City of Death by Laurence Yep Read Free Book Online Page A

kin, Kaccap mocked him. “Still falling behind like when we were fledglings.” And the captain brought his wings down in a powerful stroke that sent him shooting forward, and the rest of the squad copied him. The draft from their wings sent Kles tumbling, and by the time he had righted himself the distance between them was even greater.
    Kles had always defended her against the bullies and enemies she’d encountered in embassies and foreign schools. Now she would return the favor.
    â€œCaptain Kaccap!” Scirye snapped, again trying to imitate her mother’s commanding tone, “I expect all my party to arrive together.”
    Kaccap shot her an angry look, but he slowed and so did the other griffins. Panting, Kles caught up with them.
    â€œHere,” Scirye said, holding up her gauntleted wrist.
    â€œI’m fine, lady,” Kles said stubbornly and flew on.
    By the time they entered a snow-filled pass, though, Kles’s chest heaved with each breath and he beat his wings in a staccato rhythm.
    She started to ask for a halt, but she saw Bayang, riding on the back of another griffin, shake her head. And she knew the dragon was right. It would hurt Kles’s pride if the others stopped for him.
    The kindly sorceress had also noticed Kles’s troubles. “Let me try to calm the winds a bit,” M ā ka said, a hand already beginning to move.
    Tute, who was sitting with her, reached up a paw to grab her wrist. “No!”
    But it was already too late. The beak of the griffin carrying M ā ka and Tute suddenly turned a bright violet. “My beak! What’s happened to it?” he cried as she stared at it cross-eyed.
    â€œJust give me a minute, noble steed,” M ā ka said. She had taken out her book and was thumbing through it hastily. “Oh, that’s where I went wrong.”
    The next moment, the beak changed in rapid succession from blue to a scarlet red with yellow polka dots.
    The griffin dropped several feet as his wing strokes faltered for a moment. “Stop, stop,” he screamed as he clutched his beak protectively. “You’re making it worse.”
    Kaccap did a loop so that he was suddenly next to the sorceress. “By Oesho, why did you curse him?”
    â€œI was just trying to help,” M ā ka said, waving her book in the air.
    â€œYou must be the world’s worst magician,” Kaccap snapped. “Whatever made you think you could cast spells?”
    Scirye expected sweet-tempered M ā ka to wilt under the war griffin’s fierce glare, so she was surprised when M ā ka pressed a fist against herself. “I can’t help it. The magic burns inside me. Right now it’s a wildfire, but when I tame it, I will have a power that will light up the world and destroy the shadows. So I will never stop. To me, magic is like breathing.”
    Scirye was impressed by the other girl’s desire, but she was as concerned as Kaccap about accidents. “Please, Lady M ā ka. We’re not asking you to quit magic, just let it rest for a little while. What if, by some mistake, you shrank all the griffins’ wings?”
    Tute nudged her. “Yes, like she said. We won’t help anyone but the vultures if we’re just stains on the rocks.”
    M ā ka reluctantly dipped her head to Scirye. “As you wish, lady,” she said as she tucked the book back up her sleeve.
    Am I any better at being a hero than M ā ka is at being a magician? Scirye wondered to herself. So far, every time they had caught up with Roland he had gotten away. Or at least I wish I could feel half the passion for this quest that M ā ka has for magic.
    *   *   *
    They traveled along the pass without any more mishaps and emerged into a wide valley nestled between walls of black rock so sheer it was as if they had been cut from the mountain range with a knife. Though snow covered the ground like a fine sheet of