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Post by Zil'caron on Mar 29, 2008 2:57:08 GMT
This is a Novel that I have been writing on since September, and am currently working on the 6th Chapter. Everything listed below, as well the RPG Character Zil'caron are Reserved under the rights of The Dragons of Worloch under a United States Federal Government Copyright as of March 27, 2008. All rights are reserved.
Chapter 1: The City of Dracondor.
“Captain! Prepare your men, and ready your Magicians for battle. These troublesome dragons have defied our will long enough!” Qaltric told his captain. Qaltric was the general of the Menkaranian army. He wore gold chain armor to solidify his rank among the rest of his men. He had a doubled edged sword that bounced against his side as he walked. “Yes sir!” the Captain responded. Qaltric then told is captain, “I’m going into the city. I want nine of your best men, and your second strongest magician to accompany me into Dracondor.”
“Yes sir, I’ll see what I can find, my men are so spread out it could take a while.” The captain replied and left to find them men that Qaltric requested. It was about thirty minutes before the captain returned with nine heavily armored men and a one of his finest magicians. Each of the men wore heavy plate armor and carried a long sword. The Sorcerer wore a blood-red robe, along with blood-red plate armor. “These are my best men. They will serve you well sir.”
“All right men, we’re going in. Captain, if we are not back by dawn surround the city, and invade it from all sides. That should help spread out the dragons.
Qaltric along with ten of his men entered Dracondor through one of the main gates in a solid wall marble on the southern side of the city. The city of Dracondor was by far one of the most beautiful cities in all of Worloch. The city was built on a massive deposit of rare gems, and precious metals that could only be found in the city. The streets were paved with white marble not only to help reduce the heat on the humans, and few elves that remained in the city after it’s initial construction, but because it was one of the few kinds of rock that dragons could not unintentionally damage.
Qaltric was caught off guard by the surprising number of dragons in the city. He expected to find several dragons in the city, but not this many. Almost ninety percent of the city’s population was dragons.
The sizes of the dragons ranged greatly from the very small pseudo dragons, which were no larger than a small cat, to the mountainous Great Wyrms, who stood about ten times the size of the average human. Most of the female dragons in the city watched Qaltric and his men as they walked through the city. Some of the larger more aggressive ones were blowing thick black smoke from the nostrils, and some even had flames coming out. Qaltric attempted to approach a brilliant white, female dragon he could tell it was female because of the shape of her scales. While male dragons have sharp pointed scales, the scales of a female dragon were more rounded. The dragon started blowing more smoke, and even a small trail of fire from her nostrils. She began to growl in warning as Qaltric approached her. Trying not to anger the dragon any further, Qaltric unbelted his sword, and told the dragon, “I don’t know if you can understand me, but I mean you or your younglings no harm.” A burst of flame landed about a foot away from Qaltric as the dragon said, “How dare you insult my intelligence! We dragons can read, speak and write fluently in every language in Worloch! I am as insulted by your ignorance, as I am you foul presence here, If you do not intend to harm us, why the hell do you have weapons at you side, and what the hell are you doing in our city?” With a deep pure tone that was unmistakably female. The voice sounded almost human, Though the anger in her gave her voice a slight rasp. “We are armed for our own protection. We are not foolish enough to enter a dragon city with methods of which to defend ourselves. We do not intend on attacking dragons, that would be suicide, but we will fight to survive it we are attacked. And the reason that we are here is to speak with your lord about a possible alliance. And that is the reason that I approached you was to simply ask for directions to the palace, I am sorry for doubting your intelligence as well, I knew that dragons were intelligent creatures, but I was not for sure if you dragons understood our language, or if you all had your own.” The snow-white dragon eyed them with one of her wide white eyes, and said, “Humans, I thought the ones here were bad. Just keep following the main street to the center of the city, you won’t be able to miss the palace. “ “Thank you for your help.” Qaltric told her.
“ Don’t mention it, but I have some advice for you, do what needs to be done, and get out of our city as soon as possible. As you have noticed we don’t take to kindly to outsiders, especially ones who come bearing weapons.” She warned them.
The group made their way down the center of the marble paved streets. Running along both side of the marble streets were emerald and ruby sidewalks. They finally got to the center of the city, and one of Qaltric men yelled, “That blasted dragon gave us the wrong directions! There is no palace here!”
“Look again! Said Qaltric. The men turned their attention to the black mountain in front of them; the longer that the men looked at it, the more they came to realize that the black mountain in front of them was the palace. The outer walls of the palace were carved out of black marble, and running up the side of the walls, were veins of gold, silver, bronze, diamond, ruby and emerald. In front of them were to sets of stairways. One stairway was built for dragons, but because of their flight, it was rarely used, but on the right side of the massive stairs, was a row of smaller stairs for the human residents to get into the palace. As they got ready to enter the path of stars, two dragons, both wearing gold armor landed in the path. One of the dragons was a very pale blue, while the other dragon was a very deep red. The blue dragon addressed the soldiers asking, “And just where do you people think your going?” “We wish to speak with your lord, if he is available.” Qaltric replied. “Really, and what makes you think that he cares about what you outsiders have to say?” Replied the red dragon with a deep raspy voice. “Are you dragons always this rude to travelers? If so, I’m surprised that this place is still here. I would have though war would have destroyed it by now.” Qaltric replied “Watch yourself human! May I remind you, that in this city, you people are not on the top of the food-chain!” the red dragon said menacingly. Then added, “Why do you wish to speak with him. “ “We are soldiers sent from the Empire of Menkarane. We have been sent here to try and attempt to form a peace. Though the only thing I’ve found here is reason for the opposite.” Qaltric told him. “You are treading some very dangerous ground general.” The blue dragon told them. Then added, “Enter at you own risk. Your safety is not guaranteed. Our meeting chamber is at the end of the main hallway. Melocnr will be with you in a few minutes, his son Zil’caron, will also be present for this meeting as well. As he is heir to his throne and will also need to hear this information you bring. I suggest you show them more respect than what you have shown us!” The Blue dragon told them. “You have shown us no reason to respect either of you.” Qaltric told them. “The facts that we are dragons, and could kill you and your men with ease, should give you reason enough to respect us.” The blue dragon told them. “But no matter, you will respect our lord and his son, or you will not make it out of this city alive! You have been warned!” he added as they flew off, to inform Melocnr of his guests. Qaltric and his men continued towards the Palace doors, climbing an endless path of stairs. The main doors were, like the rest of the palace were carved out of black marble, with a portrait of an exhilarating gold dragon embedded into it. While they were waiting for the doors to open Qaltric just stared at the beauty of the city. He had been to many cities like this, but nothing could compare to the layout of this city. Then one of his men tapped him on the shoulder signaling the doors had opened.
Qaltric’s breath was taken from him when he and his men entered the palace. The marble made an elegant transition from black to white. All along the hallway and ceiling were portraits of dragons varying in sizes, and all of them were rich and vibrant in color. Then the men exited the hallway into an open chamber. Qaltric stared at the ceiling above them. They couldn’t tell how tall it was, but they were able to make out a portrait consisting of an exhilarating blue dragon in a graceful flight was fired into it.
The group of men didn’t have to wait long until an enormous gold dragon, and a significantly smaller black dragon greeted them. The black dragon caught the group’s attention first despite partially due to its lack of size; he was barely twice as tall as Qaltric, but it was the coloration of the dragon that was stunningly beautiful. Although the dragon was primarily black, a thin band of gold outlined every one of his scales, along with the veins in his wings, including the one on the tail edge of the wing. Growing from the back of his neck, to the tip of his tail was a line of gold colored spikes that formed a break at his shoulders where a rider could sit if need be. But the most stunning feature of this dragon was his eyes. In most dragons, the eye color usually matched the primary color of the dragon’s scales, but for this dragon, his eyes took the golden color of his spikes.
The gold dragon was just as impressive. The shear size of the dragon was enough to intimidate even the best or warriors. He was about five to six times larger than the black and gold dragon, and his scales shined in the light, like a thousand bars of pure gold. He didn’t have spikes on the back of his neck, like the black and gold dragon did. Instead, he had three spikes growing out of his skull, two on the side, and one out of the back of his skull. He finally stopped in front of the men, and addressed them, “Greetings General. My name is Melocnr, and this is my son, Zil’caron. My guards have informed me that you wished a meeting with me.” He said with a deep thundering voice, though unlike the red dragon’s voice, his had a pure tone.
“Yes, we have, and please forgive us if we do not address you or your son properly, for we are ignorant in the ways of dragons.” Qaltric told them.
The ground beneath Qaltric and his men shook as Zil’caron laughed at his statement, and replied, “You need not worry about that. You can just use our names.”
Zil’caron’s voice was just as intimidating as his fathers, further adding to the fear in Qaltric and his men. Qaltric then gathered up his courage and said, “Thank you Zil’caron. No we need to address the true nature of this meeting. My name is General Qaltric, and I am the leader of Menkaranian army. Zurcon, ruler of the Empire of Menkarane, has sent me here to attempt to gain the alliance of the city. For our protection, we have an army about three thousand strong surrounding the city, along with approximately a hundred and fifty sorcerers.” He said.
“These are very rash actions for a simple negotiation of alliance.” Melocnr stated.
“Yes, they are, but we could not afford to take chances, and our men have already been ordered to attack the city if we don’t return.” Qaltric replied.
“These are not acts of peace, but acts of war! What have we done to make him decide to attack our city?” Zil’caron asked with a deep growl in his voice. His body was shaking from uncontrollable tremors, and he was already lowering his body for an attack.
Qaltric reasoned that the dragon had figured out the true intentions of this meeting, and decided to tell them the truth. “I don’t like what I’m about to tell you any more than you are going to, but my orders were not to attempt a peace.” Qaltric told them.
“Your orders were to attack us weren’t they?” Melocnr stated.
“Yes, they were, but neither I nor my men liked the idea of fighting dragons, let alone killing them. So we decided to enter the city to see if we could avoid battle. And the only way we could do that was if we could convince you dragons to side with the Empire of Menkarane. I have defied my orders by coming in here, and if our proposal is unacceptable, I will have no choice but to attack your city, for I will not defy another order. I am sorry,” Qaltric said. Zil’caron let out a vicious roar, and started to lunge at Qaltric.
“Zil’caron! Control yourself!” Melocnr told him, then said to Qaltric. “We dragons have never supported either empire, that includes yours, and we will not be forced into an alliance we don’t like, and these rash actions have pushed us too far. We will fight and defend our city at all costs. I will grant you safe passage to your men, and will have two dragons escort you out of the city, but as of right now we declare this an act of war. The Empire of Menkarane has launched an unprovoked attack on a neutral nation, and in doing so have provoked us into battle. The next time you and I meet, I will be killing you,. Now be gone! Before I change my mind about the safe passage!” Melocnr told them as the two dragons flew off.
