"Requiem," he whispered into her ear. "Domi."
He held her close against him, and he loved her—loved her more than Requiem, maybe more than he had ever loved anyone.
Finally they rose to their feet and got dressed again. They dared not fly as dragons; the firedrakes would be patrolling the skies. They walked through the grasslands, hand in hand, silent, afraid to speak, as if words could wake them up from this dream. The smoke spread above, and the sun did not emerge.
AMITY
She stood on the mountaintop, watching as her army drained away like sand between her fingers.
"They're going with him," she whispered to Korvin. "Oh bloody stars, they're going with the beast."
Below in the valley, she saw Shafel upon his griffin. A hundred other griffins flew around him, riders on their backs. Below them, thousands of men, women, and children were heading south, carrying their belongings in wagons or upon their backs. Gosh Ha'ar, the great settlement beneath the mountains, was falling apart.
"Follow, Horde!" Shafel's voice rose on the wind, distant but just loud enough for Amity to hear. "Follow your king!"
Korvin stood at her side, the wind whipping his long grizzled hair. "Let him leave." The old soldier grunted. "For years, many warriors in the Horde spoke of conquests in the south, of uniting the wild tribes who live beyond the rivers." Korvin scratched his stubbly cheeks. "Let Shafel go conquer. Let him get out of our hair. Enough have stayed loyal to you, Amity."
She spun toward Korvin, clenching her fists. "He's taking too many! The griffins. Thousands of warriors. Warriors we need to conquer the Commonwealth."
She spun back south. Only a few thousand remained camped before the marble archway in the shadow of the mountains. A few dozen salvanae—long coiling dragons with no wings or limbs—hovered between them. But the griffins were flying south. Tens of thousands of warriors were walking south with them.
"Enough have stayed loyal?" Amity whispered. "Korvin, he's taking two thirds of my army."
Korvin placed a hand on her shoulder. "So what will you do? Challenge him to battle? Risk dying? We came here to find an army. We have an army." He pointed below at the forces that remained. "And more soldiers of the Horde await us along the northern coast. Amity, let us take those of Gosh Ha'ar who remained loyal, and let us travel north back to Hakan Teer on the coast. Many there, seeing us approach with the salvanae and thousands of warriors, will swear allegiance to you. It will be enough."
"No." She trembled with rage. "No, I will not. I will not allow this! I will not allow the Horde to split in two, to rule in the north while Shafel lurks in the south, growing his forces. We'd be trapped between the southern Horde and the northern Commonwealth." She glared at Korvin. "The Horde must stand united. You don't understand. You're not one of us."
She saw the pain that caused him. His eyes hardened, and his cheeks flushed beneath his white stubble. He pulled his hand off her shoulder. "No. I'm not. I'm not one of the Horde. You're right, Amity. I'm a man of Requiem. The kingdom of dragons is all I care about. I thought you did too. Ask yourself, Amity, where your true loyalties lie."
She raised her chin. "I'm a daughter of Requiem. All my life, Korvin, I fought against the Cured Temple that rules it. The Temple that murdered my parents. The Temple that crushed Requiem, that raised the Commonwealth from its ashes. You want Requiem back? That will take a united Horde under one rule. Mine!"
With that, Amity spun around, raced across the mountaintop, and leaped into the air. Before she could fall and slam down against the mountainside, she shifted into a dragon, beat her wings, and flew. She blasted out a stream of fire, and she roared.
"Hear me, Horde!" She soared across the crowds below, crying out for all to hear. Her voice rang across the mountains and valleys beyond. "I am Amity, your queen! I will lead you to conquest across the sea. Turn aside from Shafel the False. Join me in the north! Join your queen!"
Yet Shafel kept flying away on his griffin, moving across the southern grasslands, heading toward the distant lands of wild tribes. The other griffins and the people below kept following. The warriors traveled along the rims of the camp, many riding horses, holding spears and swords and shields. Women, children, and elders walked in the center, leading donkeys and sheep, carrying their belongings across their backs or in wagons.
