Dragonforge by James Maxey Page A

turned them. Iron clattered on the stone floor as they pried the shackles loose, grunting with the effort—in the damp dungeon air, the shackles were already beginning to rust.
    Blasphet had been staked to the floor on his back. His limbs felt weak, nearly paralyzed, but through sheer will he rolled to his side. The earth-dragons helped him to his belly, then stood back as Blasphet rose on trembling, unsteady legs. He stretched his wings, shaking them, loosening the damp grime that coated them.
    As one, the earth-dragons knelt and lowered their tortoise-like heads until their brows touched the ground, their arms stretched before them in a position of prayer.
    “You’re humans, aren’t you?” Blasphet asked, his voice raspy. His throat felt sore and raw where the shackle had been. “The motions of your bodies betray you.”
    One guard rose, looking up at Blasphet with dark, cloudy eyes. Certainly, they looked liked earth-dragons, and smelled like them as well, but these eyes weren’t natural… they looked more like lifeless glass than a living organ of sight. The earth-dragon placed both hands upon his gray-green head, gave his skull a twist, and lifted it from his shoulders.
    A human’s head was revealed where the dragon’s head had been. It was a young woman, her head shaved, a black tattoo of a serpent coiling above her right eye, writhing across her scalp, then snaking down her neck and shoulder. The other earth-dragons stood and removed their heads as well. Ten women, all in their teens, all with shaved heads. Even their eyebrows were missing.
    “We are Sisters of the Serpent,” the first one said, bowing her head. She spoke in a soft, reverential tone. “We are your humble servants, O Murder God. I am Colobi, serpent of the first order. Our disguises were never meant to deceive you.”
    “Of course,” said Blasphet, flexing his fore-talons, feeling the blood flowing into them with a pleasant tingle. “What’s in the bundle?”
    “We knew you would be hungry for proper nourishment,” Colobi said. “We kidnapped Valandant, Kanst’s youngest.”
    Blasphet nodded, his eyes wide with admiration. Kanst was dead now, but he had been Blasphet’s cousin, so Valandant was his own kin, albeit somewhat removed. Kanst had also been commander of Albekizan’s armies. His widow and family would still be well-guarded. These Sisters of the Serpents were promising. It pleased him that his worshipers showed such initiative and competence.
    They carried the bundle forth. It struggled feebly. Valandant was only two years old, little bigger than the girls who carried him. Of all the dragon races, only sun-dragons formed family units. The death of a child this young, following so soon on the deaths of Kanst and Albekizan, would cause grief of unimaginable sharpness for all his family.
    The humans unrolled the canvas. The young dragon struggled but his wings were pinned behind his back by an iron ring that pierced the skin just inside the wrist joint at the fore-talons. His legs were tied together by a thick cord of hemp, and his snout was shut by a similar cord. Valandant whipped his tail around wildly, causing the humans to jump back.
    “Shhhhh,” Blasphet said, leaning over the frightened dragon. In the lamp light, Valandant’s red feather-scales glistened like blood. His wide eyes were damp with tears.
    Suddenly, thirst ripped Blasphet from snout to belly. He opened his jaws wide, took Valandant’s slender neck between his teeth, then clamped down, piercing it. Hot salty gushes spilled across his tongue. The fragrant iron-tinged tang of blood filled his nose. He grabbed the still struggling dragon and lifted him over his head, upending him like a jug of wine. He drank from the now limp body, blood dribbling down his neck and falling in hot drops upon his belly until his thirst was quenched.
    Blasphet tossed the emptied corpse aside. He rubbed in the blood that coated his scales with his fore-claws, luxuriating in