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The battle was going poorly. The humans were heavily outnumbered, and the orcs had both size and brute strength on their side. Lothar cursed as he called for his men to fall back once again, making sure to keep an eye on his king as well as his son. Callan had charged forward not long ago, deep into the thick of the fray, but on hearing his father’s commands he reappeared at Lothar’s side much to the commander’s relief.
“The battle is lost, we must retreat. We have to focus on minimising casualties,” King Llane instructed as he remounted his fidgeting warhorse. Lothar nodded, flinching slightly as a fireball sizzled past his shoulder and knocked a charging orc backwards, the green beast screeching in agony as the flames tore at his skin. Khadgar had dutifully kept close to Lothar’s side as instructed, and for that the Lion of Azeroth was grateful. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the mage or respect his abilities, but Khadgar had very little battle experience and virtually no training in skirmishes like this. It was one less thing Lothar had to worry about during the fight.
Or so he thought. A venomous green spell, clearly fel in origin, hissed passed the charging orcs and headed straight for the spell casting mage. Lothar shouted a warning, but Khadgar’s shield was down and he was in the middle of shooting out arcane missiles that whipped through the air chaotically, pushing back the charging horde. Khadgar started shouting a spell Lothar knew to be his shield but the words were finished too late, and the fel magic snaked its way directly towards Khadgar’s chest, knocking him off his feet and back into the solid shield of the soldier behind him.
The soldier immediately stepped over the mage and crouched down behind his shield defensively, providing them a brief measure of protection as he checked Khadgar’s state. Llane was barking orders but Lothar didn’t hear them, too busy rushing towards the fallen mage. The soldiers may not have been used to having a spell caster in their midst, but as soon as Khadgar went down they seemed to surge backwards in uncertainty. The orcs picked up on this and threw themselves forward carelessly, and paid dearly for it as the nearest soldiers made quick work of their front line.
The soldier shielding Khadgar moved backwards to make room for Lothar and turned his full attention to ensuring their defence.
“You ok kid?” Lothar asked as he knelt down beside Khadgar, wincing at the mage’s mangled shirt. Khadgar was breathing quickly, teeth clenched in pain as he tried to lift his head to look at Lothar before letting it fall back onto the ground. He moaned briefly in pain, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes.
“You’re ok, we’re drawing back now. I’ll take you to a healer,” Lothar promised, ducking as a soldier was thrown mercilessly through the air above them.
“No,” Khadgar grunted, hissing in frustration as he shook his head. He was starting to froth at the mouth and Lothar was becoming increasingly concerned. He looked around briefly to check on the King. Thankfully Callan was standing protectively beside Llane, every bit the soldier he was trained to be in spite of his young age.
“Khadgar...” Lothar began, but was interrupted as the mage’s hand shot out and grabbed at Lothar’s chest plate. Khadgar stared at him with glowing blue eyes, the arcane gathering in them so brightly that Lothar had to squint.
“No. I will not die today,” Khadgar ground out, the blue glow of his Kirin Tor marking burning so brightly on his arm that the glow pierced the mage’s cloth sleeve. “I will NOT die today,” Khadgar repeated, his voice deepening as the glow in his eyes became so brilliant that Lothar had to look away.
Lothar glanced back at the mage, eyes drawn to the blue arcane magic glowing in Khadgar’s chest. That was new. The soldier shielding the pair started edging away from them, clearly concerned by the waves of power Khadgar was now giving off. The air was practically dripping with magic, and Lothar ignored his instincts which told him to back away from the mage. He held onto Khadgar’s shoulder tightly and tried to ask the mage what he was doing but couldn’t get the words out.
“I am unbound, I will not die today!” Khadgar roared, his voice so savage that for a brief moment Lothar feared he had become a victim of the fel. But it was not a demon’s voice that Khadgar was using, and that rapidly became apparent as Khadgar roared once more, his hand that clawed as Lothar’s plate armour turning blue with magic and appearing to grow. In a flash of light, Khadgar himself began to grow and reshape himself, and Lothar was forced to retreat away from the mage, falling back towards Llane. The King had ceased shouting commands and was now staring at Khadgar in concern, as were many other soldiers as well as the orcs.
Khadgar’s next roar silenced the battle field, and the soldiers scrambled away from his rapidly growing form. A majestic, short snouted face emerged from the glowing blue light that Lothar did not recognise at first. It soon became very clear what Khadgar was turning into however, as a pair of wide reaching scaled wings stretched outward above the nearest soldiers who did their best not to cower.
Lothar had seen pictures of dragons before. He had never seen an actual dragon, but he had seen elaborate sketches. They were depicted as coming in a huge variety of sizes, from small tiny-limbed whelps to enormous creatures big as a castle. Khadgar was somewhere in between, standing at least three times Lothar’s height. His scales were dark blue in colour, lightening to a pacific blue near the edges of his wings and under his belly. He had glowing runic marks on his shoulders and rump, and short black claws that looked very, very sharp.
In the pictures Lothar had seen, the dragons had long, thin faces with a long horn protruding just above their noses, and a pair of very long horns at the back of their heads. Khadgar’s face was much shorter and rounder, and his nose was devoid of any horns. The horns on the back of his head were present but considerably smaller than the sketches Lothar had seen. They looked like they were made from crystal or ice, and were glinting quite magnificently in the sun.
