by J. A. Comley
Starla nodded. She knew all this from Larkel's book, although it was nice to have it confirmed.
“Why Earth?” Starla asked again, when Ezira didn't continue.
“I didn't choose the where. The best I could do, so that Kyron would never know, was send your mother a message in a dream and a small trickle of power to help you mature faster within her womb.” Ezira shook her head. “I have no idea what your mother must have felt or done as she realised the truth of the dream that declared you at once a wonderful thing as well as surely doomed. It also gave her the recipe for a drink that would allow her to go into early labour.”
Starla glanced back at the table. Astria was crying again, silent tears pouring down her wrinkled cheeks. By the look on her face, she had heard this all before.
“Then, when I felt your being brought into this world, I saw your Star go out to you. But you were too young to command it. So I did. I gave your mother one day with you and risked one more dream message. At dawn the next day, your amulet would save you. She shouldn't be holding you when this happened. In her mind, I saw her planning already. She wanted to give you a white shawl, a sheaf of information on Soreiaphin, explaining everything, a picture of your family and your baby bracelet.”
“Kara ordered that bracelet for you. She sent it to your mother, telling her to have your papa engrave it with your name,” Astria interjected, her mouth still twisting around Kara's name.
“Did any of the objects make it to Earth?” Ezira asked.
“The picture was mostly burnt. The shawl and bracelet made it,” Starla answered, mechanically, “not the information.”
She felt empty. Robbed of a loving mother she would never know.
Ezira drew a breath to finish her story. “Not even I could really command your Star, but I asked your Star to bear you far away. To keep you safe. Take you somewhere you'd fit in. Galatians and even some Cosmaltians can pass for human, as well as several other species I know of. So it took you to Earth. But I cannot tell you why there, exactly.”
Starla's eyes felt swollen as they tried in vain to produce more tears.
“Why did you never tell anyone of me?” Starla asked after a moment, trying not to sound angry. Her voice had a hard edge.
The Demilain raised an eyebrow, but answered all the same. “Because once you had left the Unlia Galaxy, I had no way of knowing where you were, or if you were even alive. And no way of finding out without alerting Kyron, who would surely hunt you if he knew. I didn't know how strong your amulet was, whether it could really keep you alive for the journey. If it did, you would need time to grow up, for your magic to mature.” Ezira shook her head. “I hoped you were alive somewhere, but it was an empty, unprovable hope. I chose not to burden anyone else with the uncertainty.”
As soon as she finished, the five Guardians swept into the room and bowed gracefully to Ezira.
“You called?” Fey said.
Ezira nodded and called them over to the window, dismissing Starla back to the table.
Starla returned to Astria. “Why—” She sighed. She barely knew this lady and didn't want to start off by making accusations. Astria watched her curiously, waiting, her face open. Starla took a deep breath. “When you speak of Kara, my sister, it sounds … well, it sounds like you didn't like her much.”
Astria breathed out in a gust. “I adored Kara. She was beautiful and wilful, intelligent and quick-witted. When she was born, she had your father's dark hair and my blue eyes. She'd also inherited your father's Aurelian ears.” She paused and smiled at some distant memory. “But when she was seven, she discovered her Inagium abilities. Though she was warned not to try and use them before she'd been trained, she snuck out one night and tried to turn herself into Falantha, a legendary heroine warrior from Aurelia's past.” She chuckled. “Because she'd used her powers without knowing how, she came home weeping. Although she had succeeded in giving herself the deep purple hair, golden eyes and pale skin of her hero, she couldn't reverse the process. None of the other Inagium were ever able to help her either, and so she became the new Falantha.” Astria shrugged, still smiling. “She was always so happy, so full of life.”
Starla felt her heart twist. She remembered the young woman sitting in front of her grandmother in the picture, how she'd wondered at the unnatural hair colour and strange ears.
Starla waited. There was still a tightness to her grandmother's voice as she finished and the smile for a happier past vanished.
