Page 97 of The Oracle of Dusk

Flaming boulders rained down from the skies, spewing rock, dirt and molten material as the beast laughed. Every single one was large enough to flatten a home. Bile rose in the back of his throat. There was no winning against such overwhelming power.

Then it opened its maw, gathering purple fire at the back of its throat. The beam hit the rider at the back of their party, reducing him and his steed to nothing in an instant. Theron’s heart raced in his chest. If this was what awaited them, they were all doomed. That beam alone, aimed over a city, could cleave it in two. The very ground shook and swayed, the loper nearly thrown from its breakneck stride. Between insults, curses, and unfathomable horror, the rest of the riders were similarly obliterated.

When it was down to just two, Aurora opened her eyes, the image disappearing shortly thereafter.

“Merciful Triad…” he swallowed. “That’syour beast?”

“Yes,” she answered calmly.

He covered his mouth and rubbed his jaw.

“And it’s coming here, to Trisia?”

“If I’m correct, it’s already here. I need to kill it before it regains the power to do what you just saw.”

His heart dropped to his feet. Everyone he’d ever known and cared about would die. Not one person in the whole of Trisia had the power to fight something like that effectively. It was why Batea had been creating her great flying serpents, because with control of the skies, they would own the battlefield. But even if she succeeded, they’d be nothing but gnats battling an eagle.

“How did you survive? How didanyonesurvive?”

“I got lucky. Everyone else died,” she answered, her voice hollow.

This was bigger than him. Bigger than Aureum and Viridis and their eternal bickering. If this Drakon had come to Trisia, then nothing else mattered more than killing it. Forget his scheming, his honour, everything—he needed to get Aureum’s spies searching for the beast and his army prepared. He needed to force the temples to anoint as many paladins as possible, and for their priestesses to infuse divine magic into every blade and pitchfork in the whole of Trisia. Fuck Flora and her petty posturing. Fuck the vivarium. Aurora was right.

“Let’s go.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Yes. That thing cannot be allowed to destroy Trisia.”

Though if it destroyed Boreas alone, he wouldn’t mind overmuch.

Aurora smiled, relieved.

“Then come. We used this route the other day. I know a better way for someone your size.”

She took his hand and led him away, back into the guest palace proper. They wended their way to the baths, expertly avoiding every guard and attendant. As they entered the empty baths, she pulled him to a far corner where the sculpture of a unicorn’s head spouted water from its mouth. She pushed in its eyes, cutting off the flow of water and then pressed on the face with all her might. A gush of air cleared the area of steam as the once-seamless wall swung open as a door. Aurora motioned him inside and closed the door behind them.

“How in the Loom do you know of this?”

She tapped her temple and placed a finger on her lips.

“The walls aren’t overly thick where we’ll be going, so go as quietly as you can.”

As she led him through a maze of dark corridors, he heard the chatter of guards, servants, cooks and nobles alike. No wonder she’d managed to elude his spies. Not only could she see the future, she knew of every secret crevice in the whole guest palace. He couldn’t help wondering if she really was a spy. Maybe not one belonging to Viridis, but perhaps back in her homeland. If they survived this, he hoped to get an answer.

Before they reached the exit, Aurora donned her gown, adjusted her hair to cover her ears and grabbed his hand. She pushed down on a lever, and the wall swung open as a door, soundless as a whisper. He squinted against the harsh light of day as Aurora closed the way behind them. They had exited out from a defunct fountain whose water was but a trickle, the bottom full of refuse. The street was abandoned, as expected with the torchlight fever epidemic still burning through Boreas.

“Where now?” he asked.

There were few enough places that would admit strangers during an outbreak, and most of those were controlled by the temples. Scrutiny they couldn’t afford.

She eyed him up and down.

“To the temple of Passion for our rations. They hand out food during outbreaks, do they not?”

“You want to go towards where we’re most likely to be recognised?” he asked, aghast. Had he truly put his life and freedom in the hands of a simpleton?

“I won’t be.” She adjusted her clothes to hide her curves, to appear more like a small child. “I’d planned on getting the rations and hiding beneath the temple of Knowledge. It seems like few enough know of the hoard, and I suspect Orithyia has more pressing things to attend to than counting her treasures.”

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