Cormorant Run

by J. C. McKenzie

  Was that a smile?

  Waves rolled over the spot where the Sea Beast disappeared, hiding any answers.

  Why, she sent to the beast. Why had he spared her and taken the other birds instead?

  Better meal, he answered.

  That was reassuring.

  And you’re mine. Not theirs.

  Yeah, that wasn’t what she wanted to hear either.

  “You can let go of me now.” Ronin’s deep voice vibrated against her ear.

  Oh crap!

  She’d clung to Ronin the whole time she’d hovered over the ocean’s surface, glaring at the murky depths for answers.

  Suddenly, all too aware of his proximity and how this must look to him, she let go and pushed back, hovering a foot away. “You brainless turkey!”

  He raised a brow and sheathed the sword, the steady beat of his wings synchronized with hers. “I’d prefer to go down fighting, not as a coward.”

  “I’d prefer not to go down at all.”

  He raised his eyebrows, a smile tugged at his lips.

  Grrrr.

  She jabbed a finger into his chest. “You’re not allowed to die.”

  He looked down at her finger poking his armoured breastplate and frowned. “I’m surprised you care.”

  He really did have a memory problem. She ground her teeth. “About you? Not particularly. Your whole family can go peck itself.”

  The dark clouds thinned out, lightening the sky around them.

  He flapped his wings, blasting her with air, and moved away from her.

  “My father will pay for my failure. It’s a price I’m not willing to pay,” she continued. “He’s all I have left, so you will listen, and you will live. Do you understand?”

  The sun broke through the thinning clouds and bathed Ronin in a spectacular beam of light. All emotion fled from his face. “Perfectly.”

  10

  “The Law of Probabilities: the more things you try, the more likely one of them will work.”

  Jack Canfield

  Cora held her breath as they approached the shore to the west of the cliffs. With any luck, they’d reach the bank and she’d deliver the Royal Pain in the Ass safely. He’d complete whatever princely mission he was tasked with and they’d leave Iom unscathed.

  Wishful thinking.

  A high whistle cut through the crisp afternoon air.

  “Dive!” She pulled her wings in and dove toward the water. Without hesitation, Ronin followed. They levelled out before impact and veered to the side.

  A flash of metal was her only warning. She careened into Ronin and knocked him out of the arrow’s path.

  Thunk!

  Piercing pain erupted in her wing. The force of the arrow driving through her skin rocked her balance. She dipped sideways. The tip of her wing trailed in the cold ocean water. She cursed and pushed, righting herself.

  They rounded the curving shoreline. Unless the humans had more scouts set up farther along the coast, they’d be safe as long as they kept moving.

  “What the fuck?” Ronin let out a string of curses.

  She glanced over at him. He’d curled his giant hands into fists and his chest heaved with each deep breath.

  “Are they always this hostile toward sapavians?” Ronin asked.

  She shrugged and instantly regretted the additional strain on her wing. Pain radiated from the arrow wound. Her muscles tensed, threatening to cramp. They needed to land soon. “You bring out the best in people.”

  He scowled but thankfully stopped asking questions. They landed on dry soil near the cliff’s edge. From the sweet smell of the surrounding evergreens, it still hadn’t rained. That couldn’t be good.

  Her wings sagged behind her. Pain radiated through her entire body. The relief of setting her feet down on land eased some of the tension in her shoulders, but her body still vibrated with adrenaline. She needed to calm down. Breathe.

  Without speaking, they moved in unison to the protection of the trees. Once engulfed in the shade, Ronin turned to her with the deep frown she’d come to expect from him.

  “You’re injured.”

  Oh, that was so not the topic she anticipated. She’d expected him to fault the approaching course she set, not concern.

  “Mere flesh wound.” She purposefully didn’t look at the arrow protruding from her wing. Unlike the last time she was shot at, she hadn’t been as lucky. An arrow in the wing was one of her biggest fears, but an arrow through the wing bone was even scarier. At least she avoided that.

  Ronin’s frown deepened.

  That couldn’t be good.

  “How did they know?” He narrowed his gaze.

  She scowled at him. Screw the mighty prince for implying she somehow colluded with the humans. She took an arrow to the wing, not him. Had he thought this through? She found out about this trip yesterday. As the fastest messenger in Father’s arsenal, even if she wanted to betray Ronin, the earliest the humans could have found out about this trip with her as the source was right now.

  Breathe.

  Control your response.

  Don’t punch the prince.

  “Last time I came, they were waiting for me, too.” She forced the words out smooth and even. “I veered east toward my destination. I assumed they’d move more to the east in anticipation of my return.”

  Ronin’s glare softened. “So, they anticipated that you’d anticipate them.”

  “Pretty much. Or they just set up on both sides.”

  He leaned in, his handsome face unbearably close. “The question is how did they know to wait for you in the original location the first time? Who tipped them off? And how? You’re the only messenger capable of crossing the void to the Cap.”

  She shrugged. “Apparently, my trips across Carrion Channel haven’t been as covert as I thought.” Hell, the entire royal family knew about them.

  “Besides the obvious arrow-toting humans…” He leaned to the side and examined the arrow-wound. “Why do you say that?”

