Dragons Lost (19 page)

"War?" Fidelity
said, aghast. "Invasion? Amity, we don't want a war. We want to spread the word
of Requiem."

The older woman
scoffed. "You think you're the only one who cares about Requiem? Griffin shite.
While you were holed up in your little library, girl, reading your little
books, I was training in swordplay, in archery, preparing to fight for Requiem.
I found an army, not some book of fairy tales." Amity's eyes flashed. "Fight
with me. With the Horde. All of you. I care about Requiem just as much as any
of you. Maybe more!" She drew her sword and swung the blade through the air. "I've
been training with this blade since I was a girl. It's time to wield it in
battle. It's time to reclaim Requiem with fire and blood and—"

"To what end?"
Fidelity said, interrupting her. "So your precious Horde can take over the
Commonwealth, replacing the Temple with another foreign power? The people of
Requiem—people oppressed, their magic stolen away—must be those to reclaim
their own kingdom. To wake up. To find the magic within them, to realize that
magic is no disease. To turn the purifications away."

Amity's face
flushed and sweat dampened her hair. She stomped forward, grabbed Fidelity's
arms, and snarled down at her. Fidelity forced herself to glare back at the
taller woman, though fear filled her; Amity was older than her, fiercer and
stronger, and could probably snap all her bones.

"I realize this,"
Amity said in a slow, dangerous hiss. "My parents realized this. They saved me
from purification, refusing to let the paladins steal my magic. They paid for
that defiance against the Temple with their lives." Her fingers dug painfully
into Fidelity's arms. "Never dare question my loyalty to Requiem again, girl.
Every breath I take, every beat of my heart, every swing of my sword, every
flap of my wings—they are for Requiem."

"Then help
restore Requiem's memory," Fidelity said. "I can't do this without you, Amity.
I'm a librarian. But I need a soldier helping me. We need to work together,
books and blades. Will you help me? Will you be my sister?"

The anger
seemed to leave Amity. She released Fidelity and took a few steps away, turned
to stare at the forest, and said nothing.

Cade stood in
the forest clearing, looking at the others one by one. Finally the boy seemed
to make a decision. He took a deep breath and stepped toward Fidelity.

"I'll go with
you," he said.

Warmth filled
Fidelity and she smiled. Perhaps she had judged the boy too harshly. Cade had
come into her library, paladins on his tail, and had disrupted her life. Thanks
to Cade, she was now in exile, her library destroyed, all her books but one
burnt and buried. Since fleeing the devastation, she had thought Cade a menace.
Many times, she had come close to hating him. But now, seeing the eagerness in
his eyes, the light that shone there for Requiem, her anger at him faded. She
took his hand, kissed his cheek, and smiled to see him blush.

"Thank you,
Cade." She turned to look at her father and Amity. "Will you join Cade and me?
Will—"

A chorus of
shouts rose in the distance, interrupting her. Fidelity frowned, spun around,
and faced the forest. The sound came from the Horde's camp: screaming men,
shrieking griffins, and above them all the roar of firedrakes.

A distant
trumpet blared, war drums boomed, and a man cried out, "The Temple attacks! The
Temple attacks!"

Fidelity
grabbed her book and clutched it to her chest. Her spectacles slid off her nose
and fell to the ground. Fear, cold and all-consuming, gripped her like the
claws of a firedrake.

 
 
CADE

He ran through the brush, emerged
into the camp, and gasped.

"Oh Spirit's
flea-ridden beard," he whispered.

When arriving on these
islands, the northeastern outposts of the Horde, Cade had thought to find
safety from the Cured Temple. Now the might of that cruel faith descended upon
the islands with warships, howling soldiers, and a flight of firedrakes.
Cannons blasted from the brigantines in the water, soldiers raced across the
beaches, and the firedrakes swooped toward the camp, blasting out flame.

Warriors of the
Horde raced about, firing arrows. More warriors took flight on the backs of
griffins and salvanae, soaring toward the firedrakes. Screams rose and blood
washed the camp. Already the flames of firedrakes were burning down huts, and
the beasts' claws were tearing men apart.

"Cade, fly with me!"
Korvin shouted, emerging from the forest. The old soldier shifted, rose into
the sky as a gray dragon, and blasted out flame.

Cade sucked in breath,
shifted, and rose into the air. An instant later, Fidelity rose at his side, a
blue dragon blowing fire, and Amity soared above them, a roaring red dragon.

