“He was cloaked,” Rahkki said. “I didn’t see his face.”
The general addressed Meela. “Headwind Swift, dispatch a patrol into the woods at once. Find this cloaked assassin!”
She nodded briskly and exited the tent. Satisfied, the general changed the subject. “I have a mission for you, Stormrunner.”
Rahkki brightened. “Yes, General.”
“Take your team up to Mount Crim and scout for the wild herd. We need to know exactly where the giants are keeping them.”
“Just me and my team?” Rahkki asked, surprised. “But—”
Tuni, who had tied back her dark-red hair, interrupted. “He might be our Battle Mage, but he has no experience, General.”
“I think the boy will be safer outside of camp,” the general said pointedly, and Tuni nodded in reluctant agreement.
Rahkki imagined his new friends: Mut Finn, Jul Ranger, Tam Woodson, and Koko Dale. What did any of them know about scouting giants? “When? How?” Rahkki asked.
“You’re the Commander of Dragons. Use your powers,” Harak teased.
General Tsun shouldered past Harak. “Let your mare guide you. She found them once; she can find them again. Take your daggers, but not your swords or armor. You are kids exploring, got it? If you’re caught, the giants will never suspect you’re part of an army. Once you locate the wild herd, fly back and tell us where they are. I expect you to return by high sun tomorrow. It’s not complicated.”
“But giants eat kids.”
“Not the little ones,” Harak said, laughing, and Tuni knocked him in the shoulder.
General Tsun flashed Rahkki a sympathetic look. “It’s a simple exercise, Rahkki.”
Rahkki nodded to the general and strode away, a chill settling in his gut. He doubted any of this was going to be simple.
32
The Team
“COME ON, SULA,” RAHKKI SAID AS THEY returned from the general’s tent. “Let’s get our camping gear and find the team.”
Echofrost followed him, guilt rolling through her in waves for leaving him last night. She’d only done it because she’d wanted to scout the area on her own, to search for clues of her friends, but she’d found nothing.
Rahkki slipped the bridle over her ears and buckled it to her head, but he didn’t bother with the saddle. Instead, he loaded bags onto her as if she were a pack buffalo: a sack of grain, his satchel, and his extra clothing. What now? she wondered.
Next he removed the barbed beads from her tail and plaited her mane to keep it from tangling. She wondered why he was leaving most of his weapons and their armor stacked tidily on the ground.
“Ay, Stormrunner,” called a voice. It was the tall red-haired Landwalker named Mut, followed by Koko, Jul, and Tam. Echofrost had learned their names during their four-day journey to this encampment.
Rahkki took Echofrost’s reins and led her to Mut. “Where were you all last night?” Rahkki asked the teen, his jaw muscles fluttering.
“Having some fun,” Mut said, winking slyly at Jul. The two burst into laughter.
“Fun?” Rahkki repeated, narrowing his eyes.
“Yeah, the kind that’s not funny to anyone else,” Jul added, choking on a giggle.
Mut twisted his lips. “But pretty bloody funny to us.”
Rahkki glanced from one to the other. The boys covered their mouths, laughing harder. “The look on that soldier’s face,” Mut said, his humor exploding.
“And that hairy tarantula, the biggest I’ve seen,” Jul added. He used his hands to indicate a spider as wide as his chest, then he forced a frown. “Yeah, we might have chosen a smaller one.”
Mut clutched his belly. “The soldier screamed like a monkey when he put his boots on . . . remember? Ooh, ooh, ah, ah!”
Jul bent over, wheezing, and Mut leaned on him.
“Fools,” Koko muttered, but her mouth curved into a half smile.
Tam shook his head. “It wasn’t that funny.”
Echofrost listened; understanding that the Landwalkers thought something was hilarious.
“Well, if I’d known he was General Tsun’s third cousin, maybe I wouldn’t a done it,” said Mut. “Anyway, we didn’t hurt the kid.”
“Kid?” Rahkki asked, crossing his arms.
“Ah, don’t look so spiced, Rahkki; he’s sixteen, and he whined all the way here. Figured I’d give him something to really cry about.”
Rahkki’s boot tapped faster and faster. “But you never came back.”
