Dragons Rising (13 page)

They
spent a while exploring the library. Many of these books seemed
ancient. When Fidelity leaned close, she could smell the dusty old
parchment, and she ran her fingers across the leather covers. She
swallowed several sneezes and sprayed a few more across the floor,
cursing her sensitivity to dust. Yet despite her stuffy nose and
itching eyes, she found peace in this library, a soothing quiet of
the soul. She was a librarian, and books meant the world to her. She
wished she could have stayed here forever, and in her daydreams, she
was the librarian here, a mistress of knowledge.

Finally
they found a section in the back, cloaked in shadows, and Korvin
stopped walking. "The bestiaries," he said.

Fidelity
shivered. They had entered a quiet, distant room in the library. It
was cold here, and no windows broke the walls. The only light came
from a flickering, glass-paned lamp that hung on a brick wall. No
priests walked here. It almost reminded Fidelity of her secret cellar
back at her own library, the place where she had stored her books of
Requiem. But while that cellar had been cozy and comforting, this
place brought cold sweat to her skin. Books crowded around her,
wrapped in black and blue and red leather, and a chill seemed to
emanate from them.

She
stepped closer to the bookshelves, leaned closer to the spines, and
squinted until she could read the titles.

"
Fish
of the Sea
." She narrowed her eyes to slits. "
Life
in a Drop of Water
. Hmm, not our book either.
Olsen's Standard
Book of Commonwealth Birds
. Interesting but not much help here."
She climbed onto a wheeled ladder and pushed herself between the
selves. "
Hound Training and Falconry
, no . . .
The
Color of Dragons
, hmm, that's an interesting one." She
pulled the heavy, leather-bound codex off the shelf, but it only
contained illustrations of dragons in every color with
descriptions--completely meaningless--of each color's temperament.
She placed the book back on the shelf and kept searching. "
Herbs
and their Pests
, no . . .
Wildlife of Terra
, no . . . Hmm,
what's this?"

She
approached a codex that seemed older than the others. It was large,
over two feet long, and wrapped in leather so faded and crinkly she
could barely determine its color. Something about the book made
Fidelity shiver. This book was old. Older than the Commonwealth.
Maybe even older than Requiem. Cracked, golden letters were worked
into the spine:
Mythic Creatures of the Gray Age
.

She
turned her head toward her father, who was searching a bookshelf
behind her.

"I
found something," she said, her voice barely more than a
whisper.

When
she touched the book, it felt like a lightning bolt shooting through
her. She sucked in breath. Visions flashed before her eyes of
countless readers opening this book, seeking its knowledge. She saw
the most ancient scribes writing its pages, explorers from forgotten
eras reading its words. Fidelity gasped.

Perhaps
the old heroes of Requiem--Queen Gloriae Aeternum, Kyrie Eleison,
even King Benedictus--had once held this book, seeking help in
fighting the griffins, nightshades, and mimics of old.

Clinging
to the ladder with one hand, she tugged the codex off its shelf. It
was a massive book, large as a shield, and she nearly fell. Korvin
had to step forward and help her lower the tome and place it on a
table. Dust flew in the air, and Fidelity swallowed several sneezes,
coming close to sneezing all over the book and tearing it apart.

"
Mythic
Creatures of the Gray Age
," Korvin read. "Didn't we
have a copy of this book at our library?"

Fidelity
nodded. "We did. We--" She covered her nose, stifling her
sneeze. "We had a copy of the abridged version. That's the most
common book you find these days. Some of the truly interesting
creatures were cut out, deemed offensive to the Spirit. Griffins,
salvanae, dragons, phoenixes . . . they all worship other gods, so
they're heretics. But this book . . ." She passed her hand
across the leather binding. "This looks like one of the original
editions, produced here in Osanna--back when this land was still
called Osanna. It's not even written in the Common but in Osannan
High Speech." Her eyes shone. "I'm surprised the priests
never burned it. Could be whoever runs this library has a love for
forbidden books like we do, hiding this one far in the back, knowing
priests stick to the prayer sections. This book is priceless, Father.
Look at the craftsmanship! Look at the old parchment pages and the
filigree, and--"

Korvin
cleared his throat. "We're here to find information about
bonedrakes, not admire ancient bookbinding techniques. Let's hurry."
He glanced around him. "This city is swarming with the enemy,
and priests are walking around in this very library. Find what you
need to know and let's leave."

