Agena saw the weredragons actually pick up a few people who had been hit or had simply fallen and been stunned or dazed and fly them bodily to the hatches, where some of their fellow guests thankfully had the presence of mind to help them aboard. Then she turned her attention back to the alien vessel looming overhead and saw the lights gleaming with menace on it once more. Eyes widening and body clenching, she cried out, “THRAX!”
Thrax reacted as fast as she could shout. Everything happened in heartbeats. There was a searing flash of light and the most terrible explosive sound that Agena had ever heard. There was a shockwave whose impact almost made her feel as if a stone wall were crashing into her. There was a feeling of engulfment and a sudden darkness. She felt scales and smooth metallic fabric all around her, enclosing her—and then she felt her feet lift the ground and a series of mighty whooshing sounds. The bottom of her stomach seemed to drop away, and she remembered where and when she had felt this way before.
Realizing she had reflexively closed her eyes against the initial flash of light, she opened them again just as a rush of warm wind flowed across her face. She blinked and found herself in Thrax’s arms, flying high over trees. Carefully as not to struggle too much while he carried her, Agena peered between Thrax’s neck and wing and squinted behind them. Beyond the twisting and curling of Thrax’s tail, past the trees, what was left of the Chateau where they had consummated their desire was now broken walls and towers belching smoke and flames into the sky, with the alien craft hovering over it.
Agena watched the three aerovans rise out of the courtyard and veer off in the same direction that Thrax was flying with her. Teeth clenching, she pleaded with the universe, Let them get away! Just let them get away! Searing beams of energy erupted from the alien ship. One of them grazed across the top of one of the vans, producing an awful discharge of sparks and making the van lurch and list in flight before continuing to speed off. Another energy bolt struck another van directly in the middle, and instantly turned it to a savage burst of light and fire and torn, screaming metal. What was left of that van came down in fiery parts at the edge of the forest, and Agena screamed, holding on tighter to Thrax and burying her head in his shoulder.
Thrax did not look back, but he had heard the sounds of what she was seeing behind them. Only his dragon eyes and the flaring of his dragon nostrils showed the rage and fury welling up inside him—and the retribution.
In his mind, he multiplied the scene that he and Agena were fleeing by hundreds, thousands of other such scenes unfolding even now all over Lacerta. And his heart was filled with one desire – the desire for a reckoning with the attackers of his world and the murderers of his people.
He flew them over the canopy of a forest until he came to a place where the trees parted and a little stream, much smaller than Serpent’s Tongue Stream, flowed through a clearing. Flapping his wings to brake his flight and take them down, Thrax descended with Agena into the clearing and landed in the grass just off the bank of the stream.
He set Agena down on the ground but kept one hand on her arm to steady her. He knew that while she was not by any means a timid or fainthearted woman, her life of fierce physical competition had done nothing to prepare her for any of this.
Agena clutched at her stomach, nauseated not by their flight but by what she had witnessed while they were in the air. She shut her eyes and seemed to wobble on her feet. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked up into his dragon face. “How do you like me?” she asked ruefully. “I can run and jump and roll up and down a Sphereball court, knocking myself all over the place to hit a ball, and now a little thing like this…”
“This is not a little thing, Agena,” he told her. “Don’t make light of it.”
“It’s either make light of it or scream like a banshee about it,” she argued. “And I hate screaming. I don’t scream.” Then she remembered how she had reacted to the attack only minutes ago—and how she had reacted during other, very different moments between her and his human form. The latter memories seemed very much out of place right now, but there they were. She sighed, “Well, I mostly don’t scream.”
“You’re entitled,” he said. “You’re not trained for things like this. Sit down. Rest. I need to contact my people. I’m still in command, and I’ve broken off without them.”
Agena settled down onto the grass and suddenly realized how breathless she was. Taking deep gulps of air, she watched him take his badge from his armor and felt another layer of meaning under his words. Thrax had taken off without his people—with her. To protect her.
“This is Thrax,” he spoke into the badge. “All under my command, give your position.”
A female voice issued from the badge. “Thrax, this is Meline. We’re setting down at Glaurung Cave. Two of the aerovans from the Chateau made it out.”
Agena’s heartbeat spiked at the sound of that name. Meline? With everything happening during the evacuation, she had somehow failed to notice the presence of Thrax’s “friend” from Lake Shimmershine.
“I know,” said Thrax. “For the third one…we’ll see them pay. I’m at the Gryselda Stream with my aspirant. We’re both uninjured, but she will need a few moments to collect herself before we rendezvous. You will be in temporary command until we arrive.”
“Understood, Thrax,” replied the voice of Meline. “I’ll let you know if any other situations come up.”
“Do that,” he answered. “Thrax out.”
He peered down at Agena, watching him from the grass. He could not exactly read her expression, but he remembered that back at Shimmershine, she had reacted to his female comrade with something like jealousy.
“Meline?” Agena simply asked.
