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Alrighty, here we go, the second tale of the Hall of Heroes. I do hope you enjoy it. As always, comments are greatly appreciated.

Enjoy.

---

Mikael flew high, mounted on the shoulders of Argil. The huge dragon was flying lead in a flight of four. To the left of the leaders of the knighthood flew Scarlon. The red and gold rider that rode her was Mikael's wife. They had been married for many years now, ever since the year of Daelin's death. Something about losing an old comrade had made them think about life, and they had finally tied the knot after a relationship of several years. Even after such a long time of marriage, it still struck him as an odd coincidence that his wife was the companion of Argil's mate. Dragon and rider both were tied together by marriage. He shook his head and looked in the other direction. About fifty feet behind them on that side flew Nixarian, riderless as he had been since Daelin's death, and further out, there flew a young golden dragon, Nick Molernari on her shoulders. The lord twisted in place to get a better look at the fourth member of the flight. The daughter of Scarlon and Argil had chosen the first of the newest riders as her companion all those years ago. Mikael smiled as the rays of the sun reflected red from the dragon's golden scales.

'She is every bit as beautiful as her mother.' Argil stated into his mind, one blue eye peering back at him as they flew above a cloud bank. Mikael smiled at the dragon, unsurprised that he knew what Mikael was thinking about. In the century since they had become a rider and dragon pair, they had become the closest friends, their mental link intensifying until they were almost of one mind. But Mikael had to agree with his mount on this one. Sunfire was a beautiful dragoness. Her scales were pure gold, except when sunlight caught them just right, and then the light became scarlet, the crystal-like scales reflecting it as if they were prisms. She had caught the eye of many of the male dragons, but she had remained apart. But despite her lack of relationships, or perhaps because of it, she was one of the most skilled dragons in the knighthood. Mikael had picked her to accompany them on this flight because her command of magic was far beyond even that of Argil and Scarlon's.

And that thought brought him back to the troubling story that they had come out here to investigate. A military scout hovercraft had landed outside the Dragon Mountain, a day or two ago, the pilots bringing a troubling message. All communications coming out of a remote town in the former state of Montana had ceased, and all of a sudden too. Several state police units had gone into the area looking for the reason, but nothing had been heard from them. So, the military had dispatched the nearest National Guard unit into the area to investigate, and it too had disappeared. But, before it went quiet, a single message had gone out. They had found a very shell-shocked old man who had sworn that he had seen a serpent as dark as the night soar out of the sky, bringing with it fire and death. He was obviously raving mad, but that description couldn't be about anything but a dragon. Mikael hadn't really given the story much credence; that is until Sunfire had had a dark premonition. So now, the four of them had come north, looking for the town and the missing military unit.

'Mikael.' Argil's voice jolted him out of his thinking. The huge dragon nodded his head in the direction of a mountain valley and Mikael looked down into it as they flew over it. The floor of the valley was as black as pitch, like a broad dark scar on the earth.

'Let's go.' Mikael stated, waving a signal to the other knights. The four dragons came soaring down out of the sky and into the valley. As soon as they were close to the ground, the three knights slipped from their mounts, landing on the ground with ease. Nixarian stayed aloft, keeping watch, while the other three dragons landed with their riders. Mikael stood still for a moment, listening. There was no sound on the air, no creatures stirring anywhere in the valley. But that wasn't the thing that bothered Mikael. What bothered him was the smell. 'Do you smell that?'

'I do.' Argil answered and Mikael knelt, feeling the earth with his hand. The scent was sickly sweet and cloying, the lingering scent of burnt flesh. For it to still to be around after all this time, it must have been a large number of people. Mikael brushed ash off of the hard surface he knelt on and shook his head, looking upward this time. He had been kneeling on what once must have been the stone foundation of a house, but the heavy rocks had liquefied, flowing downhill into a puddle.

'Only dragon fire is hot enough to melt stone.' Argil said, bending his head down to sniff at the melted remains of a large building he had been standing on. 'But only the oldest of us has a fire hot enough for this kind of destruction.'

