Requiem's Hope (Dawn of Dragons) (6 page)

Jeid fell silent. Laira—the young woman stood nearby among her
fellow Goldtusk hunters—lowered her head, and tears streamed down
her cheeks.

The white dragon stared from side to side,. Tears welled in her own
eyes and flowed down her scaly cheeks.

"Is Sena . . ." Issari trembled, scales clattering, and
lost her magic. She knelt as a human, raised her head, and cried out
hoarsely. "Sena!"

Laira rushed toward her sister and embraced her. They whispered soft
words to each other, weeping together.

Jeid was about to approach them, to try to speak comforts, when a
hand grabbed his arm. He turned to see Alina, the young druid. She
stared at him from the shadows of her lavender hood. Her eyes, the
same color as her raiment, seemed to shine with inner light.

"My king, I have prayed to the stars, and their light has shone
before me, illuminating a secret in the west. More hide there."
Alina pulled back her hood, revealing long auburn hair that cascaded
around her pale, oval face. Strings of beads hung from her staff,
chinking in the wind. "Rumors of dragons in the west travel
across the land, not only in the whispers of stars but also the talk
of men. We must seek their aid if we are to fight."

Laira approached slowly, still holding her sister. She stared at
Jeid, her eyes now dry, and spoke in a voice both hard and brittle
like a sliver of granite. "In the north too there is aid for
Requiem. The Leatherwing tribe rules there upon Two Skull Mountain.
They ride creatures they call pteros—flying beasts with no feathers,
their bodies smooth and their snouts long, creatures as large as
rocs. For many years, the chieftain of Leatherwing tried to marry his
daughter to Chieftain Zerra, to forge an alliance between the two
tribes." Laira raised her crooked chin. "I slew Zerra. I am
now Chieftain of Goldtusk. I will forge an alliance with Leatherwing
and we will fight the southern menace together."

Jeid stared at them all, one by one. His children, Maev and Tanin,
who approached with drawn blades. Laira and Issari, grieving sisters.
Dorvin and Alina, two newcomers to their kingdom, already as dear to
him as the others. A score of others, wanderers come home. They all
gathered around, staring, awaiting his words.

I lead them all,
Jeid thought.
And I must protect them all.
I will not let Requiem perish.

He addressed the crowd.

"We've tamed the rocs of Goldtusk, but now a new enemy rises, an
enemy more powerful than any we've faced, an enemy that threatens to
crush Requiem. And we must leave this place." Murmurs rose from
his people, and Jeid spoke louder. "We will not abandon King's
Column nor our dream of Requiem, but this is not our battlefield. We
must seek aid, and we must strike back against this cruel king who
sends forth his evil. Three paths now lie before us. We must split
into three groups." He paused for a deep breath. "We must
seek more Vir Requis in the west. We must forge an alliance with the
Leatherwing tribe in the north. And finally . . ." He turned to
stare into Issari's eyes. "We must travel south, place Issari
upon Eteer's throne, and command the demons back into the Abyss."

 
 
MAEV

She
crossed her arms and spat. "No. I refuse. It's not going to
happen."

Her father grumbled and his beard bristled, making him seem even more
like a grizzly bear. "You will do this, Maev. I'm not asking
you. I'm commanding you. As your king and father."

Maev snorted and turned away from him, thrusting out her bottom lip
in defiance. "I obey nobody. And I refuse." She drew her
sword. "I fly north with you. I fly to find the Leatherwing
tribe, to fight in a great battle, to—"

Jeid grabbed her and spun her back toward him. Rage twisted his face.
"Maev, listen to me. We might not have a battle on our hands,
only a slaughter. I need you to fly west with Dorvin and Alina. I
need you to help them find the Vir Requis said to live there. If
there's any hope for Requiem, it lies in finding others."

She shoved him back, eyes stinging. "So you'll just send me off
to safety, a herald of Requiem, rather than let me fight? I'm a
fighter. I've fought and slain many rocs, demons, and tribesmen."
She growled. "I'm the greatest warrior in Requiem."

"Which is why I need you with Dorvin and Alina," he said.
"How can I send only two dragons on this mission? They need your
help, Maev. And . . . I need you to watch over them." He lowered
his voice. "I don't know that I can trust them. I need my own
blood on every path we take."

