Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
TATE
It’s not hard to find out what happened to Ara’s face, and when I corner Vaccari in an empty corridor, her smile slips. Grim satisfaction floods me.
“Maybe I wasn’t clear enough the last time around. Unfortunate accidents happen if people try to play fate. Do I have to remind you how very easy it is to cover up something like that around here?” I address her quietly.
“You’re threatening me?” She lifts her chin.
“If there was any room for doubt, let me rephrase. If you go after Ara again, we’ll have a problem.”
“Do you know who my father is?” She lifts her eyebrows, and I laugh. She takes a step back. I shake my head, still chuckling.
“You sound like I’d care.” I shrug. “I don’t.”
“But…” she splutters.
“All snakes die the same,” I muse. “Who cares about their origin?” That message finally seems to get through to her, and she pales.
“So to make sure there is no misunderstanding. Ara is part of my flight. If you threaten her, you threaten me, and you don’t want that, believe me.
” She swallows and gives me a hasty nod.
And on a hunch, I add, “Oh, and maybe you want to tell Foley I said that, too.” She pales even more before hurrying off. Interesting.
I leave the nearly empty academy behind and make my way to the training field. Today, it would have been easy to find it with my eyes closed, the commotion audible long before it comes in sight.
Do I hope that threat solves the problem with Livia? Yes, but I won’t hold my breath. She seems to be the kind of person who doesn’t know when to give up, and if she is in it with Foley… Perhaps we should address that problem more permanently.
“Where were you?” Jared greets me as soon as I set foot onto the field, which is bustling with activity. Sixteen flights are competing, and every rider who isn’t part of it or on patrol is present to see us off.
“I had to take care of something,” I tell him while my gaze wanders over the birds and people crowding the field. Thanks to Daeva and the now black Solaris, our flight is easy to spot between the mainly white and brown birds.
“Quite the spectacle, isn’t it?” Jared comments, and I have to agree.
Our flight and the other three flights of my division have gathered on the south side of the field, so we make our way over to them.
ARA
Our first trial is what I would describe as a messed-up scavenger hunt. Every flight has to find three eggs hidden in the mountains. We have maps, provisions, our birds, and three days to find them. The messed-up part about it is that we are allowed to open fire and steal them from each other, too.
A flight is allowed to return as soon as it has three eggs. The order of return will be the placement.
“We will build three teams. Smaller groups will make us faster and less noticeable.” Tate eyes the groups we have already built and stops on me and my friend.
“Absolutely not.” He shakes his head. “One first year per group, not a group of first years.” I huff out a breath and cross my arms, but Mariel and Calix nod. Traitors.
Mariel heads over to Joel and Tanner, and I make a beeline toward Miller, Boko, and Zaza. There is no way I’ll pair up with Tate. So Calix ends up with Tate and Jared.
Tate narrows his eyes at me like he wants to object, but then just shakes his head and turns away.
“Well, let's go then. Every group has a map?” he asks. Zaza and Tanner nod. “No unnecessary risks—”
“And no dying,” Jared says, making everyone chuckle. “We know, we know.”
“Is everyone aware of the meeting point?” Tate goes on as if Jared hadn't said anything. “If you get separated from your team, go there and keep your head down until the rest of us are in. If someone needs help—”
“Our bird will let the others know,” Jared throws in again. “Tate, you mother hen, this is not our first mission,” he complains.
“Not yours, maybe, but there are some who haven't been out with us yet.” Our centurion raises his eyebrows at his friend, then looks at Mariel, Calix, and me. “Do you have any questions?”
We shake our heads. His briefing yesterday was pretty extensive, so I doubt there’ll be anything we haven't heard about yet.
“Fine.” He nods. “Then let's head to our birds and wait for the signal.”
I clamber on Solaris’s back, and the added height gives me a good overview of the field around us. It's the one we used for target practice with Sanders, but with 160 huge birds occupying the space, and countless riders running around, it seems smaller than usual.
White, black, and brown feathers rustle. Cawing, excited murmurs, and shouts hover over the field, the atmosphere a mix of excitement and nerves.
I strap myself in, cursing when the stiff, snug leather of the breastplate limits my movements in ways I’m not used to yet. It's the first time I'm in full armor, and while the armor makes it hard to bend over, the helmet limits my perception.
