Battle for Escape, the Dragon Elitists' Games? (EchoxEldar)

Sa’am didn’t have to be told twice. Ever since the crack in his door, his eyes had been focused on it, his mind racing with the possibilities this presented him with. As soon as Biessend’s words managed to break into his mind, the acid dragon woke from his astonishment and instantly raced for the hole in his door. Throwing himself slightly against the edge to make it a little larger, he quickly wiggled through.

Utter chaos was reigning in the passageway between the cells as the new dragon was still kicking left and right. Sa’am really had to pay attention on not getting in the way of one of those powerful legs, or one of the three tails lashing out at every guard approaching from behind. Luckily for Sa’am, the guards were so focused on the horse dragon that they didn’t notice the acid.

Trying to get his bearing for a moment and decide which way to go, Sa’am saw that only three guards were in his vicinity as opposed to the six others trying to block the dragon’s way to the outside. Thus, he decided that clearing the dragon’s back would be his first act. Suppressing the need to roar a challenge, he instantly launched himself at the first one, catching him completely unawares. By the time the other two guards realised what was happening, their colleague was already lying on the floor bleeding out his life.

Raising their pikes, the two men advanced on the acid but Sa’am ignored the fact that these things could sting. Finally letting out his roar, he launched himself at the first one, trying to avoid the pike, while slamming his tail into the second one, sending him flying against the next best cell-door, while he sank his teeth into the other guard. The pike had caused a deep flesh wound in his right front leg, but he didn’t pay attention to it. Too much was at stake to worry over a little blood.

“Biessend, how am I going to get you out of there?!”

He had to admit, the young dragon definitely could handle combat in a pinch, though adrenaline seemed to be the only thing keeping him from toppling from such a jarring wound. Hopefully they would find someone somewhere who could mend large wounds such as that, but they had to get out first. "Don't try using acid, at least; your hide might be resilient to your acid, but bare flesh must be a different story." That presented a problem. If that really was the case, and Sa'am would destroy himself should the stress kick in and make him start producing acid, then the young dragon would have little chance of surviving the day. Thinking quickly, Biessend tried to keep an air of calm. "The horse dragon. I you can get it to calm down, maybe it will break down the wall for us."

The horse dragon was managing itself very well, that was to be certain; even in its rageful state, it new well enough to avoid being struck whenever it could, keeping the guards at a distance with whipping tails, flapping wings and kicking legs. Whenever it got the chance, it would snap a guard's spear with a well-placed kick, giving an opening to rush and trample the poor soul to death, until only two remained. Knowing their odds, they quickly ran away as the horse was busy mutilating the men before them, off to get reinforcements from wherever they could. But the anger and bloodlust remained; This dragon would not calm down easily.

Acid… The young dragon hadn’t even thought about it, since he had no control, but now that he had been told not to use it, he could already feel it start oozing out of his pores. For dragon’s sake, this could not be for real! Forcing himself to think calm thoughts, Sa’am managed to calm his suddenly frantic heartbeat. He had to concentrate, concentrate on getting them out. It was all that mattered, and there was no need to panic. Everything was going to be alright!

As the two remaining guards fled down the hallway, most certainly to get even more reinforcements, and somehow Sa’am knew that this time they were going to bring more than clubs and spikes, he turned towards the horse dragon. It was frantic in its rage and Sa’am wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get through to it but he had to try. Their time was going to run out very soon, so he had to act quickly. Soothing words did not get through to it and the acid dragon was starting to feel the panic rise again, spurred on by the horse’s incredible rage.

Taking a deep breath, Sa’am calmed himself once again and tried a different approach: “We need to get out of here as quickly as we can. You have already helped me out of my cell, would you do the same for my friend?” Sa’am looked towards Biessend’s cell door before turning back to the horse dragon. “Really, it would mean a lot. You have powerful hooves if they can breach these walls and doors, and we want to get out of here just as much as you want. We will help you escape, if you please break down this door. He is a fume. I’m sure he will have a trick up his sleeve to smuggle us out of here with as little trouble as possible.”

Alright, so maybe he was bluffing a little now, since he had no idea whatsoever what Biessend could do, but it sounded good and would hopefully convince the horse dragon. At least, it had stopped focusing on mutilating the bodies in front of it even more.