"Lord Mikael!!" Molernari shouted. The lord of the knighthood looked up and he held up a mass of melted metal and plastic, what once had been an assault rifle. Looking around slowly, he realized that what he had taken as boulders must have been the melted remains of armored troop carriers. "There are about a hundred of these spread out all over the place. From where they are, I would say that whatever killed these soldiers gave them no warning."

'Argil, who could have done this?' Mikael asked, but the dragon's attention wasn't on his rider. His blue eyes were staring at his mate. Scarlon was staring around at the destruction, the look on her face troubled and fearful.

'None of our folk.' He replied, his attention still on the other dragon. He looked as if he might continue, but he didn't get a chance. Footsteps in the blackened glass of the valley floor reached their ears and the six warriors looked around. A single soldier, dressed in soot-stained battle fatigues was walking towards them. There was no sign of his weapon, and he had the look of a man who had seen too much, the so called mile-wide stare. Nick stepped forward, holding up his hands.

"Its alright, no one is going to hurt you." He said, reaching out and putting a hand on the man's shoulder.

"What happened soldier?" Mikael said, walking up to him. The man looked at him with a vacant expression.

"It came all of a sudden at us." The soldier said, looking around at all of them. "Came out of the sky and ripped us to shreds. I was just out of its line of fire." The soldier took off his helmet and let it fall to the ground. His hair was jet black, and sticking up at odd angles.

"What came out of the sky?" Mikael asked. But before the soldier could reply, Sunfire shouted loud.

"Stay away from him!!" she shouted. The knights looked at her with shock, but she was staring at the soldier, her eyes glittering brightly with enchanted sight. They turned back to find the soldier's vacant expression gone. In its place was a malicious grin, the kind found on only the most evil of beings. But most disturbing of all were the eyes; they had gone totally black, nothing more than voids. Without warning, the knights were thrown back, flying far through the air. The soldier was swelling, growing larger and larger, his skin turning jet black, like his hair. His body was becoming more and more draconic and Argil growled deeply. The man jumped straight up, great black wings spreading wide. He flew high, easily avoiding Nixarian, but he hadn't stopped growing. He kept right on getting bigger and bigger. By the time he was out of sight, he was at least five times as large as Argil, easily the size of a hill.

"I've never seen anything like that." Nick stated, staring up with open-mouthed awe.

"Nor I." Mikael stated, slowly getting to his feet. "I think I broke a rib."

"Unfortunately, I have seen it before." A voice said. It was female, and Mikael recognized it as belonging to Scarlon. "A long time ago. We have to get back to the mountain and prepare our folk. And quickly."

***

Sunfire crouched alongside her siblings, looking up at her parents. The two dragons were sitting before them with the knighthood's leadership. Scarlon was standing in the middle of the Aerie, and all were silent, waiting quietly for the eldest of the dragons to speak.

"It was a very long time ago, several millennia ago in fact. All of you riders know what war is. And you have all heard stories of what it was like when humans and dragons fought. But this, this was a hundred times worse. It was a civil war, dragons fighting dragons." She said, looking at her mate. "There was once a Dragonlord named Blackwell, who believed that humans were meant to serve dragons as slaves. The trouble was, that he found sympathetic ears among some of the dragons and even among the humans. When the other two dragonlords refused to listen to him, he rebelled. His followers were numerous enough to cause a lot of difficulties for dragonkind. When I was only a hatchling, the war began. Dragon blood rained down as the two sides fought. The war lasted for years, and before it was over, thousands of dragons had been killed, some even still in their eggs. Worst of all, Blackwell killed the dragonlord Caladon. But Blackwell was defeated in the end. However, he had performed the most dangerous and forbidden spell in our arsenal, a spell that kept magic from penetrating past his scales. And at his size and power, magic is the only thing that can kill him. Thankfully, the spell also prevents him from casting magic. So the victors settled on a different solution. They sealed him away, deep down inside the earth with a very deep magic. It would seem that he has broken out at last."

"He is so big." Nixarian stated, looking at his brother. The dragonlord was staring off into space, obviously lost in thought. "I didn't know a dragon could grow that big."

"Not naturally we can't." Scarlon stated. "Using magic to increase his size was one of Blackwell's specialties. But the consequence of that sort of magic is that his life force is spread thin. Ever since he used that power, he has been living a sort of half-life. He won't care about anything except revenge for his defeat. And he is going to see anything moving as a target."

