The Forgotten 19: Fire and Lightning
#19 of The Forgotten
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Paper Back:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/moon-cursed/17975948
E-Book:
http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/moon-cursed/17975932
Fire and smoke. The screams of men and horses both reached Sithen's ears as he danced in the heart of the storm. The heart of the storm? His heart! His magic and call fueled the tempest to his will as the water poured on the colliding armies. Only his own army had prepared for it. Even Baen's doubts about it happening hadn't stopped him from having the men oil their leathers and reinforce the grips on their swords. His great heart pounded against his chest as the thunder rumbled through the skies and lightning illuminated the scene beneath him. What need had he of lightning to see though? The tents were ablaze and cast wavering light over men who scrambled into battle. Their emotions perfumed the air with terror, anger, confusion and desperation. It was a heady meal for the likes of him and he drew on it all as he pulled his wings in tight against his body.
The drake plummeted towards the earth with the night sky at his back. He was a shadow against the storm instead of a dark target on a well lit day. He pulled his second eye lids over his eyes to block out the smoke as he came down closer to the enemies side of the battle and spread open his jaws. The lightning crackled past his lips and hit one of the tents so that it exploded outwards and flames licked higher up briefly allowing him to see the men falling down to cover their heads. He screamed out his triumph as he snapped his wings wider and tucked his haunches beneath him. The muscled length of his tail struck out and left destruction in its wake as he winged his way higher into the storm. The sounds of human screams followed him as he used his fore claws as if he could clasp the wind itself to lift him into the sky.
The heat of battle sparked the fire inside of him, it made him feel almost drunk on the sensations. This was what he was meant for. He had never been made to cower in his mountains breeding with little more than animals! He was war and pain, he was fear and lightning! He was the reason the humans scattered and ran towards the edge of the battle. How dare they confront the will of a dragon? They should cower in front of him and turn their swords blade down in silent worship of all that he was. He went as high up in the sky as the clouds themselves so he could look over the valley completely to watch those that abandoned their posts. He could see the dark mass of the Braan's as they gathered together and pulled up their weapons to advance as one solid line rather then scattering and thinning their forces.
Those little lives. They were barely a snort of his own great age and yet they waged war in a way that no dragon would. No dragon would throw his life away like this, yet it was in mankind's nature to become creatures of flaring emotions. He had heard the wars of old described as great beasts that destroyed the peace of the world, and it did. Yet it revived a part of himself he had given away to be forgotten and forlorn. He dropped his wings again and bugled out his battle call as he took a shallow steep towards the thick of the battle. Why should he strike from above and from safety? These humans were small and weak, he could slake his hunger on their blood and fear from the midst of it! They would fight and run at the sight of a dragon flooded with rage and fire! His eyes spun faster as gold and silver combined. Joy and anger!
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Baen gripped his sword with his maimed hand and kept his body tight against those at his sides. They had surprised the Empire by their attack, but the men counted on their training to hold the invaders back. Of the many evils in the Empire that he could curse at, he could concede that they were well trained men. Despite the storm and the cold water that hammered down upon them they gathered together to form a defensive line to try and force them back. They fought with the will of the Emperor behind them, they fought for their pay and their honor. He and his fought for their freedom and for vengeance on those who had died. He and his people had a will that wouldn't allow them to back down. He hacked at the man in front of him as he felt his heart give a strange leap before he roared out a primal sound more beast then man before his blade sank into the opening of the armored side.
He heard his roar echoed by Sithen and he spared a glance up to see the flash of fire and lightning hitting against his armored chest as he came down lower. He fumbled and tried to reach for the creature's mind, but only found only a rush of emotions so intense it nearly drove him to his knees. He grasped his wet hilt and pushed forward as he saw the great wings fanning in the air. His mind no longer wished to work and to plan, he only wished to see his enemies driven before him and away. They should flee him and fear him in his terrible wrath! They should fall under the strikes of his talons and teeth until they were nothing but a red ruin in the earth. Humans should never go against the Lords of the Storm unless they wished to become little more than a blip in the history of the world. He had to wrench his mind away from the flood of foreign thoughts just in time to bring up his shield to block an axe blow.
