Blood And Fire

Chapter 60-Talon Claw

CHAPTER 60

     The Dragon Isles are a chain of dormant volcanoes thrust up at the delineation point of the Northern Sea and the Eastern sea.  To the Southwest is the land of Aldin and to the Northeast is the Northern Reaches, the polar continent that contains Port of Frios and Highland Den at Boldever Mountain.

     Talon Claw, the military outpost for Richard's elite battalion of Black dragons, is positioned in the largest mountain of the chain on the middle island of the Dragon Isles.

     Historically, Talon Claw had served as a former dragon colony during the early years of the Vampire – Dragon Wars.  Long ago, every continent, or large island chain had a home for Dragonkind.  Though their species had originated from the molten depths of Boldever Mountain, they had proliferated and expanded their numbers, ruling all of Draconos eons before humans and vampires existed.

     But, as vampires came about and established dominion over their human cattle, Great Pyronius himself had at last intervened.  He commanded the mighty dragons to protect his newest and favorite creation – humans.

     The dragons obeyed their creator as was their noble character and devotion to their deity.  A magical bond between human and dragon was bestowed as a gift from heaven.

     People had a fighting chance against their evil enslavers.

     As the war waged on for millennia, the most ancient of the vampires grew in powers and abilities.  Their rudimentary endowments over their former feeble human weakness were superpowers over humans, no doubt.  But against dragons, they required more.

     The oldest vampire acquired skills and magical abilities that would rival a single dragon, in some cases even surpassing them.

     In addition, the undead had numbers on their side.  Each human represented a potential new Blood Child, when the need arose.  Dragons were limited by their number of Queens and the frequency and size of their clutches.  Furthermore, since the bond between dragon and rider was instituted, the winged reptiles matured at the same rate as their human counterparts.  That meant seventeen years from hatchling until adulthood.

     As the tide of the war shifted, dragon colonies were lost.  The vampires had become more intelligent and strategic in their battle plans and were attacking Dragonkind at their own homes.  The first colony to fall was in the Rift Continent, where the origins of evil had their roots.  From there, the vampires killed the Queen of the Sister Continent of the South.  Then, the Misty Islands fell.

     The battle of the Half Way Point was fought in Finden.  It was by far the bloodiest to date and it took nearly all the vampires' forces in a concentrated effort to topple the dragon stronghold on the western, mountainous Finden Island.

     But the momentum gained in the vampire morale was enormous.  With this victory, they knew they were going to win the war.

     And likewise, it had proven to be a fatal blow to the spirit of the remaining dragons.  The Land of Aldin fell to the blood suckers in less than a month.

     Things were looking grim.

     By the time the vampire army reached Talon Claw at the Dragon Isles, Dragonkind was in desperate need of a victory.  Forces from Highland Den were sent to aid their brothers in the south, knowing that Talon Claw was their second to last vestige.

     Wave after wave of undead were repelled and burned to oblivion.  The dragons fought more fiercely than ever.  At one point the attacks stopped.  Dragonkind rejoiced.  They thought they had finally won.