Dragon Approved Complete Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 13): A Middang3ard Series

by Ramy Vance

  The black rod cracked and Brath repeated his earlier strategy and slammed into it, cracking it even farther down the middle.

  The spider creature shrieked in pain as it stumbled back, but before the crystal broke away, a shockwave erupted from it.

  Alex was able to dodge the shockwave, as was Brath. The wave hit Jollies and Gill.

  Jollies detached from Amber, but the two were so small that Jollies managed to grab her dragon before they got too far apart, holding tightly to his horns to keep from falling off.

  Gill, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The wave hit him and Timber hard, sending the drow flying through the air as a swarm of orcs headed for him.

  Alex sent Chine rocketing toward him. They cut through the orcs who were fighting to get to Gill. Alex reached out, trying to grasp Gill’s hand.

  An orc sideswiped Alex from the left, hitting her with its wings, and cutting her across the chest with enough force to detach her from Chine. She went flying through the air, reaching for the dragon’s wings but narrowly missing them. She plummeted toward the earth.

  Both Alex and Gill were in freefall. Gill pulled his plasma pistol from his holster, firing at every orc that flew at him with the coolness of someone walking down the street to their favorite store.

  Alex still gripped her scythe in one hand, the other putting pressure on the wound across her chest. She was losing blood, and she wasn’t sure how fast. The pain was hardly noticeable since her body was flooded with adrenaline. All she could think about was keeping the orcs flying at her from getting too close.

  Jim and Roy turned away from the orcs in front of them and flew after the falling riders. Alex saw them approaching, but her vision was beginning to blur. A group of orcs headed for her, and it looked as if they would get there before either Roy or Jim.

  Alex grabbed Gill’s arm and pulled him closer to her. As they hurtled toward the ground, Gill continued to unload shot after shot at anything getting close to them. He picked off the orcs that Alex had been worried would arrive before the mech riders did.

  Roy swooped under Gill, opening his cockpit and allowing Gill to fall gently into it. Jim executed the same maneuver beneath Alex.

  He reached out to her, trying to grab her hand and pull her into the cockpit.

  As Alex’s fingers wrapped around Jim’s hand, an orc hit her from the left and she was knocked away from Jim. Its wings slashed her arm, and she lost her grip on her scythe.

  Jim hit his thrusters and attempted to get closer to Alex, but a group of orcs flocked to him, covering his mech.

  Alex hit her comm and shouted, “Squad A! Report!”

  A couple of voices came through at the same time, but Alex heard one louder than the other. “We’ve taken out all of the spiders, and the orcs are retreating! The slugs have stopped moving forward.”

  “Retreat! Head back to the Nest to regroup and finish them off.”

  “Roger!”

  The ground was coming for Alex. She was going to hit hard, and that would be the end. There was something oddly comforting about knowing death would be swift.

  An orc flew toward Alex with its wings outstretched, hoping to slash her. Alex saw her opening, and as the orc got closer, she grabbed its throat and swung around behind it. She locked her robotic arm around the orc’s neck and steered it to the ground.

  Alex hit the earth with immense speed, the orc taking the bulk of the impact. When she stumbled to her feet, she noticed the ground was soft and squishy. “What the hell?” she muttered to herself.

  Suddenly, the ground grew unstable, and Alex fell forward. She wasn’t on the ground, she was on the back of one of the slugs. “Chine!” she called. “I’m down here!”

  Alex didn’t know if the dragon could hear her. There was no reply as she looked at the slug’s foul body, more orc hands and heads trying to force themselves out of the putrid flesh.

  The presence of Alex had awakened something within the orcs. Those who had been docile under the skin were now moaning loudly and trying to pull themselves out.

  Alex backed away, not knowing where to go. She tried to pull her scythe from her dragon anchor, but nothing happened. A shockwave from one of the black rods must have hit her. She was defenseless.

  The orcs continued to claw their way out of the slug. This is it, Alex thought. I did my best, and that was all I could do.

