The Guardian Herd: Stormbound

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

  Frostfire guessed her plan and surged toward her, gulping for air. “Don’t do it, Morningleaf. You won’t survive!” He bared his teeth and lashed his tail as he flew closer, whipping apart the clouds.

  Fury flooded her thoughts, and her heart slammed fresh blood through her veins. He didn’t care about her; he just wanted to use her to control Star. She wouldn’t let him capture her again. “Ancestors, be with me,” Morningleaf nickered, and then she flew headfirst through the wake and into the northern jet stream.

  Morningleaf shrieked as her body rocketed forward. Her ears smashed flat against her head, and her wings dragged behind her. She wasn’t flying; she was blowing over the landscape like debris from a hurricane. Morningleaf ransacked her mind for information on jet streams. The old mare Mossberry had entertained the foals with tales of Spiderwing and Raincloud when Morningleaf was younger. Spiderwing was legendary for his fearlessness in all areas except one; he was terrified of jet streams. What had Mossberry said about them? The key to riding them was simple, but what was it? Morningleaf’s heart thundered, distracting her.

  Keep your nose straight.

  Morningleaf heard Mossberry’s voice as though the old mare were flying next to her.

  Grip the current. Let the jet stream do the work.

  Now Morningleaf remembered; jet streams weren’t for flying, they were for riding. She needed to shape her wings around the current to keep her body straight, and she couldn’t move her head until she was ready to exit.

  Riding the streams can be managed by most pegasi, Mossberry had warned. Exiting the streams is what kills them.

  A horrific chill rolled down Morningleaf’s spine. If she died on exit, Star would blame Frostfire, and Star’s anger concerned her. If the steeds of Anok thought he was tame, they were wrong. Star was just beginning to understand his power.

  Morningleaf’s body wavered as she tried to focus. She needed to pull her wings forward, to grip and hold the current, otherwise a simple cross breeze could knock her over and out of the jet stream. So far she’d been lucky not to encounter one. With her eyes half shut and blurry with wind tears, Morningleaf shrugged her small wings forward, feather by feather. A wrong move could result in the forceful winds snapping her bones or flipping her over, and then she would lose what little control she had.

  It was terribly hard to keep her nose straight as she did this. From her peripheral vision she watched the landscape whiz by underneath her hooves. She was speeding across Anok, passing lakes, small mountains, and vast plains in the span of a breath. Her mouth and nose dried out, and every loose feather ripped free and twirled away as she followed the curve of the planet toward Sun Herd’s territory.

  Morningleaf strained hard against the walloping winds until her wings took the gentle shape of a curve and wrapped over the whistling jet stream, steadying her. It took all her strength to keep them in place, her jaw ached from clenching her teeth, and her muscles quivered on the verge of collapse.

  Far ahead of her was Sun Herd’s territory, but at the speed she was traveling, she would be there soon. Her heart pounded at the thought of exiting the jet stream, and she knew she was in terrible danger of not surviving. When she dipped her nose and dropped out of it, she would whip toward the ground faster than her wings could fly. If she could spread her wings and keep them from inverting, she had a chance at landing.

  Morningleaf swallowed, her throat tight. She just wanted to arrive before Rockwing. If she could warn her brother, Hazelwind, as she fell, then it didn’t matter if she landed or crashed after that. Morningleaf closed her eyes and made a wish. “Please may I not be too late.”

  32

  REPLAY

  STAR GLIDED TOWARD LAND, DESCENDING IN WIDE circles through the clouds when he reached Sun Herd’s territory. It wasn’t storming here, just raining. He shook the droplets out of his eyes and scanned for Hazelwind’s herd.

  He’d flown over Sky Meadow on his way—the one place he’d vowed never to return. The skeletons of the fallen Sun Herd pegasi were still visible. Sweet grasses had grown through the bones, and small creatures had built homes in them. Star knew the skeletons would soon disintegrate into the soil and nourish the roots. Someday new pegasi would graze on grasses grown from the marrow of the dead, and Star sighed with gentle understanding. Home wasn’t just where you lived; it was where you died.

