Chapter 23

"Gabby! Gabby!" Christopher screams and sits up soaked in sweat.

Those nearby look at him with mild concern, including Caitlin.

As Christopher is about to fall back asleep he hears someone say, "Go back to sleep, my King."

"I think it was Caitlin. Word got around the force quickly, and some people even took to slightly bowing to me as I passed. I was not amused."

As the days went by, Christopher found out that the idea had not just been taken up amongst his own soldiers, but had also gone through the ranks of the massive allied army out of the North Country.

By the time the Shadow Brigade reached the field of the main battle, word had spread throughout Christopher's kingdom that a warrior king had come to free them.

"I gave up trying to deny this new destiny, but one good thing came from it, because people started pouring in from all over my land. By the time the battle was to begin my force had swelled to ten thousand people, of which one thousand were now cavalry."

"Christopher?"

"Yeah, sweetheart." he responds to Caitlin.

"Who is Gabby?" It is always interesting when somebody asks a question they don't really want an answer to.

Christopher pauses until a smile creeps across his face. "Gabby was the first ray of light to penetrate my darkness. In a time where I only saw ugliness, she bloomed so beautiful that song found its way back into a heart that I thought had been shattered beyond recall or care. She is a blonde haired blue-eyed five foot four mark hundred stoneling darling girl with a good heart and mind.

"Her grace and wonder showed me a world of freedom, even though we were in a conquered land. When I had nothing left to give but vengeance and death, Gabby took my hand and guided me back from the abyss.

"Her courage gave me strength that allowed us to be timid only with each other. I fear, however, that I did not leave things right, and if I live to get the chance she will know how much she did for me, and consequentially the world, and just how much I love her." Christopher loves Caitlin deeply and does not want to lie to her.

"She is to be your queen, then?"

"She is my queen, yes, but I do not know if I am to be king."

"I think Caitlin was more hurt to hear that I was not to be her king than her husband. Even though she is from Venloring originally. She still wanted me to be her king."

Ignoring the end of Christopher's last statement she says, "Am I to be sister to a king then?"

Christopher hugs her long and hard. "Whatever becomes of me, milady, you are a princess of your land. If it is my fate to survive this darkness sweeping the world, then you and Sara will always be at my side as family."

She doesn't say anything, she just nods her head emphatically with tears streaming down her smiling face.

"Caitlin, if I do not live to see tomorrow, will you raise Sara?"

"Oh yes."

"I will not ask Caitlin to go to Gabby if I die. I will ask Ember to grant me that one final message of hope and love," says Christopher to himself.

"This time it was Gabby who came to me in my dreams. When I looked upon her these words echoed across the worlds."

So sweetly she stands

In a world full of bitter confrontation

To know the far reaches of my dreams

I only need to gaze upon her

To know that all is not evil

Is to hold her hand

Be it all not bad times

Here is proof

For here she stands

Christopher knows eventually that the army on their right flank is going to be a problem. The river that separates his country from Caitlin and Sara's is going to become passable, either by several bigger bridges and a host of smaller ones that are certainly occupied by enemy forces, but also the river flattens out and at certain times of the year you can just wade across it. Within a hundred stretches they will be able to cut over and engage the Shadow Brigade.

Even though Christopher's force outnumbers them now, they will attack to delay them from reaching the main battle.

Originally there were two smaller bridges up ahead along the deep and wide parts of the river Trend, but Christopher had the dragons destroy them as well. They will have to go the full hundred stretches before crossing. Christopher is not going to give them that time.

After seeing the ferocity of the dragon battles, Christopher is leery to use them again, especially since he has been getting reports that the numbers of dragons on each side are about equal, but in war you must risk much.

The one good thing about the dragons basically canceling each other out means that his tactics can be used for something other than defending against the most dominant force on the battlefield.

"I'm sure my enemy will act accordingly also."

Christopher's spies come reporting back to him that the enemy force on their right flank stays very close to the river. Either wishing to keep the Shadow Brigade in sight, therefore distracting them from their main goal, or because they don't want to get lost and not be able to carry out their orders. Christopher gets the feeling that their leaders will not be very forgiving for failure.

After finding out how long dragons can hold their breath for, Christopher comes up with the first of many ambushes. A small flight will come in from the east to momentarily distract their dragons, and then fifty of the Dragons of Light will pop up out of the river and blast them. Forty of the dragons will hit the cavalry, trying to take out as many or more horses than soldiers. The other ten will hit their wagons and supplies.

The Dragons of Kind will then disappear back under the water and get stretches away before flying out of the river, so their enemy will always be fearful that the dragons are still just below the surface preparing another attack.

"As they are doing that we will launch another attack from somewhere else."

Even though the Shadow Brigade was still in forest terrain, the area next to the river opened up for a good distance now and again.

Christopher figures that either they will put their dragons between them and the water, or they will move back towards the forest to avoid any further attacks from there. Christopher is hoping they will move closer to or into the forest, because he has several more ideas for them in there.

The night of the attack comes and goes, and it truly is the beginning of the end for that force. It is quite amazing that such a large creature can move with such stealth and grace. Even as they are rising up out of the river, first come their horns, then their eyes, then shortly followed by their nostrils. By the time the dragons heads and necks are visible, it is too late.

By the moon's light do the dragons look like demons from the abyss rising from the fires of creation. The dragons being as stubborn as they are proud, aren't just happy to do a hit and run attack as ordered. They come up late during the night and blast into the enemy ranks. Pandemonium is everywhere, and to top it off the dragons jump out of the river and start chasing the enemy on foot into the forest. The humans think for a moment about counter-attacking, but the trolls run off squealing into the woods.

By the time the enemy dragons realize they fell for a diversionary tactic and make it back to their camp, the Dragons of Kind have the cavalry decimated, and on their way out they all attack the wagons, leaving dozens of them in smoldering ruin.

There are some minor engagements between the dragons, for the night sky lights up with fire, and the roars Christopher hears are only outdone by the roars of rage he hears after the dark dragons realize their hated enemy just annihilated the force they were supposed to be protecting.

Christopher doesn't know who will be able to punish dragons for failing, but from the sound that escapes them now, it is obvious they are going to hear about it.

The first attack takes out more than half of the cavalry and three-fourths of their wagons full of supplies. Granted that only a few hundred people die, but the effect is profound.

As Christopher's fairy warriors report back to him, it appears that small groups of desertions have begun.

As expected, the enemy force goes into the forest. That is going to slow them down and sets up Christopher's second ambush. There hasn't been a storm in well over a week now, so that is going to be on the Allies side too.

The engineers never stopped working on Christopher's desired war machines. It turned out that the catapults were the easiest to produce, so that is what he has them concentrate on. Then Christopher has them mount them to wagons. The catapults aren't big enough to lay siege to a castle and bring their great walls down, but they will be very effective against ground forces in a variety of ways.

"We had seven ready for the next ambush. Now I had come to love and respect my neighbor's country to the east, and I had met some truly beautiful people that have become my closet friends and confidantes, but necessity was dictating action at this point."