The Endless Skies

by Shannon Price

  “What?”

  “Our magic.”

  I look to the west. I draw a breath, hoping to shift into my lion form, but I’m not close enough.

  But she’s right. Something is happening underneath my skin, like embers given fresh fuel. I set the cure on the ground, wiping my bloodied hands on my pant legs before pulling some out for Rowan, but she waves it off. “The kids are going to need it.”

  “And you won’t be able to to give it to them without taking some.” Forcing the bruised flower back into her hand, I keep my eyes on hers until she relents and puts a single petal in her mouth. I press more of it into her hand with a frown, but she stuffs it into one of the empty pockets of her throwing knives’ sheath.

  “I’ll take more if I need more,” she says stubbornly. “I promise.”

  Io’s and Sethran’s shadows meet us just as Io says, “You two all right?”

  “One of the dogs got to Rowan,” I reply.

  “I’m fine,” Rowan protests, but Io inclines her hand like, Stay down. “Our magic is coming back.”

  “We’re close enough to the Heliana,” Io says, nodding. “But not close enough to be able to fly.”

  “How long does it take?” Rowan asks, looking from the sea to Io and back.

  “I don’t know. We have been away for a while.”

  The unmistakable sound of horse hooves thunders behind us. The humans’ reinforcements will be here in a matter of moments.

  “Skies keep us.” Io unclips the bag of the panacea from around her waist and makes a break toward a pair of boulders nearby. She kneels, pressing the waterskin into the shadows between the stones. “All of you. Hide your share.”

  I do as I’m told. If we die, the humans might forget about the cure—but there are always Leonodai patrolling the coast. When they find what’s left of us, they’ll find the cure, too.

  Sethran comes over and takes Rowan’s share of the cure, tucking those two bags in another spot away from where Io and I put ours. Rowan gets to her feet, leaning all her weight on her good leg. Sethran and Io take up either side of us. It seems like a moment for goodbyes, but it doesn’t take any words.

  “We fight to the end,” says Io.

  I look at Rowan, hoping to kiss her one last time, but her gaze is on the west. Her new, short hair dances around her neck.

  “Callen,” she says. “Do you remember how when we were kids, we’d test our magic by jumping between the rooftops?”

  I nod. “Yeah.”

  “What if it works the same here? What if our magic is asking us to trust it?”

  It all clicks, what she’s thinking. “Rowan, no. If you’re wrong, you’ll die.”

  She reaches around my neck and kisses my cheek. “And if I’m right, we live.”

  Before I recover from the kiss, she’s off and running, limping on her bad leg. Sethran calls her name, but she doesn’t turn.

  “Come back!” he yells. “Rowan, stop!”

  I send a prayer skyward as she leaps off the edge and into the open air.

  45

  ROWAN

  I regret it the moment I jump.

  The empty air brings nothing but panic as I call on my magic time and time again as the sea rushes up, eager to be my last sight.

  And then—I feel it.

  The moment is like the mirrors in the Glass Tower, casting light and memories into a thousand images and feelings that flash in my mind faster than I am falling.

  I see my whole life on the Heliana, from my mother leading classes to the last time I hugged my father when I was seven. I hear the music of the High Summer festival. I feel the pride and awe from the first time I saw Shirene in her sentinel robes.

  Salty air whizzes by me, bringing more memories. Feeling exhausted in the early days of training. Vera and I staying up past curfew back when we shared a room in the Warriors’ Hall, laughing and daydreaming. I see Ox in that first moment he asked me to dance, so sure of himself and confident in my answer before I knew it myself.

  And Callen. I thought he was an anchor bringing me down, but just because he is steady doesn’t make him deadweight. He stayed my friend after my father died and the other kids didn’t know how to act around me. He encouraged my becoming a warrior, sparring with me before I was even old enough to formally train. He’s seen me scream and lash out. He’s seen me cry and be vulnerable. There isn’t a single corner of my memories that Callen isn’t in, and every one of them shines.

