Desperado 7
If there's one guaranteed truth in this life, it's that good times and bad times never last. They always cycle through each other, sometimes fast, sometimes slowly. For every moment of good luck a dragon's blessed with, he or someone else is cursed with an equal amount of bad luck, maintaining the cosmic balance. This applies to everyone, even the servants of The Night King.
At first, our good luck continued to ride high. Following Jerboa's abdication, a large black cloud approached the Sandwing Palace from the Southeast. The Nightwings had returned. After getting humbled by the Rainwings (and giving a new King in Mastermind), they returned well-fed, recuperated and with some shiny-new crossbows and RFCs. They even brought enough 'bows to arm to Nightshade's militia, as well as our own. They reaffirmed that they were fighting for Nightshade and the Coven, but when we asked them if the Rainwings were going to help us, they became very, very cagey. Not that I can blame them: If I got my ass embarrassed by the laughingstock of Phyrria, I wouldn't want to talk about it either.
Of course, Dusk has kicked my butt many times, but a) I let her win, b) She's only half-Rainwing, and c) Most of those sparring matches became "wrestling matches" by the end, and we both win when that happens.
Alas, this was the last bit of truly good luck we'd get that month. Just as we were rebuilding and recuperating, so was the Coalition. Even after Jerboa abandoned the throne for her seaside hut, Glacier and Moorhen and Scarlet had been preparing for another attack. Calling upon the vast reserves of the Icewings, Skywings and Mudwings, an army a thousand strong - the largest ever gathered in Phyrrian History - had gathered, and as one, they attacked the Sandwing Palace. Like an unending swarm of locusts or a mighty storm, the descended upon the ancient castle with fire and ice and bloodlust.
In the old days, this would've been an absolute stomp. But that Mad Drake Xerophilous, he changed the art of war. His weapons - the Xero Crossbow, the RFC - gave our side something that the Coalition didn't have: Range. Time and again, the Coalition tried to overwhelm the Palace with swarms of red and brown and white. Yet time and again, the Nightwings and Nightshade's militia shot dozens and dozens of them out of the sky, littering the ground with the fallen beneath the mighty walls. By the end of the first day, the Coalition had pulled back, setting up camps around the Palace, as they realized that what should've been a quick, decisive battle was instead going to be a long, arduous siege.
On one paw, that the Palace hadn't fallen was great, and the fact that the Coalition was dedicating most of their forces to surrounding it meant that they weren't going to come down on us. On the other paw, my informants told me that they only had about four months of food and supplies, meaning they were on the clock. If we couldn't find a way to break the siege, Nightshade and the Nightwings would have to make a breakout.
I watched all of this from a distance, safe and secure in our new fortress in Hawkstone. An icy chill grew in my gut, as hundreds and hundreds of dragons fought each other in and around the Palace. My Coven's force of three hundred, while formidable, couldn't hold onto three towns and aid the Nightwings at the same time. Instead, I had our warriors work on building up our defenses, training with our crossbows, and prepare ourselves mentally and physically for whatever came next.
It was April 9th, when they came. Dusk, as it turned out, was back in Crossroads, holding one of her sermons in the town she built. Perhaps if she'd been with me, we would've had some warning, even if only by a few hours. Instead, I'd begun my day as I often had, walking down the streets, checking on the vendors and inhabitants of Hawkstone, making sure everything was as it should be. After almost a month of occupation, the dragons of Hawkstone were finally starting to get used to us. We didn't mess with their business (outside of when it involved the security of the city), and they paid their taxes to us to keep bandits and other raiders away. A simple, fair arrangement.
I had approached a vendor selling salted and pickled fish (bought from the Sea Kingdom, prepared in the Rainforest), when I heard the sounds of roaring and screaming some distance away. Looking to my left, I saw a plume of smoke rise up at the edge of town. Through the smoke, dozens and dozens (easily 300) of large, red dragons came through, breathing fire down upon us.
"Skywing Attack!" One of the guards cried out.
"Stand your ground!" I shouted, turning to her. "Grab your crossbow and kill those bastards!"
I had trained my militia well enough to fight back on their own - before I could even think of telling her to spread the word to the rest of the Coven, dozens of variously shaped and colored dragons armed with spears, clubs and crossbows had also taken to the sky, engaging the Skywings in pitched battle. I grabbed a knife off the merchant's stand, and joined them - I didn't need a fancy contraption to be a killing machine.
With fire in my heart and steel in my paw, I led several militia members into a charge against the red horde. Some fired their crossbows into the Skywing Army, some of the bolts penetrating their armor or weak spots, while others missed or ricocheted off them - Scarlet had been in the process of upgrading her soldier's armor it seemed. Why didn't they wait until they had enough for everyone? Not that it mattered for me; I learned long ago to aim my blade and claws for weakspots like the throat, the wing joints, or the eyes. I sliced with my blade, sliced with my claws, bit and tore into bastards left and right, leaving a trail of bodies behind me. Some of them got a few lucky hits, the cuts along my arms and legs and chest singing their songs of pain, fueling my rage and fury. Even in the previous battles of the Scorpion's Den and here, the battles hadn't gotten this bloody, this intense.
Spirits, how I missed it! It felt so GOOD to get back into a full-on, bloody brawl again.
"Finally, someone here has a killer instinct!" A deep, menacing voice boomed amidst the smoke and fire. Looking around, my gaze fell upon a large, menacing Skywing with bloodred scales and a yellow underbelly. In one paw she held a young Sandwing by the throat, while holding the stinger in the other. The dragonet was a fresh recruit, just old enough to serve, and he looked at me with pleading, terrified eyes. Of course, I knew the child was dead already, and so my attention was focused on his attacker. "Tell me, are you the one they call Desperado?"
