A Birthright of Blood (The Dragon War, Book 2)

by Daniel Arenson

  And she never forgot his fangs.

  She never forgot the pain of his teeth digging into her face.

  "You took my eye that day, Frey," Lana whispered as she flew now, years later, a grown woman yet still so afraid, still so hurt. "When I finally woke from the sleep of wounds, I wore an eyepatch, and a trail of white filled my hair." She snarled. "You fly south again. And I will fight you again. I will fight you with every breath I have in me."

  Her father had bent the knee that day long ago, and Frey had taken all their forests, fields, and hills, leaving them but a crack in the earth.

  "I will not slay you, Devin Cain," the emperor had said, a great golden dragon with blood on his teeth, pinning the canyon lord beneath his claws. "Death would be too kind to you. Your punishment will be to serve me forever. But not as lord of the south. You will have no more sunlight to rule. You have holed up in your canyon for over a year now, and you will remain there for the rest of your days. In shadow. In fear. If you emerge, I will crush you. I will slay you like I slew your sons. Stay in your tomb, Lord Cain, and whenever you look upon your daughter's face, the face that I ravaged, remember my wrath… and remember my mercy."

  Seventeen years had passed since. Yet still the rage pounded through her father. And still the nightmares filled her. And still her phantom eye saw that death wherever she looked.

  "And still we fight," she whispered. "And I will fight you, Cadigus. Forever. For the wound you gave me. For my people. For Requiem."

  They streamed over the forests, heading north, heading to safety, memory, and throbbing old pain.

  RUNE

  The rain fell, pattering against his helm, as fires rose ahead.

  He clutched his sword with one hand, his tinderbox with another. He stared ahead. He waited.

  The swarm oozed across the night, a black puddle lit with countless fires like flaming stars. The host seemed a sky of some distant, demonic nightmare spilling into the waking world. Howls and grunts rang out. Flaming pillars rose and crumbled like cathedrals of gods. They flew six miles away, then five, then only four. They covered the horizon. They drowned the land.

  "Be strong, Rune," Kaelyn whispered at his side. Her face was pale, her lips tight. She clutched his hand and squeezed. "Whatever happens, be strong. I'm with you."

  The Legions howled ahead. Flames roared. Their cries pealed across the sky like demon howls echoing in buried chambers.

  "Crush the Resistance!"

  "Slay them all!"

  "Break their bones and drink their blood!"

  "Burn this city!"

  Rune sucked in a shaky breath and tightened his lips. He could not stop his chest from shaking. The walls themselves seemed to shake beneath his feet; he didn't know whether his legs were trembling, or whether the Legions were rattling the very earth. The rain kept falling. He kept staring, wanting to flee, wanting to shift and fly away across the sea.

  He forced himself to stay still. To stare ahead. To wait.

  They flew three miles away. Then two.

  War. Blood. The greatest battle of our time.

  "You will fight well, Rune," Valien said, standing at his left side. His voice was raspy as ever, but deep and solemn. "Your wings will find the sky. Starlight will bless you." The gruff, taller man looked at him and managed a wink. "Today we fight together as brothers."

  Rune did not reply. He did not trust his voice to remain steady. All across the walls of Lynport, his fellow warriors stood, thousands of men and women in leather armor, manning cannons or holding arrows nocked in bows. They were thousands of brave fighters, and they would fight well, yet Rune had never felt more fear.

  "Slay them all!" rose a shriek ahead.

  "We will break them upon the wheel!"

  "We will flay their skin and drink their blood!"

  "Grab Relesar alive—he will suffer most!"

  Rune clenched his teeth, and his sword shook. They were coming to capture him, to torture him, to break his every bone and hear him scream. They were coming to kill Valien, Kaelyn, Erry, and all those he loved. They were a hundred thousand strong. He had but ten thousand with him.

  We can't win this, he thought, and his eyes burned, and his breath trembled. We will die. We will fall. We—

  He snarled.

  No, he thought. No.

  He could not let fear claim him. Not now. Valien's words from his training returned to him.

  All wise men fear battle. Only brutes rush fearless into a fight. The true warrior is not he who feels no fear, but he who conquers fear.

  Rune nodded.

