(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider (42 page)

   "I can see why." Feran said. "But it does seem to have the desired affect."

   "You have no idea, boy." Commander Fracher said. "Each time I do it, their lines began to retreat again, and they become even more cautious."

   "That I have noticed." Feran said. "And that you do not kill unless you have no other choice."

   "That is because men will try to avenge the death of their friends." Commander Fracher replied. "But will try to help them if they are wounded, which eliminates even more men from the fight."

   "They do return." Feran pointed out. "Eventually."

   "Yes, but with a lot more respect for the enemy." Commander Fracher said. "And a lot less confidence in themselves."

   "You are a wise old goat." Feran said. "I am glad you are on our side."

   The leader of the mage kings army captured their attention, as he roared above the sounds of battle that surrounded them. Several hundred men had broken off from the main force of his army, and retreated northeast in an effort to escape the carnage of the battle.

   "I do not think we can stop them." Feran said to the commander as he watched the enemy solders moving away from the battle. "We will have to hope Commander Rayden can stop them before they can escape."

   "I am afraid you are right." The commander replied. "If we send enough men to defeat them when they are cut off, we will not be able to hold the line."

   "Then we must let them go for now." Feran said, and turned back to the fighting that raged on all around him.

Javen fought hard as his men pushed the enemy backwards, and into the solders behind them. Most of them stayed on their horses to fight the enemy, but some dropped to the ground to engage the solders that showed the most skill. The battle raged all around them as they pushed the enemy back, and the dead began to litter the ground.

   After the initial attack, the solders of the mage king began to slow their retreat, and in some areas, stopped it altogether. Javen and the warriors who still advanced, began to attack the enemy solders that held up the advance from the side, which allowed the warriors they faced to continue their advance, and drive the enemy backwards once again.

   Javen watched as more of the enemy rushed to bolster the lines he faced, and it was not long before the advance began to slow all across the enemy's right flank. Several of the men around him had been wounded, but they did not retreat from the fight, only falling back so another could take their place. Once they had stopped the bleeding, and they were able to fight once again, they would return to their place in the front lines. Some of the warriors of the first army were wounded badly enough to be out of the fight, but very few of them died. Even fewer had been killed in the initial assault, and Javen was proud of the ferocity in which they fought.

   As the advance on the enemy's right flank came to a halt, the warriors of the empire began to dismount because their horses were no longer an advantage. The enemy, which had been driven back in on themselves enough that they could no longer retreat any farther, began to fight with a lot more caution. That was when the hardest of the fighting began, and the warriors of the first army held their ground.

   Chidren, the leader of the enemy forces, decided to join the fight when the group of his men deserted him, and he was more than the warriors of the empire he faced, could withstand. He was not allowed to kill the men he faced, because others would engage him until the wounded men could be withdrawn, which made him angrier. The warriors of the empire began to fight him as a group, but all that it accomplished was too slow him down some. When a man was wounded, another would take his place, and in that manner they slowly forced Chidren in the direction of their commander, Javen.

   Chidren had attacked the right flank of the empire's forces, sensing it was the weakest part of their army, but the warriors of the dragon guard did not falter. They reformed as Chidren passed, and held the enemy solders behind him back, but their advance had halted. It was the first time since the battle began, that the warriors of the empire did not push the enemy back. Instead, the serge of the enemy solders began to press the warriors in the purple and gold, and the strain was more than they could hold.

   With the assault by Chidren on the end of Javen's lines, and the attempt to withstand his deadly skills by the warriors of the empire, Javen's men began to retreat slowly. The enemy solders began to renew the attack with this new development, and more of the mage kings solders joined the fight. The solders of the empire had a very hard time keeping Chidren from the wounded, but before long they had slowed the solders behind Chidren's advance.

   It was Javen who turned the tide once again, by fiercely attacking the enemy behind Chidren, and driving them back. Once they began to retreat again, Javen turned his attention to the enemy leader, who was wreaking havoc among his men.

Chapter Thirty-Five

   Saesic watched in horror as the dragon appeared above the castle, and headed for the solders of the mage kings army. He was confused when the dragon disappeared just as he reached them, until he realized that it was just a spell cast to frighten the enemy. Minutes later, the empire surrounded the mage kings army on three sides, and began the attack. He could see the fireballs and lightning bolts as they were cast from the staffs of the mages of Arnoran's army, and he watched them disappear before they reached their intended targets. When the light, which formed above the staff of the mage Darik, exploded above the heads of Chidren's solders raining destruction down on them, Saesic decided it was a good time to leave.

   As he gathered up the items he had packed to take with him, and loaded them on the horse he had hidden away among the trees, he could not help stealing looks at the battle in the distance. He knew that he should not remain in the camp, but it had been his home for several months, and he was reluctant to accept the fact that all he had done was to exile himself from the empire. The many months of feeding the enemy only the information he wanted them to have, and all the hours he had spent arranging his fathers demise, had all been negated when the dragon rider appeared.

   As the hours passed, Saesic slowly repacked his bags, telling himself he was just making sure he had all that would identify him when the camp was found. He knew it did not matter if anything was found when he was gone, because it would not help them find out where he went when he departed. He knew that he should have gone long before the battle started, but he found it hard to just leave all he had ever known behind.

