Dragon Assassin 4 (Omnibus) by Slade Arthur

Author:Slade, Arthur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dava Enterprises
Published: 2020-12-24T00:00:00+00:00

3

The Burning

There was barely enough light to see detail: The giants were burning the dragons. They had piled every dead body on massive wooden pyres and lit fires of such heat that the dragons were being turned to ashes. I didn't want to count how many pyres there were. But each was a death. I was certain this burning was not a sign of respect toward the dead dragons, but another planned poke in the eye for dragonkind. Kon would never enter the Hall of Ancestors as a statue, for he was likely already ashes. Not one body of a dragon would be returned to his or her family to be honored in whatever funeral ceremonies the dragons followed. Instead, the dead would soon be swept away by the wind.

"So those are the giants," Thord said. "They don't look so big from this height."

"They are. Imagine each of those pyres is the size of a dragon."

"Oh," he said, then fell silent.

Several of the giants were pulling out old trees from the earth and adding them to the pyres. Others stood in front of the fires, staring into the flames. They had the same dull looks on their faces—they were not angry. Just doing the work they had been asked to do. No, commanded to do. More and more I wondered at what Zarek had done to control them. Or whether the giants were always so obedient. It was hard to imagine such large and powerful creatures being meek. Anyone of that size could easily get whatever they wanted.

"It truly was a massive battle," Thord said. "Your description was correct."

"It was a massacre." I scanned the ground and spotted Zarek himself standing on a stone and staring up at us. My dragon eye, once it focused in, saw that he smiled a big, pompous smile. He was looking directly back at me. "I don't know if you can see him, but that smaller, purple giant standing on a stone is Zarek, the leader."

"I see the stone," Thord said. "But I can only make out a purple blotch on top of it."

"He's grinning like a devil."

"You can see that clearly with your strange eye?" Thord asked. Then he coughed as if he were choking on his words. "I mean your amazing, dragon eye!"

"Yes," I replied, choosing to ignore the "strange" comment. "Yes, I can. It's very handy."

"My eyes have changed," he said. "I see much better at night, but during the day it's about the same as before. And the colors are slightly off."

We were a strange pair. And I wanted to laugh about it. But even at this height, laughing would turn to coughing because the smoke was in my lungs. I was breathing in the dead: Dragons I had known, who mostly hadn't liked me, but didn't deserve to die.

"That's interesting that your eyes have changed," I said. "Here's one more detail I can see: he is waving at us now."

Zarek had lifted a hand to wave as he continued to stare directly at me.

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