The men entered the hallway leading to the main doors of the palace. When the doors open, they found two medium-sized violet dragons: one male and one female, standing in front of them that were assigned to escort them out of the city. The dragons said to Qaltric, “Let’s go.” The male dragon said with a pure medium pitched voice.
“What do we do now?” asked one of the guards as he pointed to the two dragons
Qaltric responded, “We follow these dragons, and get the hell out of here as soon as possible, and ready ourselves for a vicious bloody battle!”
The two dragons escorted the group through the main gate. Of the city and told the group before they flew off, “Your welcome!”
Qaltric and his men reached the camp at dusk. When they got there, Qaltric called for his captain. When the captain got there, Qaltric ordered, “Ready the men.”
“I take it the negotiations were successful?” the captain asked with the prospect of hope.
Qaltric shook his head and said with dismay, “No, we attack at dawn. Now ready the men, and enjoy this night. It will most likely be your last. For tomorrow, we walk to a living hell!”
The captain replied, “Yes sir.” And executed his orders.
In the mean time, Melocnr, and Zil’caron were discussing their own plan of action in Dracondor trying to figure out how to best fight to magicians.
“I can’t believe that Zurcon would resort to such treachery on us, we have naught to do with him, and he plans to attack us!” Zil’caron said.
“I know, I thought that he would have more respect for us than that considering that he used to be a rider.” Melocnr replied as Zil’caron’s sister Shunaria, and soulmate Silcara flew into the room.
“Hello Silcara, did you and Shunaria enjoy your hunt?” Zil’caron asked them.
“Yes we did,” Shunaria replied. Shunaria was a vibrant blue dragon, and was about two months younger than Zil’caron who was nearly five years old. Like her father, she did not have any spikes, and her eyes the most brilliant sapphire blue there could be. “I managed to catch a few larica.” She told them.
“And I snagged a Celcarion lion.” Silcara added. Silcara was a stunning pure silver dragon, and roughly the same age as Zil’caron. Her scales shined like thousands of mirrors. She too had spikes running down her back like Zil’caron, and also like Zil’caron, her eves did not match the color of her body. Her eyes took on an icy-blue color creating one of the most beautiful dragons in the city. As dragons do not practice marriage, she took Zil’caron as her soulmate about six months ago, and the bond formed between them is stronger than any human marriage could be. Silvera then said to Zil’caron, “Zil’, I heard you and your father talking about some kind of battle getting ready to occur when we flew in, is this true?”
“Yes, I’m afraid it is. The Empire of Menkarane has organized an army to attack us.” Zil’caron told her.
“But why, what did we ever do to them?” she asked
“They tried to force us into an alliance that we don’t want, and they said that unless we gave in, which would have never happened, they would consider us enemies of the empire, and would have no choice but to attack. They already have an entire army waiting outside of the city. “ Melocnr told her.
Just then one of the guards flew in interrupting the meeting, and said, “Sir Melocnr! We have just found a dead dragon outside of the city! It appears to have been slain through arcane methods!”
Zil’caron let out a vicious roar that could be heard for miles and said, “d**n it! I knew that we shouldn’t have let them leave the city. I’ve always hated magician, but now I hate them even more, they always cause us the most problems.” Zil’caron said.
“I know, but if we can spread them out, then we could pick them off one at a time. I know that they plan to surround the city that much I could tell, I kind of sneaked a peek at his mind. And that means that the magicians will already be wide spread, this should make it easier to fight them, but it makes it all the more dangerous as well, for with the sorcerers spread out, it makes it easier for them to catch us off guard while we are fighting another magician.”
“Yes, but know the question is who should attack first?” Zil’caron asked.
“That is simple, since we were the neutral nation, they should attack first to show that we didn’t instigate anything.” Melocnr Responded.
The night continued on while the dragons discussed their plan of attack one thing they knew for certain, if at any point they felt like the city was lost, they would destroy it, and retreat to one of the other dragon cities. They were not going to let others bask in their glory.
“They could attack at anytime, we should alert the inhabitants of the city so they can prepare them selves, then get some rest while we can.” Zil’caron said
“Agreed, I’ll take care of the announcement, you three get some rest.” Melocnr said as he told every person in the city with his mind about the possibility of the attack so that the opposing army could not here.
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Post by Zil'caron on Mar 29, 2008 2:58:01 GMT
Chapter 2: Battle Raids Dracondor
Melocnr finished the announcement and said, “Sit, All of you! There is something that I need to tell you three before we go any further.” Melocnr told them
“What is it, father?” Silcara asked him.
“This is not the first time that something like this has happened to us.” Melocnr said. “About three hundred years ago, Worloch was in a similar situation like this, and we to, were involved. We dragons are not native to this land as you may think, but originated from another island quite like this one, about seventeen thousand years ago.
“The island was about the same size as Worloch, and like Worloch, was rich in magic. But unlike Worloch, this island only held the dragon race, for the terrain was unsuitable for any other race to live.
“The dragons were divided in to three classes. The first two were the pseudo dragons and then normal dragons. But there was an elite group of dragons that only a few belonged to. They were the Magic using dragons. Now we all know that all dragons have magic, but the Magic dragons as they could be called, had the ability to control their own magic. Over time, they attached our native language to the magic that allows us to control the spells, but even then, the spells can backfire.
“These dragons quickly rose to power over the rest of the dragons, and many of them opposed them and about forty percent of them decided to flee the island, and head to the nearest island that large enough for them, which was Worloch. Those who fled the island were the lucky ones. For about three months after they left, on of the magic dragons cast a spell so powerful, that it completely destroyed the island, killing everything that was both on the ground and in the air for about fifty miles out of the island.
“Relecar, ruler of Gientr, that was the name Celtrien back then, gave the dragons that came to Worloch about four thousand years ago permission to Form the own cities over Gientr and we formed the cities, of Marlegore, Dargron, and Felocnr.
“Everything was smooth until about five hundred years ago. The dragons that had come from the island continued to show thanks to Celtrien, as it was renamed, by donating three eggs a year to individuals that they choose to be riders.
“However the new ruler of Celtrien did not like that the dragons weren’t under his rule, and tried to force them to join his nation, much like Menkarane just tried to do this afternoon. He then executed a full-scale assault on all three of our cities at once, and destroyed all three of them.
“The surviving dragons then fled to an Island that to this day remains named Selzar, and is located about fifty miles to our north. Should we be defeated, that is where we will go to recover. The dragons then regrouped and my father Xarcon, a young Black and silver dragon at the time, lead the dragons in an attack on the land. They were defeated however, but in the process also killed the ruler.
“It was a successful failure. It was successful because they killed the emperor, but the failed because out of the three thousand dragons only about ten remained. And the blood of a magic dragon still flows through someone today. And we would be at a great advantage should he figure out who it is. I don’t know how much this helps the situation, but now you know the truth” Melocnr said as he concluded.
“Whether or not it helps us in the battle has yet to be seen, but this add to the pressure of making sure we win this fight” Zil’caron replied Zil’caron and Melocnr continued discussing their plan of attack through out the night. “I don’t think spreading ourselves out would be a good idea,” said Zil’caron. “It would be better if we focus on one group, and attack as one. What we should do is instead, is divide the city up into four squadrons, each squadron lead by one of us. You could take the north side of the city. Silcara spends most of her time in the western part of the city, so she can take the western division. Shunaria would take the east end, and I’ll lead the southern.”
“Yes, but who will fight, and who can’t fight that is the big question here. Some of the dragons here have injuries that prevent them from fighting, and also we the matter of the eggs, and the hatchlings in the city, they must be evacuated, we can’t afford for any of them to be injured or killed.” Melocnr said.
“We can take care of that.” Silcara said as she and Shunaria made their way into the room.
“Are you sure, there are a lot of hatchlings in this city, and even more eggs, will you be able to handle them all?”
“If we can gain the assistance of some of the other mothers here in the city, it shouldn’t be a problem and you know that they won’t leave there hatchling, so that won’t be a problem, the problem now though, is where do we take them?” Shunaria asked him.
“Hmm… Take them to the elven city of Scrilon, it is a fairly large city, for it was built with riders in mind, and should be large enough to accommodate for you. Explain the situation to them, and they should welcome you into the city.” Melocnr told them. “Zil’, call every one in the city to meet in the main square for a meeting, the humans and all don’t have to attend if they don’t want, but every dragon needs to be there.”
“Yes father,” Zil’caron told him. Then Zil’caron reached out with his mind to all of the dragons in the city, and said Attention all dragons, there is going to be a mandatory meeting in the main square in five minutes, this meeting involves everybody’s safety, and our plans to defend our city.
Just then a massive explosion shook the palace. Qaltric’s magicians had begun attacking the city, One of the guards thought
Then an orb of red magic had struck the palace. “Every one out of the palace, it’s not going to hold!” Zil’caron told them and started to fly out of the palace. Three more orbs of energy had struck the palace, and it collapsed as Melocnr was trying to get out, and was entombed in the mountain of marble.
“It’s too late to get anyone out of here. We have to fight! All of us! Silcara, Shunaria, alert the city, I’m going to try to find father, and get him out of what’s left of the palace.”
“Hurry, the fronts will need all the help we can get, they’ve already killed 10 dragons.” Silcara said as she flew into battle.’
Silcara, Zil’caron said with his mind as she started to fly off.
She turned to him and replied, What?
You be careful, I can’t afford to lose you. He told her.
I will, you just worry about getting your father out of that palace, if he’s still alive. She replied grimly.
Zil’caron flew back to the remains of the palace, and started lifting the heavy black marble out of the debris pile, and hurling them behind him. Piece by piece he threw, until he found one of his father’s golden wings. He then started digging through the rest of the marble, using every part of his body to help clear away the rock, revealing his fathers body.
After he removed the last slab of thick marble he saw the true extent of his father’s injuries. Melocnr’s left wing had been completely severed from his body. His right wing was broken in five different places, and had no membrane on it. Blood was pouring out of a large gash that nearly decapitated him. Zil’caron nudged him with the tip of his snout, but there was no response. He then let out a mournful howl as he came to realize that his father had been slain.
After regaining his composure, he though to himself, Protect the city. That would be his first priority! But I will not let those bastards get away with this. I will kill them! There is no time for me to get my armor, so I’ll have to fight without it.
“Zil’caron, we need you! We’re being slaughtered up here; the magicians are attacking us head-on they killed fifty of us already!” Silcara told him.
