Chapter 2.
His senses were rendered to the state of almost complete uselessness. His vision was blurred by the constantly thickening fog, which was an ugly shade of green at first, now it was getting more grey by the minute. As he crouched in the bottom of the small pit, the ground seemed to shake all the time. The loud thundering of detonations and the sound of violently barking gunfire tore into his ears causing him to be thoroughly disoriented. The air was heavy with the scents of dust, freshly spilled blood, and the sickening fumes and smoke left by the explosions.
Under any other circumstances, he would have considered to just run, without a glance back. Forcing himself to contain his panic and focus his mind on the two consciousnesses near to him, Lohengrin rocketed out from the crater he was crouching in, towards the two soldiers. Two heavy blows later, he let out the breath he was holding.
After a few moments, he heard screeches and roars coming not too far from him. He began to run, silently cursing the thick fog which limited the visibility to a few dozen steps. After a short while, he ran into a group of five dragons, trying to overturn one of those rolling metal monsters.
"Give me some room!" he roared, and rushed towards the contraption. He slammed into the side of the thing, while turning his mental focus inward, he reached for the energies of his mind. He grabbed the underside of the metal contraption and struggled up to his hind legs. His muscles flexed, heart hammered inside his chest, and with a burst of energy and adrenaline, he roared out, and with the help of the other dragons, they flipped the vehicle to its side.
A hatch fell open at the backside of the APC, and soldiers inside tried crawl out, only to be greeted by half a dozen very angry Night Furies.
After the bloody work has been done, Lohengrin finally had the opportunity to observe the dragons around him.
"Orlen! What's the situation?"
Second Guard Orlengiir swallowed a few times to slow down his breathing a bit, then answered:
"Naveron retreated with the majority of the injured and the survivors, as you ordered. I think we're doing a good job holding them off, maybe if Naveron or Salkonyr could bring in fresh Guards, we-"
"Out of the question!" Lohengrin stated "If we are all what's left, then the rearguard retreats to the Central Cave as well!"
An indignant expression appeared on Orlengiir's face.
"The First Wing never runs away!" he growled in protest"We are not cowering weaklings to flee when the fight starts to get heavy!"
Lohengrin came very close to punch him in the face; he took a sharp breath and sunk his claws into the ground.
"The First Wing follows ORDERS!" he roared angrily"This isn't about pride, Orlen, this is about survival! We are vastly outnumbered and overpowered, standing our ground here would be suicidal, not heroic! You WILL follow my orders and make yourself valuable by SAVING OTHERS AS I COMMAND, UNDERSTOOD?!"
"Yes, my Leader!" Orlengiir barked immediately. Lohengrin wasn't happy about humiliating the Second Guard in front of the clan's elite, but desperate times require harsh actions.
True to their fame of being the best of the Guards, all of the First Wing was ready and accounted for. The only dragon Lohengrin missed was Elder Zorhen.
"Did anybody see-"
His question was interrupted by a large bulk of iron rolling towards them. The six dragons scattered into six directions, causing the tank to stop, as it slowly began to turn its turret, searching for a target. Lohengrin disappeared in a crater just a moment before machinegun fire raked the ground where he stood before.
The fire was so loud he could barely hear his own thoughts. The metal monster seemed to be able to pin down all of the dragons. His mind desperately raced, trying to figure out a way to deal with the thing when he noticed he's hearing a faint whistling sound.
The sound of the wind blowing through a diving Night Fury's wings and fins at high speed.
Lohengrin risked a peek out from the crater, only to see Elder Zorhen appearing above the tank. He arrived to the top of its turret with a huge bang, then jumped towards the nose of the tank, curled himself under the gun's barrel, and using the same method Lohengrin used to flip the APC, Zorhen gripped the barrel with paws and jaw, and began to forcefully bend it upwards. The hydraulics screamed as it tried to resist, but the Elder pushed the barrel up even more, and after a few loud cracks, he tore the whole barrel off.
