by Kyle West
Isa nodded, along with Shara.
“It’s good to be here,” Pallos said, as he turned the ship toward Dragonspire, shining brightly under a storm of flames. “Though I wish the circumstances were better. Let’s just concentrate on the goal ahead. I’m picking up some flying objects on the radar, encircling the mountain. Friend or foe, I can’t say.”
“Let’s get in closer,” I said.
* * *
We flew closer to the mountain, but the glare of the flames made it difficult to make out anything.
Quietus? Are you out there?
Shanti . . .
Quietus? Where are you?
We fight . . . on the other side of the mountain.
“Go around the mountain,” I ordered. “The dragons are there.”
We waited as Pallos did so. Within moments, we had skirted the edge of the burning mountain and come upon a scene of madness. Two hosts of dragons, it seemed, were fighting, though it was hard to differentiate the two at first. Watching the scene unfold, I started to pick up on the little differences. The Earth dragons seemed to be smaller, and at a glance something felt different about them, their movements being calm and fluid. The other dragons were much larger, always black, and made jarring and unnatural movements with their wings, tails, and necks, as if possessed by madness. Their eyes shone brighter than the others.
Beneath the field of battle were three great, billowing masses, with large openings on top. Out of these openings flew more dragons, along with scurrying, insectoid creatures on multiple legs.
“Those are the vessels,” I said. “What they used to travel here.”
And, in the middle of it all, was the largest dragon I had ever seen, larger than Quietus and Askal combined. How the creature even managed to keep aloft was a mystery. Unlike the smaller dragons under its command, its movements were slow, yet powerful. In the light of the inferno, I could see two smaller, yet still large, dragons fighting against him . . . one pink, and one black.
“That’s them,” I said. “Askal and Quietus.”
“Fighting him?” Isa asked, horrified.
I knew that was Odium, or at least, the form in which Odium was manifesting himself. At our appearance, the massive dragon turned and let out a bone-shattering roar. Even through the hull of the ship, the volume was enough to get all of us to cover our ears.
“How do we fight that?”
“If we open fire, we risk killing the Elder Dragons in the process,” Isaru said.
“Can we get them to pull back?” Isa asked.
“Incoming dragons!” Pallos said.
“Engage the turrets,” I said. “Everyone, sit down and buckle up!”
As everyone rushed to their seats, Pallos veered Odin left and put on a burst of speed, the turrets opening fire on the dragons nearest our ship.
“Disengage!” I said. “Don’t want it to hit friendlies.”
“Turning off auto-engage,” Pallos said. “I don’t have time to reprogram the firing code.”
Shanti . . .
Quietus? We’re coming! We’ll find to a way to help you. Just hold on a minute longer.
It’s . . . a trap. If we die . . . there is still hope. If you die . . . all is lost.
No, Quietus. I won’t leave you here!
The ship suddenly jerked again, as something slammed into its side, causing the ship to dip toward the fiery tree line. Pallos pulled up just in time, and gained some altitude.
“We’ll be dead if we stay here!” Pallos said.
I turned on the automatic firing; the only dragons close to us now were Radaskim. The turrets engaged again, firing a stream of high velocity bullets. Several of the attacking Radaskim screamed as the rain of metal tore them to shreds and sent them spiraling toward the ground.
Then, suddenly, the bullets ended.
“Fresh out,” Pallos said.
We had absolutely nothing to fight with.
“Stay out of range,” I said. “I’m going to try something.”
When I reached to embrace the Xenofold, all I felt was fire and pain.
I need your power, I said. All you can give me.
I felt the power flow into me, but nowhere near enough to challenge what was facing me. Nowhere near enough to save Askal and Quietus.
Go, my child, Askal said.
Refusing to believe this could be the end for them, I used all the power I had to place a tether on every dragon nearby the ship. Their minds fused with mine, and I held onto control using all the power I possessed. They pushed back, hard, but I directed them to fly and attack Odium, who was busy beating back Askal and Quietus.
