Curse of the Garnet Dragon, David Nix II [top 10 non fiction books of all time txt] 📗

in turn across Romento's rear leg. 

Deep into the fight, Fallow's warriors began dropping out of the sky to assist Delama and her spell-casters. The battle raged on, both sides losing warriors by the droves. As the Emerald and Sapphire broods clashed against the Amethyst warriors, a young dragon came rushing towards them from the Amethyst homeland. As the battle stalled for a brief moment, the Sapphire and Emerald dragons were glad for the brief lapse from the battle. After the young dragon had talked to Brakle and delivered the message in a hurried gasp of breathes, Brakle roared in rage and was furious, turning on Delama and Fallow. He roared, "How dare your broods attack my people! I will crush you after I have dealt with your puny invasion!" As Brakle flew off with most of his Amethyst brood, the rest of his warriors that remained turned back to the Sapphire and Emerald dragons and began attacking fiercely, full of rage and sorrow for their families that were dying back at home. 

The battle continued, casualties stacking up on both sides, until the last Amethyst warrior fell to the ground in a bloody lump of dragon scales. The Emerald and Sapphire dragons roared in victory and gathered together to discuss what they were going to do next. Queen Delama thanked King Fallow for showing up when he did, unsure if she would have survived otherwise. Delama said to Fallow, "What is the plan now?" Fallow replied, "We are to meet the Obsidian and Garnet broods Southeast of the Amethyst territory. They should be retreating from their attack by now, as to avoid the Amethyst broods return, until our arrival." Queen Delama gathered her dragons and sent them off with King Fallow, staying behind with her daughter for a brief moment. Delama turned to her daughter, General Tolma, and asked her, "Are you ok, daughter? Did Romento hurt you?" Tolma replied, "It's only a flesh wound mother, I will be fine." Delama wrapped her wings around her daughter, far out of sight from the brood who might see this as weakness, and whispered in her ear, "I love you daughter." At that they flew off together to rejoin the broods and discuss what they would do next.

Tolma was flying back, thinking in her mind, "What are we going to do if King Brakle doesn't surrender? Will we kill him or let him live with the possibility of another rebellion?" She wondered about the very thing all of the Dragon Council had been asking themselves since the start of this war, what would become of King Brakle should they prevail. As Tolma and Delama caught up with the rest of the brood, Fallow dropped back to have a word with them. The first thing he said was, "Is everything alright?" They both replied, "Yes, we just needed to discuss a private matter." Fallow replied, "That's good. Had me worried that we might lose one of our greatest chances of winning this war." To that Queen Delama roared with enthusiasm and excitement for the recognition of her years of practicing that had gained her the power she now possessed.

Chapter Six - The Amethyst Devastation

Meanwhile, back at the outpost that the broods had agreed upon at the peace summit, the Garnet and Obsidian broods had gathered their full force to take on the Amethyst defenders that had remained behind when King Brakle flew off to take on Queen Delama and her brood. They flew in great numbers of up close quarters combat warriors from the Obsidian brood, and ranged fire breathers from the Garnet brood. The sun danced off of their scales flashing red and black colors across the land, a truly astonishing sight to see. King Gusteria and Queen Santriva gathered on the ground below their army to discuss the strategy for their first attack on the Amethyst territory. They knew that Brakle had left quite a few of his finest warriors behind, to guard his brood that were either too young to fight or that were guarding their eggs or who were injured from previous encounters.

As the Obsidian and Garnet broods crossed the Amethyst territory, taking out any scouts on the way before they could warn the others, the sight was a massive red and black evil looking storm flying swiftly towards the Amethyst stronghold. The remaining warriors finally caught sight of the army advancing on the Amethyst stronghold. The Amethyst stronghold was made of molded  rock that had been melted and reformed over and over until the dragons had a suitable place to live and protect themselves in these harsh times. The Amethyst scouts that were watching the broods warned the others of their approach and they all began preparing themselves for the impending attack. One of Romento's Lieutenants sent a messenger out to King Brakle, telling him of the impending attack and requesting his retreat in order to aid them in protecting their families. As soon as the messenger had departed, the Obsidian and Garnet broods started the siege on the Amethyst stronghold.

