Nox’s blood went cold. Had they been made? Had Granny Tam already sent for the soldiers hunting them? They could very well have scouted all the inns in Bluebriar, describing the thieves and offering a reward for their capture.
It had been a bad idea coming here.
“HEY!” yelled Twig, kicking the door. “Old lady, let us out!”
Gussie threw her shoulder against the door. Because it was made of the same woven material as the rest of the room, it bowed under her, springing back when she pulled away.
“Granny Tam!” called out Shayn. “Granny Tam, can you hear us?”
“Oh, I hear you, dears.”
They all went still, listening as Granny Tam’s voice crooned through the walls.
“Tsk, tsk, got yourselves stuck, have you?”
Nox used his fingers to pry open a small gap in the worn reeds, allowing him to peer out.
There sat Granny Tam on a branch. She saw Nox looking and waved.
“What are you doing?” said Nox.
“Meditating upon the leaves,” said Granny Tam in a strange, taunting voice. “Listening to the forest’s whispers. It’s fascinating, my dear boy, the things one hears when one only listens.”
“Let us out,” he said. “Now.”
“For example, one might hear the strangest rumors …” The old woman grinned, but instead of the warm smile she’d first greeted them with, this one reminded Nox of a snake. “Rumors of a general hoarding treasure, shiny treasure that glints and gleams, special treasure that heals and restores …” She chuckled. “Oh, the things one hears. The things one sees, shining in the night …”
Nox’s eyes widened.
“We’re made,” whispered Nox, cursing himself inwardly. The Talon would have seen the woman’s treachery a mile away—it was like Nox had forgotten every lesson the man had taught him. “She knows about the skystone. She saw it healing Mally last night.”
“What do you want from us, old woman?” Ellie called through the woven wall.
“The stone, of course,” said Granny Tam. “Hand it through the wall, and you’ll be free to go. Delay, and you’ll meet with the general’s soldiers. They’ve been all up and down the road these days, searching for a band of little thieves. A Sparrow, a Falcon, a Crow, and a piebald.”
Nox rubbed his face in frustration while Shayn called, “If you let us out now, I can pay you forty aquilas.”
“Fifteen thousand aquilas,” said Granny Tam. “That’s how much General Stoneslayer has offered for the capture of each of you, and thirty thousand for the return of his family heirloom.”
Nox’s spirit nearly lifted out of his body. Thirty thousand aquilas was more than the Talon’s entire gang made in a year.
“I thought to myself,” continued Granny Tam, “why would anybody pay so high a bounty? And what heirloom was worth a life’s fortune? Well, now I know.”
Nox held his finger to his lips, then motioned to Gussie and Twig with the Talon’s secret signal for back door. They nodded in understanding. Gussie began rifling through her bag while Twig released Lirri onto the wall, and the little animal began chewing the reeds.
“Oh yes,” said Granny Tam. “Now I know. I saw that blue light in the night. I saw it fusing into that girl’s broken wings. I saw them made whole.”
Shayn pulled Mally closer.
“Now,” said Granny Tam. “A stone like that might be worth far, far more than thirty thousand aquilas. Why, a body could charge a thousand a head just to let them hold it.”
“You want to exploit people suffering from wingrot?” Ellie burst out. “When they have no other hope? What kind of monster are you?”
“An ambitious one,” crooned Granny Tam. “Oh, aye. There are hundreds of folk with the disease by now, I’ve heard. It’s turned into a proper plague. And no cure, how tragic. But that stone …”
Twig and Gussie weren’t making much progress on the wall. Lirri chittered angrily, unable to cut through the reeds. Nox waved at them, urging them to move faster.
“Now hand it through the gap,” said Granny Tam, “and I’ll let you be on your way, no harm done.”
“And if we don’t?” said Nox.
“Well …” Granny Tam chuckled. “Let’s not make this nasty, hmm?”
Mally whimpered. “Mama, I’m scared.”
“Shh,” whispered Shayn. “We’ll be all right, dear.” She cast Nox a pleading look.
“C’mon …” whispered Nox. “Twig?”
