CHAPTER TWELVE
ASCENDANCY — The Ruins
The current pushed hard against them. Hannah could feel it in the way Lily adjusted beneath her as they moved through the middle of the river. The water was deep here, but she could still make out the rocky bottom as it slipped past. Lily drove forward through the water, steady and unbothered.
Hannah leaned forward against Lily’s back, her grip tightening as her leg throbbed. Heat pulsed from beneath the crude wraps, leaving her leg weak. She could still taste the copper of blood in her mouth. She kept her weight forward and gripped tightly.
Even through the pain, it was the first time since Hannah had woken up in that black swamp that she had felt safe. But she knew better than to trust that feeling. The forest on both banks was unlike anything she had ever seen.
The trees were extraordinary. They grew in dense clusters along both shores. The bamboo-like stalks rose high and thick to the forest canopy. They left only narrow bands of light that shifted across the water. The strange trees grew in straight columns along the sides of the river. The trunks were marked by repeating bands that ran their length. The moss clung to them and carried deep reds and purples, unbroken as far as she could see. The scale of them made the forest feel ancient.
The river beneath them was all rocks, worn-down stones piled unevenly along the banks. Plants and roots pushed up through the gaps. Reeds rose tall between the boulders. Streaks of burnt orange broke through in sharp patches of color against the pale stone.
The flashes of orange kept catching her eye.
“You know, Lily? Those colors would look wrong anywhere else, but somehow they fit here.”
The water slipped past her feet. It was cold against her skin and brushed along her toes as Lily moved through the river. Hannah was cold and wet and pressed herself against Lily’s warmth. After hours of traveling upstream, the strangeness never stopped surprising her.
The change in the river came on gradually as the pull of the current eased. Hannah felt it in the way Lily moved beneath her. The long, fluid motions of swimming gave way as her feet found the bottom. Each step settled with more weight than the last. She pushed forward through knee-deep water.
She moved up out of the river and into the trees, the ground rising beneath her as the water slipped away behind them. The forest closed in again for a short stretch, dense growth pressing tight around them. As they moved forward, the spacing between the trees widened. The tight wall of growth began to break apart, opening into uneven gaps ahead of them.
The wall of greens, reds, and purples thinned and fell away.
The savanna stretched out before them.
Hannah drew in a breath as they stepped out of the trees. The light hit her all at once. It spread across her shoulders and face. It was warm against her and chased away the cold that had clung to her since the river.
Her grip loosened on Lily’s neck. She lifted her arms and spread them out to either side as the motion carried her forward. She held them there, eyes half-closed, letting the warmth wash over her bare skin.
The grass stood high, well above Lily’s haunches. From where she sat, Hannah could see out over the dense field, the horizon opening wide around her. It moved in long, slow waves under the wind, the surface shifting as the air passed through it.
Sun-faded gold and muted browns rolled across the field. They were broken by streaks of bright orange. The bands cut through in sharp lines, catching and holding the light as they moved.
From her perch on Lily’s back, Hannah looked out across the horizon and caught movement in the distance.
At first, only shifting shapes marked the far line of the land. She kept her eyes on them as they moved, the forms slowly sharpening. They crossed through the tall growth and the scattered trees in the distance. Still, they rose, long necks lifting above everything as they came into view.
She leaned forward, her focus narrowing.
“They’re amazing,” she said under her breath.
The herd moved together across the grassland in a slow procession. Hannah could imagine the ground trembling and shaking with every step.
Hannah let out a quiet breath as she watched them. “Lily… we had creatures like this back on Earth once. I never thought I’d ever get to see anything like them.” Her voice softened. “They’re beautiful.”
Hannah lowered her arms to her sides. Her focus stayed on the herd as it crossed the open stretch. She watched until the horizon was empty again.
The rhythm settled in after a while. The slow, repetitive motion beneath her. The rise and fall of Lily’s stride. Hannah leaned forward over Lily’s neck, her hands resting, her grip loose but secure. The weakness in her leg hadn’t gone anywhere. It pulsed in time with her heartbeat, a dull, constant ache that made it harder to shift her weight when she needed to.
