Princess and the Dragon 15
#15 of Princess and the Dragon
HERE IT IS! THE MOMENT WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! Drum roll the climactic finale for the first book! Please inform if if the link in the story works or not. Of course many thanks to my beta reader for fixing all those nasty little mistakes. Now without further ado, read, fave, comment, review and most importantly enjoy.
"Alright now, THIS is stupid...." Arthur began talking to himself in front of his army.
"It's raining, mud and gravel is sliding down the slopes, we can't use any cavalry, I'm tired, Liura is nowhere to be found, I'm leading a ragtag army and we are all gona die here today!" Arthur said as he dismounted his horse.
"I don't know about you, but I don't plan on doing that today!" He addressed his troops as he took off his right black gauntlet to get rid of the rain water inside.
"Then what is your suggestion sire?" Valorfar asked, worried with the words his commander spoke.
"THAT WE DON'T DO THAT!" Arthur angrily shouted at the already tired troops. "I SUGGEST THAT WE CRUSH THESE VERMIN AND BE DONE WITH IT! THAT WE GET OFF WITH THEIR HEADS AND GO DO THE THINGS THAT WE WANT TO DO! WHO IS WITH ME?" The crowd gave one big cheer, they were not in a fighting sentiment, but they felt this man (Arthur) shared their angry sentiment, they were not supposed to be here!
"Inspiring as always sir." Valorfar whispered thru his helm, his entire body plated with the golden armor with only his eyes visible of his entire body.
"Well, thank you Valorfar, we both know these people have no warrior spirit to speak of, but they know they are angry and better they take out their anger on their enemies than their allies."
The heavy footsteps of the approaching army rose the dust into the air, which was immediately brought down by the pouring rain.
"Why are we-.... Oh!" Arthur started as he saw the blood petals falling down from the mountain, so the enemy was here after all.
"Lets get this over with!" He murmured.
At that Mazzirog, Bistri, Valorfar and the Malionian commanders came to Arthurs side.
"What now?" One Malionian asked.
"We wait for Fathe--err... kings word." Arthur said.
As the 3 armies positioned themselves, they saw clearly the enemies formation.
The constant chants, hushed down chats between soldiers, movement, rain and thunder noises contributed to the commotion, it was hard for anyone to think straight in such conditions. "What are they doing? Are they retarded, this is not how you fight a war?!" Arthur commented on the position of the enemy forces.
The base of the slopes and the mountains was filled with what seemed to be 1000 unarmed, awkwardly dressed people who moaned and spoke in strange languages. They didn't seem to be sentient, at least not to anyone not familiar with the effects of slina.
Some of the soldiers wanted to flee, not because of the strength of the enemy, but because of the sheer disgust they felt for them, their eyes were crying waves of dribble-like material and they were crying out the words of some strange tongue in anger. Their cloths were beyond description, they didn't appear to wear any armor or weapons and that made everyone feel like there is something VERY wrong here.
"Don't worry great king, this is their 'normal' state, strike with conviction!" The King heard a voice.
"Who said that?" The King turned around.
"It is I Malion, dragons have the ability of telepathy, you merely have to think what to say and I will hear it." Malion explained. "And don't worry your highness, I won't abuse this power and go into peoples heads." He added.
"Good. These ragtag scoundrels don't frighten me... go and check how Arcanius is doing with summoning your giant friend!" The king responded.
The Army was forming up and encircling the enemy, the ground was soaking wet and smelled of the plants that the soldiers stepped on countless times, it was a sight to behold.
"Add this, then mix that and don't forget this!" Arcanius was struggling to keep the ingredients for the summoning spell dry in such weather, but somehow he was managing to progress with it, his pink-purpleish robe was two times heavier because of the water it took in and the base of it was covered with mud.
"I see you are doing great!" Said malion as he hovered above the mage. "Just cry out my name three times when you're ready to begin the spell, I take it that it will take you about 15-20 minutes." He said.
"Whats a minute!?" Arcanius asked, since humans had a different time measurement, he had to shout so Malion could hear him in the commotion.
"Never mind, just cry out my name three times when you're finished!" Malion said as he flew off.
