Prologue ight was falling Time to trumpet her call home but the pure white swan racing across the darkening sky was silent as the bones of the dead N Bones The thought would not leave her now She had seen them tumble from the dark cloud like bits of snow Heard them plunk into the silent sea and sink beneath the cold water leaving no trace Four of her brothers and three of her sisters had already been eaten by the dense cloud the color of a rotten plum There was no song for it No way to understand it Never had there been a cloud that brought not shade from the sun not whispering snow or gentle rain but death The clouds had become wolves unrelenting beasts chasing the swans through the sky with silent white paws and cunning noses from which they could not escape But I will escape the cloud the swan thought as she pushed on alone toward home through the vast night I must Two of her babies were awaiting her return A long hiss filled the air around her A trumpet of fear escaped from the swan’s long white throat Now she knew the sound of the vaporous beast that had swallowed her brothers and sisters It was right behind her Faster she told herself Faster She pushed harder beating her wings until they burned with pain but it was too late The sky became muddled with mist In a few seconds she could see no sky before her and no earth below only wisps of purple vapor The smell of the world and all it contained disappeared just as quickly replaced by the throat-stinging char of woodsmoke Cold enveloped her and snow began to fall coating her feathers The flakes fat and damp quickly turned to ice and with a CRACK they tightened like a chain
around her body Unable to fly she began to fall I will drop through the cloud and crash into the sea below she thought and that would be her end She would sink into the cold water and see her children no more A sharp pain clanged through her breast as she hit A pained honk escaped her beak taking her wind The dark water did not drag her down It was not the sea but a stretch of ground As she thrashed on the hard-packed snow trying to break free of the chains of ice that bound her the mist began to clear and the swan saw the gossamer wisps of white where the sky should be Her body trembled at the strange magic of it all She was still within the cloud yet it was like no cloud she had ever traveled through for nestled inside was a small snow-dusted forest And gathered in this small forest was a group of humans All were female They wore long dresses and stood before a crackling fire of purple flame as the snow fell around them Their skin was pale as her own feathers and their hair raven black or golden as a finch The swan was ignored for a moment but then a tall woman with raven-black hair and piercing green eyes came to inspect Beside her was a child with dirty feet and a snarling smile The child plucked the swan carelessly from the ground She wrapped her nail-bitten hands around the swan’s belly and squeezed tight Kitchen or the cage she said to the tall woman The woman studied the swan for a moment and grabbed her beak roughly Finally she nodded Put her in the cage The child put the swan under her arm and walked toward a tall tree with a large hollow You’re lucky the little girl sneered as she entered the hollow of the great tree I was hungry for swan For a moment all was darkness then the swan found herself in a long narrow hallway lit with electric lights and lined with cages Locked behind the thick bars were animals Bears a lynx coyotes foxes All paced in their cages and let out screams of horror as the little girl passed with the swan under her arm Quiet she snarled and marched with authority toward the biggest cage of all It was vast and filled with birds Thousands and thousands All shapes all sizes of every type All frozen in flight Just floating in the air wings outstretched Alive and
silent Among them were some of her brothers and her sisters Here you go the girl snarled opening the door and stepping inside Standing among the birds and just as frozen were a half-dozen young women with looks of terror on their faces With a rough toss the girl threw the swan into the air The ice melted Her wings suddenly worked As she opened her wings to fly she let out a long TRUMPET but instantly she froze again This time completely She hung in midair with all the others as the door slammed and the sound vanished into nothing
