Jake’s POV

  We were in a burned down building, made of stone and charred wood. Twisted metal poles were scattered about, half-melted from whatever spells or fire destroyed the pce. As soon as we reappeared, the others flew over and encircled us, holding pnks and scraps of leather with runes on them.

  “Bring the sedative.” The Captain ordered, looking to Nine, who flew away, then came back a minute or so ter dragging a wooden bowl, with a pink liquid sloshing around inside, across the ground with his beak; with great effort.

  “Want some help?” I asked.

  “Yes, please.” He said, panting and wheezing. Lieutenant Datahu and Fourteen tied up the prisoners, and I carried the bowl for Nine.

  “Drink it.” The Captain ordered them.

  “You think I’d drink a sedative? Let you scratch around inside my soul? You drink it.” The Sargeant said, turning his head away, and ruffling this feathers.

  Captain Gigoales was cold. Ice cold. He didn’t react, didn’t shout or scream. Didn’t even think twice about it. He just turned to the subordinate and made a simple decration. “We only need one of you to drink this. By force or otherwise. The other is useless.” His voice was even, sterile of tone, hatred, or anything that might give away what he was thinking. “I do not keep useless things alive.” The Captain looked at me, then the bowl I was holding, and motioned with his head for me to set it down in front of them. The subordinate looked at the sloshing goopy pink stuff in the bowl, to me, then to his rebellious Sargeant, and finally to the Captain. Quietly, he lowered his head, and began to drink.

  “Skiddler.” The Sargeant spat.

  “Lauric, kill him.” Captain Gigoales said. Lauric gnced over surprised, then fluttered next to the captive.

  “Wait, what?” I asked, stunned.

  “You don’t–” The Sargeant started to say, but was cut off. Something you need to know about Neame. They look like a cross between Blue Macaws and people. They have vaguely human shapes, but with feathers, wings instead of arms, and most importantly for what happened next, rge talons on their bird-like feet. Well, rge for their bodies I suppose. When Suma or any other are perching on my shoulder, the worst the cws usually do is poke me, or break the skin. But to another Neame… Lauric pce the three rge talons to the Sargeant’s feathered neck, and pressed hard enough for blood to start trickling. “ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! Indra’s eyes… I’ll drink it.” The Sargeant leaned his head down, and began to drink.

  “Skiddler.” Lauric said, mocking him.

  “Enough, Lauric. At ease.” The Captain said. Lauric spread his wings, and flew back to the twisted metal perch he’d been resting on earlier next to Suma.

  They were a fair distance away, but I could faintly hear the two of them talking. Suma asked if Lauric would have actually done it, and Lauric just nodded his head. Through our connection, I could feel Suma’s discomfort and fear. Not of Lauric, not exactly. But something I couldn’t quite pce.

  Turning my attention back to the prisoners, I noticed the bowl was nearly emptied, not that it was very full to begin with. “Now what, Captain?” I asked and kneeled down next to him, half sitting on my own leg.

  “When the sedative takes effect, it will st several hours. Enough time to perform a memory delve, and find information about V?lundra.” The Captain turned his head to me, looking up. “Sentinel, you and Lauric will go into their minds during the delve, while myself and Lieutenant Datahu cast the spell on you both.”

  My eye crooked. “Me? Why?”

  “We need someone mentally strong enough to pry out the information from their minds.

  Yourself and Lauric are our best choices.” He said.

  “I get Lauric, but seriously… me?”

  “Your mind is strong. Your own master could not even force you under her command with the Rite of Dominance.”

  “Uhhh.”

  “You know?” Suma asked, sounding as shocked as I probably looked.

  “You two do not hide it particurly well.” Lieutenant Datahu remarked. “It is easily the most well-known secret on base.”

  “Plus, you didn’t go insane when you lost your hand, so that’s something!” Nine added, perched a few meters away on a burnt up wooden beam.

  “There is also the matter of your soul.” The Captain added, ignoring the others.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You have had a portion of another soul inside of you for as long as we have known one another. Yet, not once have you shown any symptoms. Except for when you would occasionally

  hallucinate, but that has not happened in a while.”

  “Any normal Neame not skilled in Soul-Magic would have lost their minds, or had their personality changed so dramatically that they would effectively be a different mind altogether. But you? You cannot even use Soul-Magic, and still you have not changed in the slightest.” Lieutenant Datahu added.

