A Bronze Rising: Battle, Such as it is
#14 of A Bronze Rising
The Bronze proves that he is more than capable of countering a few armed humans
The boy had been brutalized, that much was clear. The sight of the bruises on his face and arms, his once crisp uniform torn in several places and his hands bound to the saddle of the horse he rode made my fire bladder hot. The boy was my property and I had had given explicit instructions that he was not to be harmed on pain of death for the perpetrators. I would sate my hunger with Sir Ronald and his men's flesh.
I rose from my shelf growling as Tobias' horse was prodded forward to the base of the hill by a man dressed in black leather armor overlaid with chainmail. I gripped the edge of the stony outcrop hard enough to turn the stone in my grip to gravel. Bunching my shoulders, I adjusted my wings to leap into the crowd of horsemen, hopefully separating Tobias from the rest, before I could, however...
The crossbowmen emerged from behind trees where they had been sneaking up downwind. They wore green cloaks over leather armor and were obviously skilled in woodcraft. The first volley caught me by surprise. The hail of steel-tiped bolts rained down on my, punching clean through my wing membrane in several places, leaving tiny holes that barely bled. Of more concern were the ones that hit my body. Most were deflected, naturally, by my scaly hide, several, however punched in where they hit at the right angle or lodged themselves between scales. The needle pricks were barely flesh wounds, but made me want to rush forward and set the forest ablaze around the tiny men who'd dared attack me... but Tobias.
I jumped down as I'd originally intended and heard the second volley bounce off the rocks where I'd been. I fell a good fifteen feet and landed with a deep thud that I absorbed with all four legs. I found myself in the midst of several horsemen who immediately turned to flee. They had only swords with which to defend themselves, not lances. They'd been a decoy and nothing more. Turning my head, I saw Tobias' pony bolting into the woods. The thing would likely break a leg in its blind fear and end up killing its bound passenger as well as itself. I stretched forth my tail around the beast and herded it to my claw. I grabbed it, kicking and screaming and tore the saddle away by inserting a claw under the belt around its chest; some horse meat came away with the tip of my talon, but the point was that I succeeded in freeing my servant unharmed. As I was placing Tobias on the ground, my claws were too large and unwieldy to free him without hurting him, I took another volley of bolts in the back.
Only two more stuck in against the heavier plating along my spine and ribs, but the sensation of the bolts hitting me was still unpleasant. I was done being nice.
Rising to the air as a screaming phantom, I leaped very high into the air with a single pump of my wings. I fell, holding the membranes out to slow my descent slightly, expelling huge volumes of burning, oily goo onto my enemies ahead of me. Despite living near dragon country, it was obvious these men had not faced down the deadly wrath of one of my caliber. They broke rank as the flames swept through them, burning men and catching the undergrowth and older trees aflame. I would not suffer any to live however.
A few men remained, firing their crossbows as fast as they could reload them, either brave, or unaware that their fellows had abandoned them; probably both. Bolts would bounce against my breast as I charged. It was quick work. The men almost always paid attention exclusively to my claws or my snapping jaws; they never watched the tail. The battle, such as it was, was over in moments, but I was not done. I leaped into the air.
I was pointless to chase crafty woodsmen in the woods, especially if you were so large that the trees mostly blocked your path. I had no intention of chasing them. Instead, I flew in a circle around the area where the men had retreated, setting fire to the forest as I passed. Bolts came up through the trees once they realize what I was doing, but they almost never hit their target and when they did, they didn't have the power to punch through my scales. Delightful screams issued from the burning woods. Those who managed to return to the rocky hill found my claws and hungry maw waiting for them.
I did not wait to devour the corpses despite the fact that I was indeed peckish. I swallowed only a couple limbs, the parts I had managed to grab with my mouth during the fighting. When I was sure that the men who'd attacked me were all reduced burned or bloody carcasses, I returned to Tobias who...