Dragons Descended Upon the Wicked (17 page)

“I counted twelve guards along the wall as I walked through the city tonight,” said Thomas. “There could be more but I assume that’s all. There only appears to be around a dozen guards each night. They do not switch shifts until morning light comes. We will not have a problem of anyone discovering their unconscious bodies.”

“Good to know and good work,” said Dani. “It’s good to have a man on the inside.”

Dani lead the stealthy attack on the guards along the wall. The city streets were quiet at that time. Very few civilians were still out and about. Dani made good use of the shadows and alleys to maneuver through the streets. Their goal was to make their way around the inner edge of the city’s walls while taking out the guards with the tranquilizing arrows. They needed to move through the city to get to their destinations. In order for them to make quick time they split up into two groups. One group of ten was lead by Dani. The other group of nine was lead by Thomas. Dani’s group moved along the east wall while Thomas’ group moved along the west wall.

As they neared their targets two archers would fire two shots at the same time to ensure a hit would be made. The last thing they wanted was for a guard to evade their attacks and alert the other guards. One by one the twelve guards on the well fell to the floor beneath them and instantly fell into a deep slumber.

Dani lead her team to the base of Castle Teon. They waited along the wall of The Lucky Tavern, which was on the outskirts of the castle courtyard. After waiting a few minutes Thomas and the rest of the archers joined them.

Dani reached to her side and unhooked a canister that was attached to her belt. She opened it and dipped the tip of one of her arrows into the liquid inside of it.

“Flint,” said Dani.

A female Paplon archer came forward and sparked the flint on the tip of her arrow. It immediately caught fire. Dani placed the flaming arrow on her bow and shot it straight up into the night sky. It rose a few hundred feet into the air.

“A job well done,” said Thomas.

***

“There’s the signal,” said Nick as he pointed his right index finger towards Genold City. The flaming arrow shot by Dani could be seen for miles against the dark backdrop of the night sky.

“It is finally time; let’s go,” said Jeffrey. “Stick to the plan no matter what happens.”

“Let’s end them,” said Ron.

“My blades are thirsty,” said Tyler.

“It will be a glorious night, brothers,” said Jacob.

They got on top of their dragons once again. They flew the dragons straight towards Castle Teon. With the guards on the wall being knocked out, the risk of someone sounding an alarm became significantly slim. The dragons descended from the night sky and landed on the west roof of Castle Teon. Everyone got off except for Ron, who took his dragon and ascended into the night sky once again. The two other dragons followed as Jeffrey and Nick commanded them to take flight.

Jeffrey lead the team down the sloping roof. They were careful to step lightly on the rooftop. As they approached the edge of the roof Nick saw Jeffrey jump off the edge. His heart skipped a beat as he first believed that Jeffrey lost his footing and fell from the roof. As he looked over the edge, Jeffrey was looking up at him on a balcony. Nick and Tyler were the first to join Jeffrey.

With a sword in his hand Jeffrey slowly opened the balcony door. They were in an empty bedroom on the west tower. The bedroom was dark but full of grand and elegant drapery and pieces of art. They were in one of the rooms a member of the king’s family would normally reside. As soon as the rest of the soldiers made their way into the bedroom Jeffrey opened the door that lead to the hall.

They all slowly crept through the long hallway. At the end of the hall there were four doors, two on each side. Jeffrey lined up along the wall in front of the first door on the right. Tyler did the same on the front left. Nick lined up on the back right and Jacob lined up on the back left door. The rest of the soldiers partnered up with one of the king’s men and stood behind them.

Jeffrey held out three fingers in the air. He started a countdown with his fingers. As his index finger met his palm, Jeffrey quickly opened the door and rushed into the room. The other king’s men did the same at the exact same time.

Nick rushed into the bedroom and ran directly towards the bed. His sword was stretched over his head and he was ready to strike down, only to discover that the bed was empty. He placed his hand along the sheets; they were cold. No one was in the bedroom. Nick turned and went back into the hallway. All of the men were gathered in the hall with disappointed looks on their faces.

“Vicon isn’t here,” said Tyler. “The six aren’t here.”

