All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 216: Reach For the Skies

Chapter 216: Reach For the Skies

Dragons going to war was never a pretty thing. It wasn't like the simple squabbles of the lesser races like the elves and humans. No, when dragons fought, it had consequences. Still, it took time and effort to convince the rest of Daedalus's kind to care, and the months of argument thoroughly wore him out. The roars of his kind had shaken the mountains, but eventually, everyone had seen sense.

When the decision was made, Archibald was waiting for him in a small fortress nestled in the entrance of the valley where the council was held. He had wanted to attend himself and plead the humans' case, but luckily, Daedalus was able to talk him out of it. That would not have gone over well. Dragons were arrogant at the best of times. In a situation like this, where they were being asked to do something, it was better to come from one of their own rather than someone beneath them.

Also, Archibald wasn't likely to have survived the encounter anyway. The presence of one dragon was hard enough on the lesser races, as their terrifying presence could stop hearts. More than one dragon, though? No matter how well Archibald handled being near Daedalus, he was only human after all. Such a shame.

"Yes, Spot, I radiate terror. No, I don't suppose you would feel it. Why do you think people don't come around here? The last few millenia would have been lonely if I wasn't able to just hibernate it away."

"I take it things went well?" Archibald asked with a cocked eyebrow. Daedalus was a bit jealous of the expression. It was beneath him to try and emulate it, even if it wouldn't have worked on his draconic face.

"Yes, well enough. They have agreed to spare one in ten acres." Daedalus shared the good news.

"One in ten acres?" Archibald asked in bewilderment. "I don't get it. Are they going to war then?"

"Yes of course we are. We're going to do war properly, there's no point otherwise. That was decided in the first few minutes, though some did use it as an argument for lowering how much to save."

"Then why did it take you months?"

"We were discussing how much of the world we would leave unburned." Daedalus patiently explained. Even after spending so much time with the human, he was still surprised at how dense he could be. "It wouldn't do to leave a job half done. However, we realize that you all need food and homes and whatever if you're to continue digging out gems and gold."

"How does that make any sense? What does burning the world have to do with the demons? Can't you just burn them?"

"Well, we need to scour the world to make sure none remain, of course. Anything we don't just burn would need to be searched thoroughly, and no one wants to do that. Much better to just raze it all."

Archibald just stared for a moment, expression blank. Eventually, he shook his head. "Dragons."

"Yes, we do like to clean up thoroughly. Leaving anything behind just causes more of a mess."

***

Daedalus soared through the skies, Archibald gliding along beside his griffin. Below, fields of scorched earth sent sheets of black smoke up in vile plumes, obscuring their vision. In the far distance, a black dragon wrestled with a white one, sending terrible screeches and jets into the air as they fought.

Similar scenes were repeated all over. The horizon was simply cluttered with smoke and warring dragons. Over the course of the campaign, Daedalus had seriously wounded, driven off, and incapacitated three of his kin personally. While they weren't making great progress with destroying the demons, he was at least gaining a lot of status among his kind. In the next century, he might even earn a clutch of eggs.

As much as he hated to admit it, a lot of Daedalus's success was due to his Champion. Having Archibald fighting alongside him gave him just enough of an edge that he could safely challenge anyone for battlefield dominance. That the next strongest opponent on the field was almost always another dragon wasn't his fault. This was his field, and he would raze it how he pleased.

Archibald didn't have the same view. "NO! We are going to the west!"

Daedalus growled in frustration as he tried to focus on his companion's voice. War was harder than expected. Dragons were irritable, proud, and totally incapable of constructing even the most basic chain of command, even in the best of times. Asking them to accomplish directed tasks while ignoring the chest-puffing of their kin was nearly unheard of.

Eventually, he managed to ignore his instincts to veer east and challenge Archimedes. They were rather close friends, all things considered, having just spoken yesterday. But once the battle started, that didn't really matter. He couldn't suffer another to challenge his magnificence. The gold dragon couldn't help but catch the light of the sun on his all-too-shiny scales, but that was no excuse.

Daedalus howled as a sharp pain on the tip of his nose broke him out of the rage. The dragon glared at Archibald and the shield that bounced off of his snoot. "Focus! You big scaly lizard."

Lizard?! How dare he! Daedalus felt the emotions return with a vengeance and a new target. The little prey animal dove out of the sky, barely avoiding the torrent of magic streaming out of his maw. Turning into the rising sun, Daedalus chased his prey.

As the airborne snack dipped and dove through the air, Daedalus spared no effort in unloading after it. Somehow, he missed constantly, but that didn't matter. He only needed one hit. The snack dipped closer to the ground. He almost laughed as it cornered itself, limiting its maneuverability. Folding his wings in, Daedalus attempted to slam the pest out of the air with nothing but his body.

