by Ramy Vance
Brath seized his beard and tugged it hard. “Wait until we’re on the ground, and I’ll show you some of my big words!” the gnome shouted.
As Team Boundless flew toward the mines, Alex relishing hearing the voices of her group, and for the first time, her friends. It was almost like being back in VR, but so much better. Better than she ever could have imagined.
This was going to be a good mission.
Chapter Four
Team Boundless arrived at the mines before dark, the sun hanging low in the sky, and the air still warm. They were still too high to see much of the mines or the village surrounding them. There is a lot of hot air coming up from the mines, Chine noted. Too much.
Alex looked down to where she assumed the mines were. She closed her eyes, focused her breathing, and then opened them, trying to zoom in like she knew dragons could do.
It worked, and Alex’s vision became even clearer. Her eyesight had increased dramatically, and she could see the mines beneath her. Flames were shooting out of a tunnel built into a hill. Actually, there were multiple openings, and flames were shooting out of all of them. There were no other dragonriders or mech riders in sight.
Alex waved the rest of Team Boundless down as she flew toward the mines. “They’re on fire!” she shouted.
Chine hit the ground hard and Alex jumped off to see if there was anyone around who could explain what was happening.
The miners had scattered. Some of them were still running as explosion after explosion rocked the mines. Others were sitting in the field, nursing burns while mages cast healing spells on them.
A crotchety dwarf with an obstinate expression was running between the different groups of miners, barking orders. He grabbed one of the dwarf miners, shook him a few times, and then motioned for the miner to join the others, who were carrying buckets of water toward the flames.
Alex ran up to the dwarf and cleared her throat before awkwardly saluting him. “Uh, hi. We’re the dragonriders who were sent to pick up minerals. What’s going on here?”
The dwarf glared at Alex as he threw up his hands. “What the hell does it look like? My mines are on fire!” The dwarf waved Alex’s hand away. “Name’s Rocten. These here are my mines, and these here mines of mine are on fire. Great flippin’ day, am I right? Them’s your minerals, right? Well, they might be burning up in there too, along with my miners.”
“Forget the minerals. There are people still in there? What can I do to help?”
Rocten surveyed the dragons and their riders. “Huh. They’re too big to get in there, but they could deal with the fire from the outside. Fire’s coming from the inside, though.”
Gill stepped forward away from the rest of the riders. “I can help with that,” he said. “Fire isn’t a problem for me.”
Rocten eyed Gill suspiciously. “Huh. Ain’t seen one of your kind out of the Veil before,” the dwarf growled. “Don’t matter. If you’re offering help, I’ll take it.”
Alex exclaimed, “I’m going too. My suit has an elemental buffer. We’ll take care of it.”
Rocten pointed to the northernmost entrance. “All right. That’s where the fire started,” he explained. “Whatever happened came from there.”
Alex hoped her dragon anchor power was enough to withstand the fires, but she was going to find out. Chine, can you use your mister to help smother the fire at one of the entrances?
Chine nodded as he lumbered toward the southern entrances to the mines. “And the rest of you, get creative! We need to keep this fire from spreading,” Alex said before grabbing Gill and pulling him toward the entrance Rocten had indicated.
Jollies took off with Brath toward the miners carrying water. The pixie used an elemental amplifier as Furi dug into the ground around the river the water was being drawn from. She and Furi redirected the river toward the mine.
Alex and Gill ran into the tunnel. Alex slammed her fist into her palm, and flames burst over her body. She was right; it was enough to handle the heat. Gill, on the other hand, didn’t look fazed by the flames.
The two fought past the entry, trying to find the source of the fire. Most of the mine’s entryway had burned, and flames were shooting sporadically from somewhere deeper in the mine. “Something’s generating the flames!” Gill shouted.
Alex leaned over a ladder leading farther into the mines. “What could be doing that? That’s not how fires work.”
“Could be a weapon. Or a monster. The Dark One’s forces might have sabotaged it!”
