“Oh.Ohhh!That’sgreatnews,” I said.I envisioned several little Zephyras and couldn’t hold back my smile, though it was bittersweet.“She’s having chicks,” I said for the benefit of the others.Everyone cheered, and she even let the others gather around and pet her, which she had never done before.
“Zephyra, I can’t tell you how very much you’ve helped.I’m forever in your debt for helping me get Elena back.”
Remember, little Cas helped Zephyra escape that nasty cage.
“I remember,” I said, choking up a little bit at the memory.“I’ll miss you.”
Zephyra will miss little Cas, too.
With that, she took to the sky and flapped away, heading north.Apparently she wasn’t one for long goodbyes.I truly would miss her and hoped I’d see her again soon, perhaps with little birds in tow.
Since Zephyra had assured us that we weren’t being followed, we decided to pause for a while.Darion was wrecked after using his Ember for so long, and most of us hadn’t had any rest since we’d left theWind Runnermany hours ago.We found a well-shaded grove of trees with a stream running through it, and we let the horses drink their fill.They happily grazed on the grass that grew along the bank.I tended to Darion as Jask and Elena scouted the immediate area.
“Ouch!”Darion cried as I dabbed a cold wet cloth on the cut over his eye.It had already started swelling.
“Hold still,” I said as Darion squirmed under myverygentle cleaning.
It wouldn’t be long before Darion’s intensive use of his Ember caught up with him, so I only had a bit of time to question him before he was lost to exhaustion.
“What exactly happened with Kael back there?”I asked.
“You saw most of it.He tried to stop us.I didn’t let him.”
“Do you knowwhyhe tried to stop us?”
“There was no time to ask.”
“I wish we could have talked to him so we could understand why he did what he did.”
“He wasn’t in a talking mood,” Darion said flatly.
“I didn’t know he had Chronothene.”
Darion nodded.“He and I are among the very few who have it and don’t live in the clock tower.”
Something wasn’t sitting right with me.It didn’t seem like Kael had been holding Elena captive.He’d taken the East Road at her request.Ireallywish we could have talked to him.But ultimately, he’d tried to stop us and had attacked Darion, so that was about as definitive as it got.
While we waited for Jask and Elena to return from their scouting trip, I asked Darion to show me how to do the sparrow call he had used back in Grey Spit to attract Jask’s attention.It seemed like an excellent tool to add to my skill set.
“The first trick is cupping your hands right,” he said as he showed me with his own hands.From there, he showed me the proper blowing technique and how to mimic the pitch and fluttering.Before long, I was singing just like another sparrow.
“It’s really not fair how quickly you pick things up,” Darion said with a smile.
“I have a good teacher,” I said.
Darion taught me a few other calls he had developed to convey basic information to people who knew the code.I learned the signals for danger, safe, fan out, and other tactical maneuvers.
For a moment, as we talked, things felt back to normal.I longed for that feeling to continue, but reflexive mistrust hung over me like a storm cloud.
Soon Jask and Elena returned from their scouting with little to report—there was no sign of anyone as far as they could see.So we all took a well-deserved rest, acting as lookout in shifts, except for Darion, who was sleeping like the dead due to his Ember hangover.
When it was my watch, Elena walked over and sat next to me.
“Thank you for rescuing me, brother,” she said as she leaned her head on my shoulder.
“You’re the most important thing in the world to me,” I replied.
“And you are to me,” she said back.
