"We're home," she whispered, shifted back into human form, and slept.
At night she flew again, Gemini on her back, heading north--to the mountains, to the ruins of Draco Murus, and a dream of seeing her family again.
CADE
On a cold evening, Cade and Amity saw the Dair Ranin mountains in the distance.
"We're finally here," Cade said, gliding on the wind. "Oh stars, Amity. We're finally here."
Fear clanked his scales. He had been traveling for long days and nights to this place, a hinterland in the north of the Commonwealth. Fidelity and the others were to meet him here, but . . . so many leagues lay between these mountains and the southern coast of Terra where they had separated. So many bonedrakes and firedrakes filled the sky between here and there. What if the other Vir Requis had not survived?
"You reckon the others are here yet?" Amity asked, riding on his back, wearing her stolen paladin's armor. "I bet we're the first. We're fast. Faster than those flying turtles."
"You mean I'm fast," Cade said. "I'm the one doing all the flying."
"And I'm the one goading you on!" Amity had removed her spurs--blessedly--but still gave him hard jabs with her heels. "Go on, kid. Faster, faster!"
Cade did fly faster, though not because of her goading. He wanted to reach these mountains before dark, and he was desperate to see if the others were here. Korvin, his mentor. Fidelity, his dearest friend. Domi, the woman he loved. He would even be grateful to see Roen, the man Cade had once envied but had come to think of as a brother.
And will my real brother be here too? Gemini?
As he flew toward the mountains, Cade's belly soured. He felt sick whenever he thought about his true family. He didn't want to be a Deus. He didn't want to think of Mercy and Gemini, corrupt and cruel, sharing his blood. He didn't want to think of Beatrix, a mistress of evil, being his mother.
My only family is Requiem, he thought, tightening his lips. Requiem and Eliana.
Just as much as Cade missed his fellow Vir Requis, he missed Eliana. She still lived in the Cured Temple, and Cade knew that he had to capture that Temple, not just for Requiem but for Eliana too.
You are my true sister, Eliana, not Mercy, he thought. Even if you don't share my blood.
He flew as the sun began to set. The mountains spread below him in a jagged wilderness, their crests capped with snow. Cade saw no human settlements, no roads, no forts, no sign of civilization for miles. He could have been flying above a primordial world, one without life. All was rocky slopes, snowy crests, icy valleys, barren and cold.
"Where are the damn ruins?" Amity said. As the sun dipped below the horizon, she leaped off Cade's back and shifted into a red dragon. She glided at his side. "I don't see anything."
"That's because it's night," Cade said.
She growled and lit with sky with dragonfire. "It's day now."
He jabbed her with his tail. "Stop that! Your fire can be seen for miles."
Amity snorted. "So? Nothing here for miles. Nothing but damn mountains and damn snow and a damn kid who thinks he's a warrior." She slapped him right back with her own tail. "We're supposed to find Draco Murus, ancient ruins. They could be anywhere here."
"Not anywhere. I saw them on a map. They lie on a northwestern peak, just before the land slopes down to the plains that lead to Terius Sea." Cade stared down, squinting. The last glow of sunlight was fading in the west. "Hard to even tell mountain apart from valley in the darkness." He sighed. "We'll camp until dawn."
They flew down and found a valley in the shadows, and they slept in dragon forms, curled up into warm balls. They awoke at dawn covered in snow, and they flew again, searching the mountains for hours, for many leagues, finding nothing but the stone and ice.
Finally at noon, where the mountains sloped down toward the snowy plains of the north, they saw the ruins upon the mountaintop.
"It's just a pile of rocks!" said Amity. She was riding on his back again.
"What did you think 'ruins' means, Amity?"
"Don't get smart, kid. I expected something more . . . grand. Marble columns soaring skyward, gargoyles the size of dragons, snowy statues . . . maybe a few holes in the roof due to age. This is nothing but a hole."
Cade stared down at the snowy remains of Draco Murus. "There's . . . still an archway," he said, trying to sound hopeful.
"Half an archway. And nothing else."
"Maybe all the grand palaces are buried in the snow."
