Serrated peaks gnawed the horizon. Cold winds swept from the north. The mountains that had never seemed to disappear when Fleet journeyed towards Snowhaven, looming in the background like thunderheads, now never seemed to get any closer, remaining the same size, elusive in the distance. As the terrain became more rugged, animal corpses littered the trail, from tiny mice to massive deer, their eyes glazed and guts spilled, reeking of poison. Fleet’s rage at their cruel deaths simmered beneath his skin, heating his resolve to find Shadow and make him pay—or lose his life in the effort.
Only the hope that many other creatures might have reached the safety of Shimmering Lake helped him control his anger. The nearer they approached Obsidian Caves, the more the wound on his rump throbbed. His dark moods increased. For Tatuk’s sake, he tempered his attitude towards Jasper, needing the dragon to improve the richness of the alpine tundra for him and create nourishment for Yuma. Even with the pain, he welcomed the warmth of Yuma on his back—a companion he had come to rely on. At least Sapphire had been right that he could trust the man.
Despite Tatuk’s reassurance that Fleet could also trust Jasper, his guts squirmed whenever he looked at his sire. His sire. The notion weighed like a boulder. Would letting the unicorn accompany him prove unwise? At least he had taught Fleet to shield his thoughts. He also shared stories of the places they passed through, regaling them with the antics of the goddess and her creations in far more colour than Tress had shared. Often, Yuma asked for clarification of some fact or other for the songs he was developing to share with his people. Absorbed in the conversations, Fleet could almost forget the urgency of their mission, and who Jasper was.
With the lengthening days giving them more time to travel, and the constant pain, Fleet wearied and paid little attention to where they were going, letting Tatuk and Jasper guide him. He had no idea where to go anyway. On and on they cantered, only trotting or walking where the terrain demanded a safer pace. Each night they stopped for Yuma to cook and sleep. Fleet alternated dozing and grazing while Jasper disappeared into the dark, claiming he wanted to enjoy the land in his new pain-free state and talk with any animals left alive. Too tired to question his sire’s motives, Fleet pushed away worries of what Jasper might really be doing.
After a night of fitful dozing, he woke to a blood-red sunrise. Foothills loomed as if they had crept closer while he slept. Soon after they set off, the track ahead wound between two narrow pillars into a desolate land of basalt crags. The stone towers loomed like guardians of a different world, dark and sinister. Thunderheads roiled, blocking the meagre light from the interior of the rock forest. A sulphurous odour drifted on the wind. Dread prickled Fleet’s coat like sticky burrs needling him at every step.
Tatuk alighted on his crest. “I can’t go any further. Eat well before you pass the Sentinels.”
Fleet halted. “I’m sorry my mood is upsetting you.”
The dragon flitted to the branch of a dead tree. “It isn’t you.”
Fleet dithered. They had arrived at Obsidian Caves. Now that a confrontation with Shadow loomed, he wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to go further without the dragon’s help. What was he doing here? Why must he be the one to save Equinora, not the unicorns?
Jasper trotted in circles. “I thought dragons could cross veils the same as any of the goddess’s creatures.”
Tatuk folded his wings and refused to budge. “There’s too much evil. I’ll wait here.”
His stomach rumbling, Fleet cajoled and begged to no effect. “You must come! I demand it!”
The dragon disappeared in a flash.
Jasper nudged Fleet on the neck. “Don’t worry, I suspect it won’t take long to find Shadow. We’ll either defeat him or be destroyed ourselves soon enough. Either way there’s little need for food.”
Fleet inhaled deeply. Poison thrummed through his veins. Images of rotting corpses flashed through his brain. A picture of Sapphire lying beneath the bloodwolf stabbed his heart. He would avenge her death. He would find a cure for his sickness. He would do all he could to save Equinora—if he lived.
He strode between the Sentinels.
His guts roiled in waves of nausea as he crossed the boundary. Rain slashed his face and crimson torrents ran down pillars of black rock like the wet fur of a bloodwolf. Fleet bowed into the wind, Yuma shivering on his back. Icy rivulets streamed off the man’s clothes and down Fleet’s sides as he splashed along the zigzag trail.
The lack of light made it impossible to discern how long they trekked through the jagged peaks. With only one path, no decisions about which way to go were needed. Every so often Jasper sniffed at huge dung piles and confirmed they belonged to Shadow. “He can’t be far. We must take care.”
