Brath shot Gill a dirty look. “I didn’t have to talk to her! We were just talking.”
“He was uncomfortable about our mission today.”
“Are you serious, Gill? I wasn’t afraid! I just like to touch base with her and see how she’s doing.”
Gill looked at Alex, smiling mischievously. Alex’s heart melted the moment she saw his sharp white teeth. “So, are we ready to go?”
There were no instructors or veteran dragonriders in the room. “Shouldn’t we wait? You know, for someone to send us off?”
Gill stood up, his dragon anchor glowing. “We don’t have to,” he explained. “All of us are dragonriders now. We aren’t cadets. We’re technically veterans, even if we haven’t fulfilled a mission yet. We’ve been given our coordinates and an ETA. That’s how it works.”
Alex leaped onto Chine. She didn’t need to be told twice. The itch to get into the sky was strong. She was interested in the mission as well. Guarding a mineral delivery seemed easy enough, and they might have some fun along the way.
The rest of the dragonriders mounted and held up their anchors. Alex pulled up her HUD and opened her map. The coordinates had been marked with a large green spot.
Jollies was already on top of Amber as well, the two of them fluttering around. “What’s the plan?”
Alex pointed toward the sky. “It’s pretty straightforward. We go to the coordinates and take care of the mission,” she answered. “Let’s get going.” Alex linked her anchor to Chine and pulled back on it, and the dragon soared into the air.
The other dragonriders flew after Alex, trying to match her pace. Alex’s dragon wasn’t the fastest, but her bond with Chine was the strongest. He didn’t fight Alex’s control like most dragons instinctively did. She and her partner moved as one.
Finally, the rest of the riders caught up with them. Alex looked over her shoulder and shouted at Jim, who was turning his mech on. The metal dragon stood up like a real one, its armor gleaming. She had to admit he looked very badass on it.
Then Jim pushed the wrong button or pulled the wrong lever because the mech stumbled.
“Didn’t you read your owner’s manual?” Brath asked.
Jim pointed to the HUD external on his temple. He pressed down on it, trying to regain control.
Alex pressed her temple too. “Some of us were too busy kicking orc ass to be bothered with boring reading material,” she said on the comm, defending Jim.
Jollies came up beside Alex and Chine. Amber, her dragon, was roughly the size of a puma. Even though she was small, the thing looked dangerous. “How long do you think it’s going to take us to get there?”
Brath groaned loudly. Alex was glad the comm picked up everything until they were turned off. “Is this going to be like taking a kid on a trip? Always asking from the back of the car, ‘Are we there yet?’”
Alex laughed as Jollies blushed brightly, her whole body turning red. “Haven’t heard that variation before.” Alex giggled as she pulled up her visor to glance at the map. “Looks like we’ll be in the air for a couple of hours. Three, max. Most airtime we’ve gotten so far, right?”
Chine breathed out a plume of smoke. Good. It’ll help ease us into riding together. No doubt it will take the team some time to learn your formations and the best ways to ride with each other and so forth.
Alex was tempted to speed up but thought better of it. The only way I ride is fast, she said.
Chine turned back to look at Alex. “Confidently” might be a better way to put it. Fast sounds reckless. And childish.
Alex was starting to get Chine’s dry sense of humor. All right, no worries, big guy, she assured him. Confidently. We’re going to ride confidently.
Jim had scooted up farther in the formation, and he was now at Alex’s left side. He looked at her, and they both smiled. Brath called from the back of the formation, “Hey, so, are you guys making marriage plans yet?”
Jim didn’t bother turning back but laughed and told Brath, “You wear big words well for such a cute little guy. Do you want to be our flower girl?”
Brath seized his beard and tugged it hard. “Wait until we’re on the ground, and I’ll show you some of my big words!” the gnome shouted.
As Team Boundless flew toward the mines, Alex relishing hearing the voices of her group, and for the first time, her friends. It was almost like being back in VR, but so much better. Better than she ever could have imagined.
This was going to be a good mission.
Chapter Four
Team Boundless arrived at the mines before dark, the sun hanging low in the sky, and the air still warm. They were still too high to see much of the mines or the village surrounding them. There is a lot of hot air coming up from the mines, Chine noted. Too much.
Alex looked down to where she assumed the mines were. She closed her eyes, focused her breathing, and then opened them, trying to zoom in like she knew dragons could do.
It worked, and Alex’s vision became even clearer. Her eyesight had increased dramatically, and she could see the mines beneath her. Flames were shooting out of a tunnel built into a hill. Actually, there were multiple openings, and flames were shooting out of all of them. There were no other dragonriders or mech riders in sight.
Alex waved the rest of Team Boundless down as she flew toward the mines. “They’re on fire!” she shouted.
Chine hit the ground hard and Alex jumped off to see if there was anyone around who could explain what was happening.
The miners had scattered. Some of them were still running as explosion after explosion rocked the mines. Others were sitting in the field, nursing burns while mages cast healing spells on them.
A crotchety dwarf with an obstinate
