First Hero (9 page)

Tanner shuffled backward as Varlot advanced, evil eyes glittering, his claws scything the air. General Gor rolled onto all fours, shaking his head clear.

Varlot lifted a polished hoof above Tanner’s head. He managed to roll aside as it smashed into the rocks beside him.

A distant screech filled his ears. To others it might have meant nothing, but Tanner knew every sound his flame bird made.

A warning!

Tanner looked up the gorge. A wall of foaming water cascaded down the slope, rocks and boulders carried before its unstoppable wake.

Varlot hesitated and turned his massive head. General Gor staggered to his feet. Firepos was flying faster than Tanner had ever seen her in front of the water, her feathers a shimmering red blur. She looked like a brushstroke of fiery paint.

Gor tried to stumble away to one side, grasping the bag at his waist. Tanner took his chance and snatched it. Varlot roared and Gor lunged clumsily at Tanner. Then Gor froze. Behind his mask, his eyes widened with terror as he spotted the wall of water about to hit him.

Tanner’s mouth filled with grit and ice-cold water as he was knocked off his feet. His body rolled over and over. He couldn’t breathe; his lungs were already burning as he clamped his mouth shut. Rocks collided with him on all sides. A sharp pain made his head explode and sent white stars shooting behind his eyelids. He tried to reach out to grasp hold of something, but his hands closed on nothing but water.
It’s over
, he told himself.
I’ve failed
. All he could do was hold on to the bag he’d snatched from Gor, clutching it to his chest ….

Long talons plunged into the water and encircled him. As the last of the air left his lungs, he was pulled free of the torrent. Before he fainted, he heard the cry of Firepos ringing in his ears.

“Tanner! Tanner! Are you all right?”

He opened his eyes. Gwen’s anxious face was looking down at him. She pointed. “Tanner, look!”

He sat up. From his view high up on the rock face he saw water pour down the center of the gorge. In the middle of the river, braced against its powerful current, was Varlot. Water crashed over his chest as he staggered backward. His armored hide was drenched and he was straining to keep his grip on a boulder at the side of the torrent, trying to heave himself free. Gor was nowhere to be seen.

Slowly, the Beast began to descend into the water.

“He’s changing back!” gasped Gwen.

Varlot’s head was growing smaller and his bronze hooves shrunk. Finally, with a noise between a roar and a snort, the Beast was swept away. The stallion’s hooves circled helplessly. Tanner stood up next to Gwen. His legs were trembling with cold. Firepos ruffled her feathers, heat pulsing off her. Gulkien growled as he folded his bony wings and licked his jaws. He was covered in grazes and cuts, but his eyes were bright with life.

Gor’s army — the deadly force that had destroyed Forton and Colweir — had been defeated.

“And when she blasted the rock away with an enormous fireball,” said Geffen, “well, I couldn’t believe it. The river seemed to empty itself down the mountain. I’ve never seen so much water!”

Tanner listened to Geffen as they sat beside the campfire. His clothes had dried long ago, and they’d enjoyed a meal of roasted rabbit, caught by Firepos. The day’s battles made every limb heavy. Firepos and Gulkien kept a sleepy watch at the mouth of the cave they’d found to rest in.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” said Gwen to her brother. “
And
now we have the map and the piece of the mask.” She brandished Gor’s bag that Tanner had seized.

Tanner shuffled closer as Gwen unrolled the map on the floor of the cave.

Geffen’s eyes were bright with astonishment as Gwen laid the silken gauze from her locket over the parchment. It shimmered in the fire-lit gloom of the cave and hidden features sprang to life on the map’s surface. As Gwen shifted and settled the square of silk, Tanner could see pieces of the mask outlined on the map, the first beside a tiny drawing of his village.

Tanner glanced up at the others, smiling. His smile faded when he caught something in Geffen’s face as he watched his sister.

Jealousy.

“The four pieces of the mask,” said Gwen.

“How long have you known about this?” Geffen asked, his voice thick. Gwen’s face colored.

“Jonas swore me to secrecy,” she whispered. Geffen nodded once, as though this confirmed something he’d always known. He sat back on his haunches.

“What does the mask do?” he asked.

“It gives ultimate power over the Beasts to whoever wears it,” whispered Gwen.

