Alex and the others were very surprised when I showed up with my boat full of things, especially the large boars and other animals. He was even more surprised when I told him what we were going to do with the boars and the immolation, fire, and fire suppression potions he had. He laughed at my idea to stuff the fire suppression ones into the animals and launch them on the catapults for them to eat, then he exclaimed that it was a brilliant idea.
He didn't ask why we had been gone for so long or what we had been doing for hours, so I assumed that he was either going to ask later when we had some spare time or he was going to wait for the report. Doing either of those in the middle of a mission wasn't something he would condone to distract the troops. It was more important to work first and they could discuss the details later.
The other construction crew had already built the two large catapults from the other boat and they ran over to see what the crew I had with me had done. When they carried out the two completed weapons, everyone stared at them and didn't know what to say.
“Trust us, you are going to be amazed.” Mage Lukas said. “I saw it with my own eyes and I still can't believe it.”
“I didn't see it.” One of the weight mages said. “It was too fast.”
Alex gave them disbelieving looks. “What are they?”
“I believe David said they were called Kracken Tubes.”
“Kracken and not dragon?” Alex asked and looked confused. “Why in the world...”
“I've never seen a Kracken.” I said.
Alex looked surprised for a second, then laughed. “I get it. No one's seen these before, either.”
“The ammunition isn't finished and I need to requisition the short swords you brought as backup weapons.” I said and walked over to the piles of supplies and easily found the crates of weapons.
“Requisition? What do you...” Alex stopped talking as he thought about that. “Oh.”
I gave him a smile when he realized that I wasn't going to pay for them. I opened the crates and brought them over to the piles of wood ammunition we had, then I got to work stripping the hilts off of the swords and cleaning the metal. I made a slice in the top of one of the three foot long logs and inserted the short sword. I applied some number ten potion and put the projectile aside to let it set, then kept working.
“What is he doing?” Alex asked Mage Lukas.
“He's making a normal log into a devastating weapon.” Mage Lukas said. “Just sharpening the wood into a point wouldn't work, since it's just wood and would probably just smash on the dragon's scaled armor or only impact and push the dragon. It needs piercing capability with a metal tip, so Mage Henrietta came up with the short sword idea, because we didn't have a blacksmith handy.”
“I just hope it works.” Alex said.
“I'll give the combat mages a crash course in how to work them. By the time David's done assembling them and the crews are done finishing the other catapult brackets as launchers, there's nothing that we can't face.” Mage Lukas said. “This is still going to be the most dangerous mission that any of us have ever been on; but, we also have much better chances now.”
Alex watched him walk away and crouched down to whisper. “Mage Lukas is calling you David now?”
“He's thinking of petitioning me to join his family.” I responded and Alex looked shocked. “So is Mage Henrietta.” I said and nodded to her.
As if she knew I had mentioned her, she turned her head to look at me with a smile. She was still talking to the other mages and she turned her head back to them to keep the conversation going as Mage Lukas joined them.
“What did she offer?” Alex asked and I told him. He looked even more shocked and he sat down to take several deep breaths. “Are you going to accept?”
“I know she's telling the truth...” I started to say.
“...you're positive that Diane will never let it happen.”
“Yes, and Mage Henrietta made a slight mistake in her offer.” I said and kept working.
Alex took a few minutes to think about it and couldn't come up with anything, because he asked me. “What was the mistake?”
“Just like everyone else, she thinks that I want to leave the marsh.” I said.
Alex's mouth dropped open in surprise and he didn't say anything else for a while. Eventually, he pat my shoulder and stood up, then went to the construction crews to discuss the capabilities of the Kracken Tubes and how they could be best deployed for the mission. I didn't know much about aiming or angles for firing things like this, since I barely had any practice time in basic training with bows and crossbows.
We only had closed courses and didn't venture outside or shoot at long distances. If he had asked me about it though, I would have told him to leave them in a cluster and keep the ammo nearby, then fire them all at once. If one or two against a dragon would be harmful, all eight at once would be deadly. Or should be, anyway. We wouldn't know until the battle started.
One of the construction crew men came over to me and asked what I thought about how to use the Kracken Tubes, so I told him. He commented that it would be hard to defend two catapult crews if they were clumped together.
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I shook my head. “They aren't meant to be used to defend. They are supposed to attack. If you wait for the dragon to attack the crews first, they will already be dead before you can fire in defense.”
The man looked surprised, nodded, and went back over to the meeting.
I kept working until I ran out of short swords. I went back to the supplies and found a crate of daggers, shrugged, and went back to work. I put the weaker ammunition off to the side. Hopefully, we wouldn't need that much and the ones with the short swords would be enough to finish off the creatures. I kept working anyway. I would rather have them and not need them than be dead for not having them.
Time seemed to pass by quickly and everything was all set up. I was positioned with the non-combatants, since I wasn't a part of the strike teams. Alex had kept his word and the boat pilots were just that when the fighting was going to start. Mage Henrietta gripped my arm tightly as we hid behind a hunting blind to keep us out of sight.
No one spoke as Alex made the proper signals, then the first two catapults launched their glowing blue fiery contents. That had been one of my own ideas, to use wildwood wrapped bundles lit on fire to track where they went. Inside was a barrel full of number ten potion and huge bundles of spider webs. I watched with the others as the shots flew a really long way away.
