A Day of Dragon Blood

SOLINA



Night began to fall when she saw the City of Dragons ahead. She bared her teeth and snarled. Her wyvern howled beneath her and clawed at the sky. Baal's scales clanged and as his tail lashed, Solina bounced in the saddle, pushed her knees against it, and smiled.

"Nova Vita," she whispered and licked her lips.

A year ago, she had ravaged this city—ripping dragons upon the streets, crushing houses, and burning the holy birches of Requiem. And yet these walls still stood. Now is the time to finish the job.

"Mahrdor!" she shouted, voice rising on the wind. "Divide them up! Invasion formation. Go!"

When she looked over her shoulder, she saw him flying there upon his wyvern. His left hand was wrapped in leather, and his right hand clutched a sabre. Behind him flew two hundred phalanxes, each a hundred wyverns strong. Every wyvern howled for blood and clawed the air. Every rider raised a spear and cried for glory, for Tiranor, and for Queen Solina. The roar shook the sky. Every phalanx flew in formation, their banners sporting their sigils: bloody claws, flaming hearts, crossed sabres, blazing suns, and dozens of others.

"Phalanxes!" Mahrdor shouted, voice hoarse and deep in the wind. "Invasion formation! Sunfire! Bloodspear! To my right, move. Wyvern Claws, Heartflame, Sabre Steel—fan out, go!"

The general flew between the lines, arranging the phalanxes for invasion. From the border, the army had flown in a line—an arrow of glory. Now they spread out like a claw opening to clutch the city. They would encircle this pathetic Nova Vita, crush it in their grip, and claim its spoils.

"Soldiers of Tiranor!" Solina howled, riding at their lead. She grabbed the banner pole from its ring on her saddle and raised it high. Her standard blew wide and long—a golden sun upon a white field. Her soldiers howled for their queen.

"Queen Solina! Queen Solina! For the glory of Phoebus!"

Even in the wind, their voices reached her, so loud and deep they thudded in her chest. They gained speed. Below them the lands streamed, and the wind shrieked, and the clouds swirled, and Solina howled for the glory of her lord.

"Soldiers of Tiranor!" she shouted again, banner held high. "Tonight your wyverns will feast upon dragon flesh!" The riders howled and the wyverns shrieked. "Tonight the light of the Sun God will banish the darkness of reptiles!" The soldiers roared and brandished their sabres. Solina screamed hoarsely. "Tonight every phalanx will prove its glory and strength! The phalanx that kills the most weredragons will enjoy the greatest spoil: the Weredragon Princess for its men's pleasures!"

The riders howled their approval. The phalanx commanders raised their banners high and chanted their names.

"Sunfire!"

"Bloodspear!"

"Sabre Steel"

Two hundred banners flew. Two hundred phalanxes roared for their glory.

"We fly to war!" Solina howled, raising banner in one hand, sabre in the other. She cried out the Old Words of her people. "We will never fall!"

They answered her call. "To war! To war! We will never fall!"

The city loomed near now—so near that she could see the dragons upon its walls.

"Destroy this city!" she shouted and the army roared. "Bring me the king and princess alive! Slay every other reptile you find!"

They shot through the wind. Their banners streamed. Their wyverns cried. They crossed fields and flew over burnt forests, moving closer, until the city loomed three leagues away, then two, and Solina snarled. She reattached her banner to her saddle and grabbed her shield. She held sword and shield before her. Soon I will lick blood from this steel.

She was snarling, already tasting the coppery sweetness, when roars rose in the south.

She turned in the saddle and saw him there.

My love. My youth. My sunfire.

"Elethor," she whispered.

She knew it was him. From here the dragons were but a distant cloud, a shimmering shadow of color and flame, but she knew that he flew there. She could feel him on the wind, hear him in the distant roars. Once more she heard his cry—echoing from eight years ago—as he stood upon the walls of Nova Vita, calling her name.

"Solina!" His voice had been raw and torn. "Solina!"

She had wept that day, burnt and bleeding and alone. She had left him, going into her exile. She had fled into the sand, raised her kingdom from ruin, raised this army, raised this glory to light the world. And now he would shout again above the walls of Nova Vita. Now again fire would burn and blood spill.

"Elethor," she whispered again, "you have come to me."

How many times she had kissed him! How many times she had loved him in the dark! Today he would be hers again, not a lover, but a prisoner. Today he would cry her name again, not in love, but in agony as she ripped into his flesh.

"Elethor..."

She clutched her sabre between her teeth, grabbed the reins, and pulled her wyvern around. The beast banked, tilting so steeply that Solina nearly fell from the saddle. She snarled and began flying south.

"Riders of Tiranor!" she cried. "Assault formation! Form rank! Follow me—we fight in the sky!"

The other riders noticed the distant cloud too. From here the dragons were a mere smudge in the sunset, a shimmer of scales, blue and red and green. Fire rose from them like sunbeams. Their howls rolled upon the wind. Solina led the charge, sabre raised, shouts ringing hoarsely. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw her army change formation; now they formed a great fist in the sky. Her strongest phalanxes flew at the vanguard, armed with spears and crossbows. Their wyverns filled their maws with acid; the sharp stench filled Solina's nostrils and burned her lungs. She inhaled deeply, savoring it.

"For the Sun God!" she cried and her army echoed her call. "Banish their darkness with our light!"

The two armies streamed toward each other. When the dragons came nearer, Solina bared her teeth in a grin. At most four thousand dragons flew toward them—probably fewer. We outnumber them five to one.

"For Requiem!" rose their distant cries, deep and echoing against the stony mountains below. "Requiem!"

The sunset blazed red, casting beams across the land like spilling blood. The mountains below kindled in the light. Dragonfire rose in pillars. Wyverns screeched. Soon only a league separated the armies, and Solina raised her blade and cried to her love.

"Elethor! Elethor, we meet again!"

He flew at his army's lead, a brass dragon with fire in his maw. He sounded his roar, and his dragons answered the call.

"For King Elethor!" the dragons cried. "For Requiem!"

Fire blazed toward her. Her wyvern's acid blew. Above the mountains, the armies clashed with blood and screams.