“Help them!”
An unknown voice thundered into his mind. A moment later a wall of pure white streaked by him as dozens of smaller dragons, rocketed over the top of the roiling debris, snatching water folk out of the way. Jared watched in horror as Damien stumbled before one of the white dragons grabbed him. He face-planted, struggling to get back on his feet, but there was no way he’d make it in time.
Right before the rampaging earth reached him, Gayana’s head burst from the out-of-control landslide. She roared in defiance, bunched her muscles and jumped right on top of Damien, tucking her head and tail beneath her as the earth and debris crashed over them.
No.
Seconds later, it was over. The entire ravine looked foreign. Nothing remained. The buildings were gone.
White, hot rage burned within him. Gayana’s carelessness had destroyed their home, Damien might be dead, and all their equipment and weapons were under tons of rock and earth. All their efforts and preparation gone in only a few minutes.
“Put. Me. Down.” Jared seethed in a rage.
“Jared, do not be a fool.”
“Put me down, Scarlet.”
Scarlet opened her claws a few feet off the ground and Jared stalked over to the last place he’d seen Gayana buried. Pushing as much vehemence and anger into his thoughts as possible, Jared roared at her.
“Gayana!”
“I do not think this wise.”
“Scarlet, she destroyed everything, and who knows if Damien survived. It’s gone! All of it! Three times now our world’s turned upside down, and this was entirely preventable.”
Turning back to the spot in the earth he’d chosen to direct his rage, Jared yelled again, and again.
A slight shifting of rubble was the only warning he had before the matriarch burst from the earth, shooting straight up twenty feet before dropping to straddle the hole her exit made. Jared sprinted to the edge of the new crater and saw Damien laying directly beneath her, blood oozing from his face.
Jared didn’t waste a single moment. He dropped into the hole, picked Damien up, and jumped out. He didn’t care if it pushed his muscles too far, he needed to get Damien some help. As he flew from the hole, Jared called out to Casey.
“Casey! I need you here, now!”
Jared laid Damien on the ground next to Scarlet, and Ashazad landed, carrying a pale Casey. He immediately jumped off and ran over. After a long, tense moment, Casey announced that he was okay and just unconscious.
The immediate crisis averted, Jared instructed Casey to carry him away from the area. Steeling himself, his rage a barely contained hurricane, Jared whirled on Gayana.
“What was that!” Jared exploded in a rage, spittle flying and his face burning a bright red.
“I do not answer to you, human.”
“You destroyed everything we’ve built these past few weeks. All our weapons are down there. You almost killed my people.”
“Your people killed Razael.”
“Wrong! We have the same enemy, but your stupidity just set us back months, if not years.”
“What. Did. You. Say?”
“You heard me! Your stupidity!” Jared yelled as loud as he could, his voice echoing off the mountain.
Gayana lashed out with her tail, but Jared proved faster, vaulting over the swing, and grasping the studs lining her tail. Surprising himself, he scrambled to his feet on the still moving tail and sprinted up her back.
She twisted her neck and tried to bat him from her back, but she wasn’t fast enough. Thankfully, she didn’t have razor spikes like Scarlet, or it would have ended badly for him. The pointed studs on her back were hard enough to avoid.
Gayana leaped forward, intending to dislodge him from her back, but it failed again.
“Get off!”
The mental blast nearly succeeded where her physical actions failed. Pushing back with his own psionic blast, Jared yelled at her. “Never!”
“Jared, I think this has gone far enough. Gayana, stop this farce.” The new voice was one he hadn’t heard, and it made him pause until Gayana responded.
“Stay out of this, Sildrainen.”
Jared could see he wouldn’t get through Gayana’s thick skull without drastic measures. A part of him balked at what he was about to do, but the fury wouldn’t abate, and he shrugged off common sense. Whipping out his new phase pistols, Jared carefully lined up his shots and fired a flurry into the exposed section of her neck when she glanced back at him.
