Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,252

She knelt behind fallen trees and watched.

A ditch and wooden palisade surrounded the mine. Behind these crude fortifications, Gloriae saw a crater the size of the amphitheatre in Confutatis. It was clear of brush and dust rose from it. Tents, scaffolding, and wagons of dirt covered the crater. In the center, a shaft led underground.

Gloriae narrowed her eyes, examining Dies Irae's forces. Mimics patrolled the crater, their arms burly, their chests broad. Some seemed to be workers; they carried shovels and buckets. Others were warriors; their arms ended with blades instead of hands. Gloriae counted thirty workers and fifty warriors.

"Is that all?" she whispered, raising an eyebrow. This mine is the key to Irae's power. Are these all his guards?

Frowning, she walked back to the others. She found them ahead of the statues, lighting their torches and arrows. Their faces were somber, their eyes dark, their fingers tight around their weapons.

"What did you see?" Kyrie asked her. Ash and mud covered his face.

"Fewer than a hundred mimics," she said. "This worries me."

Kyrie snickered. "You're worried about a hundred mimics? We smashed a thousand back in Requiem."

Lacrimosa seemed to understand faster. "Exactly, Kyrie," the queen said. "That's what worries Gloriae. This mine is valuable to Irae. Why guard it with a mere hundred mimics? Where is his army?"

Kyrie rolled his eyes. "Didn't you hear me? We smashed his army in Requiem."

Agnus Dei groaned and punched his arm. "Pup, you are denser than a statue's backside. Don't you remember what the mimic head said when Gloriae questioned it? Irae has thousands of mimics left. Why aren't they guarding the mine?"

Kyrie rubbed his arm and glared at her. "Because they're preparing to invade Requiem, that's why. Maybe they're invading it already, while we're here in Osanna. Dies Irae underestimates us. He always has. So he guards this place with a hundred mimics and thinks it's safe."

Gloriae nodded slowly. "Maybe, Kyrie. Maybe. But I'm worried. Let's proceed cautiously."

"You mean, let's be extra careful not to die?" Kyrie snickered again. "I think we've all become rather good at that already, Gloriae. If you think it's some elaborate trap and want to turn back, say so. Otherwise, let's storm the damn place and smash it."

Gloriae looked at Lacrimosa. "What do you say, Mother?"

Lacrimosa stared toward the mine. Her lips tightened and she drew Stella Lumen. She nodded.

"We need that mine. Whatever horrors await us in its darkness, we will face them." She raised the blade, and stars seemed to shine within its steel. "Fire and stone."

Gloriae bared her teeth. "Fire and stone."

She spun around and drew Per Ignem. She raised the blade in one hand, her torch in the other. With a shout, she began running. The others answered her cry, and she heard their footfalls behind her. The statues ran too, their feet shaking the earth, their cries like mournful thunder and cracking mountains.

Waving her torch, Gloriae leaped over a fallen bole and charged toward the mine.

The mimics below howled. Their stench hit Gloriae like a fog. Balls of flame flew over the sharpened stakes that surrounded the mine. Gloriae batted one aside with her torch. Another hit her breastplate and fell to her feet. Gloriae spat. It was a flaming human head.

"Bring down the walls!" she shouted. A thousand statues of Requiem ran around her. "Knock them down!"

The statues jumped into the ditch that surrounded the mine. As they crashed down, the mine shook. They began smashing the palisade, cracking and toppling the sharpened logs. More flaming heads flew from within the mine. Gloriae snarled as she dodged them.

Soon the palisade fell, and statues filled the ditch like stones filling a mote. Behind the smashed fortifications, Gloriae saw the mimics waiting. They waved blades, howled, and leered.

"Kill them all!" Gloriae shouted and ran toward them. She ran over the mimics in the ditch, as if they were stepping stones, and leaped through the smashed palisade.

Two mimics ran toward her. They had no hands; their arms ended with blades. Those blades swung at her. Gloriae ducked, dodging one blade, and parried the second with her sword. She tossed her torch and burned one's face. She leaped up, spun, and swung her sword. The second mimic's head flew. Before the first mimic could recover, she thrust her blade and pierced its chest. As it howled, she lifted her torch and swung it left and right. Soon the mimics burned.

The battle raged around her. The other Vir Requis were swinging their torches and swords, holding back dozens