“Yes,” he replied, his tone hoarse. “Yes, of course it is.”
“Then help me,” I said, my free arm waving toward the distant skyline. “Let’s work together to make it happen. Will you do that? Will you work with me?”
Blaez moved out from under my arm, with diffident courtesy, yet didn’t step far. He eyed me openly, yet with a small measure of respect in his piggish, muddy eyes. “I’ll help you, Flynn,” he replied slowly. “Just as long –”
“It’s our secret.”
He nodded sharply. “What do you want, then?”
Without taking the jewel from my shirt, I willed the horizon to show me Van’s current location. I didn’t need it in my hand, after all. Its contact with my skin was enough. From one end of the sky to the other, Van and his friends rode across a rocky bluff. Malik cantered at the front, his black tail bouncing across the tundra. A cavalry soldier loped on his heels, as an enormous Griffin blew low over their heads to sail upward into the sky before banking high and around. It buzzed their heads again, blowing their hair into their eyes as it flew in the opposite direction to repeat the maneuver. The cute deer bounded on tiny legs in their wake, often racing away to either the left or the right to search out potential problems.
Van rode his black and white horse with neither saddle nor bridle. Had I not needed him dead so badly, I’d want him to teach me how he did that. Bayonne was a good horse, from one of the best bloodlines in all of Raithin Mawr. But –
That mare made him look like a carter’s draft beast.
Princess Yummy loped my roan stallion at his flank, looking at nothing but straight ahead of her. The blue worked hard to keep up with Van’s mare, sweating lightly. The piebald carried Van with effortless ease, her tail sweeping the ground behind her. I knew that blue roan had enormous stamina, yet I recognized a beast that grew tired. Unable to travel faster than their slowest beast, they’d be forced to rest their animals and soon.
A Griffin, on the ground, galloped at the same speed as the horses, its wings half-furled. Often spreading those huge spans at times to sail up or down a hill, the Griffin kept pace with little effort. While a Griffin running on all fours was surprising to me, I knew it would never tire as the horses might.
An eagle screamed past their heads. It cruised back under the sky-borne Griffin’s wake, its feathers ruffled but its flight intact. Circling slowly over Malik’s black head, its beak bent down as his face under that rayed star brow-band gazed up. Yet, another Shifter delivered his reports to their Lord Commander.
Stark mountains lay ahead of them. I recognized them – the mountains that bordered our beloved Raithin Mawr from magical Bryn’Cairdha. The Shin’Eah, their ranges of treacherous and jagged peaks clothed in year-round snow, kept our two nations separated. Only fools tried to cross them without guidance, and its deadly passes quite effectively halted any potential wars. They were far too difficult to traverse with an army to feed.
“I can take us to them,” I said, my tone soft. “No more chasing after them, wearing ourselves out. With my magic, we can set another ambush, and take the princess. We can be home tomorrow. What say you, Commander?”
Blaez nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Good. We’ll –“
“Why are they going that way?”
Boden’s soft comment brought me back into myself. I didn’t let go of the vision, however, and permitted Blaez, Boden, Buck-Eye and a rapt Galdan to watch as the enemy crossed the highland landscape toward our mountains. None took their eyes from the scene before them, and watched with the avid gazes of the utterly fascinated.
“Do you recognize that area?” I asked him, my chin on my shoulder.
Boden nodded slowly. “I think so, m’lord. If they keep to this course, they’ll enter a shallow valley, a narrow one. A deep river cuts through it, where they’ll have to water their mounts.”
“Are you sure?”
Boden stepped toward the vision in the sky as though getting closer might reveal certain truths to him alone. He glanced left, right, up, down and peered into the sky as though studying a map. He is my navigator after all, I thought. He knew his terrain through and through.
“M’lord, there’s no other source of water,” he said slowly, still gazing, rapt. “Not for miles. They’ve no choice but the Auryn River Valley. They must rest and refresh their animals and fill their skins.”
“When will they get there?”
Boden crossed his arms and stroked his chin with his fingers. He frowned at the scene before him. “Within two hours, give or take. M’lord.”
“We have that much time to prepare. Blaez?”
