“Mister?” Jillian leaned out from the plane. “Can we have two bags? We’re all hungry.”
“Jillian!” Gabriel beat his wings, leaped through the plane’s doorway, and scooped her into his arms. As he glided out, he kissed her cheek and spoke in a cheery tone that belied his reddened eyes. “Where are Mommy and your brother?”
“I don’t know. A big ugly bird took me away from them.”
Billy laid a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I had no idea Jillian was your daughter. I would’ve told you sooner.”
“No problem.” As he hiked Jillian higher in his arms, something rustled in her backpack.
Billy grinned. So another little girl had sprouted wings. Very cool.
Gabriel put Jillian down and held her hand. “Isaiah was probably too old for them to take. If Shiloh followed our plans, she should have contacted Ruth for help.”
“Patrick’s wife?” Billy asked.
Gabriel nodded. “Before Patrick died, he and Ruth created a secret network that allowed communications to flow among our allies in Europe. It was a dangerous business sometimes. In fact, their son was captured and killed during a raid.”
“That’s terrible!”
“It was, and the tragedy made Ruth more determined than ever to keep the network going. So when Jillian was taken, you can bet that a lot of messages flew around. No telling what they’re working on to rescue her, but knowing Shiloh and Ruth, they’ll pull out all the stops.”
“Listen,” Walter said, his brow knitted. “We’re kind of in dawdle mode. Let’s get all the kids together in the first plane, and Gabriel can stay with them while we haul our fannies back to the field.”
“Sounds perfect.” Gabriel picked up Jillian, flapped his wings, and lifted off the ground a few inches. “While you two are risking your lives, I’ll be entertaining the kids. Free rides from a dragon man!”
Jillian giggled. “Higher, Daddy! Higher!”
“Okay, winged wonder.” Billy jerked his thumb toward his plane. “We need to shove off, so we’ll leave it to you to gather the kids.”
“Sure thing.” While Gabriel flew toward the last plane in the line, Billy and Walter marched as quickly as Billy’s toes would allow.
Billy nudged Walter’s elbow. “When did you learn how to pilot one of these rust buckets?”
“While you were cooling your heels in prison for fifteen years, I learned to fly just about anything that could take off. Compared to hot-air balloons and jetpacks, the rust buckets were easy.”
A flash erupted from the football field. As rising smoke followed, an explosion sounded, then another, followed by a third.
“Trouble!” Walter broke into a sprint.
Billy followed with a limping trot. By the time he arrived, Walter and Adam had already herded the children onto the highway.
Carrying Jillian, Gabriel zoomed close and called out as he circled back toward the first airplane, “Follow me, kids! I have food and water!”
While the kids chased after him, Walter and Adam climbed aboard the plane. “Get your aching toes in here!” Walter called to Billy. “We haven’t got all day!”
Something flashed in the air toward the stadium. A beam of light streaked into the sky and waved in a circle.
“Excalibur!” Billy leaped into the plane and climbed into the cockpit. Walter slid into the pilot’s seat and grabbed the control yoke. With a loud slam, Adam closed the passenger hatch, slid into a seat, and called, “All clear!”
“Let’s scram!” Walter turned the plane toward the stadium and taxied off the highway to get around Gabriel’s plane. When he returned to the pavement, he set the flaps and pushed the throttle. “Don’t bother buckling. We’ll be there in no time.” The plane lifted into the air and stayed at a low altitude just above the highway. “They’ll hear the engine, but we don’t have to give them an easy target.”
Soon, Walter landed the plane in front of the parking lot gate. Billy jumped out first. Within the lot, three dragons sprawled motionless in the midst of dozens of dead soldiers and scattered rifles. The remains of a helicopter lay nearby, smoke rising from its wreckage. The fifth airplane still sat parked on a far end of the lot near the Mustang and solar-powered car, a safe distance from the battle scene. The buzz of helicopter props rose from the field, blocked from view by the bleachers.
Walter and Adam leaped out and joined Billy. “Okay,” Walter said, “we’ve got kids trapped in a plane, three dragons down, and our wives in trouble on the field. Who’s got what?”
Billy pointed at Walter. “You check on the kids. I’ll see about our wives. Adam’s got the dragons.”
