by James Patton
Mission Updated: Follow the Leaders
- Objective 1: Kill or Locate 5 Alpha Drakes
- Progress: [Located: 1 | Killed: 0]
*How are we going to do this?* She asked.
*You mean to fight it? Are you a fool?*
*You know, people have said that to me a lot since I’ve been here, and you know what? I’m still here.* She told him and felt her dragon sighing. *You know, I have no idea what your breath can do. Is it an offensive attack?*
*It is like Transfusion. Only more chaotic. Anyone caught in my breath becomes part of the process. Friends are healed, and foes are damaged, but healing is more of a collectively shared process. Damage is random as the motes attack whatever opponent they touch.*
“Show me.” She said out loud as they were idling in the air.
Malinite dove and passed over the line of drakes spewing darkness from his mouth. It pulsed with light giving it a thundercloud at night appearance.
Drakes screamed in pain and several stumbled. The damage was not like a stab wound; it was taking their vitality. She could see the drakes visibly age as the life drained from them. Part of her was horrified and sickened, but another part firmed and wanted them all to die. This was war, and she had to accept that it was not pretty.
Her dragon rolled avoiding several launching attacks, and at one point they went partially through his breath as it spewed upward. She felt the motes hit her skin, and each gave her a jolt of ecstasy, and she could feel an infusion of vitality.
The infusion of vitality was addicting, and she found herself shuddering as she gained control of her faculties once more. She doubted Dark Affinity’s seduction was anywhere near as dangerous as Light’s euphoria. The pull was worse than any narcotic the doctors gave her, and its usage left her wanting more.
*Ok. Listen up big guy. Here is the plan…*
Malinite
Chapter 63
Boh’s Folly
Seventh Talon showed me that I was more damaged than I wanted to admit. Every action opened a wound I long thought healed. Did I ever know who I was?
-from Boh’s Journal, August 14th, N167
By the time Boh finished explaining to him what they were going to do, he was already back in position near the alpha again.
*I disagree with this plan. In fact, I hate it. Do not be idiotic. You are going to get yourself killed and for what?* He admonished Boh.
*It is not stupid.* Boh replied defensively. *It will work. Plus, I’m putting a lot of trust in your abilities and what you can do. Is that not what you wanted?*
*Boh, you are twisting my words around on me. Gaining your trust is all I want, but this? This is folly, and part of my responsibility is to protect you. You have to see how insane this plan is.*
*Done talking, do your thing or I’ll die doing mine.* Boh told him as she leaped from him again.
“Damn you!” He roared angrily, but he had no idea if she could hear him. He had little time now that Boh was airborne. He dove while keeping an eye on her as he passed over the drake army using his breath attack. Several died this pass, and he felt pity for these mindless creatures.
Death was mercy for them at this point, because none of them even seemed aware of who or what they were. Except for the alpha who appeared to be in more control of his faculties.
He barrel rolled left and right a few times to avoid attacks; he even slapped one overeager drake out of the air. As he approached the alpha, he could see Boh start her dive, and his stomach dropped. The speed at which she hurtled through the air would be tough for even a dragon to match.
At the last minute, he could see her shield billow out behind her catching air, and her body continued forward. It looked painful, but she had her gun out and was shooting down at the drake that was a few feet below and to the left of her. Her shots landed in the dirt all around the drake but never actually hit it. What is she doing now?
Boh dropped her shield and landed a few feet from the Alpha, and thankfully holstered the gun. The drake was not even looking at the girl and was focused entirely on him. Until she slapped it with Spark and it fell to its knees twitching. He saw Lightning Bolts striking the beast as he issued his breath attack once more.
The elf was fighting with everything she had, and it was going to be a long day. Boh drew that vicious dagger she carried, and he saw her going for the throat of the beast.
“Boh!” He roared, “Time’s up. Get into the air.”
He slowed down trying to make sure he could get her, but she ignored him and kept attacking. The foolish elf was going to kill herself.
Rather than zipping past her, he dove down onto the prone alpha, ignoring the fact that he might get torn apart by the army surrounding him and crushed one of its legs as he landed. His other talon tore into its back as he rolled it over some and bit down on its throat and ripped it free.
Then he snagged Boh and took off barreling through several drakes that had leaped towards him. One drake latched on to one of his back legs, and he felt himself struggling to gain altitude, but the sound of gunfire made him crane his head around, and he saw Boh shooting the drake in the face at point blank. It tumbled away, and he pulled through.
*What the hell was that?* He raged at her. *It is one thing to trust in my ability. But it is quite another to take stupid chances with your life and mine. You ignored your plan. We are a team, and I know you have your issues with me, but you better start acting like it.*
*You are right. I- I saw him and was reminded of Midnight, fury and grief overtook me.* Boh told him, and he could feel her guilt welling up inside her.
This girl was all kinds of messed up, and he knew he played a big part in that. Maybe she wanted to die, but who was he to judge her for that?
