Fan Fiction ❯ Last Stand ❯ Last Stand of the Dragon ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of this fic, other than the fact that I fought the battle it's based on. I'm also looking for a pre-reader for Warhammer 40k and possibly Legend of Zelda. If your interested, drop me an e-mail.

Last Stand of the Dragon

This is going to be interesting thought Fugaria, Exarch of the Fire Dragon Shrine and now, protector of the Wraithlord, Lamental. He and his squad had volunteered for this rear-guard mission, which, until this moment, he thought they were going to survive. Glancing at the towering construct, he concentrated on her arm. It had been mangled very badly, and was leaking coolant. "Orasia!" yelled Fugaria. One of his Dragons gave up their silent vigil around the Wraithlord and began to move as carefully and as quickly as possible over the rubble of the ruined building they were taking cover in. "Sir?" came Orasia's grainy voice. "See what you can do about this arm." Said Fugaria, nodding towards Lamental as he spoke. Orasia nodded once and then set to work with her tools. A competent fighter and an excellent mechanic, Fugaria was glad to have her in his squad. She could spot a weak spot on an enemy tank as easily as you can spot the stars on a clear night.

"Get down!" yelled the Scorpion Exarch. Fugaria made sure everyone was in cover before diving behind a rock. The chaos bombardment was just as vicious as before, and Fugaria had only just landed as the first shell hit. Swearing, he moved so that he was leaning against the rock he was using as cover from the falling rubble. I'm to old for this he thought, half joking. He was extremely serious when it came to matters of war, but in times of any kind of peace, he was slightly more relaxed. For this, the council questioned Eldrad Ulthran's decision to make him an Exarch. That was almost three thousand years ago. He had tended his shrine as faithfully as any Exarch, but he refused to give up his commitments to his family and friends. His wife, Rayena, would be waiting for him at their home on the Craftworld. His oldest son was walking the path of the Warlock, for even at a young age, he had shown exceptionally powerful psychic abilities, while his daughter trained to be a Fire Dragon at his own shrine. He had hoped that she would one day join his own squad. It was looking less and less likely with every passing moment.

Once the bombardment had stopped, Fugaria looked out at the setting sun. He watched as the last rays of hope left his squad, and the squads around him. He yelled to the Warlocks to hurry up. Grabbing his Firepike and Fusion bombs, he joined his squad around the Wraithlord. The Scorpion yelled an order to be ready. Fugaria grinned.

Setting up around the spirit giant, Fugaria began to watch the chaos horde. Amongst them, roaring in bloodlust, were Greater Daemons, the creatures of nightmares. By Khaine, thought Fugaria I'll have one of their heads! The chaos horde began their charge. Fugaria began to pray. To Khaine, to the Dragons of Myth, to the god of the dead, Ynnead. The sound of thousands upon thousands of chaos tainted boots running to spill his blood did not deter him. It would be a glorious, blood stained night. The Wraithlord braced herself, as did the Dragons, as if a fierce gale was about to hit them. The sound of Fusion Guns being readied met with Fugaria's ears. He began warming his FirePike and placed it at rest on his hip. As this was going to be a close quarter's battle, he didn't see the need for much accuracy. "FOR THE CRAFTWORLDS!" cried the Scorpion Exarch. Fugaria yelled the battle cry and thumped his gauntleted fist against his chest. He turned to his squad and cried "For the Dragon! For Khaine!" The Guardians began to fire.

Fugaria aimed his pike at the first chaos marine to charge him and lightly thumbed the trigger. A jet of super heated air spewed from the mouth of his weapon with a roar and consumed the evil creature with the heat of a thousand sons. After only a few seconds, it fell to the ground, oozing flesh and bone from its innards. "Feel the cleansing fire, Chaos scum!" he yelled as he brought the Pike to bear on another marine. He could hear his squad doing the same, cleansing the chaos from the ancient ruin. The roars of the Dragons weapons almost drowned out the roar of the chaos horde. Occasionally, one of the chaos perversions would get far to close for comfort, so Fugaria, not really being trained to use any sword or close combat weapon, did the only thing open to him. He fought bare handed, or used his Pike as a staff. As one Marine got within striking distance, Fugaria swung the butt of the weapon into the marines chin, causing him to stagger, then brought it down once more, cracking the evil things skull. A death cry rang over the vox, followed by two more. Turning, Fugaria saw that a squad of Berserkers had gotten past the Scorpions and was tearing his squad apart. "Dragons, DOWN!" yelled Fugaria. The remaining Dragons jumped to the floor or out of the way as a jet of extreme heat flew past them and boiled the chaos scum alive. A loud rumbling caused him to turn. It seemed that a tank was trying to flank them. "Dragons!" yelled Fugaria.

