The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5): An Epic Fantasy Action Adventure (The Way to Freedom Series)

by H. M. Clarke

“There are the Hatar over there in the sand hills,” Kalena said raising a hand to help shield her eyes from the bright morning sun. “They look to be having a nice relaxing time.” As Kalena focused her attention on the group of Hatar’le’margarten, she began to sense their surface thoughts. Adhamh’s thoughts were stronger than those of the other three Hatar and all were thinking about how nice the sun felt against the red sand. Adhamh’s thoughts suited Kalena well. If he was happy and comfortable then he might be more susceptible to what she had in mind to do this afternoon. Kalena had been carefully shielding part of her thoughts from him all morning so that he did not have time to think of any objections to what she had planned. Adhamh is a bit of a stickler for the rules and had put a damper on many of Kalena’s ideas and doings that he viewed as being beyond his understanding of the Rules.

  ‘Hopefully, he will not put a damper on this idea,’ Kalena thought as she strode over the last of the Flying Field and into the sand hills.

  “Kalena. what’s the hurry?”

  Kalena heard Kral panting behind her. For a brief moment she had forgotten he was there as she pondered all of the many arguments that Adhamh could throw against her plans.

  “Sorry Kral. My mind was elsewhere for a moment.”

  Kalena stopped, letting the fine red sand of the hills slide and settle like water around her feet as she waited for Kral to catch up to her.

  “You look a bit like a girl on a mission.”

  Kral halted next her, kicking his feet to stop the sand from covering the toes of his polished cadet boots. Just ahead of them lay the Hatar who are comfortably baking themselves in the sun.

  “I was just thinking about my feathered other half,” Kalena said by way of explanation. “Adhamh is a bit of a fuddy duddy and hates to do anything that might go against what he thinks is beyond the rules.”

  “Why would he be worried about being ‘beyond the rules’?”

  “Because that is exactly what I want us to do today,” Kalena said as she pulled her feet from the loose red sand. “I want the Hatar to help us get a jump on our lessons. I don’t want to look like a fool in front of Wing Lieutenant Bessal.”

  “Are you saying you want to practice flying before we start formal lessons?”

  Kalena nodded.

  A smile quickly spread across Kral’s face.

  “Excellent. That means I’ll be one up on Holm. He’s always better at everything than I am. This time I’ll at least be better than him for a lesson or two.” Suddenly the excitement faded away from Kral’s face. “But do you think Trar would go for this? I haven’t known her long enough to know what she would do.”

  “I know Trar and she would jump at the chance to do something like this. It’s Adhamh who would put a damper on the adventure.”

  Kalena brushed her forearm across her brow to wipe away the sweat. “Come on. Let’s go and see if the Hatar will be in on it.”

  They continued across the sand hills now under the watchful eyes of the sun baking Hatar.

  ‘Hello Adhamh, how’s the sun?’ Kalena asked him before the Hatar could say anything to her. Being as closely connected as they are, she could not be sure how much he is able to know her mind. Kalena could already feel his thoughts as Adhamh focused on her. Kalena felt a little offended at the touch of suspicion in them. She can’t be that obvious.

  ‘The sun is warm and bright. I see you still have Kral Tayme with you.’

  ‘Yes, he’s our new friend.’

  In the background, Kalena could hear Kral and Trar talking. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Trar fluff and ruffle her red feathers in excitement. Great. It seems that Kral could not keep his mouth shut.

  ‘What have you got on your mind Kalena?’ Adhamh’s jewel like eyes narrowed as he swung his head into a better position to glare at her.

  ‘What makes you think I have anything on my mind’’ Kalena said defensively.

  Adhamh swung his feathered head towards Kral and Trar and then looked again at Kalena. ‘Something has them both excited, and it is not from being out in the sun with nothing to do.’

  Kalena shot Kral and Trar a dirty look that went unnoticed by the pair.

  ‘I was thinking that we could fly to find a Pydarki to help Holm recover from what I did to him. The Wing Lieutenant said that Holm might need the bulb of a Sardom Lily to help him recover and that the Pydarki know where to find it.’