Just as he dropped the barrel down to the ground, the turret hatch opened and a human appeared, aiming his submachine gun at the Night Fury. But Zorhen's reflexes were faster, and he knocked the human from the machine with a tail swipe.
Seeing the castrated fighting vehicle, the Night Furies roared victoriously and went into a ferocious counterattack. Fishing the rest of the crew from the tank was pretty easy, but necessary to ensure that the iron beast stay stationary.
"You alright?" Lohengrin asked the old dragon as he reached him.
"I might have broken a few teeth, but nothing significant. I would advise to get back to the clan."
"You read my mind." Lohengrin nodded and turned towards the Guards.
"We're regrouping with the others at the Central Cave! Let's move!"
As Laranys tried her best to hide behind a boulder and look as small as possible, she also had to fight her panicking nerves. Today started pretty well, Elder Tamaana showed her how to treat a sprained limb in the morning, then sent her away to collect some willow tree bark for her painkilling salve. She was on her way back, just stopped at the river to drink a bit and grab a quick snack of trout when the uproar started. She faintly heard a Guard calling everyone to the central cave, when a monstrously huge flying something appeared on the sky, releasing the strange green fumes which now enveloped the whole valley. She saw the thing going down, and the ground-shaking impact scared her out of her scales, but shortly after that, came the thunders and blasts from the entrance of the valley, and now she had no way to move and not risk getting shot, burned or torn into pieces. A few minutes earlier, a Guard noticed her hiding, and tried to get to her. Now that she saw what horrendous injuries can these tiny rock-like projectiles the enemy's been shooting cause, all she was able to do was bite hard on her paw to prevent herself from crying out hysterically.
The green fog slowly got darker and greyer, now she was barely able to keep track of the events in her surroundings. Sometimes she heard whiffs of talk, explosions, thunders and cries, but the constant vibration of the blasts messed up her senses so much, she couldn't even determine the source of the different sounds.
She curled into a tight ball, forepaws covering her ears and eyes shut, silently praying for the spirits of her ancestors that someone somehow end this nightmare. When she was a hatchling, her parents told her that monsters do not exist.
They were either wrong, or lying.
All the remaining Guards, together with Elder Zorhen and Lohengrin retreated to the clearing at the Central Cave's mouth. As soon as he touched down, a crowd of Furies rushed to Lohengrin, bombarding him with questions. However, one came rushing, forcefully knocking the others over to get to him.
"Lohen, you're back!" Lyara cried.
Lohengrin ran to his trembling mate, and tried his best to comfort her.
"Thank the Spirits you're alright-"
"Laranys is missing! I can't find her anywhere and nobody has seen her coming to the cave!"
Ice-cold claws of dread gripped into Lohengrin's insides, as his mind processed the shocking information. He shut his eyes and allowed himself a few seconds of thinking. His clan is on the brink of disarray, everyone is wandering around aimlessly. Everyone's scared, lots of them are panicking, and nobody knows what should be the best course of action. His clan-mates and friends are dying in front of his eyes, and he's powerless to stop the onslaught. And now, his daughter is in mortal danger too.
"NAVERON!" he roared. "Bring everyone who still draws breath inside the mountain, now! Two Wings must guard the entrance; the rest must organize a column of the dragons and head into the tunnel network!
"How is that going to help us?" Naveron asked.
"One of the tunnels leads to an exit on the other side of the mountain; it's our only way out of the valley! Send four dragons forward to scout ahead, and if it's safe, relocate the clan deep into the forest!"
For a moment, Naveron looked like he wants to protest, but then he swallowed and hesitantly nodded.
"Aye, my Leader."
The First Guard instantly began to bark orders, and everyone ran along to comply. Lyara turned to face Lohengrin again.
"What are you-"
"You go inside too. Is Lenny alright?" Lohengrin interrupted.
"Y-yes, he's inside, helping Salko to keep the dragons calm..."
"Good, take him and go. Get out of the valley and into the forest as fast as possible! I'll go and find Laranys!"
Lyara opened her mouth to protest, but Lohengrin took off instantly, and turned towards the direction of the riverbank. His heart hammered inside his chest as his wings pumped with strength he rarely used.
