Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm (3 page)

“General Frankrest, we will start with the update on the Alliance Army. How is the restructuring going?” General Becknor asked.

“General Becknor, we have started to realign forces in the Third Capital Legion to reflect the basic structure of the Draden Strike Legion. As soon as we have completed their conversion, we will start with the Fourth. This will allow our legions to be more self-sufficient and increase their lethality and mobility with a combined arms structure. It will temporarily disrupt the aerial legion due to our dishing out of two of their battalions, but it will be brought back up to strength as soon as possible. We are also looking forward to the fielding of the new repeating crossbows and the floating wagons. This will greatly increase our mobility and firepower as well,” the senior general explained.

“Excellent, sir. I know we will get a more detailed report after you’ve met with your staff and legion commanders tomorrow. General Daddonan, as you know, has requested dragons to be permanently stationed in Battle Point, especially after the fight that they had recently. I want to formally congratulate Gallanth, Talonth, Strikenth, and their riders, as well as all the soldiers of the Battle Point legion and of Keystone Weir for a job well done,” Becknor stated. Gallanth and the two senior silver dragons nodded in acknowledgment.

“General, as you and the senior officers know we have been successful in our secret breeding of the avenger dragons on the prison island. We have this to offer Battle Point. We will send a mated pair of avengers to be permanently stationed there with a pair of brass and copper dragons to teach, guide, and employ them. They have the strength of a silver dragon, but can go into a fury to be stronger than a red for short periods. While they do not have the ability to use magic or create spells, their breath weapon is a deadly beam of disruptive force, and their courage is insurmountable. That will give the good general six dragons to call upon in case the Morgathians decide to get adventurous again and to reinforce his legion. The Capital Wing and Gallanth apparently will also always be willing to reinforce them in case of a large-scale attack like we saw last week. We will also be sending a similar draconic force to the Adasam fortress in Ian to counter the increased frequency of chromatics seen there and continue to breed more here. There is also a plan to send a young bronze dragon to Freiland as soon as he is ready. General Daddonan will have to prepare a temporary weir area for the dragons and provide food and logistics of course,” Becknor stated.

“I’m pretty sure he has already made arrangements to receive a small number of dragons. I know that will make him very happy, and we thank you as well for the development and near future fielding of the new crossbows and the floating wagons. This will make our twenty legions and your twelve legions much more formidable,” General Frankrest answered. The senior general of the Alliance was actually a very modest man of slight build. His razor-sharp mind and quiet confidence more than made up for his slight appearance, but in his youth, as a company commander, he and his dragonstone broadsword had dealt many a killing blow to an orc or Morgathian foe. The three mithril triangles on his right collar and the gold dragon embossment on his left made him stand out as the commanding general of the Alliance Army, or the senior commander of the twenty non-weir-aligned active ground legions, twelve reserve legions, and the aerial legion. Each legion had over six thousand soldiers of various types, with all of them stationed throughout the Alliance and three having permanent barracks at Draconia. Coupled with the supporting forces and training forts, the combined Alliance army was a force with which to be reckoned.

Becknor, who also wore the three mithril triangles, but a mithril embossment of Michenth on his collars, was the overall commander of the thirteen weirs, all the dragons, and their twelve legions. The weir legions basically reflected the composition of the non-weir legions but had a greater degree of variation.

“Admiral Zewal, what is your report and the status of our fine navy?” Becknor asked the senior admiral.

“General, we are currently heavily tasked, as you know. The continued undeclared war on the high seas against our merchant ships is tasking out our warships at an alarming rate. This you know from our constant requests for assistance and for flights from the coastal weirs. You have our thanks to your bronze dragons and their subordinates for their strength and responsiveness. The war between the saragwin and the mermen is escalating. The sea elves have been slowly dragged into the conflict, as King Denaris and Queen Eladra can likely attest. This and the increased incidents of independent pirates under the Blood Wolf colors, as well as Morgathian and Shidanese warship attacks have been keeping us very busy.

