“How many men do you have?” Augustus asked.
“Twenty.”
“You have to be joking,” Carin said. “These are the reinforcements we’ve been waiting on?”
“They have the ship, too,” Augustus said. “That counts for a lot.”
“What’s your location?” Ashton asked.
“We’re sheltering behind a building, in Orion,” Augustus said. “There’s too many dragons out there. Every time we come out to fight, they chase us back to the towers.”
“How many dragons?” Ashton asked.
“Thirty, maybe,” Augustus said. “We shot down a few, but only one with the ship. The Reapers shot some others with SAM’s. We’re running low on rounds, though.”
“I can’t fight thirty dragons,” Ashton said. “I don’t care how long I’ve been piloting. That can’t be done with even two ships.”
“Then we have to find the Elekai,” I said. “It’s the only way.”
Finding the Elekai in time to save the city was a tricky proposition. We didn’t even know where they were. If they were relatively close, it might only take a few hours. If they were far, it could take far longer.
“Look,” Augustus said. “At this rate we won’t last until the morning.”
“You’ll have to,” Samuel said. “There’s nothing we can do from here. Even if we dropped off our men, what will twenty extra guns matter, and how can two spaceships fight against thirty dragons? We tried that fight already in Wyoming. We even had nukes, and still both ships went down. With the skies out of our control, Askala’s ground forces can run unchecked. We have to find the Elekai dragons, or no one’s surviving this night.”
Both Augustus and Black went silent on the other end.
“What’s our course?” Ashton asked.
Ashton’s question was followed by a silence on our end. Now that it was time to make a decision, it seemed like no one wanted to make it. Trying to find the Elekai was a risk — either we found them in time, or we didn’t.
But the way I saw it, we had no choice.
“There’s nothing more to say,” I said. “Head east. I can try to reach out for the Wanderer or Askal with my mind.”
“Will that work?” Makara asked.
“I…think it might. It’s always been involuntary, but maybe, if I try hard enough…”
“You don’t sound too sure,” Black said. “We need you here to fight those dragons. Together, we have a chance to kill them.”
After a moment, Samuel spoke.
“Finding the Elekai is the only way. Go east.”
Ashton turned back to the dash. “Augustus. Carin. We’ll return.”
“What?” Carin bellowed. “You can’t leave us to die here!”
Augustus said nothing, so I wasn’t sure what he thought. But no words of theirs could have stopped Perseus rising once more into the sky, above the clouds.
I exited the bridge. I needed to find a quiet place to try and communicate with the Elekai. Pray was more apt a word, because it would take nothing less than divine intervention to see us through.
In the wardroom I passed the Raiders, who looked to me for an update.
“Makara will explain,” I said.
I reached an aft cabin where I could get some peace. I sat on the deck, closed my eyes, and brought up an image of the Wanderer in my mind. It came surprisingly clear. I tried to let go of all thought, and let that image guide me, until a connection was made. The picture grew firmer as the world outside faded. My mind slipped into complete calmness.
It had worked.
Then came an awful, reptilian scream. Whether that scream was in my mind, or outside the Perseus’s hull, I couldn’t tell.
I had gone into a vision.
When I awoke, it wasn’t on the ship. It was in the midst of battle.
Not the battle for Los Angeles, but the battle for the Elekai.
A flurry of dragons circled and fought one another in midair in the darkness above the Great Blight. Xenofungus glowed in the night; from it rose a towering Xenolith, far larger than the one outside Las Vegas.
In the storm of dragons, jaws snapped, necks thrust, tails slashed, and flying bodies pummeled and collided. Cold screams shook the air. Hundreds of white eyes glowed in an aerial dance of death.
Once again, I was present in Askal’s mind, seeing the world though his eyes. I had no idea where this battle was taking place, but I needed to find out. On my right and left, other dragons flew in a V, of which I was the point.
Are you there, little human? Have you come to witness the last battle of the Elekai?
It’s not the last battle, I thought. We’re on our way. Where are you?
Askal flapped his large wings against the cold wind, lifting higher above the Great Blight. The other Elekai dragons followed suit. From the north, more opposing dragons flew toward the fray. The Elekai were outnumbered at least two to one.
Come east, he said. The dragons will point the way.
They will point the way? What does that mean?
We will hold them here, Askal thought. Hurry, little Elekai. And…I am sorry we could not help you with the city. It will all be in your hands, soon…
Before I could ask anything further, the vision faded, and I found myself aboard the cold deck of Perseus.
When I came to, Samuel, Julian, and Char stood above me. The rest of the Raiders had formed a small ring.
“His eyes…” one of the Raiders said.
“They aren’t white anymore,” another said.
I looked up, focusing on Samuel.
“Did you see anything?” he asked.
“I don’t know where they are,” I said. “Askal said the dragons would point the way. There was a battle, and they were badly outnumbered.”
“We won’t give up,” Samuel said, grabbing my forearm and helping me up. “Not while we breathe.”
We returned to the bridge, where Ashton and Anna were seated at the controls. I had no idea how much time had passed. Makara stood behind, watching out the windshield.
“Where are we going, Alex?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Askal said the dragons would point the way. Their Xenolith is growing out of some hills on a large plain. There was a huge battle of dragons in the sky. More were coming out of the north from the Radaskim.”
“You sure it was from the north?” Ashton asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know how I know, but I do.”
“If that’s the case, then the place we’re looking should be south of Ragnarok Crater, more or less. If those dragons are coming from the Crater, they’d fly on the straightest path possible to get to the Elekai.”
What Ashton said made sense.
“Alright,” I said. “So find a dragon, and match his trajectory?”
“The dragons will point the way,” Ashton said. “Pretty simple and direct.”
“Where are we now?” I asked.
“Almost over New Mexico,” Ashton said.
New Mexico? There would be no way the Elekai dragons could get back in time, not even if everything went perfectly.
But before anyone could point that out, Ashton spoke.
“Two dragons, dead ahead.”