Melocnr has fallen. Zil’caron told her as he joined her side. Qaltric’s army had over taken one of the hatcheries in the city, and Zil’caron said, “Everyone focus on the hatcheries, we can’t lose any more of them. Then out of the corner of his eye, Zil’caron saw a mass of solders getting ready to attack an injured red dragon, and flew over to lend some support.
The instant he landed with a loud roar, opened his maw sending a roaring jet of blue and orange flame at the soldiers, melting the armor and fusing it with their skin. That’s for my father! Zil’caron thought to himself. Two of the soldiers got through to him, and Zil’caron began swiping at them with his talons, making quick work of them.
And to make matters worse, three new magicians had entered the city, these much more power than the others. They were mages, and they made quick work of the smaller dragons in the area. They made it to the area where Zil’caron was fighting. Zil’caron by this point had acquired multiple injuries, since he was unable to don his armor.
There were many tears in the membranes of both wings. He also had a long narrow gash that ran down his side. Zil’caron saw the magicians coming, and in attempt to catch them off guard, threw a ball of fire at them. Zil’caron froze in disbelief, as the magician not only stopped it with his magic, but threw it back at him with such speed that there was no time to react. The massive ball of fire struck Zil’caron on his right side, the same side that possessed the long gash, and ripped off more of his side.
The magicians upon him when Zil’caron called for Silcara, “Help me”! And he started swiping at them trying to disrupt them long enough to keep them from casting any spells.
“I’m coming, hold on!” She replied. Silcara and Shunaria weren’t doing much better. Both of Silcara’s wings had been pricked making them a bloody mess, and Shunaria had a large tear in her right wing, making it difficult for her to fly. Their group managed to reduce the magician threat a little bit by killing off about fifty of their magician. But for every soldier they killed, another took his place. Silcara didn’t question him, and Shunaria followed the best she could with her wing the way it was.
She came upon Zil’caron surrounded by three magician, and saw that he was already bleeding badly from his side. She saw one of the magicians preparing a dark energy spell to use on Zil’caron, while the other two kept him distracted. Zil’caron, behind you! She told him, but she wasn’t quick enough. As the magician got ready to release the spell, Liricora she said in dragonish as she released a bolt of high voltage lightening.
”Silcara! You can use magic?” Zil’caron said with amazement.
“Yes, I’ve been experimenting with it for a while now.” She told him.
“How much of it are you familiar with?” he asked her.
“Enough to get us through this battle alive, but I can’t heal yet.” She replied.
Zil’caron replied. “That will come in time. Go now, others need you.”
***
Qaltric and his men weren’t fairing much better in this battle. “Captain, status report!”
“We’ve taken about half of the city. We have destroyed three of their hatcheries, and killed about 200 dragons sir.” The captain told him.
“What about our men, how are our numbers fairing?” Qaltric asked.
“Sir, I don’t have an exact amount, but I estimate that we’ve lost about a third of our men, and our magicians haven’t been heard from for nearly forty-five minutes.” The captain replied.
“d**n it! These dragons are taking there toll on us. Hopefully we can force them to retreat soon.” Qaltric said as he looked up to see a silver dragon cast a bolt of lightening through the sky hitting his three strongest mages in his army. And quickly ordered, “Have the magician protect the men! These dragons can use magic!”
“Yes sir. Though if dragon magic is anything relative to anything else they do, then I doubt our magicians can handle it.” The captain replied.
“Well from what I’ve seen, it’s only the one dragon that can use magic, so we need to focus our attacks where ever she’s not.” Qaltric told him.
“Yes sir, I understand that, but don’t forget that these dragons can fly, and if we change the location of our attack, it is more likely that they would beat us to our attack point sir. I don’t see a way that we can win this battle.”
“If we do not win this battle, the Menkarane will be lost, because now these dragons will ally with Celtrien and invade our cities. We must win this battle or die trying!” Qaltric said rolling suddenly to dodge a cone of flame coming towards him.
“I thought you bastards came here for peace!” Qaltric heard from behind him. He turned around to find the same brilliant white dragon that had helped them find the palace in the first place.
“As you can see, the negotiations failed, and swung his sword at her trying to catch one of her talons with the barbed end of his double-edged sword.
“I knew that you were going to cause problems! I could have prevented this!” The dragon told him.
“No you couldn’t, my men were order to attack anyways if I wouldn’t have returned.” He sneered.
The white dragon threw another cone of fire at him and said, “Even so, then we would have had ten less people to kill!”
Qaltric was able to dodge the cone of fire, but his captain suffered a direct hit, and every part of his body was incinerated.
“You’ll pay for that!” Qaltric said as he attempted a charge on the dragon. She swiped at him with a talon sending him backward about fifty feet, and tried to land on him, but Qaltric managed to get out from under her.
“Hold still human! And I promise to make your death as painless as possible!” the dragon snarled.
“But that would require me dying something that I don’t plan on doing yet!” he yelled as swung sword at one of her talons as she attacked him.
“You will still die this day regardless!” She replied, and slashed him with her tail, breaking Qaltric’s left arm on impact. After Qaltric hit the ground the white dragon lifted off of the ground and Started to throw the wall of fire that she could summon at will.
She just started releasing the fire that would seal Qaltric’s doom when a spear coated with black colored magic went completely through the dragon. A loud roar of pain could be heard, but with all the other noise in the city, went unnoticed by the others. The dragon then fell from the sky and landed on top of a building destroying it on impact.
Qaltric walked over to the building where she had fallen, clutching him arm. She was still breathing, and alert, but barely. As she died he sneered, “Well, it looks like you will be the one dying tonight.” Then she slipped into the void.
“It looked like you could use a little help there Qal.” A battle sorcerer told Qaltric.
Qaltric knew this voice. He turned to look at the sorcerer and said. “Trinal?”
“Took you long enough!” Trinal replied. “That dragon was pretty pissed at you, what the hell did you do to her?” he then asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? Were in a war here! She was trying to kill me because I was her enemy!” Qaltric scorned.
Trinal replied, “I know that Qaltric, but what I was getting at was she was focusing all of her attack on you alone. There were plenty of other soldiers around for her to kill, and she was focusing on you. Which means you must have really done something to piss her off. Now what was it?”
“I don’t have to answer to a subordinate like you” Qaltric replied.
“Is that the way to treat your brother after he saved your life?” Trinal countered.
“No, it’s not, but as you can tell, we don’t have time for talk right now!” Qaltric yelled as a silver dragon flew over head.
“Right I’m sorry, but I need to warn you about that silver dragon. It appears that she can use magic. How much she knows how to control is not known, but the fact that she can use it makes her stronger that the rest here. If she tries to attack you, get out of the way, no solder will be able to take her on with out at least five magicians guarding her, and even then there is a chance we could fail.” Trinal warned.
“I know. I saw her use magic as well. She’s already killed you three most powerful mages.” Qaltric replied.
“Yes, and now there are only about twenty of us left, these dragons are a lot stronger that we thought they were, but don’t worry, we can stay here as long as we need, I’ve already contacted Zurcon for re-enforcements.”
“How long do we have?”
“He’s dispatching them from Ulderon, which is about twenty-five miles away; they should be here no later than two days from now.” Trinal answered
“Can we make it that long?” Qaltric asked.
“Do we have a choice?” Trinal countered.
“’No, I guess we don’t. Hold out as long as you can. If numbers drop below 500 men retreat, but we fight until we can fight no more.” Qaltric said as he watched the silver dragon land with a group of dragons fighting the east front.
***
Silcara was flying around Dracondor aiding any group she could, resorting to the language of dragons to use magic whenever she needed to. She landed next to a group of dragons that were taking heavy fire from magicians. The solders’ swords had a red iridescent glow in them. A soldier easily ripped his sword the metal-like scales of a brown dragon and decapitated the dragon.
“Silcara, these soldiers have magic in their swords, we can’t fight them because of that, and they have already killed Tiercron!” Shunaria told her.
“Scarln!” Silcara swore in dragonish. “Liricora” she said as she cast a bolt of lighting from her maw, striking everything metal in a ten foot radius. “Let’s move! There are others who need our help.”
The group split up, and moved to various battles in the city. Silcara and Shunaria remained together, and started looking for places in the battle where the city was suffering. Unfortunately, most of the city had all ready fallen under the control of Qaltric and his men; although the dragons were pushing them back some as the soldiers tired. But as the dragons tired, they lost even more ground.
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Post by Zil'caron on Mar 29, 2008 2:58:38 GMT
Chapter 3: The Fall of Dracondor
This fight had not slowed on either side. Most of the city was now either on fire, or was completely destroyed. The marble walls that had once surrounded the city were gone; mostly take out for dragons crashing into to them after being shot out of the sky by magic. Both armies had taken a severe toll on each side. Out of the approximate nine hundred dragons, only about seventy-five remained, and out of Qaltric’s three thousand men, only a little over five hundred remained, and they where falling rapidly.
Zil’caron and Silcara were now fighting in the same group. Silcara covered Zil’caron long enough to get some armor to help prevent any more injuries, and also to keep more blood from leaving his body.
“Silcara, Where is Shunaria, I haven’t seen her in over an hour!” Zil’caron asked. As he dodges a thrust from a spear
“She is evacuating our eggs from the north hatchery. We have lost a lot of ground in the city, and I wanted to make sure that our eggs were safe.” Silcara explained, as she flew up to avoid being over run.
“Where is she taking them?” he asked
“To Scrilon, that was our original plan. I also asked her to stay with the eggs incase something happened to us in this battle. That way they would still have somebody to watch out for them.” She told him. She landed on the group of soldiers that tried to attack her, stepping on a sword in the process. She let out a painful roar as the sword went up her back left leg. She got ready to pull it out when she saw a mass of figures is the sky approaching from the east.
“At last, our re-enforcements are here!” She said as she ripped the sword out of her claw with the talons on her right front claw. She found the sword relatively easy to hold, and thought to her self, I could use this.
“Re-enforcements? What re-enforcements?” Zil’caron asked.
“The Dragons from Felocnr have agreed to assist us in this battle. I called them yesterday.” Silcara told him.
“It appears that they too have called for re-enforcements.” Zil’ told her as he look at a dark mass of soldiers about fifty feet wide, and about three to five miles deep. “d**n it! How the hell are we suppose to be that many soldiers? We only have another fifty dragons coming, seventy-five tops!” Zil’ added.
Zil’ decided to try a new strategy. Zil’caron flew away from Silcara’s group straight to the mass of soldiers heading towards them. When he got about fifteen feet away from them, he moved to about ten feet off the ground, and Fire a cone of fire on the men as he flew over them.