"And maybe," said Amity, "Fidelity chose this place because the last book she read had been written five thousand years ago. It's bad enough that girl chose a place halfway across the empire, she had to choose a dump."
Cade sighed and began gliding downward. "I don't care how ravaged it is. I just wanted to find the others here, but I don't see them anywhere. Let's land and take a closer look."
They landed on the snowy mountaintop. The broken archway rose above them--two old, chipped columns, the arch between them fallen. The keystone peeked from the snow; the rest was buried. Judging by the height of the columns, Draco Murus had once been a massive fortress, hundreds of feet tall, a place to rival even the Cured Temple in the capital of Nova Vita. When Cade dug through the snow with his claws, however, he found nothing but fallen bricks.
"Maybe we're just the first ones here," Cade said. "We're fast after all, as you said." He tried to keep his spirits up. "Maybe the others will arrive soon."
Amity grunted, blasting out smoke. The red dragon walked around the mountaintop, flicking away snow with her tail. "And maybe they're dead."
"They're not--"
"How do you know?" she demanded, and suddenly her eyes were damp. "You don't know anything, boy. You don't! You just . . . just cling to stupid hope, and--" She lowered her head. "Those damn bonedrakes, Cade. And those damn firedrakes, and damn paladins, and those damn ships, and all those damn dead people." She trembled, scales chinking. "And now we're here, and they're not here, and I'm scared, and I don't know what happened to Korvin." She beat her wings, soared into the sky, and cried out. "Korvin, you bastard! Where are you? Where are you?"
"Amity!" Cade cried from below. "Hush! It's not safe."
But the red dragon kept crying out, hovering above the ruins. The beating of her wings blasted snow into the air, and the sound of her voice sent drifts sliding down the slopes. "Korvin! Korvin, do you hear me?"
"Amity!" Cade said again, struggling to stay standing as the snow slid all around him. He was about to take flight when a great chunk of snow, loosened by Amity's uproar, crashed down the mountainside, revealing . . .
"A staircase!" Cade said. "Amity, look, there's a staircase going into the mountain!"
She landed back on the mountaintop, and the two dragons stared together. The stairs were rough, carved from stone. The snow covered all but the first three steps. Cade began to dig, his claws tossing back snow and revealing more steps that led down into shadows.
He returned to human form and began to climb downstairs. A moment later, Amity followed.
They found themselves in a dark, clammy cellar. Snow covered the floor and frost coated the rough brick walls. A few discarded glass bottles, the ash from pipes, and chicken bones lay in the corner, looking far newer than these ancient ruins.
Cade knelt by the trash. "Were the others here and left?"
Amity kicked a few chicken bones aside and lifted fallen dice she found in the corner. "Templer stuff. Soldiers were here, perhaps guarding the mountaintop in the summer before the snow drove them out." She lifted one of the bottles, dusted it off, and found it half full. She tugged out the cork with her teeth, sniffed, and grinned. "Brandy. Cheap brandy, but I'm not picky. You like brandy, kid?"
"I don't know. Never tried it."
Amity sat down with a groan, leaned against the wall, and splayed out her legs. "Sit down and try it. We might be waiting here for a while."
He sat down, wincing. He was still scraped and bruised from the battle in the gorge, every
movement hurt, and the cold wasn't helping. He leaned against the wall beside Amity and stretched out his legs too, a little embarrassed that they didn't reach as far as hers.
Amity took a sip, sloshed the drink in her mouth, and swallowed. "I've had worse. I'm more of a rye drinker myself--brandy's for girls and fancy folk--but it beats drinking melted snow." She passed Cade the bottle. "Drink."
He took the bottle, sipped, and wrinkled his nose. "It's too sweet and . . . vinegary." He coughed and felt his cheeks flush.
Amity laughed and pinched one of those cheeks. "You're turning into a lobster already. This doesn't bode well. We've still got half a bottle to drink." She drank again. "I don't intend to leave any for the others when they get here."
Cade lowered his head. "If they get here. I'm scared, Amity. We faced so many of those bonedrakes and we barely escaped. If not for crushing them in the cave, they'd have slain us in open sky. Every minute without the other Vir Requis arriving, I worry. Sometimes I wonder if they even made it across the sea at all, or if Mercy slew them over the water."