  "I will fight," he whispered through clenched teeth. "For the Resistance. For my friends. For my home." The rain streamed down his face. "For Requiem."

  The Legions swarmed ahead, closer and louder. Their roars crashed against the walls. Rune could see individual dragons now. Their eyes blazed red in the firelight. Their fangs shone. Their claws reached out. Flames blasted from them, lighting the night. They rolled into the horizon. Shari Cadigus flew at their lead, clad in black armor, spraying her flames and shrieking, her head undulating in the heat waves.

  "Slay them all!"

  Rune lit his tinderbox.

  At his sides, Kaelyn and the other archers tugged back their bowstrings.

  Beside him, Valien drew his sword and held it aloft. The blade caught the firelight.

  "Archers!" he shouted. "Fire!"

  A rain of arrows shot forward, shards of red in the night, and slammed into the horde ahead. The dragons shrieked. Blood splashed. They kept flying.

  Valien shouter louder. "Cannons—fire!"

  Rune brought tinderbox to fuse.

  The smell of smoke filled his nostrils.

  The dragons ahead shrieked and stormed forward, only several heartbeats away from the walls.

  The fuse burned.

  "No fear," Rune whispered.

  An explosion rocked the city walls.

  Fire exploded.

  The cannons thrust backward so violently they almost fell off the wall. Light flared. A hundred cannonballs blazed into the night. The smell of gunpowder flared. Through clouds of smoke, Rune saw the volley slam into the Legions. Where the cannonballs struck scales, fire screamed and blood rained. Dragons lost their magic. Human bodies tumbled, torn apart into limbs and torsos and severed heads. Already men were loading new gunpowder and cannonballs, driving ramrods into muzzles.

  "Archers!" Valien howled, sword raised and voice hoarse. "Fire!"

  A second volley flew. Arrows whistled and slammed into the beasts ahead. Men shoved gunpowder into muzzles, leaped back, and more fuses burned.

  "Cannons, fire!"

  The walls shook. The cannons jolted backward again. Flames roared and exploded across the sky, deafening. The Legions were close now, so close Rune could count their teeth. The cannonballs ripped through them. One projectile tore into a beast only a hundred yards away, shattering its head into red mist, leaving a human body to tumble.

  Yet still so many swarmed. Still the thousands streamed forward, howling and raging and blowing flames.

  "Archers! Fire! Keep those arrows firing!"

  More arrows whistled. More blood spilled and more dragons fell dead.

  "Cannons!"

  A third volley of cannonfire rocked the city. The smoke rose thick and black and rich with the smell of gunpowder. A hundred cannonballs ripped into the horde ahead, tearing through armor and scales, showering blood and flame.

  And then… then the Legions were upon them.

  "Fall back!" Valien shouted, waving his sword. "Fall behind, into the tunnels, go!"

  Rune leaped back, ears ringing, and shifted into a dragon. At his sides along the walls, thousands of resistors shifted too.

  "Fall back!" Valien howled, a silver dragon with one horn. "Into the tunnels!"

  Rune flapped his wings, flew backward, and beheld the wrath of Cadigus descend upon the city. The dragons covered the sky, a burial shroud of scale and flame. Their fire shot down,
blasting walls and roofs. A few resistors were too slow to shift; they were still loading cannons or nocking arrows. The Legions slammed into them, and claws ripped them apart. Other resistors managed to shift but were too slow to fly back; flames blasted them, cracking their scales and melting their eyes.

  "Rune!" Kaelyn shouted. The green dragon slammed into him, pushing him lower. "Fall back!"

  Hovering above the roofs, he looked around wildly.

  "Where's Erry! Where's—"

  "Rune!" Kaelyn shouted. "Into the tunnels!"

  He nodded. They turned and dived. The rooftops and streets rushed up toward them. All around, jets of flame crashed down onto Lynport like comets, burning roofs and tearing into dragons.

  "There, the smithy!" Kaelyn cried. "Fly, Rune!"

  They dived over the roofs. Already many homes, those built of wood and clay, were blazing. The brick smithy, however, rose strong from the smoke. Rune and Kaelyn hissed. A stream of fire crashed down before them. They scattered, skirted the flames, and kept diving.

