Read Online Sword Mountain by Nancy Yi Fan - Free Book Online Page B

the glass.
    â€œDandelion!”
    Dandelion opened the window. He landed on the sill. “How did your entrance exams go?” she asked.
    Cloud-wing winced. “Great, except I’m sure I failed. I had to do a triple back flip and I barely managed.”
    â€œMeaning you got in.” Dandelion laughed.
    â€œI don’t know for sure,” said Cloud-wing. “The results won’t be announced till two weeks later. But I think everybird did all right, except Pudding. He doesn’t try; he doesn’t really want to be a warrior, anyway.” Cloud-wing shrugged.
    Dandelion remembered the pudgy bully. “But what will his father think if he failed?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter to Mr. Pouldington Senior,” said Cloud-wing. “And Pudding’s older brother is one of the best at Rockbottom, anyway. It’s an honor for even one of the family to get in—anybird in the Skythunder mountain range can apply to it, so there’s fierce competition.”
    â€œAnybird?” asked Dandelion. “Even those from the valleys?”
    â€œY-yes.” Cloud-wing looked stricken. “I mean, any young male bird of prey who is fairly able-bodied,” he mumbled, embarrassed by his mistake.
    Not girls, Dandelion realized. Rockbottom would take a valley boy—but not a valley girl.
    â€œIt’s a military school, after all,” Cloud-wing added lamely. He wanted to move away from the topic as quickly as possible, Dandelion could tell. “Anyway … flight,” he said.
    At this, Dandelion grabbed the backpack and harness and handed it over, showing Cloud-wing how the parachute, neatly folded within, had been put back together airtight.
    â€œOh, Dandelion, I thought of something—simpler. It might work better than the parachute. You could really fly today.”
    He pulled out a length of rope.
    â€œWhat am I supposed to do?” Dandelion just stood dumbfounded as Cloud-wing offered her one end of the rope. How could an ordinary rope be a match for the pull of gravity?
    Cloud-wing did not appear worried. “Hold on to this and don’t let go. I’m at the other end. And we’ll jump together, and we’ll fly!”
    Dandelion gripped the end, shaking her head. “But … but I’ll just plummet like a ripe old apple off the branch! And you’ll be dragged—”
    â€œNo, I’ll be here, at the other end of the rope, and I’ll hold you up,” said Cloud-wing. “What have you got to fear?”
    Dandelion squeezed the rope. “Then let’s go,” she said.
    She climbed on the windowsill, and for a moment the two eaglets teetered at the edge. Dandelion stared at the clouds below her, crawling on the invisible surface of the atmosphere; the rays of the setting sun at that moment slanted, and all the windows of the castle were ablaze. The wind touched her talons, whispering for them to uncurl; buffeted her feathers, her wings; and she felt suddenly alive, alive for flight!
    â€œYou’ll walk on the clouds!” Cloud-wing shouted.
    A single breeze blew toward her, and she walked forward into open air, wings raised high as if to embrace the whole world below. Cloud-wing was right beside her. For one chilling second she realized she was spinning down, and the rope went taut in her grasp. A rock formed in the pit of her stomach. She felt much more exposed than she had in the parachute, much more breakable.
    â€œRelax! Close your eyes, ride the wind, don’t grasp at it,” Cloud-wing cried from above, fanning his wings as Dandelion dangled from the other end of the rope. “I’m here.”
    Dandelion forced herself to close her eyes.
    She adjusted her wings to suit the wind, becoming a buoy in the ocean. She had it! For a second, she had it. She rose back up in the air, the rope fell slack, and she looked up at the grinning face of Cloud-wing.
    Being airborne felt so fragile. If Dandelion