However, Zil’caron over looked the possibility of magicians, and flew straight into a trap. An Archery magician saw this attack coming, readied an arrow, enchanting it with a spell. His aim was true, and the arrow hit Zil’caron in the side, and it exploded on impact.
The force of the impact, and the explosion following it was enough to destroy the armor that Zil’caron was wearing, and he crash landed in the trees right of the approaching men. “Zil’caron!” Silcara yelled as she saw him fall out of the sky.
“I’m fine… my armor… It’s been completely destroyed… shards of it have lodged themselves all over my body… but we cannot give up! We must protect the city, or at least what is left of it!” he responded.
“Can you fight?” she asked him.
“I don’t have a choice! I must fight!”
“Make sure you keep yourself alive.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Zil’caron realized the trouble that he was in; his body had been ripped to shreds by his own armor after the impact with the magic arrow. His wings were so badly injured, that flying was nearly impossible, and extremely painful. I need to get back into the city; I’m not doing them any good out here. He thought to himself. He spread his wings to take of and he felt one of them snap with intense pain. That bastard magician broke my wing, He’ll regret that. He tried to fly as far into the city as he could, but could only manage a few feet at a time. This is ridiculous. He thought to himself trying to fight back the pain. Hopping around like a hatchling because of this d**n wing. I know what I’ll do. I’ll find that bastard Qaltric and kill him. Then his army would destroy itself from within.
“Zil’caron, I am Zelcron. I lead the army from Felocnr. How can I assist your army?” The new dragon asked. Zelcron was a pure blue, male dragon, and was wearing armor that matched the color of his scales.
“I take that you already knew that my father was gone?”[i/] Zil’caron implied.
“Yes, I figures it out when I could not longer feel his presence, but something else I am alerted to, is a dragon that can control magic is fighting in this battle. Is this true?” Zelcron replied.
“Yes, My lifemate Silcara discovered that she could use magic a few months ago, but I just found out myself yesterday.”
“Where is she, do you know?” he asked
“Just that she in the city somewhere, in the north end. What I want you to do is split your squadron up, and attack from both sides. Attack Qaltric’s army from both sides, and catch him off guard. They also just received re-enforcements in both men and magicians. One magician broke my wing. I’m sending you and image of him, if you find him before I do, bring him to me, I want to kill him!”
“Are you going to need any help getting back into the city with your broke wing? I can send some of my dragons to assist you.”
“No, that will just slow down our efforts in regaining the city. The city is more important right now. It’s what my father would do.”
“Please realize that I don’t mean to sound rude when I say that you are not your father.”
“What are you talking about? My father raised me to be me. But I will honor his wishes as well as my own.”
“Just don’t do something reckless, and get yourself killed!”
“Don’t worry about me, you have your orders.” Zil’caron told him.
“Yes, my lord. You heard him, Licron; you lead your battalion to the south and attack from behind. Everyone else follow me. Zil’caron, I forgot to mention, that a rider has come with us to assist us.”
“A rider!”
“Yes, Soleraru and her rider, Nearthe have joined us.”
“In that case I was extra protection around Soleraru; We can afford to lose a rider.”
“Done.” Zelcron told him as the group split to their designated sectors.
By now Zil’caron had made his was back into the city, and back into the fight. The dragons that had been battling were all moderately wounded, but still continued fighting.
He came upon a small battalion of men in the eastern side of the city where he entered. The men turned to attack him, but before they even took a step, Zil’caron shot a ball of fire at the men. Just like before, there was a magician in the group, but luckily for Zil’; this magician was weaker than the other ones that he had dealt with, for he was only able to negate the fire instead of sending it back at him.
Since fire wouldn’t work, Zil’caron started swiping at them with his claws when a long sword came out of nowhere, and took out the magician, allowing Zil’caron to take out the rest of the men with relative ease. Then Silcara landed next to him. “It’s about time I found you, we all thought you were dead,” she told him
“I told you that I was just fine, however, I do have a broken wing.” He replied, and then added, “Did you know that there is a rider here with us?”
Silcara went over to pick up the sword that she had started using to throw at people. “Yes, I did. You know I never knew these things could be so handy, they are perfect for throwing at your enemy, especially when you light the blade ablaze.”
“I could imagine. How are our numbers fairing?” Zil’caron asked her.
She replied grimly. “Not very well, they are over running us; I’m not sure how much longer we can hold.”
“That’s not the answer that I was looking for.” Zil’caron replied, as the rider landed next to him.
“My lord Zil’caron, My commander has informed me that one of your wings is broken, would you like me to heal and your other injuries for you?” The rider asked.
“You can heal my wing, but nothing else, save your strength for the fight.” He replied, and extended his left wing.”
“Dracanor lur cren ka zur!” said the rider as she released a spell that would heal his wing.
Zil’caron looked up to thank the rider, but was immediately distracted when he saw Qaltric a few hundred yards behind the rider fighting another dragon. “There is the worthless soul that started this d**n war!” ***
“Trinal, where are our re-enforcement? We are getting slaughtered here.” Qaltric told him
“They are already here; they have entered the city from the south. They’ve been fighting there way though.”
“Good” he said as he watched the rising smoke from a building. “d**n it, they’ve got re-enforcements to!”
“Yes, but only about fifty more have joined the battle they shouldn’t be a problem.” Trinal told him, “we have about another thousand troops, and another ten magicians.’
“Only ten?” Qaltric asked
“Yes, there other magicians are on another mission, and are not available.” Trinal replied.
“Fine, where did all the dragons go, it just got real quite, and there was a mass of dragons heading our way in the sky not five minutes ago, and not they are gone.” He consulted.
“I’m just as unsure as you are. Stay on guard, it’s impossible to tell what these beasts are planning.” Trinal replied.
“I heard that!” a violet dragon said as it landed in front of them.
“So what if you did? The only things you dragons are good for are pets, and mounts.” Trinal sneered.
The dragon refused to take the slights, and moved to attack. Qaltric started towards the dragon when Trinal cut him off, “I’ll take this one.”
The dragon started coming after him with its claws, and teeth, but he was able to dodge the attack and sneered “Is this the best that you can do dragon? I am quite ashamed, but then again I guess I couldn’t expect too much from a…” Before he could finish his sentence the dragon spun around and hit him with a four-bladed weapon mounted on its tail, sending Trinal backwards while ripping through his body.
“Is that the best you could the do?” the dragon mocked, “I expected more out of a magician, but then again, you were human” It added.
The dragon had been paying so much attention to Trinal that it completely forgot about Qaltric, and he used it to his advantage. Once the dragon had turned its back on him, Qaltric jumped up grabbed one of its wings, and threw himself in its back where it couldn’t reach him, and drove his sword straight down through the scaly flesh of the dragon. As he pulled it out he said “And I figured a dragon would be smart enough to not turn its back to an enemy.”
After he killed the dragon, he rushed over to his brother, who was still conscious. “Trinal!” he said as he looked at the wounds. “Can they be healed?”
Trinal start coughing, and in between coughs he said, “No, I have not the strength… to heal these injuries.”
“Well at least you won’t die in vain; I have killed the foul creature that did this to you!”
“Take care of yourself… brother.” Trinal said with his last breath.
Tears were starting to form in his eyes, but quickly wiped them from his face. We will win this battle. If for nobody else, I will win this battle for you brother. He thought to himself. Then he heard from behind him, “There is the worthless soul that started this d**n war!” He turned around to find the one dragon he had hoped not to run into. Zil’caron he thought to himself. He quickly discovered that he wasn’t alone, but was accompanied by a dragon rider with her dragon, and the dragon that could wield magic.
“I’ll kill you for destroying my family” Zil’caron told him.
“As I said before, I didn’t want ant of this to happen, I’ve lost family in this fight as well.” Qaltric replied, and started to back out of the area when the silver dragon landed behind him.
“You aren’t going to get away from us that easily!” she told him, while the rider, and her dragon split, and moved on both sides, completely boxing him in.
“What is it you want from me?”
“That should be obvious enough. We want you to die, or at the very least, you and your men out of our d**n city.” Zil’caron scorned.
“I’m afraid neither of those options is appealing to me.” Qaltric stated.
“Then I guess we’ll just do you a favor,” the rider sneered.
“Yeah, and just what might that be?” Qaltric implied.
“We’re going to reunite you with your lost family.” Zil’caron Sneered.
Silcara approached Qaltric from behind, preparing an attack, and when he turned to face her, the other three started closing in. the rider struck first going after him with her sword, and her dragon attacked next. Just as her dragon got ready to attack, four explosive arrows, two of which struck both the rider and her dragon killing them both on impact. “Silcara, let’s get out of here, there is no hope of winning this battle now.”
“We have to hold on a little bit long we must!” Silcara replied.
“Silcara, there is nothing left to fight for. The city has been destroyed, there are only about fifteen of us left, we must leave to survive!” Zil’caron told her.
“Where are we going to go?” Silcara asked.
“Felocnr, it is closer then Marlegore, and I doubt that many of us could fly very far, we may have to seek refuge in Scrilon for a day or two to regain enough strength to fly there. That will also allow us to meet up with Shunaria, and retrieve our eggs” He said as two more arrows struck the ground next to them.
“Are you sure you want to give up the city?” Silcara asked him.
“There is nothing left to defend.” He replied, Then he announced to all surviving dragons, “Attention all dragons, we are pulling out, the city has been destroyed, and there is nothing left for us to accomplish. It shames me it admit it, but my first order of office is for us to retreat. We are going to go to Scrilon to recover and from there head to Felocnr. Then we will figure out what to do from there” he told them as he pulled out of the battle, and started heading north to the rest of the city.
Qaltric turned around and saw the magician that had saved him. “I will make sure that you get recognized for what you did, your actions just won us this battle!”
***
Zil’caron, Silcara, and the ten remaining other dragons made their way out of the city. One of the other dragons pulled up by Zil’caron. “My lord, you are heavily injured, if there is anything that any of us can do to assist you, or Silcara, don’t hesitate to ask, just for the record, I am Mezilacnr.” said the bronze colored dragon.
“Thank you, we’ll have to land ere for tonight, I can’t go any farther.” Zil’caron said as he started his descent.
“Are you alright Zil’?” Silcara asked him
“I’ve lost a lot of blood, unless we can get to Scrilon soon so the elven magicians can heal these injuries, otherwise, I won’t survive the week, and maybe while we are there, the elves could work on refining you magic as well.” He told her.
The dragons landed about a 150 leagues away from their raveled city. Three of them went to hunt for food; while the others watched Zil’caron closely in fear his injuries would take their toll. Zil’caron found an open field that he used for space as he started peeling some the metal out of his body after his armor exploded with the arrow. In order to preserve the blood that remained in his body, as he pulled out the metal shards, he welded them to his body over the wound that he pulled it from.