  Star landed when he spotted the colorful feathers of Hazelwind and his followers. Hazelwind spotted him immediately and glided over, followed by Echofrost and the rest of his small herd. Shadepebble was with them, and she neighed a greeting when she saw Star. He neighed back and then spoke to Hazelwind. “I assume Shadepebble told you what’s happened.”

  Hazelwind narrowed his eyes. “That Frostfire stole my sister, Rockwing plans to claim the Sun Herd lands, and Nightwing is returning to Anok?” asked Hazelwind. “Yes, Shadepebble informed me.” He exhaled. “What I don’t understand is why you’re here, Star. You’re not a warrior.”

  Hazelwind’s words stung, and Star lowered his head. “I’ve come to help.”

  “Help us to our deaths, like you did in the north?” Hazelwind stamped his hoof. “You can guard the newborns.” He turned his back on Star and returned to battle training his herd. Echofrost followed, refusing to look at him.

  Star stood alone, feeling uprooted and lost. Hazelwind blamed him for all their bad luck and, he guessed, for Dawnfir’s death. She had been Hazelwind’s best friend next to Echofrost. And Echofrost had not forgiven Star either for Brackentail.

  Shadepebble approached Star. “Don’t worry,” she nickered. “Frostfire won’t hurt Morningleaf.”

  Star gazed into the eyes of the pink-feathered filly who’d been born a runt and a dud, and he saw only hope and kindness in her eyes. “Why are you helping us against your father? It’s treason.” Star was curious and astonished.

  Shadepebble cut her gaze toward the weeping willow tree. “Follow me, and I’ll show you.”

  Star followed her to the tree. Lying in the grass beneath its long, sad branches was the figure of a white pegasus stallion. They approached him and halted. “This is Clawfire,” said Shadepebble, her voice hitching with pride and sorrow.

  “Isn’t he the captain who kidnapped you?” asked Star.

  Shadepebble knelt beside the stallion, smoothing his wet brow with her wing. “Yes. He saved me from an ice tiger, but it bit him here and here.” She pointed to two gaping flesh wounds that were covered in flies. “Hazelwind found him as he was leaving the Ice Lands, and they carried him here.”

  Star watched the semiconscious stallion shiver in the cool shade. His hide was stained with sweat, an old, jagged scar marked his face, and he was big and heavily muscled, like most Snow Herd stallions. Star could only imagine the terror Shadepebble must have felt when he’d yanked her out of the sky and stolen her from her home. “I don’t understand why you care for him,” Star admitted.

  “I know,” said Shadepebble. “Someday I’ll tell our story, but now is not the time.” Clawfire moaned with pain. A large tear formed and rolled down Shadepebble’s cheek. “I’m not committing treason, Star.” She looked up at the sky. “When Clawfire and I were in the Ice Lands, he showed me the lights of the Ancestors. You know how they live together in peace in the golden meadow?”

  Star grunted, thinking of Morningleaf and how much the two fillies were alike. “I’ve heard that,” he said.

  “Well, if they can do it there, I think we can live like that here. I know we can.” Her eyes were bright and optimistic. “My sire taught me I couldn’t trust foreign steeds, but he was wrong. Clawfire earned my trust.” Shadepebble sighed. “Someday the herds will unite.”

  Star’s heart ached for those words to be true. “You think so?” he asked.

  She wiped the tears off her face. “Yes. I believe it’s possible, and I think you can help us.” She looked again at the sky, which was cloudy and blue. Star saw the hope glowing in her dark eyes, and he realized she believed in him like
Morningleaf did, with her whole heart.

  “Move over,” he said quietly. “I’ll heal this stallion for you.”

  Shadepebble leaped out of his way and pranced nearby, unable to contain her excitement. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Star gathered the golden fire in his belly, warm and comforting, and he let it curl up from his gut and crawl through his neck until he felt the hot vibrations in the back of his throat. He opened his mouth and bathed the white stallion in yellow spears of light. The stallion floated off the grass, just a featherlength, and he moaned as though waking up from a long sleep. When his hide was shiny, his wounds healed, and his breathing normal, Star closed his mouth and the crackling hiss of his power retreated.

  Clawfire stood, and Shadepebble raced to his side. They nuzzled, exchanging breath, and then the stallion faced Star and bowed his head. “Starwing,” he neighed, low and rumbling, “you have my gratitude forever.”

