Brath took a less measured approach to attack. He let Furi do whatever the hell he wanted, and that was to set every living troll on fire. Furi flew over the battle, firing fireball after fireball, nearly turning the canyon into a firetrap.
Jollies flew past Brath and shouted, “Hey, be careful. You’re going to burn us all alive too!” Then she zoomed back into the fight, flying between troll after troll, firing her dual-energy pistols and adding to the confusion of the fight.
A troll zeroed in on Brath and took his vrosk into the air. Furi and Brath didn’t notice as the vrosk flew behind them. The troll leaped from his vrosk and landed on Furi’s back, then pulled out his spear and ran toward Brath.
Brath turned at the last minute, barely evading the head of the spear. He pulled out his family’s knife and slammed it into the troll’s foot, then tapped Furi on the back of the neck.
Furi turned his head, saw the troll, and snapped it in half with his jaws.
Below, Alex and Chine were circling the balrog, who was still cracking his whip. Around them, the battle continued. It was unclear if Boundless was going to get out of this alive. Alex didn’t care, though. They were creating a distraction that would allow the minerals to arrive at their destination.
Chine’s claws glowed again, and he fired another concussive blast. This time the balrog was ready for it, though. The balrog cracked its whip, breaking through the blast as it advanced. It spread its wings and flew toward Chine and slammed into the dragon. They rolled over each other, sending Alex flying through the air.
She landed on her feet as her dragon wrestled with the balrog. She was surrounded by vrosks and trolls. One of the trolls lunged for her, but she stepped to the side and brought her scythe down before drawing her energy shotgun.
As the troll’s vrosk screeched and flew at Alex, she let her scythe dissolve and fired a plasma scattershot. The vrosk hit the ground and skidded across the canyon floor.
Two more of the trolls came for Alex. One of them knocked her to the ground, and she screamed in pain as the troll drove his spear through her left shoulder.
Alex still managed to aim and fire, taking off the troll’s head. She scrambled to her feet, drew her scythe again, and sliced through the vrosk’s legs, turning as quickly as she could and firing again before slamming her fist to her chest and erupting in a brief fury of ether fire.
Alex threw herself sideways, firing at the closest troll before rolling away and running to her dragon. Jollies flew up beside her, “Hey! Alex, if you can take care of the balrog, I have something that should clear up the rest of the trolls. But you’ll need to get clear, okay?”
Alex flashed Jollies a thumbs-up and concentrated on getting back onto Chine, whose back was facing her. This was her best chance. She flung herself into the air, stretching her anchor toward Chine. The anchor connected, and Alex’s feet stuck to Chine’s back, even though he was on his hind legs.
The balrog had its claws around Chine’s neck and was trying to sever the dragon’s jugular. Alex tapped Chine’s head, hoping he was still reading her mind. Then she ran up the length of his neck, down his head, and sailed through the air, her scythe drawn, and brought her blade down in the middle of the balrog’s flaming skull.
It screamed in pain and backed away from the dragon, who took the opening and knocked it to the ground. Chine bit down hard on the monster’s neck and tore it open, then shot an inferno of ether fire into the wound, severing the balrog’s head from its neck.
Alex scampered back up Chine and pointed in the direction the mech riders had gone. “All right, everyone, move now! Leave the rest for Jollies!” Alex shouted.
Brath’s bemused voice came through the comm. “Wait, for Jollies?”
“You heard what I said! Now, move, move, move!”
Team Boundless and Alborn’s riders turned and sped toward the mechs.
Once Jollies was certain her friends were clear, she clenched her fists, and her dragon anchor glowed. Both her and Amber’s bodies began to vibrate. The vibrations were so intense, they were creating multiple images of Jollies and Amber. Then the images became solid.
The canyon was filled with hundreds of Jollies and Ambers, each of them crackling energy. They all attacked, hundreds of bodies firing lightning at anything that moved.
Smoke billowed from the canyon, and there was a massive boom, then thunder and a flash of lightning. Alex looked over her shoulder to see what was happening, but there was too much smoke for her to tell.
Then the pixie and her dragon flew out of the smoke. Jollies was giggling and scratching the back of Amber’s neck. “All done,” she said. “If they’re still alive, they won’t be coming for us anytime soon. I can promise you that.”
Alex air-high-fived Jollies. “Didn’t know you two were packing so much power,” she said, laughing.
“Big things come in small packages!”
The dragonriders sped through the canyon, leaving behind the screams and cries of the trolls and vrosks. They had a delivery to protect.
Chapter Nine
Alex and the rest of the dragonriders arrived at the rendezvous near sunset. She wasn’t sure how long they had been riding since they had all been busy recounting the battle to each other. Alborn was frankly impressed by Alex and the rest of Boundless.
After the battle, Alborn had received a message from the mech riders, detailing that they had arrived at the processing facility in one piece. They hadn’t come across any more of the Dark One’s forces on the way.
Alex’s gamble had paid off.
While they had been traveling to the rendezvous, Alborn had asked Alex to fly beside him so they could talk. “I’m sorry for back there,” the elf apologized. “I wasn’t