The dragon had made his thoughts plain. The force of his joy at battle had set a smile on the old warriors face as he cried out to press ahead. He could see the massive black form as the men that formed the line were jostled and pushed back and then forward. The eyes spun like liquid silver and gold before a burst of lightning erupted from the creature's maw and the cries of the dying and the smell of burnt flesh reached his ears. He pulled his arm back and lowered his head as he braced his legs against the thick blood and water rich mud before lunging forward to try and break the lion. He bellowed like a bull and felt more then saw those at his side press the attack forward as well. The shouts were picked up as the words were torn from his throat and passed down the line by similar calls. Each commander pushed forward as if they had planned and practiced the move a hundred times before.
"To the dragon! TO THE DRAGON!" The wind whipped the words away as they advanced to the terrible beauty of the scaled form tearing his way through the enemy heedless of the arrows that sank into his body.
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Lashane crouched down so that the eggs were tucked in close against the curve of her stomach. They were so cold, but she resisted the urge to coil so tightly that she might warm them. Two. Two eggs survived. That was all that mattered in her dragon's heart, but in her human mind what mattered was the insolent Timat perched on the edge of an oversized manger. No, not Timat. Rogeth. Timat was gone if the spirit was to be believed. Or demon. She didn't know what to call the creature. He made her uncomfortable with his piercing stare and the Mage's smile coming out from the face. He hadn't made a move to attack her or to take the eggs, instead he seemed to let her contemplate him heedless of the fact she had enough time to calm down to try and snatch hold of her magic again. As long as she had that, she had hope.
:Well?: She snapped out the word with a clack of her jaws and put her frustration into her mind voice. Rogeth sat up and his eyes shifted as if he were coming out a daze or at least deep thoughts.
"Comfortable?" His words were slowly formed, and oddly formed. It was as if he wasn't used to the language or used to talking aloud. He rolled the word on his tongue before letting it out.
:Be damned my comfort! You wanted to talk to me, so talk!: She snarled the words out and she felt the rumble starting in her chest. The earlier words about taking the eggs made her all the more on guard against him.
"Of course. But it's the mortal way to be pleasant and enjoy small talk before one dives into the dirty meat of a conversation." No there was no doubt about it, he was laughing at her. She drug her claws over the wood impatiently. "So, Charmer-Lashane, are you comfortable then? You'll have to understand I prefer niceties over threats and snarls."
:Yes, I'm comfortable enough.: Her eyes flashed with hints of red and gold as he nodded his head and tilted his head towards her expectantly. Hadn't he said they needed to be swift? This was not swift! If he wanted to free her then he could or at least explain what he meant about choices and protecting her eggs. She balked, but when he made no move to continue the conversation save to shift his gaze out of focus again she ground her teeth together. :And you?:
"Oh! Very comfortable, thank you for asking!" He smiled as if she'd done some great compliment to him by asking the question. "I do hope you're not feeling any distress after clutching. I've known dragons a long time and it seems that some females are quite easy when it comes to laying, while others become weakened. Not to say you are weak, Charmer-Lashane, you're of very good stock for all that your mother was a simple beast."
:BEAST?!: She lunged up as her eyes were swallowed in enraged colors. Had her temper always been this close to the surface? It felt as if the smallest thing could rouse her into a fury, but the blow against her mother set her ready to smack Timat's body into the wall. :My mother was a woman of the blood! How dare you call her a beast you pesti-:
"Ah-ah, let's be pleasant shall we? I'm here to help you after all." Rogeth shifted and crossed his legs under him. His tone sounded as if he were chastising a child and that was only a deeper blow. "Your mother was a dragon or a dragonet as they were called years ago. So of course she was of beast stock, not even the dragons of old thought of them as anything more than strange lesser copies of themselves. She wasn't a true dragon such as your sire. Now there is a dragon to sing songs of!"
:That animal is no more my father then these boards are!: She twisted her lips up and debated her chances at putting his prattling to silence by snapping off his head. The talk made her more than uncomfortable, it made her think of things she wanted to have dead and buried.
"You were born from an egg, Charmer-Lashane, you hatched from it and fell wet and slippery into the world at your sire's feet." Timat tilted his head to one side. "He licked you clean and sheltered you, he fed and educated you, protected and nurtured you. Are these not all the traits a father should have for his daughter?"
