Aelyx – 21
"Dracarys."
The fire boiled from Vhagar's maw and swept downward, spilling across the battlefield. Dozens of men were immolated in an instant. With ease brought by countless hours of practice, I kept Vhagar's head in continual motion, playing the dragon fire through the tightly packed enemy ranks. The already faltering Triarchy forces fell into a panic. Those nearest to Vhagar scattered in all directions, desperately attempting to flee from the flame. Some of them were so gripped by hysteria that they lost all sense of their surroundings and dashed directly into the ranks of the Pentoshi army, where they were impaled on spears or beaten down and captured. Most though, fled downhill, back towards their camp. Men who had been standing shoulder to shoulder moments before shoved each other to the ground in their headlong flight.
Vhagar and I swept further down the battleline, towards the center where the fighting had begun to die down. As best I could tell the combat on this portion of the battlefield had been limited to exchanges of missiles and a few probing attacks. Below me, I could see a large group of crossbowmen taking aim at me. Brave, but foolish.
I suddenly banked left as they released their volley. I needn't have bothered as the bolts fell short anyway. However, as recent events had proven, better safe than sorry. I blinked as I realized that the crossbowmen were reloading. They truly were brave. It seemed that their calm had steadied the surrounding troops and other soldiers were rallying to them. I dived.
"Dracarys"
The screams of the unit of crossbows rose above the battlefield as they were bathed in fire. The brief island of calm they had created disintegrated in an instant and those who survived my initial pass joined the rapidly developing route.
Glancing further down the battlefield I noted with a smirk that the enemy right was not even waiting for Vhagar's arrival and was already retreating, albeit in good order.
"Let's fix that," I murmured to my dragon. Abandoning our harrying of the crossbows, we flew towards a body of men whose banner marked them as members of the Company of Ashes.
"Dracarys" A stream of fire destroyed the final section of the Triarchy lines.
I pulled up, hovering over the battlefield. Smoke was rising from below as the hillside began to burn. At the base of the ridge, I spotted a large company of men whom I assumed were the army's reserve. I squinted through the smoke, were they really not running yet?
Vhagar and I swooped down the hill towards the last intact enemy formation on the field. Out of the corner of my eye, something flashed to my right. I jerked my head around, looking behind me, and saw a massive bolt embedded itself into the ridge. I flicked the reigns and Vhagar broke off from our attack and climbed into the air. I circled the reserve and after a moment of searching spotted a line of cleverly concealed scorpions. So that was their backup plan if the assassination failed.
I snorted, the death of Rhaenys and Meraxes at Hellhot had given people an exaggerated idea about the effectiveness of scorpions and ballista against dragons. They worked well enough against fortifications and large bodies of infantry, but they were far from antiaircraft weapons. The shot that had killed Rhaenys was one in a million. Even if I had continued my direct approach, I doubted Vhagar would have been so much as scratched. Not that I intended to take such a risk, I had learned my lesson about recklessness. As I began to prepare to dive from an angle the artillery pieces could not elevate to, I realized there was no need. I watched as the scorpion's crews fled from their post. They had come to the obvious conclusion that without me approaching from directly in front of them their whisper of a chance to kill me had disappeared entirely. I briefly contemplated burning the scorpions just to be safe but decided against it. I am sure Essar would appreciate being able to add to the army's small siege train. With a shrug, I turned my attention back to my original target in the Reserve, only to blink as I realized that they were retreating as well.
Only they weren't, I watched with mounting shock as the body of cavalrymen ran down the fleeing scorpion operators and fell upon them with sword and lance. For a long moment, I simply stared, but it hardly mattered to me why one contingent of the Triarchy army was suddenly slaughtering another. If they wanted to waste time getting tangled up in a one-sided melee instead of escaping that was their loss.
I swooped down on the developing slaughter. As Vhagar's shadow fell upon the men on the ground several looked up, I could not make out their expressions but I imagine they were ones of surprised horror, as they remembered the dragon that moments before they had watched route most of their army was still on the battlefield.
