Dragons Rising (10 page)

"I
think it's your stomach." Amity puffed out a flicker of fire.
The scales on her snout gleamed for an instant, then faded into
shadow. "Must have been all those ribs you ate in the tavern."

"All
those ribs
I
ate? If anyone's stomach would whine, it should
be yours, and--" He shuddered. "There it is again."

The
sound came from behind him again, but closer this time. It was a
shrill cry like steam from a kettle, like shattering plates of steel.
Cade shivered again. He was cold suddenly, colder than he should be
in dragon form.

"Amity,
ride me," he said.

She
waggled her scaly brow. "Oh, Cade, my love."

He
growled at her. "You know what I mean! Ride me as a human in
your paladin armor. Dawn's rising, and I'd rather stick to our
disguise."

She
nodded. "Brace yourself."

She
flapped her wings and rose to glide above him, then lowered herself
down, all but slamming against him, still in dragon form. Her wings
draped across him, and her weight nearly knocked him out of sky.

"Amity,
as a human!" he groaned.

She
craned her neck down, pressed her snout against his, and blasted
smoke against him. "Oh, all right."

She
released her magic, shrinking and shifting back into human form. When
Cade looked over his shoulder, he saw Amity climbing into his saddle,
the same saddle she had taken from the dead firedrake outside the
tavern. She wore the dead paladin's armor. It was ill fitting, but
when she lowered her visor and raised her lance, she looked like any
other paladin, and he like any other firedrake. At least, Cade hoped
so. Dawn was rising, and those shrieks sounded again behind him.

He
turned around in the sky, facing south toward the sound, and couldn't
suppress a shudder.

"Hey,
stop shaking!" Amity said, slamming her spurs against his
scales.

"Hush!
Look." He pointed a claw. "I see something."

Four
pale lights were gleaming in the distance. At first Cade thought them
stars, but they were moving forward quickly, and screams rose from
them again, wailing, echoing, unearthly, sounds like wobbling saws.

Cade
turned back north. "I don't like those things, whatever they
are. Hold on tight, Amity."

He
beat his wings and flew faster, streaming across the sky. The sun
emerged in the east, bathing the world in morning. He found himself
flying over a cracked, forested landscape. Canyons plunged down in a
coiling labyrinth, their walls green with moss, vines, and clinging
trees. Natural pillars of sandstone, thousands of feet tall, soared
up from gorges like the towers of men, flaring out toward crests lush
with pines and ash trees. The forest spread across the bottom of
canyons, the tops of pillars, and fragmented plateaus, forming
several layers of greenery between walls of stone. On any other day,
Cade would have marveled at the beauty of this landscape, but now he
couldn't stop shivering.

When he looked over his shoulder, he saw frost spreading across his
scales and Amity's armor. Winter had only begun, and they weren't
that far north yet, but they might as well have been flying across
the arctic. The cold seemed to be emanating from those distant
lights. They were getting closer now, and Cade made out pale wings,
riders in armor, and glowing eyes. Their screeches rose louder.

A hawk to Cade's right cawed and plunged toward the land. To his
left, several blackbirds fell down dead. Frost coated trees upon the
pillars of stone below. The trunks cracked, and the trees tumbled off
the rocky pillars into the gorges.

"Cade, you really do have gas," Amity said. "Even the
birds are dropping dead."

"I told you, it's not me!" He grimaced. "Whatever's
following us is far worse than indigestion. And they're fast too."
No matter how quickly he flew, the creatures behind were gaining on
him. "We're landing and hiding until they fly by."

He glided lower in the sky and flew above a gorge that split the
land. Pines grew alongside and below, and vines and moss covered the
cliffs. A massive tower of stone rose from the pit, soaring thousands
of feet high, a single island that had survived the gorge crumbling
down around it. Upon its flaring crest grew a copse of pines, and
Cade glided toward the trees. Mist floated below and more birds fell
dead all around. Cade was so cold he could barely flap his wings, but
he managed to reach the soaring steeple, grab its rim, and climb onto
the top. There he released his magic, returning to human form.

"Oof!" Amity cried, falling down onto him. "You're all
lumpy."

He lay, flattened beneath her. "Get off! Even your human form
weighs as much as a dragon."

She dug her heels into his sides. "Keep carrying me."

