The Twilight Star

by Laura E. Collins

  “Your powers are weak. They are nothing more than dust in the wind!” I said in a low voice as I pulled my hands out of my pockets, lifted them up, and made a show of scattering the glitter to the wind. I thought they sparkled nicely in the beams of light from the flashlights. More gasps and a few frightened shrieks erupted from somewhere on her side. I put my hands back in my pockets, grabbing my lighter.

  “Who are you!” she bellowed.

  I watched in sheer horror as I saw her float up off of the ground several feet. There is no such thing as magic, I repeated in my mind, but this was impossible.

  “I am your undoing!” I shot back.

  “You will die for your impertinence!” she shrieked as she waved her arms at me. Everyone around me put up their shields as if they were fending off something, but whatever it was, I could neither see nor sense it.

  I hoped King Edreyan was planning on making a move soon. After I used my roman candles, I would be out of parlor tricks. Something told me she wasn’t going to hang around and wave her arms at me all night. I watched as she rose higher in the air, angrily shouting what I assumed were spells and pointing at me. I pulled my first roman candle out of the quiver and used my lighter to ignite it.

  “Enough!” I yelled as the sparks began to fly. I held it steady as I aimed for her. Screams erupted when the first ball of light flew out at her. I missed, but I hit her with the next two. She screeched and descended to the ground. That’s when everything went crazy.

  “Kill her!” the witch screamed as she backed away. All of her guards came rushing forward, except the two important looking ones that were apparently her bodyguards. King Edreyan, as well as the prince and princess, launched into action. I kept aiming my roman candle at the other side while the fighting began. Soldiers were everywhere. Arrows were flying and blades were clashing. I tossed my used roman candle on the ground and walked into Hadreah’s pentagram, pulling the other candle out and lighting it. It sparked and ignited as I aimed it directly at Hadreah and her guards. She lifted her hands to shield herself and I watched in amazement as she deflected the little fireballs. Prince Eythan and Princess Emeley advanced with me, shielding me from arrows as we moved forward. Knowing that they both had my back gave me the courage to advance on the witch. I was not sure what her powers made her capable of doing, but what I was certain of was that she could not hurt me with them and I think that scared her more than anything. Through the fray, I could not even see the king; he seemed to be but a blur wreaking havoc on Hadreah’s army.

  “Kill her!” she shrieked again as she continued to retreat. It appeared as though she was putting up a great effort to deflect the numerous arrows, knives, and other weapons being thrown at her. Her two personal guards advanced quickly in front of her, drawing their weapons. Since I couldn’t see them under their armor, I had no idea what they looked like or who might be her king. As they did so, my two bodyguards mirrored their movements. I had never been in a fight like this and began to panic as I realized that I could seriously die here and was inadequately prepared to defend myself.

  I flinched and reflexively crouched to the ground as an arrow grazed my arm. My bodyguards were occupied, leaving me more vulnerable from behind. Hadreah simply stood and watched with an evil grin on her face. Time for another trick, I thought. Seven bullets, that’s all I had. I reached under my cloak and pulled out the first revolver. Touching the small gun made my stomach turn. I hated violence but I needed to do something. I raised my arms and used my thumb to pull back the hammer and moved my finger to the trigger. I aimed at Hadreah, and was about to pull the trigger when I was simultaneously shoved from the side and my clear shot at her became obstructed with the prince fighting with one of the guards. I fell onto my side, scrambling to escape whoever had pinned me. Grunting, I kicked my legs at the soldier who grabbed me and turned to take aim. Comforted by the fact that there was no way I could miss, I stopped moving and pulled the trigger. I had never fired a gun, but the loud, sharp sound and the echo that followed freaked all of us out. My arms ached from the recoil of the weapon and I dragged myself away from my attacker, who was shrieking and grabbing at his chest. I cocked the revolver again as I stood up. Some of the action paused from what I had just done. I felt sick and wanted to run home. Hadreah’s mouth dropped open and somewhere a few of her cult members screamed and started running away.