  I’ve been unsure of myself for so long, but it’s like Io said—I am learning. I am learning, and I am at peace with that. In this impossible prism of a moment, alone and plummeting toward death, I accept it.

  The spark of magic in me explodes.

  I let out a roar as I shift into my lioness form and swoop up, climbing higher and higher. My wings catch the air as they push me back up the way I’d come and beyond the cliff.

  The humans scatter when they see me. Their fear permeates the air. My leg, still throbbing in pain, is manageable now that I don’t have any weight on it. One of the humans fires at me, but it the bullet flies harmlessly through the long edge feathers of my wing. Diving, I sink my claws into the soldier Callen has been holding back. The human flies like a toy in the opposite direction, and I catch Callen’s grin before he, too, steps back and over the edge of the Cliffs.

  A heartbeat later, another roar joins mine. The humans stare in awe—but only for a moment. One of them takes aim at me and I duck, shifting back into my human form for a moment to make myself a smaller target. Immediately, I regain my lion form with a rush of life-giving magic. When I look back, the human is aiming at me again, hand on the trigger—

  A flurry of arrows rains down from above. Looking skyward, I make out the shapes of a dozen or more Leonodai warriors, bearing down fast.

  The skies have never given me a finer gift.

  46

  ROWAN

  Pivoting, I beat my wings and swoop toward the trees, searching desperately for the bags containing the cure. I seize the leather strap of my bag in my jaws. Io dives into the underbrush beside me, and I toss her the second bag.

  “I’ll go to the Keep,” Io says. “You fly for the Queen’s Tower.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Arcing upward through the forest, I break out above the tree line, opening my wings as wide as they can go. Golden sun blesses the feathers, filling my blood with heat and hope. As I make a break across the water, I hear Callen following below me. Sethran follows, too, but he won the race on High Summer for a reason and is beside me in no time.

  “Queen’s Tower!” I roar. “Io went to the Keep.”

  Ahead of us, winged black machines swirl in uneven arcs around the city and over the open waters to protect the humans’ ships below. Somehow that enrages me more. The skies are our haven, our home. I refuse to let them take that, too.

  The Heliana grows larger and larger. Groups of warriors fly out from between the city’s rooftops. Each team carries a net full broken rocks, the ropes grasped in their jaws as their wings strain with effort. A commander nearby roars orders overhead as we fly above the stone-carrying teams. They’ll rain the stones down, I realize. Birds and Leonodai alike needed balance to fly. One stone could break the wing of a machine, or at least throw it off course.

  My spirit soars. We’ve learned how to fight back and stay safe at the same time. Even with our city drifting in the water, our people haven’t given up. I glance back at Callen, who, true to his word, is flying right at my side.

  We will fight, I think. We’ll fight until the very end.

  * * *

  Callen, Sethran, and I land on the warm white stone of the balcony of the Queen’s Tower, treading carefully to avoid the fragments of broken glass. I take my human form, clutching the cure to my heart as sweat pours down my forehead and chest. Sethran breathes heavily beside me, the determination sharp in his eyes.

  “Shirene!” he calls.

  The Ninth Sentinel emerges from behind the
curtain, her head low. At first, I don’t recognize her—her armor is different. Leonodai-made, sure, but that wasn’t what she used to fight in. Shirene’s cheeks are flushed, tears streaming freely down her proud face.

  “Seth,” she says. “It’s too late. The prince is dead.”

  “What? No,” I gasp. This can’t be real. “But we have it. We have the cure.”

  “It does not matter. He died minutes ago.”

  Minutes. Minutes too late, and how many did we lose? Jai. Exin. Ox.

  And probably more names I don’t know yet. No, not names. Beating wings, beating hearts. To have failed and lost them. It’s too much.

  I make a sound halfway between a scream and battle cry. “No. It can’t be. Please. We came so far.”

  Sethran takes a step forward to comfort Shirene, then hesitates. Even now, he’s better at remembering rank than I am. “Where are the other children?”

