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“If we return to the surface, who will have the Lavadome?” CoTathanagar asked. “Will there be more than one Tyr? Who shall rule the individual hills?”
“I am not saying abandon the Lower World. We will keep the Lavadome a cradle for dragonkind. Perhaps newly mated dragons will return here always, to lay in peace and safety.” The Copper’s emotions had given him a tongue for words. Might as well use it to talk of a happy future instead of one of battle and sacrifice. “Years from now we will bring our hatchlings and they will hear the story of how we rose anew out of terror, out of murder, out of persecution.
“But without gaining security in the Upper World, there will be no existence in the Lower. Does anyone doubt this?”
If they did, they didn’t say so.
“So will we have peace or war with the Ghioz?” He looked down at the young Firemaiden at the front.
“You, you—”
“Takea,” Nilrasha supplied.
“Takea. What do you think the choice should be? Will you speak for the Firemaids?”
The drakka paled, and her tail twitched nervously as she found her voice. “I say they’ve not given us a choice.”
This one bears watching, the Copper thought.
“My thoughts exactly,” the Copper said. “What is our choice? Life at the pleasure of the Red Queen?”
“Settle it quickly, then. One strong blow,” HeBellereth said. “Unite the Aerial Host, the Drakwatch, the Firemaids and fly to Ghioz and lay waste to their capital.”
“No,” the Copper said. “The Queen tried to provoke us into exactly that move, I believe. They’ve made war against us at the edges of our empire, sapping our strength. I suggest we return their favor. We will attack them on the horsedowns and the savannahs. We will close mountain passes and rivers.”
The Copper sensed their growing excitement. NoSohoth moved to put more oliban on the braziers, but the Copper stilled him with a glance. Now was the time to channel their anger.
“Dragons of the Lavadome. When I became your Tyr I swore an oath to all of you. That we would live to see an awakening of dragonkind. There’s only one direction for dragons to go, and that is up. For years there’s been talk that one day, when we were strong enough, we’d return to the surface united and resolved to overcome any difficulty. I believe that time is now. Let us inaugurate a new age for dragons.”
He raised himself as high as he could, and spread his wings slightly so that all could see him.
“Will you follow me back to the surface?”
The Lavadome roared their assent.
“In the memory of our martyred hatchlings, let us strike.”
They liked the sound of that.
“In the memory of our fallen fighters, let us strike.”
They liked that even better. HeBellereth roared. Even little Takea hopped up and down, dodging waving necks and tails, growling.
“In the memory of our ancestors’ glory and in the hope of our hatchlings’ future—let us return! United we resolve. United we overcome. United we strike!”
They roared so as to shake the Lavadome. Even NoSohoth and the thralls joined the chorus.
BOOK THREE
Overcome
OH, BATTLE’S THE EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD. SMASH ’EM UP. THEN
SMASH ’EM SOME MORE, THEN STOMP WHAT’S LEFT. IT’S THE BEFORES
AND AFTERS WHAT CAUSE ALL THE TROUBLE.
—AuRye, grandsire to AuRon
