Chapter One

I knelt on the hardwood floor with the other five remaining members of my seventh year aerie. We waited for Jiang, Master of the Raptor Clan, to speak. He was a thin man, average height with long gray hair and goatee, and the piercing gaze of a deadly bird of prey. I froze when his eyes settled on me for a moment.

“You six are what remain of the one hundred and four candidates we admitted seven years ago. You have demonstrated your suitability to be considered for membership into the Raptor Clan through your hard work, adherence to our rules, and by surviving your first four Ordeals,” Jiang said, pausing as if considering his next words. “One more Ordeal awaits you. The three who triumph will be allowed to continue training. The other three must leave.”

I detected no hint of an apology or concern as to where the others would go. Each Ordeal purged half of the remaining students, the clan’s method of extracting the best. Ninety students had failed to survive them, and eight were asked to leave because of poor performance in their studies, laziness, or failure to obey the rules. I loved my life as a student, but I hated the Ordeals.

“Your Ordeal will begin tomorrow at first light.” He waved his hand to dismiss us.

I bowed and rose. My aerie exited the room in a solemn line.

As the door closed behind us, Kolek grabbed my arm. “Aisha, where will you go after you lose tomorrow?” He smirked. “You survived by luck and treachery over the years. Many made the mistake of feeling sorry for you, and you took advantage of them. I hope you’re my opponent tomorrow. You’ll get no sympathy from me.”

My stomach twisted. I had arrived at the Raptor Clan’s remote fortress, the Aerie, with vengeance as my only thought. Raiders had destroyed my life when they raided my village, killed and kidnapped my people. I was off in the forest exploring when I should have been working in the village. I returned to smoking ruins and dead bodies, the only survivor not dragged into slavery. After burying the dead, I made the week long trek through the mountains to the home of the legendary Raptor Clan, hoping to be accepted as a student, to become a skilled fighter, and to find and kill the raiders who had killed my parents and kidnapped my younger brother. If I failed tomorrow’s Ordeal, I had nowhere to go, no family and no village.

“I’m not lucky enough to draw an easy opponent like you, Kolek.” I refused to back down, although he was one of the better fighters. He said something under his breath as I walked away.

I had been frail when I came to the Aerie. I could not have competed against any of the others in a fair fight, so I learned to outwit them. I’ve become stronger than most women because of my rigorous training and developed excellent reflexes and balance. My speed makes me a good knife fighter. Constant training keeps my figure lithe and trim. My face is typical of the mountain people of the Camori: long and narrow with high cheekbones, dark-brown almond-shaped eyes, straight nose, full lips, and pointy chin. I love my long midnight black hair worn in a horsetail with a small blade woven into it.

* * * *

I stepped out of my room onto the portico the next morning. Students in their simple brown cotton tunics and pants crowded the edges, a zealous audience. A group of clan members, clad in black were among them. I stopped for a moment to survey the courtyard where my Ordeal would soon start, a two-acre square yard, covered with white gravel. A portico led from the yard to hundreds of rooms that abutted the massive gray walls of the fortress, their roofs forming a wide parapet. Above the walls, I could see the snow covered peaks of the Camori Mountains.

The sun shown brightly in the cloudless sky; above the foothills the mid-summer air carried a chill. I stepped onto the gravel of the courtyard where the rough surface improved our sure-footedness. I would need that today.

Normally the area would have been swarming with activity, students exercising, stretching, and practicing fighting techniques with swords, knives, bows, or with nothing at all—using only the natural weapons of the body. Today, only my seventh-year aerie was there as I walked over to join them.

We waited without looking or speaking to each other. After a few minutes, Master Jiang strode toward us, followed by three masters. He would control the Ordeal from inside the circle. The others would judge it from the outside.

“Seventh-year students,” Jiang said, “the Ordeal today is with knives. The winner is the one who draws, in our judgment, significant first blood or who forces their opponent out of the circle. You will cease fighting immediately upon my command. If a contestant dies, it will be the decision of the judges whether the death was intentional or accidental. If it is determined to have been intentional, Master Dragos will decide the student’s punishment. Is this clear?”