  “Exactly, Lieutenant. Which is why you, Sentinel, will be the one to perform the delve.”

  “I… thank you, Captain.” I said, and agreed.

  It was another hour before the sedative took effect, and the Neame were unconscious. We untied the Neame and moved the runes away, then the Captain and Lieutenant began the spell. Lauric and I id next to the prisoners, as a Magic circle formed around us, and a second under our heads; mine obviously being much rger than his. Lauric went into the Sargeant, and I went into the subordinate.

  As the spell began, my mind felt foggy, like after just waking up from sleep. Nothing felt real, but distorted and stretched, like pulled taffy. Images passed in my mind, warped memories. Suddenly, my whole body was under water, or that’s what it felt like. Everything went cold, fluid, and a little unreal. This was different from when I looked through Zachariah’s or Deyja’s memories. But I could think clearly enough and knew why I was here.

  “V?lundra.” I said, focusing on information I wanted. The images slowed down, and took shape. Became more solid, more real. Unfortunately, the first thing I saw was a dead Neame.

  Lichtenburg marks etched all over her body, and smoke rising from different feathers, some of which were still smoldering. Her beak was cracked, part of it missing and exposing burnt bck flesh. One eye hanging from its socket. If I’d had a mouth in this void on memory, I would have thrown up. Instead, the memory kept going.

  “You…” The voice of the Sargeant said, as the point of view turned away from the dead body, and I saw him. Von-Pac, my old friend from basic training, looking worse for wear. He was covered in blood, and missing one of the talons on his left cw-foot thing. He was being held down by a familiar, his wings spread out and pinned down by its paw and snout. “I heard you have training with Healing-Magic. That right?”

  “Yes.” He said, clearly in pain.

  “Good. Then heal yourself.” The Sargeant said, and the familiar released his wings, but kept his mouth close to Von-Pac’s head. Von-Pac healed his cw, then the familiar quickly pinned his wings closed with its mouth.

  “AHH!” He cried out. My stomach dropped watching this. All I wanted to do was end the memory, but I needed to see what happened.

  “Easy there. We don’t want him dead… yet. Say, that Neame over there called you Von-Pac earlier. Are you a noble? What am I saying, you were a diplomate for the Kingdom of Ambos. An ambassador, even! Of course you’re a noble. I’ve never met a noble before.” The Sargeant said, and gave a fake mocking bow.

  “Who are you? Did the–”

  “You know, I’d heard that Ambos was secretly supporting one side in the isnd’s little power struggle. Guess that was true. Wanna tell me which one Ambos had their seed sacks on?” Von-Pac stayed silent. “Oh well. We will get all the information we want, ter.” The Sargent turned to face me, or rather, his subordinate. “You, go let the master know we found a healer, with plenty of secrets.”

  Seconds ter, the memory stretched and warped, then was overwritten with new distorted memories, all pying at once.

  “Von-Pac…” I said, shocked.

  “Jake.” A voice said, echoing in my mind. A cold chill ran down my spine. For a moment, I thought it was Deyja’s voice. Suddenly, all the warped memories faded away, leaving me in bnk white space. “Jake.” The voice repeated.

  “Datahu?” I asked, looking around.

  “No.” It said.

  “Deyja?” A lump formed in my, nonexistent at the moment, throat. If my hands were visible, and I wasn’t just a floating consciousness in a void, they would have been cmmy.

  “Thankfully not.” The voice said. A moment ter, there stood a big, burly man; wearing chainmail, furs, and leathers. On his hip were two axes, and a wooden shield hung from a strap over his shoulder.

  “Zachariah?” I asked, confused.

  “It’s been a while, little vikingr.”

  “How is this happening?” I asked, confused. There he was, right in front of me. Not made of fire, not half dragon, not even blurry. Just… there, floating in a void, moving like he was standing on solid ground that didn’t exist.

  “I overwrote the spell that is connecting you and this feyling.”

  “But how?”

  “This will be the st time we ever speak, young Jake.” He said, putting his hand on my shoulder. That’s when I noticed, I had a body. Every time I’ve looked through his or Deyja’s memories, I’ve just been watching through their eyes, but now, I’m not. “I’m burning up what is left of my soul inside yours, so we do not have much time.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  “Because you’ve given up.”

  “Given up?”

  “On your hunt, on your revenge.”

  “Deyja…”

  “That is not his name anymore, but yes.”

