“Good,” Officit Boldis barks. “Let’s get going. You’ve wasted enough of our time.”

Jonyah backs me against the pole as he returns the cane to its usual place on the hook. He’s an entire head taller, and his height is another tool he uses to intimidate. As he shifts on his feet, close enough that his breath falls sour against my hair, something crinkles lightly in his pocket. He jerks on my braid, forcing my head back so that I have to look up at him.

His voice is a growl. “You should give up. You are a pebble beneath my boot, annoying but insignificant enough to be crushed.”

I allow the venom in my eyes to answer for me. Although I’m hardly his only target at the Company, I’m his favorite. Hatred roils between us, so fiercely palpable that I wonder if he’ll strike me again, just to prove that he can. But then Officit Boldis makes an impatient sound. Jonyah releases my braid before stalking away. As soon as Officit Boldis passes her, Saengo rushes forward to offer me a shoulder.

I shake my head, waving away her help. Instead, I grit my teeth and place one foot in front of the other.

Officit Boldis is already astride his drake, alongside the hatchlets who will make the trek on foot. Although my legs burn, I refuse to limp. It’s a relief when I finally reach Yandor and take hold of his reins. Yandor nudges my shoulder with his head. I lean into him, accepting his support.

“You will walk,” the officit says, which makes me pause with one foot in the stirrup. Slowly, I turn to look at him. He smiles at me and then shifts the smile to each of the wyverns, six in all, including Jonyah. “You will all make the journey on foot, with the first-years. You may thank Ashwyn’s disregard for her duties.”

My fellow wyverns shoot me glares as they dismount. The journey to the Valley of Cranes is an entire day’s march. I fall into position at the rear with Saengo, leading our drakes along by their reins as we at last file out from the yard. We head for the nearby gate kept exclusively for the use of the two Companies. It’s purely functional, free of the ornate carvings and brushed gold that accent the public gates into the city.

There are two sets of doors, the first an iron trellis that can be raised and lowered like a portcullis and the second made of wood and iron that can be swung shut and locked with a series of heavy deadbolts. Currently, both are open. Outside, a dirt road cuts through a stretch of grass that dips downhill and then curves into the woods.