“Riding it is, then,” Rhodes said, turning to the door. “Form up, brother.”
Jaz sent a warning along the link. The distinctive crackle of phaser fire followed. With his talons sunk into the ship’s skin, Xandros could not dodge it completely, and I heard him grunt in pain as he got struck.
I was shaky, and embarrassingly aroused, but I should be able to hold on to Rhodes. His body was already altering back to his dragon as he flung himself out the door, holding onto the frame with lengthening talons. I clung to the wall, struggling to get my legs to obey.
A glimpse beyond Rhodes showed the city coming up with shocking speed—Xandros was losing his battle holding the ship aloft.
“Now,” shouted Rhodes. He brought his head as close to the opening as he could?—
I gritted my teeth, and jumped.
27
Jaz
I sat on the floor of the engineering bay, mentally linked to my Drakes.
Coarse dust pelted the two flying forms and they struggled with the wind as they slammed into the starhopper that held Zyair. Xandros had sunk his talons into the metal to slow its decent. My pulse accelerated as fighters dropped in around him—and one lined him up in its sights.
I sent him an image of it shooting, and he managed to dodge enough that the beam scored his shoulder rather than his head. But even disguised as they were by the gusting dust, he was a sitting duck out there.
Then through Xandros’s eyes, I saw Rhodes’s dragon as it banked away from the ship—and a figure clung to the spikes on his neck. My heart leaped—they had Zyair.
I wasn’t the only one to notice. The land-based fighters came after them as Xandros dropped the starhopper and followed his brothers into the storm.
I was with them, seeing through three sets of eyes at once. Zyair was caught in the grips of the extra dose of venom, and the painradiating from him threatened to overwhelm me. He barely clung to Rhodes with his manacled hands while I helped both flying dragons avoid the stun-net missiles from the fighters.
Another wave of them arrived through the blasting dust, firing more of the nets. My gut clenched—they weren’t using phasers. Brentoq clearly wanted the Drakes alive.
When another sticky missile almost nabbed Xandros, both dragons folded their wings and dove deeper into the dust cloud above the city. It hid them from the landfighters, but also from any ability to navigate.
When they continued to drop, I realized what they intended. They were abandoning Plan A, which was to fly to theStardrifter,and were going for Plan B—to land, and take their chances in the city below.
Without warning, I was flooded with conflict. Nothing concrete that I could latch onto, no useful imagery at all, just a deep sense of foreboding.
I pushed myself to my feet.
“Where are you going?” Yani looked up from where she was calibrating the actuator.
“To get my Drakes.”
She measured me with her level gaze, and then sighed. “I’ll have the ship ready for you. Please be careful.”
I nodded to her and hurried through the ship, stopping to collect the navcube from the bridge, as well as a hand phaser, and my extra knife in its forearm sheath from my quarters.
Our link showed me that my Drakes had now landed. Disguised by the storm, they were making their way across rooftops to where they’d stashed the cloaks. Then they planned to cross the city to get to the dockyard.
None of the three wanted me to come to them. But my instincts, or whatever you wanted to call them, were going off like the fourth of July. I had no idea why I thought my wussy human body could be of any assistance—even if it decided to sprout black scales—but itdidn’t matter. I was compelled to race down the ramp and into the storm.
Xalcim was a large city, but I knew where the brothers had planned to leave their cloaks while they waited for the battlecruiser. I examined the holograph from the navcube as I pulled up my hood and my scarf. The storm had abated somewhat, but the blowing sand continued to obscure landmarks. Once I got my bearings, I turned away from the market and hurried along the dust-filled streets.
Forms appeared and disappeared through the swirling sand. My dread increased as I moved along, but the only image that flashed across my mind was of Brentoq. I’d seen her through Zyair’s eyes—but was it just suspicion, or premonition? I had no way to know for sure. My pace picked up to a jog, relying on the poor visibility to disguise my angst from others.
It helped me, but also complicated things—navigation was difficult. Twice, I missed the street I was aiming for, and had to reverse course.
The brothers had their work cut out for them hopping across rooftops to make it to the one where they’d stashed their cloaks. But there was no way they could walk the streets naked and uncovered, even in this dust. I caught images of them navigating to the right spot?—
My pulse was bounding like a panicked hare. Something was very wrong.
