The salt water did odd things to my body. My hooves became soft and chipped easily. My coat was stiff with salt and slime. I thirsted for water but knew that drinking the ocean was too dangerous to try.
So I pressed on.
The currents pulled me swiftly from the island and I soon lost sight of it. I found seaweed to eat, and that gave me a little water. The sun was hot, but a quick dive into the cold water always cooled me down.
I didn’t sleep for two days, worried that without my wings as floats I would drown as soon as I stopped. A group of sleeping otters caught my attention— they tied themselves to seaweed and could sleep on the surface of the water, unable to float away from the root’s tight anchor. I tried it myself and found that it worked.
By the third day I could see a thin sliver of black on the horizon, framed by the setting sun. Equinox, I assumed. To be close and yet so far made my heart race.
I pressed on, following the current. It was beginning to tug me toward the island, at a faster rate than it had before. I dove down, looking for a jet stream.
I found one and surfacing for a final gulp of air, ducked straight into it. My body was immediately sucked into the current, launching forward into the cold blue darkness.
I fought against the urge to surface as my lungs burned for air and the jet stream pushed me along. When I finally couldn’t bear it, I made to break for the surface.
Instead, the current sucked me deeper. I swam against the pull, alarm surging through my veins. I thrashed my hooves, but that only sent me into a spiral.
With a final effort to keep myself conscious, the cold waters took me deeper, and my mind faded to darkness.
***
The feeling of being eaten alive brought me back to the land of the living. I jerked my head up and found my body covered in chiggers, digging into my flesh and skin. I reared up, crashing into the cold water, shocked by the difference between the water and the hot sand…
Wait. Sand?
I lifted my head, able to focus more clearly now that the chiggers were in the water, and surveyed where I was. I was in the shallows by a beach, long grasses bordering the hill. The sky was a clear blue, and I could see a forest in the distance.
Wait. I sniffed the water, looking around the small landing. I know this place…
“SHAKIRANS!!!” The cry pierced the calm air and suddenly the blue sky was blotted out by a rising form of dark shapes. Buzzing like a horde of hornets, pegasi rose into the air, ready for battle.
And they were all staring at me.
I froze as seventeen angry pegasi, built like Prairie Tribe Equinoxians, dived down toward me. Not knowing what else to do, though the action went against every bone in my body, I bowed my head in submission.
I heard the confused mutters and hurried flapping of wings as the warriors stopped. They were staring at me, besides themself in utter disbelief.
They knew me. My blaze was unique, hard to miss. Of course a commander who’d befallen thousands of their kin would be hated.
“Call Rowansun.” A black stallion with a white face at the head grunted. He spread out his black wings and made a tight circle before facing me. His body was stiff, untrusting.
“You are Stormblaze, Commander in Dark Order?” He grunted.
I nodded, looking him over. He was young, perhaps nine or ten winters, with hard blue eyes. I knew him from somewhere…
“You are Nightleaf, son of Rowansun?” I asked.
He bristled, baring his teeth. “No. I am Chance, son of no stallion. Nightleaf has been dead for five springs.”
“Funny. I remember a young stallion fighting along his father named Nightleaf. Same markings.” I snorted.
He growled, feathers rattling. “Then I suppose you don’t know your enemies as well as you thought.”
“Former enemies.” I replied.
An odd look flickered into his eyes. “I see. So you’re like Mapleberry then. A Shakiran defector?”
“You know her?” I asked, relieved that she was still remembered. Perhaps if she was still around, there would be hope for me.
He bristled. “Know her? Everyone knows Mapleberry. She is the wisest Healer in the land. Trained by Morningcloud herself, may the King rest her soul. She is well loved, unlike your kind who tried to force her into something she wasn’t meant to be.” He bared his teeth, feathers rattling.
“I never knew her personally. We were in different ranks.” I replied crisply.
Chance didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. He was about to ask another question when three pegasi crested over the hill. One was a gold dun stallion, Commander General Eaglefeather, if I remembered correctly. The second was a bay with blue feathers, who carried himself in the manner of a leader. That was Rowansun. I couldn’t see the last very well, only a flash of green and pink feathers and chocolate coat.
They stopped a winglength in front of me and I could finally see them all clearly. Both Rowansun and Eaglefeather gazed on me with suspicion, but it was the third, a mare close to Eaglefeather’s side, who caught my eye.
A chocolate palomino pinto with green and pink feathers. Just like the tales had said about Mapleberry.
She was the only one who had a look of welcome in her eyes.
“You are Stormblaze, commander of Shakirans.” Rowansun sniffed. “You have a lot of nerve to show up here, killer of killers.
I dipped my head. “I am deserving of such a title.” I murmured. “But I do not come here to make war. I have left my Order, I have shunned Abaddon. I am no longer Stormblaze, but Storm. My defection has cost me my honor and my wings and I have nothing left but the King, that is, El-Roi, and a plead for mercy on your part.” I dipped my head. “Kill me and atone your fallen’s blood, if you wish. Much of it is on my hooves and wings.”
Rowansun only stared. “He gave you one of His Names?”
I paused, then nodded slowly. “Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Do you know what the Name He gave means?” Rowansun pressed.
I shook my head. “No.”
“The Lord who sees me.” Rowansun murmured. He looked between Mapleberry and Eaglefeather. “What do you think?”
“You can’t be serious!” Chance snapped. “How many of our warriors has this stallion fallen? You know he is legendary for the deaths he has created! He killed your own brother!”
“SILENCE.” Rowansun growled, clacking his teeth at the younger stallion. “I will not have my son speak to me in such a way.”
“I am not your son.” Chance hissed.
So he is Nightleaf. I thought. Why did he change his name?
Eaglefeather lifted his head, and I stiffened, wondering what the stallion had decided of my fate. He looked toward Mapleberry. “What do you think?” He asked.
He’s asking a mare’s opinion? She’s not a warrior, not even a Mansha. A Healer. What could that mean? I watched as she approached, slightly surprised to see that her barrel was rounded with foal.
Eaglefeather must be her mate. He protects her with the fierceness of a mate. I choked as I thought about Autumnflight. I had often watched over her with the same look Eaglefeather had now. Would I ever see her again?
Mapleberry looked me over, eyes soft. “So you are Stormblaze.” She murmured, wincing as her eyes ran over my raw burns. “Do you want treatment for those? I have herbs that will ease the pain.”
I paused, feeling confused. “Treatment?”
She nodded. Chance opened his mouth to argue but was silenced by a steely look from Eaglefeather.
She raised her head, her eyes meeting mine. “I understand you.” She whispered. “You have been called by the King, Storm, like I was. He called me through another name, Adonai. Lord, Master.” She blew a soft breath over my face, a welcome. “I accept you.”
I blinked, feeling stunned. “Th-thank you.”
“You can’t be serious.” Chance argued. “He can’t be trusted!”
“The same could have been said for Mapleberry.” Rowansun snorted.
“He’s a commander. This is probably all a trap so they can learn our secrets!”
Eaglefeather raised a wing. “I understand his concerns, Rowansun. I don’t believe them, but many other pegasi could be in the same thinking as Chance.”
Rowansun nodded. “Then we’ll have him on trial. Guard him, watch him. Do you understand, Storm?”
I nodded. “I didn’t expect much else.”
“Don’t let them bring you down.” Mapleberry nickered. “You are turning from the darkness, from Abaddon. That is what matters.”
“Did you go through such hostility?” I asked.
She paused. “Not in the same way. But I was younger, afraid to kill. I wasn’t like the others to begin with.” She sighed. “You will have many enemies here.”
I sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of.”