Fire and the Falcon

Chapter One: Bonfar

Chapter One BonfarFor six days, Mai travelled on a trodan’s back with Akra, Long, and Kalin, stopping only to eat and sleep. Mai could see the weariness showing on Fojan’s face each time they stopped. He travelled a good distance behind them, whirling in a tunnel of cloud. Fojan had remained alert, watching for any sign that the melkarie were following. The huge sentinel had not slept the whole time, determined to keep the children safe. Concerned for him, Mai had encouraged him to sleep and she volunteered to stay awake and keep watch. He refused her offer, insisting he had enough strength to get them to the city. Once there, and only then, would there be time for him to sleep.

On the seventh day, the Land of Bonfar, where the firerulers’ city was located, came into view on the horizon. The trodan continued to push its wings up and down as it carried the children to their destination, and it wasn’t until the end of the day that Mai finally saw the canyon land close to the city below them.

The land looked harsh and hot, and there was no visible water. Much like the sandy desert of Sahas, there were no trees to provide shade, just endless forests of ochre stone as far as the eye could see. Rock pillars with spear-like tops jutted out of the rich-coloured earth, reaching up toward the blue cloudless sky. Deep canyons separated the vast stone growth. The canyon walls were stained with layers of red, orange, and pink, the markings of the ages.

Finally, the firerulers’ city of Calor came into view. In the distance was the first bit of green Mai had seen in many days. Trees grew beside buildings, and sprawling gardens broke up the cityscape. The effulgent sun beamed bright and hot over the city, where freestone buildings were tightly packed together but spanned a great area of the mountain. A huge stone wall formed the perimeter. At the top was a large ochre stone building, columned with decorative walls and domes that covered the mountaintop entirely.

The trodan flew lower until it landed in a gorge away from the edge of the firerulers’ city. The landing was rough. The trodan was tired and no doubt ready to rest. When Mai climbed off the beast, it tucked in its wings, curled its huge tail in close to its body, and rested its long neck on the hot, dry earth.

Mai patted the soft area around its temple and eye. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

The trodan exhaled a deep breath and closed its eyes.

Fojan whirled his way down to the ground, a tunnel of ochre dust swirling around him. Mai raised her arm to shield her eyes. When she first met the soundwaver, his arrival was accompanied with a warning scream much like a beast in pain, but now Fojan was free of all his sentinel bonds so he no longer screamed like the other sentinels. He was the first of his kind to be free of a master. The whirling stopped and there stood Fojan, still in his black clothes and painted black markings of the soundwavers’ lore that covered him from head to toe.

‘I found water in a canyon cave not far from here.’ Fojan held his pouch out to Mai, smiling. ‘It will be a good place for the trodan to hide while we are in the city.’

Barka popped up from Mai’s pocket, looked up at her, and squeaked. She poured a little water into her hand and held it in front of the lizard. He wasted no time, his little tongue flicking in and out as he lapped up the water.

Kalin began to shed his extra layers of clothes, which the children had needed when they were in the City of Ice. The leather pants and long-sleeved shirts they all wore would identify them as waterclaspers. Mai glanced down at her feet as he undressed.

‘We’ll need clothes to blend in while we’re in the city,’ Kalin said, dropping his leather jacket to the ground.

‘I’ll find some clothes. I can morph into a melamite mouse and sneak into the city without anyone seeing me,’ Long suggested.

‘How are you going to get clothes big enough for Fojan?’ Mai asked, looking at the giant man.

Kalin shook his head grimly. ‘I don’t think it will be possible for Fojan to enter the city. He’s a soundwaver. He will stand taller than any other man. The markings on his skin will make him stand out even more.’

‘He will eat more than anyone too,’ Long added, grinning. ‘They may refuse him entry just because of that.’

Fojan frowned. ‘But I need to eat a lot. Whirling requires great energy.’

Long shook his head and smiled. ‘I was joking, Fojan.’

Fojan looked confused. ‘I do not understand your humour. It is confusing.’

‘Kalin has a point. Fojan is a soundwaver, a sentinel. They don’t usually hang out with children. Besides that, everyone in the city will know the soundwavers have allied with the King of Fire. They will question what he’s doing here,’ Long said.

‘Yes, he is right. Firerulers will ask questions if you are seen with us. You will have to stay outside the city with the trodan until we return,’ Akra admitted to Fojan.

‘I do not like this idea.’ Fojan seemed deep in thought for a moment, then he spoke again. ‘I’m here to protect you.’

‘We are linked through soundwaving. If anything happens, I will call for you,’ Akra said reassuringly. ‘It will be safer for all of us if you stay out of the city. And I’m entrusting you to protect the padiqua and the silvershade.’ Akra untied the pouch with the padiqua slotted in it and handed it to Fojan. Mai slipped off her packsack, which contained the silvershade box, and released it into his care.

