“You are Solis Lightwing of the Tapiq, are you not?”
The question caught Solis off-guard, but after a moment’s hesitation he nodded furiously. Then, realizing the Harbinger wouldn’t be able to see his nod in the dark, he opened his mouth to give affirmation, but his interrogator cut him off.
“And you are Fey’s grandson?”
“Yes,” he answered with another nod.
“There are many factors you are not aware of, but I gathered from your former Magnates that you were known for being… nosy. That Fey may have told you more than she was meant to.”
Solis stared at the darkness, realizing that the Harbinger obviously was not encumbered by it as he was—even as his mind tried to keep pace with the slowly-forming meaning of this lecture. There was a shuffling noise, and Solis understood that his kidnapper was changing forms again.
Without further word or sound, the Harbinger created a white light that glowed above him, and Solis’s eyes confirmed it: The creature had transformed into his human form. Tall enough still that his head only barely kept from scraping the tunnel’s ceiling, cloaked in black material whose dark shade blended eerily into the darkness about them. “We are here to discuss those matters, but only in brief.”
The Harbinger sank to his haunches, and Solis had the presence of mind to scramble into a sitting position. Far from dignified, but he got the impression that wasn’t a factor here.
“Solis Lightwing, I risked much in stepping in for you this day. Just as Fey did years ago. But do not make the mistake of thinking that is because you are special. You have . . . potential. Just as an iron ingot has the potential to become magnetic, yet without aid it will have no more power to push or pull than another metal. I knew Fey for a very little time, and I do not know all of her short history in the Earth, but I do know a few of her secrets.
“She was a timid explorer, a survivor and a clever thinker . . . but that wasn’t enough to see her to the upper surface of the Earth. I was one of those tasked with stopping her, and I . . . I failed, technically, though it was a fault in the Membrane that allowed her through to the final Stratum. I took her into custody just as she broke through and saw the upper skies. But she did not earn it. To cut a story short—it was by a hair’s thread that I escaped punishment, but she did not. I escorted her back to the skies below and bid her never leave, nor tell a soul of what she went through or saw.”
Solis got up with an awkward tripping motion, as though the break in the Harbinger’s story gave him the window to do so. “I—I don’t . . . that can’t be right. She was a Magnate, and better one than those other fakes!”
He realized the foolishness that drove his words, but the Harbinger’s next words still shocked him. The tall man bent forward, raising him voice. “No! She was not.” Then he leaned back, ducking his cloaked head again by instinct. “Yet she was—but only in a way. The Magnates are not what you think, boy, as you will learn over the course of your education within these caverns.”
“Education?”
His question was ignored. “Which brings us to our main topic. You, my young friend, have guts, and little else. You bring with you no elemental kinship, nor flight talent like your companion Telsan. And you will be facing monsters such as you have neither seen nor known. Monsters both human and otherwise.”
Otherwise could have referred to other races—as only four tribes in the Great Sky were human—or to actual monsters, like the Earthbound. Fey had spoken of such beasts, creatures fantastic and frightful. Creatures that made even the Madrugada of the Bat Tribe sound tame.
“You, boy, must prove yourself strong, not on the merit of your friends but on your own. No matter what is thrown at you, you forge on—forge your own path, as your grandmother did. But succeed where she did not, and lay hold of the prize above. Normally, I would not aid such a one as you, for as I said, you get by on your own merit. But it is the girl Phoenix who prompts me toward this. She has been afflicted by a terrible entity, one of the upper shadows. The power she has thus inherited will consume her if unchecked, even after you awaken her on the first Stratum. But you will have the capacity to stop her, for this is one of the powers I have granted you.”
“Wait . . . granted me?” Solis felt his chest, as though searching for something. Could he be referring to . . . That strange voice. The bursts of strength. From . . . ?
Yes, came the reply, and he looked up to see the Harbinger smiling grimly down at him. “That was me. You will learn more about these abilities as you go. When you get to the first Stratum, just play innocent. Go through the steps as laid out, get a Mark, proceed into the tests. You won’t be the only one with a benefactor like me, but other Harbingers and Taiyoths have been scouting the Nether Sky for any emergent talents. As I said before, the Lords Above are growing bored, and various forces are taking an interest in this year’s harvest.”
Solis felt sure his head was spinning. Was it? Or was it the flickering torchlight? Or . . . orblight. Benefactors? Taiyoths?
“For now, just be aware that I will be watching you, Lightwing. You will hear from me, but it won’t be often. I do not want her to catch onto you.” The Harbinger moved out from the wall, transforming back into his hairy bull-bear form, though the light stayed. His massive, fanged face was even more intimidating than he remembered, horns black as the rest of him, each eye an endless abyss.
Her? “Wait! That’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me? No more introductory stuff?”
“There is no more to say. This is not your introduction. You never met me, and you have no supporter. Are we clear?”
The light vanished, and Solis was snatched up once more with great clawed hands. Wings of night beat against the dank cavern air, and he was borne away through the maze of tunnels once more. “You will know where to go once I return you,” the Harbinger said mid-flight. “Do not speak.”
