by Lee Savino
My body tears open, and the red dragon emerges. The rathr snaps its jaws around me, taking a bigger bite. Ignoring it, I unfurl my wings and launch into the sky, shrieking a challenge at my brother.
He hears me. First turns sharply, his wings flapping furiously in the air. I can sense his shock, his fury, his thwarted desire. He wants to kill the younglings.
I’m not the only dragon in the air. Tarish’s Draekons—about a dozen of them—fly toward First, forming a tight circle around him, trying to force him to land.
Caeron, they’re going to get killed.
I fly faster. I need to get closer. First turns toward me and snarls, his face contorting in rage, his mouth spitting fire in my direction. The flames blaze, hot, angry, and red. Heat washes over me, but the flames cause no damage. First is not yet in range.
I keep moving, flying flat out to get to First. Death awaits my brother for what he did in Kosagash. I will tear his body to bits, the way he attacked the defenseless Draekons.
Maybe First senses the murder in my heart. Maybe something warns him that I will offer him no mercy. But I’m almost close enough to reach out and rake him with my claws when he wheels toward one of the Draekons around him and exhales fire.
Kashrn.
The other Draekon screams, his cry of agony tugging at my soul. His azure scales turn red, and he burns. His eyes glazed with pain, he plummets to the ground.
First throws himself into a steep ascent, his wings shredding the sky as he retreats.
Mahr.
I should be free to pursue First, but the other Draekons seem frozen in shock. If I do nothing, the injured dragon will fall to his death. We’re engineered to take all kinds of damage, but we are not immortal.
I need to choose. First, or the injured Draekon.
With a snarl of frustrated fury, I wheel away from my brother and dive toward the falling dragon.
There will be another day, another opportunity to make First pay for what he did. I have to believe that.
24
Alice
The moment Tanya sees Raiht’vi, she starts screaming.
For a second, I close my eyes and wish myself far away. “It’s your robes,” I tell the scientist. “That’s what she’s reacting to.” I crouch next to my friend. “Tanya,” I whisper, patting her back. “Hey, it’s Alice. It’s fine. Look, this isn’t Fal’vi. She’s dead, okay? I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe here.”
Tanya’s screams ebb into whimpers. Her expression stays fearful. She shrinks back until she collides into the wall, and then slides to the floor. She wraps her arms protectively around herself, and rocks back and forth.
Raiht’vi seems genuinely distressed by Tanya’s reaction. “I’m sorry,” she says, her voice tremulous. “I’m so sorry.”
I spare her a glance. Heaven help me, do I have to comfort the scientist as well? “It’s not your fault. You’re dressed like the other scientists, that’s all.”
She looks down at her robes. “Growing up, the uniform was a shield,” she says bleakly. “They protected me from my father’s machinations.” She exhales in a sigh. “And then everything caught up with me anyway.” She crouches next to Tanya as well. “With your permission, I can give her a sedative.”
I’m very far from home, as is Tanya. For seven months, it’s just been the two of us. I guess I’m as qualified as anyone else to make medical decisions for her. “That’d be great.”
I’ve obviously surprised Raiht’vi with my answer. Her head snaps up, and she stares at me. “You trust me?”
“Good God, no,” I answer honestly. “I just met you. But Kadir does, and I trust him.”
“The warrior?” If anything, she sounds more surprised than before. “You must be mistaken. He doesn’t trust me.”
“Sure he does.” She hands me a bottle containing a green liquid. I empty it into a glass of water and place it at Tanya’s lips. “Here you go. Drink this, pobrecita.”
She takes an obedient sip. My stomach clenches. As long as we were on the Bikana, Tanya was aware and alert. But seeing Raiht’vi has made her regress into passivity again. I really hope they have trauma specialists here.
“What do you mean, the warrior trusts me?”
I guess she’s not letting this go. “On some level, he does. Otherwise he wouldn’t have us alone with you.” Tanya’s eyes flutter shut. I gently lower her to the floor. Get better, Tanya, I wish fiercely. Don’t let the assholes win.
