Tales of the Fallen Beasts Read online

  “It’s not you I don’t trust.”

  “You never let me do anything!”

  Then the deeper voice of the father: “Cordalles, listen to your mother. She’s protecting you for your own good. This is only temporary, until we hear what the Greencloaks have to say. Then we can use their training and wisdom to make sure your bond with Halawir is a good one.”

  Footsteps, and the crying grew fainter.

  He was alone.

  Day after day passed, and the only thing Halawir learned about boats was that life on board was interminably slow.

  The light that snuck under the door frame faded and grew and faded again. The same sailor came with food day after day, but he never took Halawir out, or even made eye contact or spoke to the bird.

  Awake and asleep, Halawir dreamed of freedom. He pictured the day when Cordalles would take him on shore to the Greencloak castle. They would never let him stay with her—but who knows what they would want to do with him? Throw him into another prison, probably.

  No, he needed to break away before Lenori and the other Greencloaks realized who he was.… Maybe he would make his escape as they walked onto land. He could startle Cordalles, make her drop him. Or should he wait until he was inside the castle, among his enemies, poised for revenge? The plan changed every time he thought about it. The only constant was his hunger for freedom.

  Then one day, the dawn brought a tremendous amount of noise and excitement. Halawir could hear the sailors running around the deck, readying the boat, hauling ropes—he tried to peer through the crack in the door to see what was going on, but it was impossible to make anything out.

  It was only when the endless forward motion of the boat suddenly stopped that he realized they had reached a port. Was this Greenhaven? Had they gotten there already? The deadly fog of monotony suddenly lifted from his brain, and he perked up. At any moment, Cordalles or her mother would show up to bring him out of his prison and take him to the Greencloaks!

  He waited impatiently. He could hear the crew singing and laughing as they raced down the gangplank to shore, but still, no one came for him.

  Then the deck quieted down.

  What had happened? Why had they left him behind? This was not part of any of his hundreds of plans. What now?

  Despair tore through him. He would never be free of this family, this boat, this room. He picked up the water dish with his talons and hurled it across the room. It hit the far wall with a clang, water splashing everywhere.

  Then Halawir heard a careful key in the lock. The sailor in charge of feeding him must have been left on board to keep watch. But it was not the usual time for food, and the sound was softer and more hesitant than usual.

  The door creaked open, and Cordalles threw herself around the edge.

  “They didn’t take me with them!” She stared at him with wide eyes, as though she expected him to know what she was talking about.

  He cocked his head to the side. After so many days in isolation, he had to admit that he was the slightest bit pleased to see her.

  “We stopped at a port to drop off some cargo. A quick stop.” Halawir felt a rush of relief. They weren’t at Greenhaven yet after all. There was still hope. He perked up, fluffing his feathers.

  Cordalles smiled, noticing his attention, before remembering why she’d stormed in. “My parents wouldn’t even let me off the boat!” She picked up Halawir’s battered water dish and threw it at a wall, just as he had. “I thought that now that I’ve summoned a spirit animal they’d have a little more confidence in me, let me explore on my own—and instead they’re worse than ever! They don’t even let me off the boat!” She buried her head in her hands for a minute. “Well, we’ll show them, won’t we? We really have to prove ourselves now.”

  She stood up. Her cheeks were flushed. “I stole the spare key! Now I can come see you whenever I want. And I will. I’m sorry that I was so … so scared. That I didn’t come see you before.

  “There’s only one more stop before Greenhaven. We’ll be docking at Soussia for an afternoon, and I’m going to prove to them that we can do just fine on our own. By the time we get to Greenhaven, we’ll be able to show the Greencloaks that we really do have a bond. That they can trust both of us.”

  There was a distant thud—the sound of new cargo being loaded into the steerage.

  “I have to go,” Cordalles whispered. “But I’ll be back.”

  The next night, back out on the ocean, she kept her promise, coming to visit after everyone was asleep but the few night watchmen.

  “Are you there?” she whispered. “I didn’t dare light a candle.”

