Volume 1 Chapter 24: Cursed Flames

Leading the villager search party, Aldrich encounters dozens of isolated groups of villagers. Though many are confused, they quickly fall in line with the commands of the young dragon and are sent to the dragon roost. Able bodied men stick with Aldrich as he progresses towards the village walls.

Along the way he sees a more organized group of villagers taking command from someone.

"Hiram!"

"Aldrich! What are you doing here?"

"I'm guiding the villagers to the dragon roost."

"As am I."

Leah and Danjela are also present. Leah asks,

"Aldrich, do you know what's happening?"

"I was hoping you knew."

"Oh…"

Danjela chimes in.

"Whatever the reason, we need to get everyone to the dragon ro- "

She is interrupted by the sounds of whistles through the air. They look up at the noise and see dozens of black flaming rocks falling from the sky.

"Look out!"

Chaos ensues and the villagers scatter to cover as buildings are crashed into and burst into black flames. Screams and yells explode in the aftermath of the attack. While the rocks didn't smash near the amassed villagers, houses and buildings around them were crushed. The black flames began spreading quickly. Some of the villagers that were being gathered from their homes were still inside when the rocks fell. Villagers scurry to help them.

"Put out the flames!"

"We can't use magic."

"There's a well nearby."

Recovering from the shock, the villagers began attempting to put out the flames. They however could not. Danjela tried to stop the villagers, but could not in the chaos.

"Stop! Don't pour water on it."

The water that fell upon the black flames erupted into even more flames, engulfing the villager. The others around him panic, but make way for Hiram. Hiram runs to the villager before pouring an ornate vase on top of him. Danjela gives him a confused and shocked look.

"Hiram!"

"Wait, it's holy water."

This time the black flames are doused. The villager however was in a critical situation, with the damage being more melting than burning. Aldrich, Leah, and Kyrie join up with Hiram and Danjela.

"Quick, we need to tell the others to not douse the flames with regular water. It's a cursed necrotic flame."

Aldrich chimes in.

"We had some priests join in earlier. They've already begun using what holy water they have to help, however we can't use holy or water magic."

Hiram looks at Aldrich before saying,

"Even you Aldrich? What about your magic generation?"

"I'll try."

Through the constant sucking of his magic, Aldrich poured what he had into a holy cleansing symbol type spell. The symbol magic that held the spell together dissipated before he could finish.

"What about voice magic?"

Aldrich stops and thinks before saying.

"I'll try a holy dragon breath instead."

Unlike his regular dragon breath, a simple fire based one, a holy breath was significantly more complicated to breathe. He recalled his mother's training in the academy and re-enacted them, forcing a deep pull from inside his core. Dragons all inherently had affinities and the ability to use any type of magic, a gift from the Dragon King during the Age of Beginnings. All he needed to do was find the element and channel it to his dragon breath.

When he opened his mouth, white flames sprouted from all edges. The flames however went out quickly.

"Aldrich can't even use his breath!? What do we do about the cursed flames now?"

"I'll just need to increase the output."

Heading over to the encroaching black flames, he opened his mouth as wide as possible before breathing a great ray of white flames. The two flames clashed slightly before the cursed flames were consumed. The white flames, after cleansing the black, dispersed.

"We can use this. Hiram, gather some villagers. We're going to break into the houses and pull out the ones stuck inside. Everyone else will assist in getting the rest back to the dragon roost."

As ordered, Hiram rounded up able-bodied villagers and together with Aldrich, they cleansed the black flames where they could before rescuing the trapped villagers.

While working, some of the villagers, most notably canine and feline beastkin, heard the thunder sound of hooves. Concerned, they informed Hiram and Aldrich.

"Horses?"

"Or centaurs?"

Danjela taps Hiram on the shoulder.

"Most likely cavalry from Trinity."

Hiram ponders on this while the last of the trapped villagers in this area are taken out from their burning homes. He looks back at the villagers. While mostly organized and calm, they were slow to evacuate.

"Kyrie, fly up and look at them. I wanna know who they are."

"Sure thing."

A few moments pass before she yells back to Hiram.

"Hiram, whoever they are, they seem to be on horseback and with black plated armor. They don't look friendly."

Danjela speaks up,

"Hiram, they're forces of the Church."

"Damn it, what do we do?"

Hiram racked his brain for an answer. He had to get the villagers back to the dragon roost, but at the same time the black knights will catch up to his slow group. He looked at the villagers, about 400 were amassed here, but about less than half were in any condition to fight. Elderly, women, and children were easily going to get slaughtered. What about his own group? His sister, cousin, a couple of friends, and Aldrich, a dragon.

He swallowed his dry saliva before looking at Aldrich.

"Aldrich. We have to stay behind and buy time. You need to lead the villagers back."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're more important. They'll listen to you."

"No. Hiram, we can't use our magic. You'll just die out here."

"But what do we do then?!"

Aldrich looked up at Kyrie before asking,

"How much time do we have?"

"A couple of minutes or less."

"Hiram, I need you to lead the villagers to do two things. One, gather whoever is willing to fight to join up with me. We'll build a spear wall. Two, we need to carry the slower ones as fast as we can."

"How is that any different from what I said?!"

"Difference is that I'm stalling and you're not."

"But- "

"No buts. I got a plan. Do you trust me Hiram?"

"…"

Leah pulls on Hiram's shirt.

"I trust you Aldrich. Hiram, we're running out time."

With a solemn look, they split. As the hooves closed in, Hiram could only hope that this plan would work.