Resurrection Dawn

by Marc Secchia

  Mom co-opted two stalwart male Dragons of Onyx, who were brothers, to take care of Gold, Goldie and Red. Red in particular acted very excited by the opportunity to fly with another male. Strutting his stuff, as usual! Platinum and Emerald would ride with Mom, along with Alodeé and Rainflash.

  Here they went. Time do dive, swim, fly – however one looked at it, this was bound to be one wild ride.

  * * * *

  The Dragons lined up along the churning storm wall. At Ssirinssar’s signal, the entire massed flight of thousands of beasts sprang forward as one. Their ferocious bugling momentarily drowned out the thunder of storm waters. As the storm waters rushed toward her face, Alodeé sucked in a breath and ducked reflexively.

  Plunging deep, the Dragons gritted their fangs as the wash tore at their wings, scales, heads and paws. Away! The howling battered her ears; she shut her mouth as water buffeted and slapped her violently and kept a firm hold on her little sisters. Platinum mewled in fear. Flow with the storm’s power, Ssirinssar had advised. Work one’s way toward the centre. There, the winds were said to be concentrated but steadier, which made them easier to handle.

  For many long mins, the Dragons struggled inward. The colourful congregation swirled in time with the storm’s horizontal spiral now, giving the impression of thousands of striking butterflies being caught and submerged in a river. She saw a Dragoness of Amber tumble by, her right wing clearly dislocated, draggling badly. Three Serpents chased her at once. An older light green Dragon must have been knocked out somehow, but two others supported him with the help of a golden Serpent.

  She needed air! Alodeé managed half a gulp and swallowed a great deal of sweetish water, too. She could not even hear her own coughing and hacking amidst the cacophony.

  Emerald’s paw smacked her back. Oh! Much better. Air, at last. Out of the storm wall, the wind’s shrieking was even louder and wilder. Enormous pressures tore at them, forcing many of the Dragons to rely entirely on the Serpents, or risk torn or dislocated wings. What a boon four wings were here. Samodeé’s sleeker construction appeared to give her a great advantage. She controlled their flight with the lightest touches of her wingtips and tail rudder, steadying them in the centre of the blast and touching other Dragons to help them.

  Rainflash’s eyes were huge, ice-blue pools of wonder. “This is great!” she shrieked.

  “I hear you,” Alodeé laughed. “You love the storm?”

  “Storms are best!”

  Slowly, the beleaguered Dragons pulled together in the centre. Some experimented, showing one another how just a tiny cupping of the major wing surface could speed them along. The Serpents undulated with the greatest ease, once more navigating their home territory as if they belonged. No surprises there. Ssirinssar raised his voice in a powerful journeying song. Incredible. From weariness, pain and shock, new courage rose in the Dragons. Alodeé’s scalp tingled at the change she sensed. More and more voices joined the refrain. The winged Dragons linked with one another and the Serpents in long, undulating chains that slowly rotated around their axis together with the howling winds, now adding vertical and horizontal layers that strengthened one another even further.

  Together, we are stronger, she yelled. Together, we are MORE!!

  Alodeé giggled as hundreds of Dragons turned to stare at her. Oops. Sort of forgot where she was for a min there.

  Suddenly, she had another thought. Beat your wings as one. Come on. Work as one – family is one!

  That was an Oraman idea, not hers at all. Yet it appeared to galvanise these Dragons. The song swelled and then the wings began to beat according to the song’s rhythm, as if they were one organism. Whoosh. Whoosh. Swoosh! The immense flight of Dragons sliced through the storm like a perfectly synchronised Humanoid rowing team, gathering speed and steadiness all the while. Using the storm’s power. No longer fighting it. Pouring their song into one another. Platinum and Emerald chirruped in wonder as they clearly caught sight of what Alodeé had begun to notice, that the Dragons were shining. No longer reliant on the light of Dyshaulu, they discovered in this endeavour a way of shining together. Each crystalline Dragon contributed his or her own unique light. The Pygmies were gleaming white dots peering from the safety of paws; each golden Serpent shone like a golden ingot stolen from a Dragon’s treasury.

