11
PUNISHMENT
MORNINGLEAF WOKE TO THE FLURRY OF WINGBEATS. She looked toward the commotion, her heart stalling. Rockwing soared over Sky Meadow accompanied by a small battalion of warriors. She skittered to her hooves and whinnied softly for her mother.
“Shh,” her brother Hazelwind said.
“Where’s Mama? Where’s Star?”
“Silvercloud is over there.” He nodded toward their mother, who was across the meadow, standing with Grasswing. Silvercloud’s face was solemn and her body deathly still. “What has she done?” asked Morningleaf.
“She hid Star,” Hazelwind said, his voice as quiet as a summer breeze.
Morningleaf’s jaw dropped. “Where? Why?”
Suddenly the herd became restless. Hazelwind and Morningleaf glanced up to see the over-stallion of Mountain Herd and a few of his warriors descending in a slow circle. Hazelwind whispered, “To keep him safe. Listen.”
Thunderwing assembled four warrior battalions and surrounded Rockwing when he landed. Rockwing, outnumbered by his enemies, stood with one leg resting, looking unconcerned.
“Rockwing should be afraid,” said Morningleaf.
Hazelwind snorted. “I’ve seen him in battle; nothing scares him.”
“You may speak,” Thunderwing said to Rockwing.
Rockwing stretched his wings and refolded them. He took his time, eyeing the mares and fillies with interest.
Morningleaf and Hazelwind watched their father’s muscles twitch. The Sun Herd warriors curled their lips, showing their teeth, but they held steady, waiting. When Rockwing spoke, his voice was as commanding as Thunderwing’s. “Your weanlings trespassed into my territory, and your warriors killed two of my stallions. In return, I want the black foal.”
Morningleaf lost her breath. “No.” She surged forward.
Hazelwind tackled her, whispering in her ear, “This is why she hid him; now be quiet.”
Morningleaf peeked at her mother. Except for the occasional spasmodic twitch of her wing, Silvercloud stood as still as a stone beside Grasswing. Fear overwhelmed Morningleaf like a swelling river overrunning its banks. She twisted free of Hazelwind and cantered to her mother, drawing the eye of Rockwing.
Thunderwing distracted the foreign stallion. “You can’t have the colt,” he said.
Rockwing flared his wings. “I’m offering a trade.”
Thunderwing shook his mane. “Keep the weanlings.”
Crystalfeather and Rowanwood bleated in outrage.
Thunderwing whirled on them, ears pinned, neck coiled like a snake. “They broke the law,” he snapped. The mares hunched and slunk away.
The rest of Sun Herd pranced in place, threatening to bolt, or worse, to stampede into the sky. Thunderwing whinnied an order, grounding all of them.
“You won’t trade?” said Rockwing, curious.
“I won’t.” Thunderwing lashed his tail.
“All right then, have it your way.” His last words rumbled forth in a low growl, and Morningleaf’s feathers stood on end. Rockwing was declaring war—not outright, but it was coming. She leaned into her mother and watched Rockwing and his warriors gallop into the clouds.
Rage detonated Sun Herd, and Twistfire led the crusade. He knew Thunderwing wouldn’t trade the colt, so he and a band of stallions confronted Silvercloud and Morningleaf. “Give us the black foal.”
Silvercloud shook her head. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Twistfire reared, threatening Silvercloud. “The weanlings’ deaths will be on your wings if you don’t give him up. Where is he?”
Thousands of eyes scanned Sky Meadow, everyone searching for Star.
Thunderwing landed in a flurry of red feathers along with Jetfire. “What’s going on here?”
Twistfire arched his neck. “I’ll trade the black foal myself if you won’t.”
Thunderwing’s expression blackened, and Morningleaf crouched in her sire’s shadow. “Sun Herd won’t trade the black foal,” he said. “We are the guardian herd. It is our responsibility to protect him or destroy him.”
“Not to trade him is to abandon the weanlings,” said Twistfire with unmasked hostility. “Or has your mate convinced you that the foal is good?”
Thunderwing kicked Twistfire so hard and fast that Morningleaf didn’t see the strike, only the effect of it. Twistfire flew over backward and landed upside down on his wings.
“Put him under guard,” said Thunderwing. Jetfire took custody of Twistfire.
Morningleaf stayed close to her mother. The whole world seemed upside down. The adults were fighting, Star was gone, and innocent weanlings were in danger. “Why didn’t he trade Star?” Morningleaf asked Silvercloud, confused. “He hates him.” Maybe her father was starting to believe.
Silvercloud read her thoughts. “Nothing has changed, Morningleaf. Rockwing wants to make a pact with Star, to rule Anok. He’s hoping Star is the destroyer. Your father knows that, and I guess he’s decided not to take the chance of it happening, not even for the lives of the weanlings. The rest of Sun Herd doesn’t understand. They are ruled by emotion, and they aren’t looking into the future. Besides, Star was born to our herd, and it’s Thunderwing’s duty to . . . handle him—no matter what.”