Commander Blaez stepped up beside Boden and scowled. Not at me this time, but at the situation. “How steep the valley walls?” he asked, peering intently, his words directed to my young bodyguard. “What’s to the north? The south? How deep is the river?”
At Boden’s swift answers, Blaez continued to scowl, yet I recognized a tactical genius when I saw one. As Boden answered his rapid-fire questions, I watched a plan hatch in Blaez’s brain. Last time, Van’s ingenuity thwarted Blaez. Blaez never forgot nor forgave. He intended that Van not thwart him a second time. The plan he hatched in that cunning brain would work – this time.
As the pair plotted and sketched out a plan, I smiled to myself. Yummy, you’ll be mine come nightfall.
CHAPTER 9
When a Plan Comes Together
Rain fell in a mist so light I saw little of it, but felt its tingle along my skin and tasted its sweetness on my lips. The highland hills lay wreathed in a greyish haze, low-lying clouds cutting off the early daylight’s shine. Purple flowers amid the heather dimmed, just as the granite rocks darkened with the layer of moisture over their rough skins.
“Stop looking at her.”
Sheepish, I dragged my eyes away from the sight of Iyumi seated on a boulder in the dawn’s grey shadows as Aderyn brushed out the lengths of that incredible silver-gilt hair. What light there was glimmered off those tresses as my cousin set the brush aside and began the arduous process of plaiting that heavy mass into a thick yet practical braid. “Can’t seem to help it,” I muttered as Windy stood over my shoulder. “She’s so –”
I tacked up the roan stallion, my fingers wrapped in the girth strap that never quite made it to the buckle. The blue munched the thin, high-meadow grass, taking only the smallest steps forward as though knowing he should stand still. I’d discovered I quite liked this horse’s quiet and affable nature, his rugged athleticism, and incredible conformation. I half-wondered if Kiera might find him acceptable. Yet, she turned her graceful head away, refused to tolerate him within her territorial bubble unless both were working. During the off-hours, she rejected his advances with pinned ears and a threatening rear hoof.
“She’s been staring at you, too.”
I spun around. “You’ve seen her?”
Windy preened his left wing, his beak chewing at his feathers as the one eye I could see gleamed with humor. “I didn’t, no. But I overheard Aderyn tell Kasi that Her Highness tends to watch your back as you ride. Maybe she just admires your horsemanship.”
My elation deflated like a loose bladder. “No doubt.”
The roan sighed and snorted, and I heard the leather slide through the buckle’s hasp. I’d never tighten a girth too soon or too tight, but permitted letting the horse adjust to it gradually. Having been a horse many times, I knew what an overly tight girth felt like and seldom forced that on another. If the roan felt gratitude, he didn’t show it. Instead, his heavy charcoal tail smacked me across the face.
I sighed. Brushing stinging tears from my eyes, I glanced over my shoulder, and the roan’s saddle, at Iyumi. “She’s too high above me.”
“I know.” Windy scratched his right talon behind his ear. “A cockroach looks down on you.”
I scowled. “Excuse me, Lieutenant?”
Windy laughed, his beak wide and his predatory eyes dancing. “Don’t try the
offended officer act on me, laddie. Oh, excuse me – sir.”
With a gesture, I invited him to perform the anatomically impossible as he laughed. “You may be a First Captain, Van,” Windy said, rising and spreading his tremendous wings. “But you’re a half-decent guy.”
“Only half-decent?”
“You barely reach the half-way mark.”
“Go –”
Windy lifted his head, beak parted, and perked his ears forward. “Now that’s a mighty fine female.”
I followed his gaze. Sky Dancer stood on all fours, her black-tufted lion tail lashing, arguing heatedly with Edara. Eagle’s eyes snapping, Sky Dancer gestured imperiously with her talon toward the north and glowered down at Edara. The red-headed Centaur maid lifted her bow and pointed down the shallow valley, talking and gesturing with excitement. She thought she won the clash, her voice high and triumphant until Sky Dancer stalked away, angry. Edara stared after her, her smile seeping from her face like wine from a skin that someone just stabbed a knife into.
“Except she has no eyes for anyone but you.”
I snorted. “You’re delusional. She hates my guts, you know that. I almost got her killed.”
