Sword Mountain (34 page)

A song can be sung once but can be heard forever.

—
FROM THE
O
LD
S
CRIPTURE

W
henever I sing this tale of the mountain, others ask me whether I had returned to be king. I never considered it, I tell them. “Why did you endure the persecution, then?” they want to know. To be honest, I longed for a sight of my old father, but I also felt a responsibility to change Sword Mountain. I wanted to bring a little joy and a little music to the cold summit.

And so, as time passes, and the long, black shadow of Sword Cliff sweeps in countless revolutions around the mountain, it is with pride and delight that I write that the school of my dreams has been established. As Forlath became king, my father and Sigrid moved to a cottage next to the castle. At last the Iron Nest gave me its approval to build a school at Double Pain Peak. The Vision School is, foremost, a place filled with happiness. It is a music conservatory, and by merging the Rockbottom Academy and the Castle of Sky seminary into it, it is also an institute of martial arts, sciences, and the philosophies. I believe that youngsters should discover who they are and explore what their talents are, rather than being forced to choose between becoming a musician, a warrior, or a scholar. Anybird with the motivation can attend the Vision School. I remember seeing all of the hopeful faces in the opening ceremony: Dandelion, Cloud-wing, and so many others from Sword Mountain, but also seagulls and parrots from far away.

All this might not have been possible without Dandelion. While I brought music to the summit, I believe Dandelion taught Sword Mountain something just as important. She showed that a valley orphan could make friends with anybird on the mountaintop. I shall sing of her story to the hatchlings and fledglings in every forest, desert, and sea: how a dandelion seed can thrive happily wherever it is blown.

Now, as music fills our mountains, I feel the silence in other places. The world beyond Sword Mountain needs me, too. When my old friend Winger the woodpecker scribe asked me if I would like to spread the
Old Scripture
with him, I knew it was time to put on my bard's garb again and bid good-bye to Sword Mountain. My father held my claws in his rough old talons and nodded. “Go, my son,” he said. “With a new generation of birds like Dandelion, strong and joyous, the kingdom will be in good wings.”

Farewell, Sword Mountain! I shall sing of you from the corners of the world.

Fleydur

Hope be with you as you rise.

—
FROM THE
O
LD
S
CRIPTURE

B
efore the sun emerged to warm the crisp autumn sky, Dandelion and Cloud-wing stood on the summit of Sword Mountain.

The curved rooftop of the Vision School beckoned to them from the other end of the mountain range. Dandelion's backpack was ready; her sword was strapped at her side. Dandelion would have a new place to flourish, but she would never forget Sword Mountain. It was the place where she was hurt and healed, where she grew up and grew strong.

“I've made a sky lantern,” Dandelion told Cloud-wing. She held a small bamboo cross in her claws, which was fitted inside a cylinder made of thin, waxed paper.

On the paper she had written:

Mother, Father
,

I miss you. Don't worry, I am thriving.

Your Dandelion

In the middle of the flat cross she placed the sky-born candle from long ago. Dandelion had kept it with her always but never dared to light it, for she'd been afraid that it would burn away too quickly, leaving her with emptiness. She remembered clearly how it had lit up the faces of her mother and father. Now she was finally ready to light it again.

Dandelion lit the candle. As Cloud-wing steadied the bamboo frame, she held up the waxed paper balloon. Tears spilled from her eyes, but they were not just of sadness now.

The two eagles watched the paper globe billowing with warmth, slowly expanding, trembling with life.

“Let go,” Dandelion whispered.

She and Cloud-wing stepped back. And the lantern rose by itself, illuminating their faces, then rising gently over their heads.

“It's so beautiful, Dandelion,” Cloud-wing said.

Over the mountaintop, in the wind, it sailed. It swayed gently in the silken breeze, circled around Sword Cliff and beyond. It was a miracle that a single small birthday candle could cast so much light and propel this vessel toward the faint stars in the black dome of sky, till it seemed a star itself.

Dandelion had no doubt now. “
To fly, there must be a special force inside you
.” And she had given the candle her force.

As she flew toward the Vision School with Cloud-wing, she closed her eyes. In her mind she saw the little lantern, filled with hope and love, rising, rising, as night swept into day.

Characters are golden eagles unless stated otherwise.

AMICUS
—the secretary of the court.

BLAZE
—a student at Rockbottom Academy.

BLITZ
—a student at Rockbottom Academy.

CLOUD-WING
—friend of Dandelion; four-acorn eaglet; son of the general of the Sword Mountain army.

DANDELION
—a valley-born eaglet, brought to live on the mountaintop.

FLEYDUR
—prince; elder son of Morgan, King of Skythunder; bard.

FORLATH
—prince; younger son of Morgan, King of Skythunder; brother of Fleydur.

ISOBELLO
—peregrine falcon; a student at Rockbottom Military Academy.

KAWAKA
—archaeopteryx; former head knight of the archaeopteryx empire; ally of Tranglarhad.

MORGAN
—King of Skythunder, whose castle is on Sword Mountain; leader of the Skythunder tribe of eagles; husband of Sigrid; father of Fleydur and Forlath.

OLGA
—half-acorn eaglet.

PANDEY
—osprey; a student at Rockbottom Academy.

POULDINGTON
—four-acorn eaglet; son of the treasurer of Sword Mountain; nicknamed Pudding.

SIGRID
—Queen of Skythunder; second wife of Morgan; mother of Forlath; stepmother of Fleydur.