Waiting for zephine

Part 1

Zacharus was a fierce warrior of the Lutean tribe. he wore thick, brown leather hide around his torso for armour, black trousers, and a sword sheath on his left side.

His hair was blonde with tints of brown, and he wore a hematite necklace for strength and courage. he always wore it. he found it gave him strength on the battleground. zephine, his dragon, had blessed it so when he wore it then it would give him strength with that of ten men.

His sword shone in the daylight with a green emerald glinting on the golden handle. all Dragonriders had a green emerald sword. it signified the type of vigorous training they had to go through to become one.

As he overlooked the land in front of him from the battlement he could see 150-200 barbarian savages of the Rutean tribe running towards them. wearing furs, with theit matted hair flailing about. war cries could be heard in the distance. they wore red war paint of three lines going horizontally on each side of their faces. a horn signalled from the enemies of their arrival. an ominous tone that brought silence to the 80 soldiers guarding the battlement. tired faces among them from 10 days of guarding the walls from wave after wave of the Rutean tribe. rations were scarce and fatigue was starting to set in.

Zacharus started shouting to the warriors:

" Men, the day is upon us, we may be few but we have strength and we have honour. the gods give us might and they give us power. all of you have the power to destroy any rutean that dares setting foot on our castle! men we fight to defend and we fight to kill!"

"Archers ready your bows!" The archers with their long yew bows made by the skilled fletchers in Andethia notched their arrows until they were ready to be released on their foes.

"By my word release." he explained

"Steady, Steady,Steady" as Zacharus said this the Rutean tribe came close to the castle with axes, spears and swords that they carried baying for blood. with gurgled shouting they came closer and closer.

Just as the were 20 feet from the walls zachurus shouted:

"RELEASE!"

Thlum, thlum, thlum.the sound of 50 arrows hurtled with speed and precision through the air.

The arrows pierced some of the barbarians piercing their skin with a thud! and killing just over 20 barbarians and injuring the rest

"Steady, and,release."

Again,another round of arrows started hurtling through the air. this time the barbarians became wise and raised their crude wooden shields above their heads to protect themselves. the arrows hit the wood with a thum,thum, thum. and killed some more.

some of the barbarians started chucking projectiles at the soldiers. of heavy rocks, arrows, throwing axes and spears. most missing the soldiers and just hitting the wall but the few that did get hit were just injured. one of the warrior caught a throwing axe in their chest by surprise and the warrior looked down in horror clutching the axe with both hands and gasping and choking for air. he collapsed to the ground until his breaths became laboured and finished with his last breath.

More and more rutean started coming towards the castle.

Archers worked furiously to defend the castle. others threw large rocks down at the them. and what ever heavy objects that could kill the rutean.

"Zephine, where are you? please come quick, I don't know how much longer we can hold them off.

Suddenly, he heard a soft voice in his head." I'm coming Drathkar, (Drathkar is the dragon's word for dragonrider) you can fend them off. may your steel travel fast and kill many that dare get in the way of it!"



Part 2

Again, the horn wailed from the enemies. they were preparing to ram down the gate to besiege the castle.

"Men, gather as many as you can, we need to protect the gates from coming down. we have women and children in the castle walls. we must protect them. For Andelithia!" he shouted to his men. with that he heard a chorus of encouraging shouts from the soldiers replying with: "For Andelithia!"

They ran down the stone steps jumping over the corpses of the lutean tribe and then racing down the stone steps. you could hear the soldiers panting as they made their way downstairs.

Thirty men reached the gate. once they got to the gate they could hear the sound of the ram crashing against it.

BOOM.BOOM.BOOM

The echoes of the Rutean tribe could be heard on the other side of the gate.

The lutean men started gripping tighter onto their swords and axes.

Cracks started appearing on the wood and the wood started splitting and splintering as the ram started making it's way through the gate. eventually a small enough gap was made. one Rutean stuck his head through with his tongue out wailing. a soldier lifted his sword and severed the head clean from the rutean's body. the head rolled onto the ground and the ram started to make a larger hole in the gate.

