Klajo was coming in hot. Fire flared from his nostrils as he skidded to a halt in the supply area, just in front of the field hospital that the Pelsan forces had set up behind the lines.
King Jend was wrapped in the great scarf on the back of the dragon, but he wasn’t moving and showed no signs of life.
Wyndy, riding in on Shadow, was the first to reach him. She stood on the wolf and supported her father’s head as a goblin orderly helped her unwrap him from the scarf and they lowered him to the ground. There was no blood or signs of wounds, but the king was feverish and barely breathing. The orderly ran into the hospital for help.
“What is wrong with my father?” asked the princess.
“I don’t know. He told me he had a stomach ache, but he wanted to go into battle anyway. Then he passed out as we reached the enemy lines,” said the dragon.
“He’s breathing, we’ll get him to the hospital tent. You go!”
“I need to see that my king is safe.”
“No, our dragons need you. We’ll fix him! Go now!” ordered Wyndy.
Emmyth ran out of the hospital tent and to the king. Klajo saluted his fallen liege and took to flight.
They positioned Jend on a blanket and began to pull off his armor and clothing, and Emmyth held her hand to his chest.
“It's poison. Yokan poison. Very rare, very hard to detect, and very potent. He has a minute to live if we can't stop it,” said Emmyth as she cradled the head of her king and placed her hands on his neck.
Wyndy bent down to help with what healing ability she possessed, as an eagle landed next to the king.
Queen Aida transformed from eagle to elf, and laid her hands on her husband's chest. “I will do it. I can stop this poison.”
Aida's eyes glowed deep green as she steadied her breathing and went into a trance. Emmyth joined her in the trance as green rays of light shined from both women. Where the green light touched Jend's skin, it appeared black.
There were the sounds of quick steps in the forest, and Wyndy saw a group of Vatharians stepping from the trees. Eight were armed with swords and carried shields, and six were dressed in the dark robes of Vatharian War Wizards.
Three of the Vatharian wizards raised their hands as inky black energy wrapped around their wrists. They motioned to strike with the black tentacles as Wyndy concentrated to raise a force shield in front of her as the elves worked to heal her father.
It is not known if Wyndy shielded in time, as Shadow and Fluffy sprang before the wizards could attack. Shadow hit the closest Vatharian wizard, a man with pale skin and black hair, while Fluffy hit the orange-haired younger man beside him. Both men were knocked back onto the ground, barely raising opaque gray shields of magic energy to block the jaws of the wolves.
“Kat'sheth,” barked Shadow in warning to Wyndy.
Sydsala, a spectral hound that was part of The Wild Hunt, and whom Wyndy knew as Fluffy’s new girlfriend, materialized behind the furthest wizard. She bit his arm before the Vatharian had even noticed the hound was there. It was a deep wound, and fungus began to quickly spread on up his arm and across his neck and head.
Helnae, who had followed behind Wyndy in Hyena form, arrived and took a position between Wyndy and the approaching soldiers.
“You really should have searched for our teleport portals. Now you are all alone, except for your doggies,” said the dark-haired wizard.
A wave of blue sparks shot out of his hands, driving back the canines. The Vatharian guards took positions to shield their comrades as the wizards' eyes glowed black and they prepared to cast.
The lead wizard continued, as dark swirls appeared around his hands. “Politeness says I should introduce myself before a duel. My name Dretter, although the Vatharians know me as Dravon. My father ruled here, and I’ve come to take it back.”
“Not going to happen,” said Wyndy, extending her arm to launch three lightning bolts toward the Vatharian wizards. The first bolt harmlessly impacted the shimmering shield of Dretter, but the remaining two struck two of the wizards behind him. One was blown back but was still on his feet, while the other crumpled.
Helnae sprung at the guard who’d been protecting Dretter, knocking him over. She stood over him and pulled at his shield with her claws so that she could get a bite in on his neck.
Shadow and Fluffy both summoned their magic silver armor and sprung again at Dretter and his lieutenant, whom they could smell were Kat’sheth. The two Kat’sheth and two of their supporting wizards launched inky black tentacles at the giant wolves and the hyena.
Shadow was thrown back, wounded, but Fluffy scored a solid bite, and tossed the orange-haired wizard back ten feet, his torso and arm badly mauled. Fluffy moved in for the kill. He was stopped when two of the guards blocked the wolf, attacking with their swords, forcing the wolf to a defensive position.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
A tentacle struck Helnae across the back, but she held on to her prey. Another guard moved to stab her in an attempt to keep her from killing his comrade. Sysdala appeared next to Helnae and clawed at the guard.
The four Vatharian wizards who were still standing struck again, all at Wyndy, seeking to penetrate her force shield. Wyndy’s power held, but she could feel the shield weakening and knew she could not hold out against so many for very long. Black tentacles began again to form around Dretter’s hands, and Shadow struggled to get to his feet.
Scarlett announced her arrival when a pillar of fire descended from the sky, incinerating a wizard and guard behind Dretter. The dragon landed beside Wyndy. Duke Cradel, Wyndy’s goblin friend Anikga, and another, smaller goblin unwrapped themselves from the scarves across her back. Cradel motioned towards the Vatharians, and a wave of concussive force smashed into them, pushing them all back and knocking half of them to the ground.
“Dretter, Bolgaroz! You’ve returned? I see. It’s you driving this war, hmmm,” said Cradel as his eyes began to glow red.
