Warriors of Wing and Flame

by Sara B. Larson

I looked over at my parents, curious if they’d heard. I’d wondered if we’d pushed Loukas too hard too fast—if Father had pushed him too hard. Loukas had been unconscious for a considerable amount of time, after all. And Father had immediately expected him to be recovered enough to fly for hours on end?

  Father was looking up, his lips pressed into a thin line, eyebrows drawn together. Mother’s spine was as straight as the trees beneath us, her face pale and drawn.

  “Look—we could land there!” Raidyn shouted, pointing to a small clearing up ahead.

  Father nodded, and then looked up again. “Inara—you’re going to have to guide Maddok down there!” he shouted.

  “How?” was her breathless response. “I can’t move!”

  “Do you have the reins?” Raidyn asked.

  “Yes…”

  “Pull them tighter, get Maddok to drop his head down. Hold on and we’ll help lead him down!”

  Her response was too muffled to understand. But a few seconds later, Maddok’s head dropped, as if she had done exactly what Raidyn had told her to.

  “Maddok!” Father yelled at the gryphon, then gave two short whistles through his teeth, and Taavi began flying lower, toward the clearing below, Raidyn guiding Naiki to do the same. I glanced backward, to see Maddok following, but Loukas’s deadweight began to list to one side.

  “Shar!” Raidyn shouted.

  “On it!” Her voice was barely audible.

  I looked over my shoulder to see her and Halvor right behind Maddok, on Keko. Her veins glowed with power. When I looked back to Loukas, he hadn’t straightened up at all, but he hadn’t fallen any farther either. He seemed to be trapped, halfway on, halfway off the gryphon as we all soared lower and lower, Sharmaine’s power holding him in place.

  When we finally touched down in the small field, I heaved a sigh of relief.

  “Stay here,” Raidyn said, vaulting from Naiki’s back and rushing over to help catch Loukas the moment Maddok landed. Together, with my father, they carefully lowered him to the ground while Inara sat back up with a grimace. Once he was safely on the ground, Father helped Inara climb down as well. She seemed shaken but unharmed.

  Raidyn hurried back over to assist me, reaching up to encircle my waist with his strong hands. My body ached from sitting that long; my legs were so stiff when I tried to stand, my knees almost buckled.

  We all gathered around Loukas, staring down at his unmoving form.

  “What happened?” Sharmaine asked, glancing at Inara, who had wrapped her arms around herself. Halvor stood beside her, his hands hanging at his side, as though he wanted to comfort her, but didn’t dare.

  “I don’t know. He said he still didn’t feel very well. He seemed exhausted. Maybe … maybe he wasn’t recovered enough.” Inara shifted on her feet, rubbing at her arms.

  “I can’t believe it took this much out of him,” Sharmaine said softly, her face flushed from the use of her power yet again. “He must have been controlling even more minds than we realized.”

  “What do we do now?” I looked to my father.

  He pushed a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I guess we have to rest again. We can’t do anything without Loukas.”

  “How long do you think it’ll take?” Inara asked without looking up.

  Father shook his head, impatience flashing across his face, but he quickly smothered it. “As long as it takes, I suppose.”

  There was a pause and then Raidyn spoke up. “Sir, right before this all happened, Zuhra and I both felt a hint of cotantem.”

  “Do you think it was him?” Father’s eyebrows shot up.

  “I’m not sure. But I think so … I don’t know what else it would have been.” Raidyn looked to me for confirmation.

  “Was it strong?”

  “No, it was pretty faint. We barely felt it.”

  “If it wasn’t very strong, it may have just been a pocket.”

  “A pocket,” Raidyn repeated.

  “We didn’t know what else to call it.” Father glanced out at the forest surrounding us. “When we were here before … I felt a few of them myself. They were these small spots in Vamala where there was a hint of Paladin power for some reason. As if the barrier between our two worlds was thinner in those areas.” He looked back to us. “So it’s possible that’s all you felt. If we’d been able to keep going and follow it to see if it got stronger, then we would have known for certain, but…”

  We all looked back down at Loukas. My legs trembled. It felt like I had sand in my eyes when I blinked, my eyelids scratchy and painful from fatigue.

