Dragons Rising (4 page)

Dragon and firedrake crashed together with a
crack
like the
antlers of rams. Cade roared, shoving the heavier beast downward,
until they slammed onto the road.

Stones cracked beneath them. Their tails lashed, driving into an elm
tree. The trunk shattered and the tree crashed down. Cade roared,
clawing, biting. The firedrake writhed beneath him, and its shriek
pounded against Cade's eardrums. The heat of its breath felt like it
could melt Cade's eyeballs. The creature's jaws closed around Cade's
shoulder, and he yowled as the fangs drove into his flesh.

To his left, Cade glimpsed the paladin approaching, sword drawn.

"Oh bloody Abyss!" Cade roared. Still clutched in the
firedrake's jaws, Cade whipped his tail, slamming it against the
paladin. The man flew through the air and crashed to the ground.
Before Cade could slam his tail down again, finishing the job, the
firedrake biting him thrust his claws, slashing Cade's leg.

"Amity!" he shouted. "Get your arse out here!"

He heard no reply. He howled, screwed his eyes shut, and blasted
flame.

His dragonfire crashed into the firedrake biting him, then showered
up against Cade. The inferno bathed them both. The heat was enough to
loosen the firedrake's jaws, and Cade tugged himself free, woozy with
loss of blood. Still blinded in the heat and flame, he snapped his
jaws, biting at anything he could catch between his teeth. His fangs
clattered against scales, unable to pierce them, and his claws thrust
madly, scraping across the firedrake's armor.

The beast bucked below, shoving its wings against the road, and
tossed Cade off. Firedrake and dragon rolled across the dirt, claws
swinging, and slammed against the tavern. The clay wall cracked,
raining dust.

"Keep it down out there!" rose Amity's voice from inside.
"I'm trying to eat."

"Amity, stars damn it!" Cade howled as the firedrake shoved
him against the wall. The paladin rose to his feet again and came
walking forward, sword raised.

Cade sneered.

He would not die here. Not like this. Not outside some roadside
tavern, fighting a rogue beast. He had not survived a war to die in a
brawl.

He kept clawing at the firedrake before him, but could not break
through the creature's armor. The firedrake raised his head and
inhaled deeply, prepared to blow more fire.

Pinned against the wall, Cade cursed and released his magic.

He shrank into human form and fell to the ground, banging his knees.

The firedrake blasted his flames against the tavern wall. Cade ran
between its legs, emerged from behind it, and shifted again. He
soared, spun in the air, then plunged down onto the firedrake's back.

The creature squealed.

Clinging to the firedrake's back, Cade grabbed its spiked helmet in
his claws and tugged it loose, then bit down hard, driving his fangs
into the dragon's snout. He tasted its blood and fire.

The beast mewled.

Cade kept biting, shattering its face, snapping at its eyes, tearing
out its upper jaw.

The firedrake slid down the cracked wall, leaving a trail of blood,
and its head thumped against the dirt. It gurgled, spat out a few
last sparks of fire, then lay still.

A scream rose behind Cade.

He spun around to see the paladin standing on the road, sword raised,
throat spurting blood.

The captive Terran woman tugged back her knife. His neck slit, the
paladin crashed down dead at Cade's feet.

The woman met Cade's gaze, and no more fear filled those green eyes,
only cold, hard fierceness. She spoke slowly in the common tongue,
her accent heavy.

"Thank you."

Amity emerged from the tavern, yawned, and patted her belly. "I'm
full. Cade, I finished your potatoes. Hope you don't mind."

Cade reeled toward her, feeling his anger rise even hotter than
during the battle. He released his magic, returning to human form,
and stomped down the bloody road toward Amity.

"You!" Cade jabbed her chest. "
Now
you come
outside! Where were you when a firedrake the size of a mountain was
chomping on my shoulder?"

"Chomping on your potatoes." She wiped her lips and eyed
his shoulder. "I'm not sure I got the better deal, actually. You
look tasty, and I'm still a bit peckish. Mind if I nibble on your
shoulder a bit too?"

He groaned. "Mind if I clobber your face like I did to that
firedrake? Amity! For stars' sake. You were all on about fighting
paladins and firedrakes, then you sit down to eat taters while I'm
fighting alone."