“She must have been reassigned from Lake Patrol,” he simply answered. “And it was most likely at her own request. That would be just like her. She’s one of our best Knights.”
“Just like you,” Agena said.
“I would trust Meline with my life. And so should anyone.” There was a beat of silence before he added, “She is a Dame, my fellow Knight, my comrade, my companion in training and battle, and my most trusted friend. And that is all she has ever been.”
“I see,” said Agena, nodding.
“And she mates only with other females.”
“Oh,” was Agena’s only answer to that. But this last part settled her heartbeat a bit.
Shortly, they were back over the trees again, bound for the coordinates that Meline gave Thrax. Very few words passed between Thrax and Agena from the time that he communicated with Meline to the time he took off with Agena, once she had somewhat settled her nerves after the destruction of the Chateau. During their flight, Agena noticed Thrax casting his head about watchfully. He had set a sensor in his badge to sweep a radius of a hundred kilometers around them with its detection beam and warn them of any incoming alien traffic or weapons fire.
While the sensor was even keener than his own reptilian eyes, Thrax kept careful watch all the same. It may have made him feel a little safer. It had the benefit of making Agena feel safer even as he carried her in his arms. She did not at all relish the prospect of him having to fly evasive maneuvers, or worse, dive into the forest canopy to escape an attack, while carrying her.
Fortunately, it never came to that. Soon, they reached another clearing at the foot of a small mountain. Looking down from Thrax’s arms, Agena spotted the metallic glint of the two aerovans that the aliens had not destroyed from the Chateau. She braced her stomach for the sensation of descent, and at once, Thrax went into a careful dive to the spot where the trees parted.
On landing, they found that the human guests and the staff of the Chateau had mostly opted to stay in the vans. It happened that some medical personnel from a polyclinic were visiting the Chateau that day and gotten out in the evacuation, and these were either moving between the two vans attending to the injured and the terrified, or they were out in the forest clearing, conferring with Knights and Corps members.
Most of the armor-skinned dragons were out in the clearing as well, keeping a watch on the forest and the sky. Some of them were perched vigilantly on the face of the mountain or atop the vans. One sat at the top of the opening of Glaurung Cave.
When she and Thrax set down, Agena gazed into the cave entrance, where a couple of open pod vehicles were parked. No doubt, these were pods that members of mining crews used to enter Glaurung. Agena remembered what Thrax had guessed about the aliens’ motives. She had not asked Thrax exactly what was mined at Glaurung, whether it was a source of Draconite or Odysseum. Their use for Odysseum was obvious; it could power their ships.
But what use would they might have for the Draconite deposits, if that were what the mine held? When they learned more of the aliens’ nature and goals, perhaps they would understand why they would want the resources of Lacerta. It occurred to her, as no doubt it had to many, that they had yet to see the face of the enemy.
No sooner had they sat down than one of the Knights sitting atop the vans spread her wings and leaped forth, gliding to a landing in front of them. “Thrax!” the female weredragon called in a voice that Agena now thoroughly recognized.
“Meline,” Thrax acknowledged his friend. They reached out and clasped hands, and Agena silently remembered what Thrax had told her about Meline’s proclivities. “I’m pleased you weren’t among the casualties.”
“Yes, but bane and damn, we’re going to avenge all of the fallen, every one,” Meline said with a hiss.
“Bane and damn, so we will,” said Thrax. “There’s no one I’d rather have for my second-in-command than you.”
“And there’s no leader I’d sooner follow than you,” said Meline. In the corner of her dragon eye, she noticed Agena watching them stiffly. “Agena,” she called, “I’m glad Thrax was able to get the two of you to safety and then get back to us.”
“So am I,” said Agena. “I feel safer with…everyone here.”
“What news of the battles?” asked Thrax. “You’ve been monitoring the situation while we were in the air, yes?”
“Yes, we have,” Melina replied. “Fighting is still going on everywhere. But some of the alien ships have been taking stationary positions in exactly the places we’d expect: over the Spires and the Aerie, over the Draconite lakes, and above the locations of the mines.”
“They haven’t been repelled from the Spires and the Aerie?”
“Our forces have tried to get them away from there. All we’ve managed is a standoff.”
Thrax hissed loudly at that, and Agena knew why. The Spires and the Aerie were the two most sensitive places on the planet – the training academy of the Knights and the Corps and the seat of planetary government. If those two places fell, Lacerta’s situation would be ever more dire and precarious. Reinforcements could not reach the planet fast enough.
“Have the Mentors, the Alpha Dragon, and the members of the Aerie been successfully evacuated, at least?” Thrax asked.
“Thank Draco, they have,” Melina answered.
“Yes, thank Draco for that at least. My mentor ordered me to contact him for further orders once the evacuation was completed. He’ll be waiting to hear from me.” Thrax took his badge from his armor once again. “Thrax to Mentor,” he spoke into it. “Thrax reporting, please respond.”
