by Bryan Davis
“Koren?”
She stayed in her crouch, perfectly silent.
“Koren, are you still here?”
Again feeling for the sandals, Koren whispered, “Yes, Zena. I hope I didn’t disturb you. I’ll try to be quieter.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have to get up for Taushin’s coronation.”
“You still have time. Go ahead and sleep. I’ll wake you.”
“Thank you.” Zena yawned. “I am impressed that you stayed. I was concerned that you would use my swoon to do mischief.”
Koren blinked at the darkness. She wanted to scream that holding Petra’s life in the balance was a cruel motivator, but it didn’t make sense to continue the conversation. If Zena would just go back to sleep, everything would be fine.
After a few seconds of silence, Koren continued her search. Her finger touched a sandal. The other sandal and her boots would be lined up, making them easy to stack and collect.
Slowly, carefully, she picked up sandals and boots and gathered them into her arms. So far, so good. Perfectly quiet. She covered all four with the trousers and wrapped them into a bundle. Then, sliding her hands underneath from each side, she picked it up and rose in one motion.
She turned, stopped, and waited. The blackness seemed to throb. Her heartbeat and a rush of blood thumped in her ears. Nothing stirred. She raised a foot and set it softly a pace away. Now to glide out of the room and —
The dragon statue’s eyes flashed on. Bright and pulsing, the beams painted two blue ovals on her chest. A voice thrummed in her mind. Koren, I see my statue. That means you are in Zena’s room.
She responded with an intentionally exaggerated nod, a movement Taushin could detect.
I want you to come to my chamber. The more time we spend together, the more certain will be our bond. Using Petra to induce your obedience is not something either of us wants to continue. Am I correct?
Focusing on the dragon, Koren nodded again. Looking at the rest of the room would reveal Petra’s absence.
Do you agree to submit without this threat hanging over you?
She kept her head still. Would lying be the right move? Agreeing too quickly might arouse suspicion.
I see that you are hesitant. I understand. Come to me and we will discuss it further.
She drew another map in her mind. Getting to the Zodiac to meet Tamminy and Petra required going through the incubator chamber first, but sneaking around the labyrinth of corridors between Zena’s room and that chamber, all without a light to guide her, might be impossible. Now she had an excuse to take a lantern. She gave him yet another nod.
Very well. We will be together in a few moments. The dragon’s eyes faded but stayed on.
Koren reached through the stairway door opening, picked up the lantern with her free hand, and tiptoed into the corridor leading to the incubator room. After setting the lantern on the floor, she lit it and quickly turned it to its lowest setting. Then, keeping her eyes focused upward to avoid looking at her bundle, she picked up the lantern again and hurried on.
Staring straight ahead, she followed the corridor and turned to the right, then back to the left before scrambling up a short but steep stairway that ended at the incubator room. Now well away from Zena’s quarters, she set the lantern down and adjusted the flame to allow herself more light.
Brightness flooded the spacious chamber, illuminating the passage to the Zodiac on the far side where a large stone blocked the entrance. She quickly averted her eyes toward the ceiling. The hole was closed, the normal position when the incubator fountains were off.
She turned to the right and focused on a much larger doorway, the dragon-sized corridor leading to Taushin’s lair. As she shuffled toward it, she repainted the image of the Zodiac escape route in her mind. The stone left a sizeable gap between itself and the wall, proving that it had been placed there to prevent a dragon from using that route, but was the gap large enough for someone her size to crawl through?
Still moving slowly toward Taushin’s abode, she imagined herself running to the Zodiac passage and sliding through the gap. How long would it take for him to figure out where she had gone before pursuing her?
She reached the new corridor and paused, her back to the Zodiac passage. The time had come. Her mentally drawn map had better not fail her now.
Closing her eyes, she blew out the lantern, but it slipped in her hand. The flame burned her skin, and she let it fall. In the midst of its clatter, she dashed toward the Zodiac passage, tracing the route on her map. With one arm free now, she reached out a hand, slowing as her instincts told her she was drawing near. With darkness prevailing, she opened her eyes, but that didn’t help at all.