She roared in anguish and rage, bucking and thrashing around. She even tried rolling onto her back, but no matter what she tried, Jared was just too fast, and his Maximum Muscle kept him a step ahead of her every time. He saw the scorch marks on her skin and realized that the phase rounds didn’t do more than mar the surface after the first volley.
After a series of particularly close calls with Gayana hot on his heels, Jared pivoted and rushed at her. Startled, she drew up short, but not before he released another round of phase energy into the same spot as before. Jared knew he’d done damage this time. The other earth dragons wailed in protest and started toward them. Scarlet and her brothers blocked the way.
Jared was about to pull the trigger for another round when Layonia’s voice dropped him to his knees. Immediately, Gayana stopped moving. She knew her superior and wisely submitted as the giant water dragon dropped in front of her.
“Stop this at once. Jared, put your weapons away.”
Jared didn’t obey immediately, prompting Layonia to apply more pressure.
“Now!”
The weapons clattered to the ground as he grabbed his head. Excruciating pain filled his mind, and a trickle of blood leaked from his nose.
“Gayana, leave him be. He is right to be angry. We all grieve and in our own way, but you destroyed his home and put those he loves in danger.”
“He is just a paltry human.” The vehemence in her voice made Jared cringe.
Layonia looked at Jared curiously. “A human, sworn to protect mankind and dragonkind. Frankly, I am surprised he could harm you at all, given the vow he made. That tells me only one thing. He did not want to harm you, but you gave him no choice.”
“What vow?”
Gayana didn’t sound so certain of herself anymore. If only she’d let Jared finish showing her everything, she’d know what vow. In hindsight, he should have shown her the vow when he rehashed Alestrialia passing on her legacy.
Did I skip that part? Jared wondered. Maybe she ignored it?
“He swore to protect Scarlet on pain of death. An excruciating death. He also vowed to see dragonkind thrive once more side by side with humans. Did you not see this in his memories?”
“I…” Gayana sounded chagrined. “I did not give them any mind.”
“Then this is all your fault and yours alone. You will aid Jared and his people to recover their equipment and gear, or what little of it remains.”
“I—”
“This is not a request, Gayana. As the oldest and appointed overseer of our kind, my word is final. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Finished with Gayana, Layonia turned her massive head toward Jared.
“Jared. Never confront a dragon or inflict harm on one again. Do you understand?”
“But, what if—”
“Never.”
His mind exploded in another spasm of excruciating pain and more blood oozed from his nose.
“I. Understand.”
“If one of our kind steps out of line again, we will deal with them. Is that understood?”
She looked between the two of them and they both nodded their heads, chastised by this ancient being.
“Jared, finish showing Gayana the events leading up to your encounter.”
“You can’t seriously—”
Layonia tilted her head to the side, and Jared snapped his mouth shut.
“All right, I’ll finish the recounting.”
Once finished, without incident this time, Layonia directed Jared to Fayle, the matriarch of air dragons.
“Fayle, I warn you now. The information is not pleasant, but I will not take kindly to brash reactions.”
Dutifully, Jared sulked over to Fayle. Amidst the chaos, he hadn’t gotten a good look at these new arrivals. They shone as if a light source unto themselves. He knew it was just the sun’s reflection off their pristine white scales, but it almost hurt to look at them. Squinting, Jared craned his neck up to look at Fayle. She lowered her head to Jared’s height, a smirk twisting the corner of her mouth into a smile.
“Consider me impressed, Jared. It is possible you could have won that sparring match. These weapons you carry. They are impressive, no? To penetrate the flesh of an earth dragon is no small feat. I must know more. How did you move so fast? What manner of man are you?”
Jared stared stupidly at this beautiful creature in front of him. Her piercing white irises roved over his body, weighing him thoroughly. Fayle’s voice was a high-pitched and whimsical tone, perhaps to match her nature as an air dragon. Scarlet warned him they were often unpredictable and given to impulse. His first impression didn’t disappoint, and he found himself at a loss on how to proceed. Layonia saved him from the predicament.
