by Adam Blade
So Gor’s still alive. Tanner had been certain that the general had died in the torrent during their last fight. Clearly, he’d survived. But how had General Gor known where to meet Geffen? Had he … Tanner thought back to how Gor had failed to push Geffen out of Firepos’s grasp. The flame bird had easily swept the boy up, to return him to his sister. Too easily? Had this been part of Gor’s last, desperate plan — to let Geffen come back to his friends? Had the two of them had a pre-arranged meeting place?
There was no time left to think. General Gor, mounted on his black stallion and wearing his dragon-snouted helmet, lifted his arm and pointed at Tanner.
He shouted: “Fire!”
Tanner sends a warning message, but I have seen the danger already. Tipping my wings, I arc away as a hundred arrows slice the sky. I climb and the shafts fall short, or bounce off my feathers harmlessly. This day, at least, their weapons won’t stop Firepos the Flame Bird.
I round again, hovering out of range. Gulkien covers the crest of the hill in long strides. General Gor has leaped from his stallion and the horse rears, with a snort unlike any a horse could give. So the Horse Beast lives. We saw the Dragon Warrior washed away with the evil Beast, but they have survived. And now Varlot transforms. His hooves swell, and muscles ripple under a coat that hardens into armored scales. Varlot rears onto his hind legs and towers over the soldiers. With bronze hooves planted on the ground, his arms wheel, hooves morphing into fists.
I see now that the soldiers have placed a row of logs, sharpened to deadly spikes, in front of their lines. Fools — do they think it can stop Gulkien?
The wolf charges through the hail of arrows with his girl rider crouched close to his fur. Her cloak ripples around her. Just when it looks like Gulkien will be speared, he leaps into the air. The great wings of cartilage and flesh burst from his back, and he sails over the ranks, smashing into Varlot. The Horse Beast staggers backward over a squad of soldiers, crushing the life from them.
Tanner gives a battle cry. It is time to join this fight.
Firepos dipped her beak and swooped back toward the enemy lines. Only a few of the archers had kept in their ranks; they’d leaped apart as Gulkien had smashed into their armored bodies, his clawed wings raking across them. Gwen was still on his back as the wolf rushed at the soldiers, seizing one in his teeth and throwing him aside with a jerk of his head. Gwen leaned across his body, slicing her rapier between chinks of armor.
“Give my brother back!” Tanner heard her cry.
General Gor had disappeared, and Tanner guided Firepos in a low pass over the soldiers. He saw the tall, black-clad warrior making his way hurriedly between the rows of his men. He was half dragging Geffen alongside him. In his spare hand he clutched the portion of the mask.
Arriving before a squadron of men, Gor threw Geffen in the dirt at the feet of a soldier. The soldier’s varkule snapped at the air viciously.
“Carry him to Vendrake’s chariot. He’ll take the boy to the mines. And learn to control your varkule, or you’ll die!” He drew a finger from one ear to another, miming a slit throat.
Firepos dropped a few more feet, raking her talons through the soldiers, felling several in a chaos of howls and cries. Just ahead were a dozen riders on the giant, hyena-like varkules who rode with Derthsin’s armies. At times, they struggled to control the animals they rode. Novices, Tanner thought.
The varkules had a stripe of thick fur running down their spines and sharp tusks. Each of them was as tall as a horse. Tanner already knew how vicious they could be. Firepos headed straight for them, and Tanner saw the glow of a fireball growing between her talons.
“No, Firepos!” he shouted over the gusts of wind. “We have to stop Gor!”
Firepos climbed again, but as she did so, Tanner heard a whoop of triumph below, and the flame bird jerked in the air, screeching angrily. He looked back, thinking his Beast must have been hit, but what he saw almost made him lose his grip on Firepos’s feathers.
One of Gor’s soldier’s, an ugly brute whose face was crisscrossed with scars, was reaching, hand over hand, crawling along Firepos’s back. He had a dagger clutched in one hand and grinned through rotting, blackened teeth. The flame bird rocked from side to side, trying to throw off the unwelcome rider, but the soldier clung on, then lunged at Tanner.
