The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4)

by Andrew Hunter

  “You won’t,” Garrett said. He thought he saw a shadow move across the clouds, but it might have been just a trick of the eye.

  “You can promise me that?” Hetta laughed.

  Garrett turned to look at her. “You know it would be a lie if I did,” he said.

  She held his gaze for a long moment and then lowered her eyes, looking very afraid. “Please don’t take them from us,” she said, “We don’t have much left to lose.”

  “If the city falls tonight,” Garrett said, “there won’t be anything left to win.”

  Hetta struggled to control her emotions as she looked out over the moonlit garden. “I’d better get downstairs,” she said, “The little ones will be afraid.”

  “This is a good story, Hetta,” Garrett said, turning his eyes to the sky again, “It has a happy ending.”

  “Promise me that, Garrett!” she said.

  “I promise,” he said, his eyes still on the clouds above.

  She sniffed, fighting back tears as she fled back down the steps into the tunnels inside the wall.

  Bargas put his hand on Garrett’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’ve grown, boy,” he said.

  “Thanks,” Garrett said.

  “Your uncle would be proud of you,” Bargas said.

  Garrett smiled at him and nodded.

  Then a green flash in the clouds drew Garrett’s attention toward the north tower.

  “They’ve seen somethin’!” Bargas said.

  Garrett ground his teeth in frustration, trying to see anything through the thick clouds that hung perpetually above the city. He wished for a moment that he was atop one of the towers above the cloud layer, like Warren and Crane in the northwest tower or Mujah and Scupp in the north, but he needed the mobility afforded by the curtain wall that ran between the towers. So many things could still go wrong. He had to be able to move quickly if necessary.

  Suddenly, a great black shadow passed over the clouds and a distant rumble like thunder echoed through the sky.

  “This is it,” Bargas growled.

  The thunder rumbled again, and then the wall itself began to tremble beneath their feet.

  “City of Death!” the voice of the dragon lord roared out to every corner of the city, “Your hour of reckoning has come!”

  The shadow passed fast overhead again, and Garrett heard a shattering boom from above. Suddenly, the stones of the southeastern tower began to tumble down through the clouds to crash upon the wall to his right and into the shadowy gardens below. A wave of panic washed over him, as he feared for his friends huddled inside three of the remaining towers.

  “You are judged by the true god of this world and sentenced to death!” Graelle shouted, “The earth itself cries out against your sins!”

  Garrett heard the dragon lord shout something in Draconic, and the dragon Kadreaan roared with him.

  “Noisy devils, ain’t they?” Bargas grumbled.

  The stones of the wall trembled again, and Garrett turned in disgust to see the wall behind him grow dark as blood began to seep through the mortar of the stones and trickle upward toward the sky.

  Bargas reached over and dabbed his claw in the stuff and then licked it.

  Garrett stared at him in horror.

  “Don’t even taste good!” Bargas spat, “I ain’t impressed.”

  Garrett let out a laugh and Bargas grinned back at him.

  Then a flash of green light shot skyward from the Temple of Mauravant, and the voice of the High Priestess boomed out from somewhere inside. “Show yourself, coward!” her voice shouted, “Show yourself and prepare to meet your false god in hell!”

  Graelle’s mocking laughter echoed from every bloody wall of the city. “Show myself?” Graelle laughed, “I am no worm that I should cower and hide! Let us then meet one another… face to face!”

  Garrett heard a noise like pebbles in a drainpipe as the shadow passed overhead once again.

  “Oh, no,” Garrett said, sinking to his knees behind the guardrail, “Mister Bargas, you might want to get down.”

  The dragon’s breath poured out like the winds of a hurricane, tearing a hole in the cloud layer above as he passed. Garrett could now plainly see the dragon lord astride the back of the great, black-scaled dragon.

  Kadreaan circled again and again, boiling away the clouds above the Chapel Ward revealing the temple below, perhaps for the first time in its history, to the star-swept sky above.