The tall growth rolled around them in long waves with the wind. Hannah’s eyes followed the motion of the grass.
A section of the field shifted against the wind.
Hannah blinked, her focus catching on it. The rest of the growth bent in the same direction, rising and falling in slow, even waves.
That section moved differently.
Another patch did the same farther out, cutting across the flow instead of with it.
Hannah straightened slightly, her attention locking onto the movement.
She followed the lines as they cut through the field, the growth parting and closing behind them. Another moved with them farther out, keeping pace as both angled toward the same point.
She leaned forward and scanned the grass between them. She tried to pick out what they were driving toward.
For a moment, she thought she saw something low in the growth. There was enough movement to catch her eye before it disappeared again.
The lines tightened as they closed the distance, and then both surged forward. The grass snapped and folded as whatever moved beneath it burst ahead with sudden speed.
A scream tore across the open land as the predators bore down on their prey.
Hannah flinched. Her eyes squeezed shut as she turned her head away. The sound broke into shorter, frantic bursts before it stopped.
She drew in a breath. Her hands tightened where they rested against Lily’s neck, careful not to drop the tablet.
Lily pressed forward through the grass, carrying them on as Hannah’s gaze lifted back to the horizon. Something rose in the distance, a dark shape against the open landscape. The sudden shift in terrain didn’t belong to the natural sweep of the savanna.
As they approached, the open fields transitioned. The sweeping grasses of the savanna gave way to trees and younger forest growth.
It was as if the treeline had swollen into the heart of the savanna. The area looked a lot like the stretch they had forced their way through after leaving the river.
Through the thinner growth, she could make out shapes that didn’t look natural. At first, they were broken lines cutting through the thinning forest. Now she could see the broken outline of the ruins they were approaching.
Lily stopped.
The rumble started low and carried through her body. The drake lowered her shoulder to allow Hannah to slide off. Hannah dropped down, her feet hitting the ground as she stepped back through the grass to get clear.
Lily rose, and the bony plates lifted in two clean lines along her spine from neck to tail. The end flared out into a sharp spade.
She stepped forward and dropped low, her weight settling into her limbs.
She turned and began to circle around Hannah, her head low as she moved, her focus fixed on the forest.
The plates along her upper and central forelimbs spread as she adjusted her stance. They fanned out along her arms in sharp, overlapping segments. Lily’s protective circle drew tighter as she moved.
The forest ahead of them broke. A massive predator came through, ripping out of the trees on two powerful hind legs. Its body drove forward as it roared, its forearms reaching out as it came straight for Lily.
She answered with a ground-shaking roar that promised violence. For the first time, Hannah saw the rows of razor-sharp teeth that lined Lily’s massive jaws.
The two apex predators slammed into each other.
The force of the impact rolled through Lily as the monster’s jaws snapped for her throat, barely missing. Its massive forearms worked to pin her down. But the water drake held her ground under the impact and drove back into the predator’s chest.
She slashed with her claws and blades, cutting deep as she struck. A second predator burst out of the treeline, rushing at her from the side.
Lily’s tail snapped out hard in a sweeping arc. The bony spade caught it across the face and carved deep as it knocked the second assailant down onto its side.
It hit the ground and rolled before it pushed itself up and shook its head. The monster looked up to see Hannah staring right back at it, her eyes wide.
Hannah didn’t hesitate. She turned and ran for the ruins as fast as her injured leg would allow. Her stride was uneven as she forced her way through the tall grass and reeds. She ran straight for a break in the outer walls. The crack was just wide enough for her to squeeze through.
The broken stone scraped and tore at her body, snagging the bindings on her leg. She didn’t stop moving, though, and continued to run toward the keep.
She finally glanced back over her shoulder. The monster smashed through the ancient wall behind her.
Hannah stumbled as she crossed the open cobblestone courtyard. She ran to the entrance of the pyramid-shaped keep, only to lose her footing. She fell down a narrow stone stairwell; her back slammed against a rotten wooden door.
