CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR – SHATTERING LIGHT
Magic was power. Power was the ability control the lives of others. Magic, therefore, gave Veldarion control over life and death.
And nowhere was that more true than in the midst of a battle like this. The line between survival and falling to the enemy was thinner here than Veldarion had ever seen it. If, for example, a dragon took a spell to the wing at exactly the wrong moment, they would be knocked off-balance for the crucial second it would take for an opponent to go for the throat. Veldarion could almost feel the shadow of death pressing down on him. It wouldn't take him – no, his destiny wasn't to die here. But it was there, hovering in the back of his mind, reminding him just how dangerous everything about this was, and how much was at stake.
He had yet to make a kill. In fact, he wasn't sure how many of the comabatants had fallen yet. He hadn't seen Vulgrahskein, Kahjuniisk or Krahsosmaar in some time, and that worried him – they were the three longest-serving Bloodcallers, and perhaps the strongest, in various different ways. It would be unfortunate to lose any one of them, to lose all three, a disaster. But in this confusion, it would have been easy to miss them, or mistake them for other dragons. He wasn't going to let himself become too concerned.
And the Dragonhearts had taken losses, he knew that. As he and Qoyoliiz had duelled the Dragonborn and her steed, a light had swum into his field of vision from below. That light had separated into glowing strands, and they had faded into the Dragonborn's body. Her eyes had opened wide, and she had cried out, 'Kroneirvild!' in a voice filled with anguish.
Veldarion had responded by laughing. And the Dragonborn had instantly made him regret it by launching an Unrelenting Force Shout at him that would have hurled him from Qoyoliiz's back if the sedklovdovah hadn't caught him in a free mouth.
It had made Veldarion wonder again why his creation was so foolish as to truly believe that he was capable of learning mortal magic – or that Veldarion would be willing to teach him. Why keep him alive? Why save him? He was starting to wonder if Qoyoliiz simply enjoyed seeing him squirm as he tried to work out what the dragon was planning.
Well. No matter. Soon enough Qoyoliiz would be his puppet, and whatever plots he'd made would be unimportant. And for now he had to focus on fighting –specifically, fighting the Dragonborn's husband and his Frost Dragon, both of whom were rather intent on killing him.
Battles were dangerous things, but that didn't stop them from being enjoyable, when once faced a worthy opponent. And in all honesty, Veldarion couldn't think of a time when he'd had a fight that had been so, well, fun. The Dragonborn's husband – Zaran-Ra, that was his name, Veldarion reminded himself – was an extremely talented mage. Nowhere near his own standard, but that was to be taken for granted. Veldarion had had centuries to practice. The Argonian could only have just under forty years. Still, he was good, able to conjure wards in one hand to deflect Veldarion's spells while firing a barrage of his own that it was a struggle to avoid. And he and his dragon seemed to be able to communicate entirely by brief hand gestures and yelled words too quick for Veldarion to make out. It was impressive, very impressive indeed.
They were still going to die, but it was impressive.
Veldarion ducked as a fireball skidded over his head. He was glad he'd pulled up the hood of his robes before entering the fray; the enchanted fabric would give him some more protection. He had no desire to lose his hair.
Zaran-Ra signalled for his dragon to disengage – a sensible move, since Qoyoliiz had been simply overpowering her through weight of numbers. Numbers of heads. The Frost Dragon jerked backwards some way, then twisted around and dived in for another attack.
Veldarion gritted his teeth. The Argonian mage was putting up too strong a defence to break through – but his dragon, what if she could be brought down?
He closed his eyes, focused hard, and cast the spell he needed. A coldness flooded through his hand, and he reached forward, his fingers slicing through the rift between worlds and forming a shape from nothing. A moment later, his hand held a sword, a bound sword formed from pure energy. Few normal blades could pierce a dragon's scales. But this weapon could.
'Let her go over us,' he murmured to Qoyoliiz, and for once, to his relief, the sedklovdovah didn't argue. Instead, he ducked as the she-dragon charged, and Veldarion was not only ready but in the perfect position. With a hiss of triumph he struck, smiling at the feeling of the blade effortlessly sliding through that normally impenetrable armour. He let go of the bound sword, not wanting to be swept from his seat, and watched gleefully as the Frost Dragon howled and went into a chaotic spin.
'Kestmaarnah!' The Dragonborn's husband leaned over her side, the gold of healing magic weaving around his hands. But his steed was falling out of control now, and it was inevitable that would lose his seat. Which he did.
Two in one, Veldarion thought, as both rider and dragon plummeted towards the rocks. Not bad for one spell.
There was a blur of golden-bronze at the edge of his vision, and he spat out a curse as he saw the Dragonborn and her steed instantly abandon their fight with Albruhkah and shoot downwards. Veldarion curled his fingers around a lightning spell, but it was too late – the Dragonborn had seized Zaran-Ra by the wrist and was helping him up behind her.
That was mildly irritating, but at least the dragon was dead. Her soul was leaving her, and Veldarion smirked when he saw the broken look on the face of her rider. You Dragonhearts think you know how to control dragons, but you didn't have the power to save her. I'll show you true power. You and all of Tamriel.
He cast a glance at Kolsovikaar. The brown-scale was fighting a Dunmer man and his Frost Dragon steed, and Veldarion was pleased to notice that outwardly, there were no signs that Kolsovikaar was under any kind of enchantment. It didn't matter if the young dragon didn't survive the battle, as long as he didn't somehow reveal to any of the others what Veldarion had done.
'Next opponent, do you think?' Veldarion inquired, raising an eyebrow. 'That loud-mouthed brown-scale needs silencing, in my opinion.'
Said brown-scale had been infuriating him for the entire battle by hurling insults in his direction, and Veldarion could just hear his voice still. 'Zol! Kiibam! Olakaan!'
Qoyoliiz grunted. His heads turned in different directions, scanning the battle; then the rightmost two swivelled round to face in the same direction as the one on the left. 'No. We bring down those ones.'
Veldarion followed the sedklovdovah's gaze, and his blood froze. Qoyoliiz's six eyes were staring directly at the Dragonhearts' only Storm Dragon. And his rider was Ilornias.
The words to protest swarmed up to his mouth, and he only just bit them back in time. He knew what this was. This was a test of his loyalty. 'What would you do if I refused to fight my brother?' he asked, keeping his voice light, casual, as if this were merely a friendly inquiry.
'I would know that you are no true Sosforiik,' Qoyoliiz growled.
He said nothing more, but nonetheless, the unspoken threat hung in the air between them. Rage pulsed through Veldarion's mind – no true Blooodcaller? He had created the Bloodcallers. He was the only real Bloodcaller left.
