A Memory of Fire (The Dragon War, Book 3) by Daniel Arenson Page B

at length. "Some were born here upon the
island, but most remember the war. They remember thousands of
dragons burning their homes, killing their families, and toppling
their kingdom. They might not distinguish between the Resistance and
the Legions; both are beasts to them. Yet I will do my part to sway
them. I believe we should fight with Valien. I believe he is an
honorable man."
    Erry swallowed. "Maybe
I... maybe I can help sway them. Your people, that is. The Tirans
here." Her throat felt so tight, and her eyes dampened. When
she looked back up at Sila, her vision was blurred. "I can tell
them that not all Vir Requis are bad."
    He smiled. "What makes you
think they'd believe you and not me?"
    Now her tears did fall. She had
never told anyone here of her heritage—not Valien, not Kaelyn, and
certainly not Leresy. Yet now she blurted out the words, voice
choked.
    "I'm half Tiran." She
trembled. "I'm... I'm a bastard orphan. My mother was a Vir
Requis from Lynport, a town in southern Requiem. My father was a
sailor from Tiranor, though I never met him. I can shift into a
dragon like a Vir Requis; I got that from my mother. But... I'm
Tiran too." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm one of you, or at
least half of me is. I can tell the people. I can tell them that
Vir Requis and Tirans can work together. I'm living proof."
    Sila laughed softly, and Erry
sucked in her breath, sure that he was mocking her, but his smile was
kind.
    "There's no shame in mixed
blood," he said. "Do not cry, Erry. Did you know? After
the great Griffin War, a massacre a thousand years ago that left only
seven Vir Requis alive, Requiem's survivors mingled with the people
of Osanna and Tiranor. Most Vir Requis today carry some mixed
blood."
    Erry blinked at him, tears still
falling. "Really?"
    He nodded. "Many years
ago, there was a great queen in Requiem, Luna the Traveler of House
Aeternum. She visited Tiranor and appears in our lore. They say she
wed a Tiran prince, and that her children inherited the magic of
Requiem and became princes of your realm. Perhaps all Vir Requis
have some Tiran blood deep inside them. Be proud of it, child. You
are a noble daughter of starlight and of sand."
    She nodded, blinking her tears
away. That didn't sound too bad. A thought struck her, and she
reached under her shirt, slung her medallion off her neck, and held
it out.
    "This is my only memento
from my father," she said. "He was a Tiran sailor. He
gave this to my mother in Lynport twenty years ago. Sila, you
commanded a merchant fleet. Maybe you recognize this medallion?"
Her voice shook. "Maybe you knew my father?"
    His eyes narrowed and he took
the medallion from her palm. He examined it, turning it over and
over, and exhaled slowly. Old dreams seemed to dance in his eyes.
    "I know this medallion,"
he said.
    Erry trembled like the last leaf
on a tree. "Do you know who gave it to my mother?"
    He nodded, placed the medallion
back in her palm, and closed his hands around hers. He smiled again,
a soft, secret smile full of pain and memory.
    "Of course I do. I did."

 
 
TILLA

    "The moon is new," said
Shari. "The time for his torture has come."
    They stood in the Citadel's
courtyard, torchlight illuminating the falling snow. The walls rose
all around them, lined with cells. From behind a hundred oaken
doors, prisoners howled, wept, screamed, and begged. Below Tilla's
feet, she could feel the cobblestones trembling; down in the dungeon,
racks turned, whips lashed, and flesh tore. The very stones of this
place shook with pain.
    Now that pain would tear through
the man she loved.
    Tilla looked up at the Red
Tower. It rose into the night, wreathed in snow, a bone rising from
a grave. In that tower he waited, chained, foolish, still hoping he
could sway her to his cause. In that tower he would now scream.
    "I will begin with my
punisher," Shari said. "I will burn every inch of him.
His skin will crack and fall." She sucked in her breath.
"Every day I will introduce a new