The Vulture King Read online

  Now that the ice had thawed between Bina and himself, he felt brave enough to ask, “How did you learn to use your powers, Bina? I don’t understand how I can do all these things nobody has ever taught me.”

  “Did anybody teach you how to breathe? Or blink for that matter? Veldera are born able to use their powers. Yes, they grow in strength just as a toddler gets steadier on his feet the more he runs, but it’s instinct. My mother explained because our magic is finite, it’s not something we have the luxury of practising too much. Else we’d use it all up and well, you know.”

  “Die,” said Aram baldly. It made sense in some ways, but it also seemed both strange and wonderful to him.

  “What you need to learn is what is acceptable to do. You can mess with people’s heads, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the right thing to do.”

  Aram’s magpie cocked its head at the girl as he considered her words. “But when I freed you from the cage...”

  She waved a hand at him. “You did what was needed to help somebody else. I, for obvious reasons, think that was the perfect time to use your powers. But what happens the day a friend doesn’t agree with you? Do you alter their thoughts to get your way?”

  “I would never do that!” said Aram.

  “Really, wouldn’t you?”

  Bina said nothing further. She simply shrugged and returned to her breakfast. Once again Aram was left with the unpleasant task of trying to sift through his thoughts and feelings. He wasn’t a bad person and would never take advantage of his friends in that way. He tried hard to squash the niggling doubts that whispered ‘But…what if it was for their own good?’

  Bina’s question interrupted his thoughts. “Does it feel colder to you?”

  The fire was lit, but Bina was rubbing her hands together and blowing on them. If he thought about it, it did feel chilly. It had been warm in the caves, but now his hands were icy. He stood, planning on throwing some more wood on the flames, when he heard a warning shout from outside. More people raised their voices, calling out questions to each other. The curtain to the cave was ripped aside and Tai leant in through the entrance. “Bayre sent me to fetch you. Something strange is happening and he wants us to get out of the caves right away.”

  Bina scooped up her dove and walked outside with Aram close behind. In the main cavern, the drop in temperature was even more noticeable, causing Aram to shiver. He grabbed his bird and thrust it into his jacket, preferring to have his vision slightly impaired than his bird frozen to death. People moved fast around them, scooping up children and running towards the exit. Tai strode ahead, shouldering his way through the crowd. Aram put a protective arm around Bina, to stop her from being jostled off her feet. He could feel her thin frame shaking and her breath clouded in front of her face as the temperature continued to drop.

  “What’s going on, Aram?” she asked. “I thought we were going to be safe here.”

  Aram had no idea what to say so he concentrated on trying to keep up with Tai. They found Bayre close to the exit tunnel, his hood back up over his head. Only his eyes were visible, darting from side to side, scanning the cavern for them. A crowd of people milled around in front of him.

  “Stay close behind me,” he barked as he caught sight of the three of them. As soon as they reached him, he turned and headed out of the main cave. The people of the settlement followed in their wake. Aram and Bina panted as they struggled to keep up with Bayre’s blistering pace. In the dim light of the tunnel Aram battled to see the path. The arm he placed around Bina’s shoulders to protect her was now all that caught him as he stumbled. The ice-cold air seared their lungs with each breath. A tunnel converged with the one they were following and Bayre turned to the left.

  “Where are you going? That’s not the right way,” said Tai urgently.

  “There are more ways than one out of here. Only a fool would live in a place where you could be so easily trapped.”

  “Why did you never tell me?” asked the boy, anger roughening his voice. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “Secrets have a way of getting out if too many share them. Only Ellery and a couple of the Shrouds know about the escape route. If there’s anyone waiting for us above ground, we’ll have the element of surprise now.”

  Tai didn’t speak again. Aram found himself struggling to help Bina. The cold slowed his limbs and thought processes, but he stubbornly kept moving. The girl’s steps were dragging now, and he was half carrying her through the tunnel. He kept tripping over loose stones and once they both almost tumbled to the ground. Tai glanced over his shoulder and stopped just long enough to put an arm around Bina from the other side. She sagged against their shoulders and the two of them shuffled onwards, bearing her weight between them.

