War of Dragons Chapter Eleven

Zin returns home to his people, only to find that they are under attack.

Chapter Eleven

Several days later, Zin began to contemplate where he would go now.  Before, he had always had someone helping him on his quest; he considered going back to his home.  Laucian’s ghost appeared before him, however.

“Zin, you must save your homeland from a terrible evil which is about to strike it!” he said.  “Two clans of barbarians are at war, the flame and the fang clans, and your forest are right in the middle of it!”

Zin looked up at the ghost of Laucian in shock.  “How can this be true?” he asked.  “Our land has been untouched by human influences by centuries!”

The ghost’s face saddened.  “These are dark times, Zin.  The entire universe is at war.  Nothing is as it once was.  You must return to your home and rally the elves to defend against this threat.  I know that only one of the clans will pass through, but it will attempt to destroy you.”

“Which tribe is it?” Zin asked.

“Sadly, it is the flame tribe.  The tribe of the fang does not go out of its way to destroy those in the middle, and they have always nursed a soft spot for elves.  The flame tribe are quite the opposite.  They seek demonic power, and so destroy everything in their way, especially forested lands.  Our race is the thing they hate the most.”

“I will leave immediately,” Zin said.  He began preparing the teleportation spell, and was soon back home.

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Aramil, Zin’s brother and companion, and Carric, Zin’s truest friend from birth, were both sitting on a tree branch.  Nearby, Carric’s sister Mialee was sharpening her daggers.  As they watched, a portal began to open up on the ground.  Carric, suspecting an invasion, jumped down and fitted an arrow onto his bow.

Zin strode out of the portal, and Carric lowered his weapon.  “Zin!  You’re back!  We heard that you destroyed the death knight, but we’d been told you were killed,” Carric explained as simply as he could.  “So, what was the human realm like?  Was it as disgusting as it’s said to be?”

Zin shook his head.  “It wasn’t,” he said.  “But enough of that.  There’s a battle between two barbarian tribes, and our forest is going to be caught in the middle!”

Carric gasped.  “But we’ve been cut off from the barbarians to the north and the south since�"“

”I know, I know, but they’re on their way now!  We have to keep them from passing through the forest, or we’ll be torn to shreds in their wake.”

Carric nodded, “I’ll start mobilizing the rangers.  Every able elf should be given a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a set of daggers �" assuming they don’t already have that.”  Carric hurried off to tell his kin of the coming danger.

That night, a meeting was convened.  Every elf in the forest was in attendance (and since now that Zin was back there were none away from the forest, their entire race was there).  Carric and Zin explained the coming danger, and their plan for the defense.  With that, all of the elves began preparations for the defense.

Despite the encroaching invasion, Zin was incredibly happy to be back home.  Long had he been away from the unmatched beauty, the eternal twilight, the strong and resolute trees, and most importantly of all, his kinfolk.  He was also pained by the knowledge that soon, the beauty would be shattered and the ground would be stained with blood.  Even though the elves spent most of their immortal lives in the trees, a bloodstained ground would affect the overall beauty of their forest dramatically.

It would take a long time to repair the damage which would almost certainly come to the forest.

The day after the meeting, Zin and Carric were distributing weapons and arrows to those elves who did not already have them.  As they were doing this, an old ranger named Erdan came to them.  Being immortal like all other elves, he had the appearance of a young elf, but in fact he was one of the oldest rangers alive.  

“Zin and Carric,” he said, “We must gather at the edge of the forest.  The barbarians are sending their first scouts as we speak; they will be here soon.  If we don’t get to the edge of the forest by the time they arrive, then our home will be severely damaged.”

“Are you sure, Erdan?” Carric asked.

“Yes, he’s sure!” whispered Zin aggressively.  “Otherwise he wouldn’t say so!”  Carric promptly apologized, and Erdan began listing the names of the rangers who would accompany Zin, Carric, and Erdan.

“Aramil, Ivellios, Mialee, Breena, and Lorilla will be going,” he said.  “They were not chosen against their will; it was their choice to come.”

Carric gasped.  “Mialee?  But...she’s not had enough experience, she’s only a Silca!” he protested, using the elven term which referred to rangers in training.

Erdan shook his head.  “You should be able to know whether or not your sister is a Silca, Carric.  She’s recently passed her training fully.”

“And Silca or not, she volunteered to go,” Zin added.  “It’s really her choice, and you’ve seen her in battle; she won’t have any trouble against a few scouts!”

“Fine, fine,” said Carric.  “But I fear that the flame tribe will send more powerful warriors.  If any harm comes to her, Erdan, I shall hold you personally responsible.”

Aramil, Mialee, and Breena came leaping through the air and landed next to Zin, Carric, and Erdan.  Breena was the first to speak.  “Where are Lorilla and Ivellios?” she asked.  “They were supposed to be here by now....”

Just then, Ivellios jumped right past Breena and rolled across the tree branch, then stood up.  “Lorilla should be right behind me,” he said.

“Zentah, Zepto, Mentah, Fochvah,” said a voice, and a female elf teleported to right next to where Ivellios was standing.  “Well, we’re all here.  And the Silca’s coming too, I see?”