Hannah pushed her back against the wooden planks. She used whatever strength she had left in her legs as she screamed in pain.
The old wooden door gave way all at once, and she fell backward into the dark. Unable to catch her breath, she scooted and pushed herself backward across the floor. She watched as the doorway exploded inward. A massive arm tore through the opening, claws reaching blindly into the darkness.
Hannah looked down and saw that somehow she had managed to hold on to the tablet. The surface pulsed, and a text window suddenly filled her vision.
Outside, Lily struck back and pushed into her massive assailant. Her claws carved deep, and blades punched in as they both fell backward into the edge of the trees. But her assailant was relentless. The monster spun and forced her back. Its massive arms finally pinned her down as powerful jaws found her neck.
Its serrated, razor-sharp teeth found purchase in her flesh.
Lily roared in pain.
Her body collapsed inward and shrank out from between its jaws before the bite could finish. She slipped free and dropped hard into the grass.
Lily dragged her wounded body toward the tall grass, but the monster caught her with its foot. It reached down to grab her with the massive clawed hand.
The first dart punched into the side of its skull, creating a spray of bone and flesh.
The sudden impact forced the apex predator to stagger.
A second dart hit.
Then a third.
Yumi didn’t stop. She moved toward the monster, screaming obscenities while throwing dart after dart.
Kyle stepped forward, his hand already moving as the ground split beneath it.
Stone drove up in a violent surge, and a spike punched through its chest. The force lifted it off the ground, impaling the massive creature as it convulsed against it. The weight and mass of the apex predator finally sagged on to the spike.
The other predator pulled itself back over the broken wall. It dragged itself through the rubble as it climbed through the breach—
Only to find Tim and Tanya waiting on the other side.
The massive creature looked like a spinosaur, but without a sail on its back. It was larger than any of the predators we had encountered the first time we were here.
It roared at Tim as Tanya slammed a necrotic bolt into its mass.
With a raise of her hand, Ari phased two of the rapid-fire dart launchers into place on the wall. Both launchers hummed as bronze-tipped darts slammed into the monster’s back.
Tim raced between its feet, slashing at the back of its heels with his kopesh. He tried to roll clear after the attack.
But the monster turned to face him, its back bristling with the dart impacts. It raised one of its feet to bring it down onto Tim.
All at once, the ground underneath Tim disappeared as he fell into a shallow trench. A large stone slab formed across the top. The massive stone cracked and slid sideways under the weight of the monster as it slammed its foot down.
A second necrotic bolt slammed into its head. Five small drones ripped across the distance from Yumi to the creature’s leg.
The drones formed a sphere over the creature’s knee joint and its upper and lower leg. Then they cut off with a crackle of energy.
The portion of the monster’s leg that was inside the force field was now separate from the rest of its body. Blood and sinew poured from the monster as it collapsed onto its side.
“That’s it! I’m out!” Yumi screamed.
“I’m out as well!” Kyle shouted next to her.
Ari continued to pour bronze-tipped darts into the creature until Tim held up a hand in a gesture for her to stop.
He charged. The predator never saw Tim coming as the hooked edge of his glowing kopesh tore across its upper jaw. He drove the blade down and through, ripping it out the back of the creature’s head. Bone, blood, and brain matter burst free, spraying in the wake of the cut.
The creature twitched its leg a couple of times before going limp in a dead heap.
Hannah was barely able to squeeze herself through the opening of the wall. Her leg was bleeding. Her body was scraped and bruised, sunburned, and exposed. She ran as she screamed for her sister, limping and dragging her wounded leg.
“Hannah!” Tanya screamed, racing toward her.
They slammed into each other in a vice-grip embrace.
Yumi pulled off her cloak and dragged it over Hannah’s shoulders as she winced.
“You did it, Hannah! You did it!” Tanya sobbed.
Hannah shook and cried into her sister’s shoulder.
Yumi made her way back over to the grass, looking for Lily. When she found her, she scooped her up into her arms. “Mama’s home.”
Lily chirped and nuzzled into her side.