Gripping Firepos with his knees, Tanner caught the soldier’s wrist, stopping the dagger a hand’s width from his face. The soldier put his other hand behind the dagger, and pushed with all his might, forcing Tanner back against Firepos’s neck. With both hands, the soldier was pressing the knife closer all the time. The tip hovered over Tanner’s eye.
“You’ll die, or I’ll take my own life,” spat the man.
Tanner sank his teeth into the soldier’s wrist until he tasted blood. The soldier screamed in pain and dropped the knife. It skittered off Firepos’s feathers and into empty space. Tanner managed to draw his sword, the hilt engraved with birds’ feathers. He could feel Firepos flying straight and true beneath them, trying not to jerk Tanner. The soldier leaped at him, twisting his body to avoid the blade. But Tanner lunged and pushed the sword through his enemy. He pulled the blade free, watching the steam already rising from the man’s body. Blood bubbled over the soldier’s twisted lips. Then his neck went limp. Tanner pushed the dead man and watched him plummet to the ground.
Another life lost — at Tanner’s own hands. Firepos let out a shrill cry. Tanner knew what she was telling him. You must be strong. Guilt plunged through him as he looked at his bloodstained sword. A few days ago he’d been a baker’s boy. Now he was a killer.
“Are we doing the right thing, Firepos?” he murmured. Believe in yourself, came the answering message from his flame bird. Tanner knew she was right. Firepos would never have accompanied him to Forton in the first place if they weren’t following the right path. He ruffled his hands in her shimmering feathers. Even if he no longer had Grandmother Esme, at least he had his Beast.
He righted himself on Firepos’s back and saw they were flying to one side of the battle below. He took in the scene quickly. Geffen had disappeared into a covered chariot, harnessed to a vulture by plaited leather ropes. The chariot’s sides were paneled with bloodred, embossed leather, and instead of wheels it had ornate wooden wings protruding from either side, ready to slice through the air. The creature pulling it was spreading jet-black wings, a bald head swiveling on a long neck. Gulkien and Varlot were rolling across the ground, tangled tooth and claw, while soldiers watched in a wide circle. Tanner panicked as he looked for Gwen. Where was she? There! His fellow rider was pressed on three sides by Gor’s soldiers. Gor was marching quickly to reach her, his wicked sword gripped at his side. She held her rapier, its wolf-engraved hilt enclosing her hand. In the other hand she held a short ax, spinning and lunging to deflect attackers and hack or run them through. Tanner could see she wouldn’t last long against such numbers. If he didn’t reach her soon, she’d die.
Gulkien is locked in battle with Varlot, old foes at war. The wolf turns his shaggy head and howls toward me. He fears for his rider. I screech back, making the soldiers clutch their ears: I will not let you down, my friend. Heat ripples through my belly, and across my feathers. I will bring my fire.
We swoop upon the soldiers surrounding the girl rider. Even now, facing so many, she fights with a strange calm. Her face shows no fear, only spirit and concentration. The flames that surge from my talons bathe her face in orange light. She manages a smile as the soldiers scream. Some fall where they stand, becoming ashes; others run, crying out as my flames lick over them.
Tanner turned Firepos after one pass. Most of the soldiers scattered, terrified of being burned alive. But three spearmen remained, surrounding Gwen. The weapons were leveled at her. One lunged forward, but Gwen ducked the spear tip, and counterattacked, sliding her sword along the shaft and into the soldier’s neck. He fell before he could utter a sound. Tanner pointed to the spearman closest and concentrated his vision on
the glint of eyes that shone from the slit in the man’s helmet. Him first. He sent the message down his body to Firepos and felt an answering energy rise up from his Beast’s feathers. They had agreed.
The flame bird hurled a fireball, which exploded on the ground beside the approaching soldier, coating him in a wall of flame.
“Gwen!” Tanner shouted, leaning sideways and holding out an arm.
She turned upward as he passed over, and reached for his arm. Their fingers closed on one another, and with a grunt he heaved her from the ground.
“Get back here, you peasants!” shouted Gor, swiping his blade through the air.
Firepos climbed, tilting to help Gwen scramble up behind Tanner.
“Thanks!” she said. “Where’s Geffen?”
“He’s back there.” Tanner pointed. “It looks like Gor’s planning to take him somewhere.”
“We have to rescue him,” said Gwen.
