Dragons Rising

by Daniel Arenson

  I'm glad to be flying with you, Cade, she thought, gazing at him.

  She stared ahead at the sky and land. The Dair Ranin mountains rolled below, sloping down toward the plains. The sun set over western forests, the wilderness where the ancient Vir Requis had first risen thousands of years ago. The stars emerged above. The winter night was clear, and the Draco constellation shone upon her. Domi stared up at that celestial dragon, and for the second time in her life, the second time in only a day, Domi prayed to those stars.

  Please, stars of Requiem, if you can hear my prayers, help us in this battle. The hope of Requiem rests on a knife's edge. If we fall, so will King's Column. If we perish, so will all memory of Requiem. Please, stars, light our path this battle. Give us strength.

  It seemed to her like the dragon constellation was watching her. The eye of the dragon, Issari's Star, shone brighter than the others, silvery and comforting, though Domi did not know if she imagined that comfort or if the stars could truly hear.

  Perhaps they're nothing but lights, she thought. Perhaps they're simply distant lanterns with no consciousness or pity.

  The stars dipped above, then grew brighter.

  Domi narrowed her eyes and gasped.

  Had the stars heard her prayer? Were they giving her a sign?

  She stared ahead, gasping. Many stars were moving now, streaming across the sky, growing brighter and brighter, and she could hear a shrill whistling, and--

  Her heart seemed to freeze.

  She sucked in breath and cried out, "Bonedrakes!"

  Twenty or more flew from the distance. These were not stars but the bright, pale hearts of the beasts. Their screeches rose louder, tearing across the sky. Beams of their light shot across the sky. Though the creatures were still miles away, the beams blazed past Domi and the others. One shot so close above Domi, she was almost blinded, could feel the searing heat against her back.

  "We have to hide!" Gemini cried on her back, digging his heels into Domi's flanks.

  She ignored the paladin. She reared in the sky, clawed the air, and roared. "Requiem, to war!"

  The cries rose around her as four other dragons roared. "Remember Requiem!"

  Five dragons streamed across the sky, crying out. "Requiem, Requiem!"

  The bonedrakes streamed forth toward them.

  The dragons charged.

  Blasts of light shot out, and the dragons scattered, dodging the beams. One ray shot right beneath Domi, and she leaped upward, then dived down, avoiding a second beam. Light shone to her left, and she banked right hard. Gemini clung to her back, crying out wordlessly. And still beams kept shooting out, and still Domi and the others flew.

  She was only a few hundred yards away when three beams all blasted together toward her.

  Domi dipped, dodging one, and swerved left, avoiding another.

  The third beam slammed into her chest.

  She cried out, expecting pain, but the beam shattered against her glassy armor, blasting out in smaller rays in all the colors of the rainbow. Across the sky, the other dragons flew closer, no longer able to dodge every ray of light. The beams hit their translucent armor too, breaking apart. Lines of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple shot across the sky as the light scattered.

  The dragons kept charging, roaring.

  They blasted forth their fire.

  The flames slammed against the bonedrakes, and the creatures screeched horribly, knocked back in the sky.

  But without flesh to burn, the bonedrakes kept flying. They emerged from the flames, charred but still flapping their wings, and the riders on their backs--paladin skeletons in rusty armor--aimed their lances.

  "Requiem, arrows!" Korvin roared.

  Together, the five dragons soared higher, then released their dragon magic.

  They fell through the sky. With Domi's saddle shifted into her human form, Gemini fell with her.

  Beams of light hit them, glancing off their armor.

  They fell below the bonedrakes and raised bows. They nocked arrows. They fired.

  Several arrows missed their targets. Another glanced off a bonedrake's rib. But one arrow--Domi's own--hit true. It slid between a bonedrake's ribs and into its heart.

  The light exploded.

  The bonedrake shattered.

  "Into dragons!" Korvin shouted.

  They shifted back into dragon forms and soared. Domi grabbed Gemini before he could fall and tossed him back into the saddle. She kept rising higher. Above, the bonedrakes swooped, light blasting out, scattering off the dragons' armor.

