Sparrow Rising

by Jessica Khoury

  “So there you have it,” Nox said, giving a mocking bow. “That’s why I steal. For someone like me, there’s no other choice. When the rules are designed to break you, you have to break rules.”

  Ellie stared at him, and he hated the pity in her eyes. Nox’s blood simmered. Almost more than anything in the world, he hated being pitied.

  So what if the Crows were shattered? So what if he didn’t have the protection and support of a clan around him? From what he’d seen of clans, they were more trouble than they were help. Why else would Ellie have run away from hers? Why else would Twig have been abandoned as a baby just because his wings were two different colors? Even Gussie was on her own, despite the fact that her clan was one of the richest and most powerful in the world.

  Nox didn’t need some judgmental clan controlling him. He was better off alone, or with other outcasts like the Talon who treated him fairly no matter his roots.

  “Look,” he said, “I told you I’d get you to Thelantis, and I will. That is, if you’ll even stoop to still travel with the likes of us—what did you call us? Common burglars? Fine. But I don’t need lectures along the way.” And I don’t need your pity, he thought, but he bit his tongue.

  Ellie tightened her jaw, her face conflicted.

  “What makes you want to help me?” she demanded. “You know when I become a Goldwing, it’ll be my job to catch people like you.”

  “If you become a Goldwing.”

  Ellie’s face turned pink, and he could practically hear the angry replies gathering in her throat.

  “It’s not that I think you’ll lose the Race of Ascension,” he said quickly. “Actually, I’ve seen you fly, and I think you stand a pretty fair shot.”

  She glared at him.

  Nox knew he was wading into danger, but he wanted to see her squirm for a change. She wasn’t the only one who could stir up a fight. “The problem, Sparrow, is that they’ll never let you join the Goldwings, no matter how good you are.”

  The moment Ellie’s eyes began to wilt, he regretted how harshly he’d said it. But that didn’t mean he believed it any less. Maybe it was time someone told her the truth.

  “And I suppose,” she returned bitterly, “that next you’ll tell me your Lord of Thieves is the only truly honorable man in Thelantis.”

  “Actually, his word is worth ten Goldwings’, and that’s a fact. Sure, he’s a thief, but the Talon’s a straight talker. He’s famous for keeping his promises, both the good and bad. You might be scared featherless of him, but you can trust him.”

  If there was one thing Nox had learned of his leader, it was that. Besides, he’d never seen a Goldwing take the orphans and outcasts of Thelantis into their care the way the Talon did. So what if he asked for a few nicked coins in exchange? Nox owed the man everything, and the Talon had never played him dirty.

  “Look, I get it,” he said. “You’re a country kid who grew up on stories of the heroic Goldwings defending the Clandoms from monsters in the sky.” He nodded at her book, still open on her lap. “But trust me, they don’t want some low clan girl showing up their pedigreed kids in the Goldwing Academy. Even if you come in first place, they’ll find some way to disqualify you.”

  “But the rules say—”

  “Will you two cut it out?” said Gussie.

  “C’mon, Gus,” said Nox. “Back me up here. You’re a Falcon; you know how it is. Tell her that—”

  “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”

  Gussie pulled out her bag of bits and ends to begin tinkering, which was a sure sign she wouldn’t say anything more. Ellie, her wings bristling, went to sit by the mural of the happy people in their happy clouds, staring up at impossible pictures, dreaming impossible dreams. Twig, who was practically allergic to awkward conversations, had curled up to play with Lirri, ignoring everyone else. So Nox was left on his own to wonder why, after he’d spent his whole life learning to shrug off people’s bad opinions of him, some country Sparrow girl could so easily get under his skin.

  To Ellie’s dismay, the storm continued through the night, just as Gussie’s predicterator had, well, predicted. Twig was the only one to fall properly asleep, drool trickling from his mouth and three field mice curled between his collar and his neck. Lirri, his little horned weasel thing, perched atop his head and watched Ellie with unblinking eyes.