After he finished pulling the shards from the left side of his body, he turned to the mess that was his right wing, and side. His side was ripped open, and still bleeding heavily from the original gash that he had suffered at the start of the battle. More metal was scattered throughout is side, including part of the breast-plate that had lodges itself into his hind leg. His wing was almost completely destroyed. Nearly all of the membrane was gone with just a few ripped pieces dangling as he moved it.
“Those look pretty serious,” Silcara told him as she landed next to him.
“They aren’t that bad, the only ones I really worried about are the gash on my side, which I can’t get to stop bleeding, and my wing, with it the way it is, flying will be nearly impossible.” He told her.
“Neralgr has brought us a couple large deer, if you have enough strength for it.” Silcara informed him.
“I must, the only way to gain strength is to eat, and not doing so isn’t going to help me.”
“Okay then, I’ll be right back, I’ll have to go and get them they were to big for him to carry” she said as she went to get the meat.
Zil’caron continued removing the metal from his side, and finally got all of them out and though to him self, At least they can start healing on there own now. He looked at the gash, and an idea came to his head. I wonder if I could make the skin scab by heating. At this point he wasn’t willing to pass up any opportunity to get the gash to stop bleeding. As gently as he could, starting from the far end of the cut, he applied fire to the injury. The pain was very intense; he constantly had to stop in order to conserve strength.
Much to his pleasure Silcara didn’t remain gone long, and landed next to him holding three large deer. She dropped the two in her talons to make it easier for her to land and said, “Those two are for you.”
“Why do I get two? You’ve done just as much fighting as I have,” Zil’caron told her.
“Because I’m not the one with blood running down my side,” she countered, and returned to her meal.
Zil’caron managed to scarf down the two deer, and started to explore the surroundings for safety. The wooded area next to the field that he was in was extremely dark. making it easy for an enemy to hide in, and a misty fog started rolling in from the east making vision even more difficult. “Make as much space as you can,” Zil’caron told the other dragons.”We will sleep here tonight, and I will take first watch.” He added.
“With your injuries, you won’t be able to do anything if something should attack us.” Neralgr told him.
“Do you doubt my ability to fight?”
“No,” Replied Neralgr, “Just your ability to survive right now. You have shown us that you can fight, but you are still young, and can make reckless decisions, which is how you got most of your injuries in the first place. I don’t mean to sound rude my lord, but you need more experience in tactics.”
“I won’t deny that I lack battle experience, and I won’t deny that I don’t nor won’t make any mistakes, but as long as you dragons still have faith in me, and support me, we will be victorious. Now we will be taking off for Scrilon at dawn, and should be there by tomorrow afternoon some time barring any unfortunate events occur. So get some sleep, we have a long flight tomorrow.”
“I’ll take the second watch,” Neralgr replied, and told Zil’caron with his mind, “And I do expect you to sleep during this time, and not venture off like you normally do, you need the sleep to let your body recover.”
“Don’t worry; I’m in no condition to go anywhere right now.” Zil’caron replied.
As the other dragons settled, down Zil’caron started make his rounds. With the mist as thick as it was, it was very difficult for him to keep his bearing. But in a way he was thankful for the mist because he knew that it would make it difficult for anybody to spot them if they had been followed.
He walked be where he and Silcara had made their roost for the night, and noticed that she was still awake. “What you doing up, can’t you sleep?” he asked.
“No, not with you the way you are, I’ll be better once this watch is over, and you’re here by me where I can watch over you wounds to make sure they didn’t get worse, and melting that metal over them wasn’t a very good Idea. It’s a very good way to get poisoned to death by your own blood,” She responded.
“Really? Ahh, it should be fine until we reach Scrilon, though it does hinder my movement a little bit.”
“The sooner we get there the better. I don’t like being away from my eggs any longer than I have to be. I know they are safe with Shunaria, but I want to be around them when they hatch, and that could by any day now.”
“Don’t worry; we are leaving as soon as everybody is alert enough to fly tomorrow.” Zil’caron replied, and started to continue around.
“Zil’, you be careful.” Silcara told him
Zil’caron commented “You know me.”
“I know, that’s why I said that!” she countered, and Zil’caron continued on his way.
Neralgr took the watch about mid way through the night, and Zil’caron went over to his roost with Silcara. He curled up next to her, and promptly fell asleep, but he was still weary because he was not sure if he was going to wake in the morning. But he was able to sleep without problems throughout the night.
The dragons woke up early the next morning to get as much flight under them as possible. With most of the trails being confined along a range of mountains called Sarica Heliacn to the west of them. A vast horizon of trees covered many of the trails along the ground which would allow them to get through almost without notice.
“Alright everyone is ready, good. Remember, stay together, and protect each other. Let’s go.” Zil’caron told everyone.
The dragons took off and started heading to the north, and then to the west in the direction of the elven of Scrilon. Zilcaron tried to take off, but with his wing, could only gain a few feet in altitude. If I am going to make it to Scrilon, I am going to have to cope with this wing until we get there, he thought. He tried to take off again, and had a bit more success, but the pain was still unbearable. Those explosions must have fractured my wing again, wither that, or the rider couldn’t heal all of it.
Once he managed to gain enough altitude to clear the tree line, the group started there journey. The sun was just starting to rise, and the light reflected off of the morning dew that collected on the trees. It was like flying through a forest of gems with every possible color glittering from the water. Silcara’s scales shines with a bluish-orange tinge as the colors of the sky reflected off of them. Zil’caron said to her, “The colors from the sky make your scales amazingly beautiful.”
“And they aren’t any other time?” she countered.
“You know what I meant.”
The dragons flew throughout the day. The bright sunlight refracting off of the scales were enough to blind anything that was not of the dragon race for a few minutes. Then after about six ours of flying, they started to come across a very large city in the distance. They saw a blue figure start flying towards them, and then Zil’caron heard, “I’m glad to see that you are still alive, Silcara told me what has occurred.”
“So you know that I am in need of assistance from the elves?” Zil’caron told her.
“Yes, I have a group of healers standing by awaiting your arrival. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep you alive.”
“I expected nothing less from the elves. They always put others before their own needs. We’ll be landing in about ten minutes, where is the best spot for us to land?”
On the north side of the city, there is a large sector that is designated for dragon travelers. They even have care takers for eggs, and hatchlings, but out of your best interests, I kept your and Silcara’s eggs with me in my den.”
“Thank you. See you in a few minutes.”
The group continued to fly towards the city, and made their way to the north side. The dragons landed in the designated area, and The elves quickly began working on Zil’caron.
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Post by Zil'caron on Mar 29, 2008 2:59:22 GMT
Chapter 4: Scrilon
One of the elves that began working on Zil’caron was Siltari. Siltari was taller then most humans, as were the rest of the elves, and wore a blue tunic along with matching armor. His pale blue eyes caught just the perfect amount of light, and his hair was a deep rich blond with hints of blue. He was the first one to greet Zil’caron and the others when they arrived. “How did all this metal get welded to your scales?” Siltari asked.
“Those bits of metal are shards of my original armor after it exploded after contact with a magic arrow. The pieces are welded over the same spot from which I removed them from my skin. I welded them over the injuries to keep the blood inside the body.” Zil’caron explained.
Siltari then stated, “That’s rather unusual, but it works, but you realize that we must remove the scales then to heal the injury. But we can replace them when we have finished.”
“Do whatever you need to in order to rid me of these hideous wounds.”
“Good. Now, the rest of you will need a place to roost while we tend to your leader. We have been making preparation for your arrival ever since Shunaria arrived. We have special lairs constructed for all of out of magic on the other side of the city. My royal escorts will show you where they are. Silcara we have constructed a special place for you, Shunaria, and Zil’caron that way you can keep close watch over you eggs.”
“Thank you.” She replied. “About how long will it be before he can be ready?”
“With his injuries, it could be a few hours. You can explore the city if you like.”
“Yes, I think I’ll do that, this is the first time that I have been outside Dracondor. Except for hunts of course, though I wish that we could have arrived under better circumstances.” She said grimly.
“You don’t worry about that. The circumstances of which you came here were outside of your control. These types of situation show true strength. Any living creature can fight to the death, it’s relatively simple to do, but only the smart ones know when it’s time to leave. So don’t think that these events in any way slight your honor because they don’t. It is these types of things that make you stronger. When is the last time that you dragons had a decent meal?”
“Some of us ate during our stop, but most of us haven’t eaten since the battle began. Most of the food we caught during our stop we gave to Zil’ to keep him alive.”
“No! No! No! That won’t do at all! You all must feast! I will not let my cities honor be slighted by letting a group of dragons go hungry in it! Killiana bring out our finest meats, wines, fruits, and get the tables ready. Now before we go any farther we must get Zil’caron healed.
“Now I’m afraid that we are going to have to ask you to leave the area while we work on Zil’caron. The city is yours to do as you please so as long as your scales don’t rip it to shreds. Go now and enjoy yourselves. We will inform all of you when everything is ready.”
Siltari and the rest of the healers then went to work on Zil’caron. “How were you even able to survive long enough to get here? I count over a hundred and fifty places where the armor pierced your hide, and your wing membrane on your right wing is nearly gone.”
“Very carefully, Silcara and Neralgr had to literally carry me here because of my wing.” Zil’caron said.
“I see, well removing these won’t be easy nor comfortable. I won’t lie it will hurt.”
“I can manage. Heal the wings first like Siltari said. They are the most important right now. I can’t fly with that membrane like that.”
“Yes, as you wish, my lord.” The elf told him.
“You don’t need to address me as your lord, for I am not. You may call me Zil’.”
“If that is what you want, then we can call you Zil’."
The wing membrane on his right wing needed to be completely regenerated, and they made quick work on healing the fractured bone in the other. They even managed to repair the three spikes that had broken of his back after his landing in the trees.
After they finished healing the wings, the turned to the one hundred and fifty metal shards that were welded to Zil’caron’s body. “d**n, this is the worst smelling odor that I have ever come across.” One of the elves said as he pulled off the first piece of metal.
“It looks like the blood started to rot and decay inside it metal.” Siltari observed
“Silcara warned me about that.” Zil’caron added. They continued removing the rest of the metal pieces getting a renewed sense of the pungent odor after each piece was removed.
Once they finally got all of the metal pieces off, they went back and started healing all gashes that they left behind. Then the started working on the really long gash that now up close could see that it was also about two inches deep. The entire healing process lasted about four and a half hours.
“Okay, you’re still going to feel sore for a couple days, but you should be fine now.” Siltari told Zil’caron.
