Shadows on the Stars

by T.A. Barron

  She slapped her thigh as she paced across the room, still holding Nuic. How foolish she’d been to have veered from her quest! She’d only managed to make everything worse.

  And yet now, at least, she knew some valuable information about the coming battle—thanks to that sorry excuse for a priestess. But what good was information if she and her friends were just going to rot here in this dungeon?

  Indeed, as she could see, there could be no escape from this place. It had no other entrance and no apparent weaknesses, just four stone walls and a stone floor, with no cracks in any of the slabs. A small air vent, set with granite bars, opened in the ceiling, which allowed a single shaft of light to drift down from the temple above. A little more light came from the circular window that had been bored through the door. Just outside, two savage-looking gnomes sat on a stone bench, drinking something that smelled like rancid beer.

  Elli grumbled aloud, “How could Llynia not listen to me? Why can’t she see that she’s just being used by White Hands and Rhita Gawr?”

  “Arrogance,” answered Lleu, who was leaning against a wall, arms folded across his chest. “That age-old human trait.”

  Elli just nodded, feeling heavier than just Nuic’s weight could explain. With a groan, she flopped down beside Brionna. Her head tilted back, resting against the stone wall—her pillow, she knew, at least for a while.

  Maybe a very, very long while.

  “Hmmmpff. Don’t expect me to say anything helpful or encouraging,” grumbled Nuic from her lap. “It’s just not my nature.”

  Despite her dark mood, Elli chuckled. “I like your nature the way it is, old friend.”

  “That’s good, Elliryanna, since you haven’t any choice.”

  Brionna lifted her braid, then threw it over her shoulder. It smacked against the wall, loud enough that one of the gnomes shambled over and put his face to the circular window. He peered inside, growling, then went back to drinking with his cohort.

  “Come join our party,” Lleu called merrily after him. “We’ve got lots of good food.”

  Catha screeched as she paced across his shoulder, clearly scolding him for making light of their situation.

  But Lleu persisted. He turned to the jester, who was seated apart from the others, in the far corner of the room. “Well now, master Seth. How about showing us some entertainment? We’re truly a captive audience, you know!”

  The fellow didn’t seem to appreciate Lleu’s joke. Instead, he shot the priest a look that could have curdled milk.

  “I wish Scree were here,” muttered the elf maiden. “He’s always so good in a fight.”

  “That’s because you give him so much practice,” observed Nuic dryly.

  Brionna didn’t laugh.

  Elli reached over and put a hand on her knee. “I miss someone, too. Remember what you told me about candle wax? Well, right then I didn’t understand, or want to admit it. But now, well, I do.”

  Brionna nodded somberly. “It’s not just Scree I miss, whatever sort of friend he might have been. Mostly, I wish I still had . . .” She straightened her back, rubbing the scar from the slave master’s whip into the wall. “Some family.”

  Elli sighed, then said, “You know, in all those years the gnomes made me their slave, working in their smoky tunnels, there was one thing I wanted even more than my freedom.”

  The elf turned toward her. “What?”

  “My family.” She nodded, making her abundant curls bounce. “To see them again, just for a day—that’s what I wished for most of all.”

  She paused, drumming her fingers on her flask of water from the Secret Spring. “Which makes it even more absurd that I wasted some of this water to heal that filthy gnome who attacked Tamwyn and me. What stupidity!”

  “Maybe,” said Brionna, “or maybe not. Granda had a favorite rhyme that he picked up somewhere in his travels:

  “See the creatures great and small,

  Made so diff’rent, each from all:

  Amble, slither, fly, or swim—

  Yet still in each, so deep within,

  Runs the hidden blood of kin”

  “Kin?” repeated Elli doubtfully. “Not the gnomes.”

  “Hard to see, maybe, but it’s true. After all, isn’t that what you said to Llynia? They’re our fellow journeyers, our sisters and brothers”

  Elli said nothing.

  The elf nudged her teasingly. “Look here, even Shim and I are related.” She leaned over and asked into his ear, “Aren’t we, dear uncle?”

  But the old fellow just looked at her blankly. “Don’t tries to be funnily, Rowanna. I knows you don’t really means it.”