“I loved her until the day Kyron stole her from us,” she continued, her blue eyes hardening. “She, like Niden, adored court life. They loved being of Royal blood. She came as often as she could. No one was really surprised when she fell in love with the son from a noble Galatian house.” She clenched her fists, and suddenly Starla knew that it wasn't Kara her grandmother disliked, it was the man she had loved.
“Who?” Starla breathed, wondering what they had done to earn such fierce disapproval.
“A young, handsome man named Braxton Malion, son of Baron Faden Malion”
Starla heard her breath hiss out through her teeth. Her sister had loved that … that monster?
Astria gave Starla a wan smile. “He wasn't always the abhorrent creature you know. He was a gentle, kind man. Fun-loving and always ready to help.” She laughed suddenly at Starla's incredulous expression. “This war has cost everyone something. It has broken many people and re-assembled them into unrecognisable creatures. Young Braxton is just another casualty.”
Starla spluttered. She did not want to hear any excuses for the Baron.
“His courtship of your sister was beautiful. Flowers every day, jewels, books, pets. They made a lovely couple. I was surprised when it worked. I'd always thought she'd marry some warrior princess.” Astria chuckled at the look of surprise on Starla's face. “Kara had always seemed to prefer Aurelian females, but something about Braxton won her over. Any one could see their genuine affection. Their wedding was a magnificent affair. They organised the refugee camp after Cosmaltia's fall. They made sure everyone had enough food, water, clothes. They made people hopeful again,” Astria continued, ignoring Starla's mute outrage. “But then … then Kyron attacked. He came against the City with a curse so foul … you have heard of the drodemions, of how they are made?” The bitterness had entered her voice again. Starla nodded. “So many were cursed, lying dormant until Kyron chose to activate it and transform them. And so many other Corruptions. The Makhi and Inagium couldn't find a way to Heal it. Every living thing infected had to be destroyed.”
And then Starla knew where this story was going. She had Larkel's memories in her head. His father being turned, his terrible sacrifice. And the clean up afterwards. All the people tested. The infected destroyed without mercy. She wanted to yell at her grandmother to stop but couldn't find her voice.
“Kara and her husband were in mourning. His parents had died in an attack on a village further north, with the news arriving soon after his siblings had died defending the City. Still, they were expecting their first child, and I saw the hope that gave them. Then, their friend, the best man at their wedding knocked on their door. The testing must include everyone, high born and low.” Astria shook her head. “I was there when the young High Lord Larkel came in, his face a scarred, hard mask, his eyes broiling with torment.”
“Larkel was the best man at their wedding?” Starla gasped. She had known that the Baron and High Lord had once been friends, but not that they had been so close.
Astria nodded, a strange light suddenly in her eyes. She looked ready to ask a question, then sighed and continued her story. “The Baron, as he already was by then, snarled at his once-friend. 'Haven't you stolen enough from me already?' he had spat at the High Lord. Larkel looked so broken as his cold mask slipped. Redkin,” her voice hiccuped slightly over his name. “He put a hand on Larkel's shoulder and stepped forward. He performed the test. Kara was infected, her child already dead within her.”
Starla felt the tears cours
ing down her cheeks again. Her sister. Her sister's baby.
“The Baron went berserk. Larkel, as upset as he was, had his terrible duty to perform,” Astria said, her voice flat, as if she was determined to finish the story without breaking down. “The High Lord performed the test again and again. He demanded the best Makhi at his disposal come to check her, to make sure. He couldn't accept it, even though I could see in his eyes the pain that knowledge cost him. Kara screamed and begged so much when they carried her away,” she sighed, breathing out the last words in a whisper. “Kara was destroyed, along with so many others. The death of his wife and unborn child broke the Baron. I haven't seen kindness or joy in his grey eyes since then.”
Starla wished she could wash out her mind. She hated knowing the terrible things her family had suffered. She hated the feelings of empathy she had for the Baron. She hated thinking of him as just another victim of Kyron's evil.
