A Day of Dragon Blood

ELETHOR





The acid kept pouring. Wails rose through the chambers. Acid pooled and people huddled atop boulders and clung to walls. More acid streamed from above and sizzled. Droplets splashed onto flesh and burns spread. Feet melted. Children wept. An old man cried to the stars and leaped into the stream, a vain attempt to hold it back with his body; the acid ate through him and kept pouring.

"Elethor!" said Deramon, face red. He moved through the crowd, grabbed Elethor, and pulled him toward the wall. "This is it, Elethor. It's time to leave—you and Mori."

Eyes somber, Deramon gestured at the tapestry Mori had woven, which hung upon a craggy wall. Elethor knew what lay behind it—the escape tunnel carved for his family, a snaking pipe that led outside the city.

He looked back at the crowd of survivors. Many had begun to dig, forming holes for acid to fill and mounds to stand on. Others stood upon corpses. The acid kept flowing around them, moving from chamber to chamber.

"There are thousands of people here," Elethor said. "I won't leave them to die."

Mori stood by his side, face pale but lips firm. She nodded, head raised. "I'm not leaving either, Deramon," she said with a voice soft but steady. "I am princess of this realm; I go down with the ship."

Deramon scowled, looking from king to princess. His eyes darkened and his lips curled back in a growl. "You and Mori are the last Aeternums, a dynasty that has ruled in Requiem for three thousand years. I loved your father, Elethor, and I loved your brother. I won't let you and your sister die too. I am sworn to guard your house; I will not let it fall."

Elethor glared at the older man. "And I am sworn to guard this realm, and I will not let it fall." He grabbed the tapestry and pulled it free, revealing the tunnel. He turned to the survivors and called out, voice echoing. "Mothers and babes—to me! Mothers and babes only—through this tunnel! It will lead you to safety. Mothers and babes only!"

The people wailed. At once it seemed that everyone was charging toward the tunnel. One man slipped and fell into streaming acid; he screamed and burned. Bayrin stood in the crowd, holding men back, shouting for mothers and babes. Adia was praying and guiding mothers forward. People were weeping.

Elethor clutched Mori's hand. He looked into her wide gray eyes. She stared back steadily, clutching his hand.

"Are you sure, Mori?" he whispered. "I will send you through this tunnel if you wish it. There are thousands of people here; it would take hours for everyone to crawl out, and we have only moments before the acid overflows us."

Her eyes flashed. Her lips tightened. Suddenly Mori looked as fierce and strong as Lyana.

"I stay," she said. "With you. With my people. If we go to the starlit halls, we go together." She raised her voice to the crowd. "Mothers and babes only! Move, to us!"

Soon the first mother appeared at their side, weeping and clutching her newborn. Adia, her white robes tattered and burnt, helped guide the young woman and her babe into the tunnel. Soon they disappeared into the darkness.

"Keep crawling!" Elethor called into the tunnel. "Crawl for an hour—until you reach the forest—then fly! Fly east and don't return."

Bayrin and Deramon were moving through the chambers, guiding mothers and babes through the crowd. Adia helped each pair enter the tunnels and prayed for them. Some older men tried to shove their way through, to enter the tunnels themselves; Bayrin and Deramon held them back.

"Mothers and babes only!" Elethor shouted. Only ten pairs had entered the tunnel so far; countless still remained. "Into the tunnel. Crawl and then fly!"

Wyvern shrieks echoed above with new vigor. The flow of acid intensified. People screamed and scrambled onto one another. The holes they had dug filled up, and the mounds began to melt. The acid began to consume Elethor's boots and sting his feet. He breathed sharply through clenched teeth. Mori clasped his hand so hard she nearly crushed it. In the far side of the tunnel, where the floor sloped, people wailed. The acid rose past their ankles, then reached their knees. They began to fall and burn away.

"Into the tunnels, go, my child!" Adia cried to a mother and babe, helping them climb into the darkness.

We're not going to last another moment, Elethor realized. How many had they saved? Thirty people? Forty? The rest of Requiem will die in these tunnels, the end of our Second Age.

Lyana moved through the crowd toward him. Her face was pale, her eyes wide. She clung to his arm.

