The Hundred Dragons of Sumbral

And King Nariz entered the Shahness Pass with the full might of his army. Whereupon winged shapes, like unto birds, approached, but as they flew near, men saw that the greatest of the beasts was more than eight times the length of a horse. Thus came the hundred dragons of Sumbral to honor King Nariz and to fight alongside him. And such a gathering and such an honor had not been known in all the days of men.
 
Tahj, crown prince of Sumbral,
rode, silent, filled with doubt,
beside his father, King Vihaz,
as they entered the Shahness Pass.
 
Vihaz wore a golden winged crown
set with diamonds and rubies,
his horse arrayed in silver,
his armor burnished bright.
 
Behind them came the lesser princes,
captains, heralds, horse, foot soldiers,
workmen, attendants, pack animals,
and camp followers of Vihaz's army.
 
Tahj scowled up at the mountains.
The way was steep, but Vihaz
had severed the tongue of a captain
who suggested another route.
 
A man of honor must honor his father,
but Tahj had been humiliated
when Vihaz grasped openly
at the soothsayer's prophecy:
 
If you lead your army
into the Shahness Mountains,
the hundred dragons of Sumbral
will fly to meet you.
 
Unbalanced by hatred of Xau,
Tahj's father now mistook himself
for a second King Nariz.
Should Tahj therefore challenge him?
 
As Tahj, doubting thus, looked up
at the mountains, he beheld dark specks
shifting against the blue-white peaks.
The army stopped. Tahj stopped.
 
The dark specks flew toward them,
their wings moving like hinges,
the largest of them greater by far
than any creature Tahj had known.
 
Ten, twenty, thirty winged beasts,
their color resolving from darkness
to deep wine-red, their scales agleam,
steam issuing from their nares.
 
One of the king's heralds
called out Vihaz's name,
once, twice, three times,
and the army shouted after him.
 
Tahj, silent, sat his horse
(the horse's flanks heaving
but the horse rooted in place),
as the soldiers shouted behind him.
 
Then neared the greatest beast.
Its shadow darkened the ground
below Tahj as its clawed foot
reached and seized Vihaz's crown.
 
The great dragon wheeled about,
the crown dangling in its claws,
as a second dragon, near as large
as the first, descended.
 
The second beast grabbed up
Vihaz's purple-and-gold banner
and, ripping it to shreds,
dropped the pieces to the ground.
 
So, at last, seeing the dragons
thus repudiate Vihaz,
doubt left Tahj and he cried out,
"I call challenge upon you, Father!"
 
At which the winged beasts
climbed the air and circled far above,
watching as Tahj dismounted
and as Vihaz dismounted also.
 
Then Tahj bowed to his father,
his sword still sheathed,
but Vihaz, who did not bow,
rushed upon his son.
 
And Tahj, hearing him come, 
flung himself to the ground,
rolled, drew his sword,
and smote his father.
 
Thus fell Vihaz, King of Sumbral,
and the herald called out,
"Vihaz is dead. All glory
to Tahj, King of Sumbral!"
 
And there before the eyes of men,
beneath the eye of the sun,
the greatest beast descended
clasping the golden winged crown.
 
Tahj stood, his sword dripping,
his hair flattened to his scalp
by the beat of the beast's wings,
his eyes fixed upon the crown.
 
But as he watched, the beast
crushed and crumpled the crown,
dropped the twisted mangled metal
on Vihaz's corpse, and flew away.

(First published in Star*Line)