The five remaining guards surrounded us as General Isa took the lead. “We’ll ride for camp. If the eagles should find us, keep going. The guards and I will draw them away from you.”
Mariyah and I shared a look, her eyes wide and panicked. I couldn’t even let myself think of that scenario.
“Where are our mothers and Prince Malik?” I asked. “Are they safe?”
“They’re deep inside the canyon by now, which is where I must getyou—now let’s go!”
As one, the horses took off at a gallop for camp. Their hoofbeats were thunderous, and the wind whipped Shazeera’s mane into my face. As fear turned my insides into a quivering mass of snakes, I tried to convince myself the eagles were only passing through and hadn’t even discovered us. Maybe we would make it back and never even encounter them.
That was when Shazeera heard the beat of wings in the distance, the sound of men and women shouting to be heard above the wind. She passed what she heard along to me through our link, and my mouth went dry.
Shouts of men meant these were Eagle Riders—no hope now that we had only heard wild eagles in the distance—and we still had over a mile to go.
The other horses had detected the sound, too, and were flicking their ears nervously. General Isa turned and shouted back to us, “We continue for the canyon. They may not have spotted us yet.”
Our horses lengthened their strides even more, their hooves barely touching the ground before launching us forward again. All eight of us flew over the earth like we had wings.
But I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I had seen for myself howfast the eagles were. How they fell upon you like a meteor from the sky.
The wind whispered in my ears again, stronger this time, and I could almost hear it encouraging me to call upon it again, how easily I could knock the eagles and their riders down to earth.
You may have to call on the wind,Shazeera said.
Remembering how torturous it had been to not communicate with Shazeera still made my mind cloud with terror. Worse was the fear that it would be a permanent condition. I couldn’t lose my bond with my heart’s sister. I’d rather die.No, I won’t risk that again.
Better to risk our ability to communicate than to watch daughters and horses be killed,Shazeera said. Before I could answer, she added,They’re coming.Mariyah’s mare turned her head in the direction of the sound, too.
That’s when I looked up and saw an eagle and its rider streaking toward us out of the sky.
9
Zara
“Go now!” General Isa shouted to Mariyah and me before her horse spun around to face the eagle and its rider along with the other guards.
Shazeera carried me toward the canyon, Mariyah’s mare keeping pace beside us. Over a mile away, the settlement swarmed with frantic activity as people and horses hurried into the gorge. A line of mounted warriors fanned out around the canyon, protecting the people from the imminent attack. We just had to make it behind that line.
I dared to look back, and as I did, I let out a cry that was probably exactly what a small, helpless animal sounded like in the face of a stalking predator. Another eagle and rider had joined the first.
“Zara,” Mariyah said, her voice strangled, and I turned to look at her just as Shazeera slid to a jarring halt.
A third eagle and its rider hovered just in front of us.
It was a female rider, thin and leanly muscular, her hair slicked back in a tight bun. Her face lacked any emotion—no sneer, no dark threat of violence, nothing. It was like we were sobeneath her notice as any sort of threat that she couldn’t even form an emotional response. I froze, muscles completely paralyzed as goose bumps rose like tiny warnings over my arms.
I couldn’t even articulatethis is badto Shazeera. My mind just sent her various images of fleeing until she could no longer run anymore. One eagle and rider pair was bad enough, but three? There was no hope of escape.
I pushed down that terror and, in one swift movement, drew back my bow. Mariyah did the same. Before I took another breath, I let the arrow fly, straight at the eagle’s breast. Beside me, Mariyah fired her arrow. The arrows blurred, and I knew the eagle wouldn’t have time to dodge—they were far too close.
With a resoundingthunk, the eagle caught both arrows with its talons.
I cried out, my gaze flying to the rider’s, but she was still cold, emotionless. And then the eagle dove toward us.
Mariyah’s earthquake ability would do nothing against the eagle in the air, but I knew that wasn’t her only offensive power. Her hands lifted as her face took on an expression of intense concentration. She may not have had access to the massive boulders we would find west in the scrublands, but there were still plenty of stones to do considerable damage. The ground around us began to shake as all the rocks within a hundred-foot radius of us rose up. Fifty rocks the size of horse hooves flew at the eagle at such a high velocity that they struck it from the sky. It landed in an explosive heap of wings and scattered feathers, pinning its rider beneath it.
“That was incredible, Mariyah!” I told her as the horses continued unimpeded toward the canyon.
She grinned back at me, but then her face quickly took on a mask of terror. “On your left!”