“Yes, Master Jiang,” we said in unison. Ordeals are serious contests. Real blades increased the risk. My hands shook. Only the best would move from student to Talon, from nestling to bird of prey.

“We have paired the three strongest students with the weakest. This is in keeping with the Clan’s intent to select the best to become a Talon.” Jiang pointed to two students to enter the circle, marked off in the gravel. The student considered the best would be paired with the fourth best, the second best with the fifth, and the third best with me. I felt no surprise when Tellac, tall and lithe, entered the circle although I would have thought Olsim, his opponent, would have been rated lower than forth.

The two opponents circled each other. Olsim seemed cautious, his motions jerky. He scored first, a scratch to Tellac’s arm but received two cuts to his arm in the exchange. The contest ended a few seconds later when Tellac darted in to leave a shallow slash from Olsim’s neck to his belly.

Several minutes later, as I expected, I wasn’t summoned into the circle for the second contest, but my stomach knotted when Kolek wasn’t called either. He was a skilled knife fighter, fast, aggressive, and sadistic. My blood pounded in my chest as he looked at me and his lip curled into a contemptuous smile.

I didn’t fear being hurt. I feared being forced to leave the Aerie and having my dreams smashed. Think Aisha. Keep your wits about you. I struggled to slow my breathing. I was prepared for this Ordeal even if my preparation had been with cunning. I couldn’t help but smile and felt his glare.

Time after time, Master Jiang had told us, “Emotions kill.” Kolek always got excited when he fought. He enjoyed causing pain and often lost his temper. I could use both against him, but I would need time, skill, and my wits.

I must gain control of my raging emotions. But how? I could do that by not caring, but I did care. The Aerie was my life. I forced myself to think calmly about what fueled my fears, losing the Ordeal, having to leave, or not being a Talon. I needed to blur my feelings, to stop thinking about what might be. I focused on slowing the rapid beat of my heart.

“Too scared to move, Aisha?” Kolek said, jolting me back to reality. The second contest was over. Melor had won, as expected. His opponent’s blood dripped in a line on the gravel as he was carried out injured but alive. “Take a good look. That’s you in a few minutes.”

“I’m more worried you’ll cut yourself, Kolek,” I said with a chuckle. I had reached a strange place. My vision had changed, expanded. I drew my knives at Master Jiang’s “ready” command and could sense Kolek’s confusion at my composure.

“Begin,” Jiang said and moved away from us. I looked towards Kolek but not at him. I could see more than I had ever seen before. I saw Kolek’s slight coiling as he prepared to lunge and sidestepped him as he thrust at me. I made a puny thrust with my left hand. I could have cut his extended arm when I sidestepped him but held back. It would only have been a shallow cut.

“Dung face,” I muttered loud enough for him to hear, hoping to enrage him. It did.

Only seconds later, he lunged at me with both knives, going for my throat. I sensed this was more an attempt to scare me than to score a winning cut. He didn’t move in close enough for a killing blow. He not only wanted me to be scared, he craved it. I parried and jabbed his arm hard enough to draw blood. He answered with a slash that left a few drops of blood running down my hand.

I held back any left-handed blows I knew wouldn’t end the match. The longer we fought the stranger I felt, as if I watched from above. I saw Kolek’s subtle shifts in weight and muscle tension as he prepared to slash. I heard his breathing. He muttered a curse. Behind me, I heard Jiang’s movement as he shuffled out of our way.

Kolek dove in, scoring another nick to my right arm. His right hand dropped. I knew his anger had overcome caution as he plunged his knife in a fierce thrust toward my stomach. I twisted sideways, using my left knife to block his blade. With an upward move, I slashed across his wrist. A gush of blood splattered over my hand and onto the gravel.

I stepped back as Master Jiang shouted, “Stop.”

Snarling with fury Kolek threw his knife down and grabbed his wrist. “Damn you, Aisha!” His face twisted in anger. He turned towards Jiang. “She cheated.”

“You’re right, Kolek. I had a sharp knife.” I had won. With one stroke of my knife, I had become clan.

Master Jiang walked over to Kolek and examined his wrist. “The gash is deep but not fatal. Aisha, you, Tellac, and Melor are declared the winners of the fifth Ordeal.”

