Elenai turned to Kyrkenall. “Do you think I should update N’lahr about our progress?”
“Let’s wait until we have something more to tell him.”
That’s what Elenai should have predicted he’d say, and felt stupid now for having asked. She supposed she was growing more and more concerned that they might fail their mission. How then would N’lahr fight the Naor dragons?
By mutual consent, they fell silent.
While the place looked empty and dead, Elenai discovered that small scurrying creatures lived among the boulders, and that low-lying vegetation sheltered in the lee of rock formations. After what she guessed was a half hour, they passed an immense pillar of colored stone resembling an upturned vase and came to a vast plain of waist-high orange grass. Thunder rolled, and a distant raincloud dropped lines of moisture onto the horizon.
“It would be good to eat,” Ortok said suddenly. “I am always hungry when I change.”
“We might as well,” Kyrkenall said. “They know we’re here, and there’s no way to catch up to them. Besides, it would do the horses good to graze. Let’s halt on that rise, so we can see whatever might be coming through the foliage.” He pointed to a spot where the grasses thinned on rocky hills.
Once they’d dismounted, Kyrkenall cautioned to keep a close eye on the horses. Elenai had figured that much out. There was no telling what might be lurking out there.
“This seems a stable-enough fragment, and fairly large,” Elenai said. “Why hasn’t anyone tried to settle here?”
Kyrkenall stepped out of the shadow of a crooked peak and into the sunlight. “We don’t know that they haven’t, for sure,” he said. “But it’s too far from the realms to bother with, and too close to the kobalin lands. If that’s not enough reason, there were a lot of storms out here even before the shifts got worse. If you settled here you’d have a hard time staying in touch with the central realms.”
“It seems pleasant enough. Are there a lot of fragments out here like this?” If there were enough together, a colony might be established.
“Some.” He flashed a tired grin at her. “I used to want to go out and see them all. Maybe I will, someday.”
She’d never heard anything remotely like that from Kyrkenall before. But then since she’d met him he’d always been chased toward one necessary goal or another. Apart from his quest for Kalandra and his love of theater—or at least the quoting of it—she really had no idea about his aspirations. She rather liked this glimpse of a more curious Kyrkenall and wished she saw more of him.
While Kyrkenall and Ortok used their dwindling charcoal supply to set up a nearly smokeless fire, Elenai sat, downed some wine, and kept her eyes on the horses, belly high in the waving grasses and happily munching. She willed her ring to full power without activating its light, and grew aware of the subtle play of energies around her.
A quick glance with the ring revealed that the grass was thick with smaller signs of life that denoted insects and small mammals. It was said Sartain had fashioned very little out here in the wastelands, so all these animals had to have wandered in through the shifts from other places.
“Well, look at that!” Kyrkenall said behind her, and she scanned the grass for some sign of a slinking feline shape, or, worse, one of the glowlizards.
“They come back,” Ortok said, his mouth full of the tough jerky he chewed.
Elenai looked up to find a trail of long slim creatures with vast wings, high in the sky. A dozen of them dropped slowly until they were only a few hundred feet overhead, where they circled.
Then one plunged straight toward them, claws out. Was it maneuvering for a landing? Or had all of them come back to fight, as Ortok hoped?
Kyrkenall cursed. “Elenai, it’s coming for our horses. Do something gentle!”
He might be expecting a lot, she thought. She reached out to touch the hearthstone with her mind, flicked it on, then sent a tendril of purpose soaring through the inner world toward the diving ko’aye.
Her own thoughts brushed the creature’s mind and met a torrent of rage. She didn’t want to experiment with touching it with hope or joy, which might make it more determined to succeed, so she chose confusion, wondering even as she did if there was a way to promise friendship, or kindness.
Someday, she thought, she’d have to practice her skills with a real tutor and stop relying on the hearthstone’s raw force.
The ko’aye pulled out of its dive only twenty feet above, swinging out over the grasslands, shaking its head as if to clear it.