"MALION!" The king shouted to the air, trying to find the dragon, which was hard since black clouds made it look like it was night instead of day.
"Yes mylord?" Malion hastily said telepathically.
"Let's get this started!" The king told him mentally.
"Don't rush them, I have an idea, order your archers to attack them from afar first, pickice are lightly armored and are cowards, if we simultaneously attack, then we can make them run for the hills.... Literally!" Malion suggested.
"Brilliant!" The king said, he didn't have much experience in combat, but he knew how to handle himself well.
"ALRIGHT! ORDER ALL ARCHERS TO MAKE A LINE AND FIRE AT THE ENEMY AT MY COMAND!" The king shouted and his officers immediately began lining up the archers, the command spread from the south (where the king was) to north as soon as it could, in the matter of a few minutes (since the officers couldn't hear each other well in the commotion).
"READY!" The king shouted and the officers repeated his command as the archers readied their bows.
"Lets get this over with, I have a date waiting for me!" Elision lazily said.
"You said it brother!" Malion confirmed.
"AIM!" The king shouted and the officer repeated his command as the archers aimed up high, the unprofessional half just copied the experienced half and aimed at the about same height.
"Brothers, this is our time of glory, let's make our father proud!" One of the princes said in the north.
"AYE!" The other two agreed.
"FIRE!" The king shouted and a volley of arrows started flowing in line from the south to the north, some of the arrows hitting each other but most hitting their marks.
Just as the arrows fell down, Malion and Elision both flew over the enemy, one from north to south and the other from south to north, raining fire down on them, it was a magnificent two rows of pure fire which burned down the enemy, both their bodies and their minds. Most of them started running for the hills as expected.
"FIRE AT WILL!" The king said and the archers kept up the pressure.
"So it starts!" Arthur said as the sounds of arrows flying and volleying was heard from behind him. The poor enemy was attacked by their comrades from behind, who forced them to stay in their lines.
________________________________________
"WHAT!? DRAGONS!? THIS WAS NOT PLANNED!!!!" Kole raged and slammed the lower part of his staff to the ground, causing a small earthquake, he kept his power in check for some reason.
"AND NEITHER WAS I YOU FIEND!" He heard someone yell from behind him and he felt a stab in the back and saw a elfish sword coming out of his ribcage.
He laughed like a little girl, causing Liura to back off and take the sword out, she stood in her regular fighting stance. Kole motioned to his bodyguards that this will be his fight so they backed off.
"Silly girl, you can't cut slina down, you can only let it consume you and comfort you!" He gripped his staff and it let out two straight wave like lines, which tied up the arms of Liura to her body, she still had a grip on her short swords.
"Don't feel too bad, serving me can be fun, I will use you, abuse you and misuse you and you will love it, you will enjoy it every step of the way!" He approached her, attempting to caress her check.
In a millisecond after he said that, he just let out a "THUMP" as Liuras right foot found its way straight to his nose, he didn't fell down but the foot was firmly planted in his face.
"I HOPE YOU HAVE A FOOT FETISH YOU SON OF A WHORE!" She screamed at him as she planted her other foot in his throat and at the same time she was using her swords to cut thru the slina bounds Kole made... and she was successful.
Before Kole could get up, she was already free and running, cutting down every single person on her way trying to find anyone who seemed important behind enemy lines and take their life from their body.
Kole's face was one of PURE anger as he got up, whipping the slina from his face (since his blood was all turned to slina)
"KOLE!" Njenjic, aco and vladan said as they approached their master.
"Let her go..." Kole said angrily. "We have more important business to attend to." He turned down and angrily looked at pickice who were getting slaughtered.
"OVI INDIJANCI NIKAD NECE DA NAPADNU PRIVI! UVJEK JE 'JA SAM LUD LUD ALI TI GA NAPADNI PRVI!" Kole heard one of the kloshar's saying next to him and he knew he was right.
"WELL, YOU!" *He pointed to the kloshar.* "GO DOWN THERE AND MAKE THAT FIRST HIT!" (The kloshar was saying how pickice act they are thought, but never attack first.)
To that Kloshar bowed down and started charging down the slope, passing the fenceri who were positioned on them all the way down to pickice.