His team exchanged guilty glances. “About that,” Jul said. “Meela Swift was telling stories at her tent, and by Granak, she knows how to tell a story. We all fell asleep there.”
“You ditched me for a story?”
“An’ chocolate,” Koko added, her eyes dreamy.
“Yeah, she had a pot of it, all melted from the sun.” Jul licked his lips. “We were going to come back for you,” he added quickly.
“Oh yeah?” Rahkki asked, his voice flat. “Well, while you four were listening to bedtime stories and eating chocolate, someone put a blood viper in my blankets.”
His friends’ laughter skittered to a halt. “As a joke?” Jul asked.
Rahkki rolled his eyes. “Why does everyone think that a viper in my blankets is funny? Someone tried to kill me.”
His friends shut their mouths.
“You know you’re supposed to be protecting me, right?”
“Yeah, from the giants,” Mut said with a weak smile. All five of them spit on the ground when Mut said giants.
Rahkki lowered his voice. “Well, now you need to protect me from assassins too. And we have new orders from General Tsun. He’s sending us to scout the hordes for the wild herd. The army needs their exact coordinates before we fight.”
“Just us?” Tam asked, raising his thick black eyebrows.
“Just us.” Rahkki circled his finger, pointing at each of them.
“Nice!” Jul said.
“Not nice,” Rahkki countered. “I’m sure Harak is hoping we’re spotted and tossed into the soup.”
“But that would alert the giants that they’re under attack.”
“Oh no, it gets better,” Rahkki said. “We have to scout them without armor or large weapons. We’re just stupid Sandwen kids out exploring, so they’ll never suspect we’re military.”
“Yuh can say tha’ again,” Koko drawled.
Rahkki shook his head. “Let’s not think about it too much. Just pack up and move out.”
The team scattered to gather their satchels and rejoin Rahkki. When they were all ready, the cub clucked to Echofrost, and she trotted by his side as the group walked to the lake to fill their waterskins. Overhead, the Sky Guard circled, and Echofrost whinnied to them. “What’s happening now? Why are we the only ones going out?”
Rizah nickered down to her. “I don’t know, but keep your nose to the wind, Sula. The sooner one of us finds your herd, the sooner this will be over.”
I hope so, Echofrost thought.
The golden pinto mare banked and flew away, guided by Tuni. The patrol cruised between the trees, scanning the encampment for giants, predators, and game to hunt.
Rahkki tugged gently on Echofrost’s reins, urging her forward. She remembered playing with him last night in the lake. They’d come far since she’d vowed to kill Rahkki on her first day of captivity.
Her cub stood on his tiptoes and whispered into her ear. “It’s almost over.” Then he clucked at her with his tongue, which she’d learned meant he wanted her to increase her pace. She did, and the team marched toward the misty ranges ahead. When the wind kicked up, it tore out some of Echofrost’s plumage, and Jul ran behind her, collecting it. She flexed her hocks, wanting to kick him but knowing she’d better not.
“She doesn’t like you behind her,” Rahkki grumbled.
Jul pocketed the purple feathers. “Tonight I’ll make charms for each of us, for luck.”
Koko snorted. “Nay, don’ make me one,” she said. “Tha�
�� wildin’ mare ain’ lucky.”
Soon they reached the jungle lands at the base of the mountain. The group entered the rain forest, where the air was instantly cooler and the sunlight muted, and they stopped talking. They’d entered the territory of the Gorlan hordes.
Echofrost flared her nostrils, drinking in the scent of rot, flowers, and predators. The leaf canopy screeched overhead: insects, primates, and birds—the usual noisemakers of the jungle—chirped and bellowed. Her ears swiveled, listening for the grunts and heavy footfalls of Gorlanders.
Rahkki used hand gestures to signal his friends, and sometimes this made them giggle. Echofrost’s heart sank. Why would the armies send these weanling kids instead of experienced warriors?
She rattled her feathers, suddenly understanding.
No one cared if these cubs lived or died.
33
Scouting
AS RAHKKI AND HIS TEAM CLIMBED THE BASE OF Mount Crim, the early-morning steam evaporated, and the sun heated Rahkki’s black hair, making him sweat. Tam, who was built like a bear, lumbered along, breathing in a loud lulling rhythm, and the others glided with efficient grace.