   He hated the dragon rider for what he had done to him, but he feared him more. As the warriors of the empire drove the solders of the mage king back, Saesic saddled his horse, and tied the bags he had packed behind the saddle.

   He would pay all of them back for what they had done to him he said to himself, as he climbed into the saddle, and turned the horse south. He rode from the hill slowly, hoping that anyone who might see him would think he was just a commoner returning home. What he did not realize is that he would have been far better off if he had ridden from the hill as fast as he could, and traveled as many miles as possible before dark. All of the people around Argnon for several miles had gone to Corlindum to escape the battle, or to other towns in the eastern part of the empire. Anyone who was not a solder of the empire that was close to Argnon, would instantly be noticed, and would most likely be investigated.

   The sounds of the battle began to recede slowly, as he rode from the hill for the first time in several months, and made his way south. The journey would not be an easy one, and he would discover that the empire was not as bad as he believed, but the fear he now felt was nothing compared to what he would eventually encounter. He would also come to realize that the punishment the empire would have given him, was nothing compared to what he would be forced to endure before his part in the events to come were complete

*****

   As the Men of the mage kings army broke off from the main force, and began to withdraw from the battle, Alazen informed Donderan of their attempted escape.

   "It appears that you will get your wish." He said to the dwarf. "A group of several hundred of the mage kings solders has broken off from the main army, and is headed in our direction."

   "Could we be that lucky, lad?" Donderan replied. "And get the chance to kill some of Arnoran's solders."

   "It appears that we are." The elf said. "For they are headed straight for our position, as we speak."

   "Then let us prepare to receive the mage kings solders properly." Donderan replied, with a grin. "Just tell your men to leave some for us, a dwarf has got to have his fun."

   "Do not worry." Alazen replied. "There are enough for all of us."

   "Allow me to greet them before you and your men show yourselves." Donderan said to the elf as he watched the enemy solders advancing.

   "I will allow you to have your fun." Alazen replied. "And we will wait until you have spoken to them before we show ourselves."

   "It will not hurt for you to be part of my scheme." Donderan said. "I plan to give them a chance to surrender, and you should join me when I speak to them."

   "Since you put it that way, I think I will join you." Alazen said. "And we may yet get some of them to surrender."

   "Not too many, I hope." Donderan said with a grin.

   The men that managed to break away from what they considered to be, the doomed army of the mage king, did so, without any kind of order. They ran from the battlefield for fear that Chidren would get them killed if they stayed, or that he would have them killed if they failed to get far enough away before he discovered their departure.

   They apparently had some kind of leadership, but it was not based on military rank. Four men argued among themselves as they made their escape, but one was clearly the man in charge. As far as Donderan could tell, the solders that deserted from the mage kings army did so out of fear more than anything else. They did not form ranks when they were far enough away from the battle to escape both the solders of the empire and Chidren's army. Instead, they traveled in random groups, or in pairs, but they slowly began to become strung out as they attempted their escape.

   As the first of the deserters reached the location Donderan was waiting for them to reach, he walked to the top of the rise and spoke to them.

   "This is as far as you go." He shouted. "You have a simple choice lads, throw down your weapons and surrender, or die."

   "You are one dwarf." The leader said. "What makes you think we will surrender, and not just kill you and be on our way?"

   "I am not alone." Donderan replied. "So if you value your life, you will throw down your weapons."

   Alazen walked to the top of the rise, and looked at the deserters with pity.

   "You will not be given another warning." He said loud enough for all of them to hear him. "A combined force of dwarf and Elvin warriors stand between you and escape. If you do not surrender, you will surly not survive."

   "One dwarf and one Elf do not scare me." The leader replied. "And I don't think the two of you can stop us from going wherever we please."

   "You are a fool." Alazen said to the man. "And you will get these men killed faster than if you had stayed with the mage kings forces."

   "Any of you who want to live, drop your weapons and place your hands out to the side." Donderan shouted. "You will be allowed to retreat from the men that are about to be killed, but if you do not do as you are told, you will die along with them."

   Several of the solders did as Alazen and Donderan told them, and dropped their weapons, backing away from the main group of deserters. A few more of the deserters did the same when they saw that they would not be the only ones to do so, and that made the leader angry. Close to fifty deserters now stood apart from the rest, and the leader began yelling curses at them. After several minutes, the leader turned his attention to the dwarf and the elf, and Alazen knew he was about to make the wrong choice.

   "Those men are cowards." The leader of the deserters said. "But we are not."

   "Then you will die" Alazen replied.

   "We will see about that." The leader said, and pulling his sword from its scabbard, advanced on the two men.

   With a yell, the deserters rushed the position where the dwarf and the elf stood, but stopped abruptly as the five hundred Dwarf and Elvin warriors attacked from below the rise.

   Donderan buried his battle-axe, in the first of the deserters to reach him, and the man died with a look of shock on his face as he fell to the ground. Two hundred battle-axes flashed in the midday sun, as they hacked a path through the deserters, of the mage kings army, and the Elvin warriors behind them, dealt with those of the deserters not in the path of a dwarf.

