The second roar rolled over the field before the first had faded. Men below looked upward despite the killing around them. Spears lowered, horses shied against their reins, and even the closest fighting seemed to lose its rhythm as every soldier tried to judge whether the approaching dragon carried rescue or ruin.
I searched the southern sky, expecting for one terrible moment to see Vhagar. The clouds beyond the battlefield shifted around a moving shape, but it was too small and too bright to be the old queen of dragons. Sunlight caught upon golden wings as the beast passed beneath a break in the grey. Pink membranes flashed between each powerful beat, followed by the hard gleam of scales polished by the sky.
Sunfyre had come, and Aegon rode him.
He flew directly toward Ormund’s host, descending with enough confidence to show that he believed the battle below would become his the moment dragonfire reached it. Sunfyre was young, swift, and beautiful in a way Dravvaxx had never been. The golden dragon moved like a blade thrown through sunlight, each wingbeat clean and powerful, his long body turning easily as he approached the smoke above Honeyholt.
Aegon sat in the saddle wearing bright armour that caught the sun almost as fiercely as his dragon’s scales. A dark cloak streamed behind him. From that distance, I could not see his face, yet I could imagine his expression well enough.
He had expected to save Ormund, perhaps after receiving a raven before our archers closed the sky or hearing from some messenger who had escaped the cordon. However the news had reached him, he had answered it personally.
That had been his mistake.
Sunfyre’s arrival sent a roar through Ormund’s army. The sound spread from the rear ranks toward the centre as men recognised the golden dragon. Hightower banners lifted, and soldiers who had been pushed backwards found enough courage to press again. The sight of their king above them promised fire, victory, and escape from the field that had already consumed so many.
Aegon turned Sunfyre toward our centre, but he never reached it.
Dravvaxx climbed beneath me with enough force to pull every strap tight against my body. Pain remained in his wounded wing, but the sight of another dragon had stripped away his hesitation. His answer to Sunfyre was not fear. It was outrage given form.
I leaned low over his neck. "Keep him away from the army. Do not allow him to choose the ground."
Dravvaxx roared as if the order had merely given words to what he already intended.
Aegon saw us and changed course immediately. Sunfyre abandoned his descent toward the Unsullied and climbed sharply, turning speed into height before Dravvaxx could come down upon him. Whatever else could be said of Aegon, he understood that ignoring the larger dragon would kill him before his fire reached the soldiers below.
He pulled Sunfyre into a wide eastern turn, and Dravvaxx followed.
The field fell away beneath us as both dragons climbed above the smoke of arrows and burning wagons. Sunfyre gained height more quickly. His younger wings were uninjured, his body lighter, and his turns carried less strain. Dravvaxx possessed greater power, but every hard movement reopened the pain along the torn membrane. Blood still marked the right wing, darkening the air in scattered drops whenever it stretched fully.
Aegon would have seen the injury. He would try to use it.
Sunfyre turned suddenly and crossed above us, his golden body nearly disappearing against the brighter clouds. Aegon wanted the sun at his back, forcing me to look into the glare while he attacked Dravvaxx’s weakened side.
I pulled Dravvaxx left just before Sunfyre folded his wings and descended. Gold fell from the sky.
Sunfyre opened his jaws, releasing a bright golden-orange stream of flame broad enough to fill the space between us. Dravvaxx rolled away, but his injured wing slowed the turn. Fire passed along his right side, striking scale instead of membrane, and the edge of the blast swept across me a heartbeat later.
I ducked against Dravvaxx’s neck as heat found every gap around my helm and collar. Pain flashed over my forehead and cheek. The smell of burned hair reached me before the full sting did. Part of my left eyebrow disappeared, while strands along my temple curled into ash beneath the rim of my helm. The flame had only brushed me rather than taken hold, but the warning was clear.
Sunfyre passed above, and Aegon looked back. Even through distance and smoke, I saw the movement of his head as he realised how close he had come.
He did not attack again immediately. Sunfyre climbed, using his speed to widen the distance before Dravvaxx could answer. Aegon was not trying to wrestle with the larger dragon or overpower him. He intended to strike, retreat, turn, and strike again until the wounded wing failed or a clean burst of flame reached me.
It was the sensible way to fight a stronger dragon. Dravvaxx hated it.
He pursued with long, punishing wingbeats, each one closing more distance than Sunfyre seemed to expect. The golden dragon remained faster through a turn, but Dravvaxx’s straight climb carried terrifying force. He drove upward through the wake of Sunfyre’s passage, jaws open and silver eyes fixed upon the moving gold above.
Aegon glanced back and pulled Sunfyre into another turn, tighter than the first and too sharp for Dravvaxx to follow without risking the damaged wing. Rather than force him through the same arc, I let Sunfyre cross our front and drove Dravvaxx downward.