His brother had once been a Bloodcaller. But he had willingly abandoned that title.
Veldarion breathed in deeply. He really had hoped things wouldn't come to this. But here they were, there was nothing to be done, and he had only one option. To refuse would be suicide.
I could do it now. Enslave Qoyoliiz. Force him not to fight Ilornias.
He almost, almost reached for the spell. But something made him stop. What was to be gained from saving his twin? Ilornias had made his choice. He wasn't going to come back to the Bloodcallers. Better that he died now. Better not take the risk. Better that Veldarion could put it all behind him, abandon any ties he'd had to his former life.
'Well, then.' He breathed in deeply. 'It's a good thing I'm not refusing then, isn't it?'
Qoyoliiz let out a cold chuckle. 'Vrah,' he said, and shot forwards.
As the sedklovdovah swerved and shouldered his way through the tangle of dragons, Veldarion narrowed his eyes and leaned forwards, trying to get a better view of his brother and the dragon he rode. Storm Dragons were notoriously powerful, and he knew that Ilornias was an equally strong mage. This fight would be even more difficult than the one with Zaran-Ra.
The Storm Dragon happened to turn his head as Qoyoliiz approached, and let out a sharp cry. 'Zeymah!'
Ilornias looked up, and the expression of horror and shock that instantly spread across his face made something ache inside Veldarion. He really didn't think I'd ever fight him, did he?'
The Storm Dragon let out a roar of, 'QO THUL NOS!' but Qoyoliiz twisted around the Lightning Shout and loosed one of his own. With a deft flick of his hand, Ilornias conjured a ward that shielded both himself and his dragon, and followed it up with a Blizzard spell strong enough to knock Qoyoliiz back a little way.
'Vel!' Ilornias had to raise his voice to a strained shout to be heard over the din. 'Stop this! Please –'
'There no going back now.' Veldarion curled his hand around a fireball. 'Not for either of us.'
He knew it was true even as he said it. There was no way that Qoyoliiz could ever be persuaded to spare Ilornias, even if he were to abandon the Dragonhearts. No. The centuries of working alongside his twin truly came to an end here. There was no other choice.
Aware of one of Qoyoliiz's heads lifting, its eyes watching him intently, Veldarion fired the spell. The Storm Dragon flipped over, letting the fireball soar over his chest, then twisted upright again with a snarl of, 'Grutiik!'
'He is the betrayer,' Veldarion snapped, conjuring another bound sword. 'He's the one who turned against me.'
The Storm Dragon's eyes flashed; Veldarion had to admit that this creature, with his copper-red horns and sharp brow spikes was one of the more frightening dragons he had encountered. But he'd been around too many of their kind to allow himself to be intimidated.
'You have turned on your own blood,' the dragon spat. 'But I am his brother now. Hi dir waan hi haalvut mok. And I shall die before I allow you to do him harm.'
'As you wish,' Veldarion said, and plunged his blade downwards.
To his fury, the dragon dodged again, and his second swipe was knocked off course when he had to duck to avoid a fairly weak ice spell Ilornias sent his way. He's holding back, Veldarion thought. And that's something I can't let myself do.
Qoyoliiz swerved so that his body was vertical and snapped at the Storm Dragon with all three heads. That left Veldarion and Ilornias to duel, and Veldarion hurled spell after spell, sending fire and lightning and frost at his traitor brother. And every spell was turned aside by Ilornias's steady ward, and the only return fire was in the form of paralysis spells, or only moderately powerful Destruction spells aimed to unseat rather than kill him.
'Don't think I'll hold back,' Veldarion snarled.
'I don't,' Ilornias replied evenly.
The Storm Dragon howled suddenly – Qoyoliiz had finally managed to grasp its neck within his teeth. Ilornias didn't hesitate – he fired two lightning spells directly at Qoyoliiz's head. It was a strike intended to kill, and it would have done, had Qoyoliiz's attempts to shake the Strun-Dovah caused him to move at the final second. It was the base of his neck, then, rather than the skull, that the lightning struck, but while not fatal, the blow was clearly painful. Qoyoliiz let out a screech of pain that quickly turned into a bellow of fury – and lunged at Ilornias with teeth bared.
Veldarion's heart stopped as if a hand had grasped it. Time dug in its heels for a moment, suddenly slowing, and Veldarion watched as Qoyoliiz's heads moved towards his twin. Ilornias had raised another ward, but it wouldn't be enough, Qoyoliiz would push through it.
And Veldarion wanted to stop him. He wanted to do something, for anything to happen, to stop those teeth from reaching their target -
And Kolsovikaar dropped from the sky, crashing into the path of Qoyoliiz's strike.
The sedklovdovah turned his strike aside at the last second, one head swerving to the side, one pulling back, one glancing off Kolsovikaar's armoured underbelly. Time slammed back to its normal pace and Veldarion almost cried aloud in horror as he realised what had happened. He had wanted to stop Qoyoliiz killing his brother. He had willed everything in the universe to stop Qoyoliiz killing his brother. And Kolsovikaar had stopped Qoyoliiz killing his brother, because Kolsovikaar was bound to his will.
But it was something Kolsovikaar would never have done naturally. And Veldarion knew that Qoyoliiz would realise this.
With a roar of mingled rage and bafflement, Qoyoliiz struck out again, slamming the sides of all three heads into Kolsovikaar's shoulder. The smaller dragon went flying; with a thud sound and a shrill yelp, he collided with the side of the mountain. There was a clack as his head struck the rock.
Kolsovikaar dropped a little way, then suddenly seemed to regain his ability to fly and managed a jolting hover. His brow was furrowed as if he were thinking hard, and he was shaking his head from side to side.
Apologise to Qoyoliiz, Veldarion willed him desperately. Tell him you were dodging an attack and couldn't see where you were going. Make an excuse, you witless slug!
'What is this?' Qoyoliiz screeched the question. 'Tiinvaak, Kolsovikaar! You would not turn against me, you do not have the strength!'
Kolsovikaar shook his head again. And then Veldarion saw it. He knew they all saw it – him, Qoyoliiz, Ilornias, the Storm Dragon. The unmistakable flicker of colour and light that lapped around the brown-scale for moment, then melted away with a faint fwut sound.
The enchantment had been broken. Veldarion's heart began to beat faster as he remembered. That mind control spell was so newly made, and a dragon's will so strong, that a sharp shock was sometimes enough to break it. And break it, a shock had.
'Thur,' Kolsovikaar gasped out. 'I was… imaar. Controlled, dii in, enslaved by some… some foul magic.'
