Your life is like a machine, I thought.
It is, in its essence, Quietus thought. All life is. To destroy us, you would have to destroy that which could never be destroyed: a thought. Even if all the xenofungus on this world were destroyed, the information is saved on countless other worlds. Thought-waves emanate outward, communicating, storing our beings for eternity.
Maybe you have no hope, I thought. But I do. I don’t believe the Wanderer would die for nothing. That’s why you’re going to help me.
And what is your command?
You and your dragons are to come with me. Immediately.
Quietus cocked his head. You mean…to ride me?
Yes, I thought. Is that a problem?
Yes. The problem is that I should be killing you. Only, I cannot.
I shook my head. You’re going to meet the Elekai.
Quietus hissed. I continued to stare, until at last, Quietus relented.
It shall be as you say.
I turned from Quietus. Anna and Char awaited the report.
“We’re going to the Great Blight,” I said.
“Now?” Anna asked.
I nodded. “You and me. Char, you can go back to Makara and the others and let them know what we’ve learned. When they’re done here, tell them to meet me at the Xenolith.”
“What are we going to do in the Great Blight?” Anna asked.
“Two things,” I said. “One, the Radaskim will hopefully be fully converted to our side by the Elekai dragons. And two…I need answers.”
“What answers? Do you think there’s a way to stop this?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I have to think beyond the Wanderer. Maybe the Elekai know something.”
“You mean the dragons?”
“The Wanderer spoke of songs crossing between the stars, a while ago. Perhaps there is something in them — some secret that will help me understand what I’m supposed to do.”
Anna touched my arm. “Alex…I don’t understand any of that, but if you think there might be answers…I’ll come with you.”
“I don’t know anything either, Anna. Maybe Quietus is right. Maybe it’s hopeless. But it’s not hopeless until we give up. The Wanderer believed there was hope, and that’s all I need.”
“Alright,” Char said. “I’m not sure about this, Alex. Just…don’t go doing anything stupid. Though I’m afraid you already are.”
“This is what I have to do,” I said.
“Maybe so,” he said. “But did you have to drag her into it?”
“We’ll be fine,” Anna said.
Char hugged Anna before backing away. It was time for us to depart.
I turned to Quietus. At a wordless command, the large Radaskim knelt to the ground to be mounted. Anna and I carefully climbed Quietus’s right haunch and settled on his back. His back was a little rougher than Askal’s, but not unbearably so. We were squeezed pretty tight between two spikes. Quietus raised his head, letting out a horrible roar. We were so high off the tarmac; Quietus was much bigger than any of the Elekai dragons.
“Do we have to do this?” Anna asked.
The other dragons watched, awaiting my command.
“We need to,” I said. “I have to get these dragons to the Elekai. I don’t trust them to make it on their own. My power might lessen with distance.”
“Maybe,” Anna said.
She wrapped her arms around me, and I gave the order.
Go.
Almost violently, Quietus shot into the sky. He gave two mighty flaps, and we were flying upward. I held on tightly so as not to fall, and Anna held tightly to me. Askal would never have lifted with such power, threatening to shake us off. It was as if Quietus was finding every opportunity to defy me.
As the ground dropped away, the other dragons lifted, forming a V behind Quietus. I realized that Quietus was the leader of the Radaskim dragons, now that Chaos was gone. If I controlled Quietus, I could control those who followed him.
Or at least, that was what I hoped.
The wasted, Blighted landscape passed below over the next few hours. The air was frigid until we were over the xenofungus, where warm updrafts took the edge off the cold. Even so, without pause, it wasn’t until nightfall that the Elekai Xenolith came into view.
Anna still held onto me, her head resting on my shoulder. She had been sleeping, or tying to sleep, for the past two hours now.
There it is, I said. Land nearby.
You do not want us to enter by the Dragons’ Way?
The Dragons’ Way?
I will show you. You have much to learn.
The Xenolith grew in size as we neared. Quietus flew around the Xenolith until we were on its opposite side.
Command it, human.
I thought for a moment. He wanted me to open the way into the Xenolith.
Open.
Below, the xenofungal floor began to open. Narrow at first, just a sliver of darkness. But the gap widened, until the entire surface of the fungus had pulled back to reveal a pink, iridescent glow, which I knew to be the surface of the lake.
Immediately, Quietus dipped below, stretching his wings as he descended. His dragons copied his movements almost exactly. The entrance rose to meet us. We sunk below the surface of the Great Blight; the air became muggy and thick from the humidity of the ichorous lake.
Quietus glided above the surface, settling on a far, empty shoreline. The other dragons, with flaps of wings, settled nearby, forming a line. They faced the pool itself. Above, the opening closed.
Anna and I hopped down from Quietus, stretching our stiff legs. All I could think about was how hungry I was and how much I had to pee. We’d been riding that thing for almost twelve hours straight.
“I don’t even care if this is holy ground or whatever,” Anna said. “Or if there are twenty dragons watching me.”
Toward our left, the shoreline bent around and was hidden by the wall of the cavern.
“You might get some privacy over there,” I said.
Anna went off while I waited with the Radaskim.
This place is vile, Quietus thought.
It’s your new home, I said. You better get used to it.
Quietus gave his trademark hiss, but thought nothing more.
Mordium, the crimson dragon, just stared with baleful, empty eyes. The rest of the dragons gazed across the surface of the lake, their thoughts unreadable.
Their stench fills this place, Quietus thought, his lower lip curling.
Anna returned from around the bend, and I decided it was my turn to go. I told her to stay where she was; I didn’t want her too close to the dragons while they were out of my sight. She stopped, and I went around the bend and relieved myself after twelve hours.
When I came back, the dragons were pretty much as I’d left them. The cavern was empty of the Elekai. They had to know that we were here, so either they would come, or we would have to go find them.
I stepped into the liquid, and closed my eyes.
Askal.
From somewhere in the cavern, I felt Askal’s consciousness respond.