by Ramy Vance
Jim hit a button on his dashboard and his mech faded from sight. “When the hell did you figure out you could do that?” Alex exclaimed.
Jim’s head popped back into visibility for a second, just long enough for Alex to see his smug smile. “Got a new batch of augments earlier today. Didn’t think I’d get a chance to try this one out, but now seems like the perfect chance.”
The two descended until they were nearly brushing the trees. Alex relaxed and let her eyes do their work. Because her eyes were modeled after Chine’s, Alex had all of the benefits of a dragon’s vision. She could see the heat signatures of the giants beneath her.
After determining their location, she swooped behind them from above and then lowered herself and Chine into the forest.
Chine touched down as lightly as possible, hardly making any noise, and they began to sneak closer to the giants. Chine took the lead on this one because Alex wasn’t used to riding her dragon on the ground.
The psychic link between Chine and Alex was strong, and Alex rarely had to communicate about things like that. It made working together a lot easier.
Alex rarely realized how lizard-like Chine could be, but she was reminded as the dragon slipped in and out of the shadows. His footsteps didn’t make a sound.
Jim was out of sight, and Alex hoped he had touched down already as well. She was going to comm him but thought better of it. Giants rarely used tech (something that didn’t seem to be affected by the Dark One’s influence), but there was always a chance they had some way of detecting electronic communications. Alex had recently been reading about the psychic capabilities of some types of giants. It would be best to play this safe.
For now, Alex would just assume Jim was as competent a rider on the ground as she knew he was in the air. Part of her wished Gill was here instead of Jim for this mission, and it made her feel like crap. Gill was great at stealth, and it would have put some of her worries to rest. Plus, she kind of missed the drow. Not thinking about that right now, Alex reminded herself. Teenage Hormone Hour is scheduled for later.
Up ahead, Alex could see a giant who was lagging behind the rest of the group. Perfect. Waves of Chine’s emotions rolled over Alex. It was something that had just recently started happening. Alex hadn’t spoken with the dragon about it yet, but whenever Chine felt something strongly, it would wash over Alex like a fine mist.
So far, it had not been anything complex—mostly boredom and excitement, but this time, it was different. There was something going on within Chine that was almost overpowering. Giddiness was the only way Alex could describe it. It wasn’t hard to figure out why, either. Sometimes Alex had an inkling of what was sparking his emotions, but this time, it hit Alex like a slap in the face.
The hunt. Something about hunting the giants was making Chine as happy as a child with a new toy. Alex thought it was kind of cute, and she let herself get caught up in it as the two of them raced after the lagging giant. Giants weren’t known for being forgiving when traveling. If you couldn’t keep up, you couldn’t keep up. It was a mindset Alex was willing to exploit.
Chine’s head snapped forward and he snatched the giant, crushing the huge creature between his jaws. Both Chine and Alex felt extremely satisfied with the sounds of the cracking bones.
Alex hadn’t been aware Chine was so good at stealth. All of the battles the two of them had been in so far had been heart-pounding, explosive situations. Alex had never heard of dragons being sneaky, but at the moment, Chine reminded Alex more of a dangerous viper than anything else.
Even with that, it was only a matter of time before the giants realized they were being picked off. Giants weren’t dumb, and the darkness of the forest was only going to obscure Alex and Chine for so long. If there had been more riders, Alex could have easily overtaken the giants she was stalking. But she and Jim weren’t going to be enough. This was going to turn into a full-on battle eventually.
There was still a fair amount of distance between the main group of giants and the few who had fallen behind. Alex didn’t know how many giants Jim had managed to take out, but she knew that once the fight started, they’d still be dealing with the bulk of the giants.
There was a bright flash of heat, something Alex was certain only she and Chine noticed. That must have been Jim. Alex realized that if she focused, she could pick up on Jim’s heat signature. She concentrated on finding different levels of heat at the same time.
Jim’s mech was hot and blew out her vision. It was snaking its way, slower but still persistently, through the forest, occasionally stopping to snipe one of the giants.
At the sound of Jim’s approach, two of the giants turned, spotting Alex and Chine. They shouted, calling to the other giants, who immediately forgot the pixies they’d been chasing.
One of the giants reached over and ripped a tree up by its roots. The yhomir threw the tree at Chine, who leaped to the side. The tree hit another, exploding into a thousand chunks. That giant really had an arm on him. Alex figured keeping her distance was the best idea. If one of them got hold of Chine, it would be bad news.
The dragon growled as he backed away from the giants. He must have been thinking the same thing, Alex thought as she scanned the environment. There wasn’t much space to move around with the trees being so densely packed. It was going to be impossible to accurately use Chine’s flames without torching the trees.
That would be disastrous. There were a host of creatures and races that lived in the woods. Alex was pretty sure the pixies were residents of the very forest cradling them now. It would mean a lot of deaths and a lot of displacement. There had to be another option.
One of the giants went flying to the left, crumbling under an invisible attack from Jim. The rest of the giants whirled, trying to find the source of the attack. Maybe that was the best approach for the time being: let Jim take out giants from stealth mode, and Alex could clean up the rest of them.
