We dropped altitude as we circled. I saw the orcs race back into their houses. I’d gone out of my way to give them a warning. What were they trying to do? Had they built bunkers under their houses? Perhaps they were simply incapable of making rational decisions. As we lowered to attack height, each rider locked on to a building and proceeded straight for it.
Something was wrong. I felt a foul chill on my back. I didn’t know if it was part of my hero skill set, but that chill had saved me before in a number of worlds. Immediately, I had the dragon roll and make a sharp turn. The next instant…
Bang!
The straw flew off the thatch roof of the house I was headed for. Something glimmering passed through the space where I had been a moment ago.
I had the dragon flap to gain height.
Boom!
A second shot from a different direction. The roofless houses were shrinking in my field of view, and now I saw what had blown them away: cannons. Inside each exposed room, the orcs were aiming long cannons with fuses up at us. The glimmering object had probably been a cannister of shrapnel shot from the barrel.
I directed the dragon to somersault in the air, changing course straight for a cannon and dropping into a nosedive. The orcs dropped their tools and scattered. I peppered the ground with fire, maintaining my speed as I flew parallel to the ground. Then, I deployed a barrier behind me and was met by a massive explosion. They must have been storing the cannon powder in one of the rooms I’d hit. Fragments of all sizes grated against my barrier. They struck the dragon’s wings, and it recoiled from the pain. Luckily, it didn’t suffer any major injuries.
I pressed on for a while, ascending again once I was a safe distance from the village, and then turned back. The first thing I saw was the gap left by a house, blown away without a trace. Then, a dark-blue dragon that had survived the counterattack. Then, a group of orc gunmen getting into formation in the village plaza. There were over a hundred of them. Finally, I saw the dragon with the intricate orange wings. He was safe. But we were one dragon short.
Dammit!
I heard explosions from at least two places. There had to be another cannon. But where? I locked on to another house without a roof on the opposite side of the village. I deployed a barrier in front and swooped lower, gliding just over the ground, as I used other houses as shields to approach where I thought the cannon was. We gained speed each time the dragon’s wings scraped through the air. Trees and buildings shot past—so close that I could nearly reach out and touch them.
Here! I rose up a block before the building in question. With a barrel roll, I drew a spiral in the air, turning my neck to the limit to capture my target in my sights. Just as I thought, there was a cannon in the house without a roof. The dragon saw it too. Its muzzle completely failed to track our movements. Just as we had with the last one, we breathed fire from above, and then I deployed a barrier behind as we fled from the blast at full force.
That did it. For now, I’d avenged the rider who fell. I failed to burn the village, but I’d preserved our honor. There wasn’t much time left, and we would have to retreat before we suffered any more losses.
It happened just as I was about to give the return order. I saw the orange dragon diving toward the ground. He was headed for where the fallen dragon lay belly-up, exposing its light-gray underside.
“Stop!” I cried, but he couldn’t hear from this distance.
The formation of orc soldiers pointed their guns at the swooping dragons. They locked aim. Even if I wanted to help him, there was nothing I could do from this distance.
Then came the burst.
Their square formation was cloaked in gunpowder smoke. The orange dragon must have taken a direct hit to the wings—its body lurched and it went down, drawing slow circles away from the city. That was my only chance. I had my dragon flap its wings and plunge straight into the orc formation. They had just fired, so this was my chance to approach safely.
I saw the remaining dragon swoop down as well. The orcs scattered like baby spiders from the smoke, and I chased them, showering them with flames. Each shot would send a ball of fire bursting into an orc’s back.
After chasing them away, I flew back over the village to check on the orange dragon. Its rider had been thrown a short distance away. I saw him get to his feet. I looked at the other rider—his name was Oifel, as I recalled. What do we do? his eyes asked. I went over the situation in my head.
Cannons? I was hearing no other shots. They probably didn’t have any more. The foot soldiers? In disarray, but they were already beginning to fire back.
Who was the idiot who had descended of his own accord? Kyel. Rigel’s grandson.
After those brief thoughts, I signaled, “Support me.” I immediately received an affirmative.
Turning my course toward the orange dragon, I lowered my speed and altitude as much as I could. In front of it, the young rider waved his arms, awaiting me. I leaned as far as I could out of the saddle, reaching out, as the dragon’s circles slowly closed in. Wings spread wide, just enough speed not to stall, I altered our course ever so slightly to the right to pass by him. The roar of a dragon and gunshots echoed from the village.
I could feel the impact as the young rider jumped into my arms.
All right! Got him!
There was a forest ahead of me. If I wanted enough speed to lift off, I would need to maintain this altitude, while moving my wings at full speed. There was just barely enough distance. Or so I thought, when suddenly, a great number of orc soldiers appeared from the trees. They seemed panicked—awfully slow to ready their guns.
The dragon’s wings felt heavy. I was supposed to be moving them for dear life, but I was hardly gaining any speed. The color drained from my vision as everything turned gray. It would be impossible to evade the enemy. If I turned now, I would definitely lose my lift. The dragon’s mouth opened wide to breathe fire. A whistling sound escaped its lungs. Out of fuel.
The orcs fired. Gray trails of smoke shot straight for us. I deployed a barrier, which made it in time.
All of a sudden, a pain raced through my body as my right wing was dyed red. The color and speed returned to my surroundings, and I slid across the ground as the dragon came to a halt. Its massive body dragged the orcs along before smacking into the trees.
I was thrown into the woods with the rider I’d saved.