Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Act 4, Chapter 21

Empire in Chains: Act 4, Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Claws clicked over the cavern floor; a steady sound that echoed down into Rerix’ixthrious’ lair. The clicking came closer; grew louder, eventually framing its source.

A Troglodyte…

Something was wrong. In most cases, one of her brood would come to see her for one thing or the other – usually to boast or report achievements in their continuous efforts to curry her favour. Whether it be a feat of personal prowess or something that their minions did or learned, all claims to tangible gains were ultimately a Dragon’s by right.

This, of course, also worked in reverse. If something went wrong, minions were sent to deliver the bad news. The worse the news, the lower the minion…and Troglodytes were the lowest of the low. If one were to be diplomatic, they would call the race of reptilians hardy, long-lived and pure of spirit and mind. If not…well, ‘Troglodyte’ was a universal insult in more civilised places for good reason.

The Troglodyte appeared out of an access shaft that led to the labyrinthine network of old lava tubes above Rerix’ixthrious’ lair. Someone had probably approached the colony of tens of thousands of Troglodytes and wheedled one of them into delivering whatever it was about to say. Being as mentally slow as they were, she doubted that this messenger fully understood the message it was delivering.

Head half-submerged, she watched as a female Troglodyte in mottled, greenish-grey scales made her way down to the cavern floor and around the edge of the water. The reptilian Demihuman prostrated itself on a smooth stone slab placed for precisely that purpose. Her speech was slow and slurred, bringing to mind the image of a lizard turned sluggish by the cold.

“Em…em…emi…nence. Gnoll come.”

The Troglodyte paused as if trying to parse what she had just said. Bubbles of noxious gas rose to the surface of the water as Rerix’ixthrious sighed. It was nice to have some reptilian minions, but Troglodytes were a far cry from Dragonkin or Kobolds. Only the luckiest of Dragon Lords had those.

“Tre…tri…tre?”

“Tre?” Rerix’ixthrious narrowed an eyelid.

“Shiny,” the Troglodyte nodded slowly. “Gone. Stoled…!”

“WHAT?!”

Her roar blasted the Troglodyte away and it tumbled out of sight. A wave crested and broke over the shore as she surfaced to make her way to the lake entrance of her lair.

Preposterous. Who would do such a thing? The tribes of the jungle would know that it was a futile act and the reprisal upon its inevitable discovery would be the extermination of their people.

Could it be one of her children, overwhelmed by greed at the sight of the Baharuth Empire’s tribute? If so, she would tear them apart. Xerix, too, since he had let it happen. If he had survived. No, she wouldn’t stop there. The entire generation had to be culled as a lesson to the next. That way, they would have ample incentive to set upon the next idiot who expressed the blasphemous desire to lay their covetous claws upon what was hers.

Mud churned from the lake bed as she made her way up with powerful strokes. An overcast sky greeted her as she erupted from the surface, wings carrying her over the trees. High overhead, a flight of Hippogriffs soared lazily just below the clouds. As she flew southeast to where the treasure convoy should have been, she spotted another set of Hippogriffs, then another. Nearly all of them were loitering over the perimeter of the jungle.

What were the chances that the Empire had reneged on their commitment and acted to steal her treasure? Rationally speaking, the thought did not hold much water. Like the Demihuman tribes, the risk that such an act carried was simply too great. For a pittance of their annual productivity, they would lose everything. Then again, Humans were as stupid as Troglodytes in some ways. Especially when it came to the race’s collective, mindless greed that consumed everything in its path.

After considering that line of thought for several minutes, she dismissed it as unlikely. The tribal representatives collected to convey the tribute could crush an Imperial Legion three times over. Considering that they would be fighting in the ancient jungles of her home, the entire Imperial Army would be devoured trying to invade.

Something else had to be going on. Rerix’ixthrious eyed a trio of Hippogriffs flying in the vicinity of the nearby fortress being led by a Griffon. The Griffon’s rider was most likely the Commander of the local Legion’s air wing. She cast a Message spell.

?Worm!?

?Hiiiieeee!!!?

At least he responded in a satisfying way.

?Why are you flying there? What are you watching for??

?I…er, um…em…?

?Spit it out!?

?Y-your Eminence, we’ve received reports of a powerful group of Undead that came from the west. We lost track of them when they entered the forests south of the mountains.?

Rerix’ixthrious narrowed her eyes at the claim.

?Undead? What did they look like??

?A string of villages were sent into a panic, but their reports were confusing. We’re keeping an eye out for something like humanoid Undead.?

She cut off the Message. While she wasn’t close enough to know for sure, it didn’t sound like the Human was lying. The Empire wouldn’t put its air wings on alert for no reason, either.

Powerful Undead…villages that survived to report them…

The only way something like that would happen is if the Undead were under the control of a greater power. Otherwise, the villages would have been devastated and the Empire busy fighting the Undead rampaging over the countryside. Rerix’ixthrious’ mind worked, sifting through centuries of accumulated knowledge.

