Skyborn

by Lou Anders

  “What is that?” said Desstra, ears alert.

  “Good hosts should always see to their guests’ needs,” said the oak woman. “But we didn’t know how to feed this one until now.” She bowed slightly in mock thanks and moved to the edge of the ring.

  The creature that stepped into the clearing was like nothing Thianna or Desstra had ever seen. It had the body of a lion but three heads. One head was that of a lion, the other of a goat, and the third a serpent.

  “What is it with these hybrid creatures around here?” said Thianna. “Everything is half this, half that. Whatever happened to good old trolls and dragons? Who sticks all these monsters together?”

  “What is it?” said Desstra, readying her stance as the animal approached.

  “It’s a chimera,” called Daphne from the edge of the ring. “I’m so sorry!” She looked miserable, not that her feelings were much consolation for either of the girls.

  “How many times do I need to say this?” called Thianna. “I don’t need to know what it’s called—”

  The goat head suddenly opened its mouth and a burst of flame shot out. Thianna and Desstra dodged aside; the grass of the glen sizzled where they had been.

  “Troll dung! This thing breathes fire!” the giantess realized. “Now that, I did need to know!”

  “Stand apart,” advised Desstra. “Divide its attention and don’t give it a single target to focus on.”

  “I know how to fight,” said Thianna.

  “Then stop fighting with me and start fighting with me,” said the elf.

  The chimera bounded into the glade, roaring and bleating and hissing all at once. It swiped at Desstra with wickedly sharp claws, but the little dark elf surprised it by tumbling out of harm’s way at the last second. She scored a touch on its forearm as she did so and the goat’s head let loose a plaintive cry.

  While this occurred, Thianna attempted to lunge forward and strike at the animal’s other side, but the lion head spotted her and bared its jaws. The giantess retreated, then circled in a bid to get behind the chimera. The goat’s head twisted its neck around in an impossible 360-degree turn and belched a gout of flame.

  “What?” roared Thianna. “You can look behind you? That’s so not fair!” As she dodged the fire burst, the chimera took another swipe at her.

  Desstra rolled under a strike from the serpent’s head and came up to slash at the lion, pulling its focus away from the giantess. It tried to bite her, but the elf was too quick. “Not fair is my saving your big butt again without any thanks,” she said.

  “Hey,” said Thianna, kicking the chimera in its flank. “My big butt has already thanked you once today. Which is once more than I wanted to.”

  Both girls had to retreat as the creature struck at them each simultaneously. With the chimera’s three pairs of eyes and two types of attack—claw and fire breath—they were finding it impossible to get the jump on the creature. Desstra glanced to the edge of the glade, but a drus guessed her intention and pointed a spear warningly her way. There’d be no escape in that direction. Their only choices were to defeat the chimera or die trying. She worried it would be the latter option.

  Thianna tried to circle behind the animal again, but the goat’s head wasn’t having it. It blew its burning breath at her. Thianna noticed as she skipped aside how quickly tree folk appeared to toss buckets of earth on the sizzling grass. She wished they were tossing water instead, but they had obviously heard about her frost magic. And simple cold on its own, without ice, would just be an annoyance to a creature that breathed its own flame.

  So ice magic was out. And her strength alone wasn’t enough to fight so large and powerful a creature. Thianna tried to think as Karn would have if he were here. He had told her a story once, about a time he outwitted a two-headed troll. Well, this creature had three heads and one of them was a reptile. She should be able to work something there.

  While she waged a defensive fight, keeping the deadly claws away and dancing aside from the flames, Thianna expanded her mental awareness, trying to find the thoughts of the chimera’s snake head. It was like picking the lock on a door, then having the door open.

  Watch for the little one on our right. I’ve got the big one covered. She’s not as clumsy as she looks.