:He is an animal!: She shifted uncomfortably as the words evoked strange emotions inside of her that she tried to shove aside. She found firmer ground to stand on once she could ignore them. :He raped me!:
"Oh dear." Rogeth made a show of stroking his hands down his chest. "That is unsavory isn't it? But what can an old dragon do when you and he are the last of their kind? I'm sure a human would never be so distasteful as to take a relative as a mate. Oh how civilized they are!"
:Stop making mock of me!: She tucked her chin down towards her chest slightly. :Of course they do, it's still wrong and sickening for anyone to do it. He is not my father!:
"Only because you cling to what you are not, Charmer-Lashane." Rogeth replied and she had the distinct impression that he was making fun of her again.
:Only Lashane. I am only Lashane!: She corrected irritably. The name Charmer stung from her time with Timat and the use of it from Rogeth's mouth made it a double barb.
"No, you are not only Lashane. You are a creation of more than just the wet squirming child that was squeezed out from a human's thighs. You are more than the young woman that hiked into the mountains." Rogeth turned his head to one side as if he listened to something she couldn't here. "You believe you are human because you had a human's childhood and a human's memory of growing up. Yet you also hold the memories of a dragon's childhood and a dragon's memory of growing up. So you are no longer simply Lashane and as you believe that dragons are beasts then you must be Charmer after all."
:You make no sense! I was changed, magic changed me and I can change back again if I can only be free and away from here! You can set me free, you're in Timat's body. Go and open the doors and let me out!: She snarled the words and swung her head back and forth only to see Rogeth shake his head as he stood up from his seat.
"I see. Yes, well. I suppose that is the least I can do." He straightened his robe. "I require a price for my services, a simple price that you have the ability to grant me before I set you free. My kind are very fond of bargains you see and I won't simply exert myself or strain my powers for no reward at all."
:If I can grant it to you then I will! Only set me free!: She lurched up into a stance as her wings spread open to either side. Oh how she ached to be able to actually spread them and leave this place behind.
"The eggs. I desire them. Both of them." He said the words in a clipped tone that made her throat pulse with the need to roar her rage at him. She crouched back down with a soft hiss.
:To keep them safe as you said before.: She ventured and kept her temper contained. It would serve her no purpose to drive away the only creature that could free her. :You came to take the eggs to keep them safe until you free me.:
"Did I say that? I must have said it mustn't I?" He bowed his head and upper body as if he were a courtier. "What else would I say to an enraged female that could easily crush my head? It made you listen at least. So, the eggs. I desire them."
:I..what do you want with them? They're no good to you!: She fumbled for words past the rush of primal emotions that hammered and pounded at her mind.
"That's of no concern to you," Rogeth gave a slow smile. "It shouldn't be of any concern to you. I will come tomorrow and you will give me the eggs if you wish to be free. After all, what is the use in two more animals in the skies when we can put a stop to the farce now?"
Lashane wanted to respond, she wanted to rage and snarl at him, but all her threats fell away as she crouched over her eggs and trembled. He turned and walked away, his back to her as the door opened and shut again leaving her trapped and alone with the cold of the orbs against her stomach. Give him the eggs? It would be easy, it should be easy! They were the spawn of a creature that had violated her body, a mad creature at that. They meant nothing to her beside her humiliation of another time. And yet.. And yet they were her eggs. They were the last thing that Carrack had left in this world. He had died mad and alone, would she doom even his half breeds from their chance at life? She trembled as her mind tried to wrap around thoughts that Rogeth had forced her to confront. Was she human? Or was she a dragon? It would be a long sleepless night.
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Hylar yanked the head of his war stallion to one side as he yelled to the guards that lingered at the back to go to the front. That beast, that damned beast was in the midst of his army laying destruction left and right. Where were the men that promised him they could rig up the spear thrower to take him down? Where were the Mage's and Urso? Was his entire command falling to ruin? He yanked the stallion's head down when he tried to leap forward and aimed the beast towards the edge of the camp. The great beast tried to struggle back into the combat as his eyes rolled wildly and froth formed along the edges of his mouth. The stallion struck out twice at soldiers running past him and squealed out in his fury at being held back until he was away from the main part of the battle with his body guards flanking him.