  “Why do you care?” I pulled away from his hand, suddenly feeling very defensive.

  “Because I’m dying, and when that happens, he will be free.”

  “WHAT?”

  “In less than one month, I will be dead, the crack between the Aether and this world will open, and the dragon will step out. And when that happens, this whole world will be destroyed. Unless you stop him.”

  “NO no no no, back up.” I began, talking quickly and in shock. “What? You’re dying, there’s a crack in the world, and Deyja is coming back?”

  “Jake, when that happens, you have to kill him, no matter what it costs you.”

  “STOP, just stop! I was done, free. I’d accepted the fact that I was never getting home, and now…”“The Norns rarely smile for the wants of men, and they do hate loose threads.” He chuckled to himself, and I was immediately overcome with a desire to punch him as hard as I could.

  “Why are you ughing?! You just said you’re dying, and the world was going to end!”

  “Not if you sy the dragon.”

  “I can barely hold my own against Neame, and you want me to fight the most deadly monster the world has ever seen?”

  “Hardly,” he scoffed, “he was outcssed by quite a few dragons. Like Nidh?gg, and Fafnir.”“You’re missing the point!”

  “No, you are little virkinr. He is not some all powerful monster, nor is he unstoppable. You can sly him.”

  “Well, how did you do it? How did you beat him?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “What, but I thought–”

  “You think if I’d beaten him, I’d be trapped in the Aether with him, dying? Instead of going to Valhal?”

  “Then, what–”

  “I trapped him and myself, and I’ve been using magic to keep him there this whole time. It wasn’t on purpose, but that’s what happened. Like I said, the Norns do not smile often.” He shook his head, and sat down. To me, it looked like he was floating on a non-existent chair.

  “What changed?”

  “When he took you from your body, and left the Aether, I was left alone there.” He looked pained, and took a steading breath. “The Aether is not a gentle thing. It exists in a realm that is a chaotic storm. Any Aether, what you call mana, that enters this storm that is not in line with its own nature, is… remade.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “That is fine. When I am gone, my memories will remain, and you can learn everything you want to know from them.” He looked down at his hand, as it began to fade away. “Okay, it’s almost time. You have to kill the dragon. Swear to me that you will.”

  “I… I can’t. I don’t have what it takes.”

  “You killed those Neame, when you were surrounded and fighting on the Isnd of Sangu, did you not? You have what it take, virkingr!”

  “I am not a viking!” I yelled, half of his arm was gone now, like smoke drifting away. No blood poured from his wound, no bone poked out; just a hollow shell hiding a deep darkness.“No, but you have the soul of one. Damaged though it may be, it still cried out for revenge.”“Damaged? And who’s fault is that?! You and Deyja both forced yourselves into my mind!” I yelled, then a sickening thought came across my mine. “Wait, is he still inside me too? With you gone, what will–”

  “He took the portion of his soul from your when he took your body. But it was not us that damaged your soul. It was you master, Suma.”

  “Suma… what?”

  “When you first met. Remember? How she tried to force you to become her servant? I have some experience with that myself, so I know how it feels. He looked down at his shoulder, which was starting to disappear, and reached out his good arm suddenly, forcing it through my chest like a ghost passing through a wall. I seized up, frozen, unable to move. Like fire, pain spread through my whole body, eating me alive! I tried to scream, but could only manage to gasp and grunt, struggling to even breathe through the pain. “So long as you are bound to your master’s soul, your will shall bend to hers. In your words, she has… I think you say… reprogrammed you.” As he pulled his hand free, I colpsed, breathless, to the nonexistent ground. “She wanted a familiar, one who was perfect in her eyes. That’s what that Rite of Dominance does. It repces the familiar’s desires with that of the master’s. While she was not able to finish the rite, that does not mean it had no effect.”

  I looked up to him, panting, the pain not gone, but dulled, “… she wouldn’t.”

  “With what little knowledge of the ley remains in this era, I doubt she even knows what the spell does, beyond allowing a master to control a familiar. Either way…” both of his legs were gone now, and he was a floating torso with one arm. “It’s time, Jake.”

  “What did you do to me?”

  “Prepared you for this.” He said, and flung what was left of himself at me. I put my hand up to block him, but his whole body passed right through them. The moment his head touched mine, the pain returned, but worse. If st time was fire all over my body, this was lightning, focused and pure. Every kind of pain you can imagine hit me all at once. There were boulders on my limbs, crushing them. Needles in my eyes, digging into my brain. Every inch of my skin was being pulled apart, fyed like fish, and stitched back together.