  Quick as a flash, I saw King Edreyan dash beside me, deflecting and arrow meant for my neck with his shield. I turned back to Hadreah, who was less than fifty feet from me. We need this to be over, I thought. I ran towards her, pointing my gun. When I had a clear shot, I pulled the trigger, but I missed. She realized I was aiming for her and dodged back behind her most capable guards. I paused and aimed again. I could hear Prince Eythan grunting as he fought with one of the heavily armored guards who appeared equally matched in size and strength, perhaps even more so. It was hard to tell in the dark. I lunged forward, concentrating on aiming for Hadreah. I focused again and aimed. After I pulled the trigger I watched as she lifted her hands to deflect the bullet! I tried again. Just as I pulled the trigger, Prince Eythan and the guard stepped into the line of fire. I gasped, realizing what could happen. Instead of hitting Hadreah, the bullet slammed into the guard, piercing the armor in the chest. The guard immediately fell to his knees. Hadreah let out a screech that made me cringe as she rushed to the guard, throwing her arms around him. She spoke several words in a language I did not understand and then she, her guard, and a majority of her army disappeared, leaving the rest.

  King Edreyan and his soldiers wasted no time picking the remainder of them off while the prince sprinted to my side to protect me.

  “What did you do to him?” Princess Emeley demanded breathlessly, returning to me after her wounded opponent had vanished with Hadreah.

  “I shot him,” I replied in a daze.

  “How could you do that!”

  “I was aiming for Hadreah!” I reasoned.

  “Enough! Back to the horses!” Prince Eythan shouted as he grabbed me and ushered me back up the ravine with his guards in formation around us.

  Before I knew it, I was lifted onto a horse and Sir Leonard climbed up behind me. After Prince Eythan mounted his stallion, we were all racing with breakneck speed back towards Eteryn.

  I focused on keeping my wits about me, trying to come to grips with the fact that I had just shot two men. Whether or not they lived or died, I may never know. I was just relieved that the royals and I seemed unharmed.

  After a painstakingly fast ride back to the stable yards of the castle, my escort dismounted and helped me down. Chaos was everywhere as the soldiers filed in after us. The royals were also there shouting out orders. My guard ushered me over to them amongst the commotion.

  “Is he going to live?” the princess asked with her voice wavering on the verge of tears.

  “I don’t know . . . it depends on where and how deep the bullet went.”

  “The King of Shadowlea was the one person we were not supposed to injure!” She looked as though she could kill me.

  “Emeley!” Prince Eythan called as he marched over to us.

  “I was aiming for the witch. I told you I wasn’t good at any of this. I am not a soldier!” I shot back at her.

  “Let us hope for your sake that Hadreah has the ability to heal him!” she yelled before she stalked off with her guards trailing behind her.

  “Do not let her upset you, Evie, you did well tonight,” the prince said before he was summoned to attend to some other matter.

  Vincent, the prince’s servant, appeared at my side. “This way, Miss,” he said, gesturing for me to follow him. “My orders are to find you lodging in the castle tonight. There will be a meeting at first light.”

  “What about the injured soldiers?”

  “Dr. Lachman is attending to them.”

  I followed him as instructed, happy to leave the chaos behind.

  It took me a long time to wash all of the paint off an
d change into a night dress that was provided. After a quick meal, I collapsed into the bed. A maid came to wake me before dawn and assist me to dress in another borrowed outfit. My black tunic and cloak were gone. Afterwards, I was taken to the Avolire room that contained no windows. All of the same people from the first meeting were there. The royals were still dressed in their uniforms, evidence that they had not slept yet. I remained silent as they hashed out the events of the previous evening and what it all meant. I learned that Hadreah’s two guards were her king and a half-vampire named Lord Tobias, who was said to be as cruel as he was ruthless. I was complimented on my fighting strategy and they marveled at my apparent immunity from Hadreah’s magic. Princess Emeley shot me a glare now and then. As soon as the meeting was adjourned and we were all sworn to silence, she rose and marched off.

