"Amazing" marveled Jake "With this weaponry we can drive the slayers out of Warfang. We won't even break a sweat!" he was being cocky, that wasn't good. Usually in a battle situation, the cocky ones are the first to die "Don't be so sure of yourself. Look at the weapons we have, front loaders aren't the the fastest to reload if you haven't noticed." I reminded.
"Oh we know, but even the slowest weapons can be effective with a good strategy" informed John.
I nodded "I hope you don't mind me asking but, why do you even care about the dragons? They're not your species and you haven't even lived with one. As far as I know anyway"
"Dragons used to be free and loving creatures that ruled the skies. I want dragons to have that freedom once more, no one deserves to be treated like how they are now. Dragons, or humans" John explained.
I never thought someone else would have as much passion about dragons as much as I have "Do you all think this?" I asked; the rest nodded. "So, how are we going to do this? We have weapons but we need training on how to use them, I don't think the dragons know even how load to bolt action rifle, no offense Sarah" I asked as I grabbed a 1903 Springfield from the gun rack
"I know a thing or two about bolt actions" Stix raised a hand "Like John said, we were trained to use firearms. In fact, going down to the range was one of my favorite hobbies"
"I could possibly teach about front loading rifles; muskets and other types of rifles were my favorite type, especially with percussion cap firing systems like these" Maria pointed at the gun rack full of Springfields and Lorenz rifles.
"What about the machine guns and mortars?" I asked, we can all fire and reload a rifle, but MG's and mortars are slightly different, especially mortars. A mortar operates much different than a simple rifle, for example; it has a bit more complicated way of aiming, you need to find out how much powder is in the shell or else you can get yourself blown up when firing and other things.
"I don't know about the mortars but I've shot a few machine guns. They were pretty similar, if not the exact same model of these beasts" answered Jane, referring to the MG's. I took a last scan of the weapons, we had: Browning Automatic Rifles; which is also known as a BAR, Springfield model 1863's, Lorenz rifles, 1903 Springfield bolt action rifles without any high powered sights; much less any other sights (well, excluding iron ones) and two very slow Renault tanks. The slayers had (as far as I knew):Rockets, sniper rifles with most possibly high powered scopes, modern assault rifles that can range from semi to fully automatic. Diagnosis: we would need a miracle to win the battle. I sighed "Alright, if it's the only type we have; I'll go through with it, but first we need to find out how we'll hold the ammunition for our firearms. Search the armory and try to find ammo pouches of some sort."
We split up, I looked at the dark green clothing I found earlier and recognized it to be World War one infantry uniforms, if there are uniforms here, there should be pattern webbing I thought. Lo and behold, there it was, woven cotton pattern webbing being displayed on a wall. There wasn't any equipment on it like haversacks and ammunition pouches, that would prove to heavy and the rusty hooks might have broken off. There were crates under them, when I opened them I saw all what I needed and then some: dozens of ammo pouches, haversacks, attachments for entrenching tool handles and covers, the whole set for what you would see an infantry unit from World War one would wear. I didn't have a manual so I had to use my head to put together the webbing. I flickered on the lights and got to work, most of the items were common sense, the large pack went on the back, I tied the haversack onto the right shoulder strap, put the ammo pouches on each side, but the entrenching tool handle accessory and cover was a bit tricky.
I eventually got the body armor assembled and headed toward where I fell, when I got there I saw Maria that looked like she had bandoleer gear on, which is what it sounds like. A cotton or leather material made into a bandoleer to fit around the body with ammo pouches fitted around the bandoleer, there would also be a belt around to fit around the waist to carry more equipment, including things like the haversack. "Oh you found something too?" I asked
"Yup" she answered "Yours looks better though" she opined
I grinned and noticed that we were the only ones in the room, it was a bit awkward and I was never much for starting a conversation so we just stood in silence. After maybe a minute that felt like an hour, the rest came in with clothing that they weren't wearing before, they were wearing a dark green uniform, with brown boots and a steel helmet. "I think it's safe to assume you found the actual uniforms" I noticed
"Yeah, they're quite comfortable actually" said Jake.
