Dragon Aster Trilogy

35: TRAIN OF PAIN



“Don’t you dare let her go! Not now!”

Cirrus woke with a start as something had struck the train with enough force to throw anything smaller than himself to the ground. He tried to get a grip on how he had fallen asleep, as he was supposed to be like a normal dragoon now; well, as far as normal went with having a Cael for a dragon somn. Must be a bad habit I have to lose still.

He looked to the other seat where Sybl wasn’t. Cirrus sat up and looked at the ribbon of gold he clung onto. She was in a fight, and he was still so far away from being able to help her. Cirrus pressed his face against his hand, praying that she wouldn’t take on Damek alone. Then he looked up as Moon saw what was going on outside, having been on top of the train the whole time. A rogue Pack of phelan looked to be attacking them.

“It’s not a rogue Pack,” Kenshe shouted to his psi. “It’s one of Kas’—something is wrong with them.”

Cirrus got to his feet and opened the door to the train car, getting a careful grip of his estus energy as he did to avoid being thrown by the speed the train was going. The cold blast of snow threatened to freeze all his senses out of him. “They’re fast,” he said as he looked at the phelan.

“The Aeger must have them—they’re coming in for another hit. Hold on!” Kenshe said, and they clung to the bars on top of the train as one of the bigger phelan tried to throw the train off of the tracks.

Kenshe looked as Feryl joined them on the roof. “I’ll take em’ out with Feryl—you keep them off of the train.”

Cirrus watched as they both somned then, and used the train’s speed to hurl them into a run on the ground at an even faster speed. He looked for Moon, and the black dragon spirit had already found their first target trying to climb onto the last car. He walked towards him, before Moon pulled him into his somn. Just as the phelan’s claws gripped the roof, his landed in the paw and he lifted it up and threw it off of the train. As the eminor hit the ground and rolled away, he hoped it could take such a beating and survive. He didn’t want to kill their berserked, confused, allies. Allies that likely fell to the Aeger after Kas’ death.

Another phelan struck the side of the train, and Cirrus turned around and sent his teeth for him. He lifted him up while using his tail for balance, then hurled the phelan over the other side of the train. If these phelan were truly an enemy and not just sick with the Aeger, this would have almost been fun.

“You look like you’re having too much fun,” Tank said to him by psi, as he collided with another phelan trying to ram the train, before tripping him out and sending him into a violent tumble away from it.

Cirrus looked to the front of the train where Feryl and Kenshe were having a hard time getting something to move off of the tracks. What is that?

“A suicider. I got it,” Tank said as he charged forward and hit the large phelan just in time to throw them both out of the way of the train.

As the three of them recovered and caught up to the train, Cirrus could see now how they were the best of Runners back in the day. Their teamwork had not only saved the train, but left Cirrus with very little to do.

“Awe, don’t feel too bad,” Feryl said, as he pulled himself up onto the roof, “you did get two of ‘em.”

Cirrus unsomned and watched as Feryl returned to the front of the train. He had only climbed back down the ladder and into his car, when an angry argument between Feryl and Tank echoed back from their psis from the front, and he went through the cars to where they were. It was if they dedicated every spare moment to yelling at each other.

“They destroyed the tracks. I can’t make the train run on air! Without the Keol, we’re sitting ducks. We should turn around and head back while the Keol is still hot enough to do so,” Feryl stated.

“Turning back is not an option,” Cirrus added. “I can handle the cold. The question left is how much cold can a phelan take?”

“Without the Keol we’ll be frozen targets out there. Maybe you’re failing to see that we don’t have wings,” Feryl added.

“I don’t see how wings help in that,” Cirrus said and looked out the window to the blistering wind and snow on the other side.