Across the Dark Water

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

  Rahkki nodded. Early this morning, before Brauk’s Dawn Patrol had flown out, he’d cleaned Kol’s stall, picked his hooves, and mixed a new bag of grain, but he was anxious to do more. If the giants were about, then no Sandwen was safe.

  “Clean my tack too,” Brauk added. “All of it. The saddle especially, and check my weapons. Today’s your last day; make it count.”

  “I will.”

  “And don’t worry about those stinkin’ giants.” Brauk spit on the stone floor. “We’ll drive them all the way to the Daakuran Empire if we have to.”

  “I’m not worried,” Rahkki said, and he wasn’t. Dragons, giants—nothing upset him more than leaving his brother.

  “That’s the way,” Brauk said, striding off to attend to more important matters.

  Rahkki felt cold in Brauk’s sudden absence, but also determined. As he jogged toward Kol, he decided that his brother would have the cleanest Flier, the most polished tack, and the sharpest sword in the Sky Guard by end of day. Rahkki licked his hand and slapped the wooden hitching post, making his thoughts an oath. Buoyed by his important responsibilities, he untied the stallion and led him toward the Kihlari stable down the hill.

  When they arrived, Rahkki threw open the double doors. Happy nickers erupted from the winged horses—all of them knew and liked the boy. Up and down the aisles, individual grooms rushed to complete chores, preparing the Day Patrol steeds to fly out and rubbing down the hungry and tired Dawn Patrol Fliers. Some kids nodded to Rahkki, others ignored him.

  Mist from the jungle rolled through the barn,

  shrouding the mares and stallions as if in fallen clouds. Rahkki heard hooves dancing and wings stretching. He smelled oil and leather and feathers. The Kihlari barn was his favorite place in the Realm.

  Rahkki locked Kol in his stall and then fetched a soap bar, liniment, and rubbing cloths from the tack room that was shared by all the Riders. Soon he had Kol washed and dried in the bathing pit. Rahkki rested a moment and wrapped his small arms around the stallion’s sparkling chest. Kol’s hot breath steamed down his neck, and the orphan prince felt his eyes grow hot again. He wasn’t just losing Brauk tomorrow; he was losing the winged horses too, his best friends in the world.

  3

  Leaving Anok

  ACROSS THE DARK WATER OCEAN, FAR FROM Rahkki’s home, a wild pegasus mare angled her wings and sped through the clouds. Behind her a battle raged in the Flatlands of Anok between two immortal pegasus stallions: Star the Healer and Nightwing the Destroyer. She dared a glance back and saw dark smoke and bright, flashing lights. Then a horrific noise stung her ears, like a thousand trees falling. It was starfire—the supernatural power that black pegasus foals received on their first birthdays—Nightwing and Star were destroying each other with it. The earth shook and the land below her hooves fractured, creating fissures in the soil that spread like cracked ice. A family of deer spooked and bounded

  madly toward the forest. Echofrost swallowed, her heart racing.

  A year ago, Nightwing had woken from a four-hundred-year hibernation and returned to Anok. He’d come to kill his rival, a young black stallion named Star, and to enslave the five herds of pegasi. A shudder rolled through her as Echofrost remembered the battles and deaths that had followed. She’d learned to sharpen her hooves and fight, and how to spy—and she was only two years old.

  But when the final battle erupted today, Echofrost and her band of rebels escaped early through an underground tunnel with the plan to find a new, safer home. Echofrost was the last one out, and her friends were waiting for her on the southern coast. Unless they left without me, she thought. She tossed her white mane. No, they wouldn’t! But Echofrost had been abandoned before, and anxiety made her fly faster. Another explosion rocked her ears, sounding closer.

  As Echofrost glided toward the beach, high winds plucked out her loose feathers, and they fluttered behind her like chaotic purple butterflies. But with each winglength she put behind her, her heart lightened. Her captivity was finally over. The days of being bitten and

  kicked by Nightwing’s Ice Warriors had ended.

  Now she and the buckskin stallion named Hazelwind would lead the one hundred and forty pegasi rebels across the Dark Water ocean to the continent south of them. She had no idea what they’d find there: two-legged Landwalkers, dangerous predators, or creatures yet unknown. But she couldn’t wait to see it. It would become her new home, if she and the others made it there alive.

