I

The blur faded, leaving Qira in a very familiar place. She was in the old UPW Internal Security pavehawk. Qira’s jaw dropped, she knew where she was, “No… oh my God, don’t do this to me!”

The machine guns on the chopper roared, causing the two armies to halt. Allison roared taunts from the cockpit. It was all happening all over again. Instinctively, Qira turned to Allison, “Let me out!”

A moment later, Qira found herself launching forward out of the side of the pavehawk. She unleashed her fire breath to help stop the oncoming force. Her eyes then turned to the side, “Where is he… where is he…”

There was only one chance. She knew she had to find him. Dr. Castillo was out there, somewhere with the rifle that fired the round that killed Radley. She had to stop it. There had to be a way. She scanned her memory over and over, but she couldn’t remember where he had set up. The reality quickly set in; she’d never actually seen him. Her focus had always been on Radley. The wasteland ruins stretched on forever in the hot sun. There was no way to tell where Dr. Castillo was hiding.

Moments pasted, each one was like a knife in Qira’s side. Time was running out. If she didn’t do something soon, history would repeat itself and she’d likely have to suffer the same events all over again. She felt her heart race. There was no way. She was running out of time. She looked back. Radley was already there. He was already talking to Telkath. This was it. She had to make a choice.

Qira chewed on her lower lip as she veered off and headed back to the lines of belligerents, “Not this time… I’ll stop it! I have to!”

She picked up speed, knowing she had only seconds to spare. I can’t let it happen again… I can’t lose him again… I can’t go through this.

To the naked eye, she was little more than a gray comet rocketing through the sky. Her wings burned as the wind beat on them. There were mere seconds to spare. This was it. Her chance to change history. It was now or never. She had one chance, and only one chance to make this right. The last time she was here, she was busy trying to wall off the two sides with fire to prevent them from engaging. This time, she would be in a position to protect the man she loved.

The scene was familiar. Radley was pleading his case to the dragons. He was desperately trying to stop a war before it started. A slightly younger Telkath didn’t look convinced. It was all too familiar.

Boom!

She heard the shot, was she too late?

“No!” she screamed as dove in front of Radley.

She was mere inches from the dragon horde. There was less than a second to spare. She knew where Radley would jump. She’d replayed this scene multiple times in her head. Everything was laid out. Everything was set. Everything was happening just as it had before. She turned her shoulder and slammed into him like a hockey player. Her body knocked him aside, sending him flying like a rag doll. Unfortunately, because her descent was so rapid and so out of control, she couldn’t position herself the way she wanted. The dart grazed her shoulder but didn’t penetrate. Instead, it found it’s mark… in Telkath’s hide.

Qira’s eyes widened as she hit the ground. Her shoulder stung, but she didn’t have time to worry about it. She had saved the man she loved, but was quickly robbed on the chance to celebrate it. In choosing to save Radley, she gave the Church of the Predestined exactly what they wanted, “God, no!”

Radley stood up, “Qira, what…?”

Then his eyes caught sight of the dart. It was lodged in Telkath’s chest. Telkath looked down at the injury. To him, it was little more than a mosquito bite at first, but then he began to feel it. An unfamiliar sensation was passing through his system, “What… what is this?”

Radley grabbed the dart and pulled it free from his hide, “It’s a dart of some kind… looks… like it was carrying some kind of liquid… what in the world?”

Overhead, the pavehawk turned and opened fire on the ledge where Dr. Castillo stood. He was immediately vaporized by Allison’s missiles, just as before. This time, however, something was different.

Qira turned and looked helplessly at Telkath. The dragon leader immediately fell to the side. He didn’t even have a chance to speak. His eyes closed, he was gone. Radley jumped into action, “No, no, no, no! Open your eyes! Open your eyes!”

Radley pounded on the dragon’s chest, “Damn it… come on! You can’t die on me now! We were so close!”

There was nothing he could do. Qira had witnessed this scene being played out before with her screaming for Radley to wake up. The outcome was going to be the same for Telkath. She grabbed her wounded shoulder as Radley gave up, embracing that he had failed to save the elder dragon. He turned and stepped in front of her, “Qira, what have you done?”

She looked up at him, “I… I saved you… I had to save you… Radley, there’s still so much more…”

Before she could finish the sentence, another dragon spoke up, “Murderers! Telkath was killed by these monsters! They murdered our young, now they’ve taken our leader! Vengeance!”

Qira stepped forward, “No! No, please! That wasn’t us, and it wasn’t those soldiers! This was the work of the Church of the Predestined! Please, you have to listen to me!”

Radley stood next to her, “She speaks the truth! We have the proof! The UPW Government has been made away of the treachery within their own ranks.”

The red dragon refused to listen. His eyes focused on the large group of other soldiers, “Forward!”

On the other side of the field, Commander Miles’s eyes widened. He stepped past Kevin, “The dragons are intent on fighting us! What do you say men? Do we stand down like this lowly traitor says, or do we fight?”

Kevin tried his best to stop Miles, “You are not in command here, Mister! Stand down!”

No one was listening. Why would they? There Kevin was, a traitor in the eyes of the men. He was trying to convince them to stand down while a vicious dragon force charged at them. He stepped back, but couldn’t get out of the line of fire.

Amid the chaos, the red dragon looked back at Radley and Qira the group charged forward, “I’ll spare your lives… for now, because I believe you tried to help. Hope we don’t cross paths again!”

