Before they fell out of comm-spell range, Red Legion reported not only strong headwinds, but heavy rain they were forced to press through, set on completing their leg of the mission no matter how dire the weather became. Things proved so bad that, despite their head start and faster dragons, Blue Legion hovered on the edge of communication range with Gold Legion the entire trip— for all they were the slower fliers, the heavy cavalry dragons were not so easily buffeted about by the winds. However, even their riders had to hunker down close to their partner’s backs to stay astride, glad for the armor that not only weighed them down but kept the worst of the weather off.

“Blue Legion reporting,” Reyvic’s voice called over the com-spell while Anders strained to listen over the noise of the storm. The other captain was clearly at the very edge of the spell’s range, leaving his voice thin and crackling in Anders’ ear. “In range of Red Legion now, they are currently engaged with enemy forces one mile east of Portistown and need reinforcements. Blue Legion pushing to join as soon as possible.”

“Understood,” Anders replied, brow furrowing beneath his helm as he frowned. “Gold Legion adjusting course. Good luck.”

The captain felt the spell cut as the two legions fell out of range once more and could only hope Reyvic had heard his confirmation before it had. Deciding to focus on what he could do, Anders, passed the new coordinates to his legion and adjusted course. Having overheard the conversation, Ghain picked up his pace and brought them to the head of the flight formation where he could take his turn as the lead again. As the largest in the legion, the dragon was a particularly good flight lead, able to take the brunt of the wind and allow others to ride in his wake to minimize their fatigue.

Chatter was normally kept to a minimum on comms during a mission, but the riders were even quieter than usual as the storm intensified and they all began to wonder just what sort of a fight they were flying into.

Blue was holding the line, preventing the unexpectedly large and determined Sunderish force from closing in on Portistown, but Red was flagging, unable to retreat and recover without giving their enemy the advantage.

“Red Legion, fall back,” Anders called to his fellow captain as he reached down and drew his glaive from the sheath strapped to Ghain’s flank. “Gold Legion engaging.”

“About damn time,” Kahlin said, any sting taken out of her words by the sheer exhaustion in her voice.

Reyvic snorted. “You know Gold Legion, always have to be fashionably late or why bother showing up at all?”

Anders rolled his eyes but held back the quip on the tip of his tongue in favor of relaying commands to his lieutenants just as the rain from the pitch black clouds overhead went from ‘heavy’ to ‘downpour’. Red Legion fell back as Gold moved in to take their place and immediately began to turn the tide. The Sunderish forces were still greater in number, particularly with Red Legion breaking away, but they’d been fighting non-stop since they’d been intercepted and they were no match for Marilderland’s unshakable heavy cavalry.

Well, most of them were no match for the heavy cavalry; there was one dragon, flitting in and out of sight like a shadow under the new moon, keeping them all on their toes.

Anders urged Ghain higher for a better view of the action as the legions engaged the enemy, firing off rapid orders to his people while they found their proverbial stride. The captain’s eyes narrowed when something dark darted down from above and slammed into one of Blue Legion’s lieutenants, knocking the dragon off kilter and the rider from their back before disappearing again just as quickly. It happened again, a moment later, and then a third time as Captain Reyvic swore violently over the comm-spell.

“Who is that?” Anders demanded, awed in spite of himself by the grace of both rider and dragon; what little he could see of them, anyways. Black dragons were rare in Marilderland, and even more so in Sunderland from what the captain had learned in his studies as a tyro years ago. For there to be one here, now…

“The rutting Black Prince of Sunderland, that’s who,” Reyvic snarled furiously, voice cutting out temporarily as he no doubt switched channels to give his legion new orders. “Red Legion was barely pacing him before we showed up and now he’s flying circles around us all, picking us off like lambs for the taking. SHOOT HIM DOWN!” The last part was bellowed, not at Anders, but at his own dragon, and the Gold Legion captain saw a flame cut through the raging dark a moment later, chasing an inky shadow that dodged with a graceful roll and dipped out of sight again. A roar of frustration escaped his fellow captain when it became obvious the attack had failed and a spark of an idea came to Anders.

The problem was not just that the Black Prince was fast; Blue Legion, even Gold Legion, could deal with enemies faster than themselves, they just had to be able to see them to do it.

