

“Can we still question her?” he asked.

“Yes, but we need a quiet room where I can concentrate on her,” Jodem replied.

“You can use the small dining hall beside the council room in the keep. I will have it cleared of any personnel and leave instruction to not be disturbed and post guards. Captain, see to this,” he said to his second in command, who was standing beside Mkel.

“Yes sir, immediately,” he replied; he put his hand on Mkel’s shoulder in a quick thank-you gesture and briskly walked off into the keep.

“Come, Master Wizard, Dragonrider, let’s take the prisoner into the keep. We will be getting visitors both from Battle Point and from Draconia very soon,” Colonel Sheer said. “Captain Mkel, are you injured?” he asked as he noticed Mkel limping slightly.

“I just got scratched by that green dragon before Gallanth sent his spirit on to the underworld. He already healed my leg, but it will be stiff for a couple of hours,” Mkel replied.

“Nothing a couple of ales won’t cure, my son; come in, I will get food and drink for us,” Colonel Sheer said with a smile, and they all walked into the battered wooden keep. They filtered through the hallway and into the large council room. The senior captain already had the adjacent dining hall cleared and was making arrangements for food and drink to be brought in. Some of the hippogriffs must have been bringing supplies, and those in the town were now coming out of hiding or from the outskirts, where they fled from the invaders. The storage house next to the keep was made into a temporary healing hall, with all available aloras salve and healers consolidating and treating the wounded there.

Gallanth walked over to the edge of the stream as carefully and gracefully as he could so as to not disturb the soldiers working on the defenses, but all the men in the immediate vicinity stopped working to stare at the gold dragon’s immense form. The soldiers by the stream moved aside as Gallanth stepped into the water. It was just over fifty yards across, barely wider than he was long, and as he moved into the middle, it was only twenty feet deep at its center. This was still enough to at least get the bottom half of his torso under water and wash the dried chromatic blood off of his golden hide.

He submerged himself as best he could before turning around to walk back to the point where he entered the river. The soldiers were still staring at him in amazement. Not often would they get an opportunity to stand so close to one of the largest dragons in the world, especially after seeing what he did in battle today. After he fanned his immense membranous wings, Gallanth walked back to the grass field where he landed and settled down.

Jodem placed Vorgalla in the center of the small hall and the rest of the group gathered around her, while several soldiers stood guard at the doors. A few town members came in to place the food and drink on the table at the back of the room. The portly wizard stood in front of the dark elf and raised his staff as the sapphire dragonstone head piece started to scintillate and glow. The drow she-elf reacted abruptly, attempting to fight Jodem’s renewed domination spell, but after a couple of seconds, she went back to her calmed state, falling to his magical control.

“She is very stubborn and has a strong resistance to magic,” Jodem stated, “but I think this will make her a little bit more amenable.”

“What were your objectives at Handsdown?” Colonel Sheer asked her angrily.

“We were to take the town and hold it to draw out the forces from Battle Point,” she replied with an unemotional tone.

“Why this village?” he again asked.

“It is a small but important secondary trading post in the unsettled lands, and it is still under protection of the Alliance, but closer to Morgathia, the Kaskars and orc lands,” she answered.

“Draw out our forces for what purpose?” Sheer yelled angrily. She did not answer and her face contorted in an attempt to resist the spell.

“What were those new thorny dragons, and what was the source of extra power of the blue dragon that Gallanth killed today?” Jodem interjected to get her off balance.

“The talon dragons are a successful experiment by the drow and Morgathian sorcerers to counter the Alliance Avenger dragons,” she replied with less resistance. Jodem was shocked that she knew of the Avenger dragons. “The blue dragon, Evtrex, was a destroyer or demon dragon. His heart was successfully melded with a piece of dark crystal and a drop of Tiamat’s blood,” she further explained. Looks of surprise and shock came over all the faces in the room.

“How is this done?” Mkel asked, puzzled.

“The strongest dragons volunteer for the ritual for the melding with the dark crystal, but many do not survive,” she replied.

“What powers does this bestow upon the recipient?” Jodem asked.

“The successful ritual will affect the destroyer in one of two ways,” she explained. “It gives it a tremendous energy boost to its breath weapon, which it can use one to two times per day. The destroyer dragon’s spell casting ability also increases. The other way it can affect the dragon is its magic shield will double in strength, and its physical strength increases as well. It can also cast a destruction spell once per day that can shatter castle walls or fell dozens in a single burst.”

