Phoenix Rising (Dragon Legacy) (21 page)

Quinn retaliated with a variation of mongoose stance, darting in past the creature's extended blade, clawing under his attacker's jaw line with his mech hand, and twisting. He was rewarded with a grunt, and the creature staggered back, falling to one knee...but it wasn't nearly as damaged as a normal man would have been.

Then the creature swiped at Quinn's legs, and he moved to avoid a blow that would have crippled him. Instead, he managed to stomp his foot down on the blade and move forward, aiming a kick at the Knightshade's throat. However, his attacker didn't surprise easily, and continued with a lightning-fast blade fist aimed at Quinn's Illeal band. Kark!

It doubled him over, but he kept himself from falling all the way forward. His electrified mech fist shot out again, this time connecting with the Knightshade's face with a sizzling crack. The dark creature crumpled to the ground, and Quinn kicked him off the edge of the structural beam to be carried to his death by the powerful wind.

Quinn reached down and grabbed the handle of the shock-blade before lifting his foot off it, and held it in front of himself. He grunted and switched it off, and its blade and hilt collapsed from the electromagnetic entanglement structure back into an inert mechanical rod. He turned and walked back toward Kai and Quincy. They seemed surprised to see him alive. What did they expect, though? He was a Brigadier Knight. Of course he was all right.

Once he made it to the other side, he looked down at Qortus, then at Kai and Quincy. He closed the hatch behind him, relieving them from the wind at last. Kai rushed over and wrapped him in the tightest hug he could ever remember. Quinn smiled, and held her close.

“That was insane!” Quincy exclaimed. “What were those things?”

“They used to be men.” Quinn sighed. “Brave men...but they were turned into that...what you just saw...because they were deemed dangerous by the empire. For what they did, or something they knew. Maybe him, too,” he said with a glance at Qortus. Kai gently pulled away to check on the unconscious older man, and Quinn sighed. “I'm sure that's why they took me. Although, with the secret I discovered, I'm surprised they kept me alive at all.”

Kai looked at him. “What secret?”

Quinn smiled and held out his hand. “Come with me, and I'll tell you everything.”

24

“Prepare yourselves,” King Harris said as he stood in front of his war ministers, and gazed up from the balcony outside his royal command center at the dark nebula. The wind gently ruffled his peppered hair, and he took a deep breath. He'd considered this place his home for six years, but that was about to change.

Harris reviewed the status reports from stations across the Highreach Citadel. The wormhole would be large enough for travel within minutes. The Battalion of Brigadier Knights assigned to him stood at the ready, as did the Army of shock troops and the Fleet of Spearcraft.

“All systems normal, Highness,” the Admiral announced from the core navigation chamber.

“Very good, Admiral Trikon,” Harris nodded, and began to pace up and down his balcony. “Maintain course. Knights, any unusual quantum activity?”

“Not yet, Sire,” General Ivers replied over the line as he assembled his Battalion in the air above the city. Harris could see them hovering in formation, ready to strike at any who dared malign the sanctity of the Highreach Citadel. “Too soon to call it, though.”

“Well, keep me informed. We will not end up like the Alba, gentlemen.”

“Yes, highness.”

Soon his Citadel would be in position with the others, and they'd be ready to take the war to the dragons. It couldn't happen too soon, in his opinion. Too much time and life had already been lost from waiting. They needed to figure out a way to free themselves from the incessant dragon attacks.

“Wormhole event horizon now analyzed and breached, highness. Commencing amplification process,” the voice of the Lead Helmsman informed him.

“Full ahead, Admiral,” he replied, then the three-dimensional disturbance in space-time opened up with a ripple, and the Citadel began moving through. As it did, the enemy began to appear on the monitoring systems. The readings from Ivers showed six solid targets.

Six! Unheard of! He cursed under his breath. The Brigadier Knights were the first to engage, of course, and used their shock-lances to steer the dragons toward the heavy guns.

