Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow by J. Michael Fluck Page A

that ate at the dining hall could consume vast amounts of food not equal to their short but stout builds.
    The Weir cooks were a mix of humans and halflings; the latter were excellent in the diversity of their recipes as a result of their traveling nature. Halflings were restless wanderers, but once they established roots in a particular area, they became a fixture of the community, especially farming communities. They always shared knowledge with each other without a fault, and they were known as excellent small niche farmers and cooks. The kitchen folk had prepared a noodle dish with a spiced tomato sauce, a chicken vegetable stew, and other vegetables and breads.
    Alliance farmers of all races were the most productive in the world, taking the best farming techniques of humans, halflings, and elves. No one in the republic went hungry because of a lack of available food as long as they worked for it. Grains and other foodstuffs were a major export for the Alliance as well as finished goods, crafts, and a host of other materials.
    As the garrison was finishing the meal, Mkel stood up. “Gentlemen and ladies, may I have your attention?” he announced, raising his wine glass. “To the conduct of a successful exercise tomorrow, to the Weir, and to Gallanth,” he toasted.
    “To Gallanth,” everyone repeated as they turned toward the resting dragon, who raised his immense head and then slightly bowed as everyone toasted. All the soldiers, dwarves, and elves of the garrison knew that the power of the gold dragon had saved all their lives on many an occasion, and everyone had great respect for him.
    “To you, gentlemen and ladies, thank you for your service,” the dragon replied.
    Everyone then sat down as Mkel said a few words of encouragement. “I know your platoon leaders and senior sergeants gave you the briefing regarding the exercise, so I will not go into great details about it. I want you to do is to focus on the coordination with all the members of your squad and platoon and the other specialty platoons. This training ensures that all of our combat power is brought to bear synergistically, which will save lives if the need arises. Even though this is just an exercise, with the giants stirring in the mountains, there may be a real fight soon. I know you will do well, as you always have. Thank you,” Mkel finished.
    Ordin spoke up, as he usually did. “To our success,” he growled.
    “To our success,” everyone echoed.
    “All right, gentlemen, there are some final preparations and last equipment checks to perform before the exercise. I suggest that you see to them and then spend a little time with your families,” Toderan finished.
    With that, the dinner was officially over and everyone started to get up and leave to go back to their barracks and their quarters.
    Mkel shook Ordin’s hand and bid him a good night. He headed to the stairway that led to the caverns and tunnels under the Weir that housed the dwarf community. “Good night, my friend,” Mkel said to Toderan.
    “Just a few things to look after, Captain,” he replied.
    “No, we can do the final checks tomorrow morning, Senior Sergeant,” Mkel chided. “There will time before the exercise; just have to have faith, my friend.”
    “All right, I’ll see you early tomorrow in the meeting room,” Toderan said. “Have a good night.” He turned and walked toward his quarters.
    With that, Mkel picked up his overactive son and gave a nod to Annan and Janta to follow him over to where Gallanth was resting.
    “Are you ready, my dragon friend?” he asked. “Let me get a drink first,” the gold dragon replied, raising himself up on his four tree-trunk-sized legs. He turned slowly so as to not hit anyone with his huge tail, walked over to the lake in the center of the Weir’s ground inside the mountain, and lowered his massive head down to drink. Hundreds of gallons water rushed down his throat, after which he lifted his head and walked back to