  “How does Twig sleep through that?” asked Ellie, flinching as another peal of thunder rocked the forest. The tower echoed with the rumbling sound.

  “Storms, rain, clouds—he doesn’t mind them a bit,” said Gussie. “But the minute you put him in a crowd of people, he can barely function.”

  Nox was pretending to sleep, but Ellie caught him with his eyes open more than once. He stared into the charcoals of the fire, his dark wings drawn up to his chin.

  Ellie couldn’t stop thinking about the shattered Crow clan. She’d never heard of such a thing before, not in stories or even in the gossip among the Sparrows. Perhaps it was too awful a thing to be spoken of, a secret everyone knew but didn’t share. After all, one’s clan was more than just family. The clan was home. The clan was safety. The clan was life. That was why she still dreamed of earning the Sparrows’ approval once she became a Goldwing. To live without a clan was like living without any limbs or senses, completely alone and cut off.

  She couldn’t help but think of Nox a little differently now. Sure, he was the stubbornest, smuggest jerk she’d ever met, and she almost wished she’d just left him in that sunflower field.

  But at the same time … could she really blame him for becoming a criminal when he didn’t have the kind of safety she did after losing her parents? Who was she to think she’d have ended up any different from him if Mother Rosemarie hadn’t been there to take care of her? If the other Sparrows hadn’t sheltered, protected, and loved her?

  It was all so confusing. She’d barely been gone from home two days, and already her head was turned inside out.

  When the storm finally cleared and the four of them crawled out of the tower, irritable and exhausted, Ellie realized she’d made up her mind.

  “I will go with you to Thelantis,” she declared, the first thing she’d said to Nox since their argument the night before. “You owe me that much anyway. And when we get there, you’ll see how wrong you are. The Goldwings will make me one of them, so long as I win the race.”

  He grinned. “And if I’m right, who knows? Maybe you’ll join my crew instead.”

  “Ha!” Ellie laughed. “Keep dreaming, Crow.”

  “If you two are done,” said Gussie dryly, “we should get moving. We’re not that far from the fortress, and those guards will be searching high and low for us.”

  Nox’s shoulder was starting to improve, so they moved at a faster pace than they had the day before. Ellie volunteered to scout ahead, so she wouldn’t have to talk to him.

  She liked stretching her wings and the challenge of flying over the twisting road, adjusting at the last moment to avoid crashing into a tree or a high bank. It was good training for the race to come.

  The Goldwings would see how strong and fast she was.

  They would admit her into their academy when she placed high enough in the race.

  They would do it because it had been a Goldwing herself who’d told Ellie, You can be anything.

  But for all that she believed these things, she still couldn’t get Nox’s words out of her head. They made her itch with anger. Why, after she’d been able to rise above every other doubtful comment made by everyone back home, did his words seem to burrow into her heart?

  Well, she hadn’t spent her whole life working toward this race just to have it all undone now by the cruel words of some thief.

  Ellie flew almost without thinking, her body reacting instinctively to the bends and rises in the road. She wasn’t paying much attention to anything outside her own thoughts, so she barely had time to hide when she caught a glimpse of travelers on the road ahead.

  Flaring he
r wings, Ellie changed direction, shooting upward into the treetops. In the canopy, she was almost invisible, and she could flit from branch to branch with barely a whisper. In this way, she crept up on the travelers, taking care to stick to the shadows so her own would not ripple over the ground, alerting them to her presence.

  In moments, the murmur of their voices hardened into individual words and speakers. She recognized them even before she saw their faces. There was no mistaking Zain’s booming laugh.

  Ellie’s stomach twisted.

  There he was, her former best friend, striding along with all the confidence and swagger he’d always had. On either side of him walked Tauna and Laida. Their parents strode ahead, with Mayor Davina, who held the halter of a pack donkey. Of course they wouldn’t be flying, not with the donkey to tow along, carrying camping gear and bags full of supplies.

  When Laida complained of a stone in her shoe, the company stopped while she unlaced her boot. Ellie took the chance to crouch on a high hickory branch, her tawny wings blending into the dappled treetops.

