To my Cahl,

Happy Christmas 2015!

Sar

Prologue

"Have a care, Dragon. This is a war."

Sarrus did not meet the man's gaze, looking at the ground with a soft growl. Taking a breath, he looked up again. "I understand that, but what you are proposing-"

"Is necessary." General Savos finished his sentence firmly. "She of all people should understand that our freedom comes with a heavy price tag."

"But, General, I'm not sure it's wise to follow this course, especially not if it came to you in a dream."

The general bristled. "You question me? Might I remind you that my dreams have been guiding my decisions better than my advisers could for months now! I trust in my mind as every great leader should. The fact that brilliance only comes to me at night is by the by! After all, were it not for my dreams, I might never have thought to recruit you in the first place!"

"I understand that but this..."

"This," The general said, his voice rising. "Is exactly what we need to change the course of the war." He paused for a moment, mastering himself. "Unless you intend to tell me now that it cannot be done I suggest you get to work."

Sarrus closed his eyes for a moment, keeping his feelings in check before opening them again. "As you wish."

The general nodded with a pleased grunt as Sarrus left the tent. The dragon barely made it outside before his emotions got the better of him and a wide grin spread across his face. This was going to be fun...

Flames from Above

The beast roared triumphantly. The terrible sound came as a harrowing force that washed over Niphi's men. To her though, it was worse than just an attempt to demoralize her. That sound was one of mocking. The huge red dragon soaring above was amused at them. It was amused because they were no match for its fire and its talons. It was amused because it could pick them off, one by one, crushing them like cockroaches. Worst of all, though, it was amused because there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Niphi could feel a great loathing rise within her. How dare it come here, to a theater of war and tourment her and her men for bravely participating in a fight they now knew for sure they were going to loose. These foul beasts had no sense of honor.

Firmly in her right hand, Niphi held her falchion, her furred Irali fingers wrapped around the leather grip. With a quick look left and right she surveyed the field. Their strategy was to surround the dragon, each man holding a shield in one hand and a bow in the other, as it went for one company, the others behind it would pelt it with arrows. It wasn't the most effective strategy but with the limited resources the rebels had it would have to do. Perhaps this time one of her men would get a lucky hit. She wasn't hopeful.

There were perhaps one hundred men here. Double that might have evened the odds but they simply didn't have the numbers to spare. Niphi took her position at the front of First Company, raising her own shield and holding her sword out in front of her to signal the other companies. Their method was simple: The tip of the sword (the dangerous part) pointed to the companies who should brace for the dragon's fire. The hilt pointed to the company who should knock their arrows.

The dragon, which had been circling high, swooped down low. Niphi had seen enough of dragons to know that it had drawn breath and now, as its eyes began to glow brighter it was about to unleash its fire. While she watched the dragon her sergeants watched her as she held her sword pointing upwards in a neutral position. As the dragon dropped within firing range her grip tightened. It did as she expected, attempting to cut a line through the circle, trying to divide it down the middle. Niphi watched as it spread its jaws and let loose the immense force that was its yellow flame. It was dazzlingly bright, particularly just as it became visible beyond the dragon's open maw, making it's surroundings look darker. The flames spread and struck against the shields of two companies. Niphi steeled herself, keeping her emotions in check as she watched the men taking the full force of the dragon's fury. Perhaps it only lasted a few seconds but it felt like an eternity as shields wavered and collapsed. Niphi could not help but count as each of fifteen men were engulfed in the searing inferno, their mouths wide in a seemingly silent gesture of agony as their bodies were savaged by the heat.

Niphi waited in this crucial moment, not breathing, not even allowing herself the respite of blinking as she watched the dragon. Only when she was sure it was clear of the companies behind did she send the signal, aligning her sword to the bearing of the beast above.

Her men moved quickly. They had the smallest of windows and they could not afford to miss it. All four companies behind the dragon lowered their shields and raised their bows, knocking arrows with practiced speed. There was no command to fire, the instant they had a shot they loosed, pelting the dragon with an unorganized barrage. Each man would fire as fast as he could, trying to place as many shots as possible before the dragon either turned or flew away.

