knights, watched them approach. He writes: “The frenzied
din of the snarling canines and their equally vociferous
riders rolled across us – a cacophony of chaos. They
rushed forward with astonishing speed, splashing through
the shallow pools that were the only remnants of the once-
flooding Vingaard.”
Markham held his riders back from the west bank of
the ford. When the charging wolfpack reached the halfway
mark of the crossing, the knight gestured to his signalmen.
Trumpets brayed, and a line of armored horses thundered
toward the riverbank. The goblins and their snarling
wolves scrambling onto the near bank were met by the
crushing advance of the heavily barded warhorses and
fully armored cavalry. Markham continues:
“My horse pitched and bucked in the midst of a swirling
melee. Wolves snapped at my steed’s flanks, drawing
blood in many places. But a number of the beasts fell with
skulls crushed or backs broken by the powerful kicks of
the charger’s hooves.
“No sooner had the snarling wolves launched into
desperate battle with my knights than three thousand
kapak draconians surged across the ford in support.
Shrieking and hissing in their hideous tongue, the reptilian
scourges flapped their wings madly, hastening the speed
of their advance into an unnerving rush.
“Their charge was met by the pikemen of Palanthas,
who stood in a three-rank line along the shore. The steely
heads of their weapons ripped into the lizardlike attackers.
Though the momentum of the charge staggered the line
with its impetus, the men held against a breach. Savage
and snarling, the formation of draconians crowded against
the bank of the ford.”
Bakaris here began to reveal his own plan – he hurled
the rest of the draconian forces into the attack, holding
only his companies of ogres in reserve. At the same time,
the evil wyrms appeared in the skies overhead, having
defeated the silver and copper dragons. The Dragonarmy
general mounted his own dragon – a powerful blue.
Before he rode aloft he sent his field report by courier
to Kitiara.
“The time to finish this is NOW – we own the skies
over the field! I join my dragonriders, and we shall waste
no time in driving onto the Knights of Solamnia, and the
pathetic footmen of Palanthas and Ergoth – all of whom
stand defenseless against the onslaught!”
Markham’s knights had finally driven the last of the
wolfriders back; nearly half of the vicious carnivores and
their riders lay dead on the riverbank. Now, however, a
newer – and far greater – menace approached.
The knight looked upward in raw, frustrated fury as
he saw the green and blue forms fill the sky overhead – a
sky devoid of metallic colors. The evil serpents tucked
their wings, and Markham felt that every one of the beasts
glared straight at HIM. The wyrms fanned into a broad
line, spreading to strike the entire army.
The lines of pikemen and knights on the riverbank
wavered as the dragonfear swept across them. Markham
cursed and shouted, even using the flat of his sword to try and muster
shaken footmen – but to no avail. Whole companies broke, fleeing
blindly away from the ford, panicked beyond reason by the great, circling
serpents above. Fireballs of dragonbreath and searing lightning bolts
landed with enormous blasts, eliminating entire ranks and melting the
stony bank. Screams of the dying mingled with the terrified wails of
panicked men – veterans and rank recruits alike quailed at the dreadful
attack. In mere seconds, most of the Army of Solamnia had broken and
fled, leaving the ford unguarded.
Excellency, I must here remark upon the fact that, if the evil
dragons had not expended so much of their limited breath weapons
against Gilthanas and his flight, the carnage would have been many times
worse. Nevertheless, in moments, the Army of Solamnia teetered at the
brink of total collapse.
Laurana, meanwhile had flown southward with all speed – the
timing of her activities was crucial. Soon the flight of good dragons and
their Golden General came to the Narrows, where the ice dam had
swelled from the overnight pressure of the great river. A vast new lake
spread across the plains to each side. Before the huge sheet of white,