The sun was barely above the horizon as Erin, seated atop Brightcrest, flew across the fields and farms towards the eastern edge of the Great Forest. Greyquill flew ahead of her, Lady Sarah sitting stiff-backed on her saddle, keeping the pace gentle.

  Which was not at all what Bright wanted.

  He pulled at the reins, sticking out his neck as he beat his wings, urging Erin to let him loose. She held the reins tight, easing him back whenever he tried to surge forward, and kept a careful watch on Lady Sarah.

  The noblewoman had been distant as they readied for the journey, her movements tight with suppressed anger. She had been unusually silent about the details of the journey, so Erin had little idea what the plan was or what her duties were to be.

  She gained some insight, as Greyquill flew straight over the forest’s edge, skimming the treetops as she flew. Erin, heart pounding with excitement, followed after her. The insistence of bringing sword and pistol made sense, all of a sudden.

  There were miles of forest that pressed up against the base of the tall mountain range to the west and covered the hills to the east all the way to the islands Edge. In between, the ground rose and fell with valleys and hills aplenty.

  Grey kept low, and Erin guided Bright down to follow, keeping her eyes on Lady Sarah ahead. Over the forest, the wind lessened, and the sun shone down from a cloudless sky. It was the perfect day for flight, and Erin allowed herself to enjoy it, deciding that whatever the plan, it would be made clear in time.

  She’d managed a few hours sleep after checking in on Mathias at the House of Healing. He was in poor shape, and in a deep sleep, so she had left his wand with his stored gear and gone to check on her other friends.

  All of whom had made it through the fight safely, to her great relief.

  Still, it had made the night long, and those few hours of sleep not nearly enough. Her muscles ached and the breakfast of porridge and honey had done little to assuage her hunger, leaving her thinking often of the pack of supplies in the saddlebags behind her.

  Up ahead, Lady Sarah raised her fist, and then pointed down, before sending Greyquill spiralling down into a clearing below. Erin, followed, keeping the spiral tight due to the lack of space in the clearing that was almost filled entirely by the two gryphons.

  Once landed safely, Lady Sarah dismounted and directed Erin to do the same. She crossed to the edge of the clearing and stretched, placing hands on hips and arching her back as she muttered. Erin, approached cautiously, sensing the noblewoman’s sour mood.

  A thick layer of leaves covered the ground with grass poking up here and there. The trees were beech, their green leaves creating a thick canopy around much of the space, with only the rough space where a tree had fallen creating a gap.

  There was a strong, earthy smell, to the forest and the branches and undergrowth rustled with the passage of birds and small creatures. Erin stared around in pleased delight, for it reminded her of her home.

  “You needed to feel this,” Lady Sarah said. “The forest around you.”

  “Yes, milady.”

  “The Shadowbeast entered the forest not far from here and headed north-east,” she said. “I lost sight of it as it passed through this clearing.”

  Erin looked around, studying the ground but saw no tracks, or at least nothing resembling tracks that she might recognise. She was far from an accomplished tracker, but she had hunted enough with her da to know the signs of an animal’s passage.

  “You won’t find any,” Lady Sarah said, answering the question Erin hadn’t asked. “It’s why we can’t just send soldiers after them. They leave no trace once they reach this forest.”

  “Ah.” Erin nodded, understanding. “You’ve tried before.”

  “Of course.” She placed hands on her hips and looked at the younger woman. “We’ve tried traps and ambushes, musket, sword and cannon. We were fighting for months before you arrived.”

  “Nothing works.”

  “Magic, perhaps,” Sarah said. “Wizard Higate used it against them, and they reacted by hunting him down and killing him.”

  Erin caught the pointed look, though it was not necessary. She understood.

  Mathias.

  “They’ll come for him again?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.” There was nothing much more that she could say to that. She knew how important he was to the Lord, and the building of the machine.

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  Lady Sarah studied her apprentice for a moment, weighing more than just her skill with the gryphon, and letting her digest that, before she spoke next. “Are you lovers?”

  Erin’s cheeks flared crimson, and she stammered, shaking her head. “N-no!”

  An apprentice was not legally allowed to marry, the reasoning being that it would allow both men and woman the chance to build a career or savings for when they became journeyman. It would also discourage the having of babies for those too young to care for them.

  Despite that, many did consummate their feelings for one another, and this was generally ignored by their communities, unless it ended with a child born out of wedlock. Even so, it was not something one talked about.

  “We have not the time for polite niceties,” Lady Sarah said. “I apologise for the need to ask, but I do need to know.”

  “I swear,” Erin said. “I-we have not…”

  Sarah gave her a stern look, eyes narrowing as she tried to detect a lie. After a moment, she nodded. “Very well. I believe you.”

  “Yes, milady.”

  “They will likely come for him again,” Sarah said. “You will not be there, next time.”