  Adhamh drew his head up in a fluff of feathers. ‘And do you know where to find the Pydarki?’ Adhamh asked. It did not sound as stern as Kalena expected. It was also a question that Kalena had not thought of.

  The other two Hatar who were shaking the sand from their feathers as they approached now took their cue from Adhamh’s reaction to make a speedy exit back to Darkon. Kalena heard them quickly make their excuses to Trar and Adhamh and she watched them leave in trepidation.

  ‘Well, no. Not really,’ Kalena said reluctantly. ‘But I’m sure that with the four of us working together, we should be able to find them.’ Kalena added the last in a hurry before Adhamh could use her lack of knowledge as an excuse not to fly and try to help Holm. ‘I’ve also not been completely honest with Kral. I’ve told him that we are going to practice our flying lessons…’

  Adhamh snorted and clacked his beak. ‘He will be getting a bit of a surprise then. When did the Wing Lieutenant say the Pydarki are due back in Darkon?’

  ‘Not for another month. Gwidion says that Holm’s crystal could be permanently damaged if he does not awake within the next couple of days.’

  ‘Which will mean that Holm and Motta will be relocated to the lower Kalarthri Castes.’ Adhamh butted in. ‘Do you understand now why you need to be careful about experimenting with your gift?”

  ‘Yes Adhamh,’ Kalena dutifully replied. ‘And I cannot let Holm pay for my mistake – I have to do whatever I can do to restore him’.

  Adhamh stared silently down at her in what Kalena thought a severe look of disapproval. She could almost hear Adhamh’s internal debate about which way he should decide. From the stern look on the Hatar’s face, Kalena thought she knew he would say no and quickly turned her own thoughts into how she could go out with Kral and Trar without Adhamh knowing.

  ‘I have heard talk among the older Hatar’le’margarten that the Pydarki homeland lies to the North.’

  Kalena blinked.

  This was not what she expected and it took Kalena a moment to respond.

  ‘Does this mean you will help me?’

  ‘Yes it does because even if I refuse to have anything to do with this, you will just ignore me and find someone else fool hardy enough to help you.’

  Adhamh pulled his head down to Kalena’s level as he spoke and Kalena felt a flush of relief at his words. She would have hated to sneak around behind his feathered back and with their crystal link, he would have realized that she was up to something.

  ‘Excellent’

  Kalena turned quickly to Kral, letting a large smile cut across her face.

  “Kral, Adhamh is going with us.”

  “When are we going to go?” was his immediate reply.

  ‘We’ll need to grab our flying tack,’ Kalena overheard Trar say to Kral.

  “We will have to retrieve it without being seen by our senior officers or any Freemen,” Kral said glancing back towards the mass of buildings on the other side of the Flying Field.

  ‘Trar, tell Kral not to worry, Kalena is sneaky enough to think of a way to do it.’

  “Adhamh!”

  “Do you have an idea about how to do it?”

  Kalena suddenly found herself under the gaze of three sets of eyes, but instead of it making her uncomfortable, it set her mind humming. Kalena looked over her shoulder at the buildings and streets of Darkon and she did not see a living soul wandering its streets. It was the first time since arriving in the Hatar Quarter that Kalena had seen it empty.

  “I think it could be easier than you imagine.”

  Chapter Ten

/>   The First Flight

  Kalena adjusted the stiff leather straps slung across her shoulder. Sweat had already soaked through the material of her cadet jacket. A glance at Kral made Kalena wish she were older. Being sixteen, he had the height to better handle the long leather straps of the harness. He wore his jacket unbuttoned to combat the dry heat and a flapping corner of his jacket was rucked up by the position of the straps revealing the sweat soaked shirt beneath.

  “Let’s hope that it’s not this hot up in the air,” Kalena said as he swapped the harness to her other shoulder while juggling the overflow so it did not drag along the ground of the Flying Field.

  “Does it matter if it is?” Kral replied.

  “I suppose not.”

  “What happens if we don’t find the Pydarki before tomorrow?” Kral asked as he wiped the sweat from his face.

  “I don’t know. If we are not here tomorrow when Wing Lieutenant Bessal comes looking for us we could be charged with desertion. But if we appear with a Pydarki physician who can help Holm – “

  “Then all will be forgiven,” Kral finished for her.

