Page 162 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

Overhead, the young, wild dragons circled and screamed, calling for Carnage, who attempted once more to rise. But his tail didn’t work, and his wings were broken, along with at least one of his legs. His eyes were whitened, burned to blindness.

He staggered, roared… then whipped his head towards Kgosi and opened his jaws wide, inhaling deeply.

I shouted a warning—certain he was about to flame my dragon, but Kgosi coughed a tiny dart of flame straight into his mouth. Carnage choked, froze, gave a terrible cough that seemed like he must vomit—but then his head snapped back… and detonated.

Kgosi had ignited Carnage’s own vapors within his throat.

The resulting explosion, from within, given all that fuel and only a dragon’s tender inner flesh as resistance, blew the dragon’s head off his neck.

Scales, skull, and blood rained over the hollow as Carnage’s massive body jolted, then slumped. His long neck swayed, then collapsed over his carcass’s weakly pedaling legs. One wing shivered and twitched… then all went still.

In the stunned silence that followed, Kgosi began to vocalize. Quietly, at first, but with increasing intensity.

Hengh… hengh… hengh-hengh-hengh…

A fathomless, bass rhythm that he called up from under the earth, that grew in volume until the ground under our feet hummed with it.

He was joined by more and more dragons—some sliding down the sides of the launch hollow, others appearing from the surrounding woods and landing nearby, until a dozen massive, male dragons made a circle around Carnage, opened their mouths, and poured flame on the body.

Weary, but swelled with strength, Kgosi lifted and turned his head, scanning the launch hollow, taking in the dragons overhead, and offered his voice to every witness.

‘Every soul present—both human and dragon—have my assurance… I stand as your Primarch, your leader, your defender. My weapon will never be used against any one of you unless you choose, as this dragon and his rider did, to use your Creator-given gifts against the minds and hearts of others. Then… then I will bring every ounce of strength and power available to me against you. And my conscience will remain clear before God.’

Shrieks and calls rippled through the night sky—the wild dragons reacting to Kgosi. But the Vosgaarde dragons raised their voices in song and cry, heralding their Primarch.

Kgosi ignored the adoration, but ruffled his wings—his shoulders hunched against pain. I prayed he’d heal quickly. He then turned to address only the dragons, though he let me hear him.

‘You, all of you, are mine if you wish to be. But know the humans are in upheaval and our roles in their lives may change. If you wish to leave this place, or choose not to submit, I will not pursue you. You are free. All of you.’

And then my dragon, my pompous, hilarious, wise dragon, fed every other dragonfury—including the wild ones—the picture of freedom. He showed them choices. Solitude when and as they wished, or unity to follow others. The option to eat or sleep, to move or stay… And if they stayed with him, they would remain free-willed, but be given a purpose that served the herd, and may align with the humans.

‘Follow your hearts,’ he urged them gently. ‘You are no longer slaves—and need never be again.’

And then, my dragon sighed. The heat rising from Carnage’s body increased as the other dragon’s sustained flames pierced his scales to ignite flesh and bone.

All of us who weren’t dragons, fell back. But Kgosi and the others continued to huff flame onto the body, until it collapsed… and finally, there was little more than a massive pile of smoldering ash.

The launch hollow was hazy with smoke and the aroma of burned meat when my dragon finally turned to face me. As others around him took flight once more, and the dragons above cried and called, Kgosi lumbered towards me.

‘Well done,’ I sent with a lump in my throat. ‘Though, you scared me. I thought I might lose you.’

‘I know,’ he replied simply. But then his head rose towards the palace and he stopped walking. He hadn’t broken our link though. ‘But now… it’s time for you to make your choice, Donavyn.’

I frowned, turning to find the queen—who looked pale even in the dim light of night—surrounded by lines of armed soldiers and guards and staring down at us from the edge of the launch hollow, one hand to her throat as if she feared Kgosi would come for her next.

53. Born to Rule

~ DONAVYN ~

After the noise of the dragon clashes and the rush of the events so far this night, the calm and quiet that descended on the launch hollow in that moment was eerie.

“General… I have reason to speak with you. Alone,” Diaan called down in a slightly shaken version of the imperious tone she used in front of commoners. I started towards her, but caught Bren’s hand as I moved, tugging her with me.

‘Donavyn, she said alone.’

‘I don’t give a shit,’ I returned frankly. After everything we’d been through, I still wasn’t sure Diaan could be trusted. And even if Bren was right about her, I wasn’t putting myself in her grip without Bren there to remind her where my true loyalties lay.

The queen’s lips thinned when she saw me pull Bren along. When we’d climbed up the slope of the launch hollow to where she stood, she raised her chin. “That was rather indiscreet, Donavyn,” she murmured, eyeing where I held Bren’s hand.