Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons (50 page)

"I'm sure they'll be here soon
!" The old wizard called back, climbing out from behind his siege machine. "Focus on those shadow dragons! Aim for the soft scales on their under bellies!" He trotted over to join the little man. "We need to keep the men from deserting their posts! It's only a matter of time before the hoard attacks again, and we must make sure that we continue to defend the wall, otherwise the entire town will be overrun!"

Convincing the men to remain at their posts proved to
be difficult as the shadows dragons continued to swoop down on the city, breathing flames upon the defenseless crowd that was surging towards the safety of the castle. But after much yelling, screaming, and a number of graphic threats, they managed to get most of the men to return to their posts.

One of the shadow dragons suddenly tucked its wings and dove towards the m
en defending the wall. Many of the men dove for cover, while others jumped from the wall to their deaths to avoid being roasted alive in the searing flames.

The screams of the dying was soon accompanied by the sickly sweet odor of charred human flesh
as dozens were killed. A second dragon landed amongst the buildings of the town and began to bathe the structures in hellfire while lashing out repeatedly with its powerful tail, leveling entire homes and sending debris flying in every direction.

"Get those machines aimed at those beasts before they kill us all!" Sly roared as the shadow dragon soared passed, then banked to renew its attack.

There was a sudden roar from the dragonspawn hoard, and they surged towards the wall, attempting to take advantage of the defenders diverted attention by rushing the only gate leading into the city.

"On your guard!" Damarius bellowed in a surprisingly powerful voice. "The hoard is attacking!"

The dragonspawn reached the wall of spikes and charged forward, encountering only a small amount of resistance from the few archers remaining on the wall. They quickly reached the base of the wall, then, using only their claws, they carefully began to scale the stone.

"They're
climbing the wall!" Sly warned, drawing his sword with a curse.

"Not to worry!" Damarius laughed. "This wall is impossible to scale.
It's angle outward too steeply!"

"Are you sure about that?" The little man looked doubtful.

"Just watch!"

They watched as several dragonspawn slowly clawed their way up the wall, their eyes alight with bloodlust. But as each creature neared the halfway point, it became apparent that there wasn't much chance on them succeeding.
One by one, each creature lost its grip and fell, impaling themselves on the field of spikes below.

"Brilliant!"
Sly laughed, and clapped the old wizard on his back. "Your design may just be enough to keep those beasts at bay!"

"Now we just have to focus on the shadow dragons!" The old man said wryly.

The men operating the old wizard's siege machines had finally all reloaded and swung their ponderous machines around to take aim upon the attacking dragons.

The first several machines to fire missed their targets by several
yards, but the sixth machine's shot flew straight and true, striking one of the beasts in the side of its huge armored head. The projectile exploded into splinters, failing to penetrate the dragon's thick skull, but the force behind the projectile was enough to daze the massive beast, causing it to plummet towards the ground uncontrollably. At the last second, it shook its head to clear the cobwebs, then flared its wings, and swooped away, avoiding a horrific crash by mere feet.

"
Get those machines reloaded!" Sly shouted, trying to make himself heard over the noise created by the dragon still rampaging through the town. He threw himself to the stone walkway as another dragon plunged down from the sky, belching more flames.

The dragonspawn attacking the wall finally gave up their futile attempts of scaling the walls, and began to crowd onto the road before the gate leading into the city
. They quickly produced a battering ram constructed from an entire tree, and the rhythmic boom of the ram against the steel gates soon echoed through the mountains.

Damarius
laboriously hauled himself out from his hiding spot from behind the closest siege machine, then looked out over the wall at the hoard. "The dragonspawn are trying to force their way through the gate!" He ran to the guard house built over the gate and pulled a large lever mounted on the floor in one corner. A large number of brass nozzles began to rapidly pop into view through dozens of holes that had been drilled in equal distances along the stone face above the gates.

"Get those chambers open!" The old wizard ordered, pointing to the heavy steel plates
inset into the floor.

Two nearby guards scrambled to lift the heavy plates from the floor. Several other guards began rolling in a number of large barrels containing a thick
, foul smelling dark liquid, which they emptied into the chambers in the floor. Once all of the barrels were emptied, the guards replaced the plates in the floor, and Damarius pulled the lever once again, causing the dark liquid to suddenly begin spraying out over the throng of dragonspawn, who ignored the shower and continued to pound away at the steel gate.

"I don't think that a foul smelling shower will
dissuade them from  attempting to enter." Sly told him, stumbling into the guard house looking a little singed.

Damarius laughed. "That liquid is a mixture of
naphtha, pitch, and a special ingredient that I created to give it a little kick!" He gave the little man an evil smile. "I think its going to get hot out there in a few moments!"

The dark liquid continued to spray out in long arcs over the crowd of dragonspawn for several minutes, then finally slowed to a trickle and stopped.

"That's it!" The old wizard had a tight grin on his face. "Let's light them up!"

Sly laughed a harsh laugh, then handed him a torch. "I think you should do the honors! It was your design, after all!"