We got out of the armory and started talking tactics and strategies, Sarah giving information on the city explaining where would be a good place for sniping and other things. "Then it's settled we'll launch a counter-attack. We need to prepare though, we'll also need the troops. The thing is; I don't think the dragons will want to fight alongside humans due to their past experiences
"You should at least try" pleaded Jake "You never know"
We talked a bit more and it was getting dark, I looked at the
sky and it looked like it was 11 pm, judging by the moon's position and we called it a night. "You know..." I started "The dragons may not let you sleep in their dens and houses, but there are a few guest rooms in my mansion where you could sleep in" I proposed, Jane's eyes lit up and John agreed. We made our way to the mansion, making a bit of small talk. When we got to the mansion I escorted each of them to their rooms, until Jane was left. I didn't know if there were any rooms left
"It's okay, I can always sleep in Maria's room,she doesn't care" Jane offered
"No, I think you should have your own room, a girl like yourself needs some privacy."
"I appreciate the offer but-"
"No buts, I insist"
As we went through the hallway, I spotted a door a few feet from across my room. I opened it and it was another guest room (how convenient). I escorted her to her room and she looked at me one more time with those sweet, gentle eyes and closed the door. I never thought I would find love, but here she was. I went to my room and closed the doors (which included my balcony), as was my custom ever since I was little. Every time I went to sleep, I made sure every door was closed, didn't matter the closet door and especially the entrance door. I got under my sheets with my clothing still on and drifted off to dreamland.
Once again I was woken up early in the morning by crowing, I lethargically and desperately tried to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock on the nightstand that wasn't there. Then I realized that a certain group of siblings brought their whole livestock with them, I tried my best to go to sleep but I also heard...thumping? I opened my balcony doors and saw someone hammering what looked like wood into the ground a few yards from my house, I was about to go to see who he or she was and what exactly the person was doing but... My stomach was making the rumblies, that only breakfast could suffice. I went downstairs and to the kitchen where I found... nothing. Big shocker, I mean it's not like I found this place a few days ago... Oh wait, I did! I sighed and decided to check who was the person making all the noise. It was a cold and windy six AM, as I got closer I saw John hammering down wooden fence posts into the ground, I looked at it a bit more and realized he was making a boundary for a fence, presumably for their animals. "Need some help?" I asked, John noticed me and gladly accepted, I grabbed an extra hammer he had lying around and got to work. "Hey, where'd the rest go? Shouldn't they be helping you?" I inquired
He chuckled "Those good for nothin' laggards are fast asleep in their bed sheets" he laughed "They probably slept in since they are in a different area and thought they could wake up later. Five AM is our usual wake up time after all" he yawned
"Oh, I know the feeling. I hate waking up early, it always puts me in a slightly bad mood, but then your rooster decided to wake me up..."
"Well he is our alarm clock if we wake up late, I personally don't mind waking up at 3 AM as long as I work out or have work to do, things like milking the cows or collecting eggs from the hens" he informed. I could tell, he wasn't ripped but it looked like everything below his head was 99 percent pure muscle. We talked about their life before all this, what they did as little kids, what they did for fun. According to John, they actually lived a pretty good life, they had electricity, they had video games, everything that a kid needed to feel happy. He even said that there were villages all around the land, human villages, I think I could recruit a few of them or have them move into the city, that is; after we take back Warfang. We finished building and surrounding the fence with chicken wire around 8 AM, time went pretty fast. When I took a break to wipe the sweat off my forehead I noticed that the siblings running down to where we were "You're late!" informed John as the rest slowed "Too late. Enoch and I just finished the fence 1 minute ago" they stopped and looked a tad bit annoyed, everyone had crazy hair, especially Jane's and Maria's since presumably they didn't have time to brush theirs. "Sorry we're late..." apologize Stix groggily. We managed to herd the chickens from the barn into the pen "What about the chicken house? We didn't build that." I pointed out
"We got that covered" said John "It's outside the wall, near the gate and I thought you could help us by carrying it. You think you can do that?" he asked
"I'll do my best" I answered. I turned into my magnificent dragon form and flew to where John described the chicken house was and there it was, colored in bright red and looking like a miniature barn. I grabbed it as gently as I could with my paws and lifted. It was a bit heavy but nothing I couldn't manage; soon enough I placed the chicken house in the far edge of the chicken pen. Soon after, we headed toward the military sector where Jane showed how to operate machine guns, Maria showed how to use and load a front loading rifle and last but not least, Stix showed how to use and load a bolt action. They all told the history and the internals down to the last detail; I'm surprised they didn't make us take out a sheet of paper and do a pop quiz, however I could have convinced Jane to give me a couple of free bonus points.
