Pillars of Dragonfire Read Online Free Page A

again. The ground rushed up toward her,
strewn with corpses.
    You will never see
Requiem! Leyleet shrieked in her mind. With my dying breath I curse you.
    "No," Meliora
whispered and clenched her shattered hand. "I will find your sky."
    She shifted into a
dragon, soared, blew her fire against a chariot. She tried to find Ishtafel
again but did not see him. Dragons and chariots flew everywhere.
    "Ishtafel!"
she roared. "Ishtafel!"
    She blasted fire,
knocking back another chariot, and surveyed the battle. Hundreds of Vir Requis,
maybe thousands, already lay dead below, their human bodies torn apart. Many
dragons still flew, battling the seraphim, but they were falling fast.
    When Meliora spun her
head northward, she saw the bulk of the dragons still fleeing, following Jaren.
But hundreds of seraphim had made their way around the dragon defenders. They
were now falling upon the flanks of fleeing slaves, cutting into the
dragons—the young, the old, the wounded, sending them crashing down. Thousands
of other chariots kept streaming forth.
    "Kill them all!"
Ishtafel cried somewhere in the distance, laughing. "Kill all the
dragons!"
    Meliora's heart sank.
    Does our dream end
here? Did we rise as dragons only to fall in battle?
    She sneered.
    No. We must escape.
We must make it back to Requiem. I will not see our dream end here.
    "Meliora!" a
red dragon roared, and Lucem came to fly beside her, tail knocking a chariot
out of his way. "Meliora, the seraphim are tearing into us!"
    "The sky is up,
Lucem!" Meliora cried back. "Now fly with me."
    She was bleeding,
burnt, her scales cracked and her front foot ravaged, but still she flew. Lucem
flew at her side. They stormed toward the nation of fleeing dragons—half a
million strong—and charged into the ranks of attacking seraphim.
    Dragonfire and blood
filled the sky.

 
 
VALE

    He saw Meliora fall.
    He saw Ishtafel laugh
above her in his chariot.
    Vale roared and charged
toward the tyrant.
    Chariots flew toward
them, and Vale lashed his tail and claws, knocking them back. Seraphim thrust
their lances at him, and he shattered the spears and blasted his fire across
the soldiers. He stormed through the battle, burning down the enemy, and howled
with rage.
    "Meliora!"
Vale cried, seeking her in the blaze. "Sister!"
    He could no longer see
her, but he could see Ishtafel. The King of Saraph flew before him, his armor
shining, chariot casting out flames, a god of light and wrath, a sun shining
upon the battle.
    Vale flew toward the
tyrant. All around him, thousands of dragons battled thousands of chariots. The
sky rained blood, scales, and ash.
    Issari, the
Priestess in White, told me that a great battle awaits me. Vale roared and
blew his dragonfire. This is my battle.
    "Vale
Aeternum!" Ishtafel called in delight.
    Vale growled. He had
fought Ishtafel before over the city, had watched the deity slay sixty thousand
slaves.
    But today we are no
longer slaves. Today we are dragons.
    He
blasted his dragonfire.
    The inferno crackled
and spun, driving toward Ishtafel, but the tyrant rose in his chariot, dodging
the flames. He swooped, lance thrusting.
    Vale swiped his claws,
knocking the lance aside. He snapped his jaws, trying to bite Ishtafel, but he bit
only fire and cried out in pain. He swung his tail toward Ishtafel but hit the
seraph's shield.
    "Last time I
nailed you to my palace!" Ishtafel laughed and thrust his lance.
"This time I'll skewer you in the sky."
    Vale dipped in the sky,
and the lance scraped across his back, tearing off scales. He yowled. He blew
his fire again, but Ishtafel raised his shield, and the flames scattered and
showered back onto Vale.
    The chariot spun around
and the firehorses charged, slamming into Vale.
    He cried out as the
fire washed over him, and the hooves slammed into his head.
    He fell.
    Burnt and cut, he lost
his magic, tumbling down as a human.
    He grabbed his magic
again. He rose as a dragon, blowing his dragonfire, but only sparks now left
his