Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Six - Saint Bastion and the Dragon

The amphiptere spun around, mouth gaping wide to expose its large fangs, both dripping with a liquid I could only assume wasn’t great for anyone’s health. It snapped at the air, a futile attempt to catch Bastion.

The soldiers around the monster kept jabbing at it with their spears and even the occasional swing of a sword. Magic pelted the monster’s sides, leaving marks and little else against the amphiptere’s diamond-hard scales.

I couldn’t stand not being helpful, but there wasn’t much a couple of fireballs would do to something like that, and Cleaning magic would just annoy it, at best.

It really sucked, but maybe the best I could do was sit back and wait.

As I made that decision, the amphiptere spun around on itself, coiling up in a big circle and sending the soldiers near it reeling back, else they’d be squished by the creature’s massive bulk.

Bastion flew back and landed with a slight bounce some two dozen metres away from the monster.

The soldiers rebuilt their formation, officers screaming out orders from within their ranks until the amphiptere was once again surrounded by a bristling wall of spearheads. It glanced around itself with a deep hiss, malevolent, angry eyes scanning across all the people that looked absolutely tiny in comparison to it.

“Hey!” Bastion shouted. He waved his arm above his head, and the amphiptere turned his way and bared its fangs.

It shot towards Bastion, mouth opening wide again only for Bastion to dive out of the way. The monster was clever though. It turned, one of its wings unfurled like a large leathery sail.

It made a dull thump as it swatted Bastion out of the air.

“Bastion!” I shouted as I saw my friend punched back. He landed with a heavy thud against the rocky ground, then rolled bum over teakettle before stopping in a heap.

The amphiptere hissed, and it sounded downright pleased with itself. It shifted its bulk, scaring off the soldiers that had started to move in again, and it slithered closer to Bastion.

The paladin was getting to his feet, but he looked dazed by the blow. I didn’t know if he would have time to really figure things out before the amphiptere was on him.

Which meant that I had to do something.

I didn’t decide to spend a heap of stamina to launch myself across the battlefield and right at the amphiptere’s head. But by the time I realized what I was doing, I was airborne and already halfway to it's scaly cranium.

I wished I had my spade with me, that would have made things a whole bunch easier. The snake didn't even turn my way, apparently dismissing me. I wasn’t a threat, certainly no more than all of the soldiers fighting it from every direction.

The thing is, I wasn’t rushing at it to hurt it—I was there to be the most annoying bun I could be.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Don’t hurt my friends!”

I landed with a crunch of loose gravel below the amphiptere’s head. It still towered way above me, but that didn’t stop me from reaching down and grabbing a rock the size of my head.

With a grunt of effort, I leapt up and ahead of the amphiptere, then I flung the rock I had into its open mouth.

It bounced off of a tooth with a heavy clunk, then rolled down its gullet.

The amphiptere closed its mouth, and I saw the muscles of its throat working before it glanced down and glared at me. It hissed again, and I glared right back. “Well, that’s what you get for trying to eat my friend,” I shouted.

The monster seemed to consider that before it moved back towards Bastion.

It really had a thing against my friend. At least I’d won him time. He was back on his feet, sword arm moving around as he tested it. “Broccoli, get off the battlefield,” he said.

“I can help,” I said.

“I’m certain you can, but it’s dangerous here,” he said.

As if to emphasize his words, the monster spat at the spot where he was, coating the ground in a thick layer of sizzling acid while he bounced away from it. “We need to shift things around—this is turning into a battle of attrition and we don’t have the numbers or the time for that,” Bastion warned.

“So what do we do?” I shouted back.

Bastion looked around briefly while the amphiptere slithered closer. “We lure it somewhere we have an advantage!”

He had to move again right after that, the amphiptere putting pressure on him as it tried to gobble him up. I backed up, my job done for the moment. I had to think. Someplace where we had an advantage?

I glanced around. The battlefield was, for the most part, flat, with only a few smaller bumps in the terrain and some roads here and there for the quarry workers to use. The biggest hill was the one the amphiptere had been living in, and it was actually a good deal smaller than the monster itself. I imagined there was some large hole underground for it to nestle itself into.

The new quarry location didn’t have much going for it. The old quarry though... that was basically a huge hole with some water at the bottom. There wasn’t even that much, and there were spiralling earthen ramps all around it. The quarry was pretty darned big too, especially for something that had likely been dug mostly by hand.

“Bastion!” I called out. “The old quarry! Can we make it fall down there?”

Bastion grunted as he juked out of the way of a strike. “Maybe! Get to the general, we’ll need his mages. I’ll--” He paused to fly under another frustrated snap. “I’ll start attracting it over!”

