Even their own fallen or injured brothers.
I fluttered past an open, questing Taxxon mouth. I saw a fellow bat, flying just a few feet above me. I saw it very clearly. And then, in an instant, it was gone. Simply gone.
Where's Tobias?"; Rachel cried.
Tobias!"; I cried. He ... he disappeared!"; What do you mean, he disappeared?"; Prince Jake demanded.
I saw him. I was watching him. And he just disappeared."; Now, twenty feet up, I could see more of the battlefield. The line of Hork-Bajir was already far ahead of us. Taxxons writhed across the dark landscape below.
If there were Andalites anywhere nearby, they had been destroyed. In my mind I pictured the tactical display aboard the Ascalin. I could see where we were and where the forces had been arrayed.
We've lost,"; I whispered, not sure if anyone even heard me. We've lost."; As if to confirm my grim realization, I saw the engine flares of a dozen or more distant Andalite ships rising from the surface of planet Leera. Rising, and running for their lives.
We stood, in our own bodies, amid the filthy, reeking waste the Taxxons had left behind. We hadn't found Tobias.
Rachel was alternately crying and raging.
Marco was sitting, silent. Cassie kept holding on to Prince Jake. And Prince Jake kept pulling away to pace, to mutter to himself, to wonder half-aloud what he should have done. What he could have done.
I stood off by myself. I couldn't help feeling that I was to blame. I was humiliated. I felt sick. I had turned away from my friends and trusted my own people instead. One of my own people had betrayed us. And the rest of my people ... well, they had probably fought well and bravely. But they had lost.
Just like the Hork-Bajir war. We had lost again, and condemned another race to slavery under the Yeerks.
And what a race! The Leerans were amphibians. They could travel in water or on land, although they built their cities underwater. But the terrifying thing was that the Leerans possessed limited but very real psychic powers.
Leeran-Controllers would be able to see past morphs and into the mind inside. It would be impossible to fool them for long. And if Leeran-Controllers were ever brought to Earth, their powers would soon reveal the truth of the Animorphs.
Not that the Animorphs would ever likely be able to return to Earth.
It was Cassie who shook me out of my dark thoughts. In a whisper she said, "Ax. I don't think Jake wants to have to ask you again, but what do you think we should do?"
I don't know. We've lost. We're on a strange planet that will soon be under Yeerk domination. We've failed the Leerans, as we failed the Hork-Bajir. As we are failing the humans."; Past Cassie's head I saw distant red flares from Yeerk ships dropping from orbit to land more and more troops on the continent. Soon the continent would be an impregnable garrison of Yeerk forces.
"Tell me more about the Leerans," Cassie said.
I shrugged. I don't really know any more than you know. They are amphibians. They live primarily in the oceans. Originally I suppose they came on land to lay their eggs. Now I suppose their technology allows them to do all that in their underwater cities."; "So why do they even care about what happens on the land?"
They wouldn't care. Except that the Yeerks can use the continent as a base for attacks against the underwater cities. Other than that, I don't suppose the Leerans would even ... care ...
what ..."; I stopped breathing. Yes! Of course! Of course that would be Galuit's plan.
"What? What is it?" Cassie demanded sharply.
Prince Jake!"; I cried.
"Yeah?"
We must reach the ocean. If I am right, some Andalites will be in the Leeran cities. In any case, we must get to the sea as quickly as possible!"; "Why?"
I hesitated. Prince Jake ...
Jake ... you must trust me. We cannot stay on land. We have to reach the water."; Prince Jake looked at me for a long time.
"Okay," he said at last. "I trust you."
One more thing,"; I said. If at any time it seems the Yeerks may catch us, if it seems they might take me alive, you must not let them. You must destroy me yourself rather than let them take me. Promise me."; "What? Why?"
Because I think I know what is going to happen. And if I am right, this defeat will become the greatest victory in Andalite history. And that information cannot fall into the hands of the Yeerks. No matter the price. No matter what.";
The continent was small by continent standards, but it still took the rest of the night to reach the shore. We morphed birds and flew. We stopped when we were near the two-hour limit and rested. And all the while I wondered if there was enough time left.
We flew above scenes of recent carnage.
Burned-out ground skimmers, crumpled Andalite fighters and Yeerk Bug fighters.
As the sun rose on Leera, I looked down and saw a still-smoldering Andalite ground attack ship crumpled into a Yeerk ship. They had hit so hard that you couldn't tell where one left off and the other began.
And then, finally, there was the sea. It stretched forever, brilliant blue, far more vivid and bright than the oceans of Earth, which are usually gray.
I tried to look around and spot some landmark.
Some outline of coastline that would seem familiar from my faint memory of the holographic maps.
But it was just endless miles of muddy shallows, overgrown with rushes and reeds and strange yellow trees that swirled horizontally.
Big ocean,"; Rachel said. How do we--"; How do we what?"; Prince Jake asked.
It took several seconds for us to notice, to realize.
Rachel was gone!
Rachel!"; Cassie cried.
Rachel!"; We searched the sky. Nothing. Not even our powerful raptor eyes could see anything. No clue. No sign. Nothing.
What's happening?"; Marco demanded, angry because he was afraid. She was just here!
She was talking!"; Ax, what is this?"; Prince Jake asked. First Tobias, now Rachel!"; I don't know. I don't know."; Maybe someone on the ground shot her,"; Cassie moaned. Oh, God, Rachel!
Rachel!"; There was no Dracon flash,"; I said.
ationothing. One second she was there. The next second she was gone."; Maybe it was someone or something on the ground,"; Prince Jake said. We have to get out of here. Into the water!"; We dove from the sky. I knew no one had fired at us, but I dove as fast as the humans.
Whatever was making my friends disappear, it scared me. Whatever it was, I didn't want to be in its sights.
Down we dove, wings back.
Splash!
I went under, plowing into the warm water. I instantly began to demorph. I bobbed to the surface, already more Andalite than harrier. The water saturated my feathers, but the feathers were disappearing. I sucked air in through a nasty hole that was part beak and part Andalite nose.
I dove under again, and finished demorphing. I surfaced and found Prince Jake, Cassie, and Marco all treading water, finishing their own demorphing.
"Dolphin morph!" Prince Jake said.
"Ax, you'll have to morph your tiger shark."
"Wait, no!" Cassie said. "We don't know what's in this ocean, but the Yeerks thought hammerhead sharks would be the baddest things around, right? That's why they wanted to create shark-Controllers to fight in this ocean. We should all go shark."