Amity passed him the bottle, and he drank a second time. It seemed less sweet now, and he was grateful for the haze it was already bringing to his head.
"My parents died over the water, you know." Amity took the bottle back and drank deeply, then wiped her lips. "Firedrakes burned them down. It's always the stars-damn water where this shite happens."
Cade turned to look at her. Amity stared at the opposite wall, not turning toward him, and still held the bottle. Her blond hair was damp with the snow, falling across her ears and forehead, almost long enough now to reach her chin. Beneath the grime of their journey, her cheeks were flushed pink--whether from the cold, brandy, or memories, Cade did not know. She had let her cloak fall open, revealing the leather armor beneath. That armor was now shredded, its rents revealing scabbed skin.
"I'm sorry, Amity," Cade said softly.
She spat across the room, almost hitting the opposite wall, and passed him the bottle. "We all got these stories. You do too. So do all Vir Requis these days. I just hope we're not the last." She gave him a crooked smile and raised an eyebrow. "I'd hate to be stuck here with you forever, the last two of our race, forced to breed and continue the legacy of Requiem."
Cade's cheeks now heated up even before he drank again. He raised the bottle to his lips and gulped brandy. Amity burst out laughing.
"You're blushing!" she said and mussed his hair.
"It's the cold." He passed her the bottle. "And the drink."
She took it from him but did not drink. Instead she stared at him, head lowered, smile crooked. She reached out and caressed one of those blushing cheeks of his.
"You're cute when you blush."
"You're . . . cute when you're not . . . yelling. Which is rare."
Her hand strayed down to rest on his thigh, and she leaned against him. She drank again, then passed him the bottle, and he drank deeply.
"We might be the last," she whispered into his ear. "The last two Vir Requis, all the others gone, doomed to remain here forever, two survivors, alone in the cold."
He gulped. What cold? He felt hotter than dragonfire, especially his thigh where her hand still rested. With her other hand, she turned his head toward her.
"I'm not cold," he said. He could think of nothing better to say.
"Neither am I," she whispered, leaned forward, and kissed his cheek.
Heat exploded across Cade's body. What was Amity doing? What was he doing, sitting pressed against her, and why was he suddenly stroking her hair? Why was he suddenly kissing her, and why was the bottle rolling away from them, and why were her arms around his back, his arms around her, their mouths locked together?
"I want to make you forget all your pain," Amity said. "I want to have one last night of warmth with you, Cade. The world might freeze or burn tomorrow. If we're to end, let us end like this."
This was wrong. He knew it was wrong.
"But . . . Domi," he said. "Korvin. They--"
"They're not married to us." Amity spoke between kisses. "We are free souls, Cade! Two free adults, and you're an adult now too. Show me what you know how to do." She nibbled his bottom lip, grinning. "And let me teach you the rest."
Her hands tugged at his clothes, and he shut his eyes, and he forgot about everything but her.
Cade had made love before--to Domi out in the field, and it had been a gentle, beautiful, tender thing, a thing of grass and dawn and softness. There was nothing gentle, tender, or soft about Amity. They moved together like wild beasts. She growled, scratched her fingernails down his back, bruised his body as they rolled, tangled together, kissing, biting, scratching, forgetting, drowning their pain in the heat and passion. And soon he forgot about the war. And soon he forgot about Domi. All he knew was Amity's body against him, sweeter and more intoxicating than the brandy.
Finally--it felt like hours later--they lay side by side, naked under a cloak. Amity gulped down the last of the brandy.
"Wish I had a pipe," she said.
Cade began to pull his clothes back on, and suddenly guilt filled him--guilt greater than the cold, the lingering sweetness of Amity's lovemaking, or the brandy still floating in his head. He loved Domi! Didn't he? He had made love to her in the field last autumn, and now . . . how could he have done this?
Yet when he looked back at Amity, his blood heated again. His eyes strayed down to her nakedness, and already he wanted to make love to her again. Domi had been delicate, almost fragile, a pale little doll, but Amity was wild and fiery and Cade gulped. What if they were the last? What if he could do that again and again with Amity, and--
A distant shriek, coming from outside the cellar, interrupted his thoughts.
