Part One: Vevic

Vevic swooped down on the ramparts and let out another blast of flame on the hapless guards. Soldiers died where they stood or fell, burning to the ground below. Arrows bounced harmlessly off her scales. Below, soldiers and slaves screamed in fear. She hadn’t had this much fun in … maybe ever.

The open air beckoned to her. Soaring through the mists, she could hear the cries and alarms being shouted below. The fun part was still coming. She turned, made another pass over the eastern rampart and ignited another squad of the guardsmen. She had burned half the fortress’s forces already and she was only the distraction.

Stupidly, the guards had yet to shut the gate. High above the cloud cover, she had been following the caravan as it meandered through the mountains, waiting for them to come through the gate. Now, as she watched the guards scramble across the courtyard below, she knew it was time for her goblins to strike. It was time for her to give the signal.

She took the long way around the fortress now, soaring along the outer ramparts as more arrows bounced off her scales. When she reached the middle of the south wall, she turned sharply and aimed to the center of the fortress. There, she landed atop the fortress’s center spire, let out a laugh of sadistic glee, and fired a blast of flame down into the courtyard and baked a squad of archers until they were nothing more than charred skeletons.

That was the signal.

This was answered by a cry of tiny, angry, violent voices who rose up out of the treeline and rushed the front gate. Moments later, her goblins were swarming through the fortress as they murdered everything in their path.

Part Two: Calista

The soldier screamed as he burned. Beside her, the headsman was looking for a place to hide, while behind her, the other prisoners were breaking and running in every direction. Fire, it seemed, was everywhere as the dragon made another pass along the fortress wall. A blast of flame and then archers were falling, some who had thrown themselves off the wall where they fell down to the muddy earth below.

As Calista saw it, she currently had only one big problem. She was still shackled and unarmed. Okay, that’s two problems but the second is easily remedied, so long as I can find a way out of the first.

The dragon made another pass over the courtyard and Calista had just enough time to duck behind the stone of a broken well before the fire engulfed everything around her. She could feel the heat burn over the stones as it singed the ragged tunic on her back. When it was over, she looked up to find every guardsman around her dead or dying from the fire.

She found the keys on the caller whose book was now nothing but ashes. As she unlocked her hands and feet, she looked around for where she might take cover next.

“Hey you! Over here!”

It was Rorick, who had hidden behind an overturned cart. She dashed over to him, handed him the keys, and then went about searching the cart’s compartments for anything that might be useful. Pulling open the first door, she found rations and cooking gear. The next held stirrups, bits, harnesses, and other tack for the horses. Opening a third, she found more rations in the form of corn, onions, and potatoes. Not bad, but I’ll pass until I have some more inventory space.

Then a cry went up from the gate and she turned to see dozens of little green men swarming into the courtyard with swords and spears. Goblins! Beside her, Rorick had unchained himself and was dragging a dead guard behind the cart. He pulled a sword free of its scabbard and then a dagger, which he handed to her.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Several squads of the soldiers had met the goblins just inside the gate and the result was a very one sided, pitched battle. We need to get out of here before this gets any worse, she realized. However, as she looked around the fortress, the only other exit she could find was another gate to the east and that was shut and barred. I suppose if we scale the wall, perhaps there’s a way we could climb down from there. However, there were still more than a dozen of the soldiers along the ramparts and a dragon overhead.

She decided to try another of the cart’s compartments. Climbing atop the overturned cart, she tried at the largest one and found it locked. So she took her dagger and jimmied it open. I’m not sure if that was a skill check or not, but I got it. As the compartment door fell open, her eyes went wide with surprise. Inside was rope, armor, weapons, rations, and every other kind of gear she might need.

Quickly picking out the most promising items, she soon had a pack strapped to her back, leather armor over her body, and a compliment of weapons at her side. Then she grabbed a spare pack, a shield, and a set of armor and tossed it to Rorick.

As she landed on the ground, the dragon made another pass over the ramparts, sending another squad of the archers to a fiery death. Beside her, Rorick had equipped the armor and was buckling the shield to his arm. “We best find a way free of this place before the dragon burns us all,” he said.