*Relax, Boh. You are safe, but you have to control your anger. I am here, and I am not leaving you. However, you have to start learning to trust me and realize we are in this together. I will die protecting you, but you have to want to live too.*
*I do want to live.* Boh snapped back but said nothing for a while. He did not prod her further.
*I am angry all the time.* She admitted after some time had passed. He knew the last admission was hard for her.
*Would you like to hear a story about a bear and bees?*
*Is this another one of those Aesop stories?* She asked, wondering if he was one of the gods at this point. People quoted him more than anyone else in this world.
*Good, you have heard of him, and yes this is one of the observations from Aesop.*
*Sure.* Boh said, but he could sense she did not want to listen to it through their empathetic link. It did not matter because he was going to tell her anyway.
*There was a bear that came across a hive of bees that had nested to make honey. The bear came across a single bee as he investigated, and the bee knew what the bear wanted, so it stung him on the nose. The bee disappeared into the hive as the bear went into a rage. The noise caused thousands of bees to exit the hive and swarm it, stinging him over and over again. The bear, forced to retreat, ran off.* Malinite told her.
*Uh, good story, I think.* Boh said to him, but he did not need the empathy to know she was confused. He sighed.
*The point of that story is this: It is better to bear a single injury in silence than to bring about a thousand by reacting in anger.*
*Did you just pun me?*
*We call it a fable, but yes, there was a bear pun.*
Boh started laughing, and he joined her.
*Thank you. The story is a good one, and I will try not to be the angry bear.*
*Anger is okay, its natural, but you need to control it. And look, just in time for another alpha. He told her, and he pointed at it with his talon. We can try your method one more time, but if you do not follow the plan, then we do it my way.*
*Deal.* She told him.
Mission Updated: Follow the Leaders
- Objective 1: Kill or Locate 5 Alpha Drakes
- Progress: [Located: 2 | Kille
d: 1]
Boh leaped off his back, and he swooped downward spraying the crowd of drakes. Occasionally he would use his talons and tail to beat some of them back down. His part of the tactic was to draw their eyes and attacks towards him, which was simple since Boh hardly registered as a threat while falling out of the sky.
The difficulty came with timing, and his second pass had to be lined up with precision. If he did it right, he could catch Boh out of the air. Or even better, he could get himself positioned directly under her.
They operated within about sixty seconds from the time she started her dive. Once he saw her diving, he reversed direction and used his breath attack again all the way to the alpha.
His sight allowed him to see that Boh had landed too far away from her target to use Spark on him but unleashed a series of spells and weapon fire. Finally, he could see her shield come back up as the Alpha turned to face her. Watching her casting spells in the middle of a battlefield confused him. He was equal parts terrified and awed. Boh was busy holding her shield with one hand out and cast with the other. Her spell finished, and the shield ballooned upward shooting Boh high into the air and then she hung there for a few moments before he slid in under her and slowed his momentum. She bounced off him, but he rolled over and snagged her out of the air as he rotated back to an upright position.
*That was awesome.* Boh practically yelled into his mind.
Reaching a safe height, he maintained his altitude while he put his talon out allowing Boh to crawl up and get back into the saddle.
*Kill it, or find another one? He asked Boh.
*We move on, this one gets a pass. He is too prepared for us now, and our surprise is gone. Our mission does not require us to kill it, but the rewards will probably be better.*
*Good. I see you are not letting your anger cloud your judgment.* Malinite winched as she punched him, but then roared with laughter.
Boh
Chapter 64
The Mission
The academy teaches us that any army that cannot adapt is doomed to fail.
-from Malinite, Audio Roll 0402
Below the wolf-like drakes were much more organized than the ones at the front of the army. They were moving as cohesive units rather than swarming across the land in a mad dash.
Soaring over them, they never even looked up. A ground battle against a superior air force just seemed unfair, and she had not once seen a drake cast a spell. They used their shields, but they were capable of more.
*How are they feeding an army this size? There must be close to twenty thousand drakes.* There were so many drakes that she was starting to discern patterns in their looks. Their horns and hardened ridges were starting to feel like hereditary traits.
*They are not being fed. Look at them; they are starving. A drake’s metabolism is a lot like a dragons; they do not need to feed often. These were barely fed even when they were getting food.*
*So then what kind of being can override their natural instinct to feed? I know it's not discipline, those mindless things lack it.*
*I have no answers for you, Boh. In this, I know what you know.*
*There. Another alpha.* She spotted it before the dragon this time.
Mission Updated: Follow the Leaders
- Objective 1: Kill or Locate 5 Alpha Drakes
- Progress: [Located: 5 | Killed: 1]
*It is going to get dark soon, and we should head back after this.*
“Ready Mal?” She shouted into the wind and unhooked from her saddle.
*Please do not call me that.*
Laughing, she grabbed onto the handles in front of her. Malinite rolled over in the air, and her legs swung out of the saddle and dangled towards the drakes. Letting go, she went into a free fall before she brought up her shield and engaged her glide. She spread her arms and legs out wide as she drifted through the air and floated along until she spotted the alpha again. It was not the biggest one she fought today, but it looked a lot less feral than the others.
