Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (15 page)

By this time, the rangers had mounted on their griffons and were starting to stream out of the Weir and began to maneuver into their formations. The cavalry platoon began to trot to the bridge, with the land dragons behind them. The dwarves and the garrison company were next in line. Gallanth pointed down and back winged to a landing on the grass field in front of the bridge. He folded his wings and stood like a statue, waiting for the combined garrison to form.

The thirty-two griffons were now landing by Gallanth, and their ranger riders dismounted and began final checks on their gear and weapons. The griffons on patrol would be missed for the exercise, but Lupek would compensate.
Griffons are magnificent creatures
, Mkel thought to himself:
fierce, loyal and powerful
. They were the second most feared flying creature after dragons, because of their strength, mobility, and intelligence, along with their keen senses and intense fierceness in battle. The golden brown and or white feathers and fur of the half eagle, half lion mounts were just slightly ruffled by the morning breeze. Their alert and intimidating stares caused all who approached them to take caution. While not dangerous to anyone not posing a threat, they were still not overly tolerant.

The rest of the combined company team was now moving over the bridge. The paladin cavalry platoon was across and approaching Gallanth in their tight formation, with the land dragons close behind them. The dwarves were the slowest on the march, just because of their short legs, but they were tenacious and an asset in a battle line. The Weir’s infantry company was right behind them, with the catapult section bringing up the rear with the sappers moving with them.

A horn sounded from the edge of Draden Forest, which signaled the elves were on their way. The first thing they would do would be to pack shoulder to shoulder, in a tight formation, next to (and even underneath) Gallanth, to allow him to perform a mass teleport. As long as an individual or creature was within the circle created from the tip of the gold dragon’s nose to the ends of his outstretched wings to the point of his tail, he could teleport them anywhere. This was a feat the gold dragons perfected, followed by the silvers. The other dragon races had yet to master this skill. The whole garrison could fit in that circle, but it was a drill that was practiced for exercises like this. Putting all this combat power anywhere on the battlefield, along with the seven Weir council leaders, was a small but extremely powerful force that could enter with surprise, do tremendous damage, and then be gone in an instant. This made the Keystone Weir garrison a feared force among all foes.

As soon as all were across the bridge, they began to assemble in their assigned positions under and around Gallanth. Even though this was a well-rehearsed exercise, it still took several minutes, mainly because of the catapult wagons, for they were only so maneuverable. Mkel knew that this problem was being worked on at Draconia; he was curious to see what they came up with when he visited there in a couple of weeks.

The dwarves moved into a tight rectangular formation under Gallanth’s head and neck, with the infantry company split on either side of them. The rangers and their griffons formed under his wings, with the land dragons in pairs behind them. The cavalry also split and formed tightly behind and amongst the land dragons, by Gallanth’s back legs. They had to be kept separated from the griffons in case the large avian creatures got hungry. The catapults formed along his tail, and the elven company stood under his belly. The land dragons, being no small creatures themselves at around fifty feet long, were still just over a third the length of the mighty gold dragon.

Mkel spoke into his seeing crystal: “All sections report.” The palm-sized, smooth-faced quartz crystal stones were chosen to have a small amount of dragon blood added to them so they could be permanently empowered to transmit images and sounds as if looking into a mirror. The crystals were a very effective means of communication, especially during battle.

Ordin checked in first that he was in place, Pekram was next, followed by Wheelor, Lenor, Dekeen, and Willaward. Toderan and Jodem landed just in front of the dwarves at the last minute and waved to Mkel and Gallanth to go. With that, Gallanth outstretched his massive golden wings, which extended to his full seventy-five-yard wingspan, and he let out a medium-intensity roar to ready all for teleport. His eyes flashed gold and the brilliant streaks of blue light formed in an almost vortex-like tunnel surrounding the compact group. They then disappeared from the grass field only to emerge in the field to the west of the Weir just outside of the border of Draden Forest.

