Page 344 of Of Empires and Dust

Farwen found the sword’s wielder and drove the spear through his cheek and up into his skull, yanking it free with her remaining hand and turning to call out for Thacia.

The Jotnar knelt in the dirt, two spears through her gut, one in her leg.

One of those silver-clad monsters stood over her, Soulblade igniting, arm poised to strike.

“I denír viël ar altinua,” Farwen whispered.In this life and always. She pulled her arm back and launched the spear.

And for a brief moment, when the spearhead sliced into Thacia’s back and then her heart, Farwen felt a shred of peace within her. The Jotnar collapsed on her side before the creature’s níthral fell. Thacia would find warmth in Myrax’s soul once more. That was the smallest of gifts Farwen could give her.

Farwen let out a grunt as pain flared through her, and she looked down to see the tip of a spear jutting from her belly. She dropped to her knees, drawing in rasping breaths. She closed her eyes and opened herself fully to the Spark, drawing more than she ever had in her existence. Her blood ignited, her bones screaming in agony as the power of the Spark flowed through her like lightning. And still she drew more. Her soul was broken andshattered. She was half of what she had ever been. But she was still a Draleid, and she would give everything she had left.

A dull pain throbbed in her back, more steel piercing her flesh.

As she pulled on each elemental strand, as the raw energy of the Spark burned through her and her eyes filled with a white light, Farwen heard a dragon’s roar. It was a beautiful thing, as it always was.

She heard Syndril calling to her, felt his strength in her sundered soul. A dragon did not die quietly, and neither would she.

“Laël sanyin det panthar mír tiélahar,” Farwen whispered.I’m sorry it took me so long.

Syndril roared in her mind, and Farwen gave one last push. The Spark burned through her, erupting in a blinding light. Every moment was pain and agony, and she cared little. The ground shook beneath her, and screams rang out in the periphery of her mind.

And finally, she rested.

Chapter 81

Trial of Will

22ndDay of the Blood Moon

Firnin Mountains – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

Calen lookedthrough Valerys’s eyes as the dragon carved a path of fire and fury through the Lorian ranks. The flames consumed everything they touched, the sheer force tearing chunks of earth from the ground, the power flooding Calen’s veins.

To his right, Tivar sat astride Avandeer, the dragon soaring with her wings wide, mimicking Valerys’s every movement, her fire blazing like the sun.

Arrows flitted past in waves, but none could touch Valerys’s scales. The dragon streaked across the sky with the speed of a shooting star, twisting and turning. Calen had never felt him move so freely. Having Avandeer and Varthear by his side had untethered something within Valerys, a fear, an uncertainty. Streaks of lightning ripped upwards from mages below, butTivar and Calen cut through the threads of any that came close. And wherever lightning rose, Varthear fell.

The dragon had lost her fire when Ilmirín died, but her fury remained. She crashed down atop the Lorian mages, tearing flesh and bone with her obsidian talons and slicing bodies in half with sweeps of her tail. Before the Lorians had a fraction of a moment to understand how and why they were dying, the dragon had already lifted herself into the air, readying for her next strike.

Valerys banked right hard, and Calen shifted in position, pressing himself low. Avandeer and Varthear fell in beside them, moving in perfect unity. They dropped low and angled towards the long mountain path that stretched towards the gates. The path would not even have been visible were it not for the river of Lorian soldiers that flowed upwards from the base of the mountain, all black leather and polished steel.

“Aldryr ar orimyn,” Calen whispered, letting his mind drift into Valerys’s.Fire and fury.

The dragon answered with a deep rumble and a crack of his wings. Valerys surged forwards, then dove, sweeping upwards only as he came to the foot of the mountain. Pressure built in their joined soul, burning through them, and Calen pulled on threads of Fire and Spirit. Lungs swelled with air, and dragonfire raged. Valerys swept left and right, flames pouring from his jaws. The path was long and winding, and Valerys flew at such speeds that the turns were impossible to match, and still hundreds burned. Sparkwards burst to life, spreading like spheres of glass over the soldiers below, flames washing over them. Those within were granted sanctuary from the fury of dragons, but those left exposed were turned to ash and dust as Avandeer wound along Valerys’s path. They had not yet reached the gates when an enormous pulse of the Spark rippled outwards and an explosion shook the mountain. A blindinglight burst from the cave mouth where the Lorian forces fought, chunks of rock soaring through the air and crashing down the mountainside.

Shouts and cries rose up from the Lorian forces as the cave collapsed and rocks crushed hundreds. Valerys swerved right to avoid a piece of debris as large as a horse. The dragon angled his wings and rose along the rock face, lifting towards the clouds.

He let out a roar, then swept back down the mountainside. He stayed close to the rock face, moving at such speed Calen had to bury his head in the dragon’s scales, the air dragging at him.

Valerys angled his wings and swept outwards, a weightless feeling settling in Calen’s stomach. The dragon soared across the plains towards the bulk of the Lorian forces and once more rained dragonfire down atop them before flying just low enough to slice three Varsundi Blackthorns in half with his tail and soaring up and away.

“What was that?” Calen roared at Tivar as Avandeer caught up to Valerys in the sky, his voice carried on threads of Air.

“A last stand,” Tivar called back. “The Lorians must have found a way inside the mountain.”

Through Valerys’s eyes, Calen followed the long path of soldiers from the base of the mountain winding upwards towards the source of the explosion, where the Lorian forces were regrouping, everything around them burning, threads of Earth and Air clearing the debris. “We’re too late.”

“Not while souls within still breathe,” Tivar called back. “There is only so much that can be done from dragonback. We need to get inside. I saw an oculus carved through the rock on the eastern?—”

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