Dragons Lost (14 page)

The sun vanished behind
the horizon, and still the dragons flew, and still the firedrakes pursued. The
three dragons managed to widen the gap, but only enough to emerge from the
range of crossbows and flames, and then they could widen it no further. Ever the
firedrakes flew behind them, their fire lighting the night, their screeches
rolling across the sea. Korvin's lungs began to ache, his wings to blaze in
protest, his tongue to droop. And still the distant firedrakes roared and gave
chase.

"Where are we flying
to?" Cade said, banking to fly closer to Korvin. "I see nothing but water! We
can't fly like this forever."

"Feel free to stop and
let the firedrakes catch you," Korvin said with a growl. "Be glad I don't slay
you myself. Mercy followed you to the library."

The golden dragon
lowered his head as he flew. "I'm sorry, Korvin. I don't know how they found
me. I journeyed in secret. Nobody knew I was coming to the library. Nobody
other than . . ." Cade's breath died. "Domi. Oh, Spirit, Domi knew!" A growl
rose in him, and Cade began to spin in the sky, to fly back toward the
firedrakes. "Domi told them! Domi told Mercy, her very own rider! She—"

"Stop your foolishness!"
Korvin slammed into Cade with clattering scales, swiped his tail, and forced
the young dragon to keep flying east, away from the firedrakes. "You will not
speak of my daughter that way. Domi is perhaps wild, but she's loyal to
Requiem. She let us escape."

Yet a chill filled
Korvin, and the words tasted bitter in his mouth. Was Cade right? Had Domi
truly led Mercy here?

No. No! It was
impossible. Domi had knocked the firedrakes aside, letting them flee from the
library. Domi bore Mercy as a mount, but only for the pleasure of flying, not
for hunting her own kind.

She's good at heart,
Korvin thought.
Isn't she?

"We'll worry about how
they found you later," Korvin finally said, glaring at Cade. "And if I discover
you were clumsy, that you led the firedrakes to my door, I'm likely to burn you
myself. For now, keep flying! Fly faster. Fly until we lose them."

Fidelity, who had flown
a few dozen feet above them during the confrontation, glided down to fly at
Cade's side. "Fly forward, Cade," the blue dragon said softly. "Fly with me."

They flew onward.

They flew for hours.

The moon rose and fell,
and the sun emerged over the horizon again, and their wings ached, and their
lungs felt ready to collapse. And still the firedrakes followed.

Korvin panted as he
flew. More than anything, he wanted rest. How could the firedrakes still fly?
How—

Crossbow bolts flew
through the dawn. One slammed into his tail.

"Father, faster!"
Fidelity cried, flying ahead.

"Speed up, old man!"
Cade said.

Korvin grumbled. He was
more than twice their age, but he refused to fly slower. He caught up with
them, putting more distance between himself and the pursuit, but every flap of
his wings shot agony through him. Fidelity and Cade were weary too; he saw the
weak puffs of smoke from their nostrils, the glassiness to their eyes. Still
the sea stretched on, no sight of land ahead. Still the firedrakes followed.

"Shift into humans,"
Korvin said. "Both of you."

Cade tilted his scaly
head. "And what, swim?"

"You go swim and rid
the world of your foolishness! Fidelity can ride on me alone."

Cade blinked. "I don't
understand."

"I think I do,"
Fidelity said. The blue dragon rose a few feet higher, coming to fly directly
above Korvin. She lowered herself, letting her belly skim Korvin's back, then
released her magic. When Korvin looked over his shoulder, he saw Fidelity back
in human form. Her golden braid flew in the wind, her spectacles slid down her
nose, and she clutched a copy of
The Book of Requiem
in her arms.

"How do you even shift
into a dragon and still keep the book?" Cade said, still flying beside them. "I've
never been able to shift with objects before, not without them clattering to
the floor."

Fidelity laughed. "The
same way you can shift with your clothes. Your clothes have become a part of
you, a second skin. Anything that's a part of you shifts with you, dead or
alive. Your hair and fingernails shift with you for the same reason." She
smiled. "This book is a part of me. Now ride with me!"

The golden dragon
nodded, swerved to fly above Korvin, and released his magic. He thumped down
onto Korvin's scaly back and nearly slid off; Fidelity had to grab him. Soon
the two were seated together, their legs straddling him. The extra weight shot
more pain through him, but Korvin forced himself to keep flying, ever mindful
of the firedrakes screeching behind him.