Nobody would hurt his daughter. Not if he can do anything about it.
Now that the Furies retreated, the valley was relatively silent – at least a lot less loud than it was like an hour ago. Lohengrin tried to use his hearing to find any traces of his daughter; the fog was getting thinner now, but the visibility was still limited. The green gas was also diluted by the smoke the humans made with their weapons, but it was not enough. What Lohengrin managed when he tried to shoot a fireball, was more like flaming snot than fire. He tried calling his daughter's name, but he only got a burst of fire from down below as an answer, which barely missed him. Minute after agonizing minute passed and he found it increasingly harder to control his crazy worry for his only daughter.
Suddenly he heard his own name called, and turned back. Much to his surprise, he found Wordren racing up to him.
"Wordy! I've told you to-"
"The mountain's entrance is about to get overrun! We need you to help the Guards holding the humans at bay while the clan escapes!" he gabbled nervously, hovering not too far from him.
Lohengrin took a sharp breath and forcefully shut his jaw to prevent himself from roaring out loud in his despair. The Guards need him to lead them, the rest of the clan need him to guide them into safety, his mate would need him to keep his family together and safe, his son would need him to explain what to do and why, his daughter needed him to save her from falling into the hands of these vile two-legged freaks who would do who-knows-what to her...
He tried to be everywhere at once and failed. Now he has to make a choice. But he cannot.
Panting violently, he tried to say something.
"Look, Wordy, I-"
"I'll go and find Nyssie!" the older dragon cut in "But you have to-"
"Alright, ALRIGHT!" Lohengrin roared, and dived back to the direction of the Central Cave. Wordren took a nervous look at him, then launched himself forward.
He descended as well, trying to fly as low and fast as possible without getting seen in the fog, desperately calling out for his granddaughter. He know very well that he doesn't have much time left, before the humans overrun the cave entrance, forcing the clan to disappear into the tunnels and flee out from the valley. Should that happen, he and Laranys are trapped in here, and can only hide until the fog dissolves.
After that, both of them won't be more than easy target practice. He made another vain attempt:
"Laranys! Laranys, where are you!"
When suddenly he heard something! Wings flapping crazily, he lined himself to the direction of the call, and began to dive. Powerful wind blew around him as he speedily headed downwards, then opened his wings wide...
Then there it was. Wordren lacked the words to tell what he's seeing. In front of him was another one of those human contraptions; it was able to roll on six round things, three on each side, two forward and four at the back. The back of it was completely flat, maybe for the purpose of putting other things on it, Wordy couldn't tell. Next to the contraption was a cubical thing, which reminded him of an angular ribcage, but this one had a flat top and bottom too.
And Laranys was inside the cage.
"Grandpa!" she whined.
"Hold on, Little Sunshine!" Wordy cried, took a quick look around to see if are there any humans in the vicinity, and then landed on top of the cage "Grandpa's gonna get you outta there!"
Clawing or biting the cage didn't work: it was made of a material much stronger than wood. It had a disturbing, metallic scent; he might have been able to blast it open, but the green gas still prevented him from bringing together an effective fireball. He jumped down, and looked at the side of the cage. The distance between the grids seemed just enough to fit both forepaws against them. Wordy stood up to his hind legs, and began to forcefully push the two metal grids apart. He growled and mustered up all his strength; and the piece of metal slowly, very slowly began to bend to his will.
Laranys was so restless that Wordy felt the need to try to comfort her until he can get her out.
"I'm almost there, hold on a bit longer."
"Grandpa, BEHIND YOU!" she cried out.
A shot came. And another. Wordren felt a fiery pain spreading through his chest, but the sudden rush of adrenaline kept him going, pushing the grids apart even stronger. After the third shot, he felt his mouth has begun to fill up with blood, but he didn't turn back to see who's attacking him. The fourth shot made his vision blurry, but he still saw the tears rolling down on his granddaughter's face. The world began to spin around him, but the insane determination kept everything away and pushed the metal even harder.