Raiht’vi looks rattled. “It was the life-vow.”
I roll my eyes. “Sure, that’s what it is.” Sarcasm coats my every syllable. “I bet he’s plotting ways to kill you if you fail.” They don’t know Kadir at all, do they? “He helps people,” I tell her. “It’s what he does. He had decided to take on First before you got on the line. You’re so busy being afraid of them that it makes you blind.”
We’re in a windowless room. There are sounds of shouting outside, and footsteps run this way and that. “I wish I could see what’s going on,” I fret. First is a dragon, like Kadir. He’s a trained killer, like Kadir. This isn’t like the other battles. Kadir could get seriously hurt. He could even die.
I swallow the bile in my mouth. “Can I go outside?”
“No,” Raiht’vi replies immediately. “It isn’t safe.” She pulls a tablet out from inside her robes and fiddles with it. “Here.” She hands it to me. “I’ve synced to the exterior feeds. You can see what’s happening.”
The image is crystal clear. More alien technology. I watch, my heart in my mouth, as Kadir flies toward First. As he nears, the other dragon opens his mouth and breathes fire.
I gasp aloud. Kadir doesn’t even flinch. He continues his flight, aiming right for First. When he’s almost onto him, the other dragon veers away. He burns an ocean blue dragon so badly that he screams in pain and starts to fall.
Damn it. That was deliberate. First would have known that Kadir wouldn’t let the Draekon die.
Sure enough, Kadir changes course. He plunges after the injured dragon, wrapping his powerful claws around his torso. The weight drags him down. For a heart-stopping second, I wonder if both Draekons are going to fall to their deaths.
But Kadir is strong, extremely strong. I don’t know how he does it. For a second, he seems to hang in the air, laughing in the face of gravity, and then he stops the freefall, and glides to safety, gently lowering the unconscious Draekon to the ground.
Wow.
25
Kadir
It’s a close thing, but after hours in the ward, the healers tell me that Sofrax, the burned Draekon, will recover from his wounds. They thank me solemnly. I shrug away their praise, unused to gratitude.
Failure clings to me like an all-enveloping cloak. I had First in my sights, and I let him go. How many more Draekons in the future will pay for my moment of mercy with their lives?
It’s dark by the time I leave the healing ward. Alice is nowhere to be seen. I make my way to my sparse quarters, entertaining a fantasy that she’ll be curled up in my bed when I get there. My imagination fills in the rest. When I enter, her eyes will flicker open, and she’ll smile at me. “Join me,” she’ll whisper, her legs falling open in invitation.
The door slides open. My bed is empty. So much for that fantasy.
I reek of blood and smoke. I take a half-step toward the refresher to shower away the grime when the doorbell chimes. My heart leaps. Is it Alice?
No. It’s Commander Tarish, leader of the rebellion. “Can I come in?”
I nod. He enters my quarters and sits down. I guess this is an extended social visit then. Wonderful. “How can I help you, Commander?”
“Thank you for your help today. Had it not been for your quick thinking, Sofrax would have died.”
I brush away his praise. “How many casualties?”
“Eleven of ours,” he says grimly. “They bombed the garrison. The soldiers there died.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. “Soldiers we can
ill afford to lose, especially now, when we’re engaged in a death race to save the Draekons trapped in Brunox’s secret labs.” He sighs. “We killed twenty-four Blood Heart fanatics.”
They bombed the garrison. “You have a traitor in your midst,” I tell Tarish. “You had shields; they failed. Your base’s location should have been a secret; Blood Heart knew where to find you. Even worse, they knew the precise location of the garrison.”
Tarish doesn’t like what I’m telling him. “Maybe,” he says. “Someone could have intercepted our comms. We’re changing our security protocols right now.”
I’m not convinced.
“I’m not a fool, Second,” Tarish continues, accurately reading the look on my face. “I don’t want to believe we have a traitor, but I’ve asked Dariux to look into the matter. When we find the person responsible, if they exist, I will deal with them.”