Foolish one, Odium said, his voice mocking. You will destroy yourself trying to defeat me.
The power of the Xenofold was failing against Odium’s power. Stubbornly, I clung on and drew more power, screaming in pain as my control slipped from the dragons, one by one.
Suddenly, I was pulled back to the reality of the bridge, Isaru shaking me. “Whatever you’re doing, stop! You’re going to kill yourself.”
“I won’t let them die,” I said. “I won’t!”
The six dragons I’d taken control of were now dispersing, attacking the other Elder Dragons, of which there were fewer and fewer every passing moment.
“We’re out of bullets, and we’re out of time,” Pallos said. “If we don’t move out soon . . .”
Then, a shrill cry broke the night. I screamed as I watched Quietus’s dark, black form fall from the sky, beaten down by one of Odium’s massive wings. Enraged, Askal flew straight for Odium’s neck, but the entirety of his body became clamped in Odium’s massive jaws. The giant dragon’s eyes glowed malevolently as the jaws clenched with tremendous power, crushing and shaking the Elder Dragon King beneath. Askal was tossed aside, and careened toward the fiery ground beneath.
Over the next, terrible moments, we watched powerlessly as what was left of the Elder Dragons fled from the wrath of Odium and his host. The Radaskim dragons gave chase to the fleeing Elders, catching the stragglers as they flew.
Next, they were coming for us.
“There’s nothing we can do,” I said, my voice heavy with defeat. “Fly for Sylva. Perhaps we can warn them of what’s coming.”
Wordlessly, Pallos turned the ship and we flew north, away from the carnage with Odium’s victorious roars urging us onward.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
THERE WAS LITTLE SAID OR done on the trip north from Dragonspire. Isa cried quietly in the wardroom. Isaru sat in the engine room alone, brooding. Fiona had gone off to one of the cabins. Pallos commandeered the ship, focusing only on getting us safely to Sylva.
Shara and I sat alone in the conference room, neither speaking.
“Has all hope left?” Shara asked.
I had no answer for her. It certainly felt as if it had. Whatever the case, we were here now, powerless to fight against the coming storm. We didn’t even have bullets, and couldn’t get more except from Shenshi, a place we couldn’t return to without indebting ourselves to Shen.
I shook my head. “I’ve ruined everything. I couldn’t stop the Hyperfold in time. No one is prepared for Xenofall. There isn’t anything on Earth powerful enough to stop a host of dragons like that. Even if everything were gathered together . . . hypothetically . . . what could stop them?”
“We need air power to match,” Shara said. “What about Isaru’s dragons?”
I shook my head. “Those dragons were loyal to Odium. At best, they become Mindless again. And with Odium here now, who knows what’s happening with them?”
“If they’re Mindless, they can still be controlled, right?” Shara asked. “You’re Elekim. You have powers now that you didn’t before. Perhaps if you tried to get to those dragons before Odium does, there’s a chance they would be led by you.”
Somehow, I doubted that, but even if there was a remote chance for that to be true, I’d be crazy not to try.
Before I could respond, Fiona appeared in the doorway. �
��We must go to Colonia.”
Her eyes were shining more brightly than usual, a sure sign that she had just been communing with the Xenofold.
“A prophecy?” I asked.
“Yes,” Fiona said. “I went into a trance. It’s time to gather your army, Shanti. It’s waiting for you at Colonia.”
“It’s true, then,” Shara said. “Those dragons will follow the first person powerful enough to command them. If we can grab them first, we’ll have something to challenge Odium with.” Shara paused to consider. “In fact, it’s where Odium must be heading now.”
“The Xenofold has revealed the way,” Fiona said. “We must take it.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin trying to control them . . .”
“Nonetheless, you have the power,” Fiona said. “You are Elekim. Didn’t Alex do the same for the dragons long ago? Didn’t he make them Elekai?”