After the fifth and sixth shots, his body began to betray his will. His eyelids became heavy, his trembling hind legs buckled, unable to support his weight anymore.
Laranys rushed up to her grandfather, and hugged him through the grid.
"This is just a dream!" she sobbed hysterically, "We are going to wake up and you'll be fine! You'll be fine..."
She hasn't even noticed when a human raised his arm, holding an air gun at her. She hasn't noticed the dart sticking into her neck. As the world slowly fell apart by the sedative, she thought that she's finally going to wake up...
She was wrong.
Lohengrin raced back towards the mountain, where the rest of the dragons bunkered themselves away from the fire. On his way, he saw a few humans down below, with strange objects on their back, holding sticks that spat huge flames! He didn't stop to bother with the fire-blowing humans; the sound of heavy fire coming from the direction of the Central Cave worried him much more.
The fog slowly diluted into patches of smoke, so he decided to try out his fire again. As soon as his mouth filled with his gas, he knew it's still not normal, the mixture was noticeably thicker than usual. Seeing a line made out of dozens of humans standing and firing towards the cave entrance, he dived towards them. Someone must have noticed him diving, as shots came, one of them hit the edge of his wing, tearing a small hole on it. He gritted his teeth but went on, levelled himself and tried out his flames on the column of humans.
He sprayed a continuous line of fire which enveloped the attackers, did a sharp turn to the left, and with a speedy half-circle, he flew inside the cave. His speed was too much to enter safely, desperate he spread his wings as far as he could, trying to show the largest area against the air as he could to slow himself down, as soon as he touched the ground for a running landing, his legs buckled. He painfully slammed himself to the ground, but luckily managed to tuck his wings before he started to roll, otherwise he would have broke them. Tumbling and rolling ungracefully, he skidded dozens of steps before finally stopping on his back, panting and hissing violently.
Furies ran over him, but he was on his feet in no time.
"Leader Lohengrin-"
"What are we going to-"
"They right at us-"
As Lohengrin opened his mouth, a shell exploded inside of the cave, spraying stone fragments everywhere. One or two more came, only fuelling the panic of the Night Furies.
"We have to go, Lohengrin!" Elder Zorhen shouted as he helped up his leader again.
"We... I... My daughter is still out there!" Lohengrin groaned desperately.
"Get back to your senses! We cannot hope to hold out against this kind of firepower! I have instructed your son and your mate to lead the evacuation, they will be waiting you at the other side of the valley. But you must go, and escort the rest of the clan outside."
"But...but-"
"Lohengrin!"
"Give me some time to think damnit!" Lohengrin roared. There was still at least thirty Night Furies in the cave, elder ones and hatchlings too. To avoid any more injuries, they have to leave in a somewhat organized way...
"Okay." he panted "Orlen! Where's Orlengiir?!"
"Outside." Naveron croaked. Lohengrin didn't need to ask what he meant by saying that.
"Then-"
"Dad! Dad!"
"Lenhardt!"
Lenny rushed out from the tunnels, running to his father.
"Dad, did you find-"
"What are you doing here?!" Lohengrin interrupted.
Lenhardt's ears flattened to his head.
"I... came to help leading out the others..."
"Okay." Lohengrin turned, addressing the crowd "Eight of you are going with him! Another six will be escorted out by Night Guards Raylandt, Selara, and me!" then he turned towards his son again:
"Your grandfather is looking for Nyssie. You go and lead your group out into the forest. I'll be among the last who leaves, hopefully with Wordy and Laranys, okay?"
Lenhardt gulped nervously.
"Okay..."
Lohengrin nuzzled his son.
"You're doing well, I'm so proud of you." he whispered.
Lenhardt tried his best to appear all grown up and serious, not showing how scared he is. With a vague trace of his usual cheekiness, he managed to say:
"Don't keep us waiting too long, okay?"
With a feint smile, Lohengrin let his son go, and watched him disappear with a group of dragons into the tunnels. Shortly after that, the mentioned Guards also rounded up their groups, and began to lead them to safety.