The three masters left the courtyard. Jiang motioned for me to join him. “Aisha, do you know why I placed you in the last rotation?”

“Because I was the weakest.”

“No, we considered you third best, Kolek, last. You have a distinct disadvantage if I consider strength or reach. You are smaller than the average woman and much smaller than the average man. But you are two steps ahead of most students. You survive because you are always thinking, ‘What if?’ I believe you could have defeated Tellac had I paired you with him.” He cocked his head and a smile twitched his lips. “Was your left blade ever weak or did you always fake that?”

I grinned. “I faked.”

“Tellac, too, would have relied on that supposed weakness. And you are fast. At times I almost felt sorry for you letting student after student beat you using your pretended weakness. You almost convinced me until I saw you practicing your left handed techniques on your own a few months ago. I knew then that you were already planning for the next Ordeal. Tellac would have been a real loss to us.”

I blinked in surprise.

“No more faked weaknesses, Aisha. For the next three years, we need to know everyone’s real strengths and weaknesses. If one of you has a weakness, we must eliminate it. A Talon can have no weaknesses.”

* * * *

The next three years flew by in a glow of happiness. I no longer worried about having to leave. I belonged, and I was learning the secrets of the Talon.

The state of mind I had achieved during the fifth Ordeal was called “battle mode.” Talons quiet their mind. In so doing they achieve a heightened awareness of their surroundings. And the strange finger motions I had seen from the Masters and clan members were the Talons’ battle language. The hand and finger signing allowed the Talons to communicate in silence. I learned about herbs for healing injuries and for killing, along with secret fighting techniques and tactics unique to the Talon. By the end of my tenth year, I could shoot a short bow and could put an arrow or throwing dagger into a target from twenty paces. And I made good friends.

Before the fifth Ordeal, I had kept a distance between me and the other students, my future opponents. The Ordeals made real friendships too painful. Who wanted to be responsible for a friend being asked to leave? Who wanted to have to say goodbye to good friends, or possibly kill one? With the Ordeals over, Tellac, Melor, and I became close.

We trained, studied, and ate together every day. It was a joy to watch Tellac use weapons. Each seemed to become a part of him, but with knives, he was already a master. He practiced every day with Melor and me so that we became deadly with all of our weapons. Melor took to book learning and helped coach Tellac and me in our studies of battle tactics, and the customs of the six kingdoms. I found battle mode easy. We often sat together on the gravel of the courtyard as I taught them how to reach a quiet place inside to heighten their senses.

And for the first time we took our meals together and spent time exchanging stories about before we came to the clan. Then the pranks began. One morning it was honey in Tellac’s boots, another, salt in the syrup I put on my porridge. We talked among ourselves. It must be one of the younglings. But I awoke late one night to see Melor sneaking out of Tellac’s room after pouring water into his bed. Our studious Melor was the prankster.

Tellac sat on him in his room while I ran out with his books. Once Tellac let him up, he followed. He swore he’d reform, although I didn’t quite trust the twinkle in his eyes. Yet that was the last of the tricks he played on the two of us.

As we approached the end of our tenth year, Master Jiang introduced us to hi’Blessed Tasilaba, the ancient one. Her gray hair hung in a braid down to her waist and, although straight and slender, she leaned slightly on the tall staff she held in her hand.

“Hi’Blessed Tasilaba will be your instructor for your remaining time as students. It is she who will pronounce you a Talon.” I was shocked. We had all seen her around the Aerie for years but had never thought to inquire about her function. Talons didn’t have maids or cooks, but we still assumed she performed some unimportant task.

“Come students, I find the Aerie confining.” She led us out of the gate and up the mountain slope on a narrow rocky path. A chill breeze blew from the heights, but she didn’t seem to mind, nor did the steep trail slow her. At a wide spot, she stopped and sat on a flat rock, gesturing for us to take our places around her. The view was beautiful from this vantage point, looking down into a valley where a tall waterfall fell in a veil into a distant river. Above towered the majestic snow-covered mountain peaks.

“What do you know about the living sigils,” she asked. Melor and I just stared at each other shaking our heads.

“My father has one,” Tellac said. “It’s a Truth Sigil. I know he got it at a temple. He said it keeps him from being cheated. He’s a trader.”

