Stormspeaker by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Author:Christina Diaz Gonzalez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

SCALING MOUNTAINS WAS NOT ONE OF ROLLAN’S FAVORITE things to do, but it wasn’t the worst, either. It ranked somewhere between eating seal fat and swimming in the ocean at night. But he did like spending time with Meilin. That made the climb worthwhile.

“Watch your step over here.” Rollan inched his way along a long, narrow foothold where only the tips of his toes fit. “Putting another anchor in.” He lodged the metal anchor into a crack in the mountain and slipped the rope that connected the two of them through it. This was much safer than when they had used vines to get to the Wildcat’s Claw.

“All right!” Meilin called out. She was taking out the anchors every time she got to one so they could reuse them later on. Eventually she would collect all seven and either take over the lead or hand them back to Rollan.

They were about halfway to the ridge and making decent time. Up above them, Rollan could see plenty of handholds and a couple of narrow ledges where they’d be able to stop, rest, and catch their breaths before continuing to climb.

“How about I go up through here?” Rollan turned to look over his shoulder at Meilin. “Meilin?”

He followed the rope and saw Meilin was already higher than he was, scaling up the mountain. “This way is better,” she shouted down. “There are more crevices for the anchors over here. Shift back.”

Rollan was about to argue that he was supposed to be leading, but it was pointless. Meilin was already putting in the second anchor. It would be more dangerous to have her come back down.

He took a careful step sideways along the tiny ledge.

No, he was definitely going to say something. They were a team. Decisions needed to be made together. Meilin had a habit of forgetting that.

“Hey, Meilin, you can’t just take off and expect me to follow. We’re supposed to be a unit.” A rock bounced off the mountain from above, narrowly missing him as it came tumbling down.

“Yeah, but this way up was better,” she insisted.

Rollan plucked off an anchor and continued along the ledge, his frustration rising with every backtracking step he took. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not only you up here. You aren’t back in Zhong giving orders like some sort of Imperial Guard.”

Meilin stopped climbing and looked back at Rollan. “That’s not fair. You know I’m not like that.” Another rock tumbled from above. “Plus, I’ve been trying—”

A flurry of rocks the size of Rollan’s fist smashed against the mountainside, interrupting Meilin. But this wasn’t a rockslide from above. No, these rocks were being aimed at them from below.

Rollan looked down and saw several people jumping out from beneath the snapdragon bushes … slingshots in their hands. They weren’t wearing the black that the Oathbound normally wore, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous.

Farther back, Abeke, Conor, and their spirit animals charged across the field to do battle with the slingshot-wielding menaces. He and Meilin needed to get down there to help.

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