She spread her arms and screamed, “Cirrus! Up!” The wind gathered beneath her in a rush, as her fury flew to obey, and she felt a sudden, fierce exultation as, with a screaming whistle of gale winds, she shot up, up into the autumn skies, her wake kicking up dust devils along the ridge that cast dirt up in the face of the unfortunate legionare and set his horse to rearing and kicking in confusion.
She flew on, up and away from the camp and paused after a time to look behind her. The cliff she’d leapt from looked like a toy from there, several miles behind her and one below. “Cirrus,” she murmured, and held her hands before her. The fury gusted and swirled a part of itself into that space, quivering like the waves rising from a hot stone.
Amara shaped that air with her hands, bending the light, until she was peering back at the cliff through her spread hands as though she stood no more than a hundred yards away. She saw the hunting party emerge and Aldrick dismount. The legionare who had seen her described her escape, and Aldrick squinted up at the sky, sweeping his eyes left to right. Amara felt a chill as the man’s gaze paused, directly upon her. He tilted his head to the man beside him, the woodcrafter Knight from before, and the man simply touched one of the trees.
Amara swallowed and swept her hands back toward the rebel Legion’s camp.
Half a dozen forms rose up over the treetops, which swayed and danced beneath the winds, as though they had been the bushes in a holtwife’s herb garden. They turned, and as one, they sped toward her. Sun glinted off of steel — armor and weapons, she knew.
“Knights Aeris,” muttered Amara. She swallowed and let her hands fall. Normally, she would have been confident of her ability to outrun them. But now, wounded, and already exhausted in body and spirit, she was not so sure.
Amara turned and bade Cirrus to bear her north and east — and prayed that the sun would set before her foes caught up to her.
CHAPTER 3
Tavi slipped out of his room, down the stairs, and through the silence of the last shreds of night before dawn. He entered the cavernous shadows of the great hall, noting a faint glow of light in the kitchens beside the great hall. Old Bitte rarely slept more than a few hours a night, and Tavi heard her moving through the kitchen, preparing it for the coming breakfast meal.
He unbolted the door and left the great hall for Bernardholt’s courtyard. One of the steadholt’s dogs lifted his head from the empty barrel he used as a kennel, and Tavi stooped to scratch the old hound’s ears. The dog thumped his tail against the barrel’s interior and laid his head back down to sleep. Tavi drew his cloak over his shoulders against the chill of the dying autumn night and opened the postern door to leave the safety of Bernardholt.
The door opened to reveal his uncle Bernard, leaning casually against the doorway, dressed in leathers and a heavy green cloak for a day in the wilderness beyond the steadholt’s fields. He lifted an apple to his mouth and crunched into it. Bernard was a large man with broad shoulders and the heavy muscles of hard labor. His dark hair, cropped close in a Legion cut, showed a fleck or two of grey, though none such appeared in his close-trimmed beard. He wore a quiver of hunting arrows at his side, riding beside his Legion-issued sword, and he carried the stave to the lightest of his bows unstrung in his hand.
Tavi drew up short, with a flutter of apprehension. Then he spread his hands, silently conceding the victory to Bernard, and then offered his uncle a faint smile. “How did you know?”
Bernard returned the smile, though there was a wary cast to it. “Fade saw you drinking a lot of extra water last night, after you came in so late, and pointed it out to me. It’s an old soldier’s trick to get up early.”
“Oh,” Tavi said. “Yes, sir.”
“I counted the flocks,” Bernard said. “Looks like we might be a few heads short.”
“Yes, sir,” Tavi said. He licked his lips nervously. “I’m going to bring them in now.”
“I was under the impression that you had done so last night. Since you marked down a full count on the tally slate.”
Tavi’s cheeks grew warm, and he felt glad for the dimness. “Dodger led his ewes and their lambs out last night, when I was trying to bring the south flock in. I didn’t want you to worry.”
Bernard shook his head. “Tavi, you know that today is important. The other Steadholders will be arriving for the truthfind, and I don’t need any distractions.”
“I’m sorry, Uncle. Why don’t you stay here, then? I can find Dodger and bring him back in.”
“I don’t like you wandering around the valley alone, Tavi.”
“I’m going to have to eventually, uncle. Unless you planned on following me around for the rest of my life.”
Bernard sighed. “Your aunt would murder me.”
Tavi gritted his teeth. “I can do it by myself. I’ll be careful and be back before noon.”
“That’s not really the point. You were supposed to bring them in last night,” Bernard said. “What kept you from it?”
Tavi swallowed. “Um. I’d promised to do someone a favor. I didn’t have time to get them both done before dark.”
Bernard sighed. “Crows, Tavi. I really thought you had done a lot of growing up this season. That you were learning to handle responsibility.”
Tavi felt suddenly sick to his stomach. “You’re not going to gift me the sheep, are you?”
Bernard said, “I don’t begrudge you getting your fair dues. I was glad — I am glad to help you get started with your own flock. But I’m not just going to throw them away. If you can’t show me that you’ll take care of them properly, I can’t give them to you.”
“It isn’t like I’d be keeping them long.”
“Perhaps not. It’s the principle of the thing, lad. Nothing comes free.”
“But Uncle,” Tavi protested. “It’s my only chance to make something of myself.”
Bernard grunted. “Then you probably shouldn’t have chosen to . . .” He frowned. “Tavi, what did you need to do that was more important than the flocks?”
Tavi’s face grew warmer yet. “Um.”
Bernard arched an eyebrow and said, “Oh, I see.”
“See what?”
“There’s a girl.”
Tavi knelt and tightened the straps on his boots to hide his scowl and said, “Why would you say that?”
“You’re a fifteen-year-old boy, Tavi. There’s always a girl.”
“No, there isn’t,” Tavi insisted.
Bernard mused over that for a moment and shrugged. “When you want to talk about it, let me know.” He pushed himself off the wall with one shoulder and strung his bow with one leg and the pressure of an arm. “We’ll discuss your gifting later. Where do you think we should pick up Dodger’s trail?”
Tavi drew his leather sling from his pouch and put a couple of smooth stones into the pocket of his tunic. “Won’t Brutus be able to find him?”
Bernard smiled. “I thought you said you could do this on your own.”
Tavi frowned at his uncle and scrunched up his nose, thinking. “Cold’s coming on, and they know it. They’ll want evergreens for shelter and for food. But the gargants were turned out to forage on the southern slope of the valley, and they won’t go anywhere near gargants if they can help it.” Tavi nodded. “North. Dodger has taken them into the pine hollows over the causeway.