Brackentail gazed at her. “Me too.”
The tip of a loose feather flapped in the breeze, catching their attention. It was trapped under the remains of the tribute—golden in color, with a brown tip. Morningleaf pulled it loose. “This is Bumblewind’s feather, isn’t it?” she whispered.
A hush fell over the pegasi in the valley when they saw Morningleaf holding the special feather. Star watched her face brighten. “I have an idea.” She galloped away, leaving Star and Brackentail standing in her dust.
Morningleaf flew to the hill where the tribute had stood, and she lifted the feather over her head, waiting for everyone’s full attention. “We’re going to rebuild the tribute,” she neighed, her voice ringing clear across the Flatlands. “To mark the day of our freedom.”
The pegasi murmured, staring at the stones strewn across the valley. “Each able adult will take a stone,” she continued. “We’ll build our new tribute in the west, at Crabwing’s Bay, where the birds don’t fly.” She glanced at Star, and he nodded. She was referring to Star’s bird friend who’d died there—Crabwing the seagull—and Star was glad she remembered him. Morningleaf continued, her voice quaking. “The monument will stand for Bumblewind, my mother, my sire, and for all the pegasi who gave their lives to free us.”
“But we can’t fly if we’re carrying stones,” said Sweetroot.
“We should walk anyway,” said Morningleaf, “so we can stay together. I don’t want the walkers migrating alone. We’ll leave as soon as our injuries are healed.”
After their long captivity in the valley, the pegasi leaped on the idea of returning to Western Anok, where the wolves were smaller and the wind gentler.
They spent the following moon strengthening their flying muscles and eating their fill. Sweetroot dug for herbs and healed the pegasi, doing what she did best. And Star enjoyed letting her care for him. She set his leg with a straight branch and fed him yarrow for his pain, and he marveled at her knowledge.
“You kept me out of work for a long time,” she said to him, nickering.
On the last day of spring, the nearly twelve thousand pegasi each lifted a stone in their wings, and they trotted out of the Flatlands, the place of their enslavement, that very day.
Star wasn’t blind to the group of steeds who refused to join them, mostly Ice Warriors and some weanlings who’d grown to adore Nightwing when he was alive. Stormtail led this herd, and he kept Nightwing’s and Petalcloud’s orphaned filly, Riversun, close to his side, protecting her as he’d once protected her mother.
“Do you think Riversun has the starfire?” Morningleaf had asked him. “Since her sire is Nightwing.”
“I guess it’s possible,” he’d answered.
“That could be a problem.”
Star sighed. “Let’s not worry about what might be.” Then he’d watched as Stormtail’s forces, defeated and angry, traveled north, heading back to the cold region.
Some pegasi wanted to stop them, but Star argued against it. “Freedom isn’t just for my followers,” he explained. “It’s for everyone.” Since his birth in Dawn Meadow, Star had learned that no pegasus could be forced to accept a leader—they followed who they chose, and Anok was big enough for all of them. It was when pegasi forced their will on others that Anok became too small.
As they traveled through the fractured grasslands, walking like horses, Star watched Morningleaf with sidelong glances, and noticed how the herd quieted when she was near, how they listened to her, and how they loved her. The vision he’d had of her in the Trap had come true: she was a legend, a living one.
Star walked at her right flank and Brackentail walked at her left, and for the first time in many moons, Star relaxed and enjoyed the shining sun, feeling content. He was just a regular pegasus, he belonged to a giant herd, and his best friend was leading him home.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
MY HEARTFELT APPRECIATION GOES TO RICHARD Bach and Sabryna Bach for allowing me to use a quote from Jonathan Livingston Seagull as an epigraph in Windborn. Mr. Bach’s inspiring novel about a seagull named Jonathan carried me through some hard and lonely times in high school. I moved often, which meant I changed schools often, but my books moved with me and became friends. So when I decided to create a special friend for Star on the coast of Anok, it was no accident that I chose a bird—a seagull I named Crabwing. And their scenes together remain some of my favorites. Thank you, Richard Bach, for creating the wonderful character of Jonathan Livingston and writing about him.
I’m thankful to have such a wonderful and dedicated team at HarperCollins Children’s Books. I offer huge applause to each person who has helped these books soar. And without further ado, may I introduce you to the hardworking and passionate folks who turn computer files into full-fledged, hold-in-your hands, see-them-in a bookstore, bona fide, made-in-the USA books:
Rosemary Brosnan, Editorial Director
Karen Chaplin, Senior Editor
David McClellan, Illustrator
Heather Daugherty and Erin Fitzsimmons, Book Jacket and Interior Design
Alexei Esikoff and Jessica Berg, Production Editors
Andrea Curley, Copyeditor
Oriana Sisko and Tina Cameron, Production Managers
Kimberly VandeWater, Marketing
Andrea Pappenheimer and Kathy Faber, Sales
Patty Rosati and Molly Motch, Library Outreach
Olivia Russo, Publicity
Andrew Eiden, Audio Book Narrator
Deyan Audio, Audio Book Producer
Special thanks goes to my agent, Jacqueline Flynn. She’s my friend and advocate, and I appreciate her strong and knowledgeable support, not just for my books, but also for me as an author. Thanks also to my family: my husband, Ramon, and my three children. My family is patient and encouraging, and I hope they are as proud of me as I am of them.
I also want to express special appreciation for Karen Chaplin, my primary editor. When it comes to my writing, there is no relationship more important to me than the one with my editor. I trust Karen completely and without reservation. Any story faults and writing flaws—they are mine. Karen doesn’t fix my work for me. She guides me. She points out what is confusing and what doesn’t belong. She’s very good at doing this and then she leaves me to my revisions. She helps me discover the story within the story, she helps me clarify the world I’ve created, and she sticks up for the characters when I write over them. And where I don’t succeed, we start again. We keep revising until I’ve reached the end of my abilities. A great editor is a gift, and I’m blessed to have a great editor. Thank you, Karen Chaplin.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Karen Perez
JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ received a degree in English literature from UC Berkeley. She blogs about her books and the publishing business (www.jenniferlynnalvarez.com) and speaks regularly at schools about creative writing. She lives on a small ranch in Northern California with her husband, three children, and their horses. When writing her books, Jennifer draws on her lifelong love of animals for inspiration. When she’s not writing, Jennifer can be spotted galloping her mare across the golden foothills of Sonoma County. The Guardian Herd: Starfire, The Guardian Herd: Stormbound, and The Guardian Herd: Landfall are the first three books in this series. Learn more about the Guardian Herd at www.theguardianherd.com. And follow Jennifer on Facebook and on Twitter @JenniferDiaries.
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BOOKS BY JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ
The Guardian Herd: Starfire
The Guardian Herd: Stormbound
The Guardian Herd: Landfall
CREDITS
COVER ART © 2016 BY DAVID McCLELLAN
COVER DESIGN BY HEATHER DAUGHERTY
COPYRIGHT
THE GUARDIAN HERD: WINDBORN. Text copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez. Interior art © 2016 by David McClellan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By
payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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ISBN 978-0-06-228615-4
EPub Edition © August 2016 ISBN 9780062286178
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