  “Jake!” Suma yelled, drowned out by my own screams.

  “AHAHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” I yelled, curled up in the fetal position and dripping sweat. The pain was gone now, but the memory lingered on my tingling skin.

  “Jake, are you okay? What is wrong?” Suma asked, one of her wings was bent in an unnatural direction, clearly broken. The Neame that I’d been connected to was lying still a few feet away, right where he’d been earlier when the delve started.

  “What happened?” I asked, my hands clenched into fists so tight my knuckles turned white. A trickle of red blood fell from my swollen right wrist. It hurt, but nothing like the pain before.“You just started screaming, and filed around wildly.” Lieutenant Datahu said.

  “Suma, are you alright?” I asked.

  “I will be fine.” She said, and began to cast a healing spell on herself. Her bone pulled itself back into pce with a sudden and sickening crack. Suma winced, and stretched her wing out slowly to test it.

  “I’m sorry.” I said, wiping the sweat from my head with my left hand. “Wait… my hand!” I shouted.“It grew back while you were screaming.” Captain Gigoales said.

  “It was disgusting.” Nine added, looking more green than blue for a moment.

  “Jake, what happened?” Suma asked.

  “I… I don’t know where to start.”

  Part 29

  Jake’s POV

  I was sat on a stone ptform, raised from the ground with a spell, staring at my newly reformed hand and comparing it to the other. My right hand hand was scarred, had dirt under the nails, calluses were formed on the palms and knuckles from training with my weapons. But my left hand? It was as smooth and clean as a baby’s. Like it had never even seen the sun or picked up even a speck of dirt, because… well, it hadn’t. The pink palm all but glistened. I held it up to the stony ceiling, halfway expecting a beam of sunlight to cut through it, revealing to be some trick of the light or a hallucination. But no, there it was. As real as the other one.

  “One month?” Suma said, repeating herself. She’d been saying that over and over again for about a minute, after I told her that Deyja was coming back. Nine, Fourteen, and Lauric were all on watch, while I told Suma, Captain Gigoales, and Lieutenant Datahu about the vision. Datahu was perched on my shoulder, casting a Soul-Magic spell to look through my memories, and confirm what I was saying. The Captain was on the ground a meter away, looking off into the middle distance. Wasn’t even sure he was listening to us anymore.

  “I find this difficult to believe.” Datahu said, fluttering down.

  “You just saw my memories.”

  “Memories can be changed. Perhaps this Neame had a spell that causes hallucinations cast on him, and the trigger is memory magic. It would take an incredible amount of mana, but it is not… infeasible.”

  “One month…” Suma said again, her sparkle nearly gone, and her gaze fixed squarely at the roof.

  “No, we would have detected such powerful magic on him. Maybe there is a rune on his body?” She looked at the corpse of the Neame I’d delved with, who’d died before I even woke up, then turned to me. “Pick him up and help me search his body.”

  “It wasn’t a spell. It was real. I mean, not real, but true.”

  “Pick him up.” She ordered.

  Captain Gigoales spoke, finally looking back to the rest of us. “Enough Datahu. You know we would have sensed the rune activate. And we both looked through Sentinel’s mind. All traces of the second soul are gone, and we both confirmed the validity of his memories. It’s true.”

  “Captain, with all due respect. He is saying that the world is going to end in one month. It must be a trick.” Datahu said, more uneasy than I’d ever heard her before. It was unnerving.

  “We must inform Queen Ompera.” Suma finally said.

  “We will, once we have completed the mission.”

  “The mission? Captain, the world is–”

  “Not going to end today. But our mission is on a time limit. And we have already wasted much just getting what little information we have. According to Sentinel’s recount, and what Lauric was able to glean, we know where and who the person we are searching for is. V?lundra is dead, but the ambassador is still alive, which means the mission has changed. We are going to evacuate the ambassador. Once we have returned to the capital, we will make our official report to Queen Ompera, and then we will make our unofficial report. Allow me to make this clear. Under no circumstances are any of you to mention Sentinel’s dream to anyone other than the Queen herself. I will inform the others of this as well.”

  “Yes, Captain.” I said. Datahu and Suma both agreed as well. With that, Captain Gigoales spread his wings, and went to inform the others of our new mission, and his orders.