Qoyoliiz's centre head remained drilling into the brown dragon. The other two snapped around to face Veldarion.
'It was him, master!' Kolsovikaar followed up the words with a cry of outrage. 'The fahliil – he took my mind from me!'
Veldarion held up his hands. The words were beginning to form in his mouth; the excuses, the explanations, the reminders that Qoyoliiz needed him. But as those four emotionless eyes ensnared him, Veldarion knew that it was useless. That Qoyoliiz understood what he had been planning, and that no words would save him.
He had not had time to be afraid before the Frost Dragon mouth – the one with the coldest and softest voice – spoke.
'I have no use for a traitor.'
And then the vast wings moved. Qoyoliiz rolled over so quickly that Veldarion had no time to feel him do it. He grasped at the spines, at the scales, at anything, but his hands found only air.
He fell.
He fell with his back to the ground, so he saw Qoyoliiz watching him, his faces impassive. He saw Ilornias lunge forward in his seat, reach out desperately, hopelessly, helplessly. And he heard the terrified, agonised cry – 'Brother!'
The snow-covered ground rushed up to meet him.
They were losing.
Sha knew it, knew it with a painful certainty. In the chaos, it was impossible to count the number who had fallen. But she knew from her mother's shout that Kroneirvild was dead, and she had seen with her own eyes the death of Kestmaarnah, her own father's beloved Wingsister. It had cut her to the core. The Frost Dragon had been the second dovah Sha had ever flown on. She had been a constant, something that was there, the way the sky and the forests were there. And now she was there no longer. The thought was terrifying. Terrifying and wrong.
But it wasn't just death that was thinning their ranks. She had seen Drusus and Niirahsuven land in the courtyard, neither of them fatally wounded, but in bad enough condition to need Arnor to help as much as she could with her beginner's healing spells. There was no doubting that soon, others would follow.
And that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was that as the Dragonhearts' numbers waned, the Bloodcallers' waxed.
Sha knew that the battle must be visible for miles. The sky was so filled with Shouts and spells, so clear and cloudless now the snow had stopped, and they were fighting from the highest point in Tamriel. Most likely there were people watching from the cities, abandoning their business to peer up into the heavens and wonder what in the Divines' names was happening. The mortals might wonder, but the dragons would know. Many would have heard Qoyoliiz's calls. And while they had not answered then, they came now.
There was no way of telling how many curious dragons had flown up to survey the battle. Some Sha could see hanging back, hovering some distance away, not answering the pleas from both sides to come and fight, simply watching. Waiting, Sha guessed, to see who would win. But a couple had thrown themselves into battle – and all on the side of the Bloodcallers.
She wasn't surprised. She'd heard it again, earlier that day, the distant inner tug on her dragon blood that told her Qoyoliiz had sent out his call. It seemed there had only been a few so far, probably just those with lairs in the surrounding area, but it was enough to make a difference. With the added strength to the enemy, and the losses from their own ranks, Sha knew that they were being beaten. Many of the Wingsibling pairs were now fighting off more than one Bloodcaller at once. She and Kaaldunir, thankfully, were not among them – all they had to deal with was the worryingly determined Serpentine Dragon, the first Sha had ever seen apart from Vithmulsah. That, and the fact that try as they might, they simply could not get to Qoyoliiz.
Sha knew that at any other time, the idea of wanting to be anywhere near the most powerful and dangerous warrior on the battlefield would have seemed insane. But as the Bloodcallers' strength and determination grew, she knew that more and more, their success was lying in her hands. If she could just break through the crowd of dragons, fight her way to the centre, land a blow on Qoyoliiz – just one blow – it would be over.
But the Bloodcallers would not have come this far if they had not been determined. Sha had already tried to disengage from this Serpentine three times to make a move towards Qoyoliiz, and three times he had pursued until she and Kaaldunir had been forced to fight again. Before he had joined the battle, their opponent had been a vast Frost Dragon with frightening control over his Shouts. They had escaped that confrontation when Odahviing streaked from the sky and knocked the Fo-Dovah aside, beating him back with thrashing claws and waves of fire. As Sha beckoned Kaaldunir through the opening the Dragonhearts' teacher had made, she had heard his cry – 'You know what you must do, 'Dovahloz!'
And she did. But actually doing it was a little harder.
Kaaldunir threw herself backwards in the air, breaking the exchange of cuffs and claws that she and the Serpentine had been exchanging, and circling around to prepare the next attack. 'Do you have any new plans, briinah?'
'Not since the last time you asked,' Sha shrugged. 'We've tried pretty much everything Ilien showed us.'
Her Wingsister bared her teeth. 'Then we shall have to find our own path to victory.'
Sha nodded, blocked out the voices in her mind screaming how? and looked carefully at the Serpentine as he hovered, clearly waiting for them to make the next move. She might have had only a little time to learn the ropes of fighting on dragonback, but she had still studied the ways to kill a dragon. She knew the theory behind all of this – it was just a matter of remaining calm for long enough to put it into practice.
Ilien, I need you, she thought, and screwed her eyes shut. It was impossible to completely block out the sounds of the screeching dragons and shouting mortals, but she tried now. She threw her mind back in time, to yet another training session, not outside this time but in a quiet room in High Hrothgar, with Ilien holding down the pages of A'jira's book on combatting dragons to keep it open, and herself leaning over, sucking on her lip, studying the drawings and the words.
'Come on, Sha,' Ilien said, his voice patient but firm, allowing no giving up, as ever. 'You can work this out. Just from what you know, tell me – what would you say are the main weaknesses of the Serpentine Dragon?'
She snapped open her eyes as her own answer flooded back to her.
'Serpentine Dragons have evolved to favour speed and flexibility over defence,' she hissed. 'They have no defensive covering of scales and depend on their own agility to protect them from attacks.'
'We are not training now, fahdon,' Kaaldunir said, giving her a quizzical look.
'I know.' Sha's eyes narrowed. 'But that's the theory behind fighting a Serpentine. Get them into a position where agility can't save them.'
Kaaldunir's face lit up. 'Zu'u mindoraan. Leave this to me. I know what must be done.'
Sha nodded. 'He's all yours, then.'
'Geh, he is. The Vithuv-Dovah are fast of flight, but he forgets that the Vahlokke are swifter still!'
Though uncertain whether or not that was true or just Kaaldunir's usual confidence, Sha wasn't about to protest. 'Whatever you have in mind, let's do it. I doubt he'll wait much longer.'
