The riders scattered, Alex veering hard to the left to avoid the attack. The plasma blast soared through the air, suddenly exploding and sending smaller bolts at the riders, who dove toward the source of the attack.
Alex’s eyes focused again on the shimmer beneath her, and she saw something moving. “Roy, I’m going down there,” she shouted.
Roy hooted loudly as he got back into his mech. He plummeted toward the shimmer with a mad cackle as he threw his thrusters into afterburn. Alex and the rest of the riders were right behind him.
Chapter Seven
Alex, Roy, and the rest of the dragonriders passed through the shimmering veil. Once through, Alex pulled up on her dragon anchor, causing Chine to stop and fly backward a little bit. She was not the only one to do that.
The Dark One’s forces were coming over the hill. The army was led by what appeared to be slugs nearly the size of houses. Their bodies were pale blue, and they had eyes all over. Electrodes and electronic components covered their soft flesh. An orc sat atop each, its body from the waist down melded into the slugs through some obscene mixture of technology and flesh.
Plasma cannons half as large as the slug’s bodies were strapped to each creature’s back. That must have been where the whirring had come from.
Behind the slugs were creatures that Alex could never have imagined. They were taller than the slugs, with long spindly legs, stretched and spider-like. Their heads looked like ancient, rotting human heads with long stringy hair hanging from their gaunt faces. Their skin was covered in steel plates, and they lumbered along like ghosts caught in a dream.
Roy’s voice came through the comm. “What the hell are those? You ever see anything like that before?”
Toppinir replied, “No.”
“This is an attack by the Dark One, right? ‘Cause this does not fit his M.O.”
Alex pointed to the orc/slug fusion creatures and narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the tech that connected the orcs to the slugs. She could see there were multiple orcs embedded in the skin of the slugs, some of them barely visible, others merely a hand forcing its way through the slug’s skin.
“That’s the Dark One’s tech. I’ve seen it in some of the briefings. Stuff like that’s been cropping up throughout Middang3ard.”
“You’re right,” Roy agreed. “Well, we got our work cut out for us. Let’s get started. Charge!”
Roy blasted forward, and Alex took off after him. “Boundless,” Alex called, “I want you as close to me as possible. Jollies, take point. Get as close to those things as you can, but don’t engage. I want to get an idea of what we’re up against.”
Jollies and Amber zoomed to the front of the charging army, easily flying faster than the other riders and the mechs. “On it,” the pixie called.
“Brath, I want you in the front with me. Gill, get behind us, and Jim, link up with the rest of the mech riders. Squad A, we’re going in slow. We don’t know what these things have ready for us, other than those anchor detachers, so be ready.”
The whirring of the slug’s plasma cannons began anew. The sound was louder and more oppressive up close. They were gearing up to launch an attack.
Alex looked around to see what else was down there. So far, she didn’t see any aerial fighters. Maybe the Dark One’s plan was to ground all the riders, turn this into a ground fight, and see what happened. Alex didn’t know why, though. The last ground fight, the dragonriders had won.
Jollies’ shrill voice squeaked over the comm, “You’re not going to believe this until you see it. Heading back to the main group.”
As if the Dark One’s forces had heard her, a change came over the slugs. They stopped their forward movement and began to shake and convulse. The orc bodies inside the sagging flesh of the slugs forced their way through the skin.
As the orcs climbed out of the slugs, spewing bright blue fluid everywhere, they screeched loudly, techno-organic wings sprouting from their backs. The wings were razor-sharp, and the orcs had cannons mounted on their backs.
The orcs stood, steam rising from their bodies, then spread their wings and took off, heading straight for the dragonriders.
The slugs fired their cannons, sending the plasma blasts into the thick of the riders, who took evasive action, then spread out, preparing for the inevitable explosion of the plasma blast.
The orcs didn’t seem to care about the plasma bolts and kept flying toward the riders, slashing at them with their metallic wings.
Alex pulled up, drawing her scythe from her dragon anchor and watching closely to see if any of the orcs near her were holding black rods. She couldn’t see any, but they were moving fast.
An orc flew past Alex, slashing at her with its wings. Alex ducked in time, avoiding having the razor edges slice through her neck. She raised her scythe and caught the orc in the chest, which nearly yanked her off her dragon. Luckily, she was still anchored.
The sky had turned into a scene of chaos. There were hundreds of the flying orcs aggressively attacking the dragonriders as if they had no fear for their lives. Alex could see a dull green light glowing in their eyes as if their brains had been hollowed out and replaced with something else.
Below, the lanky spider creatures with the faces of men opened their mouths. Black drool and gunk fell out as they regurgitated giant chunks of black rock, stretching it out in the shape of a rod. “Those are it!” Alex shouted. “The spiders have the rods!”
Roy flew to the front lines as he shouted, “Mech riders to the front! We need to take down those spiders!”
The mechs detached from the main group of riders and headed for the spider monsters, weaving between the orcs. The winged creatures tried to attach themselves to the mechs and rip them