"Hear me, Horde! Turn back now!" Amity blasted fire across the sky. "Turn back and serve your queen. I will lead you to conquest!"
Ahead of her flew the griffins; there must have been over a hundred. Their riders turned toward her, and Shafel laughed—a deep, ringing laughter.
They cannot kill me here, Amity knew, baring her teeth. We still fly over holy ground.
But a few more miles, and they would swarm toward her.
Wings beat, scales clattered, and a charcoal dragon came to fly beside her. Korvin glared at her, eyes narrowed, smoke rising from his nostrils. "Amity, come back. Let them leave. The salvanae have remained loyal, and they're as fierce as griffins. Many warriors too remain, and we'll find more in the north."
Amity turned her head and gazed back toward the mountains. The salvanae still hovered over the foothills, the legendary true dragons of the west. Their bodies were a hundred feet long, slim and scaled and gleaming, and beards grew from their chins. From this distance they seemed like serpents floating on water. They were mighty warriors, Amity knew, able to cast lightning from their maws. Beneath them, thousands of men remained, armed with swords and spears, loyal to her, the slayer of their old king.
Is Korvin right? she thought. When combined with the forces waiting in Hakan Teel in the north, will it be enough to crush the Commonwealth?
"Do not let your pride lead you to insanity," Korvin said as they glided over those troops who had abandoned her. "I have seen what obsession can do, Amity. Do not risk your life."
She whipped her head toward him, glared, and spat smoke his way. "I am not Beatrix. I am not a madwoman. I do what I do for Requiem. I would fight for her. I would die for her." She snarled. "I will swarm onto the shores of Old Requiem with all the might of the south—of all the south—and my roar will send the Temple crashing down."
She beat her wings and flew faster, leaving him behind.
"Shafel!" she shouted. "Shafel, come face me, coward! We're no longer above holy ground." She blasted fire his way, and sparks rained down onto the hosts below. "I challenge you!"
The griffins were flying over the grasslands ahead. At the sound of her challenge, they turned as one, a hundred beasts, and all came flying toward her.
"Damn it, Amity!" Korvin said. He turned his head northward. "Salvanae, fly! Salvanae, to us—"
Amity slapped him with her tail. "No. I need no aid." She narrowed her eyes, growling, staring at the approaching griffins. "I'll slay them all myself."
With a roar, she charged forth and blasted out her fire.
The griffins scattered, rose higher, then swooped toward her. Their talons reached out, and their riders fired arrows.
Amity howled and blasted her dragonfire every which way. Arrows caught fire and burned. She soared and crashed into the griffins.
Talons slammed against her, scraping across her red scales. A beak drove down into her shoulder, drawing blood. Amity ignored the pain. She roared, blasting out flame, and the inferno cascaded around her, an exploding star in the sky. She whipped her tail, lashed her claws, snapped her jaws, and cried out as arrows slammed into her.
The griffins surrounded her, a ring of fur and feathers. Their beaks slammed into her. Their talons cut her. She roared, burning them. Fur ignited and feathers burned. A rider screamed, bathed in fire. Amity rose higher, closed her jaws around another rider, and cut the man in half. She tugged her head back, the rider's upper torso in her mouth, and spat it out. She swung her tail, slamming its spikes into a griffin, digging deep into its hide.
"Face me alone, Shafel!" Amity shouted, blood and organs in her mouth. "Are you a coward? Face me without your brutes!"
"Move aside, warriors!" Shafel shouted. "Make way."
The other griffins swerved, and Shafel swooped toward Amity, lance gleaming.
Amity soared, shaking off blood, and blew her fire.
The jet blasted forth, screaming like a storm, blue in its center, exploding out with white and red.
The griffin before her screeched and reared in the sky. The fire crashed against its jeweled breastplate and blazed out in every direction, raining back down against Amity. She kept rising, crying out, jaws opened wide and claws outstretched.
Shafel stood in his saddle and thrust his lance.
Amity swerved.