The acid's words did very little visibly to satiate the horse dragon's anger. The words were too meek, his voice too young, traits which would hardly command respect from the dragon even if it were in complete control of its behavior. However, the idea of escape was able to worm into the dragon's subconscious, enough so that the idea of escaping being linked to destroying walls being a perfect combination to route its rage. And so, with a few well-placed kicks, a hole big enough for Biessend to crawl out of was created, and crawl out the fume indeed did. Stretching his limbs and wings, Biessend looked up and down the long hallway; The number of dragons he could see was surprisingly few, no more than five or six, making him think that maybe the dragons were all kept in separate areas. But he couldn't focus on dragons he couldn't see right now; with the horse on their side, he could worry about attempting to save those he could, but no more. "Destroy the cells of any dragons you come across, then bring them to us; the acid and I will move on ahead. We will clear the path." The horse dragon huffed at him, but offered no qualms, and quickly set about freeing the other dragons.

With that set in motion, Biessend started heading off in the direction the guards had run, gesturing with a toss of his head for Sa'am to follow. "It's safe to assume a dragon-friendly exit would be this way, if we are talking tactics." He began, hoping to impart some knowledge on the younger dragon while he could. "And means of entry or exit would be heavily guarded, and seeing as the guards went this way for reinforcements... Well, I'd say that the other direction would be a dead end, if anything." He kept a surprisingly slow and steady pace, despite the situation; with other dragons to now watch over, he would have to give them whatever chance he could to catch up. Not that h had to worry; the only reason he had been caught was surprise. That was really the only way to catch one of his kind.

Glad that everything had worked to the better in the end, and that his words seemed to somehow have reached the horse dragon, he now followed Biessend down the hallway. “There will definitely be more guards here though. How are we going to get past them?” Personally, he couldn’t remember anything of how he got into his cell in the first place apart from the short trip between cell and arena but that was most likely not the best way to go. After all, the arena’s top had been branched off by an energy field, it would be suicide to even try getting out that way.

The horse dragon was happily crushing doors and walls on its way but slowly, the force of its punches was weakening a little. “We might have to hurry before our strongest ally becomes too weak to pose much of a threat to the guards.” There were quite a few dragons following behind the two toxic dragons but not all of them were at the height of their strength. Arena battles had taken it out of them and some were severely injured without having really been taken care of.

“Turn right at this intersection!” The horse dragon suddenly said from behind them. “That’s where they just dragged me through. It’s the easiest way to get all of us out into the air again, but there will be a lot of guards. I’m not sure if all of them are going to make it.”
Looking back over his shoulder, Sa’am unfortunately had to agree with the horse. Some really were in bad shape. But at least they were trying to save them instead of leaving them to their fate. But how many more dragons were they leaving behind? He knew that they couldn’t save them all, but it still nagged at him that they had now been presented with a chance of escape whereas others would have to face the continued horror of their imprisonment here.

“Let me inspect,” the acid dragon offered as they reached the crossing in the hallway. Poking his head around the right corner as the horse dragon had suggested, Sa’am stopped dead in his tracks before more than his muzzle was visible. “There’s at least ten guards there. With spikes and whatnot.”
Looking back at Biessend and the horse dragon, he cocked an eyebrow. “Charge in and hope for the best?”

This horse dragon was proving to be more useful than Biessend thought it would be. When they got out, he would definitely make sure to find some way to keep in touch with him. Allies like that were hard to come by, he noted. The rest, well... Sa'am sure had tenacity on his side, but the others seemed worn out and in desperate need of good rest. He doubted that they would want anything to do with combat any time soon.

"Only ten?" Biessend smirked at the young acid dragon, then stepped ahead of him, showing himself to the guards. "Just let me handle this, I've been feeling a bit pent up." With that, he began striding lazily towards the guards, whom had quickly gathered themselves and started rushing towards him. Biessend kept his head in the face of their opposition, letting the distance between them shrink, and only as soon as he knew they would have no chance of escape he let loose his attack; Gas. It poured from his body, thick billowing clouds of yellow smog roiling towards his assailants. The guards, who by now realised the grave danger they were in, tried to turn away and cover their mouths, though by now it was much too late. The smoke filled their lungs, dooming the men to a long, suffering pain as they writhed pitifully on the floor. It was not a deadly gas, as he did not wish to risk damage to the other dragons, but he doubted that the guards in this state would be able to fend off any angered dragons seeking revenge. The gas, which was light and fast-moving, quickly rose to the ceiling and poured through the door, quickly dispersing in the wind.

Sure that the guards were not going to cause them any more trouble, Biessend turned back, taking tabs on the dragons which had began pooling behind them. It was a truly sorry lot, many dragons missing horns, fur or scales, those with wings had rips or tatters, and there were a few missing eyes to boot. Flight would not come easily to those who could. "It's obvious we won't be going anywhere fast." Biessend said, seeming very redundant. "Our only choice may be to go on foot, and try to hide in the mountains a few miles out. Those of you who are capable of flight, join me in the skies as we ward off any followers. The weakest of those on land should keep to the center of the group, with the strongest holding the rear should we not be able to ward attackers off in time. Is that understood?"