________________________________________
"What the hell..." Arthur said as he looked at the kloshar from the distance, he could barely make him out, in normal weather you could see the entire mountain side, but now you were struggling to see a dragon in the sky.
"QUICK SHIELDS, PIKES AND SPEARS UP FRONT, MAKE A WALL!" He shouted and he was obeyed, the soldiers struggling to make the wall. (Because of all the noise and because they were not professionals.)
Luckily for him, his half brothers and father saw what he was doing and soon enough copied the formation.
"I don't know what you saw Arthur, but it better be good!" The king said.
The kloshar made his way thru the constantly falling volley of arrows and dragon fire and broke thru the front line of pickice and he was raging and charging full on, in his strangely shaped armor.
"WAH WAH WAAAAA!" He yelled and charged as all the pickice looked at him in awe, but unfortunately that was one of the last sounds he made. A second after that, a arrow found its way to his left eye.
"Thank you for borrowing this to me!" Arthur said as he returned the bow to the soldier, he was no champion marksman, but at this range he was trained not to miss.
But however, what Arthur didn't expect was the Kloshar to stand back up, make a squeak and a few steps forward, this made all the pickice roar and start charging, they failed to notice that kloshar stumbled and fell down sending the arrow logged in his eye all the way thru his brain to the other end of his skull.
Arthur readied his warhammer the poor remaining pickice were decimated as they hit the spears and pikes of the wall, one of the soldiers holding a pike fell down from the force of impact that the charging pickica send to him when he impaled himself on the pike, the poor pickica was then send flying over the shield wall and straight next to Arthur. Despite having his rib cage crushed and coughing blood and slina the pickica was still alive, but not for long... Arthur wielded his war hammer and crushed the pickica's entire head to put it out of its misery.
In the matter of minutes all the pickice were decimated, but not without cost, for although a small number of the allied soldiers was killed, most of the front line troops had some pickica blood on their faces and luckily for them Malion noticed this
"ORDER THEM TO WHIPE OFF THE ENEMIES BLOOD! QUICK!" Malion practically shouted at the king telepathically "IT WILL TURN THEM INTO THE ENEMY!"
The king panicked and shouted: "SOLDIERS WIPE THE ENEMIES BLOOD FROM YOUR ARMOR AND SKIN! QUICK! ELSE YOU TURN INTO ONE!"
Malion told this to Arthur and the princes as well and after a few minutes of rigorous scrubbing with whatever they could find, nearly all soldiers were clean, however the mark of slina remained on some, and some of them carry those marks and scars today.
"Quick thinking brother, you saved lives!" Elision complimented him.
"I wonder why does Stih behave like this, is seems like they want us to win!" Malion responded to him.
"FORWARD!" The king shouted and the three armies split up as each of them advanced to their goals, the soldiers tried not to barf as they advanced over the corpses of their dead enemies, a lot of them burned by dragon fire and charred.
Arthur made a sarcastic smile and said: "I love the smell of burned Stih in the morning."
Everyone was struggling to get to their goal, they all stayed in line and rose their shields as the Stihs from the Holdouts threw slina at them.
"Hahaha! They are hitting us with slime! How can that hurt us!" One soldier said right before he was hit in the face with a large chunk of slina, he fell down on his knees and started shaking, soon he moaned as he turned into a stih.
"DODJITE GOTIVITE SE SA NAMA!" He scratched and started approaching a nearby soldier, the poor man screamed as his fear made him reflexively cut down his former comrade in the gut.
"QUICK, RAISE YOUR SHIELDS!" The king said and everyone did as commanded.
Soon everyone found themselves in the narrow slopes as they approached fenceri, the fighting intensified as the two armies crashed into each other.
In all three slopes the fighting broke out, although more numerous, the allied army was at a strategic advantage, while the enemy rained slina on them, when one of their soldiers fell the enemy gained an ally.
________________________________________ "Hahahaha!" Kole laughed. "Let's make this more interesting!"
He took his staff, turned it and modified it a bit to make it a long pole with six strings placed in order, he then proceeded to touch the strings in such order that the staff caused such vibration and ugly noise/sound that it causes both a earthquake and a land slide. ________________________________________
Unaware of this, Arthur had overcame yet another fencer who gleamed in his suit and was just getting ready to smash the enemy lying on his belly underneath him when he heard rocks move.