  “You knew about it.”

  Instead of answering Ronin stepped forward, his arm brushing her shoulder and gripped the arrow.

  “Don’t—”

  Snap!

  He broke off the tail-end of the arrow, reached behind her wing and pulled the rest of the shaft out by the arrowhead. Pain streaked along her wing bones and down her back. Tension seized her shoulders.

  “Mother—”

  “Shh.” He ran his hands along the humerus bone and gently pulled to extend her wing. A dull ache thrummed through her body. “Think you can fly?”

  “I flew with it in, didn’t I?” She glared at him over her shoulder. The arrow had punctured the elastic fold of skin that aided in aerodynamics, avoiding bones and major arteries. Like an earlobe after an ear-piercing, the membranous patagium hurt from the arrow, but didn’t bleed significantly. The wound didn’t even need to be patched. But the injury and resulting pain annoyed her, and it would mess up her balance in flight.

  Ronin frowned, his golden gaze flicking to her briefly before reassessing the damage. “I think I should continue on alone.”

  Though he only reiterated the plan already provided to Cora, she never intended for him to leave her sight. Not when her life and Father’s hung in the balance. Her plan was to follow him to the meeting and keep him alive.

  Cora clenched her hands into fists. “I think that would be unwise.”

  Ronin released her wing. The warm pressure of his hands was replaced with cool air. “I’ve been raised my whole life as a warrior and a leader. You’re now a liability and still need to get me back across the channel. The plan was always for you to stay here.”

  Mmhmm. Sure. She’d let him keep thinking that. She pulled her wings in and turned to face him. How was he still standing so close to her? “Your family won’t be executed if you don’t survive.”

  He narrowed his gaze and leaned down, now unbearably close, his powerful build even more imposing. He could loom all day, she wasn’t b
acking down.

  Cora straightened her spine and lifted her chin.

  “Cora, the meeting is inland.”

  An invisible fist slammed into her stomach. She’d expected them to hold the meeting closer to the shore. Inland? She shuddered. That didn’t change anything, but the idea of losing access to the ocean sent a wave of unease through her body.

  Cormorants, both her bird cousins and sapavians, didn’t fare well amongst the dense trees and rolling hills with no ocean in sight. They were shore birds and thrived near and on the sea.

  “My contact is expecting me alone,” Ronin added.

  She sighed. His words made sense, but his logic and reasoning did little to unravel the twisted feeling in her gut. Why would they agree to meet on foreign soil without a guard? This whole thing felt off.

  “How long?” she asked.

  Ronin glanced at the sky. The sun travelling toward its apex. “The meeting is at sunset. I should be back in the morning.”

  “You’re going to fly at night?”

  “Would you prefer me to bed down with the humans?”

  She recoiled.

  He nodded again. “Travelling at night will provide better cover. Besides…” He stepped forward, only an inch separating his hard body from her own. If she breathed deeply, her chest would brush against his.

  He reached out and gathered the strands of white hair that had escaped her braid. “I wouldn’t want you to worry about me.”

  Argh.

  He tugged her hair gently before releasing it and stepping away.

  “Where’s your meeting location?” She somehow managed to speak.

  “Why?”

  “If you’re not back by noon, I’ll come after you.”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m touched.”

  “Don’t be. This is purely self-preservation.”

  He sighed and pulled out a rolled piece of parchment from one of the leather pockets on the inside of his sword belt. He held out the paper.

  She snatched the parchment from his hands and unrolled it. A map. “Won’t you need this?”

  He tapped his head. Without another word, he turned and walked from the cover of the trees to the cliff edge.

  Words bubbled up her throat, words she wanted to say and words she wanted to suppress at the same time. Ronin was flying to a secret meeting inland across enemy occupied territory. She might never see him again. She stepped forward to follow.

  Ronin launched off the cliff, caught the wind and soared into the sky. He didn’t turn back. He didn’t look over his shoulder. He left his good little soldier where he ordered her to stay and continued on the mission alone with no further thoughts of her.

  Cora swallowed her words and turned back to the forest. She needed a safe place to make camp and get some food. If she weren’t so far up on the cliff, she’d try venturing down to the water. But how many men stood in her way? How many humans lay in wait with their sharpened arrows?

  Cora shuddered.

  Piercing through the feathers and skin, the arrow wound wasn’t too bad. Her healthy wing would have to compensate for the compromised integrity of her injured wing. Flying would hurt and sap her strength. If she did end up going inland after Ronin, she’d need her energy.

  Cora shuddered again and settled in for the long wait.

  11

  “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.”

  Jerry Seinfeld

  Ronin cursed his stupidity as he flew over the treetops. He’d left her. He’d left Cora alone and injured.

  He really was the jerk she thought he was.

  Ronin cursed again before scanning the terrain. Up too high for human eyes to detect, the tension in his muscles should’ve faded away by now. Instead, unease gnawed at his brain and constricted his breath. Tactically, he made the right choice. Cora needed to heal and rest. Flying inland had never been her thing growing up and seeing her face pale at the mention of it confirmed she hadn’t changed her opinion. She’d always had a strong connection with the dark waters surrounding the Eyrie. More so than most cormorants, and especially after the incident.

