by Eric Vall
“Um, thank you?” I said in confusion.
“This is a symbol of our alliance,” Fiyero explained. “You have the phoenixes behind you, Lord Evan, if you will have us. Our numbers may be small, but we will answer if you call for us. If you need to find us, burn the feather, and it will show you the way.”
I looked down at the feather and stored it away in my spatial storage.
“Thank you, Chief Fiyero. I would be honored to have you and your people with me. Our alliance will last for as long as we shall live.”
We shook hands and nodded to one another. Then I turned back to Valerra and Ravi, who stood behind me.
“Are you two ready to go home?” I asked them.
Valerra shifted into her dragon body, stretched her wings, and soared into the sky without a word.
Ravi gave her father a sheepish look before she walked closer to hug him, and he shook his head at her fondly.
“I see you still have not learned how to listen to orders properly,” he sighed in exasperation.
“I’ll miss you too, Papa,” she said with a smile.
“Be safe, my child,” Chief Fiyero murmured, and Ravi hugged him tightly.
Then she turned to me and took a deep breath.
“Okay, I think I’m ready,” Ravi said with a bright smile. “Let’s go home.”
I wanted to growl in satisfaction as she called Hatra home, but I restrained myself. Then Ravi shifted into her phoenix form in a flash of blue fire, and she flew after Valerra.
“Until we meet again, Lord Evan,” Fiyero called as I shifted into my dragon form.
“Until then.” I dipped my massive head at him. “Stay safe, Chief Fiyero. Let me know if you have another insect infestation.”
I heard him laugh as I took off into the sky.
The journey home was much faster than before. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were all too excited to be home, or if it was because Ravi had decided to perch along my spine as we traveled so she wouldn’t slow us down with her small wingspan. Either way, we flew through the night, and just as the sun began to rise, the Crimson Canyons came into view.
Valerra flew with us to the walls of Hatra, and we all landed on the grass just outside the gates. Within minutes, I could hear the people inside the city as they rushed to greet us at the gates. They must have noticed us as we flew overhead.
I shifted into my human form, as did Ravi next to me. The gates before us opened, and Alyona and Laika came into view quickly and ran at us. Nike appeared shortly after them, as well as some members of The Blue Tree Guild.
“Evan!” Alyona cried as she threw her arms around my neck. “You’re home!”
I wrapped my arms around her tightly and slightly lifted her off the ground.
“I’m home,” I repeated back softly before I kissed her.
Alyona had tears in her eyes when she finally pulled away. Laika stood close enough to me that our shoulders brushed together, and I turned to embrace and kiss her as well. Her hug was shorter than Alyona’s, but I could see her tail quickly wag back and forth once we broke apart.
“How was everything here?” I asked.
“It was fine, quiet even,” Nike joked as he approached with a smile. “Maybe you should leave more often.”
“Maybe I should,” I laughed as we shook hands and hugged each other. “But I’m glad to be back. How has the construction with the new safety walls gone?”
“It’s been great!” a new voice said.
Then the architects Azra and Raisa appeared from the gate entrance, and Raisa skipped forward.
“We’ve finished with the tunnels inside the library, and Alyona just finished enchanting them yesterday,” Raisa said with a grin when she reached us, and her brown eyes sparkled with delight.
Suddenly, I heard Valerra growl in irritation behind me, and I turned to look at her before I realized why she was so annoyed.
“Alyona,” I said, and the princess turned her head from where she had been talking with Ravi. “Can you bring Valerra her sister’s egg? I’m sure Valerra wants to head home.”
“Of course,” my future wife replied with a beatific smile. “I have it stored away, just one moment.”
She slipped both of her hands into her spatial storage and pulled out the crimson, gold-speckled egg. Then she held it with both of her hands, and I helped her gently place it on the ground.
“Here, Valerra,” I said to the dragon. “Thank you for coming with me. Things would have been a lot worse without you.”
Valerra snorted and grabbed the egg with one of her clawed talons. Then she opened her wings to fly away, but I suddenly caught a glimpse of black underneath the joint of her wing.
“Valerra! Wait!” I yelled just as she tried to take off.
She stopped and pulled her wings back down.
“What?” she asked and bared her fangs, clearly agitated.
“Open your wing,” I commanded.
“This had better not be a joke, Evan. I want to return home.” Still, she spread her wings open, and I cursed.
An echidna had hidden itself under her wing, and due to Valerra’s massive size, she hadn’t noticed it. This echidna seemed different, though. It was larger than the others, at least twice the size, and it didn’t seem to be hostile. It just kind of … sat there with its legs curled under its body instead of launching into an attack like the others. The fur on its back was also a golden color instead of black, but it had the same countless, red eyes, all of which stared straight at me.
“Hold still,” I growled to Valerra. “We have a stowaway.”
“What!” she hissed with a jolt, but she listened to me and didn’t move.
I heard a faint gasp from behind my shoulder, and I felt Nike’s presence as he walked toward Valerra with me. He held his sword firmly in his hand, and I pulled the Sword of Hatra from my spatial storage. Then I focused all of my healing magic onto Valerra just in case this didn’t work out the way I wanted.
