He shook his head and took hold of his marewing’s bridle. “Lead us there, and we shall see that they are properly cared for.”
Korinna suppressed a sigh of relief. She could have sent for her head shepherd, a man with a knack for raising livestock, but she doubted that even he would know what to do with the marewings. That reminded her that she had no servants to send on the errand. She gestured to the gate. “This way.”
She walked across the courtyard, trying to keep her head high and her steps even. She had to circle around the edge, because the yard was crowded: sixteen marewings took up almost all of the space. On the way, she signaled for guards to join her and bring torches for the dark fields. One of the guards hurried forward to help her open the gate.
The evening was warm, since it was nearly summer, but Korinna shivered. Behind her, she heard the clip-clop of hooves across the paved ground, and she knew that the others were following her.
She crossed to the field that they had harvested the day before and opened that gate. The wooden fence was low, meant for keeping out sheep and deer—hardly effective for penning a beast that could fly wherever it willed. But there was not enough space in her stables, which housed four cows, so the mercenaries would have to figure out how to keep their marewings from escaping.
She stood next to the gate and watched them pass by. All of the riders were on foot, leading their mounts behind them. Galenos brought up the rear.
Before he entered the field, he nodded at her. “Thank you. We will come and join you in your hall…” He looked up at the sky. “We should be ready by moonrise.”
“We will see you then.” Korinna closed the gate. She gestured for the guards to remain behind and hold the torches up for light—and to keep an eye on her “guests.”
She turned and started to walk back to the house alone. After a few steps, she looked back over her shoulder. She was surprised to see that Galenos hadn’t handed his marewing off to another soldier—like the rest of his men, he cared for his mount himself, taking off the riding tack and rubbing her down with a piece of cloth.
Korinna hurried back indoors. She found Myron hovering by the door. “There are sixteen of them. Hurry, we can bring the food out before they come back.”
Together they went to the kitchen and carried the dinner out into the main hall: flatbread, roasted artichokes stuffed with garlic, wooden skewers with grilled lamb and vegetables, soft cheese, and a bowl of the season’s first fresh fruits. Guards brought in two heavy casks of ale from the cellar. Korinna also unlocked her stores for a bowl of salt and a small flask of olive oil.
The main hall was a plain room with a high ceiling, a long table, and a hearth at either end, large enough that she could sit with the head of every family in Anoberesovo. Tonight, Korinna instructed Captain Aeson to sit at the foot with his guards, while she took her place at the head with Myron on her left.
Galenos looked around the room when he entered. Korinna rose and offered him the seat to her right, and he sat with a smile. “This is a nice spread. We thank you for your hospitality.”
The other soldiers came in and sat down around the table. As Korinna looked at their faces, she realized that three of them were women.
Galenos saw her expression and smiled. “I thought that you would be more comfortable if I brought a few of my female officers with me. I apologize for our rough attire, but we traveled fast and could not bring a change of clothes.”
She shook her head. “We are not so formal here.”
His eyes drifted down to her fine dress, then down the table. “You keep a very small household. Your father did not provide you with any staff to help you?”
She shook her head. “I have a few people, but every available hand has been in the fields to help with the harvest, and they’e tired. We can manage for ourselves.”
While they ate, Galenos made polite conversation, asking about the harvest and how the estate was managing. The other soldiers didn’t speak, and neither did the guards, except to pass the food back and forth and refill the tankards of ale. Aeson kept a wary eye on the warlord.
At last Galenos looked down at his ale. “I came to tell you what you already know. Basileos Votsis died earlier today without officially declaring an heir, so now Kyratia is without a ruler.”
Korinna murmured another prayer. “The Council must be very concerned. Do you know what they plan to do?”
He looked up at her expectantly. “They’re meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue.”
She met his gaze evenly, but her pulse quickened. “You’re here to take me back with you to the meeting.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded. “Your father once promised me that I would marry you and become his heir.”
She clutched the coin around her neck. “There was never a formal contract.”
His dark eyes stared at her. “However, you’re old enough now that you could make the choice yourself.”
“Even if I married you, it would not make you the duke of Kyratia.” She met his stare without flinching. “He never acknowledged me as his daughter by law.”
“That’s just a technicality. You’re his only surviving offspring.” Galenos stood up, scraping his chair against the floor. “In the morning, we’re flying back to the capital to face the council. Will you come with me?”
The question ran through her with a jolt. She stared up at the warlord. “Are you asking me if I’ll marry you?”
“As I said, it is your choice.” He did not look as if he were joking.
She couldn’t tell much about him yet, but the fact that he asked her permission had to be a good sign. Korinna stood up to face him, although the top of her head didn’t even reach his shoulders. “If the Council will grant us the right to take my father’s place, then I will marry you.”
Before dawn the next morning, Galenos and his company had their marewings saddled and ready for flight. Korinna met them in the field with a small bag containing her personal belongings. The hour was even earlier than when she began her work each day, but she was wide awake, her empty stomach twisted into a knot. Her fate rested in the hands of this strange man and the Council, and for all that she pretended like she knew what she was doing, she had no idea of what lay ahead. She prayed to all the gods for protection.
