Where Is Adam Finley?

Paladin and Caruso had been flying in circles around the citadel, peeking in every window for Gabriel’s father. In one they saw dozens of what appeared to be metallic ravens dangling from the rafters.

“What are those, Caruso?”

“Corax’s wretched cages,” said the owl.

Paladin slipped through the bars of the window, and Caruso followed.

A shocking sight lay before them. Each device contained a raven, with round holes for the eyes and rivets along the back and front. A metallic beak with a hinge served as a feeding hole for the desperate prisoner trapped inside.

“Get out, go as far as you can from here!” one caged raven cried.

“Escape!” cried another. “While you’re still able!”

“If Corax finds you, he’ll lock you up like us!” cried a third.

Overcome by their misery, Paladin cried out to the ravens, “How do I set you free?”

“It’s hopeless. Our cages are locked and unlocked only by the song of a robin. And all the robins in the citadel serve Corax.”

“I could try to imitate a robin’s song,” suggested Paladin.

“We’ve all tried. No raven can sing such high notes!”

Caruso fluttered up to examine one of the cages. The raven inside trembled, for the owl’s prominent horns and beak were terrifying.

“Diabolical,” said Caruso. “Why have you been imprisoned?”

“We have all refused to join Corax,” said one of the trapped ravens.

One raven emitted pitiful throks. “Oh, who can help us?”

All the imprisoned ravens began to sway in their cages, uttering pleas for rescue, until the air was filled with such deafening cries that it felt like a madhouse.

Caruso uttered a loud WHOOOO!, which instantly silenced the room. “Listen to me!” he bellowed. “Does anyone know where Adam Finley is?”

“He has been moved,” said one raven. “I heard the sparrows say that he had been sent down to be hidden from the newcomers.”

“Down where?” asked Caruso. “Do you know?”

The raven told him about a room in the lowest depths of the citadel where no other birds dared roam.

It was only a matter of moments before the owl and the raven were spiraling around the tower in search of this room. They soon found it: a dim cell with the smallest crack of a window.

The man seated inside didn’t look very different from Corax, except that his hair was darker, his skin less wrinkled—which made sense, as Adam Finley was ten years younger than his brother. The biggest difference was that this man had warm eyes and his mouth looked poised to smile.

He was holding a candle near a book he was reading, but looked up with surprise when he saw the two birds on the windowsill.

“Well, well!” he said curiously. “A raven and an owl—what an unlikely pair!” He beckoned to them. “Please come in. This is a rare honor.”

“I am Paladin, grandson of Baldasarre. My amicus is Gabriel Finley.”

“Gabriel?” Mr. Finley jumped from his seat. “Paladin, you say? How is Gabriel? Is he in Aviop—”

“And I am Caruso!” interrupted the owl, bursting through the narrow window like a cork from a bottle. “You saved my life, long ago, with the raven Baldasarre!”

Adam Finley laughed. “Ah, Caruso. Yes, of course I remember. Please, tell me about Gabriel!”

Quickly, Paladin explained how Gabriel had solved the raven’s riddle and gotten the torc from the owls. When he described how Septimus had become tormented by the torc, Mr. Finley didn’t seem surprised. “Yes, Septimus was bound to fall under its power,” he said. “Corax will want to know how to extract the torc. I imagine he’s coming for me now. It would be best to leave immediately.”

“We could paravolate,” suggested Paladin.

Adam Finley shook his head. “Unfortunately, Paladin, I can paravolate only with my amicus. As Baldasarre has passed on, I cannot fly anywhere.”

Finley paced about the room, then examined the locked door. “It’s a pity that the robins are so loyal to Corax. If we could simply convince one robin to cooperate and open this lock.”

“Leave that to me,” said Caruso. He flew up to the windowsill, then balked at the narrow opening. He turned to Mr. Finley. “Lend a shove?” He patted his belly. “I’m an owl, not a dove.”

Finley eased the owl gently through the narrow window.

“Much obliged! No more rich food for me. From now on, it’s strictly mice and beans!”

Caruso spread his wings and flew up the walls of the tower. His awesome wingspan made him the most formidable bird in the chasm. Others veered away from him in great flocks. Eventually, the great horned owl arrived at the tower’s vaulted entrance by the bridge. There, he swooped in, sending terrified little birds scattering in all directions. The owl perched above the courtyard and waited until he spotted a dodo walking down the corridor with a robin chirping commands on her back. In a flash, Caruso swooped, seizing the robin in one of his claws.

Moments later, Adam Finley heard the triumphant hoot of the owl. He peered through the postcard-sized window of his door and saw Caruso hovering in the corridor, holding a protesting robin in one of his daggerlike talons.

The robin was putting on a very brave show. “I’ll never open this door! I serve Corax himself! I am a general, do you hear? I fear no one. I’ll fight to the death!”

“I have one question for you,” replied Caruso, tightening his claws around the robin’s bright red breast. “How do you prefer to be eaten? With salt and pepper, or would you like a little thyme?”

The robin uttered a high-pitched trill, and the door lock clicked open.

“Oh, very good, Caruso!” said Mr. Finley. “Let’s hurry—there’s no time to waste!”