Alex stared down at the blank spots of the hologram map. She was going to start acquainting herself with those invisible factors.
Chapter Seven
Gill and Jollies arrived at Alex’s and Jim’s coordinates around the same time. Jollies was riding Amber, an electric dragon proportionate to Jollies’ small frame. The two were a good match, but it was always funny to see Jollies with the rest of the squad. Jollies was small enough to fit in Alex’s palm, but she had a personality the size of a mountain.
Gill rode Timber, an earth dragon. He was a muted brown with relaxed scales and unassuming claws and fangs—a dragon perfectly suited for Gill, who was a quiet drow. Gill rarely raised his voice to anything above his usual deep, soft tone. It was hard to tell when he was excited. Unlike Jollies, his skin didn’t change color with his mood.
The two dragonriders jumped off their dragons and came over to where Alex and Jim were sitting. Jim and Gill exchanged a quick hug, Gill asking Jim something Alex couldn’t hear. Even if Gill wasn’t so soft-spoken, Alex still probably wouldn’t have been able to hear because Jollies came flying up to her ear, speaking rapidly.
Alex politely pulled Jollies away from her ear and placed the pixie on her shoulder. “Hold on, hold on. I’ll tell you everything later. We have something more pressing to take care of.”
Jollies flashed bright red and crossed her arms. “What makes you think I wasn’t talking about the mission?”
“Were you asking me about the mission?”
Jollies didn’t answer right away. Finally, she said, “No.”
Alex pulled up the tactical display and nodded smugly. “That’s what I thought you were going to say.” Alex sighed. “Well, might as well get down to business. You guys know about the incoming ship. Hey, how come Brath didn’t come?”
“We couldn’t both leave. And yeah, we clocked the ship after you called us. It must still have power because it’s descending so slowly. It’s not a crash-landing.”
Alex pointed to the tactical display, noting their position and the position of the ship. She drew their attention to the creatures that were in the valley and those above the ship. “Looks like we’re not the only ones trying to pick this thing up, and if it’s important to the Dark One, then it’s important to us. I doubt if it’s supplies or anything like that. From what I could see, the vrosks were trying to rip the thing to shreds in the air.”
Gill leaned close to look at the display, his hair falling over his face. “This is a welcome addition to our tech,” he said before straightening up and opening his display. “Formulating plans will be much easier. If you’ve decided to start planning things, that is?”
A few months ago, Alex would have gotten defensive, but she’d grown pretty familiar with Gill’s wry sense of humor. That jab was as close to a joke as Gill ever got. “Yeah, I figured it might be the best route to keep from getting our heads blown off. And I’m open to contributions.”
Gill smiled as he brushed his hair out of his face. “I’d like to hear what you’re proposing first.”
Alex pointed to the blank spots on the map display, east of where they were currently. “The ship is heading in that direction and we don’t know what’s there. The descent is still pretty slow, so we can easily make it there before the ship does. I want Jollies to do a quick recon of the area and give us an idea of what we’re walking into since she’s the fastest.”
Jollies zipped back over to her dragon and climbed aboard. “The display will automatically update for you guys?”
Alex nodded as she pointed to it. “That’s what it did last time. I’m pretty sure it’s sourcing information from our HUDs and dragon anchors.”
“Okay, I’ll be back ASAP. Don’t do anything fun without me.”
Jollies took off, heading east toward whatever lay over the hills.
Alex turned her attention to Gill. “I want you to check out the hills. You’re the quietest of us all, and the only one I trust to get a better picture of what’s trailing the ship. Jim’s mech is too loud, and it’s not a secret that I’m not good at laying low.”
Gill nodded, turned off his display, and went back to his dragon. He left without saying a word, rising into the sky like a giant black cloud and disappearing.
Jim went back to his mech and jumped inside. “So, I’m guessing my role is to sit here quietly and do nothing?”
“Not nothing, but I don’t have anything specific for you to do. Ideas?”
Jim looked at his tactical display. “No, I think you’re right. I just don’t like having to sit on the sidelines because of the whole mech thing, but like you said, the thing is too damn loud and not nearly as maneuverable as your dragons. Sneaking makes sense, and I can’t do what Gill is about to.”
Alex wondered if there was a hint of jealousy in Jim’s voice. She could have just been hearing something that wasn’t there. And then she wondered why she would hope Jim would be jealous of Gill. That didn’t make any sense.
Jim was playing with the controls on his mech. “At least I can calibrate this thing,” he muttered under his breath. “Got a feeling we’re going to need heavy firepower in a little bit. I didn’t need to get close to see there are a lot of monsters trying to get into that ship.”
Alex had climbed back onto Chine and was scratching the dragon behind his horns. What do you think is in the ship?
Hopefully an enemy of the Dark One. We could always use more allies, Chine answered.
Wouldn’t that be sweet?
At best, maybe it is something to help end this war sooner.
It took Jollies less than an hour to return, but the tactical display was updated long before that. Alex could appreciate why Myrddin had added