He looked back and watched in awed horror as the dragon screeched to the clouds and he watched a bolt of lightning crack down to the earth as if in answer. Metal was tied around the chest and down towards the stomach making sure that it was well covered and plated over. The eyes could be seen even from here as if they were made from metal. He was larger than the beast he kept in chains, the male was easily twice her size. This was no enraged changed mage, this was an animal that seemed to not realize the blows that happened to him in battle. Even from this distance and in the dark he could see one wing bristled with arrows that had been fired into it. More horribly, he could see the steady advancement of the barbarian army coming towards the center of the battle field.
"URSO! DAMN YOU AND ALL YOUR GET!" The Emperor bellowed out and wonder of wonders the Mage came stumbling from a tent with his eyes flashing and showing the whites.
"Highness." The man gasped out and Hylar stifled the urge to run him through at that moment. The old coward had been hiding in the midst of a tent away from the battle.
"Gather what mages you can find. Bring them back here and I want them arrowing in on that damned dragon." He gestured with one gauntleted fist towards the rearing dragon. "I want him dead, destroyed or so injured my men can finish him off!"
"Your Imperial Majesty, nothing would please me more, but I fear-" Urso started that inane whimpering that made the Emperor tense up.
"Gather them! To the highest point of the valley, NOW!" He bellowed the last word until the Mage went to gather up those he could find.
He would find a few, but not as many as the Empire would need to win the day. They would gather mostly because they would have the cover and distance of hills rather than in the thick of battle. He pulled his horse up and dug his spurs into the sides so that he sent the stallion tearing down the lines with his guards struggling to keep up. He had been in battles from the time he had been old enough to join the army. Then they had been a rag tag group led under a few commanders and not one of them had an eye for the future. The Empire had been settled, but it wasn't what it was today. Then it had only been a large amount of land that they had run over and tribes they had subdued. It had been his forethought and plans that had extended it throughout the world and set civilization at its highest standard. He had been the one to create an army that was well disciplined.
"Bring up the Eighth and Ninth!" Hylar pulled his horse up in front of the few nobles that had been promising enough to lead their own men. Here most of those in charge were frantically firing out orders into the chaotic battle. "Get those damned horses out of there! The cavalry is useless with that animal in their midst!"
"Your Imperial Majesty, we're getting hit with heavy losses!" One of the younger commanders quailed under the harsh eyes. "That dragon isn't going down!"
"That's because none of you have brought out anything that can kill it." He snarled the words. "Bring me the Thirteenth."
"We're already here, Majesty." The voice was painfully deep and he turned partially in his saddle to see a group of ten men in heavy army and seated on horses that seemed abnormally large when compared to the light cavalry mounts.
"Good." He gave his head a short nod and turned the horse's head to face them. "Whichever of you strikes the killing blow on that dragon will become my Heir."
The commanders started to mutter in anger and in confusion at his words. Hylar hadn't chosen an Heir despite his age, but he had always had a select few he had his eye on. Each one of them were warriors as well as intelligent men that knew how to lead and how to follow. He had gathered them together under a special branch of his military to test their mettle against each other with an eye to appointing one of them as his Heir, but time was growing too short. It was a fitting challenge. He allowed a small thin lipped smile to cross his features. The minstrels would be singing of this day for the rest of his life. His chosen Heir, the slayer of a violent beast that had threatened the peace of their Empire. It was a pretty enough bit of poetry for anyone, all that was lacking was a maiden screaming in the beast's clutches to make it complete.
"Sir." The deep voiced warrior lifted up his spear. "Glory and honor to our Emperor." The words were repeated in the small band of men. They were the best and strongest of any in his command, they would have the likeliest chance at surviving and succeeding. For now he had to pull his men around behind the battle ground to ring in the Braans.
"Stop staring! Get those men in position on the hill sides! I want archers firing into their hind most fighters and sound a retreat to get the men away from the front. I want the Thirteenth to have their chance at that beast without being tripped by the common infantry men!" The Emperor turned his head to see the blackish shape rising from the midst of the fighting men. Once the creature was taken down the rest would follow. Rapidly.
