Chapter 8

"Okay, wanting to make a plan is fine and all," Dante started. "But how exactly are we supposed to fight dragons? That's one thing I've never faced."

"Simple," Ailie said, leading the group outside to the crowd of dragons. "We simply use our friends here and spar, if that is okay with you Ifrir." She said, acknowledging the bronze male.

"If it will help to get rid of Bakumut, then it is fine by me." He replied. "However, I would like to choose the pairs."

"That is fine by me; I have already trained with Luzak over the years so I will not be participating. I will be doing research in my library."

And with that, she walked away, leaving her friends in the capable claws and tutelage of Ifrir.

"So, who gets who?" Dante asked. "This outta be fun."

Ifrir turned his steely gaze on the devil hunter before grinning widely.

"You and Reirut shall be paired; you seemed to get along so well."

"Ha, nice to see you have a sense of humor." Dante snorted. "He was the white one wasn't he?"

"You can find him skulking about somewhere; I suggest you wait here until everyone is informed and prepared."

-B-R-E-A-K-

Meanwhile, in the library beneath her home, Ailie was sorting through her bookshelves and boxes, trying to find several things at once.

"Healing, that's one I need. Now to find out about the Grand Draken…"

"No offense my queen," A high voice said from somewhere near her feet. "But I do not believe you will find anything."

"Blaerune, is that you?" she asked lightly, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Why will I not find anything on the Grand Draken here?"

"Because any record of her was destroyed from the histories, to prevent anyone from summoning her again."

"Hmm, well that is one less thing for me to look for…however, I need some kind of information so that we may know how to fight her." Ailie said.

"There is only one weakness that terror possesses…the memory of being alive. If one can make her remember her life before she was damned, then she will leave."

"Is that how it was done last time?"

"I do not know, I was not hatched at the time."

Ailie sighed. "This is going to be next to impossible if she is summoned."

"The only hope we have is to stop Bakumut from summoning her, then we will not have to worry about it." The healer replied, following her as she ascended the stairs to the living room.

"I agree." Ailie said as the ground trembled. "Sounds like they're having a good time, I think I'll go check it out before I start reading."

-B-R-E-A-K-

"Dragons, though large and able to fly quickly, are slow and lumbering creatures while on the ground." Ifrir was saying as Dante and Reirut stared each other down, cerulean eyes boring into amber ones. "We use our tails and necks to do most of our fighting when our enemy is a distance from us, and our claws when they are close."

"Perhaps an example before they start."

All eyes turned to see Ailie and Luzak coming towards them.

"That does seem a good idea," the bronze male responded. "Fine, if you would like, you tow may begin."

The dragons formed a circle around the pair, placing the demons at their scaled feet.

"This should be interesting." A Blue female dragon beside Lucia muttered. "I have not seen the queen fight for some time now; I wonder just how much she had improved."

"She has done this before?" the red head asked.

"Oh yes, when she first came to the mountains, Jazeen deemed she needed to show her skills as payment for coming to Jazeen's coronation. She was the first outsider to ever come to such an event."

"She has always been fascinated by your kind." Lucia said with a smile as the queen and her friend circled each other in the make-shift ring. "No doubt she wanted to see for herself to satisfy her curiosity."

"That is what she said." The dragon said. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Sapphire."

"Lucia. I take it your name is derived from your coloring?"

Sapphire nodded.

"I am one of the few dragons that are colored purely, meaning my eyes and scales match perfectly, there is no other color."

"And so they named you after a precious stone, how appropriate."

"I thought so." Sapphire said with an air of pride. "Oh! They're starting."

"I will not be so easily bested this time, Andorra." Luzak sneered at her friend.

Ailie laughed. "Fine by me, 'cuz I won't be going easy just because we're friends."

Without warning, Luzak's long neck stretched out, jaws wide to snatch the woman in her teeth but growled when they chomped on empty air.

"Where have you gone?"

"Ha ha, up here!"

Luzak craned her head to see the queen suspended from the ceiling, her feet planted firmly on the rocky roof.

"That's a new trick." The dragon scoffed. "But becoming a bat will not help you-"

"No fire." Ailie called. "Not in such close quarters or you'll boil our innards."

"Right." Luzak agreed. "Then that is a handy trick for the moment, why don't you come down and we can continue?"

