Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (75 page)

“Good morning, Captain Mkel. I trust you and Gallanth have recovered from your fight in the east?” Becknor inquired with a smile.

“We’re just fine, sir; Gallanth has been resting as much as possible, even with the visit from our Freiland brothers and his and Silvanth’s mating flight. Sir, this is Lawrent, Draden’s official Freiland representative,” Mkel answered as he introduced the raider and gave Lloydell a wink to acknowledge his greeting.

“Good to have your acquaintance, raider. We look forward to having your countrymen talk to the both the senate and the Dragon Council,” the general said as he reached out his right hand. Lawrent grasped the dragonrider’s smaller hand with a big smile.

“Always a pleasure, General, as it is working with Captain Mkel, Gallanth, and Keystone Weir,” he returned the greeting.

“Good to see our Freiland brothers with us, Raider Captain,” Becknor replied. “Toderan, good to see you here, my friend; Master Jodem, Dekeen, Ordin, all of Draden, welcome to the Capital Weir.” General Becknor shook their hands after taking a salute from Colonel Wierangan.

“Mkel, Gallanth, great to have you here, especially after what we heard happened out at Battle Point. Good job, by the way,” Lloydell said as he gave Mkel a hug.

“Always good to see you as well, Lloydell; how is my brother?” Gallanth asked of the senior gold dragonrider.

“He is back with Valianth and Michenth, waiting to do the official greeting; Eagrenth is on a ferrying mission for the senate,” Lloydell answered. “We have some surprises for you, my lad; after we meet with Michenth, I will show them to you and your Weir mates. You will be impressed.”

“Let’s go see my still healing dragon. Michenth has been asking about you and Gallanth,” Becknor said to Mkel, as he motioned them all to follow him into the great hall that led to Michenth’s chamber. He had not seen Michenth since he was nineteen years old, just after he bonded with Gallanth, and that was only for a couple of minutes. That was the second time in his life he had been in the presence of the great arch dragon.

Becknor led all of the party into the great hall entrance from the Weir landing. The immense hall was on the east side of the carved mountain, which was the only direction where there was no other dragon perch or landing. This hall directly led to Michenth’s chamber and the Dragon Council gathering room. This arena was large enough to hold twenty dragons in the circular area with space for hundreds of man-sized creatures and even several giants. Before the Great War, the Dragon Council was composed of mostly gold and silver dragons, with a few bronze. Now there were only seven gold dragons and twenty-one silvers in all of the Alliance. Talinor Weir was currently commanded by Mkel’s friend Dkert, with his copper dragon, Selenth, who he was looking forward to seeing, as well as his brother Bkert and friend Slidess.

After the Great War, the decision was made to consolidate most of the gold and silver dragons to the Capital Weir, except for the frontier Weirs of Draden, High Mountain, Eladran, and Ice Bay. This was to both cover for a wounded Michenth and to provide for a rapid and powerful reaction force until the metallics could recover their numbers. The bronze dragons had taken over all of the coastal Weirs—Ferranor, Denar, Rom, Rem, Atlean, Lancastra, and Machren—because of their affinity with the sea and ability to sustain a backup presence for the Alliance Navy. They were the only type of metallic dragon that could actually breathe underwater.

The hall was well lit with lighting crystals as they walked past the statues of dragons of all species and human leaders of the Alliance, like the Founding Council members Warrenton, Jefron, Jondam, and Befran, as well as elf and dwarf kings of note. Michenth was lying down at the far end of the hall with his head raised, conversing with Valianth, Falcanth, Draconth, and Strikenth. A huge mithril/silver-colored triangle showed brightly at the apex of the wall just below the ceiling, with a fifty-foot Alliance flag underneath. The great mithril dragon looked over to Gallanth as the other Capital Wing dragons turned their heads.

“Gallanth, Mkel, Master Wizard Jodem, you and your Weir are welcome,” the arch dragon spoke out as his commanding voice echoed off the great hall’s stone and marble walls. “It is good to see you, my friends, and my congratulations on your victory at Battle Point. Strikenth has told me of the fight you had and the foes you vanquished. You and your comrades saved many lives. We have much to discuss, for like you, my son Gallanth, I sense a dark storm rising. There are too many parts to this puzzle that are missing, so we must try to put them together. But that can be discussed later; now is a time of celebration, for the games have arrived, the harvest almost all across the breadth of the Alliance was excellent, and we still have the Creator’s light shining upon us. I do trust that your injuries are healed?” the arch dragon asked.

