Dragon's Fire and Other Tools to Save the World

The Protectors in the open immediately pulled shields as the archers returned fire. Rashi and Mariana slide down the length of the battlements from end to end slashing the ropes of the grappling hooks. It was starting as a textbook battle, but they all knew it would not remain as such. Nicola was as devious as Scar was evil. They knew it would not be long before the real fighting started. The forces of evil did not disappoint. Nicola flashed a diabolical grin as she watched the initial attack fail. It was designed to fail. The Masters had the high ground. At best she could hope to have an arrow accidentally slip past a shield and find its mark. There was no possible way that the grappling hooks would work. She had no thought that they might. No. These were simple distractions. The Masters would have to engage, and that was all she needed. She only needed a moment. She felt exhilaration surge through her; despite Scar tying her hands with his silly demands, she would still destroy the Masters. It would be too late before they had any idea what was really happening. With a smile, she launched the next distraction. “Towers!” Immediately the transporters pulled the three siege towers from the Lords’ Fortress and placed them directly outside the Temple wall. The army of mercenaries swarmed into the towers. In a matter of seconds, they would crash like a tidal wave over the top of the battlements. However, Nicola was not done. “Lord Reavus!” Lord Reavus and his elementals stepped forward and attacked with the forces of nature. Suddenly the Masters were facing a crazed army of mortals and unnatural storms. Lightning strikes, tornado strength bursts of wind, and even fire began to rain down on the defenders. It should have caused utter chaos and despair… but it did not. Rashi stood in the center of hell like a beacon of intense light. He was war. He remained eerily calm as he directed the Protectors and Masters. The moment the Towers appeared he had Mariana call Matz and his Transporters. “Tell them to move those towers anywhere but here.” Matz understood what that really meant. Get rid of the towers without endangering anyone else. He picked a lovely spot in the middle of the sea and sent the first tower on its way with a mere wave of his hand. Master Killian followed suit and cast the second tower to the top of her favorite cliff. She smiled at the thought of the mercenaries falling out of the window and over the cliff as they rushed to the top on the tower in a full attack charge. Before they could get rid of the third tower, Lord Lucien began moving it around the battlements, dumping angry mobs of attacking mercenaries all over the battlements. Rashi, Mariana, and the other Protectors engaged in full combat with any that made it to the wall. The mercenaries were no match for the skill of the Protectors. Their only advantage was numbers and even that was scarcely more than a tiring annoyance. Yet, it kept the Protectors fully engaged in battle. There was a more serious danger to the Masters, and that was the elemental attack. Rashi once again turned to Mariana. “Tell Nathair to handle her people,” he said as he kicked a mercenary off the wall while slicing through another with his sword. Mariana ran a mercenary through, pushed him into a group of his buddies, watched them all fall over the side of the battlements to their death, and reached to Nathair. Little help with the Elementals, please. On it! Just like that the Elementals appeared. Fireballs were consumed by ice and shattered in mid-air; wind was pushed back with stronger gusts, and lightening was hit with lightening. Nathair let her team handle the counterattack while she launched her own attack. She plucked a single grain of sand from the ground, cupped it in her hands, closed her eyes, breathed a single deep breath, and then blew. Without warning, the enemy was hit by a massive, violent sandstorm. Matz took advantage of the sudden distraction to locate the third tower and sent it off to the sea. Rashi watched as his Protectors killed the last of the mercenaries on the battlements. Despite the momentary victories, he knew that Nicola was far from done. He understood war; he knew all of this was just a dangerous distraction and the worst was yet to come. In a matter of only moments, Nicola proved Rashi right… yet again.