  “And then,” Zain was saying, “I grabbed that snake by its tail and swung it around like this!” He twirled, arm outstretched and fist clenched, as if gripping an imaginary serpent. “Everyone was screaming, but no one was screaming louder than me. When I let go, that snake must’ve sailed a mile! It’s probably still soaring!”

  “You’re such an idiot!” Tauna said, laughing as she playfully punched Zain’s shoulder.

  That punch landed right in Ellie’s gut. She’d been there that day, when they’d found the snake curled up on the town well. But she noticed Zain didn’t mention that.

  It was like he’d completely forgotten she existed … or was too ashamed of her to even say her name, not to his cool new high clan friends.

  “Eat up, kids!” Zain’s father said, tossing each of them an apple. “Got to keep up your strength for the big race.”

  “Last one to the core loses the Race of Ascension,” taunted Tauna, and all three began tearing into their apples with huge, wolfish bites.

  “Nonsense,” sniffed Mayor Davina. “There’s no reason all three of you shouldn’t make it. You’re the best of Linden, and the strongest contestants we’ve put forward in years.”

  Zain won the apple-eating contest, and triumphantly hurled the core into the bushes. Then, putting his arms around Tauna’s and Laida’s shoulders, he said, “We’ll make you proud, Mayor, just wait and see. We’re the Invincible Three, and this time three weeks from now, we’ll each have a Goldwing patch!”

  The Invincible Three. They already had a team name for themselves. They were acting like they’d been friends for years, when Ellie knew for a fact that Zain had thought Tauna was a snob. He barely even knew Laida. But apparently, their triumph two days ago had bonded them faster and more deeply than an entire childhood of adventures and fort building and racing over the fields had done for him and Ellie.

  And why shouldn’t it? she supposed. They were high clan kids. They belonged to a world she’d never been part of. Their parents were all here, shining with pride. The sun itself shone for them.

  It could have been me down there.

  Ellie couldn’t stop the poisonous thought from sidling through her mind.

  It had nearly been her, hadn’t it? If not for Ordo’s cowardly attack, if not for Nox calling for help in the sunflowers, Ellie would have won. She would have been one of the Invincible Three.

  Instead, she was on her own.

  But it didn’t have to stay that way. If she placed well in the Race of Ascension, she would finally stand side by side with these high clan kids as an equal. No longer a Sparrow who relied on others to protect her, but a warrior others called upon for protection.

  We’ll be the Fearless Four, she thought. And Zain will be my friend again.

  “Let’s keep moving,” said Mayor Davina. “We need to reach the next village by evening.”

  “You all go on,” said Zain. “I’ll catch up. Just gotta … step behind a tree real quick.”

  The group of Lindeners resumed walking, while Zain scurried urgently into the bushes.

  Sighing, Ellie figured she’d better fly back and alert Nox and the others about the travelers. The last thing she wanted was an accidental meeting between the thieves and the Lindeners.

  She started to turn back—only to see a shape hurtling toward her in a blur of wings, a bare blade flashing in the attacker’s hand.

  With a gasp, Ellie drew her own dagger, raising it in the nick of time to block the driving blade. The impact knocked her backward against the trunk of the tree, the attacker’s knife pressed against her own. Their sharp edges were just a hair’s breadth from her throat.

  “Zain!” she shouted. “Stop!

  The Hawk boy’s eyes widened, and then he hastily pulled back, lowering his knife. “Ellie? Ellie Meadows?”

  “What, three days passed and you’ve already forgotten what I look like, you featherbrain?”

  “I heard someone spying on us,” he said. “I thought you might be a thief.”

  Ellie winced at the word. “And if I had been, you’d have just cut my throat?”

  “What? No! Ellie, everyone back home is looking for you. Last I heard, Mother Rosemarie was vowing to clip your wings the moment she found you.”

  She sighed, slumping against the tree. “All the more reason not to go back.”

  “What are you doing out here, Ellie?”