Step after step, Fleet plodded on. He missed Tatuk’s cheerful chatter. His rump throbbed and his head threatened to split. If he’d had the energy to climb one of the peaks, he’d throw himself off—no, the depression came from the poison in his bloodstream. Being within Shadow’s territory must be exacerbating the effect. He must fight it. He tucked his nose in behind Jasper’s tail. Let him lead for a while.
Lost in his misery, Fleet bumped into Jasper where he had stopped in front of a narrow passage, his horn pointing upwards.
Fleet searched the mountain tops, blinking against the rain. Silhouetted by lightning against the stormclouds, an enormous black horse reared, his hooves flashing as he pawed the air, his crimson mane and tail flowing like blood. Two thick horns curved backwards from between the stallion’s ears, circling round level with his eyes. He neighed deep reverberations of thunder.
The ground trembled. A rumble resounded from the hillside.
Jasper barged back past Fleet and lunged into a gallop. “Run!”
Fleet bolted. Sharp rocks lacerated his soles. A cascade of stone plummeted from the mountain and wedged in the pass. Black dust billowed.
Gasping, Fleet pulled up next to Jasper under an overhang, out of the way of the rocks showering down the mountain. “Did Shadow do that?”
Jasper squeezed under a protective ledge. “An avalanche is easy to create. He must have wanted to trap us in the canyon to prevent us from reaching him.”
Fleet raged. He hadn’t come this far to confront only a pile of stones. “He’ll have to do more than that to stop us.”
“We’ll have to go back to the Sentinels and find another way.” Jasper set off back along the trail.
“Wait! I didn’t see any other tracks on the way in, and Tatuk would have told us if there was another entry, surely. We need to think this through. We’ve come so far.”
Yuma slid from Fleet’s back. “I’ll start a fire to warm us while we plan what to do.”
Fleet agreed a fire would be good. “You have rope. We could haul the stones away.”
Spray flew from Jasper’s coat as he shook himself. “That will take even longer.”
Yuma extracted a twist of dry grasses from his pack and rubbed Fleet down. “We need a powerful tool like the one that carved the ledge for the feathers. What could have done that?”
Jasper fidgeted. “You have sharp eyes. I did that with my horn.”
Excited at the news, Fleet nudged Jasper in the shoulder. “So you could carve a way through the rock-fall.”
“That was a long time ago. I haven’t had much need to carve rock since. I don’t even know if I can now my horn has been straightened.”
“You must try!” Fleet shoved Jasper in the ribs.
“What if it twists again? I can’t go back to a life of pain.” He walked away.
Fleet bit him on the rump. “We’re so close! Do it for Sapphire, if not for me. You owe her!”
Jasper halted and stared him in the eye. “Alright, I’ll try. Pray to the goddess I’ve retained my powers.”
As Fleet and Yuma warmed themselves, Jasper headed back to the rockfall. Each time he returned to rest he looked more fatigued. Flecks of rock specked his face and chest. A thin trickle of blood ran down one foreleg where a shard had sliced his skin. “I can’t do any more. There’s so little energy to draw on here. I can’t cut down to the path.”
Fleet wouldn’t be defeated. “We’ll have to scramble over.”
Yuma poked the remnants of the fire. “Isn’t that dangerous? The rocks could give way and crush us. And think of your feet. They’re already badly cut.”
Jasper threw Fleet a quizzical glance. “I don’t understand why you’re suffering so much.”
“I’m only a horse, remember? Not a unicorn.” Envisioning Sapphire’s rape, Fleet’s ire boiled. He paced in the confined space, blowing hard.
Jasper watched him without moving. “Maybe it’s time we sought help from the other unicorns.”
“Now you suggest that! How long will it take them to get here?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know where they are. Or what they could do. None of us could beat Shadow before Aureana locked him up.”
Fleet stopped and held himself tall. “Call them if you will, but animals are dying and Equinora is being ruined as we delay. I’m going on, with or without you.”
The rain froze to sleet as Fleet scrambled over the tumbled rocks, Jasper on his tail, the passage barely wide enough to squeeze through.
No sound or movement gave any sign of Shadow being near.
Once through, with more scrapes and cuts driving his anger, Fleet broke into a trot alongside Jasper, ignoring the pain in his soles. “Any idea how far we have to go?”