“Fayle, let him show you his mind and all will become clear.”
Fayle had much the same reaction when she learned of his ability to mind meld, but overcame her hesitation much faster and laid her head next to him. He sat down, exhausted from his encounter with Gayana. For the next thirty minutes, he showed Fayle all there was to see. Contrary to the reactions of the other two matriarchs, she didn’t react outwardly to his reveal of Razael, but Jared knew there was a slight shift in her perception of mankind. He didn’t know how, but he knew she directed her ire at the humans responsible rather than him and his group. It was strange, since it didn’t seem like there was a difference in her mind, but the way her thoughts shifted and jumped about made it impossible for him to get a solid read on her.
Fayle’s next words shocked Jared altogether.
“We bond now?”
“I—” Jared didn’t know what to say. “We—”
Scarlet saved him from having to respond himself. “I think we should let tensions lapse before we consider more bonds.”
“Thanks, Scarlet. Her mind is…”
“I know.”
The exchange amused Scarlet, and despite the recent events Jared smiled in response to the emotions traveling across their bond.
Layonia inclined her head. “I suggest we all remove ourselves from each other’s company for a time and regroup. Scarlet, Fayle, Gayana, and I will spend the rest of the day and night together in conversation. Tomorrow we decide on our path.”
No one got any sleep that night save Damien, who spent half the night unconscious. He panicked when he finally woke up, confused about how he was still alive. Jared explained what had happened and a strange look came over his face.
“I thought—” Damien collected his thoughts, “—it was just a dream. I don’t know how to explain it. Someone invaded my mind after darkness enveloped me, but I thought it was just my imagination. That was Gayana?”
Jared watched Damien look around as if he wanted to see the dragon that saved his life.
“Yes, it was Gayana. She’s also the one responsible for destroying our home, burying all our gear and weapons, and almost getting you killed.”
“But she saved me.”
Jared couldn’t believe Damien’s insistence on this point. Damien, the one who’d previously supported George and was quick to express doubt of Jared and Vanessa when things didn’t go smoothly. Sure, he’d eventually come around, but Jared thought Damien would hold a grudge against Gayana after what she’d done, not look around for her in reverence.
Could this day get any weirder?
Jared shook his head and pointed in the direction the earth dragons had gone. Damien tried to stand on shaky legs, but Jared pressed him back down.
“You’re in no condition to be up and about. Besides, Layonia made it very clear we’re to remain with our own groups for the night. She is not someone you want to cross. Trust me on that.” Jared reached up and grabbed his head where he felt pulsating pain from her mental blast.
“But—”
Jared held up a hand to silence him. “I’m serious, Damien. It’s not worth it tonight. Wait until tomorrow after Scarlet speaks with them. We’ll know more then. But until then, please try to get what little rest you can.”
“Fine,” Damien spat the word.
Sighing, Jared retreated and found Vanessa. If he disobeyed Layonia’s command, Jared didn’t want to know what would happen. He idly wondered if she would take care of him. Immediately, he admonished himself for the thoughts. He knew Damien would never betray them like George, and wishing death on someone just because they didn’t always agree with him wasn’t the attitude a leader should have.
The night passed ever so slowly, and Jared itched for the sun to crest the mountain tops. Looking at the mound of debris covering the area where the apartments used to be, he saw a metric ton of work and time lost. He wanted to get started right away, with or without the help of Gayana and her kin.
It was several hours after dawn before Scarlet returned to him.
“They will join our cause. Though, as we surmised, Layonia and her kin will not partake in direct battle. They will, however, ferry some of you to the cities if needed.”
“Gayana?” Jared wasn’t sure if she wanted to join the cause after their disagreement.
“Yes, but she has a rather odd request. She wishes to bond with Damien.”
