Page 396 of Of Empires and Dust

South of Achyron’s Keep – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

Alina pulledin a breath of the salty, sea-tinged air, savouring the taste of it.

The ships numbered so many their golden sails spread across the entire horizon, the twilight of the Blood Moon marking them clearly. She had never before seen the sigil of the scaled beast emblazoned across them. It was like some wingless wyvern painted in strange colours.

Screeches and shrieks cut through the sound of the gently swashing waves. Alina had brought all but a hundred wyverns with her to the beach. She had wanted a show of force for whoever commanded those ships, but the camp needed enough Wyndarii to keep it safe. Six hundred would be enough to strike fear into anyone’s heart.

Rynvar extended his head over Alina’s right shoulder, and she reached back to scratch at the underside of his jaw. The wyvern purred, a series of clicks reverberating in his throat.

Alina shivered and rolled her shoulders. It took quite a bit for her to feel the cold in her bones. She was one of those people who lived with a warmth, her blood hotter than most. But when the cold did creep in, she despised it. Tonight was a particularly cold night.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t send riders out? Glean what we can?” Amari folded her arms beside Alina, her breath forming in pale mist before her.

“What we would learn wouldn’t be worth the risk. Those ships will be close enough soon. Friend or foe, it’s better to make them face us on our terms, rather than theirs.” She looked about at the hundreds of wyverns gathered on the cliff edges surrounding the short beach. “This beach is big enough for no more than three of those monstrous ships. If they want to land here, they’ll be doing so three at a time, and if they mean us harm, the wyverns will tear them to pieces.”

Alina stared out at the mass of ships on the dark waves. If she’d not received word from her fleet stationed around Stormwatch, then these ships had likely come from the south or west. It could be Aeson. It could be pirates. It could be sellswords from Ardan fighting in Loria’s name. It could be an invading army from Karvos, or Narvona, or any of the other continents. The gods had always had a queer sense of humour. Regardless, caution was best.

Beside her Rynvar shook his head and spread his wings, screeching restlessly.

“Easy.” She stroked his jaw.

Just as Alina had gauged, three of the foreign ships separated from the fleet as it drew in around the basin. Each of the three were built from wood black as coal, their hulls scraped free oflichen. All three were trimmed with gold that shone as though freshly polished, but one ship stood out. At least a hundred and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide along the central mast, she was monstrous yet beautiful, adorned with a golden figurehead that matched the banners. The form was nearly that of a dragon, but with a head far flatter and wider that tapered into a narrow, rounded snout. Its jaw swept out sharply at the back of its skull, and two enormous sapphires were set into the creature’s golden eye sockets.

The massive ship carried on straight towards the sand as the other two drifted left and right, dropping anchor.

“My queen.” Ursla Goan, a Wyndarii commander who had seen ten summers more than Alina, bowed her head. “That ship isn’t dropping anchor.”

“No,” Alina responded. “It’s not.”

“We should move back, my queen.”

“You are free to do so.”

“My queen, I?—”

Ursla’s words were cut short by a low grumble from Rynvar. The wyvern tilted his head back to look at the woman, his teeth bared.

Ursla bowed and stepped back to her own wyvern – Ikuron – and led him away. She knew better than to press the point.

Amari, Lukira, and Mera all stood around Alina, Audin and the other wyverns with them.

The massive ship slowed as it approached the sand but continued on a forward course. It broke through the waves and hit the sand with a deepthump. The sound of grating wood filled the air as the vessel scraped across the beach, the hulking mass biting deep into the ground.

Alina filled her lungs as the ship continued towards her, its true size visible up close, the sapphire eyes of the figurehead glinting.

Amari and Lukira took a step back as the ship’s bow drew ever closer, its enormity bearing down upon them. Alina held her ground along with Mera and the wyverns, her heart keeping its slow rhythm. The vessel finally came to a grinding halt about twenty feet from Alina, the wood creaking as it stopped.

Alina stared up at the golden head above her, into the sapphire eyes. After a few moments, she stepped back to get a better look at the ship.

The freeboard must have been forty feet, the hull a pristine black. Heads flitted about on the open deck above as deep groans and clangs came from within the belly.

Alina would never have beached a ship unless the hull had been compromised or it was an unavoidable obstacle. But the tide was at its lowest, and so when it came in, it would free the vessel from its lodging. Still, it was a needlessly reckless manoeuvre done clearly to make an impression. Whoever it was didn’t plan on killing them, at least not right away.

Just as Alina turned to speak to Mera, a series of strange roars sounded from within the ship’s belly. Deeper than a wyvern’s, rougher – and yet not entirely dissimilar. That roar was answered by shrieks and chirps.

Mera placed her finger and thumb between her lips and gave a sharp whistle. The sound was answered by shrieks as fifty or so wyverns lifted from the overlooking cliffs and alighted across the beach, their Wyndarii drawing their javelins.

A wyvern with pale cream scales and blue wing membranes landed not two feet from Alina, Rynvar hissing as it did. The Wyndarii dismounted, bowing to Rynvar before doing the same to Alina. “My queen. It’s Narvonans. The deck is thronged with them, all clad in gilded plate.”

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