Requiem flies again,
Cade thought, pride welling in him to fight alongside his comrades.

"The weredragons!" rose
a voice above—Mercy's voice. "The weredragons are here! Slay them!"

Cade looked up and
growled. Mercy flew above upon a new firedrake, a burly copper beast; Domi was
nowhere to be seen. With screeches like shattering glass, the firedrakes and
their riders charged across the sky toward the four dragons.

With heat, blood, and
pounding fury, the battle exploded around Cade.

The firedrakes spewed
down jets of flame, and Cade screamed as the fire washed across his scales.
Mercy's armor flashed above. With her firedrake engulfed in smoke, the paladin
seemed to be flying alone through the air. She aimed a crossbow. A bolt whizzed
and glanced off Cade's scales, and he cried out in pain. He flew toward Mercy,
blasting out flames, only for her firedrake to soar and dodge his dragonfire.
Before Cade could pursue Mercy and her mount, two other firedrakes—both black
as tar—swooped toward him, claws extended.

The beasts crashed into
Cade with the clatter of cracking scales.

Cade tumbled from the
sky, tail flailing, wings beating uselessly. He slammed against a burning hut,
crashed through the roof, and landed inside the smoky remains of the house. The
pain yanked the magic out of him. He returned to human form, coughing,
bleeding.

The firedrakes swooped from
above, and their twin jets of fire streamed down toward him.

Cade screamed, leaped
aside, and ran through what remained of the hut's doorway. He emerged into the
battlefield, singed and bleeding, burn marks spreading across his burlap tunic.
All around him, warriors of the Horde ran through the camp, firing arrows up at
the firedrakes. Already swordsmen of the Temple—burly soldiers clad in
chainmail—were emerging from among the trees. Griffins, salvanae, firedrakes,
and Vir Requis all battled above, and—

The two black firedrakes
burst through the burning hut, scattering logs. They raced toward Cade.

With a yelp, Cade
shifted back into a dragon and flew toward them. He roared madly, blasting out
fire, and crashed into the pair.

Flames and blood
engulfed him.

Claws tore at him. Upon
the firedrakes' backs, paladins fired crossbows, and bolts slammed into Cade,
cracking his scales. He cried out in pain. He almost lost his magic again. He
clung desperately to his dragon form, roared, and closed his jaws around one
firedrake's neck. He tugged back, tearing out flesh, spitting out blood. As the
wounded firedrake fell, spilling its rider from the saddle, the second beast
lashed its claws. The blow slammed into Cade's head, knocking him down.

The firedrake's rider
shot his crossbow just as Cade, wounded and dizzy, lost his magic again. The quarrel
flew to where his dragon neck had been instants ago, hitting the soil instead.

"Boy, stop playing
around and fight as a dragon, damn you!" Amity roared, flying above as a red
dragon, three firedrakes on her tail.

Cade shifted back into
a dragon, leaped toward the firedrake facing him, and slammed his claws into
the beast. The animal screeched, stumbled backward, and crashed into a hut. The
structure collapsed, and the firedrake's paladin fell from the saddle.

Cade beat his wings,
soared twenty feet into the air, and rained down an inferno of dragonfire.

The flames crashed
against the firedrake and its rider. Both beast and man screamed as they
burned.

With a brief moment for
breath, Cade panted and glanced around. His heart sank.

Spirit damn it.

The Horde's forces were
falling fast. The corpses of men from motley nations lay charred, red bones
rising from blackened flesh, and the sickening sights and stench reminded Cade
of the corpses of his parents. A griffin fell from the sky and slammed down
beside him; both the animal and its rider were dead. A salvana coiled overhead,
a great flying serpent that blasted lightning from its mouth. Its bolts took
down one firedrake, but three others descended upon the salvana, bit deep, and
tore the ancient true dragon apart. Scales rained. On the ground, a battle was
raging too. Hundreds of Temple soldiers kept emerging from their rainforest,
thrusting their swords at the Horde, and Cade still heard the cannons blasting from
the sea.

Cade beat his wings and
rose high. He spewed out fire, holding back a firedrake, and kept ascending.
The battle raged in every direction, and the trees burned.

"Fidelity, do you have the
book?" Cade shouted. He saw the blue dragon flying nearby, blowing fire down
onto enemy soldiers.

