Ambushing Ariel (29 page)

“Affirmative,” Zebulon called out as he and several other warriors worked to remove two warriors trapped under a fallen beam.

Mandra and Precious, followed by the two warriors and their symbiots, moved with determination toward the doorway. Moving through the opening, Mandra saw it was clear. He jumped down to the next level. Motioning for the two warriors to clear the second level, he continued down to the third. Wrenching the door open, he entered a dim corridor. The air was free of smoke as the filtering system was working here. Removing his mask, he let his dragon move closer to the surface so he could see and smell better. Moving with skilled precision, he made his way carefully down the corridor. It was time to end this.

.
.*

Ariel clenched her fist and counted to one hundred in slow steady numbers. It was one method she used to focus her mind and clear it of unwanted emotions. Taking deep, cleansing breaths, she loosened her shoulders. She needed to get out of here. Searching the walls and door for any vents or access panels, she focused on keeping her head clear. She bit back a curse when she found the vent was way too small for her to squeeze through and there were no visible access panels to tear apart. She was about to give up when the sound of the door opening caused her to turn. The warrior positioned outside of it fell limply to the floor. Ariel’s startled gaze jerked up. She fought back a grin as she saw her half of Precious raise a limb and lick it as if to say, ‘you called’.

“You are amazing!” Ariel said rushing forward and giving a light kiss to the top of its golden head.

Warmth filled her as Precious responded. Ariel reached down and quickly removed the laser pistols the guard was wearing. Moving past Precious, Ariel took off down the corridor at a run.

“We need to get to the surface and find Mandra. Do you have any ideas?” Ariel asked as she moved into the lift.

Images invaded her mind as she saw the fighter bay filled with warriors and their symbiot fighters. Precious showed Ariel how they would leave from there. Using the connection between its other half, Precious would take Ariel straight to where Mandra was.

“I am so going to kick his ass when this is over,” Ariel said as the ship shook.

It would appear Raffvin’s forces were trying to attack the
D’stroyer
in their effort to escape. Ariel pulled on her military training to give her that level of calm she would need. She moved quickly once the lift opened. Running down the corridor, she passed warriors and their symbiots moving in both directions but no one tried to stop her.

The doors to the fighter bay opened and Ariel walked through it like she belonged there. Precious quickly moved ahead, shifting at the same time into a compact gold fighter. The side opened for Ariel as she approached and she slid inside. A gold seat molded around her and a control console formed in front of her. Ariel didn’t even bother with trying to understand how everything worked. She was still stumped on the whole dragon-transformation thing. She had moved from trying to understand how things worked to just accept the things she couldn’t explain as being a part of her new world.

“Let’s go help our mates,” Ariel ordered as Precious lifted off the flight deck.

Bright lights flashed as they passed through the shield protecting the inside of the flight deck from the outside atmosphere. Within moments, Precious had joined a group of fighters heading to the surface. Several enemy fighters came toward them as they prepared to enter the atmosphere but Precious quickly took them out with pulses of energy bursts.

“Nice shooting, sweetheart,” Ariel said as she watched the fighters burst apart. “Can you connect with your other half and show me what is happening with Mandra?”

Images came into focus. He was in some type of dark corridor. Ariel’s breath caught as she saw several men step out from around a corner and fire at him. Pain burst through her shoulder and leg as several of the laser charges hit Mandra. He dropped and rolled while firing at the same time. The men dropped but they didn’t move again. The pain faded as the part of Precious with him moved quickly to heal his wounds.

Ariel remained focused on what was happening even as her Precious began to circle for a landing over the smoking dome structure below. Mandra was moving down the corridor. He turned the corner. There was a set of huge double doors standing open. She watched as her mate and his Precious moved cautiously into the room. It was a type of control room of some sort. There were numerous control panel stations set in a semi-circle with a huge holovid screen in the center with an image of the planet. She could actually see the lights of the fighters in the air and on the ground in the video image.