Next, Gallanth quickly enchanted the garrison’s weapons and armor. His eyes glowed in a yellowish hue and soft sunburst beams emanated from them, which he swept through the forces gathered all around and underneath him. This action, which the soldiers called “powering up,” gave all those who didn’t have dragonstone weapons extra damage ability against evil creatures and temporarily strengthened their armor. Soldiers could feel their spears, swords, bows, crossbows, and armor tingle with a warm vibration for a few seconds. This extra power, which lasted all day, sometimes provided the edge that meant the difference between life and death in battle.

Once this was complete, Gallanth raised his head again and prepared to teleport everyone back to the grass field. Before they jumped from the field, Mkel saw the crowds gathering from the town to watch the exercise, and he noticed the Draden regiment marching up to the bridge through the eyes of the Weir dragon head stone carving or sentinel that guarded the entrance to the Weir. The dragonstones placed in the eyes of the sculpture actually gave it limited intelligence, for it controlled the airflow and internal temperature of the Weir as well as being able to defend the mountain in case of invasion. Gallanth could communicate to the sentinel to which Mkel could see what it saw through his dragon’s mind.

“All right, gentlemen, we teleport back and immediately go into our assault formations. Are we clear?” he shouted as loud as he could. The combined return cheer of several hundred men, elves, and dwarves told him what he wanted to know. Mkel quickly signaled to Colonel Wierangan with his crystal that they would be there in a few seconds. “Gallanth, shall we?” he said to his dragon.
We shall,
he replied, and with a roar, they entered into teleport and disappeared.

They emerged at the exact place they left from but oriented away from the Weir toward the target field. Gallanth gave a ground-shaking roar, which he would do in battle if immediately facing an enemy to unnerve them. This was also an effective crowd pleaser, for the observers from the town had gathered on the opposite shore of the Severic River in front of the Weir.

The garrison started to deploy into their primary line formation immediately after Toderan took to the air. The dwarves formed the center of the line with a forty-dwarf front, three deep. The infantry company split two platoons on the right side and on the left of the dwarves, effectually doubling the width of the line. The griffons leapt into the air as soon as Gallanth folded his wings, and the land dragons moved to their positions behind the infantry platoons. When the dwarves and infantry were locked shoulder to shoulder, Mkel ordered them to move out. As they started marching, the elves moved into their firing formations behind the dwarves. The paladins spread out their cavalry behind the elves, waiting for Mkel’s signal as to which flank they would attack from as well as the overall attack order.

The catapults started preparing to fire as soon as Gallanth leaped into the air with a flap of his huge wings. He soared up over the front line and immediately turned and flew over the river and the town of Draden. The people of the town cheered as he passed over them and then circled back to the practice field. Lieutenant Willaward’s crews worked fast; they launched the first volley of solid clay shot, which simulated their stone projectiles, but burst in a cloud of dust on impact for easier marking. The four thirty-pound projectiles sailed over the ground troops high into the air along their ballistic arch, landing in the midst of the standing targets in a thundering impact. Jodem sent an advanced seeing-eye globe over to the crowds, and it began to project an image above the river of the catapults firing and the impacts on the target field.

The crews immediately began to prep the engines to fire again. Their efficiency enabled them to launch one to two shots every minute for an excellent rate of fire. This took the form of cranking up the counterweight while winding the dragon sinew ropes and loading the projectile from the ready rack. They could fire solid stones weighing from thirty to sixty pounds or greater, depending on range restrictions or desired effect. A type of frangible projectile was also used that was constructed with fractures and had spikes running all through its cement structure; when it hit solid ground, it burst, sending the spikes flying in all directions, to the detriment of those affected. Additionally, a giant that tried to catch this type of ammunition would be killed instantly instead of the normal return throw that they were famous for.

Still a third and perhaps most lethal of their projectiles were canisters filled with dragon’s fire formula, which burst upon impact, affecting a thirty- to thirty-five-yard area. This inflicted tremendous casualties to tightly packed enemy assault lines. The first volley landed sixteen hundred yards from the river, where the catapults were currently placed. This was a good distance, but they were well within their maximum range of over two thousand yards. The second volley soon was screaming toward the targets. The garrison was still moving at an even pace toward the field, and the ballista crews on top of the land dragons were readying their weapons. They would begin to fire at roughly the thousand-yard mark, which at that range they could hit a giant-sized figure or a densely packed group of infantry or cavalry with their dragon sinew ballistae. They fired either masterwork spear-tipped projectiles that would fell an ogre with one hit or a spear with a small aerodynamically formed canister of dragon’s fire that would hit and explode in a fifteen-yard burst.