Kaaldunir lashed her tail and pounded her wings downwards, shooting towards the Serpentine with teeth bared. He lifted his feet, claws outstretched, ready to meet her – but at the last second, Kaaldunir angled her wings so that she shot neatly by him, her scales missing a brush with his smooth hide by a hair's breadth.
The Serpentine spun himself in a circle to face them. Kaaldunir spat at him. 'Too slow to catch me, vriinu lir?'
Their opponent howled with fury and made a lunge of his own. Kaaldunir waited until he was almost upon them until she lifted up. He pulled out of the attack only just in time to stop himself from crashing into the cliff, and Sha had to grin, remembering how her mother had used a very similar tactic to defeat Alduin. Beginning to sense Kaaldunir's plan, she leaned over the side of her Wingsister's neck. 'Missed! Try again!'
He did so, and a third time Sha and Kaaldunir let him go harmlessly past. They made no move to attack, no Shouts, no tail-blows or sword-swings. Sha knew it was Kaaldunir who this strategy depended on, for she was the winged one, but she helped as much as she could, goading the Serpentine, occasionally hissing instructions of when to brake, when to dodge, and where to go.
And so it was that the Serpentine was so distracted by their infuriating tactics, by his own anger, that he didn't see where they were leading him – towards the tall, broad wall of High Hrothgar. Or if he did see, he didn't realise what it was they were trying to do. Not until they had already done it.
'One more will do the trick,' Sha said breathlessly, as he came at them again. He had started to anticipate their swerves and rolls, and as he had before, he moved to the side as he came, hoping, she guessed, to strike the place he expected them to move to. But Kaaldunir simply folded in her wings – shortening them, using only the very tips to control her dive, just as Sha had taught her on their first true flight together. They dropped down, the Serpentine went over their heads, and this time he was not able to turn in time. He crashed head-first into the side of the monastery.
Sha knew what she had to do, though she knew how much it would pain her to do it. It was not out of revenge, or hatred. She had to do it to protect the Dragonhearts, and all of Skyrim.
She didn't hesitate. The moment the Serpentine crumpled, she dropped her hand down to Kaaldunir's eye level and pointed towards the other dragon. The symbol for attack.
They were on the Serpentine while he was still trying to rise, the momentum of Kaaldunir's charge throwing him back against the wall, her weight trapping his claws and her wings buffeting his head to keep him down. And Sha spotted her opening and went for it, pushing herself forward, ducking the snapping teeth, and thrusting Dragonbane deep into that unscaled throat.
It was the first time she had ever had time to judge and aim a blow against a dragon, and she knew instantly how much difference it had made. It was the difference between life and death. The earlier frantic swipes and quick stabs she had made were nothing in comparison to this. She could feel the flesh being pierced, the jolting running up her arm, and there was no doubting that this strike was lethal, that Dragonbane had severed something vital, and the Serpentine had no chance of recovery.
By the time she had righted herself back behind Kaaldunir's head, her enemy had stopped moving. The sight made a shudder run through her. He looked so like Vithmulsah. He was a dragon, one of the most proud and powerful creatures on Nirn, and he was dead at her hand.
'Luvmah mok ni. No time for regrets,' Kaaldunir growled, opening her wings. 'The Bloodcallers have fewer warriors now, if only by one.'
'I know,' Sha said quietly, and nodded. 'Let's get back out there.'
As they rose into the sky, the glow of the Serpentine's soul began to rush past them. Sha followed it, knowing the path it took would lead her to her mother. There she was, still in the very midst of the fray, holding back Qoyoliiz, with Zaran behind her and Lorn and Vulqostrun at her side. That was where Sha needed to be, in the centre, facing their greatest enemy. But A'jira was already almost invisible behind the other dragons, a writhing, living wall between her and their best chance at victory.
Sha gestured for Kaaldunir to hover, allowing her a moment to watch the battle. No matter where she looked, she saw nothing that gave her hope. Drusus and Niirahsuven were still in the courtyard, and even from a distance she could see the vicious red wound that stretched across the Wind Dragon's flank. But Arnor was not tending it – she couldn't. All her attention was on Firlaen, who was crumpled in the snow, lying terrifyingly still, while her Wingbrother Nahzahkriiyol paced up and down nearby.
And of those still fighting… from just a glance, it was clear how close the Bloodcallers were to winning. From the dragon bones littering the mountain, it seemed that at least some of them had fallen, but some was not enough. The last time she had looked, some Dragonhearts had been facing two Bloodcallers at one. Now, some were combatting three.
'There must be a way to Qoyoliiz,' Kaaldunir said firmly.
Sha looked at her friends, her fellow Dragonhearts, torn and bleeding and being pushed closer and closer together. Then she looked to the horizon, at the steadily growing dark spots that could only be more dragons, more new allies for their enemies.
'How?' she whispered.
'Do not give up!' There was a flash of something close to anger in Kaaldunir's voice. 'This chose you, briinah, and you chose it, for the sake of us all!'
Sha thought of Duroth, and Sviri, and Tholund, and Amar and Kaaldunir's families. She had taken on this responsibility. Only Qoyoliiz's death could end this. And only Dragonbane could end Qoyoliiz.
And it was she, J'shana Tygra the second, who held Dragonbane.
'We need to get the word to the others,' she said. 'They need to try anything they can to move the Bloodcallers out, and give me a straight path to Qoyoliiz. We only need a space large enough to get through, and it only needs to be a second. Then he's ours.'
'Now, there is the Dovahloz I know,' Kaaldunir grinned.
Sha gritted her teeth. 'If we can't get through… they'll take us down easy as a pack of skeevers on a mouse.'
Kaaldunir's response was to let out a roar that made Sha's fur stand on end. 'Then we shall die fighting, as my mother did, and Keizaal shall remember that though we failed, we fought to the end!'
And though some small part of Sha whispered that if the Dragonhearts lost this battle, no one would ever remember them, because Skyrim would fall to the Bloodcallers and their legacy would be destroyed just as the first J'shana's had been all those years ago. But something in her Wingsister's words sparked a fire within her, something as strong and bright as starlight. Her dragon blood had been called on before, pricking ever so slightly to the sound of Qoyoliiz's calls. And in every battle since, it had risen again. Now that quietly boiling rage and the power it lent her came blazing through her veins again.
'Yes,' she said. 'If we go down, we go down fighting. And together.'
Kaaldunir turned her head to meet Sha's eyes. 'So it shall be.'
Sha lifted her head, the better to watch the Bloodcallers' reinforcements coming in. 'When those dragons there join the battle, if I know their kind, they'll be pretty eager to get at us. Kaal… if we flew up there, made ourselves look like an easy target, waited for them to charge, then flew straight down at the battle… You can turn at the last moment, you learned how to do it in our first flight.'
