Alex still gripped her scythe in one hand, the other putting pressure on the wound across her chest. She was losing blood, and she wasn’t sure how fast. The pain was hardly noticeable since her body was flooded with adrenaline. All she could think about was keeping the orcs flying at her from getting too close.
Jim and Roy turned away from the orcs in front of them and flew after the falling riders. Alex saw them approaching, but her vision was beginning to blur. A group of orcs headed for her, and it looked as if they would get there before either Roy or Jim.
Alex grabbed Gill’s arm and pulled him closer to her. As they hurtled toward the ground, Gill continued to unload shot after shot at anything getting close to them. He picked off the orcs that Alex had been worried would arrive before the mech riders did.
Roy swooped under Gill, opening his cockpit and allowing Gill to fall gently into it. Jim executed the same maneuver beneath Alex.
He reached out to her, trying to grab her hand and pull her into the cockpit.
As Alex’s fingers wrapped around Jim’s hand, an orc hit her from the left and she was knocked away from Jim. Its wings slashed her arm, and she lost her grip on her scythe.
Jim hit his thrusters and attempted to get closer to Alex, but a group of orcs flocked to him, covering his mech.
Alex hit her comm and shouted, “Squad A! Report!”
A couple of voices came through at the same time, but Alex heard one louder than the other. “We’ve taken out all of the spiders, and the orcs are retreating! The slugs have stopped moving forward.”
“Retreat! Head back to the Nest to regroup and finish them off.”
“Roger!”
The ground was coming for Alex. She was going to hit hard, and that would be the end. There was something oddly comforting about knowing death would be swift.
An orc flew toward Alex with its wings outstretched, hoping to slash her. Alex saw her opening, and as the orc got closer, she grabbed its throat and swung around behind it. She locked her robotic arm around the orc’s neck and steered it to the ground.
Alex hit the earth with immense speed, the orc taking the bulk of the impact. When she stumbled to her feet, she noticed the ground was soft and squishy. “What the hell?” she muttered to herself.
Suddenly, the ground grew unstable, and Alex fell forward. She wasn’t on the ground, she was on the back of one of the slugs. “Chine!” she called. “I’m down here!”
Alex didn’t know if the dragon could hear her. There was no reply as she looked at the slug’s foul body, more orc hands and heads trying to force themselves out of the putrid flesh.
The presence of Alex had awakened something within the orcs. Those who had been docile under the skin were now moaning loudly and trying to pull themselves out.
Alex backed away, not knowing where to go. She tried to pull her scythe from her dragon anchor, but nothing happened. A shockwave from one of the black rods must have hit her. She was defenseless.
The orcs continued to claw their way out of the slug. This is it, Alex thought. I did my best, and that was all I could do.
Rage was the only word for what Alex felt. To know her life was about to end in such a fashion pulled at something deep within her that she did not know existed. Her veins began to burn, as well as her eyes.
The air around Alex grew hot and flames erupted, covering her body as energy radiated from it.
The pillar of flames she generated stretched skyward, engulfing everything above and around her. The fire seared through the flesh of the slugs and the orcs who clawed their way toward her, reducing them all to ash.
Alex fell through the miasma of charred bodies. As her eyes began to flutter closed, her body became weightless. What’s happening? she wondered hazily.
Her dragon’s voice in her head comforted her. I am here for you, Dustling, he said before everything went black.
Chapter Eight
Alex stood in a room which was all white. There was no furniture. The walls did not seem to be walls. She was ankle-deep in water, and she had both her arms. Someone was singing, but she did not recognize the song or the voice.
Vardis crouched across from her, staring into the water. He looked over his shoulder. “Oh,” he said, “you’re finally here.”
When Alex spoke, it was not with her mouth, and it was not telepathy as she experienced it with Chine. This was something else. It was a flurry of emotions and concepts that crystalized in what could pass for language in such a place. She had felt this aboard the meteor.
Where is here?
Vardis stood, flicked water off of his fingers, and walked over to Alex. This is your mind, he explained. Or something like it. You’re sleeping now, much like when we first spoke. The only difference is that this is not a natural sleep. I’m assuming you passed out during the battle.
Alex looked down at her hands. They were quivering, bending in and out of the light as if they weren’t real. How are you able to do this?
We are linked. When I first saw you, I connected with you telepathically as a failsafe in case something happened to me. I wasn’t certain I could trust any of you yet. Not the most prudent of means to ensure my safety, but it was the best I could do.
Alex crouched next to the water. There were minnows swimming under the surface. Why didn’t you think you could trust us? she asked. Wasn’t that the reason you came here to meet with us?
Vardis knelt beside Alex. I traveled here to deliver a weapon to destroy the Dark One. I wasn’t sure who or what I was
