Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (72 page)

“Land dragon crews, make your way to the teleportation circle as per the march order. Lieutenant Wheelor, lead them out. All others follow Gallanth and me to wing as soon as they clear the Weir entrance.” Mkel moved over to Gallanth to help Lawrent, Dorin, and Ordin get strapped into his dragon’s flying harness. Lieutenant Wheelor quickly mounted on Breigor and gave the hand signal to all the ground crews and soldiers to move out of the Weir behind his land dragons. Even the proportionately slow catapult crews were moving at a good pace as they brought up the rear of his column.

Once they had moved out of the Weir, Mkel nodded to his companions and the rangers with them, and then Gallanth turned and walked to the entrance of the Weir. With a couple of short strides and one mighty heft, he was airborne, followed by the host of large feathered mounts. The land component quickly made it to the nearby teleportation circle, which was just on the north side of the Weir between the mountain and the city of Draden. This teleportation circle was the second biggest in the Alliance, being three hundred yards in diameter. A regiment could teleport into or out of this circle if needed. The entire floor, the surrounding three-foot wall that lined its circumference and the dragon head sculpture on the tall archway at the circle’s entrance were all made of a low-grade mithril ore. This material was rock that the dwarves could not extract any more of the precious metal out of, but it would still conduct magic. It was powered by the two dragonstones in the eyes of the gold dragon embossment at the keystone of the arch. This was what gave the circle its power to teleport. It also kept the elements out the circle and could, if need be, defend itself. Normally the circle was divided in half with those departing and those coming in, but when the military used it, they would routinely utilize the whole area at once.

There were teleportation circles at each of the major cities and all the Weirs. These were opened shortly after the Great War. First created to allow the Alliance to shift troops and supplies rapidly throughout its large expanses, it then led to immense travel to all points within the republic for commerce and general movement for the population. The latest one to be opened was at Battle Point, which would be finished within a couple of weeks, and one was being considered in Freiland. Draconia itself had three, with one beside the Capital Weir and the other two on either side of the city. These were also the size of the Draden circle. The circles at Eladran and Machren Weirs, as well as the ones at Lancastra, Atlean, Ice Bay, and High Mountain Weirs, were roughly half the size of Draden’s. A second circle was also being planned for Atlean as that thriving trade and sea port city was expanding at a good rate. Both dragons and entire legions could muster at any Weir or city in the Alliance in hours or less. The circles communicated with each other to ensure transport was instantaneous and incident free, with their dragonstones giving them limited intelligence like the Weir sentinels.

The Weir’s crews and soldiers were met at the circle by their counterparts from the Draden regiment to travel together. Mkel and his companions flew a lazy pattern just a few hundred feet above the circle and were soon joined by the regiment’s chosen hippogriff riders, led by Colonel Wierangan. Mkel guessed he wanted to talk to the council of generals regarding the developing situation in Battle Point and the southern Gray Mountains with the fire giants. Also he was likely to complain about the pact that Gallanth made with General Daddonan to General Becknor and ask for a speedy assignment of a dragon or two to the walled city.
It’s all about territory
, Mkel thought to himself, but it was Wierangan’s regiment, and the Weir was his main fighting power and anchor.

Lieutenant Wheelor deferred to the regimental forces and let them enter the circle first, as a sign of politeness and comradeship. They matched the Weir teams with a platoon of land dragons and equal counterparts to the cavalry, catapult, and infantry, all for the games. As soon as the regiment’s soldiers were through the arch and settled toward the back of the teleportation circle to make room for the Weir’s forces, Lieutenant Wheelor told the senior sergeant to lead their troops in behind the two land dragons. The combined group didn’t even fill up half of the circle, so there was not the crowding that the soldiers were used to. Lieutenant Wheelor and his land dragon was the last to enter the archway, and he then announced to the head stone their destination. He looked up toward the slowly circling Gallanth and waved to Mkel. The dragonrider waved back, and in a second, the invisible dome shimmered and the whole group was gone.