"I am," I replied, "And just who might you be?"
"I," She explained coolly, "Am Scarlet's Champion. I... am Hypaethral." She emphasized her name by squeezing the dragonet's neck, ending his life with a meaty CRUNCH! He dropped his lifeless body onto a roof below us, which it crashed through in a broken heap.
"You know no one likes a showoff." I told her.
"Sure they don't." She replied with a menacing smile, and charged.
We ducked and weaved around each other, an airborne dance of death. We scratched, bit, breathed fire upon each other, tossing each other into buildings. I knew well enough to avoid her tail, which was just as deadly as any Sandwing stinger. We went for each other's eyes, wings, throats and bellies, any place with a weak spot. For all her strength and tenacity, I was quick and clever, and though she'd give me a tap here and there, she never managed to get a definite strike on me. At the same time, Hypaethral was one tough bitch, and even as she was getting covered in her own blood (and more injuries than in the entirety of her gladiatorial career), she still kept coming after me.
After several minutes of fighting, we were both circling each other, bleeding and panting with exhaustion. My sides ached from a dozen different cuts, and the Skywing was missing a chunk of skin from her wing. Still, I felt like we were evenly matched, and our little fight could've gone on... oh, anywhere between a few minutes to an hour, I'm sure.
"Heh, having fun yet?" I joked, flaring my wings confidently.
"Oh, I'm just getting started, boy." She growled, offering a menacing grin. "And when we're done, I'll have your head mounted over my fireplace."
"There's only gonna be one kind of mounting tonight," I retorted, "And unfortunately, I'm already spoken for."
Leave it to Dusk to be a master of dramatic timing. No sooner had I said that did a shadow pass over both of us. I didn't have to check to know that my mate had arrived with reinforcements. Hypaethral looked up, granting me an opening. I charged. She noticed and dodged at the last second, and my lethal strike to her throat instead became a deep cut along her wing and back. She roared in pain and anger, her tail swiping and striking my backlegs, sending me into a spin. By the time I'd righted myself and landed gingerly on a roof, the Skywings were already retreating. An additional hundred or so of our followers were chasing them, peppering their hides with bolts and fire.
"You know I had an amazing sermon written up for today," Dusk announced, as she landed next to me, "And I had to toss it when I woke up this morning. Spent the whole time getting everyone ready and rushing over as soon as we could."
"Couldn't have timed it any better if you tried," I complimented, brushing a tired wing against hers, "Any longer and there would've been some mounting - and not the fun kind!"
"You're losing your edge," She clucked, bringing out some bandages from a bag she carried around her neck, "You're bleeding all over. A younger Desperado would've gotten away without a scratch."
"Yeah, well, a younger Desperado would've bailed at the first sight of the Skywing Army, so maybe I'm getting dumber as well as slower. Not a good combination in this business." She giggled to herself, and I held still as she tended to my wounds. Looking up at the fleeing Skywings, I asked, "How many did we lose?"
"Two-hundred, both sides," She explained, working quickly, "Those crossbows worked wonders for us. Without them, we would've surely lost the battle, and the city. But our followers did well, and we've given Nightshade and the Night King more time, the most valuable resource we have left."
"Good, good," I sighed, wincing as she started doing stitchwork, "We defeated the last gasp of the Coalition. With no new Queen and their Grant Army beaten yet again, they have nothing left to gain trying to occupy this land."
"Don't be too sure, my love," Dusk cautioned, mending my wounds, "I fear that the worst is yet to come. The King in the South moves against Scarlet, and the Mad Queen has unleashed a demon as our punishment."
I blinked, and turned to face her. "Demon? You don't mean-"
"Don't worry yourself right now, my dear," She hushed, stroking my neck, "The bad news can wait until tomorrow. For now, let me take care of you."
I relented, letting my mate stitch me up and take me home. And sure enough, the bad news had the decency to wait until the next day to come down upon us. First and foremost, the Coalition somehow found another poor sucker to become their fake Queen - Princess Blister's old servant, Lady Tanwen. Evidently, the security in the Rainforest was so lackluster that their "guest" was able to fly off with a crossbow and head back to the Sand Kingdom without anyone even noticing. With Hallowglide decorating my wall and Jerboa back in her seaside hut, Glacier and Moorhen had no one else left to crown, though at this point I have to wonder if anyone really wants to be Queen.
The second bit was truthfully a mixed bag. While the Coalition was busy trying to conquer us, the Nightwings launched a daring raid in the Sky Kingdom. Using their natural night vision and brand-new crossbows provided by the Rainforest, they attacked the Sky Palace at midnight, and swiftly overwhelmed the complacent Skywing Guards. What's more, the raiders had the brilliant idea of emptying Scarlet's prison, and two-hundred would-be gladiators, prisoners and various dragons on Scarlet's shitlist promptly either fled the castle for the Jade Mountains, or joined the Nightwings in the siege. Scarlet was said to have been so pissed when she heard the news she snapped the messenger's neck, and had her personal forces in the Skywing army come with her to take her home back. Before she left, however, her last act was to appoint Commander Hypaethral as both her Ambassador (for whatever the hell that was worth) and General of the Skywing Army, leading the rest of her contingent until she came back.
Yes, the Mad Queen was letting the inmates run the asylum. Hundreds upon hundreds of dragons stood ready to snuff out our outnumbered and outgunned Coven, and unless something drastic happened, I was starting to fear that our victory was starting to slip out of our claws. But Dusk hadn't given up hope. She had one last trick in her wings, something that, if successful, could turn the tide of the war back into our favor.
She was going to find the Lost City of Night, and find the Night King's treasures...