Across the Dark Water

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

  The queen glanced sharply from her daughter to Rahkki, and the crown princess quickly erased her expression, looking as blank as a mat of reeds. Lilliam turned to the auctioneer. “Odds, please.”

  “Twenty to one,” answered the little man dressed in black.

  The small crowd erupted. No contestant had faced such high odds. The tented folk crossed their arms and shook their heads. “Will anyone wager on the boy?” the auctioneer asked, glancing at the spectators.

  “I’ll bet two jints,” Koko said, looking competitive. If she couldn’t win the mare, maybe she could win a bet.

  “You’ll lose two jints,” said Mut, and his friends laughed.

  “I’ll wager on him,” said a voice.

  Rahkki gasped as Uncle Darthan stepped out of the shadows. “Two full rounds,” he said, holding up two stamped coins of the realm, each worth one hundred dramals.

  The auctioneer shook his head, and the tent folk gaped at the rice farmer.

  “Uncle, no,” Rahkki whispered. It was too much.

  “You think he can ride her?” Queen Lilliam asked.

  “These rounds say as much,” said Darthan, turning them so their metal surfaces reflected the morning sun. Those coins represented his uncle’s life savings. If Rahkki failed, he’d throw the entire Stormrunner family into worse poverty. Lilliam’s eyes brightened as she seemed to come to the same conclusion. “I’ll take that bet.”

  The spectators went from admiring Sula to appraising Rahkki.

  “But I . . .” He glanced at Darthan—had his uncle lost his mind?

  “You what?” asked the queen. She drew her tongue across her lower lip, slow and careful, like she was tasting the wind, and Rahkki jolted—stung by a distant memory of the night his mother died. He followed it, and it didn’t vanish this time. He was sleeping with his favorite toy, a stuffed Kihlara doll, and no blankets because it was a hot night. A figure had entered his room. “Momma?” he’d called. But it wasn’t her. It was Lilliam. He was only four years old, but he remembered that she’d licked her bottom lip, just like she was doing right now.

  Rahkki tore his eyes from her mouth and stared into her blue eyes. They flamed at him. She knows I’m remembering, he thought, panicking. His mother, Reyella, had barged into Rahkki’s room and shoved the queen aside just as Lilliam’s small hands were closing around his throat.

  Reyella had snatched Rahkki from the queen and thrown him out of the room. And there was Brauk, who was thirteen, waiting on Drael’s back and still dressed in his sleeping gown. He snatched Rahkki’s collar and yanked him up behind him, and then they’d galloped the winged steed down the stone hallways of the fortress and crashed through a shuttered window, flying away.

  But Rahkki had looked back and seen the impossible. He’d watched his mother leap into his fireplace and vanish. Lilliam tried to follow, couldn’t.

  There his mind went blank. He couldn’t remember how his mother disappeared, where she went, or where Drael had taken him and Brauk. The following two years of his life were a black void.

  Queen Lilliam clapped her hands together, startling Rahkki. “Ride that braya or exit this arena.”

  Rahkki nodded, his legs shaking.

  Queen Lilliam believed he’d fail, but Rahkki couldn’t think about that. His thoughts were swirling with fear, rage, and grief. Was his mother still alive? If so, where was she and what had happened to her unborn baby? And if she’d escaped through the fireplace, why didn’t she come back for him and Brauk?

  Lilliam tapped her engorged belly impatiently. “Well,” she prodded. “What are you waiting for?”

  40

  Flight

  ECHOFROST HAD PRICKED HER EARS WHEN SHE saw Shysong trotting toward the arena ridden by Princess I’Lenna. She whinnied to her friend, ignoring everything else around her. “How are you?”

  “I’m well,” Shysong whinnied back. “But I don’t like Fort Prowl. Fires burn in every room, including hers.” She nodded toward the princess. “And she spent hours braiding and unbraiding my tail last night. What’s happening here? I thought the auction was over yesterday.”

  “I haven’t sold yet, and now they’re harassing me. Seeing if anyone can ride me.”

  Just then Rahkki touched Echofrost’s shoulder, distracting her. She looked down. The cub was shaking. His golden eyes were light, almost yellow. What was he doing in the arena?

  “Easy, Sula,” he whispered, and he reached out to touch her mane.

