The landing was a giant dome-shaped building near the outskirts of the city, one of the many places I had not yet been able to explore during my stay. Inside, the smell of hay and feed filled the air of an enormous room, surrounded by seven stories of animal pens. The pens were accessible by a series of ramps and balconies that extended all the way up to the partial ceiling high overhead.
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Sam boasted proudly from the center of the room. The she he was referring to was a frighteningly gigantic hawk-like bird crouched beside him on its haunches and tethered to the floor with a leash. The creature was absolutely enormous, like a bird taken right out of the age of the dinosaurs. As we approached, she stood up and exposed the fearsome talons that were hidden beneath her belly.
Now, at this point, there is something you should probably know about me. Birds have always made me nervous. My sister had gotten a grumpy parakeet named Chirpy when she was ten, and even though he was only four inches tall, he intimidated me. Back then Emily wasn’t nearly as annoyingly perfect as she is now. In fact, we got along pretty well—for siblings. In all honesty, the bird was supposed to be for both of us, but Emily was the one who really took care of him. Mom and Dad had been promising to buy us a pet for months and Chirpy was apparently our reward.
Anyway, Emily had decided that his cage needed cleaning one day and carefully brought him out to pet him. I begged to hold him and she carefully lowered her hand in front of my outstretched finger, allowing him to hop up and perch on it. Chuckling as the bird stepped up onto my finger I quickly lifted him to my face with an enthusiastic smile. That was the last fond memory I have of the foul beast.
For some unknown reason, he went berserk, flapping his wings in utter terror and sinking his beak deep into the soft flesh of my nose with ferocious strength. I screamed in pain and ran for the door, trying desperately to shake and pry his beak from my nose, but he wouldn’t let go. Finally, he released his grip and flew out of the bedroom. I was in tears and ran to Mom with a bleeding nose. Chirpy hid behind a bookshelf where Emily spent the better part of the day trying to coax him out.
Of course, my sister blamed me for scaring him, but I knew I had done nothing to deserve it. From that day on I kept my distance from the cage. If I ever came within ten feet of him, Chirpy would stare me down with his “you want a piece of me?” look and I’d back away. We had an unspoken understanding between us—I left him alone, and my flesh would remain unscarred. Yes, I admit it. Chirpy owned me.
But, as much as I was scared of that parakeet, this bird was even more terrifying. Its massive form took my breath away. The bird ruffled its crown as we approached, cocking its blue head with a crooked twist of curiosity. Glossy black pupils glared back at us with unblinking focus. I didn’t want to admit it, but the sight of the creature gave me chills.
“Her name’s Faith,” Sam continued, oblivious to my insecurity.
“What kind of bird is she?” I gasped.
“A Thunderbird,” Hope answered calmly. “We use them to travel between the shards of Solandria when the portals are not safe.”
As intimidating as the bird was, I had to admit she was beautiful. Her markings were simple enough; multiple shades of blue shimmering feathers ran down her back in stark contrast to her white underbelly. The feathers carried a hint of iridescent color throughout, almost as if they had been coated in a bubble solution or soap of some kind. The tips of her wings darkened in color, ending in near black tones, and there was a deep blue band across her chest that continued up to the neck. A saddle of some kind was harnessed on her back.
“Is she friendly?” I asked, still keenly aware that I was being watched by a bird who could easily tear me to pieces with its sharp beak.
“Sure!” Sam exclaimed. “Faith here has been with us since she was a hatchlin’—isn’t that right, sweetie?” He raised his arm to rub her neck and she lowered her head in response, letting out a screeching chirp of satisfaction. “Just don’t make any sudden movements, or you’re liable ta frighten her.”
“Good to know,” I replied, freezing in place.
“She’s the fastest beast with two wings and she’s all yours, Hunter,” he smiled, tossing me a pair of goggles and a leather helmet. “Here, put these on. You’ll want them for the flight.”