  Thianna realized she was hearing all three heads thinking at once. When she had met the cockatrice in Gordasha—an animal with a rooster head and a snake head—she had only been able to communicate with its reptile half. But that had been a creature at odds with itself, with a head on either end of a body. Here the three heads were set in a row, and the chimera was clearly used to them all working together as one being. She was hearing the goat and lion heads’ thoughts conveyed through the serpent head. The experience would be fascinating if it wasn’t life-threatening.

  I’ll swallow the little one whole. I’ll rend the big one with my teeth. I’ll cook them both, the heads thought. I hope the giant tastes better than she smells.

  Thianna started to object to the insult, but then she paused. She made a feint with her sword and listened as the goat head warned the lion of her approach. The heads were passing information between them, preventing any surprise from their prey. But they didn’t know she could hear them. Karn would say that gave her an advantage.

  Watch it, Thianna thought, doing her best to sound like a goat. The little one is behind you.

  The snake head whipped around at that, searching for Desstra where she wasn’t. The elf took advantage of the opportunity to stab the chimera’s forearm.

  Ouch, yelped the snake in Thianna’s mind. You said the pale one was in back of us!

  I did not! came the reply.

  It’s the giant that’s in back of us, Thianna thought.

  What? exclaimed the lion head, twisting to protect its rear. Thianna delivered another savage kick to its side.

  Attack right! thought the snake in sudden panic.

  Attack left! Thianna countered.

  The chimera attempted to spring in two directions at once. Instead, it tipped over its own legs and fell to the ground. Desstra leapt in and out, leaving a red gash on its side. The chimera leapt up at once, roaring and bleating and hissing in anger.

  Keep it together, thought the goat. What is wrong with us?

  We attack left, the serpent thought.

  We attack right, Thianna shot back.

  This time the three heads knocked together as the confused animal tried to cross itself. Caught in the middle, the goat head suffered the worst of the collision. It wobbled on its neck dizzily.

  Thianna used the chance to leap from behind, landing on the lion back and gripping the goat head by its horns. It tried to twist around to burn her, but she was too strong for it.

  Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! all three heads thought in unison.

  The lion head tried to bite her, but unlike the goat it couldn’t manage to reach so far around. The snake, with its longer neck, could, but Desstra stabbed at it and it had to face the elf instead.

  Thianna pulled back savagely on the goat’s neck. It bleated and shot fire into the sky.

  Give up, Thianna thought, revealing herself to the chimera’s mind at last.

  What? Where? Who?

  Give up, she thought again, putting as much force into her mind as she put into her arms.

  I think we should give up, thought the snake. The lion growled at this.

  Thianna had once brushed against a dragon’s mind and not backed down. There was no way she wouldn’t beat a chimera. She felt her mind pushing across the serpent’s awareness to reach the goat and the lion through it. It was a feeling of incredible power, her will forced on another’s.

  Give up! the giantess roared. Thianna felt the chimera’s resistance dissolve, felt her mind take control of its minds.

  Okay okay okay! the animal replied. We surrender.

  Then the beast shocked her with its next words.

  We are yours to command.

  Thianna let go o
f its horns and slid from its back. Confused, Desstra looked to her, ready to strike a killing blow at the deflated creature. The giantess waved her away.

  “I don’t want to command anyone,” she said. “You can do whatever you want. Just don’t eat the elf and me, all right?”

  Freed of her weight, the chimera leapt clear and turned around.

  We won’t eat you, all three heads thought at once. Thank you for our life. Thank you for our freedom. Then it bolted from the clearing and disappeared into the woods.

  One of the trees in the clearing suddenly pulled its limbs out of the tangle of branches that formed the ring around the glen. It clapped enormous wooden hands. Thianna realized that it was a hamadryad. All the trees that surrounded the circle were. Eyes were opening on every trunk, and more hands joined in the clapping.

  “You’re the Council of Elders, aren’t you?” asked the giantess. “You watched all of this. We’ve been in your presence the whole time.”

  “Yes,” said the hamadryad. “We are the elders of Dendronos. And we congratulate you, Thianna Frostborn. You have surprised us when you refused to kill or command the chimera. We are not accustomed to surprises. Or to displays of mercy. And we have reversed our judgment.”