  “If he’s going to be out for a while … could we rest a little bit too?” I hesitantly asked. I wasn’t even sure I could sleep, but I really wanted to try.

  Mother’s gaze immediately snapped to me, her hazel eyes bloodshot and her hair as disheveled as I’d ever seen it. Father looked about to protest, but she put her hand on his arm and said, “Of course we can rest. I think everyone could use a little more sleep before we face … whatever is ahead,” she said.

  He swallowed whatever he’d been about to say and nodded instead. “Yes, of course. We will catch him—and soon. But it will be better if we’re all at full strength.”

  Which of course meant that Barloc would have more time to regain his strength as well. But if Loukas was going to remain unconscious, there was nothing we could do. And I really hoped I’d be able to sleep.

  “I have some more food, if anyone is hungry,” Halvor offered. We took the fruit and cheese quietly, eating it while we spread our blankets out yet again.

  “Everyone stay closer together today,” Father instructed, his voice little more than a whisper. “Then the gryphons can circle around us. Just in case.”

  We settled down on our blankets. I was almost getting accustomed to lying on the hard earth with weeds, branches, and rocks for both pillow and mattress. Almost.

  Raidyn lay on one side of me and Inara on my other. We were close enough together that I could feel the warmth of his body in the small space between us. He turned his head toward me; our gazes met and held. When his eyes dropped to my mouth, my stomach tightened, all thoughts of sleep fleeing. If only I could steal a few minutes alone with him, even just a few moments, to lose myself in the heat and power of his touch, to take me away from the fear and exhaustion and worry of this potentially fatal journey.

  “Zu?”

  Inara’s soft whisper jarred me back to reality—and the fact that Raidyn wasn’t the only one lying right beside me. His mouth crooked into a fleeting half smile.

  I rolled over to face her, tamping down my reluctance to turn my back on Raidyn. Though the cost of her lucidity was immense, I could never begrudge the chance to speak with my sister, after the countless hours I’d spent for most of her life trying to accomplish that very thing.

  Her dark hair fanned out beneath her head, a thick, tangled pillow on her thin blanket. Her pale blue eyes were bloodshot. What a sight we all were.

  “Yes? Are you all right?”

  She nodded. “I just … I wanted to tell you thank you.”

  “For what?”

  Inara reached out and took my hand in hers, pulling it into the space between our bodies. “For always being there for me—no matter what. For saving me over and over again. From the roar, from what Barloc did…”

  “You don’t have to thank me for any of that. I’m your sister. I love you. I would do it all again and more if I needed to, happily.”

  Inara’s eyes glistened in the ever-brightening light of day. She blinked a few times rapidly. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve a sister like you.” She took our clasped hands and lifted them so she could press a kiss to the top of my knuckles.

  A wave of sadness crashed into me … familiar and foreign all at once. Were they Inara’s emotions or my own? Sometimes the sanaulus was more confusing than helpful. “I am the lucky one,” I said at last, blinking back tears of my own. What had brought this on? “Are you sure you’re
all right?”

  Inara laughed and sniffled. “Yes, I promise. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just wanted you to know how grateful I am for you and how much I look up to you and your strength.”

  If she only knew how weak I truly was—how frightened and easily beset by panic—but I squeezed her hand back and smiled. “I think you are the strong one.”

  “Rest well, Zuzu.”

  “You too, Nara.”

  We remained facing each other, hands clasped in the small space between us. She closed her eyes and I made myself do the same, praying I was finally tired enough to sleep without any more panic. A few moments later, Raidyn’s warm, heavy hand came to rest on the top of my hip. Ensconced between the two of them, the warm sunlight enveloping us like a blanket, I finally, mercifully dozed off.

  * * *

  “Where are they?”

  The shout jerked me awake.

