I was pretty sure that the red dragon was already aware of the presence of the soldiers. He was probably sitting on top of his peak watching them approach. Because of this, I decided to wait. My idea was to only do something if he fell into a predicament and needed assistance. Therefore, I invisibly trailed along behind them.
As we approached within a few miles of the lair, I noticed that the land had become much more rocky and barren. There were a few streams, but I could smell the stink of sulfur wafting up from them with the breeze. It was actually a little depressing to look at. The green dragon’s lair, with its waterfall, was much more impressive. Then again, I hadn’t seen the interior of either lair. Things could be drastically different inside.
I wasn’t too worried about Einvaldskonungr seeing me. That was at least until I was a lot closer. However, I was worried about him smelling me. Because of this, I made sure that I was downwind of him. While I might have been worrying for no reason, I still wanted to play it safe. Now that I was a dragon, any goodwill he might have had towards me could have changed.
Once the humans were close enough, Einvaldskonungr leapt into the air and began to circle high above the battlefield. His scales shimmered like molten rubies, reflecting the dying light of the sun. Below him, a contingent of soldiers and wizards from the Konungdómr Kingdom prepared themselves for the confrontation of their lives. Their armor clinked and clattered, and the air buzzed with the incantations of wizards summoning spells.
Standing resolute at the forefront of the army was Viscount Landskyld of Skattgjöld, a tall and imposing figure whose steely gaze remained fixed on the dragon above. Clad in gleaming armor, he raised his sword high, signaling the attack. “For the honor of Konungdómr! For Baron Réttr!” he shouted, his voice carrying across the field.
Einvaldskonungr roared, a deafening sound that shook the very earth. The soldiers below flinched at the power of his voice, but they held their ground, determined to avenge the attack on Baron Réttr’s castle. As the first volley of arrows shot into the sky, Einvaldskonungr deftly maneuvered through them, the shafts breaking harmlessly against his hardened scales. With a powerful beat of his wings, he swooped down, unleashing a torrent of flames upon the soldiers. The fiery breath scorched the earth, and the cries of those caught in its path echoed through the air.
The wizards retaliated, casting lightning and icy spells aimed at the dragon's wings. Bolts of magical energy streaked towards Einvaldskonungr, but the red dragon shrugged off the attacks. Undeterred, he roared again before sending another breath of fire upon the enemy below.
Viscount Landskyld yelled and gestured with his sword, trying to rally his men. “Hold the line! Keep firing!” Around him, knights on horseback stared at the dragon, their lances aimed at his underbelly. However, they were useless since Einvaldskonungr was flying too high above their heads.
I couldn’t resist snickering at seeing how pitiful the soldiers were faring against the red dragon. Without a ballista bolt, the soldiers were actually having very little impact on the red dragon. While it was true that the archers and spellcasters were slowly whittling away at Einvaldskonungr’s health points, the red dragon didn’t seem concerned at all.
Einvaldskonungr banked sharply to the side, avoiding some of the ranged attacks after breathing fire. His eyes blazed with fury as he faced the attackers before flying upwards. Then, moments later, with a ferocious snarl, the red dragon dove toward the ground again, unleashing another breath attack. This time, however, the attacks from the archers and spellcasters was enough to injure his wings.
Without hesitating, the red dragon landed among the largest group of soldiers who weren’t armored knights. The force of the impact shook the battlefield. He faced Viscount Landskyld directly, the viscount’s resolve unyielding even in the face of such power. “You dare challenge me?” Einvaldskonungr’s voice rumbled like an earthquake, reverberating across the field.
“I do,” Viscount Landskyld replied, steeling himself. “For Baron Réttr and our people.”
Einvaldskonungr unleashed another stream of fire, but the viscount raised his shield, deflecting the flames. Around him, the remaining wizards cast protective wards, shielding the soldiers from the dragon’s fiery wrath. Seeing their resistance, the red dragon charged toward the clerics and spellcasters, ignoring everyone else.
I nodded to myself, silently applauding his choice. The knights had been forced to dismount earlier due to the fiery breath attacks. Now they were finding it difficult to move quickly across the battlefield in their heavy armor. As for the archers, while they were annoying, the true threat was the spellcasters. As for the clerics, it was better to get rid of them earlier to ensure that they didn’t give injured soldiers the chance to be healed.
The viscount was undeterred, however, and again tried to rally his troops once more. “Archers, ready your bows! Wizards, focus your spells! Bring him down!” Arrows rained down on Einvaldskonungr, their tips enchanted to pierce even the toughest of scales. The dragon twitched in pain, but it didn’t stop him from steamrolling over a couple of spellcasters.
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Einvaldskonungr was far from defeated. Since there were no large pockets of spellcasters, the red dragon started picking off anyone nearby one by one, his claws tearing through armor like paper. The battlefield was a blur of chaos and destruction, fire and steel clashing in a deadly dance. However, that didn’t stop the red dragon from seeking out the clerics and spellcasters.