I swallowed hard, looking up at my ride, and put the slightly oversized helmet on my head. I wasn’t particularly afraid of heights, but it didn’t take a professional counselor to know that flying on the back of a giant bird would stretch anyone’s limits, especially if you’re still afraid of a parakeet.
“So…uh…how do I ride her?”
“Oh, that’s easy!” Sam smiled. “For the most part you just hold tight to the harness up there and let her do the rest! She knows where she’s goin’. But she’ll respond ta some basic commands too if ya want. Squeeze with your left knee and she’ll go left, squeeze with the right and she’ll go right. Squeeze with both knees to fly higher and with your feet when ya want her ta come down easy. Of course, ta take off or dive, just hang on for dear life and give her a swift kick with your heels.”
Just the thought of diving made my stomach queasy. No, I wouldn’t be trying anything that fancy. With any luck, I planned to take her up gently and down gently—that was as far as I’d go.
Sam had already loaded a satchel of food, a map and my supplies onto the giant bird before showing me how to climb aboard. It was an awkward feeling, climbing up to perch atop a bird. Faith squawked at my first attempt, annoyed with my clumsy approach. When she turned her head suddenly to look at me with her great yellow eyes I nearly jumped out of my seat.
That must have been how Chirpy felt, I thought to myself.
“Well, I guess this is good-bye then!” Sam hollered up at me once I had settled into the saddle. I could tell he was holding back tears as he spoke. “Take care of yourself, ya hear!”
“You too,” I replied, choking up a bit myself as I remembered the Shadow were on their way to lay siege to the city.
“If you run into trouble out there, remember what I taught ya,” he advised. “Trust the Author, and look ta the book for the answers.”
“I will. I promise.” I looked over at Hope as she took Sam by the arm. She nodded at me and I knew that everything had been said that needed saying. I committed the scene to memory in case it was our last meeting. Okay, Hunter, you can do this, I assured myself. Then, I took a deep breath and gave Faith a solid kick with my heels; she opened her wings and leaped up into the sky, flapping with ferocious speed.
My knuckles whitened and I gripped the harness with all my might as we jolted upward in a near vertical climb. We cleared the roofline in seconds and Faith began to gain momentum.
Looking back over my shoulder, I could see a magnificent view of the entire city of Sanctuary spread out beneath me, lit in the yellow hue of the morning sun. I squeezed with my left knee and circled over the city a few times, testing my ability to control Faith’s movements.
She moved her wings in strong steady strokes designed to take us much higher than I had expected to go. As we reached the apex of our flight just below the cloud line, Faith settled her wings and evened out in a long smooth glide. The air was crisp and cold and I was thankful for the helmet and goggles that protected my head.
The shock of take-off soon wore off and I found it exhilarating to be flying in the open air. As my comfort level grew, so did my courage. The cloud line overhead seemed low enough to touch, and I wondered if it was actually possible. I let go of the reigns with one hand, then two, testing my balance. Courage gave way to carelessness and I raised my arms high in the air, dipping my hands into the ceiling of clouds overhead and leaving a trail of swirling mist in my wake.
“Woooohoo!” I shouted, laughing to myself at the sheer splendor of the moment. Then, unexpectedly a gust of wind blew me off balance and I shifted in my seat, slipping halfway off. I reached out frantically for the reigns to keep myself from falling off completely.
“Whoa! Steady girl,” I pleaded, as Faith banked to the right, adjusting to my awkward position. I pulled myself back up into place and breathed a sigh of relief.
That was close, too close. My stomach turned at the thought of falling from such a height and I tightened my grip, promising never to try that again.
We covered the distance quickly and before I knew it we had reached the edge of the land-mass. The Shard of Sanctuary dropped off abruptly like a cliff into the emptiness of a cloudy void below. It was unnerving to see a giant mass of land hovering in a seemingly endless expanse of empty sky and colorful clouds. I watched the remainder of the island disappear into the mist, a sense of loss growing in my chest as we flew out into the void. I wondered if I would ever return to that wonderful place.