Hours passed, the heat cloyed their skin, and the air grew static. A storm brewed over the northern ocean, heading toward them. The Sandwens moved quickly through the jungle, as comfortable in the woods as animals. Shifting their eyes constantly from the treetops to the dark depths around them, they stepped over trails of poisonous ants, dodged spiny toxic plants, and ducked beneath spiderwebs large enough to entrap them.
In one of the trees, Rahkki spotted a rare white jaguar. It stared back at him, and his gut knotted; but every Sandwen knew it was the jaguars you didn’t see that attacked you.
“Keep walking,” Tam whispered. He drew his dagger and pointed it at the jaguar as if daring it to pounce.
Sula trotted beside Rahkki’s team, as careful and as silent as they. Having never lived wild, tame Kihlari crashed through the trees like stampeding elephants, but Sula trod softly. Uncle was right, the Fifth Clan Fliers could learn much from the wild herd.
“Hold up,” Mut said, raising a fist. The group froze.
Ahead of them, branches crashed and swayed. Jul opened his mouth to say something, but Koko seized his arm and pressed her finger against her lips. Jul squirmed until he saw them too.
There were giants on the trail ahead.
Sula pricked her ears and inhaled. It was a small group of four Gorlan males. They carried two woven nets on their backs: one full of melons, the other heavy with nuts. Their bare feet thudded the soil, sending vibrations that Rahkki felt through his boots. They gestured with their hands but made few other noises. Their scent carried on the breeze, a mixture of sweat, animal hides, and goat’s milk. Rahkki spied full waterskins attached to their belts and noticed the dried white liquid rimming the tops. Legends said that giants loved milk, but until now, Rahkki hadn’t actually believed it.
He waited for the Gorlanders to walk farther ahead of them before giving his team the signal to follow. Sula was careful, placing each hoof softly in front of the other. The teens hunched, creeping along the path.
Rahkki studied the giants. They walked far ahead of his team, shoving small trees aside as they traveled. The blue-eyed, flame-haired Gorlanders were the complete opposites of Rahkki’s slender, sun-darkened clansfolk. Thick muscles shaped their chests, crisscrossed their arms, and bulged from their legs. A Sandwen was a twig next to a giant.
He also noticed that the thudding giants scared away all the animals in the area, and he wondered how they hunted meat for their soup. Granak the dragon was also too big to tread quietly through the rain forest, so he hid and ambushed his prey. Rahkki imagined the giants did the same.
The tallest Gorlander reached up, scratching his head, and Rahkki gasped. Tied to his wrist was a feathered bracelet. The color of the stolen plumage was jade green, the exact color of the buckskin stallion’s feathers. Rahkki wondered if Sula had noticed it too, and when his mare rattled her wings, a sign of anger or distress, he guessed she had.
“Calm down,” he whispered, stroking her silver hide. The others held their breath, watching his wild mare react.
Sula flattened her ears and flashed the deep pink within her nostrils, but she knew better than to make noise.
Rahkki exhaled and turned his attention back to the giants, wondering what the feather meant to the Gorlander. Was it a kill trophy? Or was it like a Sandwen charm, a decoration? The team paused as the giants drew farther away. Then Sula shoved Rahkki hard with her muzzle, urging him forward. He nodded, and the group resumed their creeping, avoiding the path the giants had taken.
At midday, Rahkki’s team paused to rest, and Sula glared at them, seeming annoyed by their slow progress. Jul leaned against a fig tree, guzzling from his waterskin. “Sun and stars, it’s hot.”
“Why don’t you fly ahead of us?” Mut suggested to Rahkki. “We won’t reach the peaks until nightfall at the pace we’re climbing, but you and Sula can scout the hordes and get back quick.”
“I was starting to think the same thing,” Rahkki answered. “But what if we’re spotted?”
“Giants are lazy,” Koko huffed. “Nuthin’ hunts ’em, so they don’ patrol their territories like we do.”
“And they have terrible distance vision,” Jul added. “If you just fly up and circle round a bit, maybe you’ll find the wild herd, and we can head back for the army.”
You’re the lazy ones, Rahkki thought, but they were also correct; it would be faster to fly. “All right, Sula and I will scope out the peaks, but you all keep moving. If I can’t find the herd, we may have to go in on foot. If I’m not back by dark, set up a camp at that first ridge and wait for me.” He pointed to a jagged peak, guessing they could reach it by nightfall, and the team agreed.
