plumes toward the gray clouds. The ground for hundreds of yards around the city was dark brown instead of snowy-white. Mounds of rusted metal were stacked around the city, along with other unidentifiable heaps. As they drew closer, a jolt of realization ran through her. Some of these heaps were the corpses of sun-dragons.
'By the bones,' she whispered.
'I see it as well,' Hex said. 'What could have caused such slaughter?'
Jandra's finely-tuned eyes focused in on the town walls and the forms moving along them. Humans. Dragon Forge was still under rebel control.
A fountain of anger bubbled up inside her. It was true that humans had suffered horribly under Albekizan. When Albekizan had launched his campaign of genocide, she'd been swept up with a passionate desire to fight for humanity. But didn't these people know Albekizan was dead? Shandrazel was intent on bringing peace and fairness to mankind. Why were these fools ruining the best hope of true justice this kingdom had ever known?
'It looks like humans are on the walls,' Hex said a few seconds later. Jandra was surprised to realize that her vision was better than his now. Sun-dragons had eyes that were the envy of eagles.
'I see them,' she said. 'It looks like they have bows. We should veer away.'
'No worry,' said Hex, climbing slightly higher. 'We're well above the range of arrows.'
They closed in swiftly on the city. The little snow remaining on the ground was tinted pink with blood. Her eyes were drawn from the gore toward a strange contraption standing in the center of town. Some sort of machine, built to roughly resemble a man.
'I'm thinking we've just missed a fight,' said Hex.
'Yes,' said Jandra. 'It looks to me as if the rebels beat back an attack of sun-dragons.'
'How is that possible?' Hex asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. 'Shandrazel may not have a warrior's heart, but I can't believe he couldn't command his forces competently enough to retake the city.'
'The facts speak for themselves,' she said as they drew ever closer to the fort. 'Humans are still in control of the city, and the only dragons I see are dead ones.'
Before Hex could mount an argument, a volley of arrows rose into the air from the fortress walls. Hex didn't react. Either he didn't see them, or wasn't afraid of them. But Jandra's mind quickly calculated the paths of the arrows and realized Hex was wrong about their reach.
'Watch out!' she shouted, leaning down, extending her arm. Hex veered sharply to the left, out of the path of most of the deadly missiles. Jandra was thrown from his back by the evasive action. She paid no attention to the distant ground. Instead she extended the nanite cloud that surrounded her to disassemble the arrows as they drew close. In seconds, she'd transformed the deadly wall of arrows to a cloud of dust.
Hex's hind-talons clamped around her waist as he wheeled back to catch her.
'I see the tents of the dragon army in the distance,' Hex said, racing away from Dragon Forge. 'Let's take the long way around to reach them.'
'Yes,' said Jandra. 'Let's.'
Prudently, Jandra turned herself and Hex invisible as they descended into Shandrazel's camp. The camp had been transformed into a mobile hospital. Jandra had never seen so many wounded dragons. While Dragon Forge had been a flurry of activity, with men laboring to clear corpses from the streets and repair the broken eastern gate, Shandrazel's camp was subdued and silent.
Hex landed and Jandra remained seated on his back. She was uneasy. There was no reason to think that Shandrazel would be angry with her over the human rebellion, but she was worried what other dragons might think. She'd always felt like an outsider growing up in the palace. Here among all this suffering caused by men, she felt that sense of isolation grow.
Hex pushed aside the flap of Shandrazel's tent. The tent was palatial, an acre or more of canvas propped up by thick poles cut from the tallest pines. Though it was still early afternoon, the space was lit by hundreds of lanterns. Shandrazel was alone in the tent, sitting near the center, perched atop a mound of golden cushions. His cheeks were wet with tears. His bloodshot eyes looked haunted as he looked up.
'Who's there?' he asked hoarsely. 'I gave orders that I wasn't to be disturbed.'
'Remove the invisibility,' Hex said.
Jandra released the dust around them. She hopped from Hex's back onto the long, broad crimson rugs that covered the ground. The muffled crunch of dry leaves came from beneath the rugs as she walked.
Shandrazel looked up, staring at them as if he wasn't positive they were real.
'Hexilizan?' he whispered.
'Brother,' Hex said. 'What has transpired?'
'We lost,' said Shandrazel. 'Charkon was so impatient. I wanted to wait for more forces. He convinced me that we had enough troops, and that the longer we waited, the better prepared the rebels would be.'
'How many troops did you have?' Hex asked.
'Ten thousand earth-dragons, two hundred sun-dragons. Nearly half that number is dead or wounded. Thousands more lie incapacitated in their tents, the victims of some unknown digestive illness that swept the camp.'
'I can't believe things went so badly,' said Hex. 'How many did we face?'
'Our spies said there were only a few thousand rebels. But they possessed a new bow that reached higher than any weapon we've ever seen. There are also reports of some monstrous armored giant. The earth-dragons claim he's fifty feet tall, and has eyes of fire. I sent my troops into slaughter, Hex.'
Shadrazel sounded on the verge of tears.
Jandra stepped up. 'What happened to the peace talks? Where's Pet? Maybe he can talk to the rebels and-'
'Pet proved disloyal,' Shandrazel said, cutting her off. 'There's evidence he conspired with Blasphet. He's now a fugitive.'
'You can't be serious,' she said. 'Pet? Working with Blasphet? On what? His nails? Nobody knows Pet better than I do. It's absurd to think he'd help the Murder God. What really happened?'
'It isn't important at the moment,' said Shandrazel.
'It's important to me,' said Jandra.
'We have a much more pressing crisis,' said Shandrazel. 'The humans still hold Dragon Forge. Many of the surviving sun-dragons have deserted. If we don't retake the town, it won't be a human rebellion I face, but a rebellion of my own race.'
'It was your goal to be the king who brought an end to kings,' said Hex. 'It looks as if you'll see your dreams come true.'
'Do not taunt me, brother,' Shandrazel growled. 'I wanted to launch a new world order! I didn't intend to unleash anarchy throughout the Commonwealth!'
'Anarchy need not be a bad thing,' Hex said. 'Indeed, it may-'
'Silence,' Shandrazel said, raising up onto his hind-talons and spreading his wings wide to make himself look more intimidating. 'I have no stomach for your juvenile philosophies.'
'Fine,' Hex said, coolly. 'Then do you have the stomach for brutality? Because that's the only choice remaining to you. The humans repelled a direct assault with bows and a mechanical giant. But they still occupy only one small patch of Earth, while you have the resources of the world to draw upon. You can starve the humans if you want a victory.'
'That could take months,' said Shandrazel.
'If it's a quick victory you desire, you now know the range of the new bows. I wager it's less than the range of your catapults. Shower the town with balls of flaming pitch.'
'That would burn Dragon Forge to cinders!'
'You would destroy the town,' agreed Hex, 'but you would kill the rebels and command the ground Dragon Forge stands upon. You would look very kingly as you magnificently spend our father's treasure to rebuild the forge.'
Shandrazel stroked the underside of his jaws with his fore-talon as he contemplated Hex's advice.
Jandra felt it was time to intervene. 'Excuse me,' she said. 'But before you destroy the town and kill everyone in it, have you thought about talking with these people? They're rebelling because of the actions of Albekizan. Maybe they just don't know that you want to give them a better deal.'
'It's too late for negotiation,' said Shandrazel. 'I didn't choose to start this war. Men spilt the first blood.'