Mialee narrowed her eyes angrily.  “For the last time, I passed my training!” she said.

Erdan stepped forward.  “It is time to go.  We must leave immediately or we will not be able to keep the scouts out of our forest.”

Zin, Carric, Erdan, Aramil, Ivellios, Mialee, Breena, and Lorilla burst into motion, leaping between branches and moving towards the south.  They got there only minutes before the scouts were in view.

As the first of the barbarian scouts came running forward with a torch in one hand and a hammer in the other, Mialee and Lorilla both aimed their bows.  The scout slowed down, mesmerized by the beauty of the forest.  After a few moments, he began to run forward again.  Just as he was about to reach the treeline, Mialee and Lorilla fired.

The arrows flew through the air, rotating and making a whistling noise as they went.  An instant after the arrows were fired, they buried themselves deep in the barbarian’s body.  Lorilla’s arrow pierced the human’s head, while Mialee’s went through the heart.  The barbarian fell dead instantly, thrown back by the force of the arrows.

Zin turned to Mialee.  “Nice shot,” he said, then fired off his own arrow as another scout came into view.  The scout swung his torch, and the arrow went through the flame.  It didn’t hit its target.

Erdan took careful aim and fired, but even his arrow was destroyed in the flame.  Finally, in an act of bravery, Aramil jumped out of the tree and drew out his swords.  The scout laughed as his allies approached, and threw down his torch, taking out a fiery sword.  “You die elf,” he said wickedly.

Aramil simply responded, “You are wrong.”  He took a step forward, and stabbed the human in the chest.  He took grim pleasure in killing the barbarian, for this was an enemy of nature and did not deserve the remorse an elf might show for a slain beast.  The dead man fell aside as one of the warriors came forward.

The warrior struck Aramil, who was busy fighting another barbarian warrior.  A wound opened up on Aramil’s back, and he fell down to the ground.  As the warrior was about to kill Aramil, an arrow brought him down.  Another arrow, this one surrounded by a bright green light, struck his companion.  Aramil’s wound began to seal, and the young elven ranger stood up.  He ran forward and jumped back up, next to Zin.

“Don’t ever do that again, you Veckna,” Zin said, annoyed at Aramil’s foolish behavior.  He fired off another arrow, which missed one of the barbarian scouts by an inch.  “You could have been killed!”  The scout began to flee, and Zin fired yet another arrow.  This missile sailed through the air and plunged into the scout’s back, killing him.

“I could have died, but I didn’t,” Aramil responded, annoyed, and shot down one more of the scouts.  

“It was Erdan’s magical arrow that saved your life,” Zin explained.  “The enchantment siphons life force from the target to a nearby wounded companion.  Just don’t �"“ Zin didn’t finish his sentence, because a hammer thrown by one of the barbarian scouts slammed into his face.  He fell back and out of sight.

“Zin!” Aramil yelled in shock.  “Zin!”  He jumped from the treeline, firing off another arrow and narrowly dodging another thrown hammer.  Aramil landed on another tree branch, then let himself drop down and lightly landed on the ground.

Zin lay nearby, his face torn.  He was shallowly breathing, but quite obviously having difficulty.  Aramil walked over and kneeled down next to his brother’s prone body.  “Zin, please don’t die,” he whined.  “Please....”

Zin’s eyes opened slowly, and he said weakly, “Aramil, leave.  There’s nothing you can do for me.”

Aramil shook his head.  “In this case, you’re wrong, brother...something can be done.”  He drew out one of the magical arrows Zin had told him about just before he was hit.  He pricked himself with it lightly.  Though it barely hurt at all and didn’t steal very much of his life force, the arrow re-formed the bones in Zin’s head and helped to heal his injuries from both the fall and the hit from the hammer.

“Aramil, don’t sacrifice yourself....” Zin said weakly.

“I’m not,” Aramil responded.  “But for all the times you’ve saved my life, I owe you at least some of mine.”  Aramil put away the arrow and closed his eyes; his small wound sealed and the life force he had lost came back to him.  “We have to stop the barbarians.”

Aramil and Zin managed to get back up to the treeline where their companions were a few minutes later.  Though Zin still had a large impression on his face, he was otherwise fine.  The barbarian who had hit him gasped to see him back so quickly, and was immediately silenced by one of Zin’s arrows.  “You just don’t do that to me,” Zin said as he watched the human fall dead.

Zin saw a burst of fire move towards the treeline.  He heard a cry of pain and saw Mialee falling down to the ground.  As she was about to pass out of sight, though, she suddenly disappeared in a burst of light.  “Mialee!” he screamed, then turned to Erdan.  “Did you see that, Erdan?  They have sent a mage, who has teleported Mialee somewhere.  We must stop them!”

Erdan nodded.  “Leave that to me,” he said, leaving the group as well.  As he was passing down towards the ground, he too disappeared.