Lothar did not have long to admire the beautiful creature before him, as the orcs recovered from the sudden surprise of a dragon appearing on the battlefield and proceeded to focus their attention on him. Khadgar snorted, lowering his head menacingly before emitting a roar that practically shook the ground. He stomped forward rapidly, tail lashing behind him and knocking a couple of human soldiers to the ground. Fortunately they did not appear to be hurt, but it did not reassure Lothar or Llane that the mage was still going to be on their side once he had finished with the orcs.
Emitting an inspiring battle cry, the orcs rushed towards Khadgar with their weapons raised. Khadgar opened his mouth for something far worse than a roar, bathing the orcs in front of him in a terrible blue flame. Moving further into the fray, the dragon alternated between swiping the orcs off their feet with his powerful claws and breathing arcane flames at them, burning through their shields in a matter of moments. Seeing the tide of battle turn against them, the orcs began to fall back but Khadgar was having none of it.
A sizeable projectile from one of the orc weapons flew through the air towards Khadgar who moved with surprising agility for such a large creature. The projectile thudded loudly into the dirt where Khadgar had been standing previously, and this seemed to incense the dragon who belched one last breath of flame before spreading his wings and beating down, launching himself into the air in a heartbeat.
From his new position, Khadgar could fire arcane missiles from his scaly paws, casting the spell without uttering a word. From the ground, Lothar watched with admiration as their new ally rained arcane death upon the enemy forces, half of whom were now in full retreat. Khadgar was clearly displeased that the other half were still standing their ground, and began shaking his head from side to side as he started gathering power within his maw.
“We should probably put some distance between him and us,” Lothar suggested, mounting the horse beside Llane and pulling Callan up behind him.
“Good idea,” Llane agreed, quickly wheeling his horse around and shouting for his men to retreat. The Stormwind soldiers barely had time to retreat before Khadgar unleashed his arcane torrent, a thick beam of blue light so brilliant it glowed white at the centre. The beam disintegrated the charging orcs instantly, tearing through their ranks rapidly as Khadgar redirected the beam with his snout. The ground shook and many soldiers were thrown to the dirt, bracing themselves as rocks and tree branches tumbled down around them.
Then all was silent. Llane and Lothar halted their horses, soothing them with comforting strokes on their necks as they looked back at the devastation the dragon had caused. The orc forces were utterly obliterated, with only those smart enough to retreat earlier still alive and breathing. They were too far away to be caught up with now, and Khadgar did not seem inclined to chase them.
The only sound in the now silent forest was that of the dragon’s steadily beating wings, and even that too died as Khadgar returned to the ground. Lothar held up a hand, signalling for his men to stay as they were. Leaping from the mount and not bothering to wait for Callan to take the reins, Lothar rushed out towards Khadgar, hoping his friend would recognise him. The blue dragon clearly heard Lothar running towards him as he immediately turned around, opening his mouth slightly to keen in some sort of greeting.
Encouraged, Lothar stepped up to his friend and told him, “You did well today, Khadgar.” The dragon snorted softly and closed the remaining distance between them in a single step, nudging his muzzle affectionately into Lothar’s chest. Lothar smiled and brought his hand up to gently place it on the scaly blue snout. “Can you change back?” he asked. Whether Khadgar didn’t want to change back or hadn’t understood what his friend had just said to him, Lothar wasn’t sure.
Khadgar nudged Lothar’s chest armour again before looking upwards. He spread his wings and beat them down before Lothar had a chance to step backwards, and the Lion of Azeroth soon found himself on the ground as the gust of air from Khadgar’s beating wings bowled him over.
“Gee, thanks,” Lothar snorted, shaking his head as he watched the dragon take off. He supposed he should be concerned that Khadgar was heading towards Stormwind, and Llane certainly was, but Lothar knew that Khadgar would never hurt any innocents intentionally. He had recognised Lothar and was sure to recognise Stormwind.
Regardless, Llane ensured the soldiers moved rather quickly back to Stormwind. It soon became apparent that Khadgar was planning to arrive with them, as the dragon’s flight was slow and lazy, and he circled a few times to ensure that the soldiers could keep up. It was only when they were nearing the entrance of Stormwind in Elwynn Forest that Khadgar ceased to fly above them, surging forwards enthusiastically at the sight of the castle where he had been invited to stay. Lothar picked up the pace on his mount to try and keep up with Khadgar, but the dragon arrived at the castle before him and promptly disappeared from sight.
Lothar rushed up the steps into the castle and was met by his sister, Queen Taria.
“Khadgar’s in his room,” she said with a smile. Lothar thanked her and rushed off, leaving Llane to explain the events of the day to his wife. When Lothar entered Khadgar’s quarters, he was filled with relief to see the mage had returned to his human form. Khadgar was lying on his side on the bed and had already fallen asleep.
Lothar gently pulled the torn fabric away from Khadgar’s chest, but it looked like the mage’s brief stint as a dragon had caused his injuries to partially heal. The damage was still there though, and Lothar decided to call for a healer. Before leaving the room, Lothar pulled Khadgar’s boots off him and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. They were going to have a very interesting conversation tomorrow, but for now the enigmatic mage had earned himself a good and proper rest.