Legon Restoration (25 page)

* * * * *

Iselin and her unit were heading right for the group of other dragons. She and Pondos moved out, away from the formation just a little bit to give the Iumenta the impression that she and Pondos were going to try and flank the other formation.
 

It was obvious what the Iumenta planned to do. The War of Generations taught both Elf and Iumenta not to mess around with class eight dragons, Legon would be the main target. The Iumenta knew that if they didn't defeat or distract Legon that they would be in trouble.
 

She could feel her husband’s thoughts; he was looking forward to a fight. Normally Iselin would say that he felt that way because he was a new dragon, but the reality of it was, that was just her husband.
 

The two formations were on each other. She saw Legon dodge the lead Iumenta Ascended, a blue one that twisted in the sky. She and Pondos flew in on either side of the blue dragon. Pondos slashed with his front paw and Iselin lashed out with her tail. Pondos made contact but she didn't. The blue dragon turned on Pondos who was in closer.

The ancient and skilled dragon fended off the blue Iumenta with grace and ease. Pondos was only a class six, but seasoned and had been in the house guard for Evindass for nearly six thousand years.
 

"I have this one Un Prose, focus on the other sixes," Pondos said.

Iselin turned in the sky to try and keep the two class sixes Ascended at bay. One was a sickly orange and the other canary yellow. Iselin needed to not focus on one dragon, her and Pondos' job was to keep the yellow, orange and blue dragon away from Opes, Sydin and Legon so the latter could use his superior size and power in one on one combat. Iselin's hind leg exploded with pain as the orange dragon smacked her with the spiked blades on its tail. She tried to ward off a few attacks and make a few of her own, but for the most part Iselin was just getting tore up. Pondos pushed the blue back and was able to help her a bit.
 

Iselin became aware of her husband severely hurting the red Iumenta and rejoining the group. She squared off with the blue dragon as Sydin gave the group the go ahead to start using magic as a primary attack. Iselin's minor was Energent, meaning she was more naturally at ease with energy type spells, jumping and things of that nature. Energent's are the most versatile of magic users, but at that moment Iselin would have rather been an Elemental. Her ability to more readily control magical power was ineffective against a stronger adversary like the blue class seven she fought now. That didn't stop her from sending every spell she could at the thing. It, in turn, was bombarding her with spells.
 

Iselin was feeling rather happy with her performance with the blue dragon when the sky lit up and there was a boom. Air buffeted past her and with it a blast of heat. Legon had attacked the green Iumenta with a powerful spell, causing his adversary to cartwheel in the air. The blast disoriented the fight, both sides backing away from the other, only Legon was unfazed as he asked which of the Iumenta was the strongest. Pondos said that it was the blue dragon. Without argument Iselin turned in the sky and attacked the orange class six.
 

They locked in the sky and Iselin felt her sides burn as claws raked down them, cutting into her. The wounds healed instantly and she tore into her opponent. They fell towards the ground and separated, breathing orange and pink fire at each other. Again they came together, this time Iselin received a scratch across her face, and it nearly pierced her eye. Iselin swiped at the orange dragon’s neck, it pulled back in time to only receive shallow wounds. They continued to fight back and forth, each taking and then losing the advantage. Her mind was aware of Legon using his most powerful attack and then leaving the ground. The orange dragon instantly disengaged her, backing away in the sky, sending torrents of magical fire at her. Iselin let the dragon go. All of the Iumenta were leaving the area; the green one was still unable to fight and now with the loss of the blue dragon the Iumenta were not only outnumbered but outclassed.
 

Legon rejoined the formation. "Are we going to follow them?" he asked.

"No," Sydin responded, "we aren't, we are going to return to the Carrier. We are too tired for a full patrol."
 

Iselin could feel Legon's emotions, he wasn't happy. "What is it, love?" she asked, narrowing the mental network so they could talk privately.

"I wasn't much good today, I only killed one of them," he said sullen.