As they ran across the lot, each man picked up a rifle along the way. Walter angled toward the plane in a wild sprint. Billy pushed hard in spite of the pain that shot from his toes, through his spine, and into his skull. With every breath, the odor of garlic, thick and pungent, singed his nostrils. Semiramis’s poison had again done its dirty work.
Adam passed Billy and dashed toward the dragons. He stopped at Makaidos. From this distance, it appeared that blood streamed down his flank.
Still fighting pain, Billy dashed onto the bleachers’ walkway leading to the field. Slowing to a furtive jog, he bent low and drew close to the front railing. Ahead, two helicopters hovered over the nearer sideline. A gap between them revealed Arramos sitting on the ground. His outstretched wings blocked a view of the portal and anyone who might be close to it.
Flames shot out from the portal area and into the sky. Shouts erupted. Arramos roared, “Fire!”
* * *
“The Foleys!” Carly ducked under the flames and disappeared from view. Rapid pops rattled the air, followed by cries of pain.
Carly fell. Bonnie bent low, latched on to Carly’s wrist, and dragged her under the curtain just before it dropped to the ground. Tucked under an arm, Carly held Jared’s pot.
“We don’t have the Foleys!” Ashley shouted.
“It’s too late! We’re already through the portal!” Sapphira spun her flames furiously. After a few seconds, she lowered her arms and shouted, “Extinguish!”
The flames vanished. Bonnie dropped to an icy floor. A whistling breeze swept through. Wet, bone-chilling air slapped her face, though heat nearly scalded her wings. Something stung her scalp, but why? It seemed that fog veiled the last few minutes from memory.
She crawled away from the heat, a hand clutching Excalibur. Ahead, a wall displayed the upper half of a compass design, the lower portion obscured by a mound of dirty ice. She pivoted. A bonfire blazed—a towering fire that feasted on a pyramid of logs. A red dragon lay nearby, his neck draped over a pile of wood and a wing over his face. Next to him, a purple dragon sat on his haunches.
“Grackle?” Bonnie said.
Grackle whistled a low note, concern obvious in his tone.
As Bonnie turned, her head throbbed on one side. It seemed that a dirty film coated the world. Less than an arm’s reach to her left, Ashley sat upright. Her eyes darted as she appeared to be taking in the new scene.
Beyond Ashley, Marilyn brushed dirty ice from Thomas and Mariel as she helped them move closer to the fire. To Bonnie’s right, Carly sat hugging herself, her head low as she wept, Jared’s pot sitting next to her. Sobs punctuated her words. “I tried … to get the Foleys … but the fire … the guns. He pushed the pot … into my hands. … And I fell. … I’m sorry! … I’m so, so sorry!”
“These two are fine,” Marilyn called. “I’ll check on Carly.” She rose and bustled past Bonnie.
Her head dizzied, Bonnie looked beyond the fire at a head-high wall of bricks that partially enclosed them within a crevice in a mountain. A gap at each side of the wall allowed escape from the sheltered area. She held out her hand. In seconds, sooty ice crystals piled up on her palm and spread across her skin in a sheet. She rubbed a finger against her thumb. The slippery stuff felt infused with oil. “Where’s Sapphira? Did she already go back to get the Foleys?”
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“I’m here.” As if growing out of the icy floor, Sapphira rose to her knees in front of the blaze. Her white hair whipped in the chamber’s swirling breeze. She pressed a hand against her side and cringed as she looked around. “I’ll try to go back and get them.” With every word, her pained expression seemed to worsen. “I closed the portal to keep Arramos and the helicopters out. But now that this fire has settled the atmosphere in Second Eden, I think I can reopen it whenever I want to.”
Still holding a hand against her side, she climbed to a standing position and grimaced tightly. Pain streaked her voice. “You have Excalibur … so I assume you’ll be able to … to guard everyone on your journey … to the birthing garden.”
Bonnie took a moment to decipher Sapphira’s words. They seemed warped and interrupted by static. “Sure. I can do that.”
Sapphira lifted a leg and stood on one foot. The strain in her face eased. “Going back to Earth so soon is dangerous. They will be ready to fight, but I don’t have any choice. I have to try to save the Foleys.”
“I understand,” Bonnie said. “But it looks like you need a healer.”