“Yes, my Lord, we are fine, or at least no worse for wear,” Mkel answered.

“We survived the encounter relatively unscathed; we have our friends, Strikenth and Talonth, to thank for that, my Lord Michenth,” Gallanth seconded.

“Again, modesty is one of your more admirable traits, my son Gallanth. Master Wizard, you uncovered a few very interesting tales from the drow witch before the Shidanese assassin took her back to the underworld,” Michenth said; he called Gallanth his son, as he considered all dragons his sons or daughters, for he was the father of all dragonkind. “We have the Alliance’s best theorists, wizards, and the senior dragons trying to put all of this together, but many things do not make sense. Even I attempt to help when I am awake, in spite of my slowly healing wounds.”

“We will find an answer, Lord Michenth,” Jodem answered.

“I have faith, my wizard friend, I also understand that two dragonstones were successfully melded and Silvanth had her mating flight,” Michenth continued.

“Yes, we have been fortunate in that regard, Lord Michenth,” Mkel answered.

“This is indeed cause for a celebration; you better not let the Enlightened senators know about the mithril vein or they will call a vote to encourage the giving of a large portion of it for the common good, or at least for themselves as a giveaway to their greedy and gullible followers in exchange for votes in the next election,” Michenth quipped; subtle humor was something he was known for, which was actually uncharacteristic for many dragons. “We will also debut the Avenger dragons during the games and the military demonstration for the public. Our first five Avengers are now of age; Darkenth, Vengenth, Bruntoth, and the female dragons Fellith and Liberth. They are proving very precocious but extremely motivated and anxious to prove themselves.

“How are their powers developing?” Jodem asked.

“They only have one breath weapon, a focused beam of sound or disruptive force,” he explained, “which seems very effective against all types of targets and stone structures. They cannot use magic or cast spells but have a very powerful spell shield, and they are almost as strong as a red dragon even though they are the size of a bronze. They can also go into a fury like the Freiland raiders for short periods of time, which makes them as strong as a gold dragon. While they do not possess metallic dragon intelligence, they are still as smart as an average human, which is more than a typical Enlightened official.”
Everyone chuckled at that comment.

“The Avenger dragons can also apparently withstand a large amount of punishment and heal almost faster than we do. Our new brethren have very positive attitudes, with an almost fanatical admiration of the metallic dragons. They have the color of a brownish-gold hue with dull gold horns in the shape of a silver dragon’s, and a sharp broadsword-like tail tip, which they have been training to use as a very effective weapon. So far they cannot soul bond with a human rider, but they seem to work well with the selected mithril knights that have been training with them.

They are powerful flyers with large ovoid-shaped wings but are not exceptionally fast, having the same aerial speed as a copper dragon, although still faster than most chromatics. Their wing fingers end in a short but strong talon, which makes strikes with their wings even more effective. We believe they can learn to teleport themselves and a rider, but they cannot mass teleport. We will see as they gain in experience and power. Likely, they will be our skirmish line, or breakers, aiding our forces against the chromatics and these new talon dragons, for presently we are spread too thin,” Michenth added

“Yes, we must station dragons at Freiland, Ian, and Battle Point. The Capital Wing has been kept too busy, as well as all the Weirs.
Captain Mkel, I know you and Draden Weir know this all too well,” Becknor added to his dragon’s narrative. Mkel smiled and nodded at that statement.

“Where are you keeping the Avengers, sir?” Toderan asked.

“We currently have them on the prison islands off the coast of Rom Weir,” Becknor said. “Those islands are off limits to civilians and citizens, and Licanth and his other bronze dragons are keeping their part of the island surrounded in fog to limit the view from prying eyes. Since the POEs don’t have any wizards with seeing eye spells, and the waters surrounding the island are patrolled by the Navy’s swift sloops, latoucs, and the sea elves, we have maintained their secrecy.”

“We look forward to seeing our new young friends in flight and by our sides in battle, should the need arise,” Gallanth spoke up.

