“Amyu,” Prest said, his eyes firmly on the stone beneath his feet.
Amyu exchanged a glance with Enright, who simply shrugged.
“Prest, what’s wrong?” Amyu stood, and approached the big warrior. Prest was a big man, one of the Warprize’s personal guards. A handsome one at that, with his dark skin, bright smile and short black hair. She’d heard that he’d had long braids until he’d been soaked in ehat musk during a hunt with the Warlord Keir.
“Fear,” Prest said, not looking up.
Amyu paused, puzzled, then worked it out. “You’re afraid? Of this?” she gestured with a wide sweep of her arm.
“He thinks he can overcome his fear of heights,” Enright spoke up.
Prest closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “Fear holds you still when you need to move, and moves you when you need to be still.”
“Fear makes you silent when you need to be loud, and loud when you need silence.” Amyu recited the next part of the teaching chant. “Fear closes your throat, makes it hard to breathe. Fear weakens your hand and blinds your eyes.”
Prest opened his eyes, glaring out at the vista as he finished the chant. “Fear is a danger. Know your fear. Face your fear.”
“It’s a fear,” Enright called over. “It’s not like fighting, something you can train yourself to. Stand there for days, it ain’t gonna help.”
“Yes, I can,” Prest said through gritted teeth. “All it takes is practice.”
“Which you have been at for days,” Enright snorted, and patted the bench. “Come, lass, leave him to it and tell me what makes you stomp up all those stairs. We could hear you a mile off.”
Leaving Prest to it, Amyu straddled the bench, taking care to adjust her own weapons as she sat. “It’s just that the Warlord and the Warprize… I mean…” Amyu stuttered to a stop.”
“I knew the lass when she was a young girl, defying her father to become a healer.” Enright didn’t even look up from his work. “She is a true Daughter of the Blood and a damn good Queen, but that don’t mean she is perfect. Go ahead.”
Amyu crossed her arms over her chest. “They won’t listen,” she burst out. “The Warlord is fixated on those weapons called ballista and I know, I know,” she added for emphasis. “Airions are out there, they have to be. If wyverns exist, why not airions?”
“Airions?” Prest’s voice wobbled, but his interest was clear.
“Horse-eagles,” Enright said. “You’ve seen them on the tapestries hanging in the castle.”
“Winged horses?” There was a distinct quaver to Prest’s voice.
“Winged horses,” Amyu confirmed. “With fierce beaks and sharp claws.” She pressed her lips together in frustration, and couldn’t sit still another moment. She jumped off the bench to pace. “There are pictures in the oldest scrolls the Archbishop has that show airions and wyverns fighting in mid-air. And there are warriors mounted on those Airions.”
Prest had a pained expression. “Could you sit back down?”
Amyu gave him an exasperated look, but settled back onto the bench. “No one will talk to me, including that old lady cheesemaker, who’s told stories of them in the past.” She looked out over the distance, and sighed. “How can Xyians forget when they write down their words? We of the Plains do not forget.”
“How do you know that?” Prest asked.
“Eh?” Amyu looked at him, shocked. “We of the Plains remember.”
“But if we didn’t, how would we know we forgot?” Prest pointed out.
Enright snorted. “Don’t know nothing about that, but I can tell you that things get forgotten. You’re speaking of ancient days,” he said. “Folks got enough on their hands with the day to day, much less thinking on the past.”
“There are airions,” Amyu said. “There have to be.”
“If there were,” Enright looked at her with his bushy eyebrows raised. “Why didn’t they appear with the wyverns?”
“I don’t know,” Amyu said. She looked at the sheer wall of the mountain towering above them. “And there’s no way to go up to find them.”
“Eh?” Enright snorted. “Well, not up there, lass. The mountain above us and to the city walls is sheer and treacherous to keep any from trying to attack from above. But the mountains beyond the walls to either side are covered with goat tracks and filled with caves.”
“They are?” Amyu stood and went to the low wall to look further out.