From what I could tell the flight would take us the better part of a day to complete, with nowhere to land between here and our destination.
We passed over several other islands along the way, but Faith paid no attention. She knew where she was going, and I was just along for the ride. The flight grew long and monotonous, with very little scenery to help pass the time. Still, all in all the hours seemed to pass faster than I expected.
Before I knew it, we had found it—the Shard of Inire. It was much larger from this vantage point, more like a floating continent than an island. Scanning the landscape, I recognized the lake where Hope and Sam had first found me. Over time the forest thinned out and the Black Desert emerged into view. The Crimson Mountains were off in the distance, their red glow lighting up the horizon.
It had been a long day of flying and I was getting hungry. When we finally reached the mountains I decided it was time to land. I needed a chance to eat and get my bearings.
“What do you think, Faith? Should we stop for some supper?” I asked.
“Craaaaa!” she squawked happily in reply as if she understood me. For all I knew, maybe she did. After traveling all day, my stomach was more than ready and I imagined hers was too.
I scanned the landscape for a clearing of some kind that would make an easy place to land. After several minutes of searching, I spotted a wide meadow leading up to the giant crater-lake tucked in amidst the mountain range, and decided it was the right place. All I had to do now was get her to go down.
Unfortunately, by this time I had forgotten the commands. Was it squeeze with my knees or squeeze with my feet to go down? I knew that kicking would make her dive, so I decided to avoid using my feet if possible. I gave a tight squeeze with my knees and we started to climb upward. Okay, knees are up, feet are down, I recalled. You can do this, Hunter. Just don’t kick her too hard.
I gave a soft squeeze with my feet, but she didn’t go down. Time after time I tried squeezing with my feet, using various degrees of strength but nothing seemed to work. Finally, I gave up and took another approach.
Leaning over on Faith’s neck I pointed toward the lake below and said, “Go down! Eat!” At first, she gave me a bewildered look and only blinked in response. I tried again. “Eat. Food. Down there,” I said pointing down to the lake.
This time she turned her gaze downward, like a dog looking for the stick you threw, but she didn’t seem to comprehend. Then in a sudden burst of understanding, she cocked her wings back and plunged down toward the lake in a freefall. The speed of our fall left my stomach behind. It was all I could do to hang on for dear life.
We approached the lake with such force that the breath drained from my lungs. I expected the impact of our fall to kill us both and I squeezed with my knees as hard as I could in an attempt to get her to pull up. At the last second imaginable Faith pulled up from her dive, dunking her bottom half into the lake and skimming over the surface of the water. I gasped for breath, thankful to be alive. A shiver ran down my back from the cool water that found its way down into my clothes. Faith seemed to shiver a bit as well, her body jerking slightly every so often. I glanced down at her feet and saw the reason. An enormous fish was quivering in her talons. Faith had caught her supper.
No sooner had we landed on the shoreline than Faith began to tear into the fish, pulling the meat from its bones. I emptied my satchel and viewed the contents—a slab of cheese, dried meat of some kind and a hunk of bread. I was starved and munched happily on the snack, watching Faith finish off her meal in no time.
I looked over the map of Inire Sam had given me and located the lake. From the looks of things we were only a half-hour away from the Lost Refuge. With any luck, we’d be there before nightfall. We were ahead of schedule, so I placed the map back in the satchel and took a few minutes to read more of the Author’s Writ. This time the book led me to a new passage I imagined was meant to prepare me for my meeting with Aviad.
Beyond the ancient door doth hide
The way to one whom you must find.
Knock and it will open wide.
I repeated the passage over and over. I hoped to commit as many of the passages to memory as the other Codebearers had. It would be so much easier to travel without lugging the book around all the time. I recited the passage under my breath and looked out over the lake in a blank stare. A storm was building on the far side of the mountain, dark clouds threatening to completely ruin my already difficult day.
