Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,275

her close and kissed her cheek. "Hope," she whispered.

DIES IRAE

They marched through the empire, feet shaking the earth, howls splitting the sky.

Dies Irae rode before his army upon a black mimic horse, its fur matted and its mouth foaming. When he looked over his shoulder, he snarled and grinned. A hundred thousand warriors marched behind him, covering the countryside like spilling oil, swallowing the empire beneath them. Thousands of nightshades and mimic dragons circled above, shrieking.

"We draw near Requiem, my lord," Umbra said, riding her mimic horse up beside him. She wore no armor and bore no sword. She was a Blood Wolf, and she rode to war as one, garbed in black. Her leather boots rose to her knees over her leggings, and six daggers hung from her belt.

Dies Irae nodded. "The ruins of Requiem lie beyond the mountains ahead." He scanned the horizon and saw a town below those mountains. Chimney smoke rose in fifty columns; there would be survivors there. His grin widened. "We will stop before crossing the mountains, and we will dine."

Umbra licked her lips.

They rode toward the town, the army roaring and drooling behind. When they got closer, Dies Irae saw a hundred cottages, a temple, and several fields. Soon he rode through the streets, Umbra at his side. His army surrounded the town like ants around a fallen piece of fruit. The streets were empty.

"The peasants are hiding," Dies Irae said.

Umbra looked around, eyes narrowed. "Like rats."

"Burn them out, Umbra. Burn these rats' nests."

Soon she held two torches, and ran from house to house, setting their thatch roofs afire. The rats began to flee. They ran out of their houses, haggard peasants, their clothes tattered, their faces gaunt. Some began to run to the mountain, wailing.

"Dine, my lovelies!" Dies Irae called. "Dine upon them."

The mimic dragons swooped. The nightshades flowed between them. The mimics and monsters stormed from house to house, grabbing whoever they could. It only took moments, and the lucky ones feasted. The unlucky creatures, those who could not catch a peasant, growled and screamed. Some began to eat one another. Blood splattered the town.

Umbra emerged from the smoke, manhandling a peasant girl. She held a dagger to the girl's neck.

"I found one for us to dine on," she said.

Dies Irae smiled. The girl was thin but comely, about the same age as his daughters. She had red hair, white skin, and teary eyes.

"We too will dine," he agreed.

He dragged the wench to the town square, backhanded her, and shoved her against the well. Umbra sat on the well's edge, smirking, and held the girl down as Dies Irae lifted her skirts. The girl struggled as he took her, and Umbra laughed. When he was done, he tossed the weeping girl toward a group of mimics.

"Enjoy," he told them.

They leaped upon her, drooling and howling, and she screamed.

Soon his army moved again, marching, shuffling, crawling, flying. They howled, they drooled, they screeched and moaned and growled and hissed. They oozed into the mountains, leaving the light of Osanna behind, spilling into the mountains of Requiem's ruin.

"Soon I will have you, Lacrimosa," Dies Irae whispered as he rode at the van. "Soon I will hurt you, Agnus Dei and Gloriae. Soon I will break you, Kyrie Eleison. You will be my basest mimics, pathetic slaves to my warriors' lusts."

Umbra fingered her daggers. "Your glory will soon cover the world."

The ruined town faded in the distance. Requiem rolled ahead.

AGNUS DEI

Strange dreams filled her world.

She saw strands of starlight form a dragon in the stars. She saw mimics bearing her face, fifty thousand strong, marching through snow and ash. She saw her father, clad in dark green and silver, ruling in a marble palace, his eye sockets empty and bleeding. They smiled at her, this dragon, these mimics, her father, smiles that flowed around her head. When she reached for them, they vanished and laughed, flowing into the sound of sad pipes and wind through tunnels.

"Mother," she whispered. "Mother, the Poisoned... I have to burn them. I have to. I have to save the scrolls."

Mother held her hand. "They're gone, sweetness. The Poisoned are gone."

Agnus Dei blinked. "But we need to find the Beams, Mother. They're in a swamp, I think. The pup said something about a swamp."

He touched her cheek, that pup, his face blurry. Was he truly there? She heard him.

"Rest, kitten. Don't worry about the Beams."

She tried to see him, to blink, to clear her eyes. But she saw only tunnels