Chapter 21

With every step we took, we got closer to the temple. I worried about my men, if I brought enough soldiers and equipped them with enough firepower. The slayers had modern weapons on their side and could obliterate us if we made the smallest mistake. We had a few advantages however: assuming that the slayers haven't been on Unitatis Terra very long we would have the terrain on our side as we knew it better, camouflage to help us blend in with the forest, and of course the mighty dragons who also had camouflaged armor.

"So what does this temple look like again?" Asked Azureth who was in my platoon.

"The temple is made up of mostly pure gold, it's sectioned off into circular rooms in the inside with one main large one in the center. There is a large dome for the center room with an equally large balcony on the back. On the inside there is also a large statue of a dragon. Assuming that it looks the same as the temple in the dragon realms" I answered

"You seem to know a lot about it, how?" He asked

"Before the dragonslayer invasion Spyro and Cynder took me to the temple so that I may meet with the rest of the guardians. They gave me a big welcome and invited us to stay for the rest of the day with them and we accepted. Volteer gave us a tour of the whole place which felt incredibly long with his love for synonyms. During the tour Terrador must've looked into the pool of visions just as Aquarius did when the couple brought me to him. Which would explain why Terrador gave me a slightly weird look; not of anger but a surprised one. I'm assuming he told the rest of the guardians after we left because that would explain how Cyrill recognized me on the day of the invasion when I was in my human form." I explained

"Do you think that Aquarius could have contacted Terrador somehow? Maybe he told him about you which would explain why Terrador didn't attack you or give you a face of hatred"

"Maybe… Aquarius was an interesting dragon" I inferred "Anyway, for obvious reasons we can't let our guard down, they almost killed the guardians and they're like the best of the best. Expect Machine gun nests around the entrance and maybe on the inside. As we'll be going inside a building expect rifles, shotguns and other weapons that can be used in close quarters effectively." I explained

We stopped around thirty minutes later to give everyone a small five minute break; I can't have my men collapse of exhaustion now can I?... Unfortunately that also meant Maria As well… I was air l about to talk to Spyro and Cynder but Maria got to me first.

"Hey Enoch!" She called out

"Y-yeah?"

Maria started walking towards me "I just wanted to say sorry again for what happened yesterday… I don't know what got into me. I also wanted to tell you that I'm fine with you dating my sister and thank you that you didn't do any too bad to me in response. Do they still hurt?"

"Not anymore, thanks for asking"

"Also, if you saw a much prettier girl than Jane would you leave her and immediately date the other girl?"

I started to get defensive, I thought she was going to try something. "No! Of course not!" I shouted

"Okay, okay; no need to shout. You're a good guy, my sister is lucky to have you" and with that she walked off

Well that was weird... I thought. I looked at my watch and four minutes had already passed. I already lost my chance to talk to Spyro and Cynder as they were talking to Azureth and Brutus. So I just reached into my pack and grabbed a granola bar; it was dry and lacked a lot of flavor but it did keep my energy up. After the minute I rounded up the soldiers and we continued the march; I was starting to doubt my men a few times however. We had a few instances where some of us were scared by the tiniest spider that probably wasn't even venomous! I really thought my men had more discipline than that! I mean we're in a forest! We're prone to get a few creepy crawlies on us but you can just flick or wipe them off! No need to shout "Ah! Get this thing off me!". That could get all of us killed if it happens during the mission!

After hours of marching, the sun was starting to set and while we did have oil lamps I didn't want my soldiers to freak out and drop their lamps and start a forest fire just because of the slightest graze done by a tree branch. We set up a large fire which was much easier done with the help of the dragons and pitched up the rest of camp. I grabbed an MRE that was labeled "Cheese tortellini with marinara sauce" and sat next to Spyro and Cynder near the fire. While I waited for the water-activated heating bag to heat up my food I decided to start a conversation with them.

"So, do you think we'll win this battle? I asked

Spyro grinned "Definitely, we've won two battles and they've won absolutely nothing except piles of slayer corpses."

"Spyro" started Cynder "Don't underestimate them, remember they broke through Warfang's defenses one time, killed Aquarius and almost killed the rest of the guardians"

"I never said I was; I was just saying that we've had two major victories and all they received is major losses" he said.

I chuckled "fighting the slayers is fun and all but… do you ever think that we could make peace with them?"