  They all but crashed onto the cobbled road outside the smithy. When Rune glanced above, he saw the Legions covering the sky of Lynport. Thousands of flaming jets slammed down. Thousands of wooden homes blazed. Resistors were blasting flame upward and scurrying into those houses built of stone. Some resistors—or maybe they were Lechers—were brazen enough to soar, howling, into the sky of legionaries. Claws and fangs tore them apart, and they tumbled as ravaged humans. Blood filled the rain.

  "Rune!" Kaelyn shouted, smoke and flame around her. "Inside!"

  She shifted into human form, fired one arrow into the sky, and leaped through the smithy window. Rune blasted his flames upward into the dragon storm, shifted too, and leaped. Flames crashed down where he'd stood, missing him by inches. He scurried through the window and slammed its shuttered panels shut.

  Ten other resistors filled the stone house. Their clothes were singed and sweat soaked them. A few winced; welts rose across their skin. They all held swords.

  "Into the tunnels, like we trained," Rune said.

  He doubted they could hear him; he could barely hear himself over the ringing in his ears. Outside the windows, scales flashed and fire blazed. The walls shook. Dragons were landing outside, claws scratching cobblestones. The legionaries' battle cries thundered as loud as the cannons.

  "Find Relesar!" a voice roared outside. "Slay all others."

  When he peeked between the shutters, Rune saw the imperial dragons shifting into warriors clad in black armor. Helms covered their heads and their swords blazed red in the firelight. Boots thudded across the streets.

  Breathing heavily, Rune turned from the window. He stomped forward, grabbed the floorboards, and pulled them loose. A tunnel delved below.

  "Follow!" he said and placed a leg into the darkness.

  Before he could enter, the smithy door jolted open.

  Ten legionaries stood behind it, their armor reflecting the fires, their swords raised.

  A rope, attached to the door, creaked.

  A barrel of bolts and gunpowder fell against the soldiers.

  The explosion rocked the smithy. The door shattered, raining wood. Armor tore apart. Limbs flew across the street outside, and a severed head rolled into the smithy. Blood pooled and smoke rose. The doorway had vanished. Bodies lay strewn outside. One man still lived, screaming, his arms torn off and his entrails spilling.

  One leg still in the tunnel, Rune stared.

  His heart seemed to stop.

  The world shook and his ears rang. He could no longer hear anything but the ringing, see anything but the ravaged bodies, the man writhing, the blood, and oh stars, he was still alive, and—

  "Rune!"

  Kaelyn was shouting above him. He could barely hear her beyond the ringing. He looked up and saw her face splashed with blood. She was shoving his shoulders, trying to push him into the tunnel. Outside the doorway, more legionaries were racing through the streets, and more explosions rang. Through the windows, blood and debris flew everywhere. A man ran down an alley, aflame and screaming.

  "Rune!" she screamed.

  He nodded, tightened his lips, and plunged into the tunnel. He fell down a shaft, hit an earthen floor, and beheld a burrow driving forward. He crawled. He had forgotten his lamp somewhere above. When he glanced behind him, he saw Kaelyn and the others crawling too; a few held flickering lanterns.

  The tunnels shook, raining dirt. Blood smeared Rune's face and his arm burned. As they crawled through the darkness, he could still see the bodies and hear the screams.

  TILLA

  Her city burned beneath her.

  The flames rose everywhere. Houses, shops, trees—they all blazed. Tilla flew, eyes stinging, the smoke swirling around her. Blood spilled. Dragons burned and fell dead. Soldiers ran, swinging swords, and explosions tore through alleyways, ripping men apart. Streets cracked. Buildings tumbled. Walls fell. Any house built of wood blazed. From the brick structures—the fort, the courthouse, the silos and shops—cannons were still firing through embrasures in the walls, tearing into dragons.

  My home, Tilla thought. Her heart thrashed, her eyes stung, and the terror gripped her. Cadport. My home. It's burning.

  "Rune!" she howled, flying above the destruction. "Rune, end this! Fly to me, Rune. Stop this warfare!"