  “Do not let her get to you, you did nothing wrong.” The prince’s kind words pulled me from watching her leave.

  “Why is Hadreah’s king so important?”

  “It would be best if she explained it to you herself. Come,” he said gently, turning towards the door.

  I followed him through all of the twists and turns of the halls and passageways. How they ever remembered where things were, I will never know. I could sense we were headed to the outermost perimeter of the castle and up. We ascended countless steps before we reached a lofty open turret. The rustling of wings, smart chirping and squawking bird noises greeted us.

  Princess Emeley as well as a few servants were here in this open-aired stone covered terrace. Several large wooden perches stood here and there and a few cages lined the walls housing hawks, owls, and some other birds I did not recognize.

  “This is the aviary. These birds are trained to carry messages to certain people in secret,” the prince explained. “I will leave you two to talk,” he said, gesturing for the servants to leave.

  Princess Emeley stood facing the horizon at the wall. I walked over to her as they left.

  “Your Highness, I am sorry I hurt the King of Shadowlea . . . I tried to aim for Hadreah.”

  “It is not your fault, Evie. I understand,” she said sorrowfully.

  “Why is he so important to you?”

  She took a deep breath in and out before replying. “King Marstyn is our ally. He is the one who foresaw you coming to Eteryn. He has the gift of precognition and advised me how to recognize you when you arrived. We use the birds to communicate without Hadreah’s knowledge.”

  “So, the witch’s king wants her dead as well?” I asked, confused.

  “Yes. It is complicated, Evie.”

  “You are waiting for a message from him then?”

  “Messages from him come by owl only at night.”

  “I see.”

  “He was right about you, Evie. You can free us all from Hadreah’s evil. She was afraid of you. All of the other-worldly objects . . . items from the future, I have been collecting them for years for you . . . because he said you were coming to help.”

  I said nothing and let that information sink in. My coming here was foretold by a king that is married to their worst enemy . . . who wants her dead too? Something told me there was more to it than that.

  “But why?”

  “I can say no more, Evie. Please . . . go back to your clinic. You are needed there.”

  “Again, I am sorry, Your Highness.” I truly did feel sorry. If I accidentally killed her ally, then we would not know what Hadreah’s next move would be. I did feel frustrated though. If she only would have told me, I would have taken better care to not hit anyone else but Hadreah. The battle last night had been fast and crazy. I considered myself lucky that I had not been seriously harmed.

  “You were everything that we hoped you would be last night, Evie,” she said, watching the horizon as I left.

  ∞

  A few nights later, I slipped my guards and ran towards the meeting place outside of the gates of the village, near the edge of the forest. I did not have time to change out of my training uniform the princess had lent me so I just continued on. It had been a long time since the six of us had met together to discuss our progress for returning home. The next twilight star was fast approaching. As I neared the location, I could see the flickering light of the fire pit that Sean had already lit, inviting us near. Back towards the village, I heard some shouts and what sounded like frantic beats of horse hooves. I wondered what the commotion was about.

  “Well, look who finally decided to show up,” Sean commented as I joined the group.

  “I’m sorry I am a little late,” I said apologetically. “Practice ran a little over today.”

  “Practice?” Sarah asked.

  “Princess Emeley is training me with weapons.” I shrugged. I could say no more. After our attack on Queen Hadreah, war was surely coming. It was just a question of when she would retaliate. The royals had commanded me to report every day for more practice.

  “What is it with you and her? Look at you, Evie, you are wearing your hair and dressing like them now.” Kennedy said irritably gesturing at me. She said “them” meaning the royals like they were some sort of bad influence. “Why in the world would you agree to fight with them anyway? You are no superhero.”

  I sighed, tired of the criticism. “Are we here to meet to discuss our progress or not?” I asked frankly as I sat down on one of the sawed off wooden tree stumps, distracted by whatever was going on behind us in the village. Sean did not seem surprised or concerned by the distant noise, so we carried on.