It never even looked at her and focused entirely on her dragon. The drakes shifted as one and turned to face Malinite, and she ignored everything else but the alpha. Malinite was capable, and she had to trust he would be there. If the screams of pain were any consolation, he was doing just fine.
Right before she was directly above the alpha, she angled upward, and her forward momentum shot her straight up in the air. This method allowed her to stop her forward momentum and turn it into a dive.
As she hit the peak of her upward momentum, she rotated a hundred and eighty degrees, falling straight downward face first. She was pointed right at the beast and rocketed downward like a missile. The wind tore at her goggles, leather skullcap and scarf, and she felt the skin on her face rippling.
The pure adrenaline was intoxicating, and she had never experienced anything like it in her life. She wanted to scream and cry out with joy at the same time but did not want to alert her enemy.
Midnight would have loved this, but Malinite hated it. Her dragon was too much of a mother hen and was overprotective.
Ahead of her, the alpha was moving, which had not happened before. She did not like altering her trajectory in a free fall like this but had little choice. Moving her arms apart a little bit at a time she rotated ever so slightly in the air. Angling herself so she could land near the thing, and hoped it stopped moving.
When she was about fifty feet up, she let out the shield to catch air and slow her descent. She bit her cheek to stifle the gasp as gravity warred with momentum. Her entire body jerked downward going against the resistance that wanted to pull her up.
At about thirty feet above the alpha, her parachute went all the way open, but she knew she was too close. Her feet and legs swung forward as gravity caught up with her, and she crashed into the side of the alpha.
The alpha staggered, and she bounced to the ground rather painfully, but she was already casting Spark. The alpha recovered faster than she expected, but she put her hand on its leg, and it fell to the ground twitching. Lightning Bolt was next, and she kept casting those while she emptied her clip into the side of the beast.
How can I be such a god awful shot? She was frowning at the shots that created small geysers of dirt. She was within five feet of the thing, and she decided she was going to have the gun serviced at the first gunsmith she found. It had to be the weapon.
Their method of attack was only effective because every alpha had not bothered with an Elemental Shield. After today their tactics would likely need to change, but for now she was wreaking as much havoc as she could.
She reached the front of the alpha and swapped clips so she could fire off more rounds into its head. Most of them were ineffective, but she did severely wound it.
Dammit! There was no time left to finish it off, so she holstered her weapon. She wanted another kill, but promised Malinite she would practice self-control.
One hand brought up her shield while the other started to cast Wind. The blast of wind caught her parachute and pulled her away from the ground just as the alpha started to stand. Malinite’s timing was a little off. Her upward momentum had not peaked when he grabbed her out of the air.
He was still using his breath attack, so she was not sure what was going on due to the inky cloud that covered her. She could feel the euphoria settling in as his breath stole health from the drakes and alpha and restored whatever damage her landing caused her.
Once they had enough altitude, she climbed up into the saddle once more. Malinite turned them so they could see the mayhem they caused, and saw the alpha was dead.
Mission Updated: Follow the Leaders
- Objective 1: [Complete] Kill or Locate 5 Alpha Drakes
- Progress: [Located: 5 | Killed: 2]
- Objective 2: [New] Return and report to Joker
*My breath finished him off. I hate to admit it, but your strategy was not a bad one. Just a little on the crazy side.*
She started laughing and felt her body shaking as the adre
naline wore off. It was this part of fighting she hated, and it left her emotionally raw. During a fight she was fearless, but when she thought about it afterward, she berated herself for her stupidity.
*Do not count on it working tomorrow. Assuming they communicate with each other, they will expect it. We will have to think up something new.* She told him, already coming up with ideas.
Malinite sighed under her, and she was grinning the whole way back to the outpost.
Boh
Chapter 65
Taken
Tradition is important. It builds a sense of belonging that transcends generations. Even military tradition creates a sense of inclusion.
-from Taro, Audio Roll 0038
After killing the Alpha drake, they called it a day. It was already getting too dark, and the sun was in their eyes making it even more dangerous.
*We did good.* She told Malinite as they approached Joker’s operation. There were not nearly as many Dragonriders as there had been when she left, and he looked ragged.
“Report.” Joker strained to formulate the words, and she could see he was not focused on her at all.
“Found five, killed two maybe three. Will find more in the morning.”
Joker’s head snapped up. “You killed two Alphas? Explains why the drakes are not fighting as cohesively as they had been. Great job, you will have tell me how you managed it later. Go on, get back to Geo and let him know.”
Mission Updated: Follow the Leaders
- Objective 1: [Complete] Kill or Locate 5 Alpha Drakes
- Progress: [Located: 5 | Killed: 2]
- Objective 2: [Complete] Return and report to Joker
- Objective 3: [New] Report to Geo
“Will do. Good luck.”
“Wait. Boh, do not freak out when they take you later. You have fighter written all over you, and I don’t want my soldiers hurt.”