"Elethor," she whispered. "Elethor, I will fly with you. I will roar by your side in the starlit halls. We fly there together." She growled at him. "Don't you leave me there!"

Elethor growled too. The acid blazed against the soles of his feet, and he pushed himself to the wall. Panic swelled in his lungs.

No. No! I won't let Requiem fall on my watch. Not for my war with Solina.

People fell and screamed and melted before him. They reminded him of the bodies he had seen last year in the Abyss, but back then, hope had awaited them. He and Lyana had freed the Starlit Demon. They had driven the beast through the earth, carving a great shaft out into the sky.

What I would give for such a tunnel now! I—

Elethor froze.

He snarled. He looked at Lyana who clung to his left. He looked at Mori who clung to his right. He loved them both so much that he shook with it. He nodded. His eyes stung.

For my father. For Orin. For the light of our stars and the sky in our wings.

He looked at Mother Adia. "Adia, I need you to stay here. I need you to keep leading the mothers and babes through the tunnel; once they've all escaped, you will crawl after them, and you will lead them to safety." He turned to Deramon. "You too, Deramon; they will need your strength. You and Adia will lead the survivors."

They all stared at him. Adia sucked in her breath.

"What are you planning, Elethor?" the priestess whispered.

He turned away from her. He looked between Lyana and Mori, who both clung to him, and at Bayrin, who approached with somber eyes.

"Fly by my side, Lyana and Bayrin," he whispered. "Fly by me, Mori. Whatever happens, we fly together."

They looked at him, lips tightened. They said nothing.

If we die, we die together, Elethor thought. If today I fall, I fall with those whom I love. He squared his shoulders and raised his head. But I won't fall without a battle for the poets to sing of.

He faced the crowd and roared.

"People of Requiem!" he shouted. "Hear me, Vir Requis! I am your king, Elethor Aeternum, Son of Olasar. Hear me today!"

They turned toward him, and he saw the fear in their eyes. I am their king; let me be a pillar to them. He raised his head and spoke in a voice deep and clear.

"We are in darkness," he said. "We are in the pit of despair. But I do not lose hope. I do not stop fighting. Even in the most dark, hopeless cave a light shines somewhere; we will find that light and crawl toward it." He pointed to the tunnel behind him. "Mothers and babes—Adia will lead you to safety. She will lead you to light. Follow her through darkness and into the wild."

The mothers kept moving toward the tunnel, clutching their infants. Some moved on burnt, twisted feet. Adia and Deramon continued helping them into the tunnel, blessing them with prayers. Elethor raised his voice louder.

"The rest of you!" he shouted. "We will find our light too. We will find our sky. I promise this to you. Today you are soldiers! Today you are all warriors of Requiem. Young and old, children and elders, you now fight for the Royal Army! You can fly as dragons. You can blow fire. You can slash your claws. Today we all fight with one roar! Today we are all warriors of starlight! Stand back, people of Requiem, hear my roar and answer my call!"

He let go of Lyana and Mori.

He leaped through the people toward the flowing acid.

In the chamber of stone, he shifted into a dragon.

People screamed and scurried back. Elethor's claws reached out, hitting the walls. His wings hit the ceiling. In dragon form, he nearly filled the chamber, nearly crushed the people beneath him. They ran and leaped over acid. With a great dragon roar, Elethor began to slam his tail against the northern wall.

This is where the Starlit Demon flew, he remembered. He had seen the tunnel maps. This was the place—beyond this wall. Here had the Starlit Demon carved its cavern. Here awaited their sky. He slammed his tail and chunks of rock fell.

"Requiem!" he cried, fire in his maw. "Our wings will find your sky!"

He slammed his tail again. Cracks raced. Rocks plummeted. The wall collapsed outward, revealing a gaping shaft—a hundred feet in diameter—full of wind and rain and echoing wyvern cries.

"Fly, dragons of Requiem!" Elethor shouted and leaped into the great shaft. He beat his wings and soared toward the sky. Walls of stone raced at his sides. "To death! To blood! To glory! Today we all fight; today we roar as one!"

With a roar that could deafen gods, the dragons of Requiem soared behind him—out of darkness and into the light of battle and song.