   As the smaller battle for the escape route continued, more of the deserters who were in the back, dropped their weapons and ran to join those that had already surrendered. Elvin warriors made their way around the battle, to keep an eye on the ones that had dropped their weapons, and allowed any who wished to surrender, to do so.

   Donderan turned to face the leader, who had wounded several of his fellow dwarfs, but Alazen reached him first.

   "What makes you think you can defeat me, when a dwarf could not." The leader said, as he studied the elf warrior who faced him.

   "You may have wounded a dwarf or two, but you have not managed to kill any of them." Alazen replied. "I am not a dwarf, and I have killed far better swordsmen than you, more times than I can remember."

   "Beware elf." The leader said. "I am the equal of the solders of the mage king armies of the Great War."

   "I was there the day Arnoran's armies were defeated." Alazen replied. "His solders were poorly trained at best, and relied on numbers to overwhelm their enemies. If not for the mages who served him, Arnoran's forces would never have defeated anyone."

   "You lie." The leader screamed, and attacked the Elvin warrior.

   As he did, three deserters who stood around him attacked as well. Without moving from where he stood, Alazen showed his skill with a sword by blocking the leaders attack easily, and killing the other three deserters before the leader could attack again. One of the men was decapitated by the elf's sword, with apparently very little effort, while the other two were disemboweled. The leader was obviously shaken by what he had just witnessed, but he was too foolish to surrender, and when he attacked the elf again, he knew no more.

   With the death of the last deserter that did not surrender, they turned their attention to the ones that did. Elvin warriors guarded them, as they watched in fear at the slaughter of those that believed they could escape. Donderan and Alazen approached them as they made their way through the bodies of the dead and dying, and told them to retrieve their weapons.

   "We have done all you asked." One of the men said. "We will not give you a reason to kill us, by picking up our weapons."

   "You will not be harmed as long as you do not try to escape, or attack any of the Dwarf or Elvin warriors who guard you." Alazen assured the man. "But we do not know what the dragon rider will do, so it would be better if you kept your weapons, in case you are released."

   "Released! You think that he would let us go after we attacked the castle?" The man said with total surprise. "I have never heard of a king who let the solders of an opposing army go, without taking the kingdom from which they fought."

   "Menimeth is not like any king in the lands of magic." Donderan said. "As you can tell by the way he decimated the solders of the mage king."

   "I have never met him." Alazen said. "But if the last thing that anyone would expect him to do was, release you, then that is most likely what he will do."

   "Yes, but you see lads. The question is not if he will release you." Donderan said to them. "But what will you do if he does."

   The solders looked very confused, and it was apparent to Alazen, that they did not understand what the dwarf was asking. The man who had done all of the speaking so far, looked at the dwarf with uncertainty, but did not speak.

   "What he is asking you is what will you do if the king releases you." Alazen said. "You may find that returning to the mage king might not be the best thing to do."

   "I do not know, but I will not return to the east and be conscripted into the mage kings army again." The man said, and the men behind

him began to nod their heads in agreement.

   "It is something to consider while you wait for the battle to end, and the king to make a decision on what he wants to do with you." Donderan said. "But for now, we must return to the battleground."

   After picking up their weapons the deserters turned and began to walk back in the direction from which they had come, with the dwarf warriors in front of them, and the Elvin warriors behind them. The battle had come to an end for them, and all they awaited was their fate.

   With the enemy moving to attack the end of Javen's lines, Feran and the warriors of the second army renewed their attack on the solders that still faced them. The enemy began to retreat once again, as the warriors of the empire attacked them with greater ferocity, until their lines began to fall apart. Taking advantage of the confused enemy solders that no longer held their lines together as they fought, Feran and the warriors of the second army engulfed them.

   Soon, the lines on two sides of the mage kings army were no longer in formation, and the colors of the empire were scattered through out that part of the battlefield. The fighting was fierce for several minutes, before the warriors of the empire began to take control of the battlefield, and the solders of the mage king began to retreat. As the battle progressed, many of the more skilled combatants sought out one another to engage in combat. Men began to form pockets around these warriors of the empire, and solders of the mage king, as they clashed in their own personal battles. Slowly the battle became a battle of champions, and as time passed, fewer and fewer of the less skilled men fought each other.

   Hobie was one of the champions who fought for his men, and he defeated several of the enemy's best solders that stood against him. It was while he fought what he believed to be the last of the solders to challenge him, that several of the enemy attacked him from behind. When they did, the warriors of the empire retaliated, and killed all of the enemy solders around them. Badly wounded from the cowardly attack, Hobie was carried from the battlefield by some of the men from the northern realm, and taken to the castle.

   Captain Sangrivol faced a similar situation, and was attacked from behind by several men at the same time, but the warriors of the empire heard what had happened to Hobie, and cut the men down before they could reach him. The distraction was enough to allow Captain Sangrivol's opponent the chance he was looking for, but the attack cost him his life. Badly wounded by the attack, the captain retreated from the battle, helped by some of his men.