Fojan nodded, but Mai heard his disagreeing thoughts about not being able to protect them while outside the city.

‘Still, we will have to be careful,’ Kalin warned. ‘By now everyone will know the King of Fire is searching for the Starchild.’

‘I agree with Kalin,’ Long added. ‘Again.’

Mai continued to be surprised by how much her brother had changed, much like Fojan had suggested. Months ago, when Long found out that Kalin was the empress’s son, he was furious. Kalin’s parents had sentenced their father to death. Long wasn’t able to be in the same room as Kalin, let alone agree with him.

Long raised his hand and wiped sweat from his forehead. ‘It’s not uncommon for thoughtbankers or earthfollowers to visit the city. Our nation has traded with firerulers and earthfollowers for centuries. But everything is different now. The King of Fire will use every method possible to find Akra.’

‘I could block my thoughts like I did when we entered the earthfollowers’ village when I first arrived,’ Akra said, sounding hopeful.

‘You, Long, and I can block our thoughts, but Kalin can’t. You’re forgetting he’s a sealer, not a thoughtbanker, so he can’t stop his thoughts as we can.’ Mai pulled back her black hair into a ponytail. ‘It is a risk to enter the city, but if you are to get the answers you seek we have to try.’

‘I’m not going to be left behind,’ Kalin said. ‘I’m going with you.’

They all agreed that Long would secretly enter the city to find clothes for them to wear. He waited until night fell over the land, then scurried into the city as a melamite mouse while the others waited in the canyon cave Fojan had found.

Hours and hours passed and still Long hadn’t returned. Akra and Kalin fell asleep. Fojan stayed awake with Mai. They sat around a small fire watching Barka scampering around the cave. Now and then the little lizard would jump up into the air attempting to catch an insect attracted to the light of the fire.

It wasn’t until dawn was breaking on the horizon that Long finally walked into the cave carrying an armful of clothes. He explained how difficult it had been to find clothes that would fit each of them. Akra and Kalin woke on hearing Long’s voice. They stretched and yawned and then each of them sorted through the clothes. As they dressed, Mai went over the whole plan one more time. She sounded very determined about what they should do.

‘When we are inside, we need to find the falcon guard as quickly as possible.’ She turned to Akra. ‘Then you can ask him the questions you need answered. Once you have the answers, we’ll leave for the Valley of a Thousand Thoughts to seek out SahDobha. This was the pilgrimage I had been selected for in the beginning. I have to complete the task I’ve been given.’

Akra nodded in agreement. He had grown a little taller overnight and now he stood at an even height with Long and Kalin. His bud of a nose had grown in equal proportion to his face. Mai wondered if within the next month he might be as tall as a man. Kalin had also changed over their time together. His fair skin had darkened a shade and his light brown hair had grown long enough to pull back and tie behind his head.

Once they were all dressed in their new firerulers’ clothing, they stood ready to leave. The boys wore fitted blue pants and well-worn collared shirts. Long’s sandy brown hair fell forward into his eyes and he flicked it back. His hair had also grown long without his mother trimming it. He pulled at the vest he was wearing and told everyone he had found the green vest with shiny silver buttons hanging on a line.

Mai pulled her black hair back into a ponytail, straightened her long brown dress, and adjusted the tight yellow and white blouse that fitted in at her waist. These clothes were uncomfortable and nothing like her simple thoughtbankers’ pants and tunic, but they were much more colourful. They weren’t as thick and heavy as waterclaspers’ clothes either. The one thing Long hadn’t found was shoes, so the footwear they were wearing would have to do.

Mai, Long, Akra, Kalin, and Fojan trudged up a ridge of the canyon and, when finally at the top, they looked out toward the city. Fojan could go no further without being seen. The hammering heat was almost unbearable. A putrid stench wafted over them from the trash heaped outside the city’s fortified walls as the hot wind changed direction. Flocks of birds circled above them, their calls unlike anything Mai had ever heard. Some called in high-pitched squawks, while others on the ground made low-pitched sounds as they jostled for space. Others landed among the piles of waste and ate the rotting leftovers from the city’s citizens. Even Barka didn’t seem to like the smell. He sat on Mai’s shoulder and shook his head as if it was too much for his nostrils to bear.

‘That has to be the worst thing I have ever smelled,’ Kalin exclaimed.

‘Nope, the dead carcass of a half-eaten, rotting jackback is far worse,’ Long argued, shielding his nose with his bent arm. ‘But this comes in a close second.’

‘It’s time for us to go,’ Mai said.

‘Be careful,’ Fojan told the children.

‘We will.’ Mai smiled. The huge sentinel kneeled down to her and she hugged him tightly. ‘Try to get some rest.’

One by one they walked toward the city’s stone gates, leaving Fojan behind.