“Hi’Blessed Tasilaba, are those the red scar-like marks the Talons have on their arms?” Mellor asked.

“Yes, those are the sigils of which I speak. And one is a Truth Sigil as Tellac said. In all, there are six. We believe six gods and goddesses created them sometime in the dim unknown past. One shrine, devoted to a single sigil, exists in each of the six kingdoms. They were rediscovered by accident two hundred years ago and only in the past hundred years have we learned how to use them.”

For the next four weeks we learned about each sigil, where it was found, the god or goddess associated with it, and the powers that the sigil provided for its holders. The War Sigil, which enhanced the holder’s ability and skill with weapons and fighting, fascinated us all. It had been found in Valda and was the sigil of the god, Dai. After class, we spent much of our time sneaking looks at Talons’ arms. We concluded that many had the War Sigils and sometimes one other although that varied considerably.

One day, weeks later, when we filed outside the gate to climb the trail and meet hi’Blessed Tasilaba for class up on her favorite spot, she waited for us outside the gate.

“Melor and Aisha, come back tomorrow. Tellac, follow me.”

We trudged back to a study room and spent anxious hours waiting for Tellac to return. When he did, his excitement showed as he jumped around pointing to the reddish scars of the War and Energy Sigils on his arm.

“Look, look! hi’Blessed Tasilaba said I was officially a Talon.” Tellac couldn’t make another coherent statement all day from excitement. But we were able to talk the quartermaster out of a small pitcher of ale to celebrate. I managed, I think, not to seem too jealous.

The next morning hi’Blessed Tasilaba told me to go home. I sulked all the way back to the Aerie. “It isn’t fair.” I mumbled it over and over. But the following day it was my turn.

Hi’Blessed Tasilaba met me on the trail and in silence led me further up the mountain to a cave. I had to stop several times to catch my breath while she, an old woman, seemed unaffected. The Energy Sigil I imagined. Inside, the rough unfinished cavern stretched into intense darkness. We walked about fifty paces into it before she stopped in front of a wall with a golden sigil emblazoned into the rock. I stared at the curved symbol, trying to decipher it. I had never seen this sigil, definitely not one of the six.

“Sit, Aisha,” Tasilaba said. She fetched six clay bowls on a tray off a large flat rock that served as a shelf. Knowing the ritual, I extended my left arm. She reached in the first bowl, painted with the War Sigil, placed a reddish lump of something cool on my arm and bowed her head over it. I had longed for the War Sigil and hoped for another, maybe Illusion. I felt nothing, although I knew it should have burned, leaving a reddish scar. Tasilaba tried five more times with the same result. Nothing!

“Aisha, take off your shirt.”

Petrified, I sat frozen as she brought a seventh bowl forward. She reached into the bowl and pressed something cool to my back. Something moved in a pattern under the spot. It grew into discomfort and then into pain. The pain was intense as it worked its way under my skin. I wanted to run, to scream, to stop her. I sat still and gritted my teeth to keep quiet.

When the burning eased, I brought myself to say, “What did you put on me, hi’Blessed?”

“The living sigil of the unnamed goddess. Many years ago when I was young, I found her here quite by accident and have dedicated my life to her. Until today she had not yet allowed me to pass the sigil on to anyone.”

I cried knowing none of the six sigils would be mine. When I looked at hi’Blessed Tasilaba, she was crying too. I wanted to die. Could I be a Talon without any sigils? This was unheard of. With the back of my hand, I wiped away the tears but they continued streaking down my face.

“Aisha Talon, you are hi’Blessed,” she whispered as if in reverence and turned towards the bowl with nothing painted on it. She knelt with head bowed.

“Hi’Blessed? You mean they all took? But I thought—”

“No. None of the six sigils took.”

“But you said hi’—”

“You are immune to all sigils. They cannot be used against you. The unnamed one has blessed you with the seventh sigil, Negation!”

“Hi’Blessed, why do you call her the ‘unnamed’ one? I wanted to know the goddess I should honor for my gift.”

“Because, if we name her, the world would be negated. That is her power. Would everything be unmade? I am not sure, but her power is great.” And so she swore me to secrecy.

