Armed with three hundred powerful warriors, the rebels brought a battalion of archers, bowmen, and swordsmen. Reinforced with trebuchets and mages who could cast long-range spells, they halted before us. All of them wore helmets with horns and armor with deadly spikes.

The Khatanese, Halcíans, and Dragonborn raised their weapons and roared in unison.

"Oh, gods!" Lena cried. "My father's fighting with them."

"Lena? Lena!" her father yelled over the din. "We're coming to rescue you from that devil-wraith."

A deep rumble rose from the doldrum's of Dahlroth's chest. How dare he? I saved his daughter--your friend--from certain death! Lord Hesse would have hanged her for her crimes.

"I know," I murmured as I stroked his tough scales. "You did the right thing."

"No, father!" Lena shouted. "Go home! I'm fine! It's not like that!"

Normally we would have had to kowtow and run before such an army. With Dahlroth in his draconic form, the rebels didn't stand a chance, even considering the formidable Khatanese warriors.

Speak for me, Dahlroth said.

"You have come to take Castle Eismark, but you are no match for a mighty ice dragon," I said, repeating Dahlroth's words verbatim. "Leave now, and your men will be spared."

"You have an ice dragon," the Khatanese leader said, "but we have something even better."

"What can rival a mighty ice drake?" I asked, jutting my chin.

"We have a Shadow Rider fighting for us, your leader Lord Darius von Kratvach."

At that, the trainees gasped and murmured in shock, and the leader from Khatán grinned at us. "Your own leader has fled. Give up now, and we will let you live as slaves at the castle."

"If you have a Shadow Rider, show him to us," I demanded.

"He is ... indisposed at the moment and supporting us from afar."

"Ha!" I exclaimed. "That's interesting because last I checked we stole him back. We know for a fact that he no longer fights within your ranks."

Murmurs undulated in waves from the enemy.

"Your Shadow Rider now stands as a mighty dragon ready to defend us," I shouted. "So, by all means, do try to storm Castle Eismark. I dare you."

I didn't say 'I dare you', Dahlroth said.

"I did," I muttered under my breath.

"Helena, how could you join with the forces of evil?" a familiar rebel voice shouted.

When I looked down at the fighters below, I gasped when I saw my father's best friend, Salias. His children and I played together for years, and he often helped Papa procure rare items for experiments.

I knew him well.

"We all loved you!" he shouted. "How can you fight for them when your father gave his life for you?"

"Tell your rebels to leave!" I ordered, ignoring Dahlroth's words. "You have no right to attack us."

"You could have used a dragon to win back Halcía!" Salias roared. "We could have been free! How could you defile your father's sacrifice like this?"

"If you wanted freedom," I sneered, "you shouldn't have attacked my friends."

"Enough talk!" the Khatanese ruler shouted. "If you refuse to surrender, we will kill you all."

Stay strong, my Khrysakh, Dahlroth said with a powerful rumble. We will prevail--trust me.

"We will never give in!" Lena shouted as she screamed.

With a series of snaps, cracks, and pops, her humanoid frame morphed into a giant fire drake. Her humanoid flesh melted away in a vibrant ball of fire as her form contorted and extended.

The other trainees ran screaming behind Dahlroth to take cover. As the transformation ended, Lena hurled a giant pillar of fire into the air with a roar that made every fighter cringe and shirk.

"Lena!" her father shouted. "What have they done to you?"

"Stay ... away ... from my friends!" Lena roared in a thunderous draconic voice.

He recoiled and shielded his eyes from the flames she hurled into the sky.

"Nice magic tricks," the Khatanese leader said. "But can you fight?"

The General turned to his guards, manned at the trebuchets. "Fire!"

"Take cover!" I shouted to the trainees, who ran behind Dahlroth.

Three fireballs raced towards us at top speed. Dahlroth breathed three ice missiles that crashed into the flaming ammunition. They exploded mid-air, raining boiling water on top of the Khatanese fighters until they were crawling in agony on the ground.

"He's real!" a rebel fighter shouted. "The fucking dragon's real!"