It's still early morning, but I do not doubt that I will cuss at the extra layers of protection later when the sun is up and I hike through the mountains. I twist and check my bags, secured to the harness behind me, then my bow, spear, and sword. Once I’m sure everything is in place and won’t go anywhere, there is nothing left to do.
The commotion slowly dies down as more and more riders mount their birds, bringing on a silence loaded with tension.
I pat Solaris’s neck, who shifts restlessly from one leg to the other.
“Is the excitement getting to you, too, handsome?” I ask him.
“I don't know about you, but the thought that someone will shoot at you soon makes this somehow less fun,” he answers.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell him, patting my armor, more thankful than apprehensive now.
A fanfare gives us the go. Tate’s hand mirrors the command only a heartbeat later.
We rise as one, the sigh breathtaking. A sea of birds surrounds us, the collective beating of their wings drowning out even the cheer of the crowd that came to see us off.
Then the feathered cloud breaks apart into sixteen units, Tate and Daeva taking over the lead of our flight.
Huge V-formations fill the sky, drifting apart, heading for the mountains.
Flying on Solaris’s back is effortless. Our thoughts being one, I don't have to rely on the cues they taught us during flight classes. I only have to think about the direction and often not even that, since he knows our destination as well as I do.
We head for the location that Tate chose as the starting point. We approach low, using the surrounding mountains and then the trees as cover.
Just like Tate instructed, our birds rise as soon as we dismounted, heading farther north to conceal our exact location. They still wear their harnesses and our packs as well as the spears. Bow and quiver are strapped to our backs now, as well as the swords and daggers.
I follow Zaza uphill. Tate's plan of separating into groups helps us cover more ground quickly. And we have two more areas to cover after this one.
“No climbing,” Tate shouts after me, but I ignore him. I'm not going to promise that while we are surrounded by mountains.
“Daeva says you’ll be a sitting duck on the face of the cliff. If they spot you, they can easily shoot you down, and you have no chance to counter. Also, if you disobey this time, Tate will chain you to him.” Solaris’s voice sounds distant.
I scoff, dismissing it.
“What he doesn't know won't rile him up,” I answer.
“Is that what you want me to answer?” Solaris teases, before turning serious. “Please be careful. Daeva showed me how they found you after you slipped.”
His words spark memories of the day Tate learned my biggest secret. A secret he's still keeping. Unconsciously, I seek out his signature and fight the urge to check if I can still spot him.
“This is stupid,” I utter under my breath, continuing instead of looking behind me. I recognize the three gifts of the riders in my team, and there is a faint pulsing above us.
I peer up at the cliff next to us.
“It's right above us,” I whisper, but Zaza, who walks right in front of me, still hears and turns around.
“What?”
“I think what we are looking for is right above us.” I point up. It’s stronger now that I concentrate on it.
“How would you—?” she asks, then checks her map. “That is not where it is supposed to be.” She shakes her head.
“I saw something up there,” I insist.
“Well then, let's continue up and we’ll double back to check it out,” she says, still not convinced. I look up at the cliff and then the winding path in front of us.
“How about I climb up there and save us the time?” I say.
“Ara, you heard Kyronos. He said no climbing, and I don't think he was talking to us.”
No, he wasn't. But this is stupid. I'm not going to stop climbing just because I fell one time.
“Tate isn't even here,” I tell her.
“Ara,” Zaza warns, “he will be furious.”
“Then we're not going to tell him.” I grin at her. “Just think about how happy he’ll be when we have the first egg before noon.”
Ahead, the two men realize we stayed back and turn around.
“What’s going on?” Boko asks, and Zaza explains the situation. I use the chance and get started.
“I still don't think—” She turns back to me, but stops when she finds me already on my way up. My helmet dangles on my belt, which I moved so my sword is at my back and not in the way. She sighs.
“I’ll be right back,” I call down and continue up.
My body starts to heat despite the cool morning air, and I enjoy the feeling of freedom. There's nearly no wind, but the wall is still in the shade, and the stone is cool beneath my fingers.
I carefully choose every hold, but the rock is more stable than the last time, and I feel myself relax. My racing heart calms with my progress, and as far as Tate's threat goes… He won’t even know it, and even if he finds out, he won’t chain me to him. That's ridiculous.