Legossi slept at his side, her wings covering her head. The hilltop extended dozens of feet in all directions, big enough for several dragons and a convenient spot for a portal, though vulnerable to attack by air. Assigning one human and one dragon for lookout duty made sense. They could take turns sleeping. Since everyone had been through an exhausting ordeal, no one could stay awake for very long.
Gabriel stepped into a huge footprint in the snow—Yereq’s. The wind hadn’t yet concealed it. When they arrived earlier, they expected to find Yereq on guard at the portal, but a long trail of footprints proved that he had left. No one knew why, and contacting him proved fruitless.
Gabriel nudged Legossi’s flank with his shoe. “Come on, sleepyhead. It’s time to start a fire.”
Her wing slid away from her face, revealing a pair of fiery eyes. “A sleepyhead, am I? I recall a certain winged human snoring so loudly the field mice had to wear earmuffs.”
“That’s just because it’s so cold.” Gabriel spread out his wings. “Last one to the portal is a flying reptile.”
“But I am a flying reptile.”
“Exactly.” With a quick flurry, he flew down the slope to a stand of trees that bordered a meandering stream no wider than two running leaps. Thin ice ran along the stream’s edges, not enough to obstruct the swift, shallow flow. The dragons had melted the snow in the area and dried most of the mud, providing a decent place to rest.
Elam and Sapphira knelt together next to a bare oak tree, their heads bowed. As they held hands, firelets ran along Sapphira’s radiant face, then down her Second Eden soldier’s uniform—green trousers and burnt orange tunic with an emblazoned dragon symbol over a long-sleeved red shirt. She wore a lacy coif over her white hair, but it seemed undisturbed by the fire. The flames crawled close to Elam’s hand, terminating at her wrist. He, too, wore the soldier’s uniform, though a thick coat hid all but the green trousers.
Gabriel stopped behind them. No need to interrupt. They knew the situation. Preparation in prayer was more important than haste.
About ten steps away, Makaidos and Thigocia slept under the stripped boughs of a larger oak. With their necks snaked together and their wings overlapped, if not for their differing colors, it would be impossible to tell where one dragon ended and the other began. Roxil slept within a wing’s length, her respirations lifting and lowering her body in a steady rhythm. Without clothes or coat, it seemed that the dragons ought to be shivering, but their inner fires kept them warm.
A beating of wings sounded, Legossi flying overhead, apparently on patrol. Her vigilance rarely took a break.
Makaidos started at the noise. He and Thigocia untangled and rose to their haunches. Roxil lifted her head and snorted a puff of smoke, as if coughing to clear a bit of congestion.
After yawning and stretching his wings, Makaidos aimed his pulsing red eyes at Gabriel. “Any word from Second Eden?”
“Nothing.” Gabriel gestured with his thumb. “If the portal’s still at the top of the hill, no one’s knocking on the door.”
“I cannot understand,” Roxil said as she shuffled closer. “Karrick is trustworthy, and he is now an expert at opening and closing that portal. Why would he close it unless something was terribly wrong?”
Elam walked their way, hand in hand with Sapphira. With her hair now uncovered, its whiteness shone in the rising sun, and her eyes glittered like the bluest of sapphires.
“We’ll have to risk trying again to open it from this side,” Elam said as he looked skyward. “Any sign of potential interference?”
Gabriel raised a pair of fingers. “I saw two airplanes and three choppers during the night, all far away. If the military picked up the portal opening yesterday, they’re not showing any signs of doing anything about it.”
“That’s what worries me.” Elam stooped, grabbed a stick, and began drawing in a patch of mud. “Our operation was too easy, much too easy.”
“Easy?” Gabriel gave his wings a snapping whip. “Legossi and I got shot by guns. Roxil was nailed by a tank. Sir Barlow and Portia and Matt were all sucked into who-knows-where. We needed help from two kids from thousands of years ago to survive. And we were all nearly killed anyway. I wouldn’t call that easy.”
“I believe,” Makaidos said, “that Elam is referring to the level of opposition and readiness we encountered, not to the amount of suffering we endured.”
