Dragons Rising by Daniel Arenson Read Free Book Online Page B

winter. I'm sorry. I don't know
if I’ve doomed us all to death, if we'll ever see Domi and the
others again."
    Korvin
patted her arm. "Domi is strong and swift, and she's been
surviving on her own for many years. Last I saw them, Amity and Cade
were flying together. The Red Queen is looking after the boy. We'll
see them again."
    Fidelity
nodded and lowered her head, and a tear flowed down her cheek. "But
not Roen."
    Korvin
felt a twinge to his heart, a blend of guilt and grief. For many
years, he had mistrusted Roen, seen him as a man who tried to steal
his daughter. Yet the green dragon had fought bravely. Had saved
Fidelity's life.
    I'm
sorry that I was always so cold around you, Roen, Korvin thought,
head lowered. I thank you for your sacrifice.
    "I'm
sorry, Fidelity." Korvin's voice was low and hoarse. "I
know no words of sufficient comfort for this loss."
    She
raised her chin and the wind dried her eyes. "We will keep
fighting as he fought. We will honor his memory by keeping Requiem
alive, by reaching the mountains, by finding the others. Requiem will
rise in the ruins, reborn. King's Column will stand."
    As
they kept walking across the wilderness, Korvin kept his fears to
himself. He tried to be strong for Fidelity, tried to lift her
spirits, to be the father she needed, dependable, calm as the world
crumbled. But secretly his heart seemed to crumble too. He did not
know if the others had survived. He did not know how he could survive
losing them. To lose Domi, his youngest child, the girl he loved more
than anything. To lose Amity, a new woman in his life, the first
woman he had loved since Beatrix had murdered his wife.
    I
don't know if you survived the flight over the sea. I don't know if
you'll reach the mountains. And I'm scared, but I have to be brave
for Fidelity. I have to let her believe there is hope, that we can
reach the mountains, that we can find new life there. Perhaps
Requiem is but a dream, a memory we can never resurrect. But if
that's so, at least let me see the others again. At least let me hold
Domi and Amity one more time, let me grow old with them, if not in
Requiem then in hiding.
    He
did not even know who he prayed to. The Spirit? That god, if real,
held no love for him, a weredragon. The stars of Requiem? Korvin did
not know if there was any consciousness to them anymore, any love for
the last survivors of a dead realm. Perhaps he prayed to no one,
perhaps his thoughts were hollow, as meaningless as their fight. But
without that fight, without that hope, there was nothing left but
death. And so Korvin nurtured that hope like a man fanning the last
embers of a dying fire. It was all that could still keep him warm.
    They
kept traveling across the wastelands of the southeastern
Commonwealth. Hundreds of years ago, these had been the lands of
Osanna, a kingdom long fallen, its survivors having fled to the
Horde. The land was still barren, though as they traveled, Korvin saw
signs of the lost kingdom that had once risen here. Several columns
lay fallen upon a hilltop, corroded and cracked, perhaps the remains
of a temple. A great boulder rose ahead, the size of a hill. It took
a moment for Korvin to realize that it was the head of a lion,
half-buried in the soil, perhaps thousands of years old, pounded down
with so much wind and rain it had lost nearly all its features.
    The
snow still fell when they reached the ruins of the town.
    "A
relic of Osanna," Fidelity whispered. "Ancient enemy of
Requiem, fallen to ruin."
    Most
of the town lay buried under centuries of soil. Korvin could not see
the old roads that perhaps had once run across this place. A portico
of columns rose like the spine of a buried giant. Ridges of chipped
walls twisted like a labyrinth. An orphaned archway, the walls around
it long fallen, led to a courtyard lined with twisting oaks. A statue
of a bearded king lay fallen, half-buried in the dirt, and the shell
of a temple stood overrun with ivy, nests upon the remains of