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“Got it!” I shouted before taking off.

I had to find the general, which proved difficult. He wasn’t with the mages on the sidelines, or at least, I didn’t see anyone that looked like him with them.

Then his fabulous hat saved the day. It was impossible to miss the colourful mane atop the general’s head, even if he was partially hidden behind a line of his troops. They seemed to be manoeuvring away from the amphiptere’s whipping tail, some of them doing their best to resist the sweeping blows that occurred whenever the monster moved while others focused on slashing and cutting at the tail whenever it came near.

From what I could tell, it looked more like they were leaving a whole lot of papercuts rather than any big wounds, but they were trying their best, considering the size difference.

I hopped over, moving as quick as I could and even bouncing off the giant snake when its undulating movement brought it close enough.

“General Holey!” I said as I landed with a heavy thump.

“Captain Bunch,” he greeted. “Tighten to the right! If you don’t hold, we’ll all be rotting in the deepest pit with our ancestors by the morning!” He turned back to me. “What can I do for you, captain?”

“Bastion is planning on drawing the monster towards the old quarry. We want to make it fall down the pit so that we can hit it from above. We need your mages.”

“To weaken the edge so its weight will make it collapse,” he said. “I understand. Here, take this.” The general reached down to his chest piece where a medallion hung. He tore it off and tossed it to me, then pointed to the slight rise where the mages were holding up. “Quick, show that to the lieutenant—tell him of the plan. We’ll be there.”

“Got it!” I said.

Battlefields, even ones where there was only one big enemy to fight, were more hectic than I’d imagined.

I ran and bounced for all I was worth towards the mages, who were still casting spells, though they seemed to be taking small breaks between barrages. Judging by all of the glass bottles littering the ground around them, they were rapidly using up mana to cast so many spells nearly nonstop.

“Who’s the lieutenant!” I shouted as I came within hearing.

“Aye!” one of the mages said. He has a slightly more elaborate helmet, and a small badge on his chest piece.

“Here,” I said, giving him the medallion. He took it, inspected it, then nodded, all in the space of two seconds. “We’re luring the monster to the edge of the old quarry. We need the ground there weakened so that it can fall into the quarry.”

“Understood,” he said. “Hold fire! We’re mobilizing!”

“Great,” I said.

“When is this taking place?” he asked.

I half turned and looked out at the fight. It was moving already, the serpent slithering its way after Bastion, who was weaving left and right before it, drawing its attention to him while keeping its pace relatively slow. “Now, I think.”

“You might want to inform the other parties then,” the lieutenant said.

That made sense. “Good idea,” I said. I glanced at my stamina, saw that I still had plenty left in the tank, then I charged, aiming for the hill where the amphiptere had been staying.

The area around the hill was a mess. There were huge boulders all over and smaller rocks strewn about like toys on the floor of a messy kid’s bedroom. I had to watch my bounces as I darted up the hillside.

I was breathing hard when I was greeted by a line of soldiers from the Inquisition. They eyed me, uncertain. “I need to talk to the major,” I said.

“This isn’t the time for that,” one of the soldiers said.

I blinked. “What? It’s about--” I gestured behind me. “That.”

“I’ll speak with her!” Major Springsong said. He had a few officers around him, and I noticed that quite a few of his soldiers looked pretty banged up. I guessed they’d been near the worst of it for a while. The crevice, or what was left of it, was only a dozen metres away. It looked as if the stone under the edge of it was almost... melted?

That might explain how something so big had fit in there.

“Captain Bunch?” the major asked.

“Uh, Bastion, that is, Paladin Bastion, is heading over to the old quarry. He’s hoping to lure the amphiptere there. The mole people mages are going to help him so that it falls into the quarry.”

“And with it unable to fly... yes, that might work,” the major said. “Thank you, captain.”

I started to give him a sloppy salute, then remembered what Bastion said about those. “Uh, right. I’m off to see the commander.”

“Did the paladin give you any additional instructions?”

I wiggled my tail in thought. “I don’t think so. If he did, I forgot already.”

He stared.

“Okay, bye!” I said.

I went back down the hill. It was a lot easier running downhill than up, of course, so I got a good headstart from that. My destination was the commander, but it seemed as if the commander had guessed what would happen already. His troops were formed up in three smaller groups, all of them hemming in the amphiptere from the sides and harassing it with spears and swords, never giving it the chance to stay still without getting chopped up.

The damage each soldier inflicted was small, but it looked as though it was adding up. The amphiptere was bleeding here and there, and while it looked like it could heal fast, it wasn’t outpacing the soldiers.

Eventually, the army here would win. That was, as long as nothing went wrong.

***