Darkened Skies

As the shockwaves echoed overhead from the battle between Immael and the Hydra, River had been at the lower walls. She had been called down towards the front gate to assist other knights in barricading the door. As she ran down, she could see the knights lifting up planks of wood against the massive steel gates, but even that was doing so much; already, the gates groaned under the force of the creatures that were hammering away against it from the other side.

An elven knight saw her run up and shouted, "If we don't drive back those monsters, this gate's gonna come crashing down. Those shockwaves aren't helping either!"

Finding a nearby ledge, River climbed up to see the creatures on the other side, immediately realizing why the knights were struggling. A Jabberwocky was ramming its head into the gates, with two, bull-like Skull-Beasts flanking it.

River sighed in frustration. Frankly, she was amazed that the bridge could even hold the weight of creatures that heavy.

Wait, bridge?

River risked a look down to see a river flowing under the bridge; the knights must've channeled the water from the main river to here, and River couldn't have been happier that they did.

Ducking back to avoid an arrow fired at her from a Bone Wraith on the bridge, River closed her eyes and attempted to block out all the noise around her, focusing on the water in the river. The amulet around her neck then slowly began to glow with a radiant blue as her concentration increased. Slowly, the water in the river stopped and began to slowly rise up.

Feeling the connection, River then focused her mind on the monsters on the bridge, channeling all the anger she felt towards them. Gritting her teeth, the half-dragon let out an angered cry that turned into a draconic roar, a roar that was echoed by the water as it exploded over the bridge, washing away the smaller monsters. The Skull-Beasts were thrown off balance, knocking the Jabberwocky off the bridge in the process. However, the monster veered back around. River looked to see the knight taking the opportunity of respite to better barricade the door as two archers fired at the Skull-Beasts from the openings in the gate.

Hearing a hideous screech in that same moment, her attention then turned to the monster, now airborne, and raised her hands, blasting it with gusts if water. The Jabberwocky veered to avoid them, but the initial blast However, as the barrage continued, River began to tire out; she had never harnessed water at this quantity for this long before. Even with the amulet's magic helping her, it could only do so much. The good news was, the Jabberwocky didn't dare use it's lightning breath; it was too wet from the initial blast and it risked electrocuting itself and the remaining monsters on the bridge.

River flicked out her daggers before leaning over to the knights. "Have some archers fire at that Jabberwocky!"

"What about you?" a knight asked.

River leaned out the window, "I'll keep the rest busy."

Before anyone could object, River leapt out of the window and towards the bridge, landing on the back of one of the Skull Beasts and plunging her dagger in between its eyes. As the beast crumpled to the ground, River sensed something behind her and jumped into a backflip just as the second Skull Beast charged right underneath her, slamming into the gate, which, thankfully, held. River landed on the other side of the creature as it began to turn around to face her. Suddenly, a spearhead burst from the side of its head and midsection in a spray of black blood; some of the knights had shoved them through openings in the gate. River could also see that the bate had now been completely barred.

Grateful her plan had worked, she began to leap her way back to the opening she had jumped from, only for the clawed hand of the Jabberwocky to strike her back down to the stone bridge. A sickening crunch could be heard as she landed on the bridge, and she cried out in pain, clutching her shoulder; something had definitely broken. Laughing menacingly, the Jabberwocky landed down, standing over her. The knights on the walls rained arrows down on the creature; already, multiple stuck out from the monster's shoulders and back. However, it simply roared back in defiance before returning its attention to its target. River rolled on to her back and, using her non-injured arm, swung one of her daggers at the creature, cutting it across the snout. The Jabberwocky reared its head back and screeched in pain, only to look down at her with a new fire in its eyes. River looked back in defiance, but was beginning to become a little nervous. She could only hold her dagger up with her free arm as the monster reared its head to strike.

Suddenly, a new roar was heard. The Jabberwocky looked toward the source, only to be blasted by a stream of fire. River curled up into a fetal position; she could feel the heat above her as the Jabberwocky screeched in pain, a screech that was cut short by a burst of lightning. As the heat died down, River looked to see the monster, fried by the electricity, fall to the ground in a heap, and a very familiar fire dragon hovering over the corpse.

River lit up in a smile. "Rhogar!"

Rhogar snorted smoke in reply as Adrion leaned over to see her. "Hope we're not too late!"

Adrion guided Rhogar down to the bridge, where the wizard hauled her up on Rhogar's back behind him. As she mounted, River winced in pain, clutching her arm.

"You ok?" Adrion asked.

"My arm" River replied through gritted teeth, "I think I broke it."

Adrion tapped his staff against her arm, using magic to lessen the pain. "That should help for now."

