Stormspeaker

by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

  As if on cue, six snarling hyenas jumped out from the tall grass, and in the moonlight Abeke could see them surrounding Anka. Anka spun around to face each one. The colors of her clothes and skin rippled as she blended into her surroundings and disappeared from view. The hyenas paused, confused because they could still smell her. The grass shifted and Anka reappeared a few feet away. One of the hyenas was done playing cat and mouse and lunged forward.

  Abeke shot an arrow straight into its neck, dropping it on the spot.

  “Having a hard time believing your eyes?” Anka taunted the remaining five animals. She twirled her quarterstaff and kicked up some dust, her cloak rippling and changing colors as she faded out of sight. The hyenas drew closer. Then one yelped as she hit it hard enough that it went flying through the air. “How’d you like that?” Anka shouted, already standing somewhere else, while another hyena whimpered in agony.

  The Greencloaks watched in amazement. Anka was anything but the weakest of the group.

  “Don’t stand there staring!” Anka called out. “Get the rest of them!”

  Meilin ran forward with her sword held high above her head while Abeke unleashed an arrow that grazed the side of a hyena. Conor, Rollan, and Xanthe charged in to help, but there was already a whooping call in the distance. The hyenas turned and retreated back into the grasslands.

  “That was amazing,” Conor remarked as they all regrouped at the campsite. “I didn’t know you could fight like that.”

  “You handled them like a pro,” Abeke added while pulling out her arrow from the dead hyena.

  “Meilin is a good teacher,” Anka said, calling Toey into passive state on her arm. Instantly her features looked crisper. Once the natural camouflage tendencies that Toey imparted were removed, Abeke could see the glimmer in Anka’s eyes as she smiled. Abeke could sense that Anka was proud of herself. “Not sure how I would’ve done against the Oathbound, but hyenas were good for my first real one-on-one challenge.”

  “You’ve definitely come a long way.” Meilin picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Uraza and Briggan were nearby, each resting next to a fallen hyena that they’d brought over. “Guess we can all eat hyena meat for our next meal.”

  Rollan rubbed his belly. “Yum. Well, it beats them eating some Greencloak meat for their next meal.” He smiled. “Don’t think they’d like it anyway. We’re way too tough to chew.”

  Abeke chuckled. Rollan always had a way of lightening the mood.

  Suddenly, Essix screeched and circled high above them.

  “Look who finally shows up … after the fight is over,” Rollan said, lifting up his arm in case the gyrfalcon wanted to perch there.

  Essix dove straight toward Rollan, twisting only at the last moment to avoid colliding with him. Abeke had to duck to escape getting pummeled.

  “Hey!” Abeke glanced up at the falcon, who was swooping down once more. “He was only kidding.”

  Rollan frowned, his eyes trained on the majestic bird. He looked worried.

  “Something’s wrong.” Rollan sat down on the lush grass. “Essix needs to show me something.” He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before settling into a quiet rhythm.

  Xanthe pulled the map out from under her cloak. “We have to go that way … toward those mountains.” She pointed east. “But did you see who else headed that way?”

  “The hyenas,” Meilin and Conor answered in unison.

  Abeke nodded. “They’ll be tracking us. Waiting for us to drop our guard.”

  Rollan swayed a bit and mumbled something.

  Meilin bent down next to him. “What do you see?”

  Rollan didn’t answer at first, but then he popped his eyes open. “Oathbound. Still pretty far, but headed this way.” He stood up and pointed to the west. “Coming from that direction. I counted seven of them on camels.”

  “So let’s go.” Xanthe buttoned her hooded cloak, making sure she was fully covered from head to toe.

  “And one of them has a grizzly bear as a spirit animal,” Rollan added. “It was helping them track us.”

  “Ugh, that’s really not good news.” Conor grimaced. “Grizzlies have one of the best senses of smell. We have to do something to shake them off our scent.”

  Abeke turned to look at the remnants of their campsite. Squashed grass, dead hyenas, blood on the ground … anyone would know they’d been there. “Hold on,” Abeke said. “Let’s not go too fast.”

  “You sense something?” Conor asked as he gazed at Briggan. The wolf looked content to bathe in the warm sun that was rising in the east. “Briggan and Uraza seem okay.”