"What can we do against that?" That was Skye, the second in command of the dragons. His question was met by mutterings and whispers. "If magic is the only thing that can kill him and it can't get past his scales, what are we to do?"

"We fight." The voice was quiet, and it stilled all the murmurs, for it was Argil's, but his voice was different than it usually was. It was filled with a steely sort of resolve, the kind that belonged to the most determined individuals. "Skye, get a direct link to the US military, I have a feeling we will be needing them. Nix, prepare everyone we have for battle."

"Yes sir." The pair stated. There were no arguments, for they could sense the urgency and finality of the situation in his tone. As everyone walked away to their tasks, Sunfire remained behind, her rider settling back against her shoulder.

"Do you think we have it in us to defeat him?" He asked and she had to shake her head.

"I don't know." She said, the dark gloom that had settled over the mountain evident in her voice.

"If you don't know, then I am sure I don't." He stated, looking up at her. "I guess I will just have to be ready for anything." Sunfire nodded and the pair walked over to one of the entrances into the mountain. It seemed that a black pall had fallen over the land outside, a shadow that was growing by the moment...

***

Sunfire waited with Nick on her shoulders, his drawn sword in hand. She could sense his agitation, and her scales ruffled with sympathy as he ran a whetstone on his blade. The sword had long since passed razor sharpness, and the stone could not do much more for it, but he hadn't stopped, each stroke an exercise in control as he fought the instinct to panic. Given the situation, most of the young riders, those who had not faced combat yet, were edgy, their nervousness evident in every motion. The young knights were sitting mounted astride their dragons in two long ranks on the lower slopes of the dragon mountain, awaiting orders. The more experienced knights were lined up in front of them, all of them facing to the east, mounted on their dragons. The veteran knights either did not feel fear or were better at disguising it, for they did not shift in their saddles, did not needlessly check their weapons. They and their dragons were sitting still, seemingly at ease. It took the finely tuned senses of a dragon to recognize the metallic tang in the air as nervousness.

Mikael and Argil alone seemed unworried. Mikael was sitting on his dragon's neck, reclining with his hands behind his head as if asleep. But Sunfire recognized the small movements her father made as he stood as signs that he was fully alert and ready for battle. A man wearing the futuristic battle armor of the US military and General stars approached them and Mikael slid off Argil to greet him. Though Sunfire could not hear what was said, she figured it had something to do with all the soldiers that were around, busy as a bees in preparation for the fight. The United States military had gathered all the strength it could muster quickly to fight alongside the dragons, since they shared a mutual foe. Behind the arrayed dragons, on the slopes of the mountain, the military had dug in its new advanced SAM batteries, each warhead guided by a small chip of magic crystal created by the magi employed by the military. Before the dragons, on the valley floor, a battalion of hover tanks sat quietly, their crews making their final checks. Infantry formations were dug in all over the ground, foxholes and trenches filling the fields and meadows. Overhead, dozens of fighters buzzed like a flock of insects. With all this firepower gathered here, it was nearly impossible to imagine anything surviving. But Sunfire and her rider both felt something through her magic senses that made them uneasy. Looking forward, she could tell that her father and mother were both feeling something similar. Even her uncle Nixarian, not the most magically powerful dragon in the knighthood, seemed unsettled. In fact, all the elder dragons seemed edgy.

A few moments later a shout came up from the forward lines of infantry. But Argil seemed already to have spotted what they were calling out about. The great black shadow was on the horizon, and Sunfire felt a bolt of fear lance through her. But the presence of her siblings and their comrades allowed her to clamp down on it. Argil looked down at his rider and nodded before lifting off with Nixarian and Skye, all three dragons flying riderless for this meeting. Sunfire drew in a deep breath and stretched her wings, making ready to fly. Though they all hoped that Blackwell would see reason, she and her rider didn't hold out much hope. So she sat ready, waiting for the word...

***

Skye stood still beside his best friend, his rider sitting easily on his back. The blue scaled dragon was scanning the sky with his eyes, keeping an eye out for their quarry. The sky was clear for a moment and he sighed, digging his claws through the earth, itching for something to happen. He looked up as the General approached and trained his ear as the Lord of the Knighthood spoke to him.

