Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (67 page)

The DraGon’s eyes narrowed. “Rex? Tell me, boy, where is he?”

“Like I’d tell you,” EeNox said defiantly.

“Oh, but you will,” she said with a bemused laugh that sent a chill down his spine.

“You can tear my arms and legs off, but I still will never give him up! Do you hear me? I’ll never tell you a damn thing! Never!” EeNox spat in her face.

Without losing her temper this time, the DraGon simply said, “Well, young one, you’re right about the first part. As for the latter, you’ll discover just how vocal you can be when I decide to be persuasive.”

KyVina and the others had just reached the docks where the heart of the battle was raging and were mortified to see the level of devastation that had befallen their home. All around them lay the bodies of people they had seen every day, for most if not all of their lives.

“Why?” she asked stunned. “Why has this happened?”

“‘Why’ may not be the question we should be asking ourselves right now,” said NyRo, walking up beside her. “But rather how we can bring it to an end?”

KyVina looked up and scanned the sky, seeing the DraGons soaring this way and that way, swooping down every so often. The fast padding of paws was heard off to their right, and the two of them whipped their heads around to see TyRoas running up and stopping just short of them, panting heavily.

“TyRoas, are you all right?” TolNy asked his younger brother.

“I’m fine,” he replied.

“What’s happening?”

“We were attacked from above,” TyRoas explained while still trying to catch his breath. “There was no warning!”

“Did the CyTorians not see them coming?” KyVina asked insistently.

“No! Well, not exactly, anyway. I heard reports from KySer and some of the others that said there was what looked like a storm moving in fast from the west, and then we were hit. Minutes later they started raining fire down on us.”

“A storm?” his brother repeated, looking back up to KyVina.

“The gold flames in their ranks, no doubt,” she said. “Enough of them at the proper altitude could have created one to conceal their approach.”

“In any case, you have no idea how happy I am to see you all,” TyRoas continued. “We haven’t been doing too well.”

“Have there been many casualties?” NyRo asked.

TyRoas looked all around them, then replied, “What do you think?”

The others glanced at each other with looks that indicated they realized that they were not on the winning side of this battle. KyVina knew she was not prepared to lead these warriors into battle. They had little to no understanding of whom or what they were fighting. Nothing but what VoRenna had told her: DraGons. The word had rung throughout her head when she had heard it. Of course, it was familiar to every adult and child of every race in EeNara. They were creatures from history that waged war against all EeNara ages ago.
But they were defeated,
she thought.
No DraGon has been seen alive in years.
She was suddenly snapped back to reality at the sound of NyRo calling her name. She blinked twice and shook her head before turning to look at him.

“You still with us?” he asked with a look of concern in his eyes.

“Yes…sorry. Everyone listen carefully! We need to drive these invaders out!”

“KyVina, we should try to take at least a few alive so we can find out who they are,” NyRo said.

“Agreed. Did everyone hear that? Each of you try to take one alive if you can, but if you feel the risk to your own life is too great to do so, do not hesitate to kill! Is that clear?” There was a loud eruption of roars and cries from the group of warriors. “Now go! Fight for KaNar! Defend our home!”

The group dispersed through town in all directions, quickly changing the attack from a slaughter to an actual battle. Now everywhere one looked, they could see DyVorians and OroGon biting, clawing, and blasting DraGons, who in turn changed their tactics from one of fly-by assaults to full-on confrontation.

KyVina leaped into the air and clamped on to the tail of a DraGon trying to flee. Using her powerful jaws, she slammed the beast down to the ground hard with a ground-shaking thud, sending pieces of his armor flying off. The DraGon groaned as he tried to push himself to his feet, only to have his back crushed as she brought a foot down on his spine. The DraGon cried out before realizing that he felt no pain— nothing at all, in fact, for KyVina’s well-placed step had paralyzed him below the neck. She walked up in front of him, and with a swift motion of her head, tore off his. She allowed the taste of blood to wash over her tongue and coat the back of her throat. It was the taste of a fresh kill, and one which, being a TarBoranx, she savored. The sound of two other winged foes rushing her from behind pulled her from her brief moment of ecstasy and made her turn to face her next opponents.