  "Fire!" Korvin cried.

  Dragonfire blasted skyward in five pillars, crashing into the beams of light, exploding, washing over the bonedrakes, blinding the creatures.

  Dragons and bonedrakes slammed together.

  Scales and bones cracked. Jaws bit. Claws lashed. Blasting fire and whipping their tails, the five dragons burst through the crowd of bonedrakes and rose toward the stars.

  "Arrows!" Domi cried out, releasing her magic.

  She tumbled down as a human, growling as the wind whipped her cloak and hair. The bonedrakes flew up toward them, and the five Vir Requis--all falling in human forms--fired down their arrows.

  Two more bonedrake hearts shattered and blasted out their light.

  An instant later, the Vir Requis shifted back into dragon forms and slammed onto the surviving bonedrakes. Domi roared, clinging to the back of one creature. From the saddle, Gemini thrust down his lance, piercing another heart. To their right, Korvin lashed his tail, shattering a bonedrake's ribs and driving bone shards into its heart. Farther back, the others were shifting back and forth between human and dragon forms, firing arrows, piercing more hearts.

  Light exploded across the sky like collapsing stars as, one after the other, the bonedrakes shattered and fell in a hailstorm of bones.

  Domi roared as she fought, laughed as she slew the creatures, bathing them with fire, slamming against them and letting Gemini spear their hearts from the saddle. The beams of light glanced off her, and even as their claws wounded her, Domi laughed, for she was a warrior of Requiem, triumphant and proud, no longer fighting for the Cured Temple but for her true homeland.

  Tonight, she knew, Pyre truly died. Tonight, even in dragon form, she was purely Domi of Requiem.

  She slew the last bonedrake with a great swipe of her tail, shattering its ribs and heart. It scattered down as bone fragments, and Domi bucked in the sky, roaring and clawing the air.

  "Requiem!" she cried.

  The other dragons gathered around her, some wounded, but their eyes all shone for victory.

  "We fly on," Domi said. "To the south. To dawn. To the city of Nova Vita and its Temple. To Requiem."

  They flew on through the sky, leaving only clouds of smoke behind. The stars shone above.

  AMITY

  At dawn they saw Nova Vita ahead.

  Amity snarled and summoned fire into her maw.

  You're there, Beatrix, she thought. And I'm coming for you.

  Amity had never seen Nova Vita before with her eyes, but she had seen it countless times in her dreams. Every night for years, she flew toward this city with the Horde, flew here with griffins and salvanae, flew here leading a great army that spread across the landscape below, an army of chariots and horses and many marching troops.

  Now she flew here with only four other dragons. Now she flew here with the army of Requiem. She bared her teeth. And now I would have it no other way.

  Nova Vita was a vast city. Even in her dreams, Amity had never imagined a city could be this large. It sprawled even wider than the great tent settlement of Hakan Teer. Hundreds of thousands of people must have lived here, so many souls it spun Amity's head.

  Once they were all children of Requiem, she thought. Once they all had the magic--the magic the Temple tore from them.

  Countless huts rose across the city, simple clay dwellings with domed roofs. Streets snaked between them, cobbled and quiet in the morning light. As h
umble as these buildings were, the palace that rose in the city's center was grand. The Cured Temple. Amity had never seen this building before, but she recognized it at once from the tales. The center of the faith's power. Here did Beatrix dwell. From this place, the High Priestess had stretched out her long arm to strike at the Horde. And in this place, Amity swore, the High Priestess would die.

  She glanced up at the sky.

  "Clouds are thin," she muttered to Korvin.

  The dark gray dragon glided at her side. He stared up with her. "They'll have to do. We're not turning back now. Every day, Beatrix musters more bonedrakes. We kill her today, clouds or no clouds."

  Korvin rose higher, gesturing for the others. They all ascended until they flew above the thin layer of clouds. They kept darting back and forth, avoiding openings in the cloud cover, trying to keep themselves hidden for as long as possible, to get as close as they could before the bonedrakes sensed them.

