Myra watched on, squinting through the darkness in an attempt to see the assassins throughout Zerena. She wondered whether Nala's near-identical plan was underway yet.

"It's a good sign if you can't see them," Jasper reminded her. She grumbled something resembling I know.

The valkyries had never had assassins before. It was deemed ignoble. But in the past few years the rules had been bent and several of their warriors had learnt the tricks of the trade from Nala's own best. In some distant and perfect future where they had won this war, Myra resolved to train some assassins of her own alongside the warriors. Valkyries were so well suited to it that it seemed a crime to miss the opportunity. With their quick reflexes and sharp senses they seemed born for assassination. Not to mention some of the advantages their animal forms brought, what with the birds that could fly from building and building without ever bothering scaling walls.

"You're anxious for it to begin," he said.

"I'm more anxious for it to end." She replied. "I can't stand the anticipation. The waiting. I think it's the worst part."

"I used to watch you," Jasper said. "Every time you were fighting, I would scan the air for the sight of Caelia. That was the worst bit for me."

Myra read the hidden words in his sentence easily. Don't go. I can't bear it. Kestra can't bear it. Please, please don't go.

"I have to go, Jasper." She said. "They need me out there. I'm the only one who can actually fly."

"I know," he said sadly, turning to look at the black dome of sky. "I know." Myra felt a stab of guilt. She was a queen. A general. In whatever life they might be able to build if they ever won, she would still belong to her queendom, to war. Jasper and Kestra would never have her to themselves. This duty, this burden...Jasper didn't need it. Was it selfish of her, to put it on his shoulders?

"The dawn is coming," she said at last. The words seemed to mean more than a reference to time. "It is time." Jasper nodded, not tearing his eyes off the slowly lightening sky.

"Come back to me," he smiled, trying to make it sound like a joke. It wasn't. No, not at all.

Myra walked through the hidden camp and gripped Cerulean's reins. He was so much like his mother. Sometimes it comforted her, other times it hurt. She had never actually seen her wyvern die. Caelia had fought alone in the final battle in the Hawk Mountains. Myra wished she had been with her in those final moments. They had shared a bond—a deep and intrinsic friendship that came from wild moments in the sky and quiet times together lying on the stable floor, Myra absently running her hand over her wyvern's scales. They had been through the darkest corners of the earth and back by each other's side. They had flown into the jaws of death and crawled out as one. They had spent decades together, knowing their survival relied on one another. How much more can I lose? Myra wondered. How much more until it is at last enough?

Focus on the battle, she chided herself. You're not finished yet. You're not even on the last step.

As the slivers of an orange sun rose up and lit the sky, Myra's wyverns tore through the air. No illusions this time, no gryphons to accompany them.

Just the wind at their backs and fire blazing through their throats. They were nothing but a sudden gleam of sunlight on scales before they soared over the high walls of the city and headed straight for the chaotic centre, where the officials were waking up to find their superior's throats slit-or not waking up at all. A few arrows whizzed through the air, but they were unorganised and poorly aimed. The reborn Aerial Legion dodged them with ease, even though they had a mere few months' training.

The Legion flew, an unstoppable doom, across endless rows of poverty-stricken slums and makeshift houses. Myra kept her eyes glued to her target. She couldn't be distracted. She couldn't give into rage.

The wall defending the centre of the city was just another obstacle. Myra's wyverns soared over it and, letting out a triumphant cry, roared out flames to swallow the towers and war-rooms whole.

Only about twenty wyverns dove into the heart of the city to set it aflame The rest Myra kept outside, fanning the flames back behind the boundaries of the walls. The powerful, scaled wings of hundreds of wyverns created a whirlpool of flame, one great tornado of fiery destruction. The fire raged on throughout the vast control centre and barracks of a tenth of the soldiers defending Zerena. It was almost too bright for her eyes to handle, so Myra focused on the panicking soldiers below. Desperately, they tried to throw water and sand into the blaze, but it was useless. There was simply too much wyvernfire. A few panicked officials tried to escape the high walls through slowly opening gates, only to be greeted by wyverns and their equally terrifying riders. In mere minutes, Zerena's Command became a fiery cage, a firestorm the likes of which the world had never seen. Yet again, this war was proving to be one of fire—and shadow.

It took two hours for the flames to subside but far less than that for the people in the vast city to succumb to it. Valkyries looked on, caught between amazement and terror.

Myra and Cerulean parted from the ranks of wyverns and swooped down to meet the gathered valkyries. Normally they would be in the mines by now, but no one had been able to take them in the chaos of the attack. A few gasped and pointed as she came closer, finally able to recognise her face. The whispers spread through the crowd: Myra, Myra Isidore. The Dragon is here!

"People of Zerena," she called out to the gathering crowd. "Your Keeper Queen lives. Her name is Kestra Isidore." As though they had practiced it-and they had-a gorgeous golden gryphon landed on the roof, carrying Kestra. The valkyries gaped as she walked toward them, pulling back black hair to show a phoenix mark. "You are now free people!" Myra declared. "The mines nearby will be blocked off and no valkyrie will ever be forced to mine there as long as I draw breath. Zerena will only be the first of many. More will come. As we speak, our allies are taking back Topaz and Citrine. Soon we will march on the capital, Azul. We will need your help to take it. Today is the first step on our journey-we will take back our country now. No more desecration of the sacred mountains. No more mothers stolen from daughters. No more children forced to the mines. A Keeper Queen and a War Queen are here today to prove that there is hope. Miras still lives, and it is tired of cowering!" A cheer ran through the crowd. Myra climbed back onto Cerulean's back and allowed Kestra to finish her work. She turned towards the hill where Jasper waited. She had one more thing to do. Just one more. Then she would see him again.

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The guards watching over the gates had already fled, a nice surprise. It took little more than a few minutes to figure out how the new mechanism worked. With a satisfying screech, the gates pulled back and allowed a great hole in the wall for the remaining valkyries to come through.

There were still plenty of Kallians camped outside the city they had snuck past last night. About forty thousand of them, in fact. So when they came sniffing to find out what had happened...well, they'd find a city turned against them. As their warriors flooded through the gate, Myra allowed herself a little smile.

Oh, yes, the Empress' soldiers were in for a surprise.