Dariux used to be one of the exiles on Trion VI. Before he was tested positive for the Draekon mutation, he was in line to be the next Spymaster of the High Empire. If anyone can find the traitor, Dariux will.
“The Draekon that attacked us… You know him.”
Ah, here it is. “He was part of the Crimson Force,” I say, my voice flat. “He was the First of us.”
“The First Draekon ever created.” Tarish doesn’t look as shocked as I expect him to. “I thought it might be something like that.”
“How?”
The Commander’s dark eyes rest on me. “You asked about a missing Draekon when you awoke from stasis, and his coloring is identical to yours. Why did he attack us?”
Tarish is smart; I’ll give him that. “It’s First,” I reply wearily. “Who knows why he does anything? He was closest to the scientists. He liked strategy, politics. He liked power.” Thirty-five dead soldiers in today’s attack. First has a lot to answer for. “When I find him, I’ll ask him before I kill him.”
The Commander nods. “I didn’t just come here to thank you. There’s something else.”
There always is. I wait for him to continue.
“I need your help,” Tarish admits. “We are not well trained. Our plan was never to go up in armed conflict against the High Empire. That is a suicide mission; there are too many Zoraken. We are not soldiers. But after today, we will need to be. Train us. Please. Whatever your price, ask, and if it is within my power to pay it, I will pay.”
I consider the Commander. The lines around his eyes are pronounced. He looks weary. Drained. The deaths today have cost him. He thought he was safely hidden, and he’s now realized he’s far more vulnerable than he believed. Younglings almost died today. It’s got to take a toll on him.
When I talked to the others, I’d told them I was considering joining the rebellion. Now, the Commander is here, asking me for help.
But Tarish is also the man who had authorized poisoning my brothers and me. He is capable of great ruthlessness. The real question is: what sort of man is he? After today’s attacks, he’s desperate. What would he do to secure the safety of his people?
“Name my price?”
“Yes,” he says steadily.
How low would he sink to gain my cooperation? “I want Alice Hernandez. The human woman. Give her to me, and I will help you.”
Shock and distaste flit over Tarish’s face. “Give her to you for what purpose?” he demands. “To be your whore?”
I shrug my shoulders. “If that’s what I desire, yes.”
Sexual assault is one of the high crimes of the Zorahn Empire. Every citizen grows up knowing that to force a sentient being is to automatically be sentenced to death. No appeals, no second chances. Whether he agrees to the bargain or not, the Commander has to be repelled by my demand.
Tarish arranges his face into a carefully neutral expression. “No,” he says. “I will not do this. Humans are sentient. They are not property. Alice Hernandez is not mine to give away.”
Relief sweeps through me. First saw me today. He will definitely come after me. The five of us—the Rebel Force—are his biggest threat.
I might not always be around to protect Alice. But whatever happens in the future, my mate will be safe at the rebellion. Tarish will not use her, or the other humans, as a bargaining chip.
“Good.” I incline my head. “Round up your recruits. Tomorrow morning, we begin training.”
Outrage blooms on the Commander’s face, and he jumps to his feet. “That was a test? Eleven of my people died today. How dare you?”
“Are we really talking tactics, Commander Tarish?” I raise an eyebrow. “Should I remind you that you poisoned me to gain my cooperation? Technically, the scientist did that, but I have no doubt it was on your orders.”
Tarish composes himself and settles back in his seat. His eyes are hard. “Rai bears no blame for the toxin. I made her do it. I alone am responsible.” He pulls a syringe from his pack and extends it to me. “The antidote,” he says. “You might not believe me, but I would have given it to you whether you agreed to train my people or not. I’ve sent vials of it to Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth as well, but I can’t get a hold of Third.”
As I inject the contents of the syringe into my bicep, I tell myself that Ruhan can take care of himself. I almost believe it. “Third will show up. He always does.”
