"It can only be one thing." She stares at the light in the distance, a hardness settling across her face. "We'll have to get a closer look of the portal without the dragons."
I nod, following her lead. The dragons descend to the sand and hover as to not make noise by landing. We slide off our dragons' backs and land in the sand swirling from their flapping wings. Hagar says something in a language I don't understand and Zahir flies back to the cliff. I tell Drexel to stay with Zahir and he obeys.
Hagar lifts her hood to cover her hair and advises me to do the same. She crouches and ascends the giant sand dune in a zig-zag pattern and I follow her moves exactly. She's the expert here. I will default to her knowledge, playing dutiful soldier. My calves and back of my thighs burn the higher we go. Climbing mounds of sand isn't for the weak. Despite the cool desert breeze, perspiration bubbles around my hairline and I drag the back of my hand across my forehead to clean up.
"Mask up," Hagar commands when we reach the top. She hands me one of her two scarves and I mimic her motion to wrap it around my lower face. "Light can bounce off our faces, and we don't want them to notice us."
I nod in understanding, before we peak over the dune. My mouth drops. The stone-arched portal is enormous and glowing crimson. Demons and grotesque creatures are going in and out of the silvery film between the two realms. They're bringing supplies out. Dozens of wagons await wooden crates to be stacked for war. Weaponry, suits of armor, shields, and flags with Drogon's sigil of a bloody fist crushing a man mark the territory as his.
"Shit," I angry whisper. "They're preparing to make their move, and we don't have a fucking plan in place. Most of our allies aren't even on the same continent."
"We need to report this to the others." She doesn't look at me, her eyes scanning and her mouth moving quickly as she counts. "I don't imagine they'll wait long before marching on Midori."
"You think they'll go to Midori first?"
She nods. "That's only logical." She points to our right, westward. "Midori is a three-day walk that way. Obviously, faster on dragon back, but with all these wagons, they'll move a bit slower. I say it'll take them at most a week to reach the Golden City."
"Will Midori be able to defend itself?" I ask, and she finally looks at me, shaking her head.
"They have no dragons, no magic, and from the last our scouts reported, an army that has dwindled in number." Hagar grimaces, peering back over the dune. "Midori will fall. And then they will come for the rest of us."
"Vashbehtan will be safe though, right?" My question is an attempt to comfort her, but she remains realistic.
"Drogon will come for all of us. Our secret city will not be secret long. The only reason we've remained hidden is because the Midorians do not venture into the desert. They don't know the land the way we do." Hagar's shoulders slump. "We need to get back before – "
A hiss to our left draws our attention. With heads likened to that of a cobra and the body of a lizard, threecobrazardsrush us.
I draw my twin blades. Thankfully, these are creatures that don't need a holy laced blade to defeat.
Hagar draws the two daggers from the back of her belt and flips them around her hands. "I'll take the one on the left." She dashes down the hill, drawing them away from the portal and out of view of anyone who could possibly offer back up. Smart girl.
I follow after her and then split westward while she goes east. Two follow me, their forked tongues flicking as their clawed feet struggle in the sand. They're slow. Sure, my footing is also a bit of a struggle in this terrain since I'm not used to it, but when I glance over at Hagar, she moves effortlessly. Sand is in her bones. She flips, kicks, twists, and lunges to avoid thecobrazard'sattack. Using her sand magic, she blasts sand up to blind the creature before burying it up to its hissing neck. Hagar hops on the beast's covered back and draws both her blades across its neck, nearly decapitating it.
Holy shit that was insane. I'll have to pick up a few moves from her.
I slide down the rest of the dune, twocobrazardshot on my heels. When I'm on more solid planes, I turn to face them. They split, one on either side of me. They're crafty. Not mindless beasts unaware of how to hunt and ultimately kill.
I hold my blades out at each one, keeping my peripherals shifting side to side. I wait for one to make the first move. The one on my right leaps for me. I swivel out of its grasp and as it lunges by, I slice its head clean off. Its companion roars and if the enemy didn't know we were here, they probably do now. A roar from the other side of the sand dune confirms my suspicion.
I whistle for Drexel and he launches into the air. We need to get out of here before more show up and we're overrun. Hagar appears out of thin air, riding a wave of sand toward me. Her covering flaps in the wind behind her like a damn sand goddess. She leaps, knives drawn and lands on the lastcobrazard'sback, digging her daggers into him. He howls in pain and twists his head back at Hagar. He bares his fangs and I run up, chopping his head off.
Hagar and I breathe heavily as our dragons fly down for us. Hisses from the top of the sand dune alert us to the backup. There's a small army coming at us with fury.
"Come on," I grab her hand and we dart deeper into the desert as our dragons swoop down. Arrows launch toward us, piercing the sand inches from us. I glance back to see a close grouping flying directly for us. We won't be able to dodge it in time. I pull Hagar against my chest and take three arrows to the back. We fall to the ground. I hold myself up over her, gritting my teeth from the pain.
"Were you hit?" Her eyes are wide and horror streaks across her face.
I nod. "I'll be all right." I smirk to ease her worried mind. "Regeneration, remember?"
"You took those arrows for me?"
"And I'd do it again if it meant you were safe."
She scrambles from underneath me. The creatures are still coming and they're nearing the bottom of the hill. She helps me to my feet and stares at the arrows protruding from my back. She puts her hand on one but I grab her wrist, stopping her.
"We can deal with this later," I say sternly. "Get on Zahir. We have to get out of here before it's too late."
Though she appears reluctant, frowning at me like she wants to argue, she succumbs and runs to Zahir who just landed with an enormous thud. Drexel lands seconds later and I dash forhim. We both run up our dragons and settle on their backs in time for them to take off before any of the creatures can get to us. But it's too close for comfort.