“What about Gulkien?” asked Tanner.
The wolf was still fighting Varlot below. He crouched low to the ground in front of the Horse Beast and snarled, swiping huge claws across Varlot’s armored body. The evil Beast raised a hoof and brought it crashing down, tearing the fur from Gulkien’s side. A patch of flesh shone through, though not as red as the blood that dripped from Varlot’s massive, heaving chest. Both Beasts were injured. The Horse Beast’s breath misted the air with his heavy panting. But the soldiers around were closing in. They sensed Gulkien weakening.
“Gulkien!” shouted Gwen. “There’ll be another time. Get away!”
The wolf lifted his head to her, eyes narrowed to slits. With a howl, he sprang off the ground and spread his wings, flying up toward them. The wound in his side was already healing over, the fur growing back. He can heal himself, just like Firepos! Tanner realized. The soldiers below turned up their heads in astonishment.
When Gulkien was just below, Gwen slipped her hand from Tanner’s waist and vaulted off the side of Firepos, landing neatly on the wolf’s back. She rubbed her hand in his thick fur. “Let’s find my brother!” she shouted.
Turning from Gor’s army, Tanner’s and Gwen’s Beasts wheeled about in the air. They weren’t the only creatures in the sky. Flying low away from the battlefield, and almost a dot at such a distance, was the covered chariot. “I saw Geffen climb on board!” Tanner shouted across to Gwen.
He placed the Looking Crystal to his eye and brought the chariot into close view. The scraggly necked vulture had a wingspan of twenty paces across. It heaved its wings up and down in a slow, steady rhythm and when it looked around, almost straight at Tanner, its eyes shone with red light. Pieces of rotten flesh dangled from its beak and talons.
Gwen, flying just below, shouted for Gulkien to hurry, and the wolf surged ahead. Firepos gave chase, screeching with determination.
“We’re making ground!” shouted Tanner.
The dot grew to be a shape he could see without the Crystal, and Tanner felt a shiver of fear. Whoever was fleeing didn’t seem scared that two Beasts were close in pursuit. They were climbing gradually, up through the layers of cloud and into colder air.
Tanner looked past Firepos’s flaming wings to Gwen. Her face was set hard, and Gulkien bared his teeth. While they were in the air, they couldn’t attack without endangering Geffen.
“Let’s surround them!” Tanner yelled. “And force them to land.”
Gwen nodded and split away on Gulkien, taking the wolf around the far side of the chariot. They closed within twenty paces.
“Geffen!” Gwen called.
“Gwen?” came a wail from beneath the canvas covering the chariot.
“Let my brother go!” Gwen shouted. She steered Gulkien closer, and he rolled, buffeting the chariot to one side with a mighty thud. The vulture turned its bald head and brought its neck back, then spat a stream of liquid at Gulkien. The wolf howled in pain and pulled away.
“It’s some sort of acid,” Gwen cried to Tanner.
There was a noise and the cover of the chariot folded back. Geffen was seated, watching them. A figure, dressed in a black cloak, stood beside the boy. A hood covered his head, but Tanner caught a glimpse of bone-white skin beneath. Despite the lashing wind and rocking chariot, he kept a perfect balance, his shoulders back and head erect. His body was encased in an outfit of smooth black leather sewn together with silver thread. Bony fingers clutched a staff and glowing eyes narrowed as the face turned. Was that Vendrake? The man Tanner had heard Gor mention?
Tanner felt his chest tighten. A long, tapering scar ran down the man’s face. It tugged at the corner of his lip, curling his mouth in a permanent sneer. The edges of the scar were ragged and pulled at the man’s face so that it was impossible to read his expression. He smiled crookedly, clearly enjoying Tanner’s shock. He raised a slender hand to his face.
“This is what happens to people who cross Derthsin,” the man called across. “Now I fight for him.”
Tanner forced himself not to look away as the man leaned back his head to reveal the soft skin of his throat. The scar continued down over his neck, twisting across his skin like an angry, writhing snake. What type of weapon does that? Tanner wondered. And how had the man survived? He watched Tanner from beneath hooded eyelids. Firepos gave a warning caw.
“Who are you?” called Gwen, breaking the spell.
