Kindred and Wings (36 page)

“Fire!” Fida cried out a warning, as scarlet flames engulfed the structure around them. It wrapped around them so suddenly that there was no chance to turn about and escape it. Finn caught a glimpse of the once-Vaerli turning and throwing Ysel away from her, back to the rocky outcrop they had just passed. Then fire swallowed her. She didn’t even scream as flames took her clothes and then her flesh in the blink of an eye.

There was no time to mourn her loss or celebrate her bravery, because Finn, Talyn, and Azrul were falling. The talespinners’ bridges were not made to withstand fiery attacks, and theirs had given way to flame. The sound of the Whitefoam eagle’s cry filled Finn’s ears, but the roar of the ocean below was louder.

The impact of dragon talons around him nearly made the talespinner bite his own tongue off. His neck felt as though it had almost snapped, but he wrapped his hands around Wahirangi’s claws that held him so delicately, and looked to his right. Sometimes it was a fine thing to have friends in the air.

Talyn looked as shocked as he felt about this current change in circumstance. She glanced up at the golden head of the dragon gleaming in the moonlight, and her lips curled in the faintest smile.

From this vantage point Finn could make out the attackers and the defenders. It was not the dragon that he and Wahirangi had tussled with on their way to the island, but it was something nearly as terrifying.

A swarm of winged creatures: griffins, baykok with their skeletal frames and red eyes, phoenix, and many more that Finn could only catch glimpses of. It had to be the flaming tails of the birds that had set the village alight. Meanwhile, the predatory birds of the Swoop were harassing and attacking the Named as best they could, but there was little they could do against such powerful beings.

Finn smiled wickedly. “Turn around, Wahirangi, and show these Named what flames really are.”

Instead, the dragon just carried them higher, circling away from the devastation without comment. Talyn closed her eyes as if she knew something he did not. Through the rush of wind, even if she yelled, Finn doubted he would be able to make it out.

Perhaps Wahirangi had not heard him. “I said . . .”

“I must protect you,” the dragon spoke, even as he did not meet Finn’s eye. “And I will not kill my kind. They may be Named, but those are Kindred. They have no choice what they do; the Phage have made them slaves. I will not slay them.”

Finn beat on the dragon’s talons, even though he knew it would do no good. “You seemed ready to kill that dragon we tussled with before!”

“I was not trying to kill my kin, I was trying to kill the abomination on her back,” Wahirangi replied, even as his head turned to follow the actions of the Named below.

Apparently, whatever the Phage had done to the Kindred was different than what Finn had done, but he had to try. “I command you to go back there and defend the village.”

Now a massive opal-colored eye turned on him. “You Named me, and now you would command me?”

Opposite him, Talyn was shaking her head desperately from side to side.

Finn knew better than not to take the hint. He looked up at the dragon, and changed his tack. “You would not let innocent people die simply because I went among them. Dragonfear is powerful, is it not?”

Wahirangi did not answer, but he tucked his two passengers in tight against his warm belly, and folded his wings about him.

The lesser-winged creatures didn’t have a chance. The dragon dived among them, turning this way and that. Even his fellow Named fled before him. The flock of birds that were the Swoop also scattered.

Wahirangi drove them all before him, and even sent a blast of dragonflame slicing harmlessly through the air. Those Named by the Phage obviously did not know that he had such scruples.

When the great beast was done quartering the sky, roaring, flaming, and making a great show, the Named had fled to whatever dark place they had come from. Eventually the Swoop ventured back, but only after the dragon had landed by the devastated entrance to the village.

A small scattering of survivors, blackened by soot and terrified, huddled there. For once the talespinners were not telling the story—they were in it. They did not look happy about it.

Wahirangi put Talyn and Finn back on the earth as gently as if he were their mother. Then he took off, only to return with Ysel. The boy looked more like a boy than he ever had before, Finn thought—wide-eyed, pale and terrified. In the meantime, the nykur appeared out of the darkness and nuzzled Talyn’s side. He too was a creature of chaos, but apparently no friend of the Phage; he had blood on his horns and teeth. So there was one creature that did not mind what had happened tonight.

The dragon looked down on them, and though he had no human expressions, the talespinner felt sorrow radiating from him.

“You see,” the dragon intoned, “there is no sanctuary for you now, nor for those you care for. You must go to the Belly; there you will find peace or death.”

Finn took a long, deep breath. His brother’s clothes were singed, but he was not crying. Talyn looked as determined as she had when he first saw her all that time ago—but there was something different; a light in her eyes. He’d never seen that before in her, but he guessed what it might be. She now had a reason to live, and a goal to achieve. That was when Finn realized he would not be alone.

The Swoop—or what was left of them—alighted on the cliff face and transformed back to human form. They were a tough looking collection of women, and the last remnant of scion goodness in the world.

“We will follow where Talyn goes,” Azrul said, her hand wrapping around her sword hilt. “One-eyed Baraca is gone; killed by these same Named.”

If it had not been for the power of the Phage and the White Void that waited, Finn might have felt confident.

“I’m ready,” he said, and hoped his voice did not waver.

“Then I will open the way, and we will go together.” Wahirangi’s head lowered until it was brushing against Finn’s chest. He could feel the heat and comfort of it all the way through him. “You know, son of Putorae, your ability to make yourself small must and can be reversed. You must make yourself so big that the White Void cannot swallow you or your brother. Remember the lessons of your time on Conhaero.”

Those were many, and all of them crowded his brain at once. Finn felt as though he had plunged into icy water and could not catch his breath.

