Wyntier's Rise (Creatures of the Lands Book 3) Read online

  Animals yelled in terror as they were nearly crushed by the speeding griffin. A white wolf walked into their path by accident and Kennu cried, “Caini, watch out!”

  The she-wolf’s eyes widened and she tried to leap out of the way, but they got to her first. Caini went flying over Allie’s head and Kennu reached up, pulling her onto the griffin’s back. They went faster and faster, Allie letting out a cry of joy while Caini screamed in horror.

  “Allie watch out!” Caini yelped as a giant, resting green dragon loomed ahead. Allie flung out her talons to attempt a halt, but all her efforts did was send them tumbling into the great emerald beast. The impact was only a poke for the dragon, but it still was enough to gather his attention.

  “Oof.” The dragon raised his head, shaking it groggily. “Allie, Kennu, what are you doing? I was trying to rest.” The beast snorted and looked down between his silver talons, where the young ones lay far below.

  “Not much, Io,” Allie said, looking at him upside down from the crash. “Just a little Changer sledding.”

  “Changer sledding!” the dragon said, and he bared his giant fangs. “Allie, you know that’s not allowed.”

  “Don’t blame her, Ionan. It wasn’t all her fault,” Kennu protested. He put a hand on the dragon’s hide, trying to get up from the ground, but his quivering legs failed. Allie turned onto her stomach and rose to her feet, putting her head underneath the boy so she could help him stand.

  “Indeed. It’s obvious she can’t slick her feathers down by herself.” Ionan was complaining as he turned a stern eye on the youngsters, but it was clear he was amused. “And look, you’ve hit poor Caini.”

  Caini jumped up. “Don’t bother with me, Ionan. That was great! I only wish they would go Changer sledding more often, and bring me!” She wagged her tail.

  The dragon chuckled. “Shouldn’t you be getting home to the pack? They will be hunting soon.”

  “I only came to deliver a message from Dad to Kia.” Caini sat down. “And the pack’s hunting here tonight. Our territory has been restricted again. Vixen doesn’t want any wolves coming near her unicorns.” The word was spiteful, and full of hate from the wolf’s mouth.

  “Haven’t you sorted out that fight yet?” Ionan asked, lashing his tail in surprise. “Goodness, it’s been going on for years and it gets worse every winter.”

  “Well, winter’s almost over. The pack won’t be struggling for food, with spring on the way,” Kennu observed. “The wolves and the unicorns won’t fight as much this summer.”

  “That’s true.” Caini turned to leave. “I have to meet my brothers and sisters. They need all the help they can get on the hunt.”

  “Only because Midnightstar insists on sitting out. She hunts well enough for three wolves, yet hates to kill anything.” Allie spoke about her friend’s personal choices as if they were an insult to her, clacking her beak in revulsion.

  “Leave her alone. Midnightstar’s just different, that’s all,” Kennu said.

  “She does eat a lot of berries…” Caini observed. “Bit unusual, but she’s gentler than I.”

  “A vegetarian wolf. Never was such a thing, not until Mids,” Allie said.

  “I’ll see you all in a bit, if the hunting’s good.” Caini left promptly, shaking her tail as they said farewell.

  Ionan shook his back of snow, which had accumulated into an enormous pile. “I haven’t forgotten anything,” he warned in his booming voice, but Allie widened her eyes at him innocently, and he laughed. “Oh, go on. I won’t tell Keota nor Kia. But don’t let me catch you doing it again. Kennu, you know you can’t be taking these sorts of risks. You’re not strong enough to recover if you crash.”

  “I can’t do anything,” Kennu complained, but Allie rushed to Ionan and gave him a hug, wrapping her wings around his neck. She then grabbed Kennu by the back of his shirt and flung him onto her back, trotting away. Kennu started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked him as they trounced through the melting snow and through the winding trails of the forest.

  “You look so funny when you’re trying to be innocent,” Kennu said. “It doesn’t work on you. You’re too formidable.”

  Allie bounced her head a bit and said, “Well, I suppose I look innocent to a dragon.”

