by Ramy Vance
“Trust me, Brath! Please, just trust me.”
Brath stared at Alex as they approached the meteor. His beady eyes were hard to read. Alex couldn’t tell if he was thinking about cutting and running or something else. Finally, Brath turned back to the meteor, leaned forward, and went flying straight toward where Alex had been pointing.
Furi let out a tunnel of fire at the left section of the meteor. That fire was followed by Amber releasing lightning bolt after lightning bolt as Jim and Gill finally caught up. Timber fired as well, giant spires of rock flying from her mouth.
Jim hit the back thrusters on his mech and floated, completely stationary, as his mech’s missiles locked onto the corner of the meteor. He fired a volley of a dozen warheads that hit the rock, blowing off massive chunks that fell into the battle beneath them.
Chine shot a stream of ether fire as Alex held her breath, hoping she was right. All she knew was that there was something within the meteor.
The smoke began to clear. There was hardly a scratch on the surface of the meteor. No, Alex thought.
The dragonriders swooped back, putting more space between themselves and the meteor, which was still descending. “Was that it?” Brath asked. “We didn’t even put a dent in it!”
Jollies pointed at the meteor and squeaked, “No! We did! See?”
Alex’s eyes hyper-focused on the crust of the meteor. Jollies was right. The surface of the meteor was cracking. “Let’s hit it again!” Alex shouted. “This time with everything you got! And I mean everything!”
The dragonriders fired up their various offensive augments. “On my count,” Alex said. “One. Two. Three!”
The riders blasted out a hailstorm of flames, electricity, gravitational distortion, and missiles. The attacks landed, one after another, breaking into the crust of the meteor. Alex reached out, concentrating as hard as she could. She imagined the crust ripping apart, tearing open to show what was inside.
Alex felt some kind of force extend from her and grip the cracking mantle of the meteor. At first, she thought it was in her head, but then she felt that force grip the meteor hard. The force was coming from her and Chine—from their minds.
Chine and Alex telekinetically dug into the cracking meteor as the rest of the dragonriders continued to unleash hell on it. Alex screamed as her head started to pound, then the left section of the meteor ripped apart, completely separating from the rest.
The chunk of meteor fell through the sky, bursting into flames as if it were entering the atmosphere. Then it stopped falling, floating in the air before the dragonriders as the battle raged below. Intense heat shot out from it.
The dragonriders flew backward, putting more space between them and the piece of meteor. “Uh, was that part of the plan?” Brath asked shakily. “Is the meteor done now?”
Alex ignored Brath and concentrated on what was happening in front of her. Wave after wave of energy was flowing from the chunk. There was definitely something within it. They just had to wait and see what it was.
As if reading Alex’s mind, the meteor started to vibrate, shaking violently in the air. It cracked more, flashes of energy sparking beneath the cracks.
The top of the meteor began to bubble. Thick, black slime oozed from an opening hole like some sort of foul afterbirth. A pale hand pushed itself out from the hole, spreading the gap wider as another hand forced itself through.
As the hands touched the air, a black material appeared, wrapping them in shrouds. As more of the pale body forced itself from the meteor, the same material covered the thin, skeletal frame until Holmorth the Dark Wizard of Khaldor stood atop the meteor, his shifting face contorting as if he were only a memory in this reality.
Alex felt her blood boil as she tried to control her breath and stay calm. He was what was behind the meteor. It made perfect sense. Only something as evil as he was could want to be responsible for so many deaths.
Holmorth straightened to his full height, reaching down and unsheathing a wispy wand. “Ah, it seems as if we will dance once more,” he growled in his raspy voice. “I did not think I would have the chance to kill you all so soon. The gods must be smiling on me.”
Brath screamed something unintelligible, and Furi launched a firebolt at Holmorth. The wizard merely waved his wand and the fire disappeared around him. “You’re going to have to try much harder than that.”
Alex raised her hands and turned to Brath. “Hold on, hold on!” she said. “He’s more powerful than he was before. We can’t just attack and give him the advantage.”
