Dragons’ Roost — Part 5

Barking dogs, yells and the ringing of clashing swords shouted that the ambush had been sprung early. Two men on horseback, one with an arrow protruding from his right shoulder, and a dog hurtled around the bend in the road ahead closely followed by a dozen other riders.

Durnair had three arrows in the air before she realized what she was doing. The guards fronting the lead wagons loosed their crossbow bolts almost as fast. Scarcely had the ambushers seen the caravan and seven of them were already down.

As the others turned their horses to flee, they too had their lives sundered from them.

“jer’Mon, see to our flanks and rear, Konna and I will command the van,” shouted Fysal.

Throwing a fist in the air to acknowledge the command, jer’Mon turned his horse and began issuing instructions to keep watching the brush and trees to the sides and to bring the wagons closer and to overlap where the road was wide enough. When the attacks came, those in the caravan were ready.

Up front there was a flash, green fire and smoke appeared in the roadway, and the sound of thunder echoed across the sky. The priest stepped from the smoke and shouted, “Lay down your arms and you will live. Fight and the sky-lord will consume you in his flames.” Blue fire then enveloped the priest, and he disappeared.

Fysal shouted, “Trickery, to hell with these bandits.”

Another flash and red fire began to fill the hillside to the left of the road, yet nothing burned. A wave of heat swept the caravan, and a voice from the depths of hell began to chant,

“Siir is coming,

Comes the dragon,

Siir is coming,

Comes the flame,

Siir is coming,

Comes the dragon,

Siir is coming,

Comes death on green wings.”

“Fool,” shouted Konna. “You cannot control her. When she wakes, you and yours will die. Run, run now and you may live to see tomorrow.”

jer’Mon and most of the guards were making short work of those attacking the flanks and rear of the caravan. Two who made it through the guards found that women who daily gutted fish and fowl kept sharp knives. The guards’ casualties were light, only wounds and none of those serious. The captain was returning to the front when the ground began to quake.

The magician finished his chanting from the flames and began to laugh. It was the sound of the insane and the damned coming from the pit.

to be continued