The female paladin, the one who had flown here with him on her firedrake, moved her mount to stand closer to Gemini. She wasn't bad-looking, Gemini thought--young, pretty, her hair golden.
The priests should have sent her to my bed, Gemini thought, trying to imagine her without her armor on.
"My lord," she said, "the man you burned was dear to Lady Mercy. She will hear of this, my lord."
"Oh, I hope she does." Gemini licked his lips. "I hope she hears and screams. I hope she screams so loudly the entire city of Nova Vita hears. Do not worry, my darling. My sister is far, far in the north across the sea, and the southern continent, well . . . this is our domain." He stared into the paladin's blue eyes. "Serve me well, my dear, and you will rise high in my favor. What's your name?"
"Kaela, my lord."
He nodded. "I'll remember you, Kaela. Do not forget what you saw here today. Do not forget what happens to those who disobey me, who refuse to kneel before me. They burn, my sweet Kaela. But those who kneel will be blessed."
His eyes strayed down to her breastplate, but then Gemini clenched his jaw and looked away. No. He would not think of other women now. Those days were behind him. All he cared about was Domi--healing her, being with her again.
Finally the troops returned, bringing with them armor, weapons, food, and a bearded old healer. Soon Gemini was flying again. He was still filthy, unwashed, stinking, but he wore armor again. A sword hung from his thigh, food filled a pack across his back, and an old healer sat behind him in the saddle.
You cannot stop me, Mercy, he thought as he flew back toward the hill, leaving the other firedrakes behind. No one can. You hurt Domi. You hurt her badly, and you will pay.
He landed back on the hill, dismounted, and led the healer toward Domi in her cave.
"Heal her," Gemini demanded.
The healer knelt and gently undid the bandage on Domi's leg.
"Spirit," Gemini whispered, grimacing. The wound stank. He could smell it even standing outside the cave. Gangrene was spreading through the cut, and pus dripped down Domi's leg. The wound was raw, open, revealing rotten flesh within.
Oh Domi, Gemini thought.
The healer shook his head sadly. He looked back at Gemini. "It's a bad wound, my lord. It festered for too long. I'll have to amputate the leg."
Gemini growled. He grabbed the old man's collar. "You bloody butcher! Is that how you treat wounded soldiers? Chopping off wounds rather than healing them?" His eyes stung, and he barked a laugh. "Those days are over for you. You will not be lazy here. You will save her leg, or it will be your leg chopped off. Heal her!"
The healer gulped and opened his pack, revealing bottles of ointments, stitches, and scalpels. "I must at least cut out the rotted flesh. It will leave a bad scar, but . . ."
"Do it." Gemini ground his teeth so hard he thought they might snap. "Save her. I order you to save her."
As the healer chose his proper tools, Gemini knelt by Domi and stroked her hair. Her forehead was hot, sweaty, her eyes glazed.
"I'm here, Domi." His voice was soft, shaking. "I'm here with a healer. You're going to be fine now." He squeezed her hand. "I promise."
"Did you bring me cake?" she whispered.
His eyes stung. "I did."
Even as feverish sweat dampened her brow, her eyes widened. "You did?"
He opened his pack and pulled out a bun thick with nuts and fruits and glazed with honey. "I'm not sure what this is, but they eat it in the south. I think it counts as a cake."
He fed her a bite. She chewed slowly. "It's good," she whispered.
"Drink some water." He held a fresh canteen over her lips.
She drank, then smiled wanly. "What luxury. Almost beats the Temple."
The healer cleared his throat. He had arranged an assortment of scalpels, needles, thread, and ointments before him. "My lord, I'm ready to begin. It will . . . cause pain. You'll have to hold her down."
Gemini's eyes dampened, and a lump filled his throat. "Begin." Gently, he placed his hand on Domi's shoulder.
"My lord." The healer hesitated. "You'll have to hold her wrists. To pin them down."
Gemini growled, the rage rising in him again. "What are you going to do to her, butcher?"
"I will try to heal her, my lord. As you requested. Please, my lord. Hold her down."
He held her down.
The healer got to work.
And she screamed.
"You're killing her!" Gemini shouted.