A flicker of movement caught my eye in the distant sky. From where I stood it looked like another bird was making its way across the lake. As it approached, my focus cleared and I realized that what I was seeing was not a bird at all. A big, ugly, bat-like creature, dressed in battle armor and carrying a jagged club in one hand, was making its way to where we stood. I recognized it immediately as a Gorewing, one of the creatures I had seen in the forest patrol before we entered Sanctuary.
“We’ve got company!” I shouted, gathering my things together and darting quickly to where Faith picked over what was left of the fish. Crouching low she tucked her head back to cover the saddle and angled her wings slightly out, providing barely enough room to dodge beneath them. I huddled close into the down of her underbelly like a baby chick. The smell of fish guts invaded my nostrils. I held my breath, both to avoid the smell, and in fear of being found.
The Gorewing lowered its flight pattern to examine the scene more closely. The erratic flapping of his leathery wings sounded like a tarp blowing in the wind. Faith’s cover provided some protection but not nearly enough to hide me completely. Glancing out from beneath the shadow of her wing I watched as the Gorewing passed overhead with a sinister glare in our direction. For a moment I was sure he spotted me, the gleaming yellow of his eyes connecting with mine. But to my surprise, he continued across the meadow and out of sight. How had he missed us? We were only 30 feet away at most from where he flew by! Maybe Thunderbirds are common around this area.
“Whew,” I sighed in relief. “That was close. I thought we were in for it.”
Stepping out from the safety of Faith’s wing I turned around, expecting to hop up into the saddle. To my surprise, she had disappeared altogether. The only thing that remained behind me was the dead carcass of the fish she had eaten. Had she flown away without me? I looked skyward to spot any sign of my only ride but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Faith!” I called out. A beak and yellow eye popped out of nowhere, hovering in midair only a few feet from where I stood.
“Craaaa,” came the floating beak’s response. I toppled backward and fell to the ground in shock. The floating beak, eye and saddle were all that remained of Faith.
“What happened to you?” I said, sensing the slight presence of her movement in front of me. On second glance I realized what had happened. Faith had changed her coloring to match the surrounding terrain. Her feathers had become a haphazard pattern of colors that perfectly matched the ground around us. Amazingly, the detail was so accurate from every angle it was impossible to see her even from only a few feet away.
Fading back into blue, she took form once more and made herself seen.
“Whoa, that’s cool!”
“Creee,” she answered proudly.
“What I wouldn’t give to be like you right now.” I looked at my friend with newfound respect. She was truly an amazing creature.
“Screeech!” she replied turning her head to the meadow. I followed her gaze. Something was coming.
The Gorewing was coming back, but this time he wasn’t alone. From the looks of it there were now two of them. No, make that three.
There was no doubt they knew exactly what they were coming back for. Leaping up into the saddle I gave a sharp kick of my heels and Faith took to the sky with the three Gorewings in pursuit. We climbed upward as fast as Faith could take us, but the bat creatures were not far behind.
The first one caught up with us before Faith could gain momentum, swinging his club at her with all his might, trying to disable my ride with brute strength. She evaded his blows with the skill of a bird familiar with the tactics of aerial warfare. This obviously was not her first time in battle.
Changing his approach, the Gorewing latched his club to his back and reached out, trying to grab me off the saddle before we got away. His thick-clawed hands whizzed overhead, and I ducked and dodged, narrowly escaping his grip. Faith saw her chance and made a move. With an unexpected lurch, she looped backward and twisted around so that she was suddenly positioned behind the Gorewing. Without missing a beat, she buried her strong talons into the guard’s wing, tearing the flesh loose and snapping the bones. The whole thing was done in three seconds flat and the wounded warrior fell, plummeting to his rocky grave below.
“Yes!” I whispered under my breath. Us-1; Them-0!