King Gusteria hit the stronghold from the West as Queen Santriva started her attack from the South. Gusteria gave the order to his General, Kloshtun, to attack in full force with his lieutenants. He said specifically, "Do not harm anyone that does not fight back. We do not need to kill the young and injured that are here. We just need Brakle to retreat from his attack on Queen Delama." Kloshtun responded in a hurry, "It shall be done. We will be sure to be careful in our attacks, but if someone attacks us we will crush them." Kloshtun flew off to obey his orders and lead the siege against the Amethyst stronghold. Meanwhile, Santriva ordered the same from her General, Malnios.

When Santriva and Gusteria's broods attacked in unison, the warriors of the Amethyst brood rallied against them in an attempt to protect their families and loved ones. Their flames were aimed at the warriors who flew out to meet them; however, when they missed the flames danced off the rock walls of the stronghold. The scorch marks left by their attacks had an eerie red and black glow that was dazzling. As the warriors of their three broods fought out the battle, the Amethyst warriors were soaring around trying to gain an advantage, yet were countered at every turn by one of the other broods warriors. Their warriors started falling one by one, occassionally dealing a deadly blow to one of their enemies.

As the last remaining warrior of the Amethyst brood fell to the ground in burning red and black pools of flame and blood, Gusteria and Santriva received word that King Brakle was falling back from his attack on Queen Delama and would be upon them shortly if they did not leave. Gusteria and Santriva rallied their troops and headed towards the outpost they had setup as a gathering point for all of their broods to meet for the final battle that would occur between their broods and Brakle's brood. Little did they know, this battle, would not be like that of previous battles.

When Gusteria and Santriva arrived at the outpost, Fallow and Delama were already there waiting for them. They had taken up the tasks of preparing their warriors with a mixed array of enchantments that would help fortify all of their broods and mix together their powers to help in the fight against Brakle and his brood. Slow as the task was, they had to finish before it was too late. They could hear the roar from Brakle and his dragons as they returned home, to find their slaughtered kin, burning on the ground around the stronghold. Brakle was furious and roared with rage, spitting flame around in the night, lighting the sky on fire with a brilliant purple haze.

The Dragon Leaders gathered together to discuss the events that had conspired over the past few hours and explain what strategies were currently being planned into action.

 

Chapter Seven - The Dragon War

As the broods regrouped back at the outpost on the border of the Garnet and Obsidian broods territory, that connected to the Amethyst homeland, the dragon leaders began discussing the upcoming war. Fallow, Gusteria, Santriva, and Delama were gathered together in a large clearing, clad in hellstone armor of the finest quality that they owned. Gusteria announced, "We have come this far! We are so close to bringing peace to this land once again!" Santriva said, "Many have lost their lives in the past couple of weeks. We must not let their efforts be in vein! We must win this war!" As they were rejoicing, Delama and Fallow discussed the events that occurred before Brakle retreated to protect his brood.

All of the broods were gathering together, ready to crush Brakle and his warriors. In the distance, a scout came flying towards them warning them that Brakle was preparing to attack them and was truly furious. He had been there to watch over the Amethyst stronghold, awaiting the return of King Brakle to warn the others  when he was going to be coming to attack them. As he was watching the last of the Amethyst warriors fly with King Brakle back to the stronghold, he had seen the rage and hatred building up inside of King Brakle. The sight was truly terrifying. The scout had waited around shortly after King Brakle's arrival to see what he would do first, but he dared not stay too long and be spotted by any of the Amethyst brood, else he wouldn't have survived long.

After warning them of the oncoming hatred and rage from the furious King Brakle, he returned to the edge of the meeting grounds to stand watch again until the war began. Gusteria turned back to the others and began his strategy discussion with the others. He proposed different plans of attack and different ways to crush Brakle and his warriors with as few losses as possible on their side. Santriva threw some of his plans out immediately due to the increased danger they put some of the brood members into. Fallow added some adjustments to some of the other remaining plans as well. Finally, Delama added the finishing touches to the last few plans before they selected their final strategy.

The dragon lords went into the open to discuss the newly selected battle plans with their broods and discuss what each brood would do to contribute to the fight. Each brood had a different task associated with the battle and each would need to be on their best game