Then footsteps came racing through the mist and suddenly a pack of heavily armed goblins were upon them. A spear flashed at her head and she ducked, grabbed the spear by its haft and punched the goblin in the face. Stunned, the little monster staggered backward, giving her just enough time to reach for her scabbard. As she pulled her newly acquired long sword free, a feminine voice – Was that the Attendant? - announce, “New boon discovered, [Emberblade] acquired.

There in her hand was a blade that shone with a living fire trapped inside. By Yanar, it’s my Emberblade. However, she didn’t have time to wonder as another spearpoint came flashing at her neck and she parried. Then a pair of swords flashed and she blocked those as well. She danced to the side as the first goblin made another try with his spear. Keeping the cart to her back, she watched as the four goblins before her began to spread out. Not wanting to be flanked, she charged the nearest goblin and brought her sword down on his head. He raised his own blade to parry, but her Emberblade simply sheered through the rusty little thing on its way down to split the little warrior’s skull. As the goblin to her left tried to bring his spear around, she threw the corpse of the first into him and then spun around to face the other two. She parried a spear point and then countered with a thrust through his belly. As the spearman fell, she kicked him into his fellow, and then ran the point of her Emberblade through his eye socket. Then she felt something behind her, and as she spun, she found herself face to face with a dying goblin, a short sword in his hand and a blade sticking through his chest.

“You’d best be careful. I might not be here next time,” Rorick said.

“Let’s hope we make it until next time,” she said.

Soldiers were coming down from the wall, running down through the towers as they switched from their bows to their swords. However, just as they were rushing into the courtyard, they were met with their fellows who were fleeing the other way. Then a shout came out from the line of battle as the captain tried to rally his troops. He was covered in gore and in his hand was a bloody sword that he held high as he bellowed order after order, trying to keep his men in order. A small group of his men still held the middle of the courtyard where they had formed a loose formation around their leader. However, just as it looked like he might hold the line, an arrow struck him in the neck and he fell, clutching his throat. Within seconds, the rest of the soldiers broke.

“We need to make for the gate!” Rorick cried.

However, just as her new friend got up to run, Calista spotted a dark shadow descending through the mist and so she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. They reached the wall just as the dragon landed on a tower directly above them. Cowering in the shadow of an outcropping, they watched as a storm of fire lit up a squad of the routed troops and they watched as the men burned in their armor.

Thinking fast, Calista checked her inventory. It was still there. “Come on,” she said as she rose. Together they ran for a nearby tower. Just as they reached the door, a pair of the soldiers appeared on the stairway, but both she and Rorick cut them down before they could even react. Then it was up the steps on to the ramparts.

She pulled the rope from her inventory, threw it around the merlon, and tied it off. Then she threw the loose end over the edge and was pleased to find it fell just a few feet short of the ground. Rorick let her go first. Half climbing, half sliding, they descended the rope. However, as they reached the ground, they were surprised when they looked out at the grass to find a dozen little green faces looking back at them.

More goblins? But why are they out here when … Then a trio of arrows shot out from the grass and Calista had to duck behind a rock. When she picked herself up again, she discovered Rorick had not been so lucky.

Crawling across the muddy earth, she found the rebel soldier lying on the ground with a pair of arrows in his chest.

“My Elrys. Find her in Southwood, tell her … tell her I wanted to …”

Then something screamed and Calista turned just int time to see a horse, blood dripping down its neck as it galloped out of the open gate and turned toward her. The crazed animal crashed into a pair of goblins, as it knocked one to the side and crushed the other beneath its hooves.

“You can tell her yourself,” she said. Seeing her chance, Calista grabbed the horse by its reigns, hefted the wounded Rorick over its back and then leapt up into the saddle. As she gave the horse a kick, she heard an arrow whistle past her ear.

Ahead, a small crowd of goblins had emerged from the grass and in an attempt to cut them off. So Calista reigned the horse around and dug her heels to its sides as she aimed for the trees. Then something bit her leg and she looked down to discover an arrow haft protruding from her thigh and another through the belly of her horse. This, however, only seemed to make the animal even more crazed as galloped even harder. Seconds later, they reached the trees and a minute after that the sounds of the battle were fading behind them.