Fiona was right; he had. “I need to tell Pallos to change course.”
As we walked through the corridor, the entire ship shifted from a massive impact in its hull. We all fell to the deck while the lights winked on and off.
“What the . . .?” Shara said.
Pallos’s voice crackled through the speakers. “We’ve been hit by something, I don’t know if I can . . .”
The sound cut out. I crawled forward to the bridge just to see exactly what was going on.
When I made it, it was to the sight of fiery rocks raining from the sky. It hadn’t just been localized to Dragonspire, but seemed to be hitting near every major population center. Sylva’s lights could be seen among the trees of the forest, and the fiery rocks kept falling from the sky, devastating the surrounding landscape.
“We’re losing power,” Pallos said. “Readout is showing something wrong with the engines. I can’t keep the thrusters going much longer.”
“But we need to get to Colonia!” I said. “Fiona has received a prophecy. If we can make it . . .”
“Shanti,” Pallos said, “as it stands, I doubt we even make it to Sylva. If we push Odin, then the ship will crash out of the sky. But if I can ground it now, there is a chance I can repair it later . . . small chance though it is.”
“If we’re grounded here, the ship will be destroyed in the fires, or by another rock,” I said. “Keep trying, Pallos. We can’t afford to land now.”
Just as I said that, the ship gave another jolt, its nose tipping toward the ground. The engines were struggling. While the fusion reactor still seemed to work, it was struggling to feed that power to the ship’s systems.
“It is hopeless,” Pallos said. “If we stay airborne, the ship’s going to fall like a rock.”
“Land it, then,” I said. “As close to the city as you can.”
Pallos nodded. “There’s no guarantee of that. But I’ll do my best.”
Pallos guided the ship sharply down. Odin’s design was such that it couldn’t glide; it relied solely on thrust in multiple directions to provide its lift and direction. Odin now slowly descended at a controlled burn, a burn that could end in all our deaths if the power cut out completely.
“I’m cutting off power to everything but the engines,” Pallos said. “Perhaps there’s enough juice to get us to the city outskirts.”
A meteor crackled right by the ship, displacing the air and buffeting against Odin’s starboard side. The ship shook and groaned from the force but steadied slowly as it neared the trees.
“There’s a clearing up ahead,” I said. “Just outside the city.”
“I see it,” Pallos said. “We’ll be out of power any moment now. Hang on a bit longer . . .”
The power went out just as we were about to land. The last command Pallos put into the ship was to open the doors.
The ship gave a final shudder as it thudded onto the Earth, perhaps to never rise again.
* * *
We piled off the ship and ran to the edge of the clearing, looking back to assess the damage. Odin’s hull still glowed red-hot from where it had been struck, its frame twisted. The meteor had hit right where the engines were, and the fact that the ship had been able to get us this far was a wonder in itself.
Pallos, however, had fallen to his knees and had tears in his eyes. “Ten years of work . . .” He covered his face.
“We have no time to mourn,” I said, though I wanted very much to do the same thing, only on behalf of Quietus and Askal. “Sylva is close, and I’m hoping they’ll have dragons to spare for us to get to Colonia.”
Isaru reached a hand to Pallos, who reluctantly took it.
“There may be monsters around,” Shara warned. “That might include things that crawl on the ground.”
Everyone nodded. Right now, the only threat seemed to be the fires, but from where we stood, none were visible, aside from the harsh red glow above the trees. The smell of smoke was harsh, though, and promised we would run into a fire before we made it to the city.
We started off at a run, sprinting through the darkness of the trees. Their ethereal glow barely provided enough light to see by, but the forest here was well-maintained, mostly free of hindering undergrowth or fallen logs and branches. It made it fairly easy to pass through.
There were small fires here and there, and once we crossed a burnt-out clearing, but the lack of undergrowth was doing favors for the trees. Some of the trunks were scorched, but the oldest and tallest still stood high, as they had for centuries.