  “Right, let’s get back to business,” Sean said authoritatively as the rest of us sat down. “I am happy to report that we will have what we need very shortly to complete our bargain with Rosalind,” he said with a pleased look on his face.

  I realized what he meant by this. “Sean,” I said with worry in my voice. “How are you going to accomplish that?”

  “Let me worry about the details, Evie. After all of the time you spend with the royals what have you come up with? Nothing! You care for the sick and the wounded and grind up herbs! Now you are joining their team! How is that going to help us find a way to open the portal?” he demanded tensely.

  “I have been researching any possible leads. I haven’t found anything. It is as the king told me, there is nothing that will make a portal open.”

  “Why should we believe him? I think the royals are keeping you occupied on purpose. They don’t want you to have any free time to do any investigating on the subject. The witch has offered us her help in exchange for a small price we are willing to pay. I would bet that the other evil witch they are trying to fight could do it too. We aren’t getting any younger here! I just want to go home!” Josh remarked.

  “Evie has forgotten what our purpose is,” Sean said flatly. “She’s too busy kissing up to the enemy prince to do anything else.”

  I stood up balling my hands into fists, feeling enraged. “I am most certainly not doing anything of the kind!” I said with my voice rising as I became more upset.

  “People! Let’s just all calm down and discuss what it is we all came here for, despite our differences,” Paul said, trying to ease the situation down.

  “I know exactly what you have been doing with that prince, Evie. I know all about the little purse of gold coins you carry around with you,” Sean said referring to the money I was given for helping to foil the plot to abduct Princess Emeley. The others just looked at me with questioning eyes. I remembered pulling it out of my pocket only once to pay for a few things in the marketplace since I received it. He must have been watching me.

  “It’s not what you think!” I defended.

  Sean meandered over towards me. “Exactly how much do you charge the prince for your services every night? Maybe I can afford you,” he said with a menacing laugh.

  My mouth dropped open in shock at his insult as I grew angrier by the second. When I didn’t respond he spoke again.

  He held out his hand, “give me that purse, Evie!”

  “I am no
t giving you anything!” I growled right before I mustered the strength to slap him across the face. I did not know what came over me. I never acted like this back home. Perhaps I had just grown too tired of his bullying. That did it. Unfortunately my slap hardly affected him at all, he was so big and strong. What was I thinking? He turned back to me with a face full of fury.

  “You little bitch!” he yelled at me before he grabbed me as he raised his arm and returned a slap right across my left cheek. It seemed to sting like about a hundred times harder that what I had delivered to him. He let go of me and I fell backwards on the ground with a grunt.

  “Sean, don’t!” Sarah screamed as she tried to hold him back. Paul came to her aid trying to pull him back while Josh and Kennedy just stood there. Sean shoved both of them back forcefully, knocking them down and then he pounced on me, pushing me back into the dirt as we started to fight. He hit me again and I felt a trickle of blood begin to drip down my forehead. I was certainly no match for him no matter how hard I tried to fight, scratch, and kick him. He slammed me back down into the ground hard, jarring my head. I scarcely heard the sound of hoof beats approaching as I watched him raise his hand high, anticipating him hitting me again. Then I heard it, the faint whir of an arrow being shot as it whizzed past my head, . . . straight through Sean’s open palm. Sean howled in pain as he took in the appearance of a long arrow that was now protruding equal lengths on each side through his hand.

  Before I knew what was happening, I felt two pairs of hands on me, gently pulling me up off of the ground. Guards were on each side of me, holding me steady. I watched as more soldiers hauled Sean roughly up off of the ground as he still held his injured right hand with the arrow in it, grunting angrily. Even more soldiers arrived and surrounded Sarah, Paul, Josh, and Kennedy. I breathed heavily trying to calm myself and ascertain how badly I had been hurt. More horses arrived and I widened my eyes in shock as I saw Prince Eythan and Sir William dismount and march towards the scene.