“I’m alright,” he slurred.
“No, you are not. Let me get you back to the tent,” she replied.
He tiredly nodded his head. “This one is stronger than we thought,” he mumbled.
“Then we must be even tougher,” she said in a soothing tone.
“Nali… I love you,” he murmured.
She tightened her hold on him and released a shaky breath. “I love you, too, Asahi,” she replied.
He was vaguely aware of Ashure hurrying forward to help Nali get him into a tent. He closed his eyes when his head connected with the pillow and thankfully gave into the numbing darkness of exhaustion that engulfed him.
“Will he be alright?” Ashure asked a few minutes later.
Nali nodded and rubbed her arms. She gazed around the camp. Gargoyles sharpened their swords, ate, and murmured among themselves. Drago and Koorgan stood with another group, sparring with a variety of weapons. Gem and Ross sat by the fire talking with Ariness and Isha.
“Where’s Orion?” she asked with a frown.
Ashure shrugged. “I saw him walking toward the river a few minutes ago. He’s probably having a conversation with the fish,” he said.
She looked back into the tent where Asahi lay sleeping on the wide cot. There were a few things that she needed to do, but she was hesitant to leave Asahi’s side. She feared for his safety. On the cliff, it had been impossible to miss the alien inside him. When he had connected with the alien, its dark web had spread across his skin, turning his flesh darker than her own.
“Ashure, can you watch over him?” she asked in an emotion-filled voice.
“With my life, Nali,” he vowed.
She withdrew the dagger from the waist of her trousers and held it out with trembling fingers. Ashure probably wouldn’t need Mr. Gryphon, but if Asahi was to wake before her return, he might. She couldn’t bring herself to ask Ashure to harm Asahi. If it came to that horrific point, she would be the one to do it. She had promised that she would.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she said.
“Be careful,” he cautioned.
She nodded. “I will.”
Nali landed along the bank of the river and shifted from her gargoyle form back to her normal appearance. She raised an inquiring eyebrow at Orion. The Sea King stood in the middle of the river, holding his trident.
“Are you telling the fish a bedtime story?” she asked with an amused grin.
Orion chuckled and shook his head. “Yes and no. You can learn a lot from the water,” he said, wading ashore.
She tilted her head. “And what did it tell you?” she curiously asked.
“That it is very wet,” he dryly replied.
She laughed. “I would think the Sea King would have already figured that out,” she teased.
He walked over and leaned back against a large rock, propping his trident against it. She marveled that his clothing dried as soon as he was out of the water. She walked over and leaned next to him.
“We know the alien is in the lake. The aquifers are connected and can span hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles underground. The voices of the Water Sirens carry through it,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “Thousands of feet up a mountain?” she asked in a skeptical tone.
He looked back at the river and nodded. “This was once a volcano. Trust me when I tell you that there is a lake under the crater that goes down thousands of feet,” he said.
“If anyone would know, it would be you. Is it possible that the alien could attack us through the underground aquifer?” she asked.
“Anything is possible,” he said.
“There is something else bothering you,” she shrewdly observed.
Orion gave a brief nod and looked up at the stars. “I’ve been thinking about what Ashure told Drago and me—about what happened… what could happen if we fail. I’m not afraid of dying, but the thought of losing Jenny and our children…,” he confessed, his voice trailing away as he found himself unable to express his horror.
She reached out and squeezed his arm in comfort. “We won’t let that happen. This is a powerful place. The Goddess gave the Seven Kingdoms to us to protect. We won’t give up without a fight—and neither will she. She will help us defend our world if we need her to,” she said.
Orion nodded. “I hope you are right, Nali,” he replied.
“I am. I need to check on a few things before the battle starts,” she said as she stood up.
“I’ll continue to monitor the situation from here. The Water Sirens are resourceful and love to gossip,” he mused.
She chuckled. “Be careful they don’t lure you away from Jenny,” she teased.
“Never,” he swore.
She laughed again before focusing on her transformation. The ripple effect of her hardening skin would be lost on most because it occurred so quickly. She spread her wings and pushed off the ground. Her night vision wasn’t as good as that of a dragon, but it was good enough, especially considering that one moon was in its waning gibbous phase and the other a waxing crescent. Even the stars alone would have been enough on a cloudless night like tonight.
As she flew, her thoughts immediately returned to Asahi. She had to save him. She knew deep in her heart that any other option would be impossible to accept. Just the thought of her promise to him caused her physical pain.
Yet, the look on Orion’s face and the intense grief in his voice reminded her that this was greater than herself or Asahi. This would be a fight for the survival of an infinite number of worlds and their inhabitants. In the large scale of the universe, she and Asahi—and even the Seven Kingdoms—were nothing but a speck of sand on a beach. The only comfort she could draw was
