Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Read online

  “Mkel, the councils are forming,” Gallanth said to Mkel, his booming voice heard clearly over the dinner conversations. Mkel looked over to Jodem, who was already getting up from the table, as did Dekeen and Ordin. “Senior Sergeant, we must go,” Mkel said to Toderan.

  “Sir, I thought the council meeting was only for dragonriders and wizards,” Toderan said quizzically.

  “All the weirs’ leaders are to attend, so why would I exclude my senior soldier and taskmaster?” Mkel said with a smile.

  Toderan immediately got up and started to walk toward Gallanth. The men of Draden Weir and the regiment cheered when one of the weir soldiers stood with his tankard raised and shouted, “Long live Gallanth!”

  As they echoed the cheer and raised their tankards, Gallanth responded by saying, “You should do yourselves more favor, but I and my rider are honored,” and bowed his immense head.

  They all walked across the great expanse of the Capital Weir grounds toward Michenth’s chamber. All the Capital dragons were already assembled in the massive hall, and the weir dragons were now gathering. Mkel yelled over to Lordan, who walked over to greet him with Talonth right behind. The riders and dragons greeted each other, both still bearing a few scars from their battle at Handsdown that had not completely healed yet.

  “Remember this occasion, my young friend, for there hasn’t been a combined council of the dragons, wizards, elves, dwarves, and men since the Great War. These are difficult days ahead, but also momentous ones, for trying times bring out the best in men and dragons,” he said with his usual friendly smile as he looked up to Gallanth and Talonth.

  “I have to agree with you, sir. Although it is for dire concerns, this gathering is still really impressive. Queen Eladra and King Denaris!” Mkel caught sight of the elven king and queen as they entered from the other side of hall. Even from that distance, Eladra’s presence was unmistakable. Her iridescent violet and turquoise eyes were mesmerizing. Both her and her husband’s presence commanded as much attention as a dragon’s.

  “Even she has trepidation regarding the host of recent events and the confusing signs she has been seeing through her foresight,” Jodem said, openly speaking his thoughts.

  “Much is happening, and our enemies are everywhere, foreign and domestic,” Dekeen explained.

  Gallanth entered the conversation as they walked into the great arch dragon’s hall and moved to their place on the opposite side of the large amphitheater gathering area in front of Michenth’s chambers. “We must all have faith, my friends. That and love of country and the Creator will bind us and keep us strong.” All the weir dragons quickly settled into place in the circle of thirteen, with Gallanth sitting opposite of Michenth, and Talonth and Trikenth on each side of the gold dragon.

  The weir lead dragons arranged themselves in the circle, with their position in relation to Michenth mirroring their weir’s geographic relation to the Capital Weir and Draconia on a map of the republic. Valianth and Falcanth were to either side of Michenth, with the remainder of the Capital dragons in an outer ring behind them. The mithril dragon took the final few steps to his position, his wounds from the Great War and the dark crystal weapons still clearly painful to him, as evidenced by his severe limp. Those wounds were healing slowly and were still present even thirty years later. What evil power they must have had to cause the mightiest dragon in the world such injury, in spite of his tremendous healing powers.

  Mkel, Dekeen, Ordin, and Toderan sat in front of Gallanth while Jodem moved to the center of the amphitheater area to a huge, expertly carved crystalline table for the thirteen high council wizards; three senior generals and admirals; King Denaris and Queen Eladra; and King Drekar of Minara, the dwarf capital city in the Ferranor Mountains. His long gray beard was tied neatly with a gold cross hammer broach that hung well below his waist. Ordin was distantly related to the dwarven royal family, but it went back several generations—several hundred years.

  King Drekar walked over to Mkel and his comrades. “Greetings, mighty Gallanth, Rider Mkel, and Draden Weir comrades,” he said as he gave a slight bow to Gallanth and grasped Mkel’s hand. “Ordin, my dwarven kin from the east, I heard you had a great fight at Battle Point, and you felled many giants.”