She
nodded and opened the book. It creaked open like a rusty door, and
more dust showered. Fidelity had to turn her head around and sneeze
three times onto the floor. Finally she looked back, eyes watering,
and blinked a few times. She sat down at the table and leaned closer,
bringing the book into focus. Thankfully, while she saw only smudges
in the distance, her eyes still worked at close range.

The
book had opened at random to a beautifully illustrated page. It
featured a colorful phoenix woven of orange, red, and yellow flames.
It reminded Fidelity of Domi's dragon form. Many words in a tiny,
delicate script were written beneath the illustration, describing the
wrath of the phoenixes, warriors of the Sun God. Delicately, Fidelity
flipped the page, revealing an image of a great woman of stone, fire
in her eyes, dark wings sprouting from her back--Angel, Queen of
Demons. Fidelity shuddered and quickly flipped to another page, this
one showing an illustration of a familiar creature--Behemoth of the
Horde, a legendary monster, thousands of years old, now lost in the
sea.

When
she flipped the page again, a sad smile touched her lips.

"Look,
Father," she said. "We too are ancient creatures."

This
page featured a painted blue dragon--the same color as Fidelity's own
scales. More words were written here, curving around the painted
dragon like ripples, describing how Vir Requis--the book called them
"children of the Draco stars"--could become dragons at
will.

"Somebody
friendly to us works in this library, or perhaps the priests never
bothered reading this book." Fidelity smiled wryly. "It
doesn't describe us as a disease to wipe out." She flipped to
the next page, then gasped. "There! A bonedrake! Or at least
something similar."

The
page featured drawings of several skeletons--a human, a horse, a
griffin, and a dragon. Each skeleton seemed animated, hands or claws
raised as if in conversation, and white lights were painted within
their rib cages and eye sockets.

"Those
are our boys, all right," Korvin said.

Fidelity
leaned closer, so close her nose touched the parchment. "The
writing is all faded, and my Osannan is a little dusty, but . . ."
She squinted. "It says that . . ." She gasped and read from
the page. "
And the greatest clerics, blessed in the eyes of
their gods, raised the bones of dead men and beasts from the dirt,
and prayed to the heavens, and the gods breathed life into the old
bones, so that they might walk again upon the earth, swim in the sea,
and fly in the sky, serving their masters even from beyond the
grave.
"

"That's
what we've already suspected," Korvin said, frowning at the
page. He pointed at a small, shadowy figure drawn at the corner of
the page, winged, mocking, staring with red eyes at the bonedrakes.
"This little guy seems undaunted."

Fidelity
nodded and stifled a shiver. "A demon." She read the little
words drawn around the shadowy figure. "
Only creatures of the
Abyss, unholy and dark, could withstand the light of the Risen. Heras
the Aged, though born a man, wore the hide of slain demons as armor,
and with his lance he smote the Risen and their light could not burn
him.
"

Cold
sweat trickled down her back. When she squinted and stared closer,
she realized that it wasn't a demon drawn in the background. It was a
man wearing a demon hide. The red eyes seemed to stare at her, and a
weight seemed to crush Fidelity. She slammed the book shut with a
shower of dust.

"Only
demon hide can stop their light," she whispered. She turned
toward her father. "We must find a demon."

 
 
DOMI

"I'm
ready to return home." Domi walked around on her wounded leg,
limping but strong enough to walk almost as fast as before. "We
must fly back to the Commonwealth. We must find the ruins of Draco
Murus and the others."

Gemini
stood on the hill, looking a little like his old self. He had finally
washed off the blood and dirt of the battle, and he wore armor again.
The metal plates were a little dented, a little dusty, but it was
fine paladin's armor nonetheless. He had shaved his face and the left
side of his head, and had even found someone in the camp to bleach
his roots white again. Once more, he was the glorious Lord Gemini
Deus, a paladin of the Spirit . . . and once more, he was with her.

