Jeid shifted. His dragon form, bulky and long, filled the chamber, pressing up against the walls. He shoved his snout out of the exit.

"Fire!" he shouted.

He roared his flames.

The jet blasted out into the canyon, crashed against the fallen boulders, and sprayed up like red waves. Through the blaze, Jeid saw Laira and Eranor breathing their own fire from their holes, adding their jets to his.

The canyon roared, a great oven.

Tribesmen screamed.

Rocs ignited and fell.

A man ran, a living torch, and collapsed.

When Jeid had to pause for breath and their flames lowered, he beheld a ruin. Melted flesh clung to stones. Arms twitched under the rubble. One man still lived, crawling across boulders; his legs were gone, ending with trailing stumps and jutting bones, and the skin on his face had peeled off. But more rocs and riders still lived. Dozens of wings beat above, and dozens of men cried out.

"Get down there!" Zerra was screaming. The voice came from the sky above the canyon; the chieftain had not yet dared enter the gauntlet. "I don't care how much fire they blow. Get down there and dig them out!"

Jeid found himself trembling again, his scales chinking. He ground his teeth. He dug his claws into the stone beneath him. That day returned to him, the day he still dreamed of: fleeing Oldforge with fire and blood, leaving his dead wife behind.

"Turn back, Zerra!" he shouted into the gorge. "Turn back and I will spare your life. This place is forbidden to you. Enter this canyon and it will be your tomb."

He heard his twin laughing outside. "It is you, my dear brother, who is buried now. It is you who lurks in your grave. Emerge to fight me or die like a coward. I care not." Zerra emitted a horrible laugh that sounded like snapping bones. "Men! Dig into these walls, shatter these stones, and slay the maggots in their holes."

More rocs screeched and descended. Jeid growled and blew his flames again.

LAIRA

 
LAIRA

Laira filled the cave, a golden dragon. She sneered, beat her wings against the ceiling, and blew more fire out into the canyon. She heard the tribesmen scream, and a smile twisted her jaw. Even in dragon form, that jaw was crooked, shoved to the side, a reminder of Zerra's cruelty.

You are out there, she thought, blasting her flame. The man who beat me, starved me, thrust into me in his bed. She roared as her flames crackled. Now I burn you. This ends here.

Across the canyon, she glimpsed Jeid blowing his flames too. The jet emerged from a hole no larger than his snout. Within the canyon, the enemies died. Fire blasted against the walls, showered up, and knocked rocs down. Screams echoed and ash rained.