AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You, I suppose,” Wistala said.
“No, I’ve no ambition to sit atop Imperial Rock. The twins, SiHazathant and Regalia. They’re handsome, popular, and performed heroically during the Wheel of Fire attack. Best of all, they’re of Tyr FeHazathant’s blood. They’re consulting with Ibidio now on which Protectors are backing them. Most of them are.”
“Even Istach of Old Uldam?” the Copper asked.
“Yes.”
Well, it’s the smart move, the Copper thought. Istach would do the smart thing.
“What about you, brother?” the Copper asked AuRon.
His brother looked from the NiVom’s group of dragons to the Copper’s.
“To tell the truth,” AuRon said, “I’m indifferent to who sits on top of this dank rock. But I don’t care for how this is being done—threats of bloodshed, meetings in the dead of night, everyone waking to find a new Tyr in place. Even my barbarian tribal neighbors in the north would call it rotten. Suppose we gathered all the dragons of the Alliance and put it to them?”
“That sort of thing was tried before, in the age of Silver-high,” LaDibar said. “The dragons just selected whichever demagogue promised them the most coin for their gold-gizzards.”
“Most of the dragons in the Lavadome can’t be trusted with their own waste,” NoSohoth said. “It’s up to the leaders to decide, dragons with responsibility and foresight.”
“You, too, NoSohoth?” the Copper asked.
“I am not following one faction or the other, RuGaard. I’ve always served whomever is named Tyr, to the best of my ability.”
AuRon snorted, then ambled over to stand beside his sister, behind the Copper.
“I’m with you, my Tyr,” he said.
“We can’t do this again,” an elderly Wyrr leader behind NiVom said. “Civil war. I lived through one, just in my youth. Smashed eggs, bodies strewn across the hills, starvation. It’s horrible. Spare us that, RuGaard. You’ll be remembered as one of the great Tyrs who knew when to step aside.”
NiVom stepped forward. “It’s up to you, RuGaard.”
“Why are you pressing for this, NiVom? I thought you wanted to be Tyr.”
“We’ve worked out a new structure for the Dragon Empire. The Tyr is to remain in the Lavadome, the heart of the Empire. I’ll take charge of the Protectors in the Upper World. Right now the Protectors are badly coordinated, each is acting for his own interests and those of his lands, rather than for the Empire as a whole. That’s going to stop. I say again, what will it be? Civil war? You’ll have the weaker side.”
“I’ll have the Firemaids,” the Copper said. “Ayafeeia warned me of this plot.”
“The Aerial Host will side with the twins,” BaMelphistran said.
“Then there’s an alternative?”
“I’ll give you the same one you gave me, all those years ago. Flight. Leave the limits of the Dragon Empire and never return, or you’ll forfeit your life.”
“Then try to kill me and be done with it,” the Copper said. “I’m not leaving my dragons. I know there are some still loyal to me.”
“Not only will your life be forfeited, but so will your mate’s.”
“Nilrasha! She’s not a threat to anyone. She plays a part in no faction”
“Save your dwindling one.”
“I’ll stand by him.”
AuRon could never say why he spoke up thus. Years later, when asked, he simply replied that the words were out before he knew he had said them.
SiHazathant and Regalia entered the Audience Chamber from the Tyr’s door. A more perfectly matched set of dragons would be hard to imagine—their red and green became deeper and more brilliant the closer they stood.
“All hail, Tyr SiHazathant and Queen Regalia,” NoSohoth said.