  How breathtaking. Even Ssirinssar’s face was alight with wonder. Had he never realised this was possible? Had his stories not foretold this?

  Mom’s head curved to gaze at her paws. You’re glowing too, Alodeé.

  I am? I … I AM SHINING!!

  She did not know why, but she began to laugh. She laughed as if a volcano had erupted inside her chest and she did not know how to stop it. It was her answer to uncontainable wonder. She flew with Dragons. Flying home to her Dad. Her Mom was alive; she had five baby brothers and sisters. Despite that they flew straight for the heart of the danger, Alodeé could not keep from giggling until her sides ached. Tears stood in her eyes, born of the twin aches of worry and astonishment. Her body glowed. Her hair shone from within, a halo of fire about her face.

  Who could have imagined this?

  The Dragons grew weary, but flew on. The song faltered, but then the voices picked up the refrain once more. Ssirinssar was a tower of strength, pushing them onward. Just one more hour. One more again. One more refrain. One more song.

  47 hours later, the supaphoon petered out.

  The dazed, tingling, exhausted Dragons staggered through the air, finding their way to the feet of a forest gigantic even to the Dragonkind. The deep purple roots appeared to be deeply embedded in a suspended substrate of mud, while the crowns atop their klom-tall trunks were exuberant bursts of cherry-red blossoms. Petals drifted on the slight breeze left over after the endless blast, sweet and fragrant. The golden Serpents dropped into the shores of this forest in order to rest, their mouths agape and panting.

  Such a shock to enjoy silence once more. Alodeé prodded her ears. Wow.

  Ssirinssar declared a rest whilst he and his fellow Serpents took a renewed set of soundings. She understood that this in part involved searching for what they called ‘taint,’ the residue, resonance, or energy fields of Humanoid tech. Perhaps even her peoples’ pollutants. She checked her Comms bracelet. Nothing. Too much to hope for, right?

  The soundings took the better part of three hours to conduct given the distance and interference factors. Eventually, Ssirinssar called Alodeé and Samodeé to join the leaders.

  “This is what we’ve heard.” He sketched quickly in the mud. “We think there are Settlements here, here and – this part is hazy – maybe here and here? This easternmost one, this is your Hazmuri Falls, correct?”

  Alodeé examined his sketch, evaluating the relative locations against memories of Dad teaching her the flight paths he used. “Yep. This will be slightly more northerly, more … here. This is Settlement Central, a very large island. You’re probably seeing interference from the other colonies nearby and this central one will be very strong, perhaps overriding the signature of the others?”

  The Serpent Dragons all agreed in chorus.

  “Alright. Where are the carnoraptors?”

  Without speaking, Ssirinssar drew a gentle curve heading toward Hazmuri Falls from approximately 25 degrees east of due north. “Not quite the vector we expected. They will hit Hazmuri within the next day and your Central not long after.”

  Samodeé said, “Hazmuri is more vulnerable.”

  Another Dragon fluted, “Surely they have already evacuated to this Central?”

  “Maybe,” Alodeé agreed. “If they had sufficient warning and time. These are a stubborn people. Here in the centre, they are more reasonable.”

  “Would there be enough transportation for a mass evacuation?” Samodeé asked.

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “It might take days. It’s a decent flight, maybe 2.5 hours to Hazmuri Falls – about 415 kloms, I’d estimate.”

  Ssirinssar fluted, “Our choice is
clear, I believe?”

  The Dragoness of Emerald nodded. “The time differential means that we’d have time to help Hazmuri Falls before Central gets hit. Central is much more heavily defended and has all the underground shelter one could ask for. Also, we might be able to communicate between one and the other. Alodeé?”

  She stared at the dots, thinking, I feel as if something’s happening at Hazmuri Falls right now. Can’t put my finger on it … one of those freaky sensations that puts the fear of Dragons into me …

  “Alodeé, we’re all hearing you,” her Mom warned.

  “Sorry.”

  Ssirinssar said, “You are a very powerful telepath, Alodeé. Please take care.”

