Chapter 65: The Attack on Windkeep Tower
The army marched until it stood in front of the pink barrier bubbling the tower. Daisy Mae stood in front of her warriors, pacing back and forth around the outskirts of the barrier.
"Dragons of Windkeep Tower! You think a simple shield charm will hold me off forever?" Daisy Mae asked, her voice somehow amplified. "Hand over Quartz, or you all will pay with your lives! I have waited long enough for my revenge!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, an airship rose from one of the docks mid-way up the tower. A pink rune was etched on its side, and it passed through the barrier, floating over the heads of the army and making a smooth landing on the plain behind them. Nymph and Quartz disembarked, followed by the other fighting members of Windkeep Tower.
"Daisy Mae, we give you one last chance. You may have army of half starved prisoners, but we have been training and want nothing more than to defend our home." Nymph announced. "Back off, and we can put an end to all of this. There is no need for anyone to get hurt."
Daisy Mae laughed. "Really, you think after the years I've spent planning my revenge, I'd let him go like this? No, if you aren't just going to hand him over, there is no need for any more words to pass between us. Attack!"
The army surged forward. Immediately, Quartz formed a pink shield on his arm and began to summon his water magic. He managed to build up enough water to send a big enough wave to crash over the first line of charging prisoners. He then took to the skies, attempting to reach Daisy Mae with venom in his eyes, but he was intercepted by three prisoners who had their wing weights removed. He let out a hiss of frustration and began to fend all three of them off at once.
Nymph too took to the skies, dive-bombing on prisoners and knocking them out. She was far more skilled than these half-trained warriors. If she could incapacitate a number of them, that would clear the way to the stronger members. Just as that thought entered her mind, a large guardian guard knocked her out of the air.
Seeing Nymph pulled from the air, Elric bowled over the smaller prisoners until he reached the guardian who had knocked her down. With a roar, he slammed into the assailant and allowed time for Nymph to pull herself to her feet and take to the skies again.
"Thank you!" She shouted as she prepared to dive-bomb more attackers. Elric turned to the guardian.
"You'll pay for that." That guardian growled, rising onto his hind legs to come down on Elric.
"Oh yeah? Well, I've got some news for you buddy." Elric growled back, rising in the air to meet him. "My charge is the queen of this clan, and what she cares about most is the safety and wellbeing of these dragons, which makes Windkeep Tower my charge as well. You are not taking it from me."
The two guardians pushed against each other, trying to push the other over. In the end, Elric won the tussle, and the other guardian was thrown to the ground. Elric came down hard on his underbelly, causing the breath to be knocked from his lungs.
"If you hurt a single scale on the backs of any of these dragons, I'll do worse." Elric said. The guardian responded by using his remaining strength to fly towards Elric, locking his jaws on his neck. Elric roared, and flung him off, but not before he was able to pierce the scales and cause some bleeding. It was not enough to seriously hurt Elric, but it was enough to anger him. He charged towards the guardian again, and their tussle continued.
Amberlyn fought alongside her family, fighting for the life she had built for herself here, for the family she had found and grown. Too much of her family had disappeared, she wasn't going to lose any more! Suddenly, something caught her eyes, a warrior that looked familiar. But no, it couldn't be. She looked again and the wildclaw had disappeared in the crowd. her mind must have been playing tricks on her again. She saw them everywhere, but it hardly ever was.
Plagueheart and Pyrite fought without mercy. Plagueheart seemed to be getting her anger and grief out all at once, paying them back for Pennar's death. On multiple occasions, Pyrite had to stop her from dealing a killing blow.
"They're like us." He reminded her. "I hate it too, but we can't shed innocent blood for the sake of innocent blood already shed."
Plagueheart spat and let the prisoner beneath her claws go. She turned to face a new soldier, ignoring the cuts and scratches she already had and persisting regardless. If she were to die in this battle, so be it.
Querida found it the hardest out of all of them. She recognized faces and voices from her own time as a prisoner. Dragons she had trained alongside. She found it difficult to hurt them, but none of them seemed to recognize her. They were relentless in their fighting, and Querida had no choice but to defend herself. Where was Quartz? She had never felt angrier at him and Daisy Mae then she felt now. This battle should never be happening, these dragons should never be here like this. But they threatened her clan, so she fought on.
"I just don't know why we have to do this!" Magiere growled as she shot another spell towards a guard. It caught him by surprise and he turned to race towards them, but Lin was too fast. He flung several heavy rocks at the guard, knocking him back and pinning him to the ground.
