War of Dragons Chapter Two

Zin and his newfound companions continue their journey.

Chapter two

She stood on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the battle that was taking place down below.  Her trained army of spear throwers, all dressed in hides and bearing long spears, began to aim at their targets.  Ten of the spear throwers pulled back their arms and were about to launch their javelins, but they all stopped at the same time.  

Zin’s invisibility dropped, his bow in hand.  He had just launched ten arrows at the same time.  Zin smiled, and fitted three more arrows to his bow.  In front of him, the ten spear-throwers were on the ground, pinned down by the arrows, One of them had died as the arrow pierced them.  The rest, however, still lived, and fought to get back up.  One of the barbarians managed to remove the arrow and survive, then charged Zin while he was looking at his arrows.  However, Zin knew that the barbarian was coming, despite their silence and the fact that he could not see them.

Zin fired right as the barbarian was just three feet from Zin, the spear almost touching his face.  The three arrows hitting this one barbarian killed her immediately, and the dead body tumbled over Zin as the ranger ducked down.  

A barbarian chieftain armed with an axe came down on Zin now.  He had a look of absolute rage in his eyes, showing no fear.  The chieftain’s axe proved to be dangerous even to the ranger, for it induced a state of utter terror and forced Zin to stay perfectly still.  The axe struck Zin in the head, hard.  

The ranger fell down as the axe sliced into him.  Moments later, the chieftain lifted a bloodstained weapon above Zin.  The ranger lay below, panting, holding on to consciousness, clutching his wound.  But as the axe came down once again, in a moment of sheer desperation, Zin lashed up from the ground.  The axe stopped as Zin’s dexterous grip kept it at bay.  Despite the fact that Zin was touching the blade, he did not bleed, as he had perfect control.  

Zin switched his grip from the blade to the handle.  He sent out a mental signal to all of the creatures of his forest that he needed help.  Zin managed to move the axe right up to the barbarian’s face, but the ranger’s foe was not so easily defeated.  He struck Zin once again and knocked him to the ground, stabbing and breaking one of the elf’s ribs.  

Zin slipped into the unending, unrelenting darkness of unconsciousness.  

Far below, Nix was also being defeated by an axe-bearing barbarian.  His armor had been shattered, and Glacia was injured.  Nix swung his sword, but the weapon was knocked away, and as it flew off it scratched Nix’s shoulder.  The knight soon found himself on the ground, an axe at his throat.  

The barbarian raised his axe up again, preparing to deliver a killing blow.  

Suddenly, as the weapon came down, a flash of green intercepted the blow.  The barbarian’s axe was soon sticking out of its bearer’s skull.  Nix stared up in awe.  “Zin...I heard you screaming.  I SAW YOU DIE!”

“You will never learn, will you?  The rumors are true, elves do in fact have an innate healing power.  I jumped up and killed that stupid barbarian.”

Zin’s eyes moved from the dead barbarian to the pack of supplies, then to Nix and Glacia.  Glacia had suffered a severe concussion, and had a cracked rib.  Zin focused on Glacia and called upon the same innate healing powers that had saved his life from the barbarian who had attempted to murder Zin.  Zin opened his eyes after a moment with them closed.  Glacia’s wounds were beginning to seal, and the elementalist was starting to wake up.  

Glacia pushed herself up and then held out her arms.  They turned into vines twisted together, and the rest of her body began to do the same.  Glacia then picked up both Zin and Nix, and carried them back through the portal that she had opened.  

A barbarian lay on the ground outside the portal.  He was beginning to wake up.  His axe lay on the ground beside him.  The proud warrior was not going to accept defeat.  He would fight the knight Nix once again.  He grabbed his weapon and dashed into the portal.  However, just as he was entering, the doorway faded away into nothingness.

On the other side of the portal, a mutilated and dead barbarian came flying out of the closing magical passageway.  Glacia looked the body up and down.  “Idiot.  He doesn’t even comprehend magic, so he can’t use it!” 

Zin sheathed the scimitar of the goodly dragons.  This was going to be a long journey.  This was going to be a very long journey indeed.

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On the isle of the undead, the death knight of the evil dragons was almost ready to leave his home.  He had all the supplies he needed, and a skeletal flying mount, a dracolich, which could get him to the mainland in under one day’s ride.  The death knight also had his weapon at the ready and at its full power, after a day of preparing the spells that went with it.  He was bringing with him a wizard of the undead who had prepared spells of great offensive power, such as shadow spells.  Also, both of them had summoned minor demons and bound the creatures to them as familiars.  

The death knight mounted his dracolich.  “When I return, I will assume my rightful place as rule of this land!” the crazed undead elite insisted.  “Goodbye, soon-to-be former ruler of the undead isle.”  The death knight laughed a terrible and evil laugh.  “Oh yes, soon I shall assume my rightful place.  Very soon...”

