Sword Quest by Nancy Yi Fan Read Free Book Online

strength. And, I will have something better for you later on. To shape the world into that of our vision, you will need the sword, the one the Great Spirit commanded Pepheroh to make. It’s hidden on the island of Kauria. I can give you one clue: Hero’s Day is on the day of the fifth full moon in a year and a half. However, there is a strange white bird called 013-Unidentified, who I feel poses a threat to your goals. Find and kill him. Then search for the gemstones, Leasorn gems, as some call them. They will give you the rest of the clues you need.” Yin Soul raised two wings upward. “That sword is waiting for a hero to wield it. It has the power to do anything…everything.”

If you kill a thousand birds, you win a forest, yet if you kill an emperor, you own an empire.
    —FROM THE B OOK OF H ERESY
    5
S OON, S OON
    W hen Maldeor awoke, he jumped from the snow and tried to beat the air. The wing Yin Soul had given him worked. A malicious, gleeful cry tore from his throat.
    Having traveled along in Hungrias’s court during the winters when he had been a knight, he knew Hungrias was south in the Marshes Battalion. He took off in that direction, feeling his excitement rise with the temperature.
    Hours later, he was in a discussion with Kawaka.
    “I can’t believe it! You are still alive, and flying!” Kawaka said gladly. Hungrias had threatened to demote him because the unidentified slave had escaped. Now here was Maldeor, the great knight who had also been wronged by the emperor.
    “Follow me and overthrow Hungrias, Kawaka. When I am emperor I shall make you head knight.”
    “My soldiers and I shall serve you with all our hearts,” Kawaka vowed. “I remember the day when Hungrias ordered us to hack off your wing. We all knew that the loss of the prince wasn’t your fault. Soon, he will pay for the injustice.”
     
    For Wind-voice, the days in the marshland birds’ camp were the best he’d ever known. His wounds healed, and Fisher taught him how to wield the sword that had once belonged to the heron. Wind-voice learned quickly and found courage in the quick slashing movements, in the brightness of the steel as it sliced through the air.
    It was not only the training that gave him happiness but also his newfound friendships. When he was not playing his harp, Winger flitted around the field where Wind-voice practiced with Fisher, calling out encouragement. Stormac often came and practiced handling hisstaff alongside his friends.

    But the time couldn’t last, and Wind-voice knew it. “I can’t stay here. What if the archaeopteryxes started looking for me? I don’t want to draw trouble onto your heads, especially after all your kindness to me.”
    Winger had been writing in a diary, and now he looked up. “Wherever you go, I will go.”
    “I will come, too,” Stormac said.
    “You are welcome to stay with us,” Fisher told them. But when they insisted on leaving, Fisher sketched a mapin the mud at his feet with one of his long toes. “The frontier territories beyond are safer. The archaeopteryxes are less numerous there. Near the Amali River you might find Fleydur, the eagle. There are other rebel groups across the river. He can take you to one or the other, if you wish to continue the fight against the archaeopteryx empire. But you don’t have to do so. You can strike out on your own if you choose. Find a peaceful place, if you can, where you can live out your lives. Nobird would blame you. This fight is a hard one, and we may never win it by ourselves.”
    Stormac scowled. Winger turned away, a look of longing on his face. But Wind-voice faced Fisher in surprise.
    “Do you truly think that?” he asked. “That we cannot win?”
    Fisher sighed. His long beak drooped. “I would not say this to many. There are great deeds to be done, young ones, but quite frankly, we alone cannot do them. We have no power or strength, though we take action in our dreams and hearts. The path ahead is too