Dust kicked up into a cloud that rolled above the trees as an unending sea of leathery skin and scales emerged from the forest. It was the lizardfolk. Distant relatives of dragons with none of their intelligence. They ran on all manner of legs, some by fours, some by twos, all approaching the open field where the defenders of the city awaited them as a single minded goal. Horns blared from the center and extended from end to end of the ranks.
“Your mission is to defend the city and most importantly make it home alive!” Noelle commanded as she drew her mace in one hand though it was clearly meant for two. “Lunch is on me for the one who brings down the most!”
Captain Noelle charged into the field and waved her mace with hoot and holler. Her armored figure outpaced the crowd with a green shimmer before she leapt into the air crashing down with a blossoming wave of icy spikes. Both sides were taken aback at the wild display of pure power before joining the fray.
"At the pace she's going she could probably win the battle herself," Kuro joked with Milly barely keeping pace behind him.
"Yeah, she's got this, can we just call it a day?" Milly wheezed.
"We have to contribute a little bit, watch my back while I keep them away from you."
All in front of them was a mess of adventurers and soldiers engaged with their reptilian enemies. Anyone that wasn't stopped by a defender pushed forward towards the last lines of defense and the town walls. It was their job to thin them out as much as possible. The lizardfolk came in all shapes and sizes from dog sized to horse sized and some even humanoid shaped, but they all had one thing in common. Their green leathery skins and reptile features were a dead give away for who the enemy was amongst the crowds.
Kuro stuck closer to Milly who let out a shower of strangely ordinary arrows. Each shot was carefully placed so that each shot hit their intended marks. Kuro thrust and swung the staff and pinned the bigger creatures enough for Milly to strike from a distance. Whatever Kuro couldn't finish on his own, Milly sent out arrows in sync with his strikes.
"This is pretty easy so far," Milly yelled in between shots.
"Don't say that, you'll jinx us," Kuro replied while giving a good whack to a lizardman to the side of the head. "That’s one among many phrases adventurers should never say!"
"That can’t be true, what other ones are there?”
“You really don’t know!? Phrases like: ‘I’ll get married after this’, ‘I’ve got people I have to return to,’ or ‘I bet the reward for finishing this will be huge’ are all off limits!”
“But didn’t you just say them all just now?”
A look of dread filled Kuro’s face while thrusting the staff into a lizard passing on all fours, “I did… and come to think of it, Captain Nolle did the same at the start… Nothings going to happen right?”
“Yeah, it’s just superstition with no scientific backing! Don’t worry!”
“I suppose so. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Now you’re doing it, doesn’t that one count?”
“Ugh,” Kuro groaned.
Thunder rolled in the distance while the sound of splintering wood cracked in a line toward the battlefield. A shiver ran down Kuro’s spine making him turn to grab Milly’s hand.
“We need to get back to the walls, now!” Kuro yelled. “We just had to say all those bad luck phrases!”
Kuro shrunk down the pole to a sword’s length as he ran through the crowd with Milly in tow. He cleared the way with a few swift hits as the two fell into the pace of the lizardfolk that stampeded towards town. Adventurers and soldiers were starting to get worn down as a near endless stream of enemies still poured out of the forest. The walls were finally in view with both Milly and Kuro out of breath. From atop the walls archers rained an array of fire down at the lizards attempting to climb up and over.
“Do you have any way of getting up there?” Kuro gasped.
“I do, but not with all those monsters down there.” Milly wheezed holding her knees. “I’ve got an arrow that could take me straight up, but not at an angle.”
From the forest emerged a head that effortlessly knocked the trees over like they were twigs. Its body was covered in metal and stone while its sharp visage spread fear amongst the combatants closest to it.
“GROUND DRAGON!”
“RUN FOR IT!”
In the distance, spikes of ice shot at it from below making it let out a terrible roar. The ground dragon shook the earth below it while it turned to face a single shining figure that stood alone in the field.
“That’s our cue Milly! Goddess, I hope this works!” Kuro yelled pulling Milly closer to him. “Hang on tight!”
Kuro took the pole and extended it to jam it into the ground at an angle. He gulped at the thought of failure, but being caught out in the field would be much worse.
“Extend and get wider!” Kuro pleaded in his head.
The dark staff moved as it did in Kuro’s imagination and made his heart jump. Milly let out a scream when her feet left the ground while she dug her nails into the sleeve of Kuro’s clothes to hold on for dear life. They soared in the air toward the wall while Kuro held onto the staff under his other arm with Milly in the other. In a few seconds, they were over and were greeted by the shocked gaze of the soldiers around them. The staff shrunk back into his hand while Kuro cheered at their arrival.