“If he’s so powerful, why the hell is he monologuing?”
Alex thought the question through. “You’re right. He must be stalling for some reason,” she said. “Dragonriders, get ready to—”
Holmorth raised his wand and bowed slightly. “I am not stalling,” he hissed. “Merely playing with my food before the kill. If you are in such a rush to lose your lives, then by all means, let me oblige.”
Holmorth floated into the air, his wand raised high. As his feet left the meteor, the crust rapidly deteriorated. Beneath the crust was something foul, reeking of offal and decay, yet encased in what could only be a womb.
The membrane over the embryonic sac was pink and nearly transparent. An eye opened in the fluid, then the membrane burst and the rotting liquid fell to the ground, burning through whatever bat or dragonrider was in its way.
A creature old and horrible uncurled in the sky, its bony tail unwrapping to allow shredded and tattered wings to open. Its body was made of bone, its skin rotting. Maggots poured from its mouth, the undead dragon roaring loudly enough that those who fought below stopped to look up in horror.
Holmorth landed atop the dragon and laughed maniacally. “How does one kill what is already dead?” he taunted. “How does one slay what was born in the very fabric of reality, died, and returned anew, now evil?”
Jim’s voice came through on the comm. “That’s a really good question. How are we going to kill that thing?”
Alex responded, “I’m glad you’re on board with killing it.”
Brath was staring down Holmorth and the undead dragon. “Of course, we’re going to kill it,” he said. “Holmorth killed our friends in cold blood. We don’t have a choice. You hardly ever get a chance for revenge. Now we can make him feel every one of their deaths.”
Alex had been trying not to think about what had happened at the Wasp’s Nest. She didn’t want to think of the dead cadets, their bodies broken and mangled by the invasion Holmorth had led. But Brath was right. Innocent lives had been lost, children mostly, and it had been Holmorth’s doing.
Alex sized up the dragon as Holmorth stood gloating, rambling on about a new age of darkness or some other apocalyptic drivel. The undead dragon was easily twice the size of Furi. A straight-on fight was going to end up with all the riders dead. “We go low,” Alex suggested. “Back into the thick of the fight.”
Gill chuckled and said, “So, you’re opting for running this time? A bold new strategy.”
“Hey, you gotta try something new sometime,” Alex said as she leaned forward, sending Chine diving into the chaos. The rest of Team Boundless followed closely.
Chapter Nine
Team Boundless plunged deep into the battle, weaving between bats and other dragonriders with the undead dragon and Holmorth hot on their tails. Alex knew she was going to have to come up with something better than her current plan.
To be fair, the plan was working fairly well at the moment. The undead dragon was too large to maneuver through the flying bodies. It was more likely to hit a bat than to hit any other dragonriders since the dragonriders were so outnumbered.
As long as Alex could stay out of the undead dragon’s way, she would have time to figure out what needed to be done. Hey, Chine, anything I need to know about undead dragons?
His answer was hardly encouraging. Undead dragons are the eldest of all dragons. They are the progenitors of our race, extremely powerful. Even death
could not hold them. Their own power brought many of them back to life.
Okay, but how do we kill it?
The same way you kill any dragon—beat it to death. There is only a little life left in its body. Extinguish the flame that burns within it, and the dragon will remain dead.
Now Alex could see the only flaw in her plan. If the undead dragon was incapable of attacking Team Boundless, the team couldn’t go after it that way either. There was too much going on for a straight-on attack. Whatever their next phase was going to be, it would have to be heavy on creativity. “Jollies, you read me?” Alex asked.
The pixie’s voice came through the comm crystal-clear. “Yep! You having an easy time dodging all these bats? I swear, I didn’t know there were this many bats in the world.”
“Not as easy a time as I wanted. I’m going to need you to come with me. We need to start whittling down Holmorth’s dragon, and see what Holmorth is capable of as well.”
“On it!”
Jollies came zooming through the battle from the other side. Amber and Jollies had speed that Alex couldn’t even dream of competing with, and it was that Alex needed at that moment.
