One moment, the wind filled my ears, threatening to burst my eardrums, and the next, eagles and their riders were caught in a dark cyclone of power.
The sun shone brightly, not a cloud in the sky, but the cyclone as black as a thunderstorm swallowed them up. The howls of the wind were so loud that if the riders shrieked in terror, no one could hear them.
I held my arms high as the power drained away my energy. My heart beat so hard in my chest it felt like it would burst. Every muscle in my body shook with fatigue. But I didn’t dare break the connection—not until the Zephyrians had been defeated. I watched as riders were torn from eagles, as wings were forcibly bent at terrible angles, and as bodies were slammed into one another until they were as broken as rag dolls.
I shifted my attention to Naomi’s battle, and the cyclonesblew toward the east. Two of the eagles streaked away before the cyclones arrived, their wings pumping powerfully as they retreated. But the others were caught up just as the ones who threatened us had been.
At last, the cyclone released them, and they crashed toward the earth. They fell in a heap, eagles on top of eagles and riders, every limb and wing facing unnatural directions. At least ten Zephyrian Eagle Rider pairs were dead. A silence descended, and not a single chest of our enemy rose to draw breath. Slowly, I let my arms drop to my sides and released the power. If I hadn’t been mounted, I would have collapsed in a heap on the ground. As it was, I slumped forward over Shazeera’s neck, breathing hard.
Something soft and light fell on my shoulder, and I glanced over at it before looking back at the sky. It was raining golden feathers.
10
Zara
The daughters stared at the heap of broken eagles and riders before slowly turning as one toward me. Instead of the horror and condemnation I expected to see, they looked at me with awe and more than a little hope. But when I reached for Shazeera, as reflexively as examining my own thoughts, there was nothing.
The moment I’d called the wind, I felt a pressure on the thread connecting our hearts. The cyclone had erupted from the sky, swallowing the eagles and their riders, and the thread between us felt like it had been plucked. I clutched my chest. The vibrations still hummed in my chest, and cold sweat broke across my skin at the thought that the thread might unravel.
In my mind, where there should have been Shazeera’s comforting voice, there was only silence. She was there beneath me—I could still feel the warmth of her body, and the comforting sounds of her breaths, but it was as if she were a normal horse. A horse who could not communicate in words.
Soft hoofbeats made me look up to find General Isa moving closer to me. She glanced at the fallen Eagle Riders, and I couldsee her throat work as she swallowed hard. “First Daughter,” she said, and her tone was like nothing I’d ever heard from her. She was always as unflappable and calm as still water. “That cyclone…Did you do this?”
I could only manage a mute nod, but my acknowledgment was enough to release something held in check by the others.
“I’ve never seen power like that before,” Naomi said, riding toward us.
“This could change everything!” another said.
From beside the fallen guard and horse, a daughter gazed from the carnage and back to me. “Why didn’t you use such a power earlier?” she asked quietly.
A lump rose in my throat. “You don’t understand,” I said. “There’s a cost…” But it was hard to explain myself in the face of death, even as a bone-deep weariness settled over me, making it difficult to even hold my head up.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Mariyah. I couldn’t bear it if she judged me for withholding my ability until it was too late for the many that had been killed—eleven horses and riders. I kept my gaze on Shazeera’s mane, but that only reminded me that I couldn’t hear her.
It was like the time when I was a child and had climbed as high as I could go in a tree. I wanted to see a bird’s nest at the very top, but I put my weight on a branch that wasn’t strong enough, and I came crashing down to the ground. The breath was knocked from my lungs, and I couldn’t even scream. Worse, I hit my head, and the terrible ringing in my ears drowned out everyone else. I couldn’t hear Shazeera or Ama. I couldn’t hear anything.
It was the same now. In my mind, there was silence but for my own voice. My own stupid thoughts. Panic raked claws over myflesh, and my breaths came faster. The amount of power I had called upon this time was so much more than the first. What if I’d severed the bond this time? What if I could never communicate with her again?
I panted, lungs burning, like I was drowning on dry land. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t draw a full breath. Sweat poured down my back, and I shook. Shazeera nuzzled me—she could sense my distress even if she couldn’t hear me speak in her mind—but her touch only shattered what little control I had left. A broken sound escaped me, ragged and raw.
“Zara,” a voice said, and a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I looked up to find Mariyah right beside me on her mare. “Breathe.”
I took a shuddering breath, keeping my eyes on her familiar face. She stayed like that while I took several deep breaths, reminding my lungs that they still functioned.
“Better?” Mariyah asked after a moment. When I nodded, she gave me a gentle hug. “This war has taken many lives, but we’re all so thankful you saved ours.” She turned to the others. “We owe First Daughter our undying gratitude.”
“Mariyah is right,” General Isa said, bowing her head in a gesture of respect. “We are grateful for your intervention, First Daughter.” She waited until the four guards bowed their heads and murmured their thanks before refocusing on the necessary tasks at hand. The fallen and their horses would need to be brought home to rest. Another guard would need to seek out the five riders who had split off from our original team. The others would accompany us back to Queen Jazela’s camp.
As we prepared to leave, I turned to Mariyah and Citrine. “Is Citrine okay? I saw the eagle’s talons—” I swallowed hard.
“The scratches are deep, but it’s nothing a healer can’t fix. She said they don’t hurt so badly she can’t walk.”
“That’s a relief,” I said, even as shame clung to me like a second skin over my selfish hesitation. What if I had blasted the Eagle Riders from the sky the moment they arrived? Then there would have been zero injuries…and fatalities.
“You did everything you could,” Mariyah said, because she could always read my moods as easily as a seer. “This loss is because of the Zephyrians—not you.”
I shook my head. “I could have called that power sooner. I could have saved us all.”