  Garrett forgot about his fear, rising slowly to his feet again to stare in wonder at the terrible beauty of the sight. The hot wind pushed the clouds further west still, revealing the tops of the towers where Garrett’s friends had hid themselves.

  Kadreaan beat his wings and climbed higher into the sky above the temple, seeming almost to hover there as he looked down contemptuously on the sanctum of the Worm Mother below.

  “Come closer, child of Malleatus!” the High Priestess cried out, her voice magically amplified to match Graelle’s, “The Eternal Mother has prepared a gift for you!”

  Graelle laughed again. “But I am the guest in your city,” he cried, “You must allow me to give you my gift first!”

  Kadreaan wheeled and dove back into the cloudbank above the city to the south.

  Garrett muttered a curse and then ran to the city side of the wall and watched in helpless rage as the dragon dropped from the clouds to blast a great gout of flames and debris up from where, a moment before, the warehouses of the Upper City had been. Distant screams of terror rose above the din of collapsing buildings, and then a horrible shriek of twisting iron foretold the collapse of one of the four great lifts. Garrett watched in sick fascination as it tumbled and collapsed over the side of the cliff to crash into the docks six hundred feet below.

  Kadreaan's black wings pulled him back up into the clouds once again.

  Garrett groaned in frustration as he could do nothing but watch and wait for the dragon’s next strike.

  Kadreaan dropped from the clouds again, swooping low over the Foreign District now, setting fire to everything he passed. The minarets of the Satyr compound flared and blazed before crashing down into the burning rooftops below.

  “Damn you, Graelle!” Garrett moaned. He hoped that Marla and her mother were already gone as he saw flames rising up near the black shape of the vampire embassy.

  Kadreaan tilted his wings and turned away, dropping over the edge of the cliff to wreak havoc in the lower city below.

  Garrett seethed with impotent rage, banging the iron staff down in frustration.

  “He’ll be comin’ back,” Bargas said, “Once he’s done playin’, he’ll come back. Save it fer then, boy… save it fer then.”

  Garrett sighed, watching the gray clouds above the lower city light up with an angry orange glow.

  "You know, I never seen it from this high up," Bargas mused as he watched the fire spread, "I was always down in a hole somewhere, with all the screamin' and burnin' right on top of us... Up here... I dunno... It almost don't seem real."

  "Yeah," Garrett said, "Like it's not really happening or something."

  Then the wind shifted, and bore upon it the scent of burning wood and flesh from the city below.

  "Let's get closer to the temple, boy," Bargas said, "He'll be headed back that way next."

  Garrett nodded, blinking against the smoke that stung his eyes. Bargas turned and loped away down the walkway toward the ruins of the southern tower, and Garrett did his best to keep up.

  *******

  The Girl in Brown reached up and grasped the stone gutter and then pulled herself up onto the roof of the tallest house in the Queensgarden District. One of the moss-covered tiles crunched beneath her foot and pieces of it rattled down to disappear over the side. She climbed to the highest point, and held onto one of the slender bronze spires that ran along the spine of the roof.

  She leaned into the hot breath of the fire that now consumed the Warehouse District to the south and squinted as she looked away toward the l
ower city.

  An enormous sooty fireball belched skyward above the docks, probably one of the barges laden with whale oil from the coast. Even this high above it all, she could hear the screams of her city as it died, and her body ached with the need to save it. Then she saw the black shape moving through the fire lit clouds, and she knew that she could do nothing to stop the destruction.

  The dragon made a slow turn, riding the columns of superheated air like some demonic kite. He circled back around, choosing another target. He was getting tired now. It made no sense. Why would the Chadiri send the dragon alone?

  She watched as the dragon folded his wings and dropped once more. The hideous shriek of dying animals rose from the burning stockyards as the dragon soared skyward once again.

  He was destroying the city's resources first. The Girl in Brown shielded her eyes against the glare of an exploding granary and watched the dragon as he rode the hot wind, trying to catch his breath.

  "You poor thing," she whispered, "They ask too much... too much."

  The dragon pivoted in the air, turning its face toward the Chapel Ward once again. That is where he would choose to end the battle. That is where she would have to go to find the boy that would make himself a dragon slayer.

