Page 119 of Ash

The body at his feet had no such signs. Blood had flowed, but only from the orifices—even the eyes had shed tears of it. The only unusual marks were three punctures, straight through the scales and into the flesh beneath.

Although a lack of crystal dust had weakened these Dragons, it was still remarkable that a projectile had punctured through. But it hadn’t penetrated deep enough to be more than a nuisance. Certainly nothing lethal.

It was a mystery, and Tyrez didn’t like mysteries. They had a nasty tendency to rear up and bite you when you weren’t looking. He gritted his teeth. “My brother is sending the Legion against this Archmage, and he can’t even be bothered to see how Rindek killed these Dragons.”

Cara straightened and surveyed the dead bodies in the snow. “Your people are accustomed to being the top bully in the sandbox.”

Tyrez arched a brow at her.

“Okay, maybe not bullies,” Cara amended. “But you are arrogant as hell. You have lived so long without opposition that you believe you can’t be brought down. The reality is that everyone has a weakness.”

Tyrez admitted there was truth in her words. It had been generations since the Dragons had been challenged. Yet they’d almost lost the war with the Torshin Archmages, all that time ago. They hadn’t, they’d won, and since then they’d ruled unopposed.

Until now? Rindek was only one individual against the entire Dragon Legion. Or was he? Who was that second Torshin who could manipulate so much power?

Still, one Archmage, along with an unknown entity, shouldn’t be a concern. Even with the trainees left behind to guard the palace, the Archmage would be against nearly one hundred and fifty highly trained, crystal-enhanced warriors.

By human terms, it may not seem like much. But a single trained Legion Dragon was worth a multitude of armed humans. With scales that could repel heavy weaponry, they were nearly invincible in combat.

No one, not even the Torshin, had ever stood against that.

But as Tyrez looked down at the dead Dragon, his gut twisted into knots. What had killed him? Could it affect a full-blown Dragon? Cara was right. His brother should be seeking a cause of death.

Instead, Taran had ignored that. Written these Dragons off as weak. Not really Dragons. Nothing that affected them could threaten the Legion.

Cara ran her small fingers around one of the holes. All the Watchers were healers by nature, able to manipulate energy to stitch together flesh. Now, she was using her talent to examine the body, inside and out.

“What have you found?” Tyrez asked.

She shook her head. “They have been dead too long, so I am having a hard time reading their internal systems.” She glanced up at him. “We are going to need your sword. I’m afraid this is going to get messy.”

The Watcher held her hands over the body, and they began to glow. The radiance spread to the frozen flesh and enveloped it. The frost evaporated off the scales and wings as they thawed.

Tyrez raised his tail spike. The crystal blade responded to Cara’s energy with a pulse of its own. “Where do you want me to cut?”

The Dragon lay on its side, wings stretched out into the snow. Cara pointed to his ribs. “We need to cut the ribs in two places and lift them away so I can see the internal organs.”

Tyrez made the requisite cuts with his sword. Then he set it aside and grew small talons from his fingertips. Hooking them beneath the bones, he lifted the section clear.

“Holy moly,” breathed Cara.

“Well at least we know what killed him,” Tyrez commented.

Instead of organs neatly arranged in the torso, all they saw was congealed blood. It was as though all his insides had been shredded.

The now semi-permanent knot in Tyrez’s gut tightened. “What in shards did that?”

“I don’t know.” Cara shooed him back. “But drop your sword and give me your hands.”

He complied as she dug around in her tools-of-the trade bag. She sprayed his talons and fingertips with a solution and wiped them dry.

“It’s no wonder I couldn’t get an energy reading off the organs. They’re gone.” Her voice trembled.

The knot inside him added another loop. “What could do that to him? And so fast, too?” Whatever had hit these guys had dropped them in midflight. “Could that energy pulse have done this?”

She shook her head. “That would cause distinctive damage—external burns, and if it penetrated the flesh, scorching inside too. This is different.”

Tyrez’s gaze moved to the punctures in the hide. “Is it a virus? Maybe those are injection sites.”

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