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something else: Kyra and
Leo had gotten separated. Kyle’s heart fell, as he wondered what may have
happened to her.
    Kyle heard a
snort, a clawing at the grass, and he turned to see Kyra’s horse, Andor,
standing nearby, waiting impatiently, too. Kyle marveled at the loyalty of her
animals.
    Kyle rubbed Leo’s
head as he sat up, his head aching, wondering how much time had passed. He was
singed, aching, scratched and wounded on nearly every part of his body. Yet he
was alive. He was the lone man here, in this battlefield of the dead, now a
massive cemetery.
    There came a
distant rumble, and Kyle looked up, bracing himself as he examined the sky. On
the horizon he spotted the faint remnants of the flock of dragons, flying away,
presumably south, for Andros. They must have assumed everyone was dead.
    Kyle stood,
knowing he was lucky to be alive, shocked the dragons had reached Escalon. He closed
his eyes, as he did when summoning his powers, and tried to use them to show
him where to go, what his purpose was now. Kyra was somewhere, he did not know
where, far away, Escalon was in ruin, and the Tower of Ur was destroyed. What
purpose did life hold for him?
    Kyle closed his
eyes and focused, and as he did, a driving sense of purpose came to him. It
commanded him to look up, to search the skies. Kyle did so, and he suddenly saw
something fly overhead, just a flash, racing by, in and out of the clouds. A
dragon. Yet it flew in the opposite direction of the flock. It was unlike the
others. It was a baby. And it flew alone.
    And on its back,
Kyle felt a chill to realize, was someone he knew. Someone he loved.
    Kyra.
    Kyle was
overcome as he watched the dragon disappear on the horizon. Kyra was flying
north. But where? Why? At least that explained why she and Leo and Andor became
separated.
    Kyle closed his
eyes and tuned in, summoning his powers, wondering. None of it seemed to make
any sense.
    And then it came
to him.
    Marda .
    A chill ran up
his arms as he saw Kyra’s future. He saw her enveloped by blackness, saw the
evil awaiting her, the death surrounding her. He saw, most of all, that she
would never return.
    Flooded by a new
sense of purpose, Kyle broke into a sprint, running north through the fields,
faster and faster. Leo and Andor ran by his side, joining him, yet he was even
faster than they. He was as fast as a bird, as fast as a dragon, covering so much
ground so fast, that soon, he would reach the Flames. He would enter the land of Marda, do whatever it took to find and saved the girl he loved.
    Wait, Kyra , he urged. Wait
for me.

CHAPTER TWELVE
     
     
    Aidan stood in
the cave amongst all his father’s soldiers, his father in the center, hundreds
of men crowding him in a semicircle, all intently looking at their commander
with love and respect—and Aidan felt a rush of pride. Beside him stood Anvin
and Motley and Cassandra, White at his feet, and Aidan was elated to be here, to
be included amongst all these great men, and most of all, to be reunited with
his father again. No matter what should happen, for now at least, all was right
in the world again.
    It was a
jubilant scene, all these warriors clearly happy to be reunited, all embracing
and talking, discussing their predicament as they had for hours, ever since Kyra
had dropped them here in this remote cave. They all knew the situation was dire.
They needed an urgent plan, and they debated a course of action heatedly, all
professional warriors, all with varying opinions. His father stood in the middle
of it all, listening, judging, weighing their opinions.
    “We must return
and storm the capital!” Bramthos exclaimed to a group of men. “We must attack while
they are distracted, while the dragons attack them. We can exploit their
weakness.”
    “And what of the
dragons?” Kavos called out. “Shall they not kill us, too?”
    “We can attack them
fast, and then take shelter,” Bramthos countered.
    The others shook
their heads.
    “Reckless,”