Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) (3 page)

“We know where we need to go! Sky Raven Fortress!”

Rosa’s eyes lit up like we had just given her a present. The others, on the other hand, were scratching their heads in confusion.

“I thought that place was a myth,” Higs whispered, looking inquisitively at the twins who just shook their heads confidently.

I could tell Maya was smiling as she explained for me, “It’s no myth; Alex’s parents told Winya where we are and how to get there.”

“
There used to be a road, but that’s probably long gone from 400 years of overgrowth. But there is a river that flows into that lake, so if we follow it, it should lead us right to it.”

Maya nodded and then relayed to everyone what only she and I could hear. Everyone was on board with the plan; well almost everyone.

“Hold on,” Captain Jarsin complained. “Not only do you want me to listen to a pixie, but now a talking sword? Are you people insane?” Again there was an ominous silence; the corporal placed a hand on his shoulder, gravely shaking his head. The captain sighed and looked up at the heavens. “Fine! We follow the river to a fortress that hasn’t been used for 400 years, great plan. Good luck getting the wizards to go with it!”

Rosa grinned, “Leave that to us.” The captain reluctantly nodded and then he and the corporal walked off toward the rest of the guards. Rosa turned to us with a smile still on her face. “I’m sorry about this, but you two are now my seconds until we get things figured out.” We both already knew that and we were ready to support her in any way. “I have an urgent job for you two. But first, I would like for you to get some rest; neither of you have slept since we got here.”

Maya just shrugged. “We don’t seem to be able to get tired in this armor; in fact, we both feel rather rested. It seemed we only need an hour or so of low activity and we’re good to go.”

I continued for her, “The odd thing is that I never placed an enchantment to do anything even close to this. It just seems to be a natural quality of the metal, like the whole weight thing.”

She nodded. “Fine, then I would like for you to take Nia and go speak with the pixies and get permission to pass through.” She thought for a moment. “You should take Dawn and Dusk, too.”

Before I could protest, Maya beat me to it. “No way! If all five of us leave, you won’t have the firepower to fend off an attack.”

“Are you two forgetting that I have over a hundred other wizards with me?”

Maya wasn’t letting it slide so easily. “They don’t trust us yet, so you’re keeping Dawn and Dusk.” Maya stalked over to the twins. “I want you two to keep a close watch on Rosa for us.”

They both bowed slightly. “Yes, Mistress, of course. We will keep her safe.”

We gave Rosa a hug before setting out to find Nia and our horses.

Chapter 2

Finding the horses was an easy job. All we had to do was whistle and they came right to us, completely armored. Nia on the other hand, was a bit harder to find. We finally found her over by one of the food crates. All we could really see of her was her legs kicking in the air frantically as she was rummaging through a bag.

“Nia, what are you doing?”

She pulled herself free of the sack but still had most of a biscuit in her mouth. Maya and I chuckled as the pixie dusted her dress off and finished the rest of the cracker in one bite. “Stupid bag wouldn’t open up and let me have my food,” she pouted, and kicked the sack in frustration. Maya smiled and reached over to undo the knot that was holding the bag shut . With the bag fully open, she handed two more biscuits to Nia, who devoured them practically whole.

“Now, come on, girl; we’re going to go say hello to the pixies,” said Maya.

All happiness and excitement vanished from her face. “I was really hoping you wouldn’t say that. I don’t think they will be very happy to see me.”

I smiled warmly at her. “Who cares what they think of you. Maya and I both care about you very much. And think about Rosa, Darroth, the twins, and all the other friends you have made as well.”

She finally nodded eagerly after gnawing the hard corner off another biscuit. “You’re right. Who cares what they think, I have friends now. Besides, if they try and be mean to me, I can just blast them!”

By this time, the camp was stirring and it wasn’t good. Many of the younger students looked like they were in shock or were weeping quietly into their blankets. The older wizards were attempting to rally their spirits, but when you wake up homeless, hungry, and lying in the cold dirt of a mountainside, it isn’t easy. Some of the guards were breaking branches and sawing firewood so that food could be cooked, while others farther down the mountainside worked on digging graves.

