George put a hand on his shoulder.  “Luther’s dead.  Shot, along with Matt, before any of us knew what was happening.  Never even had a chance to defend himself.”

Allistor put an arm around the old man.  “I’m sorry, George.  I liked Luther a lot.  He was a good man.”   George nodded his head but didn’t say anything.   Tears rolled down his face as he bore the pain in silence.

Sam murmured, “Go, boy.  We’ll deal with this.  Old men get good at burying our dead.”

Allistor nodded and leapt down off the wall.  Hitting the ground running, he met up with Helen halfway to the teleport pad.  She stopped him long enough to let Fuzzy catch up, then all three stepped onto the pad.  “Nigel, send us back to the Citadel, please.”

A flash of light and they were back in the citadel.  The roof of the keep was afire, though it was mostly stone and steel.  Allistor could see that some of the skylights had melted.  He heard the distinctive crack of the .50 cal firing, and the roar of the drake a second later.

There was a scream that grew louder for a few seconds before a body slammed into the ground not far from Allistor.  It was burnt and damaged from the fall, and Allistor couldn’t tell who it was.

Casting Night Vision on himself and Helen, he searched the sky above.  The massive drake wasn’t hard to spot.  It glided by overhead, one wing tilted down as it banked around the tower.  Allistor could see it taking a deep breath.

Fire Drake

Level 13

Health: 4,900/11,000

He cast Mind Spike on the beast.  This one was larger than the matron they’d fought in the Silo.  And a slightly higher level.  Still, the spell caused the monster to falter, its wing catching on the tower and sending it into a spin as it roared in pain.

Unable to recover, the monster slammed into the inner wall, one of its wings snapping on impact.  It fell to the ground at the base of the wall, then promptly gained its feet.  Turning toward the tower, it roared in defiance.

The .50 cal cracked again, and the drake’s head recoiled as blood sprayed from the wound.  Allistor raised his own gun and fired directly into the thing’s face.   More of his people joined in, running up next to Allistor or firing down from atop the wall.   The monster writhed in pain as round after round stung it.  Allistor cast Restraint and the beast froze.

When the .50 cal fired once more, the round penetrated its brain, and the monster went limp.   A cheer went up from the crowd as they too got defense experience and leveled up.   Allistor shouted, “Andrea!  Report!”