  Amity looked at Korvin again. "You sure Beatrix will be on her balcony this dawn?"

  He nodded. "It's the morning of winter solstice. The High Priestess always speaks to the crowds this day. She will deliver a great speech of victory, boasting of defeating the Horde . . . and then we will descend upon her with dragonfire."

  His jaw clenched with rage, and his eyes narrowed. Amity looked at him.

  He loved her once, she thought. He loved Beatrix. How must it feel to fly against one you love? How must it feel--that the woman he loved betrayed him, that she rules an army that hunts him?

  A pang twisted Amity's heart, and she winced.

  I too betrayed him.

  Her secret weighed heavily on her heart. The shame flooded Amity, even here and now, only moments from battle. She had drunk too much brandy. She had been so scared, thinking Korvin dead. She had lain with Cade, seeking some comfort before a death she had thought unavoidable. Yet now, looking at Korvin, Amity realized how much she loved this charcoal dragon, this gruff man, how big a mistake she had made. No, she was not married to Korvin. No, she had never sworn any vows to him. Yet she loved him--truly, fully, eternally. And she had betrayed him.

  I'm sorry, Korvin. I'm so sorry. Tears burned in her eyes, tears of shame, of disgust at herself.

  She turned aside and looked at Cade. The golden dragon flew at her side. Gemini now rode on his back instead of Domi's; the brothers would fight together this day. Cade met Amity's eyes, and she saw the pain in him too, the shame he too felt. The gold dragon looked away quickly. Amity knew that they would never speak of that night.

  If we survive today, she vowed, I will become a different woman. No longer wild and reckless but strong, loyal. If we survive, I will marry you, Korvin. She growled. So we better survive.

  Through a patch of clouds, she saw herself approaching the walls of the city.

  "Higher!" Korvin whispered and soared, gesturing for the others to follow. They obeyed, ascending so high the city houses looked like mere toys. From down there, the five dragons would look like distant specks, perhaps eagles far above, perhaps firedrakes. They kept flying. The clouds thinned and Amity saw the walls directly below now. Firedrakes, small beads of color from up here, sat upon the ramparts. The five dragons flew above those walls and glided over the city, heading toward the Temple.

  And still no bonedrakes rose.

  "Where are they?" Amity whispered.

  Were all the bonedrakes scouring the wilderness, none left to guard the city? Did Beatrix not even bother protecting the sky above her own home?

  The dragons kept gliding above, peering at the city through holes in the cloud cover. Soon Amity found herself flying over what had to be the fabled Square of the Spirit. It was a massive place, and countless people filled it, mere specks from up here. Amity thought that more people filled that square than all the fallen warriors of the Horde. The vast crowd stood facing the Cured Temple, that great palace of light and crystal.

  They're waiting for Beatrix to emerge, Amity thought, her chest tightening.

  Horns blared below.

  The crowds cheered.

  Amity sucked in her breath and let fire fill her maw.

  "Beatrix emerges," she whispered.

  She glanced at the other dragons. They stared back. Fire kindled between their teeth. Upon Cade's back, Gemini hefted his spear.

  The five dragons tilted together and began to dive.

  KORVIN

  They swooped from the sky, five comets of fury and fire, roaring down toward the Temple.

  Amity dived at Korvin's right-hand side, snarling--the woman he loved. Fidelity and Domi flew to his left, sisters of fire--his daughters. Cade veered in the sky, Gemini on his back, heading toward the back of the Temple, the place where Eliana would be kept.

  But now, Korvin put all thoughts of others aside. He no longer thought of his lover, his daughters, of the babe to rescue. He no longer thought of the souls of the fallen Vir Requis, of the ghosts of Requiem crying out from the earth. He thought of but one soul now, of one task.

  He thought of Beatrix.

  And he thought of how he'd burn her.

