Chapter 28: The Retribution

Stephen sends most of the dragons back to the mainland to rest up, because tomorrow they will go under the barrier and attack the enemy. As soon as the dragons leave, all the wizards and witches, even the elven ones, start working on a spell that will envelope the ships in a huge air bubble that will allow for other magic to take them underneath the barrier in the ships.

Allan surely wants to be there when the attack begins, but he is not so sure about taking only two ships into a realm that is obviously a naval power.

"Oh well, fortune favors the bold, and why should I start living safely at this point?"

Actually, either way Allan doesn't really care, because he is going with Thunderheart.

Allan asks the brain trust, "Would you be so kind, honored magi, as to create a bubble just for me."

The dragons will of course make it easily, and the magi think it is such a marvelous idea that they go to work on making a lot of them, so most of them can go on dragonkind as well.

Allan rubs his hands together, "This is going to be exciting."

"Grand Master Crag, Thunderheart requests that you hold off another two days. He sent word back to our kin, and the Counsel of Light has decided to send more dragons for the assault. When we go under the barrier we will be a thousand dragons strong." All of the Allies are stunned.

"Aye, then we await your arrival. Mara?"

"Yes, Grand Master."

"Would some of you dragons mind if you were to have riders?"

"I don't believe so. I know Thunderheart will be carrying Allan."

Man, Allan loves that big flying lizard. He hasn't even asked him yet and he knows. "We are the Wayfarers."

The Wayfarers have become a lot more known after the big battles, because only upon the death of one is his or her association supposed to become known. And unfortunately well over half of them died in the war.

"Mara, please tell the elves at Naval Station Kaleidoscope to please prepare one hundred and fifty harnesses or saddles to be fitted to you dragons. Inform the elves that one hundred of them will be flying on the dragons with their long bows and enchanted arrows. The other fifty will be wizards and witches, except for Thunderheart and Allan, of course."

"At once, Grand Master." Mara flies off to the north.

It is a beautiful day. They pull back from the barrier far enough so the blue sky no longer looks purple. They still have twenty dragons with them at all times in case the enemy attacks, but most of them are playing in the ocean.

Allan remarks, "I never knew dragons are so fun loving. Thunderheart has always been so serious. I guess it really doesn't matter what species you are, because every species has all kinds."

As the voyage to here was boring, the waiting for the assault to begin is equally pulling on Allan's nerves. Thunderheart flies one of the early versions of the elven made harness for dragon and rider out to Allan. As Thunderheart puts the great effort and skill necessary to hover next to the ship, Allan starts running and jumps from the ship in an attempt to land on Thunderheart's back and immediately goes too far and falls in the ocean.

"This is going to take some practice, I see."

Thunderheart lands in the ocean and allows Allan to swim onto his back. Because he can't effectively flap his wings while on the water's surface, he dives underneath and flaps his wings under water to get enough momentum up to shoot out of the water far enough for him to start flapping his mighty wings above the water.

At first Allan is freezing, but as he gets lost in the twists and turns of trying out the new harness, he forgets all about the cold. If the harness is not strong enough and supportive enough for the rider, it will endanger the life of the dragon. Once the fighting starts the Dragons of Light are going to have enough on their hands without having to worry about throwing off their riders.

"This is amazing." They fly for two more hours and pull every possible maneuver Thunderheart can think of while Allan attempts to use his bow.

Once Thunderheart and Allan finish their trials, and Thunderheart is making a low and slow pass by the ship, Allan jumps off into the ocean startling everybody, including Carly.

As Allan is swimming back to the ship and climbing up the rope net ladder Stephen says, "Still the adventurer, I see."

"Aye, no since in changing now." Carly walks up to him with her cute little girl sharp features scrunched up and with her arms crossed. Allan bends down and gives Carly a million little kisses, and then picks her up, getting her wet, and turns to Stephen and the other magi, "After some practice we will be able to watch the top and back of the dragons and protect them from demon dragon ambushes." Allan has never been so excited about a coming battle.

It ends up taking two weeks for all the harnesses to be finished. Once the elves realize the harnesses have to be fitted special to each dragon, that slows things up considerably. They also quickly learn that the saddle needs a strap to hold the rider to the seat. Plus they allow themselves a couple days of practice to be ready for dragon battle.

But at long last the day has come. The early morning sky fills with a myriad of dragons. It is the second most spectacular sight Allan has ever seen in his existence. In his world, only Emma outshines all else.

Once Stephen and several of the other wizards and witches get on their dragons, they are ready. Allan is sure Stephen enjoyed watching him trying to jump on the back of Thunderheart and then falling into the ocean that one time, because this time he and the other magi just float into position. At least he is nice enough to give a brother a lift.

The dragons with the riders on them gently flop into the ocean, while the other eight hundred and fifty dive in like spears.

Allan brings out his charm Stephen has given him, and speaks the magic words, "Breathe." An oxygen bubble encapsulates Allan's head, and then he is under water.

Allan is impressed because he has no problem breathing and his ears aren't even ringing or popping. He even can laugh, as he sees the look on a shark's face as a dragon is coming right for it.

The water is cold, and just the few seconds it takes to go down, under and back up again seem like an eternity. That is nothing like what the next twenty minutes are going to be like. When they come up and out of the ocean shooting skyward like flying fish, they fly right into the middle of a fleet of two hundred ships and at least five hundred demon dragons in the skies. They are surprised for sure, but Allan thinks the enemy goes near catatonic when Dragons of Light, some of them with riders, just keep coming and coming out of the ocean.

If the demon dragons thought to run they didn't show it. They immediately dive on the dragons of light, not wanting them to get altitude. This moment is where the riders shine. The elven longbows start hitting the demon dragons a hundred paces out, and throwing off their flight patterns. Three fourths of the dragons go to the sky and fight with the demon dragons, while the other one fourth set to destroying the fleet.

Allan doesn't know if it is the shock factor, pure luck, or their well-planned attack, but the demon dragons are dying in droves, and the entire fleet of two hundred ships is at the bottom of the ocean within those first twenty minutes. It is a fierce thing to see a dragon tear a ship to planks. To see a marvelous dragon of light hovering in the sky as his or her talons tear into the sails and decking of a ship. Some of the more crazy dragons, ones without riders of course, even ram into the ships, nearly breaking them in half.

Once the Allies gain altitude as the remaining demon dragons fly away in terror, it only takes them another five minutes to reach the shores of the Zalls. The plan is to devastate the coastline and destroy their ability to make ships. The dragons of light break into ten groups of one hundred each. The dragons of light didn't lose one dragon in a battle where they annihilated three hundred demon dragons. The dragons of light came to play.

Every ship and small boat that is seen is sunk. Two flights of dragons go opposite ways around the island to make sure nothing escapes retribution. The northern coast of the Zalls homeland is now in flames. In one low pass, Allan notices that there appears to be humans among the running people, and they seem to be shackled in some form like slaves.

Allan sends word telepathically to Stephen to investigate it further. Since the Zalls have run off deeper into their land, Stephen decides to land and see if he can talk with a couple of the humans. Thunderheart and Allan take their flight of dragons deeper inland. They decide not to attack every town they come to, just in case not all of the people are at fault, whether they are human or not. From the vantage point of being high in the sky it is easy to see patterns throughout the land. The one thing that sticks out to Allan is all the major roads seem to eventually head towards the same place.