I pushed the images I'd seen through my hosts' eyes, showing them to the dragons. The worms breaking through. The Shedun warrior hordes emerging. The sleeping, vulnerable city.
Over and over, I sent the message, my mental voice growing more urgent as my panic grew with each passing moment. “Please! You must respond! Podana is under attack! Thousands will die! You must defend the people!”
Silence.
Then, finally, a familiar presence touched my mind.
"Little Warrior?"Onyx's voice was groggy with sleep."What is it?"
I showed him everything, the images flowing from my mind to his in a torrent of fear and urgency.
"I see it,"he said, his mental voice now sharp and alert."I will wake Ravel. Continue calling the others. Try to reach Nyxath. She can get all the others."
I'd heard her in my mind once, when she'd called me to come forward in the ceremony. I might be able to communicate with her.
In the meantime, other dragons began to respond, and then finally, I got her clear presence in my mind.
"I hear you, Kailin. I will wake Saphir, and we will defend Podana."
I nearly cried with relief.
Hearing a chorus of dragon voices reverberating through my mind should have been overwhelming, but somehow, I managed to contain them.
73
RAVEL
"The first wave breaks not on stone, but on preparedness. To know the enemy is coming is to defeat them before they arrive."
—From the training manual of the Dragon Force Academy
The ground beneath my feet trembled and split. A massive, segmented creature burst through, its ugly face punctuated with rows of grinding teeth. It writhed upward, stretching toward the sky, and behind it poured out Shedun monsters, their faces painted with black tar and the red symbol of Elusitor stamped over the black paint on their foreheads. They moved with unnatural stealth and speed, slithering toward the outskirts of Podana like a plague.
Where were the defenders?
Why weren't the watchtowers sounding the alarm?
Each household had at least one rifle for self-protection. If they knew there was danger, they would take precautions.
I tried to shout orders, to call for my squadron, but nothing came out. I was mute, weaponless, and powerless. My gaze swept over the wall surrounding Podana, searching for the sentries who were supposed to patrol it, but there was no one there. Had commando Shedun units eliminated them ahead of the invasion?
A lone figure hovered over the wall, not atop a dragon but just suspended in midair.
Kailin.
How was she doing that?
She turned toward me, her eyes reflecting her panic. Her lips moved, forming words I couldn't hear. I tried to get closer, straining to understand, when a massive tremor shook the ground. The earth split right outside the wall, toppling a large portion of it, and she disappeared.
Little Warrior...
"No!" I lunged forward, but the scene started to dissolve around me, and I realized it had been a nightmare.
I released a relieved breath.
"Ravel, wake up!"Onyx roared in my head, anchoring me further in the waking world.
I sat up with a gasp, my heart hammering against my ribs and sweat drenching my bedsheets, the lingering images of destruction clinging to me like smoke.
