Turning from Gor’s army, Tanner’s and Gwen’s Beasts wheeled about in the air. They weren’t the only creatures in the sky. Flying low away from the battlefield, and almost a dot at such a distance, was the covered chariot. “I saw Geffen climb on board!” Tanner shouted across to Gwen.

He placed the Looking Crystal to his eye and brought the chariot into close view. The scraggly necked vulture had a wingspan of twenty paces across. It heaved its wings up and down in a slow, steady rhythm and when it looked around, almost straight at Tanner, its eyes shone with red light. Pieces of rotten flesh dangled from its beak and talons.

Gwen, flying just below, shouted for Gulkien to hurry, and the wolf surged ahead. Firepos gave chase, screeching with determination.

“We’re making ground!” shouted Tanner.

The dot grew to be a shape he could see without the Crystal, and Tanner felt a shiver of fear. Whoever was fleeing didn’t seem scared that two Beasts were close in pursuit. They were climbing gradually, up through the layers of cloud and into colder air.

Tanner looked past Firepos’s flaming wings to Gwen. Her face was set hard, and Gulkien bared his teeth. While they were in the air, they couldn’t attack without endangering Geffen.

“Let’s surround them!” Tanner yelled. “And force them to land.”

Gwen nodded and split away on Gulkien, taking the wolf around the far side of the chariot. They closed within twenty paces.

“Geffen!” Gwen called.

“Gwen?” came a wail from beneath the canvas covering the chariot.

“Let my brother go!” Gwen shouted. She steered Gulkien closer, and he rolled, buffeting the chariot to one side with a mighty thud. The vulture turned its bald head and brought its neck back, then spat a stream of liquid at Gulkien. The wolf howled in pain and pulled away.

“It’s some sort of acid,” Gwen cried to Tanner.

There was a noise and the cover of the chariot folded back. Geffen was seated, watching them. A figure, dressed in a black cloak, stood beside the boy. A hood covered his head, but Tanner caught a glimpse of bone-white skin beneath. Despite the lashing wind and rocking chariot, he kept a perfect balance, his shoulders back and head erect. His body was encased in an outfit of smooth black leather sewn together with silver thread. Bony fingers clutched a staff and glowing eyes narrowed as the face turned. Was that Vendrake? The man Tanner had heard Gor mention?

Tanner felt his chest tighten. A long, tapering scar ran down the man’s face. It tugged at the corner of his lip, curling his mouth in a permanent sneer. The edges of the scar were ragged and pulled at the man’s face so that it was impossible to read his expression. He smiled crookedly, clearly enjoying Tanner’s shock. He raised a slender hand to his face.

“This is what happens to people who cross Derthsin,” the man called across. “Now I fight for him.”

Tanner forced himself not to look away as the man leaned back his head to reveal the soft skin of his throat. The scar continued down over his neck, twisting across his skin like an angry, writhing snake. What type of weapon does that? Tanner wondered. And how had the man survived? He watched Tanner from beneath hooded eyelids. Firepos gave a warning caw.

“Who are you?” called Gwen, breaking the spell.

“Derthsin’s servant,” the man called. “That’s all you need to know.” There was a sudden flurry of wind that sent Firepos banking to one side. The vulture flapped his wings, sending out a stench of rotting flesh that made Tanner gag.

“Release Geffen!” he shouted, recovering himself.

The man smiled, and the remains of his lips parted over jagged teeth. He stood taller in the chariot and raised a hand, palm out, toward Tanner. On the palm was a brand in the shape of a dagger’s hilt. Then the man gave a tug on his shirtsleeve, and a dagger slipped down from beneath his collar, the hilt coming to rest in his open palm — right over the branded outline. In one rapid movement, his fingers closed around the hilt, he drew a hand back over his shoulder, and with a whoosh! he released the dagger, sending it flying through the air toward Tanner, who ducked down over Firepos’s feathers.