  He squeezed his fists tightly. “If only I was still a bigly lad! Then I’d just stand up and lift off this whole ceililing.”

  Across the room, Lleu leaned his direction. “How did you get small again, Shim?” he asked, practically shouting in order to be heard.

  The little giant rubbed his wrinkled cheeks. “I don’t knows! It justly happened, leaving me forever shrunkelled.”

  “Maybe not forever,” said Brionna into his ear.

  “For many years, at leastly!” He scrunched his bulbous nose at her. “If only I did understand, then mabily I could reversify things. But I don’t, so of coursedly I can’t.”

  “When did you first notice?” shouted the priest.

  Shim’s white head nodded. “Oh, that much I knows exactly! It was back in the War of Storms, in the Yearly of Avalon 498.”

  “The year,” Brionna recalled, “of the Battle of the Withered Spring. That was the last time,” she added with a glance at Elli, “the Drumadians’ compound was ever attacked.”

  “Yes, Rowanna. That’s rightly.” Shim cocked his head, remembering. “It was a fightly battle, much too bloodsy for me. But I still fought, because without us giants, those flamelonly types would have surely winned. And in that battle, our giantly leader was Jubolda.”

  He opened his arms wide. “Bigly as a hillside she was, justly like her daughters.” He chortled. “In factually, I saved one of her daughters, I did. By being so clumsily! When they had her all tied up in knotly ropes, I came running over to help. But I tripped and fell with a crashly big bang. Lucksily, though, I fell right on tops of the flamelons.”

  He clapped his hands for emphasis. “That was the end for them! A smooshily end.”

  Brionna nodded. “Very smooshily.”

  “But when did you start getting small?” shouted Lleu.

  “Rightly after that.”

  “Are you sure?” demanded the elf maiden. “Did anything else happen to you?”

  Shim shrugged his small shoulders. “Wellsy now, justly one thing.” He blushed. “But it’s surely not important.”

  “We’ll decide that,” Lleu bellowed. “Tell us.”

  His blush deepened. “Well, allsy right. Jubolda’s daughter was named Bonlog Mountain-Mouth.” He paused, glancing around the room. “For a goodly reason, too. And after I saved her, she tried to thanks me with a kiss!” He shivered from head to toe. “All too slobberly, let me tell you.”

  Trying to stifle her laughter, Brionna asked, “So what happened?”

  “I runs away. And fast, lassie! As fast as I could, up into the mountains. The lastly thing I remember was hearing Bonlog’s rumbumbily voice behind me, shouting some nastily things. She was, methinks, a little upset.”

  “Sounds that way,” muttered Nuic, from his seat in Elli’s lap.

  “To keep away from her slobberly self,” Shim went on, “I hides in the mountains for a longly time.” A frown came over his face. “That’s when the shrunkelling started. And got worsely and worsely.”

  “Hmmmpff.” The sprite waved a tiny hand. “That’s because she cursed you, idiot.”

  “Whatly?”

  “Cursed you!” he roared. “Set a spell on you for humiliating her.”

  Shim’s pink eyes widened. It was as if he’d just witnessed, for the very first time, the wondrous flash of golden light a
t starset. “A curse,” he muttered. “You mabily be right! Now I justly needs to undo it.”

  Nuic shook his head. “I knew Jubolda’s daughters. And you were right to run! But they had giantess sorcery thick in their blood. A curse from one of them can’t ever be undone, except perhaps by Merlin himself. And I doubt even he would succeed.”

  While Shim may not have caught all Nuic’s words, he didn’t miss the meaning. He scowled, and his head drooped. “So I is stuckly, then. Shrunkelled forever.”

  Brionna wrapped her arm around his shoulders, yet he didn’t seem to notice.

  A renewed sense of gloom settled over the companions. Elli sighed bitterly, watching Nuic’s color swiftly darken. Lleu turned to the shadows, as Catha fluttered her wings restlessly. Brionna, like the jester in the corner, just stared at the granite floor.

  “We’re lost,” said Elli despairingly. “Our quest is over. I’ve failed the Lady, and now Avalon is doomed. And we’re stuck here in this dungeon until we die.”

  No one replied. Her words seemed to hover in the dank room like some thick, noxious fume. Slowly, it seeped into their skin, their lungs, and their minds, poisoning them by degrees.