  “Ionan just babies you.” Kennu wavered upon the griffin’s back. He dug his fingers into Allie’s feathers, trying to hold on, hands shaking. Allie noticed and slowed to a walk, glancing behind her every so often at Kennu’s face. He grimaced every now and then as they walked, as if he was in pain. She tightened her wings around his legs, to hold him so he wouldn’t fall, and continued their journey until they reached a cozy, well-lit clearing.

  Kia’s hut had been expanded in later years, to include an upper floor that was their room. Kennu slid off of Allie and proceeded into the house, leaning onto the wall as he did. Allie shook her feathers, transforming into a furry lynx.

  “Lynx, huh?” he asked.

  “Lynx, yes. You know most of my forms are too big to be indoors and it’s still too cold for anything else I like to change into.”

  “I was wondering where you two got off to.” A fairy came around the corner from the kitchen. She looked like her son, with long green hair and pale skin. Her sparkly white wings were out, complimenting her unusual pink eyes that seemed brave and proud.

  “Hey Mom,” Kennu said nervously. “We’re just hanging around.”

  “Is that why I see oil on your Changer?” she asked, pointing to the dark substance coating Allie’s underside.

  Allie laughed nervously and said, “Well, Kiatana, there’s a funny story about that...”

  “Save it, Allakenzie.” The fairy raised her eyebrow and the Changeress fell silent. “Could you do me a favor and bring in some water from the well? We’re running low.”

  “Of course,” Kennu answered instantly. Kiatana opened her mouth as if to protest as her son shuffled out the door.

  Allie turned to the fairy, crouching down in a low bow. “Please, let him do it,” she begged. “He really wants to be of use.”

  Kia bit her lip. “He can’t.”

  “Let him try.”

  Allie waggled her tail in a plea, and Kia nodded hesitantly. Allie followed her Accompany out the door, where he went to pick up a bucket. Allie followed his lead, transforming into a griffin on her way outside. They reached the well in a short time and, outside of his mother’s earshot, Kennu complained, “I don’t see why she bothers whispering. Everybody knows I’m telepathic.”

  “Because she believes you won’t listen in on private conversations,” Allie said. “And most of the time, you don’t.”

  She put the bucket on the hook with her beak and Kennu lowered it down far below, filling it up with water. Kennu pulled, and the bucket inched upward. Taking a deep breath, Kennu heaved, and the bucket moved halfway up the well. Kennu’s arms shook and abruptly he dropped the bucket, sending it splashing back into the well. Frustrated, Kennu filled the bucket again and started pulling once more.

  Allie looked at him apprehensively and asked, “You want me to get that?”

  He shook his head, and finally grabbed the first bucket, yanking it out of the well. He took a long rest in-between filling the first bucket and the second. By the time he was done, Kennu’s breathing was heavy and labored. Allie picked up the first bucket with ease in her beak and started on her way.

  Kennu looked down at his bucket with disdain, lifting it slowly. He shuffled down the path at a snail’s pace. Allie looked back at him, putting her bucket down and adding, “You had better let me carry it. It’s not worth another seizure. It’ll be the second one this week.”

  “I’m fine,” he protested.

  Allie ruffled her wings, but didn’t say anything. After a few more steps, Kennu put the bucket down and tripped.

  “Here, put the bucket on my back,” Allie instructed. “That way, you’re still helping, and we get this done and over with. Come on! I don�
�t have all day.”

  She picked up the bucket in her mouth again and stared at him. He smiled at her, knowing she was pretending to be annoyed, but in all reality being kind. He tried to lift the bucket onto her back, but couldn’t. Kennu gave up and said to her, “Go on, then. We both know I can’t.”

  She picked up the other bucket in her beak, while at the same time helping Kennu walk to the house. Even the simplest of tasks was enough to make him weary. Changer sledding and drawing water from the well, two small things, had taken all of his energy for the day. He felt cheated.

  When his mother saw him enter the house, she moaned, “Oh Kennu, why wouldn’t you let Allie help?”

  “I could’ve done it,” he mumbled, but this was put aside as his mother guided him to the stairs.

  Kia shook her head at the bottom of them. “Why did your father build those stairs? I told him it should have been a ramp, but you can’t tell him anything.”

  “Mom I’ve climbed these stairs for ten years. I don’t need a ramp. Now let me go.”

  Kia slowly let go of his arm, and Kennu began to climb, trying to retain his dignity. “See?” he asked, and she slowly turned away, watching him out of the corner of her eye as she returned to the kitchen.

