During the harvest, it was forbidden to leave fewer than two eggs in a nest, so much of the climbing a man did—sometimes his whole harvest—was fruitless. The hawklings were fierce hunters, and their wingspan, from tip to tip, could be as wide as a man is tall. Sometimes, an angry bird would attack and maim, or even dislodge, a climber. Many a member of the Skyler clan had met their death on the rocky canyon floor.
Hyden didn’t expect much from Gerard. The lower nests would all be down to two eggs by now, and the climb took such a toll on a man’s body that Hyden didn’t think Gerard could push himself into the higher reaches today. Two or three eggs would suffice. He had told Gerard as much this morning as they broke camp. Hyden would wait until all the other eggs had been sold, and then would drive up his price. The money from two eggs would sustain him through the winter. Three would provide him not only what he needed, but also what he wanted.
“I’ll get you half a dozen at least,” Gerard had bragged. “You’ll win that competition too. And when you do, you owe me a new pair of Valleyan horsehide boots and a wizard’s hat.”
Hyden laughed, thinking about his brother’s simple desires. Gerard’s immaturity still showed itself often. He was just a year younger than Hyden. At least the new boots were a reasonable and responsible request. Gerard could buy himself a wagon full of wizard’s hats and a dozen pair of boots with what he would earn for his own eight eggs. After the Elders took out the clan’s share, Gerard would still have a small fortune.
Hyden found a rock, sat in the shadow thrown by the midmorning sun, and munched on a piece of dried venison. Gerard would rest awhile on the Lip before continuing up into the nesting shelves. The cliff face would be warming quickly now. It would grow as hot as a skillet in the morning sun, but only for a short while. The sun would swiftly put the cliff in its memory, and for the better part of the day, its face would be cooling in its own shadow.
Movement from above caught Hyden’s eye. A long, green ribbon on a crooked stick, poked up into the air from the edge of the Lip. There wasn’t enough wind to make it do more than flutter lazily. It disappeared as quickly as it had shown itself, and then one of his cousins began the long climb up to make his harvest. Hyden could tell by the bright green color of the climber’s headdress, that it was one of Uncle Condlin’s sons. He knew that Gerard’s headdress was red, with blue highlights. That was the only headdress that he cared to see.
The bright, ornamental hats were worn more to deter the fierce birds than for any other reason, yet each branch of the clan had its own colors and designs. Hyden’s was made of light wire, and shaped like an open-winged bird, with red and gold ribbons tied about the frame. Gerard’s was similar, but with red and blue ribbons fastened to it. The headdresses made it appear that a brightly colored bird was already on the climber’s head. They were a distraction at best, and they usually ended up on the canyon floor long before the climber came down. Hyden hated wearing one, especially when the wind was up. He usually threw his off after a while, but one time, an angry hawkling had torn it off his head for him, and nearly caused him to fall to his death.
It was rumored that his Great Uncle Jachen’s fatal fall had been caused solely by complications with his headdress, but it was still considered an ill omen to start up from the Lip without one. Two of Hyden’s cousins had attempted to climb after the wind had blown theirs off the ledge a few years ago. Both boys perished that day, thus reinforcing the ancient superstition.
It wasn’t long before Hyden saw his own red and gold headdress starting up the cliff. It made him smile. Gerard must have taken it from his pack earlier at the camp. Hyden hadn’t expected Gerard to wear his headdress. He was proud that his little brother was honoring him by wearing it for this climb. His heart swelled with emotion, and he decided on the spot that he would buy Gerard a wizard’s hat, a wizard’s robe, and even a magic wand at the fair, even if he didn’t win the archery competition. It didn’t even bother him when Gerard later let the awkward headgear fall away and tumble down the canyon.
It became clear that the cousin making the climb ahead of Gerard was Little Condlin. Little Con was chubby; slow, and deliberate in his moves. He climbed more sideways than upward, as if he was trying to cover the entire width of the cliff. He never extended his reach, and he always used caution. Gerard, on the other hand, was quick like a lizard, and before long he was a few hundred feet above the Lip.
The cliff itself was well over a thousand feet high. It looked to Hyden like Gerard was trying to climb to the very top of it. As far as Hyden knew, that had never been done before. An area not too far above Gerard’s current location was so thick with the nesting birds, that the gray and brown stone seemed to be striped black with them. It was obvious now that Gerard had been completely serious when he’d bragged that he would bring back half a dozen eggs. Hyden hoped that his brother wouldn’t put himself in a bad spot up there while trying to show off for him. At the moment, Gerard was as high up into the nests as Hyden had ever been in his life.