Kaaldunir hissed with excitement. 'Geh! They would follow us.'
'At least some wouldn't be able to pull up in time. They'd knock aside some of the Bloodcallers. And if we're quick, we might be able to get through.'
'It may be enough.' A shiver ran through Kaaldunir's body. 'One last time, shall we fight? Fah Keizaal?'
Sha placed her free hand on her sister's neck. 'For Skyrim. And for our families.'
She didn't need to give the 'up' signal – Kaaldunir already knew what to do and where to go. Above the raging ball of dragons, until they were on a level with the newcomers. She could count them now – six in total. Enough to turn the battle in the Bloodcaller's favour beyond all recovery. Two brown Fire dragons. One Frost. One Blood. One Elder. And in the lead, a purple-grey Storm Dragon almost as large and muscular as Vulqostrun.
Her heart racing, Sha waited as they drew to a halt, hovering in a line in the air, their eyes fixed upon her. She met the Storm Dragon's gaze and raised Dragonbane – a clear challenge.
She waited, knowing what would happen. That they would roar their challenge and fly at her like six deadly, fanged arrows.
The Storm Dragon looked at her, then down at the turmoil below them, and then at the sky. He threw out his wings, opened his mouth and roared.
'Faal dovahhe kent neh lost inne!'
And he dived.
Together, in one smooth formation, the Strun-Dovah in the lead and the others fanning out behind him, the newcomers shot down towards the battle. The Storm Dragon outstretched his claws, and struck the Bloodcaller attacking Ilien with a blow that killed instantly.
Sha had heard that a dragon could, with enough speed behind his dive, punch his talons through another dovah's head and crack the skull. But she had never seen it, and she had never believed she would. But as the Bloodcaller fell away, his soul was already streaming from his body.
And now the others were following, each one of them selecting a target and streaking towards it without fear and without hesitation. And every one of them hit a Bloodcaller, driving them back, pulling them off the Dragonhearts, going for the throats with eyes blazing and teeth bared. Sha saw her comrades shaking themselves and looking around in confusion as they realised what was happening. Every face bore an identical expression of surprise and wonder – except one.
Odahviing threw a Bloodcaller aside and turned to face the nearest of the new arrivals, letting out a roar of greeting. 'Hi lost fahraal!'
Sha translated the words in her mind, along with those the Storm Dragon had uttered before he dived, and her eyes widened.
The Strun-Dovah had said, 'The dragons must never have masters!'
And Odahviing had said, 'You have come!'
'Odahviing!' Sha gestured for Kaaldunir to swoop around the side of the battle to hover alongside the Dragonhearts' teacher – the sudden appearance of these new allies meant they could afford to have a moment's reprieve to get some answers. 'Who are they?'
The red-scaled dragon surveyed the conflict with a look of what seemed to be pride. 'They are stin-boiikke. Free Flyers. The Fo-Dovah is Iizokriim; he came here to learn our ways after Alduin's fall, though he never wished to stay. The Zuwuth is Shaanodrel – she has often passed by this strunmah to give me tidings of what is happening beyond the mountains. The others I do not know.'
'But why are they here?'
Odahviing smiled slowly. 'Because I called them.'
Sha stared at him for a moment, and everything fell into place. 'You used Alduin's Call?'
He shook his head. 'Not Alduin's. A Call, but it was me own. That Call may have been made by the Lein-Nahkiip, but it was never for him alone. I said when I first told you of it that it summoned all Dovah who had known the jahseal, the will to destroy. And so it did, but that was because Alduin wished it. The Call reaches to the dragons who feel the same emotions in their heart as the dovah who sends it forth. With Alduin and Qoyoliiz, it was rage, and a will to take Keizaal.'
'And when you used it?'
'I called for one thing alone. I felt one thing alone.' Odahviing closed his eyes. 'Love for my brother and sister dovahhe. A will to defeat those who claimed to fight for us, but would in truth lead us to destruction. I called to all who wanted this, but who did not wish to fight alongside us. My Voice reminded them what they had to lose, and what they must be.'
Sha opened and closed her mouth a few times, then shook her head. 'But… nobody said anything. None of the dragons, no one! I heard the Call, earlier, but it didn't make me feel anything. Kaaldunir didn't hear it either!'
Kaaldunir frowned. 'I… did hear something. Feel something. But I did not think it could be the Call, for it stirred nothing within me. And I was never taught of it before I came to the Dragonhearts. I was told those who had never known the will to dominate could not hear it.'
Odahviing regarded them with amusement. 'Dovahloz, do you not understand? The Call sounds to those who have not yet come.'
Sha ran his words though her mind, then looked at him helplessly. 'I still don't get it.'
'Why should any dovah among our number, or you or your monah who share our blood, hear a Call that asks them to fight for what they love?' Odahviing chuckled. 'My Call was heard by those dovahhe who needed to hear it, for they would not have come to fight had they not. But no Dragonheart would ever need to be asked.'
He lifted his neck, and indicated with his nose a few dark specks on the horizon. 'You see, Dovahloz? More are coming. The dragons of Keizaal have thrice seen the World-Eater fall. And they have had many, many years to think about what the path of destruction brought upon him. They have seen how fiercely mortals will fight to defend themselves. Some will always follow the ways of rahgol, and some will always shun mortalkind. But many, more than you know, goraan gein, have come to value the freedom of having no master.'
The warm, fierce glow was still burning in Sha's chest. And now it grew brighter and stronger than ever.
'Then let's make sure they never have to have one,' she said, and looked back at Qoyoliiz.
The sedklovdovah had abandoned his fight with A'jira, Lorn and their Wingsiblings; his attention was focused now on the Storm Dragon, all three heads stamped with disbelief and outrage as they snapped and Shouted. Sha narrowed her eyes and glanced down at Kaaldunir. Her Wingsister gave a determined hiss.
'Go, mon do hunne,' Odahviing said quietly. 'This is the path that you have chosen. See it done.'
Sha nodded to him. Then she pointed her sword at Qoyoliiz.
Kaaldunir folded her wings and dived. Sha crouched low, letting the wind sweep over her head, her heart pounding within her but a strange fearlessness suddenly running through her. Her dragon blood was still rising, and it allowed no room for doubt. There was nothing to doubt anyway. Not when everything was finally ending, here and now.
Qoyoliiz saw them coming. With three heads, he had wide vision; she had expected it. The Storm head spat out lightning; Kaaldunir swerved around. The distance between them closed, and closed, and closed.