Twig shrugged, Lirri leaping back onto his shoulders. “It’s too thick for her.”
“Last chance,” sang out Granny Tam. “I will get it, one way or another.”
“What’s the worst one old lady can do?” Twig whispered.
“She could hand us over to the Stoneslayer’s men,” Ellie pointed out.
“And let them take the skystone?” Nox shook his head. “She won’t risk it. She wants it for herself.”
“Give it to her,” said Twig, shivering. “I just want to get out of here.”
“And then what?” said Nox. “We go home and tell the Talon that we got shaken down by an old lady? No way. Anyhow, I need to finish this. I need that stone.”
“Nox, what if—” Ellie coughed. “What if we just talked to her, tried to make her see reason—” She coughed harder. “What is that smell?”
“Smoke,” intoned Gussie.
“She’s lit a fire under us!” gasped Shayn, picking up Mally and pressing her face into her shoulder. “Skies above! These are children in here, you mad old crone!”
Nox’s heart nearly stopped. He looked down, kicking aside the mats on the floor, to see a red glow beneath the pod—hungry flames leaping up. Beneath the nest, Granny Tam had hung large bundles of hay and set them aflame.
Panic clawed at his ribs.
“D’you—cough—really think she’d burn us alive?” Ellie said, coughing harder.
The smoke was so thick now that Nox had trouble seeing. He gripped the wall, trying to block the dark clouds with his neckerchief held over his nose.
“Probably just wants to—cough—knock us out long enough to—cough—grab the stone,” replied Gussie.
“I’m not waiting that long,” said Nox. He turned to Gussie. “Give me your flinter. If it’s fire the old crackpot wants, let’s give her fire.”
“Nox …” Looking uncertain, Gussie pulled out the flinter.
He fluttered upward and grabbed the lantern hanging overhead. Then he smashed it against the wall. Slick oil splashed over the reeds.
“Everybody stand back!” Nox shouted, snatching the flinter from Gussie’s hand.
“I thought you were terrified of fire!” Ellie protested. “You’ll burn your face off!”
“Unlikely,” muttered Nox.
He clicked the flinter and set its flame to the oil.
The reed wall caught at once. Fire erupted outward, licking Nox’s bare hands and arms. He jumped back as the blaze spread and the reed began to blacken and flake into ash. He’d have to work quickly, before the whole pod caught flame and they burned alive.
“Wait for my signal!” Nox shouted as he stepped toward the flame.
“Nox!” Gussie croaked. “Get away from there!”
“Wait!” he said, his hands grabbing hold of the weakened reeds. He ripped as hard as he could, and the wall began to tear. “Wait … wait … now!”
He stepped back as Gussie and Twig charged forward. Ellie helped Shayn with Mally, and together they rushed for the opening Nox had torn open. There was a gaping hole in the wall now, the flames still spreading outward in a fiery ring.
“Your hands!” Ellie cried.
“Go!” Nox shouted. “Don’t worry about me!”
“You first,” said Ellie, giving Shayn and Mally a helpful push through the opening. Shayn clutched Mally tight and fluttered free.
“Now’s no time to play hero, Sparrow,” Nox said, and he shoved her so hard she stumbled, barely managing to spread her wings as she tipped ou
t of the nest and into open air.
He started to follow, but then a mass of cloth and hair and fingernails slammed into him, driving him back into the pod. He landed hard on his back, the wind knocked from his lungs, with Granny Tam pinning him down. She had her staff in hand and pressed it to his throat.
“I meditated upon you too, boy,” the old woman hissed. She was terrifyingly strong. “And guess what I saw? Don’t you want to know, hmm? I saw your death, Crow. I saw your death in flames and ashes. It’s not long away now. Perhaps it is today. Give me the stone, and you might stave off your doom a while yet.”
Nox couldn’t reply; her staff was pressed against his windpipe, cutting off his air. He struggled, but the smoke in his lungs had weakened him.
Granny Tam began searching his pockets, her eyes wild. “Where is it, where is it?”
Nox’s vision began to darken as he struggled to breathe. His eyelids fluttered.