“Correction.” Windy’s voice took on a didactic tone. “Cian almost got her killed. You, however, risked your life to save hers.”
“That doesn’t mean –”
“Can it, meathead,” Windy snapped, annoyed. “You’re dumber than a box of rocks and twice as ugly. You haven’t the brains the gods gave –”
“Kasi likes you though.”
Windy halted, mid-harangue, and studied Kasi, beyond Iyumi and Aderyn’s trim forms to the Griffin practicing her moves. On a tall hillock to our north, the sleek, smallish Kasi leaped sideways and skyward, slashing with her front talons at the shadows created by the dawn’s half-light. Coached by First Lieutenant Grey Mist, she spun and dove, her wings half-furled, her lion hind claws digging deep trenches into the highland heather. Misty, a battle-scarred veteran with years of service greying his eye sockets, taught Griffin combat tactics at the Academy. Kasi had no better instructor. As Misty feigned an attack, Kasi jumped high and to the right, great wings carrying her upward, landing at Misty’s left flank. Her talons grazed his lion flesh.
Had she been serious, Grey Mist’s bowels might very well spill onto the high mountain soil. Misty extolled her efforts while she preened, her amber eyes glowing. As he seldom found much to compliment in his students, approval from him meant high praise indeed.
“Too flighty,” Windy observed critically. “I like my girls a bit more – grounded.”
“Easier to catch them that way.”
“Take Dancer now.”
Windy’s beak jerked toward Sky Dancer as she paused to glare over her massive shoulder toward Edara before sitting down. Her lion tail continued to lash in feline aggravation as she surveyed the camp and its activities. Malik and Padraig stood side by side, talking, arms folded across their chests. They pretended to watch Kasi’s lesson, but their blank stares informed me they discussed a topic far more troubling. I didn’t need to be a fly buzzing about their rumps to know they spoke of bitchy princesses, red witches, and yours truly.
The sharp, tangy odor of water dousing burning wood, and the fire’s subsequent spitting and hissing protest, brought my attention from Malik and Padraig’s conversation. Edryd dumped half a skin of water on the nearest campfire, then kicked dirt over the steaming embers. Absently, I plucked the arrow from my belt and toyed with it. Edryd: the unit’s top shot.
I killed his father.
My guilt rose to nudge me in the ribs. Seizing my flask, I tossed a mouthful of burning liquid down my gullet. The pain eased a fraction. I took another small swallow and tucked the flask away with a sigh. As usual, the alcohol scattered agony and remorse into manageable segments, enabling me to control my self-castigation – for a few hours, anyway. I cast a glance sidelong, suspecting my bad habit uncovered, but Windy never noticed.
“She’s one tough bird,” Windy went on, his tone low, yet enchanted. “She’s beautiful, and talented and a credit to the Captain. She can fly better than anyone in the Atan, fight like a lion and has a heart of gold. Her eyes – I’d kill for one look from those incredible eyes. Van – are you listening to me?”
“Eyes,” I answered. “Heart of gold. Just do what you do best, old son, and she’ll notice you.”
I turned back to the roan, who’d sneaked away three strides, and stuck the arrow back into my belt. I ducked my head, thus avoiding another tail sweep, and swiftly tightened his girth.
“Do what I do best?” Windy asked, his voice plaintive. “Just what do I do best? Van? Van!”
Taking the beast’s reins, I walked him toward the boulder just as Malik’s drill sergeant voice rolled across the highland meadow. “Lieutenant Grey Mist! Lieutenant Wind Warrior! Scout north and south. Corporal Kasi, you’re on the roof. Lieutenant Gaear, messenger and an eagle. Sergeant Aderyn, the rear-guard, if you please. First Captain Vanyar, you stick to Her Highness like stink on shit. Lieutenant Sky Dancer, you stick to him the same.”
Rather than turn and salute as protocol demanded, I waved my hand over my head in acknowledgment as Aderyn finished her task by tying a heavy ribbon around the silver braid’s end. She greeted me with a smile as Iyumi rose gracefully and turned. Little emotion I could read filtered from those blue on blue depths, and the tiny smile she created for me contained little warmth and no humor.
“Captain Vanyar,” she said, her tone as neutral as her placid expression. “We’re ready to travel, I trust?”