'Under him,' Sha murmured as they reached him, and Kaaldunir obeyed with a smirk, dipping under his belly and coming up the other side while his teeth met, with three sharp, useless cracks, on the empty air. He spun around to face them, but his huge girth made him slow, and already Kaaldunir was lunging for his nearest neck. Her teeth locked in, and Sha – within range - lifted Dragonbane to strike.
'Above you, Sha!'
It was Ilien's voice, and neither Sha nor Kaaldunir wasted time looking up. The Vahlok-Dovah released her hold on Qoyoliiz's neck and – with no time to back away - threw herself forwards and down, slipping underneath the sedklovdovah again. As they came up, Sha heard the rush of wind as a dragon – one of the brown-scaled Bloodcallers – shot through the exact same piece of air that she and Kaaldunir had been occupying a moment ago.
In an instant, Ilien and Fodiiniiz were there, the Frost Dragon grasping the brown-scale in his claws and driving his teeth towards the neck. Ilien's swords swept, and the Bloodcaller let out a howl.
'Get after him, Sha!' Ilien shouted, as Qoyoliiz whipped around to face her. 'Show him just how good you are at what you do!'
And Sha smiled. Because what higher praise could be had than praise that came from your teacher?
Qoyoliiz snarled at her, baring all three sets of teeth. Once, the sight would have sent fear running into every drop of Sha's blood, but now? Now it just made her grip Dragonbane tighter.
'They leave you to face me, sahlag kaazloz?' The centre head growled the words, while the leftmost spat and the rightmost hissed. 'You, who could not defeat me before? You, who are but a child?'
'I'm no child,' Sha snapped, her ears flattening. 'I'm a Dragonheart. And I'm not alone.'
Kaaldunir roared to underline the point, and Qoyoliiz's eyes narrowed. 'You are a Vahlok-Dovah. You have great power –'
'Do not try it!' Kaaldunir's eyes blazed. 'Do not think you can bring me to your side with foul words! Hin tinvaak los viidost. I shall not be turned to the cause of the one who caused the deaths of my father and mother.'
Anger flared in the six vicious eyes. 'Stay with these joorre and you choose death. You are my blood sister. Use your power to defend your own kind, or die with these fools!'
'I have only one sister,' Kaaldunir retorted. 'And I am proud to carry her into battle.'
'Look around you, Qoyoliiz.' Sha was keeping Dragonbane low at her side – if she kept the sedklovdovah talking, could she distract him long enough to launch an attack while he was unprepared. 'Look at the dragons who've come to help us. Odahviing called them, you know. He called for the dragons to come and defend their freedom, and they came.'
All three heads spoke now, the contrasts of the different voices eerie enough to make Sha's fur stand on end. 'And they shall be punished for it. It is not numbers that win battles, grutiik wah hin sos.'
'No,' Sha said quietly. 'Sometimes, it's weapons.'
And she lashed out.
The blade was heading for the end of Qoyoliiz's nose. Her heart lurched – could this be where it ended, here and now? - but he flinched back on what seemed to be pure reflex, and Dragonbane's tip brushed against the scales. That was not enough, Sha knew – it had to penetrate, it had to draw blood.
The vast dragon brought himself back a little way, shaking his heads in surprise – and his eyes locked onto Sha's outstretched blade.
'Vokorosaal,' he breathed.
'It's obviously not impossible,' Sha shot back, and lunged in again. 'And it's also recharged.'
The sedklovdovah flipped upside down to evade her strike, and when he turned upright, Sha knew she was not imagining the look of fear on his face. 'This cannot be! Daandugram – '
'Is dead,' Kaaldunir finished, with no small amount of relish.
'Krivaan!' Qoyoliiz spat out a stream of lightning. Kaaldunir could not move in time to avoid it, so she angled her body so that it struck the thick, shieldlike scales of her chest. Sha felt her Wingsister quiver with the impact, and heard her small hiss of pain, but she withstood it, and punished the Bloodcallers' leader by swinging around and slapping him full in the face with her tail.
'We're no murderers,' Sha told him. 'Not of Daandugram, anyway. It was one of your own number who killed him. One of your former mortal allies.'
The sedklovdovah lunged again, and this time he managed to clamp his teeth down on Kaaldunir's left foot. The cry the Vahlok gave brought a cold horror flooding through Sha's mind – followed an instant later by a burst of fiery rage. She swung Dragonbane down with all the strength her dragon blood gave her, and Qoyoliiz recoiled instantly, releasing his grip so as to avoid the only weapon he feared.
'The joor are weak,' Qoyoliiz snarled.
'How imaginative,' Sha replied. 'Yol TOOR SHUL!'
The fire made her enemy flinch back, and she drove herself forwards, hoping beyond hope that she would catch him while he was distracted, but like Kaaldunir, he absorbed it as if it were nothing more than a shower of rain and came back at her.
Dropping her sword arm for a moment so as to recover her breath, Sha realised something that hadn't occurred to her before. 'I notice you've lost your own personal mortal.'
'He was a traitor. He deserved his fate.'
'As you deserve yours.'
Qoyoliiz bellowed like a creature possessed and hurled himself forward.
Until now, his tactic had been to keep clear of Sha, avoid that sword that could so easily end him. But in the instant before he struck, Sha realised what he was trying – to overwhelm her with his sheer size and strength so that she could not strike a lethal blow before he did. She flattened her against Kaaldunir's neck, and her Wingsister stilled her wings so that they dropped under the monster's charge. But here he came again, diving down towards them, all three heads outstretched and honing in for the kill.
And Fodiiniiz rammed into him from the side with a sound like an avalanche.
The Frost Dragon was only just over half the sedklovdovah's size, yet he struck with enough force to send Qoyoliiz hurtling out of control. Wing over wing, the Bloodcaller's leader spun helplessly for a second, righting himself in time to raise his claws as Fodiiniiz, at Ilien's signalled request, dived in again. Yet at the last second, Fodiiniiz stopped just short of Qoyoliiz's outstretched talons. Ilien did not stop. He took a flying leap from his Wingbrother's head.
Qoyoliiz let out an odd bark of surprise and lifted one head to snap at the Dunmer as he sailed over him. But Fodiiniiz had thrown his own head up a little as Ilien jumped, giving him just enough propulsion and height for him to be out of the sedklovodvah's reach. Ilien landed on the broad, copper-scaled back and spun around to face the three heads – one of which twisted to face him. The other two looked two different ways – one at Fodiiniiz, who hung back with a strange look on his face, a kind of solemn pride. The other at Sha and Kaaldunir.
