Prologue

Approximately seven hundred fifty years prior to the events in part 1:

Soatar surveyed the battlefield from the air as the sun was just rising over the valley. It's forests would be a dangerous place for his small army to fight, scattering them and making them vulnerable, so instead their lines would be drawn at the narrowest point in the rocky pass between the mountains, at the valley's border

A shiver ran through Soatar's mount, drawing his attention from the ground. "What is it?" he asked.

The dragon replied with a single word. "Phoenix," Firelight said.

Soatar scanned the horizon, but could see nothing in the glare of the rising sun. Still, he did not doubt that they were there.

"How many?"

"Four, at least," the dragon replied.

His knight nodded slightly as they hovered. A single phoenix would be devastating against unprotected ground troops. Even with the wizard present for the battle, they would be no match for four at once, and a lone dragon wouldn't be able to do much to sway the odds.

Phoenixes had been the dark knights answer to dragons; dragon-fire only made them stronger, and they could fight in the air as few creatures could. They had been made not to reproduce so that they could never compete with the dark knights after the war was over, and instead were created using certain summoning rituals or devices. In battle they could behave with swiftness, cunning, or intelligence, but were none the less mindless, genderless monsters.

With the war drawing to a close they became a certainty of battle; wherever a dragon could be spared for combat, a phoenix would be waiting.

Firelight maneuvered himself over the lines of soldiers, arcing into a slow curve above the columns. The young silver dragon was the last of his kind, protecting the last of the light knights.

Soatar knew that his soldiers were the best of the best; the unskilled had already fallen and the cowards had long since left to join the ranks of the enemy.

Visible waves of restlessness passed through the formations as fiery specks began to appear on the horizon. They looked to be about a quarter day's march from Soatar's position, meaning with the wind at their backs the phoenixes would be on top of them in minutes. That meant the ground forces for the enemy must be there already, hidden somewhere in the forests of the valley.

Centered over the first line Firelight hovered, waiting as the phoenixes drew closer. As the minutes passed the sun rose far enough to unmask their formation.

"Six total," Soatar counted. "They're not taking any chances."

"This is it," Firelight lamented softly.

"Make this a fight they'll remember us by."

"No," the dragon said, "leave none alive to forget."

Soatar's senses began to buzz warmly as Firelight began drawing energy around them, focusing it into a network of strong, protective lines. Undoubtedly the phoenixes were doing something similar. Any magic Soatar could perform would be insignificant next to the power of these creatures. The only thing to be done was to wait.

"Faster, faster," it though, though even in its mind it had no words. "Pull more air past you; force it to get out of your way." The phoenix could see the dragon ahead, hovering motionless as it streaked closer. It wanted to reach the dragon first, to kill it before any of the others could even reach the battle. It wanted glory. No, recognition; it wanted to be the champion of the battle. No, it wanted something for which it had no word, having no language to speak in at all. It wanted a name.

The rising sun turned the dragon into a blinding glare, but the phoenix could stare at the sun itself and point out its features. Through the myriad of mirrored scales the dragon's shape began to take form as the phoenix bolted towards him. There was glint on the shining beast's back that should not have been there, and the dragon made no move as if to defend itself.

The phoenix noticed this, but had no time to think about it. The edges of its vision told it the others were close. Hesitation would allow them to catch up, and it would not reach the dragon first.

In the next split second the phoenix reached dragon, who wasn't even in a stance to receive an attack. The kill would be too easy.

The extra reflection on the dragon manifested itself as the point of a lance. The phoenix didn't even have time to realize what this meant

With the slightest of drops Firelight unblocked the lance while Soatar leveled it onto its target. The lance shattered to the hilt as the phoenix's own momentum buried the shaft in its body.

Firelight wheeled into a dive with the new momentum and dropped below the second phoenix's attack. The first one fell to the ground, crashing into the lines of soldiers beneath them.

They leveled out low to the ground, rushing forward towards the enemy formation. Soatar unfastened the now-useless lance from the dragon-saddle and threw it to the side before drawing his sword.

The phoenixes' single-mindedness would allow them to pursue only the dragon, meaning the ground troops would be safe from them as long as Firelight lived. The dragon would have liked to force the phoenixes to fight above their own soldiers, but knew it would be suicide to make an attempt on the remaining five without the wizard Aleavnar supporting him from the ground.

Firelight banked hard left as they entered no-man's land, throwing a blast of flames at the enemy lines to his right. The first phalanx raised their shields in terror, only to have them melt and collapse above them.

The next phoenix ran into the dragon/rider pair from the right, crashing into Firelight's magical barriers. Its talons locked in the invisible web of protective rings, but the force of the blow caught Soatar unaware, throwing him to the ground in front of his soldiers.

Firelight spun the phoenix with its own momentum and released it, throwing it into the enemy's own columns. The rings of energy around him strained from the force, and a few of them cracked and dissipated.

The next two were on him before he could regain his balance, with the one he had encountered earlier returning from behind as well. "No time to even breathe," thought Firelight.

