For a few tense moments, everyone waited for something to happen. Then, the cause for the alarm became clear. There was a flight of drakes inbound, with riders on their backs.
“One full wing of Drake Riders, 140 degrees low on the horizon.” The guard Sergeant reported.
That was nearly behind Karl, but the guards on his side of the formation didn’t turn away just yet. Training told them that an attack rarely came from just one direction, and if it was a flying enemy, they could easily circle the team to attack where it looked weakest.
“Once they’re in range, odd numbers turn to face the threat.” The guard leader announced, getting back a wordless noise of confirmation.
Karl had no experience with that sort of group training, but the students were willing to follow the church guard’s orders and when Dana whistled, the mages all turned.
“They’re nearly in spell range now. Call it when you want the attack to begin.” Karl informed the guard leader.
“Hold fire. They might not be hostile, but the drakes would have sensed the presence of Dragon Magic a while ago if they’ve flown this far inland. That’s the only reason the Drake Riders are ever willing to leave their borders.” He replied.
Karl struggled to remember geography, but he was reasonably certain that the Drake Riders were from a nearby island nation, so they must have flown hundreds of kilometres across the Golden Dragon Nation without being intercepted, looking for the magic that had awakened these two new clerics. That was an impressive feat for twenty of the giant flying lizards.
“I will ask for details later, but what are the chances of attack?” Karl whispered to the guard leader.
“If they’ve come this far and haven’t found what they’re looking for, I would say ninety percent. They view themselves as the rightful heirs of the Dragons.” He replied grimly.
Drakes didn’t use magic or breathe fire. At least, Karl hoped that they didn’t. But the riders on their backs most likely did, unless they were going to dive into melee combat and use the beasts the way that Karl would have Thor and Rae fight on the ground.
The flight of drakes circled the group once, as if verifying their targets, then as one, they dive bombed the group.
“OPEN FIRE!” The guard leader announced.
“Guards up!” the Sergeant added, causing the team to raise barriers all around them.
Thor didn’t have a ranged attack, but Karl called out Rae with a simple mental instruction.
[Tie their wings and make them crash.]
Karl was in the odd numbered position, and as the team rotated to face the flight of Drakes, he joined them, waiting for the beasts to get close enough for their claws to rake across the [Guard] set up by the warriors before unleashing [Shred] into the belly and throat of the two Drakes closest to him.
The beasts roared in pain, and the whole flight circled up into the sky, except for one unfortunate soul who was caught by Rae’s web and thrown from his saddle when the drake flapped its wings, tearing the web.
[Web isn’t that strong, they won’t crash.] Rae muttered.
[That’s fine, just pull the riders from their seats.] Karl replied with a smirk.
The drakes were trained to obey orders, and without a rider, they should lose their organization.
Thick black blood dripped on Rae’s head, and Karl felt the surge of energy from her link, as well as the joy as she absorbed it.
[If we kill one, I will take it for you.] He informed her, as it was clear the drake blood was better than anything else he had been able to feed her.
The damages from the mages and Karl weren’t enough to deter the Drake Riders, and a flurry of flaming arrows flew through the sky to impact against the mage barriers in the centre of the group. The barriers began to waver, but Dana focused, and they stabilized again, while the Golems glared up at the Drakes.
Her Nullification Barrier seemed to be up to the task of stopping the arrows, but it would drain her energy reserves quickly if she was the primary defender, instead of spreading it between the five mages.
The clerics were quick to help, and a faint golden glow of Holy Magic covered her body, refreshing her mana and strength in preparation for the next attack.
That reminded Karl that he was slacking, and he brought up the Refreshing Lightning around himself, hoping for a bit more energy recovery, then gave in to Hawk’s complaints and let the beast free.
Even as grand as he was, larger than a Condor, Hawk was tiny compared to the drakes. It was a small blessing, as nobody would mistake him for one of the enemy, but it was concerning, as he was going to be at a major strength disadvantage if he were caught.
Instead of facing them head on, Hawk treated it like training. He gained altitude quickly, getting above the attackers, so he could strike down at them, and aimed for the riders.
[Now.] Karl ordered as the attack wave reached the defenders from the church again.
Rend attacks flew down at all the drake riders, while Karl threw Shred up at the drakes bellies again, targeting the same pair. Pained screams filled the air as the two beasts crashed to the ground, one bleeding heavily from the neck and the other with a wing nearly severed.
Three more broke off the attack as their riders died, but the remainder of the wing crashed into the barriers again, shattering the [Guard] encirclement, and tearing apart the soldiers opposite Karl.
The rider of the drake with the slit throat hopped free at the last instant and charged at Karl, who took his head from his body with a Rend attack, and tried not to gag at the sight of the decapitated corpse falling to the ground.
It had been instinctive. Hawk’s instincts telling him that the best place to strike was always the neck, but he hadn’t really been prepared for what came after.
A quarter of the wing of Drake Riders had been killed, but the soldiers were struggling to get their [Guard] back up, and the holy magic that was flowing into them to reinforce their spells was still not enough to face off against fifteen drakes.
“Mages, extend the barrier. Warriors fall back into a double rank.” The guard leader ordered.
That was their best chance of survival, as the Elites had more individual power than the two clerics, and there were ten of them to the two Professors.
“Warriors to the outer ranks.” Karl ordered, as that would let them mingle their [Guard] abilities with that of the soldiers. The ability was short ranged enough that despite their reluctance, the boys moved up.
Not to the front rank, but to the second, sandwiched between the professional soldiers. That was good enough for their spells to cover the perimeter, and they should be able to take a few more hits before the group would be in trouble again.
Two drakes broke off from the formation to chase Hawk as they realized their wing was under attack from above, but they didn’t have the altitude to close on him that easily.
A wire thin Rend from Karl took one of the riders from the saddle, while Rae pulled the other free, sending them both tumbling fifty metres to the ground.
They managed to cast spells to soften their landings a little, but they were too close to the tracks, and the clergy guards were on them with [Slash] attacks instantly.
That made five loose drakes, who began to fly away, trained to return home in the event that their rider was lost, and two more that were downed by attacks.
The drakes dove again, but this time the mages didn’t counterattack when the arrows flew. They focused on their barriers, keeping the vicious claws off them while Hawk attacked the drakes from above, and Karl coated the flying web being sprayed out by Rae with [Rend], turning the sticky silk into razor wire that tangled around two of the drakes, shredding beast and rider alike, before pulling them to the ground with a sickening sound that was definitely going to haunt Karl’s dreams tonight.
Then, the most glorious sound in the world reached their ears. A helicopter was inbound, and the drakes turned to flee, unwilling to face the Elite forces equipped with military heavy weapons.
Of the twenty Drake Riders that had attacked, only ten were going home, and a few more beasts would survive to take a new rider.
“Move forward. Check for survivors. The inquisition will want to interrogate someone.” The older of the two clerics ordered.
Rae raced through the long grass, pulling one of the dead drakes into her space before anyone noticed or had time to count, then she began checking the bodies.
[There are no living ones. Well, that one is kind of living, but not for long.] She amended.
[How so?] Karl asked as he moved forward, and the cleric hurried to join him.
The man was one who had been pulled from his seat by Rae, and his body was twisted in an unnatural way, with blood bubbling from his lips as he struggled to breathe.
The cleric got right to work, casting a healing spell on him, and then forcing a potion into his mouth to stabilize his condition.
Karl hadn’t realized that the clergy could do that. Bringing a man back from that close to the edge of death was worthy of being called a miracle, and it was happening all over as the other Cleric and the students were working to save the clergy guards who had been mauled by the drakes or who had taken a magical arrow.
