It surges, spewing its base instincts, but breaks against the indomitable rock of my own will. I am a warrior and we do not leave our fallen brethren behind.
“Don’t be a fool,” I growl.
He struggles until he is on his feet. Blood drips from multiple wounds but he lurches along so I let him run on his own.
He stumbles before we reach the top of the dune but Shidan and I catch him. He steadies himself without stopping.
“They’re not far enough,” Shidan says.
He’s right but there’s nothing I can do. The humans run in a mass herd. There are too many of them for me to pick out Calista but I do spot Rosalind. Her white armor stands in stark relief against the sea of dark colors the rest of them dress in.
She is at the rear, herding her people. A true leader, she doesn’t go to safety herself until her people are.
The ground rumbles and then buckles. We’re thrown forward. Instinctively I spread my wings and white-hot pain explodes through my body, blinding me. I hit the ground. My head cracks against something, and blood runs into my eyes.
I’m tumbling head over heels coming to a halt on my back staring up at the red skies of Tajss. I roll onto my side, every muscle in my body crying out in protest. There is nothing that doesn’t hurt, but as I fight through the pain, I hear Calista’s voice echoing through my thoughts.
Ladon. Help us. We need you.
“I come, my love,” I cry out, pushing past the pain and the failures of my body. “Tajss grant me strength, I come.”
On my feet again, I’m stumbling alongside Sverre. Shidan rejoins us as we fight our way forward. The ground itself is jumping. Every step forward takes an incredible amount of effort.
We lean onto each other, resting our arms across one another’s shoulders to give what support we can. The ground bounces so hard my teeth rattle in my head. Sand dances, rising up, crashing down.
We fight for every bit of forward motion. Another dune. Almost to the top.
“Daddy!” Illadon yells.
I see my mate and son as we reach the top. Illadon yells, but he’s pointing behind me.
Turning to see what my son is looking at, I see the blinding white-blue light, pushing dirt and sand like a wall racing down on us.
22
Khabri
I’m thrown by the blast. Sand, dirt, and rock tear at my scales as I tumble through the air. Holding my wings closed, I curl into a ball and ride the wave, preparing for the impact I know will come.
As I tumble, all I can think of is Anna. Her soft face, the taste of her lips, the way her skin feels under my fingers. Even the sound of her voice, which is music in my ears. She is my sun and stars. She is all, and somehow I must live, for her.
Did she escape? Hope is a sputtering, flickering flame that I must keep alive. I hit the ground and blackness consumes thought.
Pain.
White flashes behind my closed eyes. Struggling to pull my thoughts to coherency. I open my eyes and see… nothing.
Everything is dark. The air is filled with dirt and sand. It’s hard to breathe.
“ANNA!” I yell, choking on the air. I strain to hear her, to hear anything. Nothing.
Hands held in front of myself, I move. My foot goes down, too far, and I fall again. The pain gives me focus. I feel around with my hands. The ground is destroyed. Rough to the touch, where before it had been smooth sand, now it’s ragged. I touch something hard and cold.
I run my fingers up and down it. It’s long and twisted. It takes a moment to realize the material is metal, most likely a part of a building’s structure.
“ANNA!”
I climb out of the trench and resume my search.
“CALISTA!” Ladon’s voice reaches my ears, so I make my way towards him.
I bump blindly into him.
“Who?” he asks.
“Khabri,” I answer.
“Calista!” he screams, his voice breaking.
“Anna!”
We walk shoulder to shoulder, keeping touch as sight is useless.
“HERE!” another voice calls out.
“Sverre?” Ladon asks as we grope our way towards the voice.
“Yes, my leg,” he says.
The filth in the air swirls, but when we’re close to Sverre and I crouch low, it’s clearer than when I’m standing. Clear enough to see Sverre.
He’s struggling against a large, twisted iron beam that rests on his legs. He strains to lift it but the thing barely moves.
“Ladon, grab there,” I point to him and again to the far side.
Ladon does as directed and together we lift. My body protests, but I push through and lift with my legs. The metal screeches as it finally gives way, rising high enough that Sverre is able to pull himself free.
His legs are a mess. One of them lies at an odd angle, clearly broken, the other looks shredded. Dried blood covers it with blackness. Kneeling next to him I grab his head and force him to look at me.
“Find your center,” I say. “Go deep, where you go when the bijass surges and tries to assume control.”
He nods understanding, closing his eyes. I keep my grip on his head and wait. Shidan stumbles up to us hurt as well but Ladon deals with him.
“Okay,” Sverre says at last.
“Good,” I say. “Now, think about all that you live for. Think of your futures. Of your child and children to come.”
He nods and when he opens his eyes calm falls across his face. “Can you brace the leg?”
“Yes,” I say.
I crawl around on my hands and knees until I find parts that will be serviceable. A length of metal and in a jagged crevasse I find remnants of wiring.
“Ladon, Shidan, hold his arms,” I order. “This will hurt.”
Sverre nods his understanding as the two males take his arms. I run my hands down his broken leg, feeling the lay of the bones. Once I can visualize them as they are in my head I take a firm grip. I jerk down and left, pulling the bones into place.
Sverre bites off his cry of pain. I use the material I found to fashion a brace for his leg that will hold the bones more or less in place. It’s the best I can do for now.
Ladon and Shidan help him up. They each have one of his arms over their shoulders to keep him upright. We don’t need words to resume our search. Our mates are all that matters.
“The City is—was there,” Ladon says, shifting his tense mid-sentence, and pointing behind us. “The humans should be this way.”
He leads us across the broken ground. We have to alter directions more than once to work our way past chunks of building material that wasn’t incinerated in the blast. I can’t see above us so I don’t know if the ship is still up there or not.
A weapon such as they used on the city takes time to charge, so if they are we have time before they’ll be able to fire it again. Time that we must not waste.
“ANNA!” I yell again.
“Here!” her voice is distant and off to our right.
I run towards it. Desperate to hold her in my arms. The other males struggle to keep up, having to help Sverre.
“Ladon?” Calista voice comes to us.
They sound distant but the filth in the air makes it impossible to judge distance. I slow and help the other males to keep up. It’s against every urge I have but I am not an animal or a primal barbarian. I am a warrior and a male. I will keep my honor.