  Halawir could see perfectly at night, so he watched her fumbling blindly with the door while her eyes adjusted to the deeper darkness of the cabin. She pressed her back against the wall and slid down to the floor. He could see that her pupils were completely dilated, little black holes in the night. Cordalles pulled a bag off her arm and rummaged around inside.

  “If I’m going to get them to trust us, I have to be sure I can trust you,” she said. “Then, at our next stop, we’ll sneak off the boat together. I’ve started working on something. I’m almost done. Then we can get you outside again.”

  That got his attention immediately.

  She took out a pair of tiny leather anklets, and then pulled out a partially cut piece of leather.

  He realized she had been making him a set of jesses, the traditional leash used for trained hawks. It was a strap cut from leather, used for keeping hawks—or Great Eagles, in this case—from flying away.

  Jess, he thought. It sounded like jest, like something fun. In fact, it was just the opposite. But if it was a step toward his freedom …

  It would be more comfortable, he supposed, than the rough piece of rope the mother had fastened to his ankle his first day on the boat. But he was not interested in analyzing the comfort levels of the tools of his imprisonment. He was more focused on getting free.

  “I’d rather not use the jess at all, you know,” Cordalles said, half to him, half to herself. “But”—and she looked up at him sharply—“I’m not entirely sure that you won’t fly away the second I let you off the leash.”

  He couldn’t believe she was even debating the question. Of course he would fly away the second he was let free.

  “Soon,” she continued, “you’ll come to trust me. You’ll feel our bond stronger—and then you can fly anywhere you want, because I’ll know you’ll come back. Till then, we’ll have to make do with this.”

  She turned her concentration to the leather that she’d smoothed out on the floor in front of her. Cordalles picked up her knife and made a long, precise slice close to the edge of the piece of leather. It created a thin strap.

  “Looks good, right?” She held it up for Halawir to see. He dropped his eyelids, hoping she’d be smart enough to realize that he had no interest in the project. It was the end result—flying free—that interested him.

  When Cordalles had finished trimming and smoothing and attaching the leather pieces, she approached him carefully. He decided to let her. The more she believed in their bond, the better chance he had at being let free. He could make his escape at Soussia, and then fly to Greenhaven on his own, once he was prepared.…

  Cordalles attached the anklet to him and held the end of the jess in her hand.

  “Your chariot, sir,” she said, holding out her arm.

  She intended her statement as a joke, but Halawir never joked. And any opportunity for her to serve him was one he would take. He hopped onto her arm and gripped it tightly with his talons, so that she could carry him out to the deck. He could feel the muscles in her arm straining under his solid weight.

  Cordalles softly tiptoed out of the cabin. It opened onto one of the lower decks. She must have made sure the night watchman would be stationed elsewhere; this area of the deck was quiet and deserted.

  All around them, from horizon to horizon, stars glittered madly, like droplets of water shaken off
by a shivering moon. Halawir could see the tiny faraway lights vibrating in the sky.

  Out in the clean ocean air on deck, he could finally breathe again. The cramped quarters had truly started to drive him crazy. He rolled his neck, stretching out his muscles. The ship heaved and pitched on the choppy waves. The salt air smelled like freedom.

  Halawir’s heart soared.

  Cordalles fed out the leash so that Halawir could fly through the air above the boat, stretching his wings and flexing his brawny chest. Despite his resentment, he was not going to pass up the opportunity to move.

  When he finally returned to her arm, Cordalles’s smile was as wide as the crescent moon above them.

  “See?” she whispered. “We can be good partners. We’ll keep doing this, so that when we get to Soussia, we can go off, maybe do a trade of our own. Mother and Father will have to see the value of our bond after that. Then, at Greenhaven, we can show everyone how well we work together. Mother promised me that the Greencloaks would explain all the rules of a bond with a Great Beast.”

  He stared at her unblinkingly. If he knew anything from his time on earth, it was that rules were made so that the weak would feel safe and protected, so they could believe there was something bigger and stronger watching over them. That was a lie.