“Thank you, I am forever in your debt.”
“No, never in our debt, we are honored just by your presence here. It will still be a while before the food is ready. So you can join your mate, and sister in their den, I can take you there if you would like. It is on the opposite side of the city, so you can explore on the way then, and then you are free to do as you wish for the remainder of the duration that you are here.”
“Well, I’m afraid that we won’t be able to remain for long. We need to move on to Felocnr so that we can formulate a plan of retaliation on Menkarane.” Zil’caron explained.
“I see. Well if you need any support from us, we would be glad to assist.”
“How far are you willing to go?”
“What do you mean?”
“We are going to war with Menkarane. Are you willing to help provide spell weavers, and foot soldiers to assist with the battles?”
“We will provide anything that is necessary to ensure your survival.”
They both continued though the city. All of the houses appeared to be constructed out of a unique element that Zil’caron hadn’t seen before.
“What kind of elements are these? I have never seen anything like them.” Zil’caron asked him.
“This is an element that we created through magic. They are harder than diamond, and stronger that the strongest metal the earth could conjure.” He explained
“What is it called, and how could you all make this out of magic with out killing yourselves? The energy cost would be extremely high.”
“The element is called Lurcrium. It doesn’t take a lot of energy to make, but it comes at a nasty price. Those who use the spell, often lose the ability to control their own magic.” Siltari explained. “Once they cast a spell creating the substance, the only thing that they case control magic over it that substance, they can’t do anything else.”
“I’m quite curious on how this whole magic system works because Silcara can use magic.”
“She can?”
“Yes, I need to know what affects a spell can have on her if any, and I’d rather know now, to help her when she needs it, instead of later and find out the hard way when it’s too late to do anything.”
“I see, well the number one factor in all magic is energy, and the amount of it that the spellcaster has at the time of a spell being released. It takes more energy to use magic when the spell user is tired or injured, and then it just makes the user even more tired, and if you use the wrong spell at the wrong time, death is unavoidable.”
“What dictates how much energy is used for a spell other than the current condition of the caster, and how does the caster release the magic” Zil’caron asked
“Well, in order to release a spell, the user must first say the name of their spell in the native language of their race, not the community language of English. No two languages are the same, so the name of each spell is different. It is possible to use a spell using English, but the energy cost is dramatically higher.”
“So spells are more powerful coming from our born Draconic language and for elves your native elven language.”
“No, the spells are easier on the caster in their native language. If I performed a spell right now in English it would have the same amount of force as it would if I were to use Elvish. It would just cost three times as much energy to do so.”
“The obvious and most important answer to you energy question is the strength of the spell the caster wishes to use. The of course you have to consider the size of the item that you are casting the spell on. For Silcara that has little substance because she is a dragon, and is easily much larger than any other creature on the planet. This would allow her to cast spells that are even stronger than ours. I could be over estimating. I’ll double check with Armea when I get back to the palace.”
“Armea?”
“Yes, she is my dragon, and I am her rider.” Siltari said and showed him his sword and palm. “It is her family crest. When ever a dragon binds to a rider, the dragon’s family crest is burned into the skin of the rider either in the palm, or on the shoulder of their dominate hand. And later when the rider is appointed with his sword, the crest is engraved into both the sheath and the blade.
“However, the bond is not permanent, and either side can terminate the union if need be. Now back to the topic at hand, I brought Armea up because since she is a rider bearing dragon she can also wield magic, and she would have more of the answers that you and Silcara are looking for.”
“When can we speak with her?” Zil’caron asked
“She will be at the dinner tonight. And from what I understand she intends to put you through a test to find out just what your true intentions are.” Siltari told him
They made it across to where Shunaria was staying at in the city and Siltari told Zil’caron, “We constructed this Lurcrium lair for you, Silcara, and Shunaria. The outer wall we made a fired orange version of the element, and on the inner side of the wall we have a charred black version of the element to keep the light out.”
“It will work just fine. We appreciate your hospitality, and hope to be able to return the favor one day if you are ever in a situation like ours.”
“Let’s hope not. You three get some rest or explore for a little bit if you want. The feast should be ready shortly.”
“Thank you” Zil’caron told him, as he entered the lair to meet Silcara and Shunaria.
“You look a lot better!” She commented.
“I feel a little better, but they said that I’m probably going to be sore for a few days.” He replied, and then looked over at the nest of eggs that was sitting next to Silcara. “How are they? Did any of them get broken or cracked?”
“No, we got lucky, both to make it out of that city with both our eggs, and our lives. All three are safe.” She stated.
“That’s a relief. How are you feeling? You used a lot of energy in the fight, and from what Siltari told me the magic took quite a toll as well” Zil’caron said with concern.
“Not as much as you think. I feel fine. I’ve been resting while the healers worked on you. I haven’t even been out into the city yet, but from what I’ve seen on the way here, it’s rather nice.”
“Yes, they created this element from magic. They called it Lurcrium. They told me that it was harder than diamond, and stronger than metal.”
“Sounds intriguing,” Shunaria added. “I was wondering how they got these gems to take the forms they have.”
“So was I, but I found that those who use the spell pay a nasty price. The lose all of there magic except for the ability to make and reformulate the element.”
“That sounds terrible. How does the spell still exist?” Silcara asked him.
“I don’t know, I would have to assume that the elf likes what he or she is doing, and pass it down through the generations. That is the only way that I can see the spell surviving.” Zil’caron replied, and then turned to Silcara, “Silcara, I know of somebody that may be able to help you with your magic. Her name is Armea, and she is Siltari’s dragon.”
“He’s a dragon rider?” Shunaria questioned.
“Yes, I questioned him somewhat on how magic works so I can better understand how it affects you Silcara. He was able to give me some general information on the matter, but he said in order to get the best answers, he said that we should get them from her because she can use magic as well, from what he said, all rider bearing dragons can.”
They continued talking for a while inside of the lair. They discussed what they should do from here in the situation that they were in. One thing that they were in agreement on, they would not be able to fight an entire empire alone. So they decided that they would accept the offer from the elves to assist with their war.
Once they decided on what there were going to do, Zil’caron started to just explore the Lurcrium lair that the elves had constructed for them. The entire lair was one massive room that held three padded, crescent shaped cauldraces for the dragons to sleep on during theirs stay. Silcara and the eggs, and making sure that they were all okay. The eggs were being kept in a small padded area that Silcara made from a few pillows that were on their beds. Just about the time they settled down to relax, an elf came one of the flights of stairs running up the side of the tree and told the dragons, “Your meals are ready. If you would follow me please, and I will escort you to it.”
“Have messengers been sent to the other dragons here?” Zil’caron asked. He wanted to make sure that every dragon in the area was being treated in kind.
“Yes, we have informed the others that came with you that it is ready.”
“What about the resident dragons here? We want them to be invited as well.” Silcara told the elf.
“Normally we would, but there haven’t been any resident dragons here in a while. The only other dragon here is Siltari’s dragon Armea, and she will already be there.”
“I see, I must ask, why did the dragons leave?” Zil’caron asked.
“They left because they didn’t find the area to their likings. The dense forestry and the growing scarcity of food in the area forced them to leave the city. It dishonors us that we weren’t able to assist them with their problems, which is probably why, no in fact I know that’s why Siltari made it so important to deal with your injuries, and provide all of you with a decent meal” The elf told him.
They continued the way down the path that the elf was leading them. After about five minutes they finally made it to the clearing where the feast was being held.
There were many elves at the feast, and every one of them rose as the dragons entered the area in respect to them. “This race is very respectful. The elves in our city did the same thing when a dragon entered the room. Of course some humans did as well. But most of the time when humans rose for us, they were trying to flee.” He said jokingly to Silcara. Then he looked at the massive amounts of food displayed over eight different tables, all of which could seat six dragons easily.
Among the selections where the rare but delicate Larica, a Giant bore, and then the main entrées of the meals, were three Cilserica. It resembled the Larica in looks, but it was about three times the size. “Over here, we have a special table reserve for you three, and our lord with his dragon.” The elf told Zil’caron
“Thank you.” He replied as he made his way over to the table followed by Silcara and Shunaria. At the table was Siltari with his Soft blue tunic and next to him was a vibrant female sapphire dragon. “You must be Armea. Siltari mentioned you when I was talking to him about magic.”
“Yes, I have heard kindly of you as well from Siltari, and so long as fire exists inside of me, and I am still breathing, we will help you with this Menkaranian Empire. They were for foolish attacking a race that had so many allies.” She stated fiercely with her deep blue eyes watching their every move. Her size was about twice that of Zil’caron meaning that she was substantially older that he was. Like Zil’caron and Silcara she too had spikes growing out of here back, but she had a break in the shoulder where Siltari could mount her.
“Thank you, I appreciate the support, but we cannot risk alienating all of the humans in the empire, though I have a feeling that Zurcon may already be trying to turn them against us.”
“This may sound crude, but why?” Armea asked him.
“In order to maintain a properly balanced ecosystem. This land is in a delicate balance, and the removal of a race that greatly populates the land could have catastrophic repercussions. We must avoid that at all cost.”
“Yes, I know. And with your statements, you have already passed my test. I needed to see how you view the land, and what your opinion was on the matter with the humans. Your heart is indeed pure to your race and the land, but you already knew that.” She told him as she tore of a chunk of meat from a Cilserica limb.
“So do you have any ideas on what we should do to prepare a counter attack?” Silcara openly asked Siltari and Armea.
“The first thing that you need to do is get your numbers back up. Especially with that archery mage that Zurcon has at his disposal.” Siltari replied.
“Out of all the others there, it appears that he was the most troublesome for you, and could pose problems for you in the future.” Armea noted as she listened to all of the conversations around her.
“Yes, but we can discuss our plans later. Right now, we just need to enjoy this time and relax. Then after the meal has concluded, we can start strategizing what to do next.” Zil’caron told them as he turned to his portion of the deer like animal that he was presented with. The taste was unimaginable. The meat was very tender, and full of an exotic array of juices giving the meat a sweet, yet spicy taste.
Silcara had just as much of the Cilserica as Zil’caron had, and also had a wide variety of fruits and vegetables on her plate as well ranging from honey glazed apples, to roasted garlic embedded in mountains of peas, corn, and beans
“So, just out of curiosity,” Armea mentioned, “How do you two come to be, how did you meet, and how did you get to where you are now.”
Silcara was the first to answer, “Well my dam was a pure silver dragon named Verciada. I never met my sire. I was told that he had passed into the void, about four months before I hatched. I hatched inside the eastern hatchery of Dracondor almost six years ago, and was released instantly into my mothers care.