“Theloniou Cradel, but it is good to see you again,” said Dretter as he channeled more energy to his shield. “You can see your Jend is dying. But you can re-join us, you know, if you come now. Just like it was. You can have your slaves back.”
“Slaves back? But I run my own college! I have all the slaves I want.18 I don’t even need to feed them! They pay me so that I can tell them what to do!” Cradel replied with a cackle. .
Cradel’s eyes narrowed, and he pointed to the wizard closest to him, “You, you are Stivin, from MIC.”
Cradel lowered his hand and a great column of fire struck Stivin. He had his shield up, but it wasn’t strong enough, fire penetrated, and the Vatharian was incinerated.
Boal had picked himself up again after the mauling from Fluffy and limped to stand beside Dretter. They formed a circle with the three remaining War Wizards and a mass of black tentacles reached out, hitting the glowing green shield of Wyndy and the red one of Cradel.
Wyndy’s shield still held, but the tentacles created holes in Cradel’s. Two tentacles grabbed his arms. Cradel saw his arms begin to rot, flesh falling off. He could not move his hands to cast.
Another black tentacle reached for Scarlett, who darted back as Anikga tried to push away the tentacle with her shield. Scarlett breathed out fire, scorching the tentacle into nothing. She lashed out with her tail at the guard protecting Dretter.
Fluffy had thrashed the guard that had attacked him, and Helnae and Sysdala had taken down another. Shadow was back on his feet. The four of them attacked the wizards from behind, and the remaining five Vatharian guards moved to block the attack.
The eyes of the smaller goblin that had arrived with Cradel and Scarlett began to glow green.
The goblin wiggled its fingers and roots from the ground began to claw at the feet of the Vatharian wizards. A tree branch swung at the head of Boal. Anikga tossed an F-Bomb, which exploded near the wizards, further weakening their shield.
Wyndy used that distraction to strike again. She concentrated, her eyes glowed blue, and she pulled lighting from the sky. Lightning came, a stronger strike than she’d ever managed before. The resulting thunder wave threw everyone back as a bolt of lightning came down the clouds and struck the Dretter, Boal, and the Vatharian wizards. Their shield crumpled.
Wyndy’s rod, which she used to focus electrical bolts, was charred into ash from the force she had channeled. But at her feet was a hammer, with a bronze two-sided head – the symbol of Thorsin. She picked it up as sparks again began to flow down her arm.
Thank you Thorsin, thought Wyndy to the god.
Yeah, my dad lets me manage lighting now too, Wyndy heard in reply. Did it help?
It did. Maybe you should get your own day of the week too.
My own day would be cool!
Aida and Emmyth were just emerging from their trances. They covered Jend with their bodies as the shock wave from the lighting strike rolled over them.
The Vatharian wizards were charred. One still breathed. Boal and Dretter had been shocked back into cat form, their fur smoking and one of Dretter’s ears torn. They stood with their hair up and back raised.
The smaller goblin had also changed back to her natural form. Instead of the goblin there stood Princess Myla.
Wyndy and her companions regained their senses after the strike. She and Myla raised their shields again and electrical charges began to form around their hands. Wyndy raised her hammer, and bolts flew from it toward her enemies.
As she and her sister struck, the Kat’sheth decided they’d had enough, and dashed into the forest. The bolts grazed the cat-demons, but they were then quickly out of sight.
Wyndy turned to her sister.
“You were supposed to have stayed in the castle, you know.”
“I couldn’t let Scarlett and Anikga go into battle without me.”
“We asked her to come, so you can blame it on us,” said Anikga. “She’s the master of dragon riding, and taught us all. It wouldn't be fair to keep her out of the battle.”
“Our father is going to be angry.”
“I’ll be gone by the time they wake up,” said Myla.
The girls looked over to their parents. Jend was breathing normally now, but still asleep. His eyes opened and he mumbled “You are in so much trouble young lady. Real grounding this time….”
He then fell back asleep.
Aida had collapsed in exhaustion after healing him and was still sleeping on his chest. She snored lightly.
Emmyth was up, out of the trance, and hurried over to help Cradel. Green light shone from her eyes as she worked to stop the necrotic decay and restore his arms.
The remaining Vatharian soldiers, seeing their wizards gone and themselves facing angry giant canines, surrendered. They and the unconscious Vatharian wizard were taken to the hospital tent for treatment.
A shadow passed over them.
“Oh, it’s my dad,” said Scarlett. “And we still have a war to win.”
Lord Klajo landed beside Scarlett, and looked to his daughter and the princesses.
“I saw the lighting. You all are standing, so I assume that was your doing,” said Klajo.
“I needed to finish off some Vatharian wizards,” said Wyndy.
“And your father? He lives?”
“Our mother and Emmyth saved him.”
“Well, none of us are saved yet. The battle has just started. Climb up,” Klajo said to Wyndy.
“We have a battle to win. Are we ready?” Wyndy asked her sister and Scarlett.
“Oh, we are so ready. I am the fiercest dragon they are ever going to see!” said Scarlett. “These nails are about to get really dirty!”
Shadow helped Wyndy and Helnae climb atop the Klajo and they strapped in. Myla and the Anikga climbed back on Scarlett.
As the dragons’ wings began to work for takeoff, Fluffy asked Shadow, “Think we should ask Helnae to join the choir? Seems rude not to, after all she’s done.”
“Oh, I see” said Sydsala, materializing behind him, “Do you ask all the female quadrupeds to join the choir? She isn’t even a canine!”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
18 UNL’s graduate assistants unionized not long after this battle, much to Duke Cradel’s annoyance.