Toby Neighbors - Fierce Loyalty

“No we aren’t, Zollin,” she said. “I saw what the witch is preparing. No one is safe. Maybe not ever again.”

The sky was beginning to clear over the ruins of the Grand City. Stars began to shine through the haze. The moon was just rising and the last of the swarming hordes were flying up out of the great crevice that now split the Five Kingdoms apart. The creatures moved on, destroying everything they touched.

Zollin mounted Ferno and Brianna mounted Selix. They took to the sky and began fighting the hordes of monsters. Tig was tasked with watching the crevice. Ferno, Selix, and Brianna were busy raining fire down on the mindless drones. Zollin had never felt so incredibly tired in his whole life. He held on to Ferno and let his magic flow into his wounded leg. The hipbone and thick femur were gouged, the tendons were torn, the muscle in his upper thigh was in ribbons. His magic was so hot it hurt him physically to use it, but he had no choice. The wound in his leg had to be dealt with, but the effort to heal himself was difficult to muster. He did as little as possible to heal the wound and then turned his attention back to the centaur-like creatures. They had spread out and were moving in roving bands. They destroyed anything they encountered, from the supplies of the army that had been set up around the Grand City to groves of palm trees. Nothing living was spared.

The dragons flew in formation, with Ferno diving toward the groups of monsters first, bathing the creatures in fire. Those that survived the initial attack were then hit by Selix and Brianna. The fire melted the creatures’ insect-like wings and burned up their long, flowing hair. Their scorpion tails were rarely affected by the fire, but the human heads were very vulnerable. If the fire enveloped the beasts’ heads, they died instantly. The rest of their bodies were then covered in horrible burns, making them easy prey if the dragons needed to make a second pass at the creatures. Occasionally some flew up in an attempt to ward off the dragons, but they feared fire and were quickly routed.

Zollin did very little through the night. Nausea twisted his stomach into a writhing, quivering mess. His head pounded, especially when Ferno swooped upward after a steep dive. By morning, it was all Zollin could do to hang onto the green dragon. He was grateful that Ferno had risked life and limb to save him. He was certain he wouldn’t have made it out of the city alive without the green dragon, which seemed to have taken a liking to Zollin.

They fought until dawn, helping the remnant of soldiers surrounding King Zorlan escape north, but tens of thousands of the centaur-like creatures escaped into the countryside. When dawn came, Zollin and Brianna brought the dragons to the ground not far from the Grand City.

“What now?” Zollin asked.

“Rest,” Brianna said. “We need to regroup.”

Zollin tried to walk to where Brianna was sitting on the ground, her head propped on her hands, but his leg was stiff and weak. He limped forward.

“You’re hurt?” she asked, seeing him moving awkwardly.

“It’s nothing, I just need a little rest.”

“You’re limping,” she insisted. “What happened?”

Ferno growled low in its throat.

“You were almost killed,” she said, the green dragon having sent her a mental image of the centaur-like creatures swarming onto Zollin.

“One of the creatures clawed my leg is all. I healed it, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine. You’re limping like an old man.”

“Haven’t you heard? All wizards are old men, with long gray beards and tall, pointy hats,” he joked.

“I don’t think now is the time for joking,” Brianna said, her face pinched with concern.

“I think it’s the perfect time. After what we’ve been through, we could use a good laugh. I wish Mansel were here. He always laughed at my jokes.”

“You realize Mansel is in danger, don’t you?” Brianna said. “There were thousands of those creatures released last night. We killed a lot, but we didn’t even come close to stopping them all. Everyone we know is in danger, and they don’t even know it’s coming.”

“What did you mean last night?” Zollin asked. “You said none of us are safe. What happened?”

“When I went underground I came into a huge cavern,” Brianna explained. “The witch is building an army.”

“Another one?”

“These beasts we’ve been fighting are just the beginning, Zollin.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “You went down miles from the crevice.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Zollin. Under the ground there are huge caverns.”

“Like the dwarfish tunnels in the Northern Highlands?”

“Similar yes, but much larger. And there are creatures roaming through the tunnels and caverns.”

“So, she’s controlling the monsters below the earth?”

“Yes, I think she is, but she’s using humans to create her army.”

“Brianna, you’re not making sense.”

“Listen to me!” Brianna said, her voice rising in anger. “There’s a whole world below our feet. And the horse creatures with scorpion tales aren’t killing people-they’re capturing them. I saw the witch sitting on a horrible looking throne made out of bones. The humans her creatures captured are being dropped into a pit and she’s using magic of some kind to transform them in huge beasts!”

“Like the giant?” Zollin asked, dismay making his voice small.

“No, they aren’t giants, but they are bigger than people, bigger than Mansel. Their faces are distorted and horrible looking. And they’re vicious killers. Every once in a while she would send one of the humans into their pit without transforming it first. The others ripped them apart.”

“And you’re convinced she’s building an army?”

“What else could she be doing?” Brianna asked.

“I don’t know. None of this makes sense to me. She’s using some sort of dark magic I’ve never encountered before. She sacrificed her sister to complete the spell. Some type of demon rose up out of the abyss and attacked me, but Ferno killed it, I think. Then that giant creature came out of the crevice. I’m not sure what to do now.”

“Well, we can’t fight thousands of her minions alone,” Brianna said.

Just as she spoke, a group of the flying centaur beasts flew toward the city, each carrying a captured human.

“This is like a nightmare,” Zollin said, yawning.

“She’s unleashing horrible beasts below the earth, Zollin. These creatures are just the beginning. We can’t fight her on our own.”

“So what do we do?” Zollin asked.

“We have to find help,” Brianna said, tears streaking down her dirty face. “We have to gather armies to fight her monsters.”

Zollin wanted to argue. He wanted it all to be over, once and for all, but he knew it wasn’t. He was surrounded by the bodies of the centaur-like creatures. Flies buzzed around their scorched carcasses and carrion birds circled in the sky above.

“At least the sun is shining,” Zollin said. “That’s a change. I didn’t think last night would ever end.”

But he could still see smoke rising from the crevice. He could see the walls of the Grand City, tumbled down in most places. The tower of the Torr was gone. The Torr was finished. Zollin had seen Offendorl being given to Gwendolyn, who no longer seemed to be human. He felt guilty that he hadn’t been able to stop the cataclysmic events, but they had managed to stay alive through the night and they had managed to kill hundreds of the swarming monsters. It may have been a small victory, but he was happy to take it just the same.

Zollin was just about to suggest they find something to eat and get some rest when another of the flying creatures crossed the plain with a human hooked by its scorpion-like tail.