A Night of Dragon Wings - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,81

glare, then took flight and began to flee north. A few dragons began to follow him.

Be strong, Lyana, she told herself, staring south as the horde approached. Be strong and you will soon fly to your parents, to Orin, to all those who fell.

Darkness covered the city.

From the east, like a sun rising, sounded the cries of new dawn.

Lyana turned her head, looked eastward, and tears filled her eyes.

"Hope," she whispered. She raised her voice and roared to the city. "Griffins! Griffins are coming! Dragons of Requiem, rally here! Griffins fly to aid."

Flocks flew from the dawn, half eagles and half lions, great beasts the size of dragons. Sunrays rose around them. Lyana had never been to their home, the mythical Leonis Isles across the sea. She had seen only one griffin before, Prince Velathar who had visited Requiem a year ago. Now thousands flew from the rising sun, a golden dawn aflight.

Seeing the host, the nephilim wailed and covered their eyes with their claws, blinded and hissing. A few turned to flee. Others howled and faced the sun.

The two hosts crashed above the ancient walls and towers of Confutatis.

Lyana soared and blew her fire.

BAYRIN

"Mori?" he whispered.

Inside the golden mountain of the true dragons, he stood in his pod, embracing a very naked Piri. Before him at the doorway, Mori stood with wide eyes and trembling lips.

Bayrin gasped and froze, barely able to breathe. How could this be? How could Mori be here? She looked almost like a ghost, so frail and pallid Bayrin thought he might be seeing a spirit. She was thinner than he'd ever seen her, her cheekbones prominent, her eyes large and gray, her arms sticklike and neck too thin. Her skin was milky white and dark circles surrounded her eyes. And yet it was her, and she was alive, and she was beautiful and fragile and real.

Still embracing him, Piri looked over her shoulder and saw the princess. She gasped, pulled away from Bayrin, and grabbed her cloak from the floor. She covered her nakedness and retreated to the back of the room, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"Mori," Bayrin said, and his eyes stung, and his heart thrashed. He took a step toward her. "Stars, Mori, are… is it really you?"

She looked at him, frozen. She looked toward the back of the room where Piri stood, cloak wrapped around her. Mori's eyes dampened. She turned, shifted into a golden dragon, and flew away from the pod.

Bayrin leaped out into the darkness. The cavern of the golden mountain loomed around him, its walls lined with countless more pods like a beehive, its empty spaces lit by flowing orbs of light and the shimmer of salvanae scales. He shifted and flew, seeking Mori, but salvanae flew everywhere—thousands of them. He could not see her.

"Mori!" he shouted, flying inside the mountain. He knocked through a cluster of floating orbs; they scattered, tossing light and shadows. "Mori!"

He glimpsed a slim golden tail behind a group of salvanae. He flew in pursuit. Salvanae streamed everywhere around him, flying serpents moving so quickly they appeared as streams of light. As he flew, Bayrin kept having to dip, rise, and skirt the coiling creatures.

"Mori!" he cried out. "Stars, Mori, come talk to me."

He barreled through a group of salvanae; they bugled in surprise and scattered. He dived between floating orbs and saw her there. She flew away from him, descending deeper down the mountain into shadow.

"Mori!"

He dived after her, calling her name. She flew beneath a cluster of salvanae elders who crowded around glowing runes, their eyelashes beating and their beards dipping as they prayed. Stars, she was still so fast! Bayrin flew after her, incurring clucking tongues and grunts from the salvanae elders. He saw Mori soar toward a wall of more pods. She approached one pod, shifted into a human, and ran inside.

Heart pounding, Bayrin followed. His claws grabbed the pod's rim. He shifted into human form and crawled inside like a bee entering its hive. This pod looked much like the one he shared with Piri: long, round, and simple. Fresh leaves covered its floor in a rug, and bubbles of food and wine lay upon them. Mori sat by the far wall, her back to him.

Bayrin approached her, walking gingerly upon the carpet of leaves. When he reached her, he knelt and hesitantly touched her shoulder. She cowered at his touch and huddled deeper into the corner.

"Mori," he whispered. "Stars, Mori, I… I can't believe you're here!