“What should we do, El?” Laze asked.

  “Are we sure it’s a storm? I don’t see anything,” Nidina said.

  “If it’s the same thing as before, we won’t see it until it’s right on top of us,” El pointed out. “And we don’t know which direction it’s coming from.”

  “Should we go look?” Laze asked.

  “No,” El said. Think girl. What would the lizards be doing here? What’s their goal? Wipe out both forces in one go? That would make sense. Both armies were already weakened from fighting each other. Depending on how big the lizard force was, they might just succeed.

  “I see them,” Dayne said and pointed to the west. “They’re coming along the base of the mountain.”

  “There must be thousands of them,” Nidina said. “Tens of thousands?”

  “But we can see them. Where’s the storm blocking our communications?” El asked, then turned around and looked up. “Burn it, it’s coming over the mountain. Our communicators worked until a few minutes ago. It must be coming from behind us.”

  “Then it already overtook Guld?” Laze asked.

  “Unless they’re working together,” El said. Thousands of blue newts to reinforce the golems? Her allies didn’t stand a chance. “We need to get command to call the retreat.”

  “Our troops are already neck-deep down there. It’ll take too long for the groundies to withdraw,” Nidina said.

  “Firestorm will need to cover them. It won’t be pretty, but it’ll save the most lives,” El said.

  “Orders, El?” Dayne asked.

  “I’m sorry,” El said, looking each of them in the eyes. “We’re going to have to split up. It’s the only way if we can’t trust our communicators.

  “Dayne, you’ve got the toughest job. You need to get back to command and get them to sound the retreat. Or, at least to get permission for troops to withdraw. I don’t want people getting court-martialed for what we’re about to do,” El explained.

  “And what are we about to do?” Laze asked.

  “Use the loss of communication to our advantage. We’re going to tell them a retreat has been called, and get them moving.”

  “Burn it, El, they’ll throw us to the Pyre for that,” Nidina said.

  “They will. So, you have two choices. One, go with Dayne to convince command. Two, follow me and help convince the individual troops the retreat has been called. Either way, the blame will be mine to take.”

  Laze and Nidina shared a look, then Laze said, “We already said we’d follow your orders. So, what are they?”

  El nodded. They were good soldiers. Better friends. “The battle looks to be happening in two major places, come on,” she said, and led them to the edge of the outcropping. “Straight ahead of us, there, and then on the western edge. That’ll be the worst, when the lizards hit it.”

  “Which, of course, is where you’re going,” Laze sighed.

  “That’s correct. I’m sorry to say, but I’m the fastest. It’s just that simple.”

  “Okay, and while you’re over there being overly dramatic, again, Laze and I should head toward the fighting just ahead of us?” Nidina asked.

  “Yes, and no. Laze, you’re going to the troops on the ground to get them to start pulling back. Look for the commanders, and avoid direct confrontation at all costs.”

  “Understood,” Laze said. “I know a few from joint maneuvers training. I can make this work.”

  El nodded. “Nidina.” El pointed toward the Firestorm filling the sky. “Your job is to convince the Firestorm to cover the groundies’s retreat. Find their commanders, point out the lizard army coming from the west, and it shouldn’t be too tough to convince them we need to leave.”

  “Convincing them to put their lives on the line to stall while the groundies retreat though, that won’t be so easy,” Nidina finished for her.

  “Correct. Do what you can. If it’s quick, help Laze get the word passed among the groundies,” El ordered. “Questions?”

  Laze, Nidina, and Dayne saluted, but didn’t speak.

  “Good. Don’t die out there,” El said, and returned their salute. “Go.”

  “Be careful,” Laze mouthed, then turned and ignited her wings. Less than three seconds, she was getting faster.

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  El waited just long enough for the three of them to take off before she turned her attention to the west. An army of blue newts. The biggest one yet. She could practically feel the chill all the way up there, and she was a good two or three miles away.

  How long would it take for them to cover the distance to the city? At that speed, not long. Other Firestorm had to see them, but would they know what it meant? No, which is why El needed to get over there.

  She dashed ahead and leapt off the edge of the outcropping, empty space and a long drop her only companions. But, without having to worry about her wing keeping up with her, El had a few extra tricks up her sleeve, and flared her wings, bursting ahead like a comet.

  Two seconds of full power rocketed her ahead almost twice as fast as her wings would normally carry her, and when that faded, momentum and gravity took over.

  No problem.

  El twisted slightly in the air, angling her body just right, then flared her wings again, launching out at a different trajectory. Flare. Glide. Change. Flare. Glide. Change. Flare… repeat.

  Anybody trying to track or take aim at her would have a hard time predicting her path, making her a much more difficult target. That, and she devoured the distance between her starting point and the fighting on the western edge of town.

  Like she’d instructed the others, she needed to find the commanders to get the troops moving. Firestorm first. It didn’t take long for her to pick out the three sets of wings hovering high above the battle; that would be who she needed to talk to, and she ignited her wings and raced in their direction.

