Page 47 of Kingdom of Shadows and Wings

Abel laughs, the sound a little distorted under his mask. “He’s just messing with you. It doesn’t work that way.”

I elbow Nick in the ribs. “Jerk. I’ll be careful nonetheless.”

For a while, we work in silence. I imitate Abel as he digs in the soil, locates each milky white bulb, and brushes the plant off before piercing the tough flesh with the syringe and withdrawing the oily black liquid. The strong, earthy odor competes with the aroma of sweet decay, reminding me a bit of rotting fruit. When I fill my first vial, I study the inky black liquid and ponder how much money a single vial might fetch on the black market. A lot, no doubt. Enough, I imagine, to make stealing one an enticing temptation for some fledglings.

As we move on to other plants, Nick and Olive fill the vials with precision borne of experience.

“I don’t see any other plants ready for harvesting here.” Abel stands and stretches. “Want to pair off? Might go quicker that way.”

Nick caps a vial and puts the container in a pouch identical to Olive’s. “Fine with me. The sooner we finish, the better.”

“Lark and I will start on the other side.” Olive nods to the far side of the field. “Ready?”

“I am.” I rise to my feet, happy for the reprieve from crouching. “I’m following you.”

At the end of the field, we wade through the plants, checking for oozing black oil on the ground. A weird murmuring hum seems to come from the stalks, as if the eyril’s either greeting me or warning me away.

The humming infiltrates my body, tugging at me with an invisible line. My surroundings dim as the line pulls me forward, toward the vibrant stalks that undulate in the breeze.

The murmuring grows louder.

“Hey guys, do you hear…”

The words die in my throat once I realize I’m alone.

Chapter Sixteen

Straining to pick up on the odd hum again, I stand still. But the sound has disappeared. Did I imagine the music? Or was that noise just the wind whistling through the stalks?

Awesome. As if eyril harvesting isn’t daunting enough without my imagination playing tricks on me.

Speeding up, I hurry to rejoin Olive.

In a squat next to an eyril plant, she lifts her face to mine. “You’re just in time. This one’s ready to harvest.”

Crouching beside her, I dig with the spade, careful not to butcher the plant.

In the short time I’ve been at Flighthaven, I’ve grown to cherish Olive’s friendship. I think I can consider her a friend. If my mother knew one of the recruits in my flight unit came from a family of Kamor sympathizers, though, she’d have a stroke. She’s never cared for Kamor and despises Tirene, often telling me tales of the winged brutes who killed my father.

Her stories of Tirenese attacks on our kingdom—and their subsequent atrocities that included slaughtering men, women, and children—gave Leesa and me nightmares when we were younger. Much of what my mother claimed seems more myth than reality, since our race would have died out if the Tirenese had murdered everyone. Her tales about Tirenese dragoncallers are also hard to believe.

How could anyone control a dragon with their mind and convince the beasts to attack others during a war? If that were possible, the Tirenese would have annihilated all their enemies. Yet, here we are.

But as much as I’ve been taught to hate and fear those who are different, deep in my heart, I know that mindset is wrong. Still, I can’t help my loathing of the Tirenese for taking my father from us all those years ago.

Olive taps my shoulder. “I hope it’s a good one.”

I blink. “What?”

“Your daydream.” She chuckles. “I hope whatever you were dreaming about was good.”

“Not dreaming. Just lost in thought.” I hand her the syringe of oil so she can fill the vial in her hand. “Sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize. Just don’t let Narrton see you idle.” She nods at the instructor, who’s now patrolling the field.

“Axton, Holte, quit dragging your feet.” Narrton adds an imperious sniff to his pissy comment. “Pendrick and Rummon have filled a lot more vials.”

“Sorry, sir.” I get back to work, thankful when Narrton returns to his shade tree.

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