Alex climbed down the ladder, Gill following her.
Outside, the dragonriders were still helping the miners combat the flames. Jim and his mech dragon Croy were drenching the mines with water from the river.
Inside the mine, Alex and Gill continued to go deeper into its depths. Suddenly, Alex motioned for the drow to stop. She pointed ahead, unsure if Gill’s darkvision was good enough to discern what she saw. “Oh, I see it now,” Gill murmured.
Backed into the corner was a creature no bigger than a cat but shaped like a bear cub. It was covered in bright red fur and had large black eyes. Its face was buried in its paws as it cried. With each hiccup and sob, a blast of fire shot from its body.
Alex knelt, as did Gill. “That would be enough to start a fire,” she said. “The poor thing is probably just scared, with all the mining going on.”
Alex began to crawl toward the creature when Gill placed his hand on her shoulder. “No, let me,” he said, moving forward.
As Gill got closer, the creature looked up. It squealed as it tried to burrow into the wall behind it. Gill didn’t freak out, though. He merely reached out so slowly Alex couldn’t even tell he was moving. Whatever he was doing worked; the creature stopped trying to dig its way out, and it got its tears under control.
Gill scooped the little red ball of fur up. “Let’s get going and see if the others put out their side of the fire.”
Alex and Gill climbed the ladder while the red creature held onto Gill’s shoulders, tugging lightly on the drow’s hair. The dark elf was suddenly even more interesting to Alex.
It didn’t take long for Alex and Gill to find Rocten. The rest of the dragonriders had extinguished the mines’ fires and were sitting around looking very pleased with themselves.
Rocten took the creature from Gill and cradled it in his arms, which looked even stranger than Gill holding the creature. “Blast it,” Rocten complained. “No one told us there were firebrights in there. I’m sorry, kids, but we’re going to have to clear out the rest of them unless we want the same thing to happen again.”
The rest of the dragonriders joined Alex and Gill. “No problem. You guys take your time. Just let us know when you’re finished.”
“All right,” Rocten said as he walked toward the mines. “I’ll let the rest of the team know. Thanks again for the help. You guys saved a lot of lives today.”
Alex watched the dwarf walk away and couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud. She knew her parents would be happy this was the first thing she’d done as a dragonrider.
Chapter Five
The riders and their dragons sat on the hills near the mines, watching the workers clear out the creatures responsible for the fires. Alex thought it was kinda funny watching the rough, dirt-covered dwarves cooing to the fire creatures they carried like infants.
Chine explained to Alex that firebrights were easily frightened. Sending out flames was a defense mechanism since they were considered to be delicious prey by many creatures that lived in and around mines, thus the tenderness of the dwarves.
Jollies was flying back and forth, her equivalent of pacing, and talking rapidly to Amber. It was odd to watch the riders talking to their dragons. Most of the riders spoke out loud, but Alex could only hear Chine, not the other dragons. She and Gill were the only riders who communicated strictly telepathically with their dragons.
Alex could therefore only listen to one side of the conversation. Jollies was usually thinking out loud, like now,
when she was complaining about being bored. Brath, on the other hand, often voiced his frustrations with those around him.
Alex stood and stretched and called Jollies over. When the pixie finally came, Alex motioned for her to take a seat in her palm. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with taking a break.”
Jollies sighed, her body shifting to light blue. “I know,” she admitted. “I don’t usually care about getting up and going, but I’ve been cooped up in the Nest for so long.”
“How long were you guys training before I got here?”
Jollies screwed her face up as she tried to remember. “I think I’ve been training for two years as a cadet,” she answered.
“Are you serious? Two years?”
Jollies smiled and nodded as she stood up and pranced around Alex’s palm. “Yep! That’s probably why Brath was so mad at you when you showed up. We’ve all been at the Nest for a while, much longer than you two humans. Jim wasn’t even there for a day.”