  Star ignored the title Starwing and just nodded. He looked at Shadepebble. He didn’t have much time to talk sense into her if Rockwing was on his way. “I know you’re planning to trade yourself to stop your sire from taking this territory and for the safe return of Morningleaf. Please don’t.”

  Clawfire jerked his head toward Shadepebble, and she set her jaw, reminding Star again of Morningleaf.

  “You two should fly away. Now, before Rockwing arrives,” urged Star.

  “No!” whinnied Shadepebble, slicing the air with her black tail. “I made a promise. I have to help Morningleaf. She’s my friend. And maybe I can explain to my sire that he’s been wrong about the other herds. I have to go back. I have to try.”

  Clawfire snapped his eyes to Star. “Is Morningleaf the blue-winged chestnut you saved on your birthday?”

  Star clenched his jaw. “Yes. But I’ll get Morningleaf back another way.”

  “There is no other way,” said Shadepebble. “I have to do this, for all of us, to stop the coming bloodshed.” Her expression was anguished.

  “Please,” begged Star. “I’ll stop Rockwing, and I’ll find Morningleaf myself.” He knew Morningleaf, and she would never forgive him if he didn’t prevent this.

  “No,” neighed Shadepebble. “You can’t fight my sire; he’ll kill Morningleaf if you do, and then you’ll never get her back.” Shadepebble’s eyes widened as something caught her eye behind Star’s back. “It’s too late!” she whinnied. “My sire is here.”

  She lifted off and flew toward Hazelwind just as Rockwing’s battle cry rang across the open plain. Star’s gut twisted. Rockwing had brought his army. Over a thousand warriors were charging toward them, facing Hazelwind, who had no real army.

  Forgetting his wings, Star galloped like a horse toward Hazelwind’s front line, jumping over the brush and deep ditches. Hazelwind and his army of mares, yearlings, stallions, and elderly lifted off the ground, facing Rockwing’s approaching army. At the very front of Hazelwind’s line hovered Echofrost, her sleek body poised for battle.

  Star’s heart shattered. His friends would not survive this war—this massacre. It was like time had unwound, and Star’s friends had to replay their final battle once again in a cruel twist of fate. The power in Star’s belly pranced on the thin divide between healing and destroying, awaiting Star’s command.

  Star shuddered, terrified, not of Rockwing but of himself. He would not let Hazelwind lose this battle. If that meant Star had to become a killer, a destroyer of pegasi, then he would cross that line, and then he would leave Anok and never return.

  33

  A FILLY FOR A FILLY

  FIVE WARRIORS PEELED OFF HAZELWIND’S MINUSCULE front line and snatched Shadepebble, who was flying toward them as fast as she could. Star’s pulse flowed with her; his blood filled his ears like a raging river.

  Star overheard Shadepebble speaking to Hazelwind’s stallions. “Remember, I’m your captive. You have to make it look real.”

  The stallions blinked at her but understood her meaning; they would have to hurt her. One grabbed her pink feathers in his mouth and bit down so hard she squealed in pain.

  Star staggered, feeling ill. This was getting out of control.

  The warrior stallions escorted Shadepebble to Hazelwind, and then Hazelwind took her to his front line and ordered his stallions to hold her still. She definitely looked like a captive to the Mountain Herd army.

  In the distance, Rockwing recognized his filly. Shadepebble’s pink feathers and her heavily speckled hide were hard to miss. He held up a wing. “Ho,” Rockwing neighed, and his army landed. Rockwing’s jaw gaped at the sight of Shadepebble under the control of Hazelwind. He marched his army closer, and then they stopped and Rockwing continued forward with his captains until Hazelwind could hear him. “Let her go.”

  “You have Morningleaf,” said Hazelwind. “I will trade your filly for my sister. And then you will go back to your home.”

  Rockwing snorted. “I don’t have your filly.”

  Hazelwind lashed his tail. “Your captain Frostfire took her. Return her to us.”

  Rockwing pinned his ears and ordered his front line forward.

  Hazelwind nodded to his stallions, and Shadepebble was slammed to the grass. The impact knocked the air from her lungs, and Star lurched toward her but stopped when she glared at him and shook her head. Two of Hazelwind’s stallions knelt on her wings, ready to break them. Shadepebble sucked at the wind, desperate for air. Star had to remind himself that this was an act.