"General." Mikael stated, nodding to the man.

"Lord Mikael." He replied, "My men are all set, just waiting for news. The radar stations have detected nothing in the area besides my fighters, not that I thought they would. Any sign of our target?"

"None." Mikael responded. "I don't like this waiting around, but what choice do we have?"

"Not much." The general replied. Then, Skye spotted it. A dark smudge on the horizon that was rapidly growing larger. He was about to cry out a warning to Argil, his best friend since they were both un-awakened dragons but the larger dragon spoke before he could. 'I see it Skye.' He said and then a cry went up from the front line of the infantry. Skye looked up at his rider and the man gave him a pat on his shoulder and slid off onto the ground. It had been decided that for this meeting, only dragons could be present. Blackwell was not likely to have changed very much in the last few millennia. His disrespect for humans would not have faded. Skye took a deep breath and leapt into the air alongside Nixarian and Argil, the three dragons flying to meet Blackwell. It seemed a very short flight. When the trio approached the huge black bulk that was winging towards them, his voice came out to meet them. His voice was strange, a wholly alien cast to it.

"What have we here?" He said, pulling up short and hovering with his wings outstretched. "Three new recruits for my cause?"

"No Blackwell, we fly not to join you," Argil answered. "But to ask you to cease your crusade."

"Bah!" Blackwell responded, shaking his head. "I thought that might be the case. But what should compel me to abandon my desires? Your powerful Knighthood?" At Argil's sullen look, he laughed. "So, you thought I would not know? It makes me sick to think of dragons demeaning themselves by allowing humans to ride them like a common mule."

"We are honored to work with humans." Argil replied, "I have come to offer you a chance to join us. It is a far better world that we live in than the one you left so long ago."

"Join you!?" Blackwell shouted. "Ha! No, my little dragon, you have nothing to offer me. And since you will not join me, you leave me with little choice. You and all your allies will die today."

"Think hard Blackwell." Nixarian said, speaking for the first time. His voice was filled with a tone of utmost disrespect. "We have weapons the like of which you cannot dream of now. Even you can't stand against them."

"I beg to differ, runt." The large dragon stated, then pointed downward. The trio looked down to find a convoy of vehicles crawling along the terrain, heading for the mountain. "For I have allies too. Those loyal enough to know that dragons are meant to rule. I could kill the three of you right now, but I won't. You," he said, suddenly pointing at Argil with a gigantic clawed hand. "Though small, you are a dragonlord, so I will give you the gift of fifteen of your human minutes to prepare for my coming. Go."

Argil jerked his head in the direction of the mountain and the three of them flew off at top speed. 'I am surprised that he is giving us this time.' Skye stated, speaking with his mind to his friend.

'I am not.' Argil stated. 'As corrupt his mind is, he is still a dragon at heart and he feels some sense of honor still. But the fact that he has allies disturbs me.'

'It would certainly explain how that madman that slew Daelin could match the rider's strength with magic.' Nixarian said, his mental voice seething with hatred. 'If I have to, I will roast every one of his followers alive for slaying my rider.'

'You might just get that chance.' Argil commented, diving down towards their lines...

***

Sunfire and Nick soared into a dive over the battlefield once more, Sunfire breathing a long tongue of flame down onto the positions of the few remaining black clothed soldiers, the followers of Blackwell screaming as they died. She soared back up after her pass and surveyed the fight. The once green valley had been charred black by dragon fire and the melted remains of vehicles littered the ground, amid the smoldering trees. Blackwell's forces had charged into the US soldier's positions under cover of magic, but they had been met by a hail of fire and dragon's had added their breath to the battle. The newly created rail guns had been used for the first time, destroying tanks and vehicles with incredible ease. It had looked like a victory would come swiftly, but then Blackwell had come himself.