  “I’ve also covered our butts by leaving a note in my room explaining our actions for the Wing Lieutenant to find.”

  “You really do plan ahead don’t you!”

  Kalena gave a smug little shrug. No one, especially Gwidion, was going to accuse her of having a lack of foresight again.

  “Is it true that the Pydarki physicians won’t be back for another month?”

  “So the Wing Lieutenant says, and since the Pydarki only come and go when they please, there is no way of contacting them. So, the only way to help Holm is for us to find a physician and to bring them back to Darkon to heal Holm – Ouch!” Kalena dropped her harness as she danced back on one foot to grab her throbbing toe. “Stupid white washed rock!” she hissed.

  “It’s not the rock’s fault that you weren’t looking where you were going.”

  Kral had stopped at the foot of the first sand hill as the two Hatar pulled themselves out of their sand baths to join them.

  ‘That didn’t take long.’

  Kalena dropped her stubbed toe and scooped up her harness from the ground.

  “It’s a Free Day. The place is completely deserted so there was no one around to see or stop us.”

  “Let’s hope finding the Pydarki will be that easy.”

  ‘The Pydarki are never easy to find. No one has ever been to their city. All anyone knows is that they live somewhere in the Bhaglier Ranges.’

  “So you are saying that it might take more than a day to find them?”

  Adhamh nodded.

  “I also overheard Gwidion say something about the Pydarki using the Sardom Lily bulb to repair damaged crystals. Maybe we could find one of those instead,” Kalena said sheepishly, not wanting Adhamh to know that she overheard this information by eavesdropping Gwidion’s thoughts.

  “Do you know what these flowers look like?” Kral asked as he let the flying harness slip from his shoulder onto the ground.

  Kalena gave him a scathing look which Kral unfortunately did not see as he now had his back to her laying out his flying harness to make it easier to slip onto Trar. Kalena dropped her own harness and began the same preparation.

  “No. No I don’t,” Kalena eventually said as she untangled her leather straps. In fact, Kalena had an idea of what it looks like. She had caught a brief image of the plant from the brush with Gwidion’s thoughts.

  ‘I’m glad to see you are learning not to be so obvious about eavesdropping.’

  Kalena nearly jumped when she heard Adhamh’s voice.

  ‘Look who’s doing the eavesdropping now!’ Annoyed, Kalena roughly jerked the last of the leather straps out of a tangle.

  ‘Ah, but I can do it unnoticed, even by other Hatar. You on the other claw…’

  ‘Yes I know, I’m young and inexperienced la la la,’ Kalena said as she watched Kral fold the straps on one side of his harness and then scoop up the saddle and place it between the shoulders of the now kneeling Trar.

  ‘I did get a glimpse of what this plant look like. That is if the Wing Lieutenant remembered it correctly.’

  Kalena folded her strapping in imitation of Kral and hefted the saddle onto her shoulder as Adhamh lowered himself to the ground. To Kalena’s consternation, she found that she was still not tall enough to set the saddle on Adhamh’s back. She tried several times to get the saddle on including shoving, pushing and throwing. All the while Adhamh laid still, head snaked around watching her.

  ‘Ouch, that hurt,’ Adhamh flapped an indignant wing as on Kalena’s final attempt, the saddle fell hard onto his wing joint. ‘Would you like some help?’

  ‘A step ladder would be good!’ Kalena snapped at the Hatar.

  ‘Now, don’t be rude Kalena.’ Adhamh ruffled his feathers.

  Kalena looked across to see Kral buckling up the harness chest straps on Trar. She can’t let the new boy show her up. She looked up into Adhamh’s gleaming eyes.

  ‘Yes I would like some help.’

  Adhamh clacked his beak smugly. ‘It never hurts to ask for help once in a while.’

  ‘You’re enjoying this aren’t you,’ Kalena said as she scooped the saddle from the sand.

  ‘It’s all well and good to be independent but everybody always needs help from time to time.’

  ‘So what have you got in mind?”

  Adhamh lifted his front foreleg, holding it up to act like a stepladder.

  “Is that it?” Kalena asked aloud in disbelief.

