Drift: River of Falcons Book 1

Carnage

Magus had been flying north when a lifelike projection of Vultan appeared. As he went through the edge of a fluffy cloud, Vultan's projection whipped through the mist, too.

"That's certainly an elaborate spell," Magus complained. "What's going—"

"You're flying away from the girl," Vultan snarled. "Turn around!"

"Where is she?" Magus demanded as he circled back.

"There's a deserted stretch of river with a sandy cove just behind you. I was going to have her light a fire to guide you in, but someone broke the link before I could."

"I thought you were infallible," Magus said, eyeing the floating image.

"Don't tempt me! You know I can project my spells."

"I am painfully aware of your talents, Father."

"As you should be. Now, go to the cove and pick up her trail!"

Magus rounded the bend and pulled his wings into a dive. As his whistling flight took him over a thick stand of spruce trees, he thought he caught a glimpse of movement through the foliage. However, the trees were too dense to see what it was. He curved back toward the river and came in for a landing on the half-moon of sandy beach.

As his falcon touched down and he resumed his human form, a smile twisted his mouth. Distinct in the wet sand were animal tracks coming out of the water. Where they ended, human footprints continued up the beach and into the forest.

*

As the Peregrine Falcon flashed overhead, Sasha unsheathed his sword again, but Drift grabbed his arm and shook her head. "No," she said, guiding it back. "Don't fight him, and no matter what happens, don't show yourselves! Just hide there." She pointed toward a thick spruce tree. "Can you do that? Ubi, I need you to keep an eye on them."

"Wait, are you going without me?"

She gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I'll be back." Then she turned and jogged off. Soon the forest swallowed her.

Ubi walked over to the spruce tree and ducked beneath its branches.

Jasper followed, and after a moment, Sasha joined them.

The ground began to tremble. Jasper frowned and Sasha fidgeted with his sword, but Ubi smiled. "It's Drift. She's doing something. Don't worry, it'll be all right."

"How do you know it's her?" Sasha demanded.

"I just do," Ubi said.

*

Drift was standing in the forest with her arms out in a gesture of invocation and there were dark butterflies fluttering around her. Her hair was a lot longer than it had been a few moments ago, and it lifted as if caught in a breeze. She had her eyes closed and she was chanting something melodic. At first, the chant was soft and welcoming. Her words slipped gently into the thoughts of the animals in the forest nearby. Then her chant changed, shifting to a more anxious tone as she nudged the animals to visualize fire. Lots of fire. Fire spreading through the trees and rushing toward them across the forest. Her hair waved and twisted in the air around her as if it were leaping tongues of fire.

This was, Drift suspected, the trickiest part. Recalling Alva's words about control, she let the images of fire fade slightly so as not to actually make anything burn, but she continued to send the image out to every animal she could reach.

Back beneath the branches of the spruce tree, a family of flying squirrels dashed overhead, aiming toward the river. The sounds of drumming grew and were joined by the crashes of heavy bodies breaking through the underbrush as larger animals joined their flight.