Dragons

Manipulation

After screaming those words the voices faded and I regained my vision. I was crouched on the ground, my hands embedded in my scalp. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I peered up and scanned the room. Beady eyes were staring at me. Jake had his hand on me

"Uh..Sorry" I stammered while shaking my head. Jake helped me to my feet. Jockram stood with his hands folded. Lance shifted his weight

"Are you ok Jack" He asked

"Im just feeling light headed" I lied.

"Do you wish to rest?" Jockram responded sincerly

"No, seriously im fine" I shook my head. "I think I'll just see Amanda about it" I strolled out of the cave and was blinded by the lights from outside. My head was still spinning from my previous endeavours. I passed many injured soldiers along the way, all sitting on the rocks that lined the path the engineers roughly dug out while I was out. I reached Amanda and saw a line that stretched out of the tent and twisted around. I cut the line and apologised to them. Amanda took one look at me and bolted over, greeting me with a warm hug.

"How are you!" She asked gleefully. I looked down and groaned. Her voice dropped "Jack, what's wrong?" I looked up slowly.

"I think they are doing something to me" He face looked puzzled

"What do you mean?" She asked

"I heard voices in my head, after I woke up" I impatiently knew she thought I was losing it "I know that somethings not right with me" I said as I shook my head. She stared at me and studied my face.

"I trust you Jack but im limited in what I can do here, we are pinned down and we need to make a attack soon" She must have seen the disappointment in my face because she proceeded to make amends "I will do a check up on you after we have taken this area, I promise"

I nodded in response and realised that I wasn't the biggest issue for her right now. Although she still looked troubled by it. I placed my hand on her shoulder and said

"It's ok Amanda, don't worry, your right, I'm not the biggest issue here" She nodded and I waved to her as she walked back to the seemingly endless line of wounded soldiers. I spun on my heels and headed back the cave to continue planning the attack. That was the biggest issue right now. I re-entered the cave and found Jockram and Lance in a heated argument and I could only assume it was about the next way we were gonna advance. They all went silent when they saw me walking in. I placed my hand on the hilt of my katana and squeezed it out of anger and fear. All eyes were on me. How was I supposed to make a decision that could potentially cause the life or death of thousands.

Lance spoke up "Sir, we need a decision soon otherwise we risk the counter attack by the enemy" I raised my head and walked over the the large map that was rolled out on the table and leaned my weight on the table. My palms and my forehead were sweaty. I slowly lifted my head and looked into the eyes of Jake. He gave me his nod of approval.

"I believe the best and most efficient plan of action is to take them by surprise with a massive assault." There was no change in the room "How many soldiers can we mobalise to take in to battle as soon as possible" I asked. Jockram answered

"We have a potential five thousand soldiers to attack with"

"And how many do we predict that they have ready?" I asked in response

"We are close to equal in numbers, although we do not know how much defense they have prepared for us" I took a moment to process the thought that they could have layed traps for us.

"We need to weigh up our losses and see what the benifits of this is" Lance told me

"I am aware of the consequences of my actions here Lance" I spoke with authority "But I also know that if we don't act fast they can potentially prepare further and also potentially over run us and take over the rest of the civilized world" I paused and everyone was silent. Lance seemed shocked at my revelation "And so I repeat, we need to act with wisdom and speed"

"I will prepare my army" Jockram told me and the promptly exited. Lance stared at me and I could see that he did not agree with my decision.

"As will I" He followed Jockram reluctantly. I turned to Jake.

"Can you prepare our troops and our catipaults, we are going to do this" Jake nodded

"Im with you all the way" I patted my back as he left the room. I sat down in the now empty room and thought over the decision I had just made. We were about to go to full scale war.