Rahkki mounted Sula, and his anxious mare kicked off the path with such power that Rahkki slid toward her tail. He clutched the base of her wings and scrambled back into place. But as she soared higher, his belly trilled—not with fear but with joy!
Stunned, Rahkki held on to Sula’s reins with one hand, as if he’d been flying his entire life. His dread of heights had evaporated! Rahkki let out a happy breath. Now that he’d finally remembered more things about the night his mother had disappeared, he also remembered that he did love to fly—always had! It was Drael’s death that had changed him. Since that night, flying had made him sick. But the horrible queasiness and fear had nothing to do with the heights and everything to do with the horror of Drael’s last flight.
This is good, he thought. There was enough to fear in the coming battle without worrying about falling off Sula’s back.
34
Highland Horde
ECHOFROST GLIDED UP THE SLOPES OF MOUNT Crim. The trees thinned as she and Rahkki reached the upper peaks. Her soaring body cast a large shadow that rippled across the swaying sea of green leaves below. But as she flew closer to the top of Mount Crim, she realized its monstrous size. The mountain peaks expanded as far east as she could see. She flared her nostrils, filtering the moist air for scents of pegasi.
Soon, Echofrost spied tendrils of smoke and heard the trumpeting of elephants. Rahkki urged her to fly lower, and she dipped into the jungle and soared between the trees, avoiding the dangerous hanging vines that threatened to ensnare her. With unexpected pleasure, she noticed that Rahkki rode her with new confidence. What changed? she wondered.
Ahead, she detected the edge of the Gorlan horde encampment. She soared around a sharp outcropping of boulders and gasped. Rahkki sucked in his breath. Across a deep ravine, they spied a huge plateau of dirt, stone, and shredded meadow. Several hundred elephant-hide tents flapped in the breeze, and fenced pens full of mountain goats and small sheep had been erected along the outskirts of the camp. The giants had sawed large tree stumps into tables and chairs. Reed dolls and carved toys were strewn throughout.
Hundreds of Gorlanders worked and played on the plateau while their elephan
ts dozed in the meadow. Echofrost guessed this was Highland Horde, since Rizah said that only they kept elephants. Great Cave Horde kept saber cats, and Fire Horde kept burners, though they sometimes lent their beasts to the other hordes. Echofrost landed in the woods, peeking at them through the heavy-leafed branches that provided cover.
In the center of everything rested a huge black cauldron of bubbling broth. A large blackwood frame secured the pot over a pit of red-hot coals and steaming logs. This was the “soup” that the Kihlari had warned her about. If the giants had eaten any of Echofrost’s friends, they would be in that soup. She shuddered as the scent reached her, but to her surprise, it was not unpleasant.
But what troubled Echofrost the most was what she didn’t see: Storm Herd. The sprawling camp was busy, full of adults moving about or resting in the shade. The pups sat on their rumps or played with one another, their thick lips agape and their sharp baby teeth glinting in the sun. Like their parents, they were pale as clouds, with small blue eyes and shades of red hair. Being younger, their faces were smooth and unmarked by the perpetual scowls of the adults, but she spotted no pegasi.
“I don’t see your friends,” Rahkki whispered. Just then a bull elephant became alarmed. Its trumpeting cry echoed between the mist-strewn peaks of Mount Crim.
Echofrost and Rahkki were hiding some distance away, but she wondered if the elephant had caught her scent. The adult giants gestured to one another and scanned the surrounding peaks.
Rahkki tugged on Echofrost’s reins, urging her away. Since Storm Herd wasn’t there, she followed his direction, and they cantered away from the camp and deeper into the mountains. Rahkki stroked her neck, seeming to sense her stress. The sight of so many giants had unnerved them both.
When they’d reached a safer distance away from the encampment, Rahkki peered skyward and tugged up on her reins, the signal to fly, and suddenly she understood the benefit of reins—they enabled a Rider to communicate with his or her Flier without words, which was good when a Pair was scouting their enemy. Echofrost spread her wings and galloped off the ground, enjoying the pleasant drop in her belly as she rose.
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