  It was afternoon when Echofrost spotted Hazelwind and the others. They were gathered close together on an expanse of scrub grass, but they weren’t grazing. They were scanning the cloudless sky and prancing. The chestnut stallion named Redfire spotted her first. “There she is!”

  Immense relief flooded Echofrost at the sight of the pegasi. She tipped her feathers and descended, landing lightly. Redfire trotted toward her, his copper-colored coat reflecting the sunlight into her eyes. She threw up her wing. “I think you’re visible from space, Redfire.” Then she stared at the group of bright-feathered pegasi standing in the open, her earlier relief forgotten. “Couldn’t you

  all have found better cover?”

  Hazelwind cantered toward her, his hooves flicking up the sand, and everyone moved out of his way. “Taken cover? Where would you have suggested?” He fanned his jade-feathered wing, indicating the miles of short coastal plants and small gray rocks. The wind whipped his mane forward, and his thick black forelock covered one eye.

  Echofrost shut her mouth. She didn’t know where, but really, anywhere was better than here. “I don’t know,” she mumbled, looking up and studying the horizon for their enemies.

  “You’re here now; that’s all that matters,” said Hazelwind.

  Anger, grief, and longing exploded in her chest. Hazelwind had been her best friend . . . once. She turned away from him, not wanting to think about the past. Hazelwind took a hard breath, and Echofrost knew he still didn’t understand why she was mad at him. Well, she didn’t understand it either, but this wasn’t the time to reflect, so she stuffed the feelings back down where they couldn’t disturb her.

  The pinto battle mare named Dewberry trotted between Echofrost and Hazelwind, her voice slicing the

  tension. “Where are the others?” She glanced north toward the Flatlands.

  “Yes, where’s my sister?” Hazelwind asked. His sister was Morningleaf, and she was younger than Hazelwind but more widely known. She was Star’s closest friend.

  “She and Brackentail stayed behind to watch Star’s final battle with Nightwing.” Echofrost scented the wind and smelled rain. She was already thinking about what came next: leaving this continent behind and crossing the Dark Water.

  Hazelwind stomped his hoof, striking the wedge-leafed plants that grew out of the sandy loam. “If I’d known we’d have to wait for my sister, I’d have taken the time to find better cover,” he said. “When will they arrive?”

  “They won’t. She’s decided not to come with us at all.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Did you really believe Morningleaf would leave Star?” asked Echofrost. “After all she’s been through to keep him alive?”

  Hazelwind’s wings unfurled and drooped at his sides. “I did.”

  He was sad, and Echofrost understood why. Night-wing had murdered Thundersky, his sire, and now his sister was staying behind. But anger pinched at her

  sympathy. He wasn’t the only pegasus who’d lost family. Dire wolves had fatally injured her twin brother, and her dam, Crystalfeather, was stuck in the Flatlands, waiting to see which immortal stallion would kill the other. Even Echofrost’s dear friend Shadepebble was staying behind because of her one short wing. She flew well, but not well enough to journey across the dangerous Dark Water ocean.

  Echofrost raked her eyes across the rebel pegasi, noticing how each seemed deep in thought for the friends they’d lost or left behind, and what was happening back in the Flatlands. They were each as bereft as Hazelwind. In fact
, they were a wretched group, and it wouldn’t do. They wouldn’t survive the hardships ahead with these mournful attitudes. “Listen,” she whinnied, arching her neck. “We’re free.”

  She let the word free linger. It floated over their heads and then drifted toward the ocean, but it helped them. The pegasi pricked their ears forward.

  Echofrost pranced, drawing their attention. “We’re never coming back here. Let go of the dead. Let go of your fears. It’s difficult, I know, but our future waits across that ocean.” She faced the beach, and the wind blew her white mane in a tangle across her silver face. “We’re free,”

  she repeated, savoring the word. “No one can tell us what to do. Not ever again.”