Last edited by Eldarwen on Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

The onrush of guards was scary at first and Sa’am had to force himself to remain in place rather than flee in the opposite direction, which would inevitably have either led him back to his cell or to the arena, neither of which were options he wanted to consider.
The acid dragon instantly began to charge after Biessend but the horse dragon growled something he did not understand. It stopped him in his tracks nonetheless and when he looked back to the fume dragon, he understood what their powerful ally had warned him about. Acid he may be, but the fumes would knock him unconscious or worse too.

“Deep breaths everyone, and let’s go!” Sa’am shouted and rushed after Biessend, while the horse dragon made sure they all did as ordered. They would not be able to get them all out if they inhaled the gas. Rather, they would join the guards in their painful squirms.
“I’ll take the group on the ground.” Sa’am nodded as Biessend as the fume readied himself for take-off, the horse dragon in his wake. A couple more dragons felt strong enough to spread their wings but the rest were too wing or did not trust their strength to even try and take-off. Sa’am quickly let his gaze roam over the group to make sure he could keep tabs on all of them. Any weariness or apprehension he had felt had dissipated, replaced by pure adrenalin. They needed to get out of here as quickly as possible, even if that may be agonisingly slow in his agitated state.

They had barely walked a couple of stonethrows away when already more guards came pouring out, a couple magicians amongst them to make things worse. Sa’am briefly caught a glimpse of them as he looked back and instantly urged the walking dragons to pick up their pace a little. He nudged the injured ones here and there to try and get them to pour all they could into setting one leg in front of the other a little quicker. Those who were missing eyes – what on earth had been done to them?! – he lead to the tail of another dragon to have something to follow. Most of them seemed to be sure enough on their feet, but not all had learnt to solely rely on their other senses.

“Go go, do not stop! You’re doing good! Keep moving as quickly as you can! We need to get out of here!” Sa’am spurred them on, hoping he could lend them a little courage, though he could feel his own dwindling away. He made sure to stay away from all the others as acid was dripping randomly from his scales again, the dragon helpless to control his power, which seemed more and more like a nuisance to him.

The surge of guards were met quickly with a violent show of force, as the dragons in the air swooped down to setle their grudges. Plumes of fire, sheets of cold, and blasts of magic assailed the humanoids, blowing them away from the injured of their group. The few soldiers who di evade their ranged attacks were quickly trampled by the fit on land, heavy blows from legs and tails leaving their bodies crippled in the dirt. Progress was being made, to be sure, but this was only the first wave.

Not five minutes after the first rush, another horde of Elitists came for the ragtag group. But this time, they were much better prepared; While the first group was just idle guards come to fetch the runaways, equipped with swords and spears, this second group was equipped with longbows, magic, and rode on horseback. Arrows flew at the dragons I the air, occasionally piercing through tender wing membrane or embedding themselves into thick flesh. Dents were made in this group, to be sure, but they were not defeated without a bit of destruction on the dragon's side; Those holding the rear now had gaping wounds from blades from kicking soldiers back, and a few of the dragons were forced to land from the damage to their wings. Biessend, thankfully, was able to avoid the brunt of the attack, having only a shallow arrow in his front leg, but he doubted they would last another wave without experiencing a casual

There was a short respite before the next wave of attackers came, giving the group a chance to gain some much-needed ground. A break was taken, only long enough to pull arrows from their sides, before they went on their way again. More dragons landed, not used to sustaining flight for so long from being held in pens for so long.

What Sa’am was really worried about was the possibility of mages being sent after them. He had seen them, heard of them, and he didn’t want to encounter them in battle, especially not if some of their companions were injured. It wouldn’t be very good odds, for the dragons. Though of course the latter were not defenceless, even against magic, and they would make the humans sweat. Victory would not be given to them easily, preferably not at all, but the acid dragon was past giving in too high hopes without being absolutely certain that there was a positive outcome.

Damn, that second group on their heels really was well equipped and the acid dragon was dripping liquid more and more frantically by the second. Sa’am suffered quite a few wounds and bruises from the fighting but he kept going relentlessly, all the while yelling to the others to keep going, never stopping to encourage them. If only a few weeks ago someone had told him that he would act as a pep-talker, he would have dismissed them as lunatics because he had never thought he’d be able to do this sort of thing, but apparently under pressure of losing his freedom or even his life, he was quite decent at it.

