Chapter 34
Zara
An eagle. Somehow, I’d bonded with an eagle, and I didn’t even really know how it happened.
I’d just woken up on the ground, the giant creature in front of me, his voice in my head.
I thought of the moment I heard the eagle, when the threads of bonding snapped into place.
The part of me raised on the plains amongst horses, my feet fully grounded, rebelled at the idea, but the one born of the wind, who dreamed of flying, felt the bond and knew it was right.
All those times I’d snuck into the mountains, willingly braving eagle territory, had I subconsciously been seeking out this eagle?
I looked at the massive bird of prey now, easily three or four times bigger than Neo.
His feathers were a brighter gold around his head, becoming darker through his wings and body.
I could see my entire reflection in his huge eye, the color like topaz.
One thing was clear. If there was a small chance before, now I was absolutely certain that my father was not a Child of Earth.
I thought again of Ama’s evasiveness on the subject.
Had it not been for the fact that the wind spirit had called my father a wind caller, I would have thought he was an Eagle Rider.
But nothing ever explained being able to use the power of the wind.
The wind spirit had told me that I needed to find my destiny to be able to fully harness the wind, and I hadn’t understood at the time.
As I gazed into the amber eyes of the eagle before me, I thought I knew exactly what Mistral meant.
This is what I’ve been waiting for all my life, that part of me whispered.
But at the same time, guilt crashed over me like an avalanche.
Shazeera. What if Emperor Altair had realized we had gone against his orders to not attack the Devourer and took it out on Shazeera?
We had to go back immediately. We were much too far away to communicate, so I had no way of knowing if she was okay.
And then another horrible thought occurred to me that made me feel lightheaded with the sheer weight of it.
I had never in my life heard of anyone bonding with more than one horse, even after the untimely death of a horse, much less bonding with an eagle, too.
Worse, I couldn’t communicate with her to make sure the bond was still in place.
Whenever I sank within myself to test the bonds, all I could feel was the eagle’s blindingly strong connection.
It could be that the wind had weakened it yet again, and combined with distance, I couldn’t sense it.
There was no way to know for sure, though, until I saw Shazeera again.
But before we did anything, I would have to first convince this enormous wild eagle that Talon and Neo were our friends.
“Tell him that we won’t hurt you,” Talon said, his attention trained on the eagle towering above me. “I want to be able to speak to you from less than twenty feet away.”
I reached up and put my hand on the feathers of the eagle’s chest, stroking them gently. They really were just trying to save me, I thought to the eagle.
He looked down at me with those enormous eyes. I sensed that you were in danger. That you were dying. I came to find you, and when I did, that one had you clutched in his talons. His gaze shifted to Neo as he snapped his beak threateningly.
I was in danger, but they rescued me from the situation.
We were escaping. I took a deep breath and thought of the way Shazeera and I shared experiences.
I thought reluctantly of Ozul—of all the people he had turned into walking corpses.
I thought of the way he had latched onto me and drained away my energy, my life force, until it felt like I was on the brink of death.
You were, the eagle said, the tone in my head somber. But once we bonded, I lent you my strength.
So that’s how I recovered, I said, still reeling with quiet amazement. I still felt a bone-deep weariness and like I desperately needed to eat and sleep, but no longer did it feel like my heart struggled to beat in my chest. How can I ever thank you enough for saving me?
We are bonded now, he said. I will protect you with my life.
The moment he said that, I realized that not only did I know deep in my heart that he spoke the truth, but that somehow, I felt the same way. Even though I had only just met him, I had been waiting for him all my life.
What should I call you? It feels impersonal to keep referring to you as “the eagle” in my mind.
I could feel his amusement. I have a name, but it’s one given to me by the wild eagle clan and may not translate well into your language.
I considered this for a moment. The way we were communicating now—it wasn’t a language I’d ever spoken.
The eagle sent his thoughts to me, and my brain somehow translated them.
Yet the words seemed familiar to me, like I’d heard them in a dream.
If I stopped to think about it too long, I got a headache.