  The pegasi rallied. Their captivity was over, so they bucked and lifted into the sky, ramming each other like foals. Echofrost glanced at Hazelwind and lost her breath at the sight of him, standing so tall and steadfast with his long black tail whipping in the breeze. So like his sire, Thundersky. She missed their once-easy friendship.

  Then she tore her eyes away. Each time she looked at him, bad memories of her brother’s death bubbled to the surface. She forced them down again, as fast as she could, not wanting to sort them out. But eventually, she knew she’d have to, because while most bad memories would be staying in Anok, some would be traveling across the ocean, flying side by side with her.

  4

  Storm Herd

  THE JOURNEY ACROSS THE DARK WATER BEGAN immediately. “Formation!” Hazelwind whinnied, and his loud bray sent the pegasi scurrying into position.

  Dewberry took the spot in front of Echofrost because she was full-grown and much stronger. The pinto’s muscles trembled eagerly, and her eyes sparkled as she gazed south across the sprawling black sea. “I’ll never return to Anok,” she said.

  Echofrost understood. She and Dewberry were anxious to leave the place of so much death and destruction and start a new life. Her thoughts flashed to her twin brother. Dewberry had loved Bumblewind too, and Echofrost had thought they’d one day join as mates. But he was in the golden meadow now, with all the fallen pegasi, and it would be a long time before Echofrost saw him again. At least she hoped it would be a long time because, for all her grief and sadness, Echofrost’s heart thrummed with hope. “Our future lies ahead,” she said to Dewberry.

  The pegasi rebels buzzed their feathers, ready to migrate south. “We need a name for our herd,” Hazelwind said, tossing a protective glance at the steeds who’d volunteered to leave Anok. The group was made of pegasi who hailed from each territory—from the freezing Snow Herd lands to the steep ranges of Mountain Herd, and from the lush meadows of Sun Herd to the dangerous territory of Jungle Herd, and all the way to the unforgiving terrain of Desert Herd—and each steed was strong, young, and fierce. They were the perfect group to travel across the dangerous sea and begin a new herd on an unknown continent, but they needed a name.

  “How about Storm Herd?” said Dewberry.

  “Or Cloud Herd?” suggested a blue roan named Shysong.

  Graystone, a furry white pegasus from the north, spoke up. “What about Smoke Herd?”

  The stallion from the desert named Redfire tossed his dark-red mane. “Storms are strong and powerful and

  often accompany a change in season. I think Storm Herd suits us best.”

  “I like it,” said Echofrost, and the rest of the steeds nodded their agreement.

  “It’s settled,” Hazelwind neighed. “We’ll call ourselves Storm Herd. Now, let’s fly!”

  The Storm Herd pegasi galloped across the shell-laden sand and then reared up, leaping one by one off the beach and gliding into an angled formation, like migrating geese. The biggest steeds took the headwinds and the others drafted. They would trade places when the leaders grew tired.

  The wind cooled as the shore receded. Echofrost glanced at the waves that rolled smoothly below, curling and white frothed. This sea was called the Dark Water because the sand on the beach and the ocean floor was black, making the water so opaque that it was almost impossible to see what was swimming below the surface.

  “Don’t fly too close to the water,” Echofrost warned, but the wind swept her words away. She peered south. The longer their journey took, the more dangerous it would become. There would be no food or fresh water available. They would have to land on the surface of the ocean to rest, and their paddling legs would attract blue sharks,

  and maybe worse. And they would have to face bad weather unprotected. The safest tactic was to fly as fast as possible. That meant maintaining a consistent altitude, staying calm, and speaking little.

  Storm Herd flew in silence for the rest of the day, conserving their energy. Their wingbeats synchronized as they traded positions effortlessly, the lead pegasus dropping back and a fresh one bearing the headwind, without a need for words. This was how they migrated twice a year, and the familiar system soothed them. They chose an altitude about fifty winglengths above the surface of the Dark Water, and with the help of a southern tailwind to boost their speed, Anok’s shoreline soon faded from sight, leaving them surrounded by black water, a hazy sky, and an endless, shimmering horizon.