In a single pass over the battlefield, he single-handedly turned the tables. In a single pass, his breath had burned half of the ground troops into cinders of ash. Tanks had melted into puddles with their crews still inside them, and the residual heat immolated everyone unlucky enough to survive the pass. Every weapon, even the advanced, magic-tipped missiles hadn't even scratched his scales. Only the rail guns had had any effect, chipping off scales where they touched. But that was far too little against such a behemoth. A green scaled dragon suddenly spiraled past her, headed for the mountain. His rider was barely holding on with his only remaining arm. Both rider and dragon were badly burned and Sunfire banked at Nick's urgings to land beside the wounded pair.

"How goes the fight?" Sunfire asked the dragon in dragonic while Nick slipped off her back to help the rider off his saddle.

"Bad." He replied, panting and holding one burnt wing in close to his side. "All the fighters have been shot down or forced to withdraw and at this rate, we will have him dead in a year or so." Sunfire touched his wing with her clawed hand and magic surged between the two dragons. The green dragon's pained face eased as the wound was soothed. But such was the power of Blackwell that Sunfire could not wholly repair the wound, not without expending more magic than she could spare. "Thanks. We were lucky, he only just caught us with that blast. My wingmate caught it full on. I haven't seen him since..."

The dragon collapsed into unconsciousness with the pain and Nick climbed back onto her back, the pair sharing a look. They nodded and Sunfire lifted into the air, soaring high towards the horrific battle taking place above them. They broke through the cloud layer to find a confusing web of dragons soaring around and around, all of them breathing flame or casting spells at the great black dragon that flew with deadly purpose through them. Rail gun rounds speared him but they were as biting flies to him. Each time he caught a dragon with his claws or jaws, he killed; every dragon that felt his breath died, or spun towards the ground, blackened and wounded. As Sunfire closed on the fight, she saw all the dragons suddenly stop spiraling in and out of the pattern and she saw why. Argil had actually landed on top of Blackwell, savaging his back with his claws and teeth. Blackwell couldn't bend his neck back far enough to get at the smaller dragonlord, and he writhed as his scales rained down like black raindrops. She cheered her father on quietly, and then, all of a sudden, the battle took another turn for the worse. Blackwell twisted suddenly, rolling in the air. The wrestling pair fell from the sky in a roiling ball of scale and blood, but now Argil was getting the worst of it.

In an instant, Blackwell was rising again and a badly wounded white and silver dragon fell from the sky, uncontrolled, his blood falling quickly. Scarlon was instantly there, slowing his descent with her magic, her mental cries echoing in the minds of every dragon in the vicinity. Sunfire quailed suddenly, for if her father, the mightiest of all the dragons, could not defeat this foe, what hope could she have? And then, a new sound came to her ears. Laughter. Dark, rolling laughter like deep thunder. She saw Blackwell laughing at his enemy's despair.

A rage that Sunfire had never felt before suddenly lit within her, filling her body and mind. A snarl disfigured her face and she let out a roar, as deep and loud as she could muster. Seeing the great rents that her father had torn in Blackwell's scales, she gathered all her energy for a spell. Magic was her element; spells never before imagined lived within her mind and if anyone could hurt him, it was her. For the sake of her father, she would fight. She felt a similar resolve grip her rider and the pair soared towards the behemoth. The spell was boiling within her and she aimed right for the huge dragon. He noticed her coming and turned his head toward her, jaws opening wide. Just as she spoke her spell, a ball of fire shot from his mouth. She saw the bright tendril of her spell hit home, seeking out the cracks in his hide, flowing past his protective barrier. Blackwell screamed loudly in pain, and then, the fire hit. Both Nick and his mount tried to shield themselves with magic, but it was a useless gesture. Both were engulfed in flame and she felt and heard her rider's death, his scream rending her soul and she was burning, inside and out.

But it was not the end. All of a sudden, she was in clear sky again. Though blackened with the fire and badly wounded, she was still alive. Blackwell was frozen in the air, his wings beating hard to keep him aloft while he writhed with her spell. But then, she heard Skye's voice in her head.

'Fall back to the ground!!" it ordered. 'Everybody, fall back now!!"

