Earth Bound (15 page)

At Talon’s words, anger had Brianne in the prisoner’s face, her dagger at his throat, her bow on the ground where she’d stood. “Where are they? What have you done to Zinervie?”

“You’ll never save her.”

Not the words she wanted to hear. “Tell me or you’ll never have the chance to speak again.”

“You won’t get away with this. New Prilonia will send more troops when none of our regular messages come through.”

“When’s the next one due?” Talon asked.

“We need to get him back for questioning,” the soldier said.

“Where is Zinervie,” Brianne demanded.

The prisoner’s expression of fear changed to one of smugness. “Their wings are removed as soon as they’re taken to New Prilonia. One out of every ten don’t make it.”

His words made her anger explode. She drew her arm back to stab him. Her wrist was caught at the same time as the prisoner’s expression turned to one of fear and he dropped to the ground where he lay screaming, trying to drag himself away. The soldier grabbed Brianne’s other arm and she tried to pull away from him and Talon, who was warning the soldier to let her go.

Soldiers dropped down around them, Ewyn amongst them and only Talon was left to keep her back from the prisoner, his arms around her waist as she struggled to get free.

When Ewyn ordered several soldiers to fly the prisoner back to the city, Brianne screamed, “No. Make him tell us where Zinervie is. They’re going to cut off her wings.” She remembered Ewyn had organised aerial searches. “Have they found her? And what about Macklyn? Did he say anything?” She stopped fighting Talon’s arms and sank back against his chest.

“Meet me at your grandfather’s home. We’ve got a lot to discuss.” Ewyn turned to his soldiers, pointing to three of them. “Guard the door.” He pointed to another one. “Arrange to have it fixed.” Then he faced Brianne. “Get there as soon as you can.” He launched into the air.

“Wait.” Brianne pulled away from Talon. “What about Zinervie?”

Ewyn ignored her, flying towards the city wall.

Brianne stared after him, anger and frustration making her want to grab her bow and bring him out of the sky. He better have some answers for her when she reached her grandfather’s home. Striding back to her bow, she picked it up, heading towards the busted door.

Talon fell into step beside her. “They’ll get more information out of him if he’s alive.”

Brianne stopped, turning to face him. “Would you have let him live if he’d sent Marshall into slavery?”

“No, but I hope you’d have stopped me because later I’d be wondering what information I could have gotten out of him to help me find Marshall.”

It took a few moments for the worst of her anger to fade, replaced by relief. “Thank you.”

Talon grinned. “Any time. Just make sure you do the same for me.”

Brianne returned his grin fleetingly, unable to maintain it for more than a second at the thought of Zinervie in the hands of the enemy, regretting not being a better friend. They had to find her. “I will.” She glanced towards the door. “Let’s find out what my uncle has to say. It better be good.” The last was muttered under her breath as she strode towards the door.

It didn’t take long for them to return to Briant’s home and Talon flew them up to the balcony more smoothly this time. What did take long was waiting for Briant and Ewyn to return.

A noise at the front door interrupted Brianne’s pacing and before she had a chance to speak, her mother ran towards her, wrapping her arms around her, kissing each of her cheeks.

Talon came to a halt at Brianne’s side, taking a step back when Brianne complained, “Mum, you’re crushing me.”

Ailis didn’t loosen her hold. “They said you were dead. I’m going to kill Ewyn. How dare he do that to me.”

Brianne finally managed to pull away slightly. “Not until he tells me what I want to know, then you can.” She turned so she could smile at Talon. “Talon, I want you to meet my mum, Ailis.”

With an arm still around her daughter, Ailis faced Talon. “You have wings.”

He nodded warily.

“Mum!”

“They told me you’d brought a Tersten back with you. They never said anything about wings. And they should have told me you were back last night. Instead they risked you in another battle and waited until this morning to tell me.”

Brianne pulled away, moving to stand beside Talon. “I’m fine. It’s what I’ve been trained for.”

“You nearly died,” Ailis protested.

Brianne shook her head. “Not even close.” She sent a warning glance to Talon. He better not mention her dive off the wall. Smiling for her mother’s benefit, she said, “See, unharmed and ready for the next mission.”

Ewyn entered the room. “Good, because we’ve got something you and Talon can help us with.”