  “This is Corporal Anella Vasage,” El said into her communicator. “Can you hear me?”

  No response. They might just be ignoring her though.

  At about five hundred feet, one of them noticed her, and they all turned as she closed the distance and hovered in front of them.

  A quick salute. “Who’s in charge?” she shouted at the three of them to be heard over the battle below.

  “Sergeant Krennel,” the man in the middle said, with the barest salute. “What do you want?”

  Oh, great. They recognized her. “Retreat has been called,” El shouted. “With communications down, we’ve been sent to deliver the message personally.”

  “Retreat?” the man on Krennel’s left asked. “It doesn’t look like we’re retreating.”

  “Orders have just gone out,” El answered immediately. “Messengers have been sent to the other major engagement, and we should start seeing the groundies pulling back with the Firestorm covering their retreat.”

  “We shouldn’t retreat,” the same man on Krennel’s left said. “We’ve almost got the golems where we want them. If the groundies can soften them up just a bit more, we’ll have this.”

  “With all due respect,” El interrupted before Krennel could respond, “it’s not just the golems you need to worry about. Look,” she said, and pointed at the lizard army that would be on them within ten minutes at the most. Even if they retreated right away, it would be a race.

  “Seriously? You expect us to retreat because of a couple of newts? What are they going to do? Sergeant, this is Corporal Coward, if you didn’t already recognize her,” he said to Krennel. “The only corporal in the last twenty years to retreat. Not once, but twice.”

  “But, if those are the orders,” the woman on Krennel’s right said, “we need to follow them. It’s not about what we think.”

  “We have reason to believe those newts are coming to assist the golems,” El said, ignoring the insults and leaving out the details about the blue newts. They wouldn’t believe her anyway. “Even if they aren’t a threat individually, that many newts running around and harassing our groundies will turn the tide of battle.”

  “Sergeant…” the man started, but stopped when Krennel held up his hand.

  The sergeant hovered away from El and his seconds, and surveyed the battle below him. The groundies had engaged eight monstrous golems, and felled a ninth. Yes, they were gaining ground, and a protracted engagement might swing in their favor. Reinforcements were coming up the back streets as the army flooded the city, and the Firestorm were concentrating on a the most severely damaged golem. As soon as it went down, they’d be able to move on to the next weakest. Like dominos, they would start to fall.

  If they had the time.

  El could see it, and Krennel had to too. They wouldn’t be able to bring down enough golems, maybe not even the first, before the newts arrived. At that point, if things went bad, and they would, pulling back wouldn’t be an option anymore.

  “You want us to cover the groundies?” Krennel asked as he glided back over to El and his seconds. “That will put the golems’ focus right on us. There will be casualties. Lots of them.”

  “Not nearly as many as there will be if you leave the groundies to fend for themselves,” El replied.

  “You can’t possibly be considering this?” the man asked Krennel.

  “I agree with retreating,” the woman said. “But, not with putting our forces between the groundies and the golems. The Firestorm are the elite. One of us is worth fifty of them. If we retreat here, we’re going to need every Firestorm we can get when we rejoin the battle.”

  El glanced to the soldiers below her. There had to be close to a thousand groundies already engaged with the golems, and twice that many on the way. If the Firestorm abandoned them…

  “We’re falling back,” Krennel said.

  “It’s the wrong choice,” the man said.

  “It’s not a choice, it’s an order,” Krennel responded. “You should know that as well as any of us.”

  “Covering the groundies?” El asked.

  “I won’t ask my troops to sacrifice themselves for the groundies,” Krennel said.

  “Sir, with all due respect, that’s also part of the orders,” El said. If Dayne didn’t convince the higher-ups, she really was going to get tossed in the Pyre for this lie.

  Sergeant Krennel was quiet a moment, considering. “I’ll give you until the newts hit the edge of town. We’ll keep the golems’ attention until then. If you can get the groundies out of the way by that point, we all get what we want. If not, we’re withdrawing.”

  “I’ll need help to spread the word to the troops,” El said quickly. She wasn’t going to be able to budge him on the timeline, so she just needed to work within it.

  “Julset,” Krennel said, turning to the woman. “Get your wing on it. All of them. The groundies recognize your people, and it will move things along the fastest.”

  “Yes sir,” Julset said, then spun and zipped toward the battle below.

  “You too,” Krennel said to El. “If we’re risking our lives, so are you.”

  El saluted. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, sir,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said and doused her wings.

  Krennel’s eyes widened as El simply dropped backward toward the battle and gave him a little wave. Okay, maybe she was being a little overdramatic. Time to get to work.

  El rolled in the air, plunging headfirst, gravity pulling her toward the fight while she glanced at the approaching newt army. Gravity wasn’t fast enough. She flared her wings and streaked toward the engagement furthest from Julset’s troops.

  She had to get the groundies out of there before the newts arrived.