16-1 • RAEHERYS

A FEW MOONS AGO, the mondras who survived the war, had told the story of how they crushed Ormir to the ground, led by Aravyr, his mad brother. They swarmed in strong numbers, hundreds and hundreds of them … bringing light amidst the night heavens with dragonfire. They burned everything in the fortress—the houses … the people … even the entire forest outside, surrounding the walls.

They had told the story of how Aravyr showed no mercy on the human lord of Ormir, pulverizing his head against the floor. Skull shattered and blood splashed, they had said. After the fall of the fortress, the dragons warred to the south, colliding with the combined forces of the dragon hunters and the empire army—only to fail and die in the end.

All of these poked in to Raeherys’ mind as he and Fetyr stood at the gateless entrance of Ormir. The iron portcullis had melted down from dragonfire, spread upon the dry road of the gatehouse. The White Fortress, the humans ha