“I won’t go against my people,” Talon said.

“We want to join your people. We tried previously, but the squad we sent out under a flag of truce was slaughtered,” Ewyn said.

Briant entered the room, glancing around at everyone in his living room. “What is everyone doing standing around here? My office, now.” When Ailis started to move, he pointed at her. “Not you, Ailis. Army matters aren’t your concern anymore.”

“If it’s about my daughter, it is my concern.”

“Mum.” Brianne’s tone was filled with exasperation and annoyance at being treated like a child.

When Ewyn started to argue with Ailis, Brianne shook her head, grabbed Talon’s hand and pulled him from the room. Once they were alone in the office, she let his hand go. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Trying to protect me from my mum.”

Talon shrugged. “I didn’t know who she was when she ran at you like that.”

“I think in some ways she’s glad I don’t have wings because it should have kept me out of the army.”

Briant entered the office before Talon could say anything. He pointed to the stools in front of his desk. “Sit down.” He seated himself behind the desk, not waiting for them to sit before he continued speaking. “We need to know if the Terstens will fight with us. If not, will they let us cross their lands to attack the garrisons.”

Talon remained standing. “I don’t know. Marshall and Garnet are trying to find people willing to help, but I don’t know what has happened while we’ve been here.”

“They were pretty certain they’d find help.” Brianne sat down, leaning forward. “When do we leave? And what about Zinervie?”

“Slow down. No one is going anywhere for about a week. We’re putting the entire country into lockdown so we can capture every Prilonian. We’ll tell the civilians there has been an unusually large amount of Tersten squads sighted. The order has gone out that anyone travelling during the lockdown will be taken captive. That means we should be able to find Zinervie and the other two more easily.”

Relief washed through Brianne as she nodded her agreement.

“Not squads, units,” Talon corrected. “What are we meant to do while we’re waiting?”

Brianne grinned at him. “How about learning to fly?”

“I can fly.” Talon looked offended.

Brianne nodded slowly, her grin still in place. “You keep telling yourself that.”

“I’ll teach you,” Briant said.

“What?” Brianne stared at her grandfather. He’d long since passed the stage where he needed to train fledglings.

“You heard me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not having some fledgling flying you around and getting you killed.”

“I can fly,” Talon protested.

Brianne ignored him, continuing to talk to her grandfather. “When can you start?”

Talon watched as Brianne’s mother held onto her. A stab of envy hit him when Brianne tried to pull away and her mother’s arms tightened around her. Still holding Brianne tight, Ailis kissed Brianne’s cheeks. Spending nearly a week with Brianne’s family had shown him how little he and his sister had meant to their parents. Terst was their priority. All else was far less important to them, including their children.

Brianne finally managed to pull away from her mother. “I’ll be fine.”

“Be careful,” Ailis said.

Before Brianne could answer, Briant stepped forward, placing a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Let her go, Ailis. She’s more than capable of completing this mission successfully.”

Talon watched as Brianne walked over to Conal, the soldier who’d broken down the tunnel doors, and turned so he could carry her. Briant had ordered Talon not to fly Brianne unless it was an emergency. Not until he learned how to fly properly. It was probably a good thing Briant hadn’t seen his first attempts at flying.

He launched himself into the air flying with the squad to the border town where they’d arranged to have horses waiting for him and Brianne. As much as he hated to leave the Tersten horses behind, flying covered the ground a lot faster. If it hadn’t been for the Prilonians’ interference, the Caelians probably would have killed his people off with how quickly they could cross the land. But, if it hadn’t been for the Prilonians’ interference their people would never have been enemies.

When they reached the town, Talon was glad to land, his wings were aching. But not in the way they once had, more in the way of muscles that are not accustomed to a new task. Several soldiers came to meet them, leading him, Brianne and Conal to an office.

Conal saluted the man seated behind the desk. “Third Officer.”

“Take a seat.” The Third Officer gestured his aide over. “Fetch another stool.”

“I’ll stand,” Talon said.

The Third Officer nodded, waving his aide away. He slid two letters across his desk towards Conal. “We thought these might help you take the Holy City. They talk about two hidden exits, focusing on one that’s damaged and needs repairs. The details in the letter should be enough for your soldiers to find the damaged one.”

“Holy City?” Talon asked.