Alex and Jollies turned back around, heading toward Holmorth. A group of bats flew at the two dragonriders. They were only able to narrowly pull away at the last minute as the bats sent sonic blasts toward them.
Jollies went low and Alex went high, Alex clearing a path with Chine’s ether flames. Once the bats were out of the way, the dragonriders continued toward Holmorth.
Holmorth was waving his wand above his head, lightning crackling from the tip like a whip as he lashed out at the dragonriders around him. He knocked two of them from their dragons and they plunged to the ground, screaming in pain.
Alex noticed lightning seemed to be coming off of the elder dragon’s body as well. Maybe Jollies wasn’t the best to bring along for this particular plan. “Hey, Jollies, is lightning the only element Amber can use?” Alex asked.
Jollies and Amber buzzed around Chine’s head. “No! I got an elemental switcher on her,” Jollies answered. “We can go with water, too.”
“Hm…water, huh? All right, Jollies, soak the bats directly around the dragon, okay?”
“On it!”
Jollies split away from Alex and started to circle the bats near Holmorth, drenching them in water while Alex occupied herself dodging the lightning attacks Holmorth was directing toward her. “You done yet, Jollies?” Alex shouted.
“Just about! All right, I got them all.”
“Good. Now light them up.”
Jollies ducked in and out of the bats, Amber’s body changing from the softness of liquid to the uncontrollable energy of lightning. A chain of lightning hit the bats surrounding Holmorth, creating a falling lightning cage.
Holmorth raised his wand, waving away the bats that were falling from above. While the wizard was distracted, Alex brought Chine close to the undead dragon’s jaw. His claws glowed bright white as he charged.
Chine slashed the undead dragon’s jaw, splitting the bone down the middle. The undead dragon recoiled, pulling backward as he unleashed a torrent of ether fire into its face. “Fall back,” Alex commanded. “Let’s see if we made a dent.”
Jollies and Alex backed away from the undead dragon as the rest of her team converged on them.
The undead dragon was roaring in pain—a terrifying noise—but it wasn’t going down. In all honesty, Alex hadn’t thought it was going to.
Holmorth raised his wand from atop the dragon and aimed it at Team Boundless. All of the bats around him broke off with the dragonriders they were fighting and flew toward Boundless. “At least we got his attention,” Jim said over the comm as he fired his missiles at the bats.
The rest of the riders took evasive maneuvers. Jim had the luxury of being able to tank. He was able to handle an onslaught of bats. All the riders with real dragons had to worry about them getting hurt.
Brath had the most trouble getting out of the way. He struggled to fly through the throngs of bats and dragonriders locked in combat. A bat came at him from the side, ramming into Furi and causing the dragon to spin in the air. Brath grabbed him and held on while the dragon righted himself.
Jollies easily managed to avoid getting hit, but she wasn’t in any position to help anyone around her. Gill had broken off with Alex, and the two of them were flying around Holmorth, preparing to flank him.
Holmorth spun to the right as Alex got behind him. He pointed his wand, and there was a flash of red light as a long, slimy tentacle reached out from it. It wrapped around Alex and lifted her in the air.
Alex screamed as she flew through the air, hitting a bat, bouncing off, and freefalling through the sky.
Gill took off after Alex, and as he turned, Holmorth’s dragon launched a fireball. It hit Timber in the back, scorching his wings. Timber faltered in the air, twisting, trying to spin to put the flames out.
Alex continued falling, reaching out for something grab, but there were no options. Chine swooped beneath her and Alex fell onto his back. She anchored herself to Chine and caught her breath. Holy crap! Let’s not do that again anytime soon.
Chine flew back up toward Gill. The dragon is powerful enough to sever our link. We need to be more careful, he suggested.
Yeah, I can see that. That thing almost blasted Gill out of the sky with one fireball.
Jim’s voice cut through on the comm. “Hey, I got an idea. Wanna give it a shot?”
Alex replied, “Sure, I’m all out of ideas.”
“All right. I’m going for it!”
