21

HONOR

MORNINGLEAF DID NOT BELIEVE HER EARS. SHE rushed to Bumblewind’s side and pressed his body with her wings. “Bumblewind? Wake up!”

His large eyes were closed, and his jaws were parted. Morningleaf nuzzled him, trying to exchange breath, but his lips were cold. She rubbed his chest and pulled on his stiff legs. “Get up, Bumblewind. Please get up.”

Dewberry reared, hitting her head on the den’s ceiling. “It’s my fault,” she whinnied, her eyes rolling. “My fault.” She kicked the walls, causing dirt to fall on their heads.

Hazelwind tackled her and tried to subdue her before she collapsed the den.

Morningleaf threw up her head and moaned. Brackentail wrapped his wing gently over her mouth. “Shh,” he said. “You’ll draw the wolves.” Morningleaf fell onto her side next to Bumblewind and pressed her nose into his stiff neck, crying silently.

Dewberry knelt by Bumblewind’s head and whispered into his ear, “I left you. I’m sorry. I let you fall asleep.” Her tears rolled down her cheeks and splattered the dirt floor.

Hazelwind soothed her. “This isn’t your fault.”

Dewberry tossed her mane, her agony causing her to twitch as though infested with bugs. She buried her head in her wings.

“No, it’s my fault,” cried Morningleaf. “I took Dewberry away from him.”

“No, you’re both wrong,” said Hazelwind, his voice raw. “I heard you both leave, and I came to see what was going on, and Bumblewind was awake. I stood with him and we talked for a while, and then I noticed he’d closed his eyes. I immediately pressed on him and shook him; I even bit his ear as hard as I could. He just . . . slipped away. It couldn’t be stopped.”

The lair blurred, and Morningleaf wiped her eyes. “Let’s take him to Star.”

Dewberry shook her head sadly. “We can’t. Nightwing is watching him.”

Hazelwind rubbed his face in his wings and then looked at each of them. “She’s right. Now listen, and please hear me. Bumblewind died in his sleep, without pain. He’s safe in the golden meadow with the Ancestors. This is over for him.” Hazelwind gazed at Bumblewind, who looked peaceful.

Fresh sobs wracked Morningleaf, Dewberry, and even Brackentail. Hazelwind curled to his knees, and the four of them soaked Bumblewind’s coat in salty tears. After a long while they began whispering their favorite memories of him into his motionless ears.

Hours passed, and finally the talk subsided and the steeds rested with Bumblewind until the temperature cooled and they knew it was dark outside. The four friends stirred. It was time to bury Bumblewind.

Just then hoofbeats sounded outside the den. Shadepebble, the Mountain Herd filly who spied for them along with Echofrost, poked her head into the crowded chamber. “The wolves are near,” she whispered. The group squeezed aside to let her in. She saw Bumblewind’s stiff body and froze. “Oh no.”

Hazelwind grimaced. “Yes, he’s gone. We need to return him to the soil, but we can’t let Nightwing see the burial stones.”

“We could put his body in the last chamber of our den and then collapse it,” suggested Brackentail.

Shadepebble shuddered. “No. The wolves will dig him up.”

Morningleaf gasped.

“I’m sorry,” said Shadepebble, hugging her friend.

Hazelwind pawed the den floor. “We have to do something with him, and soon.” He shed a few jade feathers, showing his stress.

“I have an idea,” said Shadepebble. “Star is building a stone tribute for Nightwing.”

“A tribute?” whinnied Hazelwind.

“Just listen,” said the filly. “In exchange for the lives of the walkers, Nightwing is forcing Star to build a monument to him of ten thousand stones on the tallest hill.”

“That will take many moons,” cried Brackentail.

“Yes,” she said. “But Star saved the walkers, for now anyway, and bought you time to complete your tunnel.”

“But why would Nightwing want Star to build his tribute?” asked Brackentail. “He’s Nightwing’s rival.”

Hazelwind knew the answer. “It’s to make Star look weak in front of Wind Herd and to embarrass him.” Hazelwind exhaled, looking tired. “It’s not unprecedented. Rockwing once forced an enemy over-stallion to bury his own dead captains after Rockwing beat him in a battle. It was long ago. . . . He was a Snow Herd steed, I believe. After the over-stallion finished, Rockwing broke his wings. Then his warriors flew him up to the clouds and dropped him.”

Morningleaf shuddered, imagining Star with broken wings.

“So what’s your idea, Shadepebble?” asked Dewberry.

“If you want to give Bumblewind a stone burial and honor him—have Star bury him in the tribute.”

Hazelwind sucked in his breath. “How are we honoring Bumblewind if we put him in Nightwing’s tribute?”

“No, she’s right,” said Morningleaf, catching on to the idea. “It will make the tribute special to us, and it will encourage Star. He’ll be building it for his friend, not for the Destroyer. It’ll be our secret.”

“And something Nightwing can’t take from us,” added Brackentail.

The five pegasi agreed, and Morningleaf’s broken heart stumbled back to life. Bumblewind’s death would mean something.

“Now comes the hard part,” said Shadepebble. “Getting Bumblewind to Star.”

“Brackentail and I will carry him,” said Hazelwind. “Shadepebble, you’ll need to give the news to his twin since you’re in the same group. But wait until tomorrow and tell Echofrost on the open plain. The crashing winds will dry her tears and deafen her cries. Nightwing can’t know anything is amiss. Understand?”

Shadepebble nodded and slipped out of the den, rising into the sky, flying through the trees and heading back toward the valley. She would land at a rendezvous point where Graystone, the sympathetic Ice Warrior, would meet her and walk her back to her group. The risks of her friends’ comings and goings terrified Morningleaf, but she was glad Shadepebble had brought them news of Star.

Hazelwind turned to Morningleaf and Dewberry. “All right, we’ll be back as fast as we can.”

Morningleaf and Dewberry whispered their good-byes to Bumblewind, while Hazelwind and Brackentail tugged on the pinto’s wings and slid him out of the den. They were careful, brushing away the dirt that lodged in his feathers. Once out, they lifted him by the roots of his wings and carried him away.

When he was gone, Dewberry dissolved, her body quaking with sobs. She’d teased Bumblewind without mercy when he was alive, but the two were almost always together, and suddenly Dewberry seemed half a pegasus without him. Morningleaf’s throat tightened. Bumblewind’s twin sister, Echofrost, would also be a half without him.

Dewberry kneeled and rolled on the spot where Bumblewind had died. “You were the best of us,” she said, her voice cracking. She sniffed the soil and the loose feathers that remained, and then closed her eyes.

Morningleaf rested near her, saying nothing, and they waited for the stallions to return.