– Cowards! Traitors and scoundrels!Elder Valn shouted from the locked door of the temple – " Saving your own skins at the cost of the lives of others, isn't that what your abbots and ancestors taught you?"
– Accept your death with dignity, old man, " one of the priests replied through the locked door."Today, everyone is saving themselves as best they can.
– The gods will punish you for your treachery!Valn shouted furiously, abandoning all attempts to negotiate with the terrified monks.– The death of all these people will be on your conscience…
After taking a few steps down the stairs and leaving the pillared terrace, Valn looked around for his enemy. Growling fiercely, the old male flew down from the temple roof like a tornado, landing in the very center of the courtyard. This wyvern was three times the size of its own kind, larger and stronger than even the largest of its kind, an old man covered from muzzle to tail with scales that were horny like stone growths, which even a well-equipped warrior could not break through. With its wings, the lizard could take down a squad of heavy infantry, and with the spiked tip of its tail, it tore down walls and towers built of strong stone that were beyond the power of even a well-assembled battering ram. The monster's fangs and horns were as sharp as sharpened dwarven swords that could split heavy carapaces of black silver, and the monster wielded them as well as a swordsman wielded his blade.
– I'm not afraid of you winged serpent!Valn shouted as he lunged at the alpha male.
The beast snarled angrily and swung its long neck, waiting for the elf to reach a certain point. Waiting for the right moment, the lizard lowered its head to ground level and let out a deafening wail that made the Elder's ears bleed. Covering his ears with his hands, the priest fell to the ground, screaming in agony.
– Valn!Leta shouted as she ran up to the temple, sending a magical swirl through the wyvern.
Kicking up dust from the stone-paved square, the tornado summoned by the elf rushed at the monster, which did not frighten the dragon in any way. With a flutter of its wings, the old dragon dispelled a powerful spell and charged in mid-flight. The elf loomed in front of the lizard, running left and right to confuse the monster, but the wyvern was constantly spitting blobs of caustic acid, blocking Lethe's escape routes. When there was nowhere else to run, the woman stopped and wrapped herself in a barrier of winds that was supposed to protect her from the monster's venom, but the cunning lizard was no longer going to attack from a distance. The dragon took the elf down with a flutter of its broad wings, then launched a powerful charge at the immobilized opponent.
" Mother!Huona cried through her tears, having lost all hope of saving her mother.
The lizard lifted its head and opened its mouth wide, preparing for a final attack, but a deep, commanding voice came from the temple roof behind it:
–Incurventur ante dominum!– hearing these words, the lizard jumped away from the fallen elf and turned in the direction of the speaker.
On the roof of the temple, a tall sun elf with glittering scales on his hands was walking slowly down the tiles. The elf's broad-shouldered and slightly thin frame spoke of a strength and agility that the Dragon's Son had in common. The lizard obediently took off and hovered in the air near Trion, who was standing on the edge. Holding the dragon's mouth, the elf looked into the monster's small, pain-filled, bestial eyes, then carefully examined the wyvern. After a few seconds of thinking, he opened the monster's mouth and pulled out one of its fangs. The Wyvern howled in sharp pain, shaking its head, but quickly calmed down.
" Tu libero damnant te,"the elf said, stroking the dragon's face. The monster let out a booming roar as the other wyverns swarmed around the temple.
Trion leapt onto the dragon's back, holding on to the lizard's dorsal growths as he descended to the ground. Drawing a knife from its scabbard at his belt, the elf shone in the sunlight and plunged it between the scales into the old lizard's throat, which quickly killed the monster. After circling the dead leader's body, the rest of the wyverns immediately flew back to the mountains, leaving the Monastery grounds.
– Poor guy.Trion said sadly, stroking the dead wyvern – It didn't deserve to die like this…
–What happened to him?"Huona asked, coming up to her lover.
– Merciless monsters are responsible for his death, and they have doomed a harmless animal to suffer for a long time… " Tryon drawled slowly, not taking his eyes and hands off the dragon."There were runes etched on his fang, and someone cursed him for personal use. The crazed lizards attacked the Monastery, sweeping away everything in their path, just to get rid of the excruciating pain.The elf paused for a moment, taking his hand away from the dead monster and looking at Huona.– We need to find their nest, because there's something there that's driving this pack crazy."
The elf's amber eyes, like two shining suns, expressed all the sadness and pain he had absorbed in saving the wyvern from its torment. His bronze skin glistened like polished metal in the afternoon sun, and his tousled, slightly curly locks swayed in the light mountain wind. Running her hand over the elf's hundreds of lash-scarred back, Huona took his hand.
– His abusers will pay a huge price for what they did.The girl said, trying to calm Trion down a little.
" Yes, cor meum, you're right. Just as the priests who betrayed you paid for their cowardice.– hugging his beloved tightly and leaning on her shoulder with a slightly wet cheek from rolling down tears, the elf replied.
Leta and Valn watched from afar. No one was going to come any closer, knowing that only Huona could help Trion calm down. Most resolute of all was Zarri, who gradually approached her sister and her lover. The girl was genuinely surprised and moved by Trion's emotionality. The elf mourned the slain dragon as if it were a comrade or a close friend, which made those present wonder who the monster really was – a lizard that killed against its will, or its abuser, who brought the beast heavy torment.
–What happened to the cloistered monks?"Zarri asked as she approached the sun elf.
– They are waiting for their punishment.Trion said, taking Huona's hand and turning to Zarri, " The elder must pass judgment on the traitors.
– Are you sure they didn't run away?"Leta asked, putting her hand on the boy's shoulders as a sign of regret for his loss.
– Chained in a casemate, they can't escape anywhere. And those who were punished before their accomplices can no longer go anywhere.
– How many of the monks have already suffered retribution at your hands?Valn asked, trying to find out as much as possible about what had happened.
" Three. A traitor, a conspirator, and a coward. They were in league with the Templars. I could hear the guards whispering in dark corners at night, discussing their plot.Trion spoke in a prophetic manner, closing his eyes as he spoke.– To them, I am a deity who must be rescued from here, sacrificed to Eira in my glory, to raise the new Dragon of the Sun to greatness.
– It can't be… " said Valn, tossing and scratching his head.– The Dragon Cult couldn't get in here, we did everything we could to keep you safe here.
– But they didn't take into account that cult members can hide everywhere, " Trion said confidently and reproachfully.
– If this is the case, then you need to do something about it.Valn was lost in thought, but was interrupted by the sun elf.
– Just move on with your life. The cult's affairs are my own, and I will not allow them to harm anyone close to me. Not Huon, not Lethe, not Zarri.
