Alexander The Great Mage

"As you probably already know, wyverns are offsprings of dragons when they mate with races other than their own. The wyverns that attacked us were rather weak and very much unlike dragons.

Thick fur covered their bodies instead of scales, and they were merely half again the size our largest troll. They also didn\'t breathe fire or cast spells. So we suspect that a 3rd or 4th generation dragonkin had wondered into the Forest of Elgar a few decades ago and began to breed there, producing the weak-blooded dragonkin which attacked us during the beast tide.

However, although they were weak, their were large in number. Thousands of them, maybe even ten thousand. We lost a few fortresses when they attacked us from the air." King Biruz clenched his clawed fist in anger.

Alexander could already imagine the horrifying slaughter that took place. Although much smaller than real dragons which could grow up to 30 meters tall, half again the size of the largest troll was still around 4 meters. Thousands of flying 4-meter behemoths attacking a single fortress? Pure massacre.

"To think that they could actually breed in such large numbers. The dragon must have copulated with a warm blooded animal with high reproductive rate." Buccephalas commented.

"Please describe the battle, detailing the defense you put up and how the beast tide overwhelmed you." Alexander requested.

King Biruz glanced at his lieutenant and said "Gartroll here is one of the survivors of the largest fortress which we lost to the wyverns. He would be able to tell you what you asked for in detail."

Alexander nodded at Gartroll and motioned for him to begin.

"We had a full regiment of 10,000 trolls stationed at Bur\'Alor Fortress, supported by a battalion of..." Gartroll hesitated and glanced at Biruz, who nodded. "Auxilliary archers."

Alexander smiled at Gartroll to show he understood. Zantrolls were ferocious melee fighters. They disdained attacking from a distance and labelled all long distance attacks as cowardly. As such, their army did not have any long distance units. Except for Biruz\'s, apparently.

"Around 10,000 wyverns attacked us. At first, I had our archers to shoot at the wyverns. But it was highly ineffective. They were flying too high and too fast for our archers to do much damage. I quickly repositioned my archers to the rear to pick off the wyverns when we began to engage in close combat. I grouped my trolls into squads and equipped a few from each squad with shields to tank the wyverns when they swooped down."

As Gartroll spoke to here, he smiled bitterly. "I might as well do nothing. It was no use. The wyverns swooped in almost all at once and slaughtered us like sheep. Our weapons couldn\'t penetrate their thick, furry hide. We broke and ran after their first attack."

"A battalion against ten thousand mini-dragons who can\'t cast spells." Alexander mused. He turned to look at Dubaza. "What do you think old man? Could you do it?"

"Yes, your majesty. I could." Dubaza replied.

"What about half a battalion?" Alexander pressed on.

"Yes, your majesty. I could." Dubaza replied once more.

"Really? What is the least number you need to do a proper job?" Alexander asked dubiously.

"Least number? Just Princess Aleyria and me would be enough. In fact, she could do it herself if she wants to. Without her, your King\'s Guard would be enough."

Gartroll scoffed and said "You might want to see how the wyvern looked like first before making such a bold claim, human. The wyverns are twice as heavy as trolls, they will smash into you with their superior body weight and armor, and then attack with their teeth, claws and tails. And you would face them with only 10 men?"

Dubaza merely smiled and did not reply.

Alexander glanced at Dubaza. He hadn\'t really paid his King\'s Guard much attention before, preferring to converse with Dubaza alone.

Now the old man was telling him that their power rivalled and even eclipsed that of ten thousand wyverns? Wonderful!

"How would you do it then, if you only had the King\'s Guard?" Alexander raised his hand and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, considering several strategies he would employ if it was him defending against the wyverns.

Dubaza pointed at Gartroll. He looked at Alexander and said, "He is a troll warrior. He fights with his great strength. Me, I am a miserable human mage. However, I too, fight with my strength. My strategy is simple. Rhode, Justin and Valen are Red Earthmages specializing in defense. I would get them to raise an earthen dome over the fortress, supported by various earthen pillars for strength. Isabella and Gabriella are Red Verdantmages. I would get them to cover the dome with various plants."

Gartroll frowned. "What kind of strategy is that? What would you do next?"

Dubaza merely smiled mysteriously once more and said nothing.

Alexander laughed out loud. Fighting with his strength indeed! The greatest strength Dubaza would have exhibited if he went through with his strategy was not the power of his men, but his wit! Why fight a tough battle if you can simply avoid it?

King Biruz smiled helplessly and shook his head. "He would then do nothing and simply wait for the wyverns to fly away, looking for other prey. They would not think that there would be a fortress underneath the \'hill\'. However Red Archmage, that would only work if we are defending an isolated fortress. If we do that with our situation, then we would have merely transferred the deaths of one fortress to the other fortresses around it."

Dubaza shrugged, as if saying "Your problem, not mine."

Alexander grinned at Dubaza and said, "You must be really getting old if all you can think about is defense and subterfuge, old man. There I was, feeling rather impressed when you said you could deal with the wyverns with only 10 men."

"If I had to, I would still be able to do it, your majesty. But it would be pretty dicey. I would not be able to guarantee the survival of all 10 of my men."

Alexander nodded in satisfaction.

"If I may be so bold, may I ask, how would you have done it, your majesty?" Dubaza asked politely with a slight touch of mirth.

"Your strategy was pretty good, I would have definitely have done that as well. But it would only one part of my strategy. The second, more imporant part to my strategy would be..." Alexander trailed off.

He scanned the room majestically before saying with a flourish.

"Poisoned meat."