  Sorry! She winced. “Sorry I said sorry … like that.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” the golden Serpent replied bluntly. “It is a gift. Now, we’ve a great climb ahead of us. Hazmuri Falls it is. Only a few thousand kloms to go, Dragons!”

  The groans outnumbered the cheers.

  Chapter 26

  Standard 1301.07.26 Estimated – Hazmuri Falls

  USING THICK VINES THEY found in the strange forest, the Dragons prepared carrying beds for the Serpents who planned to accompany them into the heights – Ssirinssar and a dozen others. The rest planned to explore the terrain beneath the Humanoid colonies, just shy of 3,000 kloms deeper, in the hope of finding a reliable route up through the atmospheric layers. They would also search for a suitable place to wait for the others and take many more sensitive soundings in the hope of finding clues as to the location of other Dragon nations.

  For several hours, the Dragonkind flew upward, past and through immense thickets of cherry blossoms. Beguiling beauty. Alodeé imagined flying through scented clouds. At the top, they entered a gulf perhaps 250 kloms in height, before the eye just about detected the shadows of further islands above.

  Ssirinssar smelled out an upwelling.

  Ah, of course. The madness was hardly likely to abate, was it?

  Thankfully, this upwelling was more like a strong thermal than the crazy, explosive upwellings she had seen before and so the Dragons had the relative luxury of ascending to the next atmospheric layer with the benefit of steady 70-80 klom-per-hour tailwinds. Within a couple of hours, they passed through a grey rocky layer, not unlike an asteroid belt and then up through several further layers of relatively barren islands. Onward into openness again, this lit with the mellow hues of evening.

  The Dragons rested on the wing. New carriers took over the vines from those helping to transport Ssirinssar and his friends.

  The Serpent quipped, “If you see any carnoraptors, just drop me on their heads.”

  Even the keenest of eyes saw nothing at all, as yet. Alodeé did not know whether to be more alarmed or set at ease.

  This gulf required a much longer traverse, upward of 10 hours. Night was deep and full, closer to midnight, before several of the Dragons began to point out islands above. These appeared greener, more familiar to her. Here were the long chains of vegetation binding some island groups and the clusters of greenery that appeared to fancy floating together without being visibly tied. They spotted a few isolated carnoraptors, but nothing that might suggest a super-migration. Again, Ssirinssar smelled out an upwelling, this one more chaotic and dangerous than before. It came complete with swarms of small, blindly aggressive bat-like predators that needed to be flamed to be discouraged from constant attacks on Dragons’ wings and tails.

  The dragonets leaped out of paw to practise their hunting skills, crunching the predators in their jaws and slicing them through with bared talons, even little Platinum. Samodeé growled instruction. Faster turns, more ruthlessness, watch one another’s backs, as best Alodeé understood. For creatures barely two weeks old – truly? Where did the time vanish? – they made impressive hunters already. When the inevitable glances came in her direction, she made sure to dish out the obligatory approving nods. Rascals. Did she see Emerald copying Red’s posturing behind his back? Gold and Goldie zipped past, hunting in tandem. She gave them her best battle yell in Pyromelodic.

  “Alodeé!” her mother hissed.

  “What?”

  “Yell with the throat, not with the mind.”

  “Oh, did I –” She glanced about ruefully. Sorry, every Dragon. Learning curve. Mama’s growling at me, so I promise, I will get this right.

  Many fangs flashed smiles around her.

  One thickset, light blue male called, “Save your mind punch for the carnoraptors!”

  Oh! Great idea.

  Three hours into the ascent into the foliage, the islands had become thicker and greener and the first signs of a denser carnoraptor population appeared. They clung to cliff faces and deep green vines in thick knots, apparently asleep – or exhausted? She could not tell. Usually, carnoraptors hunted night or day, unfussy about when or where they found meat. A few Lightning Pygmies flashed over to assassinate the sleepers. Visibly sluggish, they barely responded. Very odd. The scope of their bloody work widened as the Pygmies clearly decided that today’s work was of the vengeful sort.

