“I see them,” Merek replied. “Sharp eyes. Those are far off. We went from an abundance of clouds to scant options for cover. Let’s fly low.”
Raxtus, Seth, and Merek hugged the terrain, staying well below the surrounding summits, often dipping into ravines or swooping across clearings at heights lower than the treetops. The combination of high speed and tight turns kept Kendra on edge. Several times she lifted her legs, worried they would hit branches, but Raxtus always maneuvered with sufficient skill to make her precautions unnecessary.
When the wilderness gave way to farmland, Raxtus, Seth, and Merek skimmed along just above fields, some flat, some furrowed, staying lower than windmills, barns, and even haystacks. Before long, they began to pass the charred skeletons of buildings adjoining scorched acreage. Occasionally, farmhouses or rows of crops were still burning.
“Dragons,” Merek proclaimed, pointing.
Kendra spied a small yellow dragon and a larger, horned one diving toward them from off to one side. Raxtus abruptly landed and shrank into a fairy. Merek and Seth alighted beside Kendra. She readied the Harp, hand poised above the strings, but Merek held up a hand to stall her. As the dragons swooped near enough that their mouths opened to use their breath weapons, Merek gave a signal, and Kendra strummed the instrument. Both dragons immediately went limp, heads sagging, and dropped out of the air, sliding and bouncing over the flat ground before flopping awkwardly to a halt.
“Quick,” Merek said, leaping into the air.
Raxtus changed back into a dragon, gripped Kendra, and took off. Not far ahead, they reached rolling terrain, allowing them to weave around the hillsides, out of view. When they ran into a gray dragon with horns like a ram, Raxtus landed and became a fairy, and Kendra ran her fingers over the harp strings. The dragon fell heavily, wings splayed.
“Beacon Hill, dead ahead,” Raxtus said a few minutes after they returned to the air.
Merek, Seth, and Raxtus flew low up the slope of the tall hill, landing just shy of the summit. Raxtus immediately shrank into a fairy. “Just in case,” he said.
Kendra ran with the others to the hilltop, then paused to absorb the sight. As they stood on the highest point for miles around, the panorama from the top left Kendra stunned by the massive destruction underway. Flying low had prevented her from witnessing the extent of the onslaught. Turning in a full circle, Kendra observed that more than half of the visible countryside had burned or was burning. Smoke obscured much of the sky, and ashes fluttered like snowflakes. Long lines of dragons flew wing to wing, heads down, torching the landscape.
In the distance Kendra saw Terastios, where the demolition appeared most concentrated. Lightning crackled and flames billowed. The fortress was already in blackened ruins, and yet the dragons seemed determined to see it utterly razed.
“In all my years, I’ve not seen this behavior from dragons,” Merek said soberly. “They will fight and hunt and kill. They will despoil a castle or a town. They will go to war. But I have never beheld dragons systematically obliterating the natural world. Even the vilest dragons I have known respect resources. They preserve game to hunt and a wilderness to live in. This is a crime against nature. Wasteful to the point of suicidal.”
“There is much anger about the conditions at Titan Valley,” Raxtus said.
“Then fight the giants,” Merek replied. “Not the forests and the fields.”
“I agree,” Raxtus said sadly.
“Heads up,” Seth said.
A group of the nearest dragons had broken from their firestorm formation and were gliding directly toward Beacon Hill. Merek took cover behind some bushes, and Kendra followed his lead.
“They’ve spotted us,” Merek said. “Kendra, ready the Harp, but wait until the last possible moment. I did not envision so many dragons. I count hundreds. I never saw a host like this in all of the dragon war.”
“They’re coming right at us,” Seth warned.
“Patience, Kendra,” Merek said.
Glancing up, Kendra counted nine dragons approaching the hilltop. She kept her hand near the harp strings.
“Now,” Merek said.
Kendra slid her hand over the strings, producing a beautiful glissando, and dragons promptly littered the hillside. From all directions, dragons began veering their way.
“Please let them gather here,” Merek said. “Putting big groups to sleep is our best hope. Kendra, stay ready.”
The next wave of oncoming dragons landed before reaching the hill. Dozens were gathering. A few dragons flew away in various directions.
“They’re sending messengers,” Raxtus warned.
The dragons who landed began transforming into their human avatars. The incoming dragons changed shape as soon as they landed. Dozens of avatars started marching to Beacon Hill from all sides.
“The Harp won’t work on their avatars,” Kendra said.
“How many of them can you defeat?” Seth asked Merek.
“In their human form?” he asked. “Four at my leisure. Probably six if they make mistakes. More are coming. We will be squaring off against hundreds.”
“Do we fly away?” Kendra asked.
“Too many have spotted us,” Merek said. “They know we have the Harp, which makes us the most valuable targets at this sanctuary. If we leave, they will follow at a distance. When we land, we’ll be in the same circumstance. There are too many of them. They could take shifts, wear us out. If we have a card to play, now is the time.”
“What can we do?” Kendra asked.
“Seth,” Merek said. “It’s time.”
Seth nodded. “Kendra, I need the Harp.”
“Why?” Kendra asked.
“There is something I need to do while we can,” Seth said. “Before Celebrant or anyone else can do it.”
“What?” Kendra asked.
Seth held out a hand. “I’ll show you.”
Kendra gave her brother the Harp.
Seth accepted it. Men and women, all of them dragon avatars, were charging up the hill. Dozens more dragons converged from all directions. There was no other option. If they failed to act, they would lose the Harp, and Celebrant might figure out how to gain the Wizenstone.
Seth knelt and set the Unforgiving Blade against the first string of the Harp.
“What are you doing?” Kendra