Nothing Qira or Radley could say would stop the dragon bloodlust. Allison landed nearby and called out, “Come on, get it!”

As the two ran for the chopper, Radley looked back, “What about Kevin? We can’t just leave him there!”

“We’ll get to him!” Allison replied.

Radley and Qira jumped in the back of the chopper as it lifted off. Radley got up and turned to the side of the chopper in time to see the two sides engage. Kevin, who had been caught in the middle of it, was instantly engulfed in flame.

Radley cried out, “No!”

Qira covered her mouth, “Oh God… Kevin…”

Allison shook her head and slammed her hand on the seat, “Damn it!”

She let out a deep sigh, “There’s nothing more we can do here. Let’s fall back!”

Radley turned to the cockpit, “We can’t just leave! These two forces are going to kill one another, and then the dragons will make their way to New Denver!”

Allison looked back, “What do you want me to do? Open fire? If we attack now, we’ll wind up killing both!”

Radley clenched his jaw, “We… we can’t let the dragons win…”

Qira turned and looked at him, “Radley… what are you saying?”

“If this group of dragons makes it to Denver, they’ll try to destroy everything. That will trigger another war!”

“If we kill them, we’ll have made them martyrs and they’ll become a rallying cry for more dragons to join their cause. We can’t do that!”

“And we can’t talk to them because they won’t listen!”

Qira nodded, “I know… I know…”

She bit her lip and turned to Allison, “Can you… warn New Denver? They should have some of the Western Coalition’s defense systems intact… maybe they can capture these dragons. The UPW already knows… they already know the dragons are just responding to acts of aggression. President Bhatia should be able to…”

The dragons broke through the UPW line. Allison nodded, “I’ll let them know. I’ll send them the signal to use non-lethal weapons. Lord knows, internal security has plenty of those. Just give me a little bit.”

Qira nodded and sat back next to Radley in the cabin. She turned and looked at him. Her eyes focused on his form. They dilated, and she felt her body shiver. No… no… this can’t… happen… I can’t let this happen… not now…”

Allison chattered away into the microphone in her helmet. Radley noticed her gaze and turned, “Qira? Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Qira ripped her eyes away from him and looked out the window, “Maybe… I think I did…”

Her sharp teeth bit into her lower jaw. What have I done?

Radley’s eyes narrowed, “Why did you do that, Qira? What were you trying to do?”

Qira lowered her eyes, “I was trying to save you…”

“Save me? How did you know…?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Qira shook her head, “No… not here, not now.”

“But… Qira, do you realize what you’ve done? Do you have any idea what you’ve risked?”

Qira felt her face heat up, “I was trying to save you both!”

“Save us both?” Radley asked. Then it hit him, “Wait… you intended to take the bullet yourself!”

Qira locked her jaw closed and continued not to look at Radley. The silence between them was as heavy and thick as if they’d both put on lead aprons. Finally, Qira spoke, “Yes…”

To her shock, Radley’s face went red. If it had been anyone else, she might have suspected that he was going to hit her, “After everything I’ve done… after all the planning and risk… How could you do something like that?”

Qira’s eyes burned. She crossed her arms and shook her head. She couldn’t tell him, not yet, not like this. After nearly a century of memories that were now defunct, she knew better than to wait too long, but she couldn’t tell him in the belly of the steal beast. No, they’d have to wait until they were alone, truly alone.

The ride back to Haven was quiet and uneventful. Allison kept herself focused on the radio while flying the pavehawk. Though, Qira could tell, she was trying to distract herself. Allison had spent much of the last year with Kevin in their little conspiracy to stop the UPW. She’d grown fond of him as a close friend and confidant. Though Qira knew she’d deny it, Allison’s bloodshot eyes told the entire story.

The chopper landed and Allison got out after powering the chopper down, “I want to be alone. Don’t follow me.”

She made her way to the ramparts. Qira watched her go. This wasn’t the same person she’d known for years. Qira felt like a criminal who had just been caught. It was as though a million unseen eyes were glaring at her. She hugged herself tightly, rubbing her arms like she was cold.

Radley got out behind her, and they were met by Younia. A look of showed on her face, “Radley, Qira… what’s going on? What happened?”

Radley shook his head, “We’ve failed.”

“Failed?”

Radley nodded, “Telkath is dead… so is Kevin, and now we’ve got a large group of dragons that are rampaging towards the capital, where they’ll likely be captured… God only knows what happens next.”

Younia lowered her eyes, “I knew Telkath’s father. He was a good man.”

Radley reached out and touched Younia on the side of her face, “I’m sorry, Younia. I misread him. I thought he would be more reasonable… and it looked like he was, but then he attacks. I don’t blame him, but I wish he’d waited.”

Younia looks back at Qira, “We can talk later. I think someone else needs you.”

Radley followers her gaze, “Yeah… I something’s up with her. I’m not sure what’s going on.”

He turned and moved back toward the chopper where Qira leaned against it, “It’s getting late. Are you coming inside?”

Qira couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She kept her eyes lowered, “No, I… no…”

“Qira, we need to talk. I think you know that.”

“I… I know…”

“So let’s talk. I need to know what happened and what went through that head of yours!”

“Don’t yell at me!” Qira replied. “I wasn’t trying to… I mean, I was… I wanted…”

She struggled. No matter what clear thought entered her head, her tongue just wouldn’t articulate it. She finally nodded, “Fine, let’s talk…”

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