Jasper didn’t slow. “No. Perhaps we’d better find a safe place for the night.”
Needing to regain his strength, Fleet agreed with reluctance. “We should take turns at standing guard. I’ll go first.”
His watch was uneventful, but the remainder of his night passed in fits of shivering interspersed with nightmares of bloodwolves and his dam’s screams. When it was time to move, he was more tired than when he had stopped. Hunger gnawed at his innards. In desperation, he ate the grass wisp Yuma had used to groom him. The quicker he ended this mission, one way or another, the better.
As soon as Yuma had packed up, Fleet urged him to mount and stumbled into a trot. He pushed on, the wind chasing them through canyons and pelting them as they crossed barren ridges. Swirling floodwaters threatened to wash them off stone bridges or coated them with icy spray as they leapt from bank to bank. Scant vegetation clung to crevices in the cliffs—he ignored his hunger pangs, trotting on, on, on.
Drenched, sore, and depressed, he struggled to maintain speed, envious of Jasper’s floating trot. The track opened onto a field of boulders, the wide expanse bleak through the lashing rain. Walls of basalt bordered the valley, with no sign of an exit. At the end of the canyon the circular mouth of a cave hunkered at the base of a sheer cliff. Fleet lumbered alongside Jasper, tripping over rocks with heavy hooves.
A howl echoed from the cliffs.
Fleet halted, head raised, and scanned the walls of rock. “It’s probably a trick of the wind.” With visibility almost nil, he picked his way across the sharp stones.
Yuma’s knees tightened on Fleet’s sides. “It might be a trap.”
Doubts clung in Fleet’s mind like briars in his mane. He had seen Shadow, his black and crimson colouring mirroring Jasper’s in reverse. Was that significant, or merely a reflection of the goddess’s creation? He paused. “Shadow will have to come out to eat and drink eventually. We can wait for him here.”
Jasper paced around. “He’ll know these lava tubes well. No doubt there’s another exit. Besides, he has no need to go anywhere. Do you think Aureana would have caged him here if he needed to eat? He’ll draw power from the storm.”
“In that case we have no choice.” He would have to go into the tunnel. With every muscle on edge, Fleet led the way. His hooves clopped on the ice-slick cave floor, echoing off the walls that enclosed him as he traipsed into the dark.
Yuma released his hands from Fleet’s mane. “Why don’t I light a torch? I have a small amount of fat left.”
The tiny light barely illuminated one horse length ahead, adding flickering shadows to the menace. Fleet feared his bones would crack from tension. Placing each hoof with care, he advanced. He stopped and held his breath to listen. Only the trickle of water broke the stillness, the cave walls dampening any other sounds.
A glow drew Fleet on. He entered a large chamber. Lava oozed in bubbles of orange and red like a giant deformed caterpillar crawling across the floor, the air thick with heat and fumes, the walls rippling in the wavering light like a waterfall of rock.
Fleet halted, nostrils flared. He pricked his ears, sensing another presence. Every hair stood erect as his eyes adjusted to the cavern’s tricks. He threw his head up in alarm.
Shadow stood proud on a platform, declaring dominion over his territory. “So, you have come, a trio of misfits. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
All Fleet’s anger surged in a rush of adrenalin. He leapt to the edge of molten rock and lashed out with a front hoof, striking the ground in a burst of agony, the radiant heat keeping him at bay. “Stop destroying Equinora! In the name of the goddess I demand you call back your beasts!”
Shadow leapt over the lava stream to stand opposite Fleet and Jasper. “And who’s going to make me? A crippled unicorn, a desperate noncorn, and a wandering human? You may entertain me with your attempts, but don’t think I’ll play with you for long. I tire of creatures once their spirit is broken.”
Fleet arched his neck and stood four-square. “Moonglow foresaw your doom!” Although the Spirit Unicorn’s prophecy had no such conclusion, the declaration made him feel stronger.
Shadow paraded in front of them. “Oh, I’m so scared. An exiled unicorn has brought his son to teach him about good and evil. How touching. This may be amusing after all.”
Jasper advanced and screamed a challenge. “What makes you think he’s my son?”
Shadow tossed his head. “Surely you can’t believe I don’t have mind communication? I’m stronger than all six of you! Just because I’ve chosen to block you from my thoughts doesn’t mean I can’t hear your puerile chatter. I’ve been listening since Gemstone first sought help.”