A giant ripped another tree up and swung it like a bat. There was the sound of metal cracking, and sparks flew as Jim became visible.
Jim’s mech tumbled back, nearly toppling over. He obviously hadn’t been expecting to be found out so soon. “Damn it,” he muttered into the comm. “Any ideas on how we’re going to take care of this?”
There was no time to form a plan. Instead, Alex trusted her gut, and right now, her gut was telling her to engage. Fight. “We get in close,” Alex cried out. “Hit hard and aggressively.”
“I’m starting to think that’s your solution for everything.”
“You’re welcome to solve this problem however you want. I know what I’m doing.”
Alex pulled back on her dragon anchor, sending Chine leaping at the closest giant.
The giant saw Chine coming and braced itself for the attack. As Chine snapped his jaws closed, the giant grabbed the side of Chine’s mouth, keeping the dragon from closing his jaws.
Alex could see that this was going to be a fight. The other giants were starting to surround her. She stretched out her hand to call her scythe blade from her dragon anchor, and it materialized in her right hand. She twirled it elegantly, relishing in the sound of the gears whirring in her robotic arm.
Even though it had taken some time to get used to it, Alex preferred using her robotic arm for fighting. She had a much broader range of motion and more strength than she’d had before.
She wasn’t going to leave her dragon to deal with the giant by himself. She unhooked herself from the anchor and ran up the length of Chine’s back his head, then slashed the giant’s throat, severing its head.
Its body fell, and the rest of the giants’ eyes flashed as if they realized that they were no longer the only predators. Alex and Chine were their equals, if not more. Guess I’ll just have to prove it to you, asshats, Alex thought to herself.
Chine whipped around, slashing the giant behind him with his tail as his rider ran down his right wing, slashing at the giants who were attempting to crowd him.
At Alex
’s side, Jim was firing his machine gun, cutting down the ones who were too stupid to turn away from the bullets.
Suddenly, as if they had all received a command, the giants dropped to the ground, hunching so their arms scraped the forest floor. Then they sprang into the air, grabbing the branches of the trees and swinging up into the dark canopy like huge monkeys.
Jim and Alex looked around the clearing. All of the giants were gone. “Uh, what just happened?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know, but giants aren’t supposed to move like that. Last time I saw one, they were not that agile. I thought that was kinda their thing, you know? Big and slow.”
“Explains how they were able to keep up with the pixies.”
A heavy kick hit Alex in the side, throwing her off of Chine. She hit a tree hard and gasped for breath. “Shit,” she muttered as she stood up. She looked above her. Giants were hanging from tree branches, their red eyes glaring.
Alex groaned as she stood up. All right, I didn’t want to go the whole-hog, but we might as well. She ran back to the dragon. Let’s tear through these guys, Chine!
Chine didn’t need to be told twice. The dragon roared, letting everything in the forest know of his presence. Then he leaped into the trees while Jim watched, amazed at Alex’s brazenness.
Alex cut through a giant while Chine snorted a small, controlled stream of fire, burning the branches out from under a couple of giants. Jim saw his opening and bolted toward the creatures, his machine guns blazing, cutting them down as soon as they hit the ground.
Above, Alex and the dragon were making short work of the giants. They moved in unison, Alex traversing Chine’s body as if he were a canvas for her to paint on. They annihilated the giants that remained almost before the monsters knew it.
Chine landed on the ground as Jim wandered over. “You know, if you want, next time I could just stand on the sidelines. I have no problem with you taking care of everything,” Jim joked.
Alex looked around at the bodies that littered the forest floor. “Psh, what are you talking about?”
“You and Chine wrecked those giants. I thought they were going to give us a much harder time.”
“Eh, they made the mistake of assuming Chine and I were attached at the hip. That, and this big guy seems to be as comfortable in a forest as in the air. Plus, they were interrupting our date. So, how about we go see how those pixies are and get back to it?”
Jim smiled as he opened his cockpit. “Oh, so you’re enjoying the romancing?”
Alex started toward where she thought the pixies would be. “I don’t not like it.”
Chapter Three
Alex and Jim found the pixies huddled in an old mushroom-covered tree log. They were sitting quietly, two of the older ones perched near the opening as lookouts. When they saw two humans approaching, they whistled loudly for the rest of the pixies to come and meet their saviors.
The pixies were ecstatic. They had seen the fight or at least the two sentries had, and told the rest of the pixies what they’d seen. The sentries recognized Jim and Alex as dragonriders. They had heard tales of the riders’ prowess in battle and were glad to see that the stories were not exaggerations.
Alex tried not to let the praise go to her head. She was happy they were safe—that was the important thing. But it never hurt to hear nice things. For the most part, being a dragonrider was a thankless job. The corps gave credit when it was due, but it was a circular thing. The people Alex was working to protect had no idea about the kind of work she did.
It was nice to be able to see the joy in the faces of the pixies. Alex knew she had made a difference. (Not that she thought she hadn’t before.) Seeing the pixies safe and well was different, though. It wasn’t an abstract concept like the Dark One was. This was tangible. And sometimes that was all Alex needed—just be able to hold on to something, to know it was real.