"Dracarys" The flames engulfed the cavalry and their victims alike. And just like that, the last intact force of enemies on the battlefield was reduced to ash. I rose high into the air once again and began looking for any large groups among the retreating army that I could fall upon. I noted that many of the Triarchy soldiers had rallied in their camp, but I would refrain from burning it. My own allies would be more than a bit peeved if I denied them the opportunity to loot it. I dived a few more times burning any smaller clumps of men and shattering their officers' attempts to turn the route into a more orderly retreat.
After the sixth or so pass I realized that a large cavalry squadron was racing down the hill from the Pentoshi lines. Essar must have dispatched them the moment it became clear that the Triarchy was breaking. Thanks to the fortifications though, they'd had to pick their way around our left flank rather than simply charge straight down. They could handle the mopping-up operations I decided, once the enemy had scattered over the countryside as they were currently doing you reached a point of diminishing effectiveness with dragon divebombing. Besides I had already done my part for the day. The adrenaline that had driven me up onto Vhagar's had begun to fade and I was becoming increasingly aware of the pain radiating off of my back.
I turned Vhagar away from the pursuit and began to fly back towards camp. As I passed over our battle lines I was met with a wall of sound as the cheers of the soldiers reached me even hundreds of meters in the air. I flew over the camp towards where I had initially taken off. As I began my descent, I saw that the men who had helped me to Vhagar had remained there instead of going to observe the battle. They made sure to stand well clear of my dragon as Vhagar settled back onto the ground. When we had finally landed, I slumped in the saddle, taking long breaths and attempting to steady myself. When I felt calm, I moved to unbuckle the chain holding me in place. I winced as the movement pulled at my back, sending another flair of pain through my body. When I was free, I slid, or if I was honest with myself, flopped out of the saddle.
Slowly, carefully, I slid and slithered down Vhagar's side and wing. When I reached the ground the men who had waited hurried to my side. I attempted to stand, only to stagger. I would have fallen flat on my face had three of the observers, not lunged forward to catch me. I hissed in pain as one of them splayed his hand across my back, to steady me. As he jerked his hand away, I realized that my tunic was glued to the back. The liquid trickling down my back was not sweat from exertion that I had first taken it for, although that was there too, but rather blood from where I had reopened my wound.
"Is it over?" Numanus asked.
My eyes flickered over his shoulder where dense columns of smoke could be seen rising over the ridgeline. The scent of burnt flesh was beginning to waft through the campsite and I saw several men sniff the air trying to identify the smell. I barred my teeth in a parody of a grin.
"The enemy is broken. I shattered their attack and even now The Red Wanders are running them down as they flee."
A cheer those surrounding us at the news.
I waited before the noise to die down.
"I am as happy with our victory as the rest of you, and I would really love to celebrate, but I'm actually in a lot of pain right now and I would rather not pass out from blood loss … again."
"Oh, right." Murmured Numanus, his cheeks pinking with embarrassment.
"All right people make way, we need to get the Prince back to his tent." I was all but dragged away from Vhagar. The gathering crowd parted around us as I alternated between stumbling along with and being carried by my escorts.
As we approached my tent Essar's physician rushed out to meet us. The moment he saw me, the blood drained from his face.
"Hurry," he beckoned frantically. "Get him inside."
The soldiers pushed their way into my tent.
"Lay him on his stomach." The physician commanded.
I was gently deposited on the cot. The moment I was lying down, the physician hurried to my side.
"Do not move your grace." He instructed gently. With a pair of sheers, he cut away my shirt.
"Here drink this." Someone said and pressed a wineskin to my lips. I took several large gulps of the offered strongwine. The wineskin was removed and a soft piece of wood was presented in its place.
"Bite down."
I sank my teeth into the wood as the physician began to probe to wound on my back, pulling out the ruptured stitches.