thousands strong, to lay waste to the entire world. But he had eventually been defeated, his armies destroyed, and the secrets behind their creation lost to time. Not a single one had ever been seen since. Until now.
Which left him with only a few frightening possibilities. The first and potentially the least dangerous, was that someone had found the remains of part of his army, and somehow reanimated it. Bad enough, but still manageable as it meant the enemy's strength was limited. More limited now that Sam had destroyed so many of them. The only problem with that theory was that according to all the legends, the Dragon's entire army had been destroyed, and whatever might have survived should have rusted away long ago.
Of course artefacts from the ancient ages before the Dragon wars were still around, and occasionally turned up in various ruins or were dug up in fields. And many of them still had magic. Powerful magic. So much so that many wizards would spend fortunes trying to acquire the ancient treasures.
The second possibility was that someone had discovered the secrets behind the making of the machina, in which case they could surely create many more of these monsters, and many other types as well. The history books and sagas had spoken of some machina that flew and others that burrowed under walls. That was more worrying, as it meant that the enemy could make more of these horrors as he needed them. And Sam had no doubt that he would.
Yet even that compared poorly with the third option. The possibility that the warlord himself, the Dragon, had returned after five thousand years to re-conquer the world. And while it was surely impossible, a little voice in the back of his head kept reminding him that the warlord had never been killed. After more than ten years of battle, with the numbers of dead people reaching in the millions if not the tens of millions, his armies had finally been destroyed, and the warlord had been defeated. But according to the legends he had cheated death and had chosen to flee even while sickening from a poison spell, rather than be executed.
That was one of the great mysteries of the Dragon. He had come out of nowhere with a mighty magical army of steel, and returned to it afterwards, with no one having ever even seen his face. There were so many mysteries about him. For a start if no one knew what he looked like, then no one knew if he was human, elf or dwarf, or any other sort of mortal. Scholars had debated that very point for thousands of years. And they certainly didn't know where he had come from. After all, he had magic stronger and stranger than any ever known. Magic that wasn't even being studied anywhere else, let alone mastered. And his goal didn't seem to be conquest so much as death. The total obliteration of all people. Perhaps he had truly been a demon instead of a man as some claimed. And if he had been, could he return? Sam wasn't even sure if demons actually died.
The truly horrible thing though was that these machina had acted in exactly the same way as the Dragon's machina of old. They had continued to kill even after attacking and taking the cities. For it seemed they'd never wanted the cities; only the death of the people who called those cities home. Could he truly have returned after five thousand years? There was of course no answer. Not yet. But what there was he knew, was a pattern. Or the beginning of one at least.
Though Sam didn't want to admit it – and the elves might not want to hear it – this new enemy, be he the Dragon returned or a replacement, was following the same pattern so far. Attack by stealth, kill everyone he could, and then leave the cities deserted and dead without any apparent reason. And if the pattern held he would then strike again, somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Next time Sam knew, it would probably not be the elves who were hit. It might be a human land or a dwarven province. It might be the gnomes or
Which left him with only a few frightening possibilities. The first and potentially the least dangerous, was that someone had found the remains of part of his army, and somehow reanimated it. Bad enough, but still manageable as it meant the enemy's strength was limited. More limited now that Sam had destroyed so many of them. The only problem with that theory was that according to all the legends, the Dragon's entire army had been destroyed, and whatever might have survived should have rusted away long ago.
Of course artefacts from the ancient ages before the Dragon wars were still around, and occasionally turned up in various ruins or were dug up in fields. And many of them still had magic. Powerful magic. So much so that many wizards would spend fortunes trying to acquire the ancient treasures.
The second possibility was that someone had discovered the secrets behind the making of the machina, in which case they could surely create many more of these monsters, and many other types as well. The history books and sagas had spoken of some machina that flew and others that burrowed under walls. That was more worrying, as it meant that the enemy could make more of these horrors as he needed them. And Sam had no doubt that he would.
Yet even that compared poorly with the third option. The possibility that the warlord himself, the Dragon, had returned after five thousand years to re-conquer the world. And while it was surely impossible, a little voice in the back of his head kept reminding him that the warlord had never been killed. After more than ten years of battle, with the numbers of dead people reaching in the millions if not the tens of millions, his armies had finally been destroyed, and the warlord had been defeated. But according to the legends he had cheated death and had chosen to flee even while sickening from a poison spell, rather than be executed.
That was one of the great mysteries of the Dragon. He had come out of nowhere with a mighty magical army of steel, and returned to it afterwards, with no one having ever even seen his face. There were so many mysteries about him. For a start if no one knew what he looked like, then no one knew if he was human, elf or dwarf, or any other sort of mortal. Scholars had debated that very point for thousands of years. And they certainly didn't know where he had come from. After all, he had magic stronger and stranger than any ever known. Magic that wasn't even being studied anywhere else, let alone mastered. And his goal didn't seem to be conquest so much as death. The total obliteration of all people. Perhaps he had truly been a demon instead of a man as some claimed. And if he had been, could he return? Sam wasn't even sure if demons actually died.
The truly horrible thing though was that these machina had acted in exactly the same way as the Dragon's machina of old. They had continued to kill even after attacking and taking the cities. For it seemed they'd never wanted the cities; only the death of the people who called those cities home. Could he truly have returned after five thousand years? There was of course no answer. Not yet. But what there was he knew, was a pattern. Or the beginning of one at least.
Though Sam didn't want to admit it – and the elves might not want to hear it – this new enemy, be he the Dragon returned or a replacement, was following the same pattern so far. Attack by stealth, kill everyone he could, and then leave the cities deserted and dead without any apparent reason. And if the pattern held he would then strike again, somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Next time Sam knew, it would probably not be the elves who were hit. It might be a human land or a dwarven province. It might be the gnomes or
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