The convoy came to a stop.
Richard had, as part of his university program, visited an archaeological site excavating an old Scottish fort. It had been ancient, likely built on an earlier site, though they hadn't dug deep enough to tell, and most of the ruins had been covered by dirt, or worn away with time.
He remembered the cold, and the odd formations of hills, hinting at the locations of ancient ruins. Falmart was warmer than Scotland had been, but mist hung heavy across the sparse forest that had grown amidst the old city.
He took a deep breath as he got out of the vehicle, Tara already standing next to the door.
"Not much to look at," She said, looking around. "But, I do see this as being a place where a city might have been founded. Cliffs nearby provide protection on one side, the dried marsh we drove through would have provided defence on that side, the river feeding the marsh and city another."
"Well, buried ruins don't tend to look like much more than a few hills," Richard replied. "But I am willing to bet that we are in the right place. That slight bump, going around the perimeter? I'm pretty sure that used to be a perimeter wall."
As the two of them talked, some distance away Corporal Thomas groaned, sitting on a fallen log.
"Why did we get tagged for fucking babysitting duty again?" He asked, glancing at Corporal Fields. "You hear anything, Fifi?"
"No, but I bet the sergeant volunteered just to annoy," Philip rolled his eyes. "Now stop laying about, we're on patrol. The area isn't secure."
"Anyone else see that?" Richard called out, a few hours later. "Saw something in the fog."
"Where?"
Corporal Harry Thomas frowned, even as he and others spread out to search. They had been here for a few hours, while some sort of scanning equipment was set up. The mist was not dissipating, something that set his nerves on edge.
Hell, his nerves had been on edge ever since he had stepped out of the Hummer.
His gut had saved his life more than once, especially here in this fantasy land. An ambush by bandits spoiled, an elf found at the bottom of a well and another with several broken bones hidden amidst bushes some distance away, a well-hidden wire beneath sand leading to an IED being found when he stepped over it, all because he had a feeling.
Harry shook his head to clear it of memories and old fears. For all that he was a jokester, and lazy, he knew full well when to take his job seriously.
A flicker of movement in the distance caught his eye.
He signalled with his hands, creeping forwards, his rifle up and ready. Flanking him was the rest of his squad, covering him.
He moved forwards, then froze, and sighed.
"Just a damn rock," He called back, before inspecting it. Then he paused. The movement had been from a piece of fabric tied to it… and fabric wouldn't have lasted through the ages, would it? "Hey, got carvings on the rock, and it looks like someone was here to tie some fabric to it."
Past the rock had been a set of ill-maintained, and age-worn steps, yet, in the dirt and dried mud near the half-buried steps leading up the mountain, were prints, many footprints.
"Looks like people have been here within the last year," Harry heard one of the Canadian soldiers with them, further up the mountain path say. "I think I see a cave up ahead."
His stomach tied itself in a knot and his skin crawled.
"Hey, sarge?" He called. "Somethings wrong."
"Wrong? How… no birds," Sergeant Puckett swore under his breath. He reached for the radio. "Major, are you seeing any wildlife in the area? Or hearing anything?"
The radio crackled, and the voice of Major Johnston crackled through it.
"Negative. We're still making sweeps through this damn fog. Report if you have an idea as to what made them so scared."
"Acknowledged."
"This… this land is Hardy's," Harry spun around at the unfamiliar voice, then cursed for forgetting Rory had joined their expedition. "Above the ground, yet… she has a claim to it. It is her domain."
"You… really don't like her, do you?" He asked.
The demigod in the form of a young girl was gripping her oversized halberd tightly, her eyes darting around. Such a nervous picture was at odds with her normal confident character.
"The rumours of this place being cursed… I suspect Hardy was the one who cursed it," She said, ignoring his question. "We should finish and leave, quickly."
Richard looked out from the cliffside over the mist-filled plains that hid the ruined city. The midmorning sun rose in the sky yet failed to penetrate the mists below.
Behind him, Dimmu inspected the shrine that had been found in the cave.
"So," Tara said, walking over to stand next to him. "This… is not what I was expecting."
"Never seen ruins before?"
"Plenty. But…" Tara hesitated. "None so old that they were buried. Or, if I did, I never noticed them."
Richard snorted.
"That's fair," He reached out towards Tara's hand, letting her grasp his. "But it doesn't take much to bury ruins. Just some wind, dust, and plant life. Wind carrying dirt off the mountains, or across the plains, depositing it at the foot of the mountain, where the ruins catch the wind, would eventually leave it buried."
"You've seen it before?" Tara asked.
"Yeah, plenty of times. Online, mostly, for classes," Richard shrugged. "But I've been to other archaeology sites. Old abandoned Scottish fort, half the thing was buried by time, even after people worked for years. It was around six hundred years old if I remember correctly, and it was more heavily buried than this. But that was all due to topography if I remember my classes correctly."
Tara hummed, simply enjoying the moment.
A flicker of movement far in the distance through the mists caught her eye.
"Something wrong?" She heard Richard ask. She shushed him, dread of an unknown threat growing in her heart, not fully understanding why.
She listened.
The chatter of soldiers. The crackle of radios. The sound of rubber boots on stone and grass.
The wind against the stone and cliff face. The distant rustling of trees.
The rustling of trees, in the distance, didn't match the wind. And there was another sound, that they matched… it sounded like… when Thoos, Vel's wyvern, flew close to the ground, but louder despite the distance.