He gets to his feet. “People are gathering in the canteen to mourn the lost ones, and to celebrate that we are still alive. You bear much of the credit for that. Will you join us?”
There’s only one person I want to see right now. “Maybe,” I respond. “Right now, the only thing I want is a shower.”
“I understand.” Tarish heads to the door and then hesitates. “Would you have done it?” he asks. “Would you have agreed to search for the humans if we hadn’t forced your hand?”
Yes. “I guess you’ll never know.”
Once the Commander leaves, I take off my shirt and examine myself in the looking glass. A slight reddening of the skin. I guess I was closer to First’s fire than I thought. It’s nothing major; it’s already beginning to heal. I turn toward the refresher when the door chimes again.
This time, it’s the scientist, Raiht’vi. She looks me over, her eyes dispassionate.
“No offense,” I quip. “But you’re not my type. I find your profession rather murderous.”
Her face snaps into lines of arrogance. She’s used to power, Raiht’vi. It must be quite a change for her to be in the rebellion, where she has none.
“I held up my end of the bargain,” she says coolly. “Your human is safe, as is the other.”
I’ve either been more obvious about my feelings for Alice than I thought I was, or she’s fishing for information. “Where are they?”
“In the canteen,” she replies. “There are three other humans here. They are reminiscing about Earth. Will you go there?”
Alice has been studying my ThoughtVault. She knows she can’t return to her homeworld. If that makes her sorrowful, she doesn’t let on. As much as I need her in my arms tonight, I won’t deprive her of contact with her fellow humans. “No.”
Her eyes land on my face. “Alice Hernandez told me you would have always helped the younglings. Is that true?”
Alice talks too much. “Is that what you’re here to find out?”
“I came to apologize for the venom.”
My lips twist. “According to Commander Tarish, it’s all his fault, and you are to bear no blame for it.”
“The Commander lives with the regrettable assumption that he can tell me what to do,” she says, her voice wry. “I’m here because I wish to atone for a lifetime of making the wrong decisions. I chose to use the venom. I’m sorry. I did what the scientists have always done, used you as a tool. In my defense, I was desperate. My father set up the labs to experiment on the Draekons, but he was also responsible for what was done to the humans. Brunox is the head of the Council of Scientists. The order to seize the Sevril V must have come from him. I had to do what I could to help the humans. It was my responsibility
.”
Responsibility, I can understand. “You did what you had to do.” Who am I to judge? Not me. I have walked in the fields of the dead and waded through rivers of blood. When the Supreme Mother ordered me to kill, I obeyed. I am no innocent. It would be hypocritical of me to cling to a sense of outrage. “Sometimes, there are no good choices.”
“That’s the lie I tell myself.” She pauses for an instant. “I analyzed your DNA when you were gone. There is a mutation I don’t understand. What is it?”
“The rathr. It’s not a mutation. It’s a parasite that winds around the strands of DNA, attacking it. It’s how they kept us in line. If we defied the Supreme Mother, the agony would make us pass out.”
Her eyes widen with horror. “Can it be removed?”
“You tell me. You’re the scientist, not I. The Supreme Mother could synthesize an antidote, but she kept the formula secret. In all likelihood, that knowledge is lost forever.”
She swallows. “The scientists of the past were learned beyond measure,” she says. “We’ve lost much of their knowledge. They could create sentient creatures; we can’t. I can manipulate the threads of life, but I do not have the power to weave them into existence.” She takes a deep breath. “Irul’vi, the scientist you refer to as the Supreme Mother, was an ancestor of mine. I have much to make amends for. I might not be skilled enough to remove the rathr, but I will do everything in my power to try.”
26
Alice
The party starts an hour later. By this time, Tanya is awake again. Her mood is subdued, and she doesn’t say much. She clings to me and doesn’t want to leave my side, and so the two of us find a corner table at the canteen.
The room is crowded and noisy. The rebels have brought down four ships, and everyone’s feeling pretty good. Drinks flow freely. People—alien people, I’m never going to get used to that—eye us curiously, but no one approaches us.