  “Most of the sick are here in the palace, others are sheltering at home,” she says. “We put our older and most vulnerable citizens in the Keep. The warriors-elect are standing guard, but it’s only a matter of time until the king surrenders.” Her eyes flicker to the sky as one of the flying machines falls in a wide arc, angry smoke billowing its tail end as a flurry of gold wings and roars send it down. “It’s over.”

  “No, it’s not,” I fire back. I can’t keep it in. If what Shirene says is true, then nothing I worried about since leaving the Heliana matters. I want to fight, even to the death. “Seth is right. There are still children we can save. And those children matter. Listen to that!” I say, pointing angrily toward the city. “Our people are fighting. Our friends are fighting.”

  Shirene flinches. “Rowan, the heir is dead. You know as well as I that the Heliana relies on the prince’s magic. And now there is none. There is no hope.”

  “Maybe not for the prince,” I fire back. “But I felt my magic come back to me once we hit the Cliffs, even after the city was in the water. I refuse to give up. Not after everything we’ve lost.”

  Taking my share of the cure, I shove it into Sethran’s chest. “Here,” I say. “Take this to the other children. Or have someone else do it. I’m going to fight.”

  Before any of them can say anything different, I grab Callen’s hand and pull him with me. He follows, and the two of us leap from the Queen’s Tower in our human forms. For just a moment, we’re falling. For just a moment, we grab onto each other, his lips meeting mine.

  In the next, we’ve both taken our lion forms. Sweeping low along the rooftops, we fly toward the fight.

  * * *

  Screams and roars echo at us from all sides, peppered with the sound of gunfire as we land two streets back from the front lines. My blood pounds wildly in my veins.

  Someone from his cohort must recognize Callen and calls out his name. He responds, following the voice into a building that is usually a school for dancers. We take our human forms as we duck inside. The wide wooden floor is littered with dust and blood, but in the midst of it is Callen’s father.

  General An’Kivva looks up when he sees his son, his mouth gaping for just a moment. A look of relief crosses over his face, before quickly returning to his usual, serious expression. The advisors at his side call his attention back, but the look is enough for Callen.

  “They gave him a command,” Callen says in disbelief. A small smile crosses his face.

  “I bet everyone is being called on to help,” I reply.

  He nods. “I’ll find out where he wants us.”

  Callen’s just stepped away when out of nowhere, arms wrap around my shoulders. I push at my attacker instinctively, until I recognize the smell of the perfume on her skin. Vera always buys the expensive stuff.

  “You!” she says. She releases me from her grasp, and I turn around, only to wrap her in a hug. “You are so stupid. How could you?”

  “I know.”

  “What were you thinking?”

  “I know,” I say. “I couldn’t tell you I was leaving. I wasn’t going to make you lie to our superiors.”

  Her eyes well with uncharacteristic tears. “No, dummy. I meant cutting your hair like this. I barely recognized you.”

  I stifle a laugh, tears matching hers. “I’ll check with you next time I decide to disobey the king and leave the Heliana. And give myself a haircut.”

  “Yes, please do.” Vera leans in close. “Please tell me you found it and didn’t leave me for no reason.”

  My heart thuds. “Yes.”

  Vera lights up, then comes crashing down. “But the city still—”

  “Still fell, I know. We were too late. Don’t tell a soul,” I beg, inclining my head to the northwestern part of the city. “We have to fight. As if there is still hope.”

  Vera takes the news with a deep breath. “There is,” she said. “You brought it. You came back.”

  I touch her right shoulder with my hand. “Why are you here at the front? Shirene said warriors-elect were guarding the citizens.”

  “We were. Just a while ago, sentinels came down and told everyone to fly for Vyrinterra.” She pauses. “Now I know why. It was pure chaos, Ro. But at least people will be safe.”

  “Only if we can stop the humans here,” I reply.

  Callen comes back over. “Oh, skies,” Vera says, and she gives him a hug, too. “Thank you for not letting her die out there.”

  “Never. Now c’mon.” He hustles toward the door and inclines for us to follow. “The humans landed one of their ships near the Northern Gate. Their supplies are on it.”

  “So?”