“That was actually kind of fun!” Kuro laughed. “I never knew the staff could do that!”
“No… That was torture!” Milly cried. "People aren't meant to be that high up!"
Kuro chuckled at Milly’s protests. He didn't truly expect one of her weaknesses would be heights. From the top of the town walls, Kuro could still see the battle continue without them despite the glimmer of normalcy he felt at the moment. Without a word, he watched their desperate defense of the town with guilt. He knew what he had to do and in the past he would never hesitate, but a chance meeting over a week ago made him question what he truly wanted to do. He looked at Milly and felt his chest tear in a million pieces.
“Listen… You’ve got to stay up here and if things go bad you’ve got to get out of here,” Kuro requested while scratching his head.
“What are you going to do? Don’t tell me you’re going back down there!?”
“Y-yeah… but don't worry too much I'll come flying back if I'm in over my head. If they break through lots of people will be in danger…”
Kuro pat Milly on the head with a smile to try to reassure her. The frown Milly wore was replaced with determination. She gave Kuro a light punch to his gut and with a smile.
“You betcha! You better come back safe, make sure you don’t do anything too crazy…”
“I promise I won't, see you in a bit,” Kuro said with a wave as he turned.
“Stupid…” Milly whispered as she watched him turn away from her.
Kuro stood at the edge of the wall. With a flick of the staff he angled it down for him to slide down back to the battlefield and back into his hand. The stream of enemies was replaced by adventurers and soldiers on the retreat from the spectacle of ice and snow. Kuro ran forward past the tide of monsters and defenders until he emerged to the open field. Only two people were left to confront the ground dragon and one of them made him want to vomit. The sight of Caius covered in wounds and using his sword to prop himself up brought Kuro mixed emotions. Meanwhile, Captain Noelle wore a wild grin on her face, but her breathing was worn and ragged.
“I hope I’m not too late to help!” Kuro yelled out to Noelle.
“What’s a loser like you doing here?” Caius coughed out. Pride forced him to stand, but his strength lacked falling back on his knee.
“Oh, come for the fun?” Nolle greeted while blocking the dragon’s claw with her mace. “I could use a hand!”
“Shoot out fast!” Kuro thought while bracing the pole against his body.
Kuro leaned the pole on his body for it to brace out as one end shot out. It made it halfway to the dragon before the weight in Kuro’s hands became unbearable and made him tip over before he retracted it back. Caius was beside himself with laughter turning Kuro bright red.
“Just get back to town, this is no place for the weak!” Caius mocked.
“Both ends this time,” Kuro planned.
The pole extended backwards to brace itself to the ground and Kuro turned it to pivot and aimed the other end at the dragon’s face. Green and blue lights swirled around Noelle as she kept the dragon occupied, but each swing against the claws made the light fade little by little.
Crash!
Noelle held the dragon in place with the last swing of her mace keeping it in deadlock. She roared while the dragon hissed at the confrontation.
“NOW!” Kuro yelled.
In his hands the pole extended and retracted again and again for it to beat the dragon down. The weapon let out a flurry of blows at Kuros commands with small adjustments from him to keep it pinned down.
"Thanks Kuro! I knew there was more to you!" Noelle cheered as she pulled her weapon back.
Magical energy surged from Noelle in swirls of green and blue brighter than before as she pounced on the chance and let out a torrent of ice with a heavy swing toward the dragon. Her mace exploded in a chilling blizzard upon impact filling the battlefield with a deep chill and flakes of snow. Noelle held herself up with her mace with fog on her breath. The magical stones on her weapons and armor flickered then faded into pale lifeless stones.
“Is it over?” Caius prompted. “Did we actually beat a dragon?”
A sickening feeling took over Kuro at the sound of Caius’ voice. Snow melted into the warm air to reveal the dragon’s eyes peering deep into Kuro’s. It lunged at him dispersing whatever cold was left lingering. It felt like an eternity, as it closed in for Kuro but his body wasn’t moving fast enough to turn the staff enough to push himself out of the way. He closed his eyes dreading what came next…
“Nothing?” Kuro wondered. “No pain? It must have taken me out in one blow.”
Kuro opened his eyes expecting to see the afterlife, except in front of him was a view only of dark black fur. It turned its head upwards to bite down hard on a large metal plate tearing it apart before swallowing it in one motion. The dragon recoiled in pain as a large portion of its armored hide was torn off.
“Good boy, Chomper,” Kuro reached out his hand to pet the hound, putting a smile on his face. “Ready for more snackies?”
Chomper let out an eager bark as it prepared itself for more.
Comments (0)
See all