Alex tried to come up with something to say that didn’t sound like she thought it was ridiculous how quickly she had moved up the ranks. She did think it was strange. “You know, it probably has to do with the VR program we were in,” Alex suggested. “It was supposed to be like a recruitment thing, but probably it also doubled as training.”
“That would make sense. Most of us didn’t even think there were dragons when we applied for the program.”
“Wait, you just applied too? That’s how Jim got in.”
Jollies leaped off Alex’s hand and danced in the air for a second before letting herself fall. “Yeah, that’s how all the other races get in. None of us had a VR game of Middang3ard, only the humans. I heard it’s because none of us needed to be convinced there were other realms.”
“Why’s that?”
“We already knew about them. Humans are the only ones who lost touch with magic. We might be fantasy creatures to you, but to us, you’re just humans—one of many races.”
Gill walked over to Alex and took a seat beside her. “The anchor power you chose worked really well. You made a wise decision.”
Alex wished she could hide under a rock, but she managed a smile instead. “Thanks,” she muttered. “Are you immune to other elements, or is it just fire?”
“Generally, any elements found underground. That’s where we drow are from originally. Intense heat, dark magic, necromancy, and things of that sort don’t affect us.”
“That’s really cool. Also, you did a great job of calming down the firebright. I don’t think I could have done that. Back on Earth, I was terrible with kids. They hated me.”
Gill brushed the hair out of his eyes as he smiled sweetly. Alex’s heart melted once again. It was a wonder it wasn’t a permanent puddle by now. “I’m the oldest of six. Most of my life was spent minding children,” Gill explained. “My mother said I exuded a calming air, more so than other drow. We have a bad reputation.”
Alex looked at Rocten. “Yeah, I noticed the way he was talking to you,” she admitted.
Gill laughed as he leaned back against the hill. “That’s nothing. Wait until you see how other elves treat me.”
“That sounds rough. But I can understand people treating you differently for reasons you can’t control, like Brath.”
Gill looked at the gnome and laughed. “Oh, him? He’s a jerk to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re blind, strong, or handsome. Any defining feature is fodder for him. He’s warming up to you, though, as he always does.”
Alex thought back to the last time she and Brath had spoken and what he had told her about Gill. She wished the gnome had kept his big mouth shut. “Uh, I gotta go,” Alex muttered as she walked toward the meadow behind the hills.
Jim noticed Alex was leaving, and he stood and called after her, “Hey, you mind if I tag along?”
Alex stopped dead in her tracks and let out a heavy sigh, one that felt as if she were exhaling every irritating thing in her life at the time. She hadn’t joined the dragonriders to get wrapped up in some Victorian love triangle. “Sure, Jaws,” she said without turning around.
Jim jogged to catch up with Alex. She didn’t bother slowing her pace, though. If she could have, she would have started running and not turned back. She did turn around, however, and when she saw Jim’s smiling face, she forgot about everything.
The two humans walked down through the meadow. It was spring, and the harrigolds were in full bloom, their twisting yellow petals casting themselves to the winds to be carried away. Jim walked up beside Alex. “So,” Jim started. “I heard through the grapevine—”
Alex interrupted Jim, nearly shouting, “That I was blind!”
Jim practically jumped back from Alex’s tone of voice. “Whoa, no, not like that. I mean, I wasn’t trying to say it like that. It’s just, I had no idea. You never mentioned it in—”
“Because I prefer not to be known as the blind girl. It gets pretty old.”
Jim nodded as he thought about what Alex had said. “I would never think of you as ‘the blind girl.’”
“Yet here you are, asking me about being the blind girl.”
“No, here I am asking one of my close friends about what’s going on in her life.”
Alex stopped walking and glared at Jim. She had no idea why she was so angry at him right now, but she felt like she could have hit him. The anger faded and was replaced by embarrassment. “I’m sorry. It’s just, the whole being blind thing has been a problem since I got here. It’s been obnoxious.”