"Hang on!" Rhogar shouted as a shockwave from Immael and the Hydra's clashes blew Rhogar backwards. Rhogar regained his balance in the air, but it was clear the battle between the two commanders was growing more intense; both knights and monsters were getting blown back by the shockwaves now.

"If that keeps up…" River started.

"It won't" Adrion said, "Cavalry has arrived."

As if on cue, a booming war horn echoed through the valley, followed by a chorus of war cries as the Iron Knights appeared over the ridge, charging at the monster army from behind and plowing into them with the force of an avalanche. The monsters began to panic and scatter as their rear flank was torn through. Those that tried to fight found that it was nearly impossible; their weapons clanged harmlessly off the Iron Knights' armor and attacks that made it through simply went through the chinks in the armor, doing no damage as the Knights cut them down. Even more impressive were the armored dragons. The Stone Drakes plowed through the monsters in a raging stampede with the Jabberwockys above soon found their match in the armored winged dragons that joined the fray.

Kai'sair and Paletar noticed the arriving army. Feeling a new surge of energy, Kai'sair raised his sword, rallying the other dragon riders. "We have a chance now. Keep fighting!"

Reinvigorated, the defenders redoubled their efforts. Rowena, however, merely stood in total shock at what she was seeing. The Prince had planned all this, and was now not only facing the Hydra, but had also brought the Iron Knights, warriors she had only heard of. It was all more than she was able to process. This whole time…had she been wrong about everything?

As the battle waged on below, Adrion spurred Rhogar to descent over the enemy. As they passed over, Adrion lowered his staff, which then unleashed a stream of fire that fell over any unlucky monster standing underneath.

Hearing the frightened cries, the Hydra turned to see what was happening, roaring for the monsters to rally. "Stop running, you fools! Fight!"

Adrion looked to see the Hydra, his expression darkening. "That thing has to go."

Before River could protest, Adrion spurred Rhogar forward, firing a bolt of lightning from his staff. The bolt caught the beast in one of its eyes, blinding it, but also angering it.

"You better know what you're doing, kid!" Rhogar shouted.

"Just keep it busy!" the wizard replied, preparing to launch a volley of fireballs. Immael watched the dragon weave int between the creature's neck while the wizard struck.

"He's got courage." the Griffin remarked.

"Yes" Immael replied, "He certainly has my respect. Let's not let him fight alone."

With that, the Prince spurred the griffin forward, returning to the battle, and with Grind following close behind. They Hydra's heads all conversed on Rhogar, unaware of the Prince returning until he swung his sword in a deadly arc, severing one of the heads. The monster roared in pain as the head fell to the ground. Just as Grind approached, with his dragon firing a column of flame at the enemy.

"Die, monster!" he shouted, swinging his hammer at one of the creature's heads. The weapon connected against the skull with a sickening crack before the head fell to the ground, dangling by its neck. The other heads turned in rage, but it gave Immael the time he needed to swoop by on his griffin. With his sword shining overhead, he cut across the remaining necks, severing the heads entirely. Rhogar flew up next to the Prince.

"Won't the heads just grow back?" Adrion asked.

"Not by my sword." Immael said, "Vorpal Steel is good against most monsters, but mine is Celestial Silver. Nothing from the Darkness heals from this."

Sure enough, as Adrion watched, the Hydra's body crumpled to the ground, slowly turning into black dust. Even more frightened by their commander's death, the remaining monsters turned and fled into the woods.

Draco, raised his sword. "We can't let them get away!"

"Don't worry" Adrion said with a mischievous grin, "They won't."

River looked confused, but then managed a smirk; she had seen this look before. "What did you do?"

"Just watch." Adrion told her. River then looked out to the forest on the horizon as the monsters ran into it. Suddenly, it seemed as if the trees came to life and were attacking the creatures. The defenders could only watch as, one by one, the trees finished off what was left of the attacking army. River gasped in amazement.

"I made a few friends on the way here" Adrion explained. Looking down, he could see Cedar in one of the trees, controlling them. She looked up at Adrion and waved with a smile before mouthing the words, Thank you.

Adrion nodded in return as Draco and Paletar, still carrying Kai'sair, flew up to them.

"Once again, the wizard saves the day at the last minute" he laughed.

"It's good to see you too, Draco" Adrion said.

Kai'sair looked around. "I've never seen an army run away so fast."

Rhogar nodded. "The Iron Knights are a very formidable race. Just like with us dragons, you'd have to be crazy to take them on in combat."

"All too true" Grind agreed, flying up next to them on his mount, "The Prince wants us back at the fortress."

The others needed no further explanation and they flew back towards Dragonsfold.

Far in the distance, a shadowy, armored figure with glowing orange eyes watched from the mountains, his eyes burning with hate.

"We are far from through, Prince Immael" Negramor growled, "FAR from through."

With that, the necromancer disappeared in a column of smoke and ash.