by Jamie Davis
The other chanter dragon handlers were almost finished with their work, too. It wasn’t easy preparing the dragons, even with Excalibur. They were restless, and turned the wind into tornados around them.
She looked for Danny. It was well after dark. He should have been here an hour ago. He seemed to have less and less time for her lately, and no time for the things that she thought were important. But now really wasn’t the time.
Seelie hovered nearby. She hadn’t left Winnie’s side since taking her to bed.
“Seelie, could you go and see what’s keeping Danny? He was supposed to be here.”
“I heard that he’s helping prepare the Duster reaction force for the raid.”
“Well, go tell him that I’m almost ready to leave, and that he can ride in the containers with them.”
“He won’t like that,” Seelie said.
“That’s the point. Danny needs to understand his priorities.”
Seelie flew off with the message while Winnie went to inspect the other dragons. Her thoughts drifted back to Kane and his message.
He was right in some ways. Things were coming to a head between them. It was inevitable. At some point in this war, they would have to face off.
But when?
Maybe if she provided enough of a distraction, he’d fail to realize that she was in the capital. No one else needed to die. Innocent civilians—men, women, and children—were dying unimaginable deaths. The chimeras were worse than the dragons: the devil walking her planet.
Tonight’s raid tonight was supposed to draw Kane’s attention away from the attacks on the cities, put him on a more defensive posture.
Maria stepped onto the plateau where the dragons were being prepped. Winnie looked up.
Maria said, “Danny sent me to tell you that he’s riding in with his Dusters.”
“I wish he’d told me an hour ago. I just sent Seelie to find him.”
“There’ve been morale issues among some of the Dusters after seeing what the chimeras can do. He’s trying to do the right thing, stay by their sides, prove that their leaders are willing to risk it right alongside them.”
“If you say so.”
“Is everything, alright?” Maria asked.
Winnie looked away, blinked to regain her composure. The Dusters couldn’t see their leader crying. “I’m fine,” she lied. “There’s a lot riding on this raid. I want to make sure that everything’s perfect.”
“I was going to ride with Garraldi but I can ride with you … if you want to talk.”
Thanks, but no,” Winnie said. “I’ll have the dragon for company. Ride with Garraldi. We all know he’s afraid of heights.”
Maria laughed. “He still doesn’t think that anyone knows. The man is a marshmallow.”
Winnie smiled, despite her somber mood. “He’s one of the good ones, Maria. You two are great together.”
“You and Danny, too. Do you know how many people look to you two as a positive example of a chanter and middling relationship?”
“I don’t know if that’s the best model. There are plenty of paths better than our rocky road. You and Garraldi, Victor and Morgan, anybody and anybody … ”
“Maybe when we get back, you and Danny should talk?”
“Maybe,” Winnie said, not meaning it.
Maria pointed across to the cavern entrance. “There’s Seelie. And she’s holding something. Probably a peace offering from Danny.”
“That must be it.” Winnie checked her watch.
“See you on the other side, boss,” Maria said, then waved and left the room.
Seelie flitted over to Winnie carrying a small folded piece of paper. She handed it to Winnie. “Danny sent this to you.”
“I heard he’s not coming.” Winnie shoved the note in her pocket.
“If Danny’s not riding with you, then I am,” Seelie said, following Winnie.
Winnie shook her head. “Stay here, Seelie.”
“I’m not without protections of my own, Winnie. I can take care of myself.”
“Suit yourself,” Winnie shrugged. “Make sure your straps are tight. Dragons fly a lot faster than you do.”
Winnie pulled herself onto the dragon’s back and buckled the straps tightly around her waist and legs. She glance behind her—Seelie was wrapping herself in the human-sized straps.
“Ready, Seelie?”
“No,” Seelie said, her wings fluttering nervously about. “But if you are, then I can pretend that I am, too.”
Winnie raised her fingers to her lips, blew a long sharp whistle, then pointed to the sky.
With a tremendous leap, the dragon pushed off from the plateau.
Its wings beat the air.
Wind rushed past her as her dragon carried her high into the sky, followed by two dozen dragons behind her.
Winnie was leading the first flight, comprised of a small security force, and several chanter elites. The remaining dragons would tow the specially prepared containers behind the initial group.
Winnie and Seelie were silent during the two-hour flight. Seelie was usually chatty, but she must have sensed Winnie’s need for solitude.
Their arrival wasn’t the surprise that they hoped it would be.
The chimeras were expecting them.
Guards and troops stationed below fired up at them, alarms SCREAMING all around them.
Winnie ducked close to the bulk of the dragon as it dove, its shrill war cry ringing through the air. It strafed the ground with a burst of fire, then came to land at the burning brush at the camp’s edge.
Winnie unbuckled herself and slid to the ground. She unsheathed Excalibur, prepared for a fight.
She didn’t wait long.
Two chimeras charged out of the smoke, rushing her and the dragon.
Winnie raised a palm, pulling the magic toward her.
With a scream of rage at the Fell beasts, she and the dragon released their attacks.
