Forged in Dragonfire (Flame of Requiem Book 1) (32 page)

BOOK: Forged in Dragonfire (Flame of Requiem Book 1)

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So many fallen,
Elory thought as the sun rose and set.
Each life—a world. Forever gone.

She had lived through
years under the yoke, in the bowels of the ziggurat, hungry and afraid and
weak, but now for the first time in her life, it seemed that hope faded from
Elory, that she could no longer dream of a savior, of a return to a lost home.

Could there ever be
hope in a land of such pain, ever be light again in such darkness?

In the pit of bubbling
tar, Elory gazed southward, and she could see the Eye of Saraph—the crest of
the ziggurat—staring at her, always watching. Somewhere in there, buried deep,
she lay—Meliora, her wings severed, perhaps as lost to Elory as all those who
lay buried underground.

That night, after the last of their dead burned in the pyres, the people of Requiem lit candles.

They did not light
their candles outside for the overseers to see. They did not rally and raise
their fires high. They did not march upon the city, shining their lights,
singing for freedom. In the land of Tofet, the slaves sat in their clay huts,
and they lit their candles on stones tables, and they prayed.

Elory sat in her hut
with her father and brother. They sat in silence. Four candles burned on their
table: a candle for those who fell in the massacre, a candle for Elory's
mother, a candle for the hero Lucem, and a candle for lost Meliora. Four
lights, flickering in the breeze, soft and dying, soon to go dark.

She looked at the
lights, then up at her father and brother. Haggard faces. Eyes dark.

"We failed,"
Elory whispered. "We marched for freedom and we lost our fight. Is all
hope lost?"

Jaren stared at the
candles, then raised his eyes to look at the stars engraved onto the
ceiling—the Draco constellation, scratched with fingernails. In the
candlelight, they seemed almost to shine. "Not so long as the stars
shine," said the old priest, "though we cannot see their light."

Vale, meanwhile—young,
angry Vale, lips thinned into a line, fists clenched—stared toward the floor.
There, hidden under their straw beds, lay the lances he and Elory had snatched
in the battle. The young quarryman kicked more straw over them, hiding the
shafts.

"Not so long as we
can fight," Vale said. "I don't know if there is hope to escape, to
see Requiem again. But there is hope to slay more of our enemies, to shine our
own light."

The candles melted, the
flames guttering. Outside, across the land, a million candles or more shone
their lights in huts. Perhaps that was hope, Elory thought—small, hidden
lights even in the shadows.

"We will keep
praying," she whispered. "We will keep fighting. And we will keep
hope alive." She reached across the table and took her brother's and
father's hands. "We will not abandon the dream of our people, and we will
not abandon Meliora who languishes in darkness. So long as we can keep candles
burning, we will remember Meliora, and we will remember Requiem."

"Remember
Requiem," Vale said, face hard, eyes shining with fire.

"Remember
Requiem," Jaren whispered.

Holding their hands,
Elory prayed, and they whispered the words with her, the most ancient prayer of
their people, a prayer for a land lost, for a dream that would always shine.

"As the leaves
fall upon our marble tiles, as the breeze rustles the birches beyond our
columns, as the sun gilds the mountains above our halls—know, young child of
the woods, you are home, you are home."

The story continues in . . .

CROWN OF DRAGONFIRE

Flame of Requiem, Book Two

Grab it here.

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AFTERWORD

Thank you for reading
Forged in Dragonfire
, the first novel in the
Flame of Requiem
trilogy. I hope you enjoyed the book.

The next
Flame of Requiem
novel is titled
Crown of Dragonfire
. Click
here
to grab your copy or search your favorite ebook store for "Crown of Dragonfire."

Want to know when I release new books? Here are some ways to stay updated:

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And if you have a moment, please review a Requiem novel or two online. Help other fantasy readers and tell them why you enjoyed reading. And please help spread the word! Lend a Requiem novel to a friend, talk about Requiem online, and help others discover the books.

Thank you again, dear reader, and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.

Daniel

NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON

THE MOTH SAGA