King Harris could see it all from here. These men were the artists of war, and their masterpieces a beauty to behold. They were not without losses, however. Members of the entire seventeenth fist blinked out in an instant as a dragon turned on them in mid-flight and froze them all with its breath. They would fall to the ground and shatter into shards, but they would be honored, as would their families. Still...

“Blast,” he muttered. He'd always known the cost of freedom to travel among the stars was great, but believed that price must be paid. “General, draw back your men in the fifth fist, and let the Spearcraft engage that one. It's too big.”

“Copy that, highness,” Ivers replied across the crackling connection. It irked Harris that their communications were always so distorted when going through the wormholes. The spatial transition affected all sorts of non-hermited devices, and earbuds were definitely on that list.

“Admiral, continue on course. We won't be derailed by a pack of wild animals.”

“Aye aye, your highness. We'll breach the event horizon in less than ten, nine...” he continued the countdown, and the pitched battle raged above and below the hulking world-ship. Smoke and fire began to fill the sky, and Harris was filled with a sense of urgency to win this battle before the dragons sundered his vessel beyond repair.

Then, suddenly, a great white dragon shimmered in and flew directly at Harris's observation balcony. It must be the leader of their cluster, he reasoned. Two of Harris's ministers ducked reflexively, but he stood his ground, staring down the beast as it approached. He drew his pulse-gun and opened fire, popping off a volley of powerful bursts at the colossal beast. It swerved upward and to the right to avoid the blast, but Harris tagged its wingtip. It regarded him coldly with large, solid black irises, and Harris grabbed the railing as it roared past, shrieking at him.

It came so close that he could smell a strong scent, much like cloves, as its long tail tore a chunk from the thick railing. It peppered several men behind the King with sharp stone detritus...the ones who had ducked moments before, ironically. If any questions about the value of courage had remained in the minds of his ministers, this conclusively demonstrated that the Creator granted no room to the weak or timid. Not here.

“Ivers, take that dragon out before it destroys my command tower.”

“Yes, Highness,” the old Knight replied, and three fists of Knights changed course and engaged the dragon, heckling it down from the sky toward the guns.

Harris saw one of the Knights land decisively on the dragon's neck and successfully embed his shock-lance into the base of the monster's skull, shooting off a full blast into its brain pan. Its head dissolved, followed by the rest of its body, leaving nothing but a faint spinning dust, and the Knight rejoined his fist to engage in another fracas on the far side of the Citadel.

King Harris then watched as the rest of the lesser dragons were dispatched by his forces, one by one, until the skies were cleared. The reports streamed in as they began passing through the wormhole. Then...the old nebula was behind them, and they emerged into orbit next to the pride of the Brigadier Empire. The Prime Citadel.

It was magnificent in scope and grandeur, and built for war. Harris's attention was diverted, though, as he saw other Citadels arriving. The Gann, the Rhikon, and the Velaran were sliding through their wormholes, and still fending off a large number of dragons. Explosions were visible across the surfaces of the other Citadels, and the Alba was profoundly absent. It was time to take control of this situation.

“Perfect timing,” Harris said through his teeth, then shouted, “Get my Citadel between the Rhikon and the Velaran! We have to kill those dragons before they can close down those wormholes!”

“Looks like you've got this,” Eli said to Kita as he unstrapped from his pilot chair. Slowpoke was on a steady course through the spectral storm toward the strong signal of the Prime Citadel, and Eli could feel his blood sugar dropping fast. “I'm heading into the back for something to eat.”

As he walked through the dark commons area toward the kitchen, he saw the kids were asleep. Snoring. “Glad they're getting some rest, at least,” he muttered, and decided to keep the lights off for now. They'd be snapping out of warp soon enough, and the kids would need their rest. “Crazy plan,” he said as he took a bowl over to the grop dispenser

“Crazy can be good,” a voice whispered from behind him, and Eli shook his head.

“Hi Alex,” he whispered. “You should be asleep.”