“Derthsin’s servant,” the man called. “That’s all you need to know.” There was a sudden flurry of wind that sent Firepos banking to one side. The vulture flapped his wings, sending out a stench of rotting flesh that made Tanner gag.
“Release Geffen!” he shouted, recovering himself.
The man smiled, and the remains of his lips parted over jagged teeth. He stood taller in the chariot and raised a hand, palm out, toward Tanner. On the palm was a brand in the shape of a dagger’s hilt. Then the man gave a tug on his shirtsleeve, and a dagger slipped down from beneath his collar, the hilt coming to rest in his open palm — right over the branded outline. In one rapid movement, his fingers closed around the hilt, he drew a hand back over his shoulder, and with a whoosh! he released the dagger, sending it flying through the air toward Tanner, who ducked down over Firepos’s feathers.
“An enemy of Derthsin’s is an enemy of mine!” he cried viciously. The vulture squawked and brought the chariot closer to Firepos, so that the Fire Beast had to swerve out of the way. Tanner nearly fell from his Beast’s shoulders, but just managed to grasp her feathers in time.
“Tanner!” Gwen cried.
Gulkien latched his claws onto the back of the flying chariot, shaking it violently from side to side, and snapping his jaws toward the man. The wolf reared away with a snarl, taking splinters of the chariot in his claws, and letting them drop. Geffen was thrown against the figure with a wail.
“You fool!” bellowed the man. He slapped Geffen across the cheek with the back of his hand, sending the boy sprawling into the bottom of the chariot.
“Don’t you dare hurt him!” cried Gwen, her hand reaching for the rapier hidden in her cloak. Her white-blond braids streamed out behind her. Gulkien lunged forward again, but the man lifted his hand toward Firepos. Another dagger slid out of his sleeve. His fingers gripped the hilt and he flicked his wrist, sending the blade shooting out.
The flame bird swerved out of the way of the flashing blade and it fell, twisting through the air toward the ground below. She rolled over the top of the chariot and slammed into Gulkien and Gwen. Tanner smelled the wolf’s warm fur and heard his rider scream, before he was thrown out of his seat on Firepos’s back. He scrambled for a grip as he slipped down the flame bird’s neck and managed to close a hand on a clump of feathers. But he was hanging over the side, legs kicking empty air.
“Firepos!” he shouted. “Help me!”
Above them, Tanner could just see that the servant still had a hand trained on Firepos. There was no dagger now, but his fingers trembled. Energy was pouring out of him, directed toward Tanner’s Beast. What’s he doing? The flame
bird’s red eyes had rolled back in her head and she was losing height, wings dangling uselessly. Shreds of cloud whipped across Tanner’s clothes, as he struggled to pull himself to safety. He heaved himself up among Firepos’s glowing feathers and looked over his shoulder at the patches of fields spinning below. They were plummeting toward them. Gulkien and Gwen were nowhere to be seen.
Tanner moved back up to Firepos’s neck and tried to pull her head. She didn’t respond. The ground was approaching fast. He leaned close to the flame bird’s ear, with the wind buffeting his face. “Firepos,” he said. “Wake up! Please!” Now he was close enough to see the wind sending swirling patterns in the field’s long grass below. Tanner drew a breath, bracing himself for impact.
“Firepos!”
I am weightless; I feel nothing. Then Tanner’s voice penetrates the silence. He calls my name. It is my duty to respond.
My vision returns and blurs and I see the earth. It drags at my body, pulling me down. I circle toward the ground, wings whipping back. No! I am suddenly awake, and with a flood of strength, my muscles become alert and I beat them fast and strong. A surge upward. Then another.
But I am falling too fast.
My talons stiffen to take the impact, and we crash into the ground.
For a moment, all is white, blinding. One wing is folded beneath me; the other beats the ground uselessly.
The man of evil channels Derthsin. Does that explain how weak I have become?
I see my rider, lying beside me on the grass. Blood leaks from a wound on his head, but he stirs. I crawl toward him, sending out a call. His hand reaches up and rests upon my beak.
I am here, Chosen Rider.
Gulkien alights beside us. His closing wings flatten the grass, and the girl rider springs off his back, dropping to Tanner’s side. Our friends, returned to us.