A Dawn of Dragonfire: Dragonlore, Book 1 (35 page)

Wings sprouted from her back with a thud.  White scales clanked across her.  Fangs sprouted from her mouth.   She tossed back her head and howled, blowing blue fire.  It had been so long since she had shifted, so long since she had felt air under her wings, flames in her gullet, the magic of starlight in her veins.

Beneath her, the falling Tirans shifted into phoenixes and soared toward her.  Behind her, Vir Requis were leaping from the tunnel, shifting into dragons, and soaring.  Adia soared with them.  She flew up the chasm, following the path of the Starlit Demon, and shot toward a night sky strewn with firebirds.  More tunnels gaped open along the chasm's walls, and hundreds of Vir Requis were leaping from them, turning into dragons, and soaring after her.

Adia shot past layers of rock, soil, and frost, and finally burst out from the underground.  The ruins of Nova Vita spread below her, walls and columns fallen.  Thousands of phoenixes flew above her.  Hundreds of dragons soared around her.  The Starlit Demon howled in the sky, a great slug of stone that flew with no wings.  It crushed phoenixes between its teeth, and its belly bulged with their flame, a furnace in the sky like a sun.

"Rise, dragons of Requiem!" Adia cried.  "Into the sky!"

Phoenixes came swooping toward her, crackling and raising sparks.  More flew below.  If death flowed underground, and death burned above, she would lead her people to die in the sky.  The Starlit Demon could not consume all their enemies; its jaws bit many, but too many phoenixes flew.  This creature of the underworld would not be their savior.

But maybe, Adia dared to hope… maybe in this chaos, a few dragons could escape.  Maybe as the Starlit Demon devoured their enemies, some of her people could flee into the mountains, the forests, the southern swamps.

But I will stay,
she thought. 
I will stay until they are all fled or burned.  I will die in the sky of my home under the light of my stars.

Phoenixes dived toward her, lashing their talons.  Adia shot between them, soaring through their wings of fire.  The flames crackled against her, and she screamed but drove past them.  More flew above.  Around her, hundreds of dragons were rising.

"Fly to all directions of the wind!" she cried.  "Fly to the mountains and forests.  Flee into the wilderness, dragons of Requiem!"

Adia saw a group of young dragons, mere children barely old enough to fly, soaring into the air.  They wailed, sparks left their throats, and their wings fluttered like the wings of hummingbirds.  A crackling phoenix, thrice their size, began swooping toward them.  Its howl tore the air and the young dragons wailed.

Narrowing her eyes, Adia surged.  She flew straight up, roaring.  She shot around the young dragons, spread her wings wide, and raised her front claws.  The swooping phoenix crashed against her, and Adia screamed.  The flames bathed her scales.

"Fly, children!" she shouted as the phoenix claws tore at her shoulders.  "Fly north to the mountains."

She slammed her tail against the phoenix, but it was like clubbing a forest fire.  Smoke filled her nostrils and she could barely see.  She pulled her wings close, tumbled, and flew again.  Welts covered her belly, where she had no scales to protect her.  The scales on her back felt like stones in an oven, and lacerations covered her shoulders.  She looked around madly, seeking the children, but could not see them, only countless firebirds.  Had the young ones escaped?

The phoenix that had attacked her screeched above.  It swooped, a comet of spinning fire.  Adia closed her eyes, fearing the fire would melt them, and raised her claws.  She prayed, ready to die.

A shadow fell upon her.  A howl thudded in her ears.  When she opened her eyes, Adia saw the Starlit Demon crash into the phoenixes above.

Stars, the size of him,
she thought.  She was a powerful dragon, her wings wide and her tail long, but beneath the Starlit Demon, she felt like a fish swimming under a ship.  Flames crashed around the demon as dozens of phoenixes attacked it, but none could burn it.  The creature's appetite knew no bounds; its jaws opened and closed, biting phoenixes like a wolf biting hens.

Blue scales flashed to her left.

A cry pierced the night.

"Mother!"

Adia looked and saw her daughter there.  Lyana looked slimmer, the shine of her scales dimmed, but she was alive, she was flying, she was well.  Tears filled Adia's eyes. 
My daughter.  My beloved.
  She wanted to fly toward Lyana, hold her, never let her go again.  But she steeled herself.

"Lyana!" she cried.  "Lead the southern route!"  Behind her daughter's shoulder, she saw a hundred dragons fly into a cloud of phoenixes.  Many burned and fell.  "Lead them to King's Forest and I will meet you there!"