Silvanth then flew out of the Weir and down flapped her wings rapidly to get up to join Gallanth. Mkel could see that Annan was mounted on the silver dragon’s back, for her long gold-streaked brown hair was blowing from underneath her riding helmet. He liked it when his wife joined them in these exercises.
Good morning, my mate
, Mkel heard Gallanth telepathically call to the silver dragon.

Yes my dear, now where would you like me to attack from?
she asked, always being direct. Silver dragons were sometimes arrogant but always had good intentions and motives. The female metallic dragons also tended to exhibit a sense of aloofness, but they were always dependable and no less intelligent than their male counterparts. They were usually tasked with defending the support corps supply trains along with teleporting these assets and moving supplies to and from various areas. They also backed up the male metallic dragons in all attacks and in the defense of the ground forces.

Attack from the south against the right flank of the infantry and the dwarves, and please my dear, be nice
, Gallanth added. Silvanth looked at him, and with a slight friendly growl, she peeled off and headed south. Her silver toned ventral scales and hide looked brilliant in the warm morning sunlight. Silver dragons had a subtle, more streamlined appearance than most other dragons. Their smooth armored hides had a resistance to cold-based weapons and immunity to acid, as well as an electrical resistance (gold dragons shared in the acid resistance but not the immunity). It was very strong in terms of protection from any form of weapon as well.

Mkel spoke into his seeing crystal. “Good morning, my love, you look radiant on the back of your dragon.” Annan looked over her shoulder at her husband, gave him a scowl, and then smiled as Silvanth broke from away from Gallanth.

“Spare me your attempts, my dear; I will need help with your son tonight,” she replied.

“Yes, my love, he will join us at the banquet; we will talk later,” he told her as Silvanth turned around and started her diving attack.

Silvanth let loose a roar to signal her attack and to simulate a diving chromatic dragon. Her roar, while slightly higher pitched than Gallanth’s, was still no less fearsome. Female dragons, chromatic and metallic types, were usually just slightly smaller than their male counterparts. This was not true of the damage inflicted by their breath weapons, or their spells, all of which had the same strength. Overall, though, they were basically as powerful as their male counterparts. The metallic dragons delineated their roles, with the males doing most of the forward fighting and the females serving as transportation and protection for the support corps, as well as teleporting forces to and from the battlefield. They also gave a follow-on punch when necessary. Both saw their fair share of battle, so the female metallic dragons were not being protected or sheltered. They would not allow this to happen anyway.

The chromatic female dragons were just as vicious, voracious, greedy, and evil as their male counterparts. In any event, among dragons there was no quarter given for gender of either side. Gallanth’s actual mate was killed in the Great War, as was Silvanth’s. Dragons mated mostly for procreation but still mourned the loss of a partner. Only gold and silver dragons could successfully mate outside their own species, while all other types had to partner with their own kind. The offspring between a silver and a gold came out pure; half breeds were never known to have hatched.

As Silvanth swept down on the garrison, Mkel and Gallanth watched their reaction. The calls went out, “Dragon attack, three o’clock,” which prompted the front line infantry to half face the direction of attack and raise their shields, as did the dwarves, all in unison. The archer troops raised their bows and crossbows, as did the three platoons of elven archers, fired one volley at the incoming silver dragon, and then quickly moved in behind the infantry’s raised shields, going into their defensive posture to hide any exposed skin. All arrows and bolts were blunt tipped in case any got through Silvanth’s magic shield, but they all bounced off the invisible barrier by the dozens. She unleashed the blue icy ray of her breath weapon that would have normally frozen anything instantly upon contact, but it was only set to frost for this exercise.