It was time to fire a rifle, we chose the front loaders; I chose Springfield model 1863 and the rest I didn't see. We went to an outdoor range and set up a few stacked rusty cans as targets on rusty barrels. We poured the black powder down the barrel, followed by the minié ball. To those who don't know about muzzle loaders, you should know that there is a rod in the rifle/musket called the ram rod which you ram the bullet down the barrel which is what we did. We half cocked the primer on the rifle, added the percussion cap to the stub next to the primer, fully cocked the primer and most all but me fired. I licked my finger and held it in the air, the wind was blowing slightly to the right. I put my finger down and adjusted the sights and fired, direct hit... at the cost of losing half of my hearing! We needed something, two words: Ear. Protection. I immediately dropped the rifle and plugged my ears and I swear I felt my ears bleeding. "Okay!" I started "By any chance, did anyone see any ear protection!?" the rest shook their heads in a "no". We reloaded and covered our ears as best we could with our two hands on the rifles and our shots were pretty bad afterwards. After seventy-five shots we decided to stop, we could hear nothing but ringing for the next five minutes "Next time we shoot... we shoot with ear protection" I said.
"Agreed" started John "We may go deaf if we keep firing without some sort of protection"
I went back to the armory and searched for anything we could use, after a few minutes I found small clear plastic containers laying scattered around the floor. I opened them and it looked like ear plugs made of hardened beeswax, I remembered that in the story of Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus had his crew to put beeswax in their ears to muffle out the death-song of the malicious sirens, which worked. I brought the containers containing the ear plugs and handed them out to everyone, Maria opened hers and sniffed the earplugs "Beeswax?" she wondered.
"Just use it, it's what we have right now and it'll keep us from going deaf"
We fired the bolt actions and the LMG's, I always did my routine of licking my finger and adjusting the firearm to the wind, bullet drop and the distance the targets were. I was a pretty good shot, with bolt actions that is. When I used a Lewis gun I missed most of my shots and just grazed the sides of the cans, I was getting frustrated and about to throw the firearm to the ground until Jane gave me advice to use short controlled bursts, as I was going full auto. I got better using that technique, not all the shots were dead center but some actually started to hit the can. At the end, our ears only rang slightly. We soon put our earplugs back into our containers and left, putting the firearms where they were previously and walked home. It looked like some of the dragons heard us firing because we saw a group of dragons heading toward us, including that Brutus fellow who unsurprisingly glared at us with true hatred, especially with more humans around me and stopped in front of us. Here we go again... I thought.
"Why did you let these four inside!" Brutus asked in a rude and angry manner
"These are just simple farmers who want to raise their livestock, live a regular life with dragons and want to co-exist with dragons in peace" I answered calmly
"Is that so?" he started "Then what about the booms we heard? Those sounded very similar to the ones that the other human's weapons made."
"The booms? Oh you mean cracks the bullets made when breaking the sound barrier and the explosion from the black and smokeless powder. They're also going to be a part of the group that takes back Warfang and I'm having them train for the day"
"What?" He asked
"All will be explained at a later time. Farewell for now." I said as we started to leave
"Wait! I still have questions!" Persisted Brutus, to which he got no answer.