Lyana looked behind her, saw the phoenixes swoop against the fleeing dragons, and nodded.  With a growl, the sapphire dragon flew toward them.

"Dragons of Requiem, follow!" Lyana called.  "We fly to the forests!"

Adia looked around her.  Hundreds of dragons were fleeing to all directions of the wind.  Thousands of phoenixes were swooping upon them or chasing them into the distance.  Below, in the collapsed chasm, some Vir Requis still huddled in what shelter remained of the tunnels.  The sounds of battle rose from the earth; Tirans and Vir Requis still fought there in human forms.

We are overrun,
Adia realized.  A chill ran through her.  The Starlit Demon could not devour ten thousand phoenixes.  It could not stop the fire that burned her people.

Our era ends here,
she thought, tears in her eyes. 
The Second Age of Requiem ends like the first… in blood and fire and destruction.

Three phoenixes fell upon her.  Their claws lashed, their beaks bit, and their fire blazed against her.  Adia shouted and could barely hear her own voice.  She called for the Starlit Demon, but could not see it.  She saw nothing but fire.

No more pain filled her.  Only warmth.

I die now,
she thought. 
I go to the starlit halls of my fathers.  I will forever dine there with my parents, with the fallen men and women of my house.  I am coming to you, stars of Requiem.

She heard the glow of those celestial halls, a sound like harps.  She saw their glow, silver and soft, bathing her with light.  No more fire burned her, and Adia could smile, for she died as she had lived—fighting for the song of her people.

She raised her eyes, and looked to the stars, and saw the silver light blaze.  Caught in the beam, the phoenixes still flew, but no more fire burned upon them.  They were as naked vultures, black and wizened, exposed for their true ugliness and frailty.

Two dragons came coiling down from the light, tails whipping behind them, and Adia gasped.

"Bayrin!" she called.  Her son flew there!  She knew his great, lanky frame, his emerald scales, his bright eyes.  Princess Mori flew by him, gripping a disk of silver light; she seemed to be holding the moon itself.  Did they too die?  Did they too now fly among the stars of Afterlife?

"Mother!" Bayrin called.  He dived.  His fire rained upon the naked vultures, and his claws slashed them.  The beasts burned, bled, and fell.

Adia's heart thrashed, she gasped, and tears ran down her cheeks.

They were not dead, she knew.  She laughed as she cried. 
They found the Moondisk.

She flapped her wings—three great thuds—and soared.  Her fire roared, spun, and crashed against a naked phoenix that screeched in the Moondisk's glow.

The phoenix blazed.  For a moment it looked like a firebird again, but this was dragonfire.  This fire burned it.  The creature squealed, cawed to the sky, and fell.  As it tumbled by Adia, it became a man again… nothing but a burning man who thudded against the ruins of Nova Vita below.

Adia spread her wings wide, blew fire, and roared.  Hope burned anew—hope of moonlight and dragonfire.

 
 
LYANA

She was rallying the fleeing dragons, driving them toward the southern forests, when the light blazed behind her.  Lyana turned and saw her brother plunge through the light, blowing fire upon extinguished phoenixes.  Princess Mori flew behind him, holding a disk like the moon, bathing the world with its glow.

Tears sprang into Lyana's eyes.

Bayrin and Mori are back.  Hope is back.

"Fly to the forests!" she cried to the children who flew around her.  "Wait for us there!"

As the small dragons flew off, Lyana turned, snarled, and soared into battle.  Her fire bathed the sky.

Under the beam of Mori's Moondisk, the phoenixes lost their flames, only to ignite under dragonfire.  Lyana saw her mother fly above, a great white dragon in the night, blowing her flame upon the enemy.  Her father came soaring from below, a burly copper dragon, a hole in his right wing and fire in his maw.

Ten phoenixes flew toward Lyana from all sides.  The Moondisk's beam blazed far in the north.  The Starlit Demon howled and feasted to the west.  Lyana flew alone against the enemy.

"Mori!" she shouted across the battle.  "Mori, give me your light!"

Did the golden dragon hear?  Phoenixes filled her vision.  One crashed into Lyana, and she howled.  Talons cut her.  Wings of flame blazed against her.  A second phoenix slammed into her right, and fire roared, and Lyana cried in agony, and—

Moonlight washed the world.

The flames vanished like a candle under a blanket.  The light hummed.  Caught in its glare, the phoenixes were nothing but naked birds, blinded and screeching.

