Chapter 31: Battle for Dragonsfold
`The forest in between the mountains is usually a peaceful area. However, it was now filled with a chorus of marching feet and roaring dragons as the Iron Knights marched through. High above them, Adrion and Rhogar flew alongside Grind and his dragon. Adrion looked out to the horizon ahead of them and saw a swath of cut down trees and trampled on plants, giving the forest a sort of graveyard feel.
"Negramor's army" he said to himself. Nothing else would have done something as horrible as this.
Grind heard his comment and nodded. "It truly is a sad sight."
Adrion couldn't agree more. Suddenly, Grind looked down to notice one of his soldiers waving a red flag, calling him down. The army had briefly stopped.
Adrion noticed this too. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm not sure" Grind replied as he flew down. Adrion and Rhogar followed out of curiosity. When they landed, the Knight waving them down pointed to something a small ways down the trail, or rather, someone. Sitting on one of the fallen stumps was a young, teenage girl in green robes and brown hair; a wood nymph. Not much else was seen of her as her face was in her hands. Adrion immediately felt pity for her as he recognized that she was crying, most likely for the fallen tree that she had made her home. Without thinking he walked up to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. However, this only seemed to startle her and she whipped around with a small gasp.
Adrion held up a hand to calm her down. "Hey. Easy, I'm not a monster. I want to help."
Seeing he was a wizard, the nymph calmed down, but brushed a tear out of her eye. Her face would have been beautiful had it not been streaked with tears.
"There's nothing you can do" she sniffled, "Everything is gone."
Adrion knelt down next to her. "What happened?"
"They came out of nowhere. Hundreds of them. And they…they just cut down everything in their path to make way for their machines."
Grind's fist clenched with a metallic screech. "Despicable."
Adrion, however, only felt pity and looked to the fallen tree. Just then, an idea came into his head. It was something he had learned in his Earth magic class, and he decided to try it here; walking over to the stump, he gently placed the tip of his staff on top of it, channeling his magic into the stump as he whispered a few words. After a few moments, a small, green, sprout appeared from the stump and seemed to be slowly growing. The nymph noticed this and gasped in astonishment.
"It's not much" Adrion admitted, turning back to her. "But it's the best I can-"
He was cut off as the nymph suddenly caught him in a bear hug, sobbing with joy.
"Thank you" she whispered.
Adrion could only hug back as he too, seeing her happy, felt a twinge of joy in his heart. Just then, however, he got an idea. He pulled away from the nymph and looked at her. "Hey, are there any other nymphs here?"
The nymph brushed a tear from her eye. "Yes. Hundreds."
"That doesn't surprise me" Grind said, "With a forest this big, it's probably the equivalent of a city for nymphs."
"Perfect" Adrion whispered to himself before turning back to the nymph, "Ok, miss-"
"I'm Cedar" the nymph quickly said.
Adrion had to start over, "Ok, Cedar, I need you to get as many other nymphs as you can together. I might have a way for you to get back at the monsters."
This definitely got Cedar's attention, and she gave a small smirk. "Ok then…"
…
Back at Dragonsfold, everyone was clambering to their stations. Immael immediately took charge, directing various knights to their stations while Harmony and Lord Darkthorn ushered the townspeople inside the fortress that the Academy was. A deep rumbling was hears as the catapults that lay on the inner walls were cranked back and loaded. Kai'sair and Luna flew overhead on their dragons; Luna having more or less recovered from the wound thanks to Harmony's divine healing. Both looked out to the horizon to see a dark mass approaching the walls.
Luna gasped in shock. "That's a big army…"
Paletar looked out past the army to see the cloud behind it. He narrowed his eyes. "That army is going to be the least of our worries."
"What do you mean?" Kai'sair asked, "You know what that is?"
"My keen eyes allow me to see through the cloud better than most" Paletar confirmed, "I can see a dark shadow hidden in that cloud…a form with many heads."
"I see it too" Glacia added, "That better not be what I think it is."
"Yeah, well, when do we ever get lucky with these kind of things?" Kai'sair retorted before both dragons guided their mounts back towards the fortress wall. Stopping in from of Immael, who stood on a balcony positioned further back and over-looking the wall; the place where the commander stood during a battle. Rowena sat nearby, her hands and feet in chains and a nervous look on her face; not even she was ready for the fight that was coming.