One of the sentries flew up to Alex’s face, smiling and glowing bright yellow. “What brought you into the forest anyway?” the pixie asked. “Humans don’t usually come out this way, even if the Wasp’s Nest is so close. We hardly ever see humans.”
Alex figured that made sense. “That’s because there aren’t many other humans around the Nest,” Alex said. “Have you met any of the other dragonriders?”
“Oh, yes, many. There are a few elves who come to our woods, and pixies. Also, a young drow…he is the quietest of all. Sometimes we don’t even know he’s among the trees.”
Jim laughed as he shook his head. “That would be Gill,” he said mostly to himself. “Only quiet person I know who’s able to make that kind of impression.”
The sentry flew closer to Alex’s face. “You still haven’t told me what brought you to the forest.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, we were trying to get someplace,” Alex said. “But I’m not sure where it was we’re going. It was supposed to be a surprise.”
The sentries looked at each other, confused by how awkward the two humans were being. “What are you doing in the forest?” one of the sentries inquired.
Jim bashfully scratched the back of his head. “Uh, well, we’re on a date.”
The sentry still seemed to be in the dark. “What is ‘a date?’”
Jim’s face went red as he cleared his throat. “Guess it’s like a pre-mating ritual. I mean, kinda like an equivalent for pixies.” He turned to Alex, throwing his hands up. “Not saying that’s what I’m trying to do or anything. It’s just that pixies don’t do dates, but they have those rituals.”
Alex couldn’t bring herself to meet Jim’s eyes, and he turned back and started talking to the pixie sentries, who had flown closer to speak more quietly. When the sentries finally gave Jim his space, he was shaking his head and blushing slightly. “They want to escort us on our date,” he explained. “As a thank you.”
“Why would we want a pixie escort? This isn’t my high school prom.”
“Alex, you were homeschooled. You didn’t have a prom.”
Alex shrugged off Jim’s critique of her wit. “Doesn’t matter. You get the point I’m making,” she retorted.
Jim came over to Alex and smiled that smile that had recently started to make her stomach flutter. “Trust me, it’s totally gonna be worth it. Sun’s about to set and everything. It’s a great idea.”
“All right. As long as this doesn’t turn out to be anything weird.”
The sun had set, and darkness had settled over the valley. The moon hung crooked and swollen like a giant white eye peering at that which could not be known. Alex had always loved full moons, but although tonight’s was gorgeous, it was nothing compared to what she was a part of.
The pixies were glowing as bright as they could, surrounding Alex and Jim as they made their way through the forest and down to a meadow of wildflowers. Those were glowing as well, although in muted tones.
The parade of lights continued through the meadow, past the flowers and up into the hills. Alex couldn’t take her eyes off of the pixies, who were also singing quietly, a low and solemn tune that added an air of gravity to their short journey. Alex would not have connected it with pixies. Gone was their lightheartedness; instead, there was a weight in the song that hung as heavy as heartbreak.
It was a sobering experience, almost like a meditation. Jim was right; it was a great idea.
As they traveled under the moonlight with the song of the pixies filling the air, they descended into the valley. At the bottom was a pond roughly thirty feet across, surrounded by an outcropping of trees. There was sand around the lake, and even from far away, it looked soft. Steam was rising from the water. “You brought your bathing suit, right?” Jim asked.
Alex had thought Jim was joking about swimming. It had been freezing the last few nights, but she had worn it under her armor just to be safe. Even though Jim joked a lot, he rarely advised doing something unless it was important.
The pixies continued down the hill with Alex and Jim until they stood before the lake. Alex dismounted from
Chine, and Jim exited his mech. They stood on the shore of the lake, watching the steam rise. “How hot is it?” Alex asked.
“Gill said it’s about ninety degrees on a night like this. He thought it was weird we were bringing bathing suits. Apparently, drow skinny-dip.”
Alex put all her mental effort into not letting her imagination run wild with that idea. Instead, she hit her dragon anchor, and her armor slid up into her anchor. Jim did the same, and they both walked over to the lake. Alex dipped her toe into the water. Gill hadn’t lied. The lake was practically the temperature of a hot tub.
Slowly Alex lowered herself into the water, the heat shooting up her legs as if it were fire. At first, it was too hot, but the water instantly became relaxing. She oozed into the pool as if she’d become water.
Jim wasn’t too far behind her. He took a little more time to get his legs wet, but once he was knee-deep, he waded farther into the lake.
The two swam slowly around each other, circling in silence. The moon shone down on them as if in agreement with what it beheld.
Alex couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone swimming. This was the first time since she’d been magically given her sight. She thought about mentioning it to Jim but decided not to. Sometimes it felt better not to be constantly mentioning how awesome her first experiences were.
But she took it all in: the reflection of the moon against the water, Jim’s bare chest glistening with small beads of water, the constantly shifting colors of the pixies who were dancing above them like streaking stars that had come down to join them.
Alex and Jim didn’t speak much. They swam instead. When they were not swimming, they went back to the bank of the lake and lay down on the soft sand as the warm waters washed over their bodies. When they did speak, it was of nothing in particular. Stories told in snippets. The occasional laugh or giggle.