Dimly, she obeyed, letting the wind guide her downward. Every part of her ached and burned. Her heart most of all, for her rider was nothing more than a cloud of ash. But she smiled slightly. She had wounded their foe and that was something to be proud of. When she got close enough to the ground, she saw that the other dragons were gathering around their leader. She made an uncontrolled landing that was more a crash than anything else, and pushed gently through the crowd of dragons to her father's side. All her siblings, brood mates and younger dragons alike were clustered around him with their mother. Thankfully, she saw that he still lived. His chest was rising and falling still and a miraculously unwounded Mikael was kneeling at his side, using his magic to staunch the dragon's bleeding. Argil was not conscious, bloody drool trailing from his half open mouth, but at least he was still alive. Sunfire felt as if the whole world was closing in around her and she stumbled back from the gathering.

Her mind was clouded by a range of thoughts. Nick was dead, Argil was wounded and Blackwell would survive her spell, she knew. Looking around, she vaguely noted that more than half of the surviving dragons were not in any shape to fight, most of them barely on their feet. All of the rest were injured in one way or another. From the sound of things, their military allies had all fallen, and she herself did not think she could survive another bout with the evil dragonlord. She slumped to the earth, a mound of blackened scale in the black valley. Hopelessness set in. They had done everything they could, many, human and dragon alike, giving their lives to defeat him and it was all for not. She lay in the soot for a few moments more and then, suddenly, her mind grew clearer. She pushed herself to her feet. She had not done all she could yet.

Stretching her injured wings out to the side, she lifted off, unnoticed for the moment. Every wing beat was agony, but it didn't matter. One way or another, this would be her last flight. Every labored breath was pain, but she smiled, delving deep down into herself, tapping the current of magic energy that flooded her. She reached deep into it, welcoming the power into her. As it filled her, the pain eased, gradually fading away. She was rising towards the great black dragon that was starting to recover from her spell. At last, as she came towards him, she was noticed. A riot of voices speaking gibberish washed into her head and was drowned out by the magic. She could hear the voices of her family calling to her, trying to get her to return to the ground, but she knew what she needed to do. The magic was still flooding her, more than she had ever felt. All her life had been leading up to this moment, this tiny shard of time. Blackwell noticed her and turned his head, tongue of flame surging towards her, but she did not waver. She met the flames head on and kept flying, undaunted. Magic was sheathing her, every golden scale shining like the sun itself. Though she felt the heat of the flames, they did not burn her.

She delved even deeper into the magic well and she found herself suddenly poised on the edge of something she had never felt. Like a cliff in her mind, she waited at the top of a bottomless sea of magic energy. She held herself in readiness, her mind already growing distant as her body began to erode away, becoming magic itself. Blackwell was trying to flee, but he was sluggish in the wake of her spell casting and she drew closer still. And then, when she had nearly touched him, she paused. 'For you, Father.' She said, and threw herself off the mental cliff. Her mind faded away, her body vanishing into the flood of magic and she smiled...

***

The dragons on the ground below watched the small black and gold shape that was Sunfire rise towards the gigantic black dragon above them. She began to change color, gold fading into crackling blue-white as magic flowed out of her and Blackwell's flame did not touch her. She boiled on undaunted, the change becoming ever more rapid. And then, just when the small shape was about to touch the black mass, her outline vanished. The being of pure magic that touched the dragonlord flared for a moment and then vanished. For a moment, it seemed that nothing had happened, then the black dragonlord began to contort. His body was folding inward, shrinking as it contracted. It was like watching a singularity chew its way through a planet. Suddenly, his body collapsed, disappearing in a flash of blue-white light, accompanied by a deafening bang. The light blinded even the dragons, but, afterward, many would swear that they had seen the golden outline of a dragoness in the center of the explosion. But when the light faded, Blackwell was gone, nothing remaining of him save for the black scales that he had lost in the fight. But even as they watched, they began to crumble away into ash.

In the days afterward, the dragons healed their wounded, mourning their dead as they did so. Those that they could find were pressed into diamonds, their pale light joining those of the knights and dragons that had fallen in the past in the hall of heroes. But Sunfire would have no diamond. No trace of her was ever found, but a statue of her was raised in the hall by her father. It was of her standing up on her hind legs, bright globes of magic surrounding each upraised hand. At her feet stood Nick Molernari, standing eternal guard with her, sword in hand. And so the Dragon Civil War drew to a close, the millennia-long conflict finally ended by its last hero...