4

TEAMWORK

SEVERAL DAYS HAD PASSED SINCE STAR HAD DISCOVERED his herd missing. He and Frostfire had searched Snow Herd’s territory without stopping, cruising just below the cloud layer so they could scan the terrain for signs of pegasi. But the north was empty, abandoned.

The sun was setting when Frostfire begged for a rest. “I need water,” he rasped. There was a river shimmering in the distance. Star banked and headed toward it.

Star was larger than Frostfire and should have been taking the headwind to speed their flight, but the white stallion refused to draft on Star’s wake. And it was silly for Star to draft off Frostfire’s, so they flew in each other’s competing currents, slowing each other down, and Star became frustrated. They landed at the water’s edge, and Frostfire plunged his nose into the current. Star spoke. “We’re not working as a team.”

“So,” said Frostfire, water dripping down his chin.

“So we should,” said Star. “If you let me lead, we’ll travel faster.”

“I won’t draft off you,” said Frostfire, ruffling his violet-edged feathers. “You can draft off me.”

Yearlings like Star didn’t normally lead a formation, and he understood that Frostfire was once a captain, a leader, and the idea of riding the wake of a younger steed was repulsive to him, but Star had no patience for Frostfire’s feelings. “I’m bigger and faster,” he said, pointing out the obvious.

“Do you want to split up?” asked Frostfire. “Is that what you’re getting at?”

It was tempting. Frostfire struggled to breathe in the heights, and his burly muscles tired easily; he was built to sprint, not to fly for hours on end. He was also moody, and the long silences between them were thick with static that set Star’s nerves on edge.

But joy had bloomed in Frostfire’s heart at the news of his unborn colt, and it was transforming him. He daydreamed and fretted, and Star sometimes caught him sighing with pleasure or pacing with worry. In those moments Frostfire’s eyes were soft, and when he looked at Star, it wasn’t with hatred. In those moments Star found the white stallion tolerable. But none of that changed the fact that Frostfire slowed him down.

“I’m not saying I want to split up,” said Star. “I need you to take me to my friends.” Star lowered his head and drank from the river, enjoying the cool liquid on his tongue, and he studied the white steed who had streaks of silver in his tail.

He wasn’t just using Frostfire to find River Herd; the stallion was also Star’s only living family. He didn’t believe Frostfire was aware of it or, if he was, that he cared about their blood relation, but Star cared. He’d lost his chance to know his grandsire, Iceriver, and while befriending Frostfire was probably out of the question, the stallion’s unborn colt was also Star’s relation, and he wanted to know him. “I’m thinking of ways to speed up this search,” said Star, hoping to soothe the stallion’s suspicious mind.

Frostfire was thinking too, and his eyes brightened with an idea. “You’re right that we need to travel faster. Why don’t we ride the jet streams? If I fail the exit, you can heal me, right?”

Star pricked his ears, shocked at his proposal. “Heal you? I’d probably have to bring you back from the dead, but yes, I could do it.”

The jet streams were currents of air that whipped across the planet at hurricane speeds. Riding them was difficult, but exiting them safely was near impossible. The skinny, small-boned Desert Herd steeds trained all their lives to ride the jet streams, and they drifted in and out of them with ease, but Frostfire’s body was dense and heavy. He would plummet toward land at the mercy of his own momentum. “Do you trust me enough to bring you back from death?” asked Star.

Frostfire paused. “Well, not when you put it like that.”

“I don’t mean I wouldn’t do it. I’m just surprised you’d . . . I don’t know . . . trust me with your life.”

Frostfire huffed. “Forget it. You’re talking me out of it.”

But Star didn’t forget it. “It would be better if I could prevent your injury in the first place.”

“I’ll agree with that.”

Star pranced, becoming excited. “Maybe I can project my shield around us both.”

“Your what?”

“My shield, it’s like a . . . like a bubble, but it protects me.”

Frostfire flattened his ears and studied Star’s body. “So you’re immortal and indestructible now?”

Star shrugged his wings. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Frostfire grunted. “Nightwing has a similar ability, doesn’t he? I’d heard from one of my captains that you shot starfire directly at him, but he blocked it. It bounced off without touching him.”

“Yes, he has a shield too,” said Star, who didn’t remember much from that day in Sky Meadow when Nightwing had nearly killed him.

Frostfire paced, thinking. “Have you considered you might have other powers?”

“Of course.”

“Have you tried to use them?”

“I don’t know what they are, so no.”

Frostfire peered up at the sky. “All right, let’s try riding a jet stream in the morning.”

The pair kicked off and flew to the forestlands to sleep.

Star felt hopeful. By riding the jet streams, they’d be traveling much faster, and they’d catch up to Morningleaf and his friends quicker. How Star would free them from Nightwing, he wasn’t sure, but at least he had the shield. Nightwing couldn’t hurt him this time. Star wondered what the Destroyer wanted with the pegasi of Anok. Was it just to rule a herd, or something worse? He stretched his long black wings. He guessed that sooner rather than later he would find out.

Frostfire discussed their plan for the next day. “A southwestern jet stream will carry us across Mountain Herd’s and Jungle Herd’s territories. From the heights, we can scan the lands all the way to the ocean. If we don’t find the pegasi there, then we can head east, over Desert Herd’s land.” Frostfire exhaled. “We’re looking for a herd of—I don’t know—twelve thousand steeds. We’re sure to see signs of them if they’re still in Western Anok.”

Star glanced at the moon, which was rising. “I’ll keep watch tonight.”

Frostfire grimaced. “I’ll watch out for myself.” But soon the captain was fast asleep.

Star stayed awake all night, keeping a wary eye out for predators. Next to him, Frostfire dozed, curled up like a young foal, and Star stared at him, feeling curious.

He knew Frostfire had been abandoned by his mother, Petalcloud, and treated cruelly by his grandsire, Rockwing. Was that why Frostfire thought Star would use his power for evil, because Rockwing had ruled Mountain Herd with such viciousness, forcing steeds to submit to him or die? Or was it because his mother had joined forces with Nightwing and had not included him, her son? Star couldn’t blame Frostfire for being suspicious of him when his own family had betrayed him, and he doubted he could ever really trust Frostfire, but maybe during their travels Frostfire would see that he could trust Star?

Turning his gaze from the sleeping stallion, Star scented the wind for predators and wondered where Nightwing could be hiding twelve thousand pegasi. His heart beat faster, thinking about it. His fierce and independent friends—who’d once threatened to execute him in utter fear that he was a destroyer—were now under the control of the Destroyer himself. Star found the weight of it all difficult to bear. He didn’t know who was alive or dead. Star stared up through the leaves at the pale moon that glowed as it always had, and he wondered if Morningleaf was looking at the same beautiful sight.