DRAGON SLAYER Part 4

The royal city burned. Everywhere, dragons and men fought, and the dragons were winning. Magical wards and protections kept the dragons back from the central palace but one by one the defenses were falling and the dragons were advancing.

“Where are the catapults?” The captain of the palace guard shouted as he charged out onto the palace wall.

Another warded tower fell before the dragons and they advanced.

“They've already been destroyed,” A soldier answered.

“Destroyed?” The captain cried out over the din of shrieking dragons, dying men, and burning buildings.

“It was Grau, sir,” The soldier explained, “The Unmaker. It was the first thing he did when the dragons began their assault. Flew right through the wards as though they were nothing and destroyed the catapults before we could get any shots off.”

The captain looked around at the barren wall, finally noting the broken footings where the catapults use to be. He also noted another problem.

“Archers?” He asked without much hope.

The soldier just shook his head. There were only a few dozen soldiers left on the wall, all clumped together, spears held in shaking hands.

“Were you at least able to slay the beast?” The captain asked.

He gazed out over the battle. His men were falling back everywhere he looked. Not an archer left among them. He counted at least twenty dragons but he knew there must be more judging from the fires bursting into life throughout the city. The fires would spread to the few remaining warded towers and then...

The soldier still hadn't answered him.

“Soldier—

The captain turned in time to see the last remnants of the illusion fade away and see the dragon lunge out at him. There was no time to draw a weapon, no time to react. Grau's jaws clamped down around the captain, lifting him off the ground and then tossing him up into the air.

He should have known, looking back down on the palace wall, that something was wrong. It had been too clean. There should have been bodies and rubble. Now that the illusion was ended, he saw it, saw them. His men with their glassy eyes staring at nothing.

Grau's tail swept around toward the captain as he returned to the ground. The captain closed his eyes and welcomed death, comforted by his belief that he had served his country well.

Another tower fell and Grau looked around as his fellows drew closer. At the same moment, the door leading out to the palace wall burst open.

“Foul demon,” cried King Dorynn as he and his Honor Guard charged out onto the battlement, “Too long has your kind plagued my people, too long have you preyed upon us.”

Grau sneered at the King. The Honor Guard took up their positions to protect the King. Their armor and weapons shone with magic. It would take a while for even Grau to Unmake their combined magic. It was the King, though, that worried Grau the most. His armor had no magical wards, but try as he might, Grau couldn't Unmake it.

“A gift,” King Dorynn said as he drew The Sword from its sheath, “From my son.”

Grau snarled and spat a fireball at the guards.

Their armor flared and the fireball dissipated before it could burn them. The fireball, however, was just a distraction. While they were temporarily blinded by the combined brightness of the fireball and flaring wards, Grau swept his tail around and carried the guards up and over the side of the wall leaving Grau alone with the King.

“Clever trick,” King Dorynn muttered and then gestured with his sword to Grau's tail. “But I don't think you'll be doing that again any time soon.”

Grau pulled his withered tail back behind him and squared off to face King Dorynn fully.

“I could still destroy you,” Grau said, “But that was never the point.”

“Oh?” King Dorynn asked, “And what was the point of all this? You all so eager to die?”

Grau laughed a deep guttural laugh.

“No, fool,” Grau said, “The point was to give us all a fresh start.”

Grau pelted a burst of fire at King Dorynn but it split around his shield without causing any notable damage.

“So it is true,” Grau said, “You have found a way to forge pure steel.”

“Impervious to any magic,” King Dorynn said, admiring the metal.

King Dorynn lunged and Grau swept backward out of the way of the blade while at the same time beating his wings. The resultant gust of wind knocked King Dorynn off balance and the weight of his armor, combined with his age, pulled him to the ground.

Another tower fell.

Grau knew better than to close in on the king just yet and instead threw remnants of the ruined catapults scattering down along the walkway. King Dorynn shoved himself out of the way and was back up on his feet in moments.

“Clever trick,” King Dorynn remarked and he threw himself back at Grau.

Grau belched out another fire blast and then flew up and over King Dorynn to attack him from behind. As Grau passed over, searing pain erupted in his underbelly and he shrieked with pain. His momentum still carried him on and as the last of his belly passed by the king he felt a terrible wrenching. The king shouted out but Grau couldn't make out what he said over the noise of his own screaming and crashing.