Cynder sighed "It's possible but it would be extremely difficult. They literally worship a dead 'saint' with the title of 'Dragon slayer's. But after all they did to me and the rest of our kin, I would rather see them all burn whether it be by our own fire or if it's in Hellfire…"

"That's understandable, I feel the same way but regardless of how we feel about them we should always try peace talks first and avoid a full scale war if possible." I stated.

"I guess you're right…"

Around fifteen minutes later I was digging into my pasta; it was good, not great but not horrible either. "Even if we don't achieve peace my so called 'brother' will have a lot to deal with; we've proven that we can and we will stand our ground and fight back with twice the power that the slayers throw at us. Remember, we also have God on our side and he allowed us to win against them and we praise him for it."

"...what if he doesn't grant us victory?" Asked Cynder

"Then we still praise him, whether we win, lose or at a draw."

"Even if we're killed? Even if me and Cynder are KIA?" Asked Spyro

"...Then I will still praise him; everything happens according to the Lord's plan. If he wants us to perish in the battlefield then so be it." I explained

"We'll whatever happens Enoch, we'll still be with you, we'll follow you through the gates of hell and make our way to heaven" assured Cynder, Spyro nodded.

I smiled; and as Spyro was eating his MRE steak I gave the age old question again "So… how many hatchlings?" Spyro almost choked on his food and Cynder broke out laughing.

"Again with this?" She asked

"Well you're already married, I just assumed you would have a few hatchlings or eggs by now."

"We do want hatchlings" coughed Spyro

"But being a father and mother takes a lot of responsibility and in some cases, patience. When I do lay eggs however, we will notify you and we'll also tell you when they hatch so you can meet the little dragons and you we'll make you an honorary uncle"offered Cynder

"I would like that and I'm sure you two will make excellent parents; I know it." I reassured

"We'll now I'm more confident, what about you Spyro?" She asked

"Yeah, definitely. I just hope a certain someone doesn't bother us too much…" groaned Spyro

"Who?" I asked

"Her name's Ember; she's a pink dragoness who was always in love with me ever since we were teens; despite me being with Cynder she always tried to get me separated so Ember could make her move; they always failed but some became dangerously close. I think one day she tried to bribe the guardians into putting me with a room with her for a few hours; thankfully they didn't take it. She doesn't know that Cynder and I are married and probably still thinks that we're in Warfang but I know someone will tell her at some point… I don't suppose you could deny her access from New Warfang and Unitatis Terra?" he asked.

I chuckled "Sorry, I don't think Astershell will appreciate nor tolerate one of his citizens being denied just because of teenage drama. Besides I bet she already moved on to some other dragon"

"I hope so…"

We broke up camp bright and early in the morning and continued marching; to my surprise we passed through one village. That wasn't the surprising part though; what was surprising was that the villagers were gracious enough to give us much of their supplies which included food, water and even blankets. We humbly accepted their items but when I asked why they were being so kind; they only said 'Just complying with the law, sir'. By that point I was confused as I didn't issue such a decree. We left the village with a few extra cartfulls of cheese, milk, fruits like apples, vegetables like carrots and so on. It's not like I was being ungrateful but I wanted to know which law I put up that made them give us some of their precious resources. After hours of marching we were near enough to the temple as I could see the large golden dome. "We'll set up camp and attack at midnight. I'll explain the plan when we start to move. Understood!?"

I received a loud "Sir, Yes, sir!"

"You are all dismissed to eat, sleep or if you want stay awake. You just better be ready when we start moving." We all dispersed into our own groups, some were talking, some were eating and some were setting up their twelve person tent to sleep in. I decided to set up my private one person tent and while I was putting it up John approached me.

"Hey Enoch"

"Yes John?"

"You remember the law that the villagers were following?"

"We'll they didn't specify so no, not really"

"You didn't remember any law that would have them give us some of their crops right?"

"Yeah, it was weird"

"About that… I decided to set up that law"

"What? Without my permission?"

"Yeah, it's just that the Skyforce is the military of Unitatis Terra and a military needs to be fed and supported to survive. I decided to write a law that stated that whenever any soldiers of Skyforce passes a village or a populated area that's not New Warfang, must give forty percent of their resources to the soldiers and sixty percent if the portal master is with them"

I sighed "John, listen. I see what you're trying to do here but don't you think that's a little much? And how did you forge my signature?"