He hovered in a larger cavern, which Solis deduced was the shaft wherein Solis and Telsan had left Phoenix, and looked out. Solis could make out a faint flicker of torchlight coming from the little tunnel. The Harbinger evidently deemed this a good enough time, for he swooped down and deposited Solis roughly on his feet, whooshing away and . . . downward? No, upward.
Footing recovered, Solis stood looking backward into the dark nothing before shaking himself, turning, and proceeding into the cave, where the light flickered more quickly and he saw wing-shaped shadows on the walls. “Solis? That you?” called a familiar voice from within.
“Here,” he called back, and they met at the cave mouth.
“Oh, you’re safe! Thought I’d lost you for good. I was about to give up searching around and wait to see if she’d wake up?”
“Any change? I take it she’s just the same?”
“Yep.”
I knew that. “Well, then . . . we just need to get her to the first Stratum.”
“And . . . what’s that?”
“I, ah, don’t know. But that’s what old Harby said.”
“Old Harb—wait, that was him? Okay, then . . . what else did he say? He really came up here just to kidnap you for five minutes?”
“I . . . guess? He didn’t really, uh, say much. That I can repeat. I’m not sure.”
The Ornis boy looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. “Well, anyway, I think I found where to go. There’s light once we get down far enough. We can leave the torch midway or something.”
Solis looked down at their friend’s prone form. “I could carry her legs with one arm. Or . . . wait, why don’t we leave the torch on her stomach? That vest is fireproof.”
Telsan thought for a moment. “You’re right. That’s . . . actually a good idea.” His tone clearly implied surprise given the source of said idea. He bent down and set the burning torch, sticky pitch and all, on the girl’s leather vest so that it balanced well enough. “All right, then. To this . . . first stratum. What do you think we’ll find there?”
“No idea.”
They hefted the girl up between them and proceeded. “I don’t think you’re telling the truth,” Telsan accused.
“No, trust me—I really have no idea. But we’re about to find out.”
Characters
- Solis Lightwing (SOLE-iss)—The main character, a white-winged boy of unceasing curiosity who longs to see inside the forbidden Earth.
- Telsan (TELL-suhn)—Solis’ best friend, a young man of the Bird Tribe.
- Phoenix Dolce (DOLE-chay)—Friend of Solis and Telsan, a Flameborn girl of sixteen years. Daughter of Falla Dolce.
- Pim Lightwing—Daughter of Fey of Longfell and mother of Solis and Floris.
- Arthur Lightwing—An exterior miner, husband of Pim, head of the Lightwing household.
- Faridi (fuh-RID-ee)—A Tapiq man who frequently volunteers for lookout duty.
- Colla—A female Tapiq; often works with Faridi.
- Melka—One of the three living Tapiq Magnates.
- Donnor—Said to be the eldest of the three living Magnates.
- Spore—One of the three living Magnates. Doesn’t say much.
- Fey—Solis’ deceased grandmother, a former Magnate.
- Floris—Solis’ younger sister. 11 years old; aspires to be a physician.
- Caris—Eldest of the three Lightwing children, now married and residing in the neighboring Tapiq village of Dram.
- Falla Dolce—Phoenix’s mother, a Dustborn from a powerful elementalist family of Fenaback. Kept her family name due to unfortunate events she’d rather leave buried.
Terms
- Earth, The—An immeasurable continent that looms over the entire sky. Forbidden to all save those whom the Magnates choose each year.
- Tapiq (tuh-PEEK)—The tribe of winged men who dwell in Ameros and the surrounding islands. As with most tribes, they have adopted some from other tribes and races as their own, while others are visitors.
- Ornis—Also called the Bird Tribe, though this isn’t entirely accurate, as there are multiple; most simply live farther north.
- Hiding, The—The six hours in the middle of the day when the Sun’s low-angled course takes it behind the infinite cloud layer that looms beneath the sky world.
- Magnate—One of the three living souls of the Tapiq tribe who have ascended to the Earth and returned, bearing supposedly infinite knowledge that they choose to keep hidden.
- Ameros (AM-uh-ros)—Largest island in the southeastern quadrant of the sky, where the Tapiq village of Megeth lies.
- Megeth (Meh-GETH)—Capital city of the Tapiq people.
- Grimstaf VI (GRIM-stahf six)—An artificial island created west of Ameros by the Harbinger.
- Elementalist—One born with a Kinship to an elemental force. They usually lack wings.
Kinships
- Flameborn—Kin of flame. They form their own wings as needed from tongues of fire that sprout from their backs.
- Dustborn—Artists of soil and dust. They fly with wings created from nearby dust particles.
- Windborn—Wind kin. Unlike other elementalists, these often grow wings just like any other, though some possess heightened abilities allowing them to fly without wings—and thus lacking them.
- Waveborn (aka Watchers)—Keepers of the invisible wards that protect the sky islands from falling hazards. Also, those with the rare ability of sound manipulation.
- Dewborn—These control moisture and redirect water.
- Stormborn—Creators of small storms and electrical currents.
- Snowborn—Bringers of frost and snow on a small scale.
- Sunborn—Manipulators of light.
- Beastborn—These rare kind, seen largely in the northwestern isles, come in different orders according to a certain class of living creature.
- Cragborn—Manipulators of stone.