The cavalry charge ran right through the remaining Hobgoblins, taking them by surprise as their allies turned on them.
The front rank of infantry fell to their lances before the cavalry dismounted and began to push forward, cutting down Cygnia reservists with brutal abandon.
The scar - faced mercenary Commander pointed in Dominic’s direction, and then hit the ground as an [Arcane Blast] came for his head.
The officer behind him died without ever knowing he was in danger, but Dominic didn’t stop. If he couldn’t get vengeance for his whole village, just a little bit on the man who had led the attack would be enough.
Five more blasts hit soldiers before one finally got through, crashing against the man’s defensive magic, and causing it to flicker out for a half second. Just long enough for a bullet from the wall to hit him in the forehead.
Behind Dominic, Bella smiled. That was one enemy Commander down.
An explosion below him threw Dominic into the air as his forge exploded, targeted by a spell from one of the enemy mages. He felt himself rolling, and then a solid metal boot stopped his progress.
He was about to cast again when he realized that Princess Alexis had her foot on his chest, stopping him from rolling into the still burning campfire in the centre of the Royal Guard’s formation.
It was just the dozen of them, against over a hundred enemy cavalry. But these soldiers weren’t wearing any nation’s livery. They looked more like mercenaries than anything, half feral and filthy.
The battle came to a halt as the arrows from the town walls stopped, unable to target the groups so close together.
But the Royal Guards were the only ones still standing, with the Princess in their centre. She motioned for Dominic to play dead, and he hesitated. She had to have a plan. After all, she was trained all her life for battle, right?
After a few tense seconds, a mage stepped forward with an eerie smile on his face.
"Very loyal. I must commend you all, but it’s over. Put down your weapons and surrender the Princess." The mage demanded.
Exhausted, but unwilling to give in, the Royal Guard waited for the Princes to give an order.
Dominic heard her take a deep breath, and then the Princess fell to her knees, with her hands in front of her.
"Archmage, I surrender." She announced through gritted teeth.
The mage smirked, and Dominic saw the Princess’s hand shift under the hanging end of her tabard, to where a hidden weapon lay.
She nodded at Dominic, and he realized this really was it. A heroic last stand wasn’t quite how he had expected this mission to go, but his body was already instinctively moving.
[Arcane Blast] caught the mage off-guard, causing him to stumble back as Dominic launched himself through the crowd of knights with his sabre and dagger in hand.
The blade of the sabre punched cleanly through soft cloth, and the Mage’s eyes went wide for a second before Dominic slit his throat, then rolled onto his back and unleashed [Dragon Flame] into the mercenary knights, burning his throat.
Pain lanced through his back as he felt his ribs and back shatter under massive amounts of blunt force, then he was flying, and the world went black.
After Dominic threw himself into the Archmage, defying all odds by actually taking out an Archmage with his insane attack, Princess Alexis put the poison capsule away and drew her blade again.
"KNIGHTS! FORWARD!" She shouted as the Royal Guard engaged the enemy, and the defenders from Aramos village ran across the gap between the two forces.
With the Archmage dead, and their magical reinforcement gone, the mercenaries fell like Goblins under the blades of the revitalized Royal Guard.
Moments later, the Aramos City Guard was into the back of the attackers, taking no prisoners, and the battle was over.
"Dominic? Dominic!" Alexis heard someone shout.
Where did the Sorcerer go? He was sent flying by a strike with a maul, and she couldn’t see him.
Princess Alexis followed the most likely path, and stuck her head into the shattered remains of the forge wagon, whose door had been knocked inward by an impact. That must be where he landed.
Fearing the worst, she stuck her head in the forge, and then choked as the soot and dust overwhelmed her. The explosion that had destroyed the truck it was mounted to had knocked over the forge carriage, and everything had spilled onto the side that was now downward.
But through the chaos, she could see something small and gleaming gold, like Dominic’s horns.
She carefully stepped inside, and took in the shattered body of a small golden dragon. It had been crushed, its limbs all broken and its chest caved in. But as she watched, the body rearranged itself, limbs healing and ribs setting as rich golden blood was sucked back inside the body.
Then with a ringing noise and a flash of golden magic, the dragon opened its eyes, before shifting back into the familiar shape of the Dragonkin Sorcerer.
Dominic gasped for air as the darkness faded from his vision, and looked into the tearful eyes of Princess Alexis. He had been certain that he was dead, but she must have rescued him with a healing potion.
"How do you feel?" She asked carefully.
"Like I got hit with a truck. Thank you, by the way. I thought that I was a goner there."
He most definitely was, Alexis realized. It wasn’t even a close thing. The damage done to him should have killed him three times over.
Yet there he lay, breathing and smiling at her, with golden blood leaking from his mouth as he coughed. It was insane, impossible, but undeniable.
The little blacksmith was truly Dragon Blessed.
And it seemed that he had no idea.
None could know of this. If anyone realized that the blood of dragons ran so powerfully through his veins that it could stave off certain death, the Nobles would go to war for his progeny, or the Alchemists would dissect him for potion ingredients.
"If you can move, get up and go loot the battlefield. You will need as many of the Mana Cores as you can get your hands on, young Blacksmith. Don’t forget to thank the gods for your survival."
Princess Alexis turned to leave, and Dominic smiled. Yes, thank the Gods, and whatever healing potion she had given him.