What was so important that you required me to come immediately? she hissed, striding up to me with her jaws gaping open and spikes flaring a deep red. The Warriors refused to explain. And she probably didn’t even think about asking Fenrir. Though, bless him, that probably wouldn’t have helped anyway since I’m not sure he fully grasped everything that was going on in the discussion earlier.

  “We need to make a long flight and having you directing the wind around and under his wings would help Raven to carry more of us and go faster,” I tell her with no preamble.

  For a moment, she’s silenced. I see her thoughts racing, the angry red in her spikes being replaced by flickers of other colours.

  And why should I help you? she asks less angrily.

  “Apart from the fact that the only reason we’re doing this at all is to help your village gain precedence? And that there are already four, technically five of your fellow Pathwalkers aiding without argument or needing any further incentive? And that being part of killing a Tier three is probably going to be a good thing for each of us individually? And the fact that I, as your leader and Bond-holder, am asking you?” I shrug. “No reason, really.”

  Windy eyes me with glittering eyes, then looks around at the rest of the group. They are all staring at her with a variety of expressions ranging from disinterest – the raptorcat cubs – to active dislike – River. Then she turns back to me.

  Fine. How strong do you need the wind to be?

  Letting out a slow, silent sigh in relief that she’s not going to be difficult about it, I gesture towards Raven.

  “He’ll direct you. Right everyone, positions please. Iandee, Catch, Fenrir please join the group moving into the mini-tent over there. River, Yells, Dusty, Joy, Sirocco, Bastet, take your places on Raven’s back.”

  I wait, watching to make sure that the eleven needing to travel in the capsule are settled in it. To reduce the size and thereby weight, it’s very low, only as tall as it needs to be to allow the two Warriors to kneel or crouch upright. That means they have to crawl in. The two younger raptorcats, Lathani, and Fenrir are fine as, even though Fenrir got bigger in his Evolution, he can still walk in without crouching.

  The three alcaoris hatchlings are much the same – they’re a bit bigger than Lathani, but that doesn’t give them any trouble getting inside. Out of everyone they would have been the best to leave behind but Raven wouldn’t hear of it. I don’t really blame him for his mistrust when it comes to his children’s wellbeing.

  Once they’re inside, I tie up the flap, passing the cord through to Catch inside so that in the event of an emergency, he can pull it and easily get out.

  “Remember,” I say to them quietly. “The green cord is if Raven has to let go of you midair or you are somehow knocked out of his claws. The white cord is to open the flaps in a normal situation. The red cord is to cause the capsule to fall apart into several sections if you have to get out immediately.”

  We know, Markus, Catch reassures me. We’ve practised everything at least once.

  “I know, but in the heat of the moment…”

  We will remember it, Honoured Tamer, Poison speaks up next. This is not our first time going into a risky situation.

  “No, I know,” I say, trying to feel reassured by that. The problem is that I don’t think they’ve ever been in this kind of risky situation. Up in the air, carried in a friendly alcaoris’ claws…. But saying that probably won’t help anything. “Alright, have a good flight, and if you get sick, try to direct it out of the capsule, alright?” I try to joke, suddenly wondering if samurans can feel air-sickness.

  Heading back to Raven, I ensure that those on his back are tied down correctly in a position that isn’t too uncomfortable and keeps them flat on Raven’s back – the less air-resistance we offer, the better. Creating the harness to hold us on without restricting Raven’s movements also took some time. I then climb on myself, heading to the front where I tie myself down next to Windy on Raven’s shoulders. I guess that someone showed her how to secure herself since there aren’t any changes I can see to make to her straps.

  “Alright Raven,” I say once I’ve fixed my own straps. “Try to borrow the Lighten ability from Ptera.”

  How do I do that? he asks. I’m momentarily stuck for words since, honestly, I don’t know. Fortunately, Bastet quickly chimes in to provide instructions. I feel a nagging notification appear and quickly check it.

  Interesting, I say to myself, quickly agreeing to the request. Since he’s an ally, he can gain access, but it needs to be with my permission…. A moment later, I feel Raven shift a little, staggering slightly as if someone had just lifted a heavy weight off his shoulders.

  “It’s working?” I check.

  Yes, he says with bemusement. It feels as if half of you have got off, but I can still feel you on my back.

  “Alright, good. Let’s take off, then.”

  Carefully standing, Raven grabs the capsule containing my other Bound with his front claws and then leaps off the ground with his back feet. Just as we reach the apex of his jump, his mighty wings come down to propel us further into the air. My stomach feels like I’m on a rollercoaster as we bob up and down.

  The first few beats are laboured, but they even out as soon as Raven clears the tree tops. We rise higher than in any of our tests and I stare in wonder as I see an ocean of trees of all shades of green – and some which aren’t green at all – spread out in all directions.

