"All your glory is mine, Elethor," Solina whispered into the desert. "All that you had is gone from you."
She winced in sudden pain. It had been a moon's turn since she had fallen over Nova Vita, since her wyverns had caught her tumbling and burning. Her chest still hurt sometimes, though her healers insisted her cracked ribs had healed. Her hair had burned; she had shaved it off that day, and it was still short under the wig she wore.
"And soon I will bring you here too."
Ten thousand wyverns still flew over Requiem, burning what forests remained, slaughtering whatever dragon they found cowering in the wastelands.
"All but you, Elethor," she whispered. "They will not slaughter you, no." She drew Raem, her blade of dawn, and held it aloft. "They will bring you here alive, and it will be this blade that you scream for, this blade that I will hold above you, as you weep and beg me to stab your heart." She snarled. "But I will not, Elethor; I will not show you any more mercy. You turned down my mercy. Now you will live."
She shut her eyes and winced.
I spoke to him of my secret. I spoke of our child.
She clenched her jaw so hard she felt her teeth could crack.
No. No. That will remain buried. She clutched her swords so tightly, her fists trembled. I will never remember that pain again.
She turned from her window. Trophies of her conquests filled her chamber. The sword of Lord Deramon, its blade engraved with the Draco constellation, hung upon her wall. The brooch of Mother Adia, a silver birch leaf, shone upon a plaque carved from the Weredragon Temple's marble. Below these spoils stood the Oak Throne of Requiem, the soot sanded off the twisting roots that formed it. Around the throne, covering the tiles of her floor, lay jugs of weredragon gold and jewels, helms of fallen knights, and blades of northern steel.
"I will sit upon this throne as I watch you scream," Solina whispered. "I will place my feet upon the helms of your warriors, and I will laugh as my vultures feed upon you."
Still clutching her swords, she left her chamber. Her sandals thumped against the stairs leading down her tower. She walked across corridors with tiles so polished her reflection walked beneath her, clad in white silks and gold. She crossed her grand hall where a hundred guards stood armored in platinum, their visors shaped like the heads of falcons, and her throne rose glittering, a monolith of ivory and jewels. She descended dark stairs into the underground, where the air was cold and damp even as the sun pounded the desert above. She walked down tunnels, sloping ever deeper, until all scent and sound and memory of the world faded into darkness.
She grabbed a torch that burned upon a craggy wall. Dust carpeted the floor. Cobwebs, old blood, and chained skeletons covered the walls. Still she walked, going deeper, until the tunnel narrowed to a mere burrow, and the air was so cold even the Sun God could not warm it.
She approached the chamber that lay ahead. Her torchlight flickered. She stepped through the doorway and snarled a grin.
The creature hung there from the ceiling, wrists chained. The pathetic, beaten thing did not even look up. Blood trickled from its wrists, and cobwebs filled its dangling hair. It was a wretched being, emaciated, its skin lashed and raw. When Solina approached and the torchlight blazed against the beast, it gave a low mewl and swung on its chains; it was too weak to do anything else.
Solina caressed the creature's cheek. It shivered under her palm. She stroked its hair and kissed its forehead.
"Hush now," Solina whispered. "Soon he will be with you, my sweet Mori. Soon your brother will be with you again."
ELETHOR
He stood inside the cave and stared out upon the forest. The trees rolled into misty horizons, their leaves golden and red. A cold wind blew, ruffling his hair, and ravens circled under the veil of clouds. A drizzle fell, deepening the colors of the world until all became a smudged painting of brown, orange, and silver. Elethor held Ferus's hilt. He could barely see Requiem from here, only a distant haze of smoke. The burnt lands of his fathers lay beyond the leagues, ravaged and swarming with wyverns.
Elethor lowered his gaze to the camp below the mountain. Men and women moved between the trees, clad in leaf and fur and mud. A few men were skinning a deer, and two children ran around a tree, banging wooden swords they had carved. A mother nursed her babe, and an old man sat upon a boulder, reading from a scroll of prayers. Four Vir Requis stood in dragon forms, guarding each corner of the camp; mud covered their scales to dull their shimmer.
Ninety-seven souls, Elethor thought. Fewer than a hundred survivors from a realm of fifty thousand.
As he stood in the cave upon the mountainside, looking down at this ragged camp, he thought of Mori.