After only a year after hatching, my mother contracted a fatal disease that only dragons can catch called Miragones, and she died about a week afterward.”
“When did you first learn magic?” Armea asked.
“About two years ago, I actually discovered the ability when I was soaring along the outskirts humming in my mind, and started singing a few lyrics in Draconish, and when I reached the word gelatenia, a burst of ice shoot from my wings as I thrusted them down, and froze three trees into solid ice.
“At first I thought I was just imagining things, but just to make sure I wasn’t going crazy, I decided to test again. I landed next to a large maple, and said ‘gelatenia’ again, and shot a solid ball of ice from my maw at the tree.
“When I first learned the magic, I had mixed feelings, I was happy because of the rarity that dragons can harness there own magical energy, but at the same time I was worried that if any one found out about the magic, they would ban me from the city, as the legends said the wild magic using dragons, were the reason that the other dragons came to Worloch.”
“And when did you in Zil’caron meet and become blood-mates?” Armea asked.
“A little over two years ago. I met him out side of the city while we were both on hunts, He was with his father Melocnr, and his sister at the time, and he decided to come and fly by my side. When I questioned him on the matter he told me that ‘no dragon should every fly alone, nor should they be forced to remain alone.’
“About a week latter he came to my lair inside of the city and told my that I was welcome to move into the palace and roost there, he said that he would make special arrangements for his room to be enlarged to fit both of us in there. And then about six months after that, we became blood-mates.” Silcara concluded.
“Well, it sounds like you have been through a lot in such a young age. What about you? What was your life like before all of this started?”
“Quite honestly not much different than hers. My mother was an exhilarating black dragon named Zucaria. But I didn’t know here very well, she was killed by magic only a few months after I had hatched. My father was a vibrant gold dragon named Melocnr, and he was the ruler of Dracondor. He has taught me everything I know about survival.” Zil’caron replied.
“I was wondering how you were blessed with such an unusual, yet beautiful coloration of scales.” Armea remarked as Silcara hissed a little bit. “Don’t worry Silcara. I’m not going to take him from you.”
“Yes, I get that a lot when I’m not in the city, the humans around the city that were loyal to dragons made several comments about it. Anyway, like Silcara mention I met her a little over two years ago, and there really isn’t anything new to cover there.
“The only other thing I’ve got is how my father died during the attack on our city. We were caught off guard by a surprise attack, and the palace collapsed, he wasn’t able to make It out, and the heavy marble slabs and pillars took the deadly toll.” Zil’caron concluded.
Upon the conclusion of their stories, Armea motioned for Zil’caron and Silcara to follow her and Siltari into the meeting chamber. “So have you though of anything that could help you situation yet?” she asked.
“No, and really the more I think about it, the problem is not with the Empire of Menkarane, but it is with Zurcon. Zurcon is forcing people under his rule to fight for him, and because of him many lives are going to be lost. If there was a way that we could catch them off guard, then we could jut kill Zurcon. But it’s not that easy.” He replied.
“I’m afraid that we won’t be able to avoid human casualties in this war with Menkarane. In fact it is impossible. Wherever there is war there is always going to be death.”
“I know, but the more people we kill, the more people will turn away from our cause.” Silcara mentioned.
“Then what we need are humans inside the empire to fight for us, Or at least find a way to get those who do support dragons out of the empire.” Zil’caron countered
“Yes, but how many people are just going to allow a wild dragon to approach them, as soon as the people see you they are going to think it is an attack!” Armea responded
“Ahh… but here’s the thing, they’ll more than likely be expecting us to attack, but what will win us people from within the empire is to land inside a couple cities, and not attack them. That would show them that we are not the brutish animals that Zurcon makes us out to be.”
The group continued discussing their plan for nearly three more hours. After about another forty-five minutes they finally reached a conclusion on what to do.
“Wait a minute! We completely forgot about that mage who nearly killed you! If he is in one of those cities that we land in, then we don’t stand a chance!” Silcara told Zil’caron
“Yes.” Armea added, “for you sake, we can’t forget about him again nor underestimate him. He appears to be pretty powerful.”
“Yes, but if we don’t attack, we do. but now that we know about him, Silcara should be able to handle him. From what my father told me, was that dragon magic was the most power kind of magic in existence if one could control it.” Zil’caron pointed out.
“This is true, but dragons are not the ones who can harness this power. With the right elements involved, a human mage can become even stronger than the strongest dragon mage in existence.”
“If what you say is true, then we may encounter even more problems like this in the future. I don’t doubt that nature did this for the simple act of balance.”
“So what exactly are we going to do about the archery mage?” Silcara asked.
“Simple. In order to catch an archery mage you must first think like an archer mage.” Zil’caron said.
Siltari let out a small laugh at the comment and said, “If it were that easy, the true heir to the kingdom would have already assumed the throne.”
“Okay then what would you suppose we do?” Zil’caron asked.
Just then one of the other dragons came into the chamber. “I’m sorry to disturb you my lord, but both Felocnr and Marlegore have been completely destroyed, There is a combined total of twenty survivors from both cities heading this way. But the worst news of all is that Marlegore wasn’t destroyed by Zurcon and Menkarane, Marlegore was destroyed by Celtrien, and Felocnr was attacked by both empires, though we don’t know if there is indeed still a battle occurring there between the two empires.”
“This changes everything!” Zil’caron acknowledged.
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Post by Zil'caron on Mar 29, 2008 3:00:40 GMT
Chapter 5: Belgron and the Celtrien Empire.
Belgron, my lord, our attack on Marlegore is complete. The city has been destroyed, and all survivors have fled.
“Excellent,” He said with an evil laugh. “Everything is finally turning out way. Soon, we can rid ourselves of all that oppose us. I will finally have complete control of Worloch.”
“What do you mean you?” Grycon asked. “You wouldn’t be half as successful as you were if I wasn’t here, and here you are killing dragons again. Haven’t we had this discussion before? You know I despise killing dragons.”
“Yes, Grycon I know, but sometime we must do what we don’t want in order to obtain what is most valuable to us.” Belgron told him.
“You mean what is most valuable to you! I would never, nor will I ever kill another dragon for my own personal gain! I respect my own race! More so right now then I respect you!” Grycon said as he flew off.
“My lord?” a guard asked
“He’ll be back, Ahh this isn’t the first time we’ve had this dispute. In fact it’s about the third time we’ve approached that particular topic. I don’t understand though, why it matters to him who dies. They are just, I mean he’s just, a dragon. Dragons are supposed to be vicious, brutal, killing machines, and yet he is sensitive.” A loud roar came from outside the Belgron’s window in his chamber as Grycon heard every word he said. “Great, this is just what I didn’t need.”
Grycon started to veer away from the city of Worloch, and into the forest. How can he be so cruel, and so uncaring? He thought to himself. Grycon was a mature pale green dragon. The membranes on his wings had faded so much that they were completely transparent. Only his veins remained visible in his massive wings. Instead of spines running down his back, Grycon has two ivory horns growing out of the back of his skull.
Just a dragon, who the hell does he think I am? I know I’m a hell of a lot stronger than he could ever be. I am certainly smarter than he is if he believes that Dragons are nothing more than killing machines. After all the years we’ve spent together I would have though he’d know better than that, but then again I should have seen that he’s just been using me to drain my power for his.
Grycon landed just outside the city in the forest. After what he had heard his own rider say about him sickened him, and he just wanted to be alone for a while after that. He made a shelter for himself in the forest around him, and for the fist time in his life, spent the night alone.
The next morning Grycon woke up early, and made his way back to Belgron inside Worloch’s Counsel Chambers. He landed next to the Chamber’s entrance and started making his way down a wide flight of stairs. The outside of the main chamber was made out limestone, with massive wooded doors that seal off the room. The doors swung inward as Grycon entered the chamber.
“Grycon, you came back.” Belgron told him
“Not by choice Belgron, I will not have another argument like that with you again on that subject the next time you kill a dragon I will terminated this bond!”
“Grycon… I’m sorry for what I said about you last night.”
“You cannot unsay what has already been said. What you said about me last night was worse than any act you have committed, including killing as many dragons as you have.”
“I was angered, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I didn’t mean to upset you Grycon.” Belgron told him.
“Never the less, my decision is made, the next time you kill a dragon, it will be the last with me by you side.” Grycon told him.
“Grycon, This is a war that we are in, other creatures including other dragons. There is no possibly way to avoid death in war. You of all things should know that.” Belgron told him.
“But you take pleasure in killing my kind. I can not, nor will I ever kill another dragon.” Grycon said with regret, and then he added, “I simply refuse to do so.”
“Look Grycon I’m sorry that I upset, you, I had no intention of doing so, but please understand that others are going to be killed, and I would like it know that I made every attempt at making peace before I attacked Marlegore. The dragons just simply refused an alliance.”
“And you waited to tell me thins now because?”
“Because you never gave the chance to tell you.” Belgron mentioned
“Right I guess I didn’t, sorry about that, I guess I should have given you chance to explain the matter, I was wrong in what I did to, but please, I don’t want to spend another night alone like I did last night, I know I didn’t have to, but I needed space.” Grycon replied.
“Yes, I know, I could feel you emotion. Let’s try not to do this again. Shall we?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?” Grycon replied as he eyed Belgron.
As Grycon and Belgron finished their conversation, they left exited the central cathedral. The cathedral tower was about five times as tall as Grycon and covered in a thick slimy residue from the constant foggy atmosphere in the city. The fog in the city has been trapped in the city ever since the original ruler of Celtrien had been killed. It is rumored that the fog is a result of a spell that the Ruler of old, cast with his final breath, and that it would only lift when the real heir ascended to the throne.
With the fog a constant, Worloch is a dreary city. The residents haven’t seen sunlight in five years. Every house and inn in the city had to be made out of stone to keep it from rotting because they were all covered with the same slimy substance that was on the cathedral.
“Hello, Belgron, and Grycon, how are you two feeling today, I heard that you two had another argument last night?” Someone said from behind them.
Grycon turned around to figure out who was talking to them in such a manner and said, “Oh, it’s just you Kirkana.”
“Well who else would even dare try to talk to you two like that?” said the elven priestess. Kirkana stood barely stood about six feet tall, and had thick, long, black hair. She had a slender angled body that gave her an amazing appearance. She had red eyes that matched the Red scaly tunic that she wore that she made out of the hide of a dragon that she had killed.
“I see you still have your tunic that you made from the dragon you had killed.” Grycon said with displeasure.
“Yes, I wear it as a constant remind of just how vicious you creatures can be. Remember, this tunic is made from the same dragon that killed my father.” She replied.
