IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: My parents, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to drag our family on a road trip next week. Due to this, this will be the last chapter until I get back. I'll be able to write while I'm gone, I just won't be able to upload it. I'm very sorry, as this is a terrible place to leave off. Unfortunately, I haven't got much choice in the matter.

Anyhow, here's the next chapter.

rainbowrose- This chapter ought to answer your questions about that, at least. ^_^

Please see introduction for disclaimer regarding this work.

Chapter Thirty One

Death's Caravan

The twelfth day was the first to interrupt the pattern of walking by night and sleeping by day that Yahla and Darnik had established. The rising sun washed the horizon with its rosy glow as Yahla tensed and Darnik peered into the distance, trying to see what had alarmed his companion. Nothing presented itself to his curious eyes, and he asked her, "What is it?" He had learned to trust her senses early on and relied on them extensively as his ill health brought about the waning of his own.

She motioned briefly to the top of a dune that stood framed against the sky. Such hills were not uncommon in the desert, though they were hell to trek over. "Soldiers…They ken that we art here."

Darnik felt his throat tighten apprehensively. Her ability to sense the life forms around them had saved his life in the past, but he couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure?" At her nod, he continued in disbelief, "How did they get all the way out here?" The inhospitable terrain was brutal…Darnik couldn't imagine anyone managing to convince a troop of armed men to march out here without sandfliers. If anyone had ever offered him the choice, he'd have laughed in their face and gone home.

The dragoness shrugged, her eyes and ears still trained on the adjacent hill. Besides a wisp of sand the wind displaced and ushered down the slope, all was still. "Doubtless there be a settlement near…They come hither, prepare thyself!"

Oh, shit. Darnik clutched his spear as the force crested the hill and presented themselves to his eyes. Thoughts of fleeing the approaching troupe vanished as he realized how close they were and that after over a week of hunger and thirst, neither he nor Yahla would make it far. As over a score of armed men spread out to surround them, Darnik recognized the military uniform of Ludia. He hadn't seen it very often in his lifetime, but the well-rested men facing them unmistakably bore it.

Their sword and spears glittering in the early morning light, the Ludians parted ranks to allow their leader to step to the fore. The windrunner's jowls hanging low as he spoke, the soldier growled, "Step aside, Windian. The imperial is none of your concern."

The proclamation was unwelcome. Darnik bristled and brandished his spear defensively. "Yeah, right. You'll have to come through me, assholes," the windian snarled back, stepping protectively in front of the dragoness. He was briefly thankful her pride hadn't driven her to push him aside and refuse his offer of cover, meager though it was.

The Ludian nodded to four of his men, who broke away from the others in crisp formation. Darnik found himself engaged on three sides, the fourth human stepping easily past the occupied warrior. Forced on the defensive by the unusually well-trained foe, he managed to parry two of the immediate attacks but a nasty swipe from his left gouged between one brassard and his cuirass. Blood seeping from the joint of his shoulder, Darnik had no time for attack before he was forced to block another blow, this time from his center attacker. The soldier's sword skittered off his metal armor, and the windian was glad he had kept the heavy and hot stuff, even in the desert conditions.

The fourth human, who stepped up to her side with naked sword, blocked Yahla from aiding Darnik. He was of no particular clan, his tanned skin scarred and peeling. "If you would come with us, Lady?" the man asked politely, the cold glint of his eyes indicating it was not a request.

"Go to hell!" she snapped scathingly, her claws brandished threateningly in his direction. She would never meekly surrender to a mere human, no matter how bad the odds were in her favor.

The human shrugged, unconcerned, his sword suddenly in motion. "Ladies first." His blow was clearly aimed to disable her, rather than to kill. Apparently the Ludians had been ordered to capture her alive. It was not a reassuring notion.

She dodged his blow, jumping over a second. "I will permit thee to announce me!" she retorted, angling her body to slip beyond his immediate reach. Ducking under his next thrust, she lashed out at his wrist, making him drop the blade with a cry of pain. As the human struggled to retrieve his weapon she stepped close to him and drove her sharpened nails into his eyes. His shrill scream rang in her ears as she retrieved his sword and drove it through his ribs in one smooth motion.

Unsheathing the blade from the mortal's corpse, she rose to aid Darnik, only to find the rest of the humans had taken her measure and full six of them approached her. She swung the blade experimentally before her. She rarely had occasion to fight with a sword, but she had learned enough over the years to make the advancing mortals very sorry they had incurred her attention. Before they could reach her, a voice from the right drew the attention of those not currently occupied with staying alive.