 As if sensing his train of thought, Ghain glanced briefly back at him and asked, “You have an idea?”

Behind the visor of his helm, Anders smiled and said, “Yeah, but you’re not going to like it. You’re going to have to let him in close if it’s going to work.”

The dragon’s gaze went back to the battle where they were briefly able to see the black dragon silhouetted in fire before it disappeared again, and snorted. “Seems like she doesn’t need much of an invitation. You’re sure about this?”

“Not at all,” Anders said, heart racing as his grin took on a wild edge then lifted a hand and began sketching a string of runes into the air. A trail of golden light chased the motion of his finger as he worked, cobbling together a home-brewed spell on the fly in hopes of evening the odds between himself and the Black Prince. “Keep us steady and get ready to give chase on my mark.”

Spellwork, particularly off-the-cuff spellwork in the middle of a thunderstorm was no easy feat, let alone when he was also keeping one eye on the battle below. Ghain kept them steady and out of reach of errant dragon fire or arrows as requested, giving Anders the precious time he needed to produce a working spell that, should it come into contact with its target, would allow him to see the enemy dragon no matter how dark the storm became. Affecting a dragon with magic was next to impossible for a single caster, but making a spell that simply clung to one and acted like a magical beacon, however…

Delivery was the problem. The Black Prince’s dragon was fast; not impossible to hit with a bow, but difficult, and the new, raw spell Anders had built wasn’t stable or refined enough to survive being launched across a great distance.

That meant coming into direct contact with her.

Taking a breath, Anders attached the spell to the blade of his glaive then turned his attention back to the comms and announced, “I’m moving in on the Prince─ Helna, you have direct command until I’m done.”

“Sir─” his lieutenant began to object but he cut her off.

“That’s an order, Lieutenant,” Anders barked in a sharp voice that he followed up with something more jovial as he added, “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.”

They lost them again for a long minute as Anders swore and squinted against the lashing rain. Ghain spotted them first, darting low across the water now that the fight had drifted over the shore, and hared immediately after the black dragon. She was a cunning one, Anders would readily give her that, and her rider an incredible archer, sinking arrows into enemies one after the other in spite of the wild storm through which they rode. Watching the pair, though, the captain could sense they were beginning to flag; no doubt they had hoped to find some temporary respite down by the water where they’d be a less tempting target to a larger dragon like Ghain—  who might easily be dragged down by an unexpected wave, but neither he nor Anders were ready to give any quarter.

Ghain took a breath and beneath him, deep in the barrel of the dragon’s chest, Anders could feel the pop and spark as flames caught then erupted from his partner’s mouth in a straight line towards their fleeing quarry. Despite the persistent downpour, the fire was bright and fierce, clearly far more-so than their enemy had anticipated as the black dragon was forced to dodge sharply sideways then climb hard straight up as the trail of searing flame chased after her.

They lost her again in that brief moment after the light of Ghain’s fire faded but Anders urged his dragon to climb higher regardless. The captain’s eyes caught an irregular glimmer in the dark as lightning cut the air for just a second and adrenaline flooded his system, kicking his senses into overdrive. There was the howl of the wind, the subtle creak of leather, the lash of rain against something in the dark…

Anders threw himself backwards in his riding straps, back colliding with his dragon’s as he activated the shield spell stored in his left ring just in time to deflect the black dragon’s strike. She loomed up out of the darkness with a furious howl that made Anders’ ears ache, her talons cutting a trail of glittering sparks across the surface of the magical barrier between them. Moving fast, the captain swung his glaive, still grasped tight in his right hand, up and around so the flat of the blade struck his attacker in the flank before she could finish passing overhead.

The dragon disappeared from his line of sight, but Anders laughed triumphantly when he felt his spell take hold and he sat up then twisted to look for her. Sure enough, clear as though she and her rider were soaring under the noonday sun, the captain could see their enemy like a beacon in the dark. The downside, of course, was that Ghain could not. While dragons were largely impervious to magic enacted directly against them by an enemy, the same could be said of friendly spells, such as the ability for Anders to grant Ghain the same sight.

Well, no matter, they’d trained to fly by ear in the past, time to put their efforts to the test.

“Climb!” Anders shouted at Ghain, slapping him excitedly between the shoulders, “She’s above and behind us, heading south to lose us in the fight again.”