"Hold her down!" was the only reply.
"I'm going to kill you, you butcher! I'm going to--"
"Hold her down, my lord! I must cut out the diseased flesh."
Gemini trembled with rage, and his tears fell, but he held Domi down as she screamed and thrashed, as the butcher cut at her, pulling out bits of her, widening the wound, letting the sandy pus flow out. She kept screaming, and below in the valley, Gemini's new firedrake screamed too as if feeling Domi's pain.
"He's almost done, Domi," he whispered and kissed her feverish brow. "Almost done."
The healer pulled out a needle and thread. And Domi screamed again, and Gemini nearly passed out but forced himself to look, forced himself to gaze at that gaping wound.
You did this, Mercy. You hurt her. How you will scream.
It seemed ages before the healer completed his work. The rot had been removed, the diseased flesh cut out, the wound stitched. It was not a clean stitch; it sank down, a valley in her leg. Part of that leg had been removed. It would never return, Gemini knew.
But you're still perfect, Domi. You're still beautiful.
She was sleeping again, sweat drying on her forehead.
"I will apply ointment to the cut, and I will change her bandage every day," said the healer. "I don't know if the rot will return. If we're lucky, her leg will heal."
Gemini nodded. "This ointment here? The white one?"
"Yes, my lord. I suggest returning her to our camp, where I can continue to treat her."
Something hard and cold filled Gemini's throat. "You want her . . . back at the camp. Why?" He clenched his fist. "Do you want to boast of your prowess? To speak of her to anyone? What are you after, old man?"
The healer glanced up from his work; he was busy applying the ointment. "My lord, I seek only to heal, to--"
"Only to heal? And yet you flew here with an army! You flew here under Mercy's banners, flew with the force that burned the town, that slew thousands, that sank ships, that hurt Domi. Do you serve my sister still? Do you send your secret words to her?"
Gemini trembled with rage. He couldn't trust this man. He couldn't trust anyone. Mercy was still scouring the world for Domi and the other weredragons. None must know of this cave. None must know that Domi had survived the assault. This man would speak. He--
"I'm done with my work, my lord," said the old healer, interrupting his thoughts. "Would you care to return to the camp now?"
"Oh no." Gemini rose to his feet and smiled thinly. "You will not be returning there, my friend. Your tongue is too loose, your words worse than the poison you drew from this wound." He drew his sword.
The healer gasped, rose to his feet, and scampered backward. "But . . . my lord! Please, my lord! You need me to heal, to--"
"I already have your ointments." He stepped closer, sword raised.
The healer fell to his knees and groveled. "Please, my lord. Please spare my life. I'm only an old healer. I only seek to serve you. I would never speak of the girl, I promise you, my lord, I--"
Gemini burst out laughing. "Calm down, old man! Don't worry. I still have some use for you."
The healer looked up with red-rimmed eyes. "You do, my lord?"
Gemini nodded as he thrust his sword into the old man's chest, leaning forward to drive the blade deep. "Of course. My new firedrake is hungry, and there's nothing like fresh meat to sate its appetite."
Gemini laughed and kicked the corpse downhill. It rolled down the slope, crushing anemones, breaking
against the granite stones. As Domi slept, the firedrake feasted, and Gemini smiled. He turned to gaze at the sea.
"You tried to drown me in those waters, Mercy," he whispered. "You tried to burn Domi. But we're still here. We're still alive and fighting, sweet sister." As the firedrake guzzled down the old man's legs, Gemini's grin widened. "And we're coming for you."
CADE
The two dragons were gliding through the night when the shrieks rose behind them.
"Cade!" Amity said. "You're squeaking. Did you eat something bad? Are you gassy?"
The red dragon flew at his side, nearly invisible in the darkness. Her wings stretched wide, rippling in the wind.
"That wasn't me." He glanced behind him. "The sound came from back there." He shuddered, golden scales chinking. "Firedrakes?"
He tried to peer through the darkness but saw nothing. The moon was only a sliver, the stars shone, and the land below was nothing but blackness.
"I think it's your stomach." Amity puffed out a flicker of fire. The scales on her snout gleamed for an instant, then faded into shadow. "Must have been all those ribs you ate in the tavern."