She pulled back the sleeve of her dark gray silk tunic to expose an intensely red Energy Sigil. As I watched, it moved slightly under her skin.

“You know what it does. My energy and vitality were always high, even as a girl. Now it never flags, even in my age.”

My mouth dropped open as I realized that I could sense the Sigil on her arm. It was like a melody, one I had always known.

“Now think on your own Sigil. Nudge it with your mind,” she said.

This was new and seemed hard until I realized it was little different from the battle mode I was so used to. My sigil responded with almost a sigh and hers grew still. I watched it for a moment, waiting for it to continue it’s slight movement, but nothing happened.

“Did I hurt it?”

“No, it only sleeps. Release yours and you will see.”

In a few moments, her sigil again began the small motions that showed it was at work. I knelt and she gave me her blessing before I began the trek back down the mountain with much to think about and consider. How would I keep this secret from my good friends?

Tellac and Melor made an honest attempt to tell me I didn’t need sigils and that I was good without them. That was when I began to understand my gift. Since Melor had received the Truth Sigil in the cave, he should have been able to tell I was lying about my experience. I only thought of my sigil and could feel it moving. I sneaked peeks at his and realized that his Sigil of Truth had stilled. Even with his War Sigil, Tellac was still hard pressed to beat me much to his amazement. Each time he used his War Sigil I could see it moving as if coming alive, but it stilled as though sleeping when my back came alive. It was beautiful to watch the sigils as they twisted and grew. In time, they would become more vivid and colorful. I wished I could see mine.

* * * *

The days of our student alliance ended soon after we had been declared Talons.

“Aisha, we have a contract!” Tellac shouted as he and Melor charged into my room and slid to a halt in front of me. I had been studying a manuscript of herbs. “Melor and I are being assigned to the kingdom of Valda as guards to the hi’Lord Radulf.”

I was happy for them but disappointed I hadn’t been included. I worried that Master Dragos might have trouble finding a contract for a young woman.

“That’s wonderful. I only wish I was going with you. I’ll miss you two.” My stomach twisted and I felt tears in my eyes that I held back. They must only see my joy, not my fears.

Two days later, Tellac and Melor started out for their assignment. I walked with them for a while, trying to put off saying goodbye.

“Don’t worry Aisha,” Tellac said. “Master Dragos will find something for you soon. After all, there must be many assignments where a female Talon is uniquely qualified, and you are the only one available right now.” I gave Tellac and Melor each a long tight hug, not wanting to let them go. They turned and continued their trek down the mountain trail. I waited until they were out of sight before returning to the Aerie.

“From Tellac’s lips to the goddess’ ears,” I mumbled as I climbed back up toward the fortress.

* * * *

A week later I knelt in front of Master Dragos, bowed, and waited for him to speak. He wore black silk. His sash had three beautifully embroidered four-talon feet of a raptor, which proclaimed him the master of the Raptor Clan. Talon masters had two, four-talon feet on their sash. A Talon like me had only one.

“You continue to confuse me, Sister Aisha.” Dragos said, his voice soft. “You had been designated the weakest at each of your first four Ordeals, yet you are still here. Master Jiang says that you are always the best prepared, whereas the others rely on their skill alone. That is high praise from the head instructor at the Aerie. Now hi’Blessed Tasilaba calls you hi’Blessed. Did you receive all six sigils?”

“No, Master Dragos.”

“Let me see your arms,” he demanded.

I rolled up both sleeves to show my naked skin.

“None? Why did she call you hi’Blessed?” His frustration leaked through his otherwise calm exterior.

“You will have to ask her, Master Dragos.” I felt trapped.

“She refused to tell me. Relax, Aisha. Hi’Blessed Tasilaba is a force unto herself. The clan could replace me in a day, but they couldn’t replace her in a lifetime. If she says you are hi’Blessed, I will accept it without question.” He paused, pursed his lips and paced with his head down. “I can only hope they are both right.”

He stopped for several seconds and fastened his piercing gaze on me before he continued. “Is it fair that I will place a great responsibility on one young and untried?” He shrugged. “I have no choice. Bakaar has already accepted a contract, and this calls for a female. But this assignment will require more than just skill. The Raptor Clan has been shamed. While Talons guarded the family of the hi’Lord of Granya, his wife, son, and oldest daughter were murdered. Only his youngest daughter survived. I am sending you to protect her. It is up to you to regain the honor of the Clan.” Dragos never lifted his voice, but his eyes blazed with fury.