  “Do not advance,” warned Hazelwind.

  Rockwing refused to look at Shadepebble, and he gave the order for his line to continue their advance.

  “Papa!” Shadepebble whinnied. “Help me.”

  Now Rockwing looked at her, but his army kept coming.

  Hazelwind nodded at a stallion and he bent her wing harder, making her squeal again. Star pranced frantically, forcing himself not to come to her aid.

  But the ruse worked. Rockwing stopped his advancing stallions.

  “Bring me Morningleaf or I will break her flight bones,” threatened Hazelwind, bluffing.

  Rockwing narrowed his eyes. “I am taking this land today,” he said. “And I will bring my filly home to her dam . . . dead or alive.” Rockwing ordered his first battalion of five hundred warriors forward, and he sent two more around to flank each side of Hazelwind’s gangly army.

  Star exhaled, realizing Rockwing was desperate. The Mountain Herd warriors’ ribs were showing, and their eyes were dull. Rockwing’s herd was starving to death, and Shadepebble would die anyway if her sire didn’t make this move to take Sun Herd’s lands.

  Star exchanged glances with Hazelwind. They nodded as understanding flashed between them. Trading Shadepebble would not stop this war.

  “Charge!” whinnied Star. He and Hazelwind lifted off. Star set his eyes on Rockwing.

  Fifteen hundred Mountain Herd soldiers surrounded Hazelwind and Star with teeth bared. Shadepebble trembled. “What now?” she cried out to Star.

  Just then a sharp whinny rang from the clouds.

  Everyone looked up, and Star’s heart skidded to a halt. A blue-winged filly was crashing toward land in a spiraling nosedive.

  “Morningleaf!” Star bolted from the field and darted into the sky.

  She was spinning and twisting, and her wings appeared broken and useless. She plummeted at a speed Star had never before witnessed.

  Echofrost kicked off and soared behind him. “She’s fallen out of a jet stream!”

  Star’s heart restarted, pounding against his chest and threatening to explode. Only Desert Herd pegasi knew the secret to exiting jet streams. Tears welled in his eyes as he realized Morningleaf had escaped Frostfire and rushed here to save Hazelwind, her brother, but she was too late, and in a few seconds she would be dead.

  34

  ANCIENT ENEMY

  STAR FLEW TOWARD MORNINGLEAF, PANIC throttling his breath. He couldn’t catch her at the speed she was falling. She was a blur of aqua and chestnut, and her white
socks stabbed the clouds as she tumbled upside down.

  Star soared below her, devising how to save her, but she was dropping so fast. If he tried to catch her, both their bodies would break on impact. He spread his wings, hovering like a newborn with his back legs dangling and his neck arching toward her. There was one thing he could try. He exhaled starfire in a wide beam, guiding it toward her. Her body crashed into the supernatural light, and it slowed her, but she was still falling, too fast.

  He angled his wings, letting his own body fall backward, and he pushed the starfire harder—outward and upward—concentrating on floating her, but she was falling through it. He glanced below and saw the meadow rushing toward them both. The watching pegasi scattered out of the impact zone.

  Star took a breath, and the golden light flickered. Morningleaf rolled over, and he saw her round, wild eyes. He dug into his power and pushed up everything he had, and the starfire burst forth, glittering and golden, washing out every other color and blinding the pegasi in the meadow.

  Morningleaf splayed her legs, finally floating. Star had caught her in his beam of fire. He guided her down gently until her hooves touched the grass one at a time and she was standing before him, all of her injuries healed. Star closed his mouth and extinguished the light. Morningleaf shook her head, dazed, and everyone stared at her.

  Rockwing and Hazelwind stood at the front of their armies, facing each other, as if time had stopped. Then a flash of crimson caught Star’s attention, and he saw that Thundersky, Silverlake, and Bumblewind had finally arrived. They joined Echofrost and galloped to Morningleaf’s side as Thundersky landed next to his son, Hazelwind. Star and Morningleaf were both shaking. “I’m too late,” she whispered.

  Rockwing scanned the sky from which Morningleaf fell and brayed at her. “Where is Frostfire?”