“We are working with the elves and sea elves to get a defense pact signed between us and the mermen, but they are fiercely independent and do not like to admit they need help. While they are killing the saragwin on a three-to-one basis, they are outnumbered five to one and are losing territory. This is why small saragwin raiding parties are slipping through us and the sea elves and are attacking our shipping and some isolated coastal areas. Our allies, the Freiland raiders, have also been doing their best to dent the current level of attacks, but they are getting hard pressed as well. The problem is that once the pirates see the blue trinity symbols of our sails, they flee and actually will scuttle their ships if they think they will be captured,” the admiral stated as he looked back to Lawrent with an uncustomary half smile.

“Our ships are out at sea for six months and are sailing more than they are at port. We have been slowly replacing older ships with the new capital-sized galleys and faster warships but at a slower-than-expected rate. There has also been a greatly increased number of Morgathian and other merchant ships going to and from the northern Canaris Twin Island. We think that they are shipping large numbers of those huge long-necked lizards and dark crystals back to the empire, which we surmise they need to feed the growing number of chromatics and for weaponry.

“On a good note, we have not lost a single ship in battle since the Great War but have had several damaged in fights with the increased number of the gigantic squid like kraken that are working with the saragwin. The only thing we need from the weirs and the Wizards’ Council is more trained wizards assigned to our ships and greater dragon coverage. Right now, all galleys have wizards, but less than half of our warships and a third of the support vessels do. There is also an interesting project the naval engineers have been working with. An inventive lumber guildsman stumbled onto a concoction of ice mixed with sawdust, wood pulp, and a couple of other ingredients that when frozen turns into a material that is stronger than dwarven concrete and stays in this state even without the aid of a cooling crystal for days. Here let me demonstrate,” the admiral stated as he pulled out a piece the size of a brick from a satchel beside his chair.

“Master Dwarf, Ordin, if you would please bring yourself and your powerful hammer over here,” he asked the Draden Weir dwarf. Puzzled, Ordin rose and strode over to the stone table that the admiral and the senior general were sitting at. “Please take this ordinary hammer first, and take a swing at this special ice block,” he requested. Ordin took the standard-make dwarf steel war hammer.

“It will be smashed to bits,” the dwarf warned.

“Please give it a try,” the admiral replied.

“If you insist, Fleet master,” he said as he raised the weapon and deftly struck the block. The blow barely made a mark on the yellowish ice. A normal piece of concrete would have been cracked or broken to bits by that strike. Ordin looked puzzled.

“Ordin, please try with your hammer now,” the admiral said.

“It could crush this table, Admiral,” Ordin said with concern.

“Trust me, Master Dwarf,” he replied.

Ordin pulled Donnac from his belt as Admiral Zewal and the general backed away from the table. Ordin shook his head and raised the powerful hammer. He hit the block with a clap of thunder that echoed throughout the huge hall. The block, while dented, only had a small crack in it. Ordin’s face was awash in disbelief.

“This material is made of dragon bone!” he yelled.

“No, my stout fellow, it is called pykrete, and it almost has the strength of dragon bone. General Becknor, we have outfitted two warships with pykrete rams. Please observe this so equipped warship slice through the hulk of an old derelict,” he explained as his dragonstone sword projected an image of a warship with the ivory-speckled ram mounted on the front of the vessel. The warship was at full sail and being rowed at ramming speed when it hit the old merchant ship that was roughly the same size. The ice-tipped vessel sliced the merchant ship in two, almost without losing speed. All present began to comment on the strength of the new material.

“The pykrete material is maintained by cooling crystals, of course, but only one-third the number is needed to keep it frozen than would be required if it were pure ice. We are also in the process of building three huge galleys with pykrete hulls. Because of the strength of the material, a vessel made of it could be a very large ship, two to three times the size of even our capital galleys. An Invincible class ship would be almost unsinkable—immune to ice attacks, highly resistant to lightning and acid breath weapons—and we have even found it resistant to fire-based attacks. Once damaged, it can be repaired easily and will be propelled by a series of heating and lighting crystals that can force water to move through pipes in a chamber located in front of the rudder, propelling it along almost as fast as a clipper for short sprints. It has, however, needed a large number of cooling crystals to keep the hull frozen. I know you all are already producing them as fast as you can to meet demand, but we will need more. This vessel will be almost immune to attacks by kraken and would be the center of our fleet. It will not only be large enough to allow a perch or hold for a small dragon squadron but will also lessen the need for dragon escorts and thus ease the pressure on the weirs,” Admiral Zewal stated.

