Greater Need

The battle for King's Reach begins, as Eleazar receives unexpected aid.

11.

Greater Need

 

“Listen to me!  All of you please listen!”   King Haroldris held his hands over his head to silence the very animated discussions of the refugees that filled the caves.

“We need to prepare for a defensive action.   The Necromancer’s Guild is invading our city.   Our first problem is killing the two remaining Dragons and those Wyverns.”

“Sir, where is the Autumn Maid?   Perhaps we could get a force in the air.”   Alvis suggested.

“How will we contact it, Sir Alvis?   I don’t know where it is now, but I hope it is safe.”

“What about archers?   Can we take down the Dragons with arrows?”   Siris asked.

“I doubt they’ll swoop low enough for that; at least not until they’ve finished destroying the city.”

“We need magic.”  Zeatt chimed in, “Something we can use to take those Dragons down.”

 

As if on cue, there came screams from nearby and they looked across the lawn of the park to see a group of people frantically running toward the caves while a Dragon dove down at them.

“We’ve got to do something!”  Eleazar exclaimed, starting out of the cave.   But before he could get past the entrance, Queen Eioldth pushed him aside and ran out of the cave.  

A hundred voices cried out in alarm at her action, but before any of them could reach her, she was standing clear of the cave and facing the diving Dragon.   The beast saw her and changed his dive angle slightly so as to now aim at her.  

She stood there still, even as the Dragon drew in air to breathe out fire at her.   The wyrm opened his mouth to exhale flames, yet at that moment there was a twinkle of light that came from the hand of the Queen and suddenly a huge ghostly hand closed around the Dragon. 

The Queen arced her hand over and down, slamming her palm onto the ground.   The spectral hand did the same thing, pulling the startled Dragon out of the sky and slamming him into the royal lake with a massive explosion of water.  

 

Eioldth kept her hand flat on the ground and with an almost fiendish expression, ground her palm into the ground as if she was crushing a bug.   The Dragon disappeared under the water; sending up a cloud of steam from his exhaled blast of fire.   There came a violent churning of water from the beast as the Queen’s giant arcane hand drowned it in the pool.  

For nearly half a minute it struggled, but finally went limp and Eioldth stood up, wearily, tears streaming from her face.

“That was for Colais.”  She said in reply to the awed looks of everyone around her.

 

Haroldris smiled at his wife, “That’s two down, one left.”

“As soon as the Dragons are slain, they’ll land their airships and release all the undead they carry.”   St. Kinnis said grimly.

“Still, we have to destroy them first, as well as the Wyverns.”  The King turned as a pair of horsemen rode up with news.

“Your Majesty, the last Dragon has been knocked from the sky by spells and knights are fighting it to the east of your Palace!”

Haroldris turned to his Queen, “Keep the people safe here, we will go and help destroy it.”

 

The King gestured to Alvis and Eleazar, and the three hurried to join him racing across the lawn.   Aeric and Alis moved to follow but Eleazar waved them back, “No, stay here and help guard the people; the Guild will land those ships when they see the Dragon is killed and they’ll need you here.”

Both half Elves nodded somewhat hesitantly, but did as he ordered.  With some mumbled grumbling, the two newlyweds paced restlessly around the mouth of the cave. 

 

Matron Zeatt stood by herself staring off into the skyline with a blank expression on her face, fretting and praying silently for her niece.   Thorm came to stand beside her, tightly gripping his axe, yet keeping the silence.  

 

***

 

 

The Dragon was easy to find, for he had landed in the huge pile of rubble from the collapsed Tower of Wizardry.   One of his wings was clearly broken and projected out from his back at a somewhat odd angle.  He was obviously in pain from the grievous injury and fiercely fought the band of six Knights encircling him.

A knight thrust at the beast with a long pole axe, but the Dragon’s scales were too hard and it was deflected.   The Dragon snapped out with his mouth and ripped the weapon free, then knocked the Knight down with a sweep of his tail.   Another knight charged in to defend his fallen ally, only to be knocked down by the back sweep of the wyrm’s great tail.

The Dragon inhaled breath to blow fire over the two, but just as the King and his companions arrived, another knight charged forward with a great sword that glowed a dull red color and struck at the beast.  

The Dragon tried to breathe fire on his attacker, but had to jerk his head upwards to avoid the sword, so his fiery blast went over their heads, incinerating several shops across the street.

The Knight slashed at the exposed chest of the monster, his great sword biting deep.   With a screech, the Dragon swiped at the Knight with his claws, knocking him down in the uneven pile of rubble.

But Haroldris and Alvis attacked at that moment with shouts of rage.   The King’s sword cut the talons off the beast’s right leg while Alvis’ sword slashed at his neck.

 

The creature’s tail whipped around and snapped like a great rope, sending both men staggering forward.   Eleazar shot out with lightning speed, chopping savagely as high upon the tail as he could.   His blade went in deep and the Dragon screamed in agony.  

