and the Drixonians. Still, I shouted and screamed until my voice was hoarse. Drak’s aura was a red fireball of fury, focused and bloodthirsty.
About a half dozen bikes remained in the air, the drivers shooting laser guns at the Kulks, while the rest of the warriors touched down. They leapt off their bikes in a coordinated motion, immediately forming a V-shape with Daz at the helm. He shouted a few words and they unleashed their machets, arms crossed in front of their throats.
Then I heard his next words, clear as day over the beginning sounds of the battle. “She is All!” His warriors repeated his words, and the booming chant sent a shiver down my spine.
Then the fighting began. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. While the Kulks shot their laser guns with inaccurate aim, the warriors in the air—including Sax, Xavy, and Nero—hit their mark every time. They picked off the Kulks with armor-piercing shot after shot. The Drix were outnumbered four to one and it didn’t matter, not when the Kulks, slow and encumbered with their armor, fell easily to the strong and quick hand-to-hand combat skills of the Drixonians. Gar was a one-warrior wrecking ball, smiling a terrifying grin as green Kulk blood dripped from his machets.
“Fleck,” Crius spat. He yanked on my rope to retreat further from the battle. But I wouldn’t budge. If he thought I was going to stumble along behind him docilely now that the Night Kings were here, he was out of his mind. I dug my heels in, and though I was no match for the strength of a Drixonian, I would do anything to slow down our progress.
“Drak!” I screamed. “Drak!”
A roar answered my call. I glanced over my shoulder as time seemed to slow. Out of the sprayed arcs of blood and dust clouds a dark form materialized in the air, sailing over the barrier of Kulks in front of us which had dwindled to one measly line.
Drak landed in front of us with a thud, and he rose to his full height, plotting out the last remaining sun rays. His body was streaked with dirt, his muscles bulged, and green Kulk blood was streaked across his chest.
He wasn’t alone. The last remaining Kulks fell under the machets and boots of the Drixonians. Crius, seeing that the battle was lost, dropped my rope and ran. He didn’t get far. Gar tackled him as Drak reached my side. I threw myself into his arms as he slashed the bonds around my wrists.
“I’m so sorry,” I cried into his chest. “I never should have left. I just wanted to get your favorite flowers. So stupid.” I banged my forehead on his breastbone. “So stupid.”
He held me tight, his chest heaving with the exertion of battle. His fingers wrapped around the base of my skull, his palms on my jaw, and forced me to look into his eyes. They swirled a brilliant purple. “So smart, my bloom. I will always follow your petals.”
I will always follow your petals. I sank into his embrace. He’d come with an army to save me, and he promised he always would. I believed him.
Shouts at my back forced me to turn my head to look over my shoulder. Gar and Daz stood over Crius, who was on his knees between them, his hands tied behind his back.
He was no longer snarling. He knelt a defeated man, his shoulders hunched, his head hung low.
“I cast you out,” Daz said. “I didn’t take your life, and you repay me by taking one of our females. We have injured warriors who will need medis we can’t spare.”
Crius remained silent and still.
“No more silence. Tell me why you’re working with the Uldani.”
Crius inhaled sharply before finally lifting his head. He looked right at me, his eyes black and empty. “I’m sorry.”
Those were the last words I expected him to say. Drak’s arms tightened around me. “Don’t speak to her,” he rasped.
Crius’s eyes dropped again. “I never wanted to betray you.”
“But you did. Why?”
Crius sank back and leaned his head back toward the dark sky with his eyes closed. “The Uldani sold our warriors to fund their experiments.”
“We know this,” Daz spat. “It happened before the Uprising.”
Crius opened his eyes and shook his head. “No, it happened during too. Many of the warriors we thought died were instead captured and sold.”
The air rippled with tension as Daz’s nostrils flared. He gripped Crius’s hair in his fist and tugged. The