Well, wasn’t getting through there. Thankfully the lower Spearmen showed no interest in pushing deeper into the room; their only charge seemed to be keeping me in the room I’d entered.

Then a much taller Dragonkin stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the tower, and I understood.

{Draconian Honorguard} (Level 10) (Veteran)

HP: 1500/1500

This was supposed to be some kind of duel.

Screw that, obviously— I’d take whatever help I could get. I ripped the spear out of my shoulder and tossed it onto the ground. The Honorguard raised a strange, staff-like weapon, both ends tapering to spear-like tips.

I glanced around, searching for a window to duck out of but finding none.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I bit my lip. Now that I knew what to look for, I could spot the windows. But the shutters had been boarded over, and they were to either side of the Honorguard.

I said.

Ezzie said,

I nodded and stepped to my right, trying to draw the Honorguard off one of the windows. Unlike the other Dragonkin, this one wore no external armor at all, though his scales were so thick that they formed ridges and plates, and the natural armor was heavily scarred.

The Honorguard jabbed a step forward, his spear lancing out with impossible speed. I stepped back to outrange it but the creature simply released the weapon, and it was nearly between my eyes when I activated Mirror Block, my left arm wrenching painfully as my shield took over and bashed the spear aside.

I rushed in to press my advantage but the Dragonkin jerked an arm back, and I saw a wire flick through the air a split-second before the spear flew back into his hand.

I retreated, putting my back to one of the windows. I spared it a glance over my shoulder. Looked to the Dragonkin, the window, then back again. Then I activated Refraction Strike and slashed clean through one of the boards.

When I turned back, the tip of the Dragonkin’s spear was already driving me backward and into the wall. The speartip sparked as he drove it between a pair of my armored plates and the weapon slipped into my stomach.

I screamed as my health dropped to twenty percent, Mirrorburn shooting up to five percent a second. That gave me four seconds to live.

I said, as I reached back over my head, trying to squeeze a hand between the broken boards. But I couldn’t find a gap that was wide enough to slip through, and the wood was sharp, the long splinters biting into my skin.

The Dragonkin stepped back and released its weapon, which had been driven in deeply enough that it kept me upright, pinned to wall.

The Honorguard drew a hip-mounted saber, the blade hooked and many-toothed, then set its feet and readied a swing. It was going to take my head clean off.

I pushed through the pain, the shattered wood shredding my hand. Then a board gave and my arm popped out the other side.

But the Dragonkind was already swinging. I gasped as the blade bit into my neck, as my own hot blood poured free and streamed down beneath my breastplate. The Dragonkin jerked its weapon free and swung again.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

At which point I realized that I should’ve already been dead. Sure enough, I had so many refreshes ticking that my health was rising regardless of the Honorguard’s attacks.

“Mirror Bomb,” I said, just before the Dragonkin’s next attack could connect. Light ripped out from me, blasting the Dragonkin off his feet and sending him hurtling into the back of the tower.

I dropped my sword and grabbed the spear that was still pinning me to the wall and yanked with both hands. Something inside me shifted painfully, but the shock quickly passed, dampened by the relief of so many healing spells.

I tossed the spear out the hole I’d made in the window—at some point the wire that the Dragonkin had used to retract the weapon had been cut or broken—then reclaimed my sword.

The Dragonkin staggered back to his feet and whipped his arm back as he had before, but of course the weapon didn’t come, the wire that clasped his wrist flicking uselessly about. But he still held the saber, which was dripping with my blood.

The Honorguard charged and swept out with his blade but I ducked low, slashed at his knee then tucked into a roll. The limb buckled, but the Dragonkin shifted his weight and spun on me, his sword slashing out in a wicked backhand.

I activated Mirror Block then kicked his good knee sideways and was rewarded with a sickening crunch as the Honorguard howled and went down, his sword tumbling across the floor.

I drove my weapon into his back and twisted, finishing him off for good. I glanced back at the Spearmen and saw that they’d already run off, just as I’d expected.

I cut my way through the window I’d forced open and freed three more of the kids, all of whom disappeared in the same way.

Regional Quest Update: The Creeping Ice

Bonus Objective: 6/9 Children Saved

I looked back at the town, and a single glance told me that the situation was deteriorating rapidly. The Siegebeasts I’d freed had smashed through the spiked moat and bludgeoned a fifteen-foot hole into the northern wall, and though our soldiers had filled the gap and seemed to be keeping them from pushing deeper into the city, we’d already taken a staggering amount of losses.

I only spotted a single large Skydragon, though, so Ezzie must have taken care of the other two. The smaller winged dragons had thinned out as well, but even as I looked on, another mage was falling out of the sky and into a drift of rapidly reddening snow.

Ezzie threw another round of refreshes my way and I headed up the ramp to the final level. A single Dragonkin—more humanlike than any before it—sat cross-legged on the floor, an elegant, ice-blue long sword resting across its knees.

{Dragonkin Blademaster} (Level 10 Dragonkin) (Elite)

HP: 2000/2000

I took a step forward and the Dragonkin rose to its feet, its every movement sinuous and deliberate. The creature rolled its neck about its shoulders, put out a hand, palm-up, and waved me forward.

I said.

Ezzie said. The frustration in her voice was hard to ignore.

I glanced at my refresh stacks; fifteen seconds to go. I charged the Dragonkin, planning to bash it with my shield, but the creature simply sidestepped, its long tail whipping out and wrapping around one of my ankles and pulling. I tumbled to the floor, but quickly regained my feet.

The Dragonkin chuckled and raised its weapon, stepping into a strange stance with its free hand extended towards me, and its sword above and behind, the blade cocked down in front of its face.

I said to Ezzie.

I loaded up a Refraction Strike and threw a quick sword combination at the Dragonkin, who parried every blow though it was quite clear that it didn’t need to. I was hopelessly outclassed.

Ezzie said.

I feinted a shield slam, then thrust my blade at the creature’s chest.

It pivoted away, swinging its blade in a vicious backhand that caught me upside my temple and spun my helmet a quarter of the way around. I dropped my shield and sword and tried to fix it—I couldn’t see anything—just as a sword jabbed up into my armpit.

I got my vision back just in time to see an overhand slash that was about to split my forehead. I leaned back and the blade sparked off my breastplate, leaving a long, dark scar down its center.

Mirrorburn was only ticking at about two percent of my health per second, so a Mirror Bomb wasn’t going to help me much. And my refreshes were about to fall off before I’d even dealt the creature a single point of damage beyond my passive reflection.

I was obviously no match for it in a fair fight…but I didn’t actually have to kill it. I just needed to free the kids so Ezzie could burn the tower.

I circled around the creature, trying to put its back to an open window. When I had the positioning right, I approached slowly with my shield held low.

I jabbed my sword at the creature’s right knee and it easily avoided the attack, then countered with a diagonal strike of its own. I activated Mirror Block, relaxing my arm as the shield flew up into position at the last possible moment and batted the creature’s sword aside.

I let go of the shield as soon as it made contact and charged forward, smashing a shoulder into the creature’s midsection and lifting it straight off its feet.

It jabbed its sword down into my back and I set my teeth against the pain but kept running until I reached the window. Then I jerked to a stop, extending both arms and sending the creature flying out of the tower. It rolled as it hit the ground and sprinted right back inside, but that gave me all the time I needed to free the last of the kids.

Regional Quest Update: The Creeping Ice

Bonus Objective Complete: 9/9 Children Saved

The Rewards for this encounter have been significantly increased.