Damarius casually tossed the torch down onto the hoard of dragonspawn, but was clearly unprepared for the results. Flames suddenly exploded towards the sky, and the entire wall shook, throwing many of the men still holding their position to the hard stone walkway. Large chunks of flaming dragonspawn began to shower down over the area, while the inferno continued to boil up into the sky in an enormous mushroom cloud. Dozens of dragonspawn somehow survived the initial explosion, but couldn't avoid being set aflame by the burning liquid. They stumbled blindly through the crowd, setting a number of others alight, until they finally collapsed into smoldering masses.

Sly
dragged himself up from the stone floor, then stumbled over and helped Damarius back to his feet. "Was that supposed to happen?"

The old wizard nodded. "I knew
my special ingredient would give the liquid some kick," He pounded on the side of his head in an effort to quiet the ringing in his ears. "but I never expected it to be quite so spectacular!" He held out one hand to shield his face from the heat, then glanced over the edge. "Nothing's going to get near the gates now, at least not until that finally burns out!"

"That means we can focus on those shadow dragons then!" The little
man quickly left the guardhouse and hurried to the closest siege machine.

Damarius took one last glance at the raging inferno, then followed the little man outside, where he found him hurrying the men assi
gned to reload the machine.

There was a ear splitting roar as the shadow dragon raging through town
suddenly whirled around, leveling several burning buildings with its long powerful tail, then charged towards the wall, still belching flames, obviously attracted by the explosion.

"Get this thing loaded!" Sly roared, yanking the man out from behind the machine's
controls, and climbing up into its seat.

The men finished cocking the machine, then one of the men quickly set a projectile in place and jumped clear, allowing the little man to
take aim on the charging dragon.

The beast was less
than twenty yards from the wall when it suddenly reared back, preparing to breathe death upon the wall's helpless defenders. There was a heavy twang as Sly leveled the sights and triggered the machine, firing the projectile at the rearing dragon with only a second's aim. There was a sudden meaty thunk as the projectile buried itself deep into the shadow dragon's chest, stopping the beast mid motion. It stared down at the steel tipped wooden shaft in incomprehension, then grasped the shaft and wrenched it free. It suddenly vomited an enormous amount of blood, and its wings flapped weakly several times as it swayed ponderously, its enormous eyes glazed.

The crash as the huge serpent's body collapsed to the ground shook the entire town, and for several long moments, there was complete silence as everyone stared at disbelief
at the dead shadow dragon. Then, a huge cheer erupted from the men still protecting the wall.

"Nice shot!" Damarius complimented
the little man.

Twin roars of fury echoed through the mountains as the other two shadow dragons, who had been busy swooping down to breath fire upon
town and castle, spotted their brood member lying dead among the wreckage of the town.

"I think that just made them angry!" Sly yelled, watching the two great serpents rise high into the air, obviously preparing to renew their attacks. "Get this machine loaded! They're
going to attack again!"

The men hurried to res
et the machine as one of the shadow dragons suddenly tucked its wings and plummeted towards the siege machine, its razor sharp talons extended for the kill.

*************

Dar and Lady Skie quickly made their way through the panicked crowd, pausing only once to avoid a crumbling house that had been bathed in dragon fire, and after several minutes of nervous running, they finally reached the main gates leading to the castle.

Lady Skie stopped at the gates, then turned to look back at the terrified crowd. "To the castle!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "You'll find refuge in the castle!"

At first, only a few people turned to hurry toward the gates, but soon, more followed, until the majority of the crowd was moving towards the castle and away from the terror that had descended on their town.

Lady Skie turned and le
d the way up the steps to the imposing castle, then kicked the two huge main doors open wide to allow the crowd through. "Lead everyone towards the Vaults!" She shouted to several frightened looking servants. "There should be plenty of room for everyone there!" She looked to Azel, who had come bursting into the hall with a panicked look on his face. "Azel! Make sure all of the servants make their way down to the Vaults where they will be safe!"

The boy hesitated only a moment before sprinting off towards the
grandiose staircase leading towards the upper levels of the keep.

She and Dar remained at the entrance of the castle to guide the people to safety, all the while they watched as the city that the
y had worked so hard to rebuild be destroyed once again.

Tea
rs flowed openly down the childlike Alena's face as he watched the devastation helplessly. He had seen such destruction before, when the scarlet dragons were still under the control of the madman, Kaviel, and had fervently prayed that he would never be forced to see it again.

Lady Skie tried hard to ignored the carnage
before her, concentrating instead on guiding the frightened villagers towards the safety of the Vaults below the castle.

Once everyone had finally made their way into the imposing keep, and it was apparent that there were few other survivors other than the men still defending the wall, both she and Dar quickly followed the others followed
down to the Vaults below.

The V
aults, which had been built deep under the mountain the keep had been carved from, was an enormous hall with great vaulted ceilings, which earned the chamber its name. There were a number of chambers lining the hall, used mostly for storage by the castle servants. At the far end of the hall stood a pair of heavy steel doors that led towards the treasury.