  Aram couldn’t tell how long it took them to reach the surface, but he stumbled to a halt when Bayre stopped and raised one hand. The older man crept towards the sliver of daylight ahead of them, shoulders tense. He gestured once sharply to get them moving forwards again and the three of them moved towards the entrance, Veldera and Black Shrouds creeping silently behind them. They moved cautiously outside, exiting into the woods. The clearing where they first entered the settlement was nowhere to be seen.

  People filtered out of the caves and disappeared into the surrounding trees, silent as wraiths. A group of the Shrouds gathered around Bayre who talked to them in a low voice. Tai dropped Bina and her full weight made Aram stagger. He gently helped her sit and freed Ryu from his jacket. He needed his eyes as he could feel threat hanging thick in the air. The intense cold had disappeared now that they were out in the open and its sudden absence unsettled him.

  Bayre walked over to them. “Tai, I want you Aram and Bina to go deeper into the forest. Take shelter and I will come find you as soon as I can.”

  He turned to go, but Tai grabbed his arm. Bayre looked down in surprise at the boy’s fingers, knuckles white where they gripped his bicep. “I want to go with you. I’m old enough to help you, and these two don’t need a guard.”

  “Do as I say, boy. I’m not asking, I’m telling you. Find a safe place and wait for me.”

  With an angry hiss Tai let go of the older man’s arm and stalked off into the trees. Aram leant down and hurriedly pulled Bina to her feet. A chilling scream echoed above their heads and his heart began to pound as he recognised the cechua call.

  Bayre gave a jerk of his head in the direction Tai had gone. “Go Aram, quickly. I’ll find you later.”

  As Bayre moved off the opposite way, Aram fled after Tai. His bird picked up a visual of the other boy, and he and Bina staggered through the trees after him, hand in hand. He had no idea where they were going, he only wanted to get as far away as possible from the minions of the vulture king. Tai didn’t once look back at them but moved swiftly through the forest. They didn’t pass any other fleeing Veldera, which Aram found odd, but perhaps they were keeping themselves carefully concealed. It was difficult to guess how far they had gone, but he hoped they were well away from whatever threat lurked behind them.

  Suddenly, shouts rang out mixed with the screeching of giant birds. Why did the noise sound so close? Surely, they had been headed away from danger? Tai dropped to the ground ahead of them and Aram immediately did the same, pulling Bina flat too. He saw Skili settle in a tree as Tai continued to crawl forwards.

  “Stay here,” he whispered to Bina before starting to drag himself forward on his elbows. He could see flashes of colour through the trees up ahead and the unmistakable sounds of a fight.

  Ryu fluttered to rest on a high branch and the magpie turned its head towards the noise. Aram stopped moving, muscles clenched rigid as his bird’s eye view showed him the clearing above the settlement. Tai had led them in a circle, back to the very place they were trying to avoid. Bitter anger flooded Aram’s gut along with sharp fear.

  Cechua had landed amongst the rocks and a circle of people in red robes were sending stones hurtling into the trees. They were Veldera he realised, as th
ey weren’t using their arms to propel their missiles. But they weren’t from the caves. Instead, they were attacking his new-found family. Shadowy figures returned fire from the forest, a storm of arrows and spears most of which were deflected mid-air by the magicians. A stray arrow made its way through the enemies’ defenses and struck one of the monstrous birds, piercing its wing. It rose shrieking into the air, spraying blood over the people below, but they didn’t waver in their attack for even a moment.

  Aram looked more closely at the faces of the red-robed Veldera and was struck by their blankness. There was no fear or hatred reflected there, just an uncanny calm as they went about their violent business. Suddenly all the spears and arrows lying halfway across the clearing trembled and lifted into the air. A solitary woman strode through the ranks of magicians and as she advanced, the weapons spun in the air, turning towards the unseen soldiers amongst the trees.

  Aram heard Bayre’s voice ring out, “Fall back Shrouds. Fall back.”