  “Yes, Lord Drekar. We sent a whole tribe back to the underworld, with a little help from Gallanth,” Ordin answered with a smile.

  “It has been since the Great War that I have crushed a giant. I envy you and your hammer, my brother,” Drekar reminisced.

  “If I could slay half as many giants as you, my king, I would be honored,” Ordin replied.

  “Don’t be an understating elf; I heard you personally slew several of the foul brutes.”

  “Ordin fought well. We could not have been successful without him and Donnac. He and my inner weir council stood alone against a whole giant clan until Gallanth and I could get back to them,” Mkel explained.

  “Ordin has always and continues to be an integral part of our weir. King Drekar, his strength and fortitude are a rock from which we anchor,” Gallanth said in compliment to Ordin.

  Mkel had been brought up on stories of the Great War. Ordin himself told Mkel of a battle that King Drekar was a veteran of, where he had led a small contingent of dwarves from his main army and was ambushed by a clan of not less than thirty fire giants with a company or more of orcs. The dwarven king personally slew twelve giants that day with his powerful pure mithril ax hammer, which was powered by a large diamond dragonstone given to him by Michenth. They survived the ambush, but over half the dwarves were slain and Drekar was wounded. He was carried off of the battlefield by his personal guards back to his main army, leaving in his wake thirty broken and sliced giants—and fire giants at that!

  “I have faith in you all, for I feel that conviction will be tested soon. We must be seated now, as business is at hand, but I will have ales with you all later. Raproch, my friends,” the dwarven king said as he raised his dragonstone ax hammer; he complimented them with the dwarven word meaning “honored and respected comrade or warrior.”

  All nodded an acknowledgement, even Gallanth. Mkel noticed the carved inscription on the hammer and blade of his weapon. It read in dwarf language, “Saeud Slamalous.” He whispered to Ordin, asking what that meant, to which Ordin replied, “The Hammer of the Creator.”

  “Friends, may we have our places, for we have much to discuss.” Michenth’s booming voice echoed in the amphitheater. Mkel noticed he could modify his voice slightly, for it had an almost inner echo or reverberation to it now, as opposed to when they had talked to him earlier. It was as if the very quality or sound of the dragon’s voice crackled with power. The attendees, dragon and humanoid, quickly took their seats or places. “I would like to welcome everyone to this special combined council of my dragon kin, our esteemed wizards, and our elven, dwarven, and human allies and friends. My rider will list the imperatives of the agenda we must address.”

  “We have much to be accomplished, so we will address the simpler matters first. Before that, let us stand and give our honor pledge.”

  All the dragonriders stood, drew their dragonstone weapons in a salute, and began to recite the pledge in unison; the dragonstones glowed brightly. Mkel decided to draw Kershan, so as not to overly advertise Markthrea and his role in the games. “We, as dragonriders and soldiers of the republic, do pledge our lives to the Articles of the Alliance, with the light and truth for which they stand, and our honor and courage to defend her with the strength of the Creator.” With that, they placed their weapons of power on the stone tables in front of them.

  “General Frankrest, we will start with the update on the Alliance Army. How is the restructuring going?” General Becknor asked.

  “General Becknor, we have started to realign forces in the Third Capital Legion to reflect the basic structure of the Draden Strike Legion. As soon as we have completed th
eir conversion, we will start with the Fourth. This will allow our legions to be more self-sufficient and increase their lethality and mobility with a combined arms structure. It will temporarily disrupt the aerial legion due to our dishing out of two of their battalions, but it will be brought back up to strength as soon as possible. We are also looking forward to the fielding of the new repeating crossbows and the floating wagons. This will greatly increase our mobility and firepower as well,” the senior general explained.