It reached her. The dragon had managed to align itself so as to come directly at First Company. Niphi did not know if this was an intentional move to try and kill their captain or if it was just chance. She braced herself, holding her shield above her with her left arm, head bowed and legs bent to her chest, crouching herself beneath the only thing that could protect her. To her and her company, only one thing mattered in that instant, the thick squares of metal they held aloft as the flames hit.

The heat was immense, like nothing else. Niphi could have put her head in a forge and not felt anything close to the heat raining down on her from above. The flames eagerly rushed through the gaps between the company's shields, the yellow inferno just inches from the flammable fur of Niphi's back. She was cut off, the curtains of light blocking out her view and the incredible roaring sound blocking out her hearing. She continued to strain, keeping her muscles tensed against the force pressing down on her shield. The rapidly expanding air within the fire pushed down on her.

Niphi held her breath. She knew that just a small draw of that hot air would make her choke and drop her shield, a fatal mistake. The shield was beginning to glow a frightening orange, only the insulative wood protecting her arm, wood that was beginning to smoke and blacken where it was pressed into the metal. As the flames continued the heat began to penetrate further into the wood. Niphi clenched the fist on her shield arm as she felt pain running up it. She winced. Her arm was starting to shake. She clenched her teeth as the pain turned to agony. Her arm was shaking so much she could feel it hitting against the top of her head.

It was slipping, the pain was too much "No!" She growled as she felt her arm give way and the shield dropped.

Flames from Below

Niphi dared to draw a breath. The flames had gone. She looked around, steeling herself as her eyes fell upon a corpse on the ground next to her. She could not have recognized the soldier, she wasn't even sure if he was Irali or not. His flesh was a raw red and he was curled pathetically in a fetal position.

Niphi blinked. Just for a moment, allowing a single tear to matte the fur under her eye before she shakily got to her feet.

There was little left of First Company. The dragon had held its fire on them for a long time. Niphi could not bring herself to count, instead she drew her falchion once again and looked for the dragon. The scarlet creature was a good distance away now, on the far side of what was once the circle of her men. To Niphi's surprise, she could see that they were still pelting it with arrows. She ran to the collective mass of soldiers to get a closer look at what was happening. While she had probably only been under the fire for a minute at best, that time had completely cut her off from the tides of battle.

When she reached the new front line her eyes went wide and for a moment she thought that a second dragon had joined the battle. Great tongues of lilac flame were now visible, a distinct contrast to the red dragon's yellow flame. A moment later, though, Niphi noticed that the yellow and lilac flames were not working together to cause carnage but were instead turned against each other, violently jostling in the air.

Standing on the ground beneath the dragon was the figure of a hominid in a black leather cloak, his arms were raised above his head and channeling the lilac inferno that seemed to come from under his hood. Niphi could see that the dragon was hovering, not wanting to turn down the challenge of this clearly powerful mage. She understood now why her men were still loosing arrows. As long as the dragon was distracted they stood a chance of getting a hit somewhere vital. What was frustrating, was that this was still very difficult. While a hit on a dragon's belly would have the best chances of doing some real damage, the dragon's head was down and its scaled back and neck were in the way, while arrows regularly hit its wings, they seemed to lodge in the thick skin without the dragon even noticing.

As one of the few soldiers without a bow, Niphi could only watch. This mage was impressive but he was unlikely to last long against a dragon, their power was legendary. As if to confirm her thoughts, the front of yellow flame began to descend toward the figure. Niphi growled in frustration. That man's brave act would cost him his life and they still hadn't placed a hit on the dragon's vitals.

The lilac flames seemed almost beaten, pushed back to little more than a meter from the mage's open hands. Niphi would have shut her eyes but she could not let any more of the battle pass without her watching.

Suddenly, the mage let out an almost bestial roar of exertion as his arms lowered slightly, only to be thrust back upwards. Niphi felt a pulse through the air as his flames brightened to become blinding and rushed up. The dragon barely had time to widen its eyes in shock as its flames were pushed away and it was hit by the full force of the mage's fire. The red beast was jerked violently, its wings suddenly filled with expanding flame, pushing it upwards and backwards.