"Dude, your signature is literally your name in cursive with an 'h' at the end; it was easy although your handwriting needs some work. On paper it seemed like a good idea but in use it Did seem a bit extreme"

"You think? That tax is way too much. That could possibly starve whole villages and if that happens who are they going to blame?" I didn't let him answer "that's right. Me." I sighed "From now on, tell me when you write a new bill. If I think it's a bad idea then I'll either reject it or see if I can improve it. If it's good then I'll sign it and give it the stamp of approval. Is that clear?"

John nodded and stepped away.

When I finished pitching my tent I decided it was time for a much deserved nap. I dreamt that I was in complete darkness with a feminine evil laugh booming in the area, a faint glow emanated from beneath my feet which resembled a human hand and grabbed me. The hand then formed into a cage and heavy chains were slithering around me like a snake which went all the way up to my neck and all I heard was "You're forever mine and no one else's" and whenever I struggled to get the snake-chain off of me, it tightened itself even more up to a point where I could breathe properly. That made me panic and I struggled even more until the chain started to tighten around my neck, I heard a snap and woke up in a cold sweat to see nothing but darkness. I couldn't even see my hand two inches in front of my face! I groped around the floor for my flashlight and eventually found it. I turned it on to see that I was still in my tent and when I unzipped the door there was something blocking my way. It was a tarp, not just one but five heavy ones on top of my tent. When I was done inspecting my tent I looked to my back and I saw my men either sparring with their swords or wrestling, talking and basically their own thing… at least some were doing something productive. I looked at the moon which was in the middle of the sky so I decided it was time to start the move; I gave the order for my men to fall in and they got in a ten by five column. "Listen up because I will only say this once!" I warned "First, we will pack up camp. Afterwards we will march to the back of the temple, a scouting/ kill squad will ride on the dragons to the temple's balcony to be dropped off. They will then eliminate any surrounding enemy presence; after all is said and done they will mirror flash two times from the balcony as a signal for us to move in. Five dragons will carry us by twos; from then on we'll terminate every dragon slayer life with stealth. Understood?" I asked

"Why send only a few scouts when we can send the whole army? We have enough dragons don't we?" asked a soldier

"While it is true that there are more dragons than humans and cheetahs; the sound of flapping dragon wings is loud enough. If we all mount on the dragons, we'll risk alerting the slayers; which will mean that there will be assault rifles and high caliber machine guns on us; maybe a few rocket launchers. Let's say we mount on the dragons and alert them; the dragons could try to evade, we'll fire back but trying to get a bead on the enemy with them flying all over the place trying not to get us or them shot in the process is not a very simple thing. Sending a few scouts will minimize the risk of alerting them." I explained "Any other questions?" I asked, they stood silent "Good. Break camp and move out!" I ordered.

We marched for around an hour and a half and came to a stop when we faced a three hundred foot cliff; we did the obvious thing and flew down via the dragons that were with us and walked the rest of the way to the back of the temple. I had ten scouts move into the temple and waited for around thirty minutes and was getting worried that they were killed until I saw two flashes. I had to make sure that they were my men so I took to my dragon form and took a better look; they did have a splashes of red on them but for the most part they were wearing the forest camo uniform so I put the rest of my plan into action. When we got on the balcony the scouts informed me that the reason they took so long was not only killing any dragon slayers that were close but disabling any traps and bombs that they saw.

"Good job" I congratulated "Alright boys, you know the plan. If you find any slayers, kill them; whether they're asleep or not." I whispered