“Then let’s go,” he said, because that was all there was left to say. Talyn silently took a place at his shoulder, with Ysel on the other side. His brother and his lover—two people he would have never thought to have.

The dragon turned and delicately extended his taloned fingers. Like Putorae had shown them, he flicked aside reality as if it were a child’s tricks. The white light of the Void nearly burned Finn’s eyes, but he heard Wahirangi’s comforting voice wrap around him—even if the words themselves were not comforting.

“Stay close, the Belly is not far at all.”

All of the Ahouri flew west out over the sea, with Equo, Varlesh, and Si at their head. They wore the form of the dragonets, and they did not sing any songs as they went. If they had, they would have been songs of war.

Waves lashed at them, as if in an attempt to bring the flock down. Equo narrowed his eyes and flew on all the harder. The strength of his brothers was at his back and his love was ahead of him. He would go anywhere she needed him to be.

He felt dreadful that he had for a moment doubted her. It was imperative that he apologize for that, and there was something else he had to do.

In those awkward days when they had first known each other, when he had been following her around like a young pup, he had told her often that he loved her. Back then, she had brushed him off with good graces. Now he wished he had said something far more recently. They were older and perhaps a little wiser, and had known the end was coming. Why had he not said anything?

The fractured remains of his people did not seem like much to take into the fight, but they had come when he asked. They had returned from their mission to inform the Vaerli, but they had not shared what the response had been. Alone then, and creatures of wing, they flew on.

The Belly was an angry plain of an island in the middle of the slate-gray sea. Billowing, sulfurous clouds clenched above it, obscuring the top of the one hill that rose out of the middle. Occasionally, red flame lit up the inside of the clouds as the mountain proved it was more a volcano. This was the place the Vaerli would not come, and the sole domain of Kindred. Yet, as the singing Ahouri flock flew closer, Equo saw that this was not exactly true any longer.

Other wings had taken up residence, and down on the plain before the volcano were groups of other beings. They had to be more Named, a seething mass of creatures birthed from every myth and legend of all the peoples who had come to Conhaero. Not the best of enemies to have.

Varlesh, in his black dragonet form, flew a little faster and was able to reach Equo’s side. One of his red eyes caught his brother’s, and there was doubt in it—but not fear.

The Ahouri had one advantage that their small size belied; they had the Songs of the nature. Varlesh began it, singing from the throat of his form, the strains of the melody of flesh. Even the Named had form and shape. They would remake it and it would be most unpleasant.

The flock of Ahouri dived down on those on the plain. Equo kept scanning for signs of Nyree, but there were none. Still, the Song was having an effect. All of the Named looked up in horror as it washed over them.

Some centaurs fell to their knees, bellowing like struck bulls. Snakes hissed and coiled on themselves as if they had been speared. None were able to take much notice of the Ahouri swinging down over them, let alone strike back. It was a most excellent start.

The Song was so beautiful and deadly that the Form Bards grew confident. They let the rhythm carry them higher, so that the notes of it would reach the creatures of the air. It was their shield.

Now everything above them was struck by the wave of music. As the flock of Ahouri flew higher, the other forms scattered before them, trying to escape the sound. Equo was elated. They were like eagles with sparrows fleeing before them.

Now they were in the clouds, and caught glimpses of the rough and rocky surface below them. He led them on, further up, following the line of the volcano toward its rim; that was where he was sure he would find the entrance to the interior of Conhaero. That was also where he was sure the Kindred and the Phage would be—and where they would most likely have Nyree.

As they went, though, the Song was becoming harder to hold. The physical effort of it and flying drained his energy, so he knew the other Ahouri would also be suffering. It had been a long time since they had sung this together. The melody was beginning to fall apart, and though he tried to strengthen it, he knew that it could not hold for long. Some of the notes were off, too.

Just a little longer, he thought to himself, since he could not spare his voice to tell them so. The green form of Si drew closer, and Equo’s energy reserves came back.

The ahouri swooped around a thick rock formation, almost scraping their wingtips on it, and there was the top of the volcano; the very edge of Conhaero. Two figures stood there, and one Equo recognized immediately. Nyree and her
pae atuae
were glowing, while standing at her side was a woman with a strange ruffle around her neck.

Equo was not so foolish as to attack immediately. He led the flock of Ahouri around the basin, though the smell of sulphur and the reflected heat were painful. The Song was having no effect on either of the women, but the one with the odd neckwear was following their path with her gaze.

The Ahouri flock soared around the edge and came back again. Equo was already readying another song, this one to confuse the mind rather than the flesh, when he saw and finally understood what was around her neck.

The horror of trapped Kindred twisting and turning, as if trying to escape, nearly drove all thought from his mind. To the Form Bards this was the greatest abomination. They had to be freed.

He let out a shriek of outrage and dived toward them, not caring if the others followed. That was when the woman pointed to the thick clouds over their head. The dragon roared out from it, plummeting down toward the Ahouri. She was not alone. Other dragons made their appearance with mind-bending roars and displays of different colored fire. Equo swiveled his head around desperately and realized there were at least five dragons in all.

The flock of Form Bards scattered before them, but several were not fast enough. They were snatched from the air as snakes might catch birds.

The howls of his dying people and their songs urged Equo to action. Si and Varlesh were on each side of him, matching his wing beats and keeping pace with him as he climbed up toward the dragon with the dire rider.

The beast was massive and loomed over the roaring volcano, the red glow of the magma lighting up her belly and her eyes. Her cavernous mouth opened and she roared.