Now that he was riderless, the dragon gave himself full freedom of motion. Rather than correct his balance, Firelight rolled with his momentum, bringing his four sets of claws to bear on the approaching phoenix. Its outstretched talons stopped short as the dragon caught the body of the firebird in his own claws, before twisting the phoenix into the path of the second.

The second collided with Firelight's living shield before it could stop its own attack, claws becoming tangled in the smoldering flesh of its own ally.

There was nothing Firelight could do but leave the third and final phoenix behind him, and hope his spines and protection spells would keep its talons from his exposed back. He and the phoenix both knew that the dragon's neck and flanks were exposed in an awkwardly position.

A blast of ice shot over Firelight's shoulder, connecting with the firebird behind before it ever approached him. It screeched in pain as it faded back in the air, recovering. He would owe one to Aleavnar if they both survived the fight.

The second phoenix ripped its claws from its friend and took to the air, as the dragon began to fall. The dieing bird in Firelight's grasp had his forelegs in a death grip, intending to anchor the dragon to the ground where the others could immobilize him. "You want the ground?" Firelight thought, "You've got it." Then he tucked his wings.

Before impact he loosed his wings to slow the fall, putting the phoenix between him and the ground. The phoenix took the impact for the both of them. Firelight could feel the phoenix crack in several places on impact.

With the firebird's wings pinned beneath his hind legs and its head locked into place with his left fore-talons, Firelight focused the four points of his right claws together, and without pausing buried them into the phoenix's throat.

Soatar groaned before opening his eyes. "At least it wasn't as long a fall as the last time," he thought.

A dwarf stood above him, hand extended. "The idea," Vrash said as he helped the knight to his feet, "is to stay on the dragon."

"I suppose I'll be guarding your back for the battle then," he responded.

The dwarf looked a little glum. "I'd rather have the wizard."

"He's on dragon detail for this one."

With an explosive impact, Firelight and the phoenix crashed into the ground not a hundred yards away. Ash and magma flew into the air as the dragon stabbed its throat.

"Speaking of the devil," Vrash muttered.

"He's going to drop one of those things on top of us," Soatar said. "Firelight, go!" he shouted. The dragon raised his head at the knight, confused. "Lead them away from the soldiers!"

Firelight looked over his shoulder. One phoenix was taking flight again from the center of the opposing army, another had just recovered from an icy blast, a third was banking around for another attack, and the final just arriving on the battlefield. Without pausing to acknowledge the command, he took to the air.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Vrash asked.

"No," Soatar responded. "What other choice do we have?"

Firelight shot over Soatar's army and into the canyons behind it. He had grown up in these mountains, much more than a phoenix could say. A phoenix never "grew" anywhere. It just spawned. There were caves amongst the cliffs and rivers of the valley that Firelight new well. The phoenixes were smaller and more maneuverable, but they wouldn't know what to expect.

Still frustrated that it had missed the first pass, the nearest phoenix followed as the dragon flew away from the battlefield towards the stone walls of the mountainside. The others were still recovering or arriving; the phoenix knew it had the closest shot at their prey, and so it shot itself forward as fast as its wings would allow. For a moment it thought the dragon intended to collide with the cliffs, but instead its prey simply disappeared into the side of the mountain. Seconds behind the phoenix followed, and found itself within the confines of an enormous network of stone pillars and caverns. The phoenix's heart raced when it realized the dragon's mistake; in a space as confined as the caves its advantages over the dragon would increase tenfold.

Arcing close enough to the pillars and stalactites that it could feel them brush its back as it flew by, the phoenix quickly closed the gap to the dragon, who needed far more space to curve around each obstacle. Before long it was above and nearly on top of its target, talons reaching for the thick silvery membranes of the other's wings.

Without warning the dragon turned upward, forcing the phoenix to rise as well. The phoenix could sense something had gone wrong, but didn't have a chance to react before it inched just high enough that the delicate spikes on the ceiling caught and shredded into its back like barbed wire.

Only one phoenix made it past the debris that began to fall as the leading firebird crashed from the ceiling into spikes growing from the cavern floor. The other two would be forced to either turn back or wait for the roof to stop caving in on them. One, however, had managed to pass underneath.

At first Firelight assumed that, at least for now, he was out of the other phoenixes' reach. The stabbing pain to his right side quickly corrected him.

The dragon snapped into a quick roll, bringing the pair dangerously close to the cavern floor, but couldn't shake the phoenix from him. It had dug it's talons into the gaps in his scales and was now slowly clawing it's way forward, inching itself closer to the dragons unprotected throat. With reckless abandon the dragon surged forward even faster, towards the sound of rushing water that was fast approaching.

Firelight sharply twisted, throwing the phoenix's balance one last time as he rounded the corner. The phoenix knew how close success was, and was certain it had finally bested its prey.

Then the dragon flew out of the cave and strait into the waterfall, dragging the firebird with it.

Firelight could feel himself falling sharply as the water fell on top of him, but he was out the other side of the rushing torrent soon enough. The phoenix smoldered and fell as its wings failed, and the dragon was unable to tell if the hissing it made was intentional or the result of the meeting of fire and water. A trail of smoke and debris marked the trail of its fall, arcing into the mist above the lake at the waterfall's end.