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood when she saw three men rise up from behind a console and begin firing at Mandra. His Precious moved in front of him absorbing the fire. Mandra shifted to his dragon and breathed streams of dragon fire at the men who frantically tried to get out of the way. The flames were too intense and two of the men let out a short scream before they turned to ash. The third man continued firing his laser pistol at Mandra. Ariel flinched as she felt the heat of the laser’s charge as it cut along Mandra’s chest and thigh. His Precious moved, trapping the male from behind with its huge body and snapping his neck.

Ariel was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she felt her Precious suddenly lurch to the side and shudder violently. A flash hit her before she was disconnected with what was happening to Mandra. Ariel shook her head to clear her mind. She gasped as she realized her Precious was coming in too fast and low.

“Precious, what’s wrong?” Ariel cried out in alarm. “Pull up, pull up!”

Precious shuddered again and groaned. Ariel felt the chill go through to her bones and knew whatever weapon Raffvin used to destroy the other symbiots he had used on the other Precious. Her Precious howled in pain as it felt the waves from its other half. Ariel braced for impact as the golden fighter hit the ground hard and rolled over and over before coming to a stop against the side of one of the buildings in a cloud of dust.

Ariel fought back a moan as she felt her shoulder being wrenched. She tried to move her arm but it hurt too much. She wasn’t sure if her arm was broken or just dislocated. She had a feeling it was the latter.

“Precious, we have to help them. We can’t give in to the pain,” Ariel called out stiffly. “You have to do this. I can’t do it alone. Release the straps holding me.”

Ariel cried out as she fell over sideways onto her hurt shoulder as the straps dissolved. Rolling over onto her knees, she fought back against the nausea. She struggled to her feet and held onto the side of the fighter.

“Open up, sweetheart. I need to get out so you can change shape. I need you to help me,” Ariel ordered in a tight, calm voice.

Precious shivered but responded to Ariel’s command. A door formed and Ariel moved out cautiously making sure she wasn’t about to be fired upon. She moved up against the side of the building where the golden fighter rested and leaned her head back. Using her good arm, she moved carefully up the one that didn’t want to work. She grimaced when she got to her shoulder. It was dislocated. It was going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch when she popped it back in. Sweat beaded on her brow just at the thought but she gripped her arm firmly and pulled. Ariel bent over double, throwing up as the joint popped back into place. She remained that way until the worse of the pain faded before looking up at Precious with tears in her eyes.

“That hurt,” she croaked out with a harsh chuckle.

Forcing herself back up, she looked carefully at Precious who seemed a little dimmer than before. “Are you going to be okay, sweetheart?”

A light wave of warmth touched her briefly before fading. “Let’s go get our mates. We’ll deal with whatever happens when we get there.”

Ariel watched as Precious stood up, wobbled, then straightened. It took off with a stumbling run for a building across from where they crashed. Ariel moved in behind the golden symbiot trying to focus on what was ahead instead of the pain. She kept her left arm tucked in close to her body while her right hand clenched around the laser pistol she took from the guard on board the
D’stroyer
. Two fighters flew overhead forcing her to duck down under a fallen slab. She watched as one fired on the other. The second exploded into a flaming ball before crashing further down. Ariel wiped her forearm across her brow and nodded at Precious to keep going.

They moved as a team. One would move forward and check before the other followed covering the rear. With a nod, Precious sank sharp claws into a metal door and ripped it loose from the frame. The inside of the building was dim and smoky forcing Ariel to cover her nose and mouth. Stepping through, she followed the faint connection Precious had to its other half and Mandra. She was royally pissed and ready to kill someone.

.
.*

“So nephew, it looks like you will be the first of my brother’s sons to die. I had hoped it would be Zoran followed by your two younger brothers. It doesn’t matter. You will all soon die. I care less in which order,” Raffvin snarled out.

Mandra looked at his symbiot which lay motionless on the cold floor of the control room. His uncle’s symbiot had attacked it. While it was not destroyed like those of the guards back home, it was greatly weakened. Since he split it, it was smaller than his uncle’s symbiot and not as powerful. Mandra focused on the threads of gold on him. He ordered them to return to its larger form. At first, it fought but eventually the call of its wounded form was too much for it to resist.