The archers showed their metal then more than ever before as they wavered only for the shortest moment before loosing waves of arrows at the now exposed belly of the dragon. One got a good hit on its gut, another, the joint of its hind leg. The most damning shot though, was the one that got it right underneath its right wing joint, severing a tendon. The drake howled in pain as it lost control of its flight and plummeted into the ground with a loud crash.

Niphi was running before she even relized what had happened, charging towards the beast with her sword at the ready. It had landed not far from the archers, hitting the ground head first, digging in and flipping onto its back.

It struggled and began to right itself. She was close, twenty paces. The dragon rolled onto its side. Ten paces. It got its hind legs down. Five paces. It began to heave over onto its belly.

Niphi was there, with a roar, she rammed her falchion into its chest, right between the ribs on the left hand side. It curled its head to face her. She could see down its throat, see the yellow veins running along its tongue glow blindingly with energy. She pulled her sword out, loosing a torrent of scarlet blood as she did. She could feel the heat coming from its mouth, feel the raw power. She thrust her sword in again, this time on the right hand side.

The dragon blew but no flames came, it drew breath and tried a second time, letting out a pained choke. It looked panicked for a moment, its eyes wide then shuddered with a grown, frozen for a moment as the light faded from its eyes before its head dropped to the ground and its body relaxed.

The Cloaked Fiend

They could have mourned. Good men had died. For once, though, they had not died in vein and so the remaining men of the eight companies celebrated.

Niphi looked out over the crowd in the mess tent. While the tent was large, it was not designed to fit an entire troop in one sitting. All around her were crammed all the men and women that called her Captain. Each had a mug of ale and each looked as joyous as the next.

She would have been happy to just sit there and enjoy the celebration but a hush was brought about by a couple of her sergeants. One of them stood and held her tankard up. "To Captain Niphi! Slayer of dragons!"

There was a cheer from the crowd, even to the dissidents among them she was a hero tonight. Niphi stood for a moment before making to sit down, as she did there was a dissatisfied groan from the soldiers. With an exaggerated sigh she stood up again to total silence.

Niphi looked up at the ceiling as she brought the tankard to her mouth, she pursed her lips and shut her eyes. The ale tasted bitter as she began to gulp it down.

Some of the men banged their fists against the table while others let out a rhythmic whooping. This was nothing compared to the burn of dragon fire and it was a skirmish lasting mere seconds before the whole pint was gone and Niphi slammed the tankard down on the table to another cheer.

Relieved that she had fulfilled her obligation, Niphi made to sit down once again, as she did so, she spotted a figure slip in through the front flap in the tent. A male Iral wearing a black cloak. Underneath the hood, she could see something lilac glinting.

Niphi waited for a moment for her men's attention to go back to their drinks before making her way over to greet the stranger. He gave her a curt bow as she approached. "Captain Niphi." He had a soft, low voice and the soldiers surrounding hardly seemed to notice him.

"So," Niphi said "you're the one who knocked that dragon out of the sky."

The man bowed again "Sarrus, at your service."

Niphi motioned to a table and the two sat down. Now that she was facing him on the same level, Niphi could see that the strange lilac light was coming from his eyes. They did not look Irali at all, they glowed brightly around a pitch black slit in the center of each. Niphi could not help but stare, they looked almost as if they belonged to...

"That was quite a battle." Sarrus said.

Niphi shook her head for a moment, dispelling the image of those eyes. "Uh, yes, yes it was. I take it you're the mage the General has been boasting of."

The cloaked figure smiled. It could have looked pleasant, perhaps modest if it weren't combined with those eyes, they looked too proud for modesty. "Guilty as charged, I'm afraid."

"Your timing was impeccable." Niphi continued "I must admit that had you not come along when you did, we would probably have been wiped out. I take it you were not there by chance."

Sarrus chuckled "No, I'm afraid not. Truth be told, Captain, I came here looking for you."

