Once Atlas was certain each dragon was fit to fight in both forms, he shifted, allowing his primal side to take over as his human side nestled in the back of the beast's mind. Atlas felt every pop and stretch as his body transformed into the massive black dragon he was born to be.

This was his fight, and their fellow dragons knew this as well. He could sense others allowing their beasts to take hold as they readied their formation.

Atlas would lead the formation, and those who fought with him obliged this. Their attack strategy was simple, load up with boulders and drop them on enemy troops. It pained Atlas to think he was harming a once loyal citizen of his kingdom, but now they were traitors and he needed to remember this.

With all of the earth turned up from thousands of traveling feet and carts, rocks were not difficult to come by, they would use this approach until Kelwin's troops were forced to take flight themselves. Atlas' goal would then be to destroy the war machines that could injure his fellow dragons.

Once his battalion launched into flight, they soared above the battlefield, boulders ready to drop loose. Atlas wanted to make sure they hit none of their own and made sure to aim his own well back into enemy territory. The first and second round were easy enough, and the distraction of the ground troops aided his efforts, but his charge had to fall back before they were shot down from the sky.

From their point in the sky, Atlas could see everything going on. Ander was leading his battalion through the center as planned, several of his men shifted to give their feline allies a better fighting chance, using their large bodies for cover as they plowed through the human line Kelwin set up. This was a move Atlas would never forgive Kelwin for. As dragons, it was their job to protect the weaker beings, humans, and fight their own battles. Atlas wanted nothing more than to scoop these men up and deposit them in a different city. Did they know what had been in store for them? Had they agreed to this?

Atlas banked left, bringing his group to the center of the fight, high above the field. Once in their position, Atlas’ beast began his rain of fire on their war machines. He watched with bated breath as humans ran for cover from the falling, burning wood. They took out machine by machine until all that was left were pillars of fire through the field. A roiling anger had built itself deep in his very being, one Atlas failed to notice for the last few months. His beast was filled with enough rage to share with all of his kind. How dare they take what was his and hurt her. How dare these weak-minded fools think they could challenge him and expect to win.

Kelwin's troops were not expecting such a brutal approach, but they were quick to respond with their own battalion of dragons to meet Atlas'. He could see the hesitance within their eyes before the other dragons attacked, and relished in the fear he saw. Atlas hesitated as well, knowing that this war within his own kingdom would haunt their kind for the next few centuries, but he had no choice.

After the moment of hesitation it became a blood bath, Atlas’ troops were used to war and fighting, as they’d been alive for many of the wars preceding this one, Kelwin’s troops had the spirit for battle, but lacked the experience. Atlas hoped it would be the deciding factor in this battle..

Teeth were quick to rip into his neck, a young dragon, younger than him, administered the bite. While dragon scales were impervious to most attacks, tooth and claw from a fellow dragon was one way to bring them down. While Atlas had little control over this form in the moment, he could still see what his beast saw, and felt the pain of every bite, every claw scrape, and every attempt to ignite broken flesh and scales. The times they were attacked with flames from the other dragons, Atlas’ entire formation would roll in the air to protect their soft underbellies from the heat and any damage. His battalion was the first to break through Kelwin’s forces, felling most of their opposition in the air. Atlas urged his beast to hold back as he searched for Kelwin personally, he did not see a bright sapphire blue dragon amongst the ground troops, that would be too easy to spot. Kelwin either had to be amongst the men on the wall, or waiting in hiding.

A small band of worry crept through the bond from tallulah, and atlas had to regain most of the control over his beast before he went to see the cause of her worry.

Tallulah, is everything okay? He sent mentally.

Yes, mostly. Aurora never returned last night, and I am concerned that she went in search of her mate in the fray of battle. She replied. That was indeed cause for concern, but he couldn’t do anything about it now, not when their troops were slowly but surely overcoming Kelwin’s.

Please stay put, if I find her, I will send her back to you, but I do not want you to risk everything by leaving my tent in search of her. The reluctance was obvious as atlas felt their bond, but he knew she would do as he asked.

Any pretense of a proper formation for his battalion was gone, his dragons were now completely in the fray of war. Because of this, Atlas pulled himself high in the sky to scan the entire battlefield. There was something he was missing. Things were going too smoothly. He scanned all areas where his troops were engaged with Kelwin’s, and found there were no feline shifters coming through Kelwin’s troops. Which means they were deployed elsewhere…this was not good. He flew down to Mykel, as he was easier to spot with the same flame colored hair as Tallulah’s.

“Kelwin has his feline shifters deployed elsewhere!” he shouted into the throng of men before him, no, men and women. Mykel’s battalion was a mix of men and women, both dragon and feline shifters.

“We noticed already, I have sent the word to Ander, and he will pass it where he can!” Mykel hollered back. Kelwin had to be with his feline shifter allies, along with Faustus, as his form-human or blazing orange dragon-was nowhere to be seen either.

Atlas took a running leap, shifting mid jump, and took to the skies again. This time, he flew over the forest that housed his people’s tents and campfires. That would be the only other place, aside from the ramparts of of Idris’ keep that Kelwin would have reason to retreat to or go to.

Along the very edge of the forest he saw a glint of steel before it quickly disappeared into the trees. Shit, they were gong after tallulah. They had to be, it was the only logical reason for Kelwin to split his troops up, and the only way to ensure a proper victory. If he took her out of the equation, defeating Atlas would be too easy.

Tallulah, have Benna and Rika find the easiest weapons in my tent for them to wield, I fear the battle has come to you. I am on my way. At his words, there was an immediate flash of fear within the bond, and a meek response of okay. Gods above, he would rip out the throat of any man who dared to harm his mate.

Panic arose in his chest as he took a dive for the trees, but his form was too large to get ahead of the men and shifters already in the forest. Circling back, he shifted mid-air and barrel-rolled to a halt. Once on the ground, Atlas found some of his troops and rallied a small party to enter the forest behind the enemy; Reylan was among them, and for that Atlas was grateful. Alongside Reylan were two feline shifters, and four other dragon shifters. Atlas corralled these particular people because they were easy to get to in the melee of the battlefield, and he knew trying to find those he trusted most would take too long.

He hurriedly explained the situation to everyone-Reylan was quick to curse at such an obvious tactic-before they set off back towards their camp. Atlas had to agree, it was the one thing he was blind to when planning for this day, and it ended up being one of their enemy’s biggest tactics.