Geffen raised his eyebrows. “Even those two?” He nodded toward Gulkien and Firepos.

“Yes,” Tanner told him. “It’s very powerful. If he controls the Beasts, he can take over the land and rule it himself. That’s why we have to find the other pieces before Gor can give them to Derthsin.”

“We?” said Gwen.

Tanner was speechless for a moment. “But I thought …”

Gwen smiled. “Don’t be silly. Of course we’re with you. Aren’t we, Geffen? After all, you helped us.” She put out a hand to her brother. “You brought us back together.”

Geffen smiled uncertainly. The fragment of the mask lay between the twins — a grisly, ugly thing.

“Yes,” he said.

“Let’s get some sleep,” said Tanner. “Tomorrow we go farther into the mountains. I’m going to keep watch with Firepos.”

“I’ll be with Gulkien,” said Gwen. She drew her cloak and hood over her, and Tanner noticed her hand slip into the secret pocket to grip her rapier’s hilt even in sleep.

Geffen settled down beside the fire, resting his head on his hands. “I’ll stay here.”

Tanner lay against Firepos’s feathers, feeling the Beast’s breathing lifting him slowly up and down. He gazed out over the kingdom. He turned to look into the far distance, where he imagined Forton must be.
Will I see my village again? Will I ever visit my grandmother’s grave?

In less than two days he’d lost everything he’d known.

“Well, almost everything,” he said under his breath. He still had Firepos; he owed his life to her. And he’d made two new friends to accompany him on his journey.
Will my journey bring me to Derthsin? It feels as though it is my fate to face him again. Are Gor and Varlot really dead? Derthsin cannot overwhelm my kingdom. I won’t let him. I’ll keep fighting for Grandmother’s sake. And for my mother and father.

Tanner felt his eyes drift closed.

A noise made him jolt awake. He glanced back quickly, but it was only Geffen. He was lit up by the firelight, and was holding something in his hand, turning it over and over. The Mask of Death.

Images ran through Tanner’s mind: his father smeared with blood; his mother, her mouth torn open in a scream; Esme standing in the doorway, an ax clutched in her frail hands; a girl with white-blond hair, and her brother. And the vision of a familiar, cruel face that shone through flickering flames.

The night closed around him.
From the dark, a hero must rise.
Tanner curled up his body into a ball. The darkness was growing, and it filled him with dread.

Somehow, he had to find the strength to face it.

T
anner jolted awake. Stars were shining above him. Firepos stirred against his back. Her feathers shimmered gold beneath the moon and she dipped her huge beak to rest her head against Tanner’s shoulder. The forest below smelled like pine and wet dirt, and a moonlight mist hung in the air. In the trees, the song-birds were roosting, and no wind rustled branches. Even the night noises of owls and crickets were absent.

Derthsin wasn’t here. It had been a bad dream. That was all.

The sweat cooled on Tanner’s skin and he shivered. His grandmother used to say that dreams revealed deep and dark secrets. Esme was dead now, killed by Derthsin’s general, Gor. Tanner had held her body in his arms as blood bubbled from her wounds.

Tanner thought back to his village of Forton, the destroyed home that he had left behind.
So much death, all in the name of Derthsin
. When Tanner was a boy, Derthsin had killed his father and kidnapped his mother. He had no idea where she was now, but he still thought of her — usually last thing before he fell asleep. Was she still out there, somewhere?

In revenge, Firepos had snatched up Derthsin and hurled him into the crater of the Stonewin Volcano. Esme had told him the story of this over and over.
“He fell to his death,”
she had said, time and again.
“A death he deserved.”
But she’d been wrong — Tanner knew that now. Derthsin had survived, clinging on to one of Firepos’s feathers, tearing it from her to slow his fall. Now Derthsin had come back to Avantia in fiery visions, instructing General Gor toward more and more devastation. He meant to claim the Mask of Death once more. The mask would allow him to control all the Beasts of Avantia, and beyond that — the kingdom? Tanner had no idea, but he didn’t want to find out. He’d seen Derthsin’s lust for power, tasted his evil. He wouldn’t let that man’s dark influence stain his kingdom.
Not if I can stop it,
Tanner swore to himself. He’d rather die.