Cold claws grasped her heart.
She turned, pushing Richard toward the small cave, and opened her mouth to shout, when the Ancient Fire Dragon, the sun gleaming off its crimson scales, burst from the upper layers of the mist. Far too close for comfort at the speed it was travelling.
"Contact! Fire dragon, approaching fast, West!" Edgar's radio crackled with an American sergeant's voice.
He was already spinning around, orders being barked, when he felt it, the wind as something passed by, large and fast, directly overhead.
"Bastard came for round two!" He roared. "Captain Riley, get those launchers from the trucks up that cliff yesterday!"
From up above, the crack of rifles could be heard, muffled slightly by the distance and thick fog.
The troops left with their transports were not lax, already manning the .50 cals on some of the vehicles, or handing out what few disposable rocket launchers and SAMs they had.
Blood pounded in Major Johnson's ears as he hefted an M72.
He'd faced the dragon before, early on, only two weeks into the Falmart campaign, while it had been attacking a village. They saw the smoke and went to investigate.
By a minor miracle, none of theirs had died that time, though the wreckage of the village dampened any high spirits they might have had. Far too many villagers had been killed. The only solace was that they had given the dragon what they had hoped was a mortal wound, shredding its arm with a well-placed Stinger missile, forcing it to flee in pain. Most animals wouldn't survive such a wound.
The dragon, it would seem, was different from most animals in tenacity.
Combat boots tore into the stone and dirt up the path as they climbed.
Edgar motioned, as they neared the fighting just past the edge of the mist, for missile teams to take position. They could see the beast, gossamer red scales glittering in the sun, vast wings nearly blotting it out and beating against the air, as its one remaining claw swiped at the ground. Smoke drifted up from where the flames had been sprayed.
The scent of charred flesh made one soldier stumble to the side and empty the contents of his stomach.
"Fire!" Edgar ordered.
The missile streaked out, and as the wings rose one more, fire blossomed against its hide.
For a moment, it looked like it had done nothing as the wings kept rising.
Then one rose higher than the other, free from its host, tumbling away as the dragon screamed and fell, disappearing behind a small cliff on the mountain.
"Quiet!" Captain Riley barked as a few soldiers started to cheer. Her voice strained. "Get those rockets up!"
Edgar winced as he felt the ground tremble with the impact.
"Incoming!" Someone yelled, boulders tumbling down.
They pressed themselves flat against the cliff as they passed, the stones bouncing down the angled cliff. For a brief moment, there was silence as if the world held its breath. They heard the dragon roar, still alive, and the crack of their comrades' weapons.
"Go, go, go!" A sergeant barked.
"Get eyes on and finish that bastard!" Edgar shouted. "Someone contact HQ, let them know we grounded the bastard!"
They pressed on, and as they crossed over the cliff, they saw the dragon.
Its hide was torn and rent. Blood poured from the hole where its wing once was. But it was fighting still.
"Put it down!" Edgar roared.
It was almost comical, how the dragon, with its one good eye, glanced at him. It seemed to recognise the threat, and like a wounded animal, it tried to flee, scrambling towards a cave.
The missile struck the ruined shoulder, where it had lost its arm, before it reached the cave, too small for its bulk. Once more, the mountain shook, as the crashed into it, this tome headfirst as it stumbled, its head vanishing inside the now large cave, debris littering the area around it.
The dragon struggled, but it was plain to see its death was imminent, as a crimson tide poured from its wounds.
"Christ, that bastard is tough," Someone groaned next to Edgar.
With one last heave, it slammed its claw against the cliff face, before falling still.
"Check the wounded," Edgar ordered, and set about organising relief for the wounded survivors. "I want a casualty report and inform HQ about the dead monster. We need a medivac as well."
"Eight dead, twelve wounded, two missing. Two of the dead and four wounded were from the falling rocks. Dragon did the rest," Riley reported, her face pale. "That priest is unhurt, but…"
She glanced at Tara, covered in dragon blood.
"…Richard… I shoved him towards the cave then… everything happened so fast," Tara shuddered. "Next moment, I was struggling to avoid being crushed or eaten."
Edgar forced his jaw to unclench.
"The other missing?" He asked.
"Sergeant Peterson. We… found part of his leg, but the rest of him is missing." Riley reported.
"Major, Captain!" Corporal Ross saluted. "We just dug Sam out of the rubble near the dragon's head. He's in bad shape, but the medics say he'll live. We also found this in the dragon's good eye."
They stared at the mangled piece of dragon blood-soaked metal. Bits of the eye still clung to the twisted remains of Richard's sword.
Tara stood and walked away, her face stony.
"The dragon forced its way into the cave, right?" Edgar asked. "He probably got hit and was buried deeper. We should have what we need to dig him out, and with any luck, Sergeant Peterson. Get to it."
"Sir… the cave wasn't very deep. I think the dragon…"
Edgar cut the American corporal off.
"Don't, just… don't. Caves like that probably have a back area, where the water came from when it was formed, so, until we have a body, we will search."
"He is not dead," A voice called out.
"Rory," Edgar glanced at the demigod. He blanched at what he saw. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Thrown off the cliff by the dragon," Rory stated, matter-of-factly. "But Richard is not in Emroy's domain, which he would be if he had died. Nor is he in Hardy's, despite this being part of her domain, and dragons being hers."
The small demigoddess frowned.
"I never considered it but… why are dragons, creatures of magic and the sky, part of the goddess of the underworld's domain?"