  When she was gone, he instantly turned to Allie and whispered, “Help me.”

  She instantly ran up the stairs transforming into a small doe. Unfortunately, she was still very large, and they were squeezed together against the stairwell as she changed, quite stuck.

  “Allie, you’re crushing me! Get tinier,” Kennu growled.

  Allie murmured, “I’m trying! This stuff is hard.” She finally shrunk down to a smaller size and dragged him upstairs, bursting into the bedroom at last. Kennu collapsed on his bed and sighed in exhaustion.

  Allie changed into a lynx again and jumped next to him, gasping, “It should have been a ramp.”

  “Yeah,” Kennu breathed heavily. “But don’t tell them that.”

  His room was small, yet able to fit a bed, a dresser, and various books that sat all along the floor in neat stacks. Hundreds upon hundreds of drawings were tacked to the walls, some dating back to toddler years in a mix of finger paints and animal footprints, and some drawn by Kennu in charcoal, the subjects appearing real and intricate. Allie’s torn stuffed animals laid scattered everywhere, in a contrast to Kennu’s art supplies, which were on his desk in neat rows. A map of The Lands hung buried within the drawings, which Kennu’s grandmother had given him last year as a birthday present.

  One part of the map had been torn out violently. It was a small region of the Ice Borns. It was unclear whether the prince’s fingers or his Changer’s talons had torn it out, but both seemed content to leave the hole there.

  Kennu turned over on his back and looked up. “I wish it were summer. Then we could open up the roof and watch the stars at night.”

  “I love the retractable roof Io made for us,” Allie wagged her stumpy tail. “Midnightstar always used to come up here and we’d point out stars all night. She knows more about stars than anyone in the Lands.”

  “Midnightstar never comes to see anyone anymore.” Kennu sighed. “Sometimes I think she watches the stars a little too much. She never talks to us. I’ve got to wonder if it’s because of…”

  Allie said sharply, “We’re not going to talk about It.”

  Kennu blinked. “Right. I forgot. No talking about It.” He sounded like he wanted to talk about It, whatever It was, but knew not to push the subject.

  There was a knock on the door, and Kennu yelled, “Come in!”

  The door opened and an extremely tall Accompany walked in, ducking down because of the low ceiling. He had black hair and golden skin, with strong muscles underneath his shirt.

  “Hello Keota. Where’d you go?” Allie asked.

  Keota smiled a goofy grin. “Tending to things in the forest. The old memorial is starting to wear away. I can’t believe it’s been fifteen years…”

  “Sixteen, Dad, in five months. It’s March,” Kennu said, sitting up.

  Keota’s eyes widened and he mumbled, “That’s right. Time flies quicker than you think.”

  Keota went to walk out the door and turned. “Your mother said you needed a ramp. Do you want me to put one in for you?”

  Kennu turned red, but Allie spoke for him. “Don’t be ridiculous. If worse comes to worse he can fly up.”

  Keota looked like he didn’t believe her, but he let it go. He walked out the door and said, “By the way, Lyrica’s looking for you. She’s waiting by Snow Drop.”

  Kennu and Allie went to follow Keota. They looked down at the stairs in angst, but Kennu managed to hover down them with his wings. He grabbed his coat for the third time that day and headed out to find his cousin.

  Lyrica was petting the old silver Pegasus, who had reached twenty last spring.

  The girl petting her was eleven years old, with black hair and red highlights, and one streak of her hair underneath the black that was shockingly blonde. Her wings were rainbow colored, the rarest anyone had ever seen except for maybe Kennu’s. She was wearing a long fur dress and boots, bundled up tightly against the cold.

  “Hey Lyrica. What are you up to today?” Kennu asked.

  Snow Drop whinnied and Lyrica laughed, her voice rising up and down in a harmonious note. “I came to visit. I heard the wolves were going to be around.” When Lyrica spoke it was like a song you had to listen to, lovely and light. She truly lived up to her name.

  Allie rolled her eyes. “Word travels fast in this one-horse forest.” She lifted her gaze to Snow Drop to show her point.

  “Oh Allie, we all know how badly you want to get out of here,” Lyrica said. “You don’t have to remind us every second.”