The other two continued their pursuit. Faith dove downward to change directions, momentarily providing a greater distance between our attackers and us. She was heading for the mountains—hoping to use them as cover.
“C’mon girl, you can make it!” I shouted, encouraging Faith as she sped forward toward the mountain pass. Her speed was truly amazing, but our pursuers were not far behind.
I glanced back over my shoulder in time to see the remaining two Gorewings were only a short distance behind, already heading this way with weapons drawn. The one with a sword and the other with…
Thwwwwosh!
A harpoon sliced through the air, stabbing Faith’s shoulder. She screeched in pain and stopped flapping midair from the shock. The archer slowed his pace to reel in his quarry, while the swordsman came quickly to finish the hunt.
“Hang on, I’ll get it!” I shouted, pulling as hard as I could on the harpoon, with one hand still tightly clutching the reigns. The harpoon was embedded deep in her shoulder; this was not going to be a light wound. If I didn’t pry it loose soon, the swordsman would be here to finish her off anyway. The least I could do was give her a fighting chance.
Throwing all caution aside I let go of the reigns once more and stood up on her back, yanking on the harpoon with all my might. The Gorewing swordsman neared, lifting his weapon overhead in expectation of landing the fatal blow. With one last tug I managed to pull the harpoon from her shoulder and Faith sped away with the sudden release of weight. I slipped and found myself plummeting through the air, clutching tightly to the rope and harpoon that now bound me to the enemy.
With a sudden jerk, the rope tightened. I swung back and forth, feeling a bit like a trapeze artist in a circus show. It probably would have been fun under different circumstances, but when you’re a thousand feet in the air tethered to a Gorewing, you kind of forget to enjoy the moment.
The archer was now two hundred feet above me on the other end of the cord that held my life. Once he realized he had hooked “the boy” he quickly turned and began flying in the opposite direction.
“Faith, help!” I called out in desperation, knowing full well she was probably out of earshot and preoccupied with trying to escape a swordsman who was bent on evening the score.
So there I was, dangling in the sky like the tail of a kite. The way I figured, I had three options. Option One: give up, let them capture me and take me to Venator. Option Two: try to escape and find another way to Aviad. Option Three: die trying. While I didn’t particularly like the third option, I figured the chances of them killing me at this point were slim, seeing as they probably wanted me alive. So I decided option two was at least worth a shot. I mean, even if I failed I couldn’t think of a worse situation than the one I was in now. So, with nothing to lose I put my plan into action.
“I can’t hold on!” I yelled up to my captor who glanced down with an almost humorous look of confusion on his face. “I think I’m going to fall!” I shouted again. This time his expression was priceless—complete panic. Yep, my hunch was right; whatever business this Venator guy had with me, his instructions had obviously been very clear. I was to be brought back alive, which gave me an advantage, at least for now. If things went as planned he’d be lowering me to the ground and I could try to run away.
My plan backfired, as usual. Instead of flying toward the ground the Gorewing frantically pulled me toward him, quickly hoisting me up within reach. The Gorewing was even more frightening up close, his jagged teeth jutting out from his mouth like a cobra ready to bite, and his hot, yellow eyes burning with the knowledge of pure evil. It was like looking into the face of death itself. Suddenly, dangling from two hundred feet of rope seemed like the better option.
It was too late now; the warrior reached down with his giant forearm and flipped me up onto his back in one calculated motion.
Well, that didn’t go as planned.
Yep, things seemed pretty grim for the moment, but as I looked out over the landscape, I caught a flicker of something speeding behind us. It was only a glistening movement at first, but as the approaching figure drew closer, I recognized the form. Faith was alive and she was flying this way, hidden by her camouflaged feathers. The Gorewing swordsman was nowhere in sight, which meant she either lost him or defeated him. Either way, the odds were two-to-one against the remaining guard below me, and we had the element of surprise.
