The last of the Dragons-Set 2

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    We sailed for ninety or so minutes north along the coast, with no sign of the enemy we had set out to fight as of yet. Doron and Ragon glided over head, circling around as to not pull to far ahead of the ships as the sailed in line with each other. Boredom was slowly beginning to overtake nerves, when I heard a voice come back from the front of the ship.

"Ships in the distance!"

I stood up on my tip toes, as if to better my vision. I could faintly see the outlines of a line of ships, many times as wide as our own, closing on us. Their masts stood far higher than ours, and their ships, bulkier.

"Orders Your Excellency?!" Sir Ivan asked hurriedly.

"Load the guns! Battle formation!" I shouted.

"You heard her you daft cunts! Load the guns! Get the ships into a firing line!" Sir Ivan shouted over the ship.

Men began scrambling to load the cannons as the helmsman steered the ship to port. Two men atop the taller of the two masts waved blue and red flags back and forth, signalling the others to follow suit. The ship creaked and groaned as its powerful rudder forced it into position, before the helmsman forcefully cranked the wheel back over, halting the ships turn.Before long, the ships were lined up bow to stern, with my ship more or less in the center of the long line of war vessels, as Doron and Ragon circled around over head. The ship fell silent for several minutes as we waited for the enemy ships to come within range of our starboard cannons. Once I could see the letter 'M' on the largest of each ships sail, I gave the order.

"Open fire!"

Sir Ivan shouted my order across the ships deck. The twenty-five cannons on the starboard side of the ship opened fire all at once, followed by those of the other ships. I watched as the ships nearest to us took hit after hit, masts falling to the water, but still no ships slipping beneath the waves. Just as the crew began reloading the cannons, Doron and Ragon flew over head, stirring the water with every beat of their wings. The crews of the ships cheered and shook their fists in the air in support as the two dragons charged at their soon to be victims. Doron struck first with his deep black and red flame, dooming dozens of ships and thousands of men with one single pass. Ragon did the same, though his much smaller body yielded a smaller flame, which did less instant damage. Regardless, hundreds of Marvin vessels were sent to the bottom of the north western sea under the rain of cannon fire, combined with the flames falling from above. The fighting continued for nearly an hour, with not a single shot coming our way. But, two dragons was not enough to hold them at bay, regardless of the damage. Slowly, the remaining ships inched their way closer to us.

"They will still reach us. Signal the ships to break defensive line and sail headlong towards the enemy. The dragons will know which ships to attack, and which to defend. Do it now." I ordered Sir Ivan.

One by one, the ships broke the firm line, allowing the wind to catch their sails and push them towards their opponents. As Doron and Ragon strafed the ships that were further back in the formation, which were also much closer together, the front most ships split up, as to allow themselves to pass between us. As the first ships came along side us, our cannon crews opened fire.

"Use your arrows!" I shouted to Amy and Tahli.

"No! Stay below decks! We cannot risk your life!" Sir Ivan pleaded.

I looked to him sharply.

"I didn't become Queen to sit back and let other men die as I sit in luxury." I said.

I looked back to the nearest ship and fired an arrow, which found its mark in the chest of a random crewman on deck, knocking him over the edge and into the water as his ships side was destroyed by cannon fire from our own cannons. The Marvin ships were enormous compared to ours. With two sets of cannons on each side, nearly twice as many as ours. Our ship was taking heavy fire as we sailed into the mob of ships, with dozens of men on deck falling to gun shots or cannon shots that riddled the deck. I ran down to the main deck, just as the smaller of the two masts was hit by a cannon shot and knocked to the deck before sliding into the water.

"Turn this ship around! We're going to die here!" Amy shouted.

"No! We stand and fight!" I shouted back, just as Doron grabbed one of the enemy ships in his claws, lifted it partially out of the water, and dropped it on its bow. 

I watched as the ship broke apart upon impact with the water. Men screaming and swimming for their lives, only to be slaughtered by my own men on deck while they swam for their lives. Just as the ship slipped beneath the waves, a second ship on the opposite side opened fire on the ship I was aboard, along with another one of our ships on its other side. While my ship made it past, the other was to damaged to remain afloat. I watched as another one of our ships sank beneath the waves with most of its crew, before Ragon spat green flames down on the ship responsible. I ran along the side of the ship as the rail was blown to pieces by cannon fire from our enemy vessels, before suddenly, the ship began to buckle in the middle.

"We're sinking! We're sinking!" One man shouted.

My heart sank as I saw the ship split in two across the middle, before the rear section sank. I jumped from the ships bow, and began swimming for my life.

"My Queen! Take the rope!" One man from another ship shouted, though I could hardly hear him over the fighting.

I grabbed hold of the rope and began climbing up, but then I felt the rope get tugged on from below. I looked down to see Amy and Tahli both clinging to the rope as our ship sank behind them.

"Climb! Climb!" One of the crewmen shouted.

The three of us climbed the rope, and scrambled over the ships rail. I still had my bow, and so did Tahli, but Amy had lost hers to the waves.

"We'll have to see about getting you a new one." I said as I whipped my wet hair from my face.

Just as I finished my sentence, Ragon flew over head with the front half of a ship in his claws, before dropping it down on another ship as he spat flames down in a strafing attack, with Doron doing the same in the opposite Direction.

The fighting raged on for several hours, claiming thousands upon thousands of lives, though mostly on the side of the Marvin's. Doron and Ragon had sunk the majority of the ships, leaving only two-hundred or so to be sunk by our own ships. By the battles end, the Marvin's had only seventeen ships that remained, which managed to escape through the smoke, only being spotted in the distance as it cleared. On our end, we had lost only twenty-six out of two hundred ships, though most of the sunken ships crews had been lost to the sea. I stood on the ships deck, looking down at the water below, littered with wood, blood and men, when Amy put her hand on my shoulder. 

"You fought well today. Let's return and share this victory with our people." She said.

"We may have won this battle, but we have come nowhere close to ending this pointless war." I replied.

Just then, Sir Ivan came to join us, panting and out of breath.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I asked in shock.

"I climbed aboard via a rope thrown to me." He said, still panting.

He paused a minute, before he spoke again.

"We won this battle because of those dragons. The enemy crews were to occupied with keeping their eyes on the dragons to fight effectively." He said.

"That may be true, but we are still no closer to ending this war." I replied.

"No closer? We have sunk nearly two thousand ships of the Marvin fleet! That's almost half of what they have. Their remaining ships will pose little more challenge than those that we faced today. Once we have their ships sunk, they can no longer attack by the sea. The Marvin's will be the first to fall if this onslaught goes unobstructed." He said confidently.

I sighed, before I turned to him.

"Yes, But will it?"

Hi All! Just thought I'd let you know that I have 2 new stories available on my profile page. "The Dragons of Lithia" and "The Lost Dragon" are both stories that you will certainly enjoy if you enjoy The Dragons Daughter! And obviously you do if you've made it this far! Enjoy all!