“I still cannot believe he betrayed us,” Astria mused, drying her tears again.
“You know he's a traitor?” Starla asked, bewildered.
“Yes, we know everything. More than you, I think,” Gaby said, joining them.
The others followed swiftly behind her, taking their seats, Ezira at the head.
“I am afraid that we must leave the unpleasant past and get back to the unpleasant future,” Ezira said in opening. “Naleiya has sent another letter.”
Starla shoved all her tangled feelings and bloody thoughts to the back of her mind with difficulty. She could deal with them later. She had to deal with them later. Right now, all she had to do was get back to Larkel.
“Naleiya?” she asked, grabbing on to the name hopefully. “But how could she send a message?”
“Because her brother was a genius,” Fey said blithely. “Figured out a way to use my Sacred Stone and Ezira's magic to create an undetectable magical rent in Kyron's lock-down spell. It's nothing much, but it allows us to trade information. The Aurelian royalty is in touch with the Galatian royalty, which will help when Kyron decides to attack.”
Starla smiled. Of course it was Larkel. Hadn't he told her, himself how Fey's stone was being put to better use, better than his shield.
Everyone was suddenly staring very intently at her, most with an uncomfortable edge to their gaze.
“You said the … the High Lord's name many times while you were unconscious,” Astria said gently, the same strange light in her eyes.
Starla began to blush before something Fey said struck her hard, her heart seeming to take the blow.
“Was? He is a genius,” Starla said, feeling fear ensnare her heart.
Everyone's eyes now shone with pity. Ezira laid the letter she had been holding gently on the table. It was signed High Lady Naleiya.
“What happened?” she mouthed, unable to make her voice work. The fear and pain was choking her now.
No. Not Larkel.
“I... it seems he was ambushed at the Baron's house,” Alli said from her place beside Astria. Her violet eyes were full of sympathy.
“Ambushed? By the Baron?” Starla said, feeling anger suddenly rear up in her, tall and ugly. Her empathy for the Baron's fate popped like a soap bubble.
“Naleiya wrote that he went there after fearing that the Baron had kidnapped you,” Fey said, looking a little nervous.
Vaguely Starla wondered how much of the fire and crushing pain raging inside her was visible in her eyes.
“Apparently he broke the Baron's nose when he called you a murderess and a thief,” Rya added, failing to dispel the terrible look on Starla's face.
“Murder? Who did he kill?” Starla marvelled at how empty her voice sounded.
“Makhi Redkin Gullit. And then he stole our Sacred Stones,” Gaby said, her voice the only one that held anger instead of pity.
Starla closed her eyes. Redkin. She thought of the weeks she had spent with him and Larkel, of how much like a mentor, even a father, he was. Larkel's second-in-command. He was the one who tested Kara first.
“We can't be sure, because the Baron's mansion exploded after some magmus inspired pyrotechnics, but we think he had the Stones. We think he wanted to take them to Kyron,” Alli chipped in again, her voice uncertain, shoulder-length curls swaying.
“He did,” Starla spat. “I heard a grobbler telling Kyron that the Baron was coming, with the Stones.”
The others fell silent and Starla steeled herself to ask the question that would make it final. That would shatter her heart entirely.
“Did they find … have they had the … the funeral?” Somehow she managed to keep her face a smooth mask. Inside, she felt herself breaking.
No one asked who she meant, neither did any of them seem willing to speak.
Gaby twisted in her seat beside Starla and took her hands. “Kyron doesn't normally leave bodies behind to bury.”
Starla nodded mutely, hating the stupid seed of hope that refused to be squashed. No body might mean he was still alive.
Gaby noticed. Her quick violet eyes turned tragic. She glanced quickly around the table then ploughed on. “Naleiya raced to the Baron's house. The High Lord had messaged his Order, one last time.” She paused as Starla's hands stiffened in hers. “She was too late, Starla. Her brother was lying in a pool of blood at the Baron's feet. The Baron had a bloodied gludron blade in his hand.”
