I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Overwhelming Odds

"Why... why is that dragon here?!" Sera asked in a loud whisper as she watched the creature land in front of where she and her men had been positioned. Having any dragon in Ligan would be surprising, though not unheard of seeing as they the had once called Ligan their homes. Though, that was supposedly hundreds of years ago, and Sera recognized this dragon in particular as it had a scar that matched hers above it's right eye. This was the dragon that had costed her the success of her last mission, the one who killed several of her men before disappearing from it's den without a trace as to where it had gone. And now it was here...

"How did it get past the Sea God's Wall?!" Sera asked, suddenly fearful as she didn't know if the dragon had allied itself with the frost trolls or not.

"Commander! There's someone tied to it's back!" Nigel reported, and now that she looked closely, Sera could definitely tell there that was indeed someone tied with wooden bindings to the dragon's back. It was far to small to be a frost troll, so that left-

"Everyone, move into position! Now!" Sera ordered, and instantly she and her two hundred men burst from their hiding places in the snow right in front of the dragon. Thankfully their surprise entrance stopped the dragon before it trampled any of them, though Sera didn't know how long that would last. It really was some terrible luck to not only have to fight the frost trolls, but a dragon as well.

"Please help us! We have Sheera!" A tiny sounding voice yelled from somewhere, and Sera didn't realize where it had even come from before a bright light started glowing from the top of the dragon's head. Somehow, it appeared that a fairy had somehow gotten control over the dragon, though Sera didn't have long to think about such a feat as what looked like hundreds of frost trolls were beginning to appear over the rim of the canyon.

 "Form a shield wall and hold your positions! Mages! Archers! Fire everything you have into the horde!" Sera ordered, and Nigel immediately relayed her orders towards the others before the knights rushed forward to get into position. They'd originally planned to do this anyway when her scouts succeeded in rescuing Princess Sheera, though they had failed for some unknown reason and now Sera was facing a horde much larger than anticipated. Already, the scores of archers among the frost troll's ranks were releasing their arrows, but thankfully the mages had managed to get to the front in time to negate most of the casualties that they would have suffered otherwise.

Even though her troops were fighting, Sera hesitated in fear, returning the glare that she thought that she was getting from the dragon as she nervously stood her ground. It honestly seemed like it would rush forward and kill her as soon as it had the chance to, though it thankfully soon thought better of it as it turned and started walking away, leaving Sera to deal with the thousands of frost trolls now attacking them. However, as long as the princess survived and at least some of them could escape, then their mission wouldn't have been in total jeopardy.

"We need to help!" Sera barely heard the fairy's voice over the sounds of battle on her front lines, though after seeing that the dragon had let them be, she immediately rushed forward to join her troops.

"Archers, cover the knights! Mages, rotate your barriers in shifts and aim your destructive spells at the canyon's ridge! Assassins, go around the battle and strike at the enemy's archers!" Sera took charge again, though already she could see how quickly they were losing. Not only did the frost trolls have numbers on their side, but also brute strength as well that made their warriors far superior to her knights. Even though her mages, archers and assassins outclassed the enemy, that wouldn't make much of a difference now as  Sera's front line had already almost been completely annihilated. And just when she was about to order a retreat, the unthinkable happened beside her.

With the air growing so cold that it almost felt hot, Sera had to shield herself as the dragon had returned and started breathing it's frost breath over the battlefield. While it didn't appear that any of her troops had been hit by the blast, hundreds of frost trolls were frozen solid in an instant with many more falling victim to the after effects as more and more trolls attempted to run through the mist and past their fallen comrades. It was a massive blow to the frost trolls, but it wasn't nearly enough as soon the bodies of the fallen completely covered ground, creating a bridge over the remnants of the dragon's attack and the frost trolls continued their assault in earnest.

"Retreat! Everyone, fall back to the second position!" Sera yelled, looking on in complete helplessness as the last few knights that remained were completely overwhelmed. Despite the dragon blasting the enemy forces again, the frost trolls just kept coming and coming as if there were an infinite number of them. And as the bulk of the numbers started running past the broken knights, what felt like a second miracle happened before Sera's eyes. At first, it just seemed like lime-green lights that illuminated the growing clouds above them. However, those clouds soon dispersed as hundreds of magic arrows fell from above and onto the charging frost trolls, each one detonating in large clouds of snow and throwing any nearby frost trolls into the air in the process. And as soon as the volley had ended, Sera looked behind her at the sound of a deafening noise as another army appeared behind them.

"Mages! Get barriers behind-" Sera's orders were cut short as several soldiers of the other army ran past her at unbelievable speeds. And now that they were close, she recognized their animal ears and tails as well as their black uniforms. These were members of the beastkin race, who had recently joined  the demon king's alliance. But what they were doing here instead of battling the orc's kingdom which lied between their two lands, she couldn't possibly fathom.

Being much stronger and faster than humans, the beastkin tackled the frost troll's overwhelming numbers head on, amazingly pushing the front lines back and giving the few remaining knights some reprieve before the slower members of the new army arrived. While frost trolls may have been stronger than both humans and beastkin, now Sera was shocked to see that they were being felled easily by both giants and orcs. All manner of demi-human races now joined the battle, and as she was unsure their situation, Sera gave the only order that she thought made any sense.

"Everyone, gather around me!" Sera gave out the order, and the human troops immediately did as she commanded before several giant balls of fire rained down from the sky after the magic arrows. They all hit the ridge line of the canyon where the frost trolls had been swarming up from, collapsing the top of the mountain just as Sera had been attempting to do with her mages. And once it collapsed, thousands of tons of rock and debris rained down onto the frost trolls that hadn't made it over the ridge yet before continuing down onto the city below. The battle seemed to be over in that instant as the demon king's army pushed the remaining frost trolls back. The frost trolls fought back desperately, however the demon king's army seemed to be just as endless now as the frost troll's army had seemed, and soon the trolls were being pushed off of the very same cliff that they had just come up from. Though now with the destruction of the mountain, instead of there being ladders and stairways to the top, there was only a straight drop to the bottom of the canyon.

Thinking furiously about what to do now that she and what was left of her forces were now surrounded by another country's army, Sera didn't see anywhere else on the narrow ridges where she could lead her men to safety, and all she could do was watch as the frost trolls were completely decimated and the demon king's forces now started to form formations around her own troops. However, while Sera knew that this army was comprised out of many types of demi-humans, one group in particular made her eyes grow wide in shock as she recognized them. And now that she thought about it, only one race that she knew of could have managed the magic arrows that she'd seen before, as they were adept with both archery as well as the arcane arts. But... why were there elves in the demon king's ranks?!