  Rage was the only word for what Alex felt. To know her life was about to end in such a fashion pulled at something deep within her that she did not know existed. Her veins began to burn, as well as her eyes.

  The air around Alex grew hot and flames erupted, covering her body as energy radiated from it.

  The pillar of flames she generated stretched skyward, engulfing everything above and around her. The fire seared through the flesh of the slugs and the orcs who clawed their way toward her, reducing them all to ash.

  Alex fell through the miasma of charred bodies. As her eyes began to flutter closed, her body became weightless. What’s happening? she wondered hazily.

  Her dragon’s voice in her head comforted her. I am here for you, Dustling, he said before everything went black.

  Chapter Eight

  Alex stood in a room which was all white. There was no furniture. The walls did not seem to be walls. She was ankle-deep in water, and she had both her arms. Someone was singing, but she did not recognize the song or the voice.

  Vardis crouched across from her, staring into the water. He looked over his shoulder. “Oh,” he said, “you’re finally here.”

  When Alex spoke, it was not with her mouth, and it was not telepathy as she experienced it with Chine. This was something else. It was a flurry of emotions and concepts that crystalized in what could pass for language in such a place. She had felt this aboard the meteor.

  Where is here?

  Vardis stood, flicked water off of his fingers, and walked over to Alex. This is your mind, he explained. Or something like it. You’re sleeping now, much like when we first spoke. The only difference is that this is not a natural sleep. I’m assuming you passed out during the battle.

  Alex looked down at her hands. They were quivering, bending in and out of the light as if they weren’t real. How are you able to do this?

  We are linked. When I first saw you, I connected with you telepathically as a failsafe in case something happened to me. I wasn’t certain I could trust any of you yet. Not the most prudent of means to ensure my safety, but it was the best I could do.

  Alex crouched next to the water. There were minnows swimming under the surface. Why didn’t you think you could trust us? she asked. Wasn’t that the reason you came here to meet with us?

  Vardis knelt beside Alex. I traveled here to deliver a weapon to destroy the Dark One. I wasn’t sure who or what I was going to find. For all I knew, you people could have been pawns of the Dark One. There are enough in this realm to have made that a possibility.

  You came from the place the Dark One is from, didn’t you?

  For the first time, Alex saw something like emotion in the alien’s eyes. Its eyes conveyed a deep sense of loss, perhaps more than Alex believed anyone was capable of feeling. I came from a place the Dark One intimately touched. I do not know where he came from, only where he has been.

  The white room contorted, its edges blurring and stretching as the light disappeared and was replaced by the darkness of space, stars birthing themselves as the universe stretched out around them. This was my home, Vardis said.

  The view zoomed in on one planet that did not look much different than Earth. They continued to get closer, passing through the atmosphere and the clouds until they were on the land, watching other members of Vardis’s race going about their lives in a city that nearly reached the stars.

  The Dark One came to our planet in silence. Much like what has happened here, he infected our people through means we did not understand. Now we know it to be some kind of mind-controlling technology, but we did not then. Agents of the Dark One wa
lked amongst us, and we were ignorant of it. Slowly, a war brewed.

  The cities crumbled to dust and were carried away by the wind. Members of Vardis’ race fought each other. Bodies littered the ground, the dead stacked in piles. A pale white child wearing a buck’s head mask walked amongst the corpses.

  Vardis spoke again. We were unprepared for the war. It did not take long before our planet was ravaged, our people destroyed or scattered. There were resistances, but how were we to fight against ourselves? Our world was soon destroyed. Those he was not able to enslave were killed.

  Now there were images of mines, of an alien race burrowing into the ground. There was something deep and strange down there. Alex didn’t know how she knew, but she was certain that whatever was there should not be disturbed.

  When Vardis spoke, the mines disappeared, replaced by what looked like an oversized child, something swollen with loose skin, crying and screaming. The Dark One began to dig deep into our planet. No one knew why. The Resistance couldn’t figure it out. He seemed unconcerned with minerals or ore, but he continued to dig.