She grinned and patted his cheek. "You're still alive." She
looked over his shoulder at the freed Terran woman. "Looks like
you found another girl to fight your battles."

Cade sputtered. "Another girl--to fight my--" He groaned
and clutched his head. "Oh bloody griffin bollocks, pay for our
meal and let's get out of here."

Amity's smile faded. Her eyes hardened. She shook her head.

"No, Cade. You shifted into a dragon. The innkeeper and the girl
saw you." She knelt and lifted the paladin's fallen sword. "They
must be silenced."

Cade's eyes widened. Horror clasped his heart as Amity began walking
back toward the inn, sword in hand. "Amity, what are you doing?"

She paused and looked over her shoulder at him. "The dirty work.
You should never have challenged that paladin, kid. Or at least you
should've killed him in human form. We're traveling undercover. You
blew that cover. Now they die. Kill the girl yourself if you prefer.
I'll take care of the innkeeper."

She walked into the tavern, sword raised.

Cade rushed in after her. "Amity, stop this! For stars' sake,
we're not killers."

She stared at him, eyes cold. "Oh, but we are, Cade. We are
killers. I'm a killer. You're a killer. That's all this world is, all
the Cured Temple made it, all we can be if we hope to survive."
She walked toward the bar, sword raised.

The innkeeper saw her approach and gasped. He fled into the kitchen,
and Amity followed. Cade rushed in after them. Strings of sausages
hung here from the ceiling, and sacks of flour lay on shelves. A
fireplace crackled in the back, and a cauldron of stew simmered. A
dog lay on the floor, lazily flicking its tail, then leaped up and
growled. The innkeeper walked backward, hands held before him.

"Please, my lady!" he said. "Please, I mean you no
harm." The innkeeper reached into his pocket, fished out some
coins, and tossed them at Amity. "Here, here! Take them. Take
anything you want. Please."

But Amity kept approaching him. The innkeeper tripped over a stool
and fell onto his back. He wailed, hands held before him. Amity
raised her sword high, prepared to plunge it down.

Cade grabbed her wrist, holding back her blade.

"Amity, no." He stared at her. "No. I've put up with a
lot from you. Your recklessness. Your gruffness. Even your inaction
when I was attacked. But here I draw the line. You will not commit
murder." He placed himself between her and the innkeeper.
"You'll have to kill me before you kill him."

Amity laughed, though her eyes remained hard. "Do you think I
won't, that I can't? I could kill you easily, boy. How old are you,
fourteen?"

He glared at her. "Eighteen."

Amity snorted. "I was slaying men when you were still sucking at
Beatrix's teat. I'm a survivor, Cade. Haven't you understood that
yet?" Her face became a horrible thing, a mask of stone, the
countenance of a demon of cold fire. "I survived for years as a
child, fleeing the firedrakes. I survived when even my parents
perished. I survived in the islands of Leonis, and I survived as a
thousand ships sank around me, as nations burned. And I'm going to
keep surviving, even if I'm the only Vir Requis left. Don't think I'd
hesitate to cut you down if I must. I will live. Requiem will live.
And I'll let no boy and no innkeeper stand in my way. That is how the
world works, kid. You better learn to understand that, or you won't
survive very long."

Cade raised his chin, refusing to look away, to stand back from the
taller, stronger woman and her sword. "Maybe I don't want to
live in a world like that. Maybe I don't want to become what you are,
some hardened survivor. Is that all you are, Amity? A survivor? Is
that all you do--survive rather than truly live? I don't want that.
I'd rather die. If I am to live, I will live free, proud, honorable.
I will live by my ethics, even as the world burns." He shook his
head. "What you've become is sad to me. You survive, yes, but at
what cost? The cost of your own humanity."

Something seemed to shatter in the hardness of her face. A new fire
blazed in her eyes. "I will kill you, boy!"

