Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,279

them too. It sounded like hundreds were flying in the clouds, moving closer. Once they emerge from the clouds, they'll see us.

"To the ground," Terra said and began to dive. "We continue on foot, as humans."

They dived, the air whistling around them, the snow stinging them. The clouds growled and the mimics screamed in the distance. They landed by a fallen tower, shifted into humans, and crawled under the ruins.

"Damn," Memoria whispered, peeking through the ruins to the sky. Snow filled her hair and kissed her cheeks pink.

Terra grumbled. A hundred mimic dragons emerged from the clouds above, squealing. Their wings creaked and roiled the snow. How are we to defeat so many, even with Adoria's Hands?

Memoria clasped his hand. "Do you think... do you think these things found Kyrie?"

Terra shook his head. "If Kyrie survived this long, he's good at hiding, at fighting, at living. If he's alive, we'll find him." Terra... I found him. He grabbed his sword. "We'll look in the west. We'll look at King's Column."

The mimics above shrieked and flew over them, soon disappearing into the distance. Terra and Memoria hid for long moments, shivering in the cold. Finally they crawled out of hiding and began to walk. Their feet ached, their teeth chattered, and their limbs were weak with hunger and wounds.

When Terra looked behind him, he saw that black puddle oozing over the horizon. He cursed and quickened his step.

KYRIE ELEISON

He walked through King's Forest, holding Agnus Dei's hand. The snow glided around them.

"Oh, pup," Agnus Dei said, head lowered. "This place feels so sad, doesn't it?"

The trees were fallen now, burned and toppled years ago. It seemed to Kyrie like all the horrors of the world had been born here.

Twenty years ago, Dies Irae raped Lacrimosa here. Four years later, he stole the griffins here, and toppled these columns. Five years after that, Requiem's survivors gathered in this place, and marched to Lanburg Fields. Kyrie sighed. And now... does Requiem fall here now?

Kyrie raised his eyes and looked at King's Column. It rose in the distance from the ruins, two hundred feet tall, its marble bright. Salvanae coiled above and around it, bugling their song.

"It is sad," he said, "but look, Agnus Dei. New dragons fly here now. And we're still here. We still fight. We can win this war."

Agnus Dei raised her head and looked at him. Her eyes seemed so large to Kyrie, pools of sadness.

"I'm so afraid," she said. "I lost Father. And... at the camp, when...." She swallowed and hid her left arm. "It feels like somebody else died. I grieve for my hand, the same way I grieve for Father. Is that strange, Kyrie?"

He shook his head, touched her cheek, and kissed her forehead. "It's not strange."

She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes brushing his cheek. "I'm so scared of more loss. Of you dying, or Gloriae, or Mother. Kyrie, I... I want to be brave again. I want to growl and shout for battle. But I can't feel that way anymore."

He nodded. "You're growing older and wiser." He tapped her head. "Maybe soon you'll be as wise as me."

Normally she would punch him, wrestle him, and pull his hair for such a taunt. Today she did not even smile. She sighed and he held her, his arms around her. She held him with her good hand, but kept her left arm hidden behind her back.

"Oh, pup, I can't even hug you properly now."

"You can."

She shook her head, and Kyrie felt her tears on his cheek. She trembled.

"Kyrie, I'm ashamed. I'm sorry. I don't even like holding you now. I don't like when you hold me." Her voice shook. "I used to like you looking at me. It made me feel funny and good. I wanted to be beautiful for you, as beautiful as Gloriae. But I can't now. Not without my hand, with this arm that... that just ends with a stump. It looks so ugly to me. I hate it. I'm ugly now, and I'm so embarrassed whenever you look at me. I'm so sorry that I'm like this for you."

He laughed softly, and she stiffened. She pulled back an inch, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"Why do you laugh at me?" she asked.

He caressed her cheek. "Agnus Dei. You have the largest, most beautiful eyes I've seen, with the longest lashes. You have the softest, bounciest, curliest hair I've seen, like lamb's fleece. And most importantly, you are good, and brave, and kind. You are