  “Von-Pac…” Suma said, “where do you think Vindicta is?”

  “I don’t know, but she wasn’t in any of the Neame’s memories. Maybe she is still back in Ambos?” I said, and felt a strange sensation. I knew what it was immediately, but tried to push it from my mind.“Jake?” Suma asked, bringing me out of my thoughts, and back to the present.

  “Hmm? Yes?” I asked, noticing that not only was Suma staring at me, but so was Lieutenant Datahu.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Your mana is different than normal.” Datahu pointed out.

  “I’m fine, just… I’ll be fine.” I caught Datahu gncing at me from time to time for a few minutes, before getting rid of the dead Neame’s body outside. Suma and I spoke privately through our connection while she was gone.

  “Jake, what is wrong?”

  “I don’t know how to expin it.” I said.

  “Your mana is more… turbulent than normal.”

  “Zachariah’s and my memories… merged.” I confessed.

  “Merged how?”

  “I can remember his whole life, everything he did, thought, said. All of it is mixed in with my own memories. From the night my móeir… no, from the night Zachariah’s mum died, to first meeting the feyling… Neame, Ambos.”

  “What?” She asked, shocked.

  “And Deyja’s memories too, what little of them were left anyway. Apparently he took most of them out when he took his soul back in the void.”

  “Jake, why did you not mention this to the Captain and Lieutenant?” She asked. My mind went back to what Zachariah said, about Suma damaging my soul, changing my personality. “Please do not close yourself off again. I only just got you back.”

  Letting out a deep, drawn out sigh, I expined what I realized, just a few second after waking up. “It feels like I lived someone else’s life, or two lives. This isn’t anything like how it used to be with his memories. Before, I could just close my eyes, and start a search, like using the internet. But now? Now they’re… real. They’re mine. Part of me.”

  “How do you feel about that?” She asked. Her tone was uncertain. Like she was waiting for a breakdown, or something.

  “It’s weird. Having all this new knowledge just suddenly given to me. That’s never happened before.” I said with a shrug. Everything felt subdued right now. Even I knew my reaction should probably be bigger, more boisterous, or even more angry. But no, I was just too tired.

  “What kind of knowledge?” She asked.

  “I think I know everything he did, or at least most of it. There are huge gaps missing. Most of the memories are about his time in this world, but there are others too. Stuff from his childhood, and of his family.” I held up my new hand, rubbing the fingers and knuckles again. Feeling the sensations on my new skin. “I think I know what happened to him, and Deyja, and… how he used his magic to fight.” Just then, a fsh of memories hit me. Zachariah training, him fighting at Dragon’s Fall Bay, creating runes to kill Deyja with. And most prominently, how he used his Death-Magic.

  Just then, Gigoales, Nine, Fourteen, Lauric, and Datahu all came back. “You two, get ready. Now that we know where to find the ambassador, we are moving out; now.” Datahu said.

  “He is being held in a prison, less than an hour’s flight away. We are going to scout the area, then cause a distraction, and raid it if possible.” The Captain said.

  I pointed to the SU Sargent, who was still sedated nearby. “What about him?”

  Captain Gigoales looked to Lauric, nodded, and said, “He’s useless now.”

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma’s POV

  “There it is.” Jake said, bent down behind a boulder, which was the only thing big enough to hide him. The rest of us simply stayed low, and tried to blend in with the tall grass. We were all watching over a prison, the one holding Von-Pac. It was not one built by the SU, but by the natives of the isnd. However, it had been captured early in the invasion, according to the memories taken from the prisoners. Finding the prison was not difficult, since Lauric had been able to discern its location from the higher ranked sve’s memories. Jake had been able to confirm Von-Pac was alive, but that was all he was able to glean before the delve was interrupted. Jake said he spoke to the remnant of Zechariah, but what few details he did share were… well, it was clear whatever they spoke about had disheartened Jake somehow. He had been acting strangely since he awoke. And his mana was uneven, going through periods of turbulence and eerie calm. It was clear, something was on his mind. One good thing had come out of the event though; Jake’s limb regrew. The moment was shocking to say the least. Sudden, uproarious mana swelled like a hurricane, and transformed from a Death-Magic spell, into a Body-Magic spell, faster than any of us could react. I saw the color nearly drain from the feathers of every Neame in the room when it did.