"Hey, leave her alone!" It was a girl's voice, and Yahla was mildly reminded of the voice of the mortal Elena, although Elena's voice had a significantly higher saccharin content. Risking a look to her right, she saw a civilian sandflier grind to a halt and four figures jump to the ground. Three landed gracefully, the fourth touching down with a metallic clank and wobbling before regaining its balance. They drew weapons as they went, and Yahla felt her mind suddenly stop operating as a very familiar presence invaded her senses. And yet, the incongruous differences and the fact that her beloved was nowhere near drew her to realize the truth of who and what exactly had come to her aid.

Her eyes locking unerringly on the blue haired boy who had unexpectedly joined them on the battlefield, she didn't realize her situation until it was too late. Backpedaling as one of her six attackers ripped his sword through the flesh of her exposed wing, she narrowly avoided a second blow. As the first blade caught on one of the joints of her wing, her balance faltered and forsook her. She twisted to dodge a third attack but stumbled and fell. The dragoness landed awkwardly, head first, and a disconcerting silence settled over the battlefield as the sickening crack of breaking bone rang through the air.

Darnik broke the silence with a howl of rage, tears rimming his eyes. The next discernable noise was cry of a soldier as the windian rammed his spearhead entirely through the man. He ripped it out and swung the spear up in time parry the blow of one his two remaining opponents. "BASTARD!" His scream of fury degenerated into a blue streak that would have ashamed the most puissant cusser. All the while his mind gibbered in rage and grief…and in guilt, that he had agreed to escort the dragoness safely home…and failed.

The surviving Ludian troops streamed forward to engage both Darnik and the newcomers. The strangers responded proficiently, cutting down the forerunners of the encroaching wave. The blue haired boy drew the eye of the captain of the squad and before he had done more than behead a soldier or two, a muttered spell had dropped him to the ground, fast asleep. His companions, a windrunner, windian, and bizarre machine, jumped to guard his prone form. Similarly, Darnik stood over Yahla's still body, noticing out of the corner of his eye the identity of the other Windian. Princess Nina?!

The remaining soldiers ganged up on the four defenders, forcing them back on their heels with a flurry of coordinated attacks. Princess Nina and her two friends proved themselves more than capable than protecting themselves, but the superior numbers of the enemy left no doubt as to who would survive the conflict. Darnik lost his helmet somewhere on the battlefield and took a subsequent blow to the head that left him reeling. The princess developed a painful limp somewhere during the battle, and one of the windrunner's long ears was left in tatters. The machine gained numerous dents and scratches, but seemed mostly unharmed. Still, it moved too slowly to make much difference in the battle. Though an occasional Ludian soldier fell here and there, the odds were slowly wearing down Darnik and his newfound allies.

Darnik struggled to regain his balance, then lost his feet entirely as one of his opponents knocked him over. His back hit the sand, his hands losing their grip on his weapon. The rest of the enemy stalked in, and the windian saw his death in their cold eyes. His spear flung from his hands, he crawled backwards toward it, determined not to go down without a fight.

Time stopped as a ground-shaking roar silenced the petty noises of sword against sword and the swearing of human voices. The sound deafened the ears of those nearest and revived the memories of old nightmares in the rest. A second cry, haunting and undulating, rose up after the first. Even before the air had ceased vibrating, an imposing beast landed solidly among the combatants, an explosion of sand springing up where its paws touched down.

Frozen with sudden terror, the nearest humans could only stare at the muscular animal as it turned its wolf-like face toward them. Its blue and tan fur rippled as its coiled muscles propelled it forward and its befanged jaws snapped shut on flesh and bone. A white furred twin of the first made its presence known on the other side of the battlefield. It dashed a human aside with the back of its paw and ripped another mortal open with its massive claws, blood splattering its golden mane and staining its cat-like face. Both fell limp to the desert floor, the skull of the first shattered and caved in on itself. Some of the humans tried to turn and run, unwilling to accept the inevitable death that awaited them. They were cut down in their tracks, their screams silenced and their heartbeats stilled.

Uncertain what to make of the situation, Darnik struggled to his knees and then to his feet, staring as the two creatures moved about the battlefield like twin angels of death, leaving only shattered bone and rended flesh in their wake. Blood stained the desert sand and Darnik absently wondered when there would next be rain to wash it clean. He saw out of the corner of his eye, Nina and her friends help their woozy companion to his feet. The blue haired boy swayed, then seemed to shake the sleep from his mind. He exclaimed over the carnage around them and retrieved the sword he had misplaced when he had dropped into slumber.

Then the last Ludian fell with a wail of protest, and the strange beasts licked the blood from their muzzles. Their fur, blue and white respectively, was stained red with blood and gore, making them look all the more like mirror images of each other. They turned to regard the four survivors, padding softly forward toward them. Darnik warily retained his defensive stance as they circled him curiously, prepared to fight to the death against this new threat.

One of the creatures stepped past Darnik and stood over Yahla's body…and leaned carefully down to sniff her face.