“And likely it will, my brother, but until then, we have a race to prepare for and our coordinated runs for the demonstration during the games,”
Falcanth added, to which Gallanth nodded.

“We also have something to show you, Colonel Wierangan, Captain Mkel,” Colonel Therosvet said as he spoke into his seeing crystal. Several men then entered from the side of the hall connected to the laboratory areas deep within the Weir. Three were carrying a new type of crossbow, with others carting in a target and still three others pushing a small wagon that had no wheels; it was actually hovering three feet above the ground. “Captain Mkel, I know you love Markthrea as much as your wife, but if you would be so kind to put your crossbow down for a minute, you and Jodem could try out our new little inventions with your superior marksmanship.”

Mkel and Jodem smiled as the men placed the targets at the far end of the hall, one hundred yards from the group, as they handed both he and Jodem one of the crossbows. It looked a lot like Markthrea but did not possess his dragonstone-powered sight, of course. Instead it had a graduated crosshair iron sight with the ability to adjust the point of impact. It had a mechanism to load a box with what looked like five bolts into the bottom of the stock; not the ten-round magazine that Markthrea had, but still not bad. It also had a similar type of cocking lever under the trigger guard.

“Fairly well balanced,” Jodem said to Mkel.

“Yes, and the cocking mechanism looks surprisingly familiar, along with the dragon sinew string,” Mkel replied.

“Very perceptive, Captain, our arms smiths copied your crossbow’s style, function, and look for these weapons. If you two would please give them a try,” the colonel asked.

Mkel cocked the lever below the stock forward and then back, which moved the first bolt into place, and pulled the string back. It was much stiffer than Markthrea, but then his bow was dragonstone powered. The bolts were also slightly longer and thinner than his. He then knelt down to take a kneeling shot. The metal sight was very finely made.
Good detail work,
he thought to himself, but still protected with a metal hood to keep it from damage under the harsh conditions of the field and in war. Jodem chose to take a standing shot.

Mkel smoothly pulled the trigger as he settled the main crosshair on the silhouette target, and the dragon sinew string snapped the bolt forward. It streaked toward the target with good speed and hit it just low and left of center. Mkel was surprised at its speed; while again not as fast as his bow, it was three or four times faster than a standard crossbow. He quickly cocked the lever, took quick aim, and fired another bolt, followed by the remaining three. Jodem fired his last shot just before Mkel was finished with his.
He always did have faster cadence
, Mkel said to himself, as he aimed up his last shot. He and Jodem had fairly tight groups on the silhouettes targets, which were set up one hundred yards away.

“Not bad craftsmanship, with excellent speed and accuracy,” Mkel critiqued. “Good marksmen armed with these could be almost as efficient as elven archers. They are fast, accurate, and likely with at least a three-hundred-yard effective range, and an arching fire of at least three times that.”

“Glad to hear you say that, and thanks to the over a dozen chromatics you killed, we have a lot of sinew to work with to make these bows. Draden Weir will get the first shipment of these, with the regiment getting them as well. We will have sixty ready for you both by the end of the games and the senate session,” Becknor said with a smile. “You have some of the best marksmen in the Alliance. With these added to your men’s shooting skills, it should make your next battle interesting.”

“It will be a pleasure to distribute them among my sharpshooters. With these, my garrison’s bowmen will almost match Dekeen’s elven archers,” Mkel answered, giving a wink to Dekeen, who snorted in a type of sarcastic gesture, but after which he quickly smiled. “Now sir, what of these new floating wagons?”

“These, gentlemen, are the result of our thunder giant allies finally revealing the secret of their cloud fortresses,” Therosvet explained. “The thunder giant king, Golefad, has finally agreed to share their method of creating levitation crystals. It seems that the lighting crystals that the bronze dragons can create are not far from how they make these. Our most talented bronze dragon here at the Capital Weir has learned the technique. Zumanth and his mate Luminenth were the first to be able to create the levitation stones. It takes three small stones to provide lift for an average-sized wagon or six for a catapult base. What they do allow is for one horse to pull a fully loaded wagon over almost any terrain with little effort. Two good draft horses could pull a large catapult or its support wagon filled with ammunition and stones. We are also working on a way to have the wagons propel themselves, but that will take a little longer.”