Cade froze.
"Bonedrakes," he whispered.
Amity leaped to her feet, snarling, and tugged on her armor and cloak. She made to leap toward the staircase and race outside.
"Wait!" Cade whispered, holding her back. "Wait and hide. It might not know we're here."
They drew their swords--curved blades they had carried all the way from Terra--and stood together in the cellar, facing the stairway. The screech rose again from outside, curdling Cade's blood. Both he and Amity grimaced. Tendrils of ice spread across the cellar's bricks. The bonedrake was drawing nearer, blasting out cold even worse than the winter.
It screeched again. The sound shook the cellar. Chunks of ice fell down the stairs. The walls creaked and a brick cracked. Cade covered his ears, almost dropping his sword, and the screech rose again and again, getting closer.
"It can smell us," Amity muttered. "We fight it outside. You with me Cade?"
He nodded. "We race out and I'll shift. You ride me and try to stab the glowing light in its chest."
They took deep breaths and began to race up the stairs.
They had only climbed five steps when the bonedrake thrust its skull down the staircase. Lights blazed in its eye sockets and gullet.
"Back!" Cade shouted, leaping downstairs and tugging Amity with him.
Light gathered and beamed out from the bonedrake's jaws.
Cade and Amity fell to the floor and rolled aside.
The beam drove across the chamber and slammed into the opposite wall, melting the bricks, digging a hole into the stone. Cade grimaced, nearly deafened, nearly blind. He realized he had dropped his sword. He pushed himself against the wall beside the staircase, unable to stifle a scream as the light kept crashing into the chamber.
"Amity!" he shouted over the shrieking light. "Amity, are you there?"
Her cry rose from the other side of the beam. She too was pressed against the wall. "I'm here! Wait till the light dies and charge at it!"
But that light kept blazing. The bricks across the cellar melted and fell, and cracks raced across the ceiling. Cade had no chance to escape up the staircase, not without the beam searing him. He had no room to shift, not without the cellar walls crushing his dragon form. He and Amity were trapped.
He leaned down, grabbed a fallen bottle, and lobbed it up the staircase. The light washed across the glass, melting it. Cade winced and pushed himself back against the wall.
We're trapped.
Even as the light blasted into the cellar, the bonedrake's claws thrust down the stairs, digging ruts into the stone. Cade leaped aside but was too slow. One of the claws slashed his arm. He cried out and the claws kept digging, widening the opening, thrusting into the cellar and shattering bricks.
We're going to die here.
Cade pressed himself into the corner, weaponless, hopeless, as the claws and light moved toward him.
FIDELITY
They flew above the mountains, a charcoal dragon and a blue dragon, when they saw the bonedrake burrowing among the ruins.
"Stars," Fidelity whispered. Her heart sank and icy fear spread through her like frost through a hollowed oak.
For the first time in her life, she could see clearly, even in dragon form. Giant spectacles, each lens the size of a human head, rested upon her scaly snout. Old Master Feris Lensmaker, a wizened old man scuttling through his shop in New Confutatis, had made them for her. Fidelity had claimed they were for her firedrake, a pet which just happened to have the same level of nearsightedness. Whether Ferin had believed her story or not, she could not say, but in any case, he had made her these massive spectacles of metal and glass. Fidelity had lingered in New Confutatis for a full three days, waiting for the work to be completed, and she had paid with her last gold coins, but stars--the wait and cost had been worth it. Finally, to fly and see clearly! To see the mountains, the streams, the birds flying around her, and . . .
And our enemy, she thought, staring at the bonedrake again.
"Father!" she whispered urgently. The bonedrake had not yet seen them.
Korvin nodded and flew closer toward her. Smoke plumed up from his nostrils. Fidelity glided above him, lowered herself, and released her magic. She slapped down onto the gray dragon's back, clad in her old armor of the Horde, and scuttled forward to sit across his shoulders. She wore her smaller spectacles now--another pair she had bought in the city--and she carried a spear she had made herself from a branch. Dragonfire wasn't much use against bonedrakes. To kill those beasts, you needed a lance.
Dragons Rising Page 11