As the battle raged on, the sun started to dip toward the horizon, painting the sky a deep crimson. I found that a little poetic since the red dragon was turning the mountain red with blood. Of course, a lot of his blood was now flowing as well. Einvaldskonungr’s scales seemed to glow in the fires that he had set with his draconic breath attacks.
The soldiers of Konungdómr fought valiantly, but it was clear they were no match for the fury of Einvaldskonungr. In a final, desperate push, Viscount Landskyld charged forward, his sword aimed at the heart of the dragon. I could almost imagine Einvaldskonungr’s thoughts as the red dragon met the viscount’s eyes with a contemptuous gaze.
I couldn’t believe the immensity of the human’s stupidity. Not only had he decided to attack the red dragon, but he also participated in the attack. I watched as the red dragon gave a mighty leap, easily evading the viscount’s attempt to strike a blow. Despite being injured, Einvaldskonungr was still much faster. He caught the viscount in midair, and pinned him to the ground with a talon.
The red dragon didn’t even bother to say anything. He just breathed a stream of fire directly into the face of the viscount who was held in his grasp. Needless to say, the viscount didn’t survive the experience. As for the others, the forces of Konungdómr were fleeing as fast as they could. I expected the red dragon to follow after the soldiers, but he didn’t. Instead, he sat on the battlefield and began peeling the dead soldiers out of their armor like a human would peel a banana. Then he popped the bodies into his mouth.
As for myself, I watched from a distance, trying to decide what to do. I had no intention of acting against the red dragon. Not only was he much bigger, he was also much stronger. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that just because I was a minor god, I would stand a chance against Einvaldskonungr. God could die, and I wasn’t ready to die.
What I was trying to decide was whether I wanted to do something to the soldiers who were escaping. Did I want to track them down while they were running away? I could easily finish them off so that no survivors would return to Skattgjöld. Even if I chose not to do the deed myself, I could always have Alsvartr do it for me. Finally, I sent a mental command to my familiar, asking her to take care of the soldiers for me. Afterall, there was no need to get my hands dirty.
In fact, I was actually feeling a little embarrassed. I had wasted my time. The red dragon had easily defeated the soldiers from the Konungdómr Kingdom. Although the red dragon had taken some more damage, I doubted he would be attacked anytime soon. Not thinking of any other reason to stick around, I started heading back home. On the way, I continued to think about what had happened and what might happen in the future.
While I was sure that the king would probably be upset, and might even send more soldiers, I doubted it would be any time soon. In fact, the king might be more upset with the deceased viscount than he was with the dragon. Afterall, the Konungdómr Kingdom was currently at war with the Penningr Republic. He probably resented the fact that the viscount had wasted soldiers who could have defended against their true enemy.
As for Groenneitr, green dragons weren’t known for attacking themselves. Instead, they would send their minions. Because of this, I was pretty sure that the red dragon would have time to recover, at least to some degree. I was slowly starting to decide that the green dragon and the Penningr Republic were working together.
I bet they were trying to cause internal conflicts to weaken the Konungdómr Kingdom. I would put money on the fact that they were the ones who had instigated the attack on the kobolds. They probably anticipated the red dragon’s anger when his minions were killed. In fact, once Einvaldskonungr recovered, I fully expected the red dragon to end up attacking another castle in the kingdom in retaliation for the failed attack that just occurred.
The more I thought about it, the more I decided that Groenneitr was the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy. Green dragons used others for their benefit. They rarely did anything that didn’t benefit them. Becoming an enemy with a red dragon for the benefit of a country wasn’t in their nature. If I had to guess, I would say that after Einvaldskonungr and the Konungdómr Kingdom weakened themselves enough by attacking each other, Groenneitr and the Penningr Republic would swoop in and finish them both off.
Of course, it wouldn’t affect me too much no matter what happened. The kobolds I had lived with at first would either stay independent or start worshiping the green dragon. While it wasn’t common for dragons to have kobold minions who were of a different chromatic color, it wasn’t unheard of. Therefore, I wasn’t too worried. I just needed to make sure that by the time that happened, I would be powerful enough so that Groenneitr wouldn’t try the same thing with me.
That meant that I needed more followers. Because of this, I altered my course. While I had visited one human city, there were several other nearby cities. Baron Alys, Marquis Kirkja, and Earl Tófton were all close enough for me to visit. When I visited Skattgjöld, I had learned a lot about the neighboring cities. Each one kept enough kobold slaves to be worth visiting. And just like in Skattgjöld, there was probably also a group of kobolds who had managed to escape.
Since Earl Tófton’s city was the closest, I decided to start with them before visiting the other nearby cities. I also started concentrating on how I could spread my influence without actually having to visit distant cities. While I suppose I could visit each city on the continent in person, I had no desire to do so. The question was how I was going to accomplish that. While I was thinking about it, experience points from Alsvartr started to slowly accumulate once more.