Dragon fire and pure white energy blended into a single stream of red and white heat that shot like a canon into one of the charging chimeras.
The creature exploded into a hundred fleshy pieces, barely fifty feet away.
The other chimera kept coming.
Winnie’s dragon reared up.
Two beasts collided and the ground trembled at Winnie’s feet.
Two tentacles stretched out from the chimera, coming toward Winnie even as it lashed at the dragon, its wicked bony hooks pronged at the ends of its appendages.
She brought Excalibur around and hacked at the first of the tentacles.
The blade sizzled, hitting the chimera’s flesh and cleaving straight through.
The tentacle fell to the ground.
The chimera screamed, tearing itself away from the gleaming metal.
Winnie stepped into her advantage, pressing forward until the chimera was in full retreat. Her dragon reared back, blasting the beast with another round of white fire.
Pure magic flew from her palms, blending with the dragon’s attack.
The second chimera burst apart just like the first.
She trembled, and this time it wasn’t from dragons landing.
Seelie flew past and turned to face Winnie. “There’s wild magic here. It’s been unleashed by the combination of the dragons, chimeras, and Excalibur.”
“English, Seelie. What the hell is wild magic?”
“It’s a blend of Fae and Fell magic. Once unleashed, both sides will have magic of an … unpredictable nature. The dragons and the chimeras can both utilize it as well. It enhances their power immensely.”
Winnie looked around, trying to make sense of what Seelie was saying.
Then she saw it: half the camp was on fire, including several of the barracks buildings. Dragons and chimeras battled everywhere. Chanters cast spells, though they barely seemed to be making a dent.
Victor used his powers to dispel a chimera. But instead of it dissipating, the creature thrashed about uncontrollably, crushing a dozen Dust
ers before it finally lay still.
Enough dust had been kicked up during the chimera’s final fight that Winnie couldn’t find Victor for the life of her.
Spells and dragon fire erupted from the darkness all around her. Winnie could sense the dragons’ joy at the wild magic around them.
Their carnage was absolute. They didn’t stop, and barely even seemed to slow as they rampaged the world around them, setting fire to anything that moved.
A group of chanter prisoners perished when a nearby guard fired a shoulder-mounted missile at one of the dragons. The creatures returned fire, turning their flames on the area where the attack originated, ending guards and chanters without distinction.
Victor stumbled over to her side. A few of the chanter security detail joined him. The rest were either dead or engaged in fights of their own.
Winnie said, “We have to evacuate the prisoners faster. They’re getting caught in the crossfire and I can’t get the dragons to stop. They’re out of control.”
“Morgan’s trying,” Victor said. “Haven’t you heard the radio chatter?”
Winnie’s hand went to her ear. The radio earpiece was missing. Same for the radio that should’ve been on her belt. “I must’ve lost my radio in the fighting. But I guess that doesn’t matter. We won’t be here much longer.”
She pushed Victor toward the evacuation area. “None of us are riding dragons back tonight. I can’t control them anymore, at least not right now. You’ll have to tell everyone to get in or on the containers with the evacuees, then ride them back to Promise Point.”
“I can’t leave you alone,” Victor said.
“I’m right behind you. Right now you’re my only point of communication with the group. Tell them to pull back as soon as everyone’s collected. The dragons will level anything taller than a blade of grass. And that includes us.”
Victor looked around at all the dragons losing control, his pledge to protect her warring with his need to check on Morgan. “You’ll meet me there at the containers?”
“I said I’ll be right there,” Winnie assured him. “I have to try to hold control of the dragons as long as I can, to make sure the greatest number of prisoners can escape.”
Victor nodded and pulled the security team towards the grounded shipping containers. They were filling with refugees, but the process was going far too slowly.
Winnie gripped Excalibur and concentrated on the dragons.
She could barely reach them. It was like wrestling a greased pig. One minute she thought she had control and the next it slipped out of her mental grasp.
She began to doubt whether unleashing the dragons on the world was the right thing to do. If she’d never called them, Kane wouldn’t have searched for his own Fell response.
Now dragons and chimeras could turn the earth into a burning, cratered battleground where no one would ever be safe again. They would keep fighting until there was nothing left, no structure, person, or plant left standing.
The destruction would be total.
She had to stop that before that happened.
Turning around, Winnie opened a portal and stepped through.
Just before it closed, a tiny, winged figure darted in behind her.
CHAPTER 24
Victor stormed through the cavern, searching the surrounding containers. “Where in the hell is she?”
Nearby refugees shrank away from his angry shouting.
“Calm down,” Morgan said. “You’re frightening people. I’m sure my sister’s here somewhere.”
“I should never have let her send me away, no matter what the reason.”
“Morgan’s right, Victor,” Maria said. “I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”
“She’s not,” Victor insisted, still fuming. “I’ve checked every container twice.”
“Did you check in the command center?” Morgan asked. “If she didn’t come with us, then she probably traveled by portal back to the Point.”
Victor wasn’t so sure. There had been something about that final exchange between he and Winnie. Like she wanted him to go away so she could go off somewhere on her own. “Do me a favor, Morgan.”
