A Night of Dragon Wings - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,19

teeth, as the naked bodies moved together, as Lyana moaned, as the foul King of Requiem invaded her purity.

You will bow before me too, Elethor, Nemes thought, fingernails digging into his palms. My family has served you for too long, but a new power will rise. You will watch me dissect Lyana, and I will dissect you next. You will both live through it; that I swear to you. You will both live to see your shiny, wet organs in my hands and mouth.

He watched as they made love. He watched as they fell asleep. He then turned, left the cave, and swallowed a lump in his throat. His eyes stung and his fists shook.

No, he told himself. No. You cried too many times as a youth. You watched your father, bent and old, die of his work, and you cried. You watched Lyana marry the cruel prince, and you cried. No more tears. No more pain. You will never weep again, Nemes.

"But you will weep, Requiem," he whispered in the night. The rain lashed his face. "You will."

Wreathed in his lord's shadows, he shifted. He took flight as a gray dragon, his snout long and thin and sniffing, his claws pale like shattered femurs. He rose between the trees, silent as a spirit rising to the afterlife, and pumped his wings. The rain whipped him, and he flew through the night, breath pluming before him.

He flew south.

He flew to them.

Before him in the clouds, he could see the smoke again. In the trees below, he could imagine the fallen columns of Requiem. He remembered standing outside the city, watching the Tirans invade, attack, destroy. They were a tall people, strong and noble. In the eyes of Vir Requis, Nemes always saw pity—pity like that which Lyana showed him. He saw haughtiness—like in the eyes of the princes when they gave him his commands. He saw tears—tears like those that had filled his own eyes in his youth. But none of those had filled the Tiran eyes. In their eyes nothing shone but cruel strength.

"Requiem is weak," Nemes hissed as he flew, smoke rising between his teeth. "But Tiranor is strong, and I am strong, and she is the greatest among them."

Queen Solina! He had stood in the tunnels, watching as she sliced children apart, as she gutted them and spilled their precious organs upon the floor. Their blood had splashed her, and she had licked it from her blades, and Nemes knew then, knew he had been a fool to ever worship the princes, to ever crave power in Requiem. Watching her lick the blood, he knew: Solina was the only mortal worthy of worship, the only leader of strength in this world.

"I will find you, Solina," he spoke into the night. The rain swayed and he flew until the forest vanished below him. The southern horizon stretched dark and endless ahead. "I will find you, Solina, and I will give you King Elethor, and I will give you his people, and I will take Lyana for my own. Together we will free Lord Legion. Together we will rise."

He blew fire. He roared. He licked his chops and snarled and dreamed of Lyana's pulsing heart in his hand.

MORI

She sat on the sticky floor, lowered her head to her knees, and whispered soft prayers.

"As the leaves fall upon our marble tiles, as the breeze rustles the birches beyond our columns, as the sun gilds the mountains above our halls—know, young child of the woods, you are home, you are home." Her voice trembled. "Requiem! May our wings forever find your sky."

Chains bound her arms to the wall. More chains wrapped around her ankles, pinning her legs to the floor. For the first week here, they had chained her standing; now at least they loosened the chains enough for her to sit, but her limbs still ached, and whenever she leaned backward, her lashed back blazed. Three moons had passed, and they had whipped her three times in the Square of the Sun, beating her bloody and then returning her here, to darkness, to languish and shiver and weep and pray.

And Mori prayed. She prayed to her stars. She prayed to King's Column, which she dreamed of, a pillar of marble and light rising from ruin. She prayed to the spirits of her parents, her fallen brother Orin, and all those who had died around her in Nova Vita.

"Look after me, dragons of starlight," she whispered through cracked lips. Her voice