A Night of Dragon Wings - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,82

I missed you. Mori?"

She looked over her shoulder at him. Tears filled those huge gray eyes Bayrin had dreamed to see joyous.

"Bayrin," she whispered. A tear rolled down her cheek.

He embraced her, but she felt wooden and stiff, and she did not return the embrace. She was so thin, so pale. Bayrin closed his eyes. This was not how he'd dreamed of meeting Mori again. For moons, he had wanted nothing else, and his fingers still shook with the shock of it. In endless dreams, she would run toward him and crash into his embrace, and they would kiss and laugh and tell stories of daring escapes. Not… not this, just silence and Mori so still in his arms, a porcelain figurine.

"Mori," he whispered again. "I'm so glad you're here. Stars, I missed you, Mors." His voice cracked and his eyes dampened. "You don't have to tell me what happened. Not now or ever, if you don't want to. I'm just so glad you're here. I'm not going to let you go again—ever, not ever, Mori. I'll never let you out of my arms. If we have to, we'll just stay like this forever."

She looked up at him, blinking tears from her eyes. "Is… I saw Piri. Is she…?"

Bayrin found himself weeping. He hated showing such emotion; hated it! He had not cried since he was nine and Lyana had kicked him too hard. Today he could not help it. And yet he laughed—he laughed through his tears until his chest shook.

"Piri! Stars, Mori, the girl in crazy. You remember how she used to follow me around, right?" He kissed her cheek. "I love you, Mori. Only you. Now and always. Nothing happened between Piri and me. She tried to seduce me; I refused her. You've always had a talent for showing up at just the wrong moment! Remember how you once walked into the armory just as I was, uhm… testing Lyana's dress?"

"You were going to put it on!" she said, and now a soft smile trembled on her lips.

"I was not! I was only holding it against me to see if… I accidentally stabbed it with my sword."

She laid her head against his chest.

"I know," she whispered. "I know, Bay. I believe you."

He did not have to ask if she meant the dress or Piri. He leaned back against the wall, and Mori wriggled until she nestled in his arms. He held her very close for a very long time, and they said nothing more.

A hole upon the mountainside, a remnant of the nephil attack, gaped open not far outside their pod. Through it, Bayrin could see into the wilderness. The sun began to set, casting rays of orange light upon the forest. In the evening, the priest Nehushtan flew to their pod, coiling and chinking, and summoned them to a council.

"We will meet under the stars and discuss the evil that stains the world," he said, his tufted eyebrows curved in sorrow.

Bayrin and Mori followed him in dragon forms, and they flew out the mountain and above the forests. Sunset gilded the land, and Bayrin looked at Mori as she flew. She looked back and gave him a soft smile, and despite the ruin of the world, and the evil that still lurked in the desert, Bayrin was happy.

Mori is here. There is still light in the world.

Nehushtan led them to a grassy hill that rose from a forest clearing. Ten great stones rose here, each larger than a man, arranged like the Draco constellation. Night fell, and blue runes glowed upon the stones, and the true stars shone above. Fireflies swirled around the henge, adding their glow. All around the hill, the forest rolled into shadow, the trees mere black hints like charcoal etched onto obsidian.

Above several stones hovered elder salvanae. Their eyes glowed silver and gold in the starlight. Their bodies coiled behind them like banners in a breeze. Their beards were long and their brows furrowed, and their breath steamed in the night.

Upon a pair of stones perched two dragons of Requiem—unlike the salvanae, they had stockier bodies, four legs, and wings. Even in the dim starlight, Bayrin recognized Piri's lavender scales; it was a rare color in Requiem. The other was a slim black dragon, and Bayrin gasped when he recognized her.

"Treale Oldnale!" he blurted out, hovering above the henge. "Bloody stars, I haven't seen you in ages. Where the Abyss have you been?"

She raised her chin at him. "Probably having a rougher