  The woman thrust her hands out in front of her and the spears and arrows sped back the way they had come. Somebody screamed as one of the missiles found its mark. He expected the enemy Veldera to hunt their fleeing foes into the trees, but they simply stood there, passive and emotionless. Then their heads turned as one to the grey-haired woman in the front. Aram’s bird flew towards the edge of the clearing; he wanted a closer look at her face. There was something eerily familiar about the figure, but he couldn’t place her. She tugged at him somehow, a memory in motion. Her head spun in his direction, as if drawn by the weight of Ryu’s eyes upon her. Then his lungs collapsed and there was no air left to breathe.

  His mother’s face stared back at him. Her eyes, the same stormy grey that haunted his dreams, searched the trees. Once those eyes had been filled with humour and love; now they were flat, granite stones. She had aged beyond imagining in five years. Her face was wrinkled and sagging, but he could still just make out her features amidst the ruin. His mind screamed at him to run, but he couldn’t break away, transfixed by the broken shell of the mother he loved.

  A couple of Black Shrouds burst through the trees, running hard. “Move,” shouted the man in the front. “What are you doing? Get out of here.”

  Then Tai was there, roughly dragging him to his feet and pulling him back through the trees. Aram stumbled forward, legs jellied with shock. Bina grabbed his hand and tugged him onward. Any moment he expected to feel a spear in his back, an arrow through his calf. But there was only the ragged sound of his own breath tearing his ears, and the hearts-pain pulsing through his chest.

  Later he would never be able to say if they ran for minutes or hours. It was a frantic blur in his mind—his only anchor to reality, Bina’s small hand guiding him. He was oblivious to the branches lashing bloody tracks down his face or the bruises blooming where he ricocheted off trees. Cechua screamed from the skies but couldn’t track them through the forest. He ran until the burn in his legs combined with the rest of his pain to form a single, perfect, searing agony. Eventually, as night fell, they stopped in a dense thicket of trees and he collapsed to the pine-covered ground, utterly spent.

  Bina barely took the time to catch her breath before she turned on Tai, feral in her rage. “What is wrong with you? You led us straight back to them after Bayre told you to get us away. We could have been killed, or worse captured. Do you want to live out your days as a slave to the king?”

  Tai lifted his head from where it hung between his knees. “I wanted to help Bayre. I’m old enough to fight, but he treats me like a child.”

  “You behaved like a child,” spat Bina. “A willful, selfish child with no thought for anyone but himself. You put all of us in danger.”

  The older boy’s face was hard and tight as he glared at her. “Well, we’re fine, aren’t we? Look, we got away with no one any the worse for it. We can’t say the same for Bayre, can we? What if he was one of those hit by a spear? He could be lying out there bleeding to death and we just ran away and left him.”

  He jumped up and walked away from them, then stopped and simply stared out into the darkness. Aram felt Bina curl up next to him, then her arm slipped around his waist.

  “There, there,” she crooned in her small, bird’s voice. “We got away Aram. Everything is going to be alright.”

  Aram realised he was crying, huge, heaving sobs that shook his whole body. Somehow, he managed to choke out, “She was there, Bina. My mother was there, but she’s not my mother anymore. She’s…she’s…”

  He heard her breath catch in her throat and then her hand began to stroke his back. Aram howled into the darkness, utterly undone by his discovery. There was nothing but loss, renewed pain, despair. And worst of all, the crushing reality of the impossible task he faced.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Sometime in the night Bayre found them. Aram wasn’t asleep, simply lost in his own world of regret and hopelessness. Voices floated through the darkness, but he couldn’t make out the words. Arms lifted him and from their strength, he felt they must be Bayre’s. He was carried through the dark and at some point, he finally passed out.

  Much later he started suddenly awake. Heart pounding, he scrambled to his feet, staring around to place the source of perceived threat. Bina sat bolt upright, startled by his sudden movement. A little way away, Tai lay on his side, still fast asleep. Aram turned his head and found Bayre sitting against a tree, watching him with hooded eyes.

