Chapter 401: Two Places

Chapter 401: Two Places

Crowe set the flight drill on Thursday, in Yard Two, for the whole advanced group.

He’d built a course out of marker posts. It was a long oval, with a tight bend at the far end round a cluster of three posts close together.

Guide rings carried the sled’s rope around the oval. A handler worked it from behind a barrier, moving the target at a steady jogging pace.

The job was for each tamer’s flying beast to strike the target’s outward-facing pad with a controlled attack as it came round the bend, without touching the posts or the handler.

"The bend is the point," Crowe said. "Anyone can hit it on the straight."

Jin watched the other two birds try it. Both were strong Rank-2 beasts. The first, a third-year’s harrier, did it well.

It came down the straight behind the sled, braked hard before the posts, went round wide and fired as the sled came out. It hit the pad, but late.

The second bird braked early, went round wide and lost sight of the marked pad behind the posts. By the time it had a clear line, the sled was well down the next straight.

Kite made the cleanest attempt so far. She was big and fast enough to go round outside the posts at a speed none of the others could manage, and she checked her stoop just enough to strike the marked pad on the far side of the bend without dragging the sled off its line. It was very good. Lucian looked pleased.

"Astor," Crowe said.

Jin held his arm out, and Flicker lifted off it.

He knew what the old Flicker would have done. She was smaller and lighter than all of them. She’d have come down the straight fast and braked at the bend, because she always braked at bends.

She’d have gone round wide, and by the time she came out of it, the sled would have been gone, as it had for the second bird.

She came down the straight behind the sled, low and fast.

At the bend, she didn’t brake.

There was the small, sharp crack of air off her wingtip, the sound he’d been hearing in the flight yard all week.

She kept close to the posts, where her small body had clearance, and retained her speed through the bend. She emerged just outside the sled’s path, alongside its marked pad.

It was coming out of the bend too, close enough for a perfect shot.

He didn’t call it. He’d stopped needing to. She fired.

The Ember Shot hit the marked pad dead centre. The sled jolted against its guides. Behind the barrier, the handler checked the rope and kept it moving. Flicker swept up and over it, round the outside of the oval in a long, easy curve, and came back to Jin’s arm.

The yard was quiet.

Then the sharp-faced third-year with the Ridgerunner said, "What was that?"

Crowe walked over. He didn’t say anything at first. He looked at Flicker on Jin’s arm for a long moment: the new copper on her flight feathers, the sun mark burning steady and bright.

"She’s changed," he said.

"Verrick finished her course a few weeks ago," Jin said. "We’ve kept up the feed and flight work since."

That was true. It just wasn’t everything.

"Mm." Crowe took a scanner from his pocket, an ordinary one, the kind the stable office used, and passed it over her.

[Suncrest Sparrow — Flicker]

[Quality: Gold (Low)]

[Combat Rank: 1 — 8-Star]

Crowe looked at the screen, then at Jin, and raised his eyebrows a fraction.

"Gold," he said. "That’s a considerable change." He put the scanner away. "That turn. Is that new?"

"Last week."

"Show me again on Monday. I want to see how often she can do it before she tires." He turned to the group. "Ground pairs next."

Bram was studying the bend when Jin returned to the others.

"She didn’t need to come back around," he said. "My bear would still be turning."

"She’ll want a rest before she does it again." Jin shifted his arm so Flicker could settle more comfortably. "Keeping the speed costs her."

The girl with the Ridgerunner leaned closer. "Vasha," she said, catching his moment of hesitation. "You forgot."

"Sorry. Crowe gave me four names and then Teller hit me."

Bram looked pleased with that description. Vasha smiled and held a finger near Flicker’s feet, waiting rather than reaching for her.

"May I?"

Flicker inspected her, then stepped across. Jin kept his arm close. His bird stood very straight on her new perch and allowed herself to be admired.

He’d done the sums on the bus on Wednesday.

The partly used large stone had run out on Sunday, and he’d started another. His refinement was steadier, though neither he nor Glitch had gained another Star.

That left five untouched in the cloth, one on the go, and the two little ones from Thornwatch that he still hadn’t touched.

In the Engine, there was one portion of moss in storage beside the six nodules, the four scutes, the Seepstones and the ram’s horn and hides.

The family note said a hundred and thirty thousand. The spear was paid for, and the reserve hadn’t moved.

He liked that most of all.

The notice came at the end of the group session.

Crowe read it out. He didn’t do that with notices; he usually just pointed at the board. So the whole group went quiet before he started.

"Meridian has been allocated two places," he said, "in an expedition to a newly discovered resource realm. Rank 2 only."

Lucian, beside Jin, went very still.

"The initial surveys are promising. Much of the interior is still unexplored." Crowe looked at the sheet.

"Its energy density and purity put it at S grade at least for Rank-Two development. Places like that don’t become available to us often. Every academy involved wants a larger allocation."

Somebody whistled.

"There will be a selection for our two places," Crowe continued. "The date hasn’t been set. We’re waiting on the survey work and the arrangements between the participating academies."

He folded the sheet. "When I know, you’ll know. Until then, the people who get those places will be the ones who’ve earned them. Not the ones who’ve been here longest, or have the best talent grade, or the right friends."

He looked round the group, slowly, and his eyes didn’t stop on anyone.

"That’s all."

They walked out together, Jin and Lucian, with Glitch behind them and Kite and Flicker on their arms.

Neither of them said anything until they were out of the yard.

"S grade," Lucian said finally.

"S grade."

"For Rank 2." Lucian let out a long breath. "Do you know what that means? It means everything we’ve been scraping together for months, every stone and feed and drill. In there, it’d be—" He stopped. "I don’t even know what it’d be."

"A lot," Jin said.

"A lot."

They walked on. Kite crackled softly on Lucian’s arm. Flicker preened.

"Two places," Lucian said.

"Two places."

"There are third-years in that group who’ve been Rank 2 for a year."

"I know."

"Teller. Vasha. Both of them are better than me at most things." Lucian glanced at him. "Better than you at most things."

"I know that too."

Lucian stopped walking. He looked at Jin for a long moment, and his face was serious, and then it wasn’t, quite.

"I want one," he said.

Jin thought about Flicker coming round the bend without braking. About the spear on its rack in the stall, heavier at the front than he was used to. About Glitch at 2-Star, and himself, and everything he still didn’t know how to do.

He thought about all that unexplored ground, with resources valuable enough for academies to argue over two places.

"So do I," he said.

Lucian grinned. "Then we’d better both be good enough."

"Not just good enough. Better than Teller."

"Better than Vasha."

"I remembered her name this time."

"She reminded you." Lucian started walking again, smiling. "Come on. Dinner first. We can work out how to beat her afterward."