"All those ribs I ate? If anyone's stomach would whine, it should be yours, and--" He shuddered. "There it is again."
The sound came from behind him again, but closer this time. It was a shrill cry like steam from a kettle, like shattering plates of steel. Cade shivered again. He was cold suddenly, colder than he should be in dragon form.
"Amity, ride me," he said.
She waggled her scaly brow. "Oh, Cade, my love."
He growled at her. "You know what I mean! Ride me as a human in your paladin armor. Dawn's rising, and I'd rather stick to our disguise."
She nodded. "Brace yourself."
She flapped her wings and rose to glide above him, then lowered herself down, all but slamming against him, still in dragon form. Her wings draped across him, and her weight nearly knocked him out of sky.
"Amity, as a human!" he groaned.
She craned her neck down, pressed her snout against his, and blasted smoke against him. "Oh, all right."
She released her magic, shrinking and shifting back into human form. When Cade looked over his shoulder, he saw Amity climbing into his saddle, the same saddle she had taken from the dead firedrake outside the tavern. She wore the dead paladin's armor. It was ill fitting, but when she lowered her visor and raised her lance, she looked like any other paladin, and he like any other firedrake. At least, Cade hoped so. Dawn was rising, and those shrieks sounded again behind him.
He turned around in the sky, facing south toward the sound, and couldn't suppress a shudder.
"Hey, stop shaking!" Amity said, slamming her spurs against his scales.
"Hush! Look." He pointed a claw. "I see something."
Four pale lights were gleaming in the distance. At first Cade thought them stars, but they were moving forward quickly, and screams rose from them again, wailing, echoing, unearthly, sounds like wobbling saws.
Cade turned back north. "I don't like those things, whatever they are. Hold on tight, Amity."
He beat his wings and flew faster, streaming across the sky. The sun emerged in the east, bathing the world in morning. He found himself flying over a cracked, forested landscape. Canyons plunged down in a coiling labyrinth, their walls green with moss, vines, and clinging trees. Natural pillars of sandstone, thousands of feet tall, soared up from gorges like the towers of men, flaring out toward crests lush with pines and ash trees. The forest spread across the bottom of canyons, the tops of pillars, and fragmented plateaus, forming several layers of greenery between walls of stone. On any other day, Cade would have marveled at the beauty of this landscape, but now he couldn't stop shivering.
When he looked over his shoulder, he saw frost spreading across his scales and Amity's armor. Winter had only begun, and they weren't that far north yet, but they might as well have been flying across the arctic. The cold seemed to be emanating from those distant lights. They were getting closer now, and Cade made out pale wings, riders in armor, and glowing eyes. Their screeches rose louder.
A hawk to Cade's right cawed and plunged toward the land. To his left, several blackbirds fell down dead. Frost coated trees upon the pillars of stone below. The trunks cracked, and the trees tumbled off the rocky pillars into the gorges.
"Cade, you really do have gas," Amity said. "Even the birds are dropping dead."
"I told you, it's not me!" He grimaced. "Whatever's following us is far worse than indigestion. And they're fast too." No matter how quickly he flew, the creatures behind were gaining on him. "We're landing and hiding until they fly by."
He glided lower in the sky and flew above a gorge that split the land. Pines grew alongside and below, and vines and moss covered the cliffs. A massive tower of stone rose from the pit, soaring thousands of feet high, a single island that had survived the gorge crumbling down around it. Upon its flaring crest grew a copse of pines, and Cade glided toward the trees. Mist floated below and more birds fell dead all around. Cade was so cold he could barely flap his wings, but he managed to reach the soaring steeple, grab its rim, and climb onto the top. There he released his magic, returning to human form.
"Oof!" Amity cried, falling down onto him. "You're all lumpy."
He lay, flattened beneath her. "Get off! Even your human form weighs as much as a dragon."
She dug her heels into his sides. "Keep carrying me."
He groaned. "Off!"
The creatures shrieked again, the sound louder now. Cade managed to shove Amity off, then rose to his feet and ran between the pines. She ran with him. The trees were thick, and lichen hung from their branches. They stood in the greenery, turned south, and stared across the gorge.
