Changing Fate [Fate series] Read Free Page B

which Akila had seen him kick under his bed when he took them off last night.
    "Akila!” Briam arrived at the doorway of her room gasping from his run up three flights of stairs.
    Whatever he wants , Akila thought, it's probably not that he can't find his boots.
    "There's an army heading this way!"
    Akila started at him in surprise, momentarily forgetting the pounding in her head. “Are you telling me that Father is actually coming home in time for harvest this year?” she asked. “He hasn't done that since we were eight! How far away are they?"
    "Down where the trail starts to get steep and narrow,” Briam replied. “They won't be here for at least two hours, and probably closer to three. “But, Akila,” he paused for emphasis, “it's not Father."
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CHAPTER TWO
    "What?” Akila started at him incredulously. “Briam, nobody else ever comes here. This place didn't even have a wall around it until Father built one!"
    This was quite true. Eagle's Rest had been a secluded spot to begin with, and was now reachable only through large areas of their father's land, but even so he had built a wall around it and reinforced its defenses until it could withstand a siege without serious difficulty, assuming, of course, that it was adequately provisioned. But on the first day of the harvest, “adequately provisioned” was the last possible description of their status if they had to close up the castle.
    If there really was a hostile army coming up the pass, Eagle's Rest was in trouble. “How could an army get so far without anyone's warning us?” Akila wondered aloud. “Briam, are you sure it's not Father? Maybe he's just hired some new mercenaries you don't recognize."
    Briam looked uncertain, but he shook his head. “I could see the banner,” he said stubbornly, “and I can certainly tell the difference between red and blue."
    "Blue?” Akila asked.
    Briam nodded. “A blue banner, with a wolf—at least I think it was a wolf. And I'm sure it wasn't red with an eagle!"
    "Red and blue are fairly easy to tell apart,” Akila agreed.
    Briam gestured to the window. “Don't you think that you ought to go take a look?” he asked.
    Akila rotated her shoulders. They were still a bit sore from her work on the potion yesterday, but the muscles still worked. “All right,” she said. “I'll go.” She indicated the cauldron, which still occupied half the windowsill. “Get this out of the way, will you."
    Briam looked dubiously at the potion. “What is it?"
    "It's an experiment—and if there is a hostile army coming this way, we may need it, so be careful with it.” As Briam gingerly lifted the cauldron and set it on the floor in front of the window, Akila closed and bolted the door, then stripped off her clothes and tossed them onto her bed. Naked, she perched on the windowsill, then dove out of the window.
    Even though the change to eagle form was the first one Akila had learned and the one she used most often, she still found it to be the most difficult of the shape changes. It began with long seconds of terror as she fell, with a small part of her always afraid that this time the change wouldn't work. Perhaps this terror came from the fact that she had first discovered her unique abilities by falling off a shed roof as a small child. It was much worse if she was close to the ground when she started. And even once the change was complete and she could control her wings, flying took a lot of physical effort. By the time she returned to her room, Akila knew, she would be dangerously exhausted, but she saw no alternative now. She had to find out about this army.
    She fell downward a few feet as the change took hold. Fire seemed to run through her body, and the wind rushing along her skin fluffed the downy feathers sprouting from her chest. Her arms stretched to full length and widened, pin feathers extending from her fingertips as her hands fused into her wings. She scooped air with her wings to