Chapter 5: Battle of Blood

Ripplepond awoke to an aching pain in her entire being. Every inch hurt to move. She blinked dully; she wasn’t in the room where she had gone unconscious in. Ripplepond was in a dungeon of some sort, it was dark and damp, and surrounding her was either stone walls or iron bars. Where am I? Ripplesong wondered. “Help!” she said desperately for someone, anyone to hear her plea . . .

*****

     Above the dark dungeons, Drakath once again asked the captive dragons, “Will you join my army of dragons?” 

     Thunderscale spoke up. “Yes, we will.” He said to the surprise of Drakath.

     “Then I will watch you carefully,” said Drakath after a short pause. “Send them to my army!” The mages waiting nearby spoke an incantation and the seven dragons were teleported away.

     The seven found themselves on an open plain, on the distant horizon was Drakath’s Castle.

     “No cages! We’re free!” shouted Shadewing joyfully. Then he charged away from the others. A zap sent him flying backwards. “Or not . . .”

     “Looks like Drakath isn’t taking any chances,” commented Smokebreeze while Bluefire just shook her head at the Shadow dragon.

     “I wonder where he got so many red dragons from. There’s more dragons here than in the Cave, and I’m pretty sure that the Dragon Cave has the largest group of dragons; all the rest are loners and live by themselves,” Lunarfang said thoughtfully.

     In response, Bluefire boldly marched up to a red dragon. “How did you join Drakath?” she asked.

     “We are from Drakath,” said the red dragon in a monotone voice.

     “Where did you live before you came here?” Bluefire tried again.    

     “In shadow energy,” was the confusing answer.

      Bluefire returned to the group. “I think they were created by shadow or dark energy,” she declared to the other dragons.

     “He must have had a lot of energy to create this many,” mused Smokebreeze.

     “I’m tired, let’s get to sleep.” Vinetail yawned showing pointed teeth. Exhausted, the weary dragons slept . . .

     Dawn came and Drakath was speaking to the dragons. “Today we will attack Dragon Cave. Darkclaw will lead you.” Darkclaw materialized behind Drakath, a sinister glint in his eyes that weren’t there before.

     “Darkclaw!” Vinetail roared involuntarily. Darkclaw turned to the sound but didn’t give a sign of recognition.

     “What’s wrong with him? Why doesn’t he recognize us?” Shadewing asked puzzled. The other dragons had no answer.

     Drakath came over to the multihued dragons. “Today I will test your allegiance with me; I will have a dragon watching you.”  Then he strode away.

     Half an hour later, the group of red dragons and the ex-questers began their journey to the Dragon Cave.

     “What should we do?” asked Vinetail.

     “We will rejoin our colony when the battle is in action, that way we will lose whoever is watching us.” Thunderscale replied evenly. And so they flew farther and farther towards their Birthcave until finally the Cave was visible.

     “Land!” roared Darkclaw. They whole battalion of dragons landed with a thud that blew clouds of dust and debris into the air.

     “We will surround the Cave then half of us will close in and attack while the other half waits outside for escaping dragons. No enemy dragons shall survive!”  snarled Darkclaw nastily. The army of dragons walked the rest of the way and at last surrounded the unsuspecting members of the Dragon Cave right in their Homecave.

     There were two rows of dragons; the first would be the attackers and the second row would be the ones that would ambush any dragon that tried to escape. Unfortunately, the former questers were separated and spread out on the second row. A moment’s pause then “Charge!” was heard by the dragon army. The first row swarmed into the cave, a few seconds later, the cries of dying dragons could be heard. Then the Cave dragons began to stream out in an unorganized fashion. Stoneclaw was at the head of the group seeking the one who led the attack.

     In the confusion, the former questers switched sides and began attacking the red dragons, who were caught unprepared, and causing them to startle. The fight went on for a few minutes, every dragon fighting tooth and claw, not to mention wing and tail.

     In the center of the battle, Stoneclaw was facing off against Darkclaw. Both dragons circled around each other, waiting for the perfect chance to strike.