  The Girl in Brown released her grip on the spire and turned, half running, half falling, as she raced down the slope of the roof. A small avalanche of dislodged shingles followed her over the edge. They rained down into the alley below as she landed hard on the roof of the manor house beyond.

  She ran along the rooftops, springing from house to house, until she came to the great wall that separated the houses from the elvish gardens that gave the district its name. With a leap, she bounded up to catch a slippery grip on one of the stones that protruded slightly from the wall. It was enough for her, and she clawed her way up like a cat, pulling herself ever higher toward the open port of one of the ancient privies that lined the upper wall.

  She scrambled up inside the dank hole and chimney-crawled her way into the old guardroom within. Seeing the glow of a lamp, she ran toward it. She burst out into one of the old barracks, surprised to find it filled with refugee children, Lethians by the looks of them. She scanned their startled faces quickly and then growled in frustration, recognizing none of Garrett's companions.

  "Who are you?" a skinny, dark-haired girl demanded, but the Girl in Brown was already gone, making her way through the old tunnels that ran the length of the wall.

  She emerged finally, squeezing through a weathered arrow loop overlooking the Temple of Mauravant. She swung out and scuttled down the rough wall, dropping the last ten feet to land in one of the broad courtyards before the temple.

  Gangs of Templars rushed across the yard, making frantic preparations. The Girl in Brown searched their faces, sighting only one that she recognized.

  "Keep the cover on that engine!" the one known as Matron Brix shouted. The stern-faced priestess was gesturing toward a group of Templars who were struggling to push a barrel-sized bundle of what appeared to be metal and bones up under a large tarp. The tarp had fallen away enough that the Girl in Brown could glimpse the catapult concealed beneath it. The men hastily covered it again and then continued their efforts to load the strange bone sphere into the catapult's sling.

  She looked around quickly, sighting at least another dozen of the machines concealed beneath tarps all around the courtyard.

  The Girl in Brown had to shake her head clear of a half-formed plan to disable the devices. Her loyalty to the Draconic race could not compel her to delay her primary mission. The dragon above could defend itself. The flower, if it still lived, could not.

  Desperation compelled her to take a risk. She ran out onto the field, headed straight for the gray-haired Matron as she barked orders at her men.

  "Matron Brix!" the Girl in Brown shouted, waving to get her attention.

  "Who the hell are you, girl?" Matron Brix shouted.

  "I'm a friend of Garrett's," the Girl in Brown said, "Can you tell me where to find him?"

  "No idea," Matron Brix growled, "He and Matron Serepheni headed towards the gardens about an hour ago. Now get your tail outta here before that flying furnace comes back!"

  "Thank you!" the Girl in Brown shouted as she ran off toward the west.

  "He's coming!" A lookout on the wall above the temple gates shouted. A moment later, the man disappeared in the ruin of his watchtower as it was lashed into rubble by the dragon's tail.

  Men screamed and scattered as the dragon roared by overhead, sweeping upward towards the spires of the temple itself.

  The Girl in Brown put her head down and ran as fast as she could toward the garden wall. Behind her, Matron Brix continued to shout orders, keeping her composure as strong men around her fell to their knees, overcome by dragonfear.

  The Girl in Brown glanced back to see the dragon catch hold of one of the twisting temple spires and tear it free as he used the stonework as a pivot to swing back around and plummet toward the courtyard.

  "Now!" Matron Brix shouted.

  The Girl in Brown staggered to a halt and turned to watch as the Templars uncovered their catapults and swiveled them around on their wooden platforms. They cranked massive levers to elevate the machines, working frantically to aim them at the great black dragon bearing down on them.

  One after another, the catapults loosed their strange projectiles. Most of the bony spheres went wide, too high, or too low, but two of them struck true.

  The dragon pulled up in alarm, shielding its rider from the missiles. One of the orbs slammed into the dragon's chest, and the other hit him in the left wing.