Maev could scarcely believe his words. Across their camp, men and
women were already becoming dragons and rising into the sky. They
were heading out to war, yet how could Maev find glory far in the
west? If demons could truly pick up the scent of dragons, they would
surely follow the largest group north to Two Skull Mountain. That was
where battle would rage. That was where Maev had to be. Not some
guardian of two pups.

She looked at all the others. "So Tanin and Issari will return
to Eteer and claim the throne; their glory will be eternal. So you
and Laira will travel north to Two Skull Mountain, forge an alliance,
and fight a great battle; forever your song will echo. And me?"
She blinked furiously. "I'll be in the west, far from any epic
battles, guarding a druid and a blockhead boy."

She watched as the two approached, both still in human form. Dorvin
walked with a swagger, a crooked grin on his face, chattering about
finding a new group to lead. His sister was more subdued; holding her
druid's staff, Alina sang soft prayers. When they drew closer, Dorvin
winked at Maev.

"Well, Maev, old beast," he said. "Looks like you and
I part ways here." He puffed out his chest. "I'm off to
find the others, become a hero, and win the war for us." He
shook his head with mock sadness. "You probably won't survive
long enough to see Alina and me return, what with all these demons
swarming about, but you—"

"I'm going with you." Maev spat in disgust and glared at
her father. "Not that I want to."

Dorvin's eyes widened and he raised his hands in indignation. "What?"
He reeled toward Jeid too. "I'm not going west with her! I've
seen feral mammoths less brutish than Maev. They smelled better too."
He pinched his nose. "Don't send your daughter with me, old man,
just because you want me to protect her."

Jeid's face reddened and he grabbed the young man's shoulders. "You
got it backward, boy. I'm sending her to protect
you
. Maev has
slain dozens of demons. You've killed one." He snorted. "Maev
will lead you west and back. Try not to slow her down, pup."

Dorvin fumed and began to object, flailing his arms. He strutted a
few steps toward Maev, chest thrust out like a rooster, and Maev
growled and raised her fists, prepared to pummel some sense into the
boy.

If I must travel west with this pup,
she thought,
I will
tame him now.

Alina, however, rushed forward and placed herself between the two.
The young druid slammed down her staff, and the crystal on its crest
blasted out light.

"Enough!" She glared at Maev and Dorvin in turn. "Demons
scour the world to slay us. Let us not do their job for them. We've
lingered here long enough and we must move. With every breath danger
draws nearer." The druid took a few steps back and shifted,
becoming a slim dragon, her scales the same lavender as her robes.
She beat her wings and took flight. "Dorvin! Maev! Save your
strength for the demons. Now come, we fly."

With that, the lavender dragon began flying west, leaving a trail of
smoke.

Still standing below, Dorvin gave Maev a wink, a crooked smile, and a
nudge from his elbow. "See if you can catch up, Mammoth Arse."
He leaped into the air, became a silver dragon, and flew after his
sister.

Maev felt like she didn't even have to turn into a dragon to blast
out smoke. Mammoth arse! She would shove him up the next mammoth arse
they crossed. She made to leap up, shift into a dragon, and chase the
damn boy and his starry-eyed sister, but her eyes fell upon her
father, and she paused. All day, Jeid had been stern and somber, yet
now he seemed . . . Maev tilted her head.

He seems afraid.

She stared at him, her rage leaving her. She had never seen her
father look afraid before. She hadn't known he could feel fear. She
had seen him in mourning when Mother had died, then when
Requiem—little Requiem after whom their kingdom was named—had died
too. But not fear. And now she saw it in the stoop of his shoulders,
the ghosts in his eyes, the tightness of his lips. Her anger left
her, and she hugged him.

"Goodbye, Grizzly. I'll look after the pups."

Her brother approached slowly, hesitating. Maev had spent her life
thinking Tanin a soft-headed fool, but now, with the world collapsing
around her, she loved him so fully her chest ached. She stepped
toward him and pulled him into a crushing hug, then rubbed her
knuckles across his head.

"Be strong, Tanin," she said. "Don't be a halfwit. And
try not to step on your tongue whenever you look at Issari." She
punched his chest. "I won't be there to look after you for a
while, so you better not mess things up."