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Sithen screeched out at the men in front of him who held swords lowered towards him hastily. They were brave for the short lived sparks they were that they dared to stand in his way. He lowered his head and spread his jaws before darting forward as swift as any snake to snatch up one of the enemies. The small being writhed and twisted in his hold before his jaws came down with a swift sharp crunch and the lad was nothing more than a distant dream. Brave, but foolish. Nothing could stand in his way! The arrows that pierced his wings were an annoying sting, but not one he cared to acknowledge. He could see Baen fighting his way towards him inch by slow inch as the men behind him charged and rushed with their own small weapons flashing. He curled his lips back and bared his teeth as the area around him started to empty of living bodies. The dead scattered around his paws as he lifted his head up higher in the air.
He watched them run, they scrambled over each other to the sound of a bugle being blown. He was at a loss for the meaning until he heard Baen's thoughts. They were signaling retreat. For a moment he felt nothing more than a rush of fury that they would give up so soon. His jaws were barely bloodied, his stomach not even full. He bristled ready to take charge before he felt Baen's flush of victory from the first clatter of battle. It was enough to wipe away some of his battle-rage and clear his mind. Instead of lunging forward he extended his neck and let out a bugling cry of triumph as the water ran down along his jaws and cheeks. He spread his wings up and felt the arrows digging into his scales and hide as if they were mites searching for blood. Yet they were small wounds when compared to the force he had fought.
"STORM LORD!" Baen's shout made him swing his head to one side to see the man leaning with his sword facing down. "The skies! To the skies!"
:Why should I? See how they flee me? I shall not wing away, not when these creatures know that I might destroy them with a single blow of my tail: He arched his neck with pride before turning his head to use his tongue and muzzle to snap out a few of the arrows. They weren't even cross bow bolts, they had more bruised him then harmed him. Had his kind truly been gone so long they had no idea how to fight properly?
"To the right, storm lord! Look to the right! They've sent men in heavy armor and on horse back to challenge you. Take them down from the air." He swung his head in the direction indicated and saw a group of heavily armored humans on horses that looked like they were half bull by their size.
One of them lowered something that looked like a spear, but larger and longer before the horse broke into a charge towards his armored bulk. His jaws gaped and he lashed his tongue out to taste the air at the sight of the challenge. He could hear and feel Baen's fear and warning for him to take to the air. Why should he? He had killed a score of men already! He felt his heart beast faster as he reared up on his haunches and screamed his challenge. The weak mental fingers of Baen tried to grab his attention but he swept them away as if they were nothing more than wind. He barreled towards the man on the horse the moment his paws touched the ground and his wings spread back before he spit out a rush of lightning that sent the horse rearing back and squealing in terror. He could only dimly feel the advance of those behind him as his eyes narrowed down to the enemies before him.
This was what he had missed locked away in his mountains, this was the feel of the heart pounding the screams of challenge. Once he had fought combats with other drakes and matched their skills against each other for the chance to breed, now he fought with humans to give him a taste of that rush. The one with the long spear was thrown down before he dropped his head to snap out against the legs. The feel of a dagger skittered over his head for a moment before he felt his teeth crunch through metal and bone as the man shrieked out in pain. He didn't linger over his defeated opponent, instead he threw his head to one side and sent the man tumbling like a broken toy into the mud. By the time he turned his head back he found himself ringed by the group while he lifted his wings higher enough that his wing fingers nearly touched. Pestilent humans, did they not know he was master of the land and air? As if a ring could contain him.
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Baen stared with his heart in his throat as the dragon lunged towards the knights. His worries and fears were forced away and dismissed. He could feel the fierce joy and anger in the beast, it left him feeling drunk and almost disoriented. It was heartening and heady to sense the emotions of the dragon as he fought. There was no fear of death or winning or losing, only the joy of how he felt his body respond to his battles. He could only hope that the god-touched beast wasn't foolish with that intoxicating sensation. His worries for the drake were short lived as he started forward with his army. He didn't stop to count the dead, he knew that many had fallen, many of his friends, neighbors and family were left dead in the mud partially trampled. He would mourn later when the battle was won or he would mourn not at all if it was lost. He started towards the dragon's aid when he heard shrieks from the hind most position of his men. The yells started in the distance and were rapidly carried forward.