  She flew in circles above the city, seeking him. The resistors scurried below, leaping from street to street, shadows in the night. They fired arrows, then vanished into doorways and windows and holes. Cannons blazed and smoke unfurled. Imperial dragons blasted the streets with fire. Their claws tore at homes and walls crumbled. Bodies littered the streets.

  "Rune!" she roared, flying above, trying to find him but seeing only shadows, only dragons drenched in fire and blood, only death and destruction.

  No! No. None of this should have happened! They were supposed to capture this city, not destroy it. They were supposed to capture Rune, not topple her home above him.

  "Rune, surrender yourself and this will end!" she cried, flying above the streets. A cannonball flew from a silo, and she barely dodged it. Fire rose from a rooftop, blasting her tail, and arrows shot from windows, clattering against her armor. Tilla roared, dived, and bathed the buildings with fire.

  "Rune, hand yourself in!" she called. "We don't have to watch our city fall."

  She looked around, seeking her old home, but could not see through the smoke. She tried to look toward the beach, that place where she'd walked with Rune so many times. Dragons flew above the boardwalk and fire rose in walls.

  Cadport was crumbling below her, and she could not stop it.

  "Find the boy!" Shari shrieked. The blue dragon flew at her side, howling fire. "Find Relesar. Search every building until he's found! Slay all others in your path."

  Below, legionaries in human form snaked through the streets, armor clanking. They yanked open doors, only for barrels of gunpowder to burst, scattering gore across the street. They tried to climb through windows, but arrows peppered them. Every instant, resistors burst from a hole, shot arrows and thrust swords, and vanished back into hiding. The larger houses held dragons; their fire erupted from chimneys and windows, blasting any legionary who approached.

  "It's like fighting gophers," Shari said in disgust. Her blue wings churned the smoke and she roared. "Tear down every house until you find him!" She whipped her head around, stared at Tilla, and snarled. "Lanse! Lead your phalanx to the courthouse; they're firing cannons from within. Stop them."

  Tilla had trained for this. She had spent a year training for this. Yet now she only wanted this to end, to stop this desecration of her memories. How could she fight for the force that toppled Cadport? How could she lead dragons to burn her home? Why did Rune not emerge and end this?

  "Lanse!" Shari shouted. "I gave you an order. Lead your dragons! Stop those cannons."

  Fire blazed inside Tilla.

  You force me to do this, Rune, she thought.

  Her eyes stung and s
he roared.

  Rune had attacked Castra Luna with his Resistance, slaughtering hundreds of soldiers from Cadport. Rune now lurked here like a coward, firing cannons from shadow rather than facing her in open battle.

  "Dragons!" Tilla shouted. "Follow!"

  She began to fly over the burning homes, heading toward the square. Everywhere below her, buildings burned and collapsed. Still the resistors fought from hiding, emerging from holes, windows, and tunnels to fire arrows, then scurrying back into shadow.

  You did this, Rune! Tilla thought with a growl. You hide in homes, forcing us to topple them. You lurk like a coward, forcing us to destroy our city.

  She howled, racing above the streets. Her phalanx roared behind her. Beyond roofs and alleyways, they reached the city square. The courthouse, the place where Tilla had seen Pery beheaded, rose ahead from smoke.

  Its portico shook. Smoke blasted and fire blazed. Cannonballs shot from between the columns toward Tilla's phalanx.

  She swerved. One cannonball roared over her head, another beneath her wing. Beside her, a projectile slammed into one of her dragons. The warrior didn't even have time to roar. The cannonball tore through his magic, leaving him to tumble to the ground in human pieces.

  "Burn them!" Tilla roared. "Before they reload!"

  She dived lower and skimmed over the square. The cobblestones raced beneath her. She beat her wings, racing toward the columns ahead. She could see more cannons there, their muzzles lowering to face her.

  She roared her fire and soared.

  The flames blasted between the columns. The cannons inside jerked violently like marionettes whose strings were tugged. Fire blasted and more cannonballs flew. Tilla rose higher, screaming. One cannonball slammed against the tip of her wing, tearing off her claw, and she howled in agony. The pain blazed through her like a fingernail ripped off a hand. Her dragons blew fire around her. Cannonballs tore through two dragons at her side, scattering human limbs across the square.