He rubbed his chest, wincing. "I'll miss you too, Maev." He
lowered his voice. "I love you, you warthog."

She wanted to say more. She wanted to embrace her father and brother
again, to tell them she loved them, but her eyes stung, and her voice
caught in her throat, and she dared not show them weakness. She spun
around, shifted into a dragon, and took flight.

"Wait up, pups!" she shouted. Dorvin and Alina were flying
ahead, silver and lavender, already distant

Dorvin looked over his shoulder at her. "Fly faster, Mammoth
Arse!" He blasted flames her way, then turned back forward and
kept flying.

"Shut your mouth, Dung Beetle!" Maev beat her wings and
flew faster. She looked back only once and saw other dragons taking
flight around King's Column. Then she returned her eyes westward,
sucked in air, and vowed that if any others existed in this world,
she would find them. She would bring them home.

 
 
TANIN

The
two dragons flew south, red and white, traveling over the ruin of the
world.

"A scar rifts the land," Tanin said.

Gliding beside him, the white dragon lowered her head. "The
wounds he gave me scar my body." Issari took a shaky breath.
"And the wound he gave the world will perhaps forever mar this
land."

A line of devastation covered the landscape, coiling from the south
like the path of a parasite through a heart. The demon army had flown
here, raining its rot, wilting the land. Trees stooped, white and
frail as starved corpses. The earth had turned a charcoal color, and
globs of red grew upon it like warts. Animals moved along this unholy
path, deformed under its curse, twisted beings with many limbs, their
eyes bloated and bulging from their sockets, their entrails dragging
behind them like clinging lampreys. The creatures wailed up at the
flying dragons, hissing, weeping, begging for death. A stench of rot
flared, and when Tanin and Issari flew directly over the path, the
miasma made them gag. They banked eastward, keeping the living land
directly beneath them, but always they gazed upon that cursed line in
the west.

"This is what Requiem will look like if my father wins,"
Issari said. The white dragon stretched her wings wide, gliding on
the wind current. "Already Eteer has fallen to this evil."
She looked at Tanin, green eyes wide and wet. "We have to stop
him, Tanin. We have to take over his throne."

Whimpers sounded below, and Tanin looked back down at the coiling
path of the Abyss. Small creatures moved there, raising their hands,
pleading. They had the bodies of dogs, but their heads were human
heads, bloated and pale like corpses. They yowled wordlessly, but
Tanin thought he heard words in the senseless mewling.

"Pleee . . .," they seemed to beg. "Pleee . . . kell .
. . kell us . . ."

Tanin shook his head wildly, swallowing down his disgust. He flew on,
pity roiling his belly, leaving the creatures behind upon the path.
Soon their wails faded, but as he flew, Tanin's heart wouldn't
unwind, and his chest felt so tight he could barely breathe. Had
those things been demons, animals, or . . . humans?

Please . . . kill us . . .

An image shot through his mind: his family twisted into creatures
too, wailing upon a ruined path, begging him for death he would not
grant them. In his vision, Issari pleaded among them. She had the
same delicate, beautiful face, her skin olive toned, her eyes green,
her braid black, but her body was the body of a centipede, thrashing,
pattering its feet, and—

No.

He snarled and flew on, banishing those visions. He looked at Issari
again, soaking up the beauty of her glimmering scales, small horns,
and long claws. She was beautiful and pure—both as a human and
dragon. He vowed that he would never let her fall.

"How will we do this, Issari?" he asked. "How will we
take over the throne, and how will we summon back the demons?"

Fire flickered between her teeth. "Eteer lies in ruin; its
people hold my father no love. When I would walk through the city,
saving those I could, I heard nothing but hatred for Raem. As he
flies north, I will march into his palace. I will sit upon his
throne. If his soldiers too mourn the destruction of their kingdom,
they will obey me. And so will Angel."

Tanin shuddered to remember Angel, the Queen of Demons. "Does
she fly with this army too, seeking Requiem?"

Eyes dark, Issari shook her head. "The Queen of Devilry remains
in Eteer, sitting upon the throne until my father returns. She will
serve whoever rules Eteer—my father now, me if I can claim the
kingdom. It is her we must dethrone. It is her we must tame."