Mkel then called to Colonel Wierangan through his seeing crystal to form up around Gallanth. Within a minute, all the flyers from Draden and the Weir were tightly packed in formation around Gallanth’s massive wings. In a blue flash of light, they disappeared and reappeared over Sauric Bay just to the side of the massive carved mountain, which was the Capital Weir.

CHAPTER  IX

City of Shadow

T
here was a low haze over the Morgathian capital city of Aserghul and the five dark spiraling towers of Tiamat’s fortress. The sun was barely piercing through the clouds, and the sea surrounding the city seemed angry in spite of no storm on the horizon. The five immense, twisted, grayish black towers rose sharply above the sprawling city and the trash-strewn harbor. The inhabitants of Aserghul were scurrying about, conducting the daily trade and business of the large densely packed city, but with a certain hesitancy, almost like they were constantly watching over their shoulder, and with the ever present Talon guards constantly patrolling, their caution was warranted. Most of the wooden and cheaply made brick houses were dingy and smudged as a result of their use of the black fire rock to heat their homes. While chromatic dragons can make heating and cooling stones, they only do so for a very high price, which only the Morgathian party officials and a few merchants, sorcerers and warlords could afford.

Many of the lower districts by the harbor were shanty, made of bamboo and light woods with hastily patched roofs. The streets were mostly dirt or thrown down rock, with brick streets only seen in the areas around Tiamat’s fortress or in the military districts and the sorcerers’ guilds. The city was not overly destitute or severely poverty stricken, but the oppression of the Talon Covenant, the chromatic dragons, and the magitocracy severely limited opportunity.

The bustle of the markets by the shipyards was interrupted when a very large red dragon emerged out of teleport over the harbor and swung toward his perch on the crimson-topped tower. A black dragon then erupted from the choppy waters of the harbor, capsizing a small fishing boat, and worked hard to gain altitude as he flew toward the fortress. People would quickly make the streets less crowded when a chromatic appeared, just as a precaution.

Shortly afterward, large specimens of the other three chromatic types teleported in and glided toward their respective towers. These were the strongest of each of their species and served as Tiamat’s personal guards; they were known as the Usurper Five. They enjoyed any amount of plunder from others of their species and were given enhanced magical powers from Tiamat. These positions of privilege were decided by a ritual combat tournament every one hundred years (or sooner if that particular dragon was vanquished).

The fortress of Aserghul was an immense structure; its five thick towers were made from grayish black brick. They rose up from the center hub and terminated hundreds of feet in the air at their colored apexes, representing the five chromatic dragon types and each of Tiamat’s heads: white, black, green, blue, and red. They were all connected in the center to an immense, dimly glowing dome with a huge dark crystal at its center. It constantly emanated a purplish light, as did the crystals at the apex of each of the towers. This structure resembled a sharp talon hand, with its fingers turning in toward the center. From the air, the fortress took the appearance of a colossal clawed hand, defiantly reaching up from the underworld to the heavens.

The winds were blowing the fifty-foot Morgathian flags straight from each tower. Each flag was of the color of the dragon the tower belonged to, with the outline of a talon in the center of the standard in blazing white. The exception was the tower belonging to the white dragon, which was all a dull white with the black outline of a talon, simple but imposing, like the chromatics themselves. The openings next to the base of each tower, where they met the central structure like a finger joint, were just large enough to accommodate a large type of that particular chromatic dragon.

A great black stone wall surrounded the towered fortress and was manned with hundreds of troops with dozens of ballistae trained on anything that approached. The stronghold overlooked the harbor, which was lined with catapults and ballistae along its heavily fortified docks and shore line. The dilapidated lower parts of the city almost breathed out its frustration in the oppression of the Morgathian autocratic magitocracy, ruled by the sorcerer elite with the guise of stern protective oversight. The empire itself was ruled with an iron fist by the powerful sorcerers and warlords of the Talon Covenant, along with their chromatic dragon allies, under the strict confederation of Tiamat. The Talon sorcerers each lorded over a province of the empire with almost unchecked power. Almost all of these warlocks had a second in command or deputy that was a powerful death knight and warlord, who vied for power and territory themselves.