  At first the Girl in Brown thought that the bone orbs had shattered on impact, but then she realized their true nature. Each bony sphere unfurled into an undead monstrosity, a bone construct, held together with wire and magic, like miniature versions of the Watchers that stalked the city's streets after Curfew. These things now raked and tore at the dragon's flesh with steel-tipped claws as he shrieked and flapped his wings to gain altitude.

  The Girl in Brown watched in sick fascination as one of the creatures sank its claws into the dragon's wing, ripping it like a canvas sail. The dragon bucked and twisted in the air, trying to escape, and the thing on his wing tore free, plummeting to earth with bloody shreds of dragon wing still clutched in its claws.

  The other skeletal construct was still trying to claw its way through the hard scales of the dragon's throat, but the dragon was able to seize it between his two great foreclaws and smashed the creature to powder.

  "Hurry!" Matron Brix shouted as her men fought to reload their weapons as quickly as possible.

  They managed two more wild shots before the dragon was upon them, sweeping the courtyard clean with a blast of his fiery breath.

  Matron Brix stood her ground as the Templars scattered. She stared into the eyes of the great black dragon as he flew toward her only a few yards above the ground. She met her doom with one final, wordless scream of defiance as the dragon's breath blasted her to ash.

  The Girl in Brown hunched her body, letting the shock of heat wash over her. A moment later, she was on her feet again and sprinting toward the garden once more.

  If Garrett had the priestess Serepheni with him, he would be relying on her skills as an apothecary. The thought of seeing the blood rose, ground to paste in the bowl of the worm-woman's pestle, filled her heart with rage, and the Girl in Brown vaulted over the iron gate between the temple grounds and the elvish gardens in a single leap.

  *******

  Garrett stumbled to a halt beside Bargas on a small balcony overlooking the temple grounds. Below him, the outer courtyard was ablaze. Shapes moved within the flames, men dying. A burning catapult, still loaded, rocked forward suddenly as its own coiled tension tore it apart, sending its smoldering projectile to smash against the temple wall.

  The dragon was climbing again, flying a bit drunkenly as he fought to regain control of the sky.

  "I ho
pe they got more up their sleeve than that," Bargas said.

  "Son of Malleatus!" The High Priestess cried out, "I see that we have your attention now!"

  Garrett looked toward the temple and gasped to see a figure in flowing green robes step out onto a broad balcony, high on the temple wall.

  "What's she doing?" Garrett cried.

  "I think she's the bait," Bargas rumbled.

  "Come now and answer for your sins against the Goddess!" the High Priestess called out, her voice perhaps loud enough to be heard all the way to the Foreign District.

  "What's this then?" Shortgrass asked as he fluttered up to Garrett's side.

  "I dunno," Garrett said, "Is everything ready?"

  Shortgrass gave a worried laugh.

  "Ready enough?" Garrett asked, turning to look at the fairy.

  "Ready enough," Shortgrass answered.

  "All right," Garrett sighed, "be ready for my signal, but remember... I just want you to get his attention... don't get too close."

  "Not'in to it," Shortgrass scoffed.

  "You done this before?" Bargas asked.

  "Well, I once plucked three tail hairs from a chimera ta weave a bracelet for a lady friend," Shortgrass said.

  "I didn't think fairies wore jewelry," Garrett said.

  "I never said she was a fairy," Shortgrass said with a wink.

  Garrett smiled at him. "Just be careful, all right?" he said.

  "I didn' live a hundred an' eighty years by arsin' around!" the fairy said, "I'll bring yer dragon to ye."

  "Not to me," Garrett sighed, "to the tower."

  "I know, I know," Shortgrass said as he flew away toward the garden again, "I jes' hope ya know what yer doin'!"

  Garrett sighed and shrugged as he watched the dragon fold his wings and begin his dive toward the unprotected woman who stood alone upon the Temple of Mauravant.

  Kadreaan opened his jaws in a terrible roar, and the dragon rider leaned low in the saddle as they plummeted toward the matriarch of their most hated foe.

  "Eternal Mother, defend us!" the High Priestess cried out, raising her arms above her head.