Mandra shifted the weight of his symbiot so it was better protected. “You are a coward, Raffvin. You have no honor.”

“Who wants honor when they can have power, nephew? It is a shame you will not live long enough to see what true power can really do,” Raffvin called out.

Mandra could tell Raffvin was moving closer. He rolled away from his symbiot behind another console. Laser fire followed his movement. He hissed as another shot burned a path through his vest into his side. He ignored the pain as it sliced through him.

He rose up and returned fire hitting one of his uncle’s men before ducking down again. “I am no nephew to you anymore. You lost the privilege of calling me family when you killed my father. How could you kill your own blood?” Mandra asked loudly as he slid another energy cell into his pistol.

“I should have been king! I was the oldest. The gods and goddesses were wrong to push me aside and choose your father. I will return and when I do, I will take your mother as my bride as she should have been in the first place. She will bow to me just like the rest of our people,” Raffvin angrily responded.

Mandra rolled to the side and fired at where his uncle’s voice came from. He was rewarded with a harsh cry of pain. He rolled back as his uncle’s symbiot snarled in rage. He felt the force of the energy blast as it hit the console knocking it and him backwards several feet. He rolled just as another burst exploded through the console.

“Enough! It is time to finish this,” Raffvin bit out. “Kill his symbiot then kill him. I want him to feel it as his essence dies!”

“No!” Mandra roared out rising up and firing the rest of his charge at his uncle. Two shots hit Raffvin before the black symbiot moved in front to absorb the energy bursts. A piercing wave of energy hit Mandra in the chest throwing him back against the far wall. He hit hard and collapsed, gasping as he tried to draw in a breath. His head rose as his symbiot moved toward him protectively. He tried to call out but couldn’t get enough air into his lungs to make them work. A burst of energy hit his symbiot knocking it to the side. Two more bursts hit it, knocking it over several times before it lay still. Mandra raised his head. Tears burned the back of his eyes as he watched his symbiot, a part of him, struggle to rise again. The black symbiot of his uncle moved closer preparing to send the last burst of energy that would destroy it. Mandra watched helplessly as his symbiot struggled to stand. The huge black symbiot rose up, shifting into pure negative energy. A burst of pure black power poured out of it in a deadly wave heading for the smaller, golden creature. Before it could hit, a small form jumped in front of it taking the brunt of the pulse.

Mandra’s hoarse cried of horror echoed throughout the hanger as he watched Ariel’s small body jerk as the powerful blast hit her in the chest. Her body began to glow, first black, than gold, than a brilliant red as the energy continued to flow into her. The smaller symbiot with her absorbed itself with Mandra’s half. The gold shimmered dimly before becoming brighter. The larger gold symbiot moved with deadly speed slicing through the black symbiot, cutting it in half. The part that was still flowing the negative energy into Ariel seemed to expand suddenly before swirling in bands until it disappeared into his mate. Mandra struggled to his feet even as he watched his mate collapse lifeless on the floor. He stumbled forward ignoring everything but Ariel’s unmoving figure.

Zebulon and several guards moved in, shooting at Raffvin’s retreating back. They systematically killed the men protecting him as they followed. Zebulon ordered the warriors to follow him as he went after Raffvin. Mandra fell next to Ariel. He still couldn’t catch his breath from the energy burst he took to his chest. Looking down, he saw blood pouring from a gaping wound and realized it was his. He looked back at his mate. Her body was still surrounded in swirling colors of red. Her long white-gold hair had come undone from the tight bun she had it in so it was splayed around her like silk. Her face was peaceful, an almost serene expression on it in its stillness. Mandra reached out a hand and ran the back of his fingers gently along her cold cheek. He looked up as Zebulon came toward him. He watched as his friend’s face twisted in pain and grief as he stared down at Ariel’s still form. Looking down again, Mandra closed his eyes and let the peace of darkness take him.

“The answer is no. Just like the first time you asked me, the second time, the hundredth time. It was no then and it will still be no. I think you are really cute but I am not interested in becoming your lover, your mate, your whatever you call it,” Ariel said with a sigh of exasperation.