The blade—long as a human arm—sliced along her flank, tearing out scales, digging a gash across her from shoulder to hip. Scales and blood rained, and Amity screamed.
The griffin flew past her, then spun around and prepared to charge again. A ring of other griffins closed all around Amity, above and below, hiding the world. Their eyes blazed, and their riders leered.
As Amity spun to face Shafel and his griffin again, fear flooded her.
Was Korvin right?
Pain blazed across her, and her blood kept dripping. Shafel readied his spear, and his griffin charged again.
Amity sneered.
No fear.
She charged forward.
Fire and blood.
She roared, soared higher, and blew her fire. The inferno rained down onto the griffin's back.
Shafel raised his shield, screaming as the fire cascaded across the metal disk. Amity kept spewing down her flame. The fire reached around the griffin's armor and ignited its wings. Feathers blazed. Amity let her fire die, grabbed Shafel's shield, and tugged it free, exposing the man beneath. She lashed down her jaws, prepared to rip him apart.
His griffin swooped, then soared again. Shafel's lance drove into Amity's wing.
She cried out in pain, in fear, in rage. She swiped her claws and shattered the spear's shaft, but its top half still pierced her. She tried to beat her wings. She could barely fly.
Shafel's griffin burned, wings ablaze, but would not fall. The beast rose higher and slammed into Amity.
She yowled and tumbled through the sky, spinning madly. The hundred other griffins spun around her, a sea of endless wings and beaks and talons. They grabbed at her. They scratched her. They bit her. Their riders laughed and fired their arrows, and Amity knew she was going to die.
Fire blazed.
Gray scales flashed.
With a roar like thunder, Korvin soared into the sky, leading a host of salvanae.
The true dragons bugled, a cry like stones falling into subterranean pools, like silver trumpets, like ancient songs. Their crystal eyes shone, large as human heads and topped with long lashes. Their beards streamed like banners, and their scales glimmered, bright as polished coins. Lightning bolts blasted out from their jaws to slam into the griffins attacking Amity.
Korvin flew at their lead, blowing fire. His flames slammed into Shafel and his griffin.
"He's mine!" Amity roared. She was bleeding, hurt, maybe dying, but still she swooped. "Back off, Korvin!"
His dragonfire kept blazing across Shafel and the griffin. Amity dived right through the flames, reached out her claws, and plucked Shafel out from the inferno.
She soared, crashing through griffins and salvanae, clutching the burnt Shafel in her jaws. She rose higher and higher, emerging from the smoke and flame, then flew over the battle until she glided above the army below.
She spat out Shafel and caught him in her claws. He was still alive, his face melted away, his molten armor dripping over his red flesh. He was nothing but a chunk of metal molded with skin and muscle and burning blood, his ruin of a mouth gasping, his charred fingers twitching.
Amity tossed back her head and roared.
"See me, Horde!" she cried out. The lance still pierced her wing, and her flank still bled, but still she cried out to the people below, to the griffins who still flew behind her. "Hear me! I am Amity, Queen of the Horde! I hold the dying ruin of Shafel who defied me. So shall be the fate of any who challenge the Queen of the Horde!"
With that, she tossed Shafel into the air and blew out dragonfire. The jet slammed into Shafel, melting what remained of his armor, burning what remained of his flesh, extinguishing what remained of his life. The burning corpse fell like a comet. People rushed aside below, and the charred ruin slammed into the ground.
"Kneel before me!" Amity shouted, scattering flame all around. "Worship me!"
Below her, the deserters knelt. A chant rose among them.
"Queen Amity! Queen Amity!"
Smoke rising from her jaws and nostrils, she spun in the sky toward the surviving griffins and salvanae. The flying beasts stared at her, many burnt and bleeding.
"Lead the people back to the mountains," Amity said, blasting out sparks of fire. "We travel north. Across the desert. To the coast, then across the sea." She sneered. "To the Commonwealth."
She spun around, the lance still in her wing, and flew until she reached the mountains again. She landed on the mountaintop, a dragon wreathed in fire and light, and resumed human form.
