Summer, 1330
The dragons were soon thrown into training within their units, an act which proved excruciatingly slow and exhausting for everyone, including General Gremenal and Colonel de Rosseu. The fiercely independent and territorial creatures took coordination and authority with difficulty and distrust and several dozen quickly left the squadrons regardless of the consequences; those that remained were barely restrained by threats to the Firestone, coaxing by De Rosseu and vicious flogging by the ogres, who were equipped with nine-foot lashes tipped with iron teeth for punishment. Teaching natural war machines to fight was easy; having them follow orders and the chain of command was not. A half dozen dragon heads joined that of Lord Kruash before the dragons learned to obey the Tassurians and their own Tassurian- appointed commanders.
Meratezatgh got to know the rest of his squadron during this period.
Thergamorth cheerfully worked with Mera through their exercises, assembling in formation, flying, soaring, diving and finally attacking targets as a unit. The younger copper dragon looked up to the bronze, and eagerly waited for instructions to follow.
*You’re the commander! Isn’t it great?* He stated to Mera one evening as the squadron assembled for their meal-conscripted into the Tassurian army, with all their time devoted to training, no one had time to hunt. *We’ll be the best dragon squadron in the division, show these Other Men what dragons are! Then when this is over we can go on our Great Northern Trip. Maybe the Other Men will treat us as heroes.*
Mera shrugged.
*We’ll see I guess.*
On the other hand, Falknir was a handful.
While not dumb enough to lose his head over it, Falknir tended to disrespect and ignore Mera, flying ahead of formation, attacking as he saw fit, pushing the feral aside as he moved, dominating and humiliating the bronze in fight training, and generally acting like he was the actual commander of the squadron, at least until the Tassurian observers paid attention to them. Mera put up with it as best as he could, snapping at Falknir, repeating his orders, asserting his position, but both knew that it was only the backing of the Other Men that came with his title that kept the larger black dragon in line.
*Just because that feral idiot can talk his idiot human like his pinko friends, the Other Men appoint him over me. Stupid green men, think that they don’t need to give the command over to the strongest dragons. Stupid feral.* The black dragon grumbled a bit too loudly to his sister.
Mera pretended not to hear.
*You are not the strongest dragon either, Falknir.* Hearesecha dryly retorted.
Hearesecha was indeed the strongest dragon in Mera’s unit. She also tended to be more levelheaded than her brother, but she agreed with many of Falknir’s positions, and when arguments boiled over and Mera and Falknir were angrily growling at each other, Hearesecha backed his brother. Mera tended to keep a weary eye on her. Training was hard for Hearesecha as she flew faster and fought harder than the other members of the squadron, and repeatedly needed to scale back simply to follow the rest of the unit.
*I don’t know why I have to hold back just because I’m better than everyone else.* She snapped at Mera once. *Does this not weaken the squadron?*
*I think five dragons fighting at once will be stronger than any one dragon.* Mera somewhat meekly offered.
Hearesecha snorted. *Let’s hope this training makes us stronger, not weaker.*
Mera had few issues with the final member of his squadron. Raphrsah was a sardonic brass dragon from the Tulusculum Ranges who was several years older than Mera was. She had quickly proven to be calm, collected, and resourceful, unflappable even in the middle of chaos. On the other hand the brass did not show much energy to innovate or exhibit feats of valor. Raphrsah did her job and kept to herself, cared about the patterns of the wind and the presence or absence of certain plants and animals, and had faith in the Heavens, faith in her World Shaman, and stuck by both. Yet she was probably the one that most held the squadron together-while Mera backed by Thergamorth bickered against Falknir backed by Hearesecha, Raphrsah sat in the middle and mediated. Mera did not know her well, but she was a calming force and he trusted her. Still, Raphrsah remained a bit of an enigma to him.
Mera finally found the opportunity to talk to his subordinate after a long day of practicing flying in formation with an entire wing of five squadrons and twenty five dragons, a feat that exhausted all of the commanders ordering, cajoling, threatening, and leading their troops to maintain ranks and follow each other in synchronization. Raphrsah as usual provided quiet but immensely helpful support to Thergamorth, Falknir, Hearesecha and even Meratezatgh, pushing them to speed up or pay attention, to turn, soar, or dive. To his surprise Mera found himself congratulated as leading the best unit during the session, and was rewarded with his unit with extra meat rations, something that thrilled the members of his squadron and caused vocal grumbling among the other dragon squadrons.