Galenos looked down at the bag with a frown. “What’s all this?”
She held up the bag and her stomach turned at the tone of his voice. “These are what I can’t afford to leave behind: my clothing, my jewels—”
He took the bag away from her and handed it to the waiting steward. “It’s too much extra weight. We can buy you new clothes when we get there.”
Korinna and Myron stared at one another, but when she opened her mouth to protest, the old steward shook his head. “Pick your battles,” he whispered.
She pulled herself up straight and fingered the coin at her throat. Many of her things had meaning for her—most of them had belonged to her mother. Would he strip away the rest of her identity so easily?
She clasped hands with Myron. “I know that you’ll take good care of the place while I’m gone. I wish you all a good harvest.”
He patted her hands and kissed her cheeks firmly, so that she felt the tickle of his beard. “We will all miss you, lady. May the gods bless your journey.”
Galenos cleared his throat. “We need to leave.”
He handed Korinna a heavy leather flight jacket and led her near the huge black beast he rode. “Nightshade is temperamental and doesn’t tolerate strangers. Stay calm and listen closely to my instructions.”
Her breath caught in her throat. His marewing was the largest of all: Korinna’s head didn’t even come up to Nightshade’s shoulder. As they approached, the marewing swung her head around and fixed her with one blazing red eye. She curled back her lips, showing teeth like small daggers.
Galenos put a hand on Korinna’s shoulder and bent to whisper into her ear. “Try to stay calm. She can sense your emotions. Just take
deep breaths and stand still.”
She tried to do as he said, drawing in a ragged breath and letting it out again. She felt a little steadier on the second breath. The red eye burned into her, probing into her soul, but she dared not look away.
Then Nightshade blinked and turned her head away.
Galenos squeezed her shoulder. “Put out your hand, palm up, and keep it flat. She will get your scent.”
Korinna reached out her hand and stood rooted to the spot.
Nightshade turned back and closed the distance between them with a single step. She lowered her head to Korinna’s hand and her nostrils flared; her breath was hot on Korinna’s palm.
Galenos took a pouch off of his belt and reached inside. He pulled out a small, shriveled blue fruit, dripping with some kind of pickling brine, and placed it in Korinna’s other hand. “Feed this to her.”
Korinna glanced down at the strange fruit—she’d never seen one that was blue before. Her hand tingled where she touched it, and the cold wetness sent a shiver up her spine. “What is it?”
“Cloudfruit. Just give it to her, before she loses patience.”
Nightshade’s ears had perked up at the sight of the cloudfruit, and she shifted closer to them, still sniffing. Korinna barely had time to open her hand and get her fingers out of the way before the marewing snatched the fruit from her.
Galenos reached out and scratched Nightshade behind her ear. The marewing permitted the caress for a moment and then stepped back out of the way. “She’ll let you ride if you behave,” he said. “Are you ready?”
There was a flurry of activity as the other riders mounted their marewings and made ready to fly.
Korinna slid her arms into the heavy leather jacket and fastened the carved bone buttons down the front. It was too large for her, and threatened to slide off of her shoulders, but she wrapped it around herself as best she could. She lifted her head proudly. “Yes.”
He led her to the marewing’s side, then picked her up by her waist and swung her up into the saddle as if she weighed nothing.
Korinna clutched the front of the saddle to steady herself as the world spun dizzyingly around her. It was so high. She managed to get her leg up and over to the other side, grateful as she did that she’d worn a simple tunic and leggings for travel, and settled in as best she could. Her legs ached to span the broad marewing’s back.
Galenos mounted behind her in a single fluid movement and reached around her to take the reins. “You’re too stiff. Relax and lean back into me,” he said.
She tried to do as he said, but she felt self-conscious about his arms around her. The Warlord had asked for her permission the night before, but today all he did was bark orders like she was a member of his company.
He cleared his throat. “I apologize for the familiarity, Lady, but I must hold onto you. It’s difficult to keep your seat in the air and there will be no one to catch you if you fall.”
Nightshade flicked her ears back at them, and she could feel the marewing’s impatience to leave. Everyone else was waiting.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, trying not to think about who she was touching. The Warlord’s arms encircled her and held her close. Underneath them, Nightshade’s muscles tensed and she sprang forward. Everything shook, hooves pounded the ground, and then with a great leap and a rush of air, they took to the sky.
Korinna opened her eyes and looked down. Her home was far below, and as she watched, the land fell away and soon her fields had disappeared. The farm and its daily grind were behind them. Somewhere ahead of them was the capital of Kyratia and her future.
The flight was over in a few hours, a journey that took several days on foot. Korinna watched the ground go by below: rolling hills, dense forests, and the occasional village surrounded by farmland tucked in between. Then it changed to a long valley with a wide, slow-moving river full of boats. The river grew wider as it led down to the sea and the great trade port that was the capital: Kyratia City.