  She threw her head skyward. He means to ride me! No, not you too, she thought, and she reared away from him.

  The queen laughed, showing her small white teeth.

  Rahkki rested his hands at his sides and stared up at Echofrost. “Please,” he begged her. “Or they’re going to kill you.”

  Echofrost felt sick, betrayed. Rahkki knew she didn’t like to be touched, let alone ridden like a land horse.

  But something was off, and she paused. Everything about Rahkki’s posture and scent told her that he did not want to ride her. Was the cub afraid to fly? And if so, then why was he trying to win her?

  Rahkki reached for her again, and she instinctively flinched.

  The queen’s grin broadened, and Rahkki’s fear increased.

  The Landwalkers at the table stood up, excited. The people in the grass also stood, whispering to one another.

  Quicker than she thought possible, Rahkki pulled himself onto her back. Instinctively she bucked, but he moved with her, speaking the soft words he thought soothed her.

  The queen laughed at Rahkki again, and Echofrost’s anger exploded. Lilliam wanted her to buck him off, to hurt him; and Echofrost realized that the queen had set up this contest knowing that no one could ride her. It was sport, an amusement. This was a test—like when young pegasi raced. Well, Echofrost would show the queen and her clan that Rahkki was stronger and braver than any of them thought.

  Echofrost bent her head, willingly giving into the reins.

  The spectators ceased talking.

  Rahkki clucked to her and squeezed her sides. She broke into a slow trot. He turned her in circles and backed her and cantered her. She paid close attention to his gentle pressuring, letting his soft hands and legs guide her. When he pulled up the reins, she flexed her wings and sailed off the dirt. Again, following his prompts, she flew in pretty, controlled circles.

  “How’s he doing that?” Mut asked, his mouth agape.

  Koko threw down her sweat cloth, shaking her head.

  The queen pursed her lips, and I’Lenna grinned.

  Tuni stalked toward the tether. “Satisfied?” she asked the auctioneer. He glanced at the queen. Her skin had paled, her blue eyes looked black. She nodded. Tuni cut the tether.

  When the rope snapped, Echofrost blinked in shock. Again obedience had helped her rather than hurt her. “I’m loose!” she whinnied to Shysong.

  The blue roan flared her wings, startling the princess.

  “This is our chance,” Echofrost neighed. “Let’s go! Now!”

  “But the princess?”

  “Shrug her off!”

  Echofrost leaped off the sand and blasted toward the clouds.

  “Whoa, slow down,” Rahkki said, tightening his grip.

  Shysong bucked and tore after Echofrost, but the princess hung on, wrapping her arms around Shysong’s neck.

  The two mares hurtled straight up with their young riders hollering to each other. Below them, the arena erupted into chaos. In seconds the alarm bells were ringing, and, too late, Echofrost realized how things looked to the Landwalkers—like they’d kidnapped the queen’s daughter.

  “You were supposed to unload her!” Echofrost whinnied.

  “I tried,” Shysong answered. “But I was afraid I’d hurt her if I bucked too hard.”

  Echofrost glanced down. The Kihlari roof was beginning to open, and the Sky Guard would be on them in moments, but if they didn’t keep flying, she doubted they’d ever get another opportunity to escape.

  “H
ead to the heights,” she whinnied, forgetting all about Rahkki, who weighed next to nothing.

  Surging higher, Echofrost and Shysong darted into clouds that were huge and billowing, offering them cover. Far below, the Landwalkers scurried like mice. Inside the barn, Riders quickly buckled saddles onto their mounts. “Higher,” Echofrost neighed.

  “But the princess can’t breathe,” whinnied Shysong, pausing to hover.

  Echofrost glanced over her shoulder. Rahkki’s small face had drained of color, his fists were bleeding from holding on to her mane, and his golden eyes lolled in his head. His breath puffed out in streams of white vapor chilled by the heights. She was going to lose him. Blast it! His weakness was now her weakness. “Drop down!” she whinnied.

  The mares plummeted toward land, quickly reviving their riders. Rahkki leaned forward, mouthing words to Echofrost that she didn’t understand. He tried to steer her

  by tugging on her mane and pressuring her with his legs. She ignored him.

  “Here they come!” Echofrost brayed to Shysong. The Kihlari army was after them, with Tuni and Rizah in the lead.

