章 14: The Capture of Hiroga City
As the dragon flew towards the city, the roaches feared for their lives. None of them had been able to get up the walls or breach the gate. Its massive roar swept the lands. The dark elves saw their imminent victory. But it was too early for them to celebrate.
When the dragon flew just in front of the walls, he saw one part of the wall on the sides that were untouched. No roach had been climbing it and anybody who tried were immediately devoured by man-eating mushrooms. It huffed up one breath. As the our fellow roaches feared that the dragon was able to decimate them, the dark elves also began to wonder what he was about to do. They all knew that breathing flame so close to the wall was double-edged. But then, they realized that he had no collar on. Fear began to overtake the dark elves, but before they could do anything, the dragon shot out one ball of fire at the wall. That portion of the wall obliterated into pieces. The soldiers that stood there were completely eviscerated and whatever was left of them flew into little, burnt pieces. The collared, flying sharks went up to attack the dragon, but with each flap of the wing, they all got pushed away.
The roaches were shocked, but then I began firing my electric crossbow from atop the dragon. I aimed at the dark elves below to the best of my ability. I could barely hit anybody, but the other roaches were clearly able to see me riding atop the dragon alongside Hornet and Viking.
Our soldiers cheered as the battle turned to our favor.
"The Queen is with us!!!" the roaches yelled with newfound morale.
"Dragon rider!"
"Glory to the Queen!"
They charged through the opening within the wall and battle went our way.
Viking jumped off the black dragon and landed right in the middle of the fight. He yelled a battle cry as his axe slammed right into the skull of one of the dark elf soldiers. It was chaos. I couldn't risk firing any shots into the frenzy. And Hornet was too badly injured to do anything. The dragon flew us onto one of the building rooftops. I carried Hornet on my shoulders and we got off of him.
"Thank you," I said. He nodded, but I could see that he wasn't finished. He looked straight at towering mushroom. It glowed brightly in the middle of the city like a beacon. The dragon looked at it with such hate and disgust. He flew up carefully without trying to damage the other buildings to honor my request. He flew in front of the giant mushroom. His wingspan covered the mushroom in a dark shadow.
"Disgusting deity of the dark elves. Worshiping such a putrid idol," The dragon said with such contempt, "Enslavement. Obedience. The only thing these shadows do is cast chains and walls upon everything. Elves of the Shadow Lands, I will offer you mercy. I will not turn your insides into coal. Instead, I will punish your false God. It will fall as a symbol of your hubris and chaining of nature."
He took in a big breath. One. Two. Three. And out, the flame went; burning their mushroom to cinders and ash. And within seconds, the fire concentrated into a beam of purple light. It split the mushroom straight from the middle. The black sky turned bright purple as the flames lit up the city brighter than anything else. Pieces of the burning mushroom fell from the sky as the battle raged on.
The dragon would have caused more destruction, but kept his promise to me. We eyed each other one last time. I knew that I was lucky that he didn't decide to do whatever he desired, but he respected that bravery of mine. He respected the bug who stood up to the force of nature.
He stood atop the ruins of the burning mushroom and roared a storm. Thunderclouds formed above. His wings grew out an even larger shadow above the city. He didn't plan on killing anybody, but the mere threat of it was enough to bolster our own troops and weaken the dark elves.
And when the dark elves saw that there was no chance of victory, they surrendered. They laid down their weapons and hoped that they wouldn't be killed.
And as for us, we accepted their surrender. None of the other roaches wanted to fight an enemy that wasn't fighting back.
The black dragon flew away out of the dome of shadows and free to do as he pleased - whether it was for peace or destruction, he was free to choose.
I took a look at Hornet and told her to rest. She had many burns all over her, but she still tried to maintain a smile - albeit a weak one. Although, the dark elves had surrendered, there still seemed to be some fighting. But it was only by one soldier.
I dropped down to see what was going on. The other roaches surrounded the soldier. When I got there, the other roaches looked at me with astonishment. They felt awe just by being near somebody who tamed and rode a dragon, although I wouldn't call it as 'tamed'.
When I got to the one last, resisting soldier, I stood in front. This soldier - a woman in heavy armor - had her back up against the wall. She had short, brown hair. She was dark-skinned. But she wasn't a dark elf. She was human.