Once again Niphi met his gaze, it was frighteningly intense. Despite her strong disposition she found herself shudder as he spoke.

"I was hoping to involve you with a project of mine to improve our combat with dragons."

"Oh... oh, right. So, what do you need of me?"

"Well, for now I was just hoping to ask you some questions."

Niphi nodded slowly before Sarrus proceeded.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty Three" She said, surprising herself by how quickly she answered.

"Good, have you any children?"

Niphi shook her head without breaking the mage's gaze. It was getting harder to see much beyond those eyes. Somehow the rest of the room was getting darker and quieter.

"Excellent." Sarrus smiled. "When was the last time you had sex."

Niphi hesitated. "Uh... I..."

Sarrus lent in a little closer, maintaining his gaze. Niphi tensed for a moment before relaxing, her voice going slightly dopey.

"About a year..."

Sarrus gave a satisfied nod. "A perfect specimen. You are exactly what I need."

Niphi felt a warm feeling inside her at that, as if it pleased her to be praised by this stranger.

"Would you follow me outside, please."

Niphi nodded slowly and got to her feet. As she did, Sarrus broke her gaze as he turned to exit the mess tent. Niphi raised a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes for a moment. She was finding it hard to think straight. Who was this strange mage? Why had he asked her such strange and... intrusive questions and why had she been so willing to answer them?

Niphi blinked again. When had she left the tent? She groaned softly and rubbed her eyes before looking around. The mess tent was filled with laughter and light. It seemed that no one had followed behind her. She doubted anyone had even noticed her leave. The other tents, smaller ones for sleeping looked empty. Their doors pinned open to show the bedrolls inside. She saw Sarrus standing a short distance away.

For a moment Niphi hesitated before slowly approaching him. He looked at her and smiled, once again meeting her gaze. Almost as soon as he did she felt herself relax and she smiled back at him with a dopey expression.

Slowly, starting with his feet and moving upwards, his body became consumed in lilac flames. Such a sight might normally have shocked Niphi but right now it seemed normal to her. She watched with that same smile as the mass of bright flames began to reshape into the form of a dragon. It burned for a moment before suddenly going dark.

For a second, Niphi thought that the mage had simply vanished, then as her eyes once again adjusted to the dark she saw his glowing, bestial eyes.

There was much more to him now. Niphi felt her mouth open slightly as where once there was an Iral, there now stood an enormous black dragon. He broke her gaze and turned to the side leisurely, allowing her to take him in. A long black tail that thinned to a point. A set of four muscular legs, each tipped with a set of razor sharp black talons. A body tiled with glossy black scales. A pair of vast wings and a distinctive reptilian head.

"You're..." She trailed off.

"The first rebel dragon..." Sarrus said, sounding amused. His voice was more or less the same as it had been though the deeper notes were much stronger now. Niphi felt herself shudder. Was she still carrying her sword?

Niphi looked down at the dragon's feet. He was much larger than the red drake they had fought. This explained how he had managed to overpower it.

Niphi raised a hand to her head and rubbed it hard. Dragons were the ultimate weapon of the gods. They were unyieldingly loyal, there were no rebel dragons. She reached for the hilt of her sword.

Sarrus chuckled. It was a deep, rumbling sound, brimming with amusement. "You left it in the armory."

"Oh..." Niphi said quietly. Why was it so hard to think? "What do you want with me?" She asked. She had intended to demand an answer but the question hadn't come out quite as she expected.

"As I said, I need your help to improve rebel combat with dragons."

"But... You are a dragon." Niphi began to growl quietly "An enemy!"

"Look at me, Captain." Sarrus said softly.

Niphi shook her head, still growling, clenching her fists at her sides.

Sarrus took a step closer. "Look at me." He said firmly.

Niphi hesitated for a moment before, head shaking, she met his gaze and felt herself relax once again.

"Get on my back."

Niphi nodded slowly before doing as she was told, waiting for the dragon to bend down before carefully climbing up to sit between his shoulders. His body felt incredibly warm to the touch.

Sarrus spread his wings, pushing off into the sky and taking the enthralled captain away with him.

To Be Continued...