“Valen!” His aide entered the room with a bundle that he unwrapped and laid out neatly on the floor in front of me: a composite bow and quiver, a double-edged sword, two daggers, six throwing knives, and two survival knives. Each piece was an exquisite work of art. The bow was made from antler, sinew and a rare dark blood-red wood found only in the Manipur Mountains. The sword and knives were Astrakan crafted with black-wrapped handles and legendary patterned-textured blades, capable of cutting through rock. The traditional weapons given to a new Talon are worth more than the average commoner could earn in ten years.

My expression remained serene, but inside, my blood pounded in my temples. I was bursting with pride, a deep love of my clan. I bowed so low, my head touched the floor. “Thank you, Master Dragos. I will protect her with my life.”

“Fail not in your duty, Sister Aisha.”

I bowed again, rose, and followed Valen from the room and down the portico to his room.

“These are the terms of the clan’s contract with hi’Lord Varius, the ruler of Granya. You are to memorize them along with Master Dragos’s written instructions, attached to the contract. When you are ready, a guide will be at the gate to accompany you down the mountain. A caravan will escort you to Savona, the capital of Granya.”

As he left the room, his fingers signed, **Glory is yours to earn.** Valen’s parting gesture was the closest anyone in the clan came to wishing another luck. They believed a person determined their own success or failure. If one were prepared, they shouldn’t need luck. I agreed, but I would never snub a helping nudge from Huan, the goddess of luck.

I spent the next hour studying the contract and Master Dragos’s instructions before putting them back on Valen’s table. The contract intrigued me. I would be a bodyguard to the heir of a kingdom but pretend to be her chaperone. In a way it was perfect for me. The goddess had heard Tellac’s words. I had survived my early years at the Aerie by my wits, pretending to be clumsy, weak on one side or the other as I fought, somewhat stupid and slow with instructions.

I returned to my quarters and packed my meager possessions into two canvas kits. One I would leave at the Aerie, and one I would take with me to Savona. While posing as a chaperone I would keep my identity secret, hoping an assassin would dismiss me as harmless. I could take nothing that might identify me as belonging to the Raptor Clan except my weapons. Those I’d conceal on my body in hidden sheaths or give them for safekeeping to my Talon brothers who guarded the Granya ruler and his daughter.

I stopped on the portico outside my room to watch the students in the courtyard, as usual a bee hive of activity with ten years of students engaged in the many arts of becoming Talons. I stood there and purposed an outward serenity of a well-disciplined Talon while my heart pounded, my face flushed, tears formed in my eyes, and I bit my lip. This was my home and I would soon leave it.

Master Jiang approached. “Good hunting, Sister Aisha.” A traitorous tear escaped my left eye and began its trek down my cheek.

“Emotions can get you killed, Sister Aisha.” He reached up and brushed the tear away. “And that would be a shame after all the effort I’ve devoted to training you.”

**Glory is yours to earn, Sister Raptor.** Jiang signed. The term “Raptor” was a high compliment from any clan member and an honor from a Master. He turned away, and I strode to the storeroom.

“Master Bakaar, I need to store a kit while I’m on contract,” I said, handing her my bag. Bakaar always amazed me. Small and skinny, she looked like she would be easy to overpower. But I had seen her in the practice yard. She was as quick as a viper and just as deadly, a good reminder not to assume anything about potential opponents from their looks. Assumptions could kill you.

“Sister Aisha, I have a kit for you from Master Dragos.” Bakaar handed me a well-worn kit. When I looked, it contained peasant clothes for traveling, the special sheaths for weapon concealment, a generous sack of silver acrules and gold scrules for expenses, and two letters for hi’Lord Varius. I emptied my kit into the well-worn one, changed clothes, and went to find my guide off the mountain. I found him waiting at the gate.

When my guide saw me, he bowed and exited the small door in the gate.

“Duty, adventure, a new life awaits me outside those gates,” I mused as my steps quickened in anticipation.