“Something in the air is affecting me, but healing can wait.” Sapphira looked toward the portal plane. “You should probably move out of here as soon as you can in case Arramos somehow manages to get through. If you find it too difficult to transport Thomas to the birthing garden, there is a cave just a few hundred feet upslope. Build a fire there, and he should be fine.” She raised her arms and spun a new curtain of flames over her head. A dark, wet spot appeared where she had been pressing her side with her hand. Seconds later, the flames vanished in a plume of smoke. When the breeze whisked the smoke away, Sapphira was gone.
Bonnie felt her mouth drop open. Sapphira’s injury had to be much worse than she was letting on. But they couldn’t do anything about it now. They had to take care of business here.
“Bonnie? Are you all right? You look like you’re in a daze.”
She swiveled her head toward the voice. Ashley sat on the icy ground. A glittering dark crust lay on her head, like a cap of sparkling coal.
“I am kind of dazed. I think I banged my head somehow.”
“A concussion, maybe.” Ashley crawled to Bonnie and ran two fingers along her scalp until she reached a sore spot. “You have a bleeding lump. I’ll bet a bullet grazed you.”
“I think Sapphira got hit, too. She was still able to create fire, so maybe it’s not too serious.”
“I saw that. Waist area, close to the side. Maybe just soft-tissue damage. Blood loss could be a problem, though. She also seemed to favor a leg, but that could be a sprain from falling.” Ashley swiveled her head toward Marilyn. “How’s Carly?”
“Looks like a bullet grazed her hand,” Marilyn said as she picked up Jared’s pot. “She’s in pain in other places, though.”
“I’ll be over to check her in a second. I don’t know how much healing power I have left, but I’ll do what I can.” As Ashley’s touch performed its magic, images flew back to Bonnie’s mind—Thomas getting shot, the robotic soldiers, Arramos’s evil eyes, Carly’s heroic attempt to bring the Foleys into Sapphira’s flaming coil. Although she failed to do so, she did manage to save Clefspeare’s plant. Leaving that within Arramos’s reach would have been a disaster.
Grimacing at the pain, Bonnie looked at the gray sky. When would God execute justice against that foul serpent? When would the suffering of the innocent cease? With all the corruption on Earth, maybe the only way to solve every problem would be to cleanse the world and start over.
Tears blurring her vision, Bonnie whispered, “Ashley?”
She continued the massage. “Yes?”
“I think we’re coming to the end.”
“The end?”
“The end of all things. The curtain on this creation is closing.”
“But is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Ashley pulled her hand away. “Your eyes aren’t so glassy anymore. I’m going to see about Carly. Then we need to get out of here.”
Bonnie climbed to her feet and gazed at Excalibur’s blade. The etching of two dragons in battle seemed clear. Her vision had returned to normal. “I’ll see if I can wake Karrick. We’ll gather some wood, find that cave, and start a fire for Thomas and Mariel, then the rest of us can head to the birthing garden.”
Sheltering the pot with her body, Marilyn rose and joined Bonnie. “Carly says her left leg hurts the worst.”
“I’m on it.” Ashley turned to Bonnie. “I need my pocketknife.”
Bonnie fished it out and handed it to Ashley.
While Ashley examined Carly, Bonnie and Marilyn walked over to Karrick. After setting Jared’s pot at a point that would keep the plant warm, Marilyn pushed a foot against Karrick’s foreleg. “Karrick,” she called. “Wake up.”
He groaned and kept his face hidden under a wing.
Bonnie set Excalibur down, gathered a few small logs into her arms, and looked at Grackle. “Can you blow some ice on his face?”
Grackle bobbed his head. Using a foreleg, he pushed Karrick’s wing to the side and breathed a jet of ice over his closed eyes.
Karrick jerked up and shook his head, flinging ice crystals. “What? Who did that?”
Marilyn patted Karrick’s neck. “We need your help.”
His head swayed as if tossed by waves. “Kindly forgive my appearance. I succumbed to noxious fumes in the air, and I am still under their influence.”
“Was Grackle exposed to it?”
“Not for as long as I was, and perhaps his subspecies is more resistant. In any case, Grackle and I had to come here to escape the fumes, which were more concentrated at lower elevations. They seem to have diminished now.”
