Final Battlefield

We could hear the battle before we could see it. Screams echoed through the clearing ahead of us as the clang of metal on metal punctuated the voices.

At some point during our final approach to the battle, the maid had slipped into our group, walking alongside us but remaining silent until we were close enough to be told what to do. No one bothered to question her presence; we just shrugged and kept moving.

Before we reached the battle itself, the maid instructed us to veer off. She told us to climb up some craggy hills that formed the base of the mountainous terrain near the capital. We did as instructed, making our way carefully up the uneven ground. Once we reached an outcropping about halfway up the mountain, we dropped to our stomachs to stay out of sight and surveyed the field. From here, we could more clearly see the situation unfolding in the heated battle below us.

It was clear which side the second princess was on. Her banner flew as mages supported archers and brutes in their attacks. The mages seemed to be using the varied terrain as best they could to create natural barriers to protect their fighters. They cast thick clouds of cover to weather the aerial bombardments and attempted counterattacks from behind the front line.

Even from so far away, I could tell these efforts were beginning to fail. The morale of the second princess’s troops was faltering fast, judging from the panicked shouts and backwards scrambling.

The first prince's party on the other side of the field was completely obscured by the hidden dragonic remnant and his cloud cloak, but I could guess the condition they were in. The few fighters I could see on the ground looked determined, driven, almost inspired. That wasn’t a surprise, given the power of the veritable deity at their backs. No one could withstand the might of a dragon, and the princess’s men knew it. The creature hovered high above the ground, blocking out most of the sky and sending down attacks that wiped out entire swaths of soldiers. A retreat order seemed inevitable.

This last line of defense on the princess’s part was nothing more than a final gambit, a gamble on a miracle for the throne, but the expected outcome had occurred in spite of her side’s resolve.

I looked around, realizing the maid was gone. She had continued to climb up toward the mountain peaks, but now there was no sign of her. I started searching for any semblance of a signal from her, any guidance to let us know what we were supposed to do here other than watch the massacre unfolding.

At first, there was nothing, just the land and sky, the screams below fading as one side’s numbers dwindled.

Then, there was a small light from the peak above us.

I squinted, trying to make it out. Before I could figure out what I was looking at, the light expanded into a line, a needle piercing the sky and all that was in it.

It was blinding. I looked away. But then just as quickly, the light was gone, vanishing like a flash of lightning.

For a moment, an eerie silence blanketed the world. My companions and I looked at each other questioningly. What had that been?

Suddenly, a horrific roar boomed across the plain. It was the sound of pain, anguish, and most of all, rage. We all looked up, searching for the source of the sound as another roar shook the ground under us. I saw that the smooth cloud above, the one wrapped around the draconic remnant, had become rough and jagged, its surface roiling as if moved by a storm.

I looked at Andra for answers. She looked back, yelling over the sound of the roars. “Something is wrong! The draconic remnant is angry, and it’s writhing!”

I looked back up at the cloud that was twisting and churning like a hurricane. The creature continued to bellow, its screams almost deafening. With horror, I realized something else was happening. One by one, I watched figures, human-shaped figures, appear from the veil of the cloud and plummet to the ground below.

The first that fell was limp, as if unconscious. But the rest were in motion as they fell, waving their arms as if desperately trying to fly. I heard their faint screams, but nothing they did could stop their momentum. Each of them hit the ground hard and stopped moving. I was grateful that we were too far away to hear the sound of them striking the earth.

The light that had appeared and vanished in the sky had turned the tide, and the princess’s troops took immediate advantage. They surged ahead, challenging the soldiers who had already been on the ground in position under the dragon, cutting a swath through them with renewed enthusiasm.

I remembered the words of the maid, of Elias, as I watched the carnage. Those that fought for the prince were cornered rats, and they were now blinded by fear and rage, fighting to their last breath in defiance. The battle had lost all trace of decorum, not that it had been particularly orderly before this. But now it was devolving into a primal bloodbath.

I looked away, my stomach turning. Besides, the continuous roars of the draconic remnant drew my attention. The beast’s thrashing seemed to become less random but remained just as violent, and without warning, it started to move. The cloud surged upward, then swooped down and began to accelerate.

I came to the horrific realization that it was heading straight for us. It wasn’t moving quickly yet, but it was on a clear trajectory. One look at my teammates told me that they had figured out the same thing.

It dawned on me that this was our task. We were positioned halfway up a mountain cliff, high above the ground battle, and the draconic remnant would no doubt be drawn to the relative safety and comfort of our high ground in its pained rampage. It had no way of knowing we were on its side, it may not even notice us.

I suspected that this was the price of our mercy, or perhaps our hubris. We had wanted to help this creature and considered veering from our set course to do so. In response, Elias had set the stage for our party to face the problem head-on. We must either pacify the enraged god before us or die trying.

I looked back at my party again, wondering if they’d made a run for it. I wasn’t surprised to see that no one had wavered. They stood together, bracing themselves as the dragon’s roars shook the earth, and watched the cloud approach.

My party stood strong in the face of the impossible, certain death bearing down on us. I felt a rush of pride in them, but there was no time to share it. We needed to prepare and act, and we had only moments to do so.

“The collar,” I yelled to them, never taking my eyes off the approaching dragon. “Elias said they had some kind of collar on it to control it.”

In my mind’s eye, I saw again the image of the people falling out of the clouds to their gruesome deaths.

In a rush, I realized what the light in the sky had probably been. “The maid must have taken out the tamer,” I shouted, the wind beginning to howl as the dragon pushed the currents toward us. “Without the tamer, the collar might be firing off, hurting the dragon randomly.”

“That would certainly cause a rampage,” Estelar agreed. The others nodded.

“We need to break the collar!” Andra yelled over another roar. “Maybe then it’ll calm down.”

I looked around the group, seeing agreement in every face. We knew what we had to do. How to accomplish it was another matter altogether.

“I don’t think it’s going to land anytime soon,” I said, glancing again at the cloud that was still twisting about in agitation, the roars rising and falling. It was still heading for us. “We’ll probably have just one clear shot at this…”

Estelar looked questioning, Pira looked a bit excited, and Andra’s face was a mix of anxiety and hope. I acknowledged the terrible gamble I was betting all our lives on, but I knew that all of them trusted me. We trusted each other. They would accept their fate alongside me.

My fear gave way to adrenaline, my limbs beginning to tingle from the rush of what was coming. One final coherent thought swam up through my mind:

I’ve always wanted to ride a dragon.