Shock drove Fleet back. What else had this evil creature heard? “You’ll know, then, that we won’t stop until you’re defeated!”
Shadow’s lip curled in a sneer. “Spoken just like your grandsire. I’m almost proud of you, Prince Fleet of Foot of Dark Woods.”
Fleet’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? If Jasper sired me, Cirrus can’t be my grandsire. Jasper was created by the goddess.”
“But what about your dam? Where do you think your colour comes from? How do you think you’ve resisted the bloodwolf poison? Any other creature would be dead and rotting by now. Your resistance proves your bloodline.”
Fleet trembled. “My dam was a good mare, Echo’s granddaughter.”
“Ah yes, so I heard. But I mated Mist before I was locked up here, your dam’s dam and Echo’s daughter.” Shadow’s crimson eyes glinted and his scarlet nostrils flared. “I always preferred a mare with unicorn blood, a small revenge. Even that’s denied me now.”
Fleet’s bottled-up anger and despair found an outlet. “You lie! I’ll kill you!”
He charged.
Shadow leapt forward, eyes rolling and teeth bared.
Jasper flung himself between them, thrusting Fleet aside and striking at Shadow with his horn. The stallions reared and locked heads, their horns clashing as they writhed. Hooves struck and drew blood. Teeth gnashed and tore flesh. Their bodies entwined and writhed, black on red and red on black, like the molten rock creeping over the cavern floor.
Fleet ran at Shadow.
Jasper blocked his way.
Again, Fleet launched in to attack, unable to make contact.
Ripples of power emanated from the two stallions, intensifying as their bodies clashed.
Fleet screamed in frustration. “Yuma! The feathers!”
Remaining astride, Yuma extracted the golden feathers from his quiver. One after the other they flew and struck Shadow, hitting his rump, chest and neck before clanging to the floor. Not even a scratch marked the black hide.
The two hotbloods fought on. Lightning flashed from their horns. Sweat and blood streaked their coats. The smell of sizzling hair and burnt flesh hung in the air.
Fleet stood rigid in silence, helpless, his mind a whirl. Was this really his sire and grandsire? The notion was harder than the rock surrounding him. At least the intensity of the fight reassured him Jasper was not the threat to Equinora. Tatuk’s belief in the good of unicorns was deserved. Hope rose in Fleet’s heart. Perhaps the goddess’s plan was for him to save Jasper after all.
Desire to know his sire better fought with his pain and anger. He wanted to fight alongside him and destroy Shadow. He had to do something. But he was no match against their power. And Jasper had raped Sapphire! His indecision bubbled like the lava encroaching across the floor. Perhaps it was better to let them kill each other.
The fight raged. One moment Shadow looked to be flagging, the next Jasper floundered to his knees. The battle of wills as well as bodies was palpable. Shadow grew in strength whenever the fight neared the lava. Jasper did his best to keep away from the seeping rock. The stallions’ hooves slipped on the smooth floor as they thrust chest against chest.
Fleet could only watch, transfixed by the spectacle, frustrated and confused.
A wild scream echoed around the chamber. Jasper struck the wall of the cavern with his horn. A shower of rocks became a torrent. He blocked Shadow and screamed at Fleet. “Get out! The roof’s collapsing!”
Obsidian shards knifed from the ceiling.
Fleet raced away, Yuma clinging to his mane. He dashed back towards the entrance, struggling to maintain his balance on the slippery rock, weaving around bends in the narrow tunnel.
Escape!
Fleet had no sense of a new danger until he spied a silver net across the entrance. A great white orb as large as his body glistened at its centre. He braked and skidded, his hooves unable to gain purchase on the smooth wet surface.
Eight long legs detached from the web and beckoned him.
Fleet fell onto his side, still moving.
Yuma catapulted off.
Riderless, Fleet slid to the embrace of the giant spider.
Yuma came to with a splitting headache and shook his head to clear his vision. He blinked in an attempt to make sense of the scene. Fleet hung suspended by silver strands across the entrance of the lava tube, immobilised by gossamer threads, unable to even twitch his ears. A giant pearl perched on his rump.
Struggling to sit, Yuma pushed against the walls. Flakes of obsidian peeled off and cut his hands. He picked the sharp stone from his flesh and waited for the vision to dissipate.
