Page 28 of Drakhana's Secret
Our plan is to disrupt and drive them out. A rapid attack that will catch them off guard so they don’t have time to regroup. It will be a multi-pronged attack that we are hoping they are not expecting since they believe that having attacked us already will have crippled us and put us out of the fight. I can’t wait to see the looks on their dumb faces because they don’t see us coming.
We enter the city through the Mission Dolores side, which is the oldest part of San Francisco. It’s where a couple of the buildings we still own are located. At the same time, Mission Dolores gives us access to Market Street, the Central Freeway, Valencia Street, Twentieth Street, and Church/Sanchez streets. These all bleed in deeper into the city.
We choose the bigger of the two buildings as our home base. We leave all our supplies there. We also set up a medical wing for those who are injured.
Sapphire consented for us to bring a couple of medics under the tutelage of Baba who are experts in the salves and tonics for curing. This way, should we return with injured, they are ready to receive them. I don’t know how long this battle will last, but we need to be prepared.
Then we move on to setting up our defenses. I’ve asked dragons to act as lookouts in case any of the fire and ice dragons arrive unannounced. Even if I don’t expect them to know that we are here, I can’t take the chance of being complacent.
One of the rooms in the building, I’ve dedicated as a media room. It will be our extra eyes and ears within the city. Especially the weather channel. I ask the dragons there to keep an eye on all the strange weather reports happening within the city so that we can pinpoint where the other two clans are.
Then I start making calls to all the earth dragons still in the city. Branson does the same. We activate a text and call chain that will also help inform us of what’s going on. Also, we informed those who want to fight alongside us where to find us. The more dragons we have on our corner the better.
I made a vow to myself that I’m not leaving this city until it is ours. I need this win for my people. I need to show them that the pride of the earth dragons is still intact.
Once everything is set up within the old buildings, I send out a group of dragons to scout the surrounding areas. The more information we can get the better prepared we will be. The longer we are within the city, the sooner we will be sensed by the other clans.
All the dragon clans have their own energy signatures. Heat for fire. Cold for ice. And an almost magnetic wavelength for the earth dragons.
We can sense each other when we are near. Dragons know each other. At the same time, we have a high sense of intuition.
As for defenses, we’ve set up several booby traps within one-mile increments that form a radius that ripple out around the buildings we are in. We have alarm trip wires that will alert us if any of the other clans are coming. We have flash bangs and thunder bombs designed to stun any dragon and alert us as well.
In the area closest to the buildings, we have traps that can slow down dragons like spear traps that can cut the soft underbelly. We also have spike pits for the unsuspecting who walk into it. And my personal favorite, poison darts that are activated by tripping lasers.
Once I’m sure that everything is ready and secure at home base, I join Branson on a scouting mission. We take a route below the Central Freeway off of Market Street. There are many parts of the city that are dead at this time of the night.
Which is why many of the battles happen around this time. Less exposure to humans. To them, we are merely weird weather phenomena.
“Our plan is solid, right?” I ask Branson. He’s the only one I show my doubts to since he knows the pressures I’m under. He will never judge me as weak for expressing my concerns.
“We can never be a hundred percent sure on anything,” he says. “All we can really do is be prepared and adjust to the circumstances that come our way.”
That’s the way of a warrior. Have a plan, but be flexible to change those plans at a moment’s notice. This is why there are contingencies upon contingencies upon contingencies.
“Stop running through them in your mind,” he admonishes. “Stay alert.”
He’s right. I can only worry so much. I think Sapphire’s attitude is rubbing off on me. I don’t want my brethren to die needlessly.
I want to come back with a win for our clan. Something that will bolster the rest of us to join the fight. Nothing like a victory to inspire confidence.
We are at the juncture where Market Street and the Central Freeway meet when a group of ice dragons descend upon us. We are bombarded by shards of hail that can cut through skin and big enough to cause severe concussions.
Shouting ordered, we call our dragons to the surface and defend ourselves. Even through the thick asphalt, we can feel the earth beneath our feet. We take to the air and bring the ice dragons down from their perch at the top of the freeway. It’s too exposed there.
Part of our plan is to keep the fighting as covert as possible. This way we will not be alerting any of the other clusters of dragons that are within the city. It’s all about fighting smaller groups at increasing frequency. The basics of guerrilla warfare.
Knowing the city more than they do gives us a distinct advantage. I pull one dragon down by its tail. Then I lift a manhole cover off the ground and stuff the head of the dragon through it. Then I bite down on the neck as hard as I can until I hear a snap.
Branson and the rest of the group are also fighting as hard as they can. But considering the fact that the ice dragons are more powerful, our defenses are inundated with their relentless attacks almost immediately. What can we do to win this?
A fury that I have never felt before rises up in me. As the ice dragons retreat, not because they are losing, but maybe because they are going to call reinforcements, I go after them. They cannot survive this fight or our plans will be overrun.
Blindly, I call upon the powers of Mother Earth. Something that I have not connected to since I was but a fledgling and being taught by my tutors. I plant my claws into the asphalt, digging them in until I feel soil at the tips of my nails.
I draw in as much of the power as I can. Without thinking, I unleash it once the energy has gathered enough in my chest. As I roar, the power manifests as a great earthquake.
The ground shakes, knocking down friend and foe alike. Where the ice dragons are clinging to whatever they can hold on to, the street opens up. It so happens that a gas pocket is where the ice dragons are.