Their horses hadn’t cared for the abortive attack; Elenai’s mount and the pack horses bolted across the grass. Lyria and Ortok’s horse called restively after them. Elenai sent a tendril to calm them, astonished that Ortok’s horse, because of its sedate temperament, was more brave than hers and the pack horses, which had years of training. Once the fear subsided in the mounts, she whistled them back, wary of applying too much force against them. Slow and steady was better.
Two other ko’aye swooped down, one seeking the side of the one Elenai had confused. The other, a silvery beast with blue-tipped feathers, flew low overhead, as if to inspect them. Kyrkenall raised his right hand and let his ring shine.
All three ko’aye flapped their wings and rose to rejoin the larger group high above.
Kyrkenall shielded his eyes with one hand as a washed-out sun broke through the clouds.
“Didn’t they recognize us as Altenerai?” Elenai said.
“Oh, they recognized us.” Kyrkenall frowned. “I think they’re a little undecided about what to do. They’re flying close enough to communicate.” He pointed at the creatures, in tight formation.
“I think they came hunting our horses,” Ortok said, as if this weren’t staggeringly obvious. “Maybe they wonder if they can eat them. That would make me sad, though horses are delicious. Mine is good for riding.”
Kyrkenall shot him a sidelong glance. “You probably don’t know this, Ortok, but that’s a damned good horse you’ve got there.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. I bet you couldn’t find one in another thousand or more that would suit you so well. You should take care of him.”
Ortok absorbed this for a moment, then nodded gravely. “I will do that. What makes him good?”
“He’s calm, and steady, and walks on without complaint. Like a good warrior ought to do. And he’s fearless. Most horses have to be trained to deal with combat, but yours is unafraid.”
Ortok grunted.
A latecomer joined the flock of ko’aye and Elenai sensed Kyrkenall’s attention sharpen. The winged beasts circled together for a time longer and then the majority flew off to the right. Two continued to circle, slowly. And two others landed on the far end of the nearby ridge, touching down at almost the same moment.
Elenai had never seen a ko’aye at close range, though she’d looked upon paintings and tapestries depicting them. While they were just as noble and beautiful as she’d expected, there was something wild and dangerous to them no art had fully captured. They had been described as winged lizards, but they looked much more to her like long-necked predatory birds, with bright cunning eyes back of their beaks, though they trailed long barbed tails like no bird she had ever seen.
As graceful as they looked in the air, they were somewhat clumsy as they waddled along the rock, their gait growing less cumbersome once they folded their great wings.
The horses cocked their ears forward, attention riveted upon the predators.
Kyrkenall bade Ortok watch the horses and advanced with Elenai for a dialogue.
The two of them climbed ten feet up a steep slope to a shallow, rocky ridge and walked through the cool shadow of a jagged peak nearby. The wind riders raised lizard-like feathered heads on slender necks. With their enormous eyes they appeared wise and alert. One was the white individual with bronze-tipped feathers they’d seen earlier, the other was a brilliant blue, and had a long scar running along the front of its neck. At closer
range, both ko’aye looked more spindly than she had first realized. She wondered if they were always this lean.
Kyrkenall bowed formally from the waist and indicated Elenai, who echoed the gesture. “Drusa, it brings me great joy to see you once more. And you as well, Vavesh. This is Elenai Oddsbreaker.”
The blue, scarred one bobbed her head. The other regarded them unwinking, then addressed them in a high, clear voice, moving its jaw only a little. Chirrups and clicks were interspersed among the sounds it made, especially hard consonants. “You are not welcome. No more than the kobalin that take our prey.”
Kyrkenall showed empty palms. “We come as friends.”
The white one answered. “Your people are not our friends.”
“I was your friend, Vavesh. Many of us still are.”
“Friends hold to their word.”
“I am your friend,” Kyrkenall declared, forcefully, and addressed the blue one. “You do not need me to declare that with words, Drusa.”
“You declared it with deeds.” Drusa’s voice was more harsh and rasping than her companion’s, perhaps owing to the wound that had scarred her. She fluttered her wings and turned her head to Vavesh. “He risked himself to save my mate.”