  Erin merely nodded, face glum. She wondered why the creatures would hunt him in particular, and what she could do to help. She could not imagine just leaving him to face them alone.

  Lady Sarah watched the emotions cross the girl’s face and held back a sigh. She believed the girl that they were not lovers, but she suspected there was something else there. If they were not lovers now, then they would be soon enough.

  “Ah, fool girl,” she said. “The life of a Rider is not one for those who wish hearth and home filled with squalling babes.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Have your dalliances,” Lady Sarah said quietly. “But do not fall in love.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Lady Sarah smiled, sadly. “I know you don’t. Not yet.”

  There was little left to say on the matter. She would report back to her brother that there was nothing happening between her apprentice and the wizard and the matter would be set to rest. What happened when next the beasts came was a question for Elias to deal with.

  For now, she had her own task.

  “Follow me, closely,” she said. “Keep an eye on the forest below. The Shadowbeast ran this way, and its lair must be somewhere along this path.”

  If it stayed running in a straight line, Sarah thought with a grimace, though she had to hope that was the case, else their search would be fruitless.

  The two of them mounted up and were soon airborne again.

  Erin, cheeks still burned but she shoved the feeling aside, she had a task to finish. She focused on the task at hand, for the moment, and scanned the forest for signs of anything out of the ordinary.

  They didn’t fly in a straight line, she realised, and instead followed a lazy zigzag as they kept close to the treetops, following the natural lines of the land. Down into steep valleys, and up the other side.

  Across low hills and high, and past a waterfall that fell twenty feet into a sparkling pool of clear water. They circled that twice, looking for sign the beasts drank from the pool, but with nowhere to land, they didn’t linger.

  All too soon the land began to rise, the hills growing taller and the trees older, and thicker. The wind picked up, blowing against them and the gryphon’s had to beat their wings all the harder as they fought against the wind.

  Erin noticed Bright’s reluctance, the same reluctance he had shown on the night of the attack when they approached the island’s edge in the darkness. She looked nervously over at where Lady Sarah rode, but the noblewoman made no signs of stopping.

  Grimly, Erin hunched her shoulders and gritted her teeth as she pushed on. Then, suddenly, she was over the Edge and out into the void, the wind buffeting her as Bright called out his alarm.

  Dizziness took her as she looked down, seeing nothing beneath or above her but open air. Then, her eyes narrowed as she clung to Bright’s neck, leaning forward to stare down.

  Black.

  That’s all she could see, in every direction it stretched. It wasn’t solid, nor liquid, though it moved like it was. It rose and fell as if breathing-and for a moment, Erin felt her own breath stutter in time with it. The Black drew her in, whispered sounds on the edge of hearing had her straining to hear.

  Like someone was speaking in another room, she could make out the sound of voices, and recognised they were speaking words, but she couldn’t quite make them out. No matter how she strained to hear.

  The crack of a pistol grabbed her attention, jerking her head around-Lady Sarah was wheeling Greyquill around, the pistol in her hand trailing powder smoke. She watched Erin and only when she saw she had her attention did she lower the pistol and head back towards the island.

  Licking suddenly dry lips, Erin followed, turning Bright who was all too eager to return.

  Lady Sarah led the way north, following the Edge, until she came to an outcrop of rock standing up from the hills and forest around it. There, she landed, and Erin guided in Bright beside her.

  The wind howled, making it difficult to hear, there by the Edge. It pulled at her, seeming to want to drag her from the saddle and take her over the edge with it. She shivered, as Lady Sarah edged Greyquill closer until she could lean in and call out to Erin.

  “You saw it?”

  “The Black.” Erin nodded; the sight and the feeling was not something she would easily forget. “Why?”

  “You needed to see.” Lady Sarah said, waving towards the Edge. “How close it is.”

  Erin blinked, frowning. What did that matter?”

  “Each day it is closer!”

  That was news to Erin who stared at Lady Sarah, not quite understanding. “How?”

  “The island falls!” Lady Sarah mimed with her hands, one above the other representing the island and the Black and slowly brought them together. “The wizard needs to finish the machine.”

  Ah! Erin realised-that was the point.

  She was a distraction.

  He had been hurt because of her, and now he was lying wounded in a bed, unable to work on the machine.

  While he was not needed for the moment, soon enough he would be and if he were lying unconscious in a bed because of her, he could not complete it.

  Without the machine, the island would continue to fall.

  “How long?” she called back, and Lady Sarah shook her head, shrugging.

  Which was not reassuring.

  “You understand?” Sarah called.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Then fly, we need to keep searching, while we can.”

  Erin pulled Bright back, giving Greyquill space to launch herself back up into the air, and then she followed, digging her heels into Bright’s side. He leapt and spread his wings, catching the strong currents off the Edge, and almost gliding higher into the air.

  Turning him, back towards the south-west, she kept her gaze on the forest, though her mind was elsewhere.

  Thinking of a surly wizard, lying injured and all alone.