"We've only confirmed two ground drakes still in the area, sir."

Kaldron raised his eyebrows in surprise. They were rather large, and hard to miss if you were looking.

"So where's the third that was here?"

"We believe its moved further down the highway."

Towards the supply carts.

"Call forth the rear line, then!"

"Sir?"

That would bring the suppliers directly into the line of action.

"These things are fast. If they start hitting our supply carts in the back, we won't be able to reach them in time. If we don't take a stand we're not walking out of here."

He turned to take stock. There were a lot of people still lagging behind...

"Pull over! Let me off this thing!"

Seiyul pleaded.

"I can't! If we're ordered to the front, we have to go!"

"I'm sure it could wait a minute!"

"No, it can't! They wouldn't be calling us up if they weren't already running out of energy. Our combat sorcerers must be in trouble!"

Verlicity had found her stride in catching up with the herd. It wouldn't take them long.

"You don't understand, I can't be here! I'm not a fighter!"

"So take off! You've got wings, right? Besides, I'm no fighter myself."

"You try taking flight from this thing!"

"Once we're there, you can talk to one of the sorcerers! I'm sure they'll help you to safety."

He wanted to believe that, but the closer they got, the more his eyes were stinging from the dust. He gave a quick skyward glance. Dust billowed like golden clouds far above their heads.

There's a lot of commotion...

He worried. They were in the thick of it now...

The ground opened up, and a massive head jutted up towards the sky. When it came back down to ground level, Kaldron caught sight of its fearsome gaze, just before it impacted the ground. A glittering light puffed around the impact site, the sound of snapping wood and breaking glass echoing around the second cart taken down by the beasts.

"It knows what it's doing..."

He growled.

The carts at the front line had been stationary for some time, waiting to serve soldiers who needed them. There was no point in targeting them unless they understood their greater purpose. Some drakes were just like that... beasts that lived such a long time, had a long time to learn. 

"This is the third group in as many months."

He glanced back at Azril, his correspondant on the battlefield. It was a requirement that all battles be recorded in some capacity, for clarity and for glory.

"I see what you're thinking, but we can worry about it later. Keep your mind on the battlefield."

Azril advised.

"Right."

Kaldron perked his head up as he noticed the final supply carts starting to reach their defensive line. They'd be safer now, if the situation held.

Their earth specialists were hard at work, weaving the ground into a network of downwards-facing spikes beneath the dirt's surface. Not a deal breaker for a rock drake, but certainly uncomfortable to run their heads into. Failing that, the back up plan was to weave roots into a tight netting. Surprisingly effective at keeping breaching animals down below, as long as they wanted to avoid being snared.

Above ground was a different story.

"I'm Changrel, by the way!"

He shouted over the wind.

"... Seiyul." She reluctantly offered. "This is close enough, don't you think?"

"Once we're with the sorcerers, we'll be safer! Out here on the road, we're sitting ducks!"

A statement closer to the truth than he realized.

Under the ground the drake clawed its way through the softer dirt, using the hardened spikes along its jaw to dig and scrape at its obstacles. Its gnarled scales breached the surface just barely, its snout and upper back surfacing. Fiery orange eyes scanned the field around it before it sunk once more

Its left forearm snagged on something sharp. A needle-like prick that made it recoil, pulling its in closer. It shut its dense eyelids and probed around its left side. More sharp objects.

Its claws gripped for less inconvenient dirt, this time moving towards the road.

A protective wall?

It pondered, crawling and digging away from the annoyance.

It could feel the dissipation of magic on the battlefield. The sorcerers were growing weak. 

Soon, they will be helpless.

Annoying wall aside. If they wanted a safe zone, so be it, but not everything had to make it to that safe zone...

He didn't have to be terribly precised, so he merely guessed.

The ground erupted ahead of them, just to their left. A geyser of dirt and debris clattered across the bench. Both horses wailed in panick, Changrel desperately trying to guide them around the large stones now rolling across the road.

"Woah, woah! Take it easy!"

He tried to reassure the two, but they were having none of it.

At first he'd mistaken the blast for a stray spell, oddly unconcerned with this possibility.

The dark form appearing in the settling dust didn't register.

"DRAKE!!"

Seiyul screeched.

"Huh!?"

Changrel swung his head around. It was already making its dive.

Seiyul threw her arms forward, one gripping and supporting the other. Words of a language Changrel'd never heard echoed over the roaring noise, as if spoken in an empty hall. Verlicity and Lalinia, bless their hearts, dashed with all of their might, eyes closed and blindly trusting that they were moving in the right direction.

It was enough to get them out from under its jaws, but the arm...

Green light spun into a beautiful circle, unknown scripts etching in seconds around its parameter. A circle appeared inside of the first, and as the letters etched, a third inside of it. Before the circle could fully complete the large arm of the drake, claws flexed, slammed down on the magic disc. 

BOOM!

The disc cracked, the drake roared. A second later, it gave way, the drake's arm slamming awkwardly into the ground as the whole animal had been caught up on the barrier. The back of the cart skirted just ahead of its path.

Fury rose in a series of shrieks from the discontented drake. It wiggled its way back to the surface, its large neck supporting its weight while it yanked the other leg out from the dirt. It rose to its feet, limping once before it pulled its front left leg up towards its chest.

"What was that!?"

Changrel looked over his shoulder. The drake looked back at them hatefully, but its sprained leg kept it from pursuing them.

"Hey, slow down!"

One of the guards shouted up ahead.

He put his fingers to his mouth and gave a sharp whistle that snapped the two horses back to attention. 

With his arms held out he urged them to slow down, then guided them over the defensive line.

"Easy there."

He cooed while taking the reins.

"That thing almost had ya!"

He shouted up to Changrel, who was still looking back. He couldn't see it anymore through the dust, and was still gasping.

"Yeah... It did."

"A sorcerer!"

Kaldron bellowed.

"Excellent! We could use you up front!"

He grabbed a silver staff out of Changrel's cart and shoved it into Seiyul's arms.

"Huh!?"

She gasped.

Without a moment's notice he grabbed her and guided her towards the battlefield.

"What good luck! We could use someone who hasn't used up all of their magic yet!"

Seiyul paused.

"But I'm not a-"

"Just use the staff! You're up against the red-crested!"

He gave her one final shove, pointing towards a cloud of dust in the distance. The dark red scales of another rock drake breached the surface, its gleaming eyes taking note of the changes around it. No sooner than he'd spoken, he was heading towards another group.

"Wait, you want me to WHAT!?"