The Guardian Herd

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

  Then Petalcloud marched out of the shade and confronted Nightwing. The two argued, and Petalcloud pointed across the valley—at her grandson, Starfrost.

  Frostfire saw this from afar. “No . . . no! She wants my colt.” He flew off the grass at the same time as Nightwing. They each hurtled toward Larksong and Starfrost. “Fly!” Frostfire neighed to her. Larksong shielded Starfrost, shaking her head. A newborn could never keep up with her if she fled, and Star saw she wouldn’t leave her son.

  Nightwing reached her first. Larksong flew up to fight him, her teeth flashing, but Frostfire knocked her out of the way just as a burst of silver starfire flew past her head. Frostfire pinned Larksong to the grass to protect her while Nightwing picked up their perfect white colt in his wings.

  Larksong screamed, “Let him go!” She tried to break away, but Frostfire held her back. With a hiss of sparks, Nightwing cantered back to Petalcloud, carrying Starfrost in his wings. The newborn colt bleated loudly for Larksong, and she answered him with shrill whinnies.

  When Nightwing reached Petalcloud, he laid the colt at her feet, and then he walked away, returning to his son who’d died.

  The valley was still. Not a single pegasus moved. Stealing a newborn from its mother was unheard of in Anok—weanlings, yes, but not newborns. Star’s gut twisted, and he felt sick.

  Petalcloud nuzzled her new colt Starfrost and then lifted her head, gazing at Frostfire, her eyes hard and black, but pleased. She shrugged her violet wings, almost as if in apology, then turned and took her two foals beneath the sycamore tree to rest.

  Larksong melted into the grass, crying. Frostfire swept his wings over her, trying to calm her. Nightwing took his dead colt to the river and buried him under stones. And Star flew back to the tribute, swallowing waves of emotions. Why hadn’t Nightwing let him help? He could have saved the foal! Fury, sadness, and grief pulverized Star from the inside out.

  Long hours passed this way, and the herd returned to grazing. Eventually Frostfire left Larksong’s side. He flew to Star and landed in front of him.

  “I’m sorr—” Star began, though none of it was his fault.

  Frostfire flattened his ears. “Don’t.”

  Star closed his mouth. He could think of no words to soothe Frostfire.

  His uncle pushed past him and stalked into the woods to be alone. Sweetroot limped to Larksong’s side, feeding her calming roots.

  Nightwing returned from burying his colt and joined Petalcloud. They nuzzled their foals and comforted Starfrost.

  And Star watched it all, studying the Destroyer and wondering how it felt to have a family and a herd of his own, but at what cost?

  Petalcloud ordered the Ice Warriors to take the herd out to graze. They obeyed, and Star watched the pegasi of Anok stomp onto the grassland because they weren’t allowed to fly—and he realized they were the band of horses that he’d feared they’d become when he was in the Trap. Silverlake had asked him to leave Anok and to come back when he was stronger. He’d told her he wouldn’t go because he was afraid of what he’d find when he returned: I’ll find a herd of dull beasts, slaves of Nightwing, pegasi afraid of their own shadows. You’ll be turned into a herd of horses—mindlessly following one stallion.

  Star gazed over the valley at the pegasi of Anok and saw that his fears had already come true. “It’s time,” he said to no one. “It’s time to end this.”

  28

  WISHES

  THE NEXT DAY ECHOFROST GAVE THE SIGNAL. THE tunnel was finally finished.

  At dusk, Frostfire trotted down from the hillside, his wings flared.

  “What is it?” Star asked.

  “Larksong is planning to ambush Petalcloud and take Starfrost back.” He rattled his feathers. “Nightwing will kill her for it, but she doesn’t care. She’d rather be dead than without our colt.” Frostfire wrung his wings, pacing. “What are we going to do?”

  “The tunnel is finished, Frostfire. We can get Larksong out.”

  “But what about Starfrost? Can you get him out too?”

  Star blinked at him, feeling helpless. “Petalcloud is nursing your colt, Frostfire. We can’t just take him without her noticing. And if he goes missing, Nightwing and the Ice Warriors will turn the forest upside down searching for him. They’ll discover the rebels, the den, and the tunnel. Everything we’ve worked so hard for will be destroyed.”