  The truth, Halawir knew, was that rules were the way the clever gained power—by breaking them.

  Yes, this little sea noodle had summoned him, somehow. But they were no more bound to each other than he was bound to this ship. They were simply thrown together momentarily. He would break away, smashing whatever bond she imagined existed, the first chance he got. And he would never look back.

  Night after night, Cordalles snuck Halawir out and flew him.

  He began to become accustomed to her little habits. If she played with her hair, he could tell that she was nervous, and he wouldn’t fly so far.

  And if she raised her hand above her head, he knew it meant that their time was up, and he would return to perch on her arm or shoulder.

  She was teaching him to work with her, and he was teaching her that he could be trusted.

  Then one morning, a shout from the rigging shook him out of his daydreams.

  “Land ahead!”

  Halawir flew to a little knot he’d discovered in the wooden wall. It gave him a peephole to the outdoors.

  The usually calm deck was transformed. All the sailors had dropped whatever task they’d been doing and emerged into the sunlight. Boys were running around, scuttling up and down the masts, adjusting the sails, prepping the anchor, and tightening lines.

  Halawir imagined that at the top of the tallest mast, one boy clung on with one hand, holding a long spyglass in the other. But with his sharp eyes, Halawir could clearly see what the boy had probably needed to use the telescope to spot. Right at the horizon line was a sliver of land—a port city.

  Cordalles had told him that they’d be stopping soon to off-load some goods, make some trades, and restock their food supplies. One last stop before Greenhaven.

  Everything was bustle and frenzy as they made ready to dock, but Halawir was left, forgotten, in the gloom of his prison. The sailor who usually brought his food didn’t even remember to come feed him.

  As the boat pulled into port, Halawir watched through the knot as the sky filled with seagulls eager to see what treats—what fish—this new vessel might have to offer. They swooped through the sky above him. Stupid, slow birds. If he was freed, Halawir knew, he could accelerate up above them, take in their positions before they had time to react, and then drop like a stone, talons outstretched, grabbing one of them tightly and tearing it from limb to limb—

  He sighed and dropped down to the floor, heavy with boredom.

  Gradually, the cries of the sailors thinned out. He could hear their feet running down the gangplank as the crew took to shore for a day of fun. Cordalles’s parents would be off trading their goods. The ship stood empty.

  This, he knew, was when she’d come for him.

  The door swung open.

  Cordalles stood there with a tremendous smile plastered across her face. Halawir would have laughed at how pleased with herself she appeared, except that he’d never felt so excited to see anyone in his whole life.

  Despite himself, he leaped up into the air and onto her arm in greeting.

  She smoothed his ruffled feathers down and even chucked him under the chin playfully.

  “Are you ready?” she asked. “Mother and Father have gone. There’s barely anyone left on board. I gave Zak a gold coin not to notice if we slip away for just a little while. I have a fun plan.” Her gleeful smile shone in the small room.

  She was wearing a long dark cloak, and she pulled it over her arm so that Halawir was concealed as they left the ship.

  As soon as they reached land, she flung the garment away.

  “Ta-da!” she cried happily. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. What could be better than a new green robe to wear when we visit the Greencloaks? I know the man Mother and Father always visit for new robes. We’ll find his stall and get a fine green robe to wear. Imagine the look on their faces when I show up with a new green cloak, and you on my arm, as calm as can be.”

  Cordalles blended into the crowd. They were surrounded by throngs of people. Halawir balanced lightly on her arm and surveyed the bustling port of Soussia. Like every port city he’d ever seen—except during times of war—the docks were bursting with activity. Sailors and passengers flooded off leisure boats and shipping vessels.

  The people were dressed in everything from dirty rags to the richest robes. The styles ranged from the severe jackets of Eura to the colorful robes of Nilo. Drivers with carts and horses jostled each other to get closest to the richest passengers with the most luggage. Porters with stooped backs took remarkably quick steps under the heavy burdens of trunks and bags. Farther inland, Halawir could see stands displaying fruits and meats and spices and teas. Halawir fed off the noise and energy of the city, but as Cordalles made her way through the winding streets, he started to feel as though something was not quite right.