Alex had a faint hint of what Jim was going to try. He knew the limitations of his mech as well as anyone else. He also knew its strengths.
Jim hit his thrusters and went full ahead, aiming at Holmorth. He fired his missiles as he cut a path through the bats in his way. His mech reached out its arms and grabbed the undead dragon’s throat, but Jim didn’t kill his thrusters. He kept pushing, forcing Holmorth out of the cover of the bats while reducing his dragon’s movement.
Alex pitched up and headed toward Jim and Holmorth. “All riders on me!” she shouted as the rest of Boundless raced toward her. “We’re surrounding this ass-wipe!”
Boundless surrounded Holmorth as Jim forced the wizard and his dragon completely out of the swarm of bats. The undead dragon was doing its best to get away, and the mech’s gears screamed in protest at the dragon’s strength.
Jollies went in for the first attack. She aimed at Holmorth, ignoring his dragon. He easily dispelled her first attack, but she had speed on her side. Amber bashed into Holmorth’s hand, knocking his wand away.
Next was Gill, swooping in from above as he fired spire after spire of crystals, peppering the undead dragon’s back. That was followed by Brath coming from below, Furi spitting fireballs.
Jim pulled away, his mech finally getting near its breaking point. He fired a cluster of missiles as he backed off, blanketing Holmorth in smoke.
Team Boundless waited for the smoke to disappear. Alex didn’t think Holmorth was down for the count yet. She remembered how much damage the wizard had caused in the Wasp’s Nest. There was no way he was done.
The smoke settled, and Alex was right. Holmorth and the dragon were still standing, albeit scratched up. The only difference Alex could see was that Holmorth’s face looked as if it were starting to settle. Maybe he realized he was in trouble.
Holmorth raised his hands to the sky and screamed as the wind began to whip around, tossing the dragonriders back and forth as a cyclone appeared out of nowhere. As the dragonriders tried to get clear of the twister, Holmorth leaned forward and plunged his hands into the undead dragon.
Bones rose from it and pierced Holmorth through the body, impaling his arms and his chest as he screamed in pain, his face becoming liquid and dripping onto the undead dragon’s back.
The wizard and the undead dragon began to fuse, bones popping out of Holmorth’s body as his torso grew larger, his legs
melting into the undead dragon’s until it was impossible to see what was wizard and what was dragon.
Alex and the rest of the riders watched in horror as a dragon’s skull burst through Holmorth’s head, breathing fire as fireballs floated in the palm of his hands.
Brath laughed nervously and said, “Oh, this looks so much better for us than it did before.”
Alex couldn’t disagree. Then she heard Chine say, The wizard has made a dire mistake. He’s combined his life force with the undead dragon’s. That means you no longer have two enemies, you only have one. Whereas you and I are still two.
Alex smiled as recklessness made her heart pound. “All right, then I guess it’s time to do something stupid. Squad! Keep this freak busy. Time to end this!”
Holmorth roared and shot fire into the sky as he launched his fireballs at the riders. Alex wove past one, heading for Holmorth. She pulled her scythe from the ether and leaped onto the undead dragon’s back, staring at it. “Ready to dance?” she asked.
Chine tackled the undead dragon, grabbing its hands as Jim followed suit, punching its stomach as Jollies flew in and out of the path of its fire.
Brath was flying around the perimeter of the fight, burning through the bats trying to come to their master’s aid.
Alex stared at the abomination Holmorth had become. “If you aren’t, I am,” she said as she slammed her anchor to her chest, unleashing the cataclysm of stored draconian fluid. Her body burst into flames and she sprinted at Holmorth, leaping into the air, her scythe raised.
Holmorth reached out and swiped Alex away, slamming one of the fireballs into her.
Alex skidded across the surface of the undead dragon’s back, but the fireball didn’t do any damage. Instead, Alex had absorbed it, and her flames were even brighter than before. “Hell, yeah,” she shouted as she ran forward.
Holmorth swiped at Alex again, but this time Alex dodged, sliding underneath Holmorth’s hand. Chine! The gravity flux!