  “But you promised me,” said Frostfire.

  Star backed away, his heart torn for his uncle. “I said I’d save your mare, and I will, but you’ll have to be patient about Starfrost. Now is not the right time, but Nightwing isn’t going to hurt him; your colt is safe.”

  “Safe,” rasped Frostfire. “He’s anything but safe!”

  “Listen, I’m going to the den tonight. I’ll talk to Hazelwind about it. I want Starfrost away from Nightwing as much as you do.”

  Frostfire whipped his heard toward Star, looking furious.

  Star shut his mouth. He wasn’t the colt’s sire; he couldn’t know how Frostfire felt. “Just wait, please,” said Star. The way Frostfire was pacing and rattling his feathers, Star knew he was asking a lot from the stallion. Frostfire wanted blood in exchange for his son, and so did Larksong. She was a sky herder, a highly specialized battle mare, and Frostfire was a captain—they were steeds who made decisions and took action. Asking them to wait was like asking the sun to shine less brightly.

  Frostfire folded his trembling wings. “All right, I’ll wait.” He exhaled and peered at Star, his pale, mismatched eyes glinting like ice. “But if I had your silver starfire, I’d use it. I’d save my son with it.”

  “It’s not that simple,” explained Star.

  Frostfire shook his head slowly. “I think it is that simple.”

  Star saw the conviction, the desire in Frostfire’s eyes. He wanted Star’s power; he wished for it. Star recoiled but tried to hide his reaction. There was darkness in his uncle, deep in his core. The kidnapping of his colt had awakened it.

  “Save my family,” Frostfire ordered. It was a command and not a request.

  Star nodded. “I’ll try.”

  Frostfire turned away and flew up to the hill to keep watch over his family, and Star’s thoughts returned to Morningleaf. Over the past winter, he’d tried to let her go, and living apart from her had helped him with that, but every time he visited the den, he was crushed by how much he missed her. And as close as she was to Brackentail, she was brighter, more alive when Star was near. He didn’t think he was imagining that, and tonight he would see her. The section of his heart that was reserved for Morningleaf thumped to life.

  As the sun completed its descent, Star slid his power across his dark hide, vanishing from view. He flew to Frostfire and reminded him, “Make the call of the hawk if Nightwing comes.”

  Frostfire nodded, but his eyes remained trained on his abducted son.

  Star flew to the den. The dire wolves had dug a new one farther away, and they menaced the pegasi less often. Nightwing had turned several members of the wolf pack to ash, and that had helped deter them from hunting pegasi in general, but they refused to vacate the Flatlands. Star landed at the tall elm and then walked to the rounded berm and the fallen tree that hid the den. He swept aside the branches and ducked inside.

  “Star!” Morningleaf rushed into his open wings. “We did it! The tunnel is finished.”

  Hazelwind, Dewberry, and Brackentail greeted Star with soft nickers.

  “The tribute is almost done too,” said Star. “I can slow down, to give you time to transport the pegasi out.” They had spent many hours discussing this already. They’d decided to take two hundred pegasi, approximately forty from each of the original five herds. Two hundred steeds would be enough to found a new herd on another continent, but not so many that Nightwing would notice they were gone. Hazelwind, Morningleaf, Brackentail, Dewberry, and Echofrost would lead the new herd as a council.

  Sweetroot would not go. She planned to administer the death berries if Sta
r failed, and Silverlake would not leave either. “I’m too old,” Silverlake had said, but Star didn’t think that was the reason. Anok was her home, to her core, and that’s why she couldn’t—wouldn’t—leave it. But Star and his friends hoped that two hundred pegasi, in a herd of thousands, could escape unnoticed, fly south across the Dark Water, and begin new lives. There were eight continents in total, according to the legends, and it would take Nightwing a small eternity to search an entire planet for two hundred escaped pegasi.

  “We’ll sneak out twenty per day,” said Hazelwind.

  “How long will that take?” asked Brackentail.

  Morningleaf quickly figured the numbers. “Ten days, and then we’ll need an extra three days to get a good head start.”

  Star had seen the edge of the southern continent on his high flights, but what his friends would find there was a mystery—Landwalkers, more dire wolves, something worse? No one knew.