A few paces away, Gwen lay with her head nestled in Gulkien’s fur. The wolf’s massive flanks rose and fell gently as the leathery skin of his wings lay folded against his body. Until two days ago, Tanner had believed he was the only Chosen Rider in Avantia, but now he had a friend with her own Beast. His grandmother, as she lay dying in his arms, had sent him to find Jonas the Mapmaker in a neighboring town. Tanner hadn’t found Jonas, but he did stumble across the man’s adopted twins, Gwen and Geffen. He learned that Jonas had been missing for many years. They had already retrieved one piece of the mask, paying dearly for it. And Gwen had the secrets of the map that showed the other pieces, scattered across Avantia. Hidden in a locket that she wore at her throat was a piece of gauze. When she laid it over a map Jonas had left her, the locations of the mask pieces were revealed. If the friends could keep going, if they could find the other three pieces of the mask, Derthsin would never have the power he lusted after.

Tanner watched Gwen sleep as he rested beside Firepos, the warmth from her feathers protecting him from the damp. He couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be torn from Firepos, for his mighty fire bird to answer to Derthsin. Beasts like Firepos and Gulkien were strong — not just with muscle, but with a powerful connection to this land and its people. Tanner had seen how Firepos could sense danger. Imagine if she became a creature of evil? Avantia was already a kingdom of strangers — one village hardly ever saw its neighbors. Most people in the kingdom drew back from the Beasts, on the rare occasions they were spotted. What if the Beasts used this fear to drive people even further apart? Tanner felt himself shudder.

Derthsin had armies, and he had Varlot — a true Beast of evil. Tanner would never forget his first sight of the Beast: half horse, half man. Coated in armor, with terrifying bronze hooves that morphed into human hands, fingers viciously clawing the air.

Tanner smelled a whiff of smoke and looked back into the cave. He saw the profile of a body beneath a blanket beside the campfire — Gwen’s brother, Geffen. Geffen had been snatched by General Gor, but Gwen and Tanner had managed to rescue him from the suffocating embrace of the man’s evil. Gor had been swept away on an avalanche of water and rocks, created by Firepos. If they hadn’t snatched Geffen, he’d be dead now, too.

Embers smoldered and cast deep shadows across the other boy’s profile. The smoke thickened in low clouds and filled the air with the pungent smell of burning. Too much burning …

Tanner sprang up and ran into the cave. “Geffen!” he called. His blanket had caught fire, a glowing ember sitting on a corner of the felted wool.

But the boy didn’t move.

“What is it?” asked Gwen, sitting up sleepily.

Tanner flung the blanket aside. A pile of firewood, arranged in the rough shape of a body. Tanner swiveled around, his eyes scanning the cave. Where was the piece of the mask that had lain beside the fire? Geffen had been looking at it last night, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he inspected the thick, leathery skin of the mask, which was hewn from an ancient Beast’s face. Tanner still shuddered whenever he saw the pieces of the mask — wizened skin as dark as coal, the shrunken crease of an eyelid and puckered lips peeled back in a wolfish grin. The Beast, Anoret, had once looked out from this face. Growing up, Tanner had heard stories about the first Beast of Avantia, born of fire. Legend had it that all other Beasts were descended from Anoret.

“Geffen?” said Gwen. Now fully alert, she leaped to her feet and had her rapier drawn. The braids in her white-blond hair hung loosely.

“He’s gone!” said Tanner, kicking the wood angrily across the cave. “And he’s taken the piece of the mask with him!”

Gwen rushed back to the cave entrance. She called out her brother’s name over the trees beyond.

“Geffen! Geffen! Where are you? Come back!”

Gulkien, lifting his head, howled at her side. His lips curled back as he sent a call out across the air, his leathery wings stretching wide as he clambered to his feet. The wolf waited, his ears pricked. Nothing. He settled back down on the ground and looked at Gwen, licking his lips. His eyes spoke his understanding. Gulkien realized that Geffen had betrayed them. How long would it take Gwen to accept the same?

“We have to find him!” said Gwen. “He might be in danger.”

Tanner shook his head. “Don’t you see? He’s abandoned us. He’s taken the piece of the mask.”

Gwen frowned at him. “No,” she muttered. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“You must have seen how he was looking at the mask last night,” said Tanner. “He waited until we were all asleep, then scurried off like a rat. I
knew
we couldn’t trust him.”