  “You’re safe, boy, for the moment at least.”

  The events of the previous day flooded over Aram and his eyes filled with tears. Bayre heaved himself up and walked over to him. He didn’t touch the sobbing boy, but his voice was gentle when he spoke. “Bina told me you saw your mother. It must have been terrible, Aram, the shock of it. But if there’s any kind of bright side, it’s that you know she’s still alive.”

  Aram’s eyes flew up to meet the man’s. “But you didn’t see her, she’s ancient. The king has turned her into an old woman. She could drop dead at any second. The next time she tries to draw power it could…it could…” He gave a shuddering gasp and knuckled his wet eyes.

  Bayre’s voice was steady as he said, “Well, all the more reason for us to get on with saving her then.”

  Bina had joined them on silent feet. “How is Aram supposed to do that?” she asked, eyes wide and questioning.

  Without answering, Bayre turned and gestured for them to follow. “Ellery is waiting to speak with you, Aram, follow me. You come along too, Bina.”

  They walked a little way through the trees and found Ellery seated on the bank of a small stream. Two Black Shrouds stood guard nearby with their faces covered. Her red hen clucked contentedly at her feet, and she smiled as they approached her.

  “Welcome children. It gladdens my heart to see you both safe. Please sit and drink a little if you are thirsty.”

  Aram’s throat was dry as sand, and he eagerly scooped water to his mouth while Bina gulped double handfuls next to him. Once they slaked their thirst they sat down near the old woman’s feet.

  “There is much to tell you and little time,” she said. “Somehow the king discovered our safe place. One of his Veldera used their Tempera powers to lower the cave temperatures and force us out into the open. I imagine they believed there was only the one exit and thought they could pick us off easily as we ran out into the clearing. They were wrong. It is thanks to the courage and foresight of Bayre here that most of the settlement dwellers escaped unharmed.”

  Aram turned to look at Bayre who said, “A few of the Shrouds took arrow wounds but we didn’t lose a single man. They thought they had the element of surprise, but we’re the ones who caught them unawares.”

  “Why didn’t they hunt us through the forest?” asked Bina. “Surely the king would have wanted to capture as many of us as possible.”

  A huge grin cracked Bayre’s face in half. “That’s the wonder of our forest hideaway. Out on the plains, the cechua have all the advantage. Here the thick tree
cover hides us and hampers their sight. They hoped to catch us in the clearing, but we outsmarted them.”

  “Where will everyone go now?” Bina chewed on her nails, a deep frown creasing her brow.

  Ellery said, “Don’t worry, child, we’ve had years to plan what to do in case we were ever discovered. The settlement will relocate and rebuild, never you fear. But there is a more important consideration here.” Her filmy eyes seemed to fix on Aram’s face as she continued. “Veldera will never be safe as long as the vulture king rules. We can keep running, but he will continue to hunt and enslave us forever…unless somebody stops him.”

  She stopped and Aram felt Bayre and Bina’s eyes turn to him too. “Why are you all looking at me? I’m an absolute nobody and there’s nothing I can do to stop the king.”

  “That, my dear boy, is where you are completely wrong.” said Ellery. “You are the best hope the Veldera have had since, well, since I was a girl.”

  Aram squinted at her in confusion. “What are you saying? Did you try to defeat the king?” He threw up his hands, “You’re the oldest Veldera I’ve seen. If you don’t have the power to defeat him, why do you think that I can?”

  “I had my chance. I tried and I wasn’t strong enough. Like you, I have a vast radix, much larger than usual. Veldera like us come along only a couple of times a century. Now, it is your turn to try.”

  She stopped talking and stared at him expectantly. Before Aram could gather his thoughts enough to respond, Bina asked, her voice sharp, “But what exactly do you expect him to do? He’s just a boy and if he arrives to challenge the king, he’ll be a slave before you can wink. I hope you have a better plan than that.”

  Aram loved Bina in that moment with a pure intensity. Perhaps he had finally found a friend who truly cared about him?