She collapsed onto the stone, shivering, bleeding.
I did it, she thought, trembling, her blood staining the stone. They're mine. The Horde is mine.
The sun set around her, its light gilding the army below. Her army.
Wings beat and Korvin landed beside her. Healers leaped off his back, three women clad in the red robes of their order. They rushed toward Amity with bandages and ointment and prayer beads.
As they tended to her wounds, Korvin knelt beside her. At first his eyes were hard, but then they softened and he touched her hair.
"That was foolish, Amity. But I'm glad you're alive. Stars, don't do anything so foolish again."
"You shouldn't have helped me," she whispered, then grimaced as the healers rubbed ointment onto her wounds. She managed a grin. "I'd have looked stronger defeating him myself."
"You'd have been a corpse for Shafel to parade to his troops." He held her hand. "You must learn wisdom."
She cried out in pain as the healers splashed ointments into a wound, then managed another shaky smile and wink. "I'll leave wisdom to you, old man. I'll take the guts and glory."
As they wrapped bandages around her, the sun vanished and darkness cloaked the mountain. Holding Korvin's hand against her breast, Amity slept.
ROEN
He held Fidelity close as the world burned around them.
Ash rained from the sky, and trees burned on the horizons. Smoke churned above like clouds, and the smell of the fallen forest filled their nostrils. As Roen held Fidelity against him, he lowered his head, consumed with his love for her, with his grief for his father, with his grief for the forest.
Old Hollow, the most ancient oak in the woods, had burned. All the trees around it, millions of souls, had fallen in the fire. The maples he had tended to since they were saplings. The pine he had nursed back to health after a lightning strike. The coiling network of mossy roots, fallen logs, boulders rising from piles of fallen leaves—all living things to him, beings as wise as men. The animals of the forest—the swift hawks and falcons, the deer, the scurrying mice, the dragonflies and fireflies, all dearer to him than humans. All fallen to the fire. All gone. The forest that had been his home had been a nation to him, a nation as real as Requiem.
That nation is gone.
"I will no longer hear the birds," he whispered, voice hoarse. "I will never more watch dapples of sunlight dance upon fallen leaves. I will never more hear the rustle of branches, never more see the beauty of mist floating through aut
umn foliage, never more smell the fresh green spring, never more feel the crumbly soil beneath my fingers and the smooth trunk of Old Hollow." He rested his chin on Fidelity's head, squeezing her against him. "But I have you, Fidelity, and I promise to always protect you. To defend you like I could not defend the forest."
She placed her hand against his cheek. She stared at him through her battered spectacles; one of the lenses had smashed in the mad flight. Her golden braid hung across her shoulder, its tip seared. Burn marks spread across her clothes.
"I'm so sorry, Roen. I'm so sorry." She held him close and whispered into his ear. "You never wanted to fight this war. You wanted to remain in Old Hollow. With your forest. With your father. I came into your life, and now . . . now both are lost, and I cannot tell you how sorry I am, how much I grieve." She looked up at him again. "How much I love you."
He held her hands and squeezed them. "For a long time, I didn't understand. I didn't know why you cared so much for Requiem, for a fallen kingdom. But I know now. I understand. Requiem to you is like the forest, a memory of something precious, something lost. Something that meant the world, that meant countless lives all woven together into something beautiful. And you lost Requiem as I lost the forest. But we'll keep fighting, Fidelity. Always. To remember them. To keep the memory alive of both Requiem and its woods."
"And we'll plant saplings," she said. "In the ashes of the burnt forest. And we'll plant the seeds of Requiem and her memory across the Commonwealth. We'll regrow, rebuild, remember. I promise you. Together."
Her leg was cut and bandaged, and Roen lifted her in his arms. He carried her through the charred remains of the land as ash rained. She was a precious, broken doll to him, bandaged, burnt, her spectacles smashed, her eyes pained, her heart shattered. He could no longer save his father, could no longer save his forest, but he could save Fidelity. He could cherish her, heal her, keep fighting with her.
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