“I fought for more than your mate,” Kyrkenall said.
“Which is why we are listening rather than attacking,” Vavesh told him. “Some yet think well of you, Black Eye, though they have lost love for your people. But where were you when the Naor sought our nests?” The animal’s head rose. “Count the missing, Kyrkenall of the black bow! How many do you see in today’s flight? There should be fifty more. But too many fly the red winds!”
Drusa lowered her shovellike head. “You promised that you would help us hunt the Naor in our lands if we hunted them in yours. But after N’lahr commander fell, the Denaven commander brought us the word of your queen, and she told us to be gone. Where were you then?”
Kyrkenall bowed his head briefly. “I mourned my friend, and went wandering. I didn’t know what the queen had done until it was too late.” He swept a hand toward Elenai. “Elenai slew Denaven. And she and I found that the queen had hidden N’lahr, and that he was not dead. He commands again, and sent us to speak to you.”
The heads of both ko’aye snapped up in surprise.
“What word does he bring?” Drusa asked.
“He wishes us to fight again,” Vavesh concluded quickly. “You wish to ask more favors, without delivering upon prior promises!” Vavesh’s barbed tail twitched into the air and his wings fluttered.
Kyrkenall raised an open hand even as Drusa tilted her head and clucked something toward her companion.
Vavesh shifted, then lowered his tail. “Speak, Kyrkenall.”
“I wish to bear the word of my leader to yours.”
Vavesh traded a look with Drusa, then they exchanged a series of warbles and clicks that grew more heated, judging by the sway of their necks and the agitation of both sets of wings.
Finally, Vavesh faced them once more. “Wait here.” He backed away, then performed an ungainly about-face before lumbering off along the ridge to spread his wings. Elenai was startled once more by how awkward the creatures appeared to be while on the ground. It wasn’t until Vavesh beat his wings and launched into the air that his beauty was again apparent, and Elenai watched his progress with a measure of envy. She might manage sorcery, but she had no power to fly.
Drusa lowered her head until it was level with Kyrkenall’s, then cocked it to take him in with one great eye. “It does please me to see you once more,” she said. “Though I had put you from my thoughts.”
“I never stopped thinking of you,” Kyrkenall said gently.
“That is kind. How have you fared?”
Kyrkenall laughed without humor. “I have friends, so I am wealthy.”
“Have you a mate?”
“She’s lost to me.” Kyrkenall managed to hide most of his frustration. “You?”
“I do still. I have hatchlings now. I’d like to take them from this dusty place, for the food is scarce.”
“How many do you have?” Kyrkenall asked. “How old are they?”
“Only a year, I think. The seasons pass strangely here and it’s hard to mark them. I have two. They do not grow large or quickly in this place. I’m sorry to hear about your mate. Did she fall in battle?”
Kyrkenall waved a hand at the indeterminate distance. “I speak of Kalandra Storm Strider.”
Drusa cawed and her head drew up. “Oh, Kyrkenall. This saddens me. Always did I like her. And I thought you two might be mates, and that it was strange to delay it. Did you have younglings?”
“No.”
“What happened to her?”
“She wandered into the shifts, trying to find answers that would help us stop the queen. But she never came back. I never knew for certain how she felt about me until she was gone.”
“It seems you have borne many sorrows.” Drusa’s head swung to Elenai. “Is she your new mate?”
“No,” Kyrkenall said. Elenai noted no hesitation in his voice. Drusa’s unwinking eye stared at her, and she searched for something to say.
“These lands seem beautiful.”
Drusa’s eye narrowed. “Do you mean a compliment, Altenerai?”
“Yes.”
“There is little game here. And the storms come to our borders. And the winds are fierce. And hunter beasts there are, too.” It nodded to Ortok, watching them from the bottom of the hill. “And enemies like those, who sometimes seek our eggs. Why do you travel with our enemy?”
“He guided us here,” Kyrkenall answered.
Drusa’s beak clacked. “I thought you Altenerai warred with kobalin.”
