swam in groups called schools and leapt from the water in for-
mation, silver bodies arcing against the sun. The journey be-
came an incredible learning experience for Wren, and she
immersed herself in its lessons.
“I have never seen anything like this!” she shouted enthusi-
astically at Tiger Ty.
“Wait until we reach Morrowindl,” he grunted back.
THEY DESCENDED A SECOND TIME for a brief rest at midafter-
noon, choosing a solitary island with wide, white-sand beaches
and coves so shallow the water was a pale turquoise. Wren no-
ticed that Spirit had not eaten all day and asked about it. Tiger
Ty said the Roc consumed meat and hunted on its own. It re-
quired food only once every seven days.
“A very self-sustaining bird, the Roc,” the Wing Rider said
with undisguised admiration. “Doesn’t ask much more than to
be left alone. More than you can say about most people.”
They continued their journey in silence, both Wren and
Garth beginning to tire now, stiff from sitting in the same po-
sition all day, worn from the constant rocking motion of the
flight, and from gripping the knotted hand restraints until their
fingers cramped. The waters of the Blue Divide passed steadily
beneath, an endless progression of waves. They had been out of
sight of the mainland for hours, and the ocean seemed to stretch
away forever. Wren felt dwarfed by it, reduced by its size to
something so insignificant she threatened to disappear. Her ear-
lier sense of isolation had increased steadily with the passing of
the hours, and she found herself wondering for the first time if
she would ever see her home again.
It was nearing sunset when at last they came in sight of
Morrowindl. The sun had drifted west to the edge of the hori-
zon, its light growing soft, changing from white to pale orange.
A streaking of purple and silver laced a long line of odd-shaped
clouds that paraded across the sky like strange animals. Silhou-
etted against this panorama was the island, dark and misted and
forbidding. It was much larger than any other landmass they
had encountered, rising up like a wall as they approached. Kil-
leshan lifted its jagged mouth skyward, steam seeping from its
throat, slopes dropping away into a thick blanket of fog and ash,
disappearing for hundreds of feet until they surfaced again at a
shoreline formed of rocky projections and ragged cliffs. Waves
crashed against the rocks, white foaming caldrons that threw
their spray skyward.
Spirit flew closer, winging down toward the shroud of vog.
A stench filled the air, the smell of sulfur escaped from beneath
the earth where the volcano’s fire burned rock to ash. Through
the clouds and mist they could see valleys and ridges, passes and
defiles, all heavily forested, a thick, strangling jungle. Tiger Ty
glanced back over his shoulder and gestured. They were going
to circle the island. Spirit wheeled right at his command. The
north end of the island was engulfed in driving rain, a monsoon
that inundated everything, creating vast waterfalls that tumbled
down cliffs thousands of feet high. West the island was as barren
as a desert, all exposed lava rock except for a scattering of
brightly flowering shrubs and stunted, gnarled, wind-blown trees.
South and east the island was a mass of singular rock formations
and black-sand beaches where the shoreline met the waters of
the Blue Divide before rising to disappear into jungle and mist.
Wren stared down at Morrowindl apprehensively. It was a
forbidding, inhospitable place, a sharp contrast to the other is-
lands they had seen. Weather fronts collided and broke apart.
Each side of the island offered a different set of conditions. The
whole of it was shadowed and clouded, as if Killeshan were a
demon that breathed fire and had wrapped itself in the cloak of
its own choking breath.
Tiger Ty wheeled Spirit about one final time, then took him
down. The Roc settled cautiously at the edge of a broad, black-
sand beach, claws digging into the crushed lava rock, wings
folding reluctantly back. The giant bird turned to face the jun-
gle, and his piercing eyes fixed on the mist.