Page 41 of My Big Scaly Alien Naga
Tyvarin.
Not as large as Tyvaron, but still massive.Wings like tattered banners.Serrated metal fused to organic bone.Their eyes glowed with the same cold fire–red pinpricks scanning the terrain below them.One circled low, releasing a hissing breath that ignited the treetops far down in the valley in a slow, crawling blaze.
Clare gasped.“Stars above…”
I coiled protectively around her, keeping us close to the entrance to the cave, sheltered below an outcrop.My mind raced.Tyvaron hadn’t landed yet–but it didn’t need to land to kill us.It could breathe fire.
“They’re coordinating,” I said grimly.“They’re cutting off all escape routes.Even if we somehow make it down the mountain, we can’t get through that fire.”
Clare’s hand touched my arm.“You said they had tactical minds.That they could think.”
“They’re not wild animals.They're weapons.And someone’s giving the orders.”
A high-pitched screech cut through the air.One of the lesser Tyvarin dove, unleashing a spiral of green fire.The blaze licked across the rocks and slammed into the cliff face below us.Stone cracked.
We had seconds.
I wrapped my arms tighter around Clare and turned, ready to bolt for cover.
Then the sky exploded.
A beam of focused light tore through the clouds.It struck the diving Tyvarin mid-wing, and the beast shrieked–mechanical and organic agony entwined.It spiralled, then slammed into the mountainside in a shower of stone and molten circuits.
The sound that followed sent a chill through my spine.
All doubt that these beasts were sentient vanished.It was in agony.And it was scared.I hoped it wouldn’t suffer for long.It hadn’t chosen to be here.None of us had.We were just pawns on the game makers’ board.
Another sound, so loud it made me cower above Clare protectively.
A sonic boom.The sound of hope.
Clare looked up just as a sleek, angular shadow broke through the upper atmosphere–glowing engines blazing, its hull gleaming crimson and gold.
“Please tell me that’s the Bloodstar,” she whispered.
“It’s one of their shuttles, I believe.I hope.”
Another shot rang out–precise, clean.A second Tyvarin veered off, retreating into the clouds.
I didn’t wait.
“This is our chance!”I shouted.“While they’re regrouping!”
She nodded, already moving beside me.
We ran.
Behind us, the sky roared with fire and fury.
The shuttle swept down like a god of salvation, engines kicking up a cyclone of stone and ash.Clare coughed, shielding her face as I held her tight with one coil, steadying us against the blast.
The loading ramp extended mid-air, hissing open with a burst of steam.The shuttle didn’t land – it hovered just low enough to make the jump possible.
A voice crackled through the external speaker, mechanical and unfamiliar.“Venom and Clare.Confirmed.Move before we get fried by a klatting firebeast!”
That did not sound like the game makers.
The Bloodstar’s crew had come for us.