King Dorynn laughed though he could not hide the pain in his voice entirely. As he stood, Grau could see King Dorynn's sword arm was stuck in an unnatural position, The Sword slipping from his in his grip. King Dorynn caught the blade in with his other hand and wiped it on the corpse of one of his fallen soldiers. “You can fool me once, dragon,” He said, “But no one fools me twice.”

Blood, dark and purple seeped out of Grau, quickly forming a pool around him. He didn't need to look to know he'd been split open, chest to tail.

“I think,” King Dorynn said as he advanced, “That you've broken my arm.”

“Mmmm,” Grau agreed with obvious sarcasm, “Sorry about that.”

“A gentleman to the last,” King Dorynn said and he hefted The Sword his over his head to begin chopping away at Grau.

Grau was waiting for just such a thing and he pelted King Dorynn in the face with fire. The king shrieked, falling backward and clutching at his helmet with his good hand. The Sword lay forgotten on the ground. The helmet had turned red hot from the close range blast and the air suddenly became thick with the smell of cooking meat.

At last, King Dorynn managed to pull his helmet free. His face was charred in several places and his hair was mostly gone. He staggered around a bit from the pain and Grau took advantage of King Dorynn's disorientation and swept his tail around, flicking The Sword off the walkway and down into the city below.

“No!” King Dorynn cried out when he realized what Grau had done.

Grau raised himself back up and strode forward. The wounds on his tail and belly were nearly healed now and with the King weaponless, it was time to strike.

“King Dorynn,” Grau bellowed, knocking the old king to the ground with his paw and pinning him there, “You have spread lies throughout your land, destroying your own people's lands in the hopes of turning them against my kind.”

King Dorynn struggled against Grau's claws, bashing his good arm against them, but without any warding, it was nothing more than his strength against Grau's.

“There was a prophecy given,” Grau went on, “About the end of magic, when one of my kind would have to purge it from the world lest you humans become too powerful.”

King Dorynn no longer struggled. He only stared in horror as he watched the last of the warded towers around the palace fall. The sky darkened with dragons as they swooped over and through the palace grounds, all of them converging on Grau and King Dorynn.

“Do you know my name, human?” Grau asked, twitching a claw and breaking King Dorynn's legs

King Dorynn stammered, terrified by the ever increasing number of dragons that were perching on the palace wall. Grau lifted his paw and backed away. A dragon flew from its perch and soared directly at Grau. Grau doubled in size as the other dragon was absorbed into him, leaving no trace of the other.

“I am Grau the Unmaker,” Grau said as dragon after dragon flew into him.

Grau increased in size with each subsequent dragon and soon he was too big for the palace wall to support. Grau's powerful wings beat the air to keep him aloft.

“For centuries I have known that it was my destiny to Unmake the magic of this world,” Grau continued, “But I feared man was not yet ready for the burden of living without magic, that they would destroy themselves. And so I waited.”

Prince Rynn strode out onto the walkway, not looking at his father when he passed by on his way to stand before the monstrous Grau.

“What betrayal is this?” King Dorynn yelled, “You ally yourself with them?”

“It was you who betrayed our people,” Prince Rynn said without turning his head to look at his father, “It was you that brought this to bare.”

“Young One,” Grau said, “Are you prepared to be King?”

A moment passed, and then Prince Rynn nodded as the last of the dragons flew into Grau.

“King Dorynn,” Grau shouted, “I unmake you now, along with all magic of this world!”

Grau burst with a light that did not fade as it traveled further away. The whole countryside lit up and along the spreading horizon, all magic failed. Prince Rynn had to shield his eyes from the brilliance and when he thought he could bare no more, it ended. When Prince Rynn regained his sight, only a shadow of Grau remained.

“Rule wisely, Young One,” The shade said and then faded out of existence.

Prince Rynn turned, the city was rebuilt, as though there never had been any attack upon it. The broken war machines and bodies that before had cluttered the walkway were gone and all that remained was his fathers suit of armor. It was empty.

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 So, now that I've finished my first attempt at some more traditional fantasy story telling, what do you think? How could I improve it? What worked and what didn't?