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Aegis of the Flame laughed wickedly as he saw Mialee appear before him.  “Well, well, well,” he said.  “Look what we have here!  The elven ranger, Mialee!  Your head will look excellent sitting upon my hearth.”  The barbarian took out his broadsword, which burst into flame but kept its shape and did not burn Aegis’s hand.  “With each of your kind that I kill, I am one step closer to gaining the power of the abyss.  With that power, I can control the dragons of evil and wipe out your forest, and the tribe of the flame.”

Mialee took out her bow and put on an arrow.  “I won’t let you do that,” she said grimly.  “You aren’t going to kill me, and you are not going to kill any more of my kind!”

Aegis laughed again.  “You see?  She thinks that she is more powerful than I!” he yelled.  When there was no sound, he glared in every direction.  A sound of laughing erupted from all around Mialee.  Aegis turned back to the female elf.  “You are nothing to me, elf.”

There was a burst of light, and Erdan appeared suddenly.  “Aegis!  I’ve had enough of you,” he said, then aimed his own bow.  “You’re outnumbered two to one, by those more skilled than you.”

“Actually, it would seem that you are outnumbered ten to one,” Aegis said pointedly, as laughter erupted all around them.  The barbarian walked forward, and both Erdan and Mialee fired their arrows straight at him.  The arrows caused Aegis to stumble back a bit, but nothing more.  Three drops of his blood fell down to the ground, and nothing else.  The barbarian laughed at the elves’ feeble attempt to kill him, and advanced.

Mialee fitted another arrow onto her bow and advanced.  “Erdan, aim for the eyes!” she yelled, leaping into the air with incredible agility.  Aegis swung his sword, and the elf simply twisted her body so that the sword missed terribly.

Aegis’s sword swung harmlessly aside, but the barbarian quickly turned it and swung it back at Mialee.  The swing was too fast for the flames to catch up, but the sword grazed Mialee’s shoulder and drew blood.  Mialee cried out in pain, but resisted the urge to lay down and die.  Instead, she landed lightly on the huge man’s back, throwing him down to the ground.  

Mialee pulled back her bowstring and let fly, sending an arrow directly into Aegis’s back.  The barbarian screamed in pain.  He pulled out the arrow, sending huge amounts of his blood flying across the room.  Aegis turned around and tossed the arrow directly at Mialee.  There was no time to dodge it, and so it drove itself into her shoulder.  

Aegis threw Mialee down, snapping her bow in half in the process.  “And let that be a lesson to you, elf!” he cried.

Mialee grimaced from the pain but managed to say, “It seems that it is you who should learn something from this day.”  The barbarian laughed, sheathed his sword, and ran into the distance, trailing blood.  Just as he left sight, he said, “kill the male.”

Five barbarians emerged from the shadows.  Erdan took out his bow and fitted on an arrow, then fired it.  The first arrow sailed through the air and went right past one barbarian’s head to hit another in the eye.  That barbarian fell back for a moment, then came in, grinning evilly.  The barbarian swung his hammer.  However, his weapon only slammed into the ground; the momentum sent him falling.  He landed on his face, causing the arrow to dig in deeper and kill him instantly.

At the same time, Erdan was firing two more arrows.  Both hit their targets, and two barbarians fell dying.  Erdan fitted another two arrows onto his bow.  He jumped back and fired; one arrow landed in the ground and the other skewered a barbarian’s head.  The last barbarian charged forward just before Erdan could fire his last arrow and grabbed all of the ammunition out of the quiver.  He held it together and snapped all of the arrows in two, then narrowly dodged the one which Erdan still had on his bow.  Now the ranger was defenseless.

The barbarian came forward, murder in his eyes.  In terror, Erdan backed up from the menace.  The barbarian held his hammer above his head and was partway through swinging it towards Erdan’s sword when he stopped.  The barbarian dropped his hammer feebly to the side, then fell to the other side.  Behind the barbarian stood Mialee, a bloody dagger in her left hand.  The arrow still stuck through her shoulder.

“I’d think you’d be able to defeat five humans on your own,” she said weakly, then fell backwards onto the ground.  Both Mialee and Erdan disappeared in a flash of light.

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Zin fired an arrow, killing the last of the approaching scouts.  Just as the arrow hit his target, he saw a flash of light.  Erdan and Mialee appeared next to him; Mialee had a bloody shoulder with an arrow sticking out of it and was unconscious; at first, Zin thought she was dead.  Erdan gripped the arrow firmly and pulled it straight out, however, causing a wail of pain to erupt from Mialee’s mouth.  Carric rushed to Mialee’s side.  “Sister!  Speak to me!” he cried.

Erdan turned to Carric and said, “She won’t.  She’s unconscious and has suffered near-mortal wounds, far worse than the ones Zin had that you healed.  We must tend to her immediately.

Reviews

[Rich Weas]

It has merit I will give it that.Your story has a lot going for it and a lot going on it, Great descriptions you have used to establish the story. This chapter was well worth the read. You have breathed life into your characters, I could feel teh pain of those around the fallen one.

[Goodbye]

Drake - this is so great! It's Biblical, Mythic, Epic, Futuristic, Historical, and all shades of those adjectives! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Your writing really reflects a great imagination and intellectual abilities. You breathe life into your characters and make them very interesting.

I would just give it one more grammatical go-over, just a few little errors here and there.