The DraGons swooped down and separated, charging her from both sides. KyVina ducked at the last moment and grabbed the left one’s tail, swung him around forcefully, and slammed him into the other as hard as she could.

The two DraGons collapsed to the ground, but before either could have a chance to regain their stride, KyVina was on them, tearing off their wings, biting through their vertebrae, and burning their flesh to ash within their armor. She breathed heavily, now fully entrenched in battle. She could not stop; she had to continue: there were still more she had to fight, to kill. Her muscles flexed as adrenaline pumped into them in torrents. Her eyes began to glow just before she erupted into green flame once again.

Now she would take back her home and make those who would lay siege to it and her tribe, pay dearly. Still, NyRo’s words of needing to take some prisoners still rang true, and she knew despite her rage and hunger for retribution she had to exercise some restraint. Not always being able to give in to your desires was the price one paid to lead. It made what VayRonx did every day seem all the more incredible to her. They had known each other since they were children, and he had always been a pillar of strength to all those around him. Even the tribes who chose to live apart from cities and villages respected him, despite fearing him as one of the deadliest predators in all of the Northern Continent and even the world.
VayRonx, please be strong now, my love, and wait for me
. There was the cry of a child far off to her left, and without even a second thought, she took off in its direction.

NyRo and TyRoas ran side by side, leaping and slashing at the DraGons as they did so while trying to make it to the hot springs, which they knew was in need of all the protection it could get.

“Any word on the CeraVora they were holding at the Spire?” NyRo asked as he leaped over a burning carriage.

“None,” TyRoas replied, doing the same. “But this all started around the time of the last interrogation.”

“You think they’re connected?”

“Don’t you?”

DiNiya could feel her strength diminishing. She did not know how much longer she could sustain herself. LyCora was drawing the majority of her energy, and DiNiya was pushing herself as hard as she could to give her as much as she could possibly muster. As impressed as she had been by how much she had been able to tap into her otherwise nonexistent flame, though, it was still incredibly weak by comparison to anyone else’s, meaning that she would burn out much faster.
I have to keep pushing
, she thought as the red glow continued to trickle into LyCora.

LyCora could feel DiNiya struggling. For all the times she had fought with her over the power she wielded, she was normally glad she could no longer tap into it, not after what she had seen her do with it on that day. It was a simple truth that she had never admitted to anyone, not even herself, not until now: she was afraid of DiNiya. Still, that same terrifying power that she knew felt like a curse to her would be a gift to Rex right now if she could only awaken it, if only for a moment.

AnaSaya, while still strenuously trying to help Rex, was allowing herself to be taken in by the power she was feeling emanating from the young man; never before had she felt so drawn to another person’s flame, nor felt so terrified by one, either. She leaned her head back as thoughts, feelings, and desires, the likes of which she had never experienced, washed over her in waves. That was until she felt something else there within him. From deep within the depths of Rex’s flame, she saw a pair of flaming red jaws come rushing towards her, startling her so badly that she broke her connection with him and fell back.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” LyCora asked, trying not to break the concentration she needed to stay connected with DiNiya.

“I don’t know,” AnaSaya replied, not able to shake the shock of what she just experienced.

“Well, then, get back to it! He’ll die if we stop now!”

AnaSaya nodded and placed her hand back on Rex’s chest, who had remained unconscious the entire time. Her mind was still reeling, but she refused to let it stop her again.
I won’t give up on you, Rex. I won’t let you die
.

The fight outside was still raging with yet no clear winner in sight. The DraGons were indeed powerful, but the DyVorians, CyTorians, and OroGon who had ruled these mountains for countless ages were not so easily cast aside. They, with the help of the SaVarians who shared these lands with them, fought back with tooth, claw, and flame, not one of them yielding.

KyVina and the others had managed to reclaim the area between the tavern and docks, forcing the DraGons off the ground and back in the air, where they continued their siege.

“NyRo,” she called out to him. “See if you can get word to the CyTorians and tell them we need to drive them south, further down the mountains!”