Her fingers touched stone, then the gap. Lying on her stomach, she shoved the bundle through and squeezed herself in sideways, wiggling as she inched her way forward. After a few seconds, her shoulders wedged. Trying not to grunt, she pushed her feet against the floor. No help. Without a sliver of light, it seemed impossible to know which way to squirm.
She reached ahead and grasped the far side of the stone. Gritting her teeth, she jerked her body forward and into the clear.
A thud sounded. Koren gulped. She stared toward the incubator room, trying not to breathe.
“Koren?”
Zena’s voice. Taushin must have alerted her that his precious Starlighter hadn’t shown up, or maybe the lantern falling had awakened her. A light passed from left to right, filtering through each gap along the way.
Koren inched back, just enough to avoid it. How close was the lantern? Zena might be shining it from across the room or from just a step away. Yet, she couldn’t have seen anyone squeeze through the hole. Her eyesight was too poor, and it had been dark then.
Dark then?
Koren clapped a hand over her eyes. How stupid! Taushin could see where she was!
Since it was too late to fool them now, she lowered her hand from her eyes and peered through the gap. Lantern light drew closer. Zena was coming.
Scooping up her bundle, Koren dashed along the corridor’s descending tunnel. Air billowed her cloak, pulling against the clasp at her chest. As light from behind faded, her path grew dark, treacherous, but she couldn’t stop, and she couldn’t turn back. Chains awaited—horrible, heavy chains.
Maybe she could get to the Zodiac fast enough for Tamminy to fly them to a hiding place. Maybe she and Petra could wait in safety until their pursuers gave up.
As darkness enveloped her, she slowed her pace. Her cloak settled around her body, weighing down her shoulders. It wouldn’t work. Not with Taushin watching. She couldn’t possibly keep her eyes closed for that long.
Foolish girl, Taushin said in her mind. You cannot hide. The Zodiac will offer no sanctuary. Arxad is not there to protect you.
Koren pushed his intruding thoughts away. She had to keep him out and guard her own thoughts. So far he seemed to be unable to hear her spoken words, and since he had asked questions earlier, he still couldn’t read her mind, at least not easily.
Soon, a light appeared in the distance. She broke into another dash. Since they knew where she was, it didn’t matter what she looked at now, with one exception. She had to be ready to protect Tamminy.
She closed in on the light, an opening into another chamber. Placing her hand a few inches in front of her eyes, she looked down at her feet and slowed to a quick march. “Tamminy!” she called. “Are you there?”
“Here, child.”
Keeping her shield in place, she scanned the floor. A dragon’s body appeared to her left, sprawled across the stone in a pool of liquid.
She gasped and jerked her head away. “It’s … it’s—”
“Thortune,” Tamminy said. “I do not know who did this. It is a tragedy, but it actually aids our cause. He would have questioned our presence here.”
As Koren turned away from the carnage, she caught a glimpse of Tamminy’s shadow ahead and to her right. “They know I’m trying to escape and which way I we
nt.”
“We have some safeguards that will slow them down,” Tamminy said as his shadow shifted and disappeared. “Still, we should hurry. Come with me.”
A hand slid into Koren’s and squeezed her fingers gently.
Koren adjusted her shield enough to see Petra’s bare feet sticking out past the bottom of her cloak. “Lead the way.”
Pulling gently, Petra guided her along a stony floor and into a darker area. Koren longed to explore with her eyes, but any glimpse of Tamminy could mean a death sentence for him.
After a short walk, Petra paused, tugging Koren to a halt beside her. Ahead, Tamminy barked out a draconic word that meant sanctum, easy to recognize but impossible for a human to repeat. A grinding noise sounded, and a brighter light illuminated the floor. After taking several more steps, Petra stopped next to Tamminy’s shadow. Again Tamminy said something, this time the dragon word for refuge. The grinding returned. Koren glanced back in time to see a wall sliding closed.
“I will now step out of the way so that you may behold this sight,” Tamminy said. “Fear not that Taushin will behold it with you. With Arxad gone, he would eventually find her.”