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Zin sat on a tree branch, studying Glacia’s spellbooks.  Glacia herself sat on another branch, watching Zin as he prepared spells that he had likely never cast before.  “You are a very talented spellcaster for a ranger,” she said.  

“I’ve been studying this spellbook for over an hour.  And I come from a long line of spellcasters.  This has nothing to do with personal talent.  And the only person I know who does not know how to channel magical energy is Nix, who hate magic anyway.”  That said, the ranger continued on with his studies.

“You seem to be preparing mostly summoning spells and combative spells.  Do you think we will be in another battle again soon?”

“I bear the sword most hated by evil in all of this world, Glacia.  Of course we are going to be in a lot of battles.  The ranger raised up his left hand, around which rings of arcane energy began to form.  The rings abruptly disappeared.  “Do we even know where we are going?”

“By my understanding, Nix has been leading us based on a magical compass somebody gave him.  The only reason he trusts it is that nobody told him it’s magical.  Do you think it actually works or is it a trick?”

“I honestly don’t care.  I know that the bearer of the evil sword will find me sometime.  And when he does, I shall be ready.”  Without another word, the ranger closed the spellbook and handed it back.  Glacia accepted the spellbook back graciously, not enjoying to see it in the hands of a ranger, one who does not normally study a spellbook.  It unnerved Glacia, and she simply did not like it.

Zin released his grip on the tree branches and slid down, landing on the ground gracefully after executing a perfect backflip.  “Nix!” Glacia heard Zin yell, but she couldn’t make out what he said next.  

“Oh well,” she muttered, leaning back against her tree branch and studying her spellbooks once again.  

Nix sat at the fireside later that night, alongside Glacia.  Zin, who did not like bright lights or fires, wandered off into the forest.  He was at home there, and was a friend of the wild.  To many, the woods at night would seem to be an unforgiving and terrible place, but to the ranger, it was paradise.  The owls’ hooting carried messages to Zin, of which places were dangerous and which were safe.  Zin avoided the places he was warned of in his wandering.  

Eventually, of course, Zin had to turn around.  He jumped up into the air and grabbed onto a tree branch.  Then, he swung off of the tree branch, launching himself forward over one hundred meters.  While Zin was in the air, he began casting his spell of recall.  Light began to gather around Zin.  The light flashed suddenly, then vanished, leaving nothing but darkness in its wake.

Zin appeared next to the fireplace in a flash of light.  “Hello,” he said grimly.  “We have been cut off and cannot travel through the deep woods.  However, I believe that the magical compass you posses can guide us through another route.  Check it.”

“It is not magical!  It is attracted to the sword of the evil dragons!  Simple as that!”

“Actually, you are incorrect.  It is, in fact, a magical tool.  You just do not want to admit it because that would ruin your reputation of hating magic which seems to be so popular among the knights.”

“I...” Nix began.  Zin silenced him with a punch in the face.  

“Don’t try to hide the truth from yourself.  Unless you want to die.” Nix looked up, desperately wishing that he could run Zin through.  However, he wasn’t going to let wounded pride blind him from his quest.  He wiped away the blood that was slowly beginning to come out of his mouth, then turned away.  Zin punched him again.  “And don’t start crying like a child, Nix.  You know better than that.”

Zin turned away from the knight and strode off into the forest once again.  Glacia turned to Nix.  “You REALLY don’t want to make a ranger angry.  They’re dangerous enough when they’re calm.”

“I DON’T NEED YOUR INPUT!” Nix screamed, slamming his gauntlet against the elementalist’s face.  She didn’t seem hurt at all by the sudden attack.  In fact, hitting Glacia had broken Nix’s gauntlet open and pushed a fragment of it into the knight’s hand.  Nix pulled out the bloody object, wincing.  “I’m sorry, Glacia.  I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s okay, Nix.  Just don’t do it again.  Learn to control your rage.”

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The death knight of the dragons of evil flew over the ocean on the back of a dracolich.  He was moving so quickly that he couldn’t hear anything, for the sound never reached his ears.  The death knight’s sword was strapped to his side, and a small bow was hung on the dracolich’s head.  On the other side of the skeletal mount was a quiver of bronze arrows that could pierce through full plate armor when thrown.  The death knight could hardly imagine what they would do if they were actually fired from a powerful bow, but he knew that sometime very soon he would find that out.

The blue orbs that were all that was left of his eyes darkened, reflecting his true evil.  The death knight was communicating mentally with his dracolich, urging it to go even faster.  

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Nix lay on his bedroll, unable to sleep.  He knew that Zin had an extremely volatile nature for a ranger, but he had never seen the elf in such bursts of blinding rage before.  He sighed a deep sigh and drifted slowly but surely into beautiful dreams.

The next morning dawned with a bright light from the east.  Zin was the first to wake up, as always.  He woke the others and asked them to wait, then left to scout ahead.  While Nix and Glacia waited for the ranger’s return, they talked.  Nix was the first to speak.  “So, Glacia, do you suppose that we’ll be traveling through the forest or over the hills today?”