Ignoring the pain of her wounds, Lyana howled and spun, blowing a ring of fire around her.  The phoenixes kindled, welts rose across them, their skin cracked, and they crashed from the sky.

Howls of dying dragons rose to the north.  The moonbeam left Lyana, its light rushing to extinguish a northern horde of phoenixes.  Lyana looked around, panting.  Hundreds of corpses rained upon the ruins of Nova Vita.  Thousands of dragons were fleeing or fighting, and countless phoenixes still blazed.  Above the battle, Mori was directing the Moondisk from left to right, pausing on each group of phoenixes just long enough for dragons to burn them.  The Starlit Demon still moved across the sky, consuming phoenixes that fled from Mori's light.

"Yarin!" Lyana called to a red dragon who flew above.  She remembered him well—a young man in the service of her father.

He turned toward her, fire between his teeth, a gash along his face.  "My Lady Lyana!"

"Yarin, to me!" she called.  "Bring your men.  We follow that beam."

She shot under a swooping phoenix, soared above the Starlit Demon who dived by, and surged toward a group of young dragons.  They were mere youths, no older than fifteen, but they would have to fight like men today.  Welts covered them and one's wing was torn.

"Dragons of Requiem!" she called.  "Follow—to blood and glory!"

They howled and blew flame, and Lyana soared, rallying more dragons as she flew.  Phoenixes descended upon them.  Three dragons fell, turned to humans, and crashed against houses below.  Fire bathed her.  Lyana narrowed her eyes and flew toward the light of the Moonbeam.

Silver light covered her.  The phoenixes cried, naked.  She burned them.  Her dragons blew flames around her.  They howled for death and glory, for Requiem, for their princess.  The phoenixes fell dead.

The moonlight left them, shooting to the east.  Lyana snarled, spun, and followed it.

"Stay in the beam!" she shouted.  "Dragons of Requiem, behind me!  Burn the enemy!"

They flew among the fire and moonlight, blood raining.  As Lyana sounded her roar, she looked around the battle, seeking Elethor.  Where was their king?

"Elethor!" she cried over the battle, but did not hear him.  She gritted her teeth.  Requiem needed their king, needed Elethor to rally them around his cry—not her, not Lyana, but King Elethor Aeternum.

"Elethor!  Hear me!"

Rage boiled inside her.  If he was not dead, she would kill him herself.  He needed to lead his people, now more than ever.  Where the stars was he?

She roared her dragonfire, bathing the phoenixes.  They fell dead, thudded against the Starlit Demon as he dived below, then crashed to the city ruins.  Requiem trembled with fire, blood, and light.

 
 
BAYRIN

A dozen phoenixes soared toward Mori.

Flying beside the princess, Bayrin roared.

"Mori, to your left!"

She spun in the sky, pointing the Moondisk to her left.  The beam caught the phoenixes and they extinguished.  Bayrin swooped upon them, bathing them with fire.  They crackled and fell.

"Bay!" Mori shouted above him, fear twisting her voice.

The beam of moonlight left Bayrin, sweeping to the north.  He turned his head and saw ten more phoenixes surge toward Mori.  They shrieked, claws outstretched.  When the beam hit them, they cried and lost their fire.  Wings aching and wounds blazing, Bayrin soared toward them.  He roared fire and burned them down.

He spared the battle below a glance.  Phoenixes fell like rain.  The dragons of Requiem were flying from side to side, staying within the moonbeam.  He saw his sister, a sapphire dragon blowing fire.  He saw his parents—Deramon flew as a burly copper dragon, crashing into phoenixes, while Adia soared as a white dragon, leaving a wake of flame.  When Mori moved her Moondisk, those dragons too slow to follow burned in phoenix fire.

"Mori, phoenixes over the temple!" Bayrin shouted.  A hundred of them were roaring from the marble roof, comets of fury.

Mori nodded and moved the Moondisk upon the enemy.  The phoenixes screeched and Bayrin saw dozens of dragons swarm upon them, roaring fire.

More screeches sounded above.  Bayrin looked up and cursed.  Ten phoenixes had managed to flank the battle, fly over the clouds, and were now swooping upon Mori from above.

"Mori, fire above!" he shouted and soared.  She banked, and Bayrin crashed upward.  His wings brushed her, and he slammed against the phoenixes above.

Fire engulfed him.  Talons tore him.  Beaks of flame ripped his flesh.  He howled and lashed his claws but cut only fire.