“Her?” When the shadow drifted to her left and disappeared, Koren opened her eyes. A shining girl floated between the floor and ceiling. Dressed in a Starlighter’s gown and cloak, she radiated streams of effervescent light. Her red hair flowed around her as if blown by a gentle breeze, and her green eyes sparkled.
Koren felt her jaw dropping open, but she couldn’t help it. “Is …” She swallowed. “Is she Cassabrie?”
“She is. We cannot stay long. Although I am more immune to her powers than others, I should not risk overexposure. I assume that you are impervious, but Petra will likely succumb in a few moments. She is not in danger, mind you, but in a dizzied state she will not be able to ride on my back.”
“Is Cassabrie dead?”
“Quite dead. When Magnar had her executed, Arxad removed her spirit and took it to the Northlands, where she likely resides even now.”
“Then why doesn’t her body deteriorate?”
“That is the most important part of the secret. If you will look in the ceiling above her head and at the floor beneath her feet, you will see the power that keeps her body whole.”
Koren walked toward Cassabrie slowly, reverently. The dragon password was appropriate. This place felt like a sanctum, similar to the sacred spring at the edge of the wilderness where a few slaves sometimes gathered to pray. Since it was too far away to visit very often, she had been there only twice. Yet the peacefulness of the place returned easily to her memory, as did its beauty. The water in the deep pool was so clear, it seemed invisible.
Kneeling, Koren looked at the floor under Cassabrie’s dangling feet. A circular disc had been embedded in the midst of the irregular tiles. About twice the diameter of a human head and as transparent as the sacred spring’s water, it displayed an array of brilliant spheres arranged in an incomplete circle, each sphere no bigger than a fingertip.
She counted them out loud, ending with an emphatic, “Six.”
“Six?” Tamminy said from behind her. “There should be seven.”
After counting again, she set her finger over a space in the circular arrangement. “It looks like one is missing.”
“I fail to see how that is possible. Arxad has waited many years for someone who could use these to carry out his plan. The floor panel is designed so that none but a gifted human can penetrate the surface, and an ungifted human would burn terribly if he or she held one of the spheres for more than a moment.”
“What did he want me to do with them, and why didn’t he tell me about them?”
“Arxad and Magnar have long battled over the best way to save this world and its dragon inhabitants. When Arxad rescued Cassabrie, the white dragon in the Northlands provided this ingenious device, which no one can dismantle without self-destruction. We have not the time for me to explain the details, but the stardrops you see come from a hibernating star that dwells within this planet. The energy from that star gives a Starlighter her power, so Cassabrie’s body stays whole as long as she is in their presence. Arxad believes that if a Starlighter ingests one of these, she will have immense power, enough to put an end to the plans Taushin has in store.”
Koren looked at Petra. She stood against a wall, one hand over her eyes, resting her head back as if dizzy. The effect on her was rapidly taking hold. Asking more questions would further delay them, but Koren had to know more. “What is Arxad’s plan?”
“I am unsure. Arxad kept the details of his theories to himself, but I am sure he hoped to prevent Taushin from training you in your gifts. Once Taushin had you under complete control, he would use you to rule all of Starlight and perhaps even Darksphere. Magnar knew about Cassabrie’s presence here, but once she was in place, he could do nothing about it except post a guard who would keep you or anyone else from coming near her.”
“Where is that guard now?” Almost before the words slipped out, the image of the dead dragon broke through. “Never mind.”
She refocused on the shining, pearl-like spheres. “It doesn’t make sense. If I ingest one of these, how could I defeat Taushin’s plans to use me? I can’t fight myself.”
“I did not say if you ingested it. I said if a Starlighter ingests it. Arxad hoped to resurrect Cassabrie.”
“Oh. I see.” A surge of remorse flooded her mind. Arxad’s plan was to use Cassabrie to battle the wicked Koren, if she should turn to evil. “So why are you showing me now?”
“To give you the opportunity to stop Taushin’s plans before they begin. Since one of the stardrops is missing, we have to hope that removing another will not seriously imperil Cassabrie. I want you to reach in and secure one for yourself. Yet, take heed. This theory has never been tested. Swallowing one of these would surely kill a normal human, but since it energizes Cassabrie, we believe the theory is sound.”