“You don’t even know what it is, do you?” Granny Tam said. “Where it comes from? Whose magic infuses it?”
Nox’s eyes shut.
And then a strong gust of wind swept through the pod, clearing the smoke for just a moment.
Ellie Meadows hovered above them, her wings pushing away the smoke as she dove at Granny Tam.
“Get off him!” Ellie roared, sailing forward.
The old woman let out an oof! as Ellie tackled her to the floor.
Nox gasped in a long, choking breath. The Sparrow girl seized Granny Tam’s staff and grabbed his shoulder with the hook. She flew out of the burning pod, dragging Nox behind her.
“Your death!” the old woman howled. “I have seen it, boy! You will burn!”
Then Nox slid out of the tear in the wall and fell toward the ground. He struggled to open his wings, but his lungs were still empty and his head spun. There was nothing he could do.
Ellie swooped beneath him. Turning onto her back, she hooked her arms beneath his. Nox dangled beneath her, head lolling, unsure which way was up and which way down.
“Saved your skin twice,” Ellie muttered, trying to rouse him with the jab. But he only groaned.
She spiraled to the ground and landed heavily in the grass at the foot of the great oak tree. Twig and Gussie ran to help Nox, while Shayn and Mally watched the branches for Granny Tam.
“Your hands,” said Ellie. “They’ll need a burn poultice or …”
Nox tried to pull his hands away, but she grabbed them, turned them over in hers.
“Nox … there’s not a mark on you.” She ran her fingers over his palms.
He looked away, still coughing. “Got lucky.”
“But … I saw …” Her brow furrowed.
Nox yanked his hands back. “Did the old woman make it out?”
Shayn shook her head. “She’s still up there.”
Groaning, Ellie heaved herself to her feet. “I’m going back up.”
“Leave her,” growled Nox. “She tried to murder us!”
“I can’t do that,” Ellie said softly. “No matter how wretched she is, I can’t leave someone to die.”
He coughed and shook his head as the Sparrow launched herself upward. Minutes later, she returned, having dragged Granny Tam out of the pod. Ellie left her unconscious, slumped on the porch of her own inn. The fire was starting to burn out, and the pod was almost entirely gone. Ash fluttered down like snow, landing softly all around them.
“She’ll live,” Ellie told the others. She looked at Nox. “Will you?”
He nodded, giving her a weak grin. “Might have left a lung behind, but I’ll make it.”
She glanced at his hands again, but he’d put them deep into his pockets. For a moment, he thought she might say something more, but then she shook her head as if dismissing some thought.
“Then let’s fly,” Ellie said. “That smoke will bring every soldier for miles around.”
For once, Nox completely agreed with her. He wanted to get as far from this wretched inn and its wretched owner as possible. He wanted to wash away the smoke and the acrid words stinging in his ears.
I have seen your death, boy … Granny Tam’s voice cackled in his head. You will burn.
Ellie was sorry to say goodbye to Shayn and Mally that afternoon. The little girl was so bright and happy, and her mother reminded Ellie almost painfully of her own.
They stood at a crossroads south of Granny Tam’s inn, beneath a grove of pine trees that swayed and creaked in the wind. Everyone’s faces were still streaked with soot.
“Well, good luck,” said Nox.
“Thank you for everything.” Shayn took his hand and squeezed it. He looked so uncomfortable at this that Ellie wondered when the last time it was that anybody had behaved motherly toward Nox Hatcher. “You do understand what you carry around your neck, don’t you?”
Nox grinned. “I understand I’m getting a smashing payday back home.”
Shayn didn’t smile. “If the skystone could heal Mally, how many hundreds or even thousands of others could it help? There are so many suffering from the same disease, without any hope. To carry hope is a powerful thing, young Crow. Granny Tam would have hoarded it. Will you?”
Nox dropped his gaze and muttered, “Just here to do a job, not save the world.”
Shayn sighed, looking conflicted, then added, “I’m only asking you to consider that what you do next could determine the fate of many.”
Ellie lowered her gaze. She understood what Shayn was telling them, even if the others refused to.
“I can’t tell you what you must do,” Shayn said gently. “Only ask that you consider the difference you could make. There are countless children like my Mally who suffer.”
