Page 171

Just as my power reaches its absolute limit, a sound rises above the chaos. Not the terrible booming from above, not the shrieks of monsters or the clash of weapons, but something else entirely.

A song.

Clear and pure, a child’s voice lifts in melody.

Not the same melody Rose hummed to the hatchlings, but eerily similar to that lullaby of protection and love.

A fresh wave of terror raises the hairs on my arms.

How can Rose be here? She was supposed to be safe, far away from the arena. Inside the capital with the alicorns and the families and protected by the army in our desperate attempt to save the Tirenese people from total erasure. Ready to flee in case we fail.

When we fail.

The song grows louder, more confident. Stronger.

I turn, searching for its source, and spot Kin instead. The flame familiar is dancing through the air between the arena floor and stands.

The small flame expands, dividing into beams of light that extend outward like sun rays. The beams that split from the original spin on their own. A chain of glowing orbs spreads out, flanking Kin.

Within each one, a vision forms.

Scenes from across the kingdoms. Northern temples in Meridia, where priests stand with outstretched arms. Southern villages in Aclaris, where farmers pause in their fields. The capital of Tirene, where alicorns and dragons stand ready to fly. Glimpses of countless other kingdoms, other lands. And in each vision, voices join Rose’s song. First children, then adults, then entire communities raise their voices in harmony.

The wind sweeping through the arena carries the combined melody.

It smells of honeysuckle and wood fires and dying fir, scents of home and hearth and hope. The creatures falter, shrinking back from the musical wind as it swirls around us, bringing with it a strength I believed lost forever.

My fire flickers, then steadies, burning brighter as the wind caresses it. I feel Sterling’s presence again, faint but growing stronger. Our connection reestablishes itself as if nurtured by the song.

How? Why? What’s happening?

Then a screech splits the sky. High and piercing and somehow majestic.

From beyond the arena wall, bright flame erupts. Spots dance across my vision. Through the afterimage, a bird of inconceivable beauty comes into view, its wings trailing fire as it banks over the arena. Each feather shimmers with colors no painter could capture, its crest a crown of living flame.

A phoenix.

But they’re supposed to be gone.

I saw them in my vision in the Hidden Valley. Watched the story of the wounded princess who saved the phoenix chicks, whose blood and tears mingled with theirs, and who gained the gift of phoenix fire that also burns in my heart. Learned about my dragoncaller heritage, my ability to feel and share emotions with animals, and my healing tears.

But to meet a living phoenix, here, now…

Another joins it, slightly smaller but no less magnificent, its tail a comet-streak across the blue sky.

Their emotions drift over me. They’re not angry, not filled with rage. But they are determined, and they’re sad things had to happen like this.

Together, they plunge toward the battlefield, their blazing wings scattering the divine creatures like smoke before a storm. The monsters that try to stand against them are consumed by phoenix fire. Not just burned but unmade, as if their very essence is incompatible with the phoenixes’ flame.

At that, the remaining creatures flee through their portals, back to wherever they came from.

The crowd, which has been alternating between terrified screams and stunned silence, falls completely quiet. All eyes track the flaming birds as they wheel overhead. Even the dragons pause in their attacks, hovering respectfully as the phoenixes dance through the air.

I drop to my knees, my legs giving out as emotions overwhelm me.

My legacy. The dragons. And the phoenixes.

They’re so happy they were called back. That the song was finally sung again. They’ve been waiting.