The sound of boots hitting the ground in tandem was deafening even with them being at the bottom of the long narrow pass leading up to us. We had two days of peace before we got the call that they were moving. Looking after the other king's soul seemed to keep the army from being whipped into attacking.

Kyanite was a warm wall behind me. "Are you alright my gem." I nodded watching the siege weapons move closer. "Then why are you so tense?" He asked putting his hands on my shoulders.

"When those weapons stop they will target the gate."

He growled. "Then why are we on the wall?"

"Because we have to counterattack at the right moment or we will fail. I don't like this any more than you do my dear, but it has to be this way." 

I raised my hand when I saw the weapons had stopped. I listened hard for the tell tail creak of the weapons as they fired. I couldn't hear it as they were too far even for my hearing, but saw them shake and dropped my arm. The weapons we had creaked as they fired. The heavy boulders flew over the wall meeting the ones coming towards us. They crashed together exploding and raining rocks on the army marching towards us.

I raised my arm again. A brief look over my shoulder told me the second group was waiting and watching while the first group were loading. Turning back I saw the seige weapons in the distance shudder again and I dropped my arm. "How on earth do you know how to do that?" Kaynite said in awe

"I have details. I know what to look for and the aim is easy. They are targeting the gate."

He grunted as the rocks exploded and I raised my arm. "All they are doing is coating their own men in rocks. I know they have seen both those volleys fail."

"Yep. A few more and they will retire the siege weapons." I said dropping my arm. They used their weapons for another round then they stopped. "Now we see what they will do. Either they will pull back or attack." We watched as the sound of people moving got closer and closer. As soon as the first people appeared from the trees the archers on the wall started to pelt them with flaming arrows.  "And we have our answer. I wasn't expecting them to be the troops of the king we buried though."

"They are being forced by the troops behind. HOLD!" Kyanite bellowed and his order was passed down the line.

A Green Dragon skidded to a stop next to him holding a bag full of coloured cloth. "Your orders Red Dragon?"

"Fire only on the other king's troops. We might be able to buy more allies with their lives."

The Green Dragon bent pulling out three of the coloured cloths hung them from a strange tree like contraption on his back and ran off along the wall with one wing up and spread so that it hid the cloth from the enemy. "Clever. How to pass the message on without words and the enemy seeing."

As soon as Kyanite finished talking another Green Dragon stopped next to us. "This is why I let those smaller battles play out. The Green Dragons watched and learned. They worked it all out and that means I can trust the parts I don't know to them." Kyanite sighed shifting behind me. "What is wrong Kyanite?"

"Dragons can feel the loss to come and the loss I feel right now cuts deep." I turned to him seeing his amber eyes following the movement below us.

Turning back I saw the other troops push the others ahead of them. Our troops started to fire again but this time the arrows fell behind the front line troops into the troops wearing the king that still lived colours. The arrows flew over the heads of the troops being pushed into the line behind them. The flame arrows didn't affect them and someone took the initiative and the arrows changed. The missiles started to punch through the armour.

With the wall ahead of them and us only targeting the men behind them, the other troops turned and started to fight their pursuers. "Send Kyros." I said to the Green Dragon.

He darted away down the stairs.

A Green Dragon ran up to us waving a red flag. "OPEN THE GATE! ATTACK EVERYONE IN RED. PULL THE BLUE BACK!" I yelled.

My reply was a loud growl as the gates creaked. "Second line! Watch the blue troop." Duha said behind me as I darted out the gate with my troop of White Dragons.

We moved through the Blue Tabard troops who looked surprised as we moved through them. Reaching the front lines we met a wall of very heavy shields wide enough for two people to be behind them holding them ferm. The line of Dragons breathed fire hot enough to make the shields glow red instantly.

I pushed the humans back without words pointing at the gate. Once they started moving inside I turned back. It was just in time for the Dragons to run out of air. They stepped back as the others moved forward leaving the humans time to drop their heavy shields.

The sound of fighting got loud as my troop started moving back. I smiled as the wall of White Dragon backs moved in unison. The heavy thud of our siege weapons made the ground shake. I looked up and saw the group of Dragons fly over us. The line of White Dragons that had breathed fire lifted up the large shields they had to cover us as the Dragons above us dropped heated rocks on the troops ahead of us.

One of the White Dragons on the front line stumbled back their space taken by one in the third line. I saw the nasty rent in their armour and blood poured from the softer scales below. Alright, she needs to tell us how that happened! I pointed at her and then the Blue Dragon's moving through the blue tabard troops inside the safty of the gate.

She bowed and hurried to be patched up. My next job was to get them in and the gate closed. I looked at Duha and her troop of Black and White Dragons. She nodded and they lined up behind the gate. I bellowed into the sky then turned tail and ran on all fours to the gate. That was the sign of retreat for today. The sound of Dragons running behind me was louder than the screams of the people chasing us.

Following us though that gate was a death sentence for the king's troops. Duha and her group lay into them from the side and we turned as the gate started to swing shut with more speed than it should have because of the new mechanism I'd made to move the largely reninforced doors closed. We formed the last part of the line and held it as the gate made its grinding gear sound. The gate closed in seconeds trapping a group inside the gate as it crushed several troops that tried to get through. We used it to grind the force that followed us through to their deaths.

The Green Dragon that told me to move walked up to me again. "Report." He said looking at the Blue Dragons in their grusem task of moving the bodies of the enemy looking for those that could be saved. We had cut them to ribbons despite their heavy armour and new weapons.

"As Reina suspected the humans from the other king's force were being used as a breathing shield. The others are somewhat fireproof. Their shields started to soften but the Dragons ran out of breath before they could do much to the thick shields. The heated rocks got inside the armour and hurt them though. It also looks like their feet are not fireproof if you look many of them are wearing sandals. They did have a weapon that cut through Dragon armour. She will know more about it when I do." I said pointing at the White Dragon that was being seen too.

