“I really wish you wouldn't do that,” Ruby said between clenched teeth. He wasn't sure who she meant-probably all of them.
Once they recovered their flight pattern, all of the gryphons spoke at once: // Who told you this? // from Thalnarra, // When did this happen? // from Altair, and // It is deceiving, would tell you so, // from Arikaree.
“I think you know,” Vidarian said.
// The Starhunter, // Thalnarra said, and in her voice it was an epithet. // Have you learned so little, to listen to her? She has no domain of her own, and preys upon those of the four true goddesses. What else would she tell you? //
Nothing the goddess could have said would refute this, but her laugh, full of satisfaction, sealed its answer in Vidarian's heart.
“She knows I would do anything to deny her what she wants,” Vidarian said, his heart sunken, “except this.” He looked across the craft to where Ariadel slept fitfully, her face pale and body hunched in for warmth even beneath Thalnarra's warmth spell.
// Don't you think you owe it to her to ask if she would have you open the gate? // Thalnarra said, a hot anger simmering beneath the smoke of her voice. Betrayal, her thoughts whispered, with that cloud of concepts that lingered beyond human language.
Vidarian looked again at Ariadel. Did he know what her answer would be? “I-”
Ruby cried out behind him, stopping his thoughts. When he turned, she was pointing aft behind them, to the north.
There against the mountains, a dark cloud was rising, too fast and dense to be weather. As it spread out and came closer, tiny wings could be discerned on each particle. The sheer number of them set his stomach ill at ease.
“Gryphons?” Vidarian asked.
// No, // Altair said.
// Horses, // Thalnarra said. // Winged horses, and riders. //
“Sky knights!” Ruby breathed, turning to Vidarian. “From the empire? What are they doing here?”
“There was a disagreement,” Vidarian began, and Ruby's eyes widened with incredulity-which was something, coming from a renegade warleader whose people had been fighting the empire for over a century.
// And coming over mountains, // Arikaree added. Vidarian realized he was right-they hadn't taken the dragonspine tunnel, but had come up and over the mountain range. It shouldn't have been possible.
But the bottom line was: “Then they'll be exhausted.” He turned to each of the gryphons. “Can you fly higher?”
In response, they angled their wings again, gradually ascending.
“Make them work for it,” he said grimly.
The knights closed like an inexorable slow tide.
// They're carrying healers! // Altair exclaimed. The gryphons’ ability to see details of their pursuers long before Ruby or Vidarian could hope to was an advantage, but it was hard not to be unsettled by it. // They must be feeding energy to the horses-that's what's keeping them going. //
// I've heard it done, but it's reckless, // Thalnarra agreed. // With that endurance and one of the remaining relics of Siane, they could have opened the everstorm. The Company must mean to do anything to stop you. What exactly did you say to them? //
Everyone kept asking that, Vidarian thought irritatedly. As if saying something could cause an entity so large to empty its coffers trying to detain you. Or stop it from doing so.
His spirit sank within him as he took in their sheer numbers. They were close enough now for a human to count, not just a gryphon. Three flights closed on them-an entire wing, if his dull memory of imperial air organization held true; close to fifty horses and riders. And they couldn't have come from the imperial city-not this fast. Which meant they were bordermen, accustomed to rough conditions. Dangerous and hungry.
“I have to talk to them,” he said, and the three gryphons at once sent him a pulse of surprise and unhappiness. They were afraid, he realized, with a shock like ice water. On even footing, a gryphon wouldn't fear even a flight of Sky Knights-but here, harnessed to the flying craft, they were vulnerable themselves, to say nothing of the wingless passengers. “We're too far from the ground,” he argued. “They could knock all of us down. If I can talk them into landing, we have a chance.”
// Their intentions are not peaceful, // Altair warned, and Thalnarra and Arikaree radiated agreement.
“You can read that from their thoughts?” Ruby asked, surprised; an edge of her previous suspicion toward gryphons had returned to her voice.
