Windburn (The Elemental Series #4)(45)

Peta was right about the climb. It was a true test of our abilities, both physical and in our connection to the earth. Snow was a covering on earth; it was water, not earth. So in order to mold handholds, Cactus had to melt the snow, then I made the holds. More than once, we triggered avalanches that sent waves of snow crashing down the slope.

Then there was the fact that we climbed while the night still held tightly to the world. The darkness only added to the degree of difficulty. We had to rely on Peta to find our path.

Without her, I was sure we would not have made the climb. “Almost there,” she called down to us, her eyes glowing in the dark.

I kept moving, my legs and back aching from the cold and the fatigue. The night had taken its toll. I could only hope Queen Aria was as Peta had said: kind and merciful.

We pulled ourselves up a ledge, side by side. Cactus’s hair was stiff, slicked back from his face. Our sweat froze in droplets as we climbed. “I can check this off my list of things to do before I die.”

I stared at him, then laughed. “Only you, Cactus, would think this was a challenge you needed to face.”

He grinned. “What can I say? A challenge only makes me want it more. Tells me it’s worth the fight.”

His words, of course, had nothing to do with the mountain.

My grin slipped and I pulled myself over the ledge, resting on my knees. We’d made it to the gates of the Eyrie.

We were on a flat plain cut deep into the mountain, wide and open. Across the far edge were a pair of tall gates with walls stretching to either side.

Peta sat on her haunches, her ears flicking back and forth. “Lark, the welcoming committee is on its way.”

I made myself stand though my legs trembled and my arms felt like boulders. Toward us, the greeter flew. I blinked, surprised at who the queen would send as her emissary.

“First time for everything,” I said as the fairy reached me, his sword drawn and pointed at my eye.

First time indeed.





CHAPTER 15





“ey, you can’t damn well be here, you damn stinking dirt brat!” the fairy screamed at me, his face bright red. I raised my eyebrows but didn’t move for fear he’d accidently puncture my eye with his miniscule blade.

“Why not?”

“All Terralings are forbidden to enter the Eyrie until further notice,” he screeched.

“Do I look like a Terraling?” I asked. That seemed to slow him down. “Does my companion look like a Terraling with his red hair? Would a cat be bound as a familiar to a Terraling?” With each question I asked, he deflated a little more until the sword dropped.

“Well, shit stickers. I never thought of that. Name’s Tom.” He floated back from my face, giving me breathing room.

“I’m Larkspur, and this is Cactus, and Peta.” I pointed to the others as I named them. “Tom, we’d like to speak with Queen Aria. Where do we petition?”

His sword whipped back up, slicing into my cheek as the scent of berry wine wafted over me. Great. A drunken fairy on a power trip. Just what we needed.

“Wait, she said the only people coming to speak to her would be trouble and I should try and stop them.”

“Ahhh,” Cactus said. “There’s the rub. The word ‘try’ implies that no matter what you do, you wouldn’t be able to stop said trouble.”

Tom’s mouth dropped open. “Are you sure?”

Peta leapt up and caught him between her big paws so fast she was a white blur. “Yes, quite sure.”

“Don’t hurt him!” I yelped. I could easily imagine what the queen would say if we killed one of her guards right off the start. Not exactly the introduction I was looking for.

Peta let out a yelp and leapt back, shaking her paw. “Little prick!”

“That’s not what the ladies say!” he hollered back as he zipped toward the gates.

“Hurry, we have to make it there ahead of him.” I bolted after the fairy, the glitter of his wings making it easy to track his progress. Peta was ahead of me, snarling.

Tom looked over his shoulder, yelped and sped up. Damn it. “Fairy sharts, they’re gaining on me! Open the gates, let me in!”

The gates didn’t move, though a few faces peered through the tall grills.

I held a hand up and slid to a stop. “Wait, Peta. I think . . . I think he wasn’t official.”

Cactus panted beside me, leaning over to press his hands onto his legs. “You sure?”

“Yes. If he was, they’d have come running when he yelled for help.”

The fairy hit the gates, going so far as to rattle his sword along them as we approached. “Let me in! They said the cat would eat me and pick her teeth with my bones.”

One side of the gate opened and a tall, slim figure stepped out. My heart seemed to stutter at the sight of the white leathers the Ender wore and the long white hair braided over one shoulder. He stood easily a foot taller than me, and his cool gray eyes swept us as if we were a mere annoyance. But all that wasn’t the reason. It was his resemblance to Wicker, the Sylph who’d helped Cassava take the throne and release the lung burrowers on my people. The Sylph who’d killed my mother and little brother.

He raised one eyebrow. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

Tom flew right up to his eyes. “I told you, you fecking moron! They’re here to kill me and assassinate the queen! Now let me in!”