The Green Dragon shook his head. "A nasty thing. An axe with a long handle and a hook in the blade, wilded by three humans. They had only one but now they know it worked they will make more. The hook gets stuck in the armour of the Dragon when they pull free the axe tears at the flesh underneath the scales." I nodded. "Anything more?"

"That's all I have." The Green Dragon bowed and ran off. I walk over to the White Dragon being tended by the Blue Dragon. "White Dragon may I see your wound?" She nodded and the Blue Dragon moved the bandage. "They know about the weakness in dragon armour!" I growled.

"What do you mean Kyros of the mountain?" The Blue Dragon asked.

"She is wounded yes but... not that wounded. So they know you pull the scales off and when repaired it's weaker. This weapon is to weaken your natural armour." The White Dragon growled running her hand over the torn scaled armour in her lap. "Don't worry. I'm going to work on this and you're going to help me." She smiled nodding.

The troops disappeared back into the woods as the Green Dragon gave his report to Reina. "Thank you Green Dragon. Make sure to have someone watch those siege towers today. Have ours ready to fire. I need to send a message, do you know where Duha is?" The Green Dragon bowed and pointed to Duha who was chatting with Garnet near the gate.

I followed Reina as she walked down the stairs and up to Duha. The conversation between the two women stopped as soon as we got close. "Reina." Duha said sounding angry.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I need you to get a message to Katja." She nodded pulling paper out of her pouch. "Tell her the bird has flown the nest."

Duha stared at Reina. "Anything else?"

"Tell her Kyros will need more Dragon armour. We must up production of the armour. She will need to tell Purple Elder this is a direct order from me."

My blood ran cold at that. Duha hesitated then wrote the note folding it and offering it to Garnet. "Sister I do not need to go now."

"You do. The gift you have will not last long. Besides I know Katja will get this note and Reinas signed order if I send it with you." Duha said sounding even more frustrated as she handed Reina the paper. Garnet bowed and as she did I saw the bag in her hand that dripped to the floor adding to the small puddle there.

Garnet walked away as Reina took Duha's hand. "Why are you so angry my friend?"

Duha looked down at Reina. "It doesn't matter right now. Are they pulling back?"

"They have. They will most likely attack again later. Did you see this weapon that pulled Dragon armour apart?"

For the first time since we walked up to her, Duha smiled. Then she hefted a very big nasty-looking axe with a broken handle. "I have it. I was about to take it to Kyros. I'm sure he's already working on a way to counter it."

Reina nodded then smiled. "Take it to him, then come find us in the keep. I think we need to talk." Duha nodded and strode away. "I feel sorry for the people she was hitting."

"I feel sorry for whatever Garnet had in that bag." Reina nodded looking a little disgusted.

"It smelt very bad." Reina said taking my hand and leading me away from the wall.

As soon as we were in the keep Reina sagged. I rushed to pick her up. She smiled stroking my armour. "Are you alright my gem?"

"Yes, that was very stressful and I could only show myself as strong for so long. Especially when my instinct was to run here and hold our little ones."

I smiled holding her to my chest tightly. "Me too. Let's give in to those instincts." I whispered and she nodded.

I carried her the rest of the way to our room and walked in. My mother sat on a chair next to the cots and frowned on seeing Reina in my arms. "Is she wounded?"

"No this is a Rat thing. After staring down danger like a Dragon, she wants to feel safe."

My mother sighed sitting back. "That is a relief. I could hear the violence from here. It upset the children."

As she spoke she brought over the children as Reina stripped off her armour. She laid over the top of them and I watched them move underneath her by the way her fur moved. I smiled sitting next to her and rubbing her back.

She sighed closing her eyes. "I shall leave you two alone. I will return with food in a while."

"Thank you, mother."

She smiled and then left us. I continued to rub Reina's back. "Kyanite... would you.... do the claw thing... please." She asked in a sleepy voice.

"Of course my gem." I started to scratch her back with my claws making her fur puff up around the area I was scratching. She swished her tail as I scratched. "That's good huh?" I asked as she shifted.

"Yes... I can't... groom well... at the moment."

"So you need to get rid of this extra fluff." I said brushing the loose fur away from her back where it bunched up.

"It itches." She grumbled.

I smiled shifting my position so I could scratch her with both hands. Reina made soft teeth crunching sounds she made when happy in rat form. That was followed by the strange way her eyes moved when she was really happy. 

It wasn't long before Duha walked into the room. "It looks like they are licking their wounds. The troops we saved are ready to help us thanks to Samvel." She said sitting in the chair my mother had vacated.

Reina stared at her for a moment before she sighed shifting her body slightly. It revealed the lower half of one of the children. "I'm more interested in your anger right now."

Duha sighed. "It truly isn't important."

"You're allowing your anger to protect you like your armour Duha." I said softly moving to scratch another aria of Reina's back.

She glared at me. "It works for me." She growled.

Reina looked over at me and I smiled at her still scratching her back. "It won't always work for you Duha. It's something I've done in the past. It lead to some of my troops losing trust in me. It wasn't long before my anger nearly killed someone I grew very close to. Your anger protected you when you had no one else, it kept everyone away then you were less likely to be hurt."

She sighed heavily and nodded. "You're right but.... I can't really help it."

I smiled at her as I brushed the loose fur from Reina's back. "Just remember that your troops are there for you too."

Duha smiled. "And good friends to help me when I need reminding I'm not alone anymore."

"You can always come to me when you need to calm down. I'll hand you a sleeping pup." Reina said waving her closer.