Legon Restoration (30 page)

"Legon we need to pull back," Opes said.

Reluctantly he agreed. This was fighting as a dragon; you fought until you were badly injured or tired, then you would pull back and recover. It was that reason that made dragon fatalities more of an exception then the norm.

Ground command connected with him, "Sir, we have a defensive line and have turned artillery on the gate, there are several new batteries that are nearly grown, once complete they will level anything past the defensive line."
 

Legon acknowledged and asked for a time frame before speaking with his commanders. "We have less than a half hour before ground levels the area. Ground units are pulling out of the area but a few can't get out, I need four squads to assist in e-vac," he said.

Sasha's mind connected with his, "Legon, we need pulled out; my guard and a few others are pinned down."
 

Legon could see her position in his mind and said, "Make red smoke and we'll get you."
 

He was too tired and too focused to pay much attention to Sasha's situation or the seething anger he felt from her mind. He found her smoke and came in with Opes and Iselin. Two other dragons circled the area, so Legon and the others could come in close to the warehouse that Sasha and her people were in.
 

Sasha was on the roof fighting with magic, along with the rest of her guard. She was sending spikes of ice at Iumenta ground units. Behind her lay several figures that looked hurt.
 

As Legon came in he breathed fire around the building and Bill detached from him to join Iselin, Opes and all of the other Venefica's familiars on the ground. Legon hovered over the building feeling Elves climb his tail, Sasha making it up to his shoulder.

"We're all on," she said.

Legon turned and drove his wings down, feeling the strain of having too much weight on his back. Large burning projectiles from the main artillery whizzed past him, giving him motivation to try harder as he forced himself higher in the sky. Once he was moving forward and up things got easier. Below, he passed the defensive line.

* * * * *
 

Sasha felt the anger from the White Dragon fade. In its place was pain in her body and fatigue. She started to tremble just a bit as fear and sadness gripped her. The ground units had grown new artillery that now fired on the north gate. Below them dozens of burning wooden balls rushed by, their hollow insides filled with a flammable liquid. She turned to look as they hit the north part of the base, bursting on the ground, covering the area with fire and death. She turned her head away and looked at Popee, she was covered in injuries. An Elf had secured her to one of Legon's spikes. The healer stirred a bit, opening one of her swollen eyes to look at Sasha.

Sasha brushed Popee's hair from her face and spoke to her as warmly as she could, "Shhhh it's OK now, I am going to take care of you."

Popee smiled weakly and muttered, "Sara was right...perfect," and then she passed out.

Legon landed and Sasha and the others got off his back. Sasha could hear chatter in his head as he coordinated the air and ground attacks up north.

"Sash, can you take care of the wounded?" he asked.

"I'll take charge don't worry," she said and added, "Be safe."

Legon laughed. "Yeah, I'll go be safe in combat, thanks for taking care of the wounded," he said and started to fly off.

Before she could retort about his comment about being safe in combat the wind was knocked out of her as a pair of arms wrapped around her.

"You stupid, brave reckless woman!" Edling's voice sounded behind her. "What if you'd died? Are you hurt?" he asked spinning her around.

"N-no I..." she started to say something but was cut off when Edling kissed her. He picked her up, spinning around. Sasha wanted to be mad with him for manhandling her but if she was being honest, and the tables were turned, she'd likely do the same thing. He put her down.

"You can't get mad at me dear, you know that," he said reading her mind.

A smile forced its way on her face, "But I can try, can't I?"

He kissed her again, "How's that going for you?"
 

She gave in to being happy for a moment. "Not well," then she paused, "only you could make me happy in the middle of an attack," she accused then got back to the matters at hand. "I need your help; we have wounded to take care of."

Edling held her tight. "I know, I will behave now, but a husband is allowed a moment of joy when his wife comes back unharmed," he smirked.

"Well...has it really been a whole moment?" she asked matching his smirk. They allowed themselves several more happy seconds before duty called them back to reality.

