Yiggdrasil Highway Saga

Chapter 36: The First Battle
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long, long ago.
and far, far away.

The ambush had been totally unexpected, to their shame. The recon flights had become almost ritual. They had been flown from time before memory with no results so everyone had become slack. The recon flights had become more of an extended picnic outing than a surveillance mission. Not this one, this one was different. One moment Dragon Four was flying over wooded hills, placid streams, open meadows and shallow valleys. All was calm. The dragons were paying very little attention to the terrain below. They were mostly bantering among themselves, gossiping and visiting. Situational awareness was absent. In other words they were NOT doing their jobs.

They paid for their inattention. The next moment, with absolutely no warning, all hell broke loose. There was blood and broken bones,and pain. Two of the dragons were badly hit and began falling, writhing and twisting in agony, toward the ground far below.

Tardostav and Vasrid struggled and thrashed in blinding, mind numbing pain as they attempted to curl around themselves to reach the source of their agony. They had been hit, many times, by high velocity projectiles.

"Aieeee!" Vasrid screamed and he spiraled downward to the land far below.

Tardsostav said nothing...he was barely holding onto the bloody shards of consciousness. He faded in and out of awareness as he plummeted toward the ground below.

Instants later the staccato reports of heavy caliber gunfire echoed across the land. Supersonic rounds traveled faster than the sounds of the gunshots.

With but a moment’s hesitation the less seriously hurt dragons dove after their falling comrades. They split into two groups, one for each falling warrior. Each group managed to intercept the wounded ones and break their fall.

The dragons happened to fall into a thorn patch. That was good, a thorn patch didn’t bother the dragon’s tough skin a bit and might serve as a good defensive position. The wounded curled up on the ground. Their lovers stood guard over them and would protect them until their own deaths.

Strange behavior but Thebans were like that.

The other dragons streaked off in search of revenge.

The guns that had shot the dragons out of the sky were heavy, crew served weapons on gun carriages. Nothing less could reach that high and hit hard enough to do the job. The gun carriages were NOT very maneuverable not against dragons streaking in at ground level. The gun crews tried and died.

The vengeance seeking dragons homed in on the gun crews at high velocity, blades drawn. Blood began to flow. Blood not only flowed it gushed and squirted . It pooled on the ground in large puddles covering various detached body parts. The mass of Demons had no chance against the highly agile, armored and extremely lethal, hovering, darting, bobbing and weaving dragons. The Demons outnumbers the dragons by a huge margin but they were devastated. A few, a very few, Demons escaped. They threw down their weapons and high tailed it for the tall grass.

Shortly there were no more live enemy in sight. That Demon pack had been obliterated. The flying dragons returned to their companions on the ground.

Sogah, the leader hissed at the two Thebans " Kajrio, Dohor. You bleeding Thebans. I'm so proud of you my heart could burst but you are idiots.”

“We’re not leaving without them.” Dohor said.

They are too weak to travel.’ Kajrio explained “We’ll stay, fight and die over their bodies if need be.”

“Unfortunately you are correct. Let us transfer your fallen lovers to a more defensible location. If you insist on staying with them and dieing I have a plan." Sogah said.

Puzzled, the dragons did as their leader had suggested. Shortly they were back at the site of the slaughter.

"Now let's get those guns repositioned...get those Demon bodies stacked...come on...come on...move it". hissed Sogah in frustration.

Dragons didn't carry guns because of the weight and technical difficulties. Long distance recon took a lot of energy and was tiring. The flying dragons carried as little weight as possible. Their job was recon, not engagement. The dragons were, however, familiar with guns. After a few moments of study the principles of operation became clear.

After some incredibly intense work a crude fort was constructed, it's signature feature were walls of stacked Demons . The captured guns were arranged in a circle, hub to hub, their trails pointed inward at a central point and staked to the ground. All the ammo and many of the Demon supplies were in the center of the gun circle . There were a great many more guns than there were dragon gunners.

The two badly wounded dragons were made as comfortable as possible on makeshift pallets made of soft Demon bodies and shaded as best as could be arranged. Tardsostav was unconscious and lay quietly. Vasrid was restless and kept pointing to the sky and mumbling. Kajrio, his lover, was concerned and bent to listen closely. After a few minutes Vasrid was scanning the sky himself.

"By Odin's Beard" shouted Vasrid "Look at that...an Elder"

For a moment the group thought they were rescued and were elated. However one of them said. "I don't think it's alive....I think that's a spirit-elder"

The tiny speck was too far up for even the sharp eyed dragons to see clearly. It was extremely hard to see any details. It soon became evident, however, that the elder showed no signs of seeing them. Had the elder been alive it would have come to their aide. It WOULD have seen them, nothing evaded the gaze of an elder.

Elation became despair. Another horde of Demons appeared over the horizon and attacked.....again. Despair became rage. The defensive circle worked perfectly. The dragons operated the rapid fire carriage guns with ease. The Demons died in droves. More bodies were added to the walls further strengthening their fortifications.

The original Demon commander who had sighted the guns had picked a wonderful location. It was easily defensible, as the Demons were learning to their dismay. The dragons were now protected by higher, and wider and thicker walls of dead Demons . The dragon gunners could see their attackers clearly before they became a threat. The reverse was NOT true for the Demons .

Dragon hide is extremely tough. The demons had to be very close for their small arms to be effective. They were not allowed to get that close. When the dragons sighted a group of them the Demons were obliterated by their own captured heavy weapons.

It was a stand off. The demons could not advance without being seen and then destroyed. There were an awfully lot of demons and they were suicidally persistent. The dragons had an awfully lot of captured ammo and were delighted to help them commit suicide.

"You know I kind of like this gun" said Tarsrid , as he casually turned the crank for about ten seconds. That ten second burst annihilated a platoon of Demons that were attempting to advance.

"I do too, " said Phakva. as he did much the same thing with a different gun pointed in a different direction.

The Demon body count mounted into the thousands. Another horde of Demons gone. It seemed odd that there were no other heavy weapons brought to bear. Their good luck could NOT last.

After a couple of days it began to get a little thirsty. There had been no water in the captured supplies. No one mentioned it because no dragon wanted to be the first to cry 'enough', but it was becoming obvious that the lack of water would be their downfall. They wouldn't starve..if worse came to worse, Demon meat was readily available, but very dry.

This problem was solved by night flying dragons dipping hollowed out Demon skulls into streams under the very nose of the enemy. It wasn’t tasty but it was water. A few dragons were hit but the bullets from the small arms were insufficient to seriously injure them.

They were, however, on borrowed time...and it was only a matter of time before the Demons brought in more heavy weapons.

Sogath knew this. He had known it from the beginning. His eyes kept wandering back to the spirit elder high above. A plan was forming in his fatigued mind. Those damn Thebans.

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