  Abeke thought about what Master Naveb had told her. A good hunter doesn’t always lunge forward, but takes in what is around and behind them. They could turn this into an advantage to throw off the trackers.

  “What if the hyenas had won?” Abeke mused out loud. “If they had killed us while we slept?”

  “What are you saying?” Xanthe shifted her weight from one foot to another. “Are you worried that the hyenas will get us next time? Because they won’t.”

  “No, I’m wondering if we can get the Oathbound to think that, though.”

  “Oh … ” Meilin gave a slow nod. “Fake our deaths.”

  “Or have them think at least a couple of us died here.” Conor walked around to one of the dead hyenas. “We can bloody up a couple of our cloaks and leave them here. Make it seem like the hyenas carried some of us off. Maybe they’ll think we separated and there was only a small group here. Then they might go back to report what they found and start a new search.”

  “But won’t the bear just pick up our trail when we continue across the savannah toward the mountains?” Xanthe watched as Conor ripped his bag with the corner of his ax and tossed it aside.

  “Not necessarily.” Abeke glanced at Rollan. “Especially if we aren’t going over the savannah.”

  Rollan nodded with a smile. “That’s where I come in.” He pulled out the chain around his neck where the Heart of the Land hung. “We won’t leave a trail over the savannah because we’ll be going under it.” He gave Xanthe a wink. “It’ll be like going home for you.”

  “What? I don’t understand.” Xanthe watched as Rollan walked to a patch of barren, sandy dirt next to Abeke. He clutched the gila monster amulet in his fist and punched the ground.

  Abeke jumped aside. She felt a small tremor, then a more powerful one, as the earth opened up right next to her, forming a sinkhole. Down at the bottom there was an opening to what looked to be a tunnel.

  “How?” Xanthe had a mixed expression of fear and amazement. “What … what is that thing?” She pointed to the amulet in Rollan’s hand.

  “A bond token,” Rollan said, as if that were enough of an explanation. “It has a legendary gila monster’s power to move the earth.”

  “You’re getting pretty good at using it,” Meilin whispered. “Impressive.”

  Abeke expected Rollan to dismiss the praise with a smart-mouthed comment, but he simply smiled and stayed quiet. Meilin definitely had a positive effect on him.

  “Now that we have our way out … ” Conor pointed to his ripped cloak lying on the ground. “Who else wants to give up their cloak and pretend to have been eaten alive?”

  Abeke knew that there was no way Rollan would relinquish Tarik’s green cloak. It meant too much to him. The rest of them were wearing the nondescript cloaks they’d picked up in Eura, so it made sense for one of them to leave theirs behind.

  “I’ll do it.” Abeke began untying the cord around her neck. “This slows me down anyway.”

  “No.” Xanthe put a hand on Abeke’s arm. “For the plan to work, it has to be me. There’s no other choice.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Meilin exclaimed. “You’re the only one who can’t give up her cloak. You need to have a special covering to protect you from the sun.”

  Xanthe shook her head. “If the trackers came from the monastery, Sodu could have given them som
ething from my room to track my scent. It has to be my cloak.”

  Essix squawked as he flew in circles above them once again.

  “We don’t have much time.” Rollan gave Essix a signal, letting her know that he understood the message. “What Xanthe said makes sense. Plus, we’ll stay underground for most of the day. She should be fine.”

  “I’ll give her my cloak when we move aboveground,” Abeke said. “That’ll help a little.”

  “Scatter whatever’s in my bag around the campsite and let’s go!” Xanthe tossed her cloak to Conor and jumped into the sinkhole, disappearing into the tunnel opening.

  “I think it’s a good plan,” Abeke said, pulling Uraza back into passive state. “Then again, it’s our only plan, so … ”

  “Um, this tunnel ends after a few feet,” Xanthe shouted from down below.

  Rollan peered into the sinkhole. “Yeah, I can’t move that much earth at once. When we’re all down there, I’ll keep pushing the dirt out of the way and close it in behind us.”

  “Bring my lantern!” Xanthe reminded him. “You’ll need it down here.”

