Page 60 of Lady Dragon
I will answeryourimpertinence with death, the Queen Mother said, baring her teeth, her tail lashing once behind her.I will prove my strength, as I always have—or I won’t deserve to rule.She glanced over her wing at Kirek, as good as shoving her away with a look.Just as Kirek perhaps doesn’t. Only time will tell. And blood.
Kirek winced at the words—the invisible spear lodging deeper in her chest—and then she nearly started when she felt a small pressure on her leg. Samansa stood next to her, a hand on her scales. Willing her to stay back as well?
Kirek wanted to roar. She wanted to fight. She wanted blood. Maybe she even wanted to bleed herself for what she had wrought here.Shehad brought this challenge to her mother’s rule. She should be the one to meet it.
Maybe even to die for it. Certainly, her mother shouldn’t.
And yet, a small, snakelike voice whispered, slithering its way into her thoughts,if she dies, then that means sheistoo weak to rule. That’s how succession works among dragons. The old falling to the strong. To put an end to their reign with dignity, before it can rot.
But if there was a rot within her mother’s reign, it was Kirek. If only she could have cut herself out.
They never should have come to High Nest.
“Kirek, it will be all right. Right?” Samansa’s voice was small. “I’m here.”
Would that she weren’t. If the princess hadn’t intruded upon her life, none of this would be happening. But as quickly as the thought lashed Kirek, she felt the sting. Even now, after everything, she didn’t want to be separated from Samansa.
And if the Queen Mother won this battle, that would be exactly what would happen.
Kirek felt torn in half—she could not wish her mother’s reign to fail, even if it meant remaining with Samansa. Besides, if Pavak won, she would likely kill them both, after she killed the queen.
Let her try, Kirek thought with a snarl.
For now, it was her mother’s turn. And she hadn’t gained the title of Queen Mother for being weak, whatever doubts Pavak had hatched in High Nest.
The Queen Mother began circling. Both opponents’ eyes shone bright, the orange and silver flashing like firelight, as they prowled around each other, keeping to the edge of the platform. And then they stopped.
Kirek’s breath stopped with them. This was the coming of the storm, the silence before thunder split the sky, the stillness before the volcano’s eruption. Perhaps to Samansa, it looked as if nothing were happening, but to a dragon’s keen senses, the air was charged to bursting, the pressure nearly unbearable.
Something had to give. The combatants faced one another, perfectly motionless, as the gaseous fire around the platform set shadows and light dancing across the distant stone walls and in the eyes of the many watching. But Kirek felt it—every dragon did—as the world changed.
From peace to war.
Pavak launched herself without hesitation, forward and up,powerful wings beating in an arc over the Queen Mother, seeking immediate advantage from above, as if to prove all the circling was for naught.Beneathher, even. The pale dragon’s neck dropped just before her body did, her teeth flashing gold as she snapped at the queen, her tail lashing forward simultaneously to attack her flank. Pinning her down. It was fearless, aggressive, an opening salvo of supreme confidence. The same one that Kirek had, in fact, made against Branon in the tourney, in human form.
But the Queen Mother reacted as smoothly as silk against a sword, either anticipating this very move or possessing reflexes even faster than Kirek remembered. The queen flattened to the ground, wings whirring in a dark blur as she spun out from underneath Pavak’s snapping jaws. Her own neck shot out in a flicker, and her teeth clamped down on Pavak’s tail. She wrenched and heaved, muscles rippling through her dark shoulders, and Pavak shrieked in rage and pain as she was smashed to the ground on her back, her wings and legs thrashing frantically as she fought to right herself and keep the queen off her.
But the Queen Mother didn’t attempt to strike while her sister was down, even though every muscle in Kirek’s own body was screaming for her to do so. Her mother only drew back, sinuous, contained, wings arched behind her, watching like a bird of prey would a mouse.
I would not have you lose so soon, the queen said calmly.I want your shame to eat at you like acid against your scales, until I’ve dumped your body in the lava pits and the molten earth finishes what you’ve started.
Pavak raked at the stone and scrambled upright, hatred boiling off her in invisible waves.I’ll gut you for that, sister, andthrowyourbody outside for the vultures to eat what’s left of you.No cleansing fire for your bones. Only rot.
Youare the rot, and I will carve you out of here with tooth and claw, the Queen Mother replied.
Kirek wanted to cringe back at those words. Didn’t want to feel them in the pit of her stomach as if they were meant for her. But she couldn’t look away.
Because her mother darted forward, her body straightening like an arrow and her speed belying her bulk as she launched herself at her sister. Again Pavak leaped, and again her wings buffeted the hot air as she tried to gain the queen’s backside, but she was given no reprieve as she landed. The Queen Mother rounded on her and shot forward again, jaws flashing. Pavak tumbled back, snapping in return, both of them seeking an opening to the other, a weak point between rending teeth and armored scales. They moved as quickly as lightning strikes in a thunderhead, firelight igniting the battle lust in their eyes as they bit and parried, wings beating.
As fast as Pavak was, the Queen Mother was faster, Kirek realized with a hot swell of pride. She moved with an assurance born not of overzealous confidence, like her sister, but deep abiding experience and skill. She knew every strike to force Pavak back, her sister slowly losing ground toward the edge of the platform. Pavak didn’t let herself be pinned; instead, she roared in frustration and launched backward off the edge. Her outspread wings caught the hot air from the fires below and she rose up, and Kirek spotted the glow of flame gathering in her maw, ready to throw.
But the queen unleashed the dark span of her own wingsand took to the air with a powerful leap. Claws outstretched, they collided in midair, flailing and falling just long enough for the queen to rake three deep scratches across Pavak’s face, forcing her sister to swallow her fire and nearly taking her eye. They parted, wings beating with such strength that the flames below flickered and wind buffeted the sides of the cave. Then they rose again, ever higher, parting and clashing, seeking the advantage of height. The cavern was certainly big enough for aerial combat; Kirek had seen plenty of fights here that involved such. But most usually ended up on the platform—with one of the combatants a corpse.
Kirek’s breath caught once more as Pavak managed to shove the queen away, sending her tumbling through the air to slam into a colossal stalactite hanging at the very top of the cavern. In the gloom, the two of them could barely be seen, except for the flashes of scales and claws and teeth, and then sun-bright flame of more dragon fire from Pavak. She shot a deadly stream of scorching heat directly at the Queen Mother, who, unbalanced, scrabbled against the column of rock she had been thrown against.
Kirek roared in alarm just as the Queen Mother reacted at the last possible moment. She threw herself aside, letting flame wash against stone, and landed on another stalactite not far away, coiling against it as if it were a springboard. And then she uncurled her body with the grace and speed of a shadow and hurled herself at Pavak. They collided with teeth-jarring force, and plummeted toward the platform.
There was no recovering, no disengaging, as their wings tangled. Kirek couldn’t tear her eyes away, and beside her, Samansagasped aloud and covered her mouth in horror that echoed in Kirek’s bones. Down, down, the dragons’ bodies hurtled—until Pavak hit the stone with such violence that it cracked beneath her, and a wave of dust billowed out. Kirek felt the reverberation under her claws, strong enough to make Samansa stumble against her.