  “Excellent, sir. I know we will get a more detailed report after you’ve met with your staff and legion commanders tomorrow. General Daddonan, as you know, has requested dragons to be permanently stationed in Battle Point, especially after the fight that they had recently. I want to formally congratulate Gallanth, Talonth, Strikenth, and their riders, as well as all the soldiers of the Battle Point legion and of Keystone Weir for a job well done,” Becknor stated. Gallanth and the two senior silver dragons nodded in acknowledgment.

  “General, as you and the senior officers know we have been successful in our secret breeding of the avenger dragons on the prison island. We have this to offer Battle Point. We will send a mated pair of avengers to be permanently stationed there with a pair of brass and copper dragons to teach, guide, and employ them. They have the strength of a silver dragon, but can go into a fury to be stronger than a red for short periods. While they do not have the ability to use magic or create spells, their breath weapon is a deadly beam of disruptive force, and their courage is insurmountable. That will give the good general six dragons to call upon in case the Morgathians decide to get adventurous again and to reinforce his legion. The Capital Wing and Gallanth apparently will also always be willing to reinforce them in case of a large-scale attack like we saw last week. We will also be sending a similar draconic force to the Adasam fortress in Ian to counter the increased frequency of chromatics seen there and continue to breed more here. There is also a plan to send a young bronze dragon to Freiland as soon as he is ready. General Daddonan will have to prepare a temporary weir area for the dragons and provide food and logistics of course,” Becknor stated.

  “I’m pretty sure he has already made arrangements to receive a small number of dragons. I know that will make him very happy, and we thank you as well for the development and near future fielding of the new crossbows and the floating wagons. This will make our twenty legions and your twelve legions much more formidable,” General Frankrest answered. The senior general of the Alliance was actually a very modest man of slight build. His razor-sharp mind and quiet confidence more than made up for his slight appearance, but in his youth, as a company commander, he and his dragonstone broadsword had dealt many a killing blow to an orc or Morgathian foe. The three mithril triangles on his right collar and the gold dragon embossment on his left made him stand out as the commanding general of the Alliance Army, or the senior commander of the twenty non-weir-aligned active ground legions, twelve reserve legions, and the aerial legion. Each legion had over six thousand soldiers of various types, with all of them stationed throughout the Alliance and three having permanent barracks at Draconia. Coupled with the supporting forces and training forts, the combined Alliance army was a force with which to be reckoned.

  Becknor, who also wore the three mithril triangles, but a mithril embossment of Michenth on his collars, was the overall commander of the thirteen weirs, all the dragons, and their twelve legions. The weir legions basically reflected the composition of the non-weir legions but had a greater degree of variation.

  “Admiral Zewal, what is your report and the status of our fine navy?” Becknor asked the senior admiral.

  “General, we are currently heavily tasked, as you know. The continued undeclared war on the high seas against our merchant ships is tasking out our warships at an alarming rate. This you know from our constant requests for assistance and for flights from the coastal weirs. You have our thanks to your bronze dragons and their subordinates for their strength and responsiveness. The war between the saragwin and the mermen is escalating. The sea elves have been slowly dragged into the conflict, as King Denaris and Queen Eladra can likely attest. This and the increased incidents of independent pirates under the Blood Wolf colors, as well as Morgathian and Shidanese warship attacks have been keeping us very busy.

  “We are working with the elves and sea elves to get a defense pact signed between us and the mermen, but they are fiercely independent and do not like to admit they need help. While they are killing the saragwin on a three-to-one basis, they are outnumbered five to one and are losing territory. This is why small saragwin raiding parties are slipping through us and the sea elves and are attacking our shipping and some isolated coastal areas. Our allies, the Freiland raiders, have also been doing their best to dent the current level of attacks, but they are getting hard pressed as well. The problem is that once the pirates see the blue trinity symbols of our sails, they flee and actually will scuttle their ships if they think they will be captured,” the admiral stated as he looked back to Lawrent with an uncustomary half smile.

