Dragons of War - Rising Storm

Chapter 22 (2/2)

What was a lightning tower? Why had I never heard of this before? How was it such a danger? Countless questions bubbled up, but they needed to be stifled.

"Return to your position," she ordered.

I flared my wings enough to slip back into my place at the back of the line but the questions in my mind kept going. How was it powerful enough to be a threat? If it was metal, did that mean it was technology? Had the cabal gotten that advanced?

Is this why we were losing the war?

"Attention!" Janet called out to our group. "Our mission is clear, target the train before it reaches the main force so as to confuse and displace them as much as possible. That means we need to cause as much damage, noise, and destruction, as we possibly can."

"And as a mandatory statement, any weapon sightings need to be reported immediately. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" We called out in unison.

Janet's wings picked up their pace and she swooped below Tony and the point of the formation and flew in a new direction. The group trailing behind her, we soon left them all behind us. At a faster pace, we covered ground quickly, and it wasn't long before I saw a formation of rocks ahead of us breaking out of the haze on the horizon.

A long black line split the land that trailed out of the rocks. The railroad. The closer we got to it, and the more the land changed. Piles of metal, some still smoldering, stattered the land. The ravages of past battled. I wondered for a moment. how they could still be on fire, but then I noticed movement below. Humans, scattered like rats at the sight of our shadows darting along the ground. They were scavengers, pillaging the wreckage.

With disgust at the sight of them, I couldn't look away, and the further along we went, the more I saw. Small lumps on the sand. Then large ones. It wasn't until I saw the pearly white skull of an enormous dragon that I realized what they were.

Bodies.

Most were soldiers, but the largest were dragons. But of every carcass and skeleton I saw, not one was intact. A leg here, a head there. Not one was in a single piece.

Horror and bile surged through me the more I saw. They scattered the ground like trash. I could hardly look away until a voice broke into my mind.

"If the train is on time per our intelligence, we will be meeting it just as it breaks out of that rock formation. As a perfect point for an ambush, they will be expecting it. With enough luck, we will be able to cause enough of a ruckus for the real strike force to cause some major damage." Janet called out.

"Once the train is in sight, I will be letting you all loose to do as you see fit - but remember your orders!" She finished.

Again, she picked up the pace, the rocks directly ahead, but rather than forward, she sped upwards in the sky.

We left the graveyard behind but the images lingered in my mind. Despite the worry, fear, anxiety, and storm of every other emotion I felt, and didn't feel, in that moment, there was one thought that lingered. I was finally there. I was where I had dreamed of going, for so many sleepless nights. I was at the fight. I was where I needed to be to make a difference.

Was it the same thing, though? Through all the harsh realities and struggles I had no experience to face, had I gotten what I'd wanted?

It didn't feel like it. Not anymore.

Devini mentioned in our conversation that I had been chosen for that mission for my superior skill at transformation. I doubted the likely hood of that, considering how little transforming would be done there. So why me then? So many possibilities flew through my mind while we flew, but one seemed to linger. It was a memory of Clare, ordering the Dragon Warrior Ren to attack me. Just so she could see what I could do.

Was that the real reason? Was that the only reason I was there? I tried to shake the thoughts from my head. They wouldn't be that foolish, or bold.

Would they?

Omega flew beside me and to the rear still. I questioned their choice for him, as well. Despite how I knew the power he chose to withhold, to my knowledge no one else knew. But my thoughts brought back memories of the stories I'd heard about him. How he had been the single survivor of another group. That he had been a Dragon Warrior far longer than we thought, or knew. Perhaps that had been the reason. He'd survived this long somehow, right?

I imagined it was the same reason for both Janet and Laura, who flew at the front. I had only heard a few stories about them. Particularly Janet, and her skill at leadership in the thick of things. But the fact they had lived as Dragon Warriors for over five years was enough of a comfort to know they had skills.

Jen, I knew, had a good head on her shoulders. Although she had been a Dragon only as long as me, she had the mind of a seasoned soldier. Something few Dragon Warriors upheld, no matter their background. Her ability to learn and apply that as a dragon, as well, was nothing to laugh at.

Ben, apparently, had some of the most cunning and adaptive skills in flight and was like a team with Aaron. The two had made a name for themselves, enough to be recognized by the generals. Enough to be chosen there.

Then my eyes settled on Aaron. Our formation broken, we were practically next to each other. Yet still, he ignored me. I'd heard he was one of the best in speed flight, the reason he had been chosen for the mission, as well as his teamwork with Ben. I knew that was true. I had seen him in flight. I felt proud to know him even after everything. But right then, he was just my friend. Whom I wanted to comfort, and be comforted by.

Why had things changed?

High enough in the sky, Janet leveled off and we fell in beside her. A moment of pause, I took in a breath to try and relax. But the moment lasted only a second before a long snake of a train flew out of the rocks below us.

"Dive!" Janet called out.

It was my heart, that dropped through the sky first.

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