Still, the emotion overruling everything else in his brain was utter and complete, but so far he had managed to suppress it in favour of running and fighting but the longer they had to keep this up, the more damage and losses they sustained, the more it threatened to come to the foreground. The acid dragon was still fairly young after all and despite having been through a few rough patches already, this was completely different. Not only was there himself to look after but so many other dragons as well and it had been his and Biessend’s idea to break out.

They were making way however and that was the most important thing at the moment. Some dragons had also been recaptured by mage spells and nets but Sa’am didn’t have time to think about them now. All that mattered was getting most of them away from that place and as whole as possible.

“Biessend! Can you see something?” he called up to his friend, hoping the fume dragon would even hear him. “Where to?” he shouted as an afterthought. What he wanted most was to just ask Biessend where the hell they were going to go and what they were going to do but he didn’t want to shout that out loud for fear of what it might do to the others. The horse dragon was a bit further behind in the group hurrying the slower ones along and providing a little protection against the oncoming attacks from behind but Sa’am was growing tired the more the adrenaline began to wear off. Tired, bruised, scared and without even an inkling of what was going to happen next.

This wasn't going as planned. The elitists had sent more guards than Biessend had thought they had on hand, the only notable decreases in their chasers when they successfully snagged one of the running dragons, usually those collapsing from exhaustion, in order to properly bind them. He was, as he was sure they all were, running on fumes alone at this point, as he had not eaten well since a while before his capture. He would have to think of something, and think of it fast, because he was certain that the repercussions of getting caught would be far worse than if they had just stayed put and twiddled their talons.

Desperate, he scanned the horizon for something, anything to give them an edge. Lady Luck must have been smiling down upon him that day, for what he found was more that he could have asked for; Off in the distance was a thin valley, barely more than the width of their largest dragon, surrounded on both sides by sheer, solid cliffs. It looked like a pass, a way for lone wanderers to skirt hiking the perilous mountains, though whether or not it was a dead end he knew not. But with some quick work, they could seal it off, and keep the guards from following behind.

The number of dragons flying was pitiful, and were either of no magical aptitude or of the wrong alignment. But looking down, he spied an ancient clubtail, emaciated and ridden with deep scars, a pitiful example of its breed. But it would do. He quickly swooped down and started running alongside him, yelling at the old beast to fly with him, but the geezer wouldn't budge. Though the reasons for his resistance were understandable, Biessend had no time to care about one dragon's limits, and he rammed the poor creature on the side, even took off and tugged up on its back with his claws, before it finally spread its wings and flew. He shouted encouragement, telling his plans to the ancient dragon and nudging him off to fly as fast as his broken wings would carry him, to wait at the top of those meeting cliffs.

The clubtail off to do its duty, Biessend flew back down and told the others of his plan, urging all of the dragons to push themselves to their maximum, turning the group towards the valley. This was their last shot at freedom, and it all depended on these next few moments.

Sa’am was tired, so tired, but when Biessend – he had already thought the fume dragon had not heard him or had no idea what to do – came swooping down and related his plan. It was fantastic in all honesty and the acid dragon instantly felt yet another adrenaline burst. Joining in on the motivational game, he kept yelling encouragement at the other dragons, joining the chorus of Biessend and a few others who had picked up on this. Together they would manage. If they managed to keep working as a team.

Once they were inside the valley, he yelled for the others to keep running. To keep running until they could no longer run. He himself took a small breather but only to turn back and see what was happened at the mouth of the pass. All hopes were now fixed on the clubtail. No matter how old or broken, he focused all his remaining energy on keeping his claws crossed for his magic to do the trick. The pass needed to close! It just had to! Because if it didn’t...

Whatever the clubtail was doing, it took its sweet time and Sa’am was already beginning to fear that nothing would happen, that they were all soon going to die a horrible death because barely any of them had any strength left to go on, and he really wished this had not all been for nothing. But if they were to die now, then at least they would die in freedom!

Surprisingly enough, and Sa’am almost felt a tear prick his eyes when it happened, the clubtail got a few rocks and some earth to tumble down the walls of the bottleneck, eventually starting to seal the only entrance from that side into the canyon. It was a slow process but it was working!

“It’s working, it’s working!” The acid dragon almost jumped up and down with exhilaration at the prospect of them finally getting a break when he noticed a mage weaving some sort of spell that required elaborate hand movements. The only reason why Sa’am had discovered him at all amidst the rubble that was now tumbling down quicker and quicker, even burying a few eager guards beneath it. The rest were soon disappearing from view, including the mage.

Without waiting to see what would happen if the mage finished that spell, Sa’am forced his wings into a somewhat working order and lifted into the air, wobbly but he did it.
“Biessend! Mage!” he shouted before quickly making his way back from where they had come from to stop the magician. How? He had no idea, he just knew he had to or all of this would have been in vain.

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