  “Our ships are out at sea for six months and are sailing more than they are at port. We have been slowly replacing older ships with the new capital-sized galleys and faster warships but at a slower-than-expected rate. There has also been a greatly increased number of Morgathian and other merchant ships going to and from the northern Canaris Twin Island. We think that they are shipping large numbers of those huge long-necked lizards and dark crystals back to the empire, which we surmise they need to feed the growing number of chromatics and for weaponry.

  “On a good note, we have not lost a single ship in battle since the Great War but have had several damaged in fights with the increased number of the gigantic squid like kraken that are working with the saragwin. The only thing we need from the weirs and the Wizards’ Council is more trained wizards assigned to our ships and greater dragon coverage. Right now, all galleys have wizards, but less than half of our warships and a third of the support vessels do. There is also an interesting project the naval engineers have been working with. An inventive lumber guildsman stumbled onto a concoction of ice mixed with sawdust, wood pulp, and a couple of other ingredients that when frozen turns into a material that is stronger than dwarven concrete and stays in this state even without the aid of a cooling crystal for days. Here let me demonstrate,” the admiral stated as he pulled out a piece the size of a brick from a satchel beside his chair.

  “Master Dwarf, Ordin, if you would please bring yourself and your powerful hammer over here,” he asked the Draden Weir dwarf. Puzzled, Ordin rose and strode over to the stone table that the admiral and the senior general were sitting at. “Please take this ordinary hammer first, and take a swing at this special ice block,” he requested. Ordin took the standard-make dwarf steel war hammer.

  “It will be smashed to bits,” the dwarf warned.

  “Please give it a try,” the admiral replied.

  “If you insist, Fleet master,” he said as he raised the weapon and deftly struck the block. The blow barely made a mark on the yellowish ice. A normal piece of concrete would have been cracked or broken to bits by that strike. Ordin looked puzzled.

  “Ordin, please try with your hammer now,” the admiral said.

  “It could crush this table, Admiral,” Ordin said with concern.

  “Trust me, Master Dwarf,” he replied.

  Ordin pulled Donnac from his belt as Admiral Zewal and the general backed away from the table. Ordin shook his head and raised the powerful hammer. He hit the block with a clap of thunder that echoed throughout the huge hall. The block, while dented, only had a small crack in it. Ordin’s face was awash in disbelief.

  “This material is made of dragon bone!” he yelled.

  “No, my stout fellow, it is called pykrete, and it almost has the strength of dragon bone. General Becknor, we have outfitted two warships with pykrete rams. Please observe this so equi
pped warship slice through the hulk of an old derelict,” he explained as his dragonstone sword projected an image of a warship with the ivory-speckled ram mounted on the front of the vessel. The warship was at full sail and being rowed at ramming speed when it hit the old merchant ship that was roughly the same size. The ice-tipped vessel sliced the merchant ship in two, almost without losing speed. All present began to comment on the strength of the new material.

  “The pykrete material is maintained by cooling crystals, of course, but only one-third the number is needed to keep it frozen than would be required if it were pure ice. We are also in the process of building three huge galleys with pykrete hulls. Because of the strength of the material, a vessel made of it could be a very large ship, two to three times the size of even our capital galleys. An Invincible class ship would be almost unsinkable—immune to ice attacks, highly resistant to lightning and acid breath weapons—and we have even found it resistant to fire-based attacks. Once damaged, it can be repaired easily and will be propelled by a series of heating and lighting crystals that can force water to move through pipes in a chamber located in front of the rudder, propelling it along almost as fast as a clipper for short sprints. It has, however, needed a large number of cooling crystals to keep the hull frozen. I know you all are already producing them as fast as you can to meet demand, but we will need more. This vessel will be almost immune to attacks by kraken and would be the center of our fleet. It will not only be large enough to allow a perch or hold for a small dragon squadron but will also lessen the need for dragon escorts and thus ease the pressure on the weirs,” Admiral Zewal stated.