Authors: Daniel Arenson
Dragons Reborn (29 page)
"The
Commonwealth," he whispered.
The
women and children he had saved from the inferno in Terra climbed off his back.
They huddled in the sand, lips parched, throats dry, wounded, burnt, shivering,
barely alive. Cade shifted into human form and lay on the sand, too weak to
cling to his dragon magic, too weak to rise.
Where
are the others?
He
pushed himself onto his wobbly elbows. He had flown for three days across the
sea. Vaguely he remembered giving Amity—an Amity in human form, bruised and
bleeding—a ride on his back, then shifting into human form and sleeping on the
red dragon's back. He could not see the Red Queen now. He could not see Domi,
Fidelity, Korvin, Roen.
"Where
are you?" Cade whispered, and something tore and bled in his throat. He
had not had water in three days aside from a few drops of rain.
A
flame flickered across the sky, coiling under the clouds, flying nearer. A torn
howl rose, and wings spread wide, and Cade could finally make out a red dragon
over the gray sea. Amity flew closer, wobbling, and crashed down onto the
beach. She lost her magic at once, spilling the refugees off her back. They
landed in the sand, shivering, the burnt survivors of the camp. One child, a
little girl still clutching her doll, was dead, her skin gray, saved from the
fire but too wounded to survive the long flight.
Amity
crawled across the sand toward Cade. Blood caked her short yellow hair. Her clothes
were as tattered as his. Rents on her trousers revealed raw cuts, burn marks
stretched across her arms, and bruises coated the left side of her face.
"Amity!"
Cade managed to whisper, voice hoarse. "Have you seen the others? Have you
seen Domi and Fidelity? Korvin?"
She
reached him, shivering, and clutched his arms. Her fingers dug into him, hard
and painful, almost tearing his skin. She stared at him, eyes wild, lips
trembling, teeth bared.
"We
. . . we have to go back." Amity shook wildly. "We have to fight. We
have to kill Mercy. We have to attack the Temple. We . . ." She lowered
her head, and her tears fell into the sand. "How did this happen? We
should be here with an army. A great army that I lead."
Amity
doubled over, shaking, sobbing. Cade wrapped his arms around her, holding her
close. They sat together in the sand, and Cade kept watching the horizon,
waiting for the others to arrive: for Korvin, the strongest and wisest man Cade
had ever known; for Fidelity, his dearest friend, the woman he had fought with
for so long; for Roen, quiet and wise and strong, a great warrior of the
forest; for Domi, precious and wild Domi, the woman he loved.
Yet
no more dragons flew from the sea.
No
more survivors reached the beach.
Domi
. . .
Cade
turned toward the survivors. He walked among them. A young woman, no older than
him, holding her babe. A boy and his sister, younger than ten, their limbs
burnt. An old man, weeping, whispering of his lost sons. A handful of others,
remnants of life.
"We
saved them," Cade whispered. "We failed Requiem. We failed the world.
But we saved a few. We saved some life." He turned toward Amity. "We
have to find them water, food, shelter, we . . ."
But
Amity did not seem to hear him. She stood with her back to him, facing the sea.
Her fists trembled at her sides, and her head was lowered. The wind ruffled her
hair. Cade approached slowly.
"Amity?"
Ignoring
him, she tossed back her head, and she howled to the sky. A torn howl. A roar
of rage, of fallen nations, of broken dreams, of genocide and death in fire.
Her entire body went into her roar, arms stretched out, a cry that tore through
her limbs, belly, lungs, soul. When finally her cry died, cracking into a faded
rasp, Amity fell to her knees and her head slumped.
Cade
stood beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, not knowing what to do, how
to comfort her, how to comfort himself, how to find any hope in a fallen world.
When
Domi whispered in my ear, I dared to dream of Requiem. I dared to hope we could
revive our kingdom, save babes from the tillvine . . . yet now those babes are
dead, and now all our armies are laid to waste.
He looked at Amity. The
warrior's eyes were clenched shut, her lips tightened, her face a mask of
grief.
Now perhaps Amity and I are all that remain of our fallen nation.
"I'm
sorry, Amity," Cade said softly. "I don't know what to do. I don't
know how we can keep fighting. I'm not strong like Korvin or Roen, not wise
like Fidelity, not brave like Domi. But for whatever it's worth, I'm here with
you. You're not alone."
Amity
rose to her feet and tugged him toward her, and at first Cade thought she would
attack him, scratch him, gouge out his eyes in her rage, but she only crushed
him between her arms, her body shaking against his, clinging to him.
Are
you out there?
Cade thought, staring at the sea and the veiled sky. The
clouds roiled above like smoke, and a drizzle began to fall, pattering against
the sea and sand, washing the dirt from his hair, streaming down his face like
tears. He stood for a long time, holding Amity close, staring into a horizon of
shadows, of memories of fire . . . and of dying hope.
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AFTERWORD
Thank you for reading
Dragons Reborn
. I hope you enjoyed the book.
The next
Requiem for Dragons
novel,
Dragons Rising
, is available. Click
here
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Thank you again, dear reader, and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.
Daniel
NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON
THE MOTH SAGA
REQUIEM
- Dawn of Dragons
- Song of Dragons
- Dragonlore
- The Dragon War
- Requiem for Dragons
ALIEN HUNTERS
OTHER WORLDS
KEEP IN TOUCH