  “I’m going to Thelantis, same as you. I found out they have this wild card option where …” She stopped as she saw his expression change. Not to surprise, as she’d expected—but to resignation. His eyes shut and he shook his head slowly.

  “You already knew about the wild card draw, didn’t you?” said Ellie quietly. “You knew I still had a chance, and you didn’t tell me. I had to hear it from—” She stopped herself just in time. “I thought we were friends, Zain. What happened?”

  If their positions had been reversed and it had been Ellie who’d won the Linden Trial, she’d have told Zain in a heartbeat about the wild card option. She’d have urged him to take it, so that they could win together. Become Goldwings together.

  Ellie felt like a fool for ever having trusted him.

  “We are friends,” said Zain. “That’s why I’m telling you to go home. Go now, before this gets any worse. Before Mother Rosemarie decides to ground you permanently, or worse—some gargol grabs you.”

  “I’m not going back,” she said.

  “You—argh!” He raised his hands, as if he wanted to shake her. “You’re a Sparrow, Ellie! Why can’t you just let us stronger clans protect you?”

  “Because they didn’t protect my parents!” Ellie shouted.

  Her words echoed through the forest, pushing outward like a shock wave. She clenched the tree trunk until the bark broke away in dark flakes.

  Zain lowered his eyes. “I know. I’m sorry. But—”

  “Do you think I want to be a Goldwing because I want to play dress-up in some armor? Well, you’re wrong. I want to be a Goldwing because there won’t always be some knight who randomly happens by at the right time. If my parents had known how to fight, maybe they’d still be alive. I’m so angry, Zain, that we have to live in a world that always tells us hide, run, be afraid. I’m sick of it—aren’t you? Why does it have to be like this? Why do they get to rule us?” She jabbed a finger at the sky, at every gargol who’d ever poked his stony snout from a cloud. “When do we get to fight back, Zain? When?”

  “It’s just the way things are,” he said in a small, uncertain voice. “You’re so stubborn, Ellie. The world won’t change just because you want it to.”

  “No,” she agreed. “Nothing will change, you’re right about that. Nothing will change until we make it change.”

  “You’re only going to get yourself grounded or killed.”

  “I’m going to Thelantis, to become a Goldwing. To fight back.”

  Zain shook his head. He looked so full of conc
ern that she softened slightly. How could she make him see what she saw? How did she open his eyes to a world where nobody had to live in fear because anybody could become a warrior? Zain had always had trouble seeing what wasn’t there, while it was Ellie who built castles out of air. Whenever they’d built a fort out of sunflower stalks, she’d been the one with the designs in her head. She’d realized that a haystack could become a mountain to climb, a pair of rakes could become polished steel swords, a grain sack was a sweeping Goldwing cape.

  But this was a vision he couldn’t see, no matter how she described it.

  “If I win the Race of Ascension,” she said, “and become a Goldwing initiate, will you still say I don’t belong?”

  “Of course not,” he said. “We’re friends, Ellie. We always will be. If you become a Goldwing, we’ll be friends and we’ll be knights-at-arms. But—”

  “Good,” said Ellie. “Remember you said that, Zain, three weeks from now.”

  “Ellie, please, just—”

  “And if you are my friend, don’t tell the others what I’m doing. I can’t risk the mayor or your parents trying to stop me. Swear it, Zain.”

  “All right, all right.” He gave her a crooked, weary smile. “I guess some things never change. You’re always talking me into things I know I’ll regret.”

  “You won’t regret this. Promise.”

  “Hmm.” He looked entirely unconvinced. “Well, I need to catch up to the others. Just … be careful, will you?”

  He swooped away, his wing beats stirring the leaves. Landing neatly on the road below, he turned to give her a wave that seemed half friendly, half resigned.

  “Oh, and Zain?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you’re going to become a Goldwing, you might want to do a better job looking after your weapons.”

  She flicked her wrist, throwing the dagger she’d stolen from his belt. It flipped through the air and buried itself in the ground in front of his feet, handle quivering. Zain yelped and jumped back.