She glanced at him and
nodded. "Yes!"

"Then let's get the
Abyss out of here!" Cade shouted. "Come on!"

"Not without Korvin and
Amity!" she cried back. "Where are they?"

Cade whipped his head
from side to side, then had to swerve when a firedrake charged toward him,
blowing flames. Cade rose higher, blasted out his own dragonfire, and hit the
creature. Fidelity added her flames to his. As a human, she was perhaps only a
spectacled, bookish young woman, but as a blue dragon, Fidelity roared and
blasted out death from her jaws. The firedrake and its rider crashed down, and
warriors of the Horde leaped toward the fallen, lashing swords.

"There!" Cade shouted
and pointed a claw. "They're attacking the ships!"

When he looked west, he
saw the enemy charging up the island, racing up paths cut into the cliffs. In
the water, more Templers kept emerging from brigantines and rowing landing
craft toward the beaches. Cannons blasted from the ships, shattering the huts
the Horde had raised upon the beaches. As Cade watched, one of the Horde's
griffins swooped toward a ship, only for a cannonball to blast toward it. The
iron projectile tore the griffin apart. Blood, feathers, and gobbets of flesh
fell into the sea, rocking the rowboats still heading to the shore.

A gray dragon and a red
dragon—Korvin and Amity—flew above the ships, dodging the cannonballs. Korvin
blasted down dragonfire, burning one of the warships, while Amity was battling
three firedrakes that flew around her. The firedrakes' riders were firing
crossbows. Already Amity bled from several cuts, yet still she fought.

Cade snarled and flew
across the island, heading toward them. He had not known Korvin for long, but
the gruff old soldier was already dear to him, as precious as a father. Cade
had known Amity for even less time, and though the woman had spent the past few
days taunting and even smacking him more than once, he suddenly loved her too.
She was a fellow Vir Requis; therefore she was his sister. Cade roared as he
flew toward them, and Fidelity flew at his side, sending forth her dragonfire.

The firedrakes and
cannons turned their way.

Fire blasted across the
coast.

As he fought, Cade
forgot that he even had a human form, forgot his old life, forgot that he had
ever been a baker. Here above the sea, he was a dragon of Requiem, a creature
of wrath and nobility, of fangs and fire and claws. A firedrake lashed its
claws at him; Cade soared, knocked it aside, and burned it down. A cannonball
flew right by him, nearly deafening, and he swerved and swooped, burning the
ship.

Yet more firedrakes
kept arriving. Soon ten or more were flying toward them, and the cannons kept
blasting, and they were only four dragons.

"Korvin, we must fly!"
Cade shouted to the older, larger dragon who still flew in the distance. "We
have to protect the book. Fly west with me! Korvin, fl—"

With blasting fire and
roaring rage, Mercy and her firedrake swooped down. The paladin no longer rode
the parti-colored Pyre but her beefy, copper beast. A jet of flame crashed into
Korvin, and Mercy stood in her stirrups. She held a lance, its tip smeared with
green paste; even from the distance, Cade smelled the acrid stench of ilbane.
The paladin, all in white, her bleached hair streaming in the wind, tossed her
lance.

The shard flew through
the air and sank into Korvin's neck.

"No!" Cade shouted.

Korvin opened his jaws
to roar, but no sound left him. Green tendrils spread across the dragon's neck—the
poison spreading.

The scarred, charcoal
dragon lost his magic.

Korvin plunged through
the air, a human again, and crashed into the sea.

"Korvin!" Cade shouted,
voice torn.

More firedrakes flew
toward them. Their flames crashed against Cade, but still he flew forward,
passing through the fire, trying to reach Korvin. Crossbow bolts slammed into
Cade, and he cried out in agony.

"Father!" Fidelity
shouted. "Fa—"

Firedrakes charged
toward her, lashing their claws. More flew up toward Cade. Without Korvin, the
largest of Requiem's last dragons, the firedrakes flew with renewed vigor,
their most dangerous opponent fallen.

"Korvin!" Cade cried,
trying to see if the man still lived, if he swam. "Mercy, damn you!"

He saw the paladin through
the flame and smoke. Mercy still rode on her firedrake, and she raised a new
lance, this one too coated with ilbane. She smiled at Cade, and her blue eyes
pierced through the smoke to bore into him. Six firedrakes rose around her, and
they all came charging toward Cade and Fidelity.