“I know, but I still don’t like seeing my kin like that, or at least what is left of them.” Grycon said.
“So other then the argument, what brings you to this part of the city?” Belgron asked
“I was trying to find you. One of my resources in Dracondor just told me that Zurcon, and Menkarane has completely destroyed the city. They also told me that they plan on destroying Felocnr as well.” Kirkana told them.
Grycon let out a roar that was so loud, that it temporarily allowed a burst of sunlight though the dense fog and bath the city with light for a brief moment. The entire city stopped in their tracks and looked at Grycon.
“Grycon, settle down! There is nothing we can do about it from here, and I doubt that they would have allowed us to help them anyway. Because I’m sure they knew about our attack on Marlegore.” Belgron told him.
“Actually they didn’t. Here is the elf I was talking about from Dracondor. He’s a spy I sent there along time ago incase they every decided to turn on us.” She said and a young male elf walked into view.
“Hello, my lord, my name is Narcron. I’ve been working with Kirkana for a couple years now in Dracondor spying on the dragons. She has helped me on several occasions, and I decided to help her at all possible. Though that’s not to say that the residents of Dracondor haven’t found out about our attack on Marlegore. I do know however that they planned on going to Felocnr, with the Elven city of Scrilon being a rendezvous point.” Narcron told Belgron.
“We can’t offer them refuge, it would be a way to earn their trust, but they would never accept it, not if they have already found out about Marlegore.” Belgron replied.
“No, this will alienate the dragons against both empires.
“My, lord if I may, Menkarane is preparing to launch the same attack on Felocnr in a few months. Maybe if we get there before they do, we can still gain the dragon’s alliance.” Narcron suggested.
“That won’t work either, the dragons would still attack us, and so would the Menkaranian soldiers, it would be suicide.” Just then one of his guards happen to pass by and he stopped him and whispered in his ear, “Gather the army, as big of one as you van make. I think I just found a way to rid this continent of these wretched dragons, and that cursed Zurcon.”As he shielded his mind in the process so that Grycon couldn’t hear of his plan.
“Maybe if Grycon and I made a personal flight out there, with an army accompaniment obviously, we can explain the situation in Marlegore and perhaps earn their trust.” Belgron added.
“And what if they refuse?” Grycon said angrily.
“Then we defend ourselves. If we go there, and tell them that we are responsible for the destruction of one of their cities, and they don’t buy the fact that we are there to help them, then they won’t let us leave the city alive, which it the reason I am ordering an army to come with us. If the dragons disagree with us, then we are going to have to fight out way out of their city.” Belgron said.
“So we are going to have to kill more dragons.” Grycon said.
“If they refuse, and you want to get out of the city alive, then yes, you are going to have to kill other dragons in order to get out. Hopefully it won’t come to that.” Belgron reasoned.
“For your sake, I hope it doesn’t come to that. For if that occurs, it will be the last battle we fight together, and the next time you and I meet after that, I will be fighting for the dragons.” Grycon said with hate and disgust and Belgron’s plan.
“Grycon, I know you don’t like it, but he’s trying to do everything to help.” Kirkana told him.
“No, he’s not trying to help! I can see right through him, this is one of those join us or die missions and I don’t like it one bit.” He replied as he took off from the cathedral area and made his way back to his lair on the northern most end or Worloch. Every one stopped and looked at him as he passed over head. He was mad enough right now that he could kill anything that crossed his path.
This is an outrage. Menkarane attacking us, Belgron continues to attack us. He though as he let out a long sigh. I guess that this bond was never meant to be after all. He continued as he passed through the city. On his way he found a young male trying to break into Worloch’s bank from the back, and landed next to him. “And just what do you think you’re doing here, human?” He said as he bared his teeth.
“Please,” Said the begging man, “I’m just trying to get money for my family. I can’t support them because of all the taxes your rider makes us pay.”
“Silence!” Grycon roared. At least he is willing to do everything to protect his family his kind. “Listen, committing acts of treachery like this isn’t going to make you feel any better is it? I mean this is other people’s money that they have worked just as hard as you for. Do you want them to end up in a situation like yours? Could you live bearing the fact that you cause the demise of another family?”
“No, I guess not, but if I don’t do something Lord Belgron will.”
Maybe if I show these humans kindness, show them that not all dragons are cruel, killing machines that Belgron and Zurcon have made us out to be, then they will join our cause. “If Belgron sees me doing this, he would kill you. Get on. I’ll take you to his money vault. They you can take as much as you can carry, but then I suggest that you and your family leave the city.” Grycon told him
“Where should we go?” the man asked Grycon.
“Hmmm. Go to the elven city of Scrilon. It’s a bit far from here, a good three to four day trip. But there are other dragons there that may be able to help you as long as you help them, they will need all the help they can get.” Grycon told him.
The stranger climbed onto Grycon’s back, and he flew low to avoid being spotted by Belgron they got to Belgron’s money vault and Grycon opened a hatch and allowed the man in. the man came out with four bags of gold. “You’re not taking more?”
“No, I’m not greedy like your Belgron is, I just want enough to support my family with.” He told Grycon.
“Right, anyway, you and your family must leave now. When you get to Scrilon look for a Gold dragon by the name of Melocnr He should be there unless he didn’t make it out of the fight. If that is the case then you need to seek out his son Zil’caron, you can’t miss him, from Melocnr told me, there isn’t another colored like him. He has glossy black scales with gold trim. When you find him tell him that Grycon sent you, and tell him, I may be coming to his side soon. He’ll understand.” Grycon said and returned the man to his home. “Get out of here while you still can!”
“I will. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.” The man said as he went inside of his house.
Grycon was weary to turn around, He had blocked his mind from Belgron, and flew low as to not to have been spotted, but was afraid that Belgron had found out of what he had done, and had followed him. He was relieved when he turned around and there was no one behind him. He flew just out of sight but remained in the area incase someone had followed him.
When it became apparent that the family was going to be ok Grycon started heading back to his lair which he had never made it to in the first place. It was dusk by the time Grycon made it back. His lair was made out of the tallest tower on the north end of the city. The tower stood about as tall as the Cathedral’s and was wide enough to hold up to five full grown dragons. On the outer wall of the building, was a large door that slid into to wall that allowed Grycon to enter the room.
As Grycon entered the room, he found that Belgron was already there. “So have you figured out what your decision is going to be yet?” Grycon asked.
“Yes, and it’s the same decision that I made in front of you, we’re going to Felocnr to end this silly dispute. One way, or the other.” Belgron told him.
Grycon growled as he started to pace over to were his crescent shaped dish were he slept. “This isn’t the best news Belgron. Like I said in front of Kirkana, and Narcron, This is a suicide mission. A join us or die scenario.”
“I’m not taking the army to fight the dragons Grycon. I’m taking the army to destroy the Menkaranian army once and for all. You heard Narcron. He said that their army was already in route. And I plan at the very least, attempt to earn their trust by fighting along side them.” Belgron said.
“However noble the intentions maybe, I still don’t think they would allow us into the city to begin with. Especially if they know about Marlegore, which by now, I’m sure they do, Felocnr is only a two day flight from Marlegore, and we can send mental messages all the way across the continent.” Grycon explained.
Belgron sighed as he said. “We have to try.”
“I’m not completely sure that you’re being totally honest with me, but I trust your judgment, for now.” Grycon told him.
“We will discuss the matter more in the morning.”
“Lord Belgron! Somebody broke into your money vault!” A guard told him.
He didn’t. I told him to leave. Grycon thought to himself where Belgron couldn’t her, but let out a growl not to look suspicious.
“When was this discovered?”
“About an hour ago sir, who ever had done it has already gotten away.” The guard told him
“Well what are you waiting for, find this person, and kill him on sight.” Belgron told him.
“Yes sir!”
Belgron turned to Grycon and asked him, “Did you know about this?”
“Do you think the person would have gotten away if I had?” Grycon replied.
“Right, sorry. Get some rest.” Belgron finished.
“I intend to.” Grycon said as he fell asleep. Hmm. Grycon’s isn’t acting like himself right now. It’s like he is hiding something. No, he wouldn’t. I can’t believe the thought crossed my mind. He thought as he to soon fell asleep.
Grycon was first to rise in the morning, and woke Belgron up when he started out of the room. “I’ll be back into the city in a few days. I’m going to go for a hunt, and I need more than just the puny deer we have around here.”
“Ok, fly safe, and come back alive.” Belgron told him.
“Now that is just ridiculous, wouldn’t be safe to assume that if I come back I’m alive?”
“Yes, I guess it would.” Belgron replied as he laughed.
Now I can see that family safely to Scrilon, and try to reason with Melocnr. I just hope he has enough kindness in his heart to even speak with me. He thought as he took to the sky. He veered west flying over the city in route to find the family he had helped last night. He found them about 10 miles from the city and landed next to him.
The man’s wife and children were horrified until the man turned to her and said, “Guys settle down, everything is going to be fine. This is the dragon that helped me yesterday.”
“Yes, and Belgron, doesn’t know this, but I will be escorting you and your family to Scrilon. I hope you brought plenty of provisions, because this trip will last us four days at a minimum, and we can’t stop in any city on the way. Belgron knows that there was a break in at the vault, but he doesn’t know that it was me who broke in.” Grycon told them, then turned to his family members, “By the way, my name is Grycon. And I will protect you all on this journey.”
“And my name is Nygral. We brought a lot of provisions, but nowhere near enough for a four day journey. What are we supposed to do for food and water?” Nygral asked.
“You leave the food to me. I can hunt for all of you when you need it. As for the water, the Mirkiane River is about a hundred yards to the north, and it runs just to the north of Scrilon, If we follow it, we should be fine. As long as we don’t encounter any of the extremely tall waterfalls that this river is famous for, and should we come across one, I can carry you all one at a time up or down the waterfall depending on what direction the waterfall is facing.” Grycon told them.
One of Nygral’s children, a young girl, started to approach Grycon. He lowered his head to view the girl with one of his emerald eyes. From what he could tell the girl was very young, even for human standards, no more the four years old. She raise her hand to try to touch the green dragon, and Grycon lowered his head a little more for her to do so telling her, “It’s okay, but be careful, my scales are very sharp.” When the young girl placed her hand on his snout, Grycon felt happier than he had felt in a long time.
Ever since Belgron assumed the throne five years ago, his life had been nothing but constant sadness. The only thing that Belgron though of was power, not him. He doesn’t really even care about me now. The only thing he is worried about is taking over the land, and that is not as it should be. I’ve only just met these people, and already they have shown me more gratitude than Belgron has the whole time I’ve been alive. I’m glad I decided to do this. It will give me time to think, and make my final decision.
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