Our trainees drew a sharp breath in unison at Dahlroth's power.

"Damn!" I breathed as I squeezed my thighs around his broad shoulders, eliciting a rumble from Dahlroth's mighty chest.

Lena huffed and puffed and coughed a fireball that landed on the trebuchet. It exploded in a blaze of fire, smoke billowing from the ruins. The shield absorbed shrapnel and debris as the trainees hid behind Dahlroth and me.

I gaped at the destruction, amd Lena turned to me with a draconic smirk.

That's nothing, Dahlroth growled. Watch this.

A thunderous sound broiled inside his chest, and without warning, he breathed a wall of ice between us and the rebel fighters until ice stalagmites twenty feet high blocked their path.

A collective gasp on both sides echoed in the field.

"Whoa!" I breathed as I gripped the reins.

Translate for me, my Khrysakh, he commanded.

"If you proceed, leader of Khatán," I roared, "your fighters shall be incinerated or preserved in ice for all time. They shall stand as a warning for all future attackers."

Silence fell on both sides.

"The choice is yours," I said.

A lone, desperate voice cried out to me. "How could you, Helena?" Salias roared in pain amd anguish.

My heart clenched at his words.

The Khatanese leader stared at me with intense hatred. "You make an impression, no doubt," he said with a sneer. "But what is a dragon without his rider?"

The leader aimed his crossbow directly at me and fired.

The shield absorbed the arrow with ease, crushing the metal into a fine dust. Before I could think, the shield created and launched an arrow of equal size and power. Made of diamonds, the weapon glistened in the moonlight as it flew through the air.

It pierced the leader's heart.

The general fell from his perch and landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

"Anyone who attacks me or my dragon will die in equal measure," I hissed. "Who would like to be the first to attack?"

Lena's fire brewed within the depths of her chest, setting her scaly flesh alight. The rebels stared at us in horror, and some rebels began to flee.

"Run for your lives!"

"We're no match for dragons!"

"Retreat!" the leaders shouted. "Retreat!"

"Move, move, move!" the rebels yelled as they scurried back to the castle gates.

As the rebel battalion fled towards the castle gates, Axa asked, "Do we pursue them, Helena?"

Dahlroth turned his head towards me, awaiting my command. I looked down at the trainees, who were eager for a fight.

"No," I said. "Let them go and tell the others that Castle Eismark is not to be touched. No one will believe them if they mention dragons anyway."

A sea of red torchlight faded as the retreating warriors fled over the horizon. We prevented a massacre, but Salias' words fell heavy upon my heart.

Did I do the right thing?

Suddenly, Dahlroth uttered a shrill draconic command, and Lena shrank back to her human form to join the others.

The trainees shouted in jubilation at our victory. They hugged each other and clasped Lena on the back.

"Hot damn, Lena!" Alex shouted. "I don't know whether I'm scared or aroused after seeing your fire!"

"Both, I hope," she said as they kissed.

All the trainees cheered as they pumped their weapons in the air. A faint rumble came from Dahlroth's chest--his draconic chuckle--and I patted his neck. When I bent down to kiss a giant scale, he purred and snorted.

I'm proud of you, Khrysakh, he said.

"You're so brave," I replied in a quiet whisper. Thank you."

At Axa's command, all the trainees gathered around Dahlroth and me.

"All hail!" Axa shouted as she raised her broadsword.

"Hail!" came the trainees' refrain.

"All hail!"

"Hail!"

"All hail!"

"Hail!" they shouted, clasping their fists against their hearts and bowing their heads to us.

Despite my profound sense of relief that no one had succumbed to the lure of carnage, I couldn't help feeling a pit in my stomach. When the trainees cheered for us, they sounded exactly like the Dragonborn when they'd cheered for Lord Hesse.

___

A/N: Thank you for reading this rewritten battle scene. Hope you enjoyed it! If so, please be sure to comment. :) How about a vote for our brave warriors?

Please remember this is a raw draft, so it's probably full of typos and awkward bits that I'll fix later. Please feel free to point them out. That helps during the editing phase.