Chapter Twenty

Aftermath

"Despite my insistence that I am the only one in the world, life seems to go on without my presence."

-Walking Through Time (Author Unknown)

Keither listened to the distant rumble of magic. His arms were loosely wrapped around Sara's sleeping form. The night had been a long one; the air was thick with dust and smoke. He knew that some of the fighting took place over their barracks but he wasn't sure how much, or how much was left of the area.
 

Sara stirred, bleary eyed she held her side and muttered something. Her palm glowed silver and she sighed, "Finally."

"Are all of your injuries healed?" Keither asked.

She sat up. "All the ones that count, are you hurt?" she asked.

He said that he wasn't. Others in their hiding spot were starting to leave the cellar and Keither decided to join them. He helped Sara up and stumbled a bit.
 

She steadied him, "I thought you said you weren't hurt."

"My leg is asleep," he said stamping it on the ground trying to get blood flow again.

When they came out of the cellar and left the building they were met with relative calm. Only a few buildings around them had any damage, but when Keither turned to the north he could see pillars of smoke rising.
 

"I'm sure we are needed," he said.

Sara frowned, "I can't seem to get in contact with Popee...you don't think she..."

* * * * *

Sara's mind reached for Popee but found nothing...
she could be asleep still
. Protocol said that Sara needed to make contact with command for instructions, so that is what she did. The mind she was led to was Sasha.

"You're OK," Sara said.

"Yes I'm fine, were you injured?" Sasha asked.

"Yes, broken ribs and leg but they are healed now; I should be ready to work. Do you know where Popee is? Did she make it?" Sara asked.

"She is unconscious, she got hurt in the attack, but my guard pulled her out. We healed most of her wounds, but she escaped from bed and started working. I dare say she worked too hard and passed out; I gave her a sleeping draft so she can heal. Can you please report to center six?" Sasha asked.

"Yes, I will go there right away," Sara said and broke off her connection.
 

She hurried to the center feeling guilty. Popee had started working as soon as she could, but Sara...she'd hid during the night instead of doing her job. She clenched her fists, feeling her nails dig into her palms
pathetic
she thought.

Her feelings of guilt didn't ease when she made it to center six. It was full of people, with a pile of dead outside of it. The healers inside looked ready to drop, all showed signs of working through the night. Sara threw herself into her work, not letting up until she needed to get supplies.
 

As she came up to a supply tent she saw Sasha talking with someone. Sasha waved her over and she saw that she was with Barnin. He was covered in dried blood that she couldn't tell if it was his or not. Some of his other men were in the area; they looked like they were eating as fast as they could and gathering supplies.

"Hey Sara, how are your ribs?" Barnin asked.

"Fine, what are you guys doing?" she asked.

Sasha raised an eyebrow and Barnin spoke. "Refitting," he said as if it was obvious.

Before anyone could say anything they all looked up as a group of Elf dragons passed over head in a V formation. In the center was a massive purple dragon that Sara knew to be Legon. His armor looked wore, his scales covered in dirt, smoke and blood. Even from the sky he looked like he'd been through hell, next to him was Iselin and Opes taking his wings. They descended as they flew over.

"They haven't rested since the attack started, and even then they were just taking a small break. They have been fighting since yesterday morning," Sasha said leveling her gaze on Barnin, "and if reports are correct that Iumenta class eight is in the area."
 
Sasha looked behind her, "I need to go...something’s up, command is meeting. Sara I hope you feel better." She took Barnin's hand, "Be safe," she said and walked off.

Sara's head dropped, "How can she even be talking to me with what I've done?"
 

"What you mean, hiding all night and not being at the healing center helping out?" Barnin asked frankly.

"You're mad at me aren't you?" she said "You should be, you were doing your job all night, Legon and Ise and Opes and everyone else was but I..."
 

