David Farland - Brotherhood of the Wolf

“Our lord thinks that the volcanic eruption has flushed the reavers from their lairs,” Brand went on. “It happened once that way, in my grandfather’s time. The volcano filled their burrows with lava and all the monsters fled in its wake. But this eruption will bring greater misery than that one did. The reavers have been breeding unchecked in those hills for far too long.” He rubbed his whiskers.

“What about you?” Averan asked. “What will you do?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Brand said. “I’ll take them on with one hand, if I must.” He wiggled the stump of his right arm and laughed painfully at his own joke.

But she could see the terror in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about me. You just take old Leatherneck,” Brand said. “You’ll fly without benefit of saddle or food or water to keep your weight down.”

“What of Derwin?” Averan asked. “Shouldn’t he take the message to Duke Paladane?” Derwin was younger. At the age of five, he was the official skyrider for Keep Haberd.

“I sent him off late last night on another errand,” Brand answered, gazing off to the south, searching for his beast. Then he muttered bitterly, “Our fool of a lord sending skyriders to fetch letters to his mistress.”

Averan already knew that. Years ago, she’d often carried letters and roses from her Lord Haberd to Lady Chetham in Arrowshire. In return, the lady would send notes of her own with lockets of her hair or a perfumed handkerchief. Lord Haberd apparently believed that he could hide his adulterous affair more easily if he used children for messengers rather than one of his older soldiers.

The fertile plains to the east were shrouded in morning fog that turned a dim gold as the sun’s first rays touched upon it. Here and there, a green hill rose like an emerald island from the mist. Averan watched among the valleys for sign of the graak. Leatherneck would be there, searching for something slow and fat to eat.

“How soon will the reavers be here?” Averan asked.

“Two hours,” Brand answered. “At the most.”

Hardly time to mount a defense. If Lord Haberd called for aid from the nearest fortress, it would take a day, even for knights riding force horses. She wondered if the men here could hold out so long.

Brand put his hand to his mouth, called again. In the far distance, Averan saw a winged speck rise from the mist, tan-colored flesh aglow with the morning light Leatherneck answering the summons.

“Leatherneck is old,” Brand said. “You’ll have to stop and rest him frequently.”

Averan nodded.

“Fly above the woods to the north, then cut across the ridges to the Brace Mountains. It’s only two hundred and forty miles—not far. You can reach Carris by nightfall.”

“Won’t resting slow me?” Averan asked. “Maybe I should just fly on through.”

“This is safer,” Brand said. “No need to kill the beast in your hurry.”

What could he mean? she wondered. Of course she had to hurry—and the death of her mount was nothing compared with the deaths of the men.

She realized the truth then. Keep Haberd was isolated. Nothing that she did would make any difference. No help could arrive in time. Lord Haberd had probably already sent out messengers riding force horses. And the horses would make better time than she could. Her top speed was forty miles per hour, and flying north at this time of the year, she might have to battle headwinds. A fast horse, one with enough endowments of metabolism and strength and stamina, could easily run eighty.

“You’re not sending me out to carry a message,” Averan said. Her voice felt tight in her throat, and her heart was pounding.

Brand glanced down at her, smiled fondly. “Of course not. I’m saving your life, child,” he admitted. “Take the message to Duke Paladane if you want. There’s always a chance that the horsemen won’t get through.”

He leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, “But if you take my advice, I wouldn’t stop there. The palace at Carris is a death trap. If the reavers head that way, they could take it in a fortnight, and there’s no guarantee that Paladane will let you ride out on the beast you flew in on. Tell Paladane that you’ve been instructed to carry a message of warning farther north, to our lord’s second cousin at Montalfer. Paladane wouldn’t dare hold you back then.”

Leatherneck was laboriously winging his way up from the foggy downs, carrying some shepherd’s ewe in his great maw. He flew eagerly, his small golden eyes gazing all around.

The beast dropped to the landing, flapping his great wings so that the air whipped Averan’s hair. Leatherneck took a clumsy bounce, then gently laid the sheep’s carcass at Brand’s feet, as if he were some giant cat making a present to his master of a dead mouse. The graak stood panting, the folds of skin at his throat jiggling, as he sought to catch his breath.

He leaned forward, nuzzled Brand’s chest.

Brand smiled wistfully, reached out with his one good hand and patted the brute’s nose, pried a chunk of meat out from between Leatherneck’s saberlike teeth.

“I’m going to miss you, old lizard,” Brand said. He tossed the haunch of lamb up into the air as high as he could. Leatherneck snagged it before it could touch ground.

To Averan, Brand said, “I used to ride him as a lad, you know, forty years back—as did King Orden. This is a kingly mount you’ll ride.”

Leatherneck was one of the oldest graaks in the aerie, not the one she’d have chosen to take. But he was well trained, and Brand had always held a special affection for the monster. “I’ll take good care of him,” Averan said.

Brand made a fist, palm down, and the great reptile leaned forward, crouching so that Averan could mount. She ran a step and leapt onto its back. Like all skyriders, she had an endowment of stamina and of brawn. She had more strength and endurance than any commoner, and with her small size she was easily able to leap up and scramble over the monster’s back. Beyond those endowments, she had one of wit, and could therefore recount verbatim almost any message her lord ever wanted her to deliver. Such endowments set her apart from other children. She was only nine, but had learned much in that time.

Averan settled in before the first horny plate on the beast’s neck. She scratched the graak’s leathery hide.

“Never fall,” Brand said. It was the first rule a skyrider was taught as a child. It was also a farewell among the skyriders, an invocation to begin every journey.

“I never shall,” Averan answered. He tossed her a small bag that clanked when she grabbed it, the sound of coins. His life’s savings, she imagined.

She clasped her legs around the graak’s neck, felt his muscles tense and ripple as he awaited her command.

She wished that she had more time to say goodbye to Brand. A part of her could not quite imagine that the reavers were really coming. The keep this morning looked the same as on any other autumn day. Here on the landing, high above the castle, maidenhair ferns and a few morning glories trailed up the rock, their purple flowers opening wide. The air was still and peaceful. The smell of cooking fires wafted up from the strongholds down below.

Her mind rebelled at the thought of leaving. Normally she would feed her graak better before such a long flight. She wished now that she could allow Leatherneck to eat more, but the beast would hardly be able to bear her weight and that of a full belly.

Averan’s throat felt dry. Bitter tears stung her eyes. She sniffed, and asked, one last time, “And what of you, Brand? What will you do? Will you leave the castle? Will you promise to hide, if not for yourself, for me?”

“It would be death to run before the reavers,” Brand said. “They’d cut me in half like a sausage. And I fear that in my current condition, I’d make a poor bowman to man the walls.”