She was surrounded by other roaches. She held two giant blades with ease. When the other roaches would charge her, she would slice them in half. When some roaches fired their electric crossbows, she would just deflect it with her blades. The other roaches backed off unsure of what to do. The others surrendered, but not her.
I picked up a blade off the ground. I held my electric crossbow tightly in the other hand.
"Damn, roaches!" she yelled angrily, "I'll kill every last one of you, bugs."
All the other roaches aimed their electric crossbows, but were afraid to shoot. She gave off such a threatening aura. But it was nothing compared to General Kull. I walked forward and said, "Surrender. Your army is beaten."
"I am not beaten. The Order of Silver will never surrender to murderers!"
The Order of Silver, I wondered. I remembered reading about them at the library, once. They were more of a cult than an order. They once controlled many aspects of life in the past. Their main goal, as I recalled, was the eradication of unnatural beings. A broad term which could be used for many things. But the Order of Silver had been eradicated, or so I thought. Either way, I suppose it explained why she was so intent on fighting.
I ordered her, "Put down your weapons, and become a willing member of the Queen's Empire. Whatever terrorist crimes you may have committed in the past can be rectified and forgiven by the Queen."
Personally, I didn't really believe that the Queen would forgive whatever crimes she had done, but it was at least worth a shot. And even if she did, the Queen would still most likely put her body on a pike.
"Crimes?" she replied as a glint of anger sparked in her eyes, "The only crime is that you roaches have slaughtered my family. I may have been a member, but they had nothing to do with it. Yet, my father, my mother, my brother; all executed as they prepared dinner. Executed as traitors when they did nothing of the sort. I will bring justice to my fallen family. There will be no surrender."
I didn't believe any of her claims. I continued, "If your family was executed, then they deserved it. The Queen makes no mistakes. If she has deemed them as too dangerous, then they were."
She muttered, "No point arguing with bugs."
She knew that she couldn't fight her way out of all of us, so she had to think of something - anything. She said as she pointed to me, "You seem to be the one in charge here. Why don't you prove your point in honorable combat? If you win, then that means your Queen is right - my family were traitors and I die fighting for what I believe in. If I win, then your Queen was wrong and you'll let me go."
It was such an absurd request. But I was familiar with those who fought with a sense of honor. That honor was weakness. A weakness to be exploited. The other roaches were unsure of what I'd do, but the answer was obvious.
I held up my blade and pointed it at her. A common sign to accept a duel. She smiled thinking that she'd get to kill another roach. She knew that the others wouldn't honor the agreement. And I couldn't care less about it.
And without a second thought, I ordered, "All roaches shoot. She can't stop all of us, siblings!"
And just like that everybody around her began firing. There was a barrage of bolts flying around all concentrated on one position. She tried to defend herself, but there was too much. Not even her armor could help defend such an onslaught. Smoke rose in the air. The scent of cooked flesh flowed out of her. When the smoke cleared, she dropped her two swords. They cracked the cobblestone floor. She went down on her knees in defeat, but to our surprise, she was still alive - just barely hanging in there. I sheathed my blade and held my electric crossbow in my hands. I walked forward to fire one more bolt at her head. When I was right in front of her, she muttered, "Damn bugs."
As I was about to fire, a surge of adrenaline rushed through her. Her fried body responded to her last breath. She picked up her large blade and was about to pierce my forehead.
She would have killed me, but Hornet fire one shot. It hit the woman directly on the head instantly killing and pushing her away. The blade grazed near my left cheek leaving behind a scar in my exoskeleton.
It was a victory. Hiroga City was now under control of the Queen's Empire whether she was aware or not.
The roaches cheered for their victory.
"Glory to the Queen!"
"For the Empire!"
"Hail Roach the Dragon Rider!"
Those were only a few of the cheers that erupted throughout the city.
I was going to cheer, too, but then I saw General Kull and KR-01 come up. A silence came. I knew that I had disobeyed orders. I ran from battle. The other roaches nearby sensed the tension. They gripped their blades and crossbows. The general looked at the other roaches. I didn't know it, but if the general had decided to kill me there, then they would have fought by my side. He could see that and said to me, "Come with me, bug. Let's speak privately."
I nodded my head in complete understanding. I marched by him and his machine, but I didn't feel like I was a prisoner or traitor. Although, I did know that that was what they saw me as. A traitor.
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