With a smile Ailie flipped off the ceiling and back onto the floor, landing gracefully on her feet before turning on her toes to face her comrade.

"Why isn't she using her weapons?" Nero asked.

A small grey-green dragon with blue-grey eyes answered him.

"Weapons are useless against a dragons scales. They will bend and break upon contact."

"So, how is she supposed to injure her?"

"Every dragon has a weak point, for Luzak it is located behind the elbow joint of her left front leg. Ifrir is just below his jaw; Reirut is the first joint on the right wing. Sapphire, the blue female to your right, is just behind the fringe of horns on her head. There are others but I think we should let you discover them."

Luzak tried again to snap Ailie with her jaws, withdrew and snaked forward in the direction Ailie had rolled, grabbing the female by her hair.

"Ow!" Ailie cried. "Hey, that actually hurt!"

Luzak spit out the length of hair, freeing her friend before licking her tongue across the scales on her upper jaw.

"That is distasteful!" Luzak growled. "Since when have you not put your hair up in a fight?"

"Since I'm out of ponytails and I didn't have time to braid it after my shower-hey wait1 how can it be distasteful? It's clean!"

"It is hair, it is always distasteful."

"Yeah well you look funny bald!" Ailie spat back, giving her hair a cringe-worthy look. "Now I'm gonna have to wash it again!"

"Will the two stop prattling about Andorra's hair?" Vergil called. "This is supposed to be a demonstration, not a conversation."

Ailie smiled and shook her head.

"If you insist oh, impatient one." She replied back before turning back to her friend.

"Shall we begin?" Luzak asked.

"Yes."

-B-R-E-A-K-

"So the pairs are; Dante and Reirut, Vergil and I, Lucia and Sapphire, Nero and Blade, Trish and Lineena, and Lady will be paired with Blaerune."

"I thought Blaerune was a Healer?" Nero said.

"Healers are still able to battle." Ifrir replied. "Now, it may be a good idea for each pair to split off and each finds a separate area to train. Hopefully we will minimize casualties this way."

"I have a map for everyone." Ailie told them. "And it's very simple to navigate by, since most of the passages are tombs and therefore off-limits. The ones marked by x's are collapsed and the ones shaded in blue are water halls, those are okay." She explained as she handed everyone a map.

"Will you be fine here by yourself?" Vergil asked her quietly as the others slipped off.

"I'll have Luzak." She replied, casting her eyes to the floor. "You've nothing to worry over."

"There was once a time you wanted me to worry." He said, tracing a finger along the line of her jaw and down to her chin. "Are those days gone?"

Ailie sighed and turned her violet gaze on him. "No, just for now there are other things we must concentrate on."

"Your safety is the only thing that concerns me." He told her, dropping his hand to cover hers. "I'll always worry for you."

She smiled. "I know. I'm sorry if I continue losing my temper with you, I don't mean to."

"I understand. When this over, I-"

"Hey Vergil!" Dante called from across the chamber. "Ifrir's gonna leave you behind."

"Damn him and his timing." Vergil said with a sigh. "It seems I must leave you once again my Queen."

Ailie smiled.

"Go on, you have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in." She said. "I'll be fine here."

She watched as the Dark Slayer made his way to the rather large group now leaving the central chamber.

It seems like a large group of allies, but in reality this is meager compared to Bakumut's armies.

She sighed and turned towards her dragon.

"Luzak…your brother. How is he?"

"I see what you're doing." Luzak said smugly. "He and his allies are preparing themselves as well. This will increase our numbers to at least 500."

"That is still not even an eighth of Bakumut's army." Ailie said disappointedly. "Am I setting us on a suicide mission?"

"This is war, Andora." Luzak said, putting her head close to her friend, trying to comfort her. "There are always casualties. At least you are fighting for a cause, your friends know what is at stake and they choose to fight alongside you still. That is something we have that Bakumut does not."

"Friends?"

"Loyalty." Luzak answered her. "You just watch, we shall come out victorious in this battle."

"The thought of the Grand Draken worries me, I have nothing on it in my library. Blaerune said anything on her was destroyed to prevent her return."

"In all but the dragon archives, yes." Luzak replied. "And even those are heavily guarded."

"Bakumut would have access since he's the reigning monarch now I'm sure." Ailie muttered bitterly. "This is not going to be easy at all, is it?"

Luzak shook her head slowly.

"I'm afraid not my friend."