*Thanks Raphrsah, you were amazingly helpful today.* Mera stated that evening to the brass dragon as he brought along the extra helping of auroch steak awarded to him as commander. *You deserve this far more than I do.*
Raphrsah nodded and immediately snatched the steak, and with a blink of an eye gobbled it up.
*Thanks, and I’m glad you agree that you’re slightly out of your depth as a commander.* She responded after a few minutes of enjoying her meal, adding. *I could be a better commander. If only I spoke human.*
*I see.* Mera somewhat awkwardly scratched his head before trying again. *So what am I doing wrong? How do you get everyone to follow you?*
*Well, you do well enough for yourself, and your friend follows you loyally. But for the rest of us, we need to know what our roles are. You need to lead by example for all of us, tell us what to do. who to listen to, when. We can’t be caught by surprise.*
*How do you predict what the orders are? You seem good at it.*
*You have to be proactive about it.* Came the immediate response.
*Huh?*
*You’re our commander. Out of everyone, you should know the most. You should know what each of us should do in every situation, and be able to show us. There are only so many things that the People of the Snows could order us, and you should be familiar with all of them. Prepare, so that we don’t have to. That’s what a good commander does.*
Mera nodded. *I can try.*
*Why don’t you talk to Thergamorth? Your friend seems to enjoy making plans.*
*Perhaps I will.*
Raphrsah nodded before smirking. *Didn’t your humans teach you these things?*
*Not really. At most I participated in hunts.*
*Well then you should know that your human masters were not just to make the final kill, but to arrange everything. Selecting the best hounds, the best horses, the best quarry. Their enjoyment came from watching you play it out.*
*How did you learn all of this? You seem to know humans quite well.*
Raphrsah paused. *I know the creatures of the land. I also know what it’s like to be hunted. I was lucky. My mate was not.*
*I’m sorry.*
*I hate humans. I’m not thrilled about you, a feral, commanding us. The other squadrons look down on us. But you know what? Humans can teach us a thing or two about working together. And you as a feral probably are more able to learn that than most other dragons. So I will work with you. We will win this war, get back our Firestone and get back our Jutrstra.*
Mera gestured at the brass dragon herself. *Well, what do you want out of this?*
*I just want to go home Mera. I place my faith onto you to do so.*
Tom Petty-Depending On You
Another dragon reference from theroguez!
The dragons were soon thrown into training within their units, an act which proved excruciatingly slow and exhausting for everyone, including General Gremenal and Colonel de Rosseu. The fiercely independent and territorial creatures took coordination and authority with difficulty and distrust and several dozen quickly left the squadrons regardless of the consequences; those that remained were barely restrained by threats to the Firestone, coaxing by De Rosseu and vicious flogging by the ogres, who were equipped with nine-foot lashes tipped with iron teeth for punishment. Teaching natural war machines to fight was easy; having them follow orders and the chain of command was not. A half dozen dragon heads joined that of Lord Kruash before the dragons learned to obey the Tassurians and their own Tassurian- appointed commanders.
Meratezatgh got to know the rest of his squadron during this period.
Thergamorth cheerfully worked with Mera through their exercises, assembling in formation, flying, soaring, diving and finally attacking targets as a unit. The younger copper dragon looked up to the bronze, and eagerly waited for instructions to follow.
*You’re the commander! Isn’t it great?* He stated to Mera one evening as the squadron assembled for their meal-conscripted into the Tassurian army, with all their time devoted to training, no one had time to hunt. *We’ll be the best dragon squadron in the division, show these Other Men what dragons are! Then when this is over we can go on our Great Northern Trip. Maybe the Other Men will treat us as heroes.*
Mera shrugged.
*We’ll see I guess.*
On the other hand, Falknir was a handful.
While not dumb enough to lose his head over it, Falknir tended to disrespect and ignore Mera, flying ahead of formation, attacking as he saw fit, pushing the feral aside as he moved, dominating and humiliating the bronze in fight training, and generally acting like he was the actual commander of the squadron, at least until the Tassurian observers paid attention to them. Mera put up with it as best as he could, snapping at Falknir, repeating his orders, asserting his position, but both knew that it was only the backing of the Other Men that came with his title that kept the larger black dragon in line.
*Just because that feral idiot can talk his idiot human like his pinko friends, the Other Men appoint him over me. Stupid green men, think that they don’t need to give the command over to the strongest dragons. Stupid feral.* The black dragon grumbled a bit too loudly to his sister.
Mera pretended not to hear.
*You are not the strongest dragon either, Falknir.* Hearesecha dryly retorted.