Aegon had expected pursuit. He had not expected us to surrender height.
Sunfyre completed the turn and found empty air where Dravvaxx should have been. By the time Aegon looked below, we had already fallen beneath him.
"Now," I urged.
Dravvaxx twisted onto his back for the briefest moment, using the momentum of the dive rather than the strength of his injured wing. Sunfyre passed above with his pale belly exposed between golden limbs.
Dravvaxx breathed fire upward. Dark purple-black flame struck Sunfyre’s underside. The golden dragon shrieked and rolled away. His scales resisted the worst of it, but the heat blackened a trail along his belly and caught the edge of one hind leg. Aegon dragged him into a desperate climb, abandoning grace in favour of distance.
Dravvaxx righted himself as the battle continued below in a blurred struggle of banners and bodies. Ormund’s men had tried to advance again beneath the belief that Aegon would save them, but Black Rat’s centre still held. Landrey’s cavalry fought through smoke along the eastern flank. Without Sunfyre’s fire, the Hightower host remained trapped in the same grinding contest.
Aegon had come to change the battle beneath us. Instead, I had forced him into another.
Sunfyre circled high above the field, keeping his injured underside turned away from us. His flight remained strong. Dravvaxx’s fire had hurt him, but not enough to slow him greatly. Aegon leaned low in the saddle, likely checking the damage while searching for a new angle.
I reached toward my face. The left side of my hair had become brittle beneath the helm. My eyebrow felt raw, and the skin along my temple throbbed. My glove came away with ash but no serious blood. Pain could wait.
Aegon turned Sunfyre westward and began another approach. This time he descended toward the fighting, forcing me to choose whether to follow directly or allow him to loose flame into our ranks. He had recognised his advantage below. Dravvaxx might dominate him in close combat, but I could not let Sunfyre pass safely simply because the golden dragon was faster.
I drove Dravvaxx after him. The wounded wing beat unevenly, and Sunfyre began gaining distance.
Below, the Unsullied and Dread Legion were too tightly engaged with Ormund’s centre for Aegon to burn one army without striking the other. Instead, he angled toward Landrey’s cavalry, where the fighting had spread into smaller groups, and Hightower riders were beginning to yield ground.
He intended to burn our horsemen.
Dravvaxx could not catch him before the first pass, so I changed the pursuit. Rather than follow Sunfyre’s tail, I turned Dravvaxx toward the point beyond Landrey where Aegon would need to climb after releasing his flame. Aegon could strike the cavalry, but he would have to expose himself during the escape.
Sunfyre descended. Landrey’s riders noticed him too late. Horns sounded below as men scattered where they could. Horses bolted in every direction, some carrying riders while others dragged wounded men by reins tangled around arms and legs.
Sunfyre opened his jaws, but Dravvaxx’s roar crossed the field before the fire came.
Aegon looked upward and saw the dark dragon cutting across his intended escape. Sunfyre’s flame came late and short, striking open ground near the cavalry rather than sweeping through their formation. Several horses caught fire, and men nearby fell beneath the heat, but the greater slaughter was avoided.
Aegon pulled hard, forcing Sunfyre to turn away from Dravvaxx with barely enough room to clear his wings. They passed close enough for Dravvaxx to reach with one foreclaw. The talons struck Sunfyre across the chest.
Golden scales split beneath them. Four long wounds opened from the base of the neck toward the breast, spraying blood across Dravvaxx’s face and my armour. Sunfyre screamed and lashed out with his hind claws, catching Dravvaxx along the shoulder. Most of the scales held, but one talon found the softer joint beneath the wing.
Dravvaxx roared in pain.
The dragons separated violently, each thrown into a different turn by the impact. My saddle twisted beneath me, and one strap tightened across my thigh hard enough to bruise. For several terrible seconds, Dravvaxx’s injured wing folded uselessly against his side.
We dropped toward the field in a spiralling fall. I held the saddle grips rather than pulling at the reins, giving him room to recover. "Open the wing. You still have it, and you need to trust it."
The ground rushed closer. Dravvaxx forced the wounded wing outward. It caught the air unevenly but held, flattening our fall into a low and punishing glide above Ormund’s rear lines. Men scattered beneath us, though Dravvaxx had neither the angle nor the breath to burn them. Arrows rose in desperate volleys. Most passed behind, while several struck scale and fell away.
I looked back. Sunfyre had not fallen. The golden dragon climbed with blood running down his chest, bright against the gold before the wind carried it away. His movements had lost some of their effortless precision. Each deep breath opened the claw wounds again. Aegon remained mounted, though one shoulder sagged and his posture had become less certain after the collision. He had learned what closeness cost.