A thin beam of light shone from the badge and became the image of Thrax’s Mentor, floating in the air. “Sir Thrax,” said the Mentor, “I trust you’ve completed your evacuation.”
“Not without casualties, Sir. We have some wounded and…we lost one of the vans.”
The Mentor paused a beat, then soberly said, “Understood. I and other Mentors are now aboard a transport away from the Spires. We’ll have to regroup our forces outside of the cities.”
“Yes, Mentor,” said Thrax. “Where are we gathering?”
“We’ve chosen the Annex locations of the Spires, from which field maneuvers are launched in training.”
“That’s wise, Mentor. I can call up the coordinates of the nearest Annex and…” He trailed off at a sound in the distance, above the trees. “Stand by, Mentor.” He looked at Meline. “Do you hear that?”
The two dragons turned their heads to the treetops. Agena, watching them and watching her surroundings, saw the other dragons doing the same. She could hear it, as they all could: a whooshing, whining sound. Agena’s heart froze. Could it be a bomb of some sort, or a missile, carrying some alien force for mass destruction to wipe them all out? Would they have to flee into the cave?
A hot, startled shock lanced through everyone when voices came echoing down from the side of the cliff: “Incoming! Incoming!”
All eyes on the ground turned to Thrax. At once, he addressed his Mentor again: “Sir, something is happening. I have to break contact and report once I’ve investigated. Thrax out.” He tapped his badge. The hologram of the Mentor disappeared. In a single motion, he put his badge back on, beat his wings, and rose from the ground toward the treetops.
Agena watched him fly up and away, and sent him the thought, Please, be careful.
Thrax soared up over the trees surrounding the cave opening. He could see against the perfect blue, cloud-studded sky what they had heard and what his comrades on the cliff had spotted. An object had fallen through the clouds, trailing thick, reddish smoke behind it. He saw it only for a fleeting instant before it vanished into the forest about a kilometer away. A muted crash announced its drop through the trees. A muffled boom signaled its collision with the forest ground..
Thrax weighed two possibilities. What had just fallen in the forest might represent a danger. Or it might represent an opportunity. With a whip of his tail and a beat of his wings, he angled back down to Glaurung.
When he lit back at the cave entrance, Agena and Meline headed right for him. “We heard a crash,” said Agena. “We were afraid something might have happened to you.”
“What was it?” asked Meline.
“Something fell out of the air into the forest,” Thrax answered. “I think it was one of the alien craft. I think it may have been struck in space with enough firepower to crash it, and it came down about a kilometer from here. I want to investigate.”
Apprehensively, Agena asked, “Do you think anyone aboard it could still be alive?”
“We don’t know enough about the aliens to tell. But I think it bears a look because even if we find alien bodies and wreckage, we may still learn things about them—things we might yet use to defend ourselves.”
“I agree,” said Meline. “I want to go with the recon team.”
“No,” said Thrax. “I need someone to remain in command here, and you’re the best one for that. I’ll lead the team; you stay here with Agena…” He corrected himself: “With the others and the civilians.”
But a meaningful glance passed between him and Agena. He had specifically asked Meline to stay with her. He had implicitly put her before the other civilians. He had said, however indirectly, that protecting her was his first concern. It did not go unnoticed by either of them.
Meline looked down and hissed, frustrated but resigned. “You’re right. It would be reckless for both of us to go. But I envy you possibly being the first one to see who it is we’re battling.”
“Or who we’re going to punish,” said Thrax. “Their craven hostilities have earned them the wrath of dragons.”
Agena watched Thrax take two volunteers—the Knight who’d stationed himself atop the other aerovan and one of those who had been on the cliff and spotted the crash—and fly off over the trees. Her eyes fixed on Thrax’s retreating form, she thought aloud to Meline, “I have the most ridiculous feeling about this right now.”
“What feeling?” Meline asked.
“I feel like a wife, hundreds of years ago on Earth, watching her husband go off to war. Like in some old story, where the girlfriend or the wife kisses the soldier goodbye and he marches off with his rifle or climbs on board the train, and she waves to him with her white handker
chief and promises him she’ll wait. How foolish is that?”
“It isn’t foolish,” Meline simply said. “You’re not his mate, but you can’t be expected to feel nothing at a time like this.”
Agena folded her arms and sighed. “No, I don’t suppose I can.” In the back of her mind, she realized there was more that Meline could have said just then about why she was not foolish. She and Thrax were not formally mates, but they might as well have been.
She knew every centimeter of his body, and one area of it in particular. Now, watching him fly off into the unknown without her, she was keenly aware of the bond that had formed between them—and how deeply the bond would be missed if he did not come back.
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The spot in the forest was filled with snapped and splintered tree limbs, large clumps of downed foliage, and smoke. The sunlight coming down through the surrounding trees that were not broken made the area look haunted, or like a surreal setting from a dream.
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