  “Where will you hide them until all are out?” asked Star.

  Hazelwind answered. “We’ll fly them several hours south, to a forest almost as thick as the Trap. Dewberry scouted it for us. They’ll wait there until all two hundred are free.”

  “Remember,” said Star, “Larksong must be in the first group. I promised that to Frostfire.”

  “I’ll let Echofrost know,” said Hazelwind. “Did you promise the captain anything else?” Hazelwind looked irritated, and Star didn’t blame him.

  “I told him I’d talk to you about getting his colt out too.”

  “The colt Petalcloud took?” said Dewberry, snapping her head toward Star. “I’d as soon steal a bear cub from its mother.”

  “Dewberry is right,” said Hazelwind. “The colt is too young to leave her side, and if we did get him away, she’d notice immediately. She’s claimed Starfrost as her own and so has Nightwing—they would search the woods. They’d find us.”

  “I know,” said Star. “I explained this, but I’m afraid Frostfire will try to save the colt himself. He’s not thinking straight.”

  “Let him get himself killed, then,” said Dewberry. “We have our mission.”

  Star’s friends dropped the subject. They had no idea how to rescue the foal and neither did he, but the time had come to execute their plan. Star glanced at Morningleaf, thinking of the dangerous journey ahead. They were only two years old, but they had lived a lifetime, and soon she would be gone.

  Morningleaf nudged her brother. “I’ll show Star the tunnel. Okay?”

  It was obvious to everyone that she wanted to be alone with Star. Hazelwind nodded, and Morningleaf turned, leading Star out of the den. His throat closed, and he couldn’t breathe. It was time to say good-bye.

  The night air was chilly, a fading memory of winter. Star and Morningleaf walked side by side, like when they were foals.

  She inched closer to him. “What’s going to happen?”

  Their hooves slurped on the muddy path. “I don’t know,” Star admitted. “When the tribute is finished and the two hundred are safe, I’m going to confront Nightwing. He can’t kill me since I have the shield, and Frostfire thinks that if he attacks me, I’ll become stronger in response. He says I’m a defender, not a warrior. Do you think that’s true?”

  She nudged him, sniffing his mane as they walked. “Warriors are terminators. They attack without thinking; they don’t regret their mistakes. So, yes, I agree that you’re probably a defender.”

  “But I felt my warrior blood in the battle against Frostfire’s Black Army,” said Star, feeling suddenly embarrassed. “The Jungle Herd mare, Ashrain, told me I would like it, and I did.”

  Morningleaf swiveled her ears forward. “Just because you’re not a warrior doesn’t mean you’re not a stallion.”

  Star nickered.

  “Look at us,” said Morningleaf. “We’ve grown. We’re adults.” She shook her long, flaxen mane. “But I don’t feel like an adult.”

  “Neither do I.” The two fell silent, thinking.

  Soon, they reached the blind, which hid the entrance to the tunnel. Morningleaf entered first, followed by Star. “This goes all the way to the pond?” he asked, examining the dark passageway.

  “Yes. We dug into the pond at an angle so the tunnel wouldn’t fill with water. The steeds will swim through the hole we made and then walk up the tunnel, above the water level, and there the passageway straightens and levels. Do you want to look inside? I’ll wait here if you do.” She stared into the tunnel. “I don’t like it in there.”

  Star guessed that the black passageway reminded her of the lava tubes where Frostfire had once imprisoned her. “No. I don’t need to see the whole thing, and besides—I don’t think I’d fit.” He peered into the round black hole. The soil had either contracted over the winter or else he’d grown larger.

  Morningleaf dragged her eyes across him, from his tail to his mane, pausing over his wings and chest. “You’re right, you wouldn’t fit.”

  Star lowered his neck, feeling self-conscious under her stare.

  She sensed his unease and nickered. “Be proud, Star, you’re . . . really incredible to look at.”

  “What?”

  “It’s just that . . . seeing you full grown, you’re . . . perfect.”