“Right, Makaidos. The presence of that laser battery proved that they knew we were coming.” Elam began making a series of marks in the mud, as if counting. “They have jets. They have missiles. They have assault helicopters. They have special ops units. But what did they bring out? A few tanks and a ragtag group of ill-equipped prison guards.” He snapped the stick in half. “It doesn’t make sense. Even a blizzard shouldn’t have kept special ops away.”
Makaidos extended his neck and brought his head close to Elam. “You fear a diversion, do you not? An attack on Second Eden?”
Elam nodded. “How else do you explain Karrick’s absence?”
“Maybe he sensed danger and closed the portal,” Roxil said, “and now he is hesitant to open it from the Second Eden side.”
Makaidos bobbed his head. “Your reasoning is sound. The only option is to try again. We were probably too injured and exhausted to break through last night. Now that we are rested, perhaps we will be able to crack the lock.”
“If not …” Elam straightened. “We’ll have to use a backdoor portal.”
Sapphira took his hand again. “From the museum room? The one that leads up the throat of the volcano?”
“That’s what I was thinking. Mount Elijah is dangerous, but someone might be able to fly through the heat quickly enough.”
“You say someone …” Gabriel pointed at himself. “But you mean me. A dragon couldn’t reach that portal. The door to get into the room is too small.”
“Yes, I did mean you.” Elam patted Gabriel’s shoulder. “Are you up for it?”
“Flying into superheated air over an active volcano while knowing I could plunge into boiling lava at any second?” Grinning, Gabriel thumped his chest. “Bring it on!”
Elam smiled. “Thanks for the humor. We can use a little levity.”
“Since I’m going to risk scalding my backside, do you mind answering a question that’s been bugging me?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Gabriel waved a wing toward the others. “It’s pretty obvious that you chose only non-natives of Second Eden for this mission, but you really never said why. Valiant is the greatest of warriors, and Listener isn’t far behind. I know you want them to guard the villages, but still …”
“I know what you mean.” Elam sighed and began walking toward the portal hill. “Come with me, and I will try to explain.”
“I’ll summon Legossi.” Sapphira kissed Elam’s cheek. “I’ll ride her to the hilltop and meet you there.”
After Sapphira left, Elam and Gabriel continued a slow march toward the hill. “I have lived for thousands of years,” Elam said as the ground transitioned from mud to snow-covered grass. “I have seen the most courageous, sacrificial people this world can produce, but I have also seen the most depraved, hideous monsters who have ever walked in human disguise.”
Gabriel kicked through the snow. “I know what you mean. We both knew Sir Patrick, but we both had to endure Devin and Morgan.”
“Exactly my point.” Elam pushed a hand into his pocket. “People who are born and raised here are exposed to a wide spectrum of influences, for good or for evil. On Second Eden, most of the citizens have never experienced evil on a long-term basis. Flint raised a short-lived rebellion until Abraham banished him, and the armies from the past attacked, but their influence lasted only hours. These were huge, explosive events that were overt, easy to recognize as evil, so Second Edeners weren’t affected. They have never faced the subtle, deceptive influences here on Earth, so I can’t predict what the effect on th
em would be.”
“What about their companions?” Gabriel asked. “Wouldn’t they counter the evil influences?”
“I thought of that, but …” Elam looked up, his eyes following the flight of an eagle.
“But what?”
Elam shook his head. “If you don’t mind, let’s drop the subject. Since we needed warriors in both places, it made the most sense to me to leave the natives in Second Eden. No use taking a chance.”
“That’s fine, but speaking of warriors, any word from Yereq?”
“I was going to ask you that.” Elam’s brow lifted. “Did you follow the footprints?”
Gabriel patted a flashlight hooked to his belt. “During the night, but I lost the trail. I can try again now that we have daylight.”
“Sounds good. Let’s try opening the portal first, then we’ll hunt for Yereq.”