“An enemy of Derthsin’s is an enemy of mine!” he cried viciously. The vulture squawked and brought the chariot closer to Firepos, so that the Fire Beast had to swerve out of the way. Tanner nearly fell from his Beast’s shoulders, but just managed to grasp her feathers in time.

“Tanner!” Gwen cried.

Gulkien latched his claws onto the back of the flying chariot, shaking it violently from side to side, and snapping his jaws toward the man. The wolf reared away with a snarl, taking splinters of the chariot in his claws, and letting them drop. Geffen was thrown against the figure with a wail.

“You fool!” bellowed the man. He slapped Geffen across the cheek with the back of his hand, sending the boy sprawling into the bottom of the chariot.

“Don’t you dare hurt him!” cried Gwen, her hand reaching for the rapier hidden in her cloak. Her white-blond braids streamed out behind her. Gulkien lunged forward again, but the man lifted his hand toward Firepos. Another dagger slid out of his sleeve. His fingers gripped the hilt and he flicked his wrist, sending the blade shooting out.

The flame bird swerved out of the way of the flashing blade and it fell, twisting through the air toward the ground below. She rolled over the top of the chariot and slammed into Gulkien and Gwen. Tanner smelled the wolf’s warm fur and heard his rider scream, before he was thrown out of his seat on Firepos’s back. He scrambled for a grip as he slipped down the flame bird’s neck and managed to close a hand on a clump of feathers. But he was hanging over the side, legs kicking empty air.

“Firepos!” he shouted. “Help me!”

Above them, Tanner could just see that the servant still had a hand trained on Firepos. There was no dagger now, but his fingers trembled. Energy was pouring out of him, directed toward Tanner’s Beast. What’s he doing? The flame bird’s red eyes had rolled back in her head and she was losing height, wings dangling uselessly. Shreds of cloud whipped across Tanner’s clothes, as he struggled to pull himself to safety. He heaved himself up among Firepos’s glowing feathers and looked over his shoulder at the patches of fields spinning below. They were plummeting toward them. Gulkien and Gwen were nowhere to be seen.

Tanner moved back up to Firepos’s neck and tried to pull her head. She didn’t respond. The ground was approaching fast. He leaned close to the flame bird’s ear, with the wind buffeting his face. “Firepos,” he said. “Wake up! Please!” Now he was close enough to see the wind sending swirling patterns in the field’s long grass below. Tanner drew a breath, bracing himself for impact.

“Firepos!”

I am weightless; I feel nothing. Then Tanner’s voice penetrates the silence. He calls my name. It is my duty to respond.

My vision returns and blurs and I see the earth. It drags at my body, pulling me down. I circle toward the ground, wings whipping back. No! I am suddenly awake, and with a flood of strength, my muscles become alert and I beat them fast and strong. A surge upward. Then another.

But I am falling too fast.

My talons stiffen to take the impact, and we crash into the ground.

For a moment, all is white, blinding. One wing is folded beneath me; the other beats the ground uselessly.

The man of evil channels Derthsin. Does that explain how weak I have become?

I see my rider, lying beside me on the grass. Blood leaks from a wound on his head, but he stirs. I crawl toward him, sending out a call. His hand reaches up and rests upon my beak.

I am here, Chosen Rider.

Gulkien alights beside us. His closing wings flatten the grass, and the girl rider springs off his back, dropping to Tanner’s side. Our friends, returned to us.

“Tanner!”

He opened his eyes and saw Gwen. The grass was soft beneath him, but his head was pounding. “Firepos?” he muttered.

The flame bird cawed again, a comforting sound. Tanner managed to sit up with Gwen’s help, and reached for his head, drawing his fingers back wet with blood.

“Careful,” said Gwen. “Take it slowly.”

Tanner’s mind cleared. “What about your brother?”

Gwen’s eyes moistened for a moment, but she blinked the tears away. “When I saw you falling, I couldn’t just leave you…. He was carried away in the servant’s chariot.” She shuddered. “I’ve never seen a man like that. He’s worse than Gor.”