  “Guns run out of bullets,” he says. “If we can dislodge the ship from the Heliana, they’ll be trapped here.”

  I nod. “Let’s go. V?”

  She grins. “I’m with you two heroes.”

  I know she means it—heroes to the other children—but as we make a run for the Northern Gate, her words sting. We still didn’t save the prince, but I’d rather die trying to stave off the humans’ assault than give in to Marchess and his greed.

  Callen takes his lion form, and Vera and I follow suit—just at the right moment. As we rush around a corner, a human in a black uniform charges from the other side. I tuck my back legs up, guarding the vulnerable part of my underbelly. As I arc upward, Vera lunges forward from behind me, her claws extended. We leave the human’s strangled cry in our wake. Callen glides from rooftop to rooftop, keeping low as we get closer.

  Carefully, I lower my wings and step around Callen for a better look. The ship comes into sight. The humans beached the craft just beside the Northern Gate. Holes in the underbelly tell me that the sea-folk tried to sink it but didn’t make it in time.

  “I’ll distract the soldiers,” Callen growls. “You two push the ship from the front left side. The way it’s tilted, it should fall to the right more easily.”

  “Be careful,” I say, batting my wing to his. “Keep your helm down.” With the right angling, a Leonodai in lion form would be mostly protected by their breastplate and front-facing armor. Mostly. “Fly fast.”

  He nudges my forehead. “Always.”

  Tiles come loose from the rooftop as Callen leaps toward the ship. Shouts sound from below, but Callen’s roar is quickly joined by another as a nearby warrior comes to his aid.

  “Now!” Vera and I jump together, swooping low. The humans’ gunfire peppers the air. Behind me, Vera lets out a low snarl, followed swiftly by “Armor! Skimmed armor, keep going!”

  Jumping over the fallen stones of the Northern Gate, Vera and I reach the ship’s hull. The craft reeks of metal and blood and human, and my stomach roils. But my mind clears as Vera catches my look. We’ll ram it.

  I fold my wings back and down. We move as one, backing up to ram our armored shoulders against the wood. The ship groans as our combined weight slams into it, but after the third try, I check the evidence in the dirt on the ground—we’ve barely moved it an inch.

  “Up,” I tell Vera. “Let’s push it from th
e deck.”

  Taking to the sky, we start to dive wordlessly when a third shadow crosses overhead. I look up as a resounding roar rips through the air.

  The Ninth Sentinel has joined the fight.

  “On three!” Shirene yells. Vera and I obey her command. Summer wind whips by me as all three of us fold back our wings and dive, free falling, toward the railing on the edge of the ship. The impact sends me spinning up and off to the side as my ribs rattle in my chest. The frigid plunge of ocean water follows right after.

  Instinctively, I flare my wings in the water, pushing against the pressure without much success. My claws scrape idly against nothing as I swing myself upright. Taking my human form, I kick toward the surface when from the corner of my eye comes a flash of vibrant white and pale blue.

  I break the surface for a gasp of air, then look into the water again.

  One of the sea-folk watches me. Human from the waist up with a long fish’s tail the color of moonlight, she wears armor on her wrists and chest—Leonodai-made, but marked with a different crest. Her large eyes drink me in, and the placid expression on my face jogs my memory. The ambassador for the Sea Queen.

  She rushes toward me, closing the space between us with a flick of her tail. Icy hands clamp down around my wrist as she drags me down.

  Skies. She’s going to drown me.

  Kicking, I try to pull my arm back, but it’s like fighting a winter storm, her grip is so tight. She pulls me sideways, and my lungs begin to squeeze when she suddenly surges upward, letting go as she tosses me to the surface. A rounding boom explodes from behind me as the humans’ ship crashes down off the Heliana. The ground gave way, just like it did back on Balmora. The ambassador pulled me away from it just in time.

  I turn, trying to find her shape in the water as I tread above it. I give her a nod, hoping she sees it. The Heliana’s shadow passes over me, and I nearly forget to swim. The ship didn’t just dislodge. It fell.