The creatures were flying over the gorge now, heading toward them. Cade shuddered, and this time it wasn't just from the cold. Even Amity grumbled and stamped her feet.
"What are they?" she asked, twisting her face in disgust.
Cade's teeth chattered. "Skeletons. Flying firedrake skeletons. Bonedrakes." He grimaced. "Fidelity told me about them once--old legends. The bones of dead firedrakes reanimated with the Spirit's light. I thought they were only legend."
He counted four of them. Even from this distance, their stench spun his head and roiled his stomach. Their wings were only shreds of skin stretched across bones. Pulsing balls of light thrummed within their ribcages like hearts, sending out tendrils of light that pooled in their skulls' eye sockets. The skeletons of paladins rode upon their backs, still wearing rusty armor and bearing chipped lances.
"Cade, you stink," Amity said, teeth knocking.
"It's not me, it's them!" He elbowed her. "And hush! Hide and wait for them to fly by."
They stood, hidden between the branches, watching, waiting. The creatures kept flying nearer and nearer. Soon they were so close Cade could count their bones.
They're too low. Cade grimaced. Fly higher, by the stars.
Yet the bonedrakes kept diving lower, heading toward the steeple of stone where Cade and Amity hid. Light blazed in their eye sockets. Those glowing orbs seemed to stare right at Cade, burning into him, searing him, searching inside him, scouring the innards of his skull. He grimaced. Amity doubled over beside him, blanching. Frost coated her hair, and icicles formed on her armor.
"They're . . . they're coming here," she whispered between chattering teeth.
Cade nodded, stepping farther back between the cover of the trees. "Come on."
He grabbed her, and they resumed running between the trees, heading toward the center of this jutting pillar of rock. Suddenly the pines shattered behind them. Cade looked over his shoulder to see the bonedrakes crashing into the copse, plowing through the trees like bulls charging through wild grass. Branches snapped and shattered. Trunks collapsed and roots jutted skyward, and the skeletons kept driving forth, the eye sockets blazing, their jaws opened and shrieking.
"They saw us!" Cade shouted, running forward.
"Sir Obvious to the rescue again!" Amity cried.
They kept running between the branches, then skidded to a stop. They had reached the edge of the stone pillar. The tower plunged down toward the distant gorge.
"Jump!" Amity cried and leaped into the air, dragging Cade with her.
Their legs kicked in midair, and they plunged downward toward the distant, forested floor of the gorge. The walls of cliffs blurred at their sides. As he fell, Cade looked up to see the bonedrakes crash between the last pines on the steeple and emerge into open sky again, shedding branches. The bonedrakes curved their flight, turning to swoop, heads facing downward. The light in their ribcages intensified, flowed along their spines, and blasted out of their jaws in beams.
Cade sucked in his magic, beat his wings, and rose as a golden dragon.
The beams of light shot under him, blazed across the gorge, and slammed into a wall of stone. Rocks tumbled down, and a hole gaped open in the cliff. Cade cursed and soared higher, dodging another beam. Amity flew at his side.
"Burn them with me!" the red dragon shouted, flew higher, then spun in the sky and charged.
Cade flew with her. The two dragons, gold and red, shot toward the bonedrakes and blasted dragonfire.
The flaming streams flowed through the bonedrakes, emerged from between the bones, and crashed into the rocky tower behind. The trees ignited. The bonedrakes flew on, unharmed, and blasted forth more light.
"Damn it!" Cade swerved to the right. Amity banked to the left. The beams shot between one, thrumming, icy cold, nearly blinding Cade.
He curbed the urge to flee. If these creatures were after Vir Requis, they could be hunting the others too. Cade growled and stormed forth, stretching out his claws. He dodged a blast of light, rose higher, and slammed into a bonedrake.
Bones cracked. The creature screamed. The paladin's skeleton on its back thrust its lance, and Cade pulled sideways. The rusty blade scraped across his scales, showering sparks. Cade growled and beat his wings, shoving the bonedrake across the sky until they slammed into the soaring stone steeple.
Dragons Rising Page 7