  “What now?”

  Echofrost wondered the same. Then she remembered the Kihlari’s clumsy agility. “To the trees,” she whinnied, angling her wings. She dropped altitude quickly, feeling Rahkki’s body lift slightly off her back.

  Behind them, the Sky Guard whooped. Their mounts flew with flat necks, and their tails whipped in the wind. They soared over the village, and the Landwalkers shouted in excitement, watching the tame steeds chase the wild ones. Echofrost dipped lower once she passed the village, and her hooves skimmed the grass, but they were flying too fast to let the cubs off without killing them. “It’s because of the princess,” Echofrost whinnied. “They won’t stop until they get her back.”

  “Well, we can’t slow down; they’ll catch us. And if I buck her off at this speed, she’ll break her neck.”

  Echofrost glanced back—the Sky Guard was right behind them.

  The palomino pinto Rizah gnashed her teeth. “By Granak, Sula!” she whinnied. “Put the kids down before you kill them.”

  Echofrost tucked her tail and whinnied to Shysong. “We’ll lose the army in the jungle. Are you ready to fly faster than you ever have?” Ahead was the rain forest where the Gorlan giant had attacked Echofrost.

  “I’m ready,” whinnied Shysong.

  The two mares bolted into the trees.

  41

  The Chase

  RAHKKI ENTWINED HIS FISTS AROUND SULA’S mane. Her muscles bunched and expanded as she charged into the dark woods. She flew close to the ground, her neck stretched flat and her wings pinned to her sides like the fletchings on an arrow.

  He drew in his elbows and knees as they blew past trees in a blur. Sula’s body twisted, sometimes sideways. She dodged banyans and palms, rubber trees and Kapoks, her wingtips grazing against the damp leaves. Displaced branches thrashed Rahkki’s back and tore at his clothes; the wind stung his face. He gripped her tight and gulped, his heart walloping.

  To his right, I’Lenna hunched over Firo. Her long hair had come unbraided and the feathers she’d tied to her wrists twirled in the wind, making I’Lenna look part flying horse, part girl. Firo’s black-edged blue wings were also pinned, flapping occasionally to increase speed and then angling back as she rocketed between the trees.

  I’Lenna risked a glance at Rahkki. Her cheeks had flushed bright pink. Her scream was breathless. “I want off!”

  “Watch out!” he cried.

  Firo swooped to avoid smashing into a massive trunk, and I’Lenna clutched the mare tighter to avoid slipping off her.

  The Sky Guard surged into the forest. Tuni hollered, “Stop the mares, Rahkki!”

  A helpless chuckle rose in Rahkki’s throat. As if I could!

  Sula surged forward. Rahkki had ridden many horses, but Sula’s strength and speed were unexpected for her small size. He wrapped his arms around her silver neck, feeling the bite of her flowing white mane against his cheeks. Her lean muscles rippled, and her wings shaped the wind. She swerved and ducked, startling birds and exciting the monkeys, and Rahkki threw up a silent prayer to the Seven Sisters.

  The Sky Guard spread out, attempting to pass the mares and surround them, but they were heavy with armor, and they lost speed dodging the trees.

  “Faster!” Tuni ordered.

  The Fliers pinned their wings, imitating Sula—a mistake. Rahkki heard explosive thuds as some Kihlari crashed into trees, flying too fast to navigate. They splintered through the branches and fell to land.

  Tuni kicked Rizah, sailing closer. “I’m coming!” she shouted to Rahkki and I’Lenna, hoping to rescue them.

  A low branch, too thick to avoid, appeared ahead. Sula dived under it, making Rahkki’s belly somersault. The branch scraped against his scalp. “Stop chasing us!” he shouted back to Tuni. Sula would slow if she didn’t feel threatened, and maybe then she’d let him off.

  Tuni flew over the same low branch and lost speed, but did not give up. She dug her heels into Rizah’s sides and urged her faster, but the shouts and whinnies of the Sky Guard had faded behind them.

  Sula and Firo, feeling pressured by Rizah, increased their speed another notch, which Rahkki hadn’t thought possible. His gut twisted into a hopeless knot, and his breath came so fast he felt dizzy. Sula’s mane tangled tight around his hands, cutting off his circulation. His injured side throbbed, and his head ached. And nothing about this crazy ride was helping him conquer his fear of heights. It was only I’Lenna’s presence that kept Rahkki from screaming like a tot.

