Excerpt

The rock slipped out from under him. Baxter’s grabbed for a handhold as the rock clattered down to the scrub and dirt below him. Heart pounding, he waited until the fall stopped before continuing his climb.

Baxter gazed up into the peaks where nothing but rocks and mountain goats were visible. This mountain was the first in a range that stretched as far as the eye could see. He cursed the king’s precept who had sent him on this mission. From his wrist dangled the jesses that would allow him to transport the king’s bird he was sent to fetch, though he had no way to determine the right one. He had never laid eyes on the precious thing and was no knight to go on a quest. He was doomed.

He started off again, heading upward. Doomed or no, he had to try.

“How goes it?”

Baxter whirled, almost dropping his bundle of precious supplies.

“I…” He stared at the newcomer above him, walking with sure steps on the steep grade. The speaker was a slender girl about his age. Her thinness had the air of sickness rather than hunger. It showed in the pallor of her skin and the dryness around her nose and mouth. “Who are you?”

“Myra,” she said. She looked at him with an air of expectation. When he studied her again, she was pretty, with a gamine quality that suited her tiny frame. She wasn’t much bigger than a child, but had the hint of curves that showed she was, if not quite a woman, then on her way there.

“I’m Baxter,” he said. “Where did you come from?”

She smiled, and her cheeks dimpled. She had a sparkle, despite her pallor. Myra pointed up to the forbidding peaks and rocks.

“The mountain. Why are you here?”

He followed her finger, but could make out nothing but mountainside. After two days of encountering nobody, anyone was welcome.

“Do you see the birds up there?”

She nodded. “Of course. They are our friends.” She glanced at his pack and then at the jesses that trailed from the sack. “What are those?”

“They will assist me on my mission. I was sent to retrieve a special bird, and bring it back. Can you help me?”

She chewed on her lip with her teeth. “The birds are not so easy to catch.”

“True,” he replied, trying not to sound eager. She had a fragile quality like the slightest thing would fell her. If she vanished, he doubted he could find her again and with her, his one chance of finding his quarry. To his relief, she nodded.

“What bird do you want?”

He tried to recall the details of the picture the artisan had drawn to relay them to Myra.

“It’s as white as fresh-fallen snow.” He could hear birds in the mountaintop, but the wildlife in the woods still bayed and howled in the distance. “It has a yellow beak and feet, with long claws and white feathers. It’s about the size of a hawk when in flight. This is the description I have been given.”

She bobbed her head. “The one you are talking about arrived a few days ago. This is the one who you’ve been sent to find?”

He nodded, his expression grave. “My king commands it.”

“I don’t know who that is, but I guess I’d better help you. I will take you to him.”