Slowly but steadily, the cave around them gradually emptied, leaving only Elder Zorhen, First Guard Naveron, the First Wing of the Night Guard and Lohengrin inside. Lohengrin instructed his group of Night Furies where to go, and sent them ahead into the tunnels. Elder Tamaana was the last one to enter, shooting worried glances over the remaining dragons.
In the meantime, Naveron peeked out from the cave and rushed back almost immediately.
"A large group of them are coming this way and fast. At least two hundred humans, with half a dozen metal monsters escorting them. They'll be here in a couple of minutes."
Lohengrin swallowed tensely, as he tried to come up with another plan. He felt that his sleeve for tricks were running out for today.
"We just need to hold them off for-"
Elder Zorhen stepped in front of him.
"Get out of here Lohengrin."
His tone was absolutely serious, with a matching expression on his face. Lohengrin dropped his jaw and looked over the Guards, who all looked similar to the Elder. Even Naveron, who was badly injured.
"But we have to-"
"Do not protest. We have already made our decisions. We stay here and buy enough time for you to lead the clan, our friends and families away to safety. Use my place at the Shalnar ridges to hide; it is close enough to reach in a day but far enough to be momentarily safe."
"I'M NOT LEAVING ANYONE BEHIND!" Lohengrin roared.
Zorhen simply slapped him in the face. Despite the enraged look in his leader's eyes, he spoke absolutely calmly.
"Use your mind, Lohengrin."
Maybe because he had never been this upset in his life, Lohengrin could concentrate like never before. Closing his eyes, he felt the minds of the remaining dragons here, solid with determination and with silent acceptance of their fate. Reaching forward, he felt the disturbingly foreign consciousnesses of the humans inside the valley. Hundreds of them. Much to his horror, he couldn't sense Wordren anywhere, and Laranys... her mind felt very weak and pale, almost as if she's...
Getting away.
Lohengrin's eyes snapped open.
"They... they-"
"You must get out of here Lohengrin. There is nothing left here but death. She is alive, but appears to be captured." Zorhen stopped for a minute, then slowly continued "There is no point in staying here for you. You cannot save your daughter by staying here or rushing out now, you have to find another way. The others will need you more. Go."
"He's right." Naveron growled "The First Wing never flees anyway."
Again, the cold logic. Technically speaking, Zorhen was completely right. But can he, should he leave all these brave dragons to their fate? Is he worthy of their sacrifice? Why does it have to be like this? And Laranys... the thought of leaving her in the hands of those hideous monsters felt like a stab deep into his heart. Gritting his teeth and lowering his head, he had to slowly accept the inevitable conclusion.
"Good luck." he whispered.
Zorhen only gave an acknowledging nod, but a moment later, someone cried out loudly from the mouth of the tunnels.
"NO!"
Elder Tamaana ran to Zorhen, almost knocking Lohengrin off his feet. He shook his head and took a few steps back, trying to comprehend the situation.
"What are you trying to prove here Zorhen?" Tamaana demanded, tears rolling down on her face "You know that-"
Zorhen stepped forward and nuzzled her, rubbing his chin against her forehead. Tamaana sobbed and threw her forelegs around the neck of the older dragon.
"I have done many things in my life I regret..." he whispered into her ears "You... we were not one of them."
"Don't do this, I forgave you so long ago..." she cried, burying her face into his neck.
"I know. I never questioned that." Zorhen replied softly "But I have never forgiven for myself. I never really found my peace. But now I will. Let me go my love. Let me go."
Tamaana's paws slowly slid off Zorhen. The old dragon gave her a lick, then nudged her to go.
"The clan needs you."
For a long moment, they both looked into each other's eyes. Then slowly, Tamaana backed away. Lohengrin walked beside her.
"Follow me." he whispered.
Both of them took a final look at Zorhen, Naveron and the Guards, before heading into the darkness of the tunnel.
As the two Night Furies disappeared, Zorhen turned towards the Guards around him.
"Would you mind if I take charge?" he asked from Naveron.