“Could they be sleeping in another room?” asked Nick.

“I doubt it,” said Jeffrey. “There is a slim chance that they would sleep in the guest rooms downstairs. They aren’t as elegant and comfortable as these are. Members of the six remind me of spoiled children; these rooms are where they are meant to sleep. The six are either still awake downstairs talking amongst one another or they are downstairs waiting for us. Ready your weapons.”

“Always ready, sir,” said Tyler.

“We will go through the king’s room to explore the east end of Castle Teon,” said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey continued to walk down the hall, which lead to a spiral staircase. The soldiers carefully walked down the steps in their steel armored boots, trying to make as little noise as possible. They descended the six stories of the tower until they were on the first floor. They slowly walked down the small hall with a door at the end of it that lead to the king’s room. The golden throne was just beyond the door in front of them.

Jeffrey placed his right hand on the door handle. With his sword in his left hand, he looked back at his soldiers. He gave them a quick and determined look before pulling down the handle and pushing the door open. The king’s room was lit with torches. The golden throne sat in the same spot on top of the set of stairs and the giant glass wall behind the throne with the king’s names etched into it was still the same and untouched. Nick looked out through the glass wall and saw the view of the silent city with no signs of movement along the wall.

As the soldiers made their way into the king’s room they noticed something peculiar to their right. There was a massive red sheet that stretched wall to wall and ceiling to floor where the entrance door to the king’s room normally was.

Jeffrey continued to walk a few more steps before stopping completely. He heard the faint yet familiar breath to his right. The soldiers stopped in their stride as well and looked at the red sheet. A massive growl was heard from beyond the red sheet.

“They have a dragon in the king’s room,” said Tyler. “Perfect...”

There was a long sickening silence. Footsteps were heard to their left. They turned around to find Vicon walking towards the golden throne, accompanied by the other five members of the six. Vicon pushed his black hood back to reveal his badly burned blue face full of scars. His eyes were black as night and his head barren of any hair. The rest of the six revealed their faces as well. All of them were supreme Rezas. Five were male and only one was a female. They were just as Thomas had described them in his letter. The two twins, the older man, the young girl, Poloski, and Vicon.

“Indeed, it is a dragon,” said Vicon. “I believe you have already met this particular dragon in Terrel.”

“This ends tonight,” said Jeffrey.

“It is my dragon,” said Poloski. “She’s a nasty one.”

“Release her,” said Vicon.

The red cloth fell to the ground as two men spun wheels near the entrance door of the king’s room. Poloski’s massive green dragon had two steel cuffs around its neck. A thick steel chain stretched from the cuffs and were connected to two massive plates mounted on the wall. There were steel cuffs and more thick chain that were on each of its arms and feet that once again stretched back and were connected to steel plates along the wall. As the men spun the wheels that released the green dragon, it immediately turned around, bit, and flung the man on the right. The man on the left started to run towards the door but the dragon quickly bit his head clean off.

The dragon turned and faced the soldiers and roared at them. The green dragon began to sprint at the soldiers as they readied their weapons. The three supreme Reza launched a black wave attack at the beast’s head, which made it stumble backwards, lift its arms up from the floor, and pounce its arms back on the floor. Tyler ran beneath the beast while it was startled and dug one of his blades near its rib cage and pulled down. The green dragon swiftly ran its hand backwards and flung Tyler back towards the entrance door. His body flew and hit the wall with extreme force.

The green dragon turned its head back at the soldiers in front of it. It then opened its mouth and launched a breath of fire at Ron. Nick stood directly behind Ron, who quickly put both of his hands up, controlling controlled the flames and directing them at the wall to his right. The dragon was angry and did not let up with its breath of fire. Ron struggled to continue to hold and direct the fiery blaze.

