Page 338 of Of Empires and Dust

A cheer rose, steel clattering against rock. And as the cheers rose, the dragons dove. Avandeer and Valerys plummeted before unfurling their wings as a pair and raining fire down upon the Lorian army that waited in the plains below.

A rumble sounded in the back of her mind, a deep powerful thing that once more set her hairs on end. It was equal parts pride, joy, and rage.

Not yet. Coren drew a deep breath, settling herself.Not yet.

A roar of defiance echoed.

Horns bellowed from the Lorian forces below. It didn’t take much for Coren to know what they meant: break through at all costs. The mountain would be the Lorians’ only safe haven now.

She opened herself to the Spark and pulled in threads of Fire, Spirit, and Air. She roared, “Tahro, Makri, Ulyira – Eldingstír!”

Coren focused her threads forwards, feeling those of the other mages join hers. She was the conduit. With a breath, she let go, watching as the threads of Air crashed into the Lorian forces below, lifting soldiers from their feet, shattering legs, sending shards of broken stone slicing through the flesh as easily as steel.

The Lorian Battlemages were not used to facing others who could wield the Spark. In their eyes, there was nothing that could stand against them. The Circle taught them to kill, to destroy, and to crush everything in their path – and it taught them that such was their birthright.

But the Circle never taught them to face a Draleid, and a lion was not the predator when a dragon spread its wings.

Aldryn roared in the back of Coren’s mind, defiant and furious. She pushed their power into the threads of Fire and Spirit, and arcs of chain lightning streaked from her hands and ripped the Lorian ranks to pieces.

As the other mages joined their threads to hers and the Spark wrought death and destruction below, a sharp, high-pitched horn shrieked from within the mountain, and her heart sank. Around her, faces paled.

The Lorians had found a way inside.

Coren looked out at the Lorian army that stretched down the mountain path and out to the plains, streaks of fire carving through the battlefield below. She turned back to the passage behind her, drew a short breath, then exhaled sharply. “Varik!”

The man loosed an arrow, then pressed himself to the rock beside Coren. He knew what she was going to say. There were no choices here. It didn’t matter how long they held the gates if the Lorians got in behind them. They would be butchered. “Go,” Varik said, his voice sombre. “We’ll hold them here as long as we can.”

“No. We go together. Farwen can hold the gates for a while longer. We need to secure whatever breach they have made and burn them from our home.”

Varik smiled and rested a hand on Coren’s shoulder. “It has been the greatest honour of my life standing beside you and Farwen in this war.” He squeezed. “We will give you as much time as we can. Go. You’ll owe me more than one bottle of rum after this.”

Coren grasped Varik’s forearm. “Give them fire and fury.”

Varik nodded. “Wouldn’t dream of anything else. Now go. If the gates fall, we’ll collapse the rock and retreat to the sally port. Hopefully that Draleid clears the way.”

Coren turned and sprinted towards the passage in the rock, calling out to Tahro as she did. He was young, and they’d foundhim before the empire could. His connection to the Spark was strong. He could hold them back for a time.

As she descended into the mountain and the rock swallowed her, she listened to the beating of her heart and pulled Aldryn’s mind to hers.

It is time, my heart. Come.

She could feel the dirt sliding around Aldryn’s talons, the rock scraping beneath. With a mighty roar, the great dragon lifted himself from the mountain eyrie that had been his fortress of solitude for so long. The time had finally come, and he would greet it with the fury of all he had lost.

Chapter 80

Daughter of the Sea

22ndDay of the Blood Moon

Firnin Mountains – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

Coren twistedto avoid the thrust of a Lorian blade, grabbed the man’s wrist, then drove her own sword into his throat, blood sluicing as she ripped it free. She let the body drop, carving a path through six more of the leather-clad soldiers, opening their throats and bellies with clean strokes.

The bastards had found a way in through one of the scout tunnels. She had sealed each of the tunnels with the Spark herself two nights before – all but the sally port. She’d also set guards along the various mountain paths, but it clearly hadn’t been enough.

Coren turned back and charged towards the tunnel mouth as more Lorians flooded through.

An arrow flashed past her and dropped the first man, a second hitting the floor just as fast. She lunged as more rushedthrough, turning the first swing of Lorian steel to her left, then bringing her blade across and opening the throat of a second soldier before driving it back and through the throat of the first.

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