Seven Knights Against Fáfnir - Opening Strike
Part Four of The Seven Knights of Princess Snow White
Hi!
This is Part Four of The Seven Knights of Princess Snow White - a seven-part story in The Red Riding Hood Saga!
If you missed it, here is Part Three: Reunion of the Seven! Or, you can start from the beginning at Part One: Caliburn!
Last time, as Fáfnir flew ever closer, Caliburn had been reunited with her fellow knights of the Band of Seven in the capital of the kingdom. Now, the dragon arrives…
Part Four: Seven Knights Against Fáfnir - Opening Strike
The day had finally come.
Fáfnir would arrive at the capital today.
"Everyone familiar with the plan?" I asked, looking around the room at my fellow knights of the Band of Seven.
The others nodded, each prepared to play their part in slaying the dragon that had razed countless homes across the kingdom.
Each prepared to give their life for this.
"As always," Sir Ascalon said, "your daring, yet considered, plan impresses, Lady Caliburn."
I gave the serious knight a small grin, "Save the praises for if we succeed, Sir Ascalon."
The others chuckled, but Sir Joyeuse said it best, "And succeed, we must."
"Aye," Sir Galatine chimed in, "let us slay this dragon!"
Clenching their fist, Knight Gram said, "To avenge those lost to this monster!"
"And to prevent any more losses!" Sir Durandal added.
"That," Sir Dáinsleif said, "is why we do this - for the people and the land that we so dearly love."
I looked at my reunited Band, and couldn't help but smile - as bittersweet as it was.
I unsheathed my sword and held it out.
Galatine, Ascalon, and Gram did the same, bringing their blades to meet mine.
Joyeuse and Durandal summoned their swords, and brought their blades to meet ours as well.
And finally, Dáinsleif would carefully meet our blades with his sheathed sword.
"In Princess Snow White's name," I said, "we shall protect this land in which she sleeps."
"We shall protect the people and bring justice for all."
"For that is the charge given to us," I said, "as the princess's Seven Knights!"
We raised our swords up in unison, and repeated, "As the princess's Seven Knights!"
Then, we parted ways to slay the dragon.
***
I watched the morning skies from the second-story window of the tavern - one of the taller buildings in this area of the city.
Evacuation had begun long before this, leaving this end of the city empty by now - well, empty except for the seven of us.
As predicted, Fáfnir was now flying towards this side of the city, and I watched as it loomed ever closer.
It slowed and hovered above us, its enormous form blotting out parts of the sun.
As it floated in the sky, I could see it glaring down at us.
Even from this far away, I could feel the hatred and disgust in its glare.
It made me shudder.
Close to the dragon was a watchtower - this was the tallest building in the area, and where I had sent Joyeuse and Ascalon for the plan.
"Look at the watchtower," I muttered under my breath, trying to will the dragon to turn its head.
Fáfnir snarled.
"Disgusting humans!" it said, its powerful voice heard from even this far away, "Today, I have reached the centre of your civilization - an unnatural abhorrent that must be eradicated!"
"And I, Fáfnir, shall be the one to bring about its destruc-"
Suddenly, a red dragon appeared next to the watchtower. It had an ephemeral form as if it were made from wisps of fire.
Fáfnir turned its head to the red dragon, and watched it quizzically.
Ascalon had executed the contingency plan - he had drawn the dragon's attention towards the watchtower with the red dragon's shadow.
I waited with bated breath as Fáfnir cautiously flew closer to the red dragon.
"Another dragon?" it asked, puzzled.
From the watchtower, I could see a small flash of light.
Fáfnir paused and stared at the red dragon.
Another small flash of light from the watchtower.
"No...," Fáfnir said, having seen through the shadowy nature of the red dragon, "a trick! How dare-"
But, it was too late.
With another flash of light, a conical beam of radiance fired from the watchtower and into Fáfnir's eyes!
The dragon roared in pain as it was suddenly blinded.
It writhed in the air before losing its aerial balance, and the dragon began to fall.
Joyeuse had done it - he had blinded Fáfnir and had cast it down from the skies!
I leapt from the window and rushed towards the dragon as it crashed into the ground, crushing several buildings beneath it.
The rest of us had scattered across this end of the city, trying to cast a net over where the dragon might fall.
And now, it was time to close the net.
Fáfnir growled as it struggled to get up, its eyes blinking rapidly.
But, before the dragon could recover, Ascalon's shadow of the red dragon opened its mouth...
And unleashed a torrent of flames down onto Fáfnir!
The dragon roared in pain again as the fires scorched its body.
As it writhed in the flames, struggling to put the fires out, its massive body crashed into the surrounding buildings, destroying many of them.
And with that, the red dragon's shadow dispersed into embers.
Ascalon and his sword's mana had a limit, and each summoning of the red dragon's shadow would drain much of it.
Thus, without the time to recover, he would have to conserve his mana until when his sword's magic was needed again.
That was true for most of us as well, so we could not afford to waste our efforts.
As I closed in on the dragon, I could see Galatine and Durandal already engaged with Fáfnir.
As predicted, Durandal's magic was being resisted, but he was nonetheless still causing visible cuts and damage to the dragon's hide and scales.
Meanwhile, Galatine had unleashed his own torrent of orange flames at the dragon's head, causing Fáfnir to flinch and stagger back from the heat and the pain.
I quickly glanced up and saw Joyeuse and Ascalon looking down on the battle from their post at the watchtower's balcony - their job now being to stay up there to stop Fáfnir from flying, if needed.
I rushed in to join the fray.
Seeing Fáfnir about to swat Durandal away, I quickly drew my sword and slashed through the air.
As I did so, a thin wave of water shot out from my sword, and it slammed into Fáfnir's swinging claw.
Fáfnir roared in pain as the wave of water sliced into its arm, giving Durandal enough time and warning to dodge the now-errant claw.
I looked up to survey the damage that I had done.
Though my wave of water had been splattered away, it had nonetheless dealt a visible cut to the dragon's arm.
"Our attacks are working!" I called out, "Press the assault!"
"Aye!" Galatine answered, followed by Durandal a moment later.
Then, together, we yelled out our battle cries as we charged towards the dragon.
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Part Five will be out on May 22nd at 9AM EST!