by Zara Zenia
“That will suffice. As long as they know we live, my brothers will search for us.”
Andie jumped up quickly. “We should move. We might be able to get within range soon.”
We both raced into action, leaving the grove behind and winding farther upstream through the crag.
Suddenly, I heard something. I could barely pick it up at first, but breaking into a sprint, the further we raced, the more I could hear.
It was Zaruv, calling to us. His bellowing roar buoyed me, summoning the dragon in me to reunite with my brothers. Still, I knew the Infernian could be out there, waiting for just such a thing.
I slowed and brought Andie with me under an overhang. The light had made it about halfway down the walls of the crevice, so we were still shrouded in shadow.
“What is it?” she asked, catching her breath from the jog.
“My brother is calling to me. Do you hear it?”
She focused and strained to find the sound. “No, I don’t hear anything over the water and the birds, but I trust you.”
The simple statement brought a knot to my throat that I quickly swallowed.
“They must have come out searching for us. If I call back, it will most definitely alert Baluwama, as well as my brothers, to our location.”
“It could be a trap. Can Infernians mimic a Dragselian call?”
“To my knowledge, no. Even if they could mimic a generic call, I know the sound of my brother.”
Andie chewed at her bottom lip, “Let’s think this through then. It’s about 400 feet to the rim. There is no way we can climb that, so either we keep following the river to its source, which we have no idea what or where that is, or we fly out of here.”
“We must also consider that it may not be just him. We may be nearing the camp, which means the demons may have reconnected at this point. What we do have going for us, however, is their inferior speed and maneuverability. The demon who took you was fast, but I had already been hit by a dozen or more stun charges. Fully recuperated, as I am now, I’ll be faster and more agile than he.”
“But what if he is able to strike you again? I don’t have a weapon, and as you said, a handful of those charges could down you,” she said, looking concerned.
“I’ve faced far worse odds and circumstances.”
By the look on her face, she didn’t approve of my bravado, but it was, after all, true.
Furrowing her brow, she asked, “You’re his target, right?”
“So it would seem,” I agreed.
“He knows we are weaponless and there is only one way out—up. So he’s going to wait for us to make ourselves vulnerable and strike quickly, right? Well, what if we flip the script on him? He has to have heard your brother’s calls too. If you call out and we lie low instead of emerging into the open, as he is expecting, he’ll be drawn lower into the canyon.”
Recognizing the track of her thoughts, I admired her strategic instincts.
“Yes, it is unlikely, if it is just him, that he will attempt to take on all of us at once. If we don’t emerge right away, he’ll be forced to find us before my brothers arrive and his window of opportunity is gone. He wants us isolated, which is why he led us away from the others. That and the fact that you took the arm off the leader. Well done, by the way,” I added as a smug smile touched her mouth.
“I’d feel better if I knew it wouldn’t grow back, but if it caused him pain, then I’m happy.”
I pulled her close and kissed her. “You’re hard to resist when you’re being vicious.”
“Oh, I can be a lot more vicious than that,” she said playfully. “But there will be time for that later, dragon-man.” She straightened and surveyed the rim and canyon walls.
“Okay, so we situate ourselves someplace narrow, someplace closer to the floor where the temperatures are colder, and instead, we exploit his weaknesses.”
“Right, he won’t be able to cope with the cold as well. It may slow him down a little. Another thing—you should stay hidden when he comes. He doesn’t know you survived. He has only seen me so far. The less he knows, the better.”
She looked unhappy but didn’t question my logic. “I don’t love this plan. There are a lot of assumptions. As you said, what if he isn’t alone?”
“Well, Infernians grow a limb back at least as slowly as a Dragselian, so chances are the leader isn’t fully healed. I watched the other demon fly. He’s clumsy at best. Even if they’ve joined him, they’re less of a threat.”
“I would feel a lot better if I had a weapon and I could help you,” she grumbled.
I knew I would feel the same way. The idea of her going into battle while I watched, helpless, was gut-wrenching.
“I understand, but even if they do wound me, I’ll heal. We are taking a calculated risk, I know. Our alternative is to keep hiking, but the longer we go without real food, the less I’ll be able to put up a good fight if they track us. Right now, I’m at full strength, but we have no idea what the terrain will be like and whether we can continue foraging.”
She looked uneasy. “I know. I just don’t like sitting out during a fight.”
We walked along the canyon quickly, seeking the best setting for our strategy. I located a place for Andie to hide, behind several boulders that must have fallen during the storm. We were about to part when she grabbed my arm.
Reaching down at the core stone she still wore, she looked back up at me. “Shouldn’t you have this with you? I don’t want you weakening yourself because of me.”
Sliding my arms around her, I kissed her passionately on the lips, trying to imbue my kiss with all the emotion I felt but couldn’t yet express to her.
I pressed the stone back against her chest, “This is yours now, as I am.”
Chapter 18
Andie
I watched as Karun’s strong, fearless form walked away from me toward the riverbank that was still hidden in shadow. I was terrified, though I tried not to show it. I wasn’t sure I had the strength to watch someone I love die again, and I did love him.