“You want to force them out of the town’s main center?” he asked.

“That’s right. If we can get them to an area that’s less populated, that’s less we have to hold back.”

“Smart thinking,” NyRo replied and took off running towards the tavern, where he leaped up and continued running up along the wall until he disappeared above the patchy layer of smoke that hung over the entire town.

VyKia watched until only her nose could track him before she turned back to face the enemy. She knew that despite their numbers and firepower, they were still far from unbeatable. The fact that they had not yet sacked the entire town was proof that KaNar was indeed a match for them, and one that they perhaps had underestimated. As she continued to watch the skies, something bright caught the corner of her right eye. Turning she saw, of all people, KyGahl standing in the middle of the chaos, a golden flame emanating all around him. He stood motionless except for his head, which turned slowly, scanning the scene around him. He seemed almost oblivious to what was happening all around him, as if his mind was somewhere else. She took a step towards him, and suddenly his head whipped around so fast that it looked as if his neck could have snapped. KyVina found herself frozen in place, transfixed by the man and his burning golden eyes.

Rex continued to wander the darkness alone. There was no sign of the woman or the monster. He sighed loudly. “This is getting old. Hello!” There was no reply. “EliCia, I know you’re there!
When are you not?
I need to get back! I have to help them!” There was a sudden chill in the air, and he felt something behind him. He quickly spun around and was greeted by a familiar pair of pale eyes. “So you are here,” he said, crossing his arms.

“I am never
not
, to answer your first question,” she said, stepping into the light.

“Damn it, can you hear everything I think?” he groaned.

“Technically, everything you say in here is a thought, and yes, I can.”

Rex rolled his eyes. “Great. So why am I here now?”

“It would seem you always find yourself here when your situation is most dire.”

“No shit, I’m hunched over in a cave right now, dying.”

“Yes, I know. Your friends are currently trying to save your life.”

“Really…how?”

“The three girls: they are using their flames to heal you,” she said, gazing up as if she could somehow see them.

“I guess EeNox must have managed to find them and bring them back. Looks like I owe him one, but wait…you said three girls.”

“Yes. AnaSaya, LyCora, and DiNiya.”

“But DiNiya can’t use her flame,” Rex replied, remembering the time he had watched her atop the mountain crying up to the sky. “How can she—”

“DiNiya’s power, like yours, has yet to reveal itself to those you have come to care for. Do not rule her out, and do not forget that she too is a child of the red flame.”

Rex lowered his head. He would have thought he was floating above a bottomless pit had he not felt something beneath his feet. “It’s hard to remember that, sometimes,” he said more calmly. “I’ve gotten so used to the idea of her being what I would have once called normal. Then again, in a world where everyone can shoot fire out of their hands, the one person who can’t would be the strange one.”

“Or the one whose flame makes everyone keep them at arm’s length,” EliCia added. Rex looked up at her and furrowed his brow.

DiNiya felt the strain of having to dig so deep for even an ounce of what LyCora needed from her, and in turn, what Rex needed from her. The little she had been able to offer up had begun to grow more and more difficult to draw out, to the point where she felt she was trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Still, Rex did not let something as frivolous as fatigue stop him from saving her life that day in the outer forest.
Then again, it also probably wasn’t as hard for him
, she thought to herself before feeling the pang of guilt cut right through her for even insinuating that he deserved anything less than everything she could give.
You didn’t give up on me, and I won’t give up on you.

“So what’s going to happen?” Rex demanded. “Am I going to live or die?”

“That’s up to your friends now, Rex,” EliCia said.

“Friends,” Rex repeated to himself.
When did that happen
? Rex wrestled with the concept. He somehow knew he had never really had friends. Distant memories of faces from what felt like a previous life streamed through his head and vanished just as quickly. All of which had been at best mere acquaintances at one point or another before reducing themselves into enemies. He really had been alone, or had he? Had there been someone else?
Damn it, I’m tired of this!
I know there was someone else!
Someone important to me!
Who
? He turned and looked back up at EliCia, who was regarding him with silent anticipation. “Who was it?” he demanded. “Tell me!”