Dravvaxx climbed after him, slower now. Every wingbeat carried pain through the bond between us. The old tear had widened, while the wound near his shoulder bled freely. Yet his anger had grown with every injury, and anger gave him strength beyond prudence.
Sunfyre turned to meet us. Aegon had abandoned his attempt to intervene in the fighting below. He understood that turning his back again would give Dravvaxx another opportunity to close. Instead, he faced us directly, trusting Sunfyre’s speed to break away at the final moment.
Both dragons approached head-on. The distance narrowed with terrifying speed. Sunfyre breathed first. Golden flame filled the space between us. Dravvaxx answered with purple-black fire, and the two streams collided in a boiling storm of heat. The air between the dragons vanished into smoke and brightness. For an instant, I could see nothing beyond the flames rolling around Dravvaxx’s head.
Heat found me again. The remaining edge of my left eyebrow burned away. Hair beneath the front of my helm curled and smoked. My cheek felt blistered, and breathing filled my mouth with the taste of heated metal.
Dravvaxx continued forward. Aegon had expected him to turn aside. Sunfyre broke first. The golden dragon dropped beneath the joining flames and swept toward Dravvaxx’s right, attacking the wounded side again. He raked one claw along the injured wing as he passed.
Membrane tore. Dravvaxx twisted in agony, but his tail struck Sunfyre across the hindquarters with enough force to turn the smaller dragon sideways. Aegon was almost thrown from his saddle. He caught himself against the front grips while Sunfyre struggled to right his body.
Dravvaxx lunged. His jaws closed on empty air where Sunfyre’s wingtip had been a heartbeat earlier. Aegon forced Sunfyre into a dive, and I knew where he was going before he completed the turn. The forest.
If Sunfyre reached the canopy, Aegon could use the trees and smoke to break our sight, then climb elsewhere or escape south. Dravvaxx could not safely follow low over the hidden ground, even with the visible ballistas destroyed. Ormund might still have kept more beneath the trees. Aegon needed only a brief advantage to choose another fight.
I urged Dravvaxx downward.
Sunfyre was faster in descent. Gold pulled away from shadow, slipping through smoke from the burning wagons and ruined machines. The field beneath him was chaos, but men from both armies cleared from his path.
Dravvaxx could not catch him by following, so I turned toward the forest’s western edge. Aegon would avoid passing directly above Ormund’s densest formations and angle toward the opening beyond the watercourse, where the trees began, and the battle had drawn fewer archers.
Sunfyre changed course exactly as I expected. We were already moving to meet him. Aegon saw us and climbed rather than risk a second close pass near the ground. Sunfyre’s wings beat quickly, carrying him upward along the forest edge. Dravvaxx approached from the side, using weight and momentum rather than trying to match the climb.
Aegon released fire behind him. The blast swept across Dravvaxx’s face and neck. I threw myself flat against the saddle as the right side of my helm became almost too hot to bear. A portion of Dravvaxx’s neck scales blackened beneath the direct flame, and smoke rolled around us until Sunfyre disappeared from sight.
Dravvaxx flew through it. The golden dragon emerged only a short distance ahead. Too close to escape cleanly. Sunfyre turned and struck with both hind claws. One scraped Dravvaxx’s chest. The other caught beneath the jaw and drew a long line of dark blood. Dravvaxx drove into him regardless.
The collision sounded like a castle gate breaking. Both dragons locked together. Sunfyre clawed at Dravvaxx’s breast, reopening the scales there. Dravvaxx’s forelimbs wrapped around the smaller dragon’s body, talons digging into gold. Their wings struck one another wildly, each blow sending them turning through the air.
Aegon shouted something I could not hear and drew his sword as though steel might solve what dragon claws had begun. I reached toward mine, then stopped as the dragons rolled.
Sky and field exchanged places. The saddle straps tore at my legs. Aegon swung his blade once across the narrowing space between us, but the turn carried him too far away for the strike to reach. Sunfyre snapped at Dravvaxx’s face, his teeth scraping along the older dragon’s cheek.
Dravvaxx pulled him closer. Sunfyre breathed fire at point-blank range. The blast engulfed Dravvaxx’s head and rolled across me. I screamed and turned my face away as heat seared the exposed skin around my helm. The last unburned hair at my left temple vanished. My eyelashes curled. For one terrible instant, I thought the saddle cloth or the straps had caught fire.
Dravvaxx did not release him. He closed his eyes against the flame and tightened his claws. The dragons fell together. Their wings fought for purchase, colliding and tangling as the field rose beneath us. Sunfyre twisted with desperate speed, trying to turn his chest away from Dravvaxx’s talons.
The movement exposed his neck. Dravvaxx struck. His jaws closed around Sunfyre’s throat, and gold vanished between black teeth.
Aegon’s scream carried over the battlefield as Dravvaxx tightened his mouth around the golden dragon’s neck.