Theurgy: Forsaken Oaths (Book Two)

Chapter 62 The Dragon Born

The cold air stung Eldund's lungs like a thousand daggers with each breath he took. For those solemn moments after his proud words released from his lips. Tension as hard as the ice that surrounded them, as notched arrows wavered in the grasps of hundreds, ready for the order to unleash another volley of hell upon their approaching enemies. These precious seconds of the unintended piece that was shattered all too well by two simple words.

,"Destroy them!" Mora's fervor was expelled as a command that buffered the winds and mobilized thousands to surge forward. Gray was the fastest among them to respond, his blade lifting as Mora's dragon opened its glowing maw in their direction. The newly scribed runes along it's flat lit aglow with power as the snow at his feet began to melt into water and crest forward, creating a broad shield that protected Edlund, Dagmyre, and himself from the eruption of ice and snow that would have frozen them all solid. Instead, the water he generated immediately froze solid in place. In retaliation, their archers let loose their tensed strings as a volley of arrows, and the subsequent popping of scant rifles sounded off as several of the Zethans, unable to raise their shields inside, fell to their wounds. Edlund hoped that the battle would stay like this, that he and his two companions would only have to worry about the dragons and Zethan sorcerers, but Fate seemed to not be on their side. Just as Mora attacked them, the other had devised a plan. His dragon lifted itself into the air flying over the gap, and now released a torrent of ice magic. Edlund grimaced once he realized what was being done. The damned dragon was creating ice bridges for their forces to cross. The Zethan sorcerer enhanced the formation with true ice to make it tolerate the heat rising from the fissure he had created. Thankfully the bridges they did build were narrow, letting only five men at a time cross shoulder to shoulder, and the slippery nature of their traversal forced them to go slow lest they fall to their deaths. Their slow approach also provided ample time for their ranged support to target them more efficiently. But Edlund knew that this would only make them a target for their winged foes.

"Dagmyre handles those coming from the bridge; slow them further until our infantry can mount a suitable formation," Edlund said.

"My, thousands of fate forsaken boreans, you spoil me, my lord," he unsheathed his thinner blade and sped off towards one of the bridges where many Zethans were securing the location with larger shields to protect their soldiers from oncoming fire.

"Does that mean we have to deal with the dragons?" Gray asked.

Edlund shrugged. "We each take one. Are you ready?"

"Do I have a choice?" Gray hefted his blade and watched as one of the dragons flew overhead towards the forest of ice where their forces hid and headed off in that direction to try and intercept their counterassault, which left Edlund in the middle, facing off against Mora and her dragon rushing towards him at high speed. Edlund stilled his nerves; time around him slowed as his enemy advanced. He took this briefest of moments to prepare himself mentally, physically, and spiritually. His avra roared to life, a power that every knight could sense, even though he utterly lacked the ability as the powers of not only a mortal man but of a god built within Edlund, and threatened to end him if he wasn't careful. And as Mora and her dragon pointed their ice magic toward him, he was ready to face it head-on. As the sorceress raised her hand high above them, a shower of ice spears, each the size of fully grown men, surrounded the dragon in the air and launched towards Edlund. He reacted quickly, striking the earth with his hammer and summoning barriers to block the assault. As actual ice met earth, it became clear which was superior as many of his barriers crumbled. Still, they at least provided cover from the blasts of ice that followed. Edlund dodged and weaved between these barriers, staying out of sight from Mora as her dragon pursued, smashing into the earth and snapping its icy jaws to try and devour the knight. Instead, it received a mouth full of rock which Edlund shaped perfectly to the ledge itself within. The creature thrashed, the rock too dense to crush even with its mighty jaws, but Mora was unperturbed as she summoned more power from the talisman she held, unclipping herself from the dragon to fight Edlund without on even footing. Her face contorted in anger as she pointed her finger at Edlund, and a beam of ice magic shot toward him. Edlund thought quickly and instead used the large flat surface of his hammer to repel the attack. As the ice magic impacted the godly weapon, instead of freezing him and it in an instant, the spell seemed to dissipate as Edlund felt the hammer grow warmer within his grasp.