Brianne nodded. “Don’t you have one?”

“No.”

“Where does Elden go when he supposedly does his communing with the gods?”

Talon shrugged. “I have no idea. Probably to your land by the sounds of it.”

Brianne stared at him for a moment. “Of course he does. I didn’t think about that. Then why does he need the Holy City?”

“Probably somewhere to go when he needs a break from destroying our people.” Conal slid the letters into his belt pouch. “I’ll give these to the First Officer when I return. Was there anything else, sir?”

The Third Officer shook his head. “No, that’s all. Do you need more than the two horses and saddlebags of gear we readied?”

“No, sir. Thank you for this,” Brianne said.

The Third Officer rose to his feet, coming around the desk. “I’m the one who should thank you. My son had planned to join the House on his next birthday.” He held out his hand to Brianne. When she had shaken it, he turned to Talon and did the same. “If you need anything, anything at all, let me know.”

When they were outside, waiting for the horses to be brought to them, Talon said to Brianne. “I thought you said friends exchange kisses on the cheeks. I’ve only ever seen your mother do that.” His attention was momentarily caught by Conal, taking to the air with his squad and flying in the direction they’d come from.

Brianne grinned. “Only family.” She paused. “And very close friends.” She strode towards the boy who led two horses towards them.

Talon stared after her for a moment, then grinned as he strode towards her. Mounting his horse, he rode beside Brianne, waiting until they were out of the town before he spoke. “How close a friend?”

Brianne laughed. “I was still feeling grateful you’d survived your so called flying, not to mention I was about to enter the House and didn’t know if I was going to get out alive.”

She couldn’t have been that grateful if all she’d managed was a couple of kisses on his cheeks. “Next time I’ll show you how we show we’re glad someone is still alive,” Talon said.

Brianne laughed again. “I hope it’s better than your flying.”

“Stop picking on my flying.” He started to say it was better than hers, then he recalled how she’d reacted when they were practising and he’d said he’d clip her wings so she couldn’t fly around the room. No, he wouldn’t say those words to her.

They remained quiet as they crossed the land, the country changing from dry red dust and rock pillars with the odd area of brown grass and stunted trees to yellowed meadows with taller trees. By late afternoon, the country had become lush meadows and shady trees with the Feronian Mountains visible in the distance.

After how quickly they’d crossed the country earlier by wings, horseback seemed unbearably slow. No wonder Brianne envied him his wings. Since he’d stopped hiding them, he was actually finding them useful.

As they approached the cave, they slowed. Talon looked around. Everything was quiet. He dismounted and tied his horse to a tree. When Brianne started to dismount, he shook his head. “Wait here. I’ll see if it’s safe. No point both of us walking into danger.” He drew his sword as he walked towards the cave entrance, his gaze travelling around the area, his steps soft.

Nothing moved and there were no unusual sounds. He slipped inside the cave, his eyes straining to see in the darkness. The sound of a sword being drawn from a scabbard had him stepping to the side, hiding in the shadows. “Who’s there?”

“Telling you isn’t going to make you want to sheath your sword.”

“Bellamy.” The word was a curse. “Where’s my sister?”

“Her and Merel have gone to get water.”

“Who?”

“Some annoying friend of Garnet’s who thinks I’m the love of her life.”

“Has she suffered a head injury?” Talon inched his way around the edge of the cave.

“Probably,” Bellamy said dryly. “I can hear you moving. Do you think I’m about to stand still and let you kill me?”

Talon looked in the direction Bellamy’s voice now came from. “Why are you here?”

“Because it’s my turn to guard the cave.”

“And you’re doing that in the dark?” He wished Bellamy would stand still.

“I barely had time to get the fire out when I heard you outside. Couldn’t you have called out to let me know it was you? Do you know how annoying it is to clean the dirt out of the pit before it can be relit?”

Talon bit back a curse as Bellamy’s voice came from a different direction. “And let you know I was here so you could attack me while I was a target?” He waited until he finished talking before he headed for Bellamy’s new location.

“Things have changed while you’ve been away, Talon.”

The voice was in front of him and he felt the air shift as Bellamy started to move away. He reached out, grabbing hold of Bellamy, pressing his sword against Bellamy’s neck. It took a great deal of effort not to kill him. His sister better be safe. “Explain quickly.”