Marcus hurried out to the courtyard with Leeroy and Catherine running in front of him. The sudden movement sent pain shooting through his leg, but Marcus ignored it. He was finally healed enough to do this, to be a soldier. He had been waiting for this moment for weeks, hoping and wishing he would heal faster, and now he had. Marcus knew he had the dragons to thank for his speedy recovery. He could feel their presence surrounding him in the chilly air and giving him strength.
The delivery route with James had made him know it was time to stop hiding. That his leg had been blessed by the dragons and healed.
Sergeant Tick stood like a hulking brute outside the army base, yelling orders and commands at scrambling soldiers. Marcus had been instructed, along with his squad, to carry pikes today. They got closer to Sergeant Tick and his voice seemed to boom around them like thunder.
“Get down to the wall!” he yelled. “Defend Aldrion.”
Marcus threw him a glance over his shoulder as he ran close to the sergeant. Leeroy and Catherine pulled him toward the eastern wall.
“Stay clear of the dragon,” Sergeant Tick yelled behind them. “Do not engage.”
Marcus’ brows dipped and confusion spread inside his mind. Why would anyone engage with that dark monster circling the sky? What had they been doing up here while Marcus had been locked inside the bunker with Eric from supplies?
He held his pike with both hands, running toward the gate and felt his armor pressing down on his shoulders over his standard military attire. He sighed out an exhale and ignored the pain that was now shooting up all the way to his hip and beyond.
Leeroy and Catherine slowed down in front of him. Catherine pointed at something down by the gate, but they kept moving toward it. There was a commander here yelling out orders, much like Sergeant Tick had been doing up by the army base. He was pointing at them and as they drew closer, swung his arm around, pointing toward a shadow slipping past a soldier toward him.
“Kill it!” the commander yelled. “Soldiers, engage!”
Leeroy broke into a sprint, and Catherine followed. Marcus stood frozen for a moment, feeling his lungs expanding with a deep inhale. Leeroy stepped in front of the commander, blocking off the shadow’s way to him. He held up his pike toward the monster, his jaw set tight in a grim line. Catherine took position next to him, but a little behind.
Marcus unfroze and his training kicked in, telling him where to move without it even being a conscious thought. He joined in the line with Catherine and Leeroy, blocking off the route to the commander, and the shadow fixed its white glowing eyes on Marcus. It shifted in the air and brought up a sword from its smokey form.
Marcus’ heart beat fast inside his chest and he commanded himself to remain in his position. He knew, as well as Catherine and Leeroy, that they were no match for this monster. All they could do was become a human shield to protect the commander and hope for an elemental warrior nearby to come through.
It felt like an eternity to Marcus, standing there, holding his weapon and staring at the shadow, who carefully walked toward their line of defense. Behind them, the commander kept yelling for elemental warriors and for soldiers to take it down. But no one came to their rescue. Marcus and his two friends were all the help the commander was getting.
The shadow hefted the sword in both hands and stepped even closer to their line. It watched Marcus all the while it was walking toward them. Marcus could almost jut out his pike toward the shadow and hit it with the sharp edge. He wanted to do it, but somehow he was unable to. This thing was probably not even bothered by swords or spears, anyway. It was smoke itself and could just evaporate and travel somewhere else.
He felt helpless at this moment, and Marcus did the only thing he knew he could do. He prayed to the dragons to save him.
“It won’t hurt you,” a voice said in his mind.
Marcus almost spun around at the sudden sound, not prepared for them to actually speak back to him. They didn’t often and usually not like this. This felt like they had listened to what he had thought or like they saw the situation he was in. Marcus swallowed hard, mulling what they’d said over in his mind.
The shadow released one of its hands from the sword and took a step closer to Marcus. It almost impaled itself on the edge of his pike to get close to him. Marcus just stood there frozen, staring at the shadow and repeating in his head, ‘It won’t hurt you’.
The shadow stretched out his hand, an open palm, to Marcus and its eyes looked almost pleading. Like two pillars of white light shining at him with intent and forgiveness.
Catherine took a step forward and yelled, “Die, you monster!”
Marcus’ head turned to her and he saw as she thrust the pike against the shadow, hitting it square in the chest and it jutting out on the other side. The shadow’s eyes snapped away from Marcus and its hand retreated. It met Catherine’s gaze for a second, looking betrayed. Then it puffed into smoke, following a breeze and passing them toward the commander.
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Next to their commander, it took form again, still with the smokey sword in one hand.
“Damn it!” Catherine yelled.
The group spun around and watched as their commander knifed the shadow in its form. It kept looking at Marcus, and he felt twisted inside. Like he felt sorry for this monster who was trying to kill them. What was happening?