I took out my knife, two of my soldiers and one dragon; we searched the left hall, the giant dome-roofed living room in the center. At first I thought we were doing extremely well, I didn't hear any gunshots, no battlecries or anything… until all I saw was white and lost at least half or more of my hearing! We were hit by flashbangs; the slayers have discovered us. In about five seconds my vision came back and saw slayers come out of rooms that have been built all throughout the temple with flashlights attached to their rifles. Two of my squadmates were already killed and the dragon was getting maced left and right, I drew my sword and started cutting down the slayers that were around him. The dragon, who's name was Cole used his breath weapon to start burning them into literal ashes which also offered some light. While Cole as burning the slayers I took a quick look around and we weren't in a good situation; we were dispersed and out of formation, the rest of the dragons offered a bit more resistance but my human troops were being shot down, maced and bayonet stabbed. It was chaos but we had to push on! I ordered for everyone to regroup but no one heard me; the flash bang effects must have still been affecting us. A slayer snuck up behind me and kicked me down; raised his mace over his head and swung down. I dodged to the left and because of his overswing, the spikes got stuck in the ground; I took that chance and kicked the man in the groin which made him take off his hands from the mace and grab his scrotum area. I put my sword back in its sheath; pulled out my pistol and fired a single shot to his head, right between the eyes. Through the battle I found myself running out of ammo on both my 1911 and springfield. I drew my sword but still stuck close to Cole and covered his six-o'clock and cut down any slayer that was behind him until I tried to cut another one; however my cut was off and my blade bounced. I didn't expect that so I accidentally let go of my sword which landed who knows where; the slayer tried to bayonet stab me but I caught the end of the barrel and tried to move it out of my way which probably wasn't the best idea but when that wasn't working I moved to the left and let go of the barrel to which the slayer ended up stabbing Cole's armor which broke the blade so I took my trench knife out and slit his throat. I decided to take my my dragon form and continued the fight however it got harder when they started to come out of the rooms wearing steel plated armor and ballistic shields; for the humans anyway, if they were using their swords a cut will not go through armor, much less steel plate. Fortunately I had all of my men read historical fighting manuals and one way to defeat armored opponents is grabbing the blade and using the guard and pommel as a makeshift mace, or using the sword as a short spear and thrusting into the armor gaps. Through around two hours of fighting, my hearing was starting to come back and I thought it was time to give out an order "regroup into a dragon-wall formation!" I barked. Fortunately, they did hear me; all the dragons (including me and Cole) formed a line and spread out their wings into a "wall" and the rest who weren't dragons went behind them. Basically the same thing we did when the slayers attacked New Warfang. We marched forward and spreaded through the temple, killing any dragon slayer that was inside. Once that was done we all broke formation and regrouped at the center of the temple; I had John give me a death count of the Skyforce. "We have seventy nine wounded, thirty of them severely injured, forty-three dead, including three dragons" He answered. I was fairly ticked off by this as we didn't do anything to get spotted (as far as I knew). "It was all going well, I didn't hear any of you make a sound, I was sure you were all doing your jobs efficiently and effectively… That is until the flashbangs hit us, so tell me… Who is responsible for forty three corpses and seventy nine wounded!?" I barked

They all stood silent.

"Nobody huh!? The fairy bloody godmother did it eh!?" I grabbed the collar of a private "Was it you, you piece of crap!?"

"Sir, No sir!" He responded

"I bet it was you! You look like the kind of guy that would be the weakest link! It's your fault isn't it!?"

"Sir, no sir!" He persisted.

"Sir, I was the culprit, Sir!" Shouted out a very familiar voice

I let go off his collar and stepped back "Step forward!" I shouted

Maria came forward

"What have you done!?"

Maria gulped "My squad was doing what everyone else was doing, killing any slayer we came across. I was also in the front so I was in charge of finding and disarming any traps… I got distracted looking at someone and I must've accidentally triggered one. I'm assuming that's what triggered all the flashbangs" she explained

I growled "Well because of your little distraction, the blood of forty skymen and three dragons are on your hands!" I concluded "Get back in the crowd" I ordered, to which she slowly went back "Because of what Maria has done, I will not just punish her, I will punish her and all of you! We leave in two hours. Dismissed!"

The soldiers spread out but I reached out and grabbed John's shoulder "See to it that the wounded are cared for and that all the slayer's weapons are brought back with us, including any blueprints or other potential items." I ordered

"Very well sir." he responded

As I explored the temple for the remaining time I came across three interesting blueprints: One seemed to be a massive railgun that could be attached to walls as artillery and the other two were mechanical fighting suits, however one seemed to be much bigger than the other.

The second hour passed and I did as I did in Warfang, leaving a fraction of the army to wait for Sky Force reinforcements and guard it while the rest of the army head back home.

Author's note: Wow, sorry for the wait. After the last chapter I decided to take a much deserved break… and extend it for a bit more. But now that I'm back I'll do my best to update TBB:DOD (The Blue Blaze: Defender of Dragons).