We mounted up, the white stallion holding steady as a ship-of-the-line as I settled my weight on him. Maya already had the reins of the mare in hand and both horses seemed to be eager to get out of camp. Nia grabbed a few more crackers and tucked them under her arms before flying up to her usual perch on my armored shoulder. I didn’t bother to tell her that I had filled some of the saddlebags with extra food, water, and spare bolts for Maya’s crossbow when I brought the warhorses around. If I had thought about it, the saddlebag on the left side bulged conspicuously, but it didn’t register at the time. I wanted to be on the trail as well; the heavy weight of Alera’s words on my shoulders.

I intentionally left my helmet clipped to my belt but carried my war hammer in its sling across my back and, of course, my tower shield was cinched to the side of the saddle. Maya was in her full set, including helmet, and for the time being, Winya must have been absorbed into her wrist armor. As we passed some of the guards and a few others at the outskirts of camp, we could hear murmurs and questions already circulating about where we were going . Some people thought we were leaving them and going out on our own, but most of the seasoned veterans took stock of how lightly packed we were and decided we were on a scouting mission. I found that a positive sign as we were going to need the good will of the guards if we were going to make to Sky Raven.

Finding a thread-thin game trail, we headed down the mountain with Maya in the lead. The trail wasn’t as bad as it looked from above, and I was pretty confident that even the donkey carts could negotiate it without problem. Weeds and tall grasses moved lazily alongside the path and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. If the situation wasn’t so grim, it would have been a perfect day for a picnic with your sweetheart! The farther away from camp we travelled, the more road-like the path became, and soon I moved up beside Maya so we could travel abreast of each other. I glanced appreciatively over at the sleek armored form riding next to me. She hadn’t said a word since we passed the graves, and I could tell the losses weighed on her mind. But finally, she seemed to mentally put her pain on a shelf, and I felt a nudge from Winya to lighten the mood.

“My Lady, it wounds me that I am not allowed to see your fair countenance this fine morning!”

She snickered softly and changed the subject. “I never did get a chance to thank you properly for this beautiful armor you made for me.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you and Winya about it; is everything fitting and working right?” Instead of giving me a verbal response, her image faded from view. I could see right through her as she was riding on her horse, but her camouflage wasn’t quite perfect. You could still easily make out her outline on a sunny day like today. But I’m sure if it was night or if we were indoors, you wouldn’t be able to see her at all.

I nodded, grinning like an idiot, I’m sure. Winya has grown so much in her new form and finally seems to be enjoying her life again, and Maya is just as wonderful. Some people would become cocky or arrogant with the power that she has with Winya and now the armor, but it seems that she has simply grown more confident and decisive.

“You have no idea how proud I am of both of you. The two of you have become greater friends than I could have ever hoped,” I said.

Maya reappeared. “As a child, I was always kind of a loner. That awkward, strange child who everyone wished lived somewhere else, even if she was the chieftain’s daughter. Waking up the entire village screaming in the middle of the night didn’t help. Most of the villagers avoided me like I was a demon child. As soon as I was old enough, it was just easier to stay in the forest and train. I remember Father would try and get me to follow along when he visited the village up the river. He said there were people my own age there and a boy that would be my friend. There was no one my age in our home village, but it was just as well; I was always afraid to make friends.” She paused and absently rubbed the spot on her armor where Winya resides.

“It seemed that every time I grew friendly with someone, the next nightmare that came along would feature their animated, twisted, sickening bodies in the first wave of attackers trying to kill me. It was just safer to convince myself that I didn’t need people at all. Winya is my first real friend.” She tilted her head and added in a lower voice that I could feel deep in my chest. “Well, second real friend, but I believe you permanently fell out of the merely friend status when you kissed me at the First Day dance. Anyway, Winya and I are for sure friends, even if we do make an odd match.”

“Odd? Really? You count our relationship as only odd? I would say that a pairing like ours is unique in all the stories of man or elf!”