“Lieutenant Padraig and Corporal Edara! You’re the vanguard. Move!”
“I hope so,” I said, taking her by her tiny, trim waist and settling her into the roan’s saddle. “Or Malik is wearing out his lungs for nothing.”
“Highness.”
Aderyn dipped into a quick curtsey just as Sky Dancer floated across the heather and moss to land behind me. She didn’t furl her wings, as whatever she and Edara argued over still rankled. They remained high and outstretched, ready to propel her heavy form into the light mountain breeze. “Show some bloody respect, Van,” she snapped, her tail lashing. “He’s the Lord Captain.”
Aderyn changed forms. Her doe bounded away on legs like slender sticks, toward the south, our rear. Her lifted tail flashed like a star dropped to earth, and she leaped a tall hedgerow with all the effort I might employ to lift a mug of spiced ale. Malik liked her to tag behind us in that shape, as potential enemies sliding up behind us had no clue that a slender deer might contain the fangs of a tiger.
I laughed over my shoulder. “I daresay you’ve never heard Malik fart after drinking too much spiced apple wine. Had you witnessed that, you’d never fear him again.”
Sky Dancer’s humor hadn’t deserted her after all. “Gods, what an image! Vanyar, you just robbed me of two years’ worth of trembling in my boots.”
“Of the two, Malik’s gas is far more dangerous,” I said, grinning.
Sky Dancer laughed and stepped lightly away, her great wings furling to half-mast. “Vanyar, he’ll kill you, one of these days.”
“You have the gift, Van,” Iyumi said quietly, gazing down.
“What gift, Highness?”
I still held her hand, and couldn’t help but appreciate the soft texture of her knuckles as I rubbed my thumb over them. I breathed in her dusky, feminine odor of lilac and leather, and breathed out misery. What I’d give to have those eyes look into me and see –
She stiffened. Her fingers gripped mine tight. “Don’t you feel that?”
Without letting go of her hand, I shut my eyes and breathed deeply. I shunted aside all emotions and outside distractions, calming myself as I entered my center. Dropping into a light trance, I searched with magic, with my power, setting it adrift upon the light high mountain breeze. What? What did she sense –There. I felt them. Like twin moons in the night sky. Eyes. Eyes watching. Watching us.
“The R
ed Duchess?” I asked, keeping my body relaxed. I gave nothing away to those spying on us, let them believe themselves unsuspected. I continued to grin up at her until I thought my jaws might break.
“Van?” Sky Dancer asked, having heard what we said to one another and sensed our tension. Her body language spoke of battle, and that’s the last message I wanted sent to those spying orbs.
“Chill, Dancer,” I ordered, still smiling. “Preen your wings. Now.”
As Sky Dancer extended her right wing and chewed on it, her raptor’s eyes watched me intently.
“I don’t think so,” Iyumi said slowly, taking her hand from mine and adjusting the way she sat in the saddle. “I don’t feel evil. Do you?”
I let her go and dropped the feigned smile as I set her small boots into her stirrups and fussed with the fastenings on the roan’s harness. Under my breath, I whistled low, as I refit the bridle to the roan’s sensitive mouth.
All at once, the sensation of being watching vanished. Like a sigh upon the wind, it trailed away to dissipate as though having never been there at all.
“They’re gone.”
Iyumi’s breath expelled from her lungs along with her obvious tension. Her body relaxed in her saddle as she gathered her reins. “Who then?”
Kiera ambled up behind me and her nose nuzzled the back of my neck. I shook my head, half-turning toward my horse. “If not the witch, then I don’t know. I’m sorry, Your Highness. My guessing game needs an upgrade.”
She found a tiny smile, one with more warmth that the previous one contained. “You’ll keep me safe, won’t you, Captain?”
I vaulted aboard Kiera’s broad back. Without a backward look, Malik trotted away, Edryd in his chestnut’s saddle following on his heavy black tail. Sky Dancer leapt skyward, enslaving the light westward wind, her wings stretched to their fullest. The wind they created blew my hair into my eyes and whipped the roan’s mane into a tempest. She circled several rods above, her beak angled downward from between her massive shoulders as she watched me. Waiting. Ready to protect me.
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