"Whatever comes through that gate, we stand our ground as one." ,Zachurus explained.

The lutean got in line, one leg forward. with both hands gripping their swords and axes pointing towards the door.
Eyes staring at the gate, with extreme focus and readiness.

Rutean started pouring through the gate with crazy faces. one after one the lutean cut through the walls of the enemy. Zachurus's arms and wrists were burning from the amount of energy he used to fend them off.

"Zephine we need you."

"I'm coming Drathkar, hold tight."

Part 3

The Rutean tribe kept coming and the lutean's numbers were starting to dwindle. fatigue was setting in as Zachurus slashed at the enemies relentlessly.

Zachurus contacted zephine, again, with telepathy "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. my reserves are fading." , he explained.

"I'm here Zachurus, I'm coming to you, hold on!"

At that point, there were only 10 of his men left. suddenly, the ground began to shake and both tribes struggled to keep their balance.

The Rutean tribe looked behind them and they started shouting and running in fright. Zachurus ran outside the castle and saw three dragons on the battlefield: one red, one blue, and one green. Each represented an element of red-fire, blue-water, and green-earth.

Even though Zachurus was used too seeing Dragons he could still not get over how marvellous they looked. the red dragons scales gleamed in the sun like red rubies. the wings covered a great expanse and had spikes lining the edge of the wings. this dragon was the oldest and biggest of the three and rose up to 20 feet high. this was his friend's dragon Arethnoid.

The blue dragon was breath taking and was like looking through frosted ice, and the scales twinkled like beautiful cut sapphires. just looking at this dragon was like breathing fresh cold air and filling you up with life and vitality. this dragon had spikes covering the spine of it's tail and it had a light grey underbelly. two blue horns protruded out of the top of the dragon's head. which gave it a menacing look. the eyes were black and could stare into your soul. This was his other friend's dragon called Ortina. She was the youngest of the Three and rose up to 15 feet high. her power is breathing ice at enemies or obstacles and freezing them in their place. she could also summon water when she wanted.

The green dragon, Zephine, was a mystical looking dragon. she had an air of grace about her and her scales reflected off the sun like emeralds. the underside of her belly and wings were pale yellow. You could liken her resemblance to a giant sized lizard. her special ability is manipulating the ground around her and to make plants and flowers grow rapidly.

"My Drathkar, I won't let them hurt you" Zephine insisted. As she said that the air started to shake once around Zachurus and his men. the ground started to break away and form cracks which made the Rutean fall in to the depths of hell.shouts of fear could be heard from them as the ground swallowed them up.

The other Red dragon started breathing fire balls at random at the Rutean. some were charred, and some were set alight and could be seen running around trying to put themselves out as they burnt to death.

Ortina started freezing the Rutean in their place and sent ice hail down on them.

Once the enemy tribe were wiped out, Zachurus ran to Zephine. it had been a while since he had seen her as she went to gather the assistance of her brother and sister up in the moutains of Taneer 100 leagues from the castle.

"Zephine, it is so good to see you." he exclaimed

"And it is good to see you too my young Drathkar." She said

"I see you have handled these rotten scum well. it looks like we just finished them off." she said softly.

"Without you three we would have died.", he explained.

"Haha, you make me laugh young one but you forget you are Drathkar and have the strength of 10 men", she said soothingly.

"Haha, yes but even Drathkar aren't invincible. why 6 months ago you healed me when my wounds would surely kill me." ,he said

"Yes, because you are Drathkar and the prophecies look to you as ruler of our kingdom.", she explained.

She looked around the battlegrounds and sniffed in disgust. when did this place begin to look so drab.

As she said this, new flowers of many colours started shooting up from the ground around them making it look like high spring.

The lutean looked around in awe.

She chuckled and said to the people: "With night comes day, and with darkness comes light. and with a new seed brings new life. we look to Zachurus for freedom and freedom he will bring. long live Drathkar king of Andelithia.", she shouted to the tribe.

"LONG LIVE THE KING" came a chorus of the lutean tribe as they raised their weapons in respect.