Drift: River of Falcons Book 1

Sarai

They were sitting on the porch. Drift was facing the path that wound through the trees to the river. She was still half hoping to see Summer coming up the path. Ubi was sitting in a chair that squeaked each time he rocked. Drift shot him a look. He smiled back. "I like it here," he announced.

Drift looked away.

A flock of wild geese flew over, honking to each other companionably. The geese in Drift's back yard answered. Ubi stood and stretched. "I'm tired," he announced. "Can I take a nap?"

"If you want," Drift said.

"Where?"

"I guess you can use my loft, but you have to wash first." Drift glanced at the well, where a big bucket was leaning against the stone base, along with a smaller bowl (the custom being to stand in the bucket and pour water over oneself; in winter, baths were taken inside, but because of the inevitable splashing, Drift and Summer preferred to bathe outside in good weather). "I'll get you soap and a towel. Give me your clothes." Drift got up and went inside, then came out with the washboard and laundry bucket. "Here," she said, handing Ubi the towel and a heavy bar of soap in exchange for a pile of ragged clothes. "And wrap yourself in this towel, please. I just look like a boy. I'm not actually one."

"Whatever you say." He headed toward the well, leaving Drift standing on the porch with his dirty clothes. She sniffed them apprehensively and decided to put the biggest pot on to boil.

Some time later, she was sitting on the front porch in the dusk, poking the laundry bucket with a stick. Sighing, she dumped it out, then went inside to check on Ubi. From the snores overhead, she could tell he had fallen asleep.

She went back to the porch and wrung out his clothes. When she was done, she brought them inside and hung them above the stove, which was still warm. Then she climbed into Summer's bed and lay down, intending to take a nap; but each time she began to fall asleep, she snapped awake abruptly, her pulse racing and her mind full of images of what Magus might be doing to Summer.

She got up and began to clean the cottage. The sound of her broom woke Ubi, who called down to her to be quiet. She ignored him, and in a little while he climbed down, the towel dutifully around his waist, but his hair wild from sleeping on it wet. "Is there anything to eat?" he asked with a yawn. "I'm starving."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she said as she found a candle. It flared up wildly when she spoke the word to light it, and she nearly burnt her eyebrows. My magic does seem stronger, she thought. I'll have to be careful. She turned toward Ubi, and was embarrassed to realize he must have seen the whole thing. "Get dressed, would you! And go fill the teapot."

*

As evening progressed toward night, Drift and Ubi sat at the table sipping mint tea. Ubi was dipping his biscuits to soften them before stuffing them into his mouth. Drift wondered why she had never noticed how loud chewing could be.

The geese began to honk behind the cottage. "Who's that?" Ubi asked, setting his biscuit down. "A friend of yours?"

"I told you, I don't have friends."

The honking grew more frantic. Drift hurried to the rear window, Ubi following behind her.

There was a white heron circling above the barn, faintly visible in the darkness. To their surprise, it swooped into the barn, then came back out a moment later and landed on a nearby fencepost. It looked toward the cottage, jumped down, and shimmered. In its place appeared a lean, brown woman with a thick mane made up of long white twists of hair. She wore a white wool cloak that flapped behind her, almost like wings. They could see all this because she was holding the lantern that Summer usually kept on a hook in the barn, and it was lit.