"Do you too hide in some distant camp beyond our borders?" he whispered. "Do you have someone with you, someone to protect you?"
He looked over the forest, as if she could emerge any moment from the distance, a golden dragon—haggard but smiling, alive. Every day he waited here in this cave, watching the horizon for wyverns, watching for Mori. They had lived here for two moons now, and still she did not arrive.
Elethor lowered his head. Maybe you lie among the ruins of Nova Vita, resting by the bones of Orin and Father. Maybe you now sing with them in the starlit halls. I love you, sister. I miss you.
A blue glimmer flew upon the horizon. Elethor stood watching, the wind in his hair, until the sapphire dragon emerged from the distant mist and flew toward the cave. Lyana landed on the mountainside and looked up at him. Smoke rose in curtains from between her teeth.
"Lyana," he said. He approached as she shifted into human form. She stood before him with somber eyes, still clad in the silvery armor of the bellators.
"I'm sorry, Elethor," she whispered. She removed her helm, embraced him, and laid her head upon his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, my king. I searched Fidelium in the north, and the plains of Sequestra, and sought her among the cities of Osanna. None have seen the princess."
He held her. Her hair had grown an inch, and the fiery curls brushed against his face. He cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead. Her eyes were deep green pools.
"Maybe Bayrin found her," he said softly, but heard no hope in his voice and saw none in Lyana's eyes.
They stood upon the mountainside, watching the forest until emerald scales shimmered in the north, and Bayrin flew toward them. The green dragon landed outside the cave, panting and cursing. He spat a flicker of fire.
"Bloody stars!" Bayrin said. "The north is swarming with those wyvern bastards." He raised his tail; an ugly welt rose across it. "One gave me this before I roasted him." He whipped his head from side to side, then lowered his eyes. "I... I was hoping Lyana had found her. Oh, stars."
He shifted into human form. Red rimmed his eyes and ash filled his hair. His gangly frame was thinner than ever, stubble was thickening into a beard across his face, and soot covered his breastplate and scabbard. He looked down, tightened his jaw, and clenched his fists. Elethor saw a tear on his chin.
He approached his friend and held his shoulder. "We'll find her, Bay. We won't rest until we do. For as long as it takes, I will send out dragons to every corner of the world, and we will find her."
Yet in the cold pit of his stomach, Elethor knew there was only one more place they could search, one more hope to save her... to save everyone who still lived here among the trees.
He turned to look south. The forests rolled for countless leagues, finally fading into a yellow haze and blue mountains against a silver sky. Standing to his right, Lyana clasped his hand and held it tight. At his left side, Bayrin placed a hand on his shoulder and stared with him, solemn and silent. The wind blew their hair, cold and wet with rain, but Elethor thought he could scent the distant sands.
"What do we do now?" Bayrin said. "Do we stay here, hidden in the wilderness, and continue our search from this camp? Do we fly to Salvandos and seek sanctuary among the true dragons of the golden mountain? Do we fly east to Osanna and live among the men of the white halls?"
&
nbsp; Elethor shook his head, watching the forest rustle and the rain sway in sheets.
"No, Bayrin," he said softly. "We will not flee. Not yet." He turned to look at his friend. "We collect what dragons we can still find among the ruins of Requiem. We fly to Tiranor. We rain fire upon them. If Mori is captive there, we will save her."
Bayrin nodded, lips tight. Elethor turned to look at Lyana; she stared back with green eyes that spoke of her loyalty, her love, and her fire that would forever light his darkness.
He squeezed her hand and whispered. "And we kill Solina."
They stood upon the mountain, holding one another, and gazed upon the southern horizon of forest, mist, mountain... and beyond them the cruel, endless desert.
The story continues in...
A NIGHT OF DRAGON WINGS
Dragonlore, Book Three
Available Now
NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON
Standalones:
Firefly Island (2007)
The Gods of Dream (2010)
Flaming Dove (2010)
Misfit Heroes:
Eye of the Wizard (2011)
Wand of the Witch (2012)
Song of Dragons:
Blood of Requiem (2011)
Tears of Requiem (2011)
Light of Requiem (2011)
Dragonlore:
A Dawn of Dragonfire (2012)
A Day of Dragon Blood (2012)
A Night of Dragon Wings (2013)
KEEP IN TOUCH
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