Free Oathkeeper by J.F. Lewis Page B

explanation.
    â€œVery well, Jolsit,” the dragon rumbled. “I am told you need Jun’s fire for a lizard roast. Where do you want it?” Only mildly irked by Hydromancers spraying water on the trees around him, Coal paid attention as best he could. It was so much easier to see Aern. Their souls were bigger for one, and, up close, the fields that bound them to one another showed up quite well if he concentrated. Eldrennai were all so . . . small.
    â€œAs we speak,” Jolsit continued, “Aernese warsuits are driving the Zaur forces back through their tunnels. They will mass near here, and when the warsuits give the signal, my Geomancers will tear open the ground, exposing the central tunnel. That’s where you come in.”
    â€œYou want me to fly into a cave?”
    â€œNo, Mighty Coal,” Jolsit assured him. “All we want you to do is unleash your breath into the tunnels. Fill them with Jun’s wrath.”
    â€œI daresay it will be my wrath, not Jun’s, despite my occasional poetic license, but what of the warsuits?” Coal raised an eye ridge. “It is hard to melt metal wrought on the Life Forge, but I assure you my inferno is more than equal to the task even at the Third Breath.”
    â€œI’m told Bloodmane has taken that into account, Mighty Coal,” Jolsit told him.
    The knight’s demeanor before a dragon continued to impress the ancient wyrm. More water poured onto the nearby flames, as if his holocaust could be extinguished with such meager effort. If it had been any other Eldrennai, Coal might have remained silent, but the mixture of confidence and respect this Jolsit carried reminded the dragon of another . . . mortal.
    â€œTell your Hydromancers they ought not attempt to quell dragon fire with water. It is insulting! They would need ice, and even then it will not die out so close to me unless I should want to quell it, and such a quelling you would doubtless fail to survive yourself.
    â€œYou will lose three dragon lengths in all directions . . . one of your miles, I believe, before their spells will have any effect. Have them fly out half a dragon length farther than that, douse the woods with water, and freeze them. If your Geomancers cut firebreaks into the forest there too, you will stop the conflagration . . . with luck.”
    â€œThank you, Mighty Coal.” Jolsit flew clear to deliver the information. Of the assembled Eldrennai, fifteen of them flew off over the forest, the remaining twenty holding ranks in the air. In his youth, Coal would have vomited lava on the ground beneath their formation to put a little fear into them, but after having ignited a mage earlier, he contented himself with resting on the embers beneath him, soaking up the heat to fuel himself for the upcoming exertions. He realized abruptly that he did not actually need the rest, but a youthful body could not so quickly undo the instincts of an elder wyrm.
    Lulled into a light doze by the crackle and roar of the forest burning about him, Coal laid his head down amid the embers, blowing black smoke through his nostrils. Spires of ashes billowed into the sky. Wood smoke smelled so much nicer than sulfur. A half-seen figure moved near him in the haze, whispering.
    â€œBurn it,” the low voice insisted. “Burn it all! The rage will spur on the Eldrennai and harden the Vael. That is what would be the greatest help to the Aern.”
    Feigning sleep, Coal listened to the voice, letting his left eye slide open a bit so that he could barely see the armor-clad Eldrennai and its . . . crystal battle-axe? Accompanying the words, a low pressure set up in Coal’s sinuses. Dienox! Who else would try to force his will upon a dragon?
    â€œIf you give me a headache,” the dragon whipped its head up and around to face the god of war, “I will burn the skin from your back. No. No. Worse than that, I will pray to