“The ground is really thin in some places. I could feel the hollowness when I stepped. We should make sure no one puts their wagons there.”
Lively talk filled the camp like music. Fayden, who seemed to know everyone, waved and grinned at people, promising we’d join them for a meal soon. “This is my brother, Dossam,” he said a few times. “You probably heard his music on the way here.”
“That was you?” replied one woman as she pressed her palm to her chest. “The best parts of my day were when you played.”
A few others hugged me in response to Fayden’s introduction, and I felt it, the thing I had wanted all along: for a few people, my music had become real and valuable and important. To these people, my music had been useful—and might always have been, if I hadn’t hidden it out of fear that someone might take it away.
In spite of the cool wind whipping around wagons and trees, the air grew warmer as people built fires and pulled out pots to cook in. Others worked by the lake, catching fish and hauling water to trade.
The music of voices and life flowed about the camp, tempting me into a smile. I hadn’t wanted to come on this quest to find a leader I didn’t care about, but for the first time, I was glad I was here—and not just because I was relieved not to have been killed back at the old Community.
The mountains all around were strong and sheltering, casting the sensation of safety over the plateau. The woods, while cold and unfamiliar, seemed peaceful enough, and they were beautiful.
This was an area I could learn to love, even with the strange wall and tower rising just to the north.
Besides, I had my brother and best friend with me. As long as I had them, I had everything I needed.
At last, a voice filled with authority sounded, and I dragged Fayden to where Meuric stood atop his wagon—a much grander affair than ours.
“The scouts have informed me of archways in the white wall. In the morning, we will enter the structure and set Janan free!”
People cheered.
“He’s not wasting any time,” I muttered to Fayden.
He chuckled. “Would you, if your favorite person were in there, perhaps unjustly?”
If it were Fayden or Stef? “No. I’d do anything to save them.”
We lingered for a little while before turning toward to the outskirts of camp. We made it only a few paces.
That was when we heard the noise.
Though the sky was clear, with the moon shining brightly and the stars scattered like sparks across the blackness, thunder cracked the night.
11
“WHAT IS THAT?” I searched the sky, but there was nothing. Just moonlight and stars, faintly obscured by cook fires and smoke, as a moment before. “It sounded like thunder.”
My brother was pale, wide-eyed. “I don’t know.” We were still in the thick of the camp, where Meuric had been speaking minutes ago, but now everyone had returned to their duties and the Councilor was nowhere in sight.
As the strange thunder came again, a hush fell over the entire camp. The crackle of fires and susurrus of wind became the only sounds as everyone looked to the sky.
Movement caught my eye, near the immense tower that pierced the heavens. Something long and sinuous twisted through the air, and as thunder clapped again, a long stretch of darkness blacked out the stars.
Others followed my gaze, some pointing, some rooted to their places, as though fear had rendered them immobile.
If fear were sound, it’d be a low humming and the quick tempo of an accelerating heartbeat, punctuated by gasps. It’d be ringing. Deafening. Paralyzing.
More snakelike shapes slithered across the sky, wide wings making the sky black. A dozen of the flying creatures followed that first one, all of them in formation, like birds or . . . or an army.
The winged beasts dipped and adjusted their path through the air, flying straight toward our camp. Panic surged, contagious and violent as the plague: screams and shouts and trampling to reach the perceived safety of the wagons.
But as the beasts drew back their wings and dove, even I knew the wagons wouldn’t provide any safe form of shelter. The wagons would become tombs.
“Warriors! Protect the perimeter!” Meuric called, though the din of screams and feet pounding the ground swallowed the sound of his voice. No one paid him any heed. Many fled toward the forest.
While I had no doubts those enormous creatures could snatch people out of the woods, the trees would provide some coverage.
“Come on!” I grabbed the collar of Fayden’s jacket. “We have to make sure Stef and his aunts get to the forest, too.”
We ran, cutting between wagons and people, trying not to shove them aside, even as people jostled us to get wherever they were going.
At the edge of camp, horses stomped and whinnied, while cattle and other livestock scattered as the beasts dove.