Free A Shard of Sun by Jess E. Owen Page A

king. With that thought and the sun shining on him and Hikaru’s gaze shining at him, he did feel like a prince, though his pride was far away. “Well, yes, that’s right. My pride.”
    “And you fight for truth.”
    Shard tilted his head. “Truth?”
    “Yes. You told me you hoped to find the truth of why the wyrms are angry and hateful, that you’ve argued for them. You fight for truth. I will, too.”
    “Oh, Hikaru. You’re brave. Your mother hoped you could bring peace and friendship to the Winderost wyrms, but it won’t be easy. They seem more interested in fighting and spreading fear, and we don’t know why.”
    “They’re angry,” Hikaru said. “I wish they would say why, instead of just attacking. But I will learn the truth, with you.”
    Shard picked at a bit of bone from the meal. “I’ll need all the help I can get. I tried to speak to them once, but they didn’t listen, or they didn’t understand.” The stormy night came back to him, the terror, the attacking wyrms and their pursuit of him all the way to the Dawn Spire.
    Hikaru’s tail coiled around Shard’s feet—to comfort Shard, or himself, Shard wasn’t sure. “They didn’t listen to me either,” the dragon murmured, “in the cavern.”
    “Well,” Shard said, ruffling off the memory of the battle. The last time he’d seen his uncle, his friends, and Brynja. “You might endure a battle yet. Aesir gryfons like battle. They win acclaim and honor, and titles.”
    Hikaru considered that. “I don’t want all that. I just want to be with you, and to help the wyrms find peace.” He lowered his head on level with Shard’s. “But I would fight for you, Shard.”
    Shard touched his beak to Hikaru’s nose. “I would fight for you, too.”
    It occurred to Shard he’d never sparred with the dragon or attempted to teach him anything about it. He made a plan to do so.
    Hikaru lifted his head, then stood and stretched his wings. After glancing at what was left of the deer carcass, scraps of hide and the bones sucked clean of their marrow, he looked at Shard. “What should we do with her?”
    Shard twitched his tail, surprised. “Do?”
    Hikaru hesitated. “Yes. It doesn’t feel right to eat of her flesh and then just leave her there.” His brows scrunched down, as if he was trying to remember something.
    “Oh.” Moved, Shard stood and looked down at the bones. “It’s all right. She’ll feed the crows and return to the earth in her own time. It is the way. In the Silver Isles, the Vanir leave their dead on the isle called Black Rock.”
    “I see.” Hikaru considered his own toes for a moment. “Do we return to the earth when we die?”
    “All flesh does. Our Voice sings on, in the winds, in the sky. Our spirit flies to the Sunlit Land of Tyr.”
    Hikaru sat back, considering the bones of the deer, then the clear circle of sky far above. “I don’t know if dragons go to the Sunlit Land.”
    Shard cocked his head. All spirits went to the Sunlit Land. It was a very strange thing to say. “What do you mean?”
    Hikaru folded his claws together. “I feel as if…well, I don’t know if I can explain. But I feel as if I’m remembering things from…from other times I’ve lived.” His large eyes focused on Shard. “I think dragons are born again, and again. I think our spirits dwell here forever.”
    Shard flexed his wings, and tilted his head, indicating that they should walk on, under the cover of trees. He didn’t know what to say at all, so he spoke carefully. “That could be, Hikaru. I know that dragons are different. Your blood is like fire. You…well, what kinds of things are you remembering?”
    Hikaru walked by his side, in graceful, undulating movement like a rising and falling wave. “Songs, mostly. Songs you didn’t teach me. Sometimes I remember other dragons, or things. I had a dream of a red stone gilded with bright gold.”
    Shard navigated a path through the damp ferns, shaking off the dew every few