Domi
lowered her head. She had thought that, escaping the Cured Temple,
she had escaped Gemini too. But like a corpse discarded at sea that
washed ashore to haunt its killer, so had Gemini returned to her.
Domi missed Cade and the others, but strangely, she found that
perhaps . . . perhaps she had missed Gemini too. The man was cruel,
imperious, cowardly, but he loved her truly. Domi did not doubt that
now. Gemini had done unspeakable evil, but he had done it for her.

And
he will keep doing things for me,
Domi thought.
I don't love
him back, but I will use his love. For my family. For Requiem. Thus
will I fight, not only with dragonfire but with his love for me.

"Will
you return with me, Gemini?" she said. "To the north? Will
you seek the others with me? Together we can still strike against
your mother and sister."

Together
we will give you the Cured Temple . . . so that you will give me
Requiem.

He
turned on the hill to gesture down at the distant camp. Past the
devastation of Hakan Teer rose the tents, makeshift wooden towers,
and firedrakes he had claimed and now ruled.

"We
have the seeds of an army here, Domi." Gemini rested his hand on
the pommel of his sword. "But it is only a seed. Let us travel
south! We'll travel across Terra to find the bulk of my mother's
forces, to bring them under my rule." His eyes shone. "We
can rule the south together, Domi! You and I, King and Queen of
Terra. We'll build such an army that the world will tremble before
us."

Domi
turned to look south, to stare at the vast, dry lands beyond the
hills. Here on the coast, many pines, carob trees, and mint bushes
grew on hills of rich brown soil. But there, miles south, the land
sloped into a desert of rocks and cracked earth leading to distant,
cruel mountains. It was a harsh land, and it would take her farther
from the others.

"No,"
she said. "No." She turned back toward Gemini. "For
too many years, I ran from my family. I sought to fly as the
firedrake Pyre, free and proud and strong, but I found myself
imprisoned in a dungeon, spurred and whipped and less free than ever.
I sought to seek glory and comfort in the Cured Temple as your
servant and mistress, but I found myself imprisoned in a cell. I
cannot keep abandoning my family, abandoning Requiem. My path takes
me to Draco Murus, to unite with Fidelity, with my father, with . . .
with Cade."

Suddenly
both her legs, the wounded and healthy one, felt rubbery. Her mind
strayed back to that time she and Cade had fled the burning forests,
lain in the grass at dawn, and made love. Domi had made love to over
a dozen men before, Cade only the latest among them. To Cade the
experience had been new, but he had moved with gentle confidence, and
Domi had never enjoyed lovemaking more. Often since that night, she
had dreamed of Cade, and even now she felt her cheeks flush.

Gemini
seemed to notice. His brow furrowed, and he bared his teeth. "Cade?
My little brother? What is he to you?"

Domi
lowered her head. Yes. Cade was his brother, born to Beatrix herself,
if the stories were to be believed. Yet how could the two men share
blood? Cade was gentle and kind, and Gemini was cruel, craven,
covetous.

"A
fellow Vir Requis." She raised her eyes to meet his gaze. She
forced Cade out of her mind for now. "We will continue the fight
for Requiem--all Vir Requis united. We must never more drift apart.
So you must decide, Gemini, if you will fly south to wage a battle in
the distant outposts of the empire, on the wild front line of
expansion . . . or whether you will join your cause to mine. To
Requiem's. And fly with the Vir Requis."

He
gripped her arms--painfully. His eyes were wild, his teeth bared.
"The weredragons are scattered! That Red Bitch who called
herself Queen of the Horde is probably dead--that or now spreading
her legs in a brothel for copper coins." He snorted a laugh. "As
for the others, they're probably drowned in the sea, and good
riddance to them. We don't need them, Domi. We--"

She
slapped him.

Not
the delicate slap of an offended maiden, barely more painful than the
touch of a silken scarf. Domi slapped him with ringing force, putting
all her body into the blow, knocking his head aside. Gemini stumbled
and fell, gasped, and clutched his red cheek.

"Never
speak that way of my family." She stared down at him.
"Apologize."