“Get away, Yuma. Find another exit.” Fleet’s muffled plea whispered through fine gauze.
Pain threatened to drop Yuma to the ground as he jumped to his feet. His right arm hung crooked. Ignoring the break, he advanced another step.
Two snowy mandibles raised in response. “Stop. Mine. You. Next.”
The croaky voice sent a cold trickle through his veins. He had no idea how to tackle the spider. Although he’d replenished his arrows, he couldn’t draw his bow with a broken arm. And if he killed it and the strands were magic, he might not be able to free Fleet. What if the spider had already injected Fleet with its venom? He must do something, and quickly. “Don’t hurt the horse! He’s on a mission from the goddess. She won’t be happy if you hinder him.”
“Hungry. Winter. Long.” The spider skittered over Fleet’s back, sparkling like sunlight on snow crystals. Her long legs wrapped more silk around Fleet’s head and neck.
“Stop! I can hunt for you. You needn’t feed on Fleet. There are many creatures in the valleys.” Yuma gabbled on, saying anything to hold the monster’s attention. He introduced himself and gave Fleet’s full title, hoping to impress the spider with the horse’s lineage. “What’s your name?”
“Snag.”
“You’re very beautiful. Please let me help you catch something else.” Yuma maintained a wary distance from the spider’s reach.
“How?”
Yuma explained how he could play his pipe to attract animals.
“Give.”
He rummaged in his pack with his good arm and played a series of warbling tunes one-handed. Birds gathered outside the cave.
Snag spun a fine net and, after easing to the other side of the web, cast it in the air. The sticky material snared a snowy owl.
“No!” Yuma couldn’t bear to see the magnificent bird of prey fall victim to the spider. His mind churned to come up with a solution.
Snag wrapped and stored the owl on the edge of her web before preparing another net.
Yuma waved his pipe. “Now you’ve seen how it works, I’ll give you this in return for releasing Fleet. You’ll be able to call all the food you want.”
Snag returned to Yuma’s side of the web and stared at him with eight crimson eyes. The hair on her legs bristled. “Eat. You. Have. Pipe.”
“I’ll break it if you don’t let us go. Please, it’s a good gift.” Knowing spiders didn’t breathe through their mouth parts, he also knew she should be unable to play music. But she could talk! Or was it Tatuk’s scale enabling him to understand her? No, a spider that large had to be another of Shadow’s creations.
He played a few more notes.
“Good. Gift.”
Yuma’s heart raced. Was Snag agreeing, or repeating his words? He held out the pipe, ready to retreat if the spider tried to trick him. “Release him first, then I’ll give you the pipe.”
Snag didn’t move.
“Okay. I’ll put the pipe down here. You can retrieve it when we’re free.” Yuma placed the musical instrument on a protruding rock and walked with his back to the wall, his spear in his left hand.
“You. Tear. Permit.” Snag extricated herself from the web and scuttled a staccato patter towards the pipe.
Yuma leapt towards Fleet and grabbed handfuls of silk. The softness rather than stickiness surprised him. The threads wouldn’t tear. He grabbed a shard of obsidian, slashed at the fibres, and tore them away from Fleet’s head, worried he might suffocate.
Fleet had sunk into a stupor. As his face came clear, he sighed and shuddered. “Leave me. It’s better I die. I’m Shadow’s grandson. Black like him. Evil.”
Yuma grabbed one of Fleet’s ears and twisted. “Don’t talk like that! Quick, kick through the silk as I cut it.”
Snag picked up the pipe and inspected it with her mandibles. The only sound came from her clacking legs.
Yuma hacked at the fine strands, amazed at their strength. They came free, the strands sticking only to themselves, not his hands. Hurrying before Snag changed her mind, he cut Fleet free.
Fleet’s head drooped. “Go without me. The feathers are lost. Jasper is dead. I’ve failed.”
Angry at Fleet’s tone, Yuma stuffed the obsidian shard in a pouch in his jerkin. “If Jasper is dead then so is Shadow. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s the poison.”
Not knowing how quickly Snag could make more silk, he rolled it into a small bundle and stowed it on top of his pack, worried the spider might be able to re-use it. He leant against Fleet to steady himself. Adrenalin tingled in his chest as he struggled to mount from the offside, unable to use his right arm. He swung his left leg over and hugged his arm to his chest. “Let’s get out of here.”
Fleet didn’t move.
