The last of the Dragons-Set 2

240

2 Days Later

We had flown in pursuit of our query for two days following the devastating combat in the skies, only to find one small band of soldiers who had strayed from their roots, easily taken down by one pass with dragon flame. 

On this morning, we had woken later than we would typically wake, having woken after the sun had already partially reclaimed the sky for itself, as opposed to normally waking just as the sun began to appear over the horizon. We had settled for the night at the edge of a beautiful cliff, with a stunning set of four waterfalls of varying size that stemmed from a single river, filling a beautiful lake at the base of the cliff that branched out into several smaller rivers off in each direction. The cliff was lined with trees, thick bushes, and lush grass that spread out for miles in all directions, but, we could not remain there. While ourselves, and our remaining dragons took up a position at the cliffs edge, our army had halted a few miles back, leaving the beauty for us to enjoy on our own. 

I had woken to the feeling of an empty stomach, which somewhat weakened me. But, I knew that I almost certainly had bigger problems to worry about.

I was readying myself to take off, washing my hands in the river, and drinking water, when Amy approached me.

"Jess, we've got to end this somehow. Our army's food reserves won't last them much longer." Amy said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm aware, but I'd rather lose half my army to starvation, than lose the entire army to our enemies weapons." I replied.

"Well then why don't we just make a run at their leader?" She asked.

I paused for a moment.

"We're slowly making our way there. We have many more obstacles to go through before hand." I replied.

Just as I finished, Noah came to Join us.

"Good morning." He said.

I smiled and nodded at him.

"Same to you." I replied as Amy turned and walked away.

He knelt down next to me as I shovelled river water down my throat.

"I over heard you and Amy talking."

I paused, and let my hands drape down to my sides as I shifted my full attention over to Noah.

"We're much better off to attack the Rusino leaders, rather than work our way around. The overwhelming bulk of their forces will be concentrated there. Any damage you do outside of that will do little to stop them. If you kill their leader, they have nobody to follow. And, if we manage to get to the leaders, we will have gone through more than three quarters of their army to get there. Anything that remains will be little trouble to eliminate. As of now, our army is by far large enough to combat their's. Your numbers are more than twice as great. But, should we waste lives on petty assaults that take down small numbers of their force, we will do nothing but handicap ourselves. I was going to say something sooner, but I didn't see it as my place to interfere." He said.

"Well, why would dragons be driven nearly to extinction if that was the case? They nearly all died out due to constant overtaking by the Rusino's. Supposedly most of the animals have died out as well." I replied.

He shook his head.

"What happened?" He asked.

"The few dragons that survived the initial fighting with the Rusino's fled to the mountains, after many of them were hunted down and slaughtered. The few that remained mostly died due to starvation from lack of food within the mountains." I replied.

He nodded.

"Then most of the animals on this land likely would not have died out. It is more likely that the dragons were only hunted down due to the threat they posed. A deer posses no such threat to anyone as far as military is concerned. It's likely that the animals still thrive, but remain hidden in the presence of dragons, due to fear of being hunted." Noah said.

I pondered what he had said for a moment, making sense of what he had said.

"So... What do you suggest then?" I asked in reply.

He paused.

"Make a plan to engage the leaders. Their dragons will most likely be present as well, so you will be able to bring them all day in one attack. The death toll will be high, but that is you're best chance. Kill the leaders. Kill their dragons. All at once." He said.