We all laughed and Maya went back to talking about the armor. “I still can’t get over how perfect it all is. Nia, you’re a design genius. In the battle, I purposely took a few hits to see what would happen, and I didn’t even feel the impact. And speaking of feelings, that’s the other thing; I’ve never been able to stay comfortable in armor this long without getting hot or chaffing. The leather under-padding is just as wonderful as the main suit.”

I nodded. “And it keeps you warm when it’s cold out, too.”

“And to address your earlier statement about my countenance, there is another fantastic feature of this armor - the helmet. Not only does it not bend my ears all up, it seems to somehow channel sounds to me more efficiently so I can hear better when I’m wearing it - a very useful thing on a recon mission.” Maya sighed slightly and her voice became wistful. “My parents will be awestruck when I tell them about this armor, but I think they might actually die from shock when I show them Winya and, of course, introduce them to my betrothed.” Her head swiveled and I knew she was shooting me a sly grin under the helm - my mage sight helps a lot, too. “Of course, the whole human thing may drive them into an insane killing rage, but don’t worry, I’m sure they will warm to the idea eventually.”

I took a deep sober breath, that thought was actually something I have been concerned about for some time. My friends back in Foalshead always told me that meeting your girl’s father for the first time was always a trial.

“What’s the matter, Magic Boy?” she taunted impishly. “Getting cold feet already?”

“Definitely not!”

I heard a pair of soft sighs and a chittering noise that sounded remarkably like a bucktoothed giggle from behind me, and I twisted around in time to see a pair of small rodent-like heads dive back into the saddlebag I had personally packed before leaving. There was a fine line of cracker crumbs trailing down the flank of my horse as well.

Maya saw them too and stared, and then looked back at me. “Um, did you see that?”

Nia, in full bodyguard mode, took off from her perch on my shoulder and buzzed down to take a look. She lifted the saddlebag flap and stuck her body halfway inside, making some chittering noises of her own, then pulled back and flew up to my face.

“Mister Alex, you have stowaways…actually, stowaways with horribly cheesy accents. I would barely even call that decent rodent-ese!”

I gaped and leaned back to peer at the saddlebag. “How did rats get in my pack?”

“Not rats,” Nia snorted, “faux chipmunks.”

“Ahuh…alright, Lin and Jules, get out here now!” The saddlebag flap bounced up and two small brown chipmunks with stripes down their backs and cute white feet crawled out and perched themselves on the back of the saddle. The miscreants sat there washing their faces nervously with their paws, their whiskers moving constantly. My stallion stopped dead in his tracks and bent his huge head around and gave us all a look of equine disgust
{Really?}
. Then he turned back with an annoyed shake of his head and resumed his forward progress.

Maya patted the side of her mare’s neck reassuringly, then glanced at the two druid girls and whispered to me, “I didn’t know they could do that!”

“Yeah, Hons told me he was going to lift their training restrictions on animal shapes. Hopefully, they get good enough at it to be useful or can at least escape if they get trapped by the enemy. But I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean for them to go without permission on a possibly dangerous patrol. I sense extra chores in their futures.”

Nia spoke up hopefully, “I guess we need to turn around and take them back then.”

“No, I don’t think that’s necessary, I’m not expecting trouble. The pixie king must like me, he sent you to me after all!”

Nia beamed and perked up.

“Besides the edge of the forest is right in front of us…so Nia, what’s the plan?”

She looked like we were asking her to jump into a pit with hungry wolves wearing a large amount of bloody meat wrapped around her. “I don’t know, the best plan I could come up with on the way down was to have Maya take off her helmet and hope they are mesmerized by her awesome beauty.”

Somehow I didn’t think that would work, then again it would probably work on me. “Well then, I guess we just go right in and see what happens.”

Maya nodded in agreement as we transitioned from bright sunlight to moist, humid forest gloom. The trail was still good, other than being largely obscured by decades of leaf litter and fallen branches. Enough light filtered through the scintillating movement of leaves to illuminate the tree line a dozen feet on either side of the road. I took a deep breath; it smelled like forest to me. Maya, however, jerked strangely and made a “hssst” sound before suddenly fading from view, her armor going transparent. It barely registered that she had slipped off the mare and was gone. Not a twig snapped or a blade of grass moved to mark her departure.