  It took a moment to orient myself and realize Father was the one yelling—a distinct lack of concern for being found that showed just how distraught he was.

  Then I noticed the space next to me where Inara had slept was empty, the blanket gone. I scrambled to my feet, and turned in a circle, horror blooming in my chest. Not only was Inara gone, but so was Loukas—and Maddok.

  My stomach plummeted, as if I’d been soaring above the trees, only to drop from the sky, much as they both had done yesterday when they’d fallen off Loukas’s gryphon.

  “Where is she? Where is Inara?” Mother stood beside my father, her lips bloodless and jaw clenched. “Did he take her? Did he take my daughter? Why would he take her?”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Raidyn tried to comfort her, even as he shot me a look of utter shock, his blue-fire eyes flashing. His alarm pulsed alongside my own.

  “Well, apparently he would. Because he did,” Mother insisted as Sharmaine climbed to her feet, staring at the spot where Loukas had been lying.

  “What’s going on?” Halvor sat up, blinking blearily. He glanced around the clearing and then blanched. “Where’s Inara?”

  Father paced back and forth in front of Taavi, who fluffed his feathers, his beak snapping in agitation. Naiki sat on her haunches, her golden eyes flicking back and forth, watching us carefully, but remaining still. “Something woke me up, and when I looked around, they were already gone. Why would they do this—why would they leave?”

  A sudden nausea seized my stomach, clenching it like a fist. “She left all the healers behind,” I said, trembling all over.

  Father’s eyes widened.

  If she started to fail again—if the emptiness inside her broke open—there was no one there to save her.

  I didn’t even realize how hard I was shaking until Raidyn hurried to my side and pulled me into his arms for support.

  “He did this. It was that boy Loukas that forced all the soldiers back, isn’t it? He made her leave with him!” I hadn’t seen Mother this mad since before I was sucked through the portal into Visimperum. Having us all returned to her—including her husband—had softened the bitterness that held her captive for most of my life. But now she seethed, hazel eyes bright and fierce, her tiny body humming with a familiar fury.

  “We need to leave immediately.”

  Raidyn wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in even closer to the solid strength of his body. But I sensed the underlying turmoil behind his calm mien.

  “We have no idea where they’ve gone,” Mother said.

  “Perhaps their departure is what woke me up. If we hurry, we might still be able to see and follow them.”

  The next few minutes were a blur of frenzied activity as we rushed to roll up our blankets, climbed onto the gryphons that were left, and took off. My heart thundered in my chest as Naiki flapped hard to get us high in the air fast enough to clear the treetops.

  Taavi was in the lead and reached the open sky first.

  “There!” Father’s cry was barely audible over the wind and pounding of the gryphon’s wings.

  We were right behind them. I followed where he pointed and could barely make out a speck in the distance. My breath caught in my throat.

  Inara.

  “What is he thinking?” Raidyn’s low murmur thrummed through me, echoing my own thoughts.

  Taavi surged forward, Father urging him to fly as quickly as he was capable with two people on his back. Raidyn slapped the reins against Naiki’s neck with a sharp whistle, and she, too, put on a burst of speed.

  I had no idea why they had left. I could only pray to the Great God that we hadn’t all misplaced our trust in Loukas.

  TWENTY-SIX

  INARA

  I glanced over my shoulder again. “I think they’re gaining on us!”

  “He’s going as fast as he can,” Loukas responded, his voice tight. But he whistled to Maddok and kneaded his hands along the gryphon’s neck, urging him to give us a little bit more.

  “Can you still feel it?” I asked. “Is it getting stronger?”

  “Yes,” was all Loukas said. This plan hinged entirely on us following the cotantem and reaching Barloc first, before the others. If they caught us before we caught him …

  No, I cut the thought off. We’ll make it. We have enough of a head start. This will work.

  It had to.

  I glanced back again.

  “You’re just going to make yourself even more upset if you keep doing that. Focus on what’s ahead of us—on what you have to do if we catch him.”