“Funny,” she said as her silhouette moved through the shadows toward him. Too close towards him, he realized as he felt her breath across his chest when she leaned in. “I had some trouble sleeping,” she whispered into his ear, and Eli felt his pulse quicken.

“Well, you should try it, anyway,” he whispered as he tried to back away, but she moved forward toward him like a cat stalking her prey. She had him cornered. In his own ship.

“Maybe what?” another voice asked as the lights slid up just enough to see that Alex was in a silky nightgown that hugged her athletic body, leaving little to the imagination. Skippy floated beside Kita, and let out a disapproving buzz.

Eli looked at his bowl of grop, and put it on the counter. “We should wake up the kids. We'll be snapping out of warp in less than two hours.”

“Lovely,” Kita said as she turned on her heel and walked silently back to the cockpit. Skippy buzzed behind her sympathetically, ignoring Eli for the first time in a long while, and the lonely captain dumped his grop into the sink with a sigh.

Stella swished her mouth with a small amount of water as the final step in brushing her teeth. Wiping her face with a towel, she was glad to be in space again. Altonas had been horrible, at least after that incident with those giant hungry centipedes in the cellar.

“Ugh,” Stella gagged at the memory. She hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep for the rest of their stay, knowing that beneath the monastery were thousands of creepy crawling creatures just dying to consume her and her friends. She shuddered as she remembered them coming after her, their sharp mandibles and large antennae reaching for her...she could still hear them, crawling, climbing, and that horrible cooing sound as they got closer and closer...

“Stella,” a voice abruptly accompanied a hand on her shoulder, and she yelped in surprise.

She spun around in a panic, and hit Mtumba with her towel before she knew what had happened. He laughed at her and lowered his hands from their protective position, unhurt but definitely amused. She shot Mtumba a dirty look and stormed past him.

“Someone's a little jumpy today,” he laughed and followed her as she stormed into the commons.

“Hey, keep it down to a dull roar, would ya?” Alex Fox growled from her alcove bunk where she'd been trying to sleep off her injuries. She elected to hitch a ride on Slowpoke just in case someone recognized her own ship and decided to shoot her down before she could make it into port. Still, Fox had stocked up on some special supplies from her personal lab before she'd come aboard. Fox was the jumpy one, not her, Stella huffed as she sat down and looked at Rok.

“Hey,” Rok coughed, looking up from the table console. His grop sat untouched in its bowl, the spoon sparkling and unused. “You guys all right?” he asked.

“Yeah, we're fine,” Stella huffed as she compulsively kneaded her amulet, “except that creepers over there decided to sneak up behind me while I was brushing my teeth!”

“I did not sneak!” Mtumba retorted.

“Not for me to judge,” Rok shrugged with a sniffle, and went back to the console.

“You gonna eat that?” Mtumba asked him, and Rok shook his head with a grimace. Mtumba smiled and reached over to pick it up. The spoon, too. He dug in as if he was starving, and Stella just stared at him.

“Don't you ever get full?” she asked.

“What?” he asked around a huge glob of grop. “No, I'm hungry.” He hunched over his food protectively, and resumed eating. Skippy gave an annoyed beepy buzz as he floated past Mtumba to refill the grop dispenser.

Stella sighed and looked over at the sleeping Alex Fox, wondering what her story was. What a strange person. A shape-shifter...or changeling, as she'd referred to herself. Stella hadn't even known that kind of thing was possible on that scale, but apparently, it was. Sure, there were bio-alters, but that was usually just minor stuff, and only safe to do once or twice...or was it?

Fox's bag was open, and Stella looked at one of the visible canisters with curiosity. It was gleaming blue, and had a white injector-tip. Curious, she walked over and knelt down to take a closer look. She picked up the small blue vial and looked at it, then chuckled as she playfully pointed it at her shoulder, imagining herself as an elegant lady of the court, or a famous female pirate captain like Esther Hood...