The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

169

10 Days Later

     "Soldiers! To the east!"

I turned my head sharply in the direction of the guard shouting as he galloped towards us all on his horse. I dropped the squirrel I'd killed and jumped to my feet.

"How many? One man asked urgently.

"Hundreds, thousands, countless!" The guard said as he tried to catch his breath from all the yelling.

I turned to Tahli and Amy, who silently nodded their heads once, indicating that they agreed with the thought of preparing for battle the assumed I was having. I turned back to the guard and gave an order.

"Return to your post. Tell the others currently on watch to find themselves a good spot to attack from."

He nodded before remounting his horse and turning back towards the mouth of the mountain range.

"Everyone arm yourselves! Those of you with horses, you will close the mouth of the mountains and hold them back with spears and arrows! Those of you on foot will find high spots on the sides of the rocks to fire down on them from all angles! We have no time to waste! May luck be on your side!" 

The meagre force of men who remained held up their weapons and utter war cries that gave a false sense of hope for us all. By the time the enemy inevitably came for us, the bulk of the people had dispersed far into the endless mountain range, spreading out leaving miles between families if possible. At least that's what I was hoping they had done.

"We're both coming with you." Bailey said as she stepped out in front of me, bow in hand.

At that point, I knew arguing with her would do little to change her mind, and I knew we had little time to debate. I motioned for her to follow, with Jules, Lucy and Micheal following close behind. Surrie stayed close by Jules and Lucy as they ran behind the rest of us, heading for the mouth of the mountains. It seemed as though a fight would be pointless, but I knew it would only lessen the numbers against us, and give any families still in the area a better chance to distance themselves. Hundreds of men on horse back formed a defensive line all across the mouth of the mountains, bows held up, ready to rain arrows down on the enemy as they approached. As we climbed up, about 5 horse lengths above the ground, I looked out, way out, and could see a massive sea of people and horses, accompanied by massive weapons called cannons and these large tubes, made up of a bunch of smaller tubes, with a large metal case in the shape of a rectangle sticking straight up from it.

"Demon guns." Lucy said.

I turned in confusion.

"Demon guns?" I asked.

"Yes. They're like demons to those who go against them. The most terrifying thing you can be faced with. They turned the handle, and all the guns built into it shoot hundreds of shots at once before they have to reload." Jules added.

"Ah. That's just what we needed." Tahli said slyly.

As the men approached, the sounds of their shouting became louder and louder. While I had been in many battles far larger than this, my heart was beating far faster than it ever had before, and for the first time, I genuinely felt as though I was going to die fighting. The men guarding the mountains mouth readied their bows for a final time, before all at once, the enemies weapons lit up with bright flashes and loud bangs, including the so called demon guns, spitting out hundreds of shots at once, cutting down countless men on horse back before a single arrow was fire. The spots on the mountains of which we had situated ourselves flanked the mouth, and since we were largely hidden by plants and rocks on the rock faces, we decided to wait until as many of them had passed us as we could get before attacking. Cannon and demon gun fire cut down man and horses after man and horse, still unaware of the rest of us hiding above them. I looked over the massive force charging at us, sinking my heart into my heart. Finally, just before the two lines of soldiers met, I shouted out to those hidden around me.

"KILL THEM ALL!"

All at once, hundreds of arrows rained down from both sides, temporarily stopping the rain of fire on our own line of men, allowing them to replace those who had died with more who had previously been in the back. Arrows and spears continued to fly, cutting down hundreds of attackers, each emitting a blood curdling scream as the fell to the ground. For a fleeting moment, I felt as though we had the upper hand, before just above us, a shot from one of the cannons hit the rocks, knocking a large, boulder sized rock crashing to the ground below, crushing dozens of men. I looked back over to the remaining sea of men gunning to kill us. I watched as the demon guns, and cannons turned towards us.

"GET YOUR HEADS DOWN!" I shouted.

Hey Everyone!

If you're enjoying this story, be sure to check out my new story "The Dragon's Bond"! It can be found on my profile page and is still in progress, updates are daily or bi-daily on average.

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