  The two were standing above the planet, which was graying. Alex could see the vegetation dying and fading. The seas were drying up. I do not know how, but the Dark One began to devour our world. He sucked it dry of all life. After a while, it started to affect more than our home.

  Vardis and others like him were walking in long lines in an endless desert. Their bodies were gaunt, their bones prominent. Many had fallen to the wayside on the endless march, their skin turning to ash and floating off into the bloodred sky. We were dying, and the planet was drained.

  The planet grew red amongst the stars. Fires erupted across it as the seas boiled and evaporated. The core sizzled and bloomed as the earth cracked and flames erupted from its bowels. Then the planet exploded, sending its remains into space.

  The room was white again, and only Alex and Vardis remained. What are you doing here?

  As I said before, I discovered a weapon to destroy the Dark One. I wish to give it to you in the hope that this war can finally be brought to an end.

  Great! Where is it? If you have something to stop the Dark One, let’s do it.

  Vardis shook his head slowly, his eyes filled with sadness. It is not here. I had to hide it from the Dark One. It is on a moon in the realm you are from—Earth’s moon. And you are the only one who can get it.

  Alex scowled and folded her arms. Are you serious? Why can’t Myrddin? I’m just a kid. A soldier. There are—

  Because I trust you. That is why.

  Chapter Nine

  Alex snapped awake, jerking backward, scrambling and trying to get away from whatever was around her. Hands grabbed her and she reached for her scythe, uncertain of where the enemy was until she heard a familiar voice squeak, “Alex, it’s okay!”

  The adrenaline began to drain from Alex’s body when she recognized Jollies’ voice. Her vision started to return.

  Team Boundless and Roy surrounded Alex. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was. It was somewhere near the Nest, but they weren’t inside. “Where are we?” she asked.

  Roy and Jim helped her to her feet. They were in the outer section of the Nest in an alcove that overlooked the valley. The rest of the captains and the mech and dragonriders were spread out around the alcove. The riders’ dragons floated above.

  Alex walked over to the edge and looked over. “What are we doing up here?”

  Roy stood beside Alex and lit his cigar. “Someone was smart enough to give their squad the call to retreat,” he said. “It was a good one. Looked like we were winning the damn thing. Turned out, that’s not exactly what was happening.”

  Roy pointed into the distance. The techno-organic slugs were still making their way toward the Nest, a black swarm of orcs above them.

  Alex sighed and leaned her head back in frustration. “Are you kidding me? I thought we killed most of those damn things.”

  “Language, Alex.”

  “I can fight for Middang3ard, but I can’t use a PG curse word? So, who’s going to fill me in on what the hell is happening?”

  Roy knocked his cigar’s ashes over the edge of the alcove. “Like I said, we retreated. Myrddin thought it was a good idea. Said he was going to come out here and meet us. Doesn’t seem like Myrddin’s style to sit back and wait for his favorite facility to be overrun.”

  Alex looked around, trying to find Myrddin. “Where is he?”

  The double doors of the Nest opened, and Myrddin walked into the alcove. He didn’t bother to stop and address anyone as he breezed past and peered at the valley.

  He held a thin white wand in his hand and raised it above his head. Energy crackled around him as he floated into the air, his eyes turning bright white, lightning flashing from them and surrounding the rest of his body.

  The old wizard began speaking softly under his breath and drawing sigils in the air, his wand moving elegantly as he traced the elaborate shapes. His voice grew louder and louder until it sounded as if it were a force of nature.

  Dark clouds spread through the sky. A storm was coming, and it was obvious Myrddin was the one who was weaving it. Thunder crackled in the distance.

  Roy leaned against his mech as the rest of the riders and captains moved in to get a better view of what was happening. “Oh.” He chuckled. “You guys have never seen Myrddin in action before. This will be a treat.”