'Do not touch me, fahliil banaak!' the head facing Ilien spat.
Sha shook herself. She didn't know why Ilien had been brave enough and mad enough to do what he had, but she did know that he needed help. 'Come on, Kaal!' she shouted, and her Wingsister shot upwards.
At the same moment, Ilien punched his sword down into Qoyoliiz's wing joint, and the centre head let out a screech of pure agony.
The frost head Shouted a torrent of ice at Kaaldunir, forcing the Vahlok-Dovah to stop her upwards charge and swerve around it.
And so they weren't there in time. So Sha could do nothing but watch as the Storm Dragon head snapped around and locked its teeth around Ilien's torso. There was a crack, a sound that ripped Sha's insides apart, as his armour split.
She wanted to move, to somehow fly the distance between herself and her teacher and force Qoyoliiz's jaw open, to bring Dragonbane down and end his life there and then, to do anything. But she could not. She could not even call his name. Every part of her was as frozen as if that Frost Breath Shout had struck her.
The Storm head shook the Dunmer for a moment, then hurled him aside. Fodiiniiz was there in an instant, catching his Wingbrother, gently cradling him in his claws, and lowering him down into the snow of the courtyard.
Sha didn't wait for Kaaldunir to land. She sheathed Dragonbane and threw herself from her seat, letting her instincts tell her when to twist to break the fall and hit the ground on her feet. Behind her, she heard the sounds of her Wingsister turning back to hold Qoyoliiz off, to keep him from attacking again, but they were dim, oddly distant.
'He knew what he did, Dovahloz,' Fodiiniiz said quietly, as she reached Ilien's side.
Sha shook her head numbly. 'Ilien…'
The crimson eyes opened a crack. 'What are you doing here?' Ilien murmured, sounding almost amused. 'Get back out there, J'shana Tygra the second. Get out there and…'
He broke off, his face contorting. Sha let out a desperate cry and grasped his shoulder. 'Why?' she whispered. 'Why did you do that?'
His eyes were closed now. 'What kind of teacher would I be if I didn't?'
'He shall be weakened with that wound. Your chances are greater now, Dovahloz.' Fodiiniiz bent his head down, and Ilien reached up a quivering hand and rested it on his Wingbrother's nose. 'You struck for us all, zeymah.'
'Nox hi fah pah, dii Viingzeymah,' Ilien said quietly.
His eyes opened again, so thinly that Sha could only barely make out the red beneath the grey lids. 'Remember your training, Sha. Remember who you are. I couldn't be prouder of you. Keep making me proud, Dragonheart. Get out there and… make me proud.'
His hand slipped from Fodiiniiz's muzzle and dropped down into the snow.
The battle was raging, and the sounds of Kaaldunir's fight with Qoyoliiz were echoing across the courtyard. But there in the midst of battle, there was a moment of utter stillness, as Sha knelt beside her mentor's broken body, taking his hand in both of hers and letting her sobs crease her face and burn her throat. As Fodiiniiz cast his gaze over the ground nearby, found what he sought, and carefully picked up Ilien's sword in his teeth. As he dropped it at his brother's side, as Sha pressed it into the limp grey hand, and as the Frost Dragon sank down with a faint moan and pressed his muzzle against the side of Ilien's head.
Then they rose together. Sha drew Dragonbane once again. Fodiiniiz cast one last look in Ilien's direction and hurled himself into the air, throwing himself at Qoyoliiz with Shouts flying and teeth flashing, forcing the sedklovdovah back. So that Kaaldunir could swoop around and land beside Sha.
'I am sorry, briinah,' she whispered.
'He helped raise me.' Sha grasped her sister's horns and pulled herself up. 'He saw that I was a swordsman, not an archer. He taught me how to be a Dragonheart.'
Her eyes flicked up to Qoyoliiz, now battling Ahlokkrin alongside Fodiiniiz. Two dragons whose Wingsiblings his jaws had crushed the life from.
'He knew it would kill him, getting that close to Qoyoliiz. He gave up his life just to wound him. To give us a chance.'
She made the 'up' signal, and Kaaldunisr obeyed without hesitation.
'And I'm not going to let a sacrifice like that be in vain.'
Her hand reached up, brushed the wetness from the fur below her eyes.
'He said to remember my training. And that's what I'm going to do.'
The plan was coming to her, pieces and fragments forming together. A memory of training with Ilien and Amar and the dragons who carried them. Juskahrath flipping over, shrugging Amar from his back, and Kaaldunir flying under to catch him as he fell. And the memory of Ilien, making that fearless leap…
Ilien's tactic had not worked. It had been too obvious. Qoyoliiz had seen it coming.
But a different method, a different angle…
She didn't need to tell Kaaldunir her plan. They were practically thinking with one mind now. A single look was all it took.
Kaaldunir soared upwards and circled around until they were directly above the sedklovodovah. Sha breathed in deeply and tucked Dragonbane into its sheathe. For this, she would need both hands free.
'If I don't survive this,' she said, 'then thank you for everything, Kaaldunir.'
Her Wingsister smiled. 'You shall survive, Sha.'
It was the first time Kaaldunir had used her name, and it brought a smile to her face and a flare of hope into a heart.
And knowing that she could not afford to wait any longer, that her courage might fail her at any moment, she threw herself from behind Kaaldunir's head, and into the empty air beyond. Straight down towards Qoyoliiz.
His Frost head glanced up and let out a roar. The sedklovdovah began to twist around, ready to flip upside down and offer Sha nowhere to land but on his outstretched talons –
And fumbled the movement of his injured wing, spinning helplessly for a moment before being forced to turn upright, his wingbeats slow and laboured. And so when Sha reached him, it was to land squarely and firmly on his back, just behind those vast wings.
All three heads snapped around to look at her, and she saw that all three faces still held that trace of fear.
The Fire head spat flame towards her. Sha let out a cry of 'Fus!' and the fire Shout was knocked back the way it had come, forcing Qoyoliiz to make an awkward ducking movement. The Frost head craned its neck out as far as it could go, its teeth reaching for her, but she was too far back. The Storm head hissed with frustration and sucked in air. 'Fus ro-'
A dagger span out of nowhere and struck the head below the horn. The blade, unable to pierce the thick scales, fell aside, but the impact had knocked the head to the side for a crucial moment it had taken for it to finish the Shout. The blue shockwave sped by close enough to ruffle Sha's fur, but she kept her grip on the sedklovodvah's spines, her talons giving her purchase. She didn't need to look to know who had thrown that dagger, but she glanced to the side anyway. There he was, urging Juskahrath forwards to hover just a short way away, a knife in each hand.