  “Already got it.” Rollan tapped the small lantern he’d secured to the outside of his bag. “I’ll toss our bags down first.”

  “And I’ll catch them,” Anka replied from the bottom of the pit. Her skin had already shifted to mimic the coloring of the shadowy hole … which meant Toey was back.

  “When … how did you … ?” Rollan shrugged off his own question. “Careful, this one is heavy,” he said to Anka as he tossed the first of the bags.

  “What do you think?” Conor held up Xanthe’s blood-spattered cloak to Abeke and Meilin. It had a large rip from where Briggan had torn into it. Conor had already staged the campsite as if there had been an epic battle, with two of the hyenas left behind as casualties, and a few items from their bags thrown around.

  Meilin surveyed the area. “Looks pretty convincing,” she said. She’d covered up most of their footprints in the dirt. Now it really seemed as if only two people had been at the campsite.

  “Yeah, I think so too.” Conor held out his arm. “Briggan, you’ll probably appreciate not being in that cramped tunnel for hours.” The gray wolf leaped toward Conor, disappearing in a flash and reappearing as the tattoo below his elbow.

  Essix had flown back and perched herself on Rollan’s shoulder. “How about it, Essix? You won’t be able to track us while we’re underground. Going into passive state would be—” A flash of light indicated that the gyrfalcon didn’t need any more convincing.

  “Guess she agreed with you,” Conor said, walking to the edge of the sinkhole. “Now, let’s go find that valley.”

  “Um, yeah, I was going to say something about that.” Abeke surveyed the mountains in the distance one last time as she stood next to Rollan and Conor. “We’re supposed to go to a valley of death and find a field filled with skulls … but have we stopped to think that those skulls might be from people entering the valley of death?”

  “Oh, I’ve thought about it.” Rollan sighed. “Just don’t like thinking about it too much, if you know what I mean.”

  Conor shrugged. “It’s not like we have much of a choice. We have to go wherever Tembo took Stormspeaker.”

  “True, but … ” Meilin tossed her bag into the sinkhole and looked at the three other Greencloaks. “We have to be careful. Hyenas and the Oathbound may be the least of our troubles.”

  For a moment none of the Greencloaks said a word, breathing in the last bit of fresh air they’d have for a while. Then the four of them leaped into the shadowy pit.

  THE GLOW FROM THE LANTERN BOUNCED OFF THE earthen walls as Rollan continued pushing aside the ground, creating a tunnel ahead of the group and allowing it to collapse once the last person was through. They’d been crawling on their hands and knees in single file, to minimize the amount of earth Rollan had to move, but it still took considerable effort and concentration. At one point, they considered taking turns using the bond token, but though it could be used by anyone, no one knew how to use it as well as Rollan. The risk of having the tunnel collapse on top of them was too great.

  It had been about six or seven hours since they’d left the campsite, or at least that’s what Meilin figured, based on the growling of her stomach. Xanthe had been able to keep them headed east, using her strange ability to navigate while underground by sensing Erdas’s magnetic fields.

  “I think I need a break,” Rollan announced, wiping his brow and rolling onto his back. “And I’m pretty sure I’ve heard everyone’s stomach rumble in the last few minutes.”

  “Should we go up and eat?” Conor asked from the rear spot in the line. “The air is becoming stagnant.”

  “I don’t think we’ve gone far enough to take a chance,” Abeke answered from just ahead of him. “Plus, the sun will be high in the sky, which won’t help Xanthe.”

  “I can always stay while you go up,” Xanthe offered. She’d been crawling behind Rollan while directing him where to go. “But if we’re all taking a break down here, then I have an idea.” She reached up and touched the hard dirt above her head. “This doesn’t feel as sandy as where we were. Maybe Rollan can create an airhole. In Sadre we had them in our tunnels to help the air circulate.”

  Meilin peered around Xanthe to get a better look at Rollan. “What do you think? Can you do that?”

  Rollan propped himself up on his elbows. “Yeah, and if we’re going to be here for more than just a couple of minutes, then I think I can make this area bigger. Just give me a little space.”

  Meilin almost laughed at his request. Space was not something they could give. But she scooted back, bumping into Anka.