"Now sleep," he told
them. "Regain your strength. Then Cade will take a turn with us on his back." A
crooked grin twisted his snout. "The firedrakes can't fly forever. Taking
shifts, we can fly for a very long time."

"Until thirst kills us,"
Cade said, then yawned and lay down on Korvin's back. Fidelity joined him and
closed her eyes.

As the two slept,
Korvin forced himself to keep flying. If before the pain had been bad, now—with
the extra weight—Korvin wanted to plunge down into the sea and drown.

Ignore pain,
he
told himself, flapping his aching old wings again and again.
Pain is
irrelevant. You will fly through the pain. It cannot stop you.

He had felt worse pain in
his life: in the war against the Horde as the enemy's spears had torn into him;
in his youth, loving Beatrix, learning of her madness, fleeing her rage; in his
adulthood, meeting Beatrix again, crying out in grief as the High Priestess
stabbed Korvin's wife, her revenge for her spurned love.

And yet I've always
kept going,
Korvin thought.
For my daughters. For the memory of Requiem.

And so he ignored the
pain. Pain could not stop him. Pain existed only in the mind. He kept flying.

After what felt like
hours, the firedrakes were still pursuing. Still the paladins' armor glinted in
the distance, and still Korvin heard the cries of their mounts.

"Wake up," Korvin
finally said. "Cade, your turn. Shift!"

The young man rose upon
Korvin's back, leaped into the air, and fell through the sky. Scales rose
across him, wings burst out from his back, and he flew back up. Korvin flew
above the young dragon, letting Fidelity dismount him and climb onto Cade's
scaly back. Finally Korvin released his magic with a groan, landing on the golden
dragon too.

He sprawled out,
facedown against Cade's scales. He slept.

They flew on.

The firedrakes pursued.

Still the water spread
in all directions, no sign of land.

Hours later, when
Fidelity flew as a blue dragon, bearing Cade and Korvin in human forms, the
firedrakes finally cried out in rage and turned back.

Cade rose to his feet
on Fidelity's scaly blue back, shook his fists at the fleeing firedrakes, and
laughed.

"Yeah, get lost!" He
laughed. "You can't outfly Vir Requis! You—"

He wavered on Fidelity's
back and nearly fell down to the sea.

Korvin grabbed him and
pulled him back to a sitting position. "Sit down and shut up." He stared into
the east, heart sinking. "Our troubles aren't over yet."

Cade laughed. "Mine
are. We escaped them. We—"

Shrieks rose from the
east, interrupting him. Cade turned toward the sound and his chest deflated.
Korvin cursed, leaped off Fidelity's back, and shifted into a dragon. Cade
joined him, and the three dragons flew together, flames crackling in their
maws.

"What are they?" Cade
cried out.

Ten great beasts, even
larger than dragons, were flying from the east. They had the bodies of lions,
but their heads were the heads of great eagles, and feathered wings sprouted
from their backs. Their cries pealed across the ocean. Riders sat on their
backs, bare-chested, their skin tanned bronze and their platinum hair streaming
like banners, and they bore bows and arrows. They all cried out for battle.

"Griffins," Korvin said
grimly, his belly twisting. "Warriors of the Horde."

 
 
CADE

The griffins swarmed around them in
the sky, a ring of fur and feathers. Cade gulped.

"By the Spirit," he
said, whipping his head from side to side. His scales chinked, and his wings
blasted the sea below with air.

The griffins were
massive beasts, even larger than dragons. Their lion bodies were slick yet
muscular, their hides covered in thick tan fur. Their wings spread out,
brilliantly white, the outer feathers as long as men. Their beaks, bright
yellow, were as large as dragon snouts and looked even sharper than dragon
teeth.

On the griffins'
backs rode the strangest men and women Cade had ever seen. They were certainly
not men of the Commonwealth; back home, people tended to have pale skin in the
north and west, olive skin in the east and south. Many, like Cade, had light
brown hair and hazel eyes. But these griffin riders had deeply tanned, golden
skin, blue eyes that shone like sapphires, and long platinum hair that reminded
Cade of strands of sunlight. Their limbs were long, their faces noble. Men rode
bare-chested, while women wore small vests strewn with many beads. They all
carried spears and bows, and they cried out lilting battle cries. A few nocked
arrows and tugged back the bowstrings.

