"We'll help you," she said, nodding, "Unfortunately, if we follow Vyrix's orders, we can only help you in the shadows, lest we expose you to the NightBlade."
Rykirus gave a short nod, "That's fine, it would be undercover work anyway."
"Oh?" she raised her eyebrow, curiosity shining in her eyes.
He smirked, "You'll see, I just need to acquire a candidate." A tremor shook the ground and shouts were heard outside.
"Intruders!" the queen's eyes narrowed and Rykirus barreled out of the tent, head swiveling to take in the surroundings. There were fires everywhere, his eyes narrowed, and humans. Leading the charge was one in gold armor, sword sheathed by his side, on a pure white horse that also had battle armor on. A noble.
Rykirus smiled, "The perfect candidate," he murmured under his breath. Before he could head to the seated human, he saw an arrow coming straight at him. Rykirus moved slightly to the left, letting the arrow ping off of his metallic scales on the side of his body. He turned his head to see humans watching him in surprise that slowly turned into fear for some and greed for others.
"Dragon!"
"It's a dragon!"
"Those scales'l bring a pretty penny,"
Rykirus twitched, annoyed, then brought up his head and took a deep breath, bringing his fire to his throat. The shades who saw this yelled at his comrades, "Get back and put up the barriers!" Rykirus released black flames that poured onto their forces. Screams were heard, but they stopped soon enough.
Rykirus's eyes widened, there were humans on the ground charred, but there were far more still standing, armor coated in ash but not a single burn on them. "Was that your trump card little drake?" one of them jeered, "We're not stupid, if we attack the shades, we should expect the NightBlade to come to the rescue. The fire resistant armor cost too much for us to afford, but it's what happens when you get the approval of the king," he said smirking, "Just never thought they'd send a shrimp like you, it's like our money and time was wasted!" Laughter exploded around the camp and many were sneering condescendingly at the drake in front of them.
Rykirus seethed, these humans dare- his claw came up slowly, then smashed into the ground, dark green veins running outwards from his claw. The same one smirked, "And what the hell is that, you worthle-" he was cut off by a something grabbing his leg. He frowned and looked down, a skeletal hand was holding him in place. He paled and his mouth opened, but the only thing that came out was blood. He coughed up blood, before glancing down, eyes widening minutely, as he saw the claw that punctured his lung.
Rykirus grinned sadistically, before releasing his magic into the human. He gave a choked scream as black mist wrapped around him. Rykirus pulled out his claw, and the mist disappeared, leaving a skeleton with pitch-black armor and a tattered cape, sword sheathed across his back, and helm emulating a dragon's horns. One of them cleared his throat, "Uhh, c-cap-tain? y-you g-good?" he stuttered, face pale. The skeleton glanced at Rykirus, who gave a smug grin before tossing his head slightly. The skeleton reached back and grasped the handle of his sword. With a swift move, he drew his sword and decapitated the two behind him, and continued his rampage.
The rest of the battalion stared, wide-eyed and horrified, at the damage their former captain was creating, and that cost them, as shades joined the skeleton, wreaking havoc in their ranks before they could pull themselves together.
Rykirus smirked and ignored them, before walking towards the seated figure, who was frowning and yelling at his soldiers before he got off his high horse (literally) and strode toward the battlefield, scowling. Rykirus swooped down and landed in front of the human, "Your fight is with me," he stated, face blank.
The human sneered, "Are you the one who caused all this trouble, beast?" he drew his word and pointed it at the drake.
"I might be," Rykirus said, inspecting his blood covered claws.
"Then, I'll kill you and mount your head on my wall as a trophy!" he roared, lunging forward. (I know, this line is used a lot, but it fits)
Rykirus dodged the sword, eyes widening, 'fast!' but he didn't manage to dodge fast enough, the sword slicing a shallow cut on the space between his scales. The human smirked, "That'll put you to sleep, beast. It's a sleeping sedative that's custom made to capture drakes like you."
Rykirus snarled and channeled the magic inside him to slow the effects of the poison. He lunged at the human claws sparking as they drew deep furrows in the armor. The human gasped, pulling back, and shoved the sword into his side. Even though it was non-lethal, Rykirus immediately felt the effect, his magic was instinctively heading to try and close his wound, and he had to make an effort to keep it working on the sedative that was now running its course through his body.
Rykirus felt sluggish and glanced at the human before him who was frowning and trying to tug out the sword buried deep in his side. 'Idiot,' he thought as he leaned forward, teeth scraping the human's hand in a shallow cut, injecting his poison.
"Wha..." the human asked startled, before a shade a jumped in and knocked him out, and he crumpled to the ground. Rykirus took the time to survey the situation, all the invading humans was either dead or had fled.
He looked at the shade, "Possess him," he said before collapsing, hazy mind not able to process her words. Darkness greeted him, and he welcomed it.