  “This should be far enough.” Captain Gigoales said, and gave the order for us to summon our familiars. One by one, with myself and Nine as exceptions, everyone summoned their familiars.

  “Captain, may Loyalty take point on this? It is the most suited for infiltration and investigation.” Lauric Isba suggested.

  “Agreed. Have it go first down the center, and the others will approach from the sides.” The Captain said. Off the familiars went, with orders to survey the area around the prison, and eliminate any threats between us and the prison. This mission may be starting quietly, but we all knew there was no scenario in which we could sneak in and out of this prison like we did in that vilge. Diving in and out with extreme aggression would be our only hope of success.

  “Remember squad, the moment any of the enemy’s familiars are killed, is the moment they will know something is wrong. We need to know how many to expect, and where Von-Pac is being held.”

  Second Lieutenant Datahu reminded us. “Take a moment to center yourselves, and prepare.”

  The wait, realistically, was not long. But seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours, at least in the tension. My heart thumped in my chest so hard my wingtips vibrated. I distracted myself by focusing on keeping my besmears dim, so that we would not be spotted. When that proved to not be enough, I found myself studying the prison. It was mostly underground, with vents too small to fly through providing what was likely not nearly enough clean, fresh air. The outside was made of stone, wood, and vines. From our hiding spot, nearly a full minute of flying time away, I could make out three Neame and familiars patrolling the skies. They will see us soon enough, but not until they get closer. Patrolling from the air has many advantages, but one disadvantage is that while being higher up allows one to see more, it makes seeing small details harder. Focusing our vision fixes that issue, but then we lose sight of the area around us. Most teams make up for this by patrolling with several members, but no solution is perfect. And in the Drakes, we are taught from day one how to take advantage of those imperfections.

  “I found him.” Fourteen announced, breaking the silence. “He is underground, on the second level. To the North-East side. In a cage guarded by only one low ranking familiar.” It was subtle, but I saw that Lauric was displeased. Maybe he wanted to be the one to find Von-Pac?

  “Alright then, Sentinel–” Captain Gigoales said, turning to Jake, “-eliminate the guards on patrol above the facility with Death-Magic.”

  “Sir, is that–” I tried to protest, but was cut off.

  “That’s an order, Sentinel.” He said. Jake looked like he wanted to say something. His mana fluctuated, but he stood up from the ground, and held out his newly reformed hand toward the Neame above.

  I was the closest to him, and so, I was the only one who heard what he said next. Weakly, like the first sounds a hatchling makes, he whispered, “I’m sorry… Rot.” From our hiding spot so far away, there was no sound. It simply appeared that the three Neame lost control of themselves, and fell from the sky; hitting the ground hard enough to make a small dust cloud on impact. Jake winced, and turned away. My heart ached for him, but now was not the time to say anything.

  “Good work, soldier. Now, use your ‘Railgun’ spell and break open the walls for us to get into.” Without a word, he pulled several of the metal balls from his bag, and I felt his mana extend all the way to the edge of the prison. One, two, three, four cracks of thunder and the entire West side of the prison caved into itself, leaving a rge opening for us. “Move in!” The Captain ordered. All of us, except for Jake, took flight toward the prison. I looked over my shoulder just as we dived into the prison, and saw Jake kneeling on the grass.

  Where we entered the prison, everything was destroyed. Several Neame, maybe guards, maybe other prisoners, had been crushed in the falling rubble. Wings stuck out from under rocks, loose beaks covered in blood were strewn about nearby; it was a bloodbath. I made the decision to never let Jake know about what I saw here, and to speak with the others about keeping it from him too.

  Guided by Fourteen, our squadron flew quickly around corners, through corridors, and past several panicking Neame, too preoccupied with fighting the rampaging familiars of their dead comrades to even notice us. That was, until we came across a group of four Neame, flying up from a tunnel leading to a lower level. All four banked hard into the corridor, appearing to our right. The Captain and Lieutenant were the first to react, each respectively casting one fire spell and one spell to control the vines along the floors. The fire spell clipped the wing of one Neame, and sent him careening into a wall. I could not tell if he died, but he did not move again. The vines rose from the floor, and shed out with enough speed to crack the air. The vines missed, but only barely, forcing the Neame to gain altitude and break off from the other two remaining members of her team. It was Lauric and Nine who unched the next attacks, just as the first two made contact. Or, more accurately, Nine attacked, and Lauric blocked a bolt of lightning from hitting Fourteen and myself by raising a stone column. Nine and one of the enemy Neame began to spiral around one another, trying to out turn the other for a clean attack. Nine fred his wings, cutting his speed and sharply banked behind the Neame. I expected him to cast a close-range spell, but instead, Nine closed the distance and plunged his right-back talon into the neck of the Neame. Blood gushed from her neck and back as Nine pulled out, letting the Neame fall, uncontrolled, beak-first into the stone below. A sickening wet crack echoed out.