  An hour or more passed. None of them so much as stirred. The light from the air vent dimmed to nearly nothing, as nightfall came to the jungles outside the temple.

  Without warning, there was a heavy grating sound just outside the entrance. Then a thud—and the heavy bar that blocked the door fell to the floor. A three-fingered hand reached inside, shoving the door open with a savage grunt.

  “Merlin’s beard,” exclaimed Lleu. “They’ve come to kill us!”

  Brionna leaped to her feet with elvish speed. Elli stood as well, cradling Nuic, and Lleu stepped over to them. The jester, too, rose swiftly and silently, brandishing his cane.

  The gnome, however, did something unexpected. Something that made the companions freeze in place. Instead of rushing inside, he merely stood in the doorway and threw some objects into the darkened room. They clattered on the stone floor by Brionna’s feet.

  “My longbow,” she said, awestruck. “And my arrows.”

  The gnome watched her as, in one swift motion, she grabbed them up and slung the quiver over her shoulder. Then he turned to Elli, his dark, bulging eyes peering deep into hers. Even before he raised his hand to touch the three jagged scars in the middle of his chest, she recognized him.

  Her throat tightened. Yet she didn’t need to speak. The look they exchanged said enough.

  The gnome grunted urgently, then waved for them to follow. Stealthily, he led them past the other guard at the door, now slumped on the stone bench in a drunken stupor. Back up the stairs they crept, past more sleeping captors. The jester, who came last, took the opportunity to make sure that one of them—the guard who had rudely poked him in the back—would not wake up in the morning.

  Down a narrow corridor they stole, avoiding the temple’s central chamber. Ever so quietly, the gnome slid through a hole in the wall, where a palm tree had fallen against one of the slabs of quartz. He waited outside, until the last of them had passed through and the whole group stood beneath the trees in back of the temple. Then, with a final glance at Elli, he grunted and slipped off into the jungle, his squat form disappearing into the dark mesh of vines.

  For a few heartbeats, the companions watched him disappear. Elli then looked skyward and found some stars shining through gaps in the trees. She paused for an instant, remembering the night with Tamwyn on the Stargazing Stone, but there wasn’t time to think about that now. She pointed to the east, then plunged into the forest, following an animal trail that wound its way through the moist ferns and fruit-heavy branches.

  All through the night they trekked. Monkeys chattered overhead, while a few nocturnal birds whistled eerily. Often, in thicker growth, it was only Brionna’s superb vision that enabled them to keep moving. Even that failed once, when they found themselves in the midst of a dark and trackless swamp. Then they turned for help to Catha, who flew ahead and picked out a route from the air. Mostly, however, they kept moving. And mostly in silence—although Shim couldn’t seem to stop falling over toppled trees, cracking sticks underfoot, and scaring unseen creatures into angry growls or hisses.

  As dawn arrived, and the stars overhead began to brighten, the companions finally left the jungle behind. Wearily, they scaled a steep hill sprinkled with stubby brown grass. At the top, they all plopped down to rest. They were exhausted, and still hungry, despite the tangy fruits they’d eaten during the night. But they were free.

  Scanning the rows upon rows of undulating brown hills that faded into the distant clouds, Elli smiled in satisfaction. “The Mud Hills. And over there,” she said with a wave at the horizon, “is the Misty Bridge.”

  Brionna, too, gazed at the vista, but her own expression was far more glum. “And our route to the corrupted crystal.”

  Something about her voice made Elli turn toward her. “What’s troubling you, Brionna?”

  “Nothing,” her friend replied crisply.

  But Elli’s instincts told her otherwise. “Something’s on your mind. Now, what is it?”

  Brionna’s deep green eyes gazed at her. “Well, if you must know, I’ve been thinking about what Llynia told us. About the battle, and the elves from my homeland.” She drew a slow, unsteady breath. “It made me feel . . . well, that for the first time on this journey, I’d like to be in two places at once.”

  She shrugged, running her hand along her bow that lay beside her on the grass. “But I can’t. So I’d best just put all that out of my mind, right? Come on now, let’s get moving! We’re wasting time here.” She stood up, ready to leave.