When we got home I apologized for their rude behavior and we relaxed the best we could for a few hours. I went to the control panel and blew off the dust and saw an image that looked like a microphone, I pressed it. "Testing, testing, does this thing work? Whether this does or does not, in which case I made myself looking like a fool talking to a piece of metal with buttons, if it is however; I would like to have all dragons meet me in the coliseum, I need to make an announcement that must be in front of everyone, meet me there in ten minutes." I talked to the siblings "What I'm going to do is introduce you four to the dragons and tell the plan on how we'll build an army to reclaim Warfang and see who will fight with us, hopefully we get a large group of dragons to be trained as warriors. As the all the soldiers in Warfang were KIA trying to protect us from the slayers, which failed unfortunately." I explained
"Are you sure about that? It's a good plan but what's to keep the dragons from 'accidentally' burning us to a crisp?" asked Jane
"Hopefully the guardians will be there and accept you, that should offer enough protection, as the guardians are the backup rulers in case their leader is gone for whatever reason or is too young, they would also act as advisers." I comforted
"Oh that makes me feel so much better" Said Stix in a sarcastic tone
I walked out of the mansion with the rest following me, hesitant as they received glares from almost everyone else. Only five smiled, I couldn't tell if they were trying to be nice or genuinely meant their smiles, either way, a few smiled. As I got to the coliseum, I started to clear my throat and got nervous, you could see my legs shaking through my jeans. "I imagine are angry that not only by the fact that I disturbed you from whatever you were doing, but because new humans are here with us, now before you make roast human out of them and maybe me. I can explain, or rather they can explain"
Jane waved "He-hello" she cleared her throat "My name is Jane, this is my sister: Maria, my three brothers are John, Jane and Stix. Don't ask why he was named that way, I think our father wanted on of his sons to have a weird name. Anyways-" Jane couldn't finish her sentence because Jake cut her off
"I think I'll take it from here sis. Many years ago, our great grandfather escaped from this place it was under terrible rule by a man who didn't care about his citizens. He gave his citizens only the minimum necessities and do anything else for them. He started wars that could never be won and he took his anger on his own people, tortured and executed publicly. His people either died or barely escaped with their life. Our great grandfather, and our grandfather died, and we thought that enough time passed. We packed up our things, had our father give us a portion of his livestock and rule over the land, invite people from all over the skylands and live here. We stopped however when we saw Enoch looking over the walls and we decided we would become a part of his people" he explained
"So did you call all of us here just to introduce these humans?" Asked a green dragon in the crowd
"Not entirely, I also came to recruit. Now that you know their story, I feel that they're a bit more trustworthy to you. I am training them and myself to reclaim Warfang, whether you like it or not we need to counter attack. If not the slayers will find a way to get into this realm or other land, they've already taken Warfang, the city of the mighty creatures that are the dragons. That boosts their morale, they probably wiped out the remaining dragon tribes in the realm, which boosts their morale even more. When the slayers find us,we will not have a well trained army or militia and they will make dragons extinct, taking me and the rest of the humans hostage and/or executed. Making the sacrifice that those dragon soldiers did when the dragon slayers invaded Warfang in vain. We need to show that we are well trained, we can take a hit and keep going, that we will defend our lives even if it means we have to kill. We can't counter-attack with just five people, we'll get massacred, so I want you to join our force, to fight for freedom! What do you say? Will you join the Skyforce!?" I shouted. I know what you're thinking, but what would you have called it? I had to come up with the name in a pinch, I'm pretty sure I would have lost the attention of those who were motivated and less would fought for the cause. Everything went silent and I only heard whispers.
"I'll join!" I heard a familiar voice call out, it was Sarah, her light cyan scales glistened in the sunlight as she made her way through the crowd and stopped in the very front.
"So will I!" a green dragon stepped out.
A large crowd of around 99 dragons gathered at the right "Are there any more willing to join?" I asked
"I know I'm going to regret this..." sighed Brutus as he joined
"I heard that!" I snapped then chuckled "Now before you leave, let me just tell you my story so you know how I got here. I was, and still am 15 years of age..." I told my story in an effort to gain trust. After that I told them when training would start and dismissed them. As we started to head back, the guardians stopped us and looked at the siblings carefully then nodded "You four have enough light in you, you're free to go." informed Terrador, after we headed into the mansion we decided to call it a night.