“You mean kill him.”
Silvercloud didn’t answer.
Morningleaf glared at the Hundred Year Star blazing above their heads. “Are you sure he’s safe, Mama?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Thunderwing held a brief meeting with his captains and then returned to Silvercloud. “Give me the colt,” he said. “I’ll keep him safe until his birthday.”
The irony of his words was not lost on Morningleaf or her mother. Silvercloud lifted her chin in defiance. “Until he’s a yearling, Star is a foal and under my protection.”
Their eyes locked, and Morningleaf watched her parents argue without speaking. Over twenty years together had erased the need for words—their relationship was like a deep river: calm at the top but always moving below, carving the land between them. Finally her father spoke. “Where is he?” he asked, his tone grim.
Her mother merely shrugged her silver wings.
Thunderwing turned on Morningleaf. “Tell me where to find him.”
She trembled. “I don’t know, Father.”
Thunderwing paused, looking at them. “So be it,” he said, and he flew to his captains, ordered the formation of search parties, and dispatched them to look for Star.
“It’s happening,” whispered Morningleaf, her belly crawling like she’d eaten a mouthful of bugs. “They’re going to find out what you did.”
Silvercloud exhaled. “Just stay calm.”
Two days passed, and the search parties failed to find Star. Thunderwing interrogated Sun Herd one by one. Finally it was Bumblewind who cracked; he’d seen Silvercloud leave with Star.
Thunderwing exploded and confronted Morningleaf’s mother. “Bumblewind says he saw you and Star heading to the Drink the night of the kidnapping. He says you returned and Star didn’t.”
Bumblewind sulked nearby, and Morningleaf saw guilt and fear in his eyes, but his sister was missing, and Bumblewind thought Star was the key to getting her back. Morningleaf couldn’t really blame him for telling.
But Silvercloud said nothing.
Thunderwing lashed his tail. “You didn’t lose him, Silvercloud. You hid him; now everyone knows it.”
“I hid him where you’ll never find him,” Silvercloud admitted.
Thunderwing crashed his wings together, sending crimson feathers floating over the grass. “You should have let the foal die with his mother.” Bitterness sharpened Morningleaf’s father’s voice. “It would have been natural, and we would not be dealing with this now. Do you understand the consequences of what you’ve done?”
Silvercloud nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
“If he’s the destroyer, you have condemned us all to death.” Thunderwing sagged, defeated. “This is treason, Silvercloud.”
Silvercloud nodded again, and Morningleaf braced herself. The punishment for treason was execution.
“No!” Bumblewind cried. “I’m sorry, Silvercloud. I just—I just want Echofrost back.”
A whimper escaped Morningleaf’s lips, and Silvercloud’s attention snapped back to her filly. “You’re all Star has left,” she said to Morningleaf. “Hold steady.”
Morningleaf choked back her tears and nodded.
Thunderwing turned to Silvercloud. A lead mare had never committed treason before in anyone’s memory. While it was punishable by death, the killing of a mate was forbidden. Morningleaf wondered what her father would do. She shuddered, remembering a nightmare she’d had—one in which her sire choked her, his own filly, and then snapped her neck.
“Silvercloud, daughter of Seaheart, you are banished from Sun Herd for the rest of your life. You are no longer Silvercloud, lead mare of Sun Herd. You are now Silverlake, lone mare of no herd.” Thunderwing spoke without a trace of emotion.
The Sun Herd steeds flapped their wings, whispering. Banishment was a fate worse than death.
“Father!” cried Morningleaf, charging him. “No, please.”
Thunderwing blocked her with his wings. “Someday you’ll understand,” he said.
Morningleaf faced him, her chin firm, jaw clenched. “I hope I never do!” She turned around and flew toward her mother.
Silvercloud, now Silverlake, sagged, and Morningleaf darted to her side, relieved her mother wouldn’t be killed but terrified too. Pegasi didn’t survive long alone, and of course contact with Sun Herd would be forbidden.
“You will leave in the morning,” said Thunderwing. “Whoever loves you has one night to say good-bye.” With that he flew away.
It was a long night for Morningleaf and Silverlake. Hundreds of pegasi came to pay their respects and to say good-bye. Sweetroot reviewed all the possible medicines Silverlake might need in the wild, including one to take her life if she grew weary of the loneliness.
Silverlake shook her head. “I won’t need that.”
When the procession was over, Silverlake snuggled with her filly. Morningleaf fell asleep, and when she woke, her mother was gone.
Morningleaf rested under the willow tree all day, thinking and crying. This was where Star had sought shade after their first fight. For such a helpless foal, he’d made quite a mark on Sun Herd. They were broken and fighting and on the brink of war with Mountain Herd. If Star were the healer, how could such destruction follow in his wake?