“I know what you mean.” Tanner tested his legs. Nothing seemed broken. “With Gor, at least we can understand what he is — an army man who follows orders. But that servant … There was a stronger connection with Derthsin, there. Did you see what he did to Firepos?” How had that happened to his Beast? How could she plunge from the skies like deadweight? But he pushed these thoughts away. Something more important had happened — Gwen had lost her brother. From under his eyelashes, he studied his friend. Her braids were bedraggled and dark shadows stained the skin beneath her eyes. She looked exhausted. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get your brother back.”

Gwen shook her head. Her face colored as she looked at the ground. “You were right,” she said in a quiet voice. “He did betray us, stealing away in the night like that.” She frowned. “But how was he able to let Gor know where we were?”

Tanner sighed. “I think Gor let him escape when I fought them in the mountains. He must have already given Geffen instructions for what to do if they were ever parted. It was only a matter of time until the general found us.” He cleared his throat. “Geffen saw the map, didn’t he? He’ll be able to tell Vendrake where the next piece of the mask is. And he’ll tell Derthsin. We have to get to the mines first.”

Firepos climbed to her feet, stamping the ground and flexing her wings, casting them in shadow. Her feathers rippled with color, from amber to vermilion.

“Are you ready?” said Tanner. Gwen was staring at the ground. Two red spots had appeared on her cheeks. “Gwen? What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him. “If Geffen wants to share secrets, he won’t just be leading Vendrake to the mines. He’ll know exactly where the mask is. Jonas used to tell us stories about the eastern tunnels and a treasure buried there.”

Tanner felt the energy drain from him. “Why did you never share this with me before?” He tried to keep any accusation out of his voice; he knew Gwen had done a lot to help him.

She shrugged, but there was nothing careless in her movement. She looked loaded down with the cares of the world. “Jonas was very special to Geffen and me. We don’t often talk about him. The day he left …” She turned her face away so that Tanner couldn’t see the tears he knew would be brimming in her eyes. He waited for her to compose herself, for her breathing to calm down again. Gulkien watched her keenly. Eventually, she looked back around. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t say anything.”

“Well, you’ve told me now. That’s the main thing. It’s not too late. Come on.” He smiled at Gwen. He wanted her to find her spirit again. “I know you’re a good fighter. We just need to get to the mines.”

Gwen flicked back her cloak to reveal her throwing axes. “I’m an excellent fighter,” she said, smiling.

 

“Has he always been jealous of you?” asked Tanner, as he watched Gwen unroll the map. He didn’t have to say Geffen’s name out loud — he knew Gwen would understand.

“I don’t know,” she said. She released the gauze from her locket, spreading it over the details penned across the scroll. “He wouldn’t have been happy if he’d known that Jonas had given the secrets of the map to me alone. Yes … He’s always been competitive, wanting to be the best. Perhaps it isn’t jealousy exactly.”

“Perhaps not,” Tanner said, “but being competitive should not mean that you lead your sister to her near-death.”

Gwen shook her head. “Can we stop talking about it now?” She looked up into Tanner’s face. “Please.”

Tanner crouched beside her, the parchment on the ground between them. It was more like soft cloth than paper. The secret gauze transformed the map into something much more special. As she straightened it over the top, the surface moved like water under the shifting clouds, showing the entire kingdom. Four points began to glow like gemstones — the pieces of the Mask of Death.

“We’re here,” said Gwen, pointing to the section of rolling plains in the center of the kingdom. “Vendrake was heading north.” She indicated the glowing portion of mask in the mountains at the far reaches of the map. “We’re right. Geffen must be taking him to the mines.”

Tanner leaped up and rushed to Firepos. The flame bird lowered herself to the ground, and he climbed up, using the crook of her wing as a foothold.

“We have to hurry,” he said. “Gor will be marching his army that way, too.”

Gwen rolled up the map and put away the magical gauze. She gripped the fur of Gulkien’s neck and hoisted herself onto his back.

“To the Northern Mountains!” Tanner shouted.