Korinna had never seen the capital or the ocean before. The farthest that she had ever been from her home was the local temple for the major festival days, almost ten miles away. She turned her head back and forth, trying to take in every sight at once: the expanse of the ocean shining in the mid-morning sun and the spread of the city below her. Sailing ships lined the docks of the bay on the south side of the city, rows upon rows of buildings stretched out in either direction from the docks, and in the middle of the city were three tall, domed buildings of gleaming white stone. She was too high to see the people, but she knew that tens of thousands lived and worked there—more people than she could possibly imagine.
From up in the air, she could see that there was actually a city within a city, one built around the other. The inner city was laid out in concentric circles, with broad streets radiating out like the spokes of a wheel. Most of these buildings looked old—including an ancient palace falling to ruin—except for the three white domes rising high above in the middle. An old wall surrounded the inner city. Outside this wall, a newer city had sprung up haphazardly, with streets that seemed to meander with no rhyme or reason. On the east side, the new buildings were large and opulent, but to the west there were shanties and blocky warehouses. To the north, she recognized the large squares as marketplaces full of stalls. Around the new city, there was a second wall, taller and wider than the first, and outside the wall were deep canals fed by the river. Six bridges led to six gates that formed the entrances to the city.
The strangest part was that the whole city spread in an almost perfect circle, except where it pushed up against the sea. And the ground outside the city, the delta of the river, was all sand. How could the city stand without solid ground for its foundation? The buildings should be sinking into the water.
She tipped her head up to yell in Galenos’s general direction. “How does the city stand on sand?”
He chuckled and Korinna felt the rumble deep in his chest. “Magestone. The foundation of the city was created with magic. It also repels monsters—so we don’t have to defend the city itself.”
She looked the walls. They were high, but the marewings flew over them easily. “What about attacks from the air?”
“That’s our job, and the guards’ job.” Galenos pointed at the nearest wall and the city guard patrolling along the walkway. He also pointed at three large cannons erected along the walls: two pointing inland to the northeast and the southeast, and one pointing west over the harbor.
Korinna felt as if she were being watched by eyes unseen somewhere down below, as if the whole city was staring up at her. How many people lived here? Many more times larger than the biggest crowd she had ever seen at a temple festival or the Summer Athletic Games.
The marewings flew over one of the gates and glided down to a wide field in the northwest corner of the city. Korinna felt the jolt of the landing in every muscle up her legs and back, sore from the long ride. The day’s work had barely begun, and she felt as tired as if she had spent hours laboring out in the fields. She couldn’t imagine being astride a marewing every day.
She looked around the field and saw the other riders swinging over their saddles and stepping down with the ease of long practice, but she could not hope to copy that movement on her own.
Galenos dismounted behind her and held up his hands to her.
“Here, let me help you with that, Lady.” His face was a blank mask, but she thought she heard a note of pity in his voice.
Korinna was too tired to protest. She let him lift her up again, and leaned heavily against him for support, though she avoided his gaze.
Galenos set her on the ground and turned to another man standing beside him. “Lady Korinna, this is my brother and second-in-command, Varranor.”
She looked up and saw the same broad features and dark skin, but this man looked completely different from the stern warlord. Varranor flashed her a cheerful grin, took her by the shoulders, and planted a kiss on each of her cheeks in enthusias
tic greeting. “Lady Korinna! We’re so happy to see you here in the city at last! The old duke shouldn’t have kept a beauty like you exiled in the country for so long. Oh, I’m sorry—my condolences on the loss of your father.”
Korinna looked down at the ground. “May Meyrissa guide his soul through the Dry Lands.”
Galenos cleared his throat. “I’ve summoned a handmaid to take you inside and prepare a bath after your journey. She’ll also take your measurements so another servant can fetch you proper attire. We’ll meet with the council at midday, so you must be ready quickly. We will speak again before the meeting.”
Korinna nodded and turned to see where she would go inside. Most of the area looked like a military complex: the riders were already busy caring for their marewings, men and women in uniform drilled in nearby fields, and the buildings were all utilitarian and drab—except for one lavish house at the far end of the field. On the path in front of the house, a young woman caught her eye and beckoned for her to follow.
She looked back to thank Galenos, but he was already walking back to his own mount with his brother at his side. She could overhear Varranor’s eager voice carrying back to her: “The council members were meeting last night after you left. They already know that you are bringing the duke’s daughter, and my sources tell me that at least four members plan to oppose your succession.”
Galenos scowled. “Which members, and what did they say? I need to know as much detail as possible.”
The maid appeared at her side. “This way, please, my lady. The bath will already be hot inside.”
She wanted to go hear what the warlord was discussing, but the maid was insistent. Korinna let herself be led away.
2
Galenos I
By the time Galenos had gotten all of the details from his brother about what he knew of the council members’ attitudes, he had the beginnings of a headache, and odds were that it was only going to get worse. He had learned over years of dealing with them that the council members were petty, self-interested, and small-minded; they cared only about advancing their individual businesses and political factions’ agendas. None of them stopped to think about what was actually good for Kyratia and her people in the future.
A Flight of Marewings Page 2