A Dawn of Dragonfire - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,96
her terror. A great black bowl, it rose from a landscape of ink. A single black rose grew atop it, and Lyana tried to reach it. She knew she had to save that rose, to heal it, to stop the terrible pain of it, the horror that pounded. She screamed, for this mountain was larger than the world, larger than her mind could grasp. Her soul left her body and spread across the landscape, twisting with its fear, and everywhere she saw those petals.
"I have to… I have to save it," she whispered. "I have to count them. I have to line them. You have to keep the numbers."
The Shrivel she had eaten laughed inside her belly, a coiling worm, forever inside her, forever mocking, forever counting. Its teeth gnashed at her entrails, and its claws dug, her eternal child, a parasite of her womb.
I am here within you, it whispered, taunting. You cannot flee me, and you cannot flee those you let die, not until you climb the mountain and heal the black rose… until then I will remain and feast upon you.
"Lyana!" cried a desperate voice. "Lyana, listen to me! Lyana, do you hear?"
She shouted and blew fire. "Leave me! Leave me! I killed no one. Please…" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "I am a soldier! I am a knight of Requiem. I have to save him, Elethor. I have to save the king, and Orin, and Noela… oh stars, Noela…"
She wept. Her body convulsed as she tumbled from the sky. Sweet Noela, little Noela, only a moon old, and they buried her, and Lyana couldn't even weep, she couldn't be weak, but now she wept and shouted. I have to save her… I have to save her from this place. I have to save all of them.
"Lyana!" the voice cried. Claws dug into her shoulders and pulled her. "Fly, Lyana!"
She could see nothing but her tears, but she outstretched her wings, and the wind billowed them, tossing her higher. She leveled off, banked, and flew upon the wind. The sky. She had to find the sky. Elethor flew beside her, brass scales shimmering, and she saw it, a hint of dawn ahead, a smudge of blue.
Requiem! May our wings forever find your sky. She remembered those words. She soared, howling and blowing fire. Though the storm blasted her and lightning smashed against her, she flew, tearing free from the grip of the dead. Her tail lashed and her claws reached out.
"Elethor!" she cried. "Fly with me, Elethor!"
They soared, cutting through the storm, smashing through rain and rock, until Lyana saw it. Tears filled her eyes again, but now they were tears of joy. I see it… stars, I see it. They were the columns of Requiem, white marble rising from fire and blood into good, healing starlight. They beamed from death to hope, from firelight to starlight, and Lyana flew like she had never flown, tears on her cheeks. I will find your sky, Requiem… forever.
The two dragons dived through the lightning, streaming toward the ghostly columns that rose among the storm of the Abyss, and soon flew between them. The pillars gleamed around them, palisades guiding them home. Flames blazed against their bellies, and starlight kissed their backs, and wakes of red and white light trailed behind them. They shot between the columns, through the storm, and dived into a great cavern of stone and starlight.
The storm silenced.
Lyana gasped.
She flew. She heard nothing but the thud of wings. Elethor flew at her side, panting, fire rising between his teeth. The chamber rose around them, the size of a kingdom, its ceiling of stone lit with countless stars. Lyana's heart pounded.
We made it, she thought. We passed through the storm.
A great boulder rose ahead like an island rising from darkness, and she spiraled toward it. She landed upon its top, so weak, and shifted into a human. Elethor landed beside her, shifted too, and they lay holding each other. Tears wet their cheeks and their chests rose and fell.
She clung to him. "What was that storm?" she whispered. "Did you see them too? Did you see the dead?"
His face was pale. His arms held her close as the stars gleamed above. "I saw my dead brother, and my dead father, and…" His eyes dampened. "I saw Mori dead too. She cried for me to save her, and I tried to, but I couldn't." He blinked and whispered. "Are they all dead, Lyana?"