  But as the yellow sun dropped faster and faster in the west, the ocean winds picked up force. The rain Echofrost had scented earlier had morphed into a storm, and heavy clouds gathered, swallowing the sky. Echofrost curled her wingtips, gripping tightly to the current. What had her friend Morningleaf told her about crossing the sea? Was it to fly slowly in turbulence? Just then the clouds rumbled, spitting cold rain, and the waves tumbled. Sea spray

  stung her nostrils and static filled the air. The instinct to seek shelter rattled Echofrost because there was nowhere to hide.

  “Steady,” Hazelwind neighed as if reading her mind, but he was addressing all Storm Herd.

  “Is that lightning?” asked Dewberry. Just then a bolt of light crackled across the sky, answering her question.

  “Fly on,” Hazelwind brayed.

  Thunder boomed, followed by more lightning. Echofrost’s heart lurched, and rain dripped down her forelock, blurring her vision. The air thickened with moisture, and clouds piled upon clouds overhead, billowing in dark clumps. Below her hooves, the waves sloshed. Echofrost cast a wary eye at the horizon where the sun was quickly vanishing.

  “Spread out,” Hazelwind commanded, casting his eyes toward the sparking clouds. Each formation of pegasi surged away from the other, hoping to create smaller targets for the lightning. A cross breeze slammed into Echofrost. She gasped, choking on ocean spray. The herd flew just a winglength above the water now, their fear of the sea far outweighed by their fear of the storm.

  Echofrost squealed in shock when a hot bolt of light

  shot through the grouping of pegasi on her right and struck the water, highlighting a dozen lean shapes coasting beneath the waves. “Sharks!” she whinnied.

  The sun vanished in the west, and darkness descended like a closed eyelid. Ahead of her, Redfire echoed her alarm, and then another pegasus repeated it, and the news about the sharks carried through Storm Herd.

  More lightning shattered the darkness. The sky changed from black to shocking white and then back to black again, burning Echofrost’s eyes. The quick sharks darted away and then slowly returned. Hazelwind’s hoof splashed the waves when a blast of wind tossed him toward the surf. “We need to get out of this weather. Now!” Echofrost whinnied.

  “She’s right,” neighed Redfire, “but how?”

  “We can’t avoid it,” said Hazelwind. “We have to go through it.”

  Graystone balked. “Fly through the storm?” he asked.

  The pegasi tensed. They were each weary from struggling against the wind currents, but above the murderous clouds, the sky was safe and calm.

  Echofrost eyed Graystone, noting his heavy body. He’d been an Ice Warrior in Nightwing’s army, but a sympathetic one. He’d risked his life to help her smuggle steeds

  out of the Flatlands, but as strong and powerful as he was,
northern steeds like Graystone didn’t fly well in high altitudes.

  Redfire answered him. “You can do it, Graystone. Lift your nose and power straight up. Don’t look down.”

  Graystone nodded, but Echofrost saw the fear lurking in his eyes. Fresh thunder rocked her ears and she missed Hazelwind’s order to go, but she didn’t need to hear it. She was bound so tightly to her new herd that instinct rocketed her after them. As they darted up and through the swirling clouds, lightning flashed, followed by rumbling thunder. Whatever happened next, Storm Herd would endure it together. Powered by fear and hope, Echofrost raced through the storm, heading toward the heights that were clear and safe and dry.

  5

  The Southern Continent

  FIVE DAYS PASSED AFTER THE TERRIBLE STORM, and the pegasi were still traveling. They hadn’t lost any herdmates, and that was a relief to Echofrost. The herd landed and floated on the sea when they were tired. The strongest of them kicked at the blue sharks that hunted them patiently from the depths. They drank the rain that fell from the clouds, but they were starving and weary. Headaches plagued Echofrost and her dry tongue swelled, filling her mouth.

  The herd had fallen into an unspoken pattern of leadership. They decided most things as a group, but sometimes it was best if one steed, like Hazelwind or herself, made the quick decisions. Echofrost wasn’t sure why anyone listened to her, a two-year-old mare, except that she had risked her life spying on Nightwing. They trusted her.

  “I hate this ocean,” Dewberry said, breaking into Echofrost’s thoughts.

  No pegasus had spoken since dawn, and the sun now blazed directly overhead, but the fact that Dewberry was still strong enough to speak bolstered Echofrost’s glum mood.