Iselin tried not to laugh. "Oh my, you forget that dragons do not often die in battle, normally once they are badly hurt they retreat, that is a victory, love. And today you severely wounded one dragon to the point where it couldn't fight any longer; also hurt another one pretty bad as well. You did kill the blue dragon, along with a mess of Iumenta ground units. So...try not to beat yourself up to much, OK?" she said.

He laughed a bit. "I guess when you put it that way, I wasn't a complete waste today," he said.

She decided not to comment on him saying "complete waste."

Chapter Seventeen

Hurry Up and Wait

"Speed is of the utmost importance to an armed force, without it they cannot make it to a destination in enough time to wait an annoying amount of time for new orders."

-The Exiled Captain (Author Unknown)

Barnin and his units rode through the remains of a burnt and destroyed forest. For several days they'd been following the Pawdin Army, making sure that towns and villages were secure as the main army pressed on. He didn't enjoy playing clean up and trying to suppress insurgency before it started wasn't easy or safe, but it was a lot better than being in conventional combat. When the war first started his unit of new guys would have been disappointed at the prospect of months of not seeing what they would call "real combat", but after what they'd seen and dealt with thus far with the "non real combat" he figured none of them were looking forward to the real thing.
 

Thick smoke crossed the road and Barnin put a cloth over his mouth and nose. He was assaulted by the acrid sent of burning flesh. As they rounded a corner, the source of the smoke came into view. Before them were piles of burning bodies, both human and Iumenta heaped together. Barnin knew that there were no human resistant forces fighting alongside the Elves, so no one he knew was in the piles, but he still found them hard to look at.
 

"Why don't they bury the dead?" said the commander of Barnin's youngest unit.

His name was Timothy and for the most part Barnin liked him. "I know that the spread of disease plays a factor," Barnin said, "but also the Iumenta cremate their dead, so I think in a way it's the Elves trying to be respectful."

They were past the piles and cresting a hill. Barnin couldn't remember the name of the town that they were going too. Whatever its name was, the town looked bad. Smoke rose from several spots including a large stone building that Barnin assumed was the town keep. They made their way to the main gate which was ripped from its hinges; thus far all they spotted were humans walking around the town’s burnt surroundings. Inside the wall they found a lot more activity and to Barnin's relief a group of Elves standing next to a cache of supplies.

Next to the supplies were the Elves tents, they looked like giant leaves that had been folded into a dome, he knew that any Elf could grow one of these tents in a matter of minutes. An auburn haired Elf woman approached Barnin and his men.
 

"Good afternoon Commander, my name is Lele," she said in a calm, regal voice.

Barnin dismounted and addressed the woman, "Hello, my name is Barnin, who do I need to talk to about finding out what I need to do here, and where I should tell my men to sleep?"
 

Lele's eyes went out of focus for a moment. "You may talk to any one of the Elves here; we are from The Great House Viridi. We will be leaving to join our forces within the hour. If your men care to they may use our tents, or they may take rest in the town’s tavern," she said still formal.

House Viridi,
Barnin had heard of it of course, but didn't know anyone from it. He thought it was one of the Houses from the deep south west, its people had almost no human contact.

"Thank you, so where are your forces headed off too?" Barnin asked, hoping that he could maybe get some news of the front.

Lele looked confused for a moment. "Salez of course, to meet up with the rest of the Pawdin and Human Army," she said matter-of-fact.

"Oh, so the push for Salez is on then, I suppose we will be getting orders to head up that way soon."
 

Lele looked severe, "Yes, I dare say you will."

The look on her face bothered him. "Do you think it will be a hard city to take?" he asked. Barnin assumed that Salez wouldn't be easy, but it was so rare the Elves showed concern about a battle.

"Salez has long been a jump capable city..." her eyes went out of focus for a moment, "forgive me, I have matters to attend to. We have provided food here and some basic supplies. We have notified command that they will need to send more food here and a team to re-grow the fields. It was very nice making your acquaintance and I hope all goes well for you," she said and then walked away.
 

