A Dawn of Dragonfire - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,111

too slow to follow burned in phoenix fire.

"Mori, phoenixes over the temple!" Bayrin shouted. A hundred of them were roaring from the marble roof, comets of fury.

Mori nodded and moved the Moondisk upon the enemy. The phoenixes screeched and Bayrin saw dozens of dragons swarm upon them, roaring fire.

More screeches sounded above. Bayrin looked up and cursed. Ten phoenixes had managed to flank the battle, fly over the clouds, and were now swooping upon Mori from above.

"Mori, fire above!" he shouted and soared. She banked, and Bayrin crashed upward. His wings brushed her, and he slammed against the phoenixes above.

Fire engulfed him. Talons tore him. Beaks of flame ripped his flesh. He howled and lashed his claws but cut only fire.

Silver light bathed him. Below, Mori was flying upside down, pointing the moonbeam toward him. He roared fire and the phoenixes fell.

"Point the Moondisk down!" Bayrin shouted to her. Welts blazed across him. He felt ready to fall from the sky, but forced himself to keep flying. "I've got your back. Protect the dragons below."

Mori looked as hurt and wounded as Bayrin felt. The lamprey bites still bled on her shoulders. Like him, she had not slept or eaten in two days. And yet she snarled and directed the Moondisk down, catching a formation of soaring phoenixes. Bayrin showered them with fire.

Three more phoenixes swooped from the clouds above Mori. Cursing, Bayrin drove toward them.

"Keep that moonbeam pointing down!" he shouted as he soared by her.

He crashed into the firebirds above. Their flames washed him. He screamed in agony. It felt like flying into a forge. He clawed blindly.

I will protect Mori. I won't let them burn her.

Moonlight bathed him. He roared fire. The phoenixes fell.

More flew at Mori's left. He drove forward and crashed into their fire. When she lit them with moonlight and he burned them, more flew from the right. Bayrin howled, scales blazing, and crashed into them.

Protect the princess. Don't let them burn her. Don't…

Fire washed him.

Talons ripped him.

Bayrin howled and blew flame, and his world was nothing but heat, screams, and pain.

ELETHOR

He flew toward the tunnel, shifted into human form, and rolled into the darkness. He leaped to his feet while drawing his sword. When his eyes adjusted to the shadows, his stomach churned. The sight was as sickening as anything from the Abyss.

Dead children covered the tunnel floor, cut with blades. One girl's face was slashed. A boy was missing his arm. A second boy lay in the corner, disemboweled. The sight and stench nearly made Elethor gag. He gritted his teeth and raised his sword.

Ahead in the darkness, before a crowd of weeping children, stood Solina.

Elethor's heart thudded. His head spun.

Solina. Flame of his life. Light of his soul. The woman he had loved with heat like dragonfire. Blood covered her armor, face, and blades. She stared at him, and he saw the same emotion swirl in her eyes. She gave him a sad, crooked smile.

"Elethor," she said softly.

He walked deeper into the tunnel, stepping over strewn limbs and corpses, his boots sloshing through blood. His eyes narrowed, he could barely breathe, and for a moment he only managed to shake his head and whisper.

"Solina… how could you do this?"

A snarl fled her lips, sounding almost like a sob. A shaky, toothy grin twisted her face; Elethor couldn't decide if she grinned like a wolf or a madwoman.

"They are vermin, Elethor," she said. "They are nothing but lizards. You saw how they taunted me." Her eyes blazed, narrowing to blue slits. "You saw how they would fly above me, mock me, roar fire down on me. They burned me." She took a step toward him. "I won't let them come between us again. I will kill every weredragon between you and me until you're mine again."

"I am one of them!" Elethor shouted. His eyes stung. "Solina, you have gone mad. You have lost your mind. This is not the woman I knew, that I loved. You were good once, Solina. You were—"

"I was weak!" she screamed. "I was scared." Tears fled her eyes. "I was an orphan, Elethor. Your father murdered my parents, slaughtered my brothers like animals, and made me live here, a prisoner, a cripple." She took another step toward him, tears rolling. She let one sabre clang to the ground and reached out to him. "But you made it bearable, Elethor. You loved me, even though I could not become a dragon, even as everyone else in this land loathed