Page 417 of Of Empires and Dust
Hundreds of wyverns alighted on the walls and patches of rock, their wings painted with streaks of orange and white. Alina’s Wyndarii had secured the air.
The air hung thick with palpable tension, all eyes staring at the wyverns.
One by one, the defenders of Achyron’s Keep dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, the sound of clinking ordo shields ringing out through the yard.
A Lorian mage opened himself to the Spark, but before he could release anything, Mera and Audin launched themselves from atop the ramparts of the outer wall and the wyvern clamped its jaws around the mage’s head.
Audin tore the man’s head and neck from his body, crunched on his skull, then spat the remnants onto the ground and roared.
Any Lorians or Koraklons who had remained standing dropped to their knees.
A chill swept through Dayne, setting his hairs on end, his legs giving way beneath him, his knees cracking off the stone.
Both Dinekes and Iloen grabbed at his shoulders.
“Andurios?” Dinekes looked him over. “Where are you hurt?”
Dayne’s entire body ached and groaned, and scabs opened, blood trailing from a hundred cuts. Tears rolled from his eyes. Almost fourteen years since his parents had died. Years spent in exile, spent wandering and hoping.
He shook his head, wiping away the tears, fires blazing around him. “We’re free. We’re free.”
Alina stoodby Rynvar’s side after the battle had calmed and the Keep’s defenders had laid down their weapons.
Verma Tallisair stood beneath the wyvern’s wing, doing all she could to mend the damage. Though she had warned Alina that Rynvar might never take to the sky again.
“You will always be by my side,” Alina whispered, resting a hand on Rynvar’s scales.
After a few moments, she turned and looked out over the aftermath of the fighting. Flames still raged on the walls and all about the yard, illuminating bodies everywhere.
“How is he?” Savrin asked, blood covering every inch of the man’s armour.
Alina didn’t answer with words. She had no words. It was her task to protect Rynvar as much as it was his to protect her. She had failed in that task. “Saralis and Ravan,” Alina said, changing the topic. “Any others?”
“Baris took a spear to the neck near the end.”
“They fought like gods,” Alina said, slowly walking past Savrin.
“That they did, Your Grace.”
“As did you, Savrin.” Alina paused and looked into the man’s eyes. “You earned that armour, and you earned your place amongst the heroes of Valtara. You are everything my father always said you were.”
“I am a shadow, Your Grace.”
“We are not our mistakes, Savrin. Not entirely. I am honoured to have you at my side.”
“The honour is mine and mine alone.” Savrin looked at something behind her. “And it is a privilege to stand here to see that.”
Alina followed Savrin’s gaze up towards the gates to the inner city. Audin was perched upon a high tower, his red scales gleaming. And on that tower two banners flapped in the wind. One bore the wyvern of House Ateres marked in orange on a white field. The other held two black wyverns coiled around a white spear on an orange field. The emblem of a free Valtara.
“The wyverns of Valtara fly again,” Savrin whispered, pressing a closed fist to his chest.
A shout rose behind Alina. “My queen!”
She turned to see a man pointing towards the inner gates.
Dayne walked towards her, battered and bloody. He stumbled, cradling someone in his arms. Belina was at his side, leading a young child with one hand, the other arm held tight to her abdomen.
Alina walked slowly towards her brother, slower with every step as she realised who he held.