"Be my guest." he said calmly, shaking his head.
Zorhen spoke up loudly, addressing all Furies in the cave.
"The effects of the fire-blocking gas are softening. The enemy will try to enter this cave in an attempt to flush us out. Let us give them a fiery surprise they will never forget! If this is to be our end, let us have them make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance!"
The Guards let out ferocious roars, and began to take positions around the entrance...
They switched on the flashlights, but they looked weak compared to the darkness of the cave. The commander signalled a halt, then reached for his belt, took of a frag grenade and threw it into the opening. It blew off a few seconds later, but nothing else could be heard. Signalling again to move forward, the commander took point and entered the cave. He looked to the left, and to the right, but nothing could be seen. For a few minutes, there was nothing but an uneasy silence. Then, one of the soldiers got the idea of checking the ceiling too. The patch of light slowly crawled up on the wall, trailing along the ceiling, but he couldn't spot anything...
As the trail of light stopped on his back and then moved away, Zorhen let out an evil grin at the stupid humans who can't see beyond their nose. The ceiling of the cave was full of stalactites; all the Furies were hiding amongst them, their black scales making them almost invisible ahead of the dark background.
The attackers seemed to slowly let their guard down. Now was the time.
"Eyes open." Zorhen whispered.
The Guards readied themselves, legs slowly switching positions, muscles flexing, wings extending.
"Attack on my mark. If things are getting out of control, we bring the whole cave down on them."
Zorhen took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. Then roared.
"ONWARDS, TOEMNIR OHREI!"
With thundering roars and sprays of fire, the dragons jumped down from the ceiling, into the middle of the crowd of unsuspecting humans. With such ferocity and zest only those who have nothing to lose were able to muster; the Rearguard of Clan Toemnir began to fulfil their promise.
And gave hell to the enemy.
The ground trembled under their paws as they ran through the tunnel network, always heading for the light. The trembling got harder and harder, sounds of explosions came from behind, and for a moment, Lohengrin was sure they wouldn't get out of the mountain in time. But fortunately, the narrow tunnel came to an abrupt end, and both he and Elder Tamaana were outside the valley. They continued to run on the snowy ground, towards the large pine forest, where the others from the clan hid.
Avoiding answering all the questions he had been bombarded with, Lohengrin tried to organize everyone into a formation so they can fly to safety. But his efforts were in vain. Everyone was tired, shaken, worrying or even injured, which made his work unbearably hard. So he spent a lot of time running from one group of dragons to the next, convincing them to let go of everything and prepare to move out.
"Ohrana! Ohrana listen to me! Ohrana!" he shouted with a dragoness. She was seriously injured, a fragment of a cave wall caused by an explosion hit her left eye, and now she was half-crazy with the shock, pain and dread.
"There's no point, I'm useless!" she cried "I can't fly now, I can't hunt, I'm nothing more than a liability! Another mouth to feed! Leave me here-"
"NO!" Lohengrin roared, his throat was sore from all the yelling he had been doing the past few hours. He has never been as tired in his entire life as was at then, but he still had to overcome obstacle after obstacle. "Listen, flying with one eye is possible, you will need a lot of practice at distance measurement, but it's doable! We can't afford to lose more dragons, your experience is invaluable whether you fly or not!"
He spent almost an hour, trying to reason with dozens of Furies. But no diplomatic abilities, sense of empathy or health knowledge prepared him for what was about to come. When Lyara rushed to him. When she hugged him close, silently thanking the Spirits that he was more or less unharmed. When she fearfully asked:
"Lohen... Where's Wordy and Nyssie?"
Lohengrin opened his mouth in an effort to say something, anything... but Lyara didn't get an answer, just a very tired and sorrowful look, which spoke more than anything he could have said. Lohengrin felt like his heart was being torn out, as he had to watch the dragoness he vowed to protect and keep happy, fall apart with dread and grief over a family, which would never be the same again.
A/N: Okay, I kinda feel sad now. Next chapter will be a bit brighter, I promise.
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