Smashing into the earth, a shock wave rippled out from him and rattled his teeth. What was he doing? Looking around, he didn't see the dragon that had been encroaching on his territory. That meant he must have chased him off. Daedalus huffed before throwing his head to the sky and roaring in triumph.

An annoying pain in his toe brought him down to earth. Ah, yes, the demons. That's what was happening. Spinning, Daedalus came to his senses enough to begin his actual task. The demons attempting to swarm him vaporized in an instant. The Earth demons' sand melted to glass. Air dispersed, and the water attempting to quench his fire boiled away into steam. Even the flame demons were but candles before his unstoppable might, consumed and incorporated into his own magic.

Daedalus ignored all these inconsequential enemies and laid into the Greater Demons, leading them. They were at least intelligent enough to avoid standing still. Only when an Archfiend arrived did Daedalus finally have to focus.

The Archfiend's claws actually scratched his scales. With enough luck, they might be capable of injuring him. That was how one dragon died, at least. A Lieutenant had gathered enough Archfiends and Greater Demons to overwhelm and wear the poor sop out over the course of days. What a weakling. He should have never let himself get cornered.

There was only one Archfiend here now, and Daedalus wasn't alone. Finally getting his wits back, he maneuvered the enemy around until a sword tip sprouted from its chest. Archibald then took its head with his second sword before kicking the body off of his blade. It took a little bit more effort and time this way, but the human needed the experience anyway. Besides, it wasn't like a level 50 to 60 opponent was going too much for Daedalus.

The two of them regrouped and looked around. He didn't take to the sky again so as not to clash with any of the dragons nearby. If he was hunting and he saw their forms on the horizon… well, it was best if he stayed on the ground. Of course, that only made their task that much harder.

Despite numerous clashes, they still couldn't take down a single Lieutenant. One by themselves wasn't quite enough to match a dragon, of course, but they didn't have the same problems with teamwork. Several times, right as they seemed just shy of overcoming the seemingly endless regeneration they possessed, a second one showed up to ruin everything.

The advantage they held was huge, but they refused to use it more than was necessary. Perhaps it had to do with the sheer numbers of the dragons, but the Lieutenants were rarely found together, and the Demon Lord hadn't even taken the field once. It was almost as if they were happy with the status quo.

Even though the leadership of the demons was still intact, the dragons were making good on their promise to burn 90 percent of the world. The potential battlefields were already shrinking, but the demons did nothing.

"Yeah, we didn't think of that until it was almost too late either. What? Why would mess makers want to clean the earth? What do you mean by mess makers? Ah, no, I don't think they would. But could you really consider that cleaning…?"

"Right. Let's stick to the plan." Archibald panted, wiping some demon blood from his cheek. "We need to corner one of these monsters."

Daedalus had hated to admit it, but the man's idea was a good one. It was embarrassing to have a human understand dragon psychology better than an actual dragon. It stung his impressively enlarged pride yet again. But so far, it was working. Once they had secured the landing zone, they turned east and started that way on foot toward Archimedes.

It wasn't a fun journey. Dragons were not made for walking, and despite their near impenetrable hides, their wings were the most vulnerable on the ground. Even with all his weapons, he still had to rely on his companion to keep them off his sides.

Archimedes was hopefully close enough to the human army that he would have support there. That was if he also had managed to hold back his instincts. It was their best chance of getting two dragons fighting against a single Lieutenant rather than each other. If this didn't work, nothing would. It was several hours of near-constant fighting before the pair reached the human line. They were barely in time.

Daedalus's friend was doing his best to keep the horned demon lieutenant busy and away from the humans as the two armies clashed. Archimedes could only do so much as his magic wasn't nearly as potent as a red's. At least not on the battlefield. The gold had much finer control, which was why they thought this plan had a chance of working. He was the only other dragon that might be able to stay on task long enough for Daedalus to reach him on foot.

Despite the limited power of his magic, he was still a dragon, though, with all the advantages that come with it. But against all odds, they had persevered. It was time to take this annoyance down.

The Lieutenant didn't even notice the massive red dragonsneaking up from behind him with how engrossed it was with its fight. When the red's fire engulfed it, it finally realized the problem. The griffin took Archibald high in the sky, and after the first few exchanges, the demon tried to escape up there as well.

"Oh, how that rankled. We are the kings of the sky, kings Spot, and we dared not follow it into our own domain. Not if we didn't want to turn on each other."

Its escape was short-lived, however, as the human spiked it back down to the ground. It was close, but Archibald was finally coming into his own after years of power leveling. At least enough to move one of the lieutenants, even if he couldn't face one alone.