Free Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm by J. Michael Fluck Page A

seem to be experiencing; several ships do get attacked far out at sea. We recently had a fight with a large kraken when we came to the aid of a Freiland raider ship. This beast was as long as a gold dragon and had greatly enhanced magical powers. It proved quite a challenge for me and my rider before we turned it into chum. Our production of lighting crystals is going very well, for the trade companies and merchant guilds are having no problem getting them through the Atlean port. This means that we will be more than ready to initiate the creation of these floating crystals. Our legion is at full strength, and we have a joint exercise with the fleet and naval infantry in two weeks. Our decision to attach a naval infantry battalion to our legion and detach one of ours to the fleet was an excellent choice for the last exercise, so this will be repeated.”
    “General, we have also had the hatching of a male brass dragon and the nesting of a bronze dragon egg in the last month,” Bkert stated with his normal toothy smile.
    “Excellent, Bronze Rider, more metallic dragon births are always welcome,” Valianth answered.
    “And congratulations for a good fight with that huge kraken. I understand you delivered the killing blow to its evil protruding eye with your spear,” Mkel congratulated his friend.
    Bkert replied with only an even wider grin.
    “Yes, Rapierth and Bkert, congratulations for the successful fight in the sea lanes and for the hatching of the new dragons to our fold. It is also good news with your crystal production,” Becknor stated. “I flew over Atlean several days ago with Colonel Therosvet and Valianth. The port and the city are bustling. It is unique in that you are not having as much trouble as the northern ports,” he stated quizzically.
    The city and harbor of Atlean was the second biggest in the Alliance with only Draconia being larger. Atlean Weir towered over the sprawling city of Atlean itself and was also the second-largest weir in the Alliance, again after the Capital Weir. The city spread out for tens of miles inland from the busy, reinforced port that actually had ships stacked up for offloading at times. Atlean was a center for many merchant guilds that preferred to conduct business there rather than Draconia, which fell in the shadow of the central government and stricter regulations.
    Atlean Weir sat inside an immense extinct volcano that rose over twelve thousand feet above the harbor and had a base of over eight miles wide. At its peak before the Great War, it housed over two hundred dragons, but now, even though it had the second largest dragon contingent, those numbers were just around forty. The weir was roughly a mile and a half to the northeast of the harbor. The dwarves had hollowed out part of the mountain with the help of a large contingent of copper dragons after the First Dragon War and reinforced the immense main entrance, which were almost the same dimensions as the Capital Weir’s. It stood at over three times the size of Draden, but much of it was presently unused. At the huge archway entrance apex were the carved stone heads of the five types of metallic dragons, each with two dragonstones embedded in their eyes. While this was five times the number that powered Draden Weir, the immense size of Atlean warranted it, and these dragonstones were created by bronze dragons.
    The lake at the center portion of the Weir was partially carved out and tapped into the old lava tube that went down to an unexplored depth. Even the sea elves had not attempted to find its extent. Water was supplied from both this fissure and by the snowcapped surface of the mountain. The dwarves had managed to dig several tunnels to the temperate height of the peak where the snow collected and receded based on the season but below the permanent snow line. These points collected water to various internal reservoirs and together fed the weir’s needs. Most of the heavy excavation was done by the copper