Dragons Reborn by Daniel Arenson Read Free Book Online Page B

night. Requiem! Requiem!
    The song of
dragons in her heart, Domi blew more fire, hitting a drake, and swooped, her
claws tearing at another. Her comrades fought around her, four other dragons of
Requiem, proud and strong.
    A scream shattered
the battle.
    Flames, blue with
heat, showered skyward, and the city shook.
    With a deafening
cry, with light and heat and roaring sound, the great firedrake Felesar soared
up from the Temple—the largest of the beasts—and upon his back rode Mercy.
    The paladin's face
was white with rage, and her eyes burned, two blue pools of rage. Twenty more
firedrakes rose around her, emerging from the tunnels below the Temple, and her
voice stormed across the city.
    "Slay the
weredragons!"
    Dozens of flaming
jets blazed toward Domi. Dozens of arrows flew, and the firedrakes closed in.
    Domi snarled and flew
to battle, to blood, to death.
    "Domi!"
Cade grabbed her tail and tugged her. "Come on!"
    The young golden
dragon shot eastward, dragging Domi with him across the sky.
    "Domi, fly
with us!" Fidelity cried ahead, a blue dragon blasting out fire. She,
Julian, and Roen were driving forward, breaking through the noose of firedrakes.
    "I won't flee
from battle!" Domi shouted.
    Cade growled and
bit right into her haunches. "Yes you will. Now move it!"
    Domi yowled and
flew, Cade chomping at her backside. They shot forward. Firedrakes charged
toward her. The dragons blew their fire and lashed their claws. One firedrake's
teeth dug into her shoulder, and Domi yipped and swung her tail, digging its
spikes into the creature's flanks. An arrow shot through her wing, and she
cried out in pain. Cade flew above her, blasting fire, clearing a path forward.
    Domi roared and
flew with him, biting and clawing, knocking the enemies aside.
    I won't let
that damn boy live while I die!
    Together, the
fiery and golden dragons burst forward, breaking through the ring of
firedrakes. The other three dragons flew ahead.
    The five dragons,
perhaps the last Vir Requis in the world, flew over the dark city of Nova Vita.
Behind them, a hundred firedrakes or more roared and flew in pursuit, their
flames lighting the night.

 
 
KORVIN

    The two
dragons, gray and red, perched atop the citadel's highest tower and gazed down
at the sprawling land of stone and iron.
    "Gosh
Ha'ar," said Amity, her red scales burning bright in the sunset as if
aflame. Her eyes shone. "Thousands of years ago, the ancient civilization of
Goshar fell upon this mountainside." Fire flicked between Amity's teeth. "Now
Gosh Ha'ar, the Heart of the Horde, is mine to rule."
    Korvin
grunted, his claws digging into the parapets. "It's one city, Amity, and
you're not yet crowned. The Horde is vast and covers much of Terra. Not all
will accept your rule, even if you did cut off the old abina's head."
    She
turned her scaly head toward him, and her jaw opened in a smile. "They
will. Gosh Ha'ar will swear its loyalty to me tonight. This city, this mountain,
this citadel—they will be mine. And soon all the Horde will swear its
allegiance to me, Abini Amity." Smoke blasted out of her nostrils. "And
then Beatrix will beg me for mercy . . . mercy I will not grant."
    Korvin's
belly clenched; it felt full of rocks.
    And
so Amity, the new woman I love, the woman I made love to in the bowels of the
mountains . . . will fight Beatrix, the woman I loved and spurned. His
chest felt too tight. And only one will survive this.
    He
gazed across the landscape. He and Amity stood on the tower of Sin Hanar, the
great citadel that rose from the mountain. The fortress was the largest Korvin
had ever seen. Clusters of towers rose in a ring around the mountain, connected
with thick stone walls. Within this shell rose a second layer of walls, thrice
as high, topped with parapets and massive towers whose height challenged even
the Cured Temple far north across the sea. This citadel was old; its bricks
were craggy, and many weeds grew between them, and men spoke of ghosts