"No!" I shouted in my excitement. The realization of what was happening was apparently limited to just me, though Honey looked more confused than scared at the moment. "That's my dragon!"
"Kill them all if they do not give us our friends," another dragon voice demanded. That was Dawynda. They both came for us. I should have realized that they would. Why did I so easily believe that they had left the planet? Did Mixi lie to me?
"No!" a much higher pitched female voice screamed, instructing the dragons not to kill anyone unnecessarily. My knees nearly buckled at the sound of her voice. That was Cinnamon, my love. My favorite spice girl. Why had I doubted her commitment to finding and rescuing me?
"These are our friends attacking your city," I explained. "They are our greatest chance of getting out of here alive! Leaving with them now is the best way to save the lives of your people and mine alike."
"They are not our friends," Aeren answered. The look in the eyes of the other two monster girls friendly to our cause suggested that they felt the same way.
"The enemy of my enemy..." I started to say. Then I realized that we were wasting too much time. It would suck a big bag of monster dicks if Cinnamon got hurt during this battle to save my ass because I was too busy trying to explain things to these alien women that we could obviously now do without. And gawking at the elf's tantalizing form.
"Stay with us," I told them. "Follow my lead and make it clear that you are helping us, not your own kind. My friends will see that. They honestly don’t want to kill anyone."
"He is right," Honey said as she reached for Aeren's hand. The two of them had bonded while I was off fucking bunny girl to solidify our value among these people. "Cinnamon is truly kind and she loves Kash very much. She'll notice what is going on. You will be safe."
Aeren was taking Honey's words to heart more than mine. But this was taking way too long. I turned on my heel and headed toward the roaring of dragons and fearful alien monster humanoids. Like a fireman to a raging flame. I reached out and pulled Honey along with me.
The next grand chamber that I entered was also a farm, though that was hard to even notice due to the mayhem. It was getting flooded with refuge seekers from the other side. We were nearly halfway across the cavern before I saw something strange in the next zone over. Fire.
Did this city have some kind of defensive weapon that caused fire? Were they trying to burn my friends? I had to hurry to get there before someone got hurt. Coming from behind our foe should give me the element of surprise.
"Oh no!" Mixi's voice screamed from above me. Hers was even higher pitched than Cinnamon's, and softer. Hearing her yelling was almost comical until I understood what she was saying. "Your people are burning our crops!"
My people? Did our ship have a flamethrower that I was not aware of?
No. We did not. It was not a weapon causing the fire after all. It was Gako. He was breathing fire like a dragon out of a fantasy novel. I had no idea that he could actually do that! Why hadn't he used that tactic against previous enemies?
"Cinnamon!" I screamed alongside Honeysuckle as we pushed through the oncoming traffic of strange animal folk. "Gako! Dawynda!"
The female dragon heard my voice and began searching the massive chamber for us. The flapping of her wings probably made it difficult for her to hear, so she landed as she studied the area where our voices had come from. On the dragon's back was my love, Cinnamon. She was riding the massive beast just like Dawynda had invited her to do previously. My girl must have really overcome her fear of the huge flying lizards to do that.
Three furry bitches were firing magic stone weapons at Dawynda, striking her mostly in the chest. I could see the big girl flinching with each blast and raising her neck to protect Cinnamon with her own life. The whole scene looked like a special effects fantasy movie. But I couldn't help but be a bit jealous. It should be me riding a dragon into the enemy's camp to save my friends.
Mixi used her tiny bow to shoot one of the Shardina lookalikes in the back, and Cinnamon noticed. She pointed and yelled for Dawynda to look in my direction, but she was facing too much of an onslaught. She had to take flight again.
Gako was suffering the same circumstances, but he had no rider. Only smoke came out of his mouth now when he croaked, so his attackers were gaining ground. That's when I noticed both Aeren and Mavi darting in his direction. What were they going to do?
I should have been helping my friends, but instead I stood there in awe as if this was all a display for my viewing pleasure. Mavi dove for the legs of the first Gako attacker that she could reach. It was a purple lizard woman with a spear. The pulsing gemstone on the end matched her skin tone perfectly. Taken by surprise from behind she rolled with the devil girl tangled up in her limbs. The reptilian woman had to weigh twice as much as Mavi. But it didn't matter. Once they rolled to a stop Mavi gauged the beast's face so badly that she rolled face down and turtled. Ha. An alien lizard pulling the defensive maneuver of an Earth turtle.
Aeren grabbed another furry woman by the throat with her sexy slim legs, this one brown like a bear. The elf's torso twisted to position her arms in such a way that she managed to disarm the attacker without causing permanent injury. Surprised by the mutiny, the big thing scurried away on all fours despite outweighing Aeren at least three to one. It left my new friend standing there with the other woman's large bow which she quickly used to take down two more opponents.
Gako was confused and cautious, avoiding getting involved until he knew for sure who was his enemy. By that time, I had recovered and sprinted to join them. I took the last one down with a theatrical move of extending and unshielding my blade while airborne, then cutting through another lizard woman's fat ass. It felt good but I knew somehow that it was not as impressive as the two monster girls had been.