He nodded. "Yes, you'll kill me. You'll kill the innkeeper.
You'll kill anyone in your way, firedrakes and slaves and boys and
anyone else. I've heard it all before. But you know what else I've
heard from you, Amity? You know what else you've spoken of over and
over on the road?" He clasped her arm. "You spoke of Queen
Lacrimosa who led Requiem from the ruins of Draco Murus over a
thousand years ago. You spoke of Princess Agnus Dei, the great
heroine of Requiem, her scales as red as yours. You spoke of Queen
Lyana who defeated the phoenixes, and of Erry Docker, the plucky
heroine from Lynport who fought the tyrant Cadigus. For days on the
road, I heard you speak of them, the ancient heroines of Requiem, now
only tales in a book. And you have to ask yourself, Amity: What is
the Requiem those women fought for? You have to ask yourself: What
would they do? Would they slay this innkeeper for a chance to survive
another day, or would they carry on the torch of Requiem, a light
that symbolizes more than survival?" Cade's eyes stung. "It's
a light of hope. Of honor. A light of truth and righteousness.
That
is what must survive. Not our lives but what our lives stand for.
Grant this man mercy, Amity. You'll be serving Requiem far, far
better with mercy than with steel."

Amity's lips still snarled, but her eyes dampened and her fist shook
around the hilt of her sword. Cade guided her blade down, and she let
it clang to the floor. She lowered her head.

"You stupid boy," she whispered, then grabbed his cheeks in
her hand, squeezing them. "You stupid little boy with your
stupid little stories."

She turned away, head lowered, and walked out of the kitchen.

The
captive woman still stood outside, staring down at the corpse of the
paladin she had killed. She still held the knife in her chained
hands. Cade shifted into a dragon, grabbed the iron manacles between
his claws, and snapped them open. The woman rubbed her chafed wrists.

"Thank
you," she said in her thick accent. "I is being Asina of
Gosh Ha'ar." She bowed her head. "I fight with you."

Cade
sighed and looked around him. He saw burnt gardens. The cracked wall
of the tavern. A mess of fallen tables and blood inside. He looked
back at Asina.

"The
war is over," he said softly. "And we've lost. All we can
do now is hope to find a new life. Perhaps instead of fighting, all
we can do is find hovels, ruins, little homes to mend. Amity and I
are heading to Draco Murus, a ruined fortress far in the northern
Dair Ranin mountains, and the road swarms with paladins, and the
skies are full of firedrakes. I would not ask you to accompany us on
that dangerous path."

Asina
perhaps did not understand his words, but she seemed to understand
enough. Her eyes hardened. "I have no home. I go with you."
She raised her knife. "My home burn. I fight."

A
throat cleared, footsteps shuffled, and the old innkeeper emerged
from the ruined tavern.

"Pardon
me, my lady." The innkeeper bowed his head toward Asina. "But
you have a home. You have a home here, if you'd like it." He
dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief. "My daughter used to help
me run the place, but after she died in the war, well . . . the place
has gone to ruin." His voice shook. "Her name was Tiana.
She fell fighting your people, beg your pardon, in the war against
Leonis Isles. She fell serving the Cured Temple, fell for the cruel
games of Beatrix." He shook his head, lips trembling. "A
senseless war. A senseless death. Perhaps we can find some peace
together, a man of the Commonwealth and a woman of the Horde. Perhaps
we can mend this little home." His tears streamed. "I lost
a daughter to the Horde, but perhaps I can gain a daughter from it
too."

Asina
stepped closer to the old man, looked around at the tavern, and
lowered her head. She nodded. "I help. I help you heal."

"You
mean rebuild," said Cade.

Asina
looked at him and shook her head. "Heal."

"Cade!"
Amity waved at him from farther down the road. "Cade, get your
little backside over here! I need some help."

The tall warrior woman stood by the corpse of the firedrake,
struggling to tug off its saddle and armor. Leaving Asina and the
innkeeper, Cade approached her.

"What are you doing, Amity? Leave that poor beast alone. We're
going to bury it. Hide that it was ever here."

She
growled as she tugged on a strap. "Bury it after we grab its
saddle and armor." She managed to tug the saddle off into the
dirt, grinned, and wiped her forehead. "We're going to need
these."

Cade's
heart sank. "Amity, what are you thinking?"

She
tugged at the creature's breastplate. "Will you help me, or do I
need to clobber you and make you my slave? Come on!"

He
groaned and shifted back into a dragon. "Move over. This is work
for a dragon."

Before
long, both firedrake and paladin had been stripped of their armor and
buried off the road. Amity and Cade stood before the saddle and
plates of steel, back in human forms.

"Are
you ready to fly, Cade?" Amity grinned.

He
heaved a sigh. "Do you really think this'll work?"