"We're attacked from behind! Baen! They've got us almost ringed!" One of the oldest members staggered forward. His arm seemed held only by his armor and cloth as he used his good one to hold his blade.
" We need to punch through, we can't let them take our escape route." He glanced back towards the dragon as he watched him savage a man's legs before flinging him aside with a toss of his jaws. "Push back, don't just hold, PUSH! I'll get the dragon up in the air to keep them off."
The older man gave his head a nod before pushing back and barking orders while the old warrior was left to deal with the dragon. An unearthly shriek broke the air just as wind hammered past his body. Those around him friend and foe went down gripping their ears at the noise. Baen kept his footing by a force of will and looked up to see broad wings churning in the air as Sithen rose from the ground screaming on his hind legs. He pawed and clutched at his muzzle and head as the fire light and lightening revealed an axe sunk into the vulnerable spot of his eye. The beast's jaws gaped wider with another unearthly screech before his paw snapped out and tore the axe free to land on the ground. Blood rolled down from the once vivid eye, but it wasn't pain that hit Baen's emotions.
It was rage, a black pit of anger so great that it threatened to swallow him up. He had thought the beast fought with his anger before, but the feel of it made him scream out in equal fury as he advanced on the warriors that struggled to hold their horses with his blade drawn. Sithen shook his head until blood was cast to either side and launched himself unevenly into the air. The wind from the wings struck down at the ground until he barked an order at those who followed him to keep their heads down as they aimed towards the armored warriors. He pulled his shield forward as they crashed together a heart beat before a scream of fury echoed over the valley. He just a moment before his sword clashed with another to look up at the sky. Lightning illuminated the gods' chosen avatar as he roared his defiance of those below.
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Sithen leapt in the air half blind with the wound to his eye. He didn't even know if it had survived from the blow or not, only that his head was erupted with pain that he had to work past. Once he tore the axe off he sought the skies as Baen and his men charged. It had been foolish, he hadn't watched the one that had the smallest and most throwable weapon instead he had found himself glaring at another one with a spear as the most dangerous. Foolish or not he was done with these humans. They had stolen his daughter, brought him from his mountains, forced him to ally with humans and now they dared to stand between him and his own. He powered and spread his jaws as he panted as went higher and higher into the clouds. His entire body straining to reach a point that was high enough. There! Just beneath the clouds!
He savagely reached out with his magic as he screeched out his battle call. He summoned the lightning down, down but not to the earth, he called it to him. The crack of thunder sang in his ears before the bolt hit him and he built up his walls to keep it from running right through him. It lapped around his scales as his magic fueled it to hold on and hug around his body. It rolled under his stomach and arced between his wings as he glared down at the battling armies and saw the group of men that had dared to injure him. His jaws ached as the electricity played between his teeth until he could look out and see his own wing glimmering almost white from the light. The milling forms and flashing blades caught the fire light before he dropped his wings and fell from the clouds. His wings slicked fast to his sides as his injured eye sent sprays of blood against his shoulder and neck. His good eye narrowed on his target as he heard and felt the lightning crackling over his body.
Only when he had almost reached the point he would be dashed to his death did he spread his wings and released the magic that contained the lightning. Lightning had never enjoyed being contained, it was a spirit that longed for freedom. The moment his magic slipped, light nearly blinded him as it struck not just the earth but ran from person to person. It wasn't simply born of the clouds above, but fueled by his energy as the smell of burning flesh and screams rolled past him. The entire area lit up as brightly as the day as he reared back on his haunches so he could strike out with his paws. He saw Baen fighting in the thick of it more from the connection of their thoughts then true and snarled a curse at the human. The light started to die down as he lunched and snatched the fighting form in his jaws before he launched himself into the sky again.
:RUN RUN YOU IDIOTS!: He sent the words out as he sent his aching wings down onto the air. Some escape, only some.
The silence and darkness lasted only half a breath before the explosion struck. Lightning chased down from the skies drawn by his magic and tore into the earth as well as the men left behind fighting. His wings faltered as the rippling effects of the sound distorted the air and he had to clamp down harder around Baen to keep his wing beats. He heard the curses and he felt the mind battering against his own about being put down, that his men were dying down there! Sithen raised his shield as the slow leak of his blood stained the human's legs. He could see the farthest edge of the army still battling and the shrieks of the dying. They would win, he refused to let them fail. Not after this long, not after this far. Once the battle was won he could take his daughter back to himself again.
