Free The Guardian Herd by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez Page B

keep watch on him, and we’ll wait for Star to find us. As long as it takes.”
    Morningleaf nodded, shuddering as a desert breeze blew across her water-soaked hide. Beside her, Brackentail loped and listened for danger. She felt safe betweenher brother and her friend, and she took the rare opportunity to relax, to let them worry about what happened next. Her thoughts drifted to Star. She’d done everything she could to protect him, and so had his guardian herd, but now the pegasi were captured, and she couldn’t fly, and Star was alone. She knew he was looking for them—and the hope of seeing him again kept her moving forward, in spite of the thin voice in her head that told her all was lost.

12
FAMILY
    STAR AND FROSTFIRE SWOOPED DOWN FROM THE clouds and hurtled across the hot, flat desert. They’d left Jungle Herd’s territory two days earlier, and they’d been searching Western Anok for sixteen days since Nightwing had captured the pegasi. Today they arrived in the Desert Herd lands, and Star marveled at the wide expanse of dusty soil, as unmarked as the ocean, dotted only with scrubby brush and short cacti.
    â€œIt’s bleak,” said Star. The Red Rock Mountains and the steady march of the sun across the sky were his only reference points for navigation. His sharp eyes could see for miles in every direction, and there was no sign of pegasi, let alone twelve thousand of them. The striatedmesas of the scarlet mountain range, however, piqued his interest. The plateaus were stepped and angular. Deep canyons created sheer cliff walls that were pocked with thousands of caves. “Look there,” said Star. “Are those caves deep enough to hide pegasi?”
    Frostfire nodded. “Yes, those caves are the homes of the Desert Herd steeds. Each family has one.”
    â€œThis is the last territory,” Star reminded Frostfire. “If we don’t find Nightwing here, then it’s time for you to take me to the place where he plans to settle them. All along, we keep missing him.”
    â€œI know. He’s making good time flying with such a large herd,” said Frostfire.
    â€œAnd they have nursing foals with them,” said Star, shaking his mane. “He should be stopping often to rest, making it easy for us to catch him. The mothers will have to wean their foals early to keep his pace, and that’s not healthy.”
    Star swooped toward the desert canyons, feeling the dry air burn his lungs. He and Frostfire hovered along the cliff walls, examining the caves. They darted up and down the steep divide, searching for fresh signs of pegasi. Each cave was about the size of the one Star had lived in on the coast of Anok, just large enough to hold four or fivesteeds comfortably. “Are the caves connected?” he asked Frostfire.
    â€œNot that I remember,” said the stallion. “I was here to fight, not to explore, you know.” They landed inside a cave to look around.
    Star’s hooves clattered as he explored the foreign steeds’ home. The rock floor was worn smooth from years of pegasi lying on it. Layers of ferns and feathers softened the area. The rest of the rocky surface was scuffed with hoof marks. Three straight red lines were painted on one wall. “What are these?” Star asked, tracing the lines with his wingtips.
    â€œDesert Herd uses ochre to mark their caves. Three lines mean that three pegasi live in this one. It’s how they count their numbers.”
    â€œMorningleaf would love to see this,” Star said, his spine tingling. “She counts well in her head, but I think she’d be interested in these lines that keep track of pegasi.”
    Frostfire erased the red ochre with his wing and started walking away. “Well, no one lives here now. Let’s move on.”
    Star flew out of the home, feeling suddenly claustrophobic as the truth slammed him. Western Anok was empty; all the pegasi were gone. He