As all of the Elves left, Timothy leaned down from his mount to talk to Barnin. "What’s a jump capable city?" he asked, "And why is that a bad thing?"

Barnin shrugged. "I couldn't tell you about either," then he raised his voice, "OK, here's the deal. House Viridi has been so kind as to leave us tents to stay in, also there is food for the people here. This spot is our Head Quarters. Timothy, take your men out on the wall, I want a perimeter up. Ankle I want an assessment of the town. The rest of you set camp here and fan out in the town in groups of three, looking for people who need help. NOW MOVE!" he ordered.

Using the Elves old camp as a base of communications, Barnin used Heath to keep tabs on the groups of men as they worked on their various tasks. Barnin placed his pack and a few things in one of the Elf tents. When evening came he slid in his sleeping roll grateful for the sweet scent of the tent. He closed the flap and sighed, thin though the tent’s skin may be, there was silence inside of it for the most part. He fell asleep with the image of his wife safe back home in Manton.

* * * * *

Heath found Ankle laying on a tarp staring up into the night sky. "Can I join you?" Heath asked.

"Go ahead."

"You look like you're thinkin’ pretty hard there buddy, what about?" Heath asked.

Ankle laughed a bit, something Heath hadn't heard him do in a long time. "I'm thinking about pasta and what it tastes like."

"Pasta?"

"Yeah like at my parent’s restaurant back home. I'm trying to remember what it tastes like; it used to keep me grounded." He breathed out, "Before Mors I could always think of my father’s cooking and it was like being at home again."

"What changed after Mors?" Heath asked.

"Rachel." Ankle looked at Heath, "After meeting her, whenever I think of home I think about how she'll never have that. While I was eating and loving life, people like her were suffering in that awful place, ya know?"

Heath felt cold. "Yeah, I know what you mean, but...but it's not your fault, ya know? That those things happened to her and others."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but that doesn't change anything." Ankle changed the subject, "So what are you going to do when this is all over?"
 

"The war you mean? I don't know, I haven't thought about it all that much to be honest with you. I don't want to have dreams that probably won’t happen. You?"

"I think you need something to look forward to. But I think I am going to go work for my father in his restaurant, I know how to cook almost everything in there," Ankle said.

Heath was shocked, "You know how to cook? How come I've never seen that?"

Ankle shrugged, "I haven't cooked in a while. When I was a kid, my dad used to make me help him in the kitchen and then once I joined the army, I stopped cooking. It bugged me that he made me help him when I was a kid, but now I think he knew something that I didn't."

"And what was that?"

"It makes me happy, trivial as it may sound, but those are some of the best memories I have," Ankle said.

"So cook me something," Heath said.

"What?"
 

"Cook me something…I helped look through the food the Elves left and they left a bunch of spices and other junk that no one around here is going to be using anytime soon, so make me something."

"No, I'm not going to cook for you, I'm not your wife," Ankle said trying to close the subject.

Heath punched his arm. "Sure ya are, now cook for me woman! I'll make a fuss and then Barnin will make you cook for everyone."

Ankle mumbled something about killing Heath in his sleep but got up and walked over to the supply mound. He grabbed an arm full of supplies and walked over to one of the adjoining buildings where there was a kitchen. An hour later Heath sat down at a table and Ankle put a plate of pasta in front of him; it had some cream sauce and chicken covering it. Heath took a bite, chewed and swallowed.

"So?" Ankle asked.

"Five years!" Heath said.

"What?"
 

"I've been serving with you for five years, and this whole time I could have been eating this?! I don't know if I should be mad at you or just thankful that I can finally look forward to a decent dinner."
 

Ankle laughed hard, Heath could see months worth of tension being drained from him. "I think your father was right, you are happiest doing this." It was true, not only did Ankle look better now, but when he was cooking the food Heath watched years of stress leave the man, in truth this was the happiest he'd ever seen his friend.

"I think you're right, maybe I should start doing this more," Ankle said.