The surprises wouldn’t stop coming. “Seriously? She—I—”
“It surprised us as well, given your confrontation.”
“Do you think that’s such a good idea? You’ve seen Damien can cause problems. Wouldn’t this bond exacerbate that even further?”
“Likely, but it is the only way the earth dragons join our cause.”
He didn’t like it but had no other choice but to agree.
“Scarlet, about the fight—I didn’t want to hurt her, I—”
“I know, Jared. As Layonia said, had you wanted to cause her any real harm, or worse, your vow would have destroyed you. I tried to warn you, but you would not listen to reason.”
“I’m sorry, I let my rage consume me. It’s just”—Jared waved his arm around him—“everything we worked toward is no more. Who knows if the weapons survived this?”
“Gayana will help.” Scarlet seemed certain, even though Jared didn’t know how she could.
“With Fayle and her kin, we have sixty-six dragons and forty-five humans. Jared, we have an army. What are a mere handful of weapons compared to a force such as this?”
Put into perspective, his rage-fueled idiocy seemed petty and juvenile. Ashamed, Jared admitted he’d wronged Gayana and promised to apologize.
“She knows what she did was wrong. I believe the two of you may yet get along if you but give her a chance.”
“I’ll try.”
“Gayana will help clear the rubble and recover as much gear as possible. Though, Layonia suggested we have a bond ceremony first.”
“Scarlet, the boosters!”
Alarm shot through their bond as they both whipped their head to the buried buildings.
“Gayana!”
The giant earth dragon looked over to Scarlet.
“We must carefully excavate the building that used to lie here. There is a crate filled with the boosters that enable the bonding. Without them, we cannot unlock the nanites.”
Jared watched Gayana dip her head. It looked like shame,
but he didn’t know her well enough to understand her mannerisms.
“Gayana—”
“Jared—”
“—I’m sorry for attacking you.”
“—and I apologize for destroying your home and putting your people at risk. It was not my intention.”
“Thank you, Gayana. Let the past stay in the past?”
“Indeed.”
Jared pushed the negative feelings from his mind and reverted to business mode. “So, I’ve no idea if the building is still in this location, or what survived, but we’ve got to try.”
“This is an area where we excel. Please stand back and let us work.” Gayana closed her eyes and pounded her tree-trunks-for-legs into the ground.
“Are you sure?”
Gayana opened one eye to glare at him.
“Hey, okay, okay. Moving back.”
“Family, come.”
Jared watched the earth dragons surround the area, creating a large circle around where the apartments sat. Once all the dragons were in place, the ground vibrated again.
“Oh no, not again.”
“Peace, Jared. She is in control this time. Watch, for this is not something any other human has witnessed before.”
Concerned, Jared listened to Scarlet and watched the dragons from afar, turning his mind to the vibrating sensations running up his legs. He forgot all about the avalanche as he watched the vibrations pulse and move beneath the earth. Directed beams of energy flowed into the ground, pinging off anything that wasn’t of the earth. The beams of energy cut straight through rocks and dirt but bounced off parts of their broken fence and anything else that didn’t belong. It reminded Jared of sonar where the wave of a frequency bounced off objects and returned a simplistic picture. The waves of energy manipulated the objects beneath the ground. If it didn’t belong, the pulsating vibrations pushed and prodded the object. Slowly, the foreign objects moved upward. Not just one, but all at once. Shocked, Jared couldn’t believe it.
“Scarlet, how are they doing this?”
“They are of the earth and understand its nature.”
“Really, Scarlet? Cryptic much?”
“I am a fire dragon, and fire cannot harm me. My body is in communion with it. I can harness it, breathe it, thrive in it. Air dragons harness the air, aiding their speed and agility They can even manipulate it to a degree, creating a cone in front as they fly and using it as a projectile. Water dragons can do much the same with water. If attuned to an element, we can feel that element and shape it to our will.”
Radioactive Revolution: A Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Page 36