“Of course, honey.”
“Check the containers again, then look into the infirmary. I’ll go up to the command center with Maria, see if anyone there knows anything. But I’m telling you right now, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“All right, I’ll check and then join you upstairs. I have to get a final count of the rescued anyway.” Morgan touched Victor on the arm then headed back into the mass of people and containers scattered across the cavern floor.
There was something in Maria’s eyes. “You don’t think she’s here, either, do you?” Victor asked.
Maria shook her head. “No. But we can’t storm around searching for her either. News of her loss, or even that she’s missing, would be devastating to our troops and the refugees.”
“You’re right,” Victor nodded. “We need a private meeting to discuss this as soon as we confirm that she isn’t here.”
“Agreed. I’ll get Garraldi and Danny, then meet you upstairs. Can you stop by the school level and pick up Elaine? We’ve been sending chanters with special abilities up to her so I’m sure she’s there.”
“Yes. And then I’ll find Tris. We’ll need to all work together if we expect to get her back.”
“You sound like you know where she is.”
“I have a hunch,” Victor said. “And I can tell you this much: If Winnie’s not dead on the ground back at the camp, I’ll kill her myself for running off.”
Without another word, he turned and left the lower cavern to continue what he was sure was a futile search.
One hour later, Victor had the confirmation he needed. One after another, the Duster leaders filed into the command center, shaking their heads when he caught their eye. No one spoke; they wanted Winnie’s absence to remain a secret.
Tris was the last to arrive. She called them over to the round table and had them sit. Victor joined the group, waiting while Tris waved her hands in the air for a moment before finally sitting.
She said, “I’ve cast a bubble of silence around us. Only people sitting at this table can hear the conversation.”
“That alone is going to invite a lot of unwanted questions,” Maria said.
“Maybe; that’s fine,” Victor sighed.
“She’s not back at the site of the raid,” Elaine said. “I opened a surveillance window in my room and scanned the battlefield. The dragons are gone. All I see are bodies, and none of them are hers.”
“So where is she?” Morgan asked.
“We all know where she is.” Victor looked around at the people staring back around the table. No one wanted to say it.
“She’s gone to fight Kane,” Danny finally said what no one else wanted to.
Victor nodded. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. She’s turned us all down to do it on her own. Now—”
“That’s not fair, Victor! If Winnie went off on her own, it was to protect us, not turn us down.” Elaine raised a hand to quiet the chorus of protests. “I’m not saying it was the right decision, I’m trying to explain her reasons for making it.”
“It doesn’t matter why anymore,” Garraldi said. “The question now is what are we going to do about it? We can’t wait here for her to come back on her own, but we also can’t leave her to fight Kane by herself.”
“No, we can’t do either of those things. But we also can’t let it get out that she’s no longer here,” Maria said. “If Kane finds out that she’s coming, he’ll pull everything back to the capital and wait for her to show up. We have to help Winnie, not get in her way.”
“How can we help her if we don’t know where she is?” Morgan asked.
“We don’t know where she is right now, but we know where she’s going,” Victor said. “Kane is in the capital. I can’t imagine that she’d be headed anywhere else.”
Maria stood.
She waited until all eyes were on her, then she spoke.
“I know Nils Kane better than anyone here. I worked as his personal secretary, undercover, for nearly a decade. He issued his invitation to Winnie knowing she’d at least consider accepting his challenge. He’s ready, or at least thinks he’s ready for her to confront him.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” Victor said.
Maria ignored him. “Kane thinks he has the perfect plan. He thinks he’s smarter than everyone else at this table, and that is his biggest flaw. He assumes that any clever little plan he formulates will be successful without ever making any adaptations or adjustments. So I propose we interfere with those plans, tip him off balance so that he fails to recognize when Winnie penetrates his defenses. That will give her the best chance to get inside.”
“That gets her deeper into his clutches,” Victor said. “How does that help us get her out of there?”
“It doesn’t,” Maria admitted. “It’s too late to get her back. If we start scrambling about looking for her, that will only alert Kane to her presence. We have to do the opposite of what we want to do, the opposite of what Kane expects: support Winnie’s decision to confront him.”
Victor’s objections were drowned out by the others. No one liked the idea.
Danny was loudest. “You’re suggesting that we should help Winnie commit suicide.”
“Not at all,” Maria said. “We can’t do anything about what Winnie has already decided, except to try and make the best of it. Our next move will likely determine whether she succeeds or fails.”
“What do you propose?” Garraldi asked.
“We attack the capital, strike as hard as we can with all that we have.”
Tris laughed, rolling her eyes. “Oh, good. For a minute there I thought you might suggest something crazy.”
“Hear me out,” Maria said. “Kane will never expect an all-out assault. Not there. He’ll be distracted, forced to allocate resources to counter our attack. That will open an opportunity for Winnie to get closer to Kane. A small group can come in behind her.”
Victor sat back and considered Maria’s plan. He chewed his lip, and tried his best not to hate the idea. “Who goes in with group B to follow Winnie?”