Free Rocking Horse War by Lari Don Page B

their arms wrapped round each other. They were buried in the same grave.” 
    Pearl opened her mouth to ask if flying was common for people who claimed to hear the land. Then she hesitated. Would even asking the question give Thomas information he could use against the triplets?
    So she asked instead, “But why the Grey Men’s Grave? They were both young, weren’t they?”
    “Yes, but Tam’s dark hair and Johnnie’s golden hair turned silver grey in the fall from the sky.”
    He kept walking south. “After their husbands’ deaths, the two sisters never spoke to each other again. When the old Lord died, he left the southern meadows to the Swanns, the northern moors to the Horsburghs, and the mountains to whoever could win the final task, whoever could find and use the keystone.
    “But no one knows where the keystone went after the Grey Men fell. It might have fallen into the pass with them. It might still be on the summit of the peak. No one even remembers what it looks like.”
    They both raised their eyes. The ridged summit of the Keystone Peak neatly halved the sky above them.
    “No one has sung with the mountains since, because neither family can make the link without the keystone; and neither family is safe coming here to search for it because the mountains are a no-man’s land where any attack is justified.
    “The war for the mountains and the search for the keystone killed many of my ancestors, and drove most of the rest away. But now it’s not just the families who suffer. The mountains are suffering too. They’ve been neglected for so long they’re starting to crumble.”
    Thomas turned a slow circle, gazing up at the mountains. Pearl wasn’t sure if this was another piece of drama, or if he really was convinced that mountains could “suffer”.
    Then Pearl remembered what he’d said about his mother. “You said, the last day your mother spoke to you. Is she dead?”
    “No. She was injured in an ambush meant for me, three summers ago. We hadn’t even been in the mountains. It was a completely unprovoked attack. Her neck was broken. She’s paralysed.”
    “I’m sorry,” Pearl said quietly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise.”
    “You didn’t realise what? That in wars, people get hurt?”
    “In wars, Thomas, people die . My brother — who was even taller, even more handsome and even more charming than you — my brother died in the Great War. I know about wars.”
    “That war killed my father too. A pointless death. Fighting over land cut with so many trenches, land soaked with so much death, that no one could bear to sing with it now. At least you still have a mother and a father.”
    “I’ve already lost one brother and now you’re stealing the rest of my family.”
    They glared at each other.
    Pearl felt tears gather behind her eyes. To stop Thomas noticing, she attacked again. “Why did you let your mother get caught in an ambush meant for you? Were you lagging behind then too, looking out for feathered foes?”
    “No!” Thomas swung his staff towards Pearl, but stopped the swing in time and slashed at the air instead. “We were out exercising the horses and mine fell lame. Mother cantered ahead while I walked home. Then the Laird forced the land to shift.” His voice caught in his throat. “Mother was riding under the cliffs at the base of the Keystone Peak. She was caught in the rockfall.
    “I heard the land roar and her horse scream at the same time. But she never made a sound. She hasn’t made a sound since. We don’t even know if she can hear us. All she does is breathe and swallow the soup the housekeeper spoons into her mouth. During the day her eyes are open. At night they close. But she never looks at me.”
    Thomas blew a long breath out, then looked at Pearl. “How did your brother die?”
    “He was shot. He was armed with a pistol, and he was leading boys armed with rifles straight into machine-gun fire. Was that his destiny, do you think?” She asked