“Valerra, I’m going to try and pry the echidna off you, then once it’s off, we’ll kill it,” I explained as I lifted my blade and sidled up to the huge crimson dragon. “Anyone who has a weapon, get ready. I don’t want this thing to get away.”
Laika pulled out her broadsword, and I heard the familiar sound of Ravi as she created a weapon of fire. We created a half circle around Valerra, and she laid flat against the ground to give no space for the echidna to escape.
“Ready?” I said as I slid my sword under the echidna, and it hissed in warning. “One … Two … Three!”
Then I pulled up on my sword, and the echidna fell to the earth. It scampered around while Valerra growled and turned to find the beast. The echidna searched for an exit as we circled around it before it began to click its high-pitched sound. I sent my healing magic to cover everyone’s ears to save them from the distraction, but then the echidna spun and raced toward me.
I readied my sword as it approached, and when it was finally close enough to me, I slashed my sword down.
But Valerra had finally caught sight of the beast, and her eyes grew wide.
“Evan, wait!” she roared, but it was too late, and my sword impaled the echidna.
An ear-splitting scream pierced through the air as soon as my sword connected, and it was so loud it broke through my muffled hearing like a siren. I dropped my blade and covered my ears, and I saw the others do the same. Green blood from the echidna seeped into the earth, and the scream was finally silenced when the creature died.
“Damn it, Evan,” Valerra snarled as she looked down at the corpse. “Look at what you’ve done.”
“What was that?” I asked her as I removed my hands from my ears. “They’ve never screamed like that before.”
I picked up my sword and frowned at the green blood that covered it. Then I wiped it along the grass to clean the blade.
“That was the queen, you idiot!” Valerra hissed at me. “You killed the queen of the echidnas. That scream we heard was her dis
tress call and summons. She just alerted all of the echidnas in her colony. They will converge to where her scream came from, and they will move impossibly fast. They will be angry, and they will be careless with their own lives. They will rampage across the desert to find their queen and destroy anything in their path. They won’t stop until they find her. Which means … they are headed straight for Hatra.”
Chapter 14
“I thought you defeated them,” Laika said as she turned to me with wide gray eyes.
“We did!” I exclaimed. “I was sure we killed them all, I don’t understand how there could be more.”
Valerra scoffed as she shifted into her human body. She was naked again, which seemed strange after she had been dressed while we were with the tribe, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“That was probably only one swarm of her entire colony,” the crimson dragon explained. “I’ve heard stories of colonies with seemingly endless amounts of echidnas inside. This could very well be the case here. The colony was big enough to find the phoenix people relatively quickly for months, so I doubt it was the same swarm that followed them. It was more likely a different swarm attacked them each time. The queen would just send whichever group was the closest to the phoenixes. The echidnas are built to destroy and consume, and they are very good at it. If she has summoned the entire colony here, there is a very good chance your newly built city will return to ruin.”
Scales crawled up my arms as I clenched my fists in rage. I would not let Hatra fall a second time.
“Just one swarm?” Ravi repeated in disbelief.
“What should we do?” Alyona asked me, and the rest of the group turned their heads to await my answer.
“We won’t let the city fall,” I promised while I wracked my brain for ideas. “We need to set up stronger defenses around the outer walls. We can use whatever we can find, set up spikes, and if we have time, maybe dig a trench along the outside to keep the echidnas away from the walls all together. We should also bring back anyone working at the Asuran village. I want everyone inside the safety of the walls when the echidnas reach us.”
“I’ll send a message right away, I have some members of the guild over there today,” Laika said, and she pressed a hand to the blue tree on her gorget. A few seconds later, she looked to me. “It’s done. Anton will make sure everyone arrives back safely.”
“Thanks, Laika,” I said, and she gave me a nod. Then I looked around at the rest of the group. “Does anyone know where my parents are? They need to know what’s going on.”
It seemed odd they weren’t at the gate to greet me like the others were, but I tried not to be paranoid and assume the worst.
“They’ve been busy these past few days,” Nike answered. “They came up with an idea for a sewage system and have been going over plans with the architects Azra and Raisa.”
“I think Julia mentioned the aqueducts today,” Azra said when I turned to him and Raisa next. “They want to find a way to use the water to flush waste out of the city.”
“Thanks,” I replied as I created a little silver dragon in my hand. “I’ll send them a message to have them meet us here.” A moment later, I looked down at the magical messenger in my hand. “Tell Ruslan and Julia I’m back and that we need to talk.”
The small dragon dipped its head before it took off in the direction of the aqueducts.
“Alyona, are there any spells you know of that can help us?” I asked the princess.
“Perhaps,” she mused as her amethyst eyes narrowed in thought. “I can lift a shield around us to help keep the echidnas out. However, I’m not sure how long I could hold it for.”
“Anything else?” I questioned.
“There is another spell,” she said and pulled at one of her black forelocks, “but I haven’t been able to master it yet. I’ll do some research and see if there are any other spells that could be useful. My books are in my room in the temporary palace, so that is where I will be if you need me.”
“I can help you!” Ravi piped up. “I don’t think I can be of much use anywhere else.”
Alyona smiled kindly and nodded. “Thank you, Ravi. I would appreciate the help.”