“Right. Well, good luck, then. We’d better get going.” Nox gave an awkward wave, then fluttered off on the east road. Gussie quickly followed, and Twig called to Lirri. The animal leaped from Mally’s shoulder to his. He departed with a sheepish look.
Ellie was last to say goodbye. After she gave Mally a hug and marveled at how quickly the girl’s feathers were growing back, Shayn pulled her close.
“These are dark times, brave Sparrow. Sickness is spreading. We are losing our wings. And impossible times call for impossible heroes.” She gave Ellie a long, meaningful look. “I wish you the courage to follow your heart, whatever it tells you is right.”
Ellie gave a small, uncertain nod.
Shayn took Mally’s hand. “Goodbye, Ellie Meadows. Watch the skies.”
Ellie’s eyes tracked mother and daughter as they walked away down the dusty western road.
Then her gaze turned in the other direction, to the clear blue horizon and Nox’s retreating form.
“Watch the skies,” she murmured.
They flew for hours, veering off the road and into the woods, still moving generally eastward, but in a random, zigzagging pattern to throw off any pursuers. The advantage of constant flying over walking was that they left no tracks, but it was also exhausting. Even Ellie, after years of endurance training, was starting to ache all over. She knew Nox had to be feeling much worse; his shoulder was nowhere near fully healed.
Finally, in the late afternoon, they came across a river. Ellie thought it might be the same one they’d followed in the canyon yesterday. Here, it tumbled and splashed over boulders, before cascading into a wide, silky waterfall.
They rested on a sandy bank, shedding their bags and gear. Ellie still carried Granny Tam’s lockstave, which she leaned against a tree. The weapon might prove useful, and she liked the weight of it in her hands. It had come through the fire unscathed, and she’d found a carving on it she hadn’t noticed at first: an ashmark, artfully worked into the wood just below the larger of the two hooks. She didn’t feel bad about taking it from Granny Tam, considering the woman had tried to kill Nox with it. As it stated in the King’s Ladder chapter on responsibility, to bend one’s weapon to selfish purpose was to lose the right to bear it forever.
Twig dove into the river, which pooled at the botto
m of the falls. Ellie followed, shivering at the chilliness but glad to wash off the smoke clinging to her skin, hair, and clothes.
Soon they were all floating or swimming. Twig ventured beneath the falls to let the water flatten his hair. Gussie stood in the shallows, fluttering her wings to dry them.
After her swim, Ellie sat on the bank and groomed her own wings. With a soft bristle brush, she combed sunflower oil over her feathers. The oil kept the fine barbs from fraying, while protecting them from dirt and dust. It also made them relatively waterproof. It felt good to massage the oil into her aching wings, especially the joints and slender bones that framed them.
Nox, pulling his shirt back on, waded over and stretched out beside her, hands laced behind his head and his dark wings spread to dry in the golden sunlight beaming down. The light brought out the blue-and-emerald undertones in his feathers. Shutting his eyes, he let out a long sigh, then a cough. They were all still feeling the aftereffects of the smoke.
She glanced at his hands, still finding it weird how he’d escaped that burning pod without so much as a singed eyebrow.
“Thanks for getting us out of there,” she said. “You might say you were almost honorable.”
“Whoa, hey!” Nox waved a hand. “I do not need you ruining my reputation like that, Sparrow. Anyway, you’re the one who got my butt out. That’s twice you’ve saved my life.”
“I never thought it’d be this hard just to reach Thelantis. This was supposed to be the easy part.”
“It will be,” said Nox. “From here on, we’ll play it safe. No more stopping at inns, no matter how nice the old ladies inside seem.”
Shayn’s words ran circles in Ellie’s head.
I wish you the courage to follow your heart, whatever it tells you is right.
Those words, and the message she knew Shayn had really been communicating, ate at Ellie relentlessly. She glanced at Nox’s chest and the small lump beneath his shirt where the skystone rested.
She stoppered her jar of oil and set it aside. “You know, Granny Tam was a nightmare, but … she did kind of have a good idea.”
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