  “Where are they taking us?” I’Lenna shouted.

  “I think they’re escaping,” he shouted back. “We’re just along for the ride.”

  “So they’ll let us go?”

  “I think so.”

  He yelped as Sula surged up and over a small tree, and his body bumped on her back. Then Rahkki spotted gray shapes walking ahead of them. “Elephants,” he warned. These were wild elephants, not the ones tamed by the Gorlanders, but their swinging trunks and tusks were dangerous.

  Sula cut a sharp left. Firo ducked, following, and I’Lenna slid to one side. “I’m falling!” she screamed. Firo quickly adjusted, and I’Lenna pulled herself upright. They soared past the elephants, and the beasts trumpeted piercing alarms that traveled for miles.

  Tuni and Rizah sailed straight into the herd and the pinto balked, almost throwing Tuni off her back. But their momentum was lost as they slowed to circle the elephant herd, and the wild mares pulled away, gliding deeper into the rain forest. As Tuni disappeared behind them, Rahkki faced forward.

  After many dizzying minutes, Sula and Firo finally slowed and nickered to each other, and Rahkki was sure they were talking. They flew on for many long miles, but as Rahkki had predicted, the brayas relaxed now that they weren’t being chased. Sitting up, he stretched his back. I’Lenna also sat taller and wiped her watering eyes. “Look,” she said, her voice carrying on the wind.

  They were gliding over a full and winding river that was clear all the way to the bottom. Bright fish schooled and larger ones swam as slow as sharks. Alligators napped on the shores, and insects filled the air. The mares dropped lower and let their hooves skim the water, cutting long ripples.

  Ahead the river dropped into a flowing waterfall. The mares bent their wings and dropped with it, buzzing over the edge and down, falling like stones. Rahkki’s belly fluttered as they dived hundreds of lengths toward the glimmering pool at the bottom. Fresh spray soaked him, and I’Lenna kicked her feet, ringing the bells on her ankle charms. “We’re flying!” she chortled.

  The mares gently pulled out of their dives and banked, heading east. Straight ahead fluttered a kaleidoscope of butterflies, thousands of them. “Watch out,” he cried. But Sula and Firo flew straight into them. Rahkki glanced at I’Lenna. With colorful wings enveloping her, the blue sky shining above, and the lush green foliage flashing below, she looked as serene as a st
orybook illustration. Rahkki felt airsick.

  They soared out of the ball of butterflies and cruised over a grassy field that was dotted with grazing lowland gorillas. The troop’s oldest male, the silverback, stood on his hind legs and watched them fly by with curious eyes.

  Next they glided over a flat reflective lake and scattered the fowl there, but not before Rahkki caught sight of their reflection: two winged mares, wild and wind tangled, their feathers glinting in the sun, with two children sitting astride them riding bareback, their clothing torn, their legs pressed tight, and their eyes bright, looking just as wild.

  He caught his breath and watched the world pass under his feet, blurred and beautiful. I’Lenna studied the terrain and the animals, as well, appearing equally awestruck. She turned her head toward him and grinned. They entered another forest, and then suddenly, Sula and Firo lifted their noses and shot to the tops of the trees. Rahkki felt the porridge he’d eaten earlier rise in his throat. He swallowed it back down, gagging.

  The mares flared their wings and braked, hovering above the treetops. Here the wind filled Rahkki’s ears and blew his short hair straight up. The horizon shrank, and he could see all the way to the ocean. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose.

  “Look at those huge nests,” I’Lenna said, pointing down.

  Rahkki opened his eyes and, sure enough, right below them were the largest nests he’d ever seen. Sula and Firo landed in the biggest one and folded their wings. They turned their heads and stared at the kids, and Rahkki knew exactly what they wanted. “Get off,” he said to I’Lenna. They slid off their flying horses and collapsed at the bottom of the nest.

  “Are we resting here?” I’Lenna asked.

  Sula dropped her muzzle into Rahkki’s hands. It was the first time she’d sought physical contact with him. He stroked her nose and then he tensed. “Oh no,” he said.