I signaled for my squadron to gain altitude, wanting a broader view of the battle. I also needed to find out how Logan and his dragon were doing.
"Captain Logan Giverti is unharmed,"Onyx reported."His dragon has an injured wing, but he can still remain afloat and assist. He is in no condition to perform diving runs, though."
The other good news was that the ground troops were engaging the Shedun who had penetrated deeper, holding them back from the populated areas. The bad news was that some had managed to break through.
Our ability to assist the city defenders was limited, and they would have to chase the Shedun down and eliminate them using conventional means in house-to-house fighting.
I signaled for my squadron to descend to a small plaza where a drastically dwindled unit of Elucian ground forces was making its last stand against an overwhelming force of Shedun invaders. If the line broke here, the consequences would be devastating, but dragfire wasn't an option at this point.
There wasn't much we could do from the air while dragfire reserves were depleted, and with the tunnel's collapse, our sector was secured from the arrival of Shedun reinforcements. So that was one less worry. The best thing for us to do right now was to assist the unit on the ground, which was about to be overrun, and prevent a breach into the residential area behind it.
We landed behind the Elucian troops, who stood in a tight formation, forming a wall against the advancing Shedun.
"Commander Nidar," their captain called out, recognizing me as I dismounted. "Your timing is impeccable."
I nodded. "My riders will reinforce your line. The dragons will provide what support they can, but they can't use dragfire with buildings so close."
"They are still a great deterrent," he said. "The Shedun fear them."
I signaled my squadron to dismount and form up alongside the ground troops. The dragons arranged themselves behind us, their massive bodies and gleaming teeth a formidable second line of defense.
We opened fire, but for every Shedun down, more seemed to appear. They fought with the desperate ferocity of fanatics with nothing to lose, seemingly willing to die for their abhorrent cause. And die they did, by the dozens, then by the hundreds as we continued our relentless defense.
The battle raged on, the sky gradually lightening with the first hints of dawn. My arms ached from hoisting my rifle and from the endless rounds of fire I released, and those around me were in no better shape, but the relentless tide of Shedun, which had seemed to have no end, was finally ebbing and dying out.
The remaining tunnels had all been collapsed by other squadrons, and most of the worms were eliminated. With all the breach points sealed, the Shedun who had made it into the city were blocked, cornered, and in the process of being dispatched back to the hell from which they had been spawned.
As the last pockets of resistance were mopped up, I finally had a moment to consider the miracle that had happened here tonight.
Thanks to Kailin's warning, Podana was saved. The losses the Shedun suffered in fighters and worms in this one nightwere staggering and could affect their ability to mount full-scale attacks for some time to come.
Tonight was a huge victory for the forces of light. A victory made possible by a first-year cadet.
Why had I been privy to her dreams, though?
I wasn't a shaman.
Could it be that she was so powerful that she affected everyone she was close to?
I'd been personally training her for over a month now, but the connection I felt to her went deeper than that, dating back to the night I first saw her, a sixteen-year-old girl standing amidst the carnage of a Shedun raid, rifle in hand, eyes defiant despite the fear I knew she'd felt.
It would be interesting to find out whether Alar and Shovia had dreamt along with Kailin. After all, they were much closer to her than I was.
Despite being already awash with adrenaline from the hours-long battle, thinking about the potential of Kailin's power and its ramifications for Elucia's future, a rush of excitement and awe washed over me.
My Little Warrior was not so little anymore. She might be Elucia's best shield against the forces of darkness.
74
ALAR
"Secrets and signs, dreams and premonitions—these are often whispered among anxious soldiers in barracks and camps. A commander should neither rely on them nor forbid them, but observe which warriors are led true by such instincts. There may lie a pattern there that no manual can teach."
From 'Meditations on Command'— By General Soren Bardaky
The soft click of the door opening stirred me from sleep, and at first, I thought it was Kailin returning from a visit to the bathroom, but as I registered her warm body next to mine, my eyes immediately snapped open to see who the intruder was.
Shovia stood at the foot of the bed, a finger pressed against her lips in the universal gesture for silence, and the urgency in her expression instantly banished my grogginess.