"Wha-?" He looked up, only to see the rocks collapsing.
"LOOK OUT! REATREA-?!?!" He shouted before the fencer underneath him got up and pushed him with his back, Arthur fell like he had fallen from the horse, still gripping his huge war hammer. He rolled downhill in his heavy suit of armor. When he got up, his head was spinning and he could clearly see that only a small number of his troops got back in time.
"OH NO!" He screamed only to get a response.
"PUSH THEM BACK GUYS!!! DON'T LET DESPAIR TAKE OVER YOU! THEY HAVE CORNERED US AND LIKE A CORNERED ANIMAL WE SHALL FIGHT!" It was obviously Bistris voice coming from the other side of the rock barrier.
Arthur looked around him and saw Valorfar and Mazzirog both holding their heads like their entire world was shaking.
"QUICK WE MUST HELP THEM!" Arthur ordered and headed to the barrier, slowly taking rock by rock and cleaning it up. The two commanders and what little men remained aided him.
"ELISION, COVER THEM!" Malion shouted as he disengaged the battlefield.
"Got it!" Elision responded.
Malion flew directly above the nearby Arcanius, who looked pale from the intense working.
"Is it ready?" The dragon asked.
"Yes! What now?" The mage asked.
"Now young master mage, you stand back!" Malion said as he landed before the soup that the mage made.
"Come on Koca, we need your strength now more than ever!" He said as he envisioned the giant.
The table and the soup started shaking as Malion envisioned the person he was summoning, the content of the soup turned green and started hovering out of the bowl. It made a small circle which got larger and larger, soon it was large enough to hold a full grown dragon the size of Elision.
Arcanius was worried because the ground was shaking, but when he saw the height of the figure coming thru the makeshift portal (the figure had to bow in order to enter it) he was in pure shock.
The giant looked like any other human, his face suggested he was not even 18 years old but his sheer size would make a brave man think twice before attacking, Arcanius was by no means a short man but his head was not even up to the giants knee and he had to tilt his head back to see the giants head.
"Arcanius Koca, Koca Arcanius. There will be times for pleasantries later now Koca come and help!" Malion said as Arcanius made a awkward bow with his head as a sign of approval.
"Just point me to what needs be done!" Koca said in a gentle voice, Malion pointed to the men trying to move the landslide (a normal man wouldn't see it from such distance in the current conditions, but Koca was tall and so he could).
"Help them! The longer we wait the more men will die!" Malion said and Koca hurried over to give aid.
"Arcanius, did you master the fireball spell from the book I gave you?" Malion took Arcanius by the arms as he started to fly.
"Yes I have but I don't see ho-AAAAAAAHHH" Arcanius said and Malion took to the skies with him. ________________________________________ "THAT'S IT!" Arthur yelled as he took off his magic bracelet and turned into his true half giant form, his magic armor stretching with him, he then took a boulder bigger than a human and tossed it to the stih at the holdout, judging by the looks, he must have killed three at least.
"Not bad boy, but watch how the real giants do it!" He heard someone gently say and pat him on the back, he turned around and looked down expecting a normal human, only to see a pair of giant legs, he looked up and saw that he was only tall up to the other giants belt, out of shock Arthur began searching for the ground with his arm.
Ignoring him and the sudden stares of everyone, Koca took a boulder bigger than Arthur and tossed it onto the holdout, this caused a landslide from the holdout and a large number of Stihs fell to their deaths.
"That was amazing!" Arthur cheered as he got himself together and started picking up the rock himself.
On the other side of the blockade Bistri was fighting the epic battle he had always dreamed off, at first he believed that Valorfar was right, that he would feel fear and despair before battle and when in battle that he will cry for his life. And while that was true with most of the men in their army (most of them being conscripts and not professional soldiers) he himself felt that this was his destiny and even if he was judged by fate to die this day, in battle he would fall.