  During all of this, I knew my role. Heal… heal and do not become their next target. Attack only if needed. That was how I’d been trained. One of the remaining Neame fired off a fire spell, hitting Fourteen’s wingtip, but not seriously injuring him. He’d managed to rotate, avoiding the worst of the spell. It was the Captain who counter-attacked this, by closing the distance, and casting Mind-Magic. He was nearly beak-to-beak with the remaining Neame before finally saying, “Fear.” The Neame’s eyes went wide, and he fell to the ground, nding ft on his back, breaking one wing on impact. There was only one Neame left, the one who’d gained altitude to avoid the Lieutenant’s attack. Lauric took care of her by molding the stone ceiling above her, and grabbing her head with a sb of stone, then tightening until we heard a crunch. She hung there, limp, as we all flew away.

  “Fourteen, how much further?” Datahu Asked.

  “One more left.” He said, flew another ten seconds straight, and banked left. We followed suit, and there he was, Von-Pac; retrained by anti-magic runes, and molded vines. Fourteen’s familiar, who’d found Von-Pac, killed his guard, and had been watching over him all this time, reared back, tore the vines apart, and pulled Von-Pac away from the runes. I cast several healing spells on him, and noticed the serious extent of his injuries. He’d lost one leg to the first knee, and half a wing. His wounds were already healed over, scarred and hastily healed again, leaving massive lumps of misshapen and deformed flesh. Stopping myself from gagging, I summoned Jake.

  “I summon you, Sentinel!”

  “Suma?” Von-Pac said, starting to wake up. “Is that you? Is this another trick?”

  “Von-Pac!” Jake said, upon appearing and looking around. He scooped Von-Pac up, and cradled him in his arms.

  “Sentinel, you know your role?” Lieutenant Datahu asked.

  “Tank.” He said, cryptically. But he’d expined the term earlier, so we knew what he meant.

  “Protect the ambassador until we summon you again. Good luck.” Captain Gigoales said, and we left. Exiting the building was easier than entering it, mostly because everyone else was distracted with trying to also exit the building, trying to find what was attacking them from so far away. It made the perfect cover to disappear into the crowd.

  We flew a safe distance away from the prison before summoning Jake again, but did not wait long. Once he and Von-Pac reappeared, Von-Pac had passed out again, and was ying in Jake’s helmet being treated slowly by the healing runes, and Jake had sptters of blood on his armor, but no visible injuries.

  “Are you okay, Sentinel?” Datahu asked. Jake nodded, and I began tending to Von-Pac’s many injuries.

  Night fell, and the cold dry air washed over all of us, not that we noticed, but Jake shook lightly, and hid himself behind a rock. He tried to start a fire, but was told it could give our position away. There would not be any underground shelter tonight, because any spell to dig out one could give us away. The SU soldiers were still patrolling the entire area, so much that we needed to relocate three times after healing Von-Pac’s wounds. They were closed now, but until I could apply proper healing spells, not just emergency aid, they could reopen with even the slightest strain. Von-Pac was unconscious, being carried by Jake in the way an ape may cradle their young, held carefully in his arms, wings tucked in, and on his stomach.

  While we waited for morning, no one really slept. We were all on watch tonight, and would fly straight for the rendezvous point once our mana and strength returned. Jake had several fruits in his bag, grown beforehand in preparation for hiding, and shared them with us. Von-Pac fell in and out of consciousness for several hours, only muttering random nonsense before falling asleep again.I fluttered over to Jake, and nded on his shoulder. “Any changes?” I asked, looking Von-Pac over.

  “He keeps mumbling about a child and Vindicta.”

  “Did they have an egg together?” I asked, pleased for them, but quite surprised.

  “I don’t know. He isn’t making much sense. Just random words, mostly.” He said, rather more curt than I was expecting.