"Kash!" Gako's voice boomed.
"Yes, my friend!" I screamed with a Russian accent that came from out of nowhere. Did I remember it from a combat movie or was I just a fucking weirdo? "These are my friends," I then told him in my normal voice.
I then heard shots fired from a pistol. The one that I had dropped when I was taken captive. Did these people confiscate that, too? And were now using it against us?
No, it was Cinnamon shooting the pistol, but not very accurately or frequently as she rode in the air on Dawynda's back. It had to be hard to aim like that. Plus, she was probably sacred of hitting her dragon friend with one of the bolts.
Mixi was shooting her tiny bow at the several attackers now focused on taking down my girl's ride. When two of them decided to return fire, the faerie had to take evasive maneuvers.
I sprinted to help. Limited to just a close combat weapon had me less effective than I had hoped. Mavi and Aeren were then facing attacks from their own kind as they drew fire away from Gako.
I was still a dozen feet or so away from the nearest spear girl when she managed to snipe a shot past Dawynda's neck to strike Cinnamon in the chest. Everything moved in slow motion then as my newest savior, Cinnamon fell off Dawynda's flying body. The dragon appeared to be too busy fending off the shooters to notice.
It was about a forty-foot drop. And Cinnamon was pointed down, legs upward as she fell. She was going to land on her head. My heart tried to burst out of my chest to cross the span in time to save her. Of course, that was not possible.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Blue wings. At the very last second. Mixi must have flown as fast as she could to contact Cinnamon's limp body just a few feet above the ground. But it wasn't enough.
Not quite.
The two of them still hit the floor of the cavern with force. The tiny pixie was unable to support the weight of the larger human. However, they did land in some green leafy vegetation to soften their fall.
I continued to run in their direction as Dawynda finally noticed what had happened. One of her attackers was heading for the fallen duo and would arrive before me. Not only was I dreadfully concerned about Cinnamon, Mixi was not getting up
either. It wasn't until I was closer that I could see one of her wings trapped below my girl's dormant body.
I recognized something on the back of the furry monster woman about to pounce on the pinned girls. A color pattern that must have been unique for me to spot it after only seeing her a few times. This attacker was definitely Shardina, the guard that had roughed me up during testing. She jumped through the air like a tiger to make her kill, an angry growl erupting from her lungs. Finally, she would be able to take vengeance against a human and the rebellious Divinifae.
Then she flew violently sideways as Dawynda's tail impacted her outstretched body. I could hear the sound of ribs cracking, if not the bitch’s spine.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I dropped to one knee beside my friends. I didn't see any obvious injuries to Cinnamon's body. Her neck looked normal. No contorted limbs. She appeared to just be sleeping peacefully. Only her uniform top showed any damage. It was burnt and wrinkled in a way that modern clothing was designed to avoid.
"I'm trapped," Mixi answered. Cinnamon was much smaller than me, but the winged girl was half her size. She was struggling with the weight as she tried to extract her limb. I hoped that her life saving maneuver did not cost her the ability to fly.
I carefully rolled Cinnamon in my direction as the battle continued to rage behind me. Once Mixi was free she reacquired her bow from the ground and sprinted back into combat, all graceful like a gazelle.
Cinnamon was breathing and had a pulse. Or maybe I was just feeling my own pulse with the adrenaline rushing through my body. Still, I was sure that she was alive. So, I turned around to see what I could do to help the others without leaving my girl exposed.
Dawynda had one of the monster bitches pinned under a foot as she swung her tail at two others. Apparently, reinforcements had arrived. Mavdaios was assisting the female dragon while Aeren continued to support Gako. Honeysuckle was nowhere to be found on the farm surface. Had she been taken? Maybe her dead body was lying in one of the taller crops. I had abandoned one girl to try and save the other. This can’t be happening!
Then finally, I spotted her. She was on Gako's back, clinging to him for her life. I was delighted to see her still among the living, but dammit, that was supposed to be my dragon. My ride.
When four more rushed into the chamber from the same doorway that we had come through, I was worried that we were too outnumbered. Then one of them flew backwards from an energy pulse that originated from behind me. I recognized the unique beam to be from our rifle. I turned to find Strawberry standing on the higher ground at the exit. There was daylight entering the cave from behind her, a clear distinction between it and the crystal glow that was prevalent underground.
She fired again and again. I quickly studied the effect on the battle scene to find it tremendous. All those left standing among our foes were darting for cover, most of them escaping the large chamber that had some areas still on fire.
"Let's go!" I screamed at the top of my lungs to get everyone's attention. Then I scooped up Cinnamon and began to make my way toward Strawberry and the exit. I could see joy in the redhead's expression when we locked eyes. She was as happy to find me alive as I was to see her.
Ascending the gradual slope, I took a moment to assess our situation. Gako and Dawynda were weak and tired. They had received the bulk of the blasts transmitted from the magic stones used against us. Honeysuckle was mostly unharmed and riding on Gako's back despite her offer to return to the ground.
