Song of the Summer King by Jess Owen

Author:Jess Owen [Owen, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Five Elements Press
Published: 2013-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

~ 16 ~

The Spar

“Yes,” boomed Caj, striding down the line of young males who preened and bragged as they waited to be paired up for spars. “You’re all a fine lot of pretty faces.”

The molting at last seemed done and Shard, at the end of the line nearest the woods, was not the only one relieved. No more constant itching or feathers floating off in the middle of conversation. The relief distracted him from the gathering.

Fledges as young as two years had joined them, thinking it more a romp than anything, bounding tirelessly around each other while the grown hunters chattered distractedly.

Caj went on, his voice wry.

“Mm. I imagine you’ll all win strong beautiful mates and have dozens of fat fluffy kits. And what will you do in winter, make your pregnant mate go out and hunt and fight off wolves while you lounge in your cave?”

They laughed. Caj ramped with a roar, wings harsh cobalt against a shale gray sky. “Pay. Attention!”

Silence. Shard pressed his beak tight against amusement. He had seen that coming. Unbidden, the thought fluttered up that Caj reminded him a bit of Stigr. Or maybe it was the other way around. Off a ways, a few of the young females who didn’t need sparring work, Thyra included, lounged and listened to Hallr who told tales of the windlands beyond the sea.

“Shard and Halvden,” Caj said, naming partners, and Shard flattened his ears. “Shard, you’re the wolf.”

That only meant he kept wings closed to his sides. He hadn’t sparred with Halvden since they had come to Windwater in spring.

The bigger gryfon padded up, his feathers molted to an even brighter emerald, while Shard’s had done nothing but turn a deeper, roiling blue-gray like a storm cloud, his prime feathers lighter as a sunlit edge. The other males had gained an inch of height and girth while he remained short, wiry and toughened from his nights with Stigr.

Shard managed not to sigh. At least it will be swift.

“You will pay now,” Halvden growled under his breath, “for the disrespect you show my father.”

A hundred retorts snapped up and Halvden reminded him suddenly of the vengeful wolf brothers, Ahote and Ahanu. Rebellion swelled in Shard’s chest. He had learned so much. I can’t just hand Halvden this fight. Not if he’s going to make it about Hallr and Windwater.

Think of the fox, Stigr’s voice said in his mind, small and quick, who lays false trails.

Shard drew a breath, locking eyes with Halvden, and spoke as evenly as he could. “I have no quarrel with you, Halvden.” As planned, his calm response made Halvden blink. “I wish we could get along better.” At least that was true. One green ear flattened. “So fight well, friend,” Shard went on quietly as they circled each other. “Kenna is watching.”

When Halvden’s gaze flickered for one second to the violet gryfess, Shard lunged. He nearly swiped talons through Halvden’s green ear before Halvden leaped away in surprise.

Think of the sparrow.

No, his mind muttered, oddly in Stigr’s voice.

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