  Sirena wandered outside the palace grounds. She carried the Horn of Osius, which meant that a small detachment of Leta’s guard followed her. Since the hostage escape, they were taking no chances. But Sirena hadn’t practiced with the instrument since Talaria’s wyvern had fled, and time was short. She would have to take another creature from the roosts. While she felt no sympathy for the rebellious wyvern that had created all their troubles, she did feel a twinge of pity for whichever loyal reptile would be subject to her experiments. But only a twinge. This situation was not her fault or doing. If she couldn’t master the horn by the Great Hatching, she wouldn’t be the only one to topple off the mountain. The Calderan way of life would fall as well. To preserve that, there was little she wouldn’t do.

  Crows take Thianna. How could a girl who was only one-half Calderan be better at using the horn than she, a full-blooded female born at the summit of their city? How could someone raised in an ice cavern best someone raised in the palace? It was ridiculous. It was infuriating.

  Sirena found herself outside the hatchery. The woman guarding the door didn’t challenge their Keras Keeper as she marched into the round domed structure. Inside, Sirena found herself on a circular balcony that followed the circumference of the room. The floor descended in a series of concentric circles until it reached the small stage where she would be expected to perform for a very unique audience. Hundreds of wyvern eggs were nestled like spectators in the stands of an amphitheater. In just three days she would play the horn upon that stage, weaving the notes that would compel the newly birthed wyverns to a lifetime of obedience.

  She descended the balcony stairs to the center of the room. Sirena faced the rows upon rows of eggs, waiting silently upon her performance. She lifted the horn and placed it to her lips. She blew a tremendous blast.

  I bet that rattled them in their shells, she thought of the eggs. Then something the traitorous wyvern had said floated to the front of her mind.

  Strong blasts carry far.

  When Thianna had first blown the horn in Ymiria, the wyverns in the roosts here had felt it even though they were thousands of miles away. Other things felt it too. The wyvern had been trying to warn her not to blow such forceful notes, but perhaps it had given her a clue. Thianna was part of the magic of the horn now. Could the horn be used to track Thianna?

  Sirena sucked in a huge lungful of air. She raised the horn once again. And she filled it with all her rage.

  The eggs in the hatchery shook violently. Outside the walls she could hear shrieks from the roosts. She was certainly upsetting the reptiles in Caldera, but how far was the soundless note traveling? Would it reach her cousin?

  An image descended on Sirena’s mind like a thunderclap.

  She reeled under a vision of Thianna Frostborn. Incredibly her barbarian cousin was battling a chimera. Amid a circle of tall trees. The vision was brief but powerful. She was touching Thianna’s mind! And Thianna’s mind was touching something else! The half giant was communicating with a reptile, the serpent head of the chimera. The horn was letting Sirena eavesdrop on that conversation.

  She ran from the hatchery. First she would have to return the Horn of Osius to its chamber for safekeeping. Then she would go to the Sky Docks. She needed the fastest wyvern available and she needed it now. She knew where her cousin was. And this time Thianna wasn’t going to escape.

  —

  Stranger things than fish swam in the waters south of Thica.

  Amid the range of islands known as Sarn’s Teeth, something very large and very unusual glided under the waves. The other sea creatures gave it a wide berth. They knew how much it ate, and they didn’t want to be next.

  But the creature wasn’t hungry. It had feasted on a large trading vessel earlier this morning. The screams of the unfortunate crew had been delightful, as had been their futile efforts to defend themselves. Shredded bits of meat still trailed from its many, many teeth. It had many mouths but only one belly. It drifted along at an almost leisurely pace now, digesting its breakfast and watching tiny prey dart away from it in fear. The creature enjoyed its unchallenged mastery of the sea.

  A sound that wasn’t a sound stabbed its many minds like spears through the eyes.

  The creature roared, lashing its tail and flailing its necks at the sudden pain in its heads. The other denizens of the sea didn’t understand what had caused its agitation. They didn’t want to know. They fled.

