Quickly taking to the front of where the cavalry were to arrive, Aldrich looked at the buildings and road. While doused the scarred of the cursed flames remain in the burns and ashes. Going up to some of the columns of the building, Aldrich claws at them. This causes the road to be covered with the building rubble. Stepping back, Aldrich then breaths a bright red flame that ignites the rubble. Though the magic from the flames dispersed the flames themselves continued to burn, consuming the connected buildings in an intense flame.

“Lord Dragon, we’ve gathered as ordered.”

Aldrich turns to them, but is surprised to see elderly men and women gathered more than able bodied men. He looks at their faces. Hope, bravery, and bravado all throughout. An elderly canine-kin appears to be the leader of this group.

“Why did …”

“Lord Dragon, if we may explain.”

Looking at them, contemplating what they would say before saying,

“You are free to explain.”

“If it is simply needed that we stall for time for others to escape, would we not suffice.”

“You are elders. There is no need to…”

“Lord Dragon, do not think this way. We have lived long enough. Our sons and daughters are far more important than ourselves. We ourselves are simply a burden that will slow down the others. Now is the time to fight and we shall not shy away.”

Another elderly person chimes in.

“Our lives have always been protected by the dragons. Even now there is but a year old dragon leading a battle to protect us. Let us repay our thanks and fight along you.”

Pleads erupt from the crowd of elderly, asking to help fight. Aldrich ponders on his next decision. Will he send them away or will he let them fight? They aren’t exactly the greatest looking in strength and he surely didn’t ask for bodies to simply stall.

“Alright. Then you all shall be fine with my commands.”

“Of course.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Then arm yourselves. We shall create a spear wall behind the wall of flames.”

Excited, the elderly gather to their positions.

The other members of this group also follow suit.

Hiram runs up to Aldrich.

“What now?”

“Now you take the villagers and run to the dragon roost.”

“What? And leave you here?”

“We’re running out of time already Hiram. Just go.”

Hiram grabs onto Aldrich’s shoulder

“Aldrich, don’t do this.”

“Hiram I’ll be fine. I need you to guide the villagers. You’re better at organizing these things than I am. The fires I made should hold them off and we’ll retreat when we make enough space between your group and the invaders. Just trust me.”

Hiram looks at Aldrich’s eyes for a few seconds before silently leaving. It seems that he had more to say but could not.

Behind Hiram, Aldrich could see the Sinclair family members and other militia members escorting the slower villagers. Turning his attention back to the battle before him Aldrich watched as a line of elderly villagers and several young men formed a spear wall. They lacked any weapons to win the battle, but it was enough to wield their current weapons of knives, dirks, swords, and flaming sticks. All they needed to do was to stall for time.

As the sound of hooves closed in on them, Aldrich took to checking the flames. Walking through his own flames as it simply felt like a walk through the sunlight, Aldrich witnessed the invading cavalry come to a stop before the burning rumble. Success he thought, before a cavalryman with special armor spoke to the other black knights. He then points at the flames, or rather points at Aldrich. With a roar from the humans, they seemed to gather their courage to charge at him. They sort themselves into three lines and rush towards him.

Yelling out,

“Brace yourselves. Here they come.”

Aldrich charged up a breath and blew it into the charging invaders. The first ones immediately catch on fire before diverting away from the burning rubble. The ones after come straight over and attempt to jump past the flames. Aldrich quickly backs away behind the spear wall and watches as they collide with the villagers. The initial knights go down quickly, falling due to being taken down by the burning sticks. The next ones breach through the spear wall, knocking down the defenders with zealous zeal. Broken bones and crash of bodies ensues.

Much to the surprise of Aldrich, the knights don’t continue attacking the villagers however. After smashing through them, the knights immediately charge at Aldrich. Seeing as he is their target, Aldrich yelled to the recovering villagers through the sound of thunderous hooves,

“RETREAT! WE HAVE HELD LONG ENOUGH! RETREAT!”

The villagers recover and flee. Aldrich however, knew that they hardly held long enough, but the knights weren’t after the villagers. They were after him.