We ran without pausing, all of us breathless as we arrived at the outskirts of the city, of which some of the buildings were aflame high in the treetops. We ran past streams of frightened people seeking shelter in the outer forests, and we were the only ones running for the city itself.
I saw from the fires that there was no way we could climb inside safely.
“Uncle Arius . . .” Fiona said, stepping forward. “I pray that you are safe.”
I reached out with my mind, searching for any sign of him, or of dragons. Arius’ whereabouts were inconclusive from my search, but I felt the presence of some dragons. Whether they belonged to certain riders or not didn’t matter much to me at this point. Elekim had need of them. If we didn’t reach Colonia before Odium, then all was lost. As of now, we had a head start, but we were losing that advantage.
Any dragon hearing this, come to me, receive your mind, become one of us. I am Elekim.
“What now?” Isaru asked.
“We wait, and we hope,” I said.
“Look!” Isa said.
Two dragons circled down from above, each of them landing right in front of us. They were small, their ages somewhere between dragonling and adulthood . . . but each could still bear us.
Is this all of you? I asked, as I walked forward to touch each of their snouts, which they were offering.
As I touched them, the power of the Xenofold left my fingers, entering them. Their eyes lit with power as they gained awareness of who, and what, they were. These Askaleen were no longer Mindless. In the space of a single moment, they had gained self-awareness, and they recognized me for who I was.
Elekim, each of them intoned. They lowered their heads reverently.
We need your help, I said. We need to reach Colonia to enlighten all the Mindless dragons there. Speed is of the utmost importance.
We will bear you, the dragon on the left said. But we cannot bear all of you. Choose one, and the rest must remain here.
I turned to the others. “I will go on alone to Colonia, along with one other person. The rest will have to stay here, doing what they can to help the situation. I’ll return when I have the dragons.”
“Who will go with you?” Isa asked.
Already, I knew the answer. “Isaru.”
He nodded. “Like old times.”
“There’s not much time,” I said. “Fiona is in charge while I’m gone.”
Fiona nodded. “We’ll do what we can here. Look to the Xenofold, Shanti. Let it guide you.”
“I will.”
Isaru and I
mounted, and with one last look, we departed, fleeing the fiery scene. They all watched as we flew away, and I hoped I wasn’t leaving them to their doom. The rocks were no longer falling, and there was no sign of any Radaskim, but I knew that an assault on the city was only a matter of time.
Isaru drew his dragon alongside mine. “These dragons are quick, but it doesn’t seem right that they don’t have names.”
“They were never named by their mothers,” I said. “I suppose that’s how it is with the Mindless.”
What is your name? I asked the dragon I flew on.
His answer came quickly. I was awakened in the fires of the forest, so my name will be Flame.
“He wants to be called Flame,” I said to Isaru.
“Mine chose Falling Star,” Isaru said.
Welcome to the Xenofold, Flame and Falling Star.
I felt recognition and gratefulness from both of the dragons, reflected in the speedy beating of their wings as they left the city of Sylva behind.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
THE LAND BELOW WAS DARK and quiet, the xen and trees giving off a weak, pink glow that had little to do with bioluminescence and more to do with the full moon and stars shining above. The fires of Sylva and the forest were left behind, and all was quiet again save the cold breeze and the beating of the dragons’ wings.
Peering to the south, there was no sign of the coming Radaskim host. If all went well, we would reach Colonia far before Odium and his minions.
Isaru clung tightly to Falling Star, somehow feeling safe enough to sleep in that position. He had probably done so countless times on Jorla’s back, though Falling Star was much smaller than she had been.
I closed my own eyes, not knowing if I would get the chance to rest again.
When I opened them, the forest was gone and we were passing over wide, open plains. Below, I could see hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of fiery lights. They weren’t bright enough to be meteor impacts, and it was only when I saw moving shapes of men and horses among those fires that I realized that it was an army.