He paused in his chomping long enough to give me a look of disbelief. I tore a small piece of beef off and ate it quietly, my lips closed tight as a thief's purse as I chewed. The meat was tough, and thick, but the dragons had perfected their meat smoking skills so a small portion was packed with expanding meat. I felt full within seconds.
And a few moments after that, Thord smiled. "It does expand!" He patted his stomach. "Brilliant."
We chose our direction purely by flying straight over the spot where that first giant had been standing. He may have naturally had his back to his homeland. Within the next few minutes, we had the air bubbles around our heads and were speeding along looking for an airstream.
But the streams were not just going to pop out of the sky for us. Vecterix had said there were maps of them, but the documents had been long lost. Instead, it was trial and error and error and trial and...
Failure.
"There isn't one," I shouted so Thord could hear. He came nearer.
"I agree. Maybe they don't exist in every part of the world."
"We will have to look further afield then—"
Carnda squawked, and I looked around, wondering if we were about to be attacked. Then she made another squawk and took off higher, without my bidding. I nearly pulled back on the reins, but Thord shouted, "Let her go. She may be the only one here who knows what she's doing."
Carnda pushed us higher and higher until we were in a place where the wind suddenly slowed down and our speed increased. It was clearly an airstream heading in the direction I had wanted to go, and Carnda had found it by... well, I had no idea how she had discovered it. I quickly called up the air bubbles. I patted the side of her neck and she made a warbling noise. I turned back to see that Thord was behind us, but travelling at the same speed. I gave him a thumbs up and he waved back.
It took some time for my mind to adjust to moving at such a height and speed. The world below us didn't look real—it was easy to believe that the tiny island below us was just a child's plaything. This is what the goddesses and gods must have felt like, if they ever looked down at us. We spent little time on religion at the Red Keep; mostly we studied how various beliefs could be used to trap our targets. But from this height the island slipped backwards, and soon there was only water. Everywhere.
I had time to think, and so I sent Brax a thought into the wind, hoping that it would find him. He would wake up at some point and I wouldn't be there. The image of him being alone made me wonder what it would be like without him in my life. Here I was on a perfect swan, flying at a speed most mortals had never experienced. If you'd told me on graduation night that I might some day achieve this, then I'd be in absolute wonder. But, without Brax here, it was not as bright. Funny how a dragon stuffed with snark could get under your skin and into your heart.
And, while we moved forward through the skies, there were dragons dying each moment. And mortals were being locked up or freed. A war so far away that it didn't seem real.
And Thord was here, too, adding a whole oddness to the journey. I glanced over my shoulder. He was looking to his right, so didn't notice my eyes on him. Whatever magic my brother had used to insert a bear's heart into Thord's chest had clearly changed Thord. And he was changing more every day. He had always been strong, but now he looked frighteningly powerful. And there was a rough edge to his every word, his every movement. Even the way he ate. When I'd first seen him getting off the swan and recognized him, a flutter had appeared in my stomach. And that same flutter still… well, still fluttered. It was as if being near him made me nervous.
A long ridge of clouds drifted below, gray and flashing with lightning. The entire sky flashed and several seconds later a rumble reached us. Then, moments later, we were past the storm. We went ahead at great speed. Carnda barely had to move her wings. Nothing appeared on the horizon. After an hour, I wondered if the ocean really ended. And how did the giants travel such a great distance from this unknown homeland?
Then Carnda looked back at me, nodded twice, and adjusted her wings to slip out of the airstream.
Nodded! About what, I wasn't certain.
We angled down into where the sky was rougher and Carnda had to flap her wings and work to keep us aloft. In time we were low enough that I spoke the words to make our air bubbles vanish.
"What are you doing?" I asked the bird.
She kept flying straight and didn't even turn her head my way.
"Why did you come out of the airstream?" Thord asked. He'd winged up next to us.
"Carnda did," I said. "She must be tired."
She made a squawk that sounded like she didn't agree with that conclusion.
"Well, I needed a break anyway," Thord said. "And at least we can talk down here. We have travelled a vast distance, but there isn't even the smallest island anywhere."
"That's correct," I said. My gaze was drawn to his eyebrows again. They looked bushier!
"Are you staring at my eyebrows?" he asked
"No. I was just..." I glanced everywhere but his eyebrows. "... just thinking Carnda needs to eat something." I dug into my backpack and reached out with a handful of oats. Carnda turned back to peck from my hand. "I wasn't looking at your white eyebrows. I wasn't. I was thinking about how to find these giants."
Thord reached into his own saddlebag and brought out a steak. Was it raw? Not even smoked? But he had it stuffed in his mouth, chewed and swallowed before I could figure that out. "Well, you were always the one so good at maps," he said, while still chewing. "I assume there is a grid inside your head."
"Yes," I said. "I was good at maps. And I do have a grid. You don't have to be jealous of it. How long do you think we travelled?"
He shrugged. "An hour or two. We could cross most of Ellos in that time. But time is hard to track since we've gone so far to the east that the sun has moved in the sky away from us. It seems your earlier calculations were correct—it will take a very long time to find these giants. Even at the speeds we are travelling. It might be weeks. Plus, we will need to find land to rest, even though this airstream travelling is not hard on our mounts."
"It's like finding a lock pick in a haystack. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Well, we could—"
"Wait!" I said. I slapped the side of my head. "I think I have the answer."
"Which is?"
"This!" I pointed at the ring on my finger and he gave me a look like I'd gone mad.
"You're going to ask a ring?"
"My brother gave it to me. I forgot to mention it. He said... he said I could consult it. That he would help."
"Your brother is just going to show up here?" he asked.
"I don't know. I haven't used it before." I looked at the ring. It was a plain iron color and seemed so unremarkable—there weren't even runes on it. But he was smart enough to make it look well worn and not worth much—that way no one would want to steal it. "I just don't know how to work it."
"Maybe just tap it."
I did so. Nothing happened. Then I rubbed it and still nothing happened.
"I assumed with all your reading, you'd know how to handle a magic ring, Know-it-all," Thord said.