  “And you? Are you okay?” I asked, fluttering down beside him, as he sat with his legs in a frankly unnerving position, under him but also twisted sideways and crossed. Like they were broken. But Jake sat like this often, so I knew he was fine, even if I did feel the need to actively avoid looking directly at his legs.

  “Fine.” He said, clearly not fine.

  “Then why did you answer sooo…” I looked down to make sure he was still unconscious, “Von-Pac-ish?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Is this about those guards? I know your feelings abo–”

  “I said it’s nothing!” He snapped, clearly upset. There was a moment of quiet, and I could feel several sets of eyes from nearby looking this way. In the quiet of the night, the rest of the squad had definitely heard that.

  “Jake?”

  “I’m sorry, but please… just not right now. I need some time to think.” He said, still clearly frustrated, but also something else.

  “Okay, I’ll check up again on him ter.” I turned, and flew back to my post on a dead fallen tree, by Nine. We watched the nd for familiars, the sky for Neame, and the dull pink glow of the moon out of boredom.

  Eventually, he broke the silence. “So… what was that about with Jake?”

  “I do not know. He did not wish to talk about it.”

  “He seemed mad.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Did you do something?”

  “I do not know.”

  “Did he do something?”

  “Again, I do not know.”

  “What do you know?”

  “That he does not wish to talk about it.”

  “Okay…” He returned his eyes back to the horizon, but only for a moment. “So what do you think is wrong?”

  “If I knew, it would likely be a matter between the two of us.” I said, growing impatient.

  “Right, of course. Yes.” He became quiet… which sted mere seconds. “Do you think it has something to do with the memory delve? He’s been acting weird ever since then.”

  “Nine.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Come on, I have been staring at the sky and dirt for hours, and finally something interesting happens. I am bored out of my feathers here; give me something.”

  “How about a good peck on the head?” I offered.

  “Dragons… fine.” He said, exasperated.

  A moment ter, Second-Lieutenant Datahu flew up, and nded between us. “Nine, go take position with Lauirc watching the West.”

  “Yes, Lieutenant.” Nine said, and flew away.

  (Thank the dragons,) I thought, (a moment of quiet.)

  “What is wrong with Sentinel?”

  “Ahshem’s roost, you too?”

  “What?” She asked, surprised by my reaction.

  “Sorry, ma’am. Nine, he just kept asking me the same thing over and over again.”

  “Well… what was the answer.”

  I sighed, “I do not know.”

  “His mana feels different.” She pointed out.

  “I noticed that too.”

  “…. One month.” She said quietly. “I still do not believe it.”

  “We need to get home as quickly as possible, but even then, each day it takes is one less day to prepare. One month is not even necessarily accurate.”

  “Can Sentinel beat a dragon?” Lieutenant Datahu asked, but it did not feel like she was speaking to me, but simply wondering aloud.

  “A dragon? Can… can anyone?” I asked, dread washing over me.

  “When I was young, just barely older than a hatchling, my mother told me the story of Ambos’s final battle.”

  “It is a good story.” I said, remembering how my own father had told it to me. Just once, under a fresh Mangoui pnt, as we waited for the fruit to ripen. I still remember the way the moisture glistened on the new leaves, and the sounds of popping as the stem grew. Feeling the dirt get pushed aside underneath us nearly toppled me.

  “I have always assumed there were embellishments to the story. Not even as a child could I imagine a Neame defeating a dragon, I still cannot.”

  “Many years have passed. Our magic must be better than it was then. Surely if we… I do not know, but there must be a way.” I said.

  “Ambos’s familiar was a Viking, like Sentinel is.” I thought about correcting her about Jake not being a Viking, but it did not seem the correct time to do so. “What if it was not Ambos that defeated the dragon, but his familiar?”

  “Do not let the temple’s priests and nuns hear you say that; you may curl their tailfeathers.” I said, half joking, but what she was saying did go directly against what Ashimda teaches; that Ambos was granted power by Ashem, the Dragon King, to defeat the Chaos Dragon.

  “Would that not put Vikings and dragons on the same level?” Now she was in an area of btant bsphemy.

  “Lieutenant, Zachariah did not escape that battle alive.”

  “But neither did the dragon.” There was a long moment of silence. Her implications were clear. “Private Suma, I need you to figure out what is going on with Sentinel, and help him get over it. Because when we get back to the kingdom, he is likely going to go into full time training with her Majesty’s private guard for the next month.”