Inside the Dragon Chamber

"Head out onto the main street and keep close to the buildings. You don't want to be seen. You'll see signs pointing towards the south gate. Follow them and you'll be okay."

Peter

"Alright," I said. "Thank you for all your help, and good luck with your mission. Bye."

"Bye," Sarah echoed.

We put the fur cloaks on over our normal ones, pulled the hoods on, and raised our scarves up to cover our faces before heading out the door.

"Thank you," said Njalla. "Goodbye!"

A pair of Kobatji spotlights roamed over the hotel, occasionally being used to peer through windows or balcony doors.

Peter

With all the people running around, I figured we'd blend in pretty well.

"Okay, let's go," I said to Sarah. "Stick together."

"R-right," she spoke with a nod.

Without waiting, I took her hand so we wouldn't lose each other and started running.

The Kobatji medium cruiser Kaito Senaiji lowered itself towards the hotel plaza, its rear ramp opening to spill Kobatji soldiers over the precinct. They wore uniforms of flowing red robes with bass plates including an oversized left shoulder-pad and a helmet that incorporated a snarling face on the sub-nebula mask. They carried long, powerful rifles with telescopic sights. One of them, an officer by the look of his ornate armour, ordered them to surround the hotel, guns pointed at the remaining civilians.

Peter

Oh boy...just what we needed.

"We'll jump out a back window," I told Sarah.

We raced to the closest one. I dropped Sarah's hand and quickly slid the window open before jumping through and switching to wind. Sarah followed right behind; when we landed, I grabbed her hand again and kept running.

"You may need to take us underground to give us cover," I said.

"I'll be ready," she replied.

About a third of the Kobatji soldiers entered the building, fixing bayonets and preparing to engage the Norlan civilians at close quarters.

One of the soldiers still outside caught a glimpse of the two teenagers landing on the ground and raised his rifle, shouting something to his countrymen.

Peter

"Okay, now!" I urged.

She aimed a fist at the ground, then cried out and clutched her head. Not waiting a moment, I pulled her onto my back and started running, using the wind to go faster.

I bet she's concussed, I thought. That would explain why she's been acting so dazed despite all the rest she's been getting...

"Don't use your powers," I said. "I think you've hurt your head, and we can't have it get worse."

She gave a weak "Mm-hm" in response.

The Kobatji officer, seeing them running, immediately ordered a small group of the soldiers to chase after them.
"Stop!" shouted one of them.

Peter

"Like hell I will," I muttered, pushing on even harder. There was no way the soldiers could catch me like this unless they had magic (which I wasn't counting out).

"Stop or will shoot!" one of them shouted, his accent thick and his voice muffled by the mask.

Peter

I didn't intend to stop, and I could certainly make it harder to shoot. I leaped into the air, soaring for the roof of the tallest nearby building. Briefly, I considered taking a few seconds to catch my breath, but I didn't know if I'd bought myself enough time for that. I quickly looked from the soldiers to the roof, and decided that if I ran out of breath, Sarah and I were both kind of screwed. A few seconds it was.

There was some swearing and muttering from the squad as they raised their rifles. Bullets ricocheted from the stonework around them, but the atmospheric conditions made the normally deadly Kobatji rifles a little less accurate than usual.

Peter

I got down low, panting. Where could I go from here...? Maybe the rooftops. They seemed safer than the ground.

Sticking to the rooftops using wind to avoid being shot, I mused a little darkly. Isn't this a blast from the past.

Sure is, Sesria thought.

I got up again and leaped for the next roof, touching down just for a second to spring to the one after that. And so on.

The bullets of the Kobatji whistled close overhead, following him across the rooftops, but the combination of artificial wind and natural snowstorm made the bullets veer wildly off course. Unfortunately, the rooftops were highly visible to the dangerously low Kobatji airships. The nearest one began aiming a large contraption, similar to a satellite dish in shape, at him.

Peter

Okay haha nevermind back to the ground.

I jumped down and kept going, continuing to bound along rather than sprint like I'd been doing before. This wasn't looking good. I was already tempting fate by running ahead of the riflemen, and I couldn't keep this up forever--I was only part-human, after all.

A bolt of lightning arced over head, burrowing into the rooftop he'd been on a second ago. The riflemen, at this point, were well out of range and on the wrong side of some buildings.

Peter

Hoooooooly... Yeah, definitely staying away from the rooftops.

I tried to take cover in an alley. How far away were we from the riflemen now...? Maybe I had a bit of time to catch my breath again. Okay, just a few more seconds.

The red and gold envelope of a Kobatji ship passed overhead, lightning lancing into the sides of the buildings. However, no soldiers stumbled across them for the time being.

Peter

Shit. Had to avoid the lightning. I decided it was time to move again and continued my run to the south gate. I wish I actually knew how far away it was now...

If we don't hit any more trouble, I thought, we should be able to make it.

As such, I prepared myself for trouble around every corner.

A Norlan woman stepped out in front of Peter. She was shorter, stockier, and plumper than Giref, with black hair in a bob. She held up a hand in warning.
"You there! Halt! We need every able-bodied person armed and fighting, even men and children."

Peter

I skidded to a stop.

"But I have to stay with her," I said, inclining my head a little towards Sarah. "She's hurt her head and isn't fit to fight."

"Isn't fit to..." The woman snorted. "No red-blooded woman can be slowed down by a tap on the head! Both of you must come with me. Tell me, ever worked a cannon before?" She caught herself. "Oh, of course you haven't. Has she ever crewed an anti-air weapon?"

Peter

"It's a concussion," I told the woman. "If she exerts too much effort, it could result in permanent brain damage. I'm sorry, but I can't have that happen."

She was a member of my team, and I was responsible for her--not that I could explain that.

"If you're going to be like that then you'll have to do her share as well. Get moving!"