Dragon Hunter

Chapter 42: Sticking to the Plan

When nothing immediately came charging in through the entrance, Cooper hazarded a look down along the wall into the heart of the cave, which had returned to near absolute darkness in the wake of the dragon fire assault. And found several sets of glowing eyes looking back at him.

He was about to tell the crouching noriquien soldiers to ready themselves when a wave of dark intent washed over his hunter senses.

"Damnit," he growled, looking over at a faintly visible Theron. "They're already going to were-form and gather to make an assault on the cave!"

"It's too narrow in here to swing weapons," Theron tightly noted. "They'll burn us to ash with their magic before we can defend ourselves!"

Weapons? Magic?? That stirred a thought in the human's brain.

"Not if we make some space and barricade behind magic of our own!" Cooper countered.

"What do you mean?" Theron fired back. "I can heal. Not cast shields. And I know nothing about our gray skinned friends here and their capabilities."

"The dragon-forged weapons will give us the shields, remember?" Cooper explained even as he carefully drew Erabak from its sheath across his back. "We just need a little space to work!"

A look down at the dragon-forged sword yielded the blade glowing with a soft, golden light. Not enough to illuminate the entire cave, but it was sufficient to make sure he wasn't stumbling around blind.

- Thank you, Erabak, - he said into his mind.

- Of course, Cooper, - the intelligent weapon replied. - I'm here to assist you on the battlefield. Even one as dark and narrow as this one! -

- Yeah. I think I have an idea on how to fix that, - the human thoughtfully replied. Then, out loud:

"We are about to come under attack by dragons in were-form, who want to come in here and dig us out."

"If they do, there isn't much we can do to resist them," the squad commander fatalistically indicated.

Cooper grinned.

"Not true, commander. We can resist, and we will." He glanced around the space. "The cave forces the dragons to take were-form to engage. That negates their breath attacks, and makes them physically vulnerable."

"But they'll still be able to cast magic, my lord," the commander doggedly noted. "And we have little room to use our weapons or defend against their spells."

"The dragon-forged weapons will give us shields," Cooper said, drawing out Erabak's embedded dagger before crossing the two weapons at the guard to summon the shield in demonstration.

Dropping the shield, he then went on.

"And we can make the space. Those of you that can shadow gate, I need you to extend your portals into the rock wall beside you and jump as much of it elsewhere."

"I ... I've never done anything like that before!" one of the male soldiers stammered.

"Can it even be done??" another asked, confused.

Unfortunately for them, Cooper didn't have time to let them think about it.

"Just wrap your portal around the wall beside you, like you would with a group of people, pushing it into the stone," he directed, the hairs on his neck twitching as he felt the dragons gathering at the entrance. Time was no longer their friend.

"Don't think about how impossible it is. Just do it!" he barked.

Nodding, the two that spoke about this misgivings, turned each to one wall. With looks of concentration on faces made barely visible by Erabak's light, they sent a flutter of shadow forward. Then, with a twisting wrench that pulled in air to fill the sudden space, two roughly semicircular gaps in the rock appeared.