“More dragons incoming!” someone shouted, but I couldn’t take my attention from the flood closing on me. I shot down three scaly bodies as they drew close, but one vessel lunged at me with a hiss, jaws gaping, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill it in time.
And then a small crimson dragon dropped from the sky with a snarl, crushing the clone to the earth. Spreading her wings, she raised her head and roared a challenge as a swarm of brightly colored dragons soared overhead with ringing battle cries and dropped into the fray.
Whirling around, the red dragon shot me a fierce, defiant grin, eyes flashing green in the darkness. “Hey, soldier boy. The cavalry’s finally here.”
DANTE
“Something’s happened, sir.”
I frowned at the confusing shapes on screen, trying to determine what was going on. Bright shapes darted across the sky, flurries of frantic movement that could belong to only one thing. “Are those...dragons?” I asked incredulously, leaning forward. That was impossible. How could there be that many dragons who weren’t our own? But, watching the figures dart around the screen, I knew they could be nothing else. More dragons. How? Who would...?
No. It couldn’t be. She was supposed to be safely at Talon headquarters with the Elder Wyrm. She was supposed to be out of this fight, away from the slaughter. And yet, I knew it was her. She was the only dragon in the world who, after somehow escaping Talon, would turn right around and aid the Order of St. George on the night they were supposed to be destroyed.
“Ember,” I whispered. The bright streaks of color darted across the screen, mingling with the darker, more subdued vessels, and I clenched my fists. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What should we do, sir?” asked a human.
I stared at the scene in growing rage. Ember was down there...but I couldn’t falter now. I couldn’t turn from this path. The Elder Wyrm demanded victory; she expected me to succeed. Even if my own sister was killed, I could not forfeit the most important mission of my life. Talon’s future, and my own, hung in the balance. Sacrifice, as always, was necessary.
Though someone would pay for this when it was over. Someone would be punished for my twin’s death. I would see to it myself.
“Unleash Omega,” I said. “We end this now.”
EMBER
Oh, man, this is nuts.
I shook my head, watching what had to be the craziest battle in the world unfold in front of me. Hatchlings, clones and soldiers of St. George soared or darted through the flames and smoke, shooting or breathing fire onto their opponents. Brightly colored hatchlings flung themselves at the darker metallic clones, using group tactics to gang up on their soulless counterparts. A vivid green hatchling and a smaller black hatchling tag-teamed a clone, each darting in and slashing at it when its attention was on the other. A vessel pounced on another hatchling and seemed ready to tear it apart, when a silvery white dragon dropped silently onto its back and sank her claws into its throat.
“Ember.” Somehow, Garret’s voice reached me over the screams of dragons and the howl of assault rifles. I turned to the soldier, finding him. “You made it,” he said, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.
“Yeah.” I nodded, managing a smile. “I made it. With reinforcements. Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner, Garret. We came as fast as we could.”
With a deafening roar and a crack of thunder, a forty-foot Eastern dragon soared overhead in the direction of the armory. Cries of awe and alarm rang out as Jade swooped in and began snatching clones from the air, crushing them in her powerful jaws and flinging them aside. The vessels tried to swarm her, raking her with teeth and claws, but they were no match for the immensely powerful Adult and were smashed out of the air one by one.
The soldier blinked, watching the Eastern dragon wreak havoc overhead, a grim smile crossing his face. “I see Jade got my message,” he said in a voice of dark satisfaction. “Is Riley here, as well?”
I nodded again, following his gaze. “And Mist, too. Somewhere. It was a fight, but everyone decided to come in the end.” Lowering my head, I met his gaze and bared my teeth in a savage grin. “I told you I’d come back. Though you started the battle without me, I see.”
He stepped forward and briefly touched his forehead to mine. I felt the heat of his skin against my scales, and a rush of fire spread through my veins. “You’re incredible, Ember,” he murmured. “Thank you.”
I swallowed. “I told you, soldier boy. We end this together.”
“Yes.” Stepping back, he raised his gun, eyes hard. “Let’s go,” he told me, starting forward. “While they’re distracted. Let’s finish this.”
We sprang back into the fray. Clones and hatchlings battled each other on the ground and in the air, streaks of color and shadow all around us. Fires blazed, men shouted and gunfire chattered from all directions. Dragons, both friend and foe, swooped from the sky or bounded through the flames, dark blurs against the hellish light. I saw dragons locked in battle with other dragons, wings and tails thrashing as they clawed and tore at each other. I saw a few soldiers of St. George firing on their quick-moving targets and desperately hoped they could tell the difference between a savage clone dragon and Riley’s hatchlings. A vessel leaped at us, snarling; Garret’s M-4 chattered, and the thing crashed to the ground. Another streaked overhead, breathing fire into a cluster of hatchlings; I sprang into the air with a snarl, colliding with the scaly body and bringing it down with me. Claws slashed at me as we landed, tearing through scales and raking gouges of pain down my shoulder. My vision went red; with a roar, I pinned my rival to the ground, clamped my jaws around that long snaking neck and jerked up as hard as I could.
The dragon below me shuddered, wings and tail twitching, before it went limp. I dropped the neck and backed away, surprised at how quickly it had died, how easy it had been to kill it. For just a moment, I thought I might feel horror, disgust at what I’d done. But something had changed. I was a dragon, and these things were trying to kill me, my friends and everything I loved. There was no time for regret. This was a war.
I bounded to Garret’s side again, blasting a cone of flame at a vessel coming in from the left. The flames didn’t stop it, but they did blind the vessel for the split second it took Garret to turn and gun it down.
“Ember! St. George!”
Cobalt swooped down, landing beside us with a blast of wind, his eyes blazing golden as he swung his head around to glare at the soldier. “We’re taking pretty heavy damage, but I think we’re slowly driving them out, thanks to Jade.” All three of us glanced at the sky, where the Eastern dragon was coiling back and forth among her smaller opponents, swatting or snapping them out of the air. Cobalt snorted and looked back at Garret. “She should be able to handle the cleanup. Where do we need to go?”
“The armory,” Garret said immediately. “We have to get to Lieutenant Martin, see if any of the clones broke through.”