"What's the news, Kai'sair?" Immael asked as Paletar stopped in from of the Prince.
"There's a lot of them" Kai'sair replied, "I'd say around ten thousand."
"And not only that" Paletar added, "But I believe their leader is the Hydra."
Immael's face became grim; the Hydra was one of Negramor's most deadly and loyal servants. If he was leading the army, then that meant Negramor knew Immael would be involved.
"Fine then" the Prince said, "If it's a challenge he wants to give me, then it's a challenge he shall receive in return."
"If I may" Rowena said in the back, "We do have a supply of boiling oil in the reserve armory that could be useful."
Kai'sair gave the former headmistress a dirty look. "Since when were you ever willing to help us?"
Immael waved it aside before calling two knights over. "You know of this oil?"
The both nodded before the Prince sent them to get as much as they could.
As they left, Rowena looked to Kai'sair. "To answer your question, I want to make it out of this as much as you do, so why would I lie?"
Kai'sar glared at her when Immael brought the knight back to attention. "We'll finish dealing with her later. Right now, you and Luna should rejoin the other riders in the air. Our enemy is here."
As Kai'sair and Luna spurred their dragons back to the skies with the other dragon riders, they could see that the Prince was indeed right. A mass of orcs, Bone Wraiths, Snake Men, and other hideous beast waited right outside the walls, banging their weapons together and roaring a massive war cry.
Immael was unfazed by the threat, but as he looked over to the walls, he saw the other knights were beginning to get nervous. Even Hope and Elm seemed on edge as they stood on the walls.
"Hold your ground!" he shouted to bolster them, "We have someone far more powerful on our side."
It seemed to work, but only temporarily as a ear-splitting roar shot through the area. As the knights watched, the cloud behind the enemy army dissipated to reveal none other than the Hydra itself. It was big enough to reach the top of the fortress walls; a massive, draconian creature with three heads on the end of long, slender necks. Each head had blood red eyes that were filled with malice as they looked over the defenders.
Harmony and Darkthorn ran up the steps to join the Prince.
"Everyone is in the safe room, brother." Harmony told him. Immael nodded in acknowledgement before looking to the Hydra. It seemed as if the two entities locked eyes as the monster narrowed its three pairs of eyes.
"Well, come on now" Immael said, "I haven't got all damn day."
The Hydra seemed to get the message and let out another roar, signaling the army to charge forward.
"Archers!" Immael shouted from the walls, his voice ringing with authority, "Fire on my mark!"
The archers drew arrows and readied their bows, waiting to fire. As they waited, Hope began to get a little nervous; these monsters were moving rather quickly.
"Any time now….!" She said to herself.
Just as it seemed the horde would reach the walls Immael yelled out. "NOW!"
The archers let loose, and a hail of arrows rained down, on the enemy, cutting dozens down instantly. However, the monsters continued forward, only for Immael to swing his sword down, signaling the catapults to fire their payloads. Some of the knights even set their projectiles on fire before launching. The overall result was a storm of boulders and fireballs that crashed into the army, flattening any monster unlucky enough to get caught in the boulder's path. A few bounced off the Hydra's scaly body, angering it.
"Archers! Fire at will!" Immael commanded. Hope couldn't have asked for a better order, and began letting arrow after arrow into the Horde. Elm knelt next to her, chuckling to herself as she mixed together various liquids, turning the vial in her hands a deep orange. Satisfied, she stood up and drew her arm back.
"Heads up!" she yelled before throwing the vial. It arced down into a cluster of orcs. The second it shattered against the ground, a blast of fire erupted from the spot, incinerating everything caught in the blast.
It was clear that the enemy was already under pressure, and Immael intended to keep it up.
"Riders! Forward!" he shouted. Kai'sair, Luna, and the other knights, spurred their dragons forward, dive-bombing the army and blasting them with various elemental attacks. The Hydra then let out a booming roar, sending out packs of Skull-Beast riders. Many of them wielded crossbows, firing them towards the walls and dragons.
"Evasive action!" Kai'sair yelled, and the dragons began veering in all directions. The archers on the wall immediately ducked for cover, though Hope saw one of the unlucky one get hit in the chest before falling off the wall. The brief respite from the arrow storm was all the monsters needed to get to the wall, and they began raising ladders to reach the top.