Barnin put his hand on her shoulder, "Had reached your limit. Look Sara, I'll be honest with you, we needed every one last night, but we needed everyone clear headed. Sasha told me about everything, you've never seen combat like that before. The center you worked at was destroyed and you were scared and stressed along with having broken ribs and a leg. You could have somewhat healed your injuries, and pushed through the pain and worked, but at what cost? Sasha isn't mad at you, because she understands. Don't beat yourself up; just keep doing your best OK?"

"Barnin that was a really kind thing to say...I-"

"You're worried that I got hit in the head or something right? Because I'm being nice? That's fair, but it's the truth."

"Thank you, is there anything your people need?" she asked.

Barnin thought for a moment, "Do you think you could tend to a few of my guys? They don't have any major injuries, well a few do, but they aren't going back out with us. But it would be nice to go back into combat with everyone at one hundred percent."
 

"Sure lead me to them," she said.

* * * * *

Emma sat with Edling, waiting for Legon and Sasha. Legon trotted up in his dragon form entering the hanger, dragging his tail, Iselin close behind. A group of Elf blacksmiths were on hand to make any needed repairs to Legon or Iselin's armor. Once inside Legon wasted no time shedding his worn and blood spattered armor. As soon as he and Iselin were out of it they took their Elf forms.
 

Legon stretched his arms above his head and said, "I never thought I'd be so happy to have a meeting."

A haggard looking Iselin agreed.

Emma raised an eyebrow and Legon answered her unasked question, "I can take an Elf form and get out of that armor."

Sasha came in the hanger and Edling went to join her, taking her hand. Emma liked to watch Edling with Sasha, every time he saw her it was like he was breathing for the first time. Emma thought it was cute and wondered how long his reaction would last.
 

Emma reached down to her bag, pulling out a stack of papers and spoke to Legon. "Legon," she said taking a business tone, "would you like me to brief you on the way to the meeting?"
 

Legon looked at the stack in her hands and seemed to reconsider his earlier statement about being thankful for a meeting. "Yes please, but after it starts I want you to get some rest."

Emma smiled. "I will," she said following him out of the hanger, filling him in on what the meeting was to be about. Once Legon, Sasha and Iselin were in the meeting, Emma met back up with Edling.

"So what did you find out?" he asked.

"Well, it could have been worse from what the reports say. We pushed the Impa back out of the base and they didn't breach any other sections of the wall," she explained.

"But..."

"But the north end of the base is mostly ashes; House Coreen used artillery to keep the Iumenta from being able to keep any ground. The forest outside the wall is likewise gone. We only lost a few Ascended and most of those deaths occurred at the onset of the attack. From what we can tell the Iumenta didn't lose any Ascended in the attack, or if they did we didn't find the bodies. However, the Iumenta took significantly higher infantry casualties than we did, so over all we fared well I suppose.

"The reports that I read said that this could be the first of many attacks. We can expect all sides of our perimeter to be hit from this point forward unless we keep the Impa on the defense."

Edling nodded and asked, "Do you know the state of Salez?"
 

"It's good the city will fall, most likely in the next few weeks. Doesn't Sasha tell you this stuff? You are an heir to House Evindass, after all."

"She doesn't like to think or talk about the war. I try and keep her distracted with crystals and helping out with healing centers," he said.

Emma should have known that. "I can see that, well if you ever need info you know I'm your girl," she said.

"Don't think I'll forget that," Edling said warmly. "Now, we both need to get some rest."

Emma agreed and went to her quarters, falling on the bed without even taking the time to change out of her clothes. She thought it would take her a long time to quiet her mind, but as soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep.

Chapter Twenty-One

Betrayed

"When trust is lost, we lose something essential to our makeup, something that sometimes can never come back."

-Excerpts from The Diary of the Adopted Sister

Tom flinched away from the heat of fire. Salez was falling, there was no doubt about it in his mind, and it would fall soon. Tom still didn’t know who the traitor in his group was, everyone checked out from what he was able to tell.