her plans for that epic confrontation. But alas, we can
only speculate!
My journeys, Your Grace, shall next take me along
the foothills of the Dargaard Mountains. I will retrace the
steps of Laurana’s army as she moved east, south, and
then north – always keeping the Highlords guessing.
Until that next message, I remain,
Your Devoted Servant, Foryth Teel
*****
To the Great Astinus, Lorekeeper of Krynn,
The Army of Solamnia exploded across the plains,
shocking the dragonarmies in a series of engagements.
These were distinct and isolated clashes, some of them
cavalry skirmishes, others dragonfights in the skies, and a
few of them pitched battles pitting all of Laurana’s troops
against equal or greater numbers of the Dark Queen’s
minions.
The dragonarmies were forced to fight when they had
planned to march. And when they planned to fight they
found no opponents and were forced to march. Not until
the final confrontation, at Margaard Ford, did the
Highlords finally assemble an overwhelming force – and
then they fought a battle at the very place Laurana had
selected. But forgive me, Your Grace; again I precede
myself.
First to challenge Laurana’s advance was the portion
of the Green Wing encamped in Throtl. Two dozen
dragons and more than a thousand draconians – mostly
vicious kapaks – formed the heart of this legion, supported
by hundreds of ogres, honorless men, and more than three
thousand hobgoblins.
These troops were ostensibly under the command of
the Highlord Toede, though the records of that ignoble
hobgoblin make no mention of the battle. Our best reports
of the fight come from Gilthanas, and the interviews
conducted by the knights with one Kadagh – an ogre who
served as captain of one of the Green Wing companies.
Kadagh awakened to a clear, sunlit morning – unusual
weather, here in the shadow of the Dargaard Mountains.
Yet this day the eastern peaks and foothills were visible,
etched in vivid detail as the ogre emerged from his tent
and stretched the kinks out of his knotted muscles. Then, restless, his
gaze drifted to the west.
He first thought that the gods had sprinkled gold dust through the
skies. Gold gleamed in the sun, floated gently through the air. But ogres
are pragmatic, and Kadagh quickly observed the specks of metal
growing steadily larger. His bellow of alarm alerted the camp of the
Green Wing to the danger.
Laurana and her dragons had caught the detachment of the Green
Wing as it prepared to march in a delayed response to the Army of
Solamnia’s rampage across the plain. The green dragons squatted on the
ground, saddled but riderless, as gold and silver and brass death came
screaming from the skies. The few greens who leaped into the air were
mercilessly smashed to ground and destroyed.
Gilthanas commanded his flyers to be utterly ruthless in this deadly
strike against the enemy dragons – and it seems his orders were carefully
followed. The dragonlances again proved their worth, although the
numerical advantage of the good dragons made the outcome all but
inevitable. In moments, the evil serpents had been slain; with tooth and
claw and lance.
Just before the bloody end, however, Kadagh saw one stooped
figure scramble into the saddle of a green dragon and urge the beast into
the air. Flying low, ducking and weaving between trees and hillocks, the
lone dragon and its rider vanished into the heights of the Dargaard
Range, leaving the battle far behind. It was Lord Toede, providing an
example of courage for his doomed army.
Laurana’s dragons conserved their killing breath weapons for the
attack against the draconians, ogres, and hobgoblins of Throtl’s legion.
Swiftly Kadagh assembled his company – brutish ogres, armored in plate
mail and bearing great swords. They were the most formidable
footsoldiers of the Green Wing, and records of both sides indicated they
fought accordingly.
The ogres scattered into the ravines and thickets around the camp,
fighting in small groups and rushing at any dragons careless enough to
get caught on the ground. The gold dragons belched fire into the
underbrush, and smoke and flame drifted across the battlefield.
Kadagh himself led the charge against a brass dragon that