Something, other than the total destruction of the city around them, was not right. Kale felt something, as though they were being watched. Nothing but the wind made a sound any louder than their footsteps. It generated a continuous fog of ash from the burned out ruins of the city.
Then it happened-a feeling really-a whisper of danger on the wind. Kale dodged behind a burned out vehicle in the street as explosive shells strafed the pavement where he had been standing. They potted the concrete with miniature craters upon impact. The others had sensed it also, except for Grod, but Emil had pushed his father out of the way just in time.
The air became silent again. Nothing moved. "Who do you suppose they are?" Grod asked from behind a chunk of demolished building.
"I'm not sure," Wynn said. "Probably not Agonotti with that kind of weapon. They're probably scared and don't realize we're on their side."
"Maybe we should tell them," Emil said. "Hello!" he shouted from his hiding place. "We are humans. We don't mean you any harm!"
Another volley of shells strafed across the concrete and steel the group was hiding behind. "So much for that," Kale said as he activated his E.M. shield. He set the parameters to keep the repulsor field on constantly, since it normally only repelled energy weapons.
He looked back at Wynn, who gave a look of doubt about the tactic the young man was about to employ, but he didn't have any other suggestions to pose. Kale jumped up from behind the burned out transport and ran at the source of the weapons fire. Almost immediately, they set upon him with more explosive rounds. Some impacted his shield and burst while he managed to dodge the majority.
Kale realized the shots had come from a shell of a building one hundred feet ahead of them. The enemy gunfire remained constant, but focused solely on him. Wynn took the opportunity and hurled a spicor disc-guiding it to the target with his mind. Kale saw the disc flash past him and into the structure ahead where it exploded.
He saw someone as the disc hit their weapon and vaporized most of it. They turned to run with another person in tow, as Kale entered the building through the window they had been sniping from. These two were quick, dodging and evading him through the wreckage of the building and toppling some of it along the way to slow him. Kale pushed the debris away mentally as he continued to dog their heels in the pursuit.
They were human and young-he saw that much for sure. The pair dodged behind another wall and he lost them for a moment. Then they appeared in the street beyond running into another more intact structure. Kale leaped through a whole in the wall and headed across the street and into the other building trying to keep up with his prey. He spotted Wynn and the others coming down the street running toward the same building.
Kale paused as he entered a great hall with a number of large staircases, some heading up and others down. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted two heads dropping out of sight on one of the downward staircases.
"Where did they go," Grod asked as they caught up with Kale.
"Down there," Kale said as he launched out after them again. The others followed.
The lighting was dim at best as they descended into the recesses of the building's subterranean levels. Kale tried to sense them, but Wynn already had them in his mind and said, "This way, men."
The warriors remained so focused on the pair mentally they neglected their surroundings. By the time Kale and the others finally cornered the pair of youths, they stood in a huge room with hardly any light at all. When Kale's group crossed the space between them, emergency lighting suddenly came on, spotlighting Wynn, Kale, Emil and Grod. They pulled their weapons quickly, but the sound of a hundred gun bolts locking into firing position all around them in the dark caused them to quickly rethink their aggressive posture.
"Lower your weapons," Wynn said as he motioned with his hands to the others and placed his blade on the ground.
The others complied apprehensively. Kale hesitated until Wynn shot him a hard look. He was right. They really couldn't hope to defend themselves like this. Logically, if these people meant to kill them outright then they already would have done it.
Steps approached from the darkness. A young man, not much older than Kale, stepped into the light. He was dressed in tattered clothes and confident enough to stand near them with his rifle slung over his shoulder.
"Why are you here?"
"We're not with the Agonotti, in fact we were fighting against them only a few months ago," Kale offered.
"Yes, and then you ran away through that portal of yours. Now, why are you here?" he asked again.
"We're here to help," Wynn said. Hopefully the prophet had that intention for bringing them to Draconis.
The boy looked at them with skepticism. "You can't help," he said hopelessly. "No one can stop them now." He turned to signal someone unseen. The room lights came on revealing nearly one hundred adolescents and children surrounding them with their weapons trained on Kale's group. They all bore the same impoverished appearance as the young man before them.
"Where are your parents?" Emil asked.
"They're all dead," said the boy leader. "They died trying to fight the Agonotti.
"Has this happened in all of your cities?" Wynn asked.
"I don't know. We've just been trying to stay alive."
"You should come back with us to the ship," Emil said. "Aija may know what to do for you."
"We're not going anywhere. The Agonotti will have seen your ship. It won't take long before they come for it."
"We've got to get back then," Kale said as he reached for his blade on the ground. The boy whipped his rifle off of his shoulder and put the barrel against Kale's head.
"I said "we're not going anywhere," and that includes you."