  Alodeé had never been to Hazmuri Falls, but Samodeé vaguely recalled visiting in the early days of the Settlement’s expansion. It lay in the ‘V’ of a large island, part of a distinctive cluster that passed water down a series of mighty waterfalls so far explored to 57 kloms in height. Above that altitude, they had found so many reapers of a new sort, a luminous green, that the explorers had been forced to halt. With all this water about, having the Serpents zero in on the location proved only a matter of time.

  As dawn broke, the huge flight of Dragons broke away from the upwelling to wing quickly among the islands. Carnoraptors covered every surface, every tree, every dangling island root in a blanket of fiery orange. Their yellow eyes glinted at the interlopers, as if incredulous that any of the four-pawed sort would dare to encroach upon their territory. Still, they did not attack. The atmosphere was intense, uncomfortable, charged. The Lightning Pygmies gave up on the indiscriminate slaughter. Rainflash noted that their reserves of lightning power were limited. They needed to save what they had for battle.

  She heard only the thunder of the waterfalls, far away but quickly growing closer. Samodeé directed the flight upward beneath great trailing vine chains crawling with carnoraptors, while her daughter tried and failed not to imagine all of these predators coming alive at once and falling upon the intruders with vengeful paw and fang. No such thing. None of the characteristic dull thudding of photon cannons, either. Had the Settlement been overrun? Abandoned?

  Hazmuri Falls was renowned for its waterfalls and natural botanical beauty. Now, it had become a resting ground for millions of carnoraptors. When it was clear that there were no defenders and no automated defences to speak of, Mama Dragon took Alodeé for a quick recce, passing as low over the Res area as was safe.

  She pointed with a talon. “Look, Alo. Blaster marks. That tower’s half destroyed.”

  Not that one could tell much, given as orange bodies lay heaped upon every surface, every rooftop, draped across the defences and covering the fields.

  “There’s been a battle here, but not the sort we expected,” she agreed, pointing to their left. “That was an AVACS, right?”

  A burned-out shell of an AVACS. No bodies – likely, they would have been eaten, but there should have been something other than this eerie, empty silence if the Settlement had actually been attacked and overrun by carnoraptors. Not these precision black blaster marks on the control tower, for example. This smacked of a Humanoid attack.

  “Right. I don’t like the looks of this,” Samodeé growled. “Insurrection?”

  “Yep, that’s my gut – oh freak, no!”

  Said gut woke up to the reality of a sliver of ice. The last time that she had this sensation was when she saw those Obsidian Shaman Flyers down in the canyon. This time, she could not see any of those creatures, but the ripple of movement that roused the carnoraptors was more than clear enough.

 
Get out of here! she roared. Everyone, MOVE!!

  The flight of Dragons, which had been hovering a quarter-klom back beside the glorious curve of the multiple waterfalls, rippled and moved together defensively. Pygmies flashed out, killing the nearest carnoraptors.

  “Tell them to fly west,” her mother ordered crisply.

  West! she roared, at the same time as Ssirinssar must have shouted the same. Her Mom beat her wings powerfully, shooting them over a rising tide of attackers.

  Focus on the carnoraptors. Punch them with your mind.

  Er …

  Like this.

  “Ouch!” Alodeé complained. Clear enough.

  Orange folded toward the Dragons from every direction. So thick were the bodies, they could barely flap for wing space. Smother and kill. Seeing the trap closing, she punched and flailed with her mind as best she could. No. Blades. Sharp, deadly blades. A swathe of carnoraptors fell back upon their fellows which were trying to attack the Dragons from beneath. Gap! Fire flared from the massed throats, opening the path further as the Dragons fought to reach clear air. The undulation of carnoraptor movement spread ahead of them like water suddenly responding to an island tremor.

  Pain slashed her mind!

  Instinctively, she flared back. Mental flame, blade, flail – she had no idea what to do, but she sensed a dark presence fall back and disappear at once. Headache! She folded up in her mother’s paw, rubbing frantically at her temples.

  “Good work, Alodeé!”

  “I go!” Rainflash hissed away, clearing an attacker out of Samodeé’s path. Twice. Three times!