  ‘Yes. It’s simple, but effective.’

  Kalena refolded the straps and hefted the saddle back onto her shoulder before stepping up onto Adhamh’s pro-offered leg and leaning on his now outstretched wing for balance. From this new vantage Kalena now had no problems placing the saddle on the black, feathered back and flicking the rest of the harness over Adhamh’s off side.

  Kalena stepped down off Adhamh’s leg without uttering a word and began to buckle up the loose straps.

  ‘No thank you?’

  Kalena gave no answer to the Hatar except to make Adhamh stand up so she could slide the girth strap under him and buckle it up.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Kral asked when Kalena had finally finished.

  “The plan is to fly north across the plains until we reach the Bhaglier Ranges and then we search for the Pydarki or the Sardom Lily.”

  “But we don’t know what this plant looks like so how can we recognize it.”

  Kalena gave a warning glance in Adhamh’s direction before answering. “Adhamh has told me that he has an image of what it looks like from another Hatar.”

  “Really?” Kral said, his voice full of excitement. “It looks as if luck is with us today.”

  “Only if we find either the Pydarki or the Sardom Lily.” Kalena sighed and hooked a hand into Adhamh’s harness, quickly glanced at the position of the mid morning sun.

  “We better get going otherwise we won’t have much of the day to search.”

  Kalena and Kral leapt up into their saddles, (with the assistance of a Hatar foreleg), and buckled the leather safety harness around their waists.

  ‘Okay Adhamh. Lets fly north. Tell Trar to try and keep our leaving as unnoticed as possible – the Hatar Quarter may look deserted but I bet the Freeman’s Quarter is not. If we are seen, it will be by Captain Jerant knowing my luck.’

  ‘Trar says she will follow close behind me. Do not worry Kalena. They will have to be looking for us to see us.’

  And with that Adhamh leapt into the sky without giving Kalena a word of warning, jerking her in the saddle and making her cry out in surprise. With a leisurely sweep of his wings he was flying low along the sand hills away from Darkon into the west.

  ‘If we are seen going in this direction, they will assume that two Hatar are going to have some lunch. The very mouth watering cattle herds are mustered a short way from here.’

  ‘Ewww,’ Kalena thought,
remembering that Hatar liked their meals to be alive and kicking.

  Kalena had leaned forward over Adhamh’s neck, violently gripping his shiny black feathers. The rhythmic up and down movement of his wings made Kalena’s stomach feel as if it was being yanked out of her and she could feel the constant movement of Adhamh’s large shoulder muscles under her legs.

  Kalena looked back under her arm to see how Kral was doing but could not really see him among Trar’s bright red feathers.

  Before reaching the main cattle paddocks, Adhamh veered north and when he considered it safe, began to increase their altitude. High altitude winds are the best for travelling long distances he had said, but Kalena was more concerned about how far away the ground looked and that it would hurt a lot if they were to fall.

  Hopefully she will get used to this – she will need to if she wanted to make it as a flyer.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Searchers

  Kalena adjusted her head against Adhamh’s neck in an effort to stop a cramp. They had been flying steady North for half the morning and the distant mountains have been growing larger in front of them.

  But the heat was becoming unbearable.

  The sun beat down mercilessly on her back and to Kalena’s mind; felt to be reflected back at her from Adhamh’s black feathers. Kalena was sweating under her wool cadet jacket but could not unbutton it because the lashing head wind could cut her to ribbons without its protection. The land below them seemed to shimmer and melt in the heat. Nothing looked recognizable to her except the spread of the mountain range.

  According to Trar, Kral was faring no better. Kalena would occasionally dig up the energy to move and look back at the pair. The Hatar themselves were untouched by the heat. How can they not feel it with their thick layer of feathers? Adhamh’s wings moved in a lazy flap as he moved higher to continue his glide on a new thermal. A savage gust of wind shot around the Hatar’s neck and slammed straight into Kalena’s face. She quickly buried her head into Adhamh’s thick neck feathers to protect it. Her face already felt rubbed raw as if by harsh sand paper. Kalena made a mental note to herself to remember to grab a pair of flying goggles to wear next time she went flying.