// The horses, // Thalnarra said. // We can smell their readiness. The riders encourage them for battle. //
How exciting! the Starhunter whispered. Vidarian managed to ignore her. “I have to try,” he said only. The gryphons were not pleased, but also not arguing. Vidarian's ears were popping as they continued to ascend. The knights’ horses were following, but slowly. Gradually, the gryphons leveled off, allowing the knights to catch up.
When the group drew close, one of their number split off and approached, guiding his horse up within a few wing-lengths of the port bow. It was not the commander; she was still flanked by a chevron of knights in the center of the wing, distinctive by the gold pauldrons at her shoulders and the glimmering purple iridescence of the coat and feathers of the royal she rode.
Their approacher rode a young beast-a grey, its feathers still banded. His armor was provincial, not standard to the imperial city, confirming Vidarian's suspicion that they'd sent a border wing. He signaled his mount to hover, which it did with a toss of its head and feathered tail, and lifted his visor.
“Second Vadron Illinsvar, Imperial Sky Knights, Hawkstorm Wing.” When he named the wing, the knights behind Illinsvar lifted their lances and gave low shouts that were picked up by the rest. The lieutenant smiled slightly and Vidarian cursed to himself. A young, stupid cowherd with ambitions. Fantastic. He was eyeing the gryphons with speculation and excitement.
// He doesn't know we're intelligent, // Thalnarra growled in his mind alone, anger and satisfaction coloring her words. // Don't enlighten him. //
“Greetings, Captain,” Vidarian called, intentionally mistaking his rank to puff his ego. “How can we assist you?”
“The Hawkstorm wing is dispatched to escort one Vidarian Rulorat to the imperial city. If you are he, I am instructed to take you into custody.”
“I'm afraid we can't agree to that,” Vidarian said. “Perhaps we could discuss this on the ground?”
“To allow you to land would be allowing you further progress toward the gate,” the knight said, with another irritating half-smile. Thalnarra fixed his horse with one sharp red eye, and Vidarian knew only he and the horse heard the word // Snack // she directed at it. The beast tossed its head, backwinging, and Thalnarra clicked her beak at it. The knight snarled. “You should control those creatures!”
“I apologize,” Vidarian called. “They're just impossible sometimes.” He directed unhelpful thoughts at Thalnarra.
“We are instructed first to negotiate with you and seek a peaceful solution,” Illinsvar said. “But my orders are clear: we are to detain you by any means necessary. No living knight is permitted to allow you to reach the gate.” The way he emphasized “living” made Vidarian's skin crawl.
“Why?” Vidarian called. “What are they afraid I'll do?”
The knight pulled back on the reins of his mount, which tossed its head and snorted in response, backwinging. “Why should the empire-”
“You mean the Company!”
“-allow one man to decide the fate of millions?”
He doesn't know, the Starhunter whispered. Leave the poor toy alone.
“This from you?” Vidarian muttered.
“Will you come peacefully?” the knight called, lowering his lance. The others along the forward line behind him followed suit, facing the Destiny with an arc of knife points. Illinsvar kneed his mount, and it hovered closer to the flying craft, bringing the tip of his lance closer to Arikaree's flank.
Thalnarra hissed, and the horse's mane and tail burst into flame. The creature shrieked in unison with its rider's angry shout, and the knights behind them wasted only a moment on raw shock before charging forward.
// Climb! // Thalnarra shouted, and the three gryphons immediately angled their wings and began ascending. Thalnarra herself aimed upward at the sharpest angle, and the craft tipped steeply. Ruby and Vidarian scrambled for safety holds, and as he did so Vidarian leaned forward across the craft to check the safety straps around Ariadel. For a blessing, they held, and though Ariadel's forehead creased and she murmured uncomfortably in her sleep, she was not otherwise disrupted.
Arrows were hissing around them as the gryphons rose higher in the air. In the commotion among the knights-acrid smoke still rose from beneath them, with the scent of burning horsehair, and the panicked screams of the inflicted animal-they'd gained several lengths on their pursuers in altitude, but not clearance. The gryphons were strong, but the knights had the advantage in both encumbrance and number. Soon, Vidarian knew, their breath would begin to labor at this pace.