Chapter Five
#4 of Drake's Path
I held the sword in my right hand with the blade towards me so I wouldn't kill anyone and swung at the rear most person's head as I landed with the air still beneath my feet. He crumpled to the ground and the other eight turned to me. The closest one jumped at me and jabbed with his shock rod. I spread my legs farther apart, put my right hand on the grass, and slid behind him. I struck the small of his back with a powerful left jab just before I back flipped over another stab. As I passed over my attacker's head, I swung my sword and connected with his skull with a dull thump. Three down. I landed and ducked another feeble attempt to stun me. I flowed from my dodge into a leg sweep and sent this one crashing to the ground. I ended the movement by bringing my right elbow down on the back of his head.
Two more rushed me at the same time. I landed a crushing left uppercut to the one before he had a chance to attack, then leaned to the right as the other swung at me. His shocker swished through the air beside me.
I realized that if these people weren't dealt with for good, then they would just be back here again. So I changed my tactics and plunged my fang into this assailant's chest. I pulled it from the corpse and slid backward as another one stumbled forward from missing with his attack. I began to swing the fang in a circle on the chain as he regained his balance. I took aim at him and released the chain. My aim proved true and the blade buried itself in his gut. I yanked on the chain and my sword was removed from the body as it dropped.
The eighth one was a bit faster than the others. He ran forward and managed to dodge my first thrust. Just before I felled him with a cross body slash, He jabbed his shock rod into my left thigh. The jolt coursed through my entire body and as he fell, so did I. But before I hit the ground, I pulled my handgun and dispatched the last goon.
The door opened and Silver rushed to my side followed by Gene, Izzy, and Dad. I heard Star cry out and felt her reach out to me but I had to focus on finishing my task. I sat up to hand my handgun to Izzy and forced out a few instructions before I blacked out. "Make sure that those five never do anything again." After that, my world began to fade as the ground rushed up to meet me.
As my surroundings blurred back into being, a bitter stench filled my nostrils. Smelling salts. My eyes cleared and I pushed the furry hand holding the foul smelling packet away. Gene was crouched next to me with his arms resting on his knees. He grinned and said, "Welcome back Drake."
I sat up and looked around. Izzy and Dad were filling in a hole with fresh dirt next to eight other identical piles while Silver sat to the side drinking out of a water bottle.
When she noticed that I was conscious again, she reached out to me with her mind. 'How are you feeling, love?'
I rubbed my temples to try and clear the fog from my thoughts. Like I just bashed my head with a barrel of bricks, thanks. How about you?'
'Fine. 'She got up and walked over to me. She extended her hand to assist me to a standing position and I accepted the help. Once I was standing, she handed me her water and said, 'Here, you look thirsty.'
I gratefully drank the offered drink and replied, 'Thank you.
'You're welcome.'
I motioned towards the small mounds of dirt. "I see that you gave them a proper burial. How long was I out? It had to be for a while for you to get all this done."
She folded her arms across her chest. "You've been out of it for around three hours."
I ran my hand across the back of my head and grimaced at the pain. "Ouch. No wonder everything hurts." I wandered towards the back of the house where the dragons were resting. Silver followed.
As I approached Star, she glared menacingly at me. I stroked her cheek and was alarmed at the cold anger that drifted over to me through our mental link as my mind cleared. 'What's wrong Star?'
She continued her icy stare. 'You shut me out. I tried to help and you completely ignored me. If you never let anyone help you then you'll just end up in a lot more pain.' Her gaze softened with sympathy. 'If you let me help you now though, I can alleviate some of your afflictions. But I'll need to use your strength so it will leave you tired.'
I continued to rub her cheek as I agreed to help. My pain slowly lifted but with it went my strength. I sagged against Star and let her support me with her head.
A shared thought passed through our minds and so I called out to Dad, "Are you guys done here or do I need to stay and finish?"
He leaned on his shovel and shook his head. "Go ahead; I think we're done here."
I then spoke to Silver in a quieter voice as I slowly made my way to my dragon's shoulders. "Silver I need some time alone with Star, okay?"
She smiled softly and nodded. "Have fun you two. Wolfe and I will join you in a little bit."
As I climbed up onto Star's broad shoulders, I wrapped the chain from my weapon around my waist and shoved the blade between the coils. I situated myself atop my scaly perch and patted the golden hide beneath me. 'Ok, let's go.'
She looked back at me and said, 'Hold on little one,' then pushed off the ground with a mighty flap. The ground dropped farther away with each beat of her wings and we leveled out above the clouds. 'Are you ready my friend?' She asked with glee.
I smiled as I pressed myself flat against her neck and replied, 'Always.' I immersed myself in her mind and we became one in thought.
We pointed our nose down and corkscrewed into a dive. We picked up tremendous speed as we plummeted towards the woods below. Moments before we crashed into the forest, we flared our wings and transitioned from our downward hurtle into a flat glide, skimming just above the treetops. We banked this way and that enjoying ourselves greatly and reveling in the feel of the wind in our wings.
We looked over our shoulder and saw Wolfe twirling through an aerial loop with surprising grace.
We loosed a greeting roar and the black dragon tipped a wing in acknowledgement. We leaned left and made a wide, high turn to end up beside him. We spotted Silver sitting between his shoulder blades.
As we angled our wings up to climb into the air once again, a spark suddenly raced through our minds and I returned to my own body. I turned around a saw that both Silver and Wolfe were tumbling back to the trees. I quickly jumped to my feet and ran down Star's back. I dove off and managed to catch up to Silver just before she hit the trees. As I cradled her in my arms, I readied a cushion of air beneath us to absorb the shock from hitting the ground.
This precaution turned out to be unnecessary, for Wolfe had recovered enough to shift his body in front of us to keep us from getting hurt as we crashed to the forest floor. He landed hard on his back with us landing a good bit softer on his chest.
Star landed next to us and nuzzled Wolfe. She spoke to him with fear and concern in her voice. 'Ar-are you okay Wolfie?'
He rolled over, throwing us to the ground, and spread his wings to asses the damage. He grimaced at the many tears the permeated the thin membrane and the long gashes on his legs, then answered, 'A little scraped up, but I'll live.' She looked from his wounds back to him with worry painted all over her face, He rubbed his nose against her cheek to comfort her. 'I'll be fine, my shining Star. Don't worry.'
I heard something rustle in the underbrush behind us and carefully rose to my feet. As I turned around, more of the guys with shock rods ambushed us from all sides.
I was still recovering from the fall, so my first concern was for the dragons. I yelled to them, 'Fly, now! Go!' They took off quickly, barely missing the attempts to stun them.
We were not so lucky. Neither of us could move fast enough in the stat we were in. As a result, We got shocked and tumbled into darkness.