Jim continued walking, and Alex kept pace with him. They walked over to an old tree stump that stuck up amongst the yellow harrigolds. “Yeah, I can imagine. I wouldn’t want to be talking about that all the time. How have you been holding up?”
Alex leaned forward, picked one of the harrigolds, and shrugged. “No one in VR knew I was blind, and I tried to keep it that way. I don’t like people treating me differently, or like I can’t do things.”
“Seems like no one here would treat you like that. What’s it like for you now, suddenly being able to see?”
Alex thought about the best way to answer the question. It was hard enough to explain what being blind was like. Take that experience and add on seeing through the eyes of a Beholder for the first time, and after that, being granted the eyes of a dragon.
It was a bit much to explain. “I guess it’s been,” Alex started, “complicated. It’s completely changed my life, not that I thought my life was lacking before. It’s just an entirely new existence. The whole world is different than I’ve ever known.”
Alex held up the harrigold she’d picked so the sunlight glowed through the flower’s thin petals. “The only time I had ever seen before was in a place that wasn’t real, or at least, not like the real place. I’ve never seen my parents with my own eyes. I’ve never seen anyone from my old life with my own eyes. It’s…it’s different.”
Jim nodded as he listened. “What about me? You’ve seen me as an avatar and now real life. What’s that like?”
Alex tucked the flower behind her ear and laughed. “You? Yeah, I saw you in VR, but seeing you in real life for the first time was, ah, interesting.”
“Oh, yeah? What was interesting about it?”
You’re freaking hot, Alex thought. Probably not the best thing to say right now. “You looked pretty much like your avatar,” Alex finally said. “I heard that wasn’t something most people did. I’m not sure how much my avatar looks like me. You know, I couldn’t really use a mirror.”
Jim moved, so he was right in front of Alex, looking her in the eye. Alex wanted to turn away, but something kept her eyes glued to Jim’s. “Hm,” he said. “You don’t look different. Guess you don’t need to see yourself to know what you look like.”
Jim didn’t move and kept staring into Alex’s eyes. Alex couldn’t tell how long they looked at each other, but she didn’t want to look away. She felt like she could spend the rest of the day with him like that.
Thankfully
, Chine broke Alex’s concentration. He’s thinking about asking you on a date.
Alex maintained her look of stoicism, but her heart was racing. A date? She’d never been on a date. She’d never even thought about going on a date. Why would she want to do such a thing?
Chine interrupted Alex’s train wreck of thoughts. He’s very nervous.
Before Alex realized it, she had already opened her mouth and was saying, “Of course, I’ll go on a date with you.”
Jim’s eyes widened as he stood up, awkwardly trying to shove his hands in his pockets, only to realize he didn’t have any pockets. “What? I wasn’t asking, I…wait, how did you know I was going to ask you?”
“Call it a hunch. After this mission. Lunch or coffee? I don’t know what people do on dates.”
“I think since I asked you, I’m supposed to come up with ideas.”
“Technically, I think I just asked you, but sure, take the pressure off me.”
Just then, a siren went off near the mines. Alex jumped to her feet, looking in that direction. “Guess that means it’s time for us to go.”
Chapter Six
By the time Alex and Jim got back, the rest of the dragonriders were ready to go. Four of the mech riders had arrived and loaded up the minerals. It was explained to Alex that the mech riders rode in prototype mechs based on dragon physiology. The mech tech hadn’t worked out as originally planned, and these were really only good for transportation.
Roy was the only rider who had managed to “meld” with his mech, whatever that meant. Alex got the gist of what was being said, though. Since they didn’t have proper reaction times, the mech riders were sitting ducks in the air, and Jim was one of them.
As well as the mech riders, six more dragonriders had arrived. They were veterans and didn’t seem to have any time to waste talking to the newbies. Alex tried not to take it personally. The veterans probably thought Team Boundless would need babysitting.