Faith eased up behind us, still undetected by the Gorewing. I knew what I had to do; it was my turn to put one on the board for the good guys. Slipping my Veritas Sword silently from beneath my outer layer of clothing, I took a deep breath and remembered my training. I had one shot to get this right, and it was now or never.
Jumping to my feet, I held the sword high and shouted, “For the Way of Truth and Life!”
I arched the blade downward in a flash of light, severing the creature’s left wing from its body before it even knew what was happening. The archer howled in pain and I leaped off his back into the open air behind it. The Gorewing spun helplessly out of control toward the earth far below. It would be his last flight, and I had delivered the fatal blow.
I fell only a moment before Faith swooped past and caught me on her back midair. We had done it—defeated the Gorewings, and looked good in the process.
“That was close!” I laughed nervously from the excitement. “We make quite a team, don’t you think?”
Faith chirped at me, as if to agree.
“For a minute there I thought you were gone for good!”
She remained silent this time, and I sensed in her flight that something was bothering her.
Together we crossed the Crimson Mountains, following Blood Canyon to the far side where the forest began. We passed through the canyon, flying low to the ground. I could tell Faith was weakening every minute; the wound had begun to take its toll on her strength. The dark storm that once threatened from a distance now hung overhead, lighting the sky with angry flashes of lightning.
We reached the end of the canyon and Faith collapsed to the ground in a desperate crash landing. We skidded across the rocky ground and smacked hard into an oversized stone. The sudden stop hurled me off her back into the bushes. I jumped to my feet, mostly unharmed, and ran to see if Faith was okay. She was lying on her side in excruciating pain, one side of her body painted in blood, most of which had come from the wound where the harpoon pierced her.
“Easy girl, let me take a look at that,” I offered.
The wound was deep, and in many ways I was surprised she had been able to make it this far. I pulled my Veritas Sword from my side and went to work right away.
I held the sword against the wound as Sam had done for me and watched as the skin repaired itself. The healing properties of the sword never ceased to amaze me.
“There you go,” I said when we finished. “You’ll be good as new in no time.”
Within ten minutes she was on her feet again and was beginning to regain her strength. She lowered her head to my level, allowing me to rub her neck with my hand. When I finished, she motioned toward a narrow, red rock path that led into the forest. The look in her eyes told me it was the path I should take. I pulled my things off her saddle and readied myself for what lay ahead. With a final screech that seemed to say “good-bye,” Faith launched up to the sky and flew away into the last remaining traces of sunlight, leaving me alone with the task of navigating the woods in the dark.
If the map was correct, I didn’t have far to walk to the Lost Refuge. I pulled my Veritas Sword out from my side and held it aloft in front of me, igniting it with a passage from the book. The soft blue flame glowed brightly enough to light my path.
An angry crack of thunder in the distance reminded me the storm was preparing to hit me with its worst. Then, like tiny missiles from the sky the rain began to fall. It pelted the ground around me, sporadic at first, a drop here and there, but it was coming more quickly by the second. A few raindrops connected with the supernatural flame of my sword, sizzling and steaming from the heat. There was no use staying put; the only shelter would be within the forest ahead of me. So, gathering my courage and hoisting my pack onto my shoulders, I headed into the woods alone, carrying the book in one hand while my Veritas Sword glowed brightly in the other.
I followed the path for over an hour, much longer than I had anticipated it would take. The storm intensified and I found it harder to press on. Tired, wet and feeling lost, I began to look for a place to sit out the storm and wait for morning. A boulder just slightly to the right of the pathway seemed perfect for the job. The near side was cut back at a sharp enough angle that it could provide some protection from the rain. Scooting back as far as I could, I huddled beneath the shadow of the stone shelter and waited for morning to come.
I wasn’t exactly what you would call comfortable, but the rhythm of the rain and my exhaustion from the day soon took their toll and I fell asleep, dreaming of the Codebearers and the battle of Sanctuary.