Fugaria walked slowly among the dead, looking for his fallen squad members. He had found Orasia, her chest cloven in two by one of the Berserkers weapons. Fugaria sighed. He hated losing squad members, especially the ones he considered friends. He continued to pace around the field of battle, looking for the signature red-gold armour of his shrine. He used his lance as a lever to move a dead berserker off of another Dragon. Fugaria bent down and plucked the stone from the young Dragons chest. Fugaria sighed again as the spirit stone flared in recognition as he held it in his hand. "Rest, brother." He spoke softly. "You have earned your place in the circuit, and in the shrine halls of battle." He spotted the last member of the squad as he placed the stone in a leather pouch. As he walked to his fallen comrade, a familiar buzzing entered his head. The warlock told them to be ready. Fugaria grabbed the last stone and readied his FirePike. Goodbye, Rayena he thought.

Fugaria roared with the voice of a Dragon, his battle cry mixing with the roar of his FirePike and the fusion guns around him. Chaos flood through the ruins like a diseased river. Fugaria turned on a pack of ravening chaos beasts and burnt them to cinders, then spun on a squad of chaos marines, letting rip again. He watched as they writhed as they fell to the floor. A mighty roar wrenched the night apart. Fugaria span towards the noise, just in time to see the Scorpion smashed down under the Bloodthirsters mighty hammer. A second later, the other Exarch exploded with psychic energy, blasting the Daemon with forces that should have sent it back to the warp, but either the positioning was wrong, or the creature was just to strong, it didn't work, for it was still standing when the smoke cleared. "Dragons!" yelled Fugaria over the sounds of battle. "To me!"

Seconds later, Fugaria's squad was gathered were gathered around him. There was no need for words, for they all knew what had to be done. They were the only ones with the firepower now that could stop the insane bloodlust of a Daemon of Khorne. They moved with the grace and the speed of the legendary dragon, towards the Bloodthirster. "Dragons, prepare!" cried Fugaria, when they were only ten metres away from the Daemon. Fugaria's yell attracted its attention. As it turned, it caught a faceful of super heated air. Roaring in pain, it staggered towards the Dragons, forcing them to scramble out of the way. They re-grouped and fired again. This time, though, it managed to dodge, and with a roar of glee, charged the Dragons. Only Fugaria and two others from his squad, Kilandra and Drothos, escaped its razor sharp claws. "YOU SHALL NOT HAVE THEIR SOULS DAEMON!" screamed Fugaria as he rose. He charged head first at the Daemon, thumbing the activation rune on his Pike, but before it could fire, he was swatted aside by one of the beast's clawed hands. Stunned momentarily, he vaguely heard two cries of pain, one straight after the other. Dimly, he knew that Kilandra and Drothos were dead, and that he was next.

Fugaria wearily got to his feet, the last blow taking more out of him than he had thought. "Fine." Said Fugaria. "If I am to die at your claws, it will be an honourable death." Fugaria roared a final challenge and charged, firing his pike as he went. The Daemon blocked the heat from its head with its forearm and a second later, grabbed Fugaria and lifted him into the air. It clearly intended to bite his head off, so it took some time to gloat at the fallen Exarch's. Fugaria, enraged by what was filling his head, took his FirePike in two hands and thrust it as hard as he could towards the Bloodthirster's laughing mouth. The Pike struck true, and was lodged deep in the creature's throat. As it didn't really need to breathe, it stopped laughing and proceeded to try and remove the small nuisance from its mouth. It was then that it saw the Eldar's hand on the rune. Fugaria smiled. The heat burst from the back of the creatures head as it exploded messily over the battle field. Fugaria fell from the Daemons now limp grasp to the floor.

It was at that point that Fugaria's senses, which had been fully focused on the Bloodthirster, re-aligned with the battle. Except, it seemed, that the battle was over. No shuriken discs or bolt shell's flew over his head, no shells exploded, and no screams of agony. There was one sound, though. Or, more correctly, lots of separate sounds that merged into one. The sound of ships. Fugaria glanced at the sky, expecting to see the chaos perversions of Imperial ships. He had not expected to see nearly the entire Eldar fleet that had been dispatched to deal with the chaos on this planet. It seems I live to fight another day thought Fugaria before he passed out.

Coming soon…

Last Stand of the Avenger