"KEEP THAT LINE UP BOYS! DON'T LET THEM OVERCOME YOU! WE WILL SHOW THESE FANCY PANCED WOMEN HOW TO FIGHT!" The young would be knight yelled as he saw a young man next to him sitting underneath a boulder, hiding from the slina that the enemy was throwing on them. The man was dressed in usual soldiers armor but he was holding his knees with his hands and pressing his legs to his belly, he was sobbing and quietly crying amidst the chaos of battle.
"Whats wrong?" Bistri asked as he knelt beside him.
"We are all gonna die, aren't we?" The boy said with a strong rural accent, he must have been one of those peasants that volunteered to join him in order to aid the army. Bistri suddenly felt bad and responsible for this mans fate.
"Whats your name friend?" Bistri asked.
"Caleron." The boy responded.
"And how old are you?"
"Im 16 summers old sir..." The boy said thru sobs.
"Well, don't despair, there are many wonderful moments in life worth fighting for and this is your chance to defend them, you saw what would happen if we lose." He comforted him.
"Yes that's right, but... there are still many things I want to do before I die, I want to own my own farm, to raise a family... father was right when he told me not to waste my life away dying on a battlefield... that's what he said before I joined you sir..." The boy responded.
"Well, tell you what, when this is all over, I know a small patch of land in Vukojebina that is up for sale real cheap, I can arrange that you buy that and then you can have your own farm, would you like that?" Bistri asked.
"Yes... but you see sir... my biggest regret is that I... well I... have never been with a woman sir!" The boy smiled between sobs.
Bistri smiled. "Well, I take it that there exists a lady you fancy and after this is over, you can come back as a war hero and I doubt she will say no!" He smiled. Just then one of the soldiers fell next to him, hit by slina in the face, he began moaning as he transformed and Bistri immediately swung his sword to put him out of his misery.
"Now lets go win this war!" He said to the boy and the two rose behind the boulder.
The situation was getting worse by the minute, the water from the rain was being blocked by the barrier of boulders caused by the landslide and while the southern and northern armies were doing rather well, the middle one was collapsing. The water which couldn't flow down the mountain quickly formed a makeshift lake at the bottom of the barrier and the men risked being drowned in the dirty cold water.
Bistri cut down yet another Stih as he yelled: "FORM A WALL! FORM A CIRCLE! HOLD YOUR GROUND MEN!" He suddenly heard a cry for help, he turned around and saw that a fencer had picked up the boy he was talking to moments ago and he threw him at the rocks at the side, the boy fell down and stopped moving. Bistri felt a strong urge of rage and sadness, he had let down this boy... he had let down all of his men... just because he was willing to go on some silly adventure and waste his life, fighting didn't mean that those that fallowed him wanted to do the same. The tears that were forming on his face were undetectable for no one could see the difference between them and the rain drops that poured from the crying sky.
With a strong sense of rage he jumped at the biggest boulder he saw and yelled at top his lungs.
"TASTE MY RIGHTEOUS FURY!" And just as he rose his sword to the sky, the clouds separated to reveal a black chasm from which the holy thunder of truth came forth and striked Bistris sword with such conviction that the light emitted from it blinded everyone on the slope AND on the holdouts. The force that hit the sword was so strong that it even sent Kole on his back and he was on the top of the hill. (an amazing and awesome song to listen to while reading this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxGu5HjarmUwatching it is MANDATORY! The song will start at 0:45 but listening to the intro is desired as well. Note if you do not listen to it you will be condemned to the life of slina!)
"WHAT THE!?" Kole said as he stood up.
All the while the lightning continued to flow down to Bistri who still screamed at top his lungs. The sheer force that hit him caused his soft long brown hair to go completely black, strong and sharp, his eyes were consumed by lightning and turned to two black onyx spheres. As the lightning stopped there was a moment of confusion and just then the two dragons (one of them carrying a mage) appeared and they brought down fire on the first holdout in the middle slope (Arcanius had his hands free and so he casted a fire bolt since he could not breath fire) and then on the second holdout, all this happening in a millisecond, suddenly the Stih forces lost the advantage of flanking and height.
Suddenly Bistri jumped and drove his sword thru the fencer that threw the boy, lightning emitted from his sword and onto the poor enemy and soon the lightning spread to the surrounding enemies and turned them all to ash.