Without another word, she released her hair, turned around, and headed toward the palace. Ravi followed after her, and they quickly vanished inside the city.
“We’re going to have to fight the echidnas,” I said bluntly as I turned to the rest of the group. “They are going to be a bitch to fight, especially if the colony is as massive as you think, Valerra. We need a game plan.”
“We should get all of the civilians who can’t fight to safety,” Nike suggested, and his silver eyes were alight with determination. “The women, children, and elderly should stay inside the airship while we take care of this problem.”
“That’s a good idea, and we can send a few guild members to guard them just in case,” I agreed and looked to Laika, who nodded.
“The guild will offer any assistance you require,” she said confidently.
“Good, because I also want to use the other ships your guild has,” I told her with a sharp grin. “Echidnas are stuck on the ground, so we can fly over them in the ships and take them out from above.”
“We’ll need to let Natalya know we need arrows and bows made as fast as she can make them,” Nike added as he rubbed his chin in thought. “Though she’ll probably need more materials, and the mines are still closed.”
“We’ll have to make do with what we have,” I told them. “I won’t put us at risk for another attack while we wait for the echidnas. We can find spare metal around here, and maybe we can send teams to examine the ruined parts of the outskirts. It’s not ideal, but everyone should be okay if they stick together.”
“I’ll see it done,” my fellow Noble of the Sword promised with a nod.
“Thank you,” I replied, but then an idea came to mind, and I grinned wickedly. “Actually, Valerra, you can help Nike with that. I’d feel better if you traveled with the people to the outskirts just in case there are any other creatures out there.”
“Excuse me?” Valerra scowled and crossed her arms. “Why would I help? I did what you asked. The echidnas will no longer bother the phoenixes. Now, I will retire to my cave and rest.”
“Nuh-uh,” I argued with a shake of my head. “You brought the queen here, so you’re going to help take out the colony.”
“I didn’t kill the queen, Evan, you did,” Valerra retorted.
“So, it was a group effort,” I conceded as I leveled her with a commanding stare. “Either way, we need your help.”
“You seemed to handle yourself perfectly fine before,” she sniffed, but I could see her resolve faltering in her golden eyes. “I’ve been away from my egg long enough, I need to take her home with me so I know she’s safe once more.”
“And how safe will she be when the echidnas come to your canyons first?” I countered with a cocked eyebrow. “I mean, I know the queen’s call will lead them to Hatra, but I wonder if she left any pheromones on you?”
I sniffed dramatically in her direction, and I could sense as Laika, Nike, Azra, and Raisa awkwardly stepped away from our argument.
A long moment passed as Valerra and I stared each other down like it was high noon, and I felt the corners of my lips start to twitch as Valerra finally bared her fangs.
“You are the most infuriating creature I have ever met,” Valerra growled, and her golden eyes glared at me. “Fine! I will stay here and help you figure out how to save your precious city. After, I will return home with my sister’s egg, and no one will bother me again.”
I smiled in victory. “Great. Then let’s get started on a plan.”
“Don’t be so smug,” Valerra grumbled. “I’ll have you know my life was peaceful until you came along.”
“You mean it was dull and uneventful,” I teased.
“No,” Valerra said flatly. “It was peaceful and quiet, and no other dragons made me fight for their human city. My lif
e was great.”
“You know you love me.” I smirked as she huffed and rolled her eyes. “Come on, stop moping and just give me your egg. I’ll keep it safe in my spatial storage until you can return home, okay?”
She seemed to debate with herself for a moment before she nodded once and handed me her egg.
“Thank you,” I said and quickly slipped it away into my storage space.
“Evan!” I heard Ruslan call my name from the right. “I’m glad your home safe! We just received your message.”
My father and Julia jogged toward us, and they both wore giant smiles that quickly faded as they reached us.
“What’s happened?” Ruslan asked as his eyes roamed around the group.
“It’s the echidnas,” I explained quickly. “We killed off the swarm the tribe had trouble with, but something happened afterwards. The queen followed us back here, and I killed her, but now the entire colony will be headed to Hatra to retrieve her corpse.”
“I guess that explains the sound I heard a bit ago,” Ruslan mused as his ears twitched atop his head. Then his expression became serious and determined, and he lifted his chin. “How much time do we have?”
“I don’t know.” I turned to the other dragon. “Valerra?”
Her arms were crossed along her chest, and she stared at Ruslan with a neutral expression.
“It’s impossible to tell,” she answered after a moment. “If there is a swarm close by, they could be here by tonight, but if there are any farther away, along the opposite side of the desert for example, it could take them weeks.”
“Great,” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “Let’s go to the library. Maybe there will be something in there about echidnas that will help us. Until we have a plan, we need to station more guards along the watchtowers we have. Laika, can you take care of that?”
The wolf Demi-Human nodded as her hand rested on the blue tree of her gorget, and then she was quiet.
A few minutes later, she finally spoke.
“Each watchtower will be equipped with three armed guards. Daya will inform Natalya that we need more bows and arrows immediately. There will be more nightly patrols throughout the city as well as several patrols outside the gates. Nothing will sneak past us.”