Snag waved her hind legs and started spinning a net.
“Run, Fleet! For Sapphire’s sake!” He booted Fleet in the ribs, something he’d never done before.
Fleet sprang out of the entrance and galloped down the track. The sound of drumming followed them as Snag rebuilt the web across the cave’s entrance.
The pain in Yuma’s arm became too intense for the fast pace. “Slow down, I think we’re safe.”
Fleet dropped to a walk. “Why did you save me?”
“You’ll feel better once we’re away from this place. Tatuk will be waiting for us.”
Away from danger, sadness swamped Yuma at the loss of Jasper. But with Shadow’s death, at least their mission was over.
Hooves pounded from a side valley. Fleet pricked his ears towards the sound.
Yuma stared. No-one could have survived the collapse of the mountain.
Jasper thundered along a narrow cliff edge, blood from numerous wounds streaking his neck and chest.
Yuma remained astride as they waited for Jasper, in too much pain to dismount.
Jasper arrived, puffing hard. “Get moving. Shadow’s following. Cross the barrier!”
With renewed haste, Fleet set off for the Sentinels. Yuma rode in silence, the speed jolting his broken arm.
Jasper slowed, his muscles quivering.
Relieved, Yuma burst with questions. “How did you get away? Did you encounter Snag?”
“No. I tunnelled out a side wall where I could sense it was thin. The effort was almost too much for me. I can’t use the source of power Shadow feeds on. He escaped via another route. I don’t know how long it’ll take him to catch up.” Jasper plodded on.
The basalt pillars at the edge of Shadow’s territory came into sight.
Fleet trembled as they passed through the Sentinels, nausea rising in his throat and shudders racking his skeleton.
Tatuk remained perched on a ledge, a tiny jewelled dot on a sea of rock.
Yuma winced as they jolted to a halt. “Tatuk! Thank the Mother you’re still here. We could all do with some of your food, please. Then we’ll tell you what happened.”
Tatuk fluttered in the air and flapped his wings. “Jasper is stuck! He can’t get past the barrier.”
The possibility of Jasper being restricted by the Goddess’s cage had never occurred to any of them. Yuma urged Fleet back to where Jasper fought the invisible wall, lathered in panic. “We’ll find another way out.”
Jasper swished his tail, shivering with fear, pain, and exertion. “If another path existed, Shadow would have found it. But if the veil bars all hotbloods, how did Fleet get through? He’s seven-eighths hotblood.”
Yuma thought back to Gem’s reactions when they first met her. She had believed Fleet evil due to the poison in his veins. “Shadow’s bloodwolves get through. Maybe their poison is a shield.”
He rummaged in his pack and unwrapped the parcel of maple leaves. “I still have the fangs from the one that killed Sapphire. Try carrying these.”
Jasper backed up, snorting at the foul smell. “Tangle them in my mane. Be quick or Shadow will be here.”
Yuma struggled to attach the venomous teeth one-handed, finally getting them to stay in the long hair.
Jasper leapt to cross the barrier. It tossed him back like a leaf in a gale.
Yuma growled. “They lose contact when you move.”
“Then get on and hold them against my neck.” Jasper sidled next to Fleet to let Yuma slide over onto his back. “Hurry!”
If he hadn’t been in agony in a dire predicament, Yuma would have believed he’d gone mad. Ride a unicorn! Only a few seasons ago he didn’t even know they existed. He heaved himself across onto the crimson back, gritting his teeth to bite back a scream.
Jasper trotted towards the border. Still the veil rebuffed him.
A piercing neigh shook the air.
Shadow galloped towards them, his mane and tail flowing like lava, rain pouring from his slick coat. His crimson eyes glared and steam puffed from his flared nostrils. The ground shook and rocks careened from the hillsides.
Yuma raised his good arm and slashed it down, thrusting the bloodwolf fangs deep into Jasper’s neck. “Go!”
Fleet bounded at the Sentinels. Nausea clogged his throat. Convulsions rippled along his spine. His legs thrashed the air as if swimming across River Lifeflow in full torrent.
Again he broke through. This time Jasper followed.
Shadow raged on the far side of the barrier.
Tatuk flew high, giggling at their escape. Safe outside the veil, they sought shelter from the foul weather and Shadow’s screams.
Jasper shook from head to tail, spraying water in an arc of rainbows. “We must rest and work out what to do. There must be a way to overcome him.”