He groaned. "Off!"

The creatures shrieked again, the sound louder now. Cade managed to
shove Amity off, then rose to his feet and ran between the pines. She
ran with him. The trees were thick, and lichen hung from their
branches. They stood in the greenery, turned south, and stared across
the gorge.

The creatures were flying over the gorge now, heading toward them.
Cade shuddered, and this time it wasn't just from the cold. Even
Amity grumbled and stamped her feet.

"What are they?" she asked, twisting her face in disgust.

Cade's teeth chattered. "Skeletons. Flying firedrake skeletons.
Bonedrakes." He grimaced. "Fidelity told me about them
once--old legends. The bones of dead firedrakes reanimated with the
Spirit's light. I thought they were only legend."

He counted four of them. Even from this distance, their stench spun
his head and roiled his stomach. Their wings were only shreds of skin
stretched across bones. Pulsing balls of light thrummed within their
ribcages like hearts, sending out tendrils of light that pooled in
their skulls' eye sockets. The skeletons of paladins rode upon their
backs, still wearing rusty armor and bearing chipped lances.

"Cade, you stink," Amity said, teeth knocking.

"It's not me, it's them!" He elbowed her. "And hush!
Hide and wait for them to fly by."

They stood, hidden between the branches, watching, waiting. The
creatures kept flying nearer and nearer. Soon they were so close Cade
could count their bones.

They're too low.
Cade grimaced.
Fly higher, by the stars.

Yet the bonedrakes kept diving lower, heading toward the steeple of
stone where Cade and Amity hid. Light blazed in their eye sockets.
Those glowing orbs seemed to stare right at Cade, burning into him,
searing him, searching inside him, scouring the innards of his skull.
He grimaced. Amity doubled over beside him, blanching. Frost coated
her hair, and icicles formed on her armor.

"They're . . . they're coming here," she whispered between
chattering teeth.

Cade nodded, stepping farther back between the cover of the trees.
"Come on."

He grabbed her, and they resumed running between the trees, heading
toward the center of this jutting pillar of rock. Suddenly the pines
shattered behind them. Cade looked over his shoulder to see the
bonedrakes crashing into the copse, plowing through the trees like
bulls charging through wild grass. Branches snapped and shattered.
Trunks collapsed and roots jutted skyward, and the skeletons kept
driving forth, the eye sockets blazing, their jaws opened and
shrieking.

"They saw us!" Cade shouted, running forward.

"Sir Obvious to the rescue again!" Amity cried.

They kept running between the branches, then skidded to a stop. They
had reached the edge of the stone pillar. The tower plunged down
toward the distant gorge.

"Jump!" Amity cried and leaped into the air, dragging Cade
with her.

Their legs kicked in midair, and they plunged downward toward the
distant, forested floor of the gorge. The walls of cliffs blurred at
their sides. As he fell, Cade looked up to see the bonedrakes crash
between the last pines on the steeple and emerge into open sky again,
shedding branches. The bonedrakes curved their flight, turning to
swoop, heads facing downward. The light in their ribcages
intensified, flowed along their spines, and blasted out of their jaws
in beams.

Cade sucked in his magic, beat his wings, and rose as a golden
dragon.

The beams of light shot under him, blazed across the gorge, and
slammed into a wall of stone. Rocks tumbled down, and a hole gaped
open in the cliff. Cade cursed and soared higher, dodging another
beam. Amity flew at his side.

"Burn them with me!" the red dragon shouted, flew higher,
then spun in the sky and charged.

Cade flew with her. The two dragons, gold and red, shot toward the
bonedrakes and blasted dragonfire.

The flaming streams flowed through the bonedrakes, emerged from
between the bones, and crashed into the rocky tower behind. The trees
ignited. The bonedrakes flew on, unharmed, and blasted forth more
light.

"Damn it!" Cade swerved to the right. Amity banked to the
left. The beams shot between one, thrumming, icy cold, nearly
blinding Cade.

He curbed the urge to flee. If these creatures were after Vir Requis,
they could be hunting the others too. Cade growled and stormed forth,
stretching out his claws. He dodged a blast of light, rose higher,
and slammed into a bonedrake.