  Before us looms one of the immense mountains which makes up the edge of this valley, its summit lost in the clouds above. Its slopes are remarkably gentle until it reaches the steep peak which juts out almost vertically. The next mountain feels impossibly far away, though I know that in the course of our journey here, we covered about four mountains in sixteen days. How did we do that? I now wonder as the distance seems incredibly far.

  Even as high in the air as we are, I can barely see the mountains on the other side of the valley, and I can’t even start to see where the valley begins and ends. Of course, the haze of moisture in the air doesn’t help with visibility.

  I sense Windy and Raven speaking to each other – I could probably tune into the conversation if I wished, but I don’t try. A moment later, I feel it as the wind around us changes direction, now starting to blow my over-long hair into my eyes as it comes from behind me. The next moment, Raven glows a subtle green colour and then we shoot forwards, faster than ever before.

  We’re off.

  The first part of the journey passes in a blur of green trees below and grey sky above. We fly high enough that it would be difficult to make out individual trees even if we weren’t going fast enough to make them a blur, but not so high that we have to worry about clouds unless they’re particularly low. We do, however, have to worry about something else: rain.

  Can you do something about this? I ask Dusty as I grit my teeth against the stinging, cold droplets showering down on me. Pouring mana into the hide of my armour, I make it grow inch by inch until it’s made a sort of hood around my head and protective covers over my fingers. That does improve things, but only for me. Glancing around from where I’m lying flat against Raven’s shoulders, I see that the rest of my Bound with me here are looking miserable.

  I don’t blame them – the air up here is colder than they’re used to and we’ve definitely been flying for hours. Raven’s speed has slowed down considerably since his access to Ptera’s Lighten ability expired – apparently it’s limited to an hour’s duration even if the user has the mana to keep it going.

  Since then, it’s only been Windy’s constant effort with the air currents which have kept us in the air at all. We’re still going far faster than we would have been if we were running through the jungle below, but it’s a noticeable difference from when we set out. If we’d managed to keep the same speed throughout the whole journey, it might have taken us only six hours.

  Right now, I estimate that it will take double that. And more if we have to stop and rest which I think we will – if only to make sure that my more reptilian Bound don’t half-freeze up here. But that should be fine – we still have time. And at least those of us pressed against Raven get to benefit a little from his body heat. Though I suppose that those in the capsule are more sheltered from the rain and the wind. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

  The rain stops hitting me and I look up to see that the rainfall is being diverted to either side of Raven, missing him entirely.

  Thanks, I say gratefully to the Water-Shaper, my gratitude echoed by several others in the group. Even the Warriors sitting in the capsule below are thankful – apparently the container isn’t completely water-tight and they’ve been having leaks. Hopefully Dusty will be able to keep it up until the end of the rainfall. Anyway, it should be good practice for her. How are you doing? I turn my attention to Windy next.

  My mana is getting low, she answers with the feeling of gritted teeth accompanying it. She’s not enjoying the experience, but has been surprisingly silent despite that. Maybe she’s just needed to concentrate too much to spare the attention for jibes and complaints.

  Here, I say, handing her a mana-regeneration potion from my Inventory and then focussing on sending a trickle of my own down the Bond between us. What I’ve learned from painful experience – painful for my Bound – is that if I just send my ‘naked’ mana, it carries with it elements of my fire affinity with it. For those who are already connected with fire like River and Bastet, that doesn’t cause any problems. However, for those who are not connected at all, or who are diametrically opposed to it – like Dusty – it can cause damage to their channels.

  So, before I send my mana through to Windy, I carefully work on it to remove the traces of fire. I’ve also been using the journey to try to observe what Windy’s been doing with the air to create the effects. When I send the mana to her, I try to build in some of my observations to hopefully make the mana more compatible for her. And also because secretly I would love to become a full elemental mage, capable of using all four elements. Or is it five since metal appears to be different from earth?

  I still haven’t had success in getting Metal- or Water-Shaping, despite my attempts since Happy and Dusty Evolved and developed them. Water eludes my grasp, probably because it’s even more opposed to fire than earth, and I’m missing something key with Metal. But Air seems like it might be easier for me to develop – from what I can tell while watching Windy work, it’s quite similar to Fire in some ways.

  Both of them seek freedom, movement, and change. But where Fire seeks to constantly consume, Air wants to play and tease. Most of Windy’s efforts seem to be focussed around keeping the wind moving in the direction we want to go and not turn into eddies that go around in circles, or spread out in other directions. It definitely seems to be like herding cats and I can understand why her side of the Bond is starting to feel fatigued.

  Even more than the mana drain, the mental exhaustion must be significant. I had thought that she was being a drama queen whenever she loudly announced that she needed to rest every time she did something even remotely strenuous with her magic. And she probably was – even if she was tired, she didn’t need to be that loud about it. But it seems like it wasn’t all pretence.

  I redouble my efforts in learning how to understand how air-magic functions – now it’s not only that I’d like to complete the set which motivates me; it’s also that I fear Windy won’t be able to complete the whole journey on her own.

  here!

  here!

  here