After Gabriel and Elam scaled the hill, they walked onto its flat, circular top. Sapphira stood at the center, and the four dragons lined up in front of her, their planned alignment for a potential portal opening. Gabriel and Elam parted, Gabriel walking to the left side of the top and Elam taking his place a few paces from Sapphira. When everyone was in position, Elam raised a hand. “On my signal, give it everything you’ve got.”
The second he lowered his hand, the dragons blasted streams of flames around Sapphira as if trying to draw an arch over her body. Sapphira shouted, “Ignite!” She burst into flames, raised her arms, and began weaving the multiple infernos together as if stirring the fire-filled air into a vortex.
Soon, a spinning wall of orange enveloped her body. The dragons continued spewing flames, each one taking a rest in turn. The heat intensified. The snow melted. With scalding air swirling all around, Gabriel backed to the edge of the hilltop and unzipped his coat. Elam retreated only a few steps, apparently able to withstand the barrage of heat.
After several minutes, the dragons’ fire began to ebb. Legossi finished with a sputter and a cough. Thigocia’s flames ended with a puff of sparks and smoke. Roxil laid her head on the ground and exhaled heavily. Finally, Makaidos wheezed, and his fire fell as sparkling spittle.
Sapphira kept the vortex spinning, but after several seconds, the cylinder thinned out and dispersed. She collapsed to a sitting position and gasped for breath. With each spasm, her fiery coat faded.
Elam leaped to her side and helped her rise, using a sleeve to protect his hand.
“It’s locked tight.” Looking at him, Sapphira twirled a finger. “While it was spinning, I could feel a portal, so it’s still here.”
Makaidos lifted his head. “I sense danger.”
“So do I.” Thigocia spread out her wings. “I do not know if I have the strength to investigate.”
“I hear something.” Elam set a hand to his ear. “Rumbling?”
“I’m on it.” Gabriel shot into the air and began a quick orbit over the hilltop. To the east, four black helicopters closed in. Their nearly invisible blades sent rippling sound waves pounding into his chest. With underside-mounted guns and under-wing missiles, these flyers weren’t coming for a friendly chat.
He dropped toward the hilltop, shouting, “Choppers! And they’re loaded for dragon!”
“How many?” Makaidos asked.
“I saw four, but that doesn’t mean more won’t come.”
Legossi struggled to her haunches. “We have to strike first. If they get into attack formation—”
“No!” Makaidos shook his head hard. “We are too weak, and they are too many.”
“Not to mention too fast,” Gabriel said. “They’ll be here any second.”
Elam raised a hand. “We have no choice but to surrender. Just keep your wits about you. I doubt that they’re here to murder us. They probably want access to Second Eden, and we have no way to give that to them.”
When the helicopters arrived, they formed a semicircle about thirty feet overhead and hovered in place.
Gabriel wrapped his wings around himself and blinked at the whipping wind. Flying with flexible wings in this frigid vortex would be impossible, even for a dragon.
A man in the far-right helicopter barked through a loudspeaker. “Open the portal!”
Elam spread out his arms and shouted, “We can’t! It’s locked!”
A hail of bullets drilled into the ground near his feet, but Elam didn’t flinch.
“Don’t lie. We detected an open portal here not long ago. Give us access, and no one will get hurt.”
“Listen, genius!” Gabriel yelled, lifting a fist. “If we could open the portal, we wouldn’t still be here! Do you think we just waited around in the Arctic for you to show up? What’s your IQ? A single digit?”
For a moment, the chopper blades and engines provided the only sounds. The dragons and humans on the hilltop, all shivering in the icy blast, stared at the buzzing hoverers.
Finally, the voice returned. “We are sending a team down. Do not resist their actions.”
A metallic box, black and rectangular, fell from the door of the same helicopter and landed in the mud with a thudding splash. Shaped like an oversized coffin, a human could easily fit inside.
A rope dropped from the door and another from the opposite side, as well as a long chain and hook. Three men in military garb slid to the ground, each one with an automatic rifle in hand.
Two of the men opened the box and waited. The third man walked toward Sapphira, though with a hesitant gait. “Get in the box,” he said, gesturing with his rifle.
Sapphira glanced at Elam, wind-blown fire rising from her hands and hair. He leaped in front of her. “You can’t have her!”