After the TriScurra attack, Orion had survived for three days. They were the longest three days of my life, watching him in agony, barely clinging to life. I hadn’t even known that Orion was working with Johnson’s task force until after the attack. I felt as helpless now as I did all those years ago.
Flashes of that horrible day came flooding back. I was eighteen at the time, just finishing up my secondary lessons. Six years older than me, Orion was my idol.
I had already pre-enlisted in the militia, but our training block didn’t begin for another four months, so the handful of us in my level had time to kill. We spent our days and nights rover racing on the plains of the outskirts, partying and celebrating our youth and impending foray into what seemed like a life of adventure and danger.
Orion had been working a lot out at the Hub, and when we would meet up, I rolled my eyes through more than a few lectures about acting more responsibly and how this wild behavior wouldn’t fly once I was formally in the militia.
Of course, I had heard about the suspicious disappearances across the sector, in other small towns as well as the Outpost, but the threat felt abstract. Back then, Steel City was the focal point of all that criminal activity. I couldn’t wait to get in on the action, but, naïve as I was, it had seemed like more of a game, and I was foolishly excited at the idea of there being a real battle, of being in the middle of something truly epic.
The day they attacked the compound, I had been gone for two days camping with my friends in the wilderness. My parents were gone for the week, delivering livestock to a purchaser in another sector.
Still, I knew Orion might be hanging around, and I knew he would give me an earful so I rode up and hid my rover in the brush, hoping to slip in with no one noticing.
As I walked up the long, winding path to the main building, I saw vehicles that I didn’t recognize. The herd of dromedarian cattle my family raised was skittish, and several of their carcasse
s lay on the ground. Something, or someone, had recently attacked.
I pulled out my camouflage desert veil, and flattened against the ground, I was almost completely obscured as I belly crawled toward the main building.
The closer I got, the more it began to sink in that something was really, truly wrong. There were blast marks on the outer walls, and I could hear screaming coming from inside.
I didn’t have a real weapon yet, just a low-amperage hand stunner for self-defense. Still, the adrenaline surged in me and I raced around the building to the bolt hole entrance—the usual route I used for sneaking out.
I crawled up silently, and when I reached the ventilation grate into the lower level, I saw Orion strung up. He’d been beaten badly and blood dripped across his face.
I froze in fear. This couldn’t be real. No one got the jump on Orion. As I sat there shocked and terrified, I watched as the grimy TriScurras ransacked Orion’s desk.
My stunner slipped and clanked in the ventilation duct. One of the TriScurras started toward where I hid as Orion looked up and recognition touched his swollen face.
Using the last of his energy, he regained their attention. “You bastards will never get away with this. You know that, right? We’re going to bring you down.”
One of them laughed as he put a blade to Orion’s neck. “You dumb hicks are all the same. You think you’re different, but you’re not. We’ve been in a hundred towns just like yours, and each one has their token good guys. Well, guess what? We’re still thriving, and you?”
Not answering his own question, he sliced my brother’s throat.
I sat there paralyzed. The TriScurras left, and when the shock finally wore off, I jumped out and tried helping him, but it was too late.
I raced him to the Hub, and the on-staff doctor did what he could—blood transfusions, cell regeneration therapy . . . he clung, but it wasn’t enough.
Coming to terms with his death hadn’t been easy. I had vowed to never again be that weak, that useless. I had flung myself full-force into the militia. I worked extra shifts. I patrolled while off-duty. Everything and anything I could do, I did it.
But there I was, when it mattered most, weaponless and cowering in the shadows again while the man I loved was about to battle demons. It felt all too familiar as the creeping cold grip of fear coiled inside me.
I should have been by his side, facing whatever danger was to come with him, just as I should have done something to help Orion.
Part of me wanted to act in defiance and run out there with him, but another part of me knew these weren’t TriScurra thugs either. If my presence distracted him at all, if he had to worry about protecting me and fighting at the same time, I could just as easily cost us the battle. It was an impossible situation and I hated it.
I gripped his core stone. It felt insanely hot, and I knew he was focusing his energy on the battle ahead. I reminded myself of how fearsome he really was. The enemy might be demonic, but he was not just a man. He was a dragon prince.
His flowing silvery hair glowed in the blue haze of the shadowed canyon floor. The rich green of his skin was nearly imperceptible in the low light. I was struck by how beautiful and powerful he looked.
As I watched, he shimmered and shifted into the great silver dragon. He looked majestic and primordial. As the dragon, he looked back at me and I felt a flash of warmth from the stone.
I knew how he felt, though neither of us had voiced it. Linked as we were, I felt his emotions as keenly as my own.
His silver eyes lingered on me for just a moment. Then, throwing back his head, he let loose a mind-blowing roar. The strength of it shook the small rocks at my feet and reaffirmed how fierce my dragon man really was.
I listened, silent, as did he, and then, suddenly, we were rewarded with a return call. This time, I heard it. It was distant, more distant than I would have liked.
Still, I knew they flew fast. I just hoped that Karun had somehow communicated the urgency of our situation. I’d feel a lot better when we were surrounded by dragons, not demons. I wondered how long it would take for the enemy to show itself.