Mixi was walking instead of flying. That told me that she sustained significant damage to that wing after all. Aeren looked utterly exhausted. When she noticed Strawberry staring at her body, she began removing the braids from her hair to form that natural robe that I was used to seeing. The bow that she acquired in battle was broken and discarded in the background. Mavi was limping badly and waving off any offers of assistance.
"These are my new friends," I told Strawberry. "They are coming with us."
I was not the captain of the crew. I wasn't even a higher rank than Strawberry. My arms were full of Cinnamon's limp body, the sword fully retracted in my right hand. I was in no position to make demands. However, there wasn’t any time for a debate. We needed to leave.
Strawberry took a few seconds to examine the three monster girls that I wanted to bring onto our ship. When her eyes focused on the lone weapon among them, Mixi's tiny bow, I understood what she was thinking. We couldn't just bring armed strangers onboard. Three new arrivals would be hard enough to control without keeping them locked up.
"Mixi," I said to the blue faerie girl. On her feet she looked anything but intimidating. "Please give Honey your bow. It will make Strawberry feel better about the situation."
My winged new friend barely balked at the suggestion. Honey dropped to the ground to retrieve it from her hand. I watched as Gako adjusted his shoulders after being free of a rider. Once again, our dragons desperately needed rest after coming to my rescue.
Shouting caught our attention on the other side of the chamber. More of these people flooded into the room, some focused on putting out the fires, but most were coming after us. I spotted the large bull head of the queen among them. I sure as hell hoped that she didn’t have those fucking winged lions with her.
We moved as quickly as we could up the remaining slope and through the small corridor that led to outside. The sunlight was so bright that I had to squint to see where I was going. Much dimmer than what I was used to on Earth, but significantly brighter than the artificial lighting used in the caves. It was then that I first thought about my fuzzy little orange friend. What happened to him after I was taken? Was he back in his cell?
"Where's Teddy," I asked my redheaded crew mate.
"He's a little busy," she replied with a smile.
Once I saw the ship a good three hundred feet away from the cave entrance, I realized what she meant. At the rear corner of one of the engines Teddy stood there, his small critter body barely visible from that distance. Squinting harder I saw that he had the electro-pistol in his hand. He was guarding the ship apparently, with a near useless weapon.
No, wait. The weapon was aimed at the ship instead. There with her back against the hull was our highest-ranking officer, Sage. Teddy was holding her at gun point. That was why Strawberry was smiling so much.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A bolt from one of the magic bows struck Gako causing him to groan and drop to the ground. He then picked himself back up and ran for a few steps before clumsily taking to flight with Dawynda. They were both closer to the ship than the rest us. Considering their typical protective behavior, I figured that they were both hurting too bad to provide more assistance. That was okay. Their part was done.
I was running as fast as I could with Cinnamon still unconscious in my arms, unable to be as gentle as I would have liked. Honey was ahead of me but stopped to hand Mixi's weapon back to her. The blue faerie began returning fire immediately alongside the back pedaling Strawberry. The only two going slower than me were Aeren and Mavi. That meant their injuries were significant as well.
A blast of green energy struck the back of side of the ship near the rear, leaving an impressive scorch mark. It was the most powerful shot I had ever seen fired from a magic crystal weapon. Clearly it came from a new arrival to their forces.
Teddy somersaulted backwards in reaction to the blast. Sage dove for the ground but quickly recovered, realizing her opportunity. Scrambling to her feet she darted for the rear section of our spacecraft. Once she turned that corner it would be impossible for any of us to stop her from reentering the ship and taking back control. She could lock us all outside and launch without us.
Dawynda flapped her wings hard when I yelled for the dragons to stop her. She was too far away, though. Unless she could make it quickly down the corridor between the two engines before Sage could get inside the ship, all was lost. The only thing in our favor was Sage’s lack of speed. It was like the old joke. If she needed to haul ass, it
would take her two trips.
Just as the fat bottomed manipulative woman rounded the corner a lightning strike from Teddy's weapon paralyzed her momentarily. When my Pithynos friend released the trigger, our commanding officer dropped to the ground in a heap of agony. Not dead, not unconscious, but shaking uncontrollably. Teddy darted to a position where he could continue to guard her.
Another strong green blast of energy whipped by me, but it missed the ship this time. I turned to see the bullheaded queen herself holding the spear type weapon pointed in our direction. It was more like a scepter from an ancient time, but with futuristic power. An Egyptians from outer space sort of thing.
"No!" Aeren screamed. It was then that I realized that the ship had not been the target.
Mavi stood momentarily with a dazed expression. A hole bigger than a softball dripped with blood in her lower chest. The queen's green blast of magic power had gone straight through her.
Aeren dropped to her knees that same time as her devilish friend, tears of emotional turmoil flowing down her narrow elfish face. It was Mixi that got her back up and running again, pleading with her to come with us. There was nothing left to do for Mavdaios. Her life was ending right before our eyes. Even our doctor Vanilla wouldn’t be able to save her from an injury that severe.
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