Sweat dried cold on Fleet’s trembling coat. “We’re no better off than when I first found King Streak. The feathers were no good. I can’t fight Shadow. I can’t save Equinora. I’ve failed.”
Tatuk turned pale. “You need to eat.” He flitted outside and blew on the meagre grasses.
Yuma stroked his nose. “Tatuk’s right. The poison will be clouding your mind. Eat his sustenance and we’ll work out what to do.”
More from a lack of will to argue rather than agreement, Fleet tottered into the rain. Steam wafted around his legs. He had no appetite. Wandering away from the Sentinels and the omnipresent sense of doom, he nibbled the feed in the hope it would settle his nausea.
Yuma followed and leant against a boulder. “I need to fix your and Jasper’s wounds. Have you seen any comfrey for a poultice?” He glanced about for the large soft leaves. “Does it grow this far north?”
“No idea. Ask Tatuk.” As Yuma went to find the dragon, Fleet swallowed another mouthful. Strength returned to his legs and warmth permeated his body, but the pain in his neck and rump, plus the despair at Equinora’s fate, kept him from feeling better.
Yuma yelled.
Fleet raced to where he crouched. “What?”
“It’s Tatuk. He’s gone grey. I think he’s dying.” He lifted the dragon with his good arm and cradled the limp form.
Fleet inhaled the scent of the wasted body. His heart tore—first Sapphire, then Cirrus, and now Tatuk. “He’s worn out from fending off Shadow’s evil. You must send him love. I’m exhausted and more likely to kill him.”
Ill ease squirmed through Fleet’s veins like the poison. Was everyone linked to him destined to suffer? Evil slithered after him like a scorcheel. Why had the goddess chosen him, Shadow’s grandson? Perhaps they were both meant to perish. She never intended him to find a cure, only destroy them. With his colouring, he should have realised he wasn’t like any other horse he’d met…apart from Tress.
Fleet trembled. Perhaps Tress was also Shadow’s progeny. She certainly had the arrogance of his grandsire. But she was too beautiful to be evil. Memories tore at his heart. Tress wasn’t as glorious as Gem. Yet the arrogant princess had a presence about her that attracted him. And Gem had sent him away as soon as his hot blood became evident. Perhaps she’d detected his foulness and been afraid to tell him. It would be better if he died, too.
Yuma smacked him on the nose. “Fleet. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’re killing Tatuk.”
Concern for the dragon drove away Fleet’s horrors. His love for his dam and the need to fulfil her dying request warmed his veins. A glimmer of colour seeped into Tatuk’s scales as Fleet remembered Sapphire with love.
His rump throbbed. What would it be like to live forever with pain? The agony of Jasper’s contorted horn drove him to act as he did. His sire had never meant to harm Sapphire. He’d only been seeking help. Yuma was right: the poison clouded his mind. His heart softened. As he forgave Jasper, the ailing dragon’s colours returned.
“He’s coming round.” Yuma clutched Tatuk to his chest.
Fleet’s concern turned to Yuma. “You must do something for your arm.”
Fully recovered, Tatuk flew up to perch on Yuma’s shoulder. “Make a sling with the spider silk.”
Yuma unravelled the tangle from his pack and tried to separate the threads. “I can’t do it on my own.”
Fleet grabbed a strand in his teeth. Under Tatuk’s direction, they wound the silk around Yuma’s arm in a cocoon. The threads set hard.
Yuma ran his fingertips over Jasper’s neck. “The salve I used on Fleet’s wounds is finished. I left the anise hyssop on the other side of the barrier. And the goddess’s feathers. I wasn’t able to retrieve them when the roof collapsed.”
Jasper nuzzled him. “I know. Don’t worry, they’re buried deep. I sensed their power. And as I’ve said before, I believe Moonglow’s prophecy brought Fleet to cure me. The feathers were never going to change Shadow.”
Fleet’s heart thudded. His breath roared through his nostrils. Every raindrop splashed against the rocks like a waterfall. He couldn’t stop now. He had to find a cure for the poison or die. He had to avenge Sapphire’s death and do whatever he could to save the herds. “Can you contact Moonglow and seek a new prophecy?”
“Don’t forget Shadow will hear.”
Fleet sighed, his legs heavy with dread. “Then we must go to her.” Another trek before he could settle.