Sha met his gaze. Amar gave her a small nod. And Sha knew what it was he was saying. This is your battle. I won't interefere. But if you need me, I'm here.
The thought gave her strength. Just the mere presence of someone she trusted so much and cared for so deeply. It gave her the courage to pull Dragonbane from its sheath with one hand, and reach out for the next of Qoyoliiz's spines with the other. Here, his scales were too thick to penetrate. It was madness, going anywhere nearer to those screeching heads. But it was the only way.
Ilien had opened a wound. All she needed to do was reach the wing joint and drive Dragonbane into that wound.
And to do that, she had to crawl along the back of the enormous creature, as he bucked and Shouted and fought with everything he had to throw her off. It was only a few metres. And she already knew it would be the longest journey of her life.
She grasped the spine and pulled herself forward.
He Shouted again. She felt the coldness on her fur and instantly turned her head, the only unarmoured part of her body, letting her dragonscale-plated shoulder and side absorb the wave of Frost he sent at her. The chill of it locked her in place for a second. Then she reached down for that inner flame, coaxed it into life, and kept going.
Next spine. Take hold. Pull.
'You shall not come away from this, kaaz!' Qoyoliiz screamed.
Sha almost laughed. His words threw a memory into his mind – that of a poem her mother had made, one that she said she had recited out loud during her fight with Alduin, to give her strength and to confuse her opponent. 'Who battles the dragon and comes away clean?' she whispered, the opening line of the poem giving her a new kind of determination. Her mother had fought a monster like this. She had been just as young, just as uncertain. And she had won.
She reached for another spine.
Qoyoliiz's tail swung up and around, heading for her, aiming to dislodge her from his back. There was a soft hiss and a thunk as another of Amar's daggers embedded itself just above the tail-tip. Sha ducked the now-clumsy blow and lashed out, her claws slashing thin marks in the white tail membrane.
Next spine. And the next.
'All you do is for nothing, joor! You do not have the power for this! You are but mortal!'
'I am a Tygra. And a Dragonheart.' Sha did not even look at him. 'That's enough.'
Qoyoliiz screeched something at her in Draconic – she couldn't spare the mental energy to translate it – and shifted the angle of his wings. Sha gasped and tightened her grip as his body began to tilt upwards, bit by bit. Of course – his wing was too badly injured to allow a sharp turn that might dislodge her, but if he slowly, slowly, turned vertical, it was inevitable that she would fall.
No. She was a Khajiit. Khajiit did not fall.
She looked at her target, that one smear of red against the copper scales. She let it become her entire world.
'Your life ends here, and it is given in vain!' The three voices roared together. Qoyoliiz was very nearly flying vertically now, his tail an arrow pointing down at the land far below. 'Do you think you can prevail against me? Do you think you have even half of your mother's power?'
For the first time since she started to move forwards, Sha looked up at him.
'No,' she said. 'But I have her courage. I have friends willing to die for me. I have this sword. Things you can never have. And they're all I need.'
And she leaped.
As she looked away from him, back at her target, she just caught sight of his eyes widening as he realised what she meant to do. He tried to turn, but he could not.
Sha did not try to find a purchase on his scales. She did not even reach for one. She held Dragonbane out in front of her and, as her jump carried her the last distance between her and the gash on his wing joint.
The blade struck the scarlet wound dead centre and sank in.
Sha let go of the hilt. She knew there was no holding onto him at this angle, and in any case, there was no need, not any more. She let herself fall.
She watched, knowing that if this had failed, he had been right, and everything had been in vain, all along, that she had wasted her only chance. It had to work. This time, it had to. It had to, it had to –
Around the place where the sword had embedded itself in the flesh, a light sparked into being.
It was a fierce white glow with a hint of gold, spreading out from the blade the way a healing spell spreads across a wound. And it was growing stronger and wider with every second, flooding over Qoyoliiz's body like water, as he cried out in desperation and fury. But already his cries were dimming, as if the light was cutting of his voice.
Something about it was familiar. Sha had seen light of this kind before. She knew she had.
'Briinah!'
Kaaldunir's shout forced her to look away. Her Wingsister was there, just as Sha had known she would be, hovering underneath her. A flick of her tail, a twist of her body, and Sha was landing feet-first on the purple-scaled back. And this dragon stayed still and calm, not trying to throw her off, and the distance from between her wings to the back of her head was easy and quick. Sha could make it without taking her eyes off Qoyoliiz.
The light was all around him now, so thick that all that could be seen of him was a dark blur in the very centre. And with a jolt that seemed to slam her heart against her ribs, Sha remembered where she had seen such a light before.
'Silfortaas,' she whispered.
Around her, the clamour of the battle had ceased. Every combatant, mortal and dovah, Bloodcaller, Dragonheart and Free Flyer, was transfixed on the star-bright orb that hid the sedklovdovah from their view.
From the midst of the glow came one last, despairing howl. 'Nid! Zu'u los tul yun wah daar lein!'
And then the light split, exploded outwards like a Shout from a dragon's mouth, shattering into three separate pieces.
Then the light was gone, and three dragons were tumbling down towards the courtyard in flailing tangles of wings and tails. One Ancient, one Storm, one Frost. They hit the snow, sending up clouds of swirling flakes that hid them for a moment. And when the snow settled, the three dragons were rising to their feet, glancing around with wide eyes, furling and unfurling their wings.
The Ancient turned his head and, with a grunt and a yelp, pulled Dragonbane from his shoulder. It sailed through the air with a spray of blood and sank into the ground.
Silence fell, as the three dragons in the courtyard looked up at the multitude in the sky above them.
Odahviing's voice cut through the air, sharp and commanding. 'Dovahhe! Tell us. Who are you?'
The three dragons looked at him, and at each other. Then the Frost Dragon stepped forwards, lifted his head, and spoke in a clear, calm voice.
'Not Qoyoliiz. Not any more.'
... Bet you didn't see that coming, huh? X)
There are some things in this chapter that will require an explanation. All I will say is, that explanation will come next chapter. Just remember that things aren't quite over, and certain things may not be quite as they seem. Be careful what you pass judgement on. I can't tell you what without giving spoilers, but remember that some plot lines are still hanging...
I wonder, can anyone work out who the Storm Dragon who led the Free Flyers is? He has been mentioned, but a long, long time ago. Check out chapter five, 'Moonlight Gathering.'
Don't forget to go and vote for your favourite character in the poll on my profile!
And now, I will hope that you enjoyed this (ultra-long) chapter, because this ending was thrilling to write. Thank you so, so much for reading.