A Dawn of Dragonfire - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,74

only some bread, cheese, and dried fruit. They shared the breakfast, eating with numb fingers.

"Mori," he said, "we should fly today."

She bit her lip and shook her head silently.

"It's been two days since we saw the phoenix," Bayrin continued. "If he's still hunting us, he's hunting us leagues away. We should shift into dragons and fly to the sea. It still lies hundreds of leagues away; walking is too slow."

She lowered her head, and a tear ran down her cheek. "But Bayrin, if we fly, he'll see us. I know it." She raised her eyes; they glimmered with tears. "Can't we walk for just another day, to be sure he's gone?"

Bayrin placed an awkward hand on her shoulder. "Mori, Requiem needs us. My sister needs us. Your brother needs us. Solina is still attacking them, and if we can't bring the Moondisk back soon, more will die. We can't dally any longer."

She hugged herself. "But… but what if he sees us, Bayrin? What if he's flying up there? We're little as humans. But dragons are too large, our scales are too bright, and…"

"We'll have to take that risk. For Requiem. We'll have to be brave. We'll be brave together, all right? I know you can do this."

She looked at her feet, trembling, then looked up at him again. Her eyes were so large, so haunted, so full of pain, that Bayrin felt his chest twinge. Without breaking her stare, she shifted.

Wings sprouted from her back, a pale gold like honey. Scales clanked across her, fangs and claws sprouted from her, and soon she stood before him, thirty feet long, a golden dragon with sad eyes. Bayrin shifted too and stood before her, a long green dragon, fifty feet from snout to tail's tip. Snow fell around them, their breath plumed, and their scales frosted.

They leaped, scattering snow, and flapped their wings. With a shower of twigs and snow, they crashed through the treetops into the sky. Snow flurried and wind howled in Bayrin's ears. Their wings thudded, bending the trees, and they soared until they flew among the clouds. Hidden among them, they leveled off and dived north. Wind and snow flowed around them.

As they flew, Bayrin kept looking around him, seeking phoenix fire. Once he thought he saw the beast, and his heart leaped, but it was only the sun glowing dimly through the clouds.

He's leagues away, he told himself. Stars, I hope we never see that bastard again.

They flew for several leagues before the clouds parted, revealing a rolling landscape. Cliffs and mountains rose like battlements, their eastern facades gilded with sunlight, their western slopes melting into mist and purple shadow. Evergreens rose tall and frosted, and a frozen lake glimmered like beaten silver. Herds of deer swept across valleys, while eagles soared from mountainous nests. The two dragons' shadows raced across the land. Even this high up, the smells of pine filled Bayrin's nostrils.

He saw no towns, no farms, no sign of civilization. Mori was better at maps, but Bayrin thought they flew beyond the Old Kingdom's borders, heading toward the distant Terius Bay. This was a cold hinterland north of Requiem, west of the fallen kingdom of Fidelium, and east of the mythical land of Salvandos. Few bards ever sang of these lands. Few scrolls told their tales. In most maps, they were empty spaces of canvas. It was a realm untouched by man or dragon, wild and beautiful.

As he flew, Mori at his side, his thoughts kept returning to Requiem, to his family and friends. While he flew here, the cold air in his nostrils, they huddled underground. While he fled one phoenix, they fought an army. Suddenly he wished Elethor had not chosen him for this task. He was no explorer, no hero, no warrior. He should be back home, helping his family and friends. Even if he couldn't fight well, he could still comfort them, make them laugh, bring some light to the darkness. But here… was he truly helping Requiem here? Was there truly a Moondisk beyond mountain and sea, or did Elethor merely send him here to spare his life, to save the princess from death underground? Bayrin didn't know. If all should die and he lived, the shame would be too great to bear, he thought.

They should have sent my sister. Lyana would know where to fly, what to do, how to fight. They should have sent my father; he's a great warrior and would have killed Acribus in the