  Rollan clasped the amber stone in his right hand and closed his eyes. He grimaced, as if lifting a heavy object. Tiny rocks started to rain down as the ground above them buckled and lifted. It wasn’t much, maybe a few feet, but it was enough.

  “You did it!” Meilin sat up, happy to be vertical once again.

  Rollan took a deep breath and grunted as a crack above his head widened and burst at the surface. A ray of sunlight streamed in, highlighting the dirt floor next to Rollan.

  “Whew!” He collapsed onto his back with a smile on his face. “That wasn’t as easy as I thought it’d be, but you guys can call me Mr. Superstrong from now on.”

  “How about we not?” Abeke said, rummaging through her bag. “And instead we offer you some water, dried fruit, and jerky?”

  Rollan scooted against the side of the small cavern he had created. “Fair enough. Although you have to admit, I did a pretty good job of making this place.”

  “Yes, you and the Heart of the Land,” Conor said as Abeke passed around the food.

  “But more the Heart of the Land than you,” Meilin corrected. “Don’t go getting a big head.”

  “Who, me?” Rollan acted shocked. “Never!”

  They were all sitting in a circle. The cavern seemed to glow with the light from the lantern and the beam of sunlight streaming down from above. Meilin felt calm. She was with people she trusted, friends who had her back. She realized that she was relaxed because she felt safe, even as they headed toward a so-called valley of death. Everyone here would fight to the death for the others.

  Xanthe stretched her arms out in front of her. “So this crown you’re looking for, Stormspeaker, does it do stuff like the Heart of the Land?” she asked.

  Meilin bit her lip. After everything they’d been through in Sadre, battling against the Wyrm, she trusted Xanthe. But the girl wasn’t a Greencloak. She was the only one in their group who wasn’t, and it didn’t seem right to discuss their mission with her. Doubt crept into Meilin’s thoughts. Perhaps she shouldn’t be so quick to feel safe. There had been betrayals before.

  The quiet lasted too long. No one had answered Xanthe, and their silence spoke volumes.

  “Guess I’m not worthy of knowing those secrets,” Xanthe mumbled.

  Worthy.

  Meilin thought
back to Worthy, and how even though he had been a Redcloak and a one-time enemy, he’d sacrificed himself for their mission. She exchanged glances with Conor, Abeke, and Rollan, but couldn’t seem to find Anka in the cavern. They were all thinking the same thing. Conor nodded, as did Abeke. Rollan shrugged noncommittally.

  “It does have some type of power,” Meilin explained. “We just don’t know what it is exactly. There are four bond tokens: the Heart of the Land, which we found in Amaya. You’ve seen what it does.… ”

  “The Wildcat’s Claw,” Abeke continued. “A sword that can cut through anything and shoots out fire. But we lost it during a cave-in while we were in Eura.”

  “We didn’t just lose it,” Conor said. “We also lost our friend Worthy, who sacrificed himself to help us escape.”

  “Oh, that’s why … ” Xanthe nodded with new understanding. “I get it. When I mentioned not being worthy … that’s why you all looked at each other.”

  “Yes,” Meilin said. “But the truth is we don’t know what to expect from the remaining two bond tokens. Stormspeaker and the Dragon’s Eye are still mysteries to us. We know they’re probably very powerful; a bond token in the wrong hands would be a disaster. And even creating them is dangerous, as it can rip apart a spirit animal bond. The Greencloaks hid them for a reason.”

  “All right, but something still puzzles me,” Xanthe said. “You think finding these bond tokens will somehow clear the Greencloaks’ name, but how? Won’t people fear that you’ve become even more powerful? Isn’t that what got the Greencloaks into trouble in the first place?”

  “There are some things that only a Greencloak would understand, Xanthe.” Anka’s voice was soft but strong. “No offense, but we can’t share everything with you.”

  The conversation ended on that point, but Meilin couldn’t help wonder if what Xanthe had said was true. Olvan had sent them on this mission believing that it was the only way to save the Greencloaks, but what if he was wrong? What if this made matters worse?

  After a few minutes of eating in silence, Rollan spoke up. “So how much more ground shifting do you guys think I need to do before we get to the valley?”