The shadow puffed into smoke again, clearly not able to stay in the same form when an object was piercing it. Marcus had heard this before from Sergeant Tick during practice. It was really everything a soldier could do toward them. Keep piercing their form with metal objects and hope they’d eventually give up and slip away to somewhere else or be killed by an elemental warrior.
The smoke cloud flew past on the wind, and Marcus turned, following it with his gaze. This time his emotions were stable, less confused, and his pike was ready in his hands. He would spear it the next time it took humanoid form.
The cloud trailed away from him and down toward the gate, a small distance away. It seemed to have given up on Marcus, his friends, and the commander for some reason that Marcus didn’t understand. It slipped past the gate to the outside and away from where their gazes could follow.
“Where did it go?” Leeroy asked.
“It’s gone,” Catherine said. “Who cares where? Let’s go and help the others down by the gate.”
“No,” the commander said, and they all stopped in their tracks, looking back at him. “I need you three to make sure the people are locked in the bunkers. Clear away anyone who’s out on the streets, especially near that tower.”
He pointed to a building with a small tower part jutting up toward the sky. It wasn’t that high and looked like it belonged to some old worn down building.
“What’s in the tower?” Marcus asked.
“It’s where the weapon is,” the commander said.
A roar ripped through the sky and a shadow slipped past above them. Marcus swallowed hard.
“What weapon?” he asked.
The commander shook his head. “You should have been briefed before, soldier. But I need you to follow orders now. Get down there into the streets and clear out the civilians. Now!”
Catherine and Leeroy both broke out into a jog toward the streets around the tower building, and Marcus followed them. He croaked out a, “Yes, Sir,” to the commander, but didn’t stay to see if he was satisfied by this.
Leeroy glanced over at Marcus as they kept moving through the alleys and sidestreets in the area.
“It’s the new weapon,” he said, pointing toward the tower. “They’re killing the dragon tonight. They had a briefing yesterday, but I guess you missed that.”
“What?” Marcus said.
“Yeah,” Leeroy yelled back. “That thing’s going down.”
He pointed up toward the dark shadow slipping past in the sky, and Marcus felt his stomach tightening into a knot. He didn’t know what he felt about this. He was sure that thing wasn’t a real dragon, not his dragons. But were they really going to kill it? How?
The streets were clear down here, close to the eastern wall and around the tower. There were mostly residential houses that had been broken already from the war and everyone seemed to know by now that it wasn’t safe to stay at home during an attack. Anything could happen.
“Let’s head back to the commander by the gate,” Catherine said.
Marcus turned in that direction and saw fighting still going on down there. It was quiet in the streets in this part of town and he had a strange feeling in his stomach about that fact.
They jogged back to the commander, who was still standing a small distance away, yelling orders at soldiers and sometimes just yelling his orders to no one at all. He looked frazzled, frantic at times, and Marcus wanted to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him to calm down.
Another roar ripped through the sky and Marcus’ gaze lifted. He saw the red glowing belly of the scaly monster above and then it swooped down, close to the tower, and fire spread through the streets. He heard a scream and someone was down there, someone they'd missed?
Marcus took a step forward, breaking into a sprint toward the screaming. He needed to save them, whoever was down there in the streets.
A flash clawed at his vision, and the tower detonated in an array of red. It was like hot fiery energy extended in a ring out from the tower and it made Marcus stop mid-run. He staggered back a few steps and his jaw fell open. There was a loud echo blocking out all other sounds, followed by an intense ringing in his ears and pain shooting through his head.
Marcus’ hands flew up to cover his face as flames leaped in an arc around the tower and the black dragon was caught in it. It roared in a panic and its wings thrashed in the sky, but after a moment, the shock seemed to have dissipated from the monster and it regained its balance in the sky.
It flapped away a bit, but hovered around the demolished tower, looking down at it. Flames had licked its entire body, and it had been completely trapped in the explosion, but it still hung there suspended in the sky, looking mostly in shock.
Smoke filled the air around him and Marcus saw houses burning in an arc around the rubble that had once been a tower. Marcus coughed and sank to the ground, feeling his face burn. His lungs were filled with poison and his ears were ringing. What had they done?
The last glance Marcus threw up to the sky was filled with the black dragon flying away toward the east. Not in a hurry or in a retreat, but it looked more like it was tired and wanted to return home for a while. All around him, elemental warriors had slipped out of nowhere, now joining the fight. They spread water around Aldrion, trying to extinguish the burning buildings and keep the aftermath of the explosion in control.
Marcus shook his head and looked back at Leeroy and Catherine. They were also on the ground, clearly having been affected by the explosion, just like Marcus. He dragged his body toward them and then exhaustion enveloped him. He rolled over onto his back next to Catherine and looked up at the sky. Everything was painful, and he focused on breathing through the smoke that filled every corner of his lungs.