  The four dragons plunged downward, the wind shrieking around them, and readied their fire. The crowd below saw them, pointed up, and screamed. Still no bonedrakes flew. Upon the Temple balcony, a figure stared up, wrapped in white.

  Beatrix.

  Korvin gathered his fire.

  On the balcony, Beatrix raised a small bundle.

  Korvin's heart felt like it could shatter.

  "Wait!" he shouted just as the other dragons began roaring down their flame. He shoved them aside, diverting their jets of fire away from the balcony. The streams washed harmlessly across the Temple walls.

  On the balcony, Beatrix smiled, holding up a baby.

  Eliana, Korvin knew.

  "Die, Beatrix!" Amity screamed. Dodging Korvin's desperate attack to stop her, the red dragon swooped farther down, stretching out her claws.

  A hundred beams of light blasted skyward, scattering the flames and washing over the dragons.

  Korvin howled in pain.

  He still wore his demon armor, but this light was so intense, overflowing every part of him, blazing against his eyes, searing his horns, his wings. He cried out in pain, and he heard Amity and his daughters scream too. He stared down through narrowed eyelids, struggling to stay in the air, and saw a hundred bonedrakes rising from between the Temple's steeples and flying toward him.

  She knew, Korvin realized. Beatrix knew we're coming.

  The bonedrakes screeched, blasting out their beams and lashing their claws.

  The world exploded in a shower of blood, light, fire, and snapping bones.

  Amity screamed somewhere in the distance, but she was no longer screaming for war. She was screaming in agony. Domi cried out somewhere above. Fidelity fell silent. The light blazed everywhere, and the jaws of bonedrakes tore at Korvin, ripping at his wings, ripping at his armor, and he cried out in agony, in loss, in terror.

  FIDELITY

  The city, the sky, the Temple, her life--all drowned in white light, in pain, in blazing fire.

  Fidelity knew then that their battle was hopeless, that the Temple had known they were coming, that she would die here, that all the last dragons of Requiem would perish.

  Today, she knew, was the day of the Falling.

  Countless beams of light blasted from the bonedrake jaws, shattering against her armor, blazing out in parti-colored rays. Everywhere blazed the light of the Spirit, filling the world, preparing for the descent of its lord.

  Fidelity screamed and summoned her fire.

  I cannot let the Spirit emerge into the world. I cannot let Requiem fall.

  She blasted forth her dragonfire.

  The flames washed across the sky, crashing into bonedrakes, knocking back the light. For an instant, as the fire pushed back the beams, Fidelity glimpsed part of the battle. The Cured Temple rose below her, bonedrakes still emerging from its nest of steeples. More skeletons flew all arou
nd her. The crowd was fleeing the square below, and archers were firing from rooftops. Red scales flashed by her--Amity!

  "Amity!" Fidelity cried out. "Amity, fight with me!"

  The red dragon barreled through bonedrakes toward her. Amity laughed as she fought, swinging her tail in every direction, crushing bonedrakes.

  "Die with me, Fidelity!" the red dragon cried, laughing, eyes shining. "We die in glory!"

  "Focus on killing, not dying!" Fidelity shouted.

  Amity laughed and lashed her tail, shattering the ribs of a bonedrake, then snapped her jaws, tearing off a skeletal rider from another beast. Fidelity flew at her side, and the two dragons--red and blue--fought back to back. Their dragonfire blasted out in a ring. Their claws tore at enemies. Their tails whipped. Their armor reflected the light.

  Together they fought. Together they killed.

  Bonedrakes fell before them. But Fidelity knew she could not fly forever. They were too many, too strong. A bonedrake claw tore at her armor, ripping a rent through the translucent scales. A skeletal paladin thrust its lance, piercing her armor, cutting her flesh. An arrow from the city below found her wing, tearing a hole. More light blasted out, blazing against her other wing, searing the skin.

  "Keep fighting!" Amity cried out. She too was covered with wounds. Her blood dripped, spreading within her transparent armor like veins. "We must reach the Temple! We must kill Beatrix! Korvin, where are you, you bastard?"