Hearesecha was indeed the strongest dragon in Mera’s unit. She also tended to be more levelheaded than her brother, but she agreed with many of Falknir’s positions, and when arguments boiled over and Mera and Falknir were angrily growling at each other, Hearesecha backed his brother. Mera tended to keep a weary eye on her. Training was hard for Hearesecha as she flew faster and fought harder than the other members of the squadron, and repeatedly needed to scale back simply to follow the rest of the unit.
*I don’t know why I have to hold back just because I’m better than everyone else.* She snapped at Mera once. *Does this not weaken the squadron?*
*I think five dragons fighting at once will be stronger than any one dragon.* Mera somewhat meekly offered.
Hearesecha snorted. *Let’s hope this training makes us stronger, not weaker.*
Mera had few issues with the final member of his squadron. Raphrsah was a sardonic brass dragon from the Tulusculum Ranges who was several years older than Mera was. She had quickly proven to be calm, collected, and resourceful, unflappable even in the middle of chaos. On the other hand the brass did not show much energy to innovate or exhibit feats of valor. Raphrsah did her job and kept to herself, cared about the patterns of the wind and the presence or absence of certain plants and animals, and had faith in the Heavens, faith in her World Shaman, and stuck by both. Yet she was probably the one that most held the squadron together-while Mera backed by Thergamorth bickered against Falknir backed by Hearesecha, Raphrsah sat in the middle and mediated. Mera did not know her well, but she was a calming force and he trusted her. Still, Raphrsah remained a bit of an enigma to him.
Mera finally found the opportunity to talk to his subordinate after a long day of practicing flying in formation with an entire wing of five squadrons and twenty five dragons, a feat that exhausted all of the commanders ordering, cajoling, threatening, and leading their troops to maintain ranks and follow each other in synchronization. Raphrsah as usual provided quiet but immensely helpful support to Thergamorth, Falknir, Hearesecha and even Meratezatgh, pushing them to speed up or pay attention, to turn, soar, or dive. To his surprise Mera found himself congratulated as leading the best unit during the session, and was rewarded with his unit with extra meat rations, something that thrilled the members of his squadron and caused vocal grumbling among the other dragon squadrons.
*Thanks Raphrsah, you were amazingly helpful today.* Mera stated that evening to the brass dragon as he brought along the extra helping of auroch steak awarded to him as commander. *You deserve this far more than I do.*
Raphrsah nodded and immediately snatched the steak, and with a blink of an eye gobbled it up.
*Thanks, and I’m glad you agree that you’re slightly out of your depth as a commander.* She responded after a few minutes of enjoying her meal, adding. *I could be a better commander. If only I spoke human.*
*I see.* Mera somewhat awkwardly scratched his head before trying again. *So what am I doing wrong? How do you get everyone to follow you?*
*Well, you do well enough for yourself, and your friend follows you loyally. But for the rest of us, we need to know what our roles are. You need to lead by example for all of us, tell us what to do. who to listen to, when. We can’t be caught by surprise.*
*How do you predict what the orders are? You seem good at it.*
*You have to be proactive about it.* Came the immediate response.
*Huh?*
*You’re our commander. Out of everyone, you should know the most. You should know what each of us should do in every situation, and be able to show us. There are only so many things that the People of the Snows could order us, and you should be familiar with all of them. Prepare, so that we don’t have to. That’s what a good commander does.*
Mera nodded. *I can try.*
*Why don’t you talk to Thergamorth? Your friend seems to enjoy making plans.*
*Perhaps I will.*
Raphrsah nodded before smirking. *Didn’t your humans teach you these things?*
*Not really. At most I participated in hunts.*
*Well then you should know that your human masters were not just to make the final kill, but to arrange everything. Selecting the best hounds, the best horses, the best quarry. Their enjoyment came from watching you play it out.*
*How did you learn all of this? You seem to know humans quite well.*
Raphrsah paused. *I know the creatures of the land. I also know what it’s like to be hunted. I was lucky. My mate was not.*
*I’m sorry.*
*I hate humans. I’m not thrilled about you, a feral, commanding us. The other squadrons look down on us. But you know what? Humans can teach us a thing or two about working together. And you as a feral probably are more able to learn that than most other dragons. So I will work with you. We will win this war, get back our Firestone and get back our Jutrstra.*
Mera gestured at the brass dragon herself. *Well, what do you want out of this?*
*I just want to go home Mera. I place my faith onto you to do so.*
Tom Petty-Depending On You
Another dragon reference from theroguez!
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Western Dragon
Gender Female
Size 1200 x 981px
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