Storm's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

Rain hissed between Storm and Jeru. The stone path was narrow, barely wider than her two feet. On both sides, clouds fell away into nothing. Jeru stepped onto it with ease, wings half-open for balance. The feather still waited between their fingers. "Come take it," they said. "But mind your footing. The sky is a long way down." Storm moved forward. Her bare foot found the wet stone. Jeru feinted left, then struck her shoulder with a flat palm. She swayed. Her heel slipped over the edge. For one sick moment she saw only white emptiness below. She threw her weight back and landed hard on her knees. Jeru laughed, light and cruel. "Goddess of weather. You cannot even stand." She understood then. On this path, strength meant nothing. One shove would end her. She could not win a fight. So she stopped trying to fight. Storm pressed both palms to the stone and closed her eyes. She reached past Jeru, past the path, into the clouds all around them. She did not call a storm. She called stillness. The rain froze in the air. The wind died. The whole sky went silent and gray. Jeru's wings sagged. Without wind, flight meant nothing. Their crimson eyes flicked to the empty air, suddenly afraid. "What are you doing?" "If I fall," Storm said, "I take the sky with me. No wind. No lift. You drop the same as I do." She rose slowly, arms spread. "So we both stand still. Or we both die." Two shapes broke the frozen mist. A wolf girl with white wings landed behind Jeru. Her twin dropped beside her, wings black and red. The white-winged one, Raven, folded her feathers without a sound. "Enough, Jeru," she said. Her voice was soft but did not bend. "The hermit sent us. You broke the rule. The feather must be given, not won by a trick on a cliff." Jeru snarled. "She stole the wind." "She earned it," said the black-winged twin, Lucy. She grinned, showing teeth. "I'd have pushed you off myself." Jeru looked from the sisters to Storm, then down at the dead, still air. They had no path left. With a curse, they flung the feather at Storm's feet. "Take it. The road is yours. Much good may it do you." They dropped off the edge, caught a thin current far below, and vanished into the clouds. Storm released the sky. Wind rushed back. Rain fell again, warm now. She bent and lifted the black feather from the wet stone. It was warm too, and it hummed in her hand. Raven watched her with careful eyes. "The feather opens the road," she said. "But the temple does not want a stranger. My sister and I were sent to walk it with you. You will not reach the throne alone." Storm closed her fist around the feather. The gate was open. The climb had only begun.