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BOOK ONE

Faiths

“Intent and result are two allies who rarely meet”

—Aphorisraved on the south wall of the

Hypatian Directory

Chapter 1

The Copper dragon, Tyr of Worlds Upper and Lower, Exalted Protector of the Grand Alliance, tried not to show the pain

The velvet darkness of the warht have been that of suhted shore swirled with the balm of the shalloaters of the delta country to the south Heat rising fro creatures riding the wars and underbelly as he flew

He couldn’t reht for flying

Not that there was time to enjoy an idyll The moon had vanished below the horizon; it was ti to Sway-port, rocky fastness of the Pirate Lords on the Western Shores of the Inland Ocean The soft air, seeons into the sky to chase and turn and es bound for war

Healthy wings with intact joints, that is The Copper dragon’s pinioned right as held together by cable and gear, and tonight the contraption that allowed hifelled, with a battle to be fought

He’d been trying for the last hour not to think about the rising pain in his wing, but a raw nerve under torn flesh would not be ignored The pain was like an arrow tearing through his joint at each reverse of the wing The topstroke and bottoony, alike as twins

Having given up not thinking about the pain, he fell back to his second line of defense, as one of his captainsit, to keep his appearance to the other dragons in the flight line that of a Tyr eager for battle in the co red dawn

If the second line fell, he would just have to gri the pain but keeping his place at the point of the long arc of battle-arrayed dragons, forty-one veterans aloft They rode laden with fur-tufted soldiers with scriainst the wind and woolen scarves war their windburned noses A proud Tyr at the head of his warriors, he’d rather have his wing give out and spin to his death into the sea than take one of the easier positions behind

The throbbing ca joint, of course Severed by a vicious hu, he could only fly with the aid of an artificial joint his clever, dwarf-trained thrall Rayg had created Hearing of the long journey he proposed to undertake, Rayg had crafted him a new one So superior—thanks to the work of the best dwarfs n in execution that after a short test flight the Copper pronounced it a brilliant i’s na had a much more natural motion now He could fly farther with less effort