I was frankly amazed that it could shoot that far and it wasn't even enchanted like the Kracken Tubes were. The crews cranked them down and rock bundles were added, this time with enchantments that I didn't know because they were secret, and they were launched as well. A third launch was being prepped before we heard the explosion of the first delivery, then we heard ear-splitting howls of pain and anger from the dragons.
“That was an excellent shot by both teams.” One of the mages said with his eyes closed. “Direct hits near the center of the nests and the dragons are covered in spreading webs, wood, and fire.”
“ROOOOWWWRRRRR!!!!” A male dragon's battle call cut through the marsh and a few people trembled.
“They are trying to fight the glue.” The mage said. “It's getting all over them.”
The rock bundles came down next and impacted on the nests and the dragons.
“The exploding rocks pissed off the male. He's coming.” The mage said and opened his eyes. “They're coming!” He said loudly and warned the combat mages.
“We're ready.” Mage Lukas said and nodded to the others. The defensive mages that were left to protect the catapult crews readied their shield spells and the mages on the Kracken Tubes charged the weight enchantment.
According to the plan, the two strike teams should be attacking the nests right now. The third launch was their cue to attack the nesting females and to slaughter the babies. It sounded bad when described like that, and it was. However, they had to be killed. Even the army can't fight off a dozen full grown dragons that would just keep having more babies if they remained alive. Now the Kracken Tubes had to deal with at least one angry father.
The construction crew had decided that they would help on the tubes to aim and turn them where necessary. They knew how to work them best, since they built them, and could load them faster than the mages and crank them back into launch position by the time the mage was ready to charge the next projectile.
A very large shadow appeared over everyone and they all looked up as one, even me. A dragon, bigger than the one I had seen before, was approaching very quickly from the direction of the sun.
“He's a smart one!” Mage Lukas said. “Ready! Aim!”
All the mages charged the movement enchantment and the projectiles rattled in the tubes.
“FIRE!”
The crews pulled the levers and all eight Kracken Tubes sprang into action and launched the projectiles at an unbelievable speed. The dragon saw them coming and it didn't matter. It couldn't dodge such fast shots and the range was short in comparison with a normal catapult. There was one miscalculation I had made, however. There was no way to direct them once they were fired.
Three of the shots missed completely as they seemed to hook the wind or something. I would learn later that it was the air that the dragon was displacing as it flew. Five of the shots managed to hit it, with three in the chest and two through its wings. It let out an ear-piercing screech of pain and flapped its huge wings to slow down. It seemed confused as to how it had gotten hurt, then eight more projectiles hit it, spread over its neck, chest, belly, and back legs.
“GRAAAWWWWW!” It yelled and seemed to hunch in on itself as it covered itself with its wings and tried to used its mouth to pull some of the projectiles out. It also was no longer flying and droped like a rock towards the ground.
“Keep firing!” Mage Lukas said and the wings were peppered with all eight shots.
The dragon slammed into the waterway and bounced, flipped over, and landed on its back in a dry area next to where the Kracken Tubes were set up. It was about two hundred feet away and everyone seemed stunned that they had just taken down a dragon.
“ROOOAAARRRR!” The dragon bellowed and pulled its wings away from covering itself. The wings tore, which enraged it further, and it rolled over to stand up on its four legs. One of the projectiles was sticking out of a nostril and two were still in its neck. Half of the others had broken off and it was bleeding all over to place.
“Adjusted aim!” The crew said as one.
“BOAR!” Alex yelled and one of the full size catapults did a kind of half-launch and lobbed a potion filled boar carcass over to it.
The dragon saw it coming and its eyes blazed as it opened its mouth.
“He's going to do it!” Someone shouted and the dragon blew out a huge gout of flame at the boar coming towards it. To everyone's surprise, the boar actually slowed down from the force of the flames and dropped to the ground in front of the dragon.
“Do it.” Mage Henrietta whispered beside me. “Come on. Eat it.”
The dragon ducked its head to smell the large boar carcass, growled, and scooped it up into its mouth. We all watched it chew and try to swallow, then it coughed. It coughed for several seconds and then closed its mouth and tipped its head up into the air.
“FIRE!” Mage Lukas said and eight more shots peppered the dragon's front. Two of them even managed to hit it right under its chin.
“Die, you beast! Just die!” One of the crewmen said loudly.
As if the dragon had heard him, it shook its head and looked right at him. It opened its mouth and pulled the two projectiles out of its chin, took a deep breath, then coughed. It coughed again and bent over, picked at its mouth with his front foot, then gave up.
“Raggllll!” It tried to roar and it looked surprised, then its eyes flared and it started to run towards us.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” Mage Lukas said and he fired three times before the dragon hopped over the waterway. Luckily, everyone else reloaded once and scored hits on the creature's front legs. When it landed, its front legs collapsed under the dragon's weight and it slammed into the ground.
It slid forward almost fifty feet and the combat mages and crew scrambled out of the way as it kept coming, then it came to a stop with its nose almost pressing against the front Kracken Tube. It let out a low growl as its eyes scanned around and saw all of the men around it.
In the next second, Mage Lukas and the other mages showed us why they were combat mages. Lightning spells, fireball spells, shards of earth launched at high speed, and a glowing sword had pierced both of the dragon's eyes and finally finished off the crippled creature.