Sharrag opened an eye. The cave he was in was almost pitch black, besides the light created by the smouldering coals of a dead fire. The dark forms of the wolves were all huddled together. The only sound was their combined breathing. Sharrag frowned, something had woken him, but he wasn’t sure what.

The green dragon hauled himself up to all fours and looked around. He walked toward the entrance of the cave where Siserl was sitting guard, watching out for any sign of their enemy. She looked towards him as he came out.

‘You are up early,’ she said.

She was right. The sun hadn’t even begun to peek over the mountains yet, giving the illusion it was still night. If they were out on the planes Sharrag guessed that they would be watching the sunrise right about now.

‘Woke up and wasn’t able to get to sleep,’ he replied, looking over the mountain valley.

They had changed their cave since the incident with the old Alpha. This new cave was slightly smaller in size, but it was situated reasonably high up a mountainside giving the pack a great view over the valley. If anything out of the ordinary happened they would be able to see it quite easily. Every day they scouted nearby valleys for the Alpha, trying to find him. They weren’t able to however and the wolves were beginning to just think it was a onetime thing. The old Alpha had retreated. Sharrag wasn’t so sure.

‘I’m going to go for a flight,’ he stated suddenly.

Siserl only nodded in reply. Sharrag took off into the dimly lit sky and decided to fly high into the sky, above the mountains. His mind was almost as good as new. He now remembered almost everything, except for the time just before he broke the shade’s spell, thought he knew almost everything that happened through his Shrrg.

Another recent find was his true name had changed. When his mind was mostly fixed he had tried calling himself by his old true name again, to find it didn’t work. When he asked the elves about it they had replied that a true name could change if the person, or thing, it is attached to changes. Sharrag had guessed it had been something to do with his newfound hate towards the old Alpha.

His breath became slightly laboured as he passed through the clouds surrounding the tops of the Beor Mountains. He scented the air, it smelled of winter and he shivered slightly. It hadn’t snowed much the previous winter but he had no doubt it would snow this time. He had seen snow on the Beor Mountains before, but this would be different.

He took a deep as he levelled himself above the clouds, gazing through the small gaps towards the ground below. He found himself close his eyes as he relaxed. It was amazing flying so high above the earth. So high that the clouds were rounded towards the horizon and the only thing above him was the sky.

He could just see the sun in the distance finally coming out of its slumber. The world seemed so small from up there. It was like he had control over everything and anything. He continued to fly around for some time before he felt himself getting tired and turned to fly downwards to earth once again.

As he launched into his dive another mind touched his own. He recognized it as Talismen and opened his mind to him.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Sharrag sensing the Shrrg’s worry.

‘Come quickly, we need you,’ he replied.

Sharrag passed through the clouds. He swooped down towards the cave and landed with a small thud. Everyone was there, including the two elves.

“There you are,” said Levial.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Sharrag, repeating the question he has asked earlier.

“That,” replied the elf, pointing into the distance.

Sharrag turned to look the way the elf was pointing and froze. A seething mass of bodies were pouring into the valley. Shrrg. Hundreds of them. Thousands. A low growl entered his throat. Where had they all come from? He looked towards Levial.

‘What are they doing?’ he asked.

Levial shrugged, “I was hoping you could answer that question. Shrrg don’t usually gather in such numbers.”

‘No, they don’t,’ replied the dragon.

“They’re under a spell,” said Aradon from behind them, “And they have been ordered to attack.”

Sharrag turned his head towards him, ‘What do you mean?’

“Exactly what I said,” he replied, “These Shrrg have been taken over by something, thought I haven’t found out what y…”

Aradon suddenly froze, “Oh no.”

“What is it brother?” asked Levial.

“He’s back.”

“Who?”

Aradon looked at Sharrag, “The shade. Sythrel. He’s back.”

Sharrag growled, “How do you know?”

“Look into the Shrrg’s minds. They aren’t exactly guarded,” he said.

