CHAPTER 23
With the town of Vinestone saved, well… the uphill portion, at least… and the orcish attack thwarted, the Dragon Prince and his guardsmen friends have struck a decisive blow against Mahk the Undying. Now they must press forward into the kingdom of Slahan proper and discover what fate has befallen King Arthurian at Slahan Hold.
The euphoria of the victory was all too brief. The orcs were soundly routed, but with the human half of Vinestone plus the refugees from other towns all crowded into the elven forest, living space was already at a premium, now such close confines were liable to bring about conflict and misery. This was an issue on top of the lack of supplies. When the retaining wall was breached it did wash away the orcs, but it also flooded the farmland (the orcs had done considerable damage to it already). The reality of the long recovery fell heavily upon everyone. It would take months to rebuild the retaining wall to redirect the river back to its original path, but, of course, that would have to wait until after the orc were dealt with lest they siege the city once more.
The elven elderman Grantar briefed Radais and his team on the situation, “Anyone that had anywhere else to go has taken the bare minimum needed to reach their destination and left through the Ways. However…most of the refugees are but simple peasants. They have spent generations working the same farmsteads as such, simply have no one to take them in.”
Radais frowned. “I would be willing to allow some of them to stay on Dragon Haven, but with the Empire’s machines stalking the Ways, any trip there risks exposing the island's location.”
“I don’t suppose you have a bunch more of those invisibility potions we used?” Zhanatos inquired.
“Not enough. Even if we did, the logistics of moving such a large group of people through the Ways without drawing significant attention would take ages.” Radais shook his head.
“Well, I have sent word to Highhelm and Exolas. Hopefully, they can send aid. For now, we can only hope our druids and ranger can harvest enough of nature’s bounty to sustain us. That is an issue for us to address.” Grantar took a letter from his robe, one with his personal seal stamped on it in bright red wax, and presented it to Radais. “Prince of Dragons I have prepared this letter explaining what has transpired in Vinestone and the efforts of you and your team. I believe this can help expedite your meetings with King Arthurian.”
Radais took the note with a nod. “Thank you, and yes we need to reach Slahan Hold.”
“We’ll have to fly, we can’t make it down the new river safely, and there’s no telling where those Earthbender will pop up,” said Larxene.
“Right and the faster the better. It won’t take long for what’s left of the orc to rally and go find another city to pillage,” Xion added managing to maintain the serious tone the statement required by surprising the giggles that came with her positive karma charged state.
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“Oh oh! Let’s do the tree thing!” Zhanatos suggested with a broad grin.
Xion and Larxene immediately groaned at the idea.
“Zhanatos, we’ve been over this… yes it did work that *one* time, but--” Radais began.
“Apologies my friends… what is this ‘tree thing’ of which you speak?” Grantar inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“A ‘conifer catapult’. You take a conifer tree, cut off the branches, and pull it down with rope, it makes a useful catapult. We used it to fly over a castle wall in a previous adventure, but frankly, the tree is just as likely to snap under the stress…” Radius explained.
“Might I suggest an alternative then? Vinestone was something of a factory town, one of our key exports was ballistas. The warehouse where we store the components is still intact, I believe with some modifications such a device might suit your purposes.” Grantar explained.
“A ‘ballista’ as in one of those giant crossbow things!?” Zhanatos inquired eagerly to which Grantar nodded.
A short time later…
“I can’t believe we’re doing…” Larxene sighed.
There was a loud clicking and clanking of gears as the workers turned the handles to pull back the string on the colossal bow.
“Oh, come this is going to be great!” Zhanatos was practically jumping up and down with excitement. “The hardest part is the take off right? We just gotta get launched and start gliding. It's just like being shot out of cannon.”
“We’ve never been shot out of cannon!” Larxene countered.
“Yes, but the comparison is still apt.” Zhanatos nodded in that smug ‘you can’t prove I’m wrong therefore I’ve convinced myself I’m right’ way Larxene hated so much.
“I must admit I do see potential in this idea. Perhaps we could modify the platform to add some sort of bracing so we can have wings spread as we’re fired might help. Or even some sort of glider device to serve as a launch platform.” Radais was busy jotting down notes.
“We could build a network of such devices across Dragon Haven,” Xion suggested eagerly.
“That would be an interesting future project, Xion.” The dragon prince nodded.
“What? No, I was being sarcastic?” Xion giggled. “This is a horrific idea that is sure to lead to some kind of horrendous injury.” She added happily.
Radais raised a confused eyebrow at the Shaman.
“It's this damn positive karma!” Xion wailed, cried, and… smiled?
“We’re ready!” Someone announced as the ballast-triggering device was locked into place and ready to be fired.
Zhanatos quickly jumped into place flexing his wings and getting ready to catch the air. Larxene reluctantly joined him a moment later followed then after by Xion. Radais paused to shake hands with Elderman Grantar.
“May the winds of fate be at thy back, Prince of Dragons.”
“Thank you, Elderman. I hope to see Vinestone restored to its former glory someday.”
The two exchanged a simple nod and Radais climbed aboard the contraption.
“Everyone ready?” Radais asked.
“Let’s do this!” Zhanatos answered eagerly.
“Let’s get this over with,” Larxene added with considerably less enthusiasm.
Xion simply nodded.
Radais gave the single, Grantar nodded to the firing crew and the trigger was pulled. There was a loud *THUNK* as the mechanism was released and the team was flung forward into the clear blue sky with castle Slahan Hold lingering on the horizon.