  Alone in the waters, the titanic creature writhed and twisted. So great was its size that its thrashing sent hundred-foot waves rolling across the ocean. Boats miles away would soon be capsized. Several nearby villages would be wiped off their islands entirely.

  The creature didn’t care. All its attention was focused on the sound in its ears. And it had a lot of ears. It had heard the agonizing reverberations before. But on that occasion the noise had come from far away, deep in an icebound land. The sound had ceased long before the creature could reach the source. But this time the sound was closer, louder, stronger. This time it could be tracked. One by one it turned its heads in the direction of the hated noise. Then it began to swim with purpose. It would find whatever, or whoever, was making this terrible sound. And it would silence it. Forever.

  Thianna awoke from her first decent night’s rest in a long while, having slept late into the morning. She was in a pleasant guest cottage grown from the trunk of an apple tree. While the enormous flower petals that she lay on weren’t as comfortable as her preferred bed—a frozen block of ice piled high with furs—they were soft and silky and she had slept like a giant baby. She reached to the wall and plucked breakfast, a shiny red apple.

  “You trust that?” said Desstra. Thianna glanced and saw that the elf was awake. She sat on a stump that rose from the floor. All the furniture in the cottage was part of the tree. The dark elf was nibbling on some of the mushrooms she had collected from the tunnels beneath Caldera.

  Thianna shrugged. She took a bite of her apple and munched loudly.

  “What if it’s poisoned?” continued Desstra. “After all, yesterday they were trying to feed us to a chimera.”

  “And now today we’re honored guests,” said the giantess. “I’ve noticed that people trying to kill me have a habit of changing their minds,” she added pointedly.

  “Only some of them,” said Desstra, who certainly qualified for the distinction.

  “The lucky ones.” Thianna grinned. “Anyway, we might as well enjoy it while it lasts.” She took another bite of the apple, then rose from the flowery bedding and strode to a window. Pushing aside a leafy curtain, she bent down and gazed out through a near-transparent petal at the city outside. She wasn’t surprised—or even offended—that the oak woman stood guard in the street outside. She turned from t
he window and leaned against it.

  “How long does it take these hamadryads to come to a decision?” she wondered.

  “You’re asking them to rebel against their overlords,” replied Desstra. “It’s not something they should take lightly. They are all made of wood, after all. And your people are really trigger-happy with those fire lances of theirs.”

  Thianna frowned and tossed her apple aside.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Desstra.

  The giantess straightened up—though not all the way, as the cottage was low-ceilinged—and began to pace.

  “My people,” she said. “It was bad enough when I thought my mother’s people were after me. But we get here and discover they’ve enslaved a whole continent. ‘My people’ really aren’t very nice.”

  “Your frost giants sound nice,” said Desstra. “Most of them, anyway.”

  “Yeah, but that’s Dad’s side of the family. I came off the mountain to find out more about being human, and now I learn that my mother’s family is a bunch of jerks and bullies. How do you feel proud about that, when your people are all evil?”

  “No one is all evil,” said Desstra.

  “Says the dark elf,” replied Thianna. Desstra gave her a sharp look.

  “Says the dark elf,” Desstra repeated. “The Underhand are nasty—no one knows that better than me, believe me—but not everyone in Deep Shadow is like they are. They are supposed to exist to protect us from the surface world, but they’ve grown too powerful. They control too much of the underworld as well. But there are plenty of wonderful people, most of whom live in fear of the Underhand themselves. I see that now, all the poor shopkeepers, mushroom farmers, leather workers, children, and parents…” Desstra’s voice trailed off as she thought of her own family. She wondered what lies the Underhand had spread about her after her desertion. They didn’t even have to lie. The truth was she was a traitor to her kind. Her family was probably suffering humiliation now. They would be ostracized. Or worse. “Anyway,” she said, pulling her thoughts back to the present. “You can’t blame everyone for a bad government.”