On Fire's Wings - Christie Golden [139]
He wished he’d thought to bring a hawk, so the news would reach his Emperor even more swiftly. As it was, it would take most of the night for the men to rejoin the main army.
Parneth’s high-pitched shriek was the first warning he had of death from the sky.
Kayle whirled, sword at the ready, to behold a sight that froze him in place. The female traitor had warned him of this, but he had only half believed her. In the sky flew an enormous beast, its huge wings bringing it closer more rapidly than he had thought possible for something so big. He put a name to it, that of a creature out of legend: Dragon. A heartbeat later the monster opened its mouth and a sheet of flame spewed forth.
The blast of heat knocked Kayle off his feet. He could smell burning flesh and realized that some of his men had not escaped the blast. He dove for cover, frantically trying to wedge his large, muscular body in among the rocks.
The dragon’s mouth closed and it turned, wheeling around for a second dive. Thinking he had a few moments before the next attack, Kayle got to his feet and scrambled for a more protected area.
But more fire came. How was that possible? The dragon was facing away, it couldn’t—
Glanced up wildly, Kayle now saw that the dragon had an ally. This, then, was the Flame Dancer the woman had warned him about. The traitor had not been exaggerating. How could the Emperor stand against this? Even as Kayle watched, motionless with fear and knowing he needed to find shelter, the figure lifted its arms. Fire came from its hands—her hands—and rushed toward him in an orange-red ball.
In the instant before his death, Kayle did not think of his Emperor, or the warning he needed to bring him, or anything else remotely related to war or death.
He thought about the look on his adopted mother’s face as she left him with the captain of the guards, and realized that she had loved him.
Atop the Great Dragon out of legend, the Flame Dancer continued to hurl fireballs at the scouts of the Emperor from over the mountain. She kept up the attack until the Dragon banked sharply to the right and rose even higher.
“It’s done now,” he said gently. “They’re all dead.”
They’re all dead.
“You did what you had to do to protect your people.”
She realized that she had been holding every muscle in her body taut as a bow string. Suddenly she shivered and leaned down on the Dragon’s neck, wrapping both arms and legs about it. Kevla began to shudder and sob, hearing and feeling the Dragon utter soothing words.
They’re all dead.
Father says you get used to it.
Slowly, she sat up and dried her tears. This was but a taste of what would come later. She had to be strong. She couldn’t let herself feel the enormity of what she had just done.
“Take me back, Dragon,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The advisor pulled aside the tent flap cautiously. “Your Excellency,” he said, “you do not sleep?”
The Emperor scowled at the brazier that still glowed brightly and kept the chill of the desert night at bay. That was one thing they had not counted on: how very cold it got here at night. The contrasts were startling, to say the least. The ki-lyn, too, was wide-awake, huddled and shivering, but from cold or fear, the advisor could not say. He did not care to speculate.
“Do I look as though I am asleep?” the Emperor snapped. He glanced up, and the advisor was startled at the hollows underneath the Emperor’s eyes. “One of them is there. I know it.”
Fear flooded the advisor. “Surely, not, Your Excellency. You are weary. Perhaps your…intuition is playing tricks on you.”
The Emperor shook his head. “It’s faint. It shouldn’t be. I should know which one it is, who it is. I ought to be able to sense—”
He slammed his fist down on the small table next to him and his cup of wine went flying. The ki-lyn started and tried to avoid the object. It pulled away it but was caught up short, gasping as the collar around its neck halted its movement and the ever-present chain that connected it to the Emperor pulled taut.