  He’d done a masterful job of acting like he’d passed out again, making it so convincing, I nearly believed him. Especially when he almost fell off Maddok. We’d waited until we were sure everyone was asleep, and then waited a little bit longer, just to be certain. It couldn’t have worked out better for Zuhra to ask if we could rest again, saving me from having to do it and possibly raise any suspicion.

  But now came the even harder part—tracking Barloc down, taking him by surprise before he could attack us, and then …

  I’d take back what he’d stolen from me.

  Though the air above the trees was much cooler than on the ground, the sun still beat down on us, relentless and nearly unbearable, as we rushed away from my family and the other Paladin, chasing the elusive cotantem that Loukas had also felt before he’d pretended to lose consciousness. My body kept flashing hot then cold then hot.

  You can do this. You can do this.

  “You’re sure it’s him and not a pocket?” I asked.

  Loukas groaned and I remembered too late that I’d already asked him that. “I told you, it wouldn’t be getting stronger.”

  “Right.”

  “Are you sure you can do this?”

  I didn’t hesitate. “Of course!”

  “You seem very … nervous.”

  “Just because I’m nervous doesn’t mean I’m incapable. You keep him from attacking us, and I will do what I have to do.”

  We both fell silent after that. I resisted the urge to look back to see if the others were still gaining on us. We’d hoped they’d stay asleep longer. At least we had a significant head start … but would it be enough? We would have very little time to act.

  Loukas suddenly tensed, his arms stiffening around me.

  “What? What is it?”

  “I felt—”

  Before he could finish, darkness closed in on me.

  I saw Barloc sitting alone at his desk at the library, Paladin books open in front of him, but he stared forward unseeingly. Loneliness pressed in on him like the darkness that swelled beyond the reach of the solitary candle he had lit. Loneliness and a longing that burned hotter than any fire, hidden away deep within him—a longing to go to the world his grandfather had told him about. A longing to claim the power he’d witnessed but never wielded—power that was his birthright—and use it to prove his superiority to all those who had ever mocked him for his assertions of being part Paladin or berated him for his fascination with them.

  Then I saw him standing in a f
orest, spinning toward the sound of wingbeats, the immense power he now wielded flooding his veins as he summoned it forth and waited until a gryphon came into view—with a girl who looked like Zuhra and Loukas on its back—a jolt of disbelief, of recognition—

  I slammed back into my body, a scream of warning building too late in my throat, just as the blast of Paladin fire exploded out of the trees beneath us. Maddok banked so sharply, it nearly unseated us both. The fireball passed by close enough to singe the edge of Maddok’s wing. The scent of burning feathers and acrid power made my eyes sting as Loukas pulled on Maddok’s reins, sending him into a nosedive, straight into the trees. Branches and leaves tore at our legs and arms, but the pain hardly registered as I caught sight of Barloc standing below us, his body glowing so brightly with power that I almost couldn’t look directly at him.

  His hand filled with more Paladin fire, but before he could release it, his blindingly bright eyes widened and then he froze, the fire flickering and then fading.

  There was barely room for Maddok to land. His back paws slammed into the ground with such a thud, it jarred every bone in my body. Loukas immediately vaulted off his back, his glowing hands stretched out to Barloc.

  “Go—now—” The words were so strained, I could barely understand what Loukas had said. His arms shook, every vein lit bright green with his power. His entire body trembled with the effort of controlling Barloc. I slid off Maddok’s back, landing on the hard ground with a sharp ping in one of my ankles. Ignoring the pain, I rushed forward, pulling the knife from the sheath that Loukas had strapped to my thigh before we’d taken off. Though I was willing to drink his blood to get my power back, I didn’t think I could tear his throat open with just my teeth.

  As I watched, the painfully bright glow of Barloc’s veins slowly faded until he stood before me as I’d known him, as Halvor’s scholarly uncle, except for the unsettling half grimace on his face as he tried to fight Loukas’s control on his mind. His body was stiff with resistance, but slowly, painfully, his knees bent until he knelt, then lay down on the ground, each movement like watching a broken puppet being coerced into submission.