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

Preperations

"You sure are pinning a lot on Ergen for this..." Rae said warily as they all looked over Commander Sera's plan again.

"I have twenty-three men and a dragon to go up against several scores of goblins. I'll be damned if I'm not using the dragon." Sera replied evenly, and Ergen sighed inwardly as he knew that he'd have to be doing the heavy lifting for this dungeon as well. "Now, does everyone understand the plan?"

"Make a lot of light and draw as much attention to Ergen as possible while he freezes everything. Got it." Rea replied.

"My group will circle around the western side of the village and neutralize any spell casters or archers that we find." One of the other mercenaries stated as well.

"And I'll lead the other team and do the same on the eastern side." Sera nodded her approval. "After we complete our objectives, we'll meet at the dungeon's entrance and flank any leadership position that the enemy will no doubt have set up to stop Ergen."

'You're making me basically take on an entire horde of monsters alone...' Ergen complained internally, though even he knew that he wouldn't back out of his decision to stay with the group now. They needed enchanted equipment in order to defeat Emric, and he needed them to defeat Emric so that he could defeat his own opponent... Their goals aligned, and he guessed that this battle would be easy compared to the one that he would most likely have to fight in the future. Which ment that this battle would be great practice for those to come.

"The goblins have built a series of structures in front of the dungeon, but from what we observed, there's no defensive towers or strategic layout to their placement that we'll need to worry about. However, everyone should take care to not directly target their structures as the goblins could have stored any prisoners that they may have acquired inside." Sera explained, though she was looking at Ergen while she did as even he knew that he would be the one most at risk of destroying the structures.

"Right." All of them replied, and Ergen didn't say anything as he raised his head to look at the goblins once again. Night had fallen once more as Sera had wanted to preform a night raid in order to increase the chances of her mercenaries surviving, though now the several bonfires and many torches seemed almost blinding against the otherwise dark night. He didn't know if the flames would further affect his eyes or not if he got closer to them, though as he would probably be surrounded by hundreds of goblins anyway, he guessed that he wouldn't be able to see the many that would be able to slip past him regardless of the fires.

"Then lets move into position." Sera ordered, seeming to have regained her position of Commander without her even realizing it before the mercenaries split apart and Ergen waited in place. He was supposed to wait for ten minutes so that the two groups could get into place, then he would charge forward and make a ruckus, being sure to take out as many goblins as he could while becoming the ultimate distraction. Though, against this many goblins, he started to wonder if just he and the small group of mercenaries would be able to handle the situation.

"If we get into trouble, just fly away, alright?" Rae whispered on the top of Ergen's head. "Saving these mercenaries isn't worth dying yourself, and Ol' Farell would never forgive me if I lost you before the actual war starts."

'Thanks. I'm sooo glad that you care about my safety...' He thought, and all Ergen could do was let out a low groan in response before he waited silently for time to pass. And as he waited, a feeling of anticipation stirred in his stomach as he began wondering if he would even survive this battle. Sure, everything that he knew about goblins indicated that they were small and weak creatures with crude weapons that normally would never be able to pierce a dragon's scales. However that didn't necessarily mean that they couldn't as Ergen didn't know how these goblins would differ from the ones that he knew of. Not to mention that any magic that their spell casters may have could be enough to blast directly through both his scales and the new ice armor that he was able to create over himself...

"Ergen, it's time to go." Rae gently knocked on the top of his head, pulling him out of his thoughts before Ergen took a deep breath to calm himself, though it did little to calm his nerves. However, seeing as he'd been in life threatening situations time and time again, Ergen found the will to start walking forward across the river that flowed between him and the village as he headed for his destination.

Most likely due to being hunted by the nearby chimera, the goblins had several patrols outside of the village, and nearly all of them spotted Ergen the instant that he stepped out of the bushes that he'd been hiding in before they all started running back to the village to warn the others. By the time he'd reached the other side of the river, Ergen saw that there was already a sizable group of the little green monsters that had gathered to face him. Though while Ergen had at first thought that the torches and bonfires were bad enough, Rae proved now that she was even worse as she started shining a bright light on top of his head, pulling all of the goblin's attentions and completely illuminating the majority of the surroundings while Ergen charged into battle.

*     *     *

"How are have they progressed?" Asal asked while looking at the map table in front of him with a grim expression.

"So far they've managed to break through the border and are currently marching on the city of Rock." One of Asal's generals responded.

"Rock?" Another of the generals questioned before sighing to herself. "The orcs never have been good with naming things..."

"Rock is mainly a trading city, and will not last long under invasion." The first general spoke up again. "Sending reinforcements to it would only weaken our own forces, so we should pull back both the populace and the garrison there to support the fortress city of Stone which lies further along their path."

"It is easy to call a retreat when it isn't your lands that are being taken over or your homes that are burning, isn't it?" The orc general snarled from the side of the room. "My people are brave and proud warriors, not cowards! We should stand and fight!"

"The Hero King is personally leading his army in this invasion! Any attempts to stand our ground without the means to counter him would result in massive casualties!" The gnome general added from the other side of the table.

"And yet,every moment that we hesitate and every time we retreat, we give ourselves less room to work with." Farell spoke out as well. "After Rock, they would need to travel through the Canyon of Bones, wouldn't they?"

"If they wish to continue their progress without having to circle around the Calic Peaks, then yes." The orc general replied.

"Then I recommend that we collapse the canyon and make travel through it impossible for Emric's army. Rather than taking a three hundred mile march to the north to get around the peaks, I'm willing to bet that they would travel south and attempt to pass through the Forest of Spirits." Farell continued. "Not only will this slow them down and give us time to prepare, but I can also send my people out to the forest to slow down their army even further. And with the forest helping us, we may be able to stop them completely for a time."

"And just what use is buying time when Emric is already burning my... our cities, to the ground?!" The orc general asked in outrage.

"The majority of our forces are still gathering, Og'nar." The woman from before spoke. "It will take at a few more days for them to gather enough so that we can counter Emric's forces, so we need to buy as much time as we can."

"I'm sorry, Og'nar, but I must agree with this coarse of action." Asal spoke. "Have Rock evacuate it's populace to Stone and collapse the Canyon of Bones. With luck, the mercenaries that I hired will be able to return soon with the equipment required to face Emric."

"Do we even know if any of them are still alive?" One of the generals asked. "The Lands of the Lost are in inhospitable place, second only to the Land of Legends."

"We've already received word back from them that they were having difficulties dealing with a chimera, but the situation should be resolved soon." Farell explained. "I managed to persuade our dragon friend into giving them assistance."

"But even if that is the case, it isn't for certain that they will find what we need in the those old tombs." Og'nar stated while looking towards Asal. "Do we have some kind of backup plan just in case their mission is a failure?"

"If that's the case, then we'll think of something." Asal sighed as he crossed his fingers and gazed towards the ceiling. "We'll have to, or everything will be over before it even begins..."