Tell me anyway, I told him. It wasn’t like any of this mental communication made sense in the first place.
He thought for a moment before saying, It’s something like “violent wind.”
Like a storm? I asked. He responded back with the mental equivalent of a human wrinkling his nose.
And suddenly, I remembered the conversation I’d had with the wind spirit.
He had said, Ride the tempest, tame the wind.
Tempest was another word for a violent, windy storm, and when Mistral first told me, I thought I would have to go out and face down a storm and try to harness its power.
But now…
My breath caught in my throat before I tentatively asked, Tempest?
The eagle made a little warble sound out loud. “Tempest” is an acceptable translation.
Suddenly it all made sense. Ride the tempest referred to our bond. I smiled up at him, still stroking the smooth feathers. Did this mean that my bond with Tempest would allow me to fully control the power of the wind?
I prayed with all my heart that it did because I knew my people would need that power now more than ever. By confronting the Devourer, I had broken the treaty by using wind magic against it. Even if I hadn’t, though, there was no way I would go through with the marriage now.
I’m still not sure how any of this happened, I thought to him. Do wild eagles bond with humans? Much less humans who weren’t Zephyrians.
Never.
A shocked silence descended over me. I don’t understand, I finally said.
I’m not sure I can explain because I’m not familiar with the bonding process. I only know that I was drawn to you, and when I thought you were in danger, I came to your rescue. But the moment I was close enough to hear your mind—even when you were unconscious—I knew I could never be apart from you.
Despite the impossibility of it, we had bonded, but the reason for it was apparently beyond both of us.
The wind spoke of you once, he said.
Surprise shot through me. You heard the wind?
Yes, though I didn’t know it meant a human until now. It said I was destined to be united in power with the wind caller.
The wind spirit told me the same thing, though I didn’t understand at the time what he meant, I said, as the memory clicked into meaning.
I knew the moment I saw you that you were the one. You’re the human I’ve seen since I was just a chick.
Time seemed to stretch and slow, the sheer magnitude of his words reverberating through me. Suddenly, my mind dredged up an image of that day two years ago, when I stumbled upon an eagle’s nest.
You mean, you’ve seen me in your dreams?
Well, yes, but I also saw you once. When I was only two weeks old.
The memory played through my mind. The chick that had come close enough for me to touch…before its mother returned and tried to kill Shazeera and me.
You remember, he said, pleased.
How could I forget?
He made a little happy warble.
Have you always been able to understand the wind? I knew it wasn’t something any of the eagles in the palace could do, otherwise, none of the Zephyrians would have been so surprised by my ability. Was this eagle unique in his ability as I was in mine?
Yes, it’s something all wild eagles learn soon after hatching.
I don’t think any of the palace eagles can do that.
Being domesticated will do that to you, he thought wryly.
I, too, have been able to hear the wind. Ever since I was little. I never knew why, though.
It’s in your blood, he thought, and I glanced up at him.
How do you know that?
He mentally shrugged. Same way I knew you were the one. I can just sense it. Can’t you?
In my blood. It was what Mistral had said, too. This was an ability I was born with, even though I was a Child of Earth.
I glanced at Talon, whose face was a mask of concern.
Then, Tempest, will you let my friend approach me unharmed?
Tempest made a grumbling sound deep in his throat, but then he relaxed his protective stance. The moment he took a step back, Talon strode toward me and pulled me into his arms.
I melted into him, the weight of everything that had happened hitting me at once. He lowered his head so that his face was buried in my neck. “Thank the Lord of the Skies you’re safe.”
I reached up and touched the spot above his temple, my brow furrowing. “What about you? The blow to your head…”
“It’s fine—head wounds bleed a lot,” he said when I gave him a pointed look, my eyes drifting to the dried blood on his cheek.
He took a small step back to look at me. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
I nodded. “It felt like the Devourer drained the life from me, like all the energy inside me had been sucked away. But the moment we bonded, I felt this surge in power return. I think this is what the wind spirit meant when he said I had to find my destiny.”