A Dawn of Dragonfire - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,98
said, circling above it. She had seen enough temples in Requiem to know them, even when ruined; she could feel the old holiness of the place. The Children of the Moon had worshipped the night here.
"Where is the Moondisk?" Bayrin said, flying beside her.
Mori flew above the ruins, fanning the grass and mist. She squinted, seeking the glint of bronze and gold. Did the Moondisk lie hidden among these tufts of grass, fallen trees, and ruin of an ancient temple?
"And where is the demon who guards it?" she whispered. She saw no life here but for the plants; no call of birds, no chirp of crickets, nothing but the rustle of grass.
Bayrin grunted. "Maybe the demon left years ago, and the Children of the Moon had never bothered checking." He began spiraling down toward the ruins. "Come on, Mori, let's start overturning rocks, find this Moondisk, and get out of here."
Mori puffed out smoke, uncertain. This place was too quiet. Yet Bayrin was descending, and so she joined him, throat tight.
A moan shattered the silence.
The ruins shifted.
The fallen columns began to rise.
Mori screamed and banked, shot across the ruins, and soared. Rocks flew skyward. The fallen walls rose like a marionette on invisible strings. Columns formed legs and arms. The archway rose like shoulders, bedecked with a cloak of ivy and grass. The roots of fallen trees entwined, forming a great head with blazing eyes of blue crystal. Arms lashed out, ending with claws of leafy branches. Mori flew backward, gaping at the beast. The creature twisted and formed before her, and soon stood as a giant, three hundred feet tall, a behemoth woven of wood, leaf, and crumbled ruins.
Ral Siyan, Mori knew. The demon of stone and wood.
"Bay!" she screamed. She trembled and her heart thrashed. Where was Bayrin? She could no longer see him. Her wings thudded madly, billowing the demon's leaves. Its blue stare transfixed her, burning her eyes.
"Mori, it has the Moondisk!" came a cry, and Bayrin flew around the demon, eyes blazing.
He seemed so small compared to the creature, a mere bird flying around a tree. The demon of wood and stone howled, a sound like a collapsing dam. It lashed an arm at Bayrin. Its bricks creaked like joints, raining dust. Its branches twisted and groaned. Its fingers of wood missed Bayrin by a foot. The green dragon flapped his wings, blasting the beast with air, sending leaves flying.
When the demon turned toward her, Mori gasped. She saw the Moondisk! A circle of bronze, the size of a shield, it lay within the archway that formed the demon's torso. Vines and brambles held it like veins around a heart. Upon its dented and dulled surface, a golden moon and stars still glimmered.
Bayrin soared, turned, and swooped toward the beast.
"Time to burn," he said and blew fire.
"Bayrin, no!" Mori cried. She soared and slammed into Bayrin, pushing him aside. His flames rained upon the mountaintop, missing the demon. The beast of wood and stone roared, a sound like cracking boulders, and swung its arms. A log slammed into Mori, and she gasped for breath, head spinning.
"Mori, what are you doing?" Bayrin shouted, smoke billowing from his maw. He rose higher, dodging another blow from the demon. Mori flew beside him, panting. Her side blazed with pain where the beast had struck her.
"You'll burn the Moondisk!" she managed to say. "It's surrounded with branches. The bronze and gold would melt in dragonfire!"
Ral Siyan howled, a deep cry, the rage of forests and oceans and buried rock. The demon leaped, columns swinging. The two dragons scattered, and Mori found herself growling, anger pounding through her.
I won't let my family die, she thought. I won't let Solina cut open Elethor too. I won't let Acribus rape Lyana like he raped me. Her growl turned into a roar, and she swooped, claws outstretched. I will grab the Moondisk.
The demon spun toward her, all twisting roots and vines. Her claws glinted. She reached toward the Moondisk. Her claws almost closed around it… but the vines and brambles that encased the disk twisted. A branch lashed out, and its thorns slammed into her, each like an arrowhead. She screamed as they pierced her scales, fell, and her back hit the mountaintop.
The demon swung its arm like a hammer. The stone column came crashing down, as wide as an oak. Mori screamed and rolled aside, and the column smashed into the ground, shattering rock.