Cade sneered,
drew fire into his mouth, and prepared to blow a searing jet.

"Stop that,
boy!" Korvin said, and a slap from the gray dragon's tail knocked the fire out
of Cade's mouth. Korvin turned toward the griffins. "Warriors of the Horde! We
mean you no harm. We do not serve the Commonwealth but flee it."

The griffins
flew everywhere, left and right, above and below, encircling the three dragons.
One rider seemed to lead the group; he wore a golden amulet shaped as five
serpents coiled together, and his griffin wore a steel helmet emblazoned with
the same sigil. He looked different than the other riders, probably of a
different ethnicity. While the other riders were tall and platinum-haired, this
man was shorter and thickset, his skin olive-toned, his eyes green, his hair
and beard jet black.

"What are
firedrakes from the Commonwealth doing in our waters?" the bearded man cried
out. "This is the territory of the Horde. Turn back now, firedrakes! Back! We
do not seek war with the Cured Temple."

Cade snorted
and rolled his eyes. "Firedrakes? We're not firedrakes. Spirit's beard. We were
fleeing the firedrakes!"

To demonstrate,
Cade released his magic.

He fell through
the sky, a human again.

As griffin
riders gasped, Cade summoned his magic again, turned back into a dragon, and flew
up to face the bearded griffin rider.

"You're Vir
Requis," the man said, wonder in his voice.

Korvin flew up
closer, eyes narrowed, smoke rising from his nostrils. "You've seen our kind
before."

The man nodded
upon his griffin. "I am Belas, a captain of the Horde. Come with me. You will
find rest, water, and food . . . and then you will answer my questions."

The bearded captain
waved his arm, then turned and began to fly back eastward. The other griffins
followed, and the three dragons flew among them. The water turned a light blue
and turquoise below; the sea here was shallower, warmer, full of life. After
flying for another hour or two, Cade gasped.

"Islands!" he
said. "Look, Fidelity. Islands!"

Flying at his
side as a blue dragon, Fidelity frowned at him. "Yes, Cade. Just because I wear
spectacles in human form doesn't mean my dragons eyes can't see . . ." She
narrowed her eyes, staring forward, and puffed smoke out from her nostrils. "What
islands?"

Cade groaned. "You
really need a pair of giant dragon spectacles too, I think. Islands ahead! Big
ones. Well, three big ones and a bunch of little ones, all covered in trees."

Fidelity
squinted, then stared at him. "Are you pulling my leg?"

Korvin flew up
to them. "He speaks truth. Here before us—and you'll see them soon as we fly
closer, Fidelity—are the islands of Old Leonis, the fallen realm of griffins."

Fidelity
gasped. "Leonis! I read about Leonis. Thousands of years ago, griffins ruled
this land. They fought a war with Requiem, and many died on both sides. I hadn't
thought any griffins still lived. My books said that General Cadigus, a cruel
Vir Requis who betrayed Requiem, slew them all."

"Well, we're
flying among a bunch of them now," Cade said. "You can see them, right?"

She glowered
and slapped him with her tail. "I can see them fine, Cade, and I can see you
well enough to slap you senseless, so watch your tongue. Obviously some
griffins survived, and obviously they serve the Horde now." She sighed
wistfully. "I've always wanted to see the Horde."

Korvin grunted.
"You wouldn't speak so wistfully of the Horde if you had faced them in war, as
I have. The islands of Leonis are now an outpost of the Horde, and their
denizens might hold Vir Requis little love. Be on guard."

They flew
closer, and soon even Fidelity saw the islands and gasped with wonder. Cliffs
of chalk and limestone soared from the water, leading to peaks lush with trees.
Countless birds flew over these patches of rainforest, and several griffins
circled higher above, riders upon their backs. A flag unfurled on a stone
mountaintop on the largest island, displaying five serpents intertwined.

Flying on his
griffin, Belas led them to this island, and Cade saw that its crest was flat,
and that a great square of land had been carved out from the forest. Something
halfway between a town and a military camp rose here. Flying above, Cade saw
hundreds of wooden huts, palisades of sharpened logs, and even a brick fortress
upon an earthen motte. Thousands of people bustled about, and they seemed to
have come from many lands: some had golden skin and platinum hair, others were
pale and dressed in cotton, and some people wore white robes over olive skin.
Several griffins stood in the field, cawing and feeding from troughs.