“Then why did you help rescue him! Don’t talk nonsense. That’s my brother — he wouldn’t do this to me. To us.” Gwen’s face was pale as she looked out across the landscape, her eyes scouring the horizon.
She can’t bear to look at me,
Tanner thought.
In her heart, she knows I’m right
. Gulkien growled beside her, lifting his black lips to reveal fangs as long as Tanner’s hand. Warning him not to make Gwen even more upset.

Tanner looked out hopelessly over the forest and fields. Pink dawn was pushing back the black curtain of night, and pale clouds streaked the sky. Geffen could be anywhere.

“Well, whatever has happened,” said Tanner, “we need to find him. And fast.”

“Why?” Gwen spat. “Because you’re concerned for his welfare, or because you want your precious piece of mask back?”

“It’s not my precious mask,” Tanner argued. “I’m doing all this for the sake of Avantia. Or had you forgotten?”

Gwen shook her head in disgust. “And why does Avantia need you, in particular? Geffen and I were happy before you arrived in our town. Now he’s disappeared.”

“Happy? Your town was being attacked!” He couldn’t believe that Gwen was being so stubborn. Why wouldn’t she accept that her brother had betrayed them?
I didn’t ask for any of this, either,
Tanner thought. He’d seen death, been torn from his home and forced into a fight against evil. He’d done exactly what had been asked of him — and more.

Gwen sheathed her rapier, and went back into the cave. She snatched up the blanket, and held it under Gulkien’s snout. “You’ll help me, won’t you?” she said. The wolf sniffed, his pale eyes widening as he took in the scent. Gwen put a hand on his neck and he lowered himself so she could climb onto his back, nestling in his thick fur.

“You take to the air,” she said coldly to Tanner, still not looking at him. “We’ll find his trail on the ground.”

Tanner nodded, and hoisted himself into the space between Firepos’s wings. The flame bird ruffled her tawny feathers. With a nudge from Tanner’s feet, she spread her mighty wings and sprung from the ledge, falling for a heartbeat before climbing into the dawn sky on thrusting wings.

Gulkien, with the thin membranes of his wings pressed tight against his body, leaped into the gorse below, scattering loose rocks. With perfect balance, he half slid, half clambered down the steep slope, and Gwen clung tightly to his fur. At the bottom, he paused at the tree line, nose tight to the ground. Taut muscles shifted along the wolf’s broad back. As Gulkien smelled the trees, he snorted, and Tanner saw the curls of huge fangs in his mouth. His yellow eyes glittered like molten gold. He plunged into the trees, with a spray of leaves and pine needles.

Tanner steered Firepos in pursuit, the wind blasting his face. The forest below was a dense, dark green. They soared higher, cutting through strands of pure, wet cloud. Beyond the forest, fields of yellowing wheat crisscrossed with dirt roads and animal paths. Avantia glowed in the morning sunlight, grass rippling like waves. But nowhere was there a sign of the boy.

Below them, Gulkien streaked across a forest clearing, leaping over a clump of boulders, then into the trees again. Even if Tanner couldn’t see Geffen from up here, the scent down below must have been strong. Tanner’s anger burned.
We’ve been through so much to find the mask
. And now Gwen’s brother had run off with the prize. Why?

Beneath them, the trees ended. Gulkien paused, panting for breath. From Firepos’s back, Tanner squinted into the sun. There was a shape on the far horizon — the tiny figure of someone running. Tanner felt in his tunic and pulled out his Looking Crystal. The oblong of opaque stone, inherited from his father, allowed him to see far into the distance. Lifting it to his eye, the swirling white faded away and a boy snapped into view. Geffen. Gwen’s brother clutched the leathery fragment of Derthsin’s mask in one hand. As Tanner watched, Geffen disappeared over the crest of a hill.

Tanner swooped down, calling out to Gwen over the rush of wind: “I see him! Just ahead. Follow me!”

Gwen pulled Gulkien’s head around, and the Beast set off once more, racing with strides twenty paces long. They were approaching the low hill. Tanner squeezed Firepos’s flanks and the flame bird beat her wings faster. He could sense the Beast’s excitement.
We’ve almost got you!

They broke over the crest of the hill. The sight made Tanner lurch back: hundreds of soldiers, formed into neat ranks, their arrows trained into the sky. They were led by the familiar silhouette of General Gor.