The next phoenix was already on top of him before he could recover from the vertigo of the sudden drop. It had been waiting above the falls for the pair to emerge, and didn't give the dragon a chance to react before it dove.

Firelight caught the attack from the corner of his eye, moments before his enemy reached him. He tried to roll out of the way, but wasn't fast enough; the outstretched claws of the phoenix raked down the unarmored membrane of his right wing and caught there, locking it to his back. The pain shot up his spine and he began to drop, doing what was possible to slow the fall with his other wing.

The sense of victory quickly faded from the phoenix as it realized what was about to happen next; it's claws were entangled with the dragon's wing, dragging it down, and the only thing beneath them was the shimmering expanse of the lake below.

Frantically it further shredded the dragon's wing, trying to free itself from the fall. The dragon roared deafeningly at the pain, and then proceeded to execute the only option available to him; he tucked his wings, painfully gripping the other's talons between their ribs, and rolled into a dive.

The impact knocked the wind out of the dragon as he fell deep into the lake. The phoenix's struggling slowly ceased, as the water took hold to dissolve its body into nothing more than ash, sand, and salt.

Firelight struggled to catch its breath as he pulled himself to shore, though he knew there was no time to do so. Lines of watery blood ran down the side where the fourth phoenix had grappled with him, and the shredded remains of his right wing hung painfully and bled of their own accord. Firelight didn't give himself time to feel his injuries, however. There was still one phoenix left.

The final phoenix slowly circled the injured dragon, biding his time and waiting for an opening. Firelight regretted that he couldn't use the lake to his advantage one last time, but knew that in his current state he'd be more likely to drown himself than destroy his opponent.

Quickly the phoenix lost its patience and dove, hoping to catch his pray off guard. The dragon rolled onto its back, all four sets of talons meeting the firebird at once. With the phoenix's own momentum his fore-talons tore deep into its body, and with his hind legs he kicked it back into the air before it's talons could so much as scratch him. He regretted the role immediately, however, as the mud of the lake's edge was rubbed into his torn wing.

The phoenix screech in pain at its prey as magma rose to fill its wounds, reeking of sulfur.

Instead of striking again, it took a different approach and landed on the beach, twenty-or-so meters away. Firelight's heart sank, and with what little strength was left to him, he began to fight off the enchantments as best he could.

The phoenix watched expectantly as it worked, relentlessly throwing invisible chain after chain to the dragon, slowly dragging him down. Firelight fought as best he could, but he was exhausted already and there was little more he could do against the phoenix's magic.

Finally he could barely breathe, and he allowed himself to collapse onto his left side to keep his torn wing off the ground. The phoenix happily approached, hissing taunts as he went. Firelight remained still, fighting to remain conscious. The phoenix stopped in front of him, eyeing the dragon's unscarred neck and clicking its razor-sharp beak expectantly. Then it struck at his throat.

With an unexpected jolt its entire motion halted, beak still centimeters from its target. The phoenix blinked several times, wondering what had gone wrong, when it realized it could no longer breathe. Quickly it scratched at its own throat, only to find a dragon's tail spike buried in its neck.

The phoenix tried to let out a screech of surprise and anger, but the spike in its throat prevented it. The dragon was so close, and yet it had failed. Darkness took the phoenix as its flames sputtered, and it began to crumble into embers.

Firelight dropped his tail back into the mud with an audible thump. With what was left of his will he fought the magical chains binding him to the ground, conscious of the fact that if they couldn't be dealt with they would either suffocate him under their weight or drag him beneath the mud to drown. But he had no strength left, and the chains wouldn't budge.

The telltale sound of metal on metal prompted Firelight to look around; there was a knight near by. Not just a knight, he realized as the figure caught in his vision. A general

"Six phoenixes in one battle," the knight said. "They will write stories about you." Firelight only hissed violently in response. The knight drew his broadsword from its sheath with an apologetic glance. It was an ancient, like the sword Soatar wore, capable of cutting through stone, armor, and other swords alike. The knight took one last long glance at the face of the dragon as he held the sword. "You were a magnificent animal," he told the dragon, then looked away for a moment. "I'm sorry for what must be done, old friend."

With all his strength the dragon struck out, struggling against the bonds that held him. But there was no strength left to give.

The general surveyed the aftermath of the battle. Bodies were buried, wounded were attended too, weapons and armor were gathered into piles, but the knight's focus was on the smoldering pile of ash and debris before him, the charred and shattered shaft of a lance still burning in the phoenix's chest.

"That was my favorite Phoenix," he told his squire. The phoenix may have been only a tool, but it had been a loyal and enthusiastic one. It was a disappointment to see it there, slowly dissolving itself into nothing more than ash, sand, and salt.

"Make certain someone destroys the dragon's body," he turned to his squire, and then motioned towards the downed phoenix. "Bring me its heart," he said in a low tone. "Wrap it carefully and be sure it is seen by no one."

The boy looked up then. He knew that what his master was asking was dangerous, against the rules; all artifacts of the mythic creatures were meant to be destroyed. If he or the knight mentioned the phoenix's heart to anyone, it could get them both killed. He did not question the general's judgment, however, but ran off to complete his tasks.