  He felt almost as though someone was watching them. It was a silly thing to think, because of course many eyes were on them. A cheerful old woman nodded in their direction as they passed, wishing them a good morning. A man with a sparrow spirit animal flinched when he saw them and darted away across the street. A gaggle of little kids followed Cordalles for a moment, trying to guess where she was from. There were thousands of eyes in this city, and everyone was sizing each other up, and then moving right along.

  Still, Halawir couldn’t escape the feeling of paranoia that had threaded its way through him.

  When he caught sight of a man in a dark tunic turning a corner up ahead, he felt as though he’d found the source of his anxiety, though he couldn’t tell why. A moment later, the man disappeared from sight.

  A few blocks later, he thought he spotted the man’s dark tunic and close-cropped dark hair again. Of course, it could have been anyone. There were thousands of men in dark robes making their way through this port city.

  Halawir tightened the grip of his talons around Cordalles’s glove, determined to enjoy their outing and ignore his instincts.

  Still, when Halawir and Cordalles finally reached the garment district, an area where the street opened up into a central square, he couldn’t resist checking all the alley exits to make sure the man was not trailing them.

  Nothing.

  He breathed a sigh of relief as Cordalles, oblivious, surveyed the square. It was full of booths. Some were piled with bolts of cloth of all colors, for those who wanted to create their own clothes. Some sold delicately stitched dresses, for those with money to spare. There were puffy coats and thin stockings and everything in between.

  Cordalles clearly wasn’t prepared for quite so many stalls.

  “I’ll ask someone where we can find Lukasz,” she said.

  She looked around, hesitant. Halawir could tell that
she wanted to find someone nonthreatening who she could approach for help. He realized that many of the people around them would look worldly and intimidating to a girl accustomed to the contained universe of a boat. There was a Zhongese soldier, a bedraggled beggar, a haughty-looking Niloan.…

  “She looks friendly!” Cordalles whispered at last. She started walking toward a Zhongese girl who was browsing at a stand under the colonnade that sold pretty embroidered cloths.

  The girl was about Cordalles’s age but looked more mature, somehow. She was lovely, with long dark hair and tan skin, and dressed in the clothes of someone well-off. Halawir guessed that she was the daughter of one of the city’s prosperous merchants, sent out to buy something for a last-minute dinner party.

  “Excuse me,” said Cordalles, tapping the girl on her shoulder. “I’m looking for the robe trader named Lukasz. Do you know where his stall is?”

  The girl turned around. Up close, her face was plainer than he’d thought at first. But when her lips curled into a smile, she looked a little like a hungry cat.

  “Yes, of course,” she said. Her voice was as smooth and luxurious as a silk robe. Only the slightest trace of a southern Zhongese accent hung on her words, like the faint scent of cardamom on a tablecloth at the end of a rich meal. “Everyone knows where Lukasz’s stall is; he is one of the finest craftsmen in the city. You know you’ll be getting good quality when you buy from him.”

  “That’s his reputation,” said Cordalles. “It’s why my parents always like to trade with him when we’re in town.”

  “Your parents must be smart people. Are they here with you?”

  “Oh yes, but they’re back at the port, selling our goods. We’re sea traders.” Cordalles gestured at her sailcloth dress. “As you can see. That’s why I’m here to pick up some new robes for our season on shore.”

  “Of course!” The girl seemed to remember the reason for their conversation. “I’m sorry for keeping you! It’s just always interesting to talk to people from other places. You’re lucky to be able to travel so much. I haven’t left the city in a long time.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Lukasz’s stall is just off the square, on the other side. You’ll see the purple awning. Step through, follow the alley back, and—well, it’s a bit complicated if you’re not familiar with the streets, I guess. Why don’t I take you there? I’m not busy.”