Sharrag did so, stretching out his mind into the mass that were slowly coming forward. He got many images from them. Images of their life growing up and living in a pack. Some of them were Alphas while others were just old enough to hunt. But what every one had in common was the image of another Shrrg, the old alpha, and the shade, Sythrel.

The dragon withdrew to himself and looked at Aradon, ‘I saw him.’

He felt a small piece of fear at the thought of the shade. The memory of the creature taring apart his mind and taking away his right to be a dragon came to him. He shivered. He would rather die then be under the shade’s control again. Looking towards the elves he shook the fear out of him.

‘What are we going to do. Not even with my help could we destroy all these Shrrg at once, as well as the shade,’ he said.

Aradon looked towards the Shrrg army before looking back towards Sharrag, “I guess we could try to slow them down. You fly over the forest and set as much of it alight as possible. Levial and I will begin to set up some defences here.”

Sharrag nodded, seeing the sense of the idea. With a flap of his wings he ascended into the air before turning towards the army. He looked over to the other side of the valley, and growled. More Shrrg were coming from that side as well. The only way out would be up and over the mountain but he doubted the Shrrg would be able to survive such a high climate.

He swooped toward the ground and opened his maw, unleashing the emerald flames on the trees below. The ground and trees were quickly set alight. The fire spread through the trees easily. Turning around Sharrag set another part of the forest alight. The dragon continued to swoop across the valley, being careful not to get to close to any group of wolves in case the shade was with them. He didn’t doubt that Sythrel had that black bow that had taken him down before.

Once he had done as much as he could he flew high into the air to survey his work. The valley below was a river of green fire. He doubted any wolf could make through the heat and fierceness of it without extremely strong wards. He watched closely as the two Shrrg armies reached the edge of the forest fire. They hesitated, before something seemed to drive them in. It didn’t take long for the howls of pain were heard.

Growling at the sound, Sharrag turned away from the scene and flew back to the cave. He noticed a feeling of magic in the air around the cave. He guessed the elves had put a fire ward there to take away the threat of fire reaching the cave. He landed in front of the cave to see that a wall of wood had been built just below the cave, and more logs were joining it.

The Shrrg were pushing the huge logs onto the wall. Levial was chanting something in the ancient language and Aradon was knocking down the trees with either his magic or a few strong cuts of his sword. Sharrag knocked over the tree Aradon had been working at. The elf sent him a thankful look.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

“We’re making a log wall. As the Shrrg come up the hill side we can let the logs roll down and kill them,” explained Aradon.

Sharrag nodded, before looking down at the burning valley. The two giant packs of Shrrg had stopped and had retreated away from the fire, realising there was no hope in getting through it any time soon. Sharrag guessed they were going to wait for it to burn out, but that would take a couple of days. By then the dragon’s pack could have found a way to escape.

‘They’re coming from the other side as well,’ said Sharrag to Aradon, deciding to warn the elf about that fact as well.

“I know, I saw them,” he replied.

Together the elf and the dragon knocked down a few more trees to add to the pile. Once they had finished the wall of logs it surrounded the downward side of the cave and was four logs tall and three logs thick. Sharrag didn’t think it would last for the whole fight that was sure to come, but it would at least take out a few hundred.

‘We could get out,’ said Sharrag to Aradon, ‘If they leave this long enough then I’m sure we could find a way.’

Aradon nodded, “I know, but I seems that we won’t have the time. Look.”

Below the river of fire suddenly started to diminish. It was as if the fire was retreating from something. Sharrag felt a strong spell being cast. He guessed it was from the shade. The wolves started advancing again. The small pack near the cave gathered around one another watching the army from their vantage point. Sharrag watched, as his wolves got ready to defend themselves. The fire disappeared, and the wolves charged forward.

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Hey guys, new chapter. I hope you enjoyed. Vote and comment if you did. New chapter should be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^