The twenty most powerful of the empire’s sorcerers, with their death knights or death lord companions, formed the Talon Covenant. These ruthless tyrants controlled their provinces through fear, oppression, false propaganda against the Alliance, and their sycophantic religion of worshiping Tiamat, as well as the threat of chromatic dragon retribution. They heavily taxed their people under the guise of service to the state, requiring at least one child sacrifice per family to the local ruling chromatic. Additionally, mandatory service in the army of their particular province for two years or more was required. The Morgathians maintained a strong-armed reign over the orc tribes that inhabited the vast lands to the north and west of their empire. This was accomplished mainly by the pure brute force of the Morgathian army and especially by the power of the chromatic dragons.

There were, however, many chromatics that operated independently of the empire or just gathered plunder from outside the Morgathian borders. They preyed on the northern Kaskar horse clans; the Eastern, Middle, and Western Ontaror kingdoms; and the islands of the Southern Sea. However, they were reined in by Tiamat’s powerful crew if they got out of line.

More dragons started to teleport in above the harbor and the spiral towers. The provisional lords also started to arrive on a wide variety of mounts. Nightmares were the preferred steed for Morgathian sorcerers, but manticores and wyverns were also utilized. All the dragons arrived without riders, for chromatics only consented to be ridden when going into battle, and even then it was rare. Their anti-subjugation mentality was a strong emotion with them, along with their fierce independence in not being tied to anything but themselves. Only the senior dragon from each province was allowed to attend, by the permission of Tiamat’s five minions, and even then they were only allowed to view the meeting from the ground through magic eye spells.

The Usurper dragons were all keeping a watchful eye from their tower entrance perches, as the other province dragons arrived with their respective sorcerer and warlord flying with them. A feared group of death knights, called the Talestra, were standing guard at the heavy reinforced gate to the base of the fortress. They were watching all who entered the imposing opening. Statues of the five heads of Tiamat protruded from the top of the gate and looked down menacingly at anyone entering. The massive doors were several feet thick and had to be opened by the four common giants chained to the side of the entrance. The Talestra death knight guards were chosen for their strength, ferocity, and cruelty in battle, but not their intellectual prowess. They were heavily armed, each with a dark crystal sword or battle-axe, or black iron weapon magically enhanced by one of the Usurper dragons. They also all had demon armor with its imbedded dark crystal, clawed gauntlets, and skull-shaped or jagged-toothed demon face helmet. These formidable guardians also accompanied the lead warlock of the Talon Covenant as his personal bodyguard when he ventured out of the fortress.

Stalenjh, the prefect of the Talon Covenant, had these death knights trained well. They stared intently at the provincial sorcerers of the Covenant and their warlord companions, as if to entice them to a fight. This, however, was not unusual, for succession of power in the Morgathian Empire was merely a feat of strength, cunning, and favor with Tiamat herself. Even though this was usually a chaotic method of government, the arch dragon Tiamat maintained order. She did so even in the face of armed conflict among the members of her own inner circle. The same was true of the chromatics dragons among the Usurper Five and the provincial hierarchy.

All of the nine provinces and eleven sub-provinces had this type of hierarchy as well. A red, blue, green, black, and even a white dragon were senior dragons of a particular area and worked with that particular sorcerer or warlord. It was a very uneasy relationship, considering the chaotic tendencies of the chromatic dragons; however, this was maintained through mutual respect for power and benefit. They knew they had a better chance of maintaining control of their provinces and in obtaining treasure and lands by begrudgingly working together.

Many of the provincial sorcerers had now arrived, and their mounts were being taken to the stables at the far end of the walled compound. The dragons present gave a salutatory bow to their Usurper Five counterparts and began to settle down on the stone and gravel grounds surrounding the fortress.