  “It’s not that I want to leave. It’s just…” There was a pause, and Allie shuffled her feet. “I just...feel this pull. Like I’m supposed to be in another place.”

  Kennu asked, “What do you mean?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t explain it, it’s too complicated.”

  “Maybe you’re like me!” Lyrica said. She stopped petting Snow Drop and the mare went away to try to find some grass. “Maybe you just have this...”

  “Part of you still missing,” Kennu and Allie said together, and the two glanced at each other.

  Allie shook her head. “I don’t know, Lyrica. It’s just complicated.”

  They began walking through the forest. Soon, the group heard a crackle in the woods behind them, accompanied by low growls. Five shapes came flying out at them from the brush, tackling them to the ground.

  “You guys!” Kennu laughed as five wolves licked their faces eagerly, barking and howling. Kennu had a large black male on his chest, while a brown female with jade-green eyes nosed his face. Lyrica had her dress tugged at playfully by a smaller brown and black male, with Caini jumping in circles around her.

  “Snapfoot, you’re going to rip her coat,” Allie complained, nipping at the mixed beta. “And Shadowin, get off of Kennu before you crush him. You’re so blasted big.”

  “I can’t help it I’m strong. Believe me, if he had felt a real tackle, he wouldn’t be moving,” Shadowin barked happily, his tongue hanging out.

  “You shouldn’t be one to talk about size, Allie. You’re going to be as big as a mountain when you’re done growing.” The brown female giggled.

  “Oh stop it Jade.” Allie clipped. “You don’t know everything.”

  “As you keep reminding all of us,” a calm voice said behind her.

  Kennu shouted, “Midnightstar!” and got up to welcome his friend. The wolf that had joined them was pitch black, with white flecks of fur along her back so she looked like the night sky. She was not as bulky as the others, but sleek and refined. She also seemed much more...distant than the others. As if something nagging and complicated was distracting her from everyday life.

  Midnightstar looked at him. “Hello Allie, Kennu, Lyrica,” she announced, looking at them in t
urn. “I’ve come to join the hunt. It appears they need me.”

  “Of course we do,” Snapfoot put in. “Lara can’t hunt anymore since Fang died in the last unicorn raid. It took four of our best fighters. But at least we got eight of them.”

  “The pack doesn’t fight the unicorns, you know that,” Jade reprimanded. “The wolves who want to fight, fight. Father hates all this silliness.”

  Shadowin looked at her. “I know he does. But he won’t be pack leader much longer. He’s getting old.”

  “So what are you going to do? When do you want to challenge him?” Allie asked, excited at the thought of a battle.

  Everyone, even the wolves, recoiled at the griffin’s love of bloodlust. Shadowin shuffled his paws. “I don’t want to fight him. He’s my Dad.”

  “Well, you had better do it soon before somebody else does. Lilja knows he can’t stay leader forever.” Lyrica got up from the ground, and the rest followed. They proceeded through the forest at a leisurely stroll, as old friends.

  Midnightstar dropped her head as she walked along the ground. “All this fighting. It never amounts to anything. I saw the night star Nayati again last night, and it made me wonder. I haven’t seen it since we were all kidnapped.”

  Allie’s steps slowed. The wolves glanced at each other warily, except for Midnightstar, who was lost in a deep, intuitive haze once more. Kennu said, “Al, don’t get testy.”

  “We’re NOT discussing It,” Allie said, and resumed back to her usual pace.

  Snapfoot raised his hackles and trotted up to her side. “Allie, it’s time to move on. There’s no changing what Wyntier did to us, and Vera’s...”

  Allie let out a threatening hiss, raising the feathers along her head and back. Everybody knew when she made a sound like that to shut up or heads would roll. When there was nothing but silence from the others, they continued on. Kennu fell behind with his cousin so the others wouldn’t listen in, though he could clearly hear the screaming thoughts of the wolves as they seethed at Allie silently.

  Lyrica was first to speak. “You know, I thought you were supposed to get better as time goes on, but Allie seems to get worse. When she was seven Mother told me she used to talk about the kidnapping with anybody, then when she was ten she would only talk to the wolves and you. After that, it was only you, and last year she decided she wouldn’t talk about it at all. Now she’s calling what happened ‘It’ and everybody else has to because she said so.”