  Myrddin pointed his wand in the direction of the Dark One’s forces. His voice echoed throughout the valley as he spoke a dead language, one lost long before humanity arose.

  The sky ripped open and bolts of lightning the size of city blocks tore through the air, striking the slugs as they traveled through the valley. When the bolts struck the ground, flames erupted.

  As the flames licked at the slugs, winds swirled around, pulling the flames and the slugs into a vortex of lightning and fire. The flaming tornados danced, leaving destruction in their wake.

  Above, the old wizard vibrated with energy. A pulse of fire rushed from his body, sending all the riders flying backward as Myrddin gave a cry that sounded as if it had been ripped from a god.

  In the distance, the flaming tornados converged, transforming into a larger tornado that stretched to the sky. Another massive bolt of lightning struck the eye of the tornado and a flash of light spread through the valley, bright enough that it could have been the sun. It momentarily blinded everyone.

  When Alex could see again, the valley was empty. There was no grass, no trees—nothing.

  Myrddin floated back down to the ground and waved his wand one more time. A shimmering bubble spread over the Nest, stretching out as far as the path of destruction.

  The wizard walked over to Alex, his movements labored and looking painful. He was breathing very deeply, and his eyes looked extremely tired. “Alex, we need to speak. There are more reinforcements coming since this will only hold for so long. I need to know what Vardis told you.”

  Alex was surprised Myrddin knew she’d had a dream about Vardis. “How did you know about that?”

  “That is not what’s important. What you were told is.”

  Chapter Ten

  Myrddin and Alex met in the wizard’s study. No one else was allowed in. When he stepped into the room, he went straight to a chair and collapsed in it. He looked tired but not defeated, and his eyes were still bright with life. “When you were unconscious,” he started. “Vardis spoke to you, didn’t he?”

  Alex took a seat next to Myrddin as she tried to recollect what Vardis had told her. “He said we were telepathically linked.”

  “Yes, I know you two are linked. That is one of the troubling aspects of all this. Did he say why he linked to you?”

  “Because he trusted me.”

  Myrddin leaned forward as he stared at Alex. His eyes were impossible to read. Alex knew he was thinking, but she couldn’t tell what. “That is disconcerting,” he muttered.

  Alex felt her pride flash as her cheeks bu
rned red. “Why is that disconcerting?”

  Myrddin’s face softened as he reached over to his coffee table and picked up a glass of water that appeared on it. “Please do not take offense, Alex, but you are a child. If there was a matter of this importance, Vardis should have spoken with me. That is what is disconcerting.”

  Only a child? Fighting in a war, leading an entire squad, risking my life? And I’m just a child?

  Silence hung in the air between Alex and Myrddin as they watched each other. Alex couldn’t believe that was how Myrddin thought of her. After all of the work she’d done for him, after everything she’d sacrificed and experienced, Myrddin didn’t think she was anything other than a kid.

  Myrddin didn’t seem to care about how Alex was reacting to his opinion. “What did he tell you?”

  Alex thought Myrddin could ask Vardis himself if he was so certain of how important he was, but she also knew this wasn’t the time or place for such pettiness. However hurt her feelings were, it wasn’t going to help the situation. She had intel, and the war effort needed it. “He said he hid the weapon on Earth’s moon.”

  Myrddin clicked his tongue, folded his hands, and sat quietly for a bit. “Interesting.” Then he rose and walked to his desk. “Alex, your leadership skills saved many lives today. You were the only one wise enough to do what they all knew they should have done. I commend you.”

  Myrddin rested his hand on his desk, leaning over it. He looked immensely old. “That is why I tell you this in complete honesty. I do not know what to think of Vardis. I can’t figure him out, and that is dangerous. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Alex didn’t. She’d never seen Myrddin speak so candidly, and it was upsetting. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t follow.”

  “Ignorance is dangerous. It ends in wars, and in this situation, we are ignorant.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  Myrddin turned to face Alex, his face tired and worn. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just don’t know.”