“How common is this?” Colonel Sheer asked, more inquisitive than angry.

“There are not very many chromatic dragons who have survived the ritual, but the slave miners of the drow have discovered a major vein of dark crystal in a new chamber they unearthed deep below the city of Shanaris, and Tiamat has been empowering it,” she further explained.

“Sir, where is Shanaris?” Colonel Sheer’s second in command asked.

“It is the drow capital underground city, Captain,” Sheer snapped.

“What of the black dragon?” Mkel inquired. “Why was it so ferocious? It was stronger and faster than normal.”

“The black dragon was in a fury, like barbarians who go into a berserker rage. This is a skill that we helped the more chaotic species of chromatic dragons perfect. They are given a potion that contains various ingredients, also including a small amount of Tiamat’s blood. This allows the dragon to burn up a portion of its own blood for the extra speed and strength. This does exhaust the dragon though and has a longer term effect of shortening its life,” Vorgalla answered.

“So Tiamat is still alive?” Jodem asked with some shock in his voice.

“She lives but is still recuperating from the severe wounds that Michenth inflicted on her during the Great War,” she replied.

“So she lives, but what does this mean for us?” one of Sheer’s officers asked rhetorically.

“It means that there will be another war as soon as she regains her strength,” Colonel Sheer answered. “But this time, we are much weaker. We only have a third of the army and one sixth the number of dragons we did during the Great War,” he finished. Sheer had been a heavy infantry soldier during the Great War and saw the Morgathian hordes first hand that were eventually defeated, but only after a bitter fight and a great deal of casualties.

“What is the overall plan, priestess? Handsdown is only a small part of Morgathia’s goal. What are the objectives you are looking at?” Jodem asked directly while also refocusing the interrogation back to the drow.

“We will attack you by sssseh …, she …, destroying your cities in a storm,” she yelled, fighting hard to resist the questioning and not reveal any more secrets. Jodem could tell that she was resisting his spell and knew he could not maintain the domination over her much longer.

“She’s fighting hard not to reveal anything else,” he explained. “I will need help from the Wizard’s Council of Thirteen, and maybe Eladra, to get more information. She has vital knowledge of the Morgathian plan but she is still very strong in her resistance to my spell.”

“It doesn’t matter. I was told that we were to have the prisoner ready to be taken to Draconia for further questioning by the senate,” Colonel Sheer said, sounding irritated. “They will be sending a brass dragon sometime tonight.”

“How did the senate hear about her and this battle this quickly?” Mkel asked.

“Likely General Daddonan talked to General Becknor when we left. I have been sending him information about the battle from time to time. It is his job to keep the premier and the senate informed of such events. It is the POE senators who are demanding to have the drow brought back to Draconia immediately. Likely so they can defend her position in a tribunal, bastard arbitrators!” Colonel Sheer exclaimed. This sentiment surprised Mkel but he also felt a small sense of relief in that the colonel felt the same way about the Enlightened senators and their arbitrator friends as he did. “I will talk to General Daddonan and see if we can delay sending her back to give you, Gallanth, and Andellion a little more time to get a few more questions answered,” he added.

Mkel, danger!
Gallanth warned telepathically as a one of the Battle Point soldiers from outside the window raised a small wooden tube and blew a dart at Vorgalla, striking her in the neck. She immediately collapsed to the floor. Even as Markthrea sprang from the wall it was leaning on and flew into Mkel’s outstretched hand, the soldier had disappeared from sight.

Mkel sprinted to the window, cocking his crossbow in the process. As he lifted it up into position, he checked to make sure the bolt was a standard nonexploding tip. He quickly scanned the vicinity for the perpetrator while he heard Colonel Sheer yell to not kill the soldier for he wanted him for questioning. The other soldiers in the room ran toward the main entrance to make sure there was no attack coming and to help apprehend the soldier who had fired at the prisoner.

Mkel saw the legionnaire in question face off with one of the soldiers who came running from the river. As they engaged in a melee, he took aim on the assassin’s leg and fired. It was a very easy fifty-yard shot, and the bolt caught him on the upper thigh and spun him around onto the ground. Within seconds, four Battle Point soldiers had him surrounded and at spear and sword point. The soldier quickly sat up and bit the ring on his right index finger; within seconds, he was convulsing and twitching on the ground and then fell silent.