  Still.

  Ronin enjoyed flying beside her. He liked her company. He looked forward to her snarls and bark, and her heated looks when she thought he wasn’t paying attention.

  Too bad so much history existed between them and their families. Some good. A lot bad. Cora hated his family, including him, and he didn’t blame her, yet he couldn’t forgive or forget what her family had done as well.

  Maybe he should’ve said something before he left.

  Maybe he should turn around?

  His father’s stern face flashed in his mind. No. Some things were more important than his feelings. This mission took priority. The Eyrie before the individual.

  He’d see Cora tomorrow and maybe then he’d confront their past.

  Right now, he needed to focus. So much was at stake with this meeting. If they could broker a peace with the humans, they could form a more formidable force against the monsters, commerce would improve, and his people would finally have room to expand. With the way the population grew on the Eyrie, they’d run out of space with the next generation. They needed room to grow and the humans had it.

  We could take it. A memory of his sister’s voice bounced in his head. So bloodthirsty. When had she become like that?

  Father had explained how the humans were too spread out for a single attack to devastate them and too numerous to take on in a lengthy war. In short, sapavians would likely fail.

  Sasha had remained unconvinced.

  “Remember what happened at Hadren’s Keep,” Father had said.

  How could they forget?

  The sun continued its slow decline toward the horizon, casting colourful rays of light and painting the puffy white clouds in pinks and purples.

  Almost there.

  He’d arrive on time, too, thanks to Cora.

  Tucking in his wings, he swooped toward the treeline. Air blasted past his face and his eyes watered.

  The meeting location crystallized with perfect clarity.

  No signs of anyone.

  Fucking humans. Figured they’d be the ones to stand him up.

  At least he’d have a chance to scout the area first. He circled the clearing, using his heightened eyesight to detect movement. Nothing. Where were they? Had he gotten the timing wrong?

  And where would he land? Surveying the area yielded no feasible options. With a wingspan of almost twenty-two feet, he needed space. Branches could be such a bitch.

  Unease prickled his skin.

  If he landed in the clearing, he’d place himself at a tactical disadvantage and possibly find himself in a trap. If he landed farther away and walked into an attack, he’d have no room to maneuver or launch back into the sky. And if he didn’t land at all, there’d be no alliance. He’d have to fly home and either make up an elaborate story or admit cowardice.

  That’s why they chose this location.

  He circled again. Were they here? Were they hiding?

  Lower and lower he circled. With superior eyesight, he could spot a hare over three kilometres away, surely, he’d catch the awkward and ungraceful movement of humans in a forest.

  The sun’s rays weakened with each circle of the clearing.

  He might’ve arrived before them. They might’ve stood him up. This might be a trap. So many maybes and only one way to find out.

  Ronin unsheathed his sword, swooped in, and landed in the centre of the clearing. Long grass gently swayed and brushed against his leather pants. His boots pressed into the dry soil.

  He slowly turned and surveyed the clearing. Nothing.

  He kept his sword ready and walked toward the cover of the trees.

  Something sharp pricked his neck. He reached up and swatted at the skin. His vision swam. He held his hand in front of his face. Nothing.

  He staggered and swung his sword out. No contact.

  He
looked at his hand again. Through his wavering vision, he made out a little speck of blood on his fingertip. They darted him.

  Where were they?

  Cowards!

  The drugs latched onto his mind. Everything tilted. He lurched to the side. Darkness crept into his vision and he fell to the ground.

  12

  “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

  NOT Cora Cormorant

  That pampered prince wasn’t coming back.

  The awful thought kept cycling through her brain all day as she sat on the edge of the cliff, dangling her legs over the side. Rocks and pebbles dug into her butt through the thick flying leathers. Earlier, she’d been tempted to dive off the cliff and into the ocean. But unlike her cormorant cousins, she couldn’t launch easily from the ocean, and a quick dip and the following hike back up to the meeting spot would leave her exposed and vulnerable. Common sense prevailed, even though the arrow wound continued to burn, and salt water would help it heal.

  Casting the angry ocean in shades of dark blues, purples and pinks, the sun dipped below the horizon just as it had last night after Ronin left. A pretty sunset. And completely at odds with the turmoil inside.

  Where in the bloody bird hell was Ronin?

  If he left the meeting and flew through the night, he should’ve made it back by dawn. If he waited for first light, he should’ve made it back to her by noon at the earliest and sunset at the latest. At least that’s what she calculated. She’d told him she would look for him at noon, but she kept putting it off, hoping the next minute would see him flying over the copse of trees.

  Maybe the meeting went long? Maybe they extended negotiations? Maybe he went back to their place?

  Cora bit her lip and eyed the treeline. She had to face the facts. Something happened.

  Something bad.

  And she’d have to fly inland to find out.

  A cold shiver racked her body. Her feathers puffed out and she shook the invisible ice from her limbs. Cora didn’t have the same vision capabilities as those from the eagle or hawk houses, and she wasn’t the descendent of a nocturnal species, but that didn’t mean she was blind, weak, or helpless.