  Star felt more like a buffalo than a pegasus. He was the largest steed in Anok—larger than Nightwing. Many moons of lifting the heavy stones had developed muscles like boulders across his chest. His haunches were thick and defined from walking up the hill to the tribute, and the crest of his neck curved in a tight arch from carrying the heavy basket in his mouth while he flew. Even Petalcloud’s gigantic stallion Stormtail walked in Star’s shadow.

  Morningleaf’s eyes shone with pride as she looked at him and continued explaining their plan. “Echofrost and Shadepebble will send messages to the separate divisions in the valley.”

  “It’s all so dangerous,” breathed Star. “If Nightwing catches on . . .”

  Morningleaf nodded. “If he becomes suspicious, we’ll leave Anok immediately, with whoever we have. We won’t risk the new herd for the old one. We can’t.”

  “But you must wait here, so I can heal your feathers. Otherwise, how will you cross the Dark Water?” asked Star.

  “My wings don’t hurt anymore. If we have to leave early, the others will carry me.”

  Star’s throat tightened. “If I can help it, I won’t let that happen. It’s too dangerous.”

  Morningleaf pressed against him, lifting her muzzle to his, breathing out and then inhaling his scent, and she relaxed. “Do you ever wish things had been different? That you were born a regular pegasus and not the black foal?”

  “Of course, that’s all I ever wanted,” said Star, then he thought about it some more. “But I’ve done amazing things.” And it was true. He’d turned enemies into friends, brought the dead to life, and healed Larksong’s unborn foal—he enjoyed his gifts.

  “You’re our defender,” said Morningleaf, her amber eyes glowing.

  “Maybe,” said Star. “But mostly, I’m just a healer, like Sweetroot.”

  “Only taller,” nickered Morningleaf.

  “And better looking,” said Star.

  The two friends nuzzled each other. They’d grown up together, but they were trapped in separate currents, heading in separate directions. Morningleaf and the two hundred pegasi would carry their bloodlines out of Anok, and they would start a new herd far away. It comforted Star to know that even if he failed, the pegasi would live on.

  “You’ll soon be free,” Star said, and he couldn’t stop himself from staring at her. Morningleaf had transformed into a beautiful mare with a shining chestnut coat, a mane and tail as light as oat grass, and powerful muscles—made stronger by all the digging and walking. Her burned feathers lay dry and curled across her wings, adding to her legend. Morningleaf’s feats of bravery floated around her like fireflies, setting her apart from other pegasi.

  But to Star she was more than her beauty, and she was more than a vessel
to carry her pegasi lineage. Morningleaf was a story holder. She’d memorized pegasi legends and history as told by the elders, and Star considered this her most valuable accomplishment, because she could pass the knowledge on to the foals in her new herd. He caught her gaze. “Teach the stories you learned from Mossberry and the other elders so the pegasi don’t forget where they came from, or what happened here. Will you do that? Promise me you’ll do that?”

  Huge tears rolled from Morningleaf’s eyes and streamed down her chestnut face. She wrapped her wings around Star and sobbed, and he cried too, leaving white flowers all around the tunnel. With a deep throb in his chest, he realized the flowers would be the first thing the two hundred pegasi would see when they emerged from the dark, and so he didn’t stomp them out but left them growing there.

  Star and Morningleaf returned to the den where he said good-bye to Dewberry, Hazelwind, and Brackentail. The plan was set. Hazelwind would send a signal, three caws of a crow, when the two hundred were out of the valley. Then they would fly south. Star would wait three days, finish the tribute, and then confront Nightwing. What happened next depended on the outcome of the battle, and that was yet unknown.

  Star left his friends and returned to Frostfire feeling hopeful. They couldn’t take Starfrost through the tunnel, but Larksong would soon be free and safe. Surely Frostfire would understand. But Star would not give up on freeing the colt. He landed by the tribute. “Frostfire?”

  The white stallion emerged from behind the monument.

  “I talked to Hazelwind,” said Star. “Larksong will be in the first group out, but everyone agrees that Starfrost will have to wait. There’s no way to get him away from Petalcloud without someone getting killed.”

  Frostfire’s eyes turned cold. “Then it’s not going to work. Larksong won’t leave the valley without him.”

  Star didn’t know what to say to that.

  Frostfire bobbed his head as though coming to a decision. “I get it,” he said.

  “You get what?”