“Andrew!” yelled Nick as he ran and jumped as high as he could towards the continuous stream of flames. Andrew pointed his arms at Nick and levitated his body over the path of the flames. It took a few moments for the dragon to see Nick as the bright blast of the flames nearly blinded it. Andrew let go of Nick’s body as he was directly over the green dragon’s skull. Nick had both hands on the grip of his sword as he stretched his arms behind his head and pointed the blade downwards. The green dragon tried to maneuver its head to set Nick on fire but it was too late to react. Nicks sword drove straight down into the green dragons skull. The green dragon fell to the floor, and was now lifeless. Tyler got up from the back wall of the room and rejoined his comrades. He was battered but still had much fight left in him.

Nick stood on its head and pulled out his blood drenched blade. The king’s men and the accompanying soldiers turned and faced Vicon once again. Vicon held out his right hand to settle down Poloski, who wanted to attack Nick where he stood. When Poloski stopped pushing his body forward Vicon started a slow clap. They noticed that two members of the six were no longer by Vicon’s side. The twins were nowhere to be found.

“Well done. Nick Bint is a dragon slayer,” said Vicon as he clapped.

The entrance door behind them sprung open. The twins from the six walked in, followed by an army of soldiers wearing black armor with rose gold accents. A few hundred soldiers entered the room. The last people to arrive in the room were none other than Dani and her team of archers, all handcuffed. A dozen more soldiers in the black and gold armor followed them in.

“You see, it was a valiant effort to attack us and try to kill us in our sleep,” said Vicon. “It would have worked if you actually had a man on the inside.”

A door to their right opened. Two soldiers in black and gold armor pushed a bruised and battered Thomas Bell into the king’s room.

“The man that let your archers in was one of my own,” said Vicon.

“I’m sorry, Nick,” said Thomas. “They tortured me for hours. I had to tell them the meaning of the cryptic message.”

One of the guards behind Thomas came forward and punched him in the stomach. Thomas heaved over in pain.

“Mr. Bell here was found a day after one of you destroyed my arena,” said Vicon. “It was foolish to send battle plans through enemy territory.” Vicon laughed in the most cynical of ways. “So now that I have you all here in the same room we can end this little revolt you have started. I was hoping you would all die in the cold nights of winter but Terrel proved to be more kind than I could’ve imagined. But at least now we can witness you all dying first hand, and you get to witness my army of supreme Reza. Things have a strange way of working themselves out, don’t they? Drop your weapons.”

Jeffrey lowered his weapon to the ground. The rest of the soldiers followed the lead of their commander.

“Jeffrey, step forward,” said Vicon. “Don’t try anything foolish.”

Jeffrey stepped forward until he was at the base of the stairs.

“Hands behind your back and get down on your knees,” said Vicon.

Jeffrey followed Vicon’s orders. They were surrounded and Jeffrey had no choice but to comply.

“Blade,” said Vicon. A member of the six went behind the throne to retrieve his steel long sword.

Vicon stepped down the stairs to meet Jeffrey with his blade.

“It is time to die,” said Vicon.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Hundreds of the six’s soldiers dressed in black and gold circled around the king’s men and their trusted soldiers. They all looked upon Vicon as he began to draw his sword in the air for the inevitable blow to Jeffrey’s neck. It was a heart wrenching moment. All hope had seemed lost once again, although Nick felt differently about the situation.

“Wait just a minute, Vicon. We have you outnumbered,” said Nick.

Vicon lowered his sword to his side and began to let out a hellish laugh.

“There is no point in trying to buy time, Nick,” said Vicon. “You are all about to die.”

“We sent out the message to Thomas, knowing that the six would more than likely get their hands on it,” said Nick. “In fact, I even preferred it that way.”

“You’re not fooling anyone, kid,” said Poloski.

Jeffrey stood still with a smile perched upon his face.

“I discovered just a little while ago that my mother is still alive and well,” said Nick. “She goes by the name of Dricos Fairwind and she is the keeper of dragons. My step mother passed away when I was young. I never met my biological mother until a short time ago. A special power runs through my veins and it was something you craved for Vicon. My mother can control countless dragons, and I can as well.”

“She is alive,” said Vicon. “That’s good to know. I shall find her. It makes no difference seeing as she is not here and you all do not have any dragons.”

“Do you hear that?” asked Nick.

The room became silent for a moment. From outside, the sound of an ocean’s waves breaking on a beach could be heard.