Another Knight sent a barrage of arrows at the monster’s head, several finding spaces in between the scales.   The Knight with the red sword was back on his feet and stabbed his great sword with all his might into the chest of the Dragon.   It went in deeply, but the beast wasn’t finished yet.  

Snapping is neck around as it took in breath; the wyrm leaned over to exhale a deadly blast upon the Knights in front of it, all at point blank range.   But just as the fire came forth from the creature’s maw, Alvis pointed his sword at the Dragon’s mouth and countered the fire with a tremendous arctic blast that neutralized it.  

The blast stunned the Dragon, allowing the Knight with the red sword to stab savagely again and again at the Dragon’s chest.  Haroldris slashed at the base of its neck with his great sword and Eleazar joined him in the effort.  

Sensing that his injuries were fatal, the Dragon reared up on his hind legs, planning on crushing the Knights as his last act.

But Eleazar knew the wyrm’s plan and dropping his sword, pushed against the belly of the monster as he prepared to slump forward in death.   His giant strength enabled him to thrust the creature back far enough so he fell backwards onto the pile of rubble with a loud crash.  

For a full minute all the Knights continued to stab and slash at it until there was no more movement, which told them he was dead.

“A massive show of strength!” The Knight with the red sword spoke to Eleazar as he lifted the visor of his helm and extended his hand, “You are well met, sir.   I am Sir Davit of Aegoppa.   You are part Drow, by your appearance.   Would you be Sir Eleazar, perhaps?”

“I am, sir, and most pleased to meet you.”  Eleazar shook his hand.

Sir Davit smiled, “I am told that you are a good friend of Duchess Bugley, who I have had the pleasure of assisting in battle last year.   Is she here with you?”

 

Eleazar’s face darkened and he quickly explained the events concerning Aurei.

“That is not good, sir.  Yesh, preserve her.”

“I’m seeking a way to get to her, but there is none.”

“Perhaps the Wizards of the city; if any survived the collapse of their tower.”

Eleazar nodded, but they had to turn their attention to assisting the injured knights.   The Knight that had fired arrows was introduced as Sir Celathan, a High Elf from Aegoppa, skilled with the bow.  

 

Haroldris ordered that they all retreat to the cave area, to regroup for the upcoming invasion of undead.    The Wyverns seemed to have been recalled to the airships, which told Sir Alvis that they were preparing to land the crafts and release their undead into the city.  

“I’ll monitor them from this vantage point,” he told the King. Eleazar asked to stand with him, as his Drow night vision could see far clearer than a human’s sight.   So while the others retreated to the caves, the two Knights watched the sky anxiously.

 

They were surprised when there came a flash of blue light from behind them and a very tall Drow man appeared, seeming very shocked at what he saw around him.   He was holding a helmet and a moment later faced the sword tips of the two Knights.  

He didn’t flinch but focused on Eleazar, “Eleazar, thank Yesh!   I’m here to help you get to Aurei.”

The half-Drow’s eyes widened, as he suddenly recognized the man, whom he barely knew and had not seen for years. “Khord?”

“Yes; you know that I’m Zeatt’s adopted son.   We have been monitoring the battle and know where Aurei went.”

“Who do you mean by ‘we’?”

“Sophia; Zeatt’s daughter!   She’s a sorceress and we have a scrying device.   She looked to see where Aurei was, and found a Drow couple taking her into Soric’s palace.”

“Her parents; Chal and Alleania.”   Eleazar informed him.

“Her parents?!   We didn’t know that!  But she’s in danger, Sir Eleazar!   Sophie found this helm " it is a teleportation helm and can take you to her.”

 

Without further comment, Eleazar snatched the helmet out of Khord’s hands and removed his own war helm.

“Wait a minute, Eleazar, there is much danger using that if you have never been to the place where you are teleporting.”  Alvis warned, “I’ve been there, I-“

 

But Eleazar had already donned the helm and instantly vanished.

“Where is Duchess Bugley now?”  Alvis asked Khord.

“A few minutes ago she was being led to Soric’s throne room.  I don’t kno-“  Suddenly there was a blue flash of light and Alvis jumped in surprise as Sophia brought her brother back to Flux.   

 

In both Flux and King’s Reach, those who saw the half-Drow teleport, prayed that his aim would prove true and he would materialize on target.

 

***

He appeared only inches above the floor of the palace of Soric Potollis and dropped easily to the stone without harm.   Eleazar had no idea of the layout of the building, but sensed the evil that seemed to radiate from the very blocks around him.   From somewhere off to his right he heard the definite sounds of battle and he raced toward the sound, praying to Yesh to find her in time.

 

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...and fought fiercely the band..." It might work better as "...and fiercely fought the band..." or "...and fought fiercely against the band..."
"I seek to find a way to go to her..." This bit sounds a little odd to me. Maybe if he said he wanted to seek a way to go to her, or something along those lines?
"...evil that seemed to radiant from..." It should be radiate, here, instead of radiant.

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Elina, I corrected them.