"You live here, you do your part." Lin warned his apprentice. "This clan works because of how everyone works together. if you contribute, you'll make it a much better place. Although, I never said you have to do it, you are the one who showed up when the call was made."
Magiere paused, a look of shock and disgust crossed her face. "Well, that's just because I thought you'd want me to." She grumbled. "It has nothing to do with
liking this clan."
Lin didn't say anything, just smiled to himself as he flung another pile of rocks at another guard. Whether Magiere admitted it or not, there was something going on in that heart of hers. She was changing, he just hoped it was for the better.
Meanwhile, in the center of everything, Quartz managed to break away from the soldiers targeting him, each with their own quarrels to settle. Their faces haunted him. He thought he had forgotten them and their misdemeanors and his misdemeanors against them, but every face brought back a flood of memories and he realized that in almost every case, he deserved it. He wished to kill them, to wipe out his guilt with their lies, but what Querida had said to him about sacrificing the lives of others over his own stuck with him. Maybe it was time to give up this charade, and face the crimes he had been running from all this time.
He turned and saw Daisy Mae in the distance. He locked eyes with her and suddenly he knew why he had been so jumpy, why he had always been running. The guilt he was feeling now, it had sat with him a long time, since that fateful night when he killed Daisy Mae's charge. It wasn't until he had something of his own that he loved that he realized what it would be like to lose it. Of course, he hadn't acted like he'd loved Ruby. He hadn't known it himself until she left. He had thought of her as another weapon, another one of his pawns, but she was so much more than that and he should have listened to Querida from the start.
He turned to go towards her, to turn himself in and stop the fighting, stop the damage being done to the clan, but before he could reach her, another prisoner attacked him fiercely. Had he not been caught by surprise, perhaps he could have fended it off with more ease, but he had been distracted, and he was knocked from the sky. He held his shield out, but he couldn't get out to attack. The weight of the dragon on top of him was forcing the shield into him.
With all his strength, Quartz pushed the shield upward and made it disappear. The shock of the sudden disappearance of resistance caused his assailant to fall. Quartz was prepared enough to roll out of the way, and shot shards of pink crystal into his attacker's back. He got up, and took to the air, only to see Daisy Mae standing on a rock.
"Release the Beast!" She roared. In the distance, there was the clanking of chains being released, and and a great triumphant roar that shook the whole ground. Then, charging out of the bamboo forest, knocking over a few cherry blossom trees as it went was a large two-headed emperor and Quartz's blood turned to ice. He recognized one of the heads.
It was Mercer.
"That's right." Daisy Mae's voice sounded beside Quartz. he spun to see if she was there, but the space was empty. She had somehow cast her voice next to him. "I killed Mercer. He needed to pay for what he did to my charge. And then, I turned him into an Emperor to turn against you. I know Mercer is the only dragon you've ever feared, so here he is, to destroy everything you built."
Quartz's blood turned to steel and he clenched his teeth. Daisy Mae had almost got to him, he had almost given himself up. No more. Daisy Mae could not play with dangerous things like this and get away with it. Sure, he had done the same his whole life, but that gave him an idea of how far she would go. Daisy Mae must be stopped, and he was the only one who could do it.
Now was the time to act. Kulshan and Kyra had been using small bursts of illusion magic to scare off prisoners, but now it was time for the big game.
"Are you ready?" Kulshan asked. Kyra simply nodded and drew out a purple mask perfectly fitted to her face. "Be careful, my moon."
"You know I will be." Kyra said with an impish grin.
Kulshan called forth his illusion magic, starting small, increasing his flock of storm seekers until they became a large swarm. Kyra fought off every dragon who tried to stop Kulshan, but that was a simpler task than she thought. Most of the prisoners had turned from the battle and were running from the emperor.
Once Kulshan had drawn up enough energy, he called out to Kyra. With an excited yelp, she leapt into the center of the bird. They began to fly around her in circles, drawing closer and closer until they were just a ball of feathers and smoke. Then the black mass grew three long imperial necks, and the mass lengthened to form a large body and tail. Once the shape was defined, the black faded to reveal Kyra's genes and colours. She had been transformed.
With a roar, Kyra charged and met the emperor in battle.
I'm not used to writing battles. I tend to skim through them more than other parts of books, and I tend to zone out a bit in battle scenes of movies and TV shows, but I actually found the flow of this far better than I was expecting to!
I expect the battle will last about 2-3 updates depending on how tomorrow's chapter flows. I hope you are enjoying it!