Not long, as it turned out.
Almost as soon as Zaruv’s answering call came back, stunner rounds began to strike the ground around Karun.
My breath caught in my throat. This wasn’t how it was supposed to play out. The demon was supposed to show himself first. If Karun couldn’t draw him out, our plan was out the door and we were playing on the demon’s terms.
Karun rolled away as another two stunner rounds struck the ground. One landed in the river, and I saw a bird that was standing in the water fall dead to the ground.
Fear seized me. It felt like I was watching the action in slow motion. Karun dived and rolled and made his way to a grouping of large boulders to my right. They weren’t nearly large enough to shield him, but just as the thought occurred to me that this battle might be lost, Karun shifted back to his human form.
Diving between rocks, he dodged and averted the rounds. I was never so grateful for his enhanced senses. There would have been no way a normal human could have anticipated or reacted fast enough to avoid those strikes.
The shots ceased. I looked back up to the rim, and it was like some awful waking nightmare as the demon Baluwama descended, his bony, ragged frame touching down on the bank before us.
He was grotesque. He landed with complete calm, so assured of his success. In his bony, ashy hands, he held a stun charger like I had never seen. Probably some type of Infernian device. I had never heard of charges with such high amperages, but then, on Vaxivia, there would be no use. You could easily drop any animal or person on the planet with half that firepower. It looked to be fully automatic with what appeared to be a high-powered scope, and what I figured was the charge chamber glowed brilliantly, indicating a full supply of ammo.
“What’s the matter, Dragselian? Don’t you want to put on a nice show for your human companion? I know she is here somewhere. I smell the rancid stench of her kind.”
My fists balled up and I wanted to run out there and pummel him. He was taunting us both.
“I’ve got big plans for our performance, you know. My particular favorite will probably be letting her watch as I flay the skin off your bones. I’ve always wanted to test your recuperative abilities.” He stalked slowly forward.
“Or maybe I’ll let you watch, Prince, while I tear her apart, bit by bit.” He paused, smelling the air, a slow, wicked smile spreading across his hideous face.
“No, I think not. I think I’ll save her for Korael. It will be much more fun letting you witness what he’ll do to her. It won’t be quick, I can promise you that. An arm for an arm, as they sa—” he was cut off by Karun, who leapt at him, shifting in mid-air.
It was a glorious sight as he roared ferociously and landed on the demon with all of his weight. His claws tore into the dry, flaky gray flesh of Baluwama’s arms.
Unfortunately, Baluwama managed to get a shot off. Karun jerked sideways to avoid it, and the demon scrambled away, but not before losing his gun, which went clattering toward the rocks I was still hidden behind.
Karun gave chase to the demon, who quickly took to the air with his pink-veined, translucent wings.
I scrambled forward to retrieve the weapon. It was heavy and awkward in my hands. I pulled it back behind the rocks with me, but the position was too narrow for the large rifle.
I sank back into the vegetation and climbed up to a ledge on the rock wall that had a small smattering of low bushes. I set up the weapon, quickly determining that it was just a beefed-up charger with a few slight tweaks.
The scope had weird symbols, but I took aim at the demon. The sun was finally reaching the lower stretches of the crag floor as Karun battled the demon.
Despite what Karun had said about Infernians’ speed and agility, though, this demon was holding his own and then some. I felt a surge of fear, but I focused instead on what I could do.
They both moved so
fast it was impossible to get a good shot in. The sunlight flared off Karun’s shining silver body, decreasing my visibility even more.
For a brief moment, I saw the demon flying back and took a shot. Just as I did, he rolled and recovered, avoiding the charge.
Anger flared across his face as he looked in my direction, scanning the wall for my position. Karun took advantage of the distraction and caught him off guard with a great blow to Baluwama’s solar plexus. The brief diversion was a small thing, but at least I was helping.
I was never going back to that girl. I was here to fight.
Chapter 19
Karun
Our plan had run afoul slightly, but there was no recourse except to fight our way through. I hadn’t expected Baluwama to be so skilled a flier or to attack with such sudden ferocity. I had hoped to catch him off guard, but it was clear he was a more equal match than I had anticipated.
Andie had taken up a position with the demon’s stun charger, and I could feel her eyes upon us. She had distracted the demon with a shot, and his cool had slipped long enough for me to land a blow to his center that had sent him reeling back against the wall, sending a shower of loose rocks down.
He flew up and I followed. Daylight had finally reached the canyon floor, and the sudden heat of it had evaporated some of the surface water, creating a thin fog. His gray body was well disguised in the fog, and he retreated to its safety.
I weighed my options. He might have retreated for good or he might reemerge after regaining his wits. I could wait and risk another surprise attack or I could pursue and finish this, once and for all.
Ever since we had landed here on Vaxivia, these parasites had been my constant worry, nagging at the edge of my mind always, and now they were threatening not only myself and my brothers, but also the woman I loved. I was ready to be done with it.
There was the chance this could be a trap, but if I let him get away, if I didn’t face my enemies now and we reunited with our group, I would ever be looking over my shoulder.