:Be quiet!: He snarled at the loud noises Baen made. Insolent human! :Get out of my mouth, you taste like week old deer.: He twisted his head and spit the barbarian leader out onto his broad shoulders before turning his head away. He could feel the arms and legs clinging to him and the disgusting scrabbling as the body settled itself.
:Storm lord-: Baen started and he snarled to keep him silent as the dragon circled on the updraft. It was horrible feeling the human on his back, he wanted to tip him off, but for now it was needed. And he needed his claws and teeth free.
:Hold tight, human, it's time to end this battle.: He felt the legs tighten along his shoulders before he folded his wings and the voice turned into a scream. He forced aside the pain and exhaustion and locked his eye on the small group of men on the hill. Some were throwing magic, but others were pointing and yelling. :Sever the spine and the prey dies. We go to find their spine.:
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Hylar road the midnight trail at a gallop with a dozen men at his back. He could feel the great stallion beneath him churning up the mud as he aimed towards the Capital. The night sky was still illuminated by flashes of lightning, but his mind was on lightning of another sort. The beast had created an explosion, he had come down from the sky as if he were made of lightning. He had watched the Thirteenth fall and not just them, but soldiers that had been anywhere near the creature when he landed had screamed and died. The mages weren't even doing a dent in the army and he had his own private doubts on their victory. He had gathered his guard and a few sharp orders before heading towards the road. The battle might be lost, but the war wouldn't be over. He had kept back some of his own troops in his city.
The Emperor felt his lips quark up in a smile at the thought of his city. The twisting canals, the maze of roads. They would have to split up their forces to get to the center of the capital and even then they'd have to breech the walls. He urged the lathered horse into a run as they twisted down the roads and he felt his heart beating as it hadn't in years. Behind him he heard the sound of screams and the louder screeching roar of that creature. He would have to have it killed, the question was how? His mind went to the catapults that they kept on the watch towers in case of siege, his mind already going in a hundred directions at once. He wasn't out of options, and his enemy was going to get themselves ever closer to their death by challenging him in his own city. By the time they reached the guarded canal and the barge waiting for them he heard the screech of the horns signaling retreat. At least his commanders could manage that much on their own.
"SIR!" One of the young men in the livery of a page bowed deeply. "Sir we have news."
"Take my horse, set this barge off at once! You, you, and you!" He jabbed at three of guards. "Stand here and get the locals to man the canal to prevent them from coming up it. I'll send others to come and help keep them back."
"Highness-" The young boys voice came again, this time a touch more hesitant.
"Be quiet!" He dismounted from his war stallion with a wince at his aching bones. He was no longer young to take a midnight ride on an uneven road. "I want you to wash down my horse and why is this barge still standing here?"
"Most Imperial Majesty." The young page went to his knees as if afraid his lord would strike him down, "Please I beg of you, I have word only for your ears."
"Get up." He growled, "What news, lad? My men can be trusted to keep their mouths to themselves."
"Mage Timat arrived not one day ago from the wilds. He was battered, but alive and he has come bearing tidings of hope. He wishes to meet with you when you return." The boys chattered swiftly as if he had memorized his lines.
"Hope eh?" The Emperor let one of his guards take the heavy belt and sword from him.
"He said.." The boy faltered as he tried to remember, "He said that the dragon can be brought down forever and the eggs will be the lure, sire. Please I don't remember more, only that afterwards he went to see the eggs himself!"
"The eggs? The eggs!" Realization thrummed through him. He had exactly what he needed to make sure that dragon would fly right into his trap. He had had it all along, but had overlooked it without thinking. He would be able to trap the beast, no not trap. He was too vicious, he could kill the beast.
"Gods help those mages if they've taken the eggs." He growled under his throat. "I think we've just found what will win our war." The gods were supposed to be watching out for the barbarians, but Hylar lifted his eyes to the skies and felt a smile tug his lips. The gods listened to him. Soon he would have their army wiped from the earth. Soon.
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