A Night of Dragon Wings - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,76

flamed it.

"Vir Requis!" he shouted. "Fly with me! To the hall!"

A few Vir Requis burst out from their hiding places. Three children—just old enough to shift—emerged from a cellar, shifted, and took flight. Nephilim screeched and swooped toward them. From under a statue rose a silver dragon; she clutched her babe in her claws, a boy too young to shift. Three youths ran from inside a crumbled old home, took flight, and roared fire.

"To the Hall of Faces!" Elethor howled. "Enter through the windows at the back."

He flamed another nephil. To his left, three dragons soared. Nephilim crashed into them, claws swinging. One of the dragons screamed, then fell as a bloodied human girl. Beneath Elethor, three graybeards ran from a cellar, swinging clubs at nephil spawn. One old man fell, and the spawn leaped onto him, and blood sprayed.

The nephilim covered the sky. More kept rising from the trees. Elethor cursed and began flying toward the temple, spraying his fire.

"Fly!" he shouted. "Vir Requis, to the hall! Follow!"

Dozens of dragons soared around him, blowing their flames. Walls of fire rose around them. Nephilim tried to break through. They blazed and screeched and fell. The trees below kindled, and smoke filled the sky. Elethor coughed, barely able to see. More dragons kept rising from below. More nephilim crashed into them, biting and clawing. One crashed onto Elethor's back, and its teeth scraped his shoulder, and he roared and bucked. He slammed his tail like a scorpion, driving its spikes into the nephil; as the beast fell, he flamed it.

"To the Hall of Faces!" he cried. "Enter the windows."

He began circling the great, crumbling temple. Through holes in the walls and ceiling, he saw hundreds of Vir Requis inside. Most huddled in the center of the temple in human forms. The rest stood as dragons at the walls, blasting fire from windows, archways, and holes.

"We're sending people in!" Elethor shouted at them through a hole in the roof. "Make room!"

The dragons inside nodded, pulled back from one window, and opened a path for survivors. At once, the nephil spawn began clattering up the wall outside toward the window. Elethor swooped and whipped his tail, shoving them off. He blasted flames against the wall, burning the others.

Teeth bit into his wings, and he dipped several feet. Spawn covered him, biting and clawing. Elethor growled and shook, but they clung to him. He crashed onto the forest floor, and the brood crawled over him like ants over a discarded piece of fruit. Elethor roared and rolled and blew flames, but the spawn seemed endless.

Roars sounded above. A yellow dragon dived, shifted into human form, and leaped onto Elethor's back. It was Yar, the youth who had shared Elethor's tunnel for six days. He began swinging his sword, knocking the spawn off.

"Yar, shift and blow fire!" Elethor shouted. "Help me hold them back."

The boy nodded, leaped, and shifted back into dragon form. He and Elethor stood flanking the window, blowing flames at the encroaching spawn. Two walls of fire spread from the temple across the complex, creating a corridor.

Dragons dived into the corridor of fire, shifted into humans, and began leaping through the window into the temple. Soon a dozen had entered, and more kept landing between the streams of flame. Elethor dug his claws into the earth; he had maybe a few more breaths of fire in him before he would need rest.

Three young dragons landed in the corridor, shifted, and began running toward the window. An adult nephil swooped from above and tore into them. Its claws ripped them apart and the beast howled, tossing limbs aside like a child tossing toys.

Elethor growled and turned his fire toward the beast, crossing his flames with Yar's. The nephil shrieked and burned. More came flying from Elethor's other side, and more spawn began crawling atop him. He roared and fell back against the temple, cracking the wall, and tore the beasts off. He looked up to see thousands fly toward him; they covered the ruins.

"Yar, get inside!" he shouted. "Into the temple."

The yellow dragon growled at his side, clawing at demon spawn. "Not without you, my king."

"Go now, Yar! I'll hold them back. Go!"

He trundled toward the boy, shaking spawn off his back, and whipped his tail, knocking more beasts off the yellow dragon's back.

"Go!"

Yar blasted fire at the sky, catching a diving nephil, and shifted. He leaped through the window into the temple.

Elethor stood outside the walls, alone with the nephilim. The covered