     “Time for your colony to end, Stoneclaw. You are unfit to rule any dragon!” Darkclaw snarled.

     “And when did you change sides Darkclaw?” retorted Stoneclaw with a cold fury.

     “It is better to join Drakath. Drakath will kill all of you in the end!” roared Darkclaw. “At least I will survive!”

     “Is your life worth more than your colony Darkclaw? Is it really? Will you sacrifice your fellow dragons just so you can gain power?” asked Stoneclaw with a cold look in his eyes. For a mere fraction of a second, there was a deep sadness in Stoneclaw’s eyes, and a shadow of regret in Darkclaw’s.

     “You are nothing to me! The colony is no longer my cavemates!” hissed Darkclaw, regaining his composure, hatred back in his red eyes.

     Then Darkclaw launched himself towards Stoneclaw. The two dragons, one black, one gray, began a battle that would be remembered throughout the Dragon Age. A whirlwind of fangs, claws, and fire battle and battered at each other, but neither could gain an advantage. Just then, a stray mage spell hit Stoneclaw, knocking him to the ground but not doing permanent damage. Darkclaw took the chance to pin the older dragon to the ground and began to rake his claws at the old dragon shredding his wings. He tore at Stoneclaw’s throat with his teeth. Crimson blood pooled from the respected leader’s body. Slowly, but surely, this battle would be the last for Stoneclaw.

     “Die! Your rule has come to an end!” snarled Darkclaw.

     “No! I won’t allow you to destroy my colony!” Stoneclaw said, strength already fading. The gray dragon let loose a ball of red-black fire directly at Darkclaw, the raging fire spread onto Darkclaw and Stoneclaw consuming them both dragons.

     “What?! When did you get Deathfyre?!!!” was the last thing Darkclaw roared. The Deathfyre burned until both bodies were charred through. Then the battle ended; the red dragon army had stumbled away from the Cave dragons with a confused expression. The Dragon Cave dragons stopped attacking as a ripple of puzzlement swept through the colony of dragons until they saw the twin charred bodies at the center of the battlefield. Darkclaw was apparently holding the red dragons in a controlling spell.

     A human voice then cried, “Stoneclaw and Darkclaw are dead!” It was Velicity, and she was trailed by a young hatchling the color of the summer sky. Shrieks of despair and a fraction of triumph rung through the air. The body of their former leader was carried into the Main Cave by several Council members. Riverscale was not part of the group as she had sustained heavy burns across her neck and shoulder.

     Then a dragon spoke, his voice was filled with sorrow. “The death of our leader is indeed a sad time for our colony, but let us remember him as a courageous leader who sacrificed himself to save the Dragon Cave. Let us all remember Stoneclaw, Leader of the Dragon Cave Colony!” The dragon that roared this was Goldenflame.

     “Stoneclaw our Courageous leader!” the entire colony echoed in unison.       

     When the dragons’ voices died down, a female voice spoke, “We need a new leader, but the choice will be postponed for three days, then the Council, and Dragonrider, will choose a new leader,” roared Eclipse.

*****

Three days later . . .

“Announcing our new dragon Leader!” shouted Lightningstrike. “From now on, Goldenflame will lead us!” Roars of approval shook the Cave’s foundation.

     “But there is another small adjustment in the Council.” Lightningstrike paused. “Riverscale our Water Element Representative is retiring because of her battle wounds. She has appointed Sea Spirit as the new Representative, and the Water dragons have agreed.” A new wave of sound reverberated across the cave as heads turned to Sea Spirit.

     “Wait! We are not done yet!”Lightningstrike said with a dragon grin. “Our Dragonrider, Velicity, has completed her basic training and will now be presenting Skywing to be named as a full member of the Dragon Cave!” The thunderous cheer came once more. Velicity beamed at Sea Spirit who grinned dragon style back, while the blue hatchling zoomed around her head, soon to be named.

Author's Note

I stopped updating chapters so I decided to update two chapters today! Keep reading! ^^