The loudspeaker sounded again. “You’ll get her back as soon as you give us access to Second Eden.”
As the pounding gusts whipped through his hair, Elam glared at the helicopter. “Forget it! Sapphira is not a negotiating chip. You can’t have her.”
“Surrender her, or we will kill everyone except for her and you, and then we’ll take her anyway.”
Elam looked at Makaidos. The king of the dragons stared back at him, as if communicating silently. Roxil looked on, shuffling toward Makaidos, though she appeared weak and sluggish.
Gabriel edged close to Legossi and spoke with just enough volume to overcome the whirring blades. “Is Elam stalling until you dragons can recover?”
“I hope so.” Anger spiced Legossi’s low, rumbling voice. “We should not give up Sapphira without a fight. All of Second Eden is at stake.”
“Agreed.”
Elam turned back to the helicopter. “Give me another minute to think about—”
“Kill the winged guy,” the loudspeaker said.
The soldier closest to Sapphira lifted his gun. Sapphira pointed at him and shouted, “Ignite!”
His uniform burst into flames. As he dropped to the mud, Sapphira pointed at the other two. With shouts of “Ignite!” she set their clothes on fire. Pivoting, she cast the same command at all four helicopters. Lightning-like sparks covered their metal skins, but nothing caught fire.
A trio of pops sounded from the leftmost helicopter. Bullets zinged into Gabriel’s foreleg and thigh. Pain roared up his spine and shredded his balance. He collapsed and writhed in the mud.
With a beat of her wings, Legossi leaped toward the attacking helicopter, leading with a fireball. Her flames splashed over its windshield. She grabbed a landing runner with her teeth and twisted as if trying to sling the helicopter to the ground. Her tail and a wing slammed into the blades, slicing them and sending the chopper into a spinning plunge near the edge of the hilltop. It crashed in a mangled heap and exploded, launching a fireball that rocketed into the sky.
Just as Makaidos, Thigocia, and Roxil spread out their wings to attack, two other helicopters fired a storm of bullets. With a series of sickening thumps, the three dragons dropped to their bellies and moved no more.
As the first attack helicopter burned, Legossi struggled
to disentangle herself from the fiery wreckage. A third helicopter launched a missile. With a whoosh and a trail of smoke, it zoomed toward Legossi. She beat her truncated wings, slinging blood, but they provided no lift. The missile slammed into her chest and exploded.
Gabriel covered his face with a wing. Debris pelted the outer surface, sounding like the splatter of flesh and blood. He gagged, then swallowed down bile. This was all too terrible to be true.
After a few seconds, he drew his wing back. Legossi and the helicopter were gone, likely blown over the edge. More soldiers dropped from the remaining three helicopters. They wrestled Sapphira away from Elam, smacked him to the ground with the butt of a rifle, and escorted her to the box.
Sapphira went peaceably, apparently realizing that Elam would suffer even more if she resisted. She stepped into the box and lay on her back, her hands folded over her waist. Like a funeral director closing a coffin, one of the soldiers lowered the lid, his face expressionless.
As they fastened a series of padlocks around the seam, Elam struggled to his feet, his fists balled, but he staggered like a man on a storm-tossed boat.
Gabriel crawled toward him on his elbows, dragging his legs. If he so much as wiggled a wing, they would probably finish him off. “Elam,” he grunted, “let her go. We’ll regroup. We’ll find a way.”
“Never!” Elam trudged toward Sapphira. “I can’t let them have her!”
The soldiers wrapped a chain around the box, and the helicopter began reeling it up. One of the soldiers kicked Elam in the stomach, sending him sprawling. He then aimed his rifle at Gabriel and shouted, “Sweet dreams, freak!”
A pop sounded. Pain ripped into Gabriel’s head. As the world grew dark, he reached into his pocket and pressed the emergency button on his phone. Then the entire hilltop dissolved in a field of blackness.
* * *
Bonnie tapped her foot on the sand. How long would Tamiel take? He and the angel had conferred for a long time. Why would a being of light and a being of darkness have so much to talk about?