Koren looked into her mind’s eye. The image of herself tied to the Reflections Crystal appeared. Magnar wanted her dead to keep Taushin from using her. That part now made sense. And Arxad was willing to let him kill her, probably because he understood the danger and couldn’t do anything to stop him. Maybe if she had died, Arxad would have rescued her spirit in the same way he had saved Cassabrie’s.
“I think I understand, but there are a lot of holes in your explanation.”
“To be sure,” Tamminy said, “and I know not how to fill them. So you must choose based on what you know, but if you decide to take a stardrop, do so now. Our time is running short.”
Koren touched the disc’s surface. It seemed rigid at first, but as she pressed harder, her fingers passed through. She reached farther and pinched one of the stardrops. It sizzled, throwing off tiny white sparks. Warm to the touch, she rolled it between her thumb and finger. Heat penetrated her skin, and a glow spread up her finger toward her hand. It felt good, like a luxurious bath.
She pulled the stardrop out, rose to her feet, and set it on her palm. The glow spilled over her hand and spread to her wrist, coating it with a blissful warmth.
As she backed away from Cassabrie, the glow continued slowly up her arm. The heat infused her muscles with energy. This stardrop would make her powerful indeed.
A flying dragon burst through the entry wall, crashed into Cassabrie’s body, then bounced back as if thrown by the dead Starlighter’s radiance. It quickly righted itself and, stretching out its wings, took on a battle stance, its head swaying as it scanned the room.
Tamminy’s ears flattened. “Shrillet,” he growled through his teeth. “You are not welcome here.”
“I require no welcome,” Shrillet said. “I do only Taushin’s bidding. Everyone must come with me immediately.”
Koren eyed the dragon. Its high-pitched voice and silvery color identified it as one of the barrier wall guardians—powerful and keen of eyesight—a female, to be precise.
“But first …” Shrillet held out a m
etal box in her claw, extending it toward Koren. “Put the stardrop in this. Taushin says it must be protected.”
“You dare not,” Tamminy said. “If he possesses it, all is lost. This she-dragon cannot hold it herself, so you have the advantage.”
Shrillet took a step toward Koren. “If you disobey, I will kill you.”
“Return it to the floor panel!” Tamminy shouted. “Hurry! You are too valuable to kill.”
Koren leaped for Cassabrie, but Shrillet swung a wing and slapped Koren’s face, knocking her backwards. The stardrop slung away and rolled on the floor in front of Petra. It sizzled wildly as if casting off layers of radiance.
Petra staggered to it, picked it up, and juggled it between her hands, her face blazing with alarm.
Shrillet stalked toward her, fire spewing. “Put it in the box!” she roared.
Petra thrust the stardrop into her mouth and swallowed, staring at the she-dragon defiantly. Her face contorting, Petra’s jaw shot open. From the back of her throat, she let out a rasping scream.
“No!” Koren yelled.
Tamminy burst forward, knocked Shrillet to the side, and wrapped Petra in a wing, covering her mouth. “Stay back!” Streaks of fire shot from his nostrils and splashed against the she-dragon’s face.
Shrillet shook her head hard, then glared at him, unfazed. “You are too old, Tamminy. You cannot defeat me.”
Petra’s head lolled to her shoulder. She collapsed over his wing, and her mouth dropped open, spilling drizzles of sparks to the floor.
Tamminy drew her close to his body. Breathing heavily, he matched Shrillet’s glare. “Perhaps I cannot defeat you, but I can do this.” He lifted a back claw and grasped Petra’s cloak. Then, dragging her, he squeezed through the hole Shrillet had made and disappeared.
Shrillet screamed, “You cannot escape!”
As she flexed her legs to give chase, Koren dove for her tail, grabbed it, and hung on. The dragon swung her tail, slinging Koren from side to side and slamming her into a wall. On the back swing, Koren rammed into Cassabrie and bounced back to the floor, but she kept her desperate grip in place.
