Despite the gloom, my newly enhanced eyes could make out a surprising amount of detail on the ground. We did a dive below the clouds, and I spotted the commotion almost at the same time he did.
The little clearing where theStardrifterhad rested was a hive of activity. Two flying fighters sat within the space, and cloaked figures bustled around, as if we could have hidden the ship beneath the ground. By the broken branches and uprooted trees, we had clearly been there. But it was also evident that we were gone.
Xandros banked swiftly away, flying in an arc around the site. If Rhodes was returning to our original hiding spot, he’d fly right into those guys.
Unless we could find him first…
I’d thought we’d lurk there to wait for him, but the presence of the Nirzks changed everything. Xandros seemed to have a plan, flying a straight line away from the clearing.
Toward Dangos?
I didn’t know how he knew where he was going, but he seemed to. Mind you, we could be flying in circles in thisdamp darkness, and I wouldn’t have a clue. But Xandros’s wingbeats remained steady, his sharp gaze fastened straight ahead.
The wind gusted, and I blinked through the rain. What were the chances we would spot Rhodes in this mess? I closed my eyes, trying to use my new ability, but sensed nothing. So instead, I unhooked the flashlight, turned it on—and began to rotate it through the roiling clouds.
If the Nirzks spotted it, this would get interesting very quickly…
Maybe if I tried to focus on him? I closed my eyes again, and pictured Rhodes. His height and the lean build, the piercing dark eyes, the aura of danger that clung to him. I hadn’t bonded with him, but he was Xandros’sbrother. And if Fate was right, we were meant to be together… surely that meant something.
At first, there was nothing. And then, a glimmer…
I leaned forward, closer to Xandros’s ear. “Go left,” I said.
He banked left, and I got another tickle of sensation. Of wind and rain and a feeling of desperation as I flew farther and farther from the one I’d left behind…
“Up,” I urged.
He rose, and the air grew colder. But I ignored the goose pimples running over my damp skin, and shone the light ahead of us.
Suddenly, a shape came at us through the clouds. Huge wings braced with a whoosh of displaced air, as Rhodes braked to a hover. The dark dragon regarded us with wide eyes.
“She has Zyair?” Xandros yelled to confirm.
“Yes,” Rhodes snarled.
“Can we get to him?” Xandros asked.
In response, Rhodes rose, taking us above the low clouds. I huddled against Xandros’s warm neck as we glimpsed what blackened the sky far above us.
We only stayed for a second, before the dragons dropped back into the clouds. But what I’d seen had frozen my heart.
The battleship was breaking orbit. And I had little doubt it was taking Zyair away from us.
“Where will they go?” I yelled through the driving rain.
A rolling growl emerged from deep inside Xandros.
“Givnia,” he snarled. “They will take him to Givnia.”
Yani and I worked feverishly on connecting the power core to theStardrifter.
Every moment wore on me, and I could tell that Rhodes and Xandros felt the same way. Now clad in cloaks, they paced back and forth in the engineering bay until Yani waved them out.
“This won’t go any faster with you two looming. I’ll let you know when she’s ready to fly.”
Rhodes shot her a look through which the hostility shimmered, but he spun and left. With a glance to me, Xandros followed him.
Yani gestured me toward the control panel. “We need to calibrate it.”