The elementalist responded in a cryptic manner.  “We will travel over wide, grassy areas.”

“But that could be either one!”

“That is the point, foolish knight!” Glacia responded in mock disgust.  Nix knew that the elementalist meant no insult.  

Glacia’s arms reached back and pulled out twin spellbooks.  She dropped one onto the ground and began to leaf through the other.  Before she could prepare any spells, Zin appeared in another flash of light.  Glacia recognized the same spell that he had used last night. 

Glacia crossed her arms defensively after shutting her spellbook.  “And what right have you got, ranger, to be leafing through my spellbooks while I’m not looking?”

“Well, actually, I prepared this spell twice last night, so I wouldn’t have to ask to borrow your spellbooks again.”

“If you are such a practiced spellcaster, then why don’t you have any of your own spellbooks, Zin?

“I only had one, and it was destroyed when the goblins attacked my tree.  I have been trying to put together a new one ever since.  I purchased the magical book and have been filling it up ever since.  However, I have added some of the spells I prepared into my own spellbook.  They work quite nicely, by the way.”

Glacia sighed.  Zin was beginning to become annoying.  However, she knew that she had to travel with him, or lose her powers as an elementalist of Moonbrook.  

The group left without another word, Zin leading them along the edge of the forest, occasionally dipping into the woods to avoid gangs of monsters.  In one particular incident, they dove past the treeline after seeing a group of orcs in the distance, wielding greatswords and wearing dangerously spiked armor.  As the group crept through the forest, the orcs waited outside.  Orcs were stupid, but they weren't so stupid that they couldn’t tell what the ranger and his friends were planning to do.  Zin, however, anticipated this, and turned to Nix and Glacia.  “We have to remain hidden and fight from a ranger, for these orcs know our previous plan.”  The ranger drew out his bow quickly and fitted on an arrow, as Glacia began casting a summoning spell.  

The elementalist raised her hands high above her head and chanted, “Druzilia, Druzilia,” over and over again, repeating the name of a powerful extraplanar creature.  Fortunately, it wasn’t powerful enough that it would try to attack the three of them.  It knew better than that.  If it were to do that, then it would quickly be banished back to where it came from.  

The creature appeared, armed with a sword that could channel the power of ice, and a whip which let forth the wrath of nature onto those it harmed.  Zin drew out his sword and whispered, “Draco Illuminatas.”  The ranger’s scimitar began to glow with an amazing light.  Zin quickly realized his error and sheathed the weapon.  

He fitted another arrow onto his bow and drew back the bowstring this time, aiming for the neck of an orc.  The elemental that Glacia had summoned, and the elementalist herself, prepared to attack.  Glacia’s right arm shot out, releasing a burst of ice energy as Zin fired his arrow.  Two orcs dropped at once, one with an arrow stabbing all the way through its neck, the other with ice shards sticking out of its back and growing red with the monster’s blood rapidly.  While the other orcs were distracted, the ranger drew a pair of daggers and let one fly, then the other one, stunning one orc and killing another.  

Zin fitted two more arrows onto his bow and fired at the prone body.  The projectiles whistled through the air, spinning several times before finally slamming home, right into the startled orc’s forehead.  

Nix jumped out of the bushes and slashed one orc with his sword.  Another came at him with an axe.  This one was a powerful axe-master of an orc, with green skin like the dead moss that covered the areas where he and his kin were commonly found.  His hands were withered and scarred, one of his eyes was painfully closed.  

Nix knew that this orc was going to be a challenge to defeat.  He parried once and kicked the huge monster, but it barely seemed to move.  The knight punched the flat of the orc’s blade, causing the axe to fly to the side.  The panicked orc desperately tried to cover the open spot for an easy hit.  

Nix’s sword came in.  It hit and pierced the orc’s skin.  But before Nix could move the blade up and kill the creature, the axe’s flat end hit him hard, causing him to release his sword hilt and dash back into the forest, howling in pain and rage.  

The knight landed hard on the ground in front of Glacia.  “Help...the orc has my...we must get the sword...” the knight groaned and spoke no more, but continued to groan.  

Zin drew out the scimitar and one dagger, jumping into the air and beyond the treeline.  “Draco Primalias!” he yelled, bringing his sword down on the orc’s head.  The hit was only a glancing blow and did very little damage.  However, the orc was stunned, which allowed Zin to sheath his weapons, grab Nix’s sword, then leap back into the woods.  The wounded orc fell down to the ground in a puddle of its own blood.  

Zin, Nix, and Glacia rested in the forest for a day.  They needed to save their energy for what was to come, though they didn’t know what it was.

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The death knight who had been assigned to murder the bearer of the sword of goodly dragons could see the mainland now, coming closer and closer to him.  He willed his mount to go down lower.