Thrax

Agena clutched at her stomach, nauseated not by their flight but by what she had witnessed while they were in the air.  She shut her eyes and seemed to wobble on her feet.  Finally, she opened her eyes and looked up into his dragon face.  “How do you like me?” she asked ruefully.  “I can run and jump and roll up and down a Sphereball court, knocking myself all over the place to hit a ball, and now a little thing like this…”

“This is not a little thing, Agena,” he told her.  “Don’t make light of it.”

“It’s either make light of it or scream like a banshee about it,” she argued.  “And I hate screaming.  I don’t scream.”  Then she remembered how she had reacted to the attack only minutes ago—and how she had reacted during other, very different moments between her and his human form.  The latter memories seemed very much out of place right now, but there they were.  She sighed, “Well, I mostly don’t scream.” 

“You’re entitled,” he said.  “You’re not trained for things like this.  Sit down.  Rest.  I need to contact my people.  I’m still in command, and I’ve broken off without them.”

Agena settled down onto the grass and suddenly realized how breathless she was.  Taking deep gulps of air, she watched him take his badge from his armor and felt another layer of meaning under his words.  Thrax had taken off without his people—with her.  To protect her. 

“This is Thrax,” he spoke into the badge.  “All under my command, give your position.”

A female voice issued from the badge.  “Thrax, this is Meline.  We’re setting down at Glaurung Cave.  Two of the aerovans from the Chateau made it out.”

Agena’s heartbeat spiked at the sound of that name.  Meline?  With everything happening during the evacuation, she had somehow failed to notice the presence of Thrax’s “friend” from Lake Shimmershine.

“I know,” said Thrax.  “For the third one…we’ll see them pay.  I’m at the Gryselda Stream with my aspirant.  We’re both uninjured, but she will need a few moments to collect herself before we rendezvous.  You will be in temporary command until we arrive.”

“Understood, Thrax,” replied the voice of Meline.  “I’ll let you know if any other situations come up.”

“Do that,” he answered.  “Thrax out.”

He peered down at Agena, watching him from the grass.  He could not exactly read her expression, but he remembered that back at Shimmershine, she had reacted to his female comrade with something like jealousy.

“Meline?” Agena simply asked.

“She must have been reassigned from Lake Patrol,” he simply answered.  “And it was most likely at her own request.  That would be just like her.  She’s one of our best Knights.”

“Just like you,” Agena said.

“I would trust Meline with my life.  And so should anyone.”  There was a beat of silence before he added, “She is a Dame, my fellow Knight, my comrade, my companion in training and battle, and my most trusted friend.  And that is all she has ever been.”

“I see,” said Agena, nodding.

“And she mates only with other females.”

“Oh,” was Agena’s only answer to that.  But this last part settled her heartbeat a bit.

Shortly, they were back over the trees again, bound for the coordinates that Meline gave Thrax.  Very few words passed between Thrax and Agena from the time that he communicated with Meline to the time he took off with Agena, once she had somewhat settled her nerves after the destruction of the Chateau.  During their flight, Agena noticed Thrax casting his head about watchfully.  He had set a sensor in his badge to sweep a radius of a hundred kilometers around them with its detection beam and warn them of any incoming alien traffic or weapons fire. 

While the sensor was even keener than his own reptilian eyes, Thrax kept careful watch all the same.  It may have made him feel a little safer.  It had the benefit of making Agena feel safer even as he carried her in his arms.  She did not at all relish the prospect of him having to fly evasive maneuvers, or worse, dive into the forest canopy to escape an attack, while carrying her.

Fortunately, it never came to that.  Soon, they reached another clearing at the foot of a small mountain.  Looking down from Thrax’s arms, Agena spotted the metallic glint of the two aerovans that the aliens had not destroyed from the Chateau.  She braced her stomach for the sensation of descent, and at once, Thrax went into a careful dive to the spot where the trees parted.

On landing, they found that the human guests and the staff of the Chateau had mostly opted to stay in the vans.  It happened that some medical personnel from a polyclinic were visiting the Chateau that day and gotten out in the evacuation, and these were either moving between the two vans attending to the injured and the terrified, or they were out in the forest clearing, conferring with Knights and Corps members. 

Most of the armor-skinned dragons were out in the clearing as well, keeping a watch on the forest and the sky.  Some of them were perched vigilantly on the face of the mountain or atop the vans.  One sat at the top of the opening of Glaurung Cave. 

When she and Thrax set down, Agena gazed into the cave entrance, where a couple of open pod vehicles were parked.  No doubt, these were pods that members of mining crews used to enter Glaurung.  Agena remembered what Thrax had guessed about the aliens’ motives.  She had not asked Thrax exactly what was mined at Glaurung, whether it was a source of Draconite or Odysseum.  Their use for Odysseum was obvious; it could power their ships. 

But what use would they might have for the Draconite deposits, if that were what the mine held?  When they learned more of the aliens’ nature and goals, perhaps they would understand why they would want the resources of Lacerta.  It occurred to her, as no doubt it had to many, that they had yet  to see the face of the enemy.