“So, the Baron was apprehended?” Starla asked numbly, trying not to let the image of Larkel in a pool of his own blood form. The tears were running silently down her cheeks, but her broken heart was full of fire.
“No, that's when the house exploded,” Gaby said, her voice now as sympathetic as the others had been. “Naleiya was knocked out by the blast. When she came to, she found his staff and circlet lying in blood. His dress robe was shredded. There were bits of bodies everywhere. The Baron's servants had still been in the house.”
Starla felt her head spin, even as she refused to let go of the stupid little hope left to her.
“No, he might not be dead. The Baron could have knocked him out, taken him to Kyron,” Starla said stubbornly.
Gaby took a deep breath, ignoring the others as they shook their heads minutely. “There was too much blood, Starla. A wound from a gludron blade … He never would have been able to heal himself.”
Starla felt her inner world break, shatter into thousands of tiny shards that tore relentlessly at her insides. Outwardly, she remained still, her face empty, her eyes blank. Silently, she rose from the table and left the room.
“Let her go, please,” she heard Gaby's voice say.
And they did.
Chapter 18
The Orb of Sight
Starla wandered aimlessly down the corridor and entered one of the very small hemispheres she had seen from the meeting room. Glancing up, she could just make out the people she had just left. Not wanting to have anyone see her, she moved to sit behind a partition by the left wall. She curled up under the desk there and felt the tearing emptiness inside her swallow her whole.
A scratching, heaving noise brought her back to her body and she realised she was trying to cry without tears. Forcefully, she shut her burning eyes, settled her breathing and stilled the aching in her chest.
No! she told herself harshly. No more crying. You were raised stronger than this! Your blood is stronger than this. Larkel would need you to be stronger than this. She clenched her fists to her head, finding a way to surface above the deep, endless pain and thought through everything she had heard.
The Baron had obviously made his move. He would not return to Galatia, now, except with his master's army behind him. Larkel. Her heart throbbed painfully. Larkel had gone to defend her, to protect her. If he was … she couldn't think the word, it would be all her fault.
Don't think like that, she scolded herself as the void threatened to suck her in.
“But we're connected. He's not … dead. I would know it,” she said aloud, to the empty room.
She groaned. It was a flimsy base for her
denial. A weak hope, yet she needed it. War was here. She couldn't let herself be crushed by grief. She was a princess of Galatia, unbelievable as it seemed to her. She would have to do what she could. She remembered Larkel talking about the King, how he tried to carry on, unsure if the woman he loved was dead or alive. She breathed in deeply. She wouldn't let her grandfather down.
Clutching the Star in her hands, she stared at the small object. She was a Soreiaphin. Maybe Ezira could teach her to use her amulet.
She uncurled from her position under the desk, her aching muscles making her fear that she had been gone too long. Her eyes fell to the desk, where a tattered scroll had been carefully pressed open between two sheets of glass.
The true Soreiaphin is rare. They must possess the magical blood of the Makhi, Inagium, Brosney and Aurelia's Nightstalkers Their magic will be an amalgamation of this, more great and terrible than any alone.
Such a powerful magic will be latent rather than dormant. Their amulet should be able to achieve feats before the key is fulfilled, the sacrifice made.
Such sacrifices are usually the most extreme. Life, or extreme disability, is usually required in payment.
Starla backed away from the scroll, closing her fist around her Star.
“I see you found the scroll I had gone to collect when I was attacked,” Astria said from the doorway.
She smiled sadly as she took in the look on Starla's face.
“Am I a 'true' Soreiaphin?” Starla breathed.
“Yes. Your mother was Inagium, your father a Brosney, his father was a Nightstalker and Eldos is the son of two Makhi.”
“I thought only Cosmaltians could be Brosney,” Starla said, trying to dodge the truth. She knew that each race of Trianon has their own unique magic.
