Iron by Zero

The roar of cannons sounded over head as the two fleets of airships clashed admits swirling clouds of rain and hail. Added to the fray were the dragon knights dipping and weaving amongst the ships defending against their counterparts or trying to attack the enemy ships. It was beautiful in a way, a way that Lousie Francois de la Valerie had become all to accustomed to over the past two years.

Shouts drew her attention back to the ground, and her own current state of lying on her back in the mud with a pounding headache. She pulled herself to a sitting position and looked around. She could see the bodies of numerous mages and commoner troops around her, a sight she had long grown used to. And beyond them she could see them.

Black-brown smoke wafting of their foul bodies, dark red eyes glowing in the dark. Every step corrupting the ground upon which they tread. She rolled over to get herself out of their sight, for every bit of good that would do, the cursed things seemed to be able to pick out people no matter how well hidden.

She crawled forwards slightly to get a better view while fumbling for her wand within her robes. If she was lucky she would get one free shot before the rest would be after her. Peeking over a small ridge she takes a long look at the group in front of her, at least a few dozen if not more of them. All of them armed carrying anything from swords and axes to muskets and books. Some mounted on mounts as foul as they were, and others dismounted.

Thankfully none were moving towards her, yet. So she had some time to plan and prepare something. But even then there wasn't much she could actually do to a group that large, still even if she could just distract them at the right moment...

Then she spotted the mage cloaks in the distance, if she timed it right they could get the drop on this group, and maybe take them out. She mages easily spotted the group of things, but she didn't know if she was here. So she waited until the mages were almost to them before standing up and casting. "Feu." She felt the willpower flow out of her and through her focus.

Unfortunately no fire was produced, despite all the years she had poured into her magic trying to get it to work right. What did happen was arguably more effective than a mere fireball. An explosion ripped through the ranks of the things causing many of them to disintegrate into shadow stuff, while those that weren't destroyed were knocked back by the blast.

However those that weren't caught in the blast where quick to spot her and as a mob they charged, the few who hadn't spotted her following those who had. "Feu." Another explosion blasted several of them to shadows while staggering the advance, but it wasn't as large as the one before, so it removed less of them.

Then one of their own mages sent a fire spell at her, she tried to avoid it by stepping back. But only succeeded at tripping over something, causing her to land painfully on her behind. Though she did manage to avoid being hit directly by the fire spell, so it wasn't all bad. But even being this close she still felt her skin heat up from the spell, any closer and she would have been burned badly or even killed.

And they were still closing, but she had distracted them enough that the mages could attack them from behind with impunity. Their attacks would never be fast enough to save her though, the things were to close, almost on top of her now. Fire and wind spells flew at the backs of the things, breaking them into shadow with ease. At the very least the foul creatures of shadow would not walk away from taking her life. She wondered what her mother would think of this.

She managed one last spell before the remnants of her willpower vanished. So this was it. The horde was mere meters away, she could not escape and the mages would not be able to save her.

Then a miracle happened. Blue fire erupted from the middle of the advancing horde, catching them off guard, and drawing their attention away from her, to the point where they weren't bothering her anymore. Then the fire died away, leaving nothing but after images in her eyes.

She tried to get up to see what had happened but the pain from the burns forced her back down. She wonders what had saved her from imminent death, and she offers a silent prayer for whatever it was.

Then the horde charges towards where the flames had been letting out a blood chilling screech while charging. Then a roar that shakes the air itself drowns out the screeching for a moment. A from where the blue flames were comes a harsh yellow light, reaching up over the horde and reflecting against the rain.

Then a massive black shape leapt into the sky, wings spreading out before retracting back to the body. Then they swept back out wards, sending shock-waves through the air.

A moment later they reach the horde, reducing it to little more than fragments of shadow floating about.

Then with a crash the thing drops back to the ground, sending dust and solid shadow floating into the air a bit before the rain removes it.

Slowly she picks herself up, doing her best to work through the pain and drenched clothes. Slowly she makes her way towards the thing.

Her first thought upon seeing it is dragon, but dragons don't stand on their hind legs like humans, and she didn't know of any than had ebony-black scales. Though everything else about it resembled a dragon, from the way the scales were patterned to the shape of the wings. Even it's head looked like a slightly fatter version of that which was found on a common fire drake.

And speaking of the head, she followed the 'dragon's gaze to see a group of the things approaching, these ones wore fancier gear than the ones that she had seen before. And they were coming closer.

Instinctively she took a few steps back, insuring that each step was on solid footing.

Then the dragon bellowed, a deep sound that shook her very soul. "I am Dheginsea, king of Dragons. And you foul creatures will end here, my kin shall be avenged." It almost sounded like it spoke, but that was stupid because dragons were just beasts and couldn't speak.

Then the dragon reared back its head, blue fire gathering in its mouth, before unleashing it towards the gathered things.

The blast hit them, turning all but one to scattered shadows. The one that did survive sent shivers down her spine just by looking at it. It almost looked human, save for the very black skin it had. Then it spoke something she could not understand before raising the book it had in its hand causing darkness to flow to the book. The dragon was readying more blue fire in its mouth.

And all she, Louise Francois de la Blanc de la Vallerie could do was watch.