“Admiral, we thank you for your perseverance with this project, and we are making all attempts to increase the number of both dragonstone weapons and wizards trained by the council to the navy. As for this revolutionary concept that you are attempting to bring to fruition, I am personally very impressed and interested. I am fully in favor of the navy constructing the pykrete ships. Colonel Therosvet, please call for a vote of the Dragon Council to supply the necessary cooling, heating, and lighting crystals for this project,” Becknor stated.

“Yes, sir, to all the weirs: all in favor of supplying Admiral Zewal’s request say, ‘Yea,’” he said.

An almost unanimous
yases
, draconic for “yes,” or affirmative, was echoed by the Weirleaders and their dragons.

“All opposed?” he asked.

One
nineyak
was given by Selenth, who was notorious for his hatred of anything from or of the sea, a true terrestrial copper dragon.

“Vote passed. All weirs that produce the cooling crystals and stones will start to send whatever they can spare to the Ice Bay fleet base,” Therosvet decreed.

“Thank you for your efforts, Admiral. This does lead me into our next point of discussion, which is the events of late: the attack at Battle Point and the gathering armies in the Smoking Mountains. As of right now, the estimated force that attacked us in the Handsdown area was two chromatic wings, at least two Morgathian divisions reinforced by a battalion of the evil dark elves or the drow, two giant clans, and a host of other assorted evil forces. We defeated them by skill, proper timing with precise application of strength, surprise, and basic luck. The rangers from both Draden and Eladran Weirs have also been tracking and observing the gathering armies in the westernmost fire-giant kingdom off our southeastern border. They could have a substantial invasion force on our border within a short time,” Becknor explained.

“We also know that Michenth, our gold dragons, and Eladra have been experiencing a great deal of consternation, for their powers of foresight seem to indicate some sort of looming threat, but they cannot verify it. This was also made more confusing by the drow priestess who was captured by Gallanth and Mkel and then killed by a Shidanese Black Scarab assassin,” Therosvet added.

Queen Eladra stood up and began to speak. Immediately, all attention was diverted to the statuesque elven queen, her shimmering blond and silver hair flowing over her light-green robes and dress that seemed to accent her slight figure. “This is true; I did sense that something was to happen at Handsdown. That is why I asked the wizard Jodem to visit the Battle Point area with Gallanth and Captain Mkel. They arrived just in time to help save the village and many lives. I also had a vision of the Smoking Mountains and the gathering evil there. Now, as of late, a growing threat from the sea, a dark storm rising from the west, is present in my mind. The drow priestess fought Jodem’s control with all her will so as not to divulge that secret and more. Still, he did get vital information from her regarding the new evil breed of creatures the Morgathians have and the advent of the chromatics melding their black hearts with dark crystal and Tiamat’s blood to make them even more powerful. Now is the time for preparation and subtle but forceful action. The Alliance must prepare for what may come, and the dragonriders must take caution, for I feel they might be in danger,” she carefully explained her thoughts and concerns.

“Yes, my wife’s visions are telling, but unfortunately, not as clear as we would like; as are the visions and dreams that the gold dragons have been experiencing lately. We are striving to hasten the treaty with the sea elves and the mermen, for our water-breathing kin feel this war will soon go badly. What does not make sense is that both pirates and saragwin try to avoid the Alliance warships. There are still fights, but they tend to disengage when your ships appear. I know the Freiland raider ships have been in heavy engagements, and the saragwin have no hesitation in attacking them, but then that is like grasping a spine fish,” the elven king said with a side glance to Lawrent and the Freiland ambassador.