Undead of substantial strength existed in the world, but the region around Rerix’ixthrious’ domain had Elder Liches and weak Vampires at best. There was a rumour that the Empire had defeated a Death Knight from the Katze Plains some time ago, but it remained a singular incident.

Could it be that they had come from the world beyond specifically for the tribute? The timing was extraordinarily suspect. A powerful Night Lich might be able to challenge her openly, though it was more likely that they would fight from a more advantageous, defensive position.

The annual delivery of the Empire’s tribute wasn’t exactly a secret. A Night Lich’s powerful minions could have been sent to secure her treasure and carry it off to a predetermined location. Once there, they could take their time to teleport or fly it away. At that juncture, her property would be lost to her: assaulting a powerful Undead caster in their base was a questionable venture at best.

Rerix’ixthrious hurtled forward, her wings steadily beating as she picked up speed. She skimmed over the trees, sensitive for any sign of the Undead or her stolen treasure.

A distant metallic clanking drew her attention. She ascended to a safer altitude, watchful for enemies in the skies around her. After making two wide circuits, nothing appeared to challenge her. The imperial air patrols remained where they were, the closest several kilometres distant.

Below, a long line of wagons laden with treasure was creeping out of the jungle. The figures moving everything appeared oblivious to her presence. As she examined the thieves, incredulity filled her being.

Zombies? Zombies are stealing my treasure?!

They were Undead Demihumans whose slow, shuffling progress made it seem the case. She dove upon them, heading off the procession with a furious roar. Scores of Zombies were blown back by her landing, tumbling away like so many pieces of refuse.

“Thieves! You dare touch what is mine?!”

In response, hundreds of Zombies shuffled forward.

Rerix’ixthrious rolled her eyes. That was the problem with the Undead. Never mind the mindless ones, only those possessed of the greatest intelligence had any sense of self-preservation. All others followed thought processes that tended to travel in straight lines, so to speak.

As they were generally unaffected by hostile mental effects, intimidation and even dragonfear did not work on them. They were also immune to poison, which meant that her breath weapon was useless. She would have to sort them out in some tedious fashion…or did she?

Leaping into the air, she hovered over a place further down the road, waiting for the stream of Zombies to gather beneath her. Once a decent-sized pile had formed, she cast a spell.

“?Fireball?.”

The stench of rotting flesh in the air became the stench of burning rotting flesh as the Zombies were swept up in a mass conflagration. She nodded in satisfaction at the result, but it was short-lived. Further on, the advancing Zombies stopped and turned around.

Their controller must be in the trees somewhere…

From a distance, she didn’t see anything resembling an Elder Lich. Upon returning to the wagons, she carefully inspected her tribute for damage, tampering or magic items sneakily placed in the piles of coins and treasure. Her nose twitched and her scales rippled in disgust when she found a lump of pyrite in one of the wagons. It flew away with a flick of a claw.

The Zombies continued their retreat. She continued checking her belongings, content to see where the Undead would go. She paused in confusion when something new entered the range of her Blindsight.

A Death Knight?

The Zombies eventually shuffled to a stop, spread out amongst the trees nearby. By then, several more Death Knights had entered into her awareness.

What’s going on here?

Ten Death Knights did not simply appear out of nowhere. Even one was an extraordinarily rare occurrence. Furthermore, there were five unfamiliar figures hiding behind the trees with the Death Knights.

She could only think of one thing. Her mate – who laired several thousand kilometres to the southeast – often boasted of the interesting bits of information that he had collected in his efforts to impress her. One particularly curious topic was that of an association for intelligent Undead beings. They were steadily rising to prominence in the distant south, where a number had carved out odd little states along the edge of the frozen wastes.

The great alliance of nations that had formed in response was probably on their ninth or tenth crusade to remove them. For their part, the Undead seemed to have settled on their lot in unlife: some people traded with them, which brought wealth. Other people attacked them, which brought corpses. As far as she knew, however, they had no influence in her little corner of the continent.

A bold raid conducted by Undead…Adventurers? Or something like that. If they were simply passing through, she would have probably gone over to chat with them and learn what was going on in the wide world. Unfortunately for them, tampering with a Dragon’s assets demanded unapologetic liquidation.

“I know you’re there,” she called out to them. “You cannot hide from me.”

Several moments passed before the ten Death Knights came out of ‘hiding’. The five unknown figures remained behind the trees. Her tail lashed over the ground. Did they honestly believe she could be fooled?

Eyeing the Death Knights forming a small wall of shields before her at the tail end of the convoy, Rerix’ixthrious peered at each one. Death Knights could vary in strength, but they had some commonalities. The first was that they were quite resilient as far as most Undead beings went, but, offensively speaking, they were weak. They could also create a swarm of Zombies out of the slain – which was what she supposed had happened here – but those Zombies were inconsequential.

She took a step forward. If it was ten Death Knights, her victory was assured. There would be some scratches from their tiny swords, but the harm to her would ultimately be negligible. If the five figures in hiding were unexpectedly strong, they would have already attacked her.

“Thank you for lining up so neatly,” Rerix’ixthrious told them as she advanced. “Now, it is time to pay for your transgressions.”

With a lazy slash of her right foreclaw, she sent two of the Death Knights flying. Behind the trees, two of the unknown figures moved. The sound of spellcasting drifted over the air and the grievous damage she had inflicted upon the Death Knights visibly repaired itself.

Healers…some sort of Mummy?

That they could heal the Death Knights in a timely fashion indicated that they were respectable casters. Because they did not resort to using spells against her, however, they probably were not strong enough for an effective offence. They thought they might be able to outlast her between the resilience of the Death Knights and their unseen healers, but they lacked the offensive power to cause any significant harm.

It was a common, boring tactic employed in every corner of the world; the weak banded together thinking they could outlast the strong, never realising what true strength was until they inevitably met their wretched deaths. So reassured, she sent another pair of Death Knights flying away. The remainder fell into an orderly retreat, backing away with their shields raised.

Amusement rose within her. Could she strike fear into the Undead? What pitiful ploy did they plan to put into motion?

Perhaps the raid on her tribute was ultimately a good thing. These Undead were far stronger than the Giants she had wrested the jungles from in her younger days. It would be a grand achievement for Rerix’ixthrious; one that would spread her fame far and wide. All would fear and revere the Viridian Dragon Lord.

She stomped after the Death Knights, daring the unseen casters to do their worst. Two of them stepped out from behind the huge, ancient trees on either side, raising their flails over their heads. Voices that bubbled like festering rot rose into the air.

“?Flame Strike?!”

“?Flame Strike?!”

Twin pillars of flame roared down to strike Rerix’ixthrious. She laughed as they washed harmlessly over her body, negated by her spell resistance. It was a good try – almost any caster would expect at least some damage to get through. Unfortunately for them, they were fighting an Ancient Dragon: an existence that denied the feeble magics of lesser beings.

An assortment of offensive spells rained down on her as the other Undead casters joined the assault. The Death Knights advanced, blades brandished behind their black tower shields. She swept them all away with a single slap of her tail. The Zombies milling about everywhere were crushed under her claws.

Weak. Pathetic. Their lack of experience in fighting Dragons was made laughably clear. Their lack of terror and grovelling made the experience uninspiringly bland.

Quickly growing bored, she turned on the nearest caster. As with its silhouette in her Blindsight, its visual appearance was unfamiliar. Its black robes and other trappings suggested a type of divine caster, but it clearly was not a Mummy.

It dove behind its tree as her claw came slashing in. Splinters of moss-covered wood sliced through the air as she gouged out a metre-deep furrow in the ancient trunk. A flick of her tail launched an unwary Undead caster on the other side of the trail into the distant undergrowth.

Something flickered through the trees, burying itself in her left haunch. Rerix’ixthrious turned her attention away from the Undead caster with more surprise than pain as she was hit four more times in the side.

What was that…

Pricking her flank was a line of dark metal bolts with black fletchings. They didn’t amount to much, but she had not experienced a threat to this degree since her battle for supremacy over the jungle with the Giant tribes. She quickly sorted through the swarm of constantly-moving Zombies, discovering five more unfamiliar figures over two hundred metres away.

The figures in the distance raised their weapons and five more crossbow bolts came zipping in. Two of them bounced harmlessly off of her scales while the rest found purchase. She roared in annoyance, charging through the trees towards her nearest assailant. Then five more bolts struck her from behind. There were ten of the Undead crossbowmen.

Her quarry ducked behind a tree. She slowed to twist her neck and snap at it with her jaws. From nearby, another Undead hurled a javelin and several axes came twirling in. Rerix’ixthrious snarled as the javelin bounced off the bony ridge of her brow.

She drew her head back. Axes, javelins and crossbow bolts chipped away at her scales.

Annoying!

They were using her size against her: the colossal ancient trees were hindering her mobility.

Something else was wrong, as well: they were too coordinated, much like Demihuman tribes under the influence of a Lord. Was there such a thing as Lord-type Undead? Undead that controlled other Undead like Elder Liches were common enough, but they did not enhance collective performance in the same manner.

Considering the strength of the Undead currently attacking her, the ‘Lord’ commanding them would likely be powerful enough to present a deadly threat.

A trap…

These Undead were being used to weaken her before the leader of their raid joined the fray. Rerix’ixthrious loped over to the nearest clearing, ignoring the irritating assault being directed against her. Whoever it was, they were a hundred years too early to think they could outplay an Ancient Green Dragon.

They had come for her treasure. None appeared to be capable of teleportation or flight. Once they were well away from the trees with her tribute, she could begin the battle anew in a place of her choosing. With so many Zombies destroyed, it would take them weeks to move everything. She could bide her time and come up with a suitable strategy while she rested and healed. Then she would return to enact her vengeance.

Unfurling her wings, Rerix’ixthrious gathered her legs under her. With a single, powerful movement, she launched herself into the air.

Something smashed into her from above. Her head whipped forward, slamming into the ground.