Drift: River of Falcons Book 1

Bad Weather

Many leagues to the north, in a castle made of the same stone as the mountains around it, a woman in flowing robes was poised in front of a grand fireplace. In her hand she held a poker, as if she had just been interrupted in the act of stirring the fire.

A tall boy of seventeen with curly golden-brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a faded blue traveling cloak was standing nearby, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Where do you think you're going, my son?" The woman demanded. "You seem to be in a great hurry to leave."

"I thought I ought to run down to the valley and have a look around."

"Why?" the woman demanded, an eyebrow showing her skepticism.

"There's a large thunderstorm." He pointed toward a bank of windows and their expansive view of the distant valley. "I thought I'd fly around it."

"Fly around a thunderstorm? I don't think so! Something's been chasing the goats in the high pasture. Go up there and see what it is."

"I'll get to it, Mother, but I really ought to check on things down in the valley first."

"Things?" his mother repeated. "What kind of things?"

He took a step toward her, his hand slipping to the hilt of his sword. "There's been a lot of movement in the last few days," he said. "The sorcerers seem to be up to something, and I'm worried about that healer who lives south of town. I think she and the, um, boy who lives with her, are about to head out in this weather and try to stop a fever the sorcerers made. It's probably a trap."

"That is no concern of yours! You know the rules. Since the sorcerers took over, we never meddle with things in the valley. And how, may I ask, do you know what the sorcerers are planning?"

"I overheard some people talking when I was perched in a pine tree near the Keep yesterday afternoon."

"The Keep!?! What were you thinking? You mustn't go anywhere near it ever again!"

"Don't worry, no one saw me. I—"

"Don't even try to explain! You ought to have known better, Sasha." She shook her head in disbelief. "If you keep visiting the valley, they're bound to become suspicious and send their apprentices after you."

"Let them," he said, gripping the sword more firmly. "I need the practice."

"No you don't," she said, her voice rising. "We're terribly lucky they haven't found us so far. Stay away from Sorcerers' Keep. And what about your chores? Have you—"

"I've already milked the goats in the lower pasture," he interrupted, "and I brought in water for cooking and stacked fresh wood by the stove. May I go now?"

His mother glared at him. "Only," she said, "to the upper pasture. Not to the valley. Oh, and Sasha?"

"What?"

"No more eavesdropping on apprentices!"

"They were sorcerers. Apprentices don't know what's going on."

"Sasha!"

"They didn't see me. And I won't do it again."

"You certainly will not! Now, go see to the upper pasture, and be back in time for dinner."

"All right, but your viewpoint is... Never mind."

"What?"

"You take such a narrow view of things," he said. "You can't just pretend the entire valley doesn't exist."