"Not on my watch!" Elm shouted, running to one of the ladders and pulling a green vial from her bag. She reached the ladder just as a Snake Man appeared over the wall, punching her in the chest and knocking her to the ground. She only had time to register the snake lift a sword as it climbed over, only for an arrow to strike it in the head as Hope ran to Elm's defense.
"You ok?" Hope asked the Night Elf as she helped her up.
"I'm fine now, thanks" Elm replied, "Let's bring this ladder down."
The two elves ran back to the ladder, Elm still clutching the green vial. Once they reached it, a Bone Wraith appeared over it with a war cry. This time however, Elm was prepared.
"Oh, shove it!" she shouted to the skeleton before shoving the vial in its mouth. The vial burst, and the skeleton clawed at its face as the acid-like potion burned away at it. Hope and Elm then grabbed the ladder and pushed with all they had. The ladder slowly leaned back, but eventually fell backwards, crushing the monsters under it. The two elves shared a high five before continuing to help other knights who had begun fighting the monsters appearing over the other ladders. Hope sheathed her bow before drawing out her elven sword and leaping right into the fight. She fought like a graceful ninja leaping in and around with an agility only elves could accomplish as she slashed monsters in various places.
Elm however, brought out a few handful of tiny glass, colored balls as she surveyed the scene. She then threw a cluster of green ones at one of the ladders. Just like with the vial earlier, the balls broke and released their acidic contents on the wooden beams. After a few moments, the ladder snapped and half of it fell back into the horde. Elm only had time to notice her handiwork before an orc charged her from the side. Elm quickly stepped to the side before throwing a red ball at the monster. Immediately, the orc's head went up in flames, and the creature cried out in pain before a boulder suddenly slammed into it, sending it flying off of the wall. Confused, Elm looked down to see the Stone Drakes pushing massive boulders and either loading them into the catapults or throwing them over the wall. It was at this point that a few of the knights had returned carrying massive vats of boiling oil. At Immael's direction, they began pouring it over the ladders, scalding the monsters and causing them to fall from the ladder. With the new opportunity, many knights began pushing the ladders down from the wall.
In the skies, the dragon riders had begun to engage a pack of Jabberwockies. However, with both flying boulders and arrows flying across the area, Kai'sair found the creatures easier to take down then last time as he cut down another one as it was dodging a flaming boulder.
"We've got 'em on the ropes!" Paletar shouted.
Luna smiled under her helmet. "I think we might actually pull this off!"
She had spoken too soon; letting out an angered roar, the Hydra marched forward, its four head snapping and growling as it approached. Kai'sair watched in dread as both boulders and arrows bounced harmlessly off its hide.
Draco flew up next to him. "Well, got any plans for that?"
"I do!" shouted a voice. The riders parted as Immael himself rode forward on his griffin. His armor shone with a new radiance as he confidently faced the coming monster, who stopped as he saw the Prince in front of him. To everyone's amazement, the monster spoke; it's voice sounded like a chorus of different voices as all four of its heads spoke in unison.
"You" it hissed, "You have troubled my master for long enough. I am going to enjoy tearing you limb from limb."
Immael's face remained determined and unchanging as he donned his helmet. "You can try."
The Prince then turned to the other riders. "Fall back to the walls and help them. I'll deal with this monster."
"Please be careful" Luna said, her voice heavy with worry as she and the other riders spurred their mounts back to the walls. Kai'sair was also concerned, but he found himself feeling that he needn't be too worried. Immael was the Prince of Light after all, surely he could handle a creature like the Hydra. As the riders returned to the wall, they only had time to see the Hydra let out a roar of challenge before he and Immael, his sword raised and shining in full radiance, charged at each other and began to battle, with the initial clash creating a shockwave that shook the very walls of the fortress. Inside, the people hiding all yelled in fight as the shockwave shook the place. Harmony knelt down to comfort a scared child.
"Don't be afraid" she whispered, "My brother is with them. We will make it through this."
Back up on the walls, Rowena gawked in amazement at the Prince as he faced the creature. She had doubted before, but the way he carried himself with confidence in the face of such darkness.
"Could he truly be the Prince of Light?" she whispered to herself.
The other knights kept fighting the monsters as they attempted to scale the fortress walls, and the dark horde was beginning to seem endless. The defenders began to hope that by some miracle, they could succeed…
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone