BECMI Chapter 273 – Dragonflight

-We have a dragonflight inbound from off the Dragonfangs! Eyeball count is over three hundred dragons, predominantly red and white, no golds among them!- the /voice of Scout Sergeant Erik Konradson rang out through the Markspace, repeated a moment later across conventional coms as it bounced off a satellite in the mesosphere and carried the warning across Eismoor.Orbital satellites were tracked by the Immortals and brought down by cute accidents, generally meteors swerving out of nowhere and swatting them down. I guess they didn’t want us spying on that big conclave of Immortal Power on the moon, looking down upon us.

Whatever. The launches were just distractions. The real ‘satellites’ were levitated into place with magic and anti-grav, and kept there with basically Disk technology. They were also and , along with Cloaked against electromagnetic scans, and unless you knew exactly where to look and aim, you couldn’t see them.

They used quantum lasers instead of just EM-spectrum stuff to transmit, although they received everything. As long as they could cover a massive area, we didn’t need to be in the high orbitals with them, just high enough to establish a relay network around the world with conventional coms.

All of which were a very direct distraction from the existence of the Marks and the Markspace, which were even faster and conveyed more direct sensory information. Marks didn’t transmit pure data as fast as a communication network, but for real-time communication, there was no contest.

Briggs and Sama had gone to visit the Dragon King of the Wyrmfangs. Well, ‘visit’ was a polite word. Basically they had barged into the place, killed two dragons who got uppity, manhandled a few others with extreme prejudice, and after taking exactly one blow from , the Dragon-king Charred-Eye had elected to use words instead of fangs to adjudicate matters with the two visitors to his court.

We gave them the Dragonfangs and its foothills, and we agreed not to spread into the valleys between them and the Last Range. In return, they agreed not to raid into the Last Range itself, the lands beyond them, or the coastal areas around the Great Bay.

Even King Brucall had been happy to sign the accords for that, and King Taravon the True of Seacall had hurriedly done the same, once both men were confronted with how many dragons actually lived in that area.

Notably, we didn’t speak for any inland areas, and the dragons had habits of flying long distances to hunt and plunder from their lairs, making it difficult for dragon-slayers to track them backwards.

Naturally, such a peace wasn’t going to last, having been imposed under a big fist as it was. Charred-Eye was incredibly pragmatic, but he was a Red Dragon, chaotic as a firestorm and as uncaring of destruction wrought on lesser beings as a forest fire. Only the chance of retaliation stayed his hand in matters, and his wise cunning had long meant killing creatures far away saved a lot of hassle of armies coming to clear out dragon lairs, or thieves to steal from hoards.

But what it meant was outside now clearly defined boundaries, dragons were totally fair game, and Eismoor had proven very, very willing to enforce those boundaries.

Rambunctious young dragons arrogantly thinking they could fly where and when they willed were shot down out of the sky and became spell components and new Artifice construction, particularly of draconic Baneskulls. New airborne vessels that were a mixture of tech and magic were rising from the production lines every week or so, and magical railguns, missile launchers, autolasers, and plasma cannons had no problems disputing the skies with any dragon.

Fifty younger and stupider dragons had come into our territory so far, and they had died.

Seeing us putting down the dragons which had plagued them for centuries, the dwarven and elven communities of the land and hills were quick to swear fealty to us, which only incensed the dragons more as such choice prey was removed from their choice of targets. The barbarians who had resisted many of our blandishments, sometimes violently, had different thoughts after watching dragons getting popped like colorful marshmallows, and hauled off to be processed like wild deer.

Charred-Eye was coming to renegotiate terms, and to reclaim the standing of his kingdom. He didn’t know we had spotter stations in those areas, on the alert after nomadic barbarian tribes had started vacating the Dragonsfang lands for the safer lands of Eismoor, further reducing potential targets and prey for them.

-Wyrmbane Squadron, to your ships!- Briggs’ /voice rippled across the Markspace, preceding the commands coming down conventionally and allowing the Marked commanders to look poised, ready, and quick to spring into action as they did so.

Pilots and soldiers scrambled for skycraft and transports, eager for the fray and the chance to test themselves and their equipment against a legendary foe and enemy of mortals. Grav-sleds and hovertanks whirred to readiness, the latter shuffling onto the larger transport versions of the former, racks of missiles ready and gleaming.

Within minutes, the first fighter craft were roaring off across the skies as their propellers chewed at the air. Behind them, the first carriers and transports were lifting off as they filled off and heading off into position themselves, moving to intercept the dragons.

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From up in the mesosphere, cold crystalline lenses looked down as the Dragonflight split in two, one force winging towards the northernmost edge of Eismoor and the new towns being thrown up with great speed and settled with even more alarming speed there.

-Task the Great Mirror. Two tanks in position at each settlement. Alert the air defenses there, deploy the auto-cannon in the towers,- Briggs /directed grimly. -Open the armories and deploy the railguns to the community sleds. Put the communities on high alert and let them know what is coming and to be ready to move to the shelters.

-Squadrons one and two, intercept that Flight and harry them before they get to Notches and Seated. Send an alert to King Taravon that there’s a partial dragonflight that may spill over into his territory.

-Main force, aim towards Triplex and wait to see how they come over the Last Range. Determine a new course from there. Fighter wings, you will parallel their course over the Last Range and let them know you are watching.-

I was waiting and watching in the secondary Command Center, which was built adjacent to the Great Mirror at Innspot and the reserve forces stationed here in subterranean chambers. The main forces were stationed at Fort Brightmoor, outside the ‘capital city’ as it were, where Eisfall was the main outside trade port.

Fellowships were assembling at Innspot and Brightmoor, waiting to be dispatched for what was basically going to be urban or rural ground combat with dragons come down to ravage civilians. was on hair trigger for all of them, and Urtos, Caers, Verds, (ex) Greens, Moorish, elves, dwarves, and hynfolk were all standing by waiting to be dispatched in support as needed.

Eismoor had only one large army of soldiers, which basically traipsed around Eiscall and looked impressive to visiting foreigners. The city was rapidly developing a reputation for exceptional training of fighting forces, mostly because Briggs spent a lot of time there doing so… and if Briggs was there, Sama was there, and duelists came from all over the place to learn swordsmanship from her.

The real troops were located inland, near the factories, smelters, mines, and fabbers that made the tech, and the Artificer schools that produced a new generation of tool-users that were going to change the world.

They were located around the first forty-stepper Pyramid I’d put up, but nobody realized that because it was entirely Veiled and looked like a steep knobby hill with some running stairs going up and down it, and a nice big gazebo at the top of it for watching the sun come up or down. Teams regularly ran up and down it like it was just another trail, although the small altar off to the side was where Bishop Nanansi led the Salute to the Dawn for the whole city and area.

You had to know it was a Pyramid Power Field to look for the source, after all.

-Any Immortal maneuvering behind the scenes?- Sama /asked me in an aside.

-The only hit I get is on the Pearl Dragon. Why she would be interested in pushing Charred-Eye to act I have no idea, but maybe just the idea one of her subjects caved to a cave-man and a hag was just too much for her.-

-Time for regime change. Can she be killed?- Sama /inquired directly.

-Prince Drakkar’s Dracology texts indicate that although the three Lesser Dragon Gods are often called the Children of the Great One, they’ve actually been killed and replaced in the past by the Great One promoting worthy dragons. My Sims confirmed that, as none of the current Lesser Dragon Gods are the same as at the time of Darkmoor. All evidence is that Pearl the Moon Dragon has been slain three times, Sun twice, and Star once since then. One of the great and noble ways for a great wyrm to die is to vie for the status, and fall under the jaws of their god if they are too weak.-

-That would make her an Immortal Beast, instead of a true Immortal,- Sama /reasoned coolly. -They can die because… they only have one immortal body, no Avatars?- she /reasoned quickly.

-And are likely unable to spend Immortal Power freely, OR the bodies they move around with here really are the bodies of elevated dragons, so they can wield more power here than normal Avatars do,- I /agreed. -In the end, they all bow to the Great One, so they may just be extensions of His power, and that power has limits that sometimes dragons and mortals can overcome.-

-I’ll let her know how much I appreciate it when we meet,- Sama /snarked heartlessly. -Think she’ll show?-

-If more dragons had piled out in support, yes. But he only managed to mobilize about a third of his dragons, unless they are pulling off a flanking attack. We can’t confirm Charred-Eye with the main force among the other reds there.-

-And they’re airborne, a won’t find where they are… but it will tell us where they are not,- Briggs /pointed out. -How many dragons are in the Dragonfangs right now?-

rippled out, dragons being big magical things that the Land had little trouble sensing.

-There are less than two hundred dragons left in the Dragonfangs, almost all smaller Neutrals and the smaller gem dragons,- I /informed Briggs.

-Clever. Is there weather magic being used anywhere to provide cloud cover?-

A very specific question from him, drawing my attention south, and the mountains there that were supposed to be outside the Dragon King’s territory… or belong to another wyrm looking over them.

-There’s a thunderstorm building up in the southern Last Range which shouldn’t be there,- I /confirmed. -I can’t confirm any dragons present, but the magic definitely feels draconic.-

-That’s higher Valence than is natural for most dragons, isn’t it?- Sama /asked almost rhetorically.

-Like they are getting outside help...- I /mused in return. “Duum, at the big Mirror. We’re going cloud-chasing. Hanvol, on the map!”

“Yes, Lady Edge!” Hanvol confirmed immediately, stepping into place as I glided off to the nearby chamber with the big Mirror of Mental Prowess.

My Bat was waiting for me there, jaunty top-Hat and Monocle firmly in place. I hopped into the saddle, glanced at the Mirror, and a clear sky filled with shining stars and churning clouds that flickered with lightning parted the glass before the two of us.

Unlike , the Mirror could make its point of contact at any point it could Scry from, including very high in the sky!

“We’re up high. Use to breathe,” I told Duum softly, who nodded as he flapped his wings gently, tucking them in as we dashed through the Portal.