Bones cracked. The creature screamed. The paladin's skeleton on its
back thrust its lance, and Cade pulled sideways. The rusty blade
scraped across his scales, showering sparks. Cade growled and beat
his wings, shoving the bonedrake across the sky until they slammed
into the soaring stone steeple.

Bones snapped against the cliff. Rocks tumbled down. A pine cracked
above and fell, crashed against the combatants, and then plunged down
toward the gorge.

"Cade, stop hugging it and crush it!" Amity's voice rose
somewhere above.

Cade growled and swung his claws, trying to snap more bones, but the
creature fought in a fury, its back against the cliff--or at least
its backbone. Its claws scraped at Cade's scales, and its fangs bit
down, cracking scales and shedding blood.

Cade roared. His claws were unable to damage the bones, and his teeth
found nothing to bite. He placed his feet against the cliff and
pushed back, momentarily freeing the creature. The bonedrake beat its
wings and flew toward him. Cade bellowed and charged forward again,
driving into the creature and slamming it back against the wall.

Spine segments cracked. Ribs snapped and drove into the ball of light
within them.

The pulsing heart exploded.

Light blasted out, bathing Cade.

He screamed and fell backward in the sky, tumbling, deaf, blind,
wings beating uselessly. The shock drove the magic out of him, and
Cade tumbled down as a human again. Through the haze, he saw the
bonedrake collapse above and rain down in bone fragments.

"Cade!" Amity screamed above. She was battling three of the
creatures.

Cade gritted his teeth, shifted back into a dragon, and soared.

"Go for their ribs, Amity!" he shouted.

She groaned above. "Enough with the ribs already! I get it! I
ate too many ribs at the tavern! Now will you be quiet and help me
fight?"

"The
bonedrake
ribs, Amity! Snap them! Drive them into
their hearts!"

She
nodded and drove downward, slamming herself into a creature's
ribcage. The bones creaked but did not snap. Another bonedrake landed
on her back and blasted down its light.

Amity
screamed.

The
light blazed against her scales, heating them, crackling.

Cade
roared and soared. He lashed his tail, knocking one bonedrake aside,
and rose higher until he flew above the bonedrake that was burning
Amity.

"Get
it off me!" Amity screamed. One of her scales cracked and fell
in the light.

Flying
above the bonedrake, Cade released his magic. He landed in human form
upon the bonedrake, swung his sword, and severed the dead paladin's
skull. Before the rider's body could tumble down, Cade grabbed its
lance, raised the weapon high, then screamed and plunged it between
the bonedrake's ribs and into its blazing heart.

The
light exploded, blasting outward.

Cade
tumbled through the air, dropping his lance. Spinning in the sky, he
summoned his magic, returned to dragon form, and dived down to grab
the falling lance in his claws. He saw Amity, a round burn on her
back, swinging her tail against two more bonedrakes.

One
of the beasts below shot forth its beam of light.

Cade
blasted down dragonfire.

The
light dispersed in the fire, reaching Cade as a glowing mist. It
stung like acid, and he roared and kept plunging downward, roaring
his fire. The bonedrake rose from the inferno, jaws snapping and
claws lashing.

Cade
howled, clutched the lance tightly with his claws, and thrust down
the weapon.

The
lance scraped across bone, found its way between the skeleton's ribs,
and pierced its glowing heart. The light blasted out again,
disintegrating the bones and tossing Cade into a spin, searing his
underbelly. Before he could steady his flight, a second blast of
light exploded as Amity slew the last bonedrake.

As
the creature's bones tumbled down into the gorge, Amity beat her
wings and grinned at Cade. He flew in rings around her. Both were
bleeding and burnt.

"Bastards." Cade spat out blood. He twisted his neck
around, looking at his body, and grimaced to see cuts and burns
covering him. His head spun. Amity seemed in even worse shape, an
ugly burn mark on her back. The bonedrake's beam had melted her
scales and seared her flesh. But still the red dragon grinned.

"Not bad work, kid." She winked at him. "I might keep
you around for a while longer. Bonedrakes? Fun to kill. Make a nice
crunch when you crush 'em." She laughed. "Is that all
Beatrix can toss at us?" She raised her voice to a roar. "Come
on, you old hag! Beatrix, do you hear me? I know you sent those
skeletons! I'm going to crush them all! And then I'm going to snap
your own bones. You're worthless, you--"