“Bonnie!” Ashley called. “Marilyn! Carly’s in bad shape. I found a bullet wound in her thigh. It’s bleeding profusely.” She held a hand over Carly’s inner thigh through a slice in her pants. Blood oozed between Ashley’s fingers. Carly looked ashen and gaunt. Raw lesions now covered more than half of her face. “We have to do a healing! Now!”
While Marilyn hurried to Ashley, Bonnie threw the logs down and grabbed Excalibur. “I’ll fire it up!”
“Are you sure?” Marilyn laid a hand on Ashley’s forehead. “You’re still hot as a rocket.”
“If we don’t, Carly will bleed out.” Ashley shivered hard in spite of her heated body. “Sometimes cold temperatures will affect a beam like Excalibur’s. Its power might not be stable.”
“And it doesn’t work in Second Eden without all the gems.” Bonnie retrieved the rubellite and slid it in place on the hilt. “Ready.”
Ashley nodded at her. “Go ahead.”
After stepping back a few paces, Bonnie gripped Excalibur with both hands, pointed it at the ground toward Ashley, and summoned the beam. It ripped through the ice, splitting it in a jagged line and raising a series of resounding cracks.
Light burst into Ashley and radiated from her body like thin sunrays. She stiffened, her hand still on Carly’s wound. Twin beams shot from her eyes and penetrated Carly’s thigh, though with far less brightness than usual. After a few seconds, Ashley closed her eyes and collapsed.
CHAPTER 13
A WOUNDED ORACLE
Bullets buzzed from both choppers. Billy pressed the rifle to his shoulder, squeezed the trigger, and waved the barrel from side to side, riddling both choppers with bullets of his own.
Arramos beat his wings and zoomed toward the portal. “You fools!” he shouted. “You hit the Oracle!”
One chopper banked to the left, tumbled along the sideline, and shattered. The other dropped straight down and crashed in a plume of billowing smoke.
Billy lowered the rifle and stared at the wreckage. How did that happen? The choppers went down far too easily.
At midfield, grass burned in a ring around the portal site. Arramos picked up a body with his rear claws and flew toward the end zone. A few steps to the right o
f the portal, another body lay near a wheelchair. Carl Foley? Yes. It had to be. Nearby, a briefcase computer and a metallic sphere lay dented and ripped. Larry and Lois had also met their ends.
Billy dashed through the bleachers’ gateway and ran onto the field, again favoring the aching foot. He glanced at Arramos who now stood with his head high near the goal line, apparently unafraid of retaliation, his scales likely impervious to bullets. The first body lay pinned under a rear claw, its identity impossible to determine.
Billy halted in front of the wheelchair and knelt at Carl’s side. He lay motionless on his stomach. Billy checked for a pulse. Nothing. Bullet holes marred his blood-spattered shirt from his shoulders to his waist.
“Argh!” Billy sucked in a deep breath. Those murderers! Rising to his feet, he slid his finger around the rifle’s trigger. It was time to test that monster’s scales.
Fire flashed at the portal site. Sapphira toppled out of the flames and fell to her knees on the grass. With a powerful beat of his wings, Arramos flew toward her. Billy took aim and fired. A bullet pinged off his neck scales. He fired again and again. More bullets bounced and deflected at sharp angles.
Arramos blasted a stream of fire. Billy dove out of the way. Still flying, Arramos picked Sapphira up with his foreclaws, banked a hard turn, and flew again toward the goal line.
Billy scrambled to his feet. When Arramos landed next to the other body, he lifted Sapphira and dangled her by her battle tunic. Blood trickled from her waist and dripped to the ground. “Put down your weapon,” he growled.
Billy lowered the rifle to the turf and edged as close to Arramos as he dared. Now twenty yards away, he looked at the second captive woman—Catherine Foley. Her body appeared to be moving, perhaps from respiration. “What are you going to do with them?”
“Whatever I please.” Arramos set Sapphira on the ground next to Catherine. “I did not intend for the Oracle to be injured, so I will allow you to take her for healing purposes, but I will keep the other woman as a hostage to ensure Sapphira’s compliance with my wishes. We have already killed your dragon friends, so that should let you know that I will not hesitate to kill your human friends.”