  Elli, too, rose to her feet, but only to face the elf who seemed so sturdy and yet so slender. “You really feel that torn?”

  Somberly, Brionna nodded.

  “And what would you do if you went to join the elves?”

  “Tell them what I’ve learned. And, if need be, fight beside them.”

  Elli frowned. “Must you? Wouldn’t it be better to convince them to stop, to stay in Woodroot? The elves, after all, are such peaceful folk.”

  “Not now, we aren’t. Not when such a threat to our world, our way of life, has arisen. Listen, did Merlin just rest when Rhita Gawr’s blight started spreading through El Urien? And did Rhiannon sit idly by when the War of Storms erupted? They were people of peace, as am I. But with what we know now, we must act. Do whatever we can to save our world.”

  “I understand,” said Elli, her voice hushed.

  “So do I,” declared Lleu. He stood, straightening his lanky form. Turning to the rolling hills to the east, he confessed, “You see, I’ve been feeling the same way myself.”

  The falcon on his shoulder clacked her beak in surprise, but he continued speaking to Elli. “All night long, as we walked, I’ve been wondering if I could just get to Belamir. Bring him back to his senses, if I can! Show him the horror of where all this is leading. Convince him to call it all off, while he still can.”

  Elli cocked her head doubtfully. “You really think that’s likely?”

  “I don’t know until I try. But it is possible. After all, he’s not really wicked, just misguided.”

  “Hmmmpff,” said Nuic with a snort. “Wickedly misguided, if you ask me.”

  “Perhaps so. But if there’s any chance to reach him—” He caught himself, glanced at Brionna, then faced Elli again. “What am I saying, though? I belong here with you. All of us do.”

  “That’s right,” agreed the elf maiden, twisting her long braid around her forearm. “So let’s get going.”

  Slowly, Elli shook her head. “I don’t think so. You both have been the truest companions anyone could ask for, but if there are other things calling to you, then maybe you should listen to them.”

  The elf maiden regarded her lovingly, her eyes shining in the dawn light. “You’d really allow us to go?”

  “No,” she replied, forcing a smile. “But I
’d command you to go.”

  Lines of worry scored Brionna’s brow. “What about the crystal? The quest?”

  “I can manage just fine,” declared Elli. “After all, I’ll still have Nuic.” Indicating the little giant now dozing on the grass, she added with a smirk, “Just do me this favor, though? If you do go, take Shim with you”

  Brionna gave a nod, then asked simply, “You’re surer”

  “I’m sure. This is right for you.” She turned to Lleu. “And also for you.”

  The priest studied her doubtfully. “Perhaps so. But half of me—my wiser half, probably—wants to come with you to Shadowroot and destroy that crystal.”

  No, thought the jester from his seat on the grass just a bit apart from the others. Not your wiser half. For if you stayed with her much longer, you’d die shortly. In a terrible accident.

  A barely visible grin stole across his sallow face. Things are going my way again, how lovely. He would miss dearly the chance to dispatch that foolish priest, but the girl—and the crystals—would be his before long.

  As if, in his intuitive ear, he’d sensed the jester’s true intentions, Lleu leaned closer to Elli. “My biggest worry for you,” he whispered, “isn’t so much what you’ll have to face in Shadowroot. I know, somehow, that you can find that sorcerer and destroy his crystal. Even if you must outwit Rhita Gawr himself to do it. No, my biggest worry is that fellow over there. Something about him troubles me, though I’m not quite sure what.”

  Elli merely waved his concern aside. “You worry too much. Just like Papa always did.”

  His thick, dark eyebrows drew together. “And like your father, I have something very important to worry about.”

  Feeling the warmth of his words, she almost grinned. “I’ll be fine, Lleu. Really. And besides, I still need the jester, remember? He’s the only one who knows how to find the corrupted crystal.”

  That’s right, thought Deth Macoll, who had overheard everything. His bells jingled as he bobbed his head. How lucky for you.

  “Then it’s decided,” declared Brionna. “Let’s travel together, Lleu, as far as we can. Both of us can head first for Isenwy.” Catching a worried look from Elli, she added, “Keeping alert for any more gnomes, of course. If no elves have arrived there yet, we can take the Isenwy portal to Woodroot. Granda did that many times, so it’s bound to work.”