“Sometimes we do.”
Drusa hooted, and then her head wobbled. “Oh, Kyrkenall. I wish to help you bear this word. But your words will not be trusted. Your people change your habits too often. Sometimes you war with the Naor, who kill your people. Sometimes you make peace with them. Sometimes you war with kobalin, and sometimes they are your companions. Sometimes you fight among yourselves. Might you decide you wish to war with us?”
“Drusa, I trusted you with my life. And I swear that you can trust me with yours.” He thumped his chest with emphasis. “I wish to make things right.”
“The hunting was fine between us. But what of the rest of your people? It seems there are powerful ones you cannot trust.”
“N’lahr is my greatest friend,” Kyrkenall said. “I trust him above all others. And he commands us.”
“And your queen?”
“He will dethrone our queen,” Kyrkenall declared. Hearing it stated so clearly in public for the first time, Elenai couldn’t help a sharp breath.
Overhead, Vavesh dropped toward them again, his wings high. In moments, he had landed and, still folding his wings, took his place beside Drusa. There they had a long exchange in their fluting, clacking, birdlike language. Though it continued at length, it did not appear to be as antagonistic as their previous debate.
Finally Vavesh addressed them. “We’re on our way to the new homelands. You may follow us, if you wish. But do not imagine that you’ll be well received. We know how empty your promises are.”
Drusa cut in. “Many agree with Vavesh. But Kyrkenall and Aradel and others are remembered well. And on strength of those memories, you may come with us, in peace.”
Vavesh cried out something to that and Drusa said something that ended with a snap of her beak.
Vavesh turned away from them.
Drusa bowed her head. “Follow. It may be a long journey on your horses. Do you need them all? Because they look very fine.”
Elenai worried that Kyrkenall might consider cutting some of the animals free, as a peace gesture, but he shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Drusa. They’re under our care. They’ve served us well.”
She warbled at him and Elenai suspected that this was Drusa’s way of showing amusement.
“Fair en
ough. Do not dawdle, ground dweller!” And with something that looked an awful lot like a playful look over her shoulder, she turned and started off, waddling until she thrust out her wings, flapped them, and gained the air.
Without another word, Kyrkenall hurried down the hill, shouting at Ortok to gather the charcoal. This they did, using a cloth bag to shield their hands. The kobalin’s eyes roved back and forth between them.
“I thought at first they wished to fight,” he said. “Did you make friends? Will they join us in battle?”
“I wish it was that simple,” Kyrkenall answered. “The situation’s a little complicated.”
“So your words did not work?”
“We’re going to speak with their leaders. And I’ll have to do a better job with them than I did just now.”
“Use small words,” Ortok suggested helpfully. “With many descriptions.”
Kyrkenall’s answer was a dark grumble.
“I don’t think you did too badly,” Elenai said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that Drusa’s still my friend. But it’s the ones like Vavesh I’m going to have to convince. And I’m not sure anything I’m going to say will win him and his like over. Not to mention some who are even more angry.”
Most of the ko’aye flew off until they were lost in the distance. Two kept in sight with them across the grassland. Sometimes they seemed to forget that those below couldn’t keep up, and then they’d double back and hang in the air currents. This must have bored them, though, for they’d soar ahead and then start the cycle over.
Kyrkenall sat stiffly, his brows drawn. He scanned the horizon from time to time and occasionally pushed back his hair, which the wind continually whipped to his right, but he said nothing.
Elenai waited no longer. She reached out through the inner world and activated N’lahr’s hearthstone.
Almost instantly an image overlay the plains on which they rode. She stood upon a forested mountaintop looking down at a distant city. She’d never seen Alantris from this angle, but she recognized it quickly, keying in on the rising levels and the separate walls and the rings of the city’s waterways, and the tall, arched length of the ancient aqueducts. Elenai involuntarily sucked in a breath, seeing a badly mended gap in the outer wall, and lines of smoke threading through the sky from multiple points in the lower and upper city.
Upon the Flight of the Queen Page 25