At the same time the amount of water accumulated and the amount of rocks removed from the barrier reached the crucial point and the barrier let lose, sending a wave of water and rocks down into the valise below, sending all the men down as if driven by a river, only Koca being so high was able to stand his ground. Arthur and the others (Mazzirog, Valorfar and the few men who remained behind) saw their opening and started rushing towards their allies.
Now rejoined Valorfar saw his cousin.
"BISTRI! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU" He yelled.
"I'm glad to see you too cousin, now up and at them!" Bistri said as he charged Kolshars who for the most of the conflict stayed at the top, they didn't aid their allies and they stood still up until now.
Bistri rushingly picked up his shield (which he dropped when Kole caused the landslide) and continued charging as he swung his sword cutting several enemies at once.
Suddenly from the back lines enemies started flying as Liura broke through, literally cutting through the air. Arthur hit one of the flying enemies going in his direction with his warhammer making the poor kloshar fly back dead at his allies. He reflectively spread his arms and caught Liura, who perfectly landed in his arms.
"Did you miss me?" She asked him smiling.
"There is no negative comment I can appoint to female kind that will express my annoyance with you..." Arthur said sarcastically as he smirked and put her down.
The other two armies were making steady progress, aided by the dragons who kept the holdouts clean, but the original plan backfired, they didn't encircle the enemy from the sides but broke the enemy in two by advancing through the middle land. Kole was watching all this and smirking.
"Boss! Aren't you worried at least?" Aco asked.
"No you idiot... this is all in the plan..." Kole was frowning at his friend. He turned his back on the battle field. At this point everyone was getting desperate.
"Hey look, I know that man, he was out scouting here!" One soldier said pointing to the scout which was not rescued when Arthur came for the scouts.
The scout turned to face his former friend only to reveal that his eyes were encrusted by thick slina.
"Come! Join us in our perfect world where everyone will listen and obey and mimick each other, where all will bow down to each other and to the gotivni Kole!" he offered.
The soldiers could only flinch at the offer, what was this man saying?
Sensing denial the slina infected scout frowned as he said.
"This slina clouds my vision... but I know you are made of sustina! DIE FOUL SUSTINA!" He said that and charged his former friends.
Kole was enjoying the show. More and more soldiers were converted to the dark ways of slina! And the kloshars being the most elite of the stih army were easily repelling the enemy, that is they would have repelled them if not for the giant and the two dragons burning them. One dragon landed on the south group of kloshars and the other at the northern, they were cutting and burning them at all sides. Arthur was caving in the enemies skulls and Mazzirog, Valorfar, Liura and Bistri were next to him doing the same.
Soon enough the three princes advanced forth and had climbed to the top of the hill with what remained of their army, the kloshars reformed and fled south, where they formed the last line of defense before their master Kole. Kole's bodyguards once again wanted to enter the fray but he motioned with his staff that they don't do that.
"Give up fiend!" He saw Liura shout at him. He smirked and casually pointed to the king who was advancing towards the hilltop, he shot a bolt of slina at the king and his highness disappeared from the horizon.
"FATHER!" Arthur shouted.
Filled with rage, Liura ran up to Kole, jumped above the kloshars in front and planted both her feet (in metal boots) in Kole's face. He would have fallen flat on his ass but luckily for him, he was caught by his 3 loyal bodyguards.
"KOLE! MASTER!" They all shouted in unison.
Koles black sunglasses fell slightly forward on his nose, they didn't fall from his face but Liura was close enough to see his eyes...
That was the trick...
THERE WERE NO EYES!
Only two bright orbs of slina which when looked at directly looked menacing. For the first time in a long while Liura was afraid and that was bad, she was one of those persons who couldn't be frightened, she had seen and done many scary things in her long